Chattanooga, TN - HDTV - Page 73

yup SINclair is up to its old tricks again......contract time with a provider and they want more money
They did it with Dish last year

Went from

Comcast to DirectTV to EPB to OTA

I rank them like this in terms of IQ and service quality

DirectTV, OTA, EPB, Comcast

DirectTV awesome IQ, awesome boxes, most HD, never went out once
EPB has horrible slow boxes and were not compatable with my TV via HDMI. New company with a lot of improvement still to be had on the TV side of things.
Comcast cut out constantly and was expensive.


So went OTA. Get 30 channels with 7 in HD. I live on the east side of Chattanooga, and get all the stuff loud and clear coming from the west. No issues. Only channel 39 has poor signal quality that comes in and out. Will fix that once I adjust the antenna to more the center of the broadcast location cluster.
Signal range from 50% to 90% but added a splitter and went to 70%~100% and 39.1 came in.
Thinking about adding another antenna to see if I can pick up PBS and ION, though they both are 2Edge at my location.
If I get those stations will have 36 channels for FREE!

Was paying $85/mo for EPB TV or $1020/yr!
Love went going OTA.

Thinking about maybe getting a Hauppauge once I get a server cluster built.
Edited by reddog007 - 4/18/13 at 12:18pm

What brand of antennae and type are you using to get over 30 channels??? I'm considering going OTA from EPB as well, but still in the early stages of planning.

Winegard HD7694P

All coax is RG6 and using a Channel Master 3414 4-way distribution AMP.

It is hilly through these parts, so make sure to check out TVFool. If you live behind a hill or in a valley it could potentially be harder to pick up any network, thus require better antenna and more heigth.


Just as an FYI, 13 channels are 3ABN type channels. If you are into those channels, more power to ya!
Edited by reddog007 - 4/18/13 at 12:38pm

Okay, I took the plunge and bought the same antenna and amp you listed. Per TV fool, based on my location, it says an attic set-up should work, so we'll see.

My main concern is picking up the main 4 networks; anything else would be a bonus.

If this set-up works, then it's on to my next concern: figuring out how to set up my extra PC to work as a DVR. If you (or anyone else reading) have any suggestions (software, etc.) in this area, they are more than welcome!!! And thanks in advance!

Okay, the antenna, amp, and mast came last night and i set it all up in the attic. i only had time to run a channel scan on two of my four tvs. my small 19" magnavox in the kitchen picked up around 25 channels or so, including nbc, abc, cbs, & Fox, with no issues whatsoever.
my 46" samsung (ln46a650) in the basement only picked up 18 or 19 channels, and could not pick up Fox. maybe the samsung's tuner isn't as good as the magnavox? i'm fairly certain that both cable runs are rg6, but need to go back up and check.

Check that the ends of the cables are securely attached. I've seen more than one instance of poor signal that resulted from uncrimped ends on cables.

- Trip

Went home and made sure all cables were fully tightened to the basement tv, and found one that wasn't. So I tightened it, re-scanned, and it now picked up Fox. Thanks for the tip!

(I had a chance to run a scan on my remaining two TV's, and they picked up everything as well, so I'm all set with cancelling EPB at the end of the month. Looking forward to Not spending $850+ a year on cable! )

Glad it helped!

- Trip

Glad to hear it all worked out for you!
Have you tried to see if you can pick up PBS out of Chatsworth, and ION out of Rome?

I think I can get PBS but not sure about ION. My antenna is on the roof, so have to wait for my wife to get back from out of town before I venture up there. But I still have a few more days till she is home. I also need to readjust it just in general to the left slightly. Channel 39.1 is just on the edge of getting a solid stream.

Myself, I was thinking of getting this or something similar if I find that I still want a DVR for OTA.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116036

Dual tuner so you can one of the following combos
- Watch two shows at once
- Watch one show while recording another
- Record two shows at once


Though if you only want a single tuner, you'll save a little bit of money. It comes with its own software. Just not sure how good it is. I found a 3rd party app that looked really good that works with this type hardware. If I find it I'll post back with a link.

Now I just need to find a way to have a TV Guide for the stations that I have. Might have to make an app for that (unless one exists) that can pull the data off network websites. I now have now idea what is coming on or going to be on which sorta is a bummer.

This is the tuner I recommend.
http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-Definition-Digital-HDHR3-US/dp/B004HO58SO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368639318&sr=8-1&keywords=hd+homerun

The only problem I've had with them are the power supplies.

As for the software I use Snapstream, but I can't recommend it. They no longer support it. You might want to look at MythTV or Media Center that comes with some versions of Windows.
http://www.mythtv.org/

I haven't used OTA recently. I've used Comcast since they started offering local in HD. But now that they are going to be scrambled I'm going to have to go back to my antenna. I have a Silver Sensor right now but when WTVC and WDEF moved to VHF my reception got worse on those channels.

I'm going to try a new antenna that is better at picking up VHF stations. The Holu Leaf seems to be popular. Anyone got other recommendations for the area. I mostly have a clear line of site to the transmitters at about 15 miles. I use the antenna in my attic.

I live ~25miles from the major networks and was able to pick them up with this
http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FlatWave-Indoor-Digital-Antenna/dp/B008WVM6FG/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1368671842&sr=1-3&keywords=winegard+antenna

None of the stations are LOS either. Either 1Edge or 2Edge.


All the big networks are HD. I get 7 HD channels iirc. Being 15 miles and LOS you could maybe get buy with even a TV mounted antenna. Something this size should be more than enough.
https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3739595
Not sure if that is a good antenna or not. TVFool? A larger antenna or multiple antennas could be of great benefit for additional channels.

I ended up getting this antenna. It can handle both VHF and UHF. And getting it from Amazon I have 30 days to return it if it doesn't do what I need it to.
http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-C2-V-CJM-ClearStream-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B007RH5GZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1368673103&sr=1-1&keywords=clearstream+2v

Just a quick update about the new antenna. I just replaced the Silver Sensor with the Antennas Direct C2-V-CJM ClearStream 2-V. I haven't done any adjustments, other than point it the same direction as the old one. I would say the UHF is about the same or maybe slightly worse on a couple of channels. But the VHF is much improved. I would say that 3, 9, and 12 now have as good of reception as the UHF channels do. So it seems that the antenna is working the way I wanted (receive VHF better).