Memphis, TN - HDTV - Page 8

Thanks for the info. I will do all this tonight. I currently do get local channels thru DirecTV, but since they aren't broadcast in HD, that's why I am trying to get the local channels in HD.
Rick-the 35 is a VHF/UHF antenna which on the American Satellite website says is optimized for HD, but there is no mention of it on the Terk website or CC(where I purchased it). I found a Zenith UHF HD antenna at BB, do you think that would be worth looking into?

Thanks,
Dennis

I think (im not Rick, but hey nobody's perfect) that if at all possible, get up on your roof and put up an antenna.......

Im not for sure how far you are from the towers, but I would bet you dont have to be that high.......

From my experince, all the "optimized for HD" talk is a bunch of bunk, any quality UHF antenna of the proper size will get all the HD channels from Memphis.

mx6bfast,

The "HD Optimized" phrase is strictly a marketing gimmick to play off of HDTV and digital signals. All HD in our area is braodcast over standard UHF (some other stations around the country have a VHF channel for HD).


You might try Radio Shack at Wolfchase or in Bartlett. I have heard that RS is closing out their large UHF/VHF antennas. A lot of posts say that Channelmaster and Winegard are better and maybe they are. But RS was closing them out for <$5 for antennas that list for >$50. Worth a shot. I doubt they are returnable but for $5??


If you still have trouble later in the week, pm me.

Rick

I am using a large RS antenna the VU190............it has over a 10' boom length. I need this kind of size as I am in Akansas, about 60 miles from the towers.

The surprising thing about my reception to me is the lack of height required.

I am only 30' from the ground, I know the terrain is flat, but many I talked to felt I would have line-of-sight issues without going very high.....

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the info. With it I finally got the problem fixed. First thing I did was put my zip code back into the receiver, and that was the magical touch. This is what I got after scanning the channels and the results of the pictures (as of 10:40):
3: ME3 3: WREG-brighter picture 3-1: Sign off, nothing
5: ME5 5: WMC-brighter picture, but a little snowy 5-1: Late show on title, but nothing
10: ME 10 10: zigzag vertical lines, but brighter picture
13: ME13 13: WHBQ- brighter picture 13-1: Friends title but nothing
18: title but nothing
24: ME24 24: WPTY-shadows, brighter picture 24-1: Sign off, but the best of both other 24's.
30: ME30 30: WLMT-title but nothing 30-1: Sign off, nothing
31: Local channel, nothing
40: Title, sound, but RYG zigzag vertical lines
50: WPXX 50-1: Sign off, nothing
51: Local channel, nothing

Is this pretty much what everyone else has? I am using this with the Terk TV35 antenna. The 55 is crap and I'm taking it back. I went to RS and they just ran out of an antenna that I am going to get Thursday which might be cheaper, so I will let yall know how that works out if better. It's apparently a newer antenna that they just got in. If you know what the model # it is, please let me know so I will know what to look for. I didn't get the chance to test the antenna strength, but will do that later this week. I take it when yall mention someone forgot to flip the switch it means that the feeds aren't coming thru the DT channels? If I'm wrong about that please let me know.
Once again thanks for all the help.

Dennis

mx6bfast,

Have you gone to www.antennaweb.org? You can type your address in and it will give you a picture showing the location of the towers from your house. As I stated earlier, 24 and 30 are in a different direction than the others and 10 is more South than 3, 5, & 13.


The RS antenna you mention, is it their new indoor HDTV antenna? If so, it is $$ for what you get. I thought they were getting out of the outdoor antenna market which is why I'm wondering if you're waiting on an indoor model. I'd call (or have a local store check other stores) for the VU-160 or their next smaller version. It is a VHF/UHF outdoor antenna and should be <$5. It has a yagi on the front and will be somewhat directional. There are at least 7 RS stores in the area.

If you will still get locals through DirecTV and only want the antenna for HD, then you might try the Channelmaster 4221 or Winegard PR-4400. These are outdoor antenna's with 4 bowties. They are not available locally that I could find. The 4221 can be found for about $30 shipped online. They are UHF only.

Keep us informed.

Rick

Dennis,

The channels that start with ME are the Memphis locals off the spot beam D* satellite........they are not ATSC(HD).

The channels that have a sub channel, ie. "-1" are the HD channels.

The channel 31 is a glitch with either/or the E86 and UPN. For some reason the APG recognizes 30-1 as the ATSC virtual channel for 30 but when tuning to 31 manually, there is no auto retrun to 30-1. Same channel.

I bought a Samsung 151 OTA and a Silver Sensor last night at Best Buy. Unfortunately I got home too late to try out hd, but I did have enough time to realise that the SS sucked at my location (right next to St Francis). Today I returned the SS for an RCA Amplified indoor antenna and can pick up abc so far with 9 bars. It's 5:26, shouldn't I be able to pick up more channels than abc by now?

Ok, I adjusted the antenna a bit, and I'm getting CBS 28-1 (survivor) and News Channel 3 on 28-2(?), ABC 24-1, and PAX. Where is NBC? I can't seem to get it, and I'd assume that if I can get pax I should be able to get NBC. This OTA hd stuff is a pain in the ass .

Hrmm I tuned to 52, and it turned to 52-1 and then transferred to 2-1, and I thought I was about to get something, and then it went back to no signal .

Ok I got NBC to show up, but it is all pixelly and keeps going and coming back. I don't know if it's a signal issue or not, when I get a lock on the channel, the siganl is very strong according to the meter (about 8 bars). Do I need a more powerful antenna or is NBC having problems?

