Chattanooga, TN - HDTV - Page 12

where is a place I can get the Channel Master 4228 and preamp in Chattanooga/Cleveland area or, prhaps on internet?

I don't know of anyone locally who carries it, but check out solidsignal.com, they are a reputable online dealer.

I really DON'T like shields electronics on bonny oaks (off 153 in chattanooga), but I BELIEVE they carry channel master. Don't know how big their selection is, but I'm pretty sure they can order whatever you want.

Be careful through they seem to have a random restocking charge.

I second that! I'm the IT Manager for a local company and we had just spent about $5,000 with them in one week. The next week i purchased 2 (2) port KVM switches from them that would not work for my application. They charged me a 20% restocking fee!!! I was a little ticked! I said I'd never go back and so far i haven't!! Believe me, I'm alll about helping the little guy, but i'm not into getting screwed by anybody!!

Thanks to all. I ordered the CM 4228 and preamp 7777 from solidsignal.com. The price looked good but I thought the shipping charges were a bit high. Now that I have that coming what type of cable should I use to run from the antenna to the preamp to the TV?

Just get a good quality RG-6 cable from Home Depot or somewhere and you'll be all set.

I've been having a problem getting WDEF lately. I'm running a silver sensor indoors at the top of my wall unit to my HTPC. I've had success in getting their signal before, but lately the signal strength has dropped a bunch and this weekend it's registering no signal.

Anyone else lose it? I also have an amplifier on the line so I'm doing all I can to boost it.

No Fox 61 for many days now. I'm getting very good signal strength from WTVC, WFLI and WRCB as well as the PBS station.

WDEF is coming in here just fine. Also no Fox 61 here either, like that's really a surprise...

WDEF is good here as well. I use to have problems with PBS during the winter months. Weather can effect reception. I've since fine tuned my silver sensor and just added an amplified spliter from PDI. I have split my HD antenna connections 3 times and I was losing some signal quality. This improved my PBS reception from a 42 (still receivable) to an 80. This is not a pre amp though.

Is all RG6 the same. bought one run at home depot and another run at Radio Shack. Both say RG 6 on the wire but HD also says digital 2300 mhz while Radio Shack states RG 6 CaT V. Does it make a difference?

Actually there are different types. I just bought some RG6 Quad-shield coaxial cable. It has solid copper 18AWG center conductor, 2 full layers of foil and 2 layers of 60% braided shielding with Snap-n-Seal compression style "F" connectors. I got it off eBay...

But really, any RG6 should be good enough for running an antenna to a tuner. RG6 just lets you run it longer with less db loss than the rg59 so commonly used with cable TV.

Just finished installing the CMaster 4228 and the 7777 preamp/amp in my attic. I now have a Radio Shack antenna for the VHF and the CM for the UHF. I am picking up ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS pretty well. By the way I am talking about analog here as I do not have an HD TV yet because I did not think I could get HD signals in Cleveland OTA. If I am getting these stations fairly clear (some ghosting) is there a good chance I will be able to get the digital signals. I don't want to spend several thoiusand dollars on a TV and find out I cannot get the digital signal.
Also, I noticed Channel 53 (WB network) is very diifcult to get clearly.

Yes you have a very, very good chance of getting HD just fine