Irvine, CA: Antenna question-a bit technical

2.2 is temporarily off the air.
See LA link below

http://www.avsforum.com/t/191672/los-angeles-ca-ota/9030

Unfortunately you can no longer tell which channel is at a higher or lower frequency and the complication of digital technology along with it. Now channel number are carried via the information in the digital signal, not like it used to be where it was a fixed frequency for each channel and the TV was the basic radio technology of a simple receiver. That's one reason you have scanning on TV's now because you don't really know where channel 2 is, frequency wise.

Seems kind of goofy? Well some frequencies have the ability to go further than others and propagate differently within cities and the commercial TV people know this and try to be selective about where in the spectrum they are assigned. Some more than others.

Your antenna is just 'tuning' the frequencies better and that could be caused by many things that are not manufactured, such as what's nearby and the type of construction of your home, many things can change this and a manufacturer has to take what is a great antenna and change it to be as good of a performer as they can and then have the cost cut. So they face the technical along with the people counting beans to get a good product with as little cost as practical. I'm sue you know this, but some of your information is missing such as the manufacturer need to make one that works for the whole range of frequencies, not just around your home, but worldwide. This is a major undertaking and they usually settle for a relative ok antenna for everywhere.

Then apply digital to it, where a very insignificant change in signal strength is the difference between a picture and no picture. Do you remember when AM was giving way to FM and the receivers were very finicky and the 'stereo' would flip on and off? This is along the lines of today’s TV's where the data can be, to some extent corrected until you hit the spot where there is no way to correct it and that could be so minor most of can't comprehend the small significance.

Yes the manufacturers know, but it's the best overall antenna for the price and quality of the equipment. You are seeing that first hand! Best of luck.

Jack

How about adding a barrel connector & a longer piece of coax, so that you can move the antenna further from the TV & find a sweet spot in the room?

Otherwise, get an outdoor antenna & mount it in the attic or outside. I'm in irvine &I have my antenna in a utility closet facing Mt Wilson, looking thru the wood siding of my house. I think i was picking up 140+ channels last time I scanned. I get all the yellow except for 2 & 8.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d1dda6577bbda81

If you haven't used this part of TV fool, it lets you use satellite view & zoom in on your house & select the lines pointing towards the towers. It may help you find the best location & direction for your antenna.
http://tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=90

My daughter lives in a second story condo at Yale and Irvine Blvd and she is able to pick-up all the high power stations from Mt. Wilson with a HDTVi. If you have a clear shot to Mt. Wilson then maybe you can pick-up more stations with this antenna despite being in a cement office. By the way, she gets reliable reception of the VHF stations by extending each of the rabbit ears to 22 inches and tilting both up until the distance tip-to-tip is 38 inches. YMMV.

She only watches the english speaking channels. Her stations list are 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 28, 30, 50, 56, 58. Note these are the high power stations, she can't get the low power ones.