After CBS went offline at 10, NBC came in 100% perfect. Must be multipath issues between cbs and nbc.

I was experiencing the same problems too. Since I am new to getting the local dt channels I need a little help on this. Again I have a Hughes E86. I never got the feed for fox 13-1(which i saw yall complaining abou tit earlier posts, so i assumed that was normal), nbc 5-1 was doing good until right around 10 which is what Boston just mentioned is sometimes distorting. cbs 3-1 was coming in very pixely at first and then started coming on strong until it went offline. I maybe got wlmt 30-1 for a little bit, but then lost it around 9. abc 24-1 was coming in good until 9 also and I got nothing. pax 50-1 came in until around 9:15, but it was very pixely also. Here come my questions for those who have been getting local dt channels for a while: 1) is this type of activity normal?? 2)how often/long are the channels broadcast is dt per day?? 3) and are there any antennas out there that are digital that automatically adjust to the direction for a specific channel?? I ask that because I have tried different antennas, and I now have a Terk TV35 and a RS VU-12XR hooked up thru a diplexer and pointing in different directions(got different results each by trial-n-error and hooking them up seems best) I would like to simplfiy life and get 1 antenna that could maybe adjust for me.

Leno looks incredible, but I don't know if this was really worth the almost $500 I spent on the receiver and antenna.

Rick,

I will try to help answer your questions..........

1. as far as I can tell there is no "normal" for ATSC, from Memphis anyway. We are still in the early stages of the technology, and there are bugs to be worked out.

2. The last I saw, as in on my own TV, CBS was prime time only, NBC was pretty much all day, not sure about the over-night. Fox for me still is a no-show. ABC is prime time only, along with UPN. PAX seems to have no reason to their schedule, almost as if they forget to "throw the switch" quite often. With that all being said, Titantv now has all day schedules listed for most Memphis stations, but I have yet to be able to confirm.

3. You are killing your reception with 2 antennas diplexed together. Doing this will cause serious multipath and signal loss. I can link you to threads that discuss this in great detail if you like, but rest assured you need to seperate those feeds. If you must have 2 antennas in differnet directions, I would use an A/B switch. It would be clumsy, but would solve some of the problems you have now. I dont think anyone makes an automatic antenna. The closest thing would be to get a rotator, which would adjust the antenna to a setting you chose for the best reception of a given channel.

Have Fun!!

I emailed our cbs affiliate, and starting April 1 CBS digital feed will be on 10:35am to 10:35pm.

Dirk,
What would be a good rotator that you would recommend? How much are they? And last, where can I pick that up? Like at Radio Shack?

Thanks,
Dennis

Weird, today I started picking up cbs at around 1pm and it's now 6:19 and I can't get anything but cbs. Strange.

CBS is broadcasting on the .1 and .2 subchannels. They haven't been doing that lately...

Yeah it's strange. I am picking up PAX now. I just called WMC and they said they were having problems or something at the tower and that it should be up at 7 which is in 4 minutes.

I must admit I havent purchased a rotator, but the general notion is that channel master makes some of the best. Lowes carries that brand. I belive it is around 100 dollars.

Radio Shack used to carry rotators. They may still, but many posts here metion radio shack trying to get out of the outdoor antenna business.

I figured out why the silver sensor wasn't working (it was too late/early to pick up a digital station), and the reception on my rca antenna sucked (bad multipath and multiple adjustments required just to change channels). So I went to best buy and exchanged the rca for another SS. I am getting the same signal I got with the rca, but with no multipath and no amplification. I can't wait to see if I can pick up nbc primetime.

fyi...I ended up taking the small antenna that i first bought and stuck that up in the attic and got very high signals later in the evening around 11 for the main channels that were on. So I don't have both antennas hooked up anymore. I just bought a new RS 15-1870 indoor antenna that will adjust to the strongest strength of a signal. But I noticed that there is a rj-59 cable coming out of it. If I still connect it to a rj-6 cable will I have that much of a noticable signal loss?

ABC is also broadcasting on sub-channels now........... -2.

My E86 wont pick up the sub-channels by using the remapped virtual channel. I have to enter the actual channel........ ie 28-2 or 25-2.

This afternoon CBS was stretched out to 16:9 and was subtitled on the -2.

BTW, Dennis for a short run I dont think that rg-59 will cause any problems.

So far the same feed on ABC -2.

no hd basketball on wreg! :X

Oh and with my silver sensor, I can get ABC, CBS, AND NBC now at 6:21p from the same position. This antenna certainly deserves it's praise. I just wish it wasn't so ugly and that it was a superhuman antenna that could pick up 24 in widescreen .

Does anyone have any contacts at WREG...to ask them to flip the switch.

I called wreg earlier and they said they weren't getting an HD feed :X .

So far WREG sucks, I've had my receiver for 3 days and haven't seen ANYTHING in HD from them.

BostonT: What is the number? State plays tonight and that would be my dream to see them in HD.

(901) 543-2111

Either ask the guy who answers or ask for engineering.

boston, what model # is the ss you have? Is it an indoor or outdoor?

When WREG comes in, does it have the black bars on the side for everyone else? Or pretty much for every channel. Should the feeds come in as widescreen?

I just called and the guy was nice and said they were working on it. I think the more people that call and let them know that most other cities are getting it, that will make it more likely they will get it done. I thnk they need a fire under them.

The silver sensor is an non amplified indoor antenna, I picked it up at best buy on winchester (they had like 4 more left). ABC and CBS 28-2 broadcast 4:3 stretched to 16:9. NBC and CBS 28-1 broadcast 4:3 signals with black bars on the sides.