Rockford, IL - HDTV - Page 32

The RCA ANT1500 is multi-directional and does not pick up channels 2-13 well at all. Since WREX is back on 13, that does not bode well for you.
Can you put an antenna in an attic, or on a roof? I'd suggest this:

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/cl_ant.htm

Get the ChannelMaster 3675 on the top right. It will do you well in an attic or outside.

Gilbert Im alittle surprised that you are picking up a VHF channel so well with a UHF only antenna

Ahh but the CM 4228 has a rather good coverage down to about CH11 you can stretch down to about CH 7 with it if you're within 30 mi. If you look at a gain chart like this one:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4228.html

The gain is not bad but if you are willing to make some modifications you can see a good amount of improvement in the high VHF gain.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/TemporaryPage.html

Hey, I live in Roscoe, I could not receive squat either, I built this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw and I receive so much more, no drop outs or pixilation. I even get some Madison channels! The best thing is, I didn't even put it on the roof because it was cold out side, I just propped it up in the corner behind my TV.

I am thinking about putting up a CH4228 when it gets warmer, but this works fin for now.

Good luck

The CH4228 is being redesigned to improve usable gain in the upper VHF range, where channel 13 resides. Otherwise, it is mostly a UHF antenna. But, in strong signal areas or line of sight situations, a wire wrapped around a tin can and hung from a window might suffice .

All the recent DIY recipes I've seen for antenna construction have been for UHF antennas. VHF antennas, with longer elements, are more cumbersome to design and build.

I don't know if this is just my converter box or is this something wide-spread but I just noticed every channels EPG is off by 1 hour. I have a Insignia converter box from Best Buy.

What time zone is it set to in the menu?

Yeah, like others have said, hyou get about 5 dB gain from it...it's a CM 4228 classic, not the HD model which has been tweaked for better performance on channels 7-13, at the expense of channels 14-51...although the loss is on the order of 2 db for UHF. That's about 40%, but 40% of a heck of a lot is still a lot.

It is set for Central and the current time was right but the programming was off by 1 hour for example last night it said ER was on from 6pm - 7pm but every thing seems to be fine now.

That area up there from Rockton to the WI/IL border is hard to get reception due to not only the river valley, but the big hills between the towers and downtown Rockton. It was hard for a live truck to get a signal back to the station in that area even with a 50' mast. I can only imagine what a DTV is like.

Anyone else not able to receive 13-1 all of a sudden? Up until last friday, I was able to receiver it fine. Now my signal strength is all over the place. Nothing on my end has changed at all. I am even using an indoor antenna to pick it up, and it worked fine before, but now, nothing.

My tv is picking up a signal, in fact I got it to get 92% solid for a while, but my tv is still just displaying a box that says "poor signal quality"

Any suggestions?

I am in loves park near 251 and theodore st.

13-1 spotty here at best. External antenna, north side of Machesney Park.

Hmmm. weird. Now this morning, it works perfect.

I'm at Renrose and Elm Ave in Loves Park. Channel 13 has been a real problem since it changed from the temporary channel 54 back to its channel 13 transmitting frequency.

Two weeks ago I got a medium sized yagi antenna that is cut for channels 7-13. This was mounted on the rooftop pole above the 4 bow-tie DB-4 UHF antenna. But, channel 13 would drop out around 10:30 PM just like clock work most of the time, but rabbit ears in the house would get it OK. Now and then it would be OK, seemingly dependent on the weather. Conclusion: I had not found the "sweet spot" for it to minimize multi-path distortion.

Then, I realized that the UHF and VHF antennas were too close to each other. Each needs some space around it. I moved things around on the roof top pole to give a good 4 feet between the UHF and VHF antennas and since then (knock on wood) channel 13 has been rock solid -- and UHF channels 17,23, 39 continue to be their usual solid selves.

Funny, moving the VHF Yagi antenna upwards 2 feet made all the difference in the world.

Dick

WIFR news is now in HD. Interesting. Looks great from DeKalb!

Beginning sometime yesterday afternoon (Monday) I get no sound on the ABC and CBS channels.

Channels 17-1 and 23-1 have no sound. Channels 17-2 and 23-2 have sound. Channels 13-1 and 13-2 have normal sound.

I did a rescan on my tuner. Am I the only one without sound on these two channels?

Sound problem solved. The sound feeds from the two stations was either stereo or dual mono. It had no 3.1 or surround info in it. So, because my amplifier that runs the L&R speakers had died (unbeknownst to me) I had no sound. And, because the Outlaw pre/pro interpreted the sound feed as "Digital" I could not switch the decoding of the input to something like Dolby Pro Logic that could synthesize a center channel.

The bad amp was replaced and all is now OK, but I have a new realization of the amount of time the local channel sound feeds from ABC and CBS are something less than expected for "digital" stations.

NBC, on the other hand, does a nice job of providing surround sound more of the time.

I run my HT with four small Hafler amps so replacement of an amp now and then is not a big deal. Better than those huge multi-channel amps all built on one chassis. My $0.02.

Hello all, reviving this thread from the dead. I moved to Sycamore this past week and am trying to pickup up channels from Rockford. Bought a RCA VHF/UHF antenna rated for 65 miles yesterday and set it up in the attic. It was a big waste of time and money as I only picked up one channel, WTVO. Doesn't make much sense to me, there must be some kind of metal sheathing on the roof that is totally blocking the signal. I was going to return the antenna, but destroyed it trying to fold it back up to fit down the hatch.

I found that if I stick my old Silver Sensor in the master bedroom I can pick up everything but WREX. The reception isn't stable. I'll have 80% one minute and 0 the next.

It doesn't seem like it should be this hard to get reception from Rockford in Sycamore. Anyone else around Rt 23 and Mt. Hunger able to get reception short of a huge roof mounted antenna? Any thoughts on things to try?

Keep in mind that I can't put an antenna on the roof as it's considered a common area and antennas are not allowed on the patio either. Satellite dish is fine, but no antennas.

You could try one of the smaller UHF antennas like the 8-bays that there are instructions to build in the HDTV Tech forum. UHF ANT thread I have one I built and just put in the window behind the shade pointing northward. As I am on the S side of Rockford this works for me. If you have a proper facing window you can give it a try. The parts are only about $15.

Wrex is broadcasting on the VHF band and the Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna. As far as the strength going from 80 to 0 and back again you actually may be getting too much signal. Are you in a home association?

Yup, dealing with an HOA. I knew that they didn't like antennas before I even put in a bid so I can't knock them too much.

My first though is am I perhaps dealing with multipath or indirectly picking up a reflected signal. I was thinking of trying Antennas Direct Clearstream 1, it's readily available at Best Buy. For it's size it seems hard to believe that it's much better than your typical indoor UHF loop.

Also looking at the Winegard SS-3000. Kind of odd looking, don't know if it lives up to it's marketing or if it's a piece of junk.

The easy solution would be to pick up Rockford via my Dish Network setup. However Sycamore is in the Chicago DMA so they won't let me have it, despite the fact that Rockford is technically available OTA. With Chicago some 60 miles away and Rockford only 35 the DMA doesn't make a lot sense either.

You may get a alot of crap but i'm pretty sure legally that they cant keep you from putting an antenna on your roof.

I haven't looked, but it would be interesting to see if you could fashion or purchase an antennal that was shaped like a satellite dish with a reflective grid and some active receiving elements... Wonder how that would go down in the battle. (Or if it would even be big enough to work in your area)

Funny enough Radio Shack does have an antenna that (sort of) looks like a satellite dish.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2348191

I'll play nice and try some other indoor options first. If that doesn't work then I'll press the HOA. Heck, I've noticed neighbors that have three or four dishes up, I don't see a small unobtrusive antenna like the Antennas Direct ClearStream2 as being any worse than multiple dishes.

You can't fool Mother Nature or violate the laws of physics. Unfortunately, too much of the descriptive literature about antennas is nonsense bordering on the criminally dishonest. The Antennas Direct ClearStream2 you mentioned is only rated at 50 miles and is UHF only. You could easily build a better UHF antenna yourself and save a bunch of $$.

A separate Channel 13 Yagi for the top end of VHF and an 8 bow tie UHF antenna should do the trick -- if they were roof top mounted. I forget the exact rule of thumb but an attic installation is only about 50% as good as a roof top, but usually still better than down in the house itself. At 65 miles distant you should have enough signal strength for an attic installation.

Keep in mind that there are "sweet spots" for reception and their distances apart vary by wavelength. As I recall, a sweet spot for channel 13 is about 12 feet apart from spot to spot, and the distances are proportionally less for the UHF channels. It's all based on wavelengths. But, moving an antenna a few feet one way or another can often make a huge difference, especially for in-attic installations.

I would be tempted to give a channel 13 Yagi a trial in your attic and move it around to try and find its sweet spot. This is the antenna I am using for channel 13:

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_disp...om=Large#xview

The UHF channels might be received OK with an in-attic installation and building one is not too difficult as UHF wavelengths are much shorter than channel 13. Recipes abound here to do so. But, if you build one of the projects listed here make it a large antenna, an 8 bow-tie version. And, again, try moving it left and right and forward and backward to find the "sweet spot" for at least the weakest UHF channel. Unfortunately, sweet spot locations vary by wavelength so the preferred location for one channel may not be the same one as for a different channel. But, Sycamore is only 65 miles away so you should have enough signal strength to allow for a little imprecision in positioning an antenna, especially for UHF.

Again, there is no magic in antenna design. You can't substitute fancy product descriptions for number of working elements and square inches of receiving elements.

Hey JM,

I was on vacation last week and missed this completely. Sorry to hear of your troubles...I thought you'd get a lot more, but you are in a fairly low area.

You should be getting WQRF pounding into your antenna, at 900 kw.

I live in Edgerton, WI north of Janesville and I tried my Terk indoor/outdoor amplified antenna upstairs and I get 70% for WIFR and WTVO and that's about it. WREX could not lock and I doubt I will ever get FOX 39. I did it just for sh*ts and giggles. I have my Madison HD locals thru QAM and Dish HD.

Gurrrr if only all the stations were on UHF and at the same frequency as WIFR and WTVO!

Fox 39 has the strongest signal of them all. You may be getting too much signal. Try unpluging the amp and then try 39.

I will lose the other 2 then?

unplugging my amp and rescanning gives me zilch.

I forgot to add I bought 2 antennas a while back the other one was a Philips. I used the Philips amp with the Terk antenna since it boosted the signal better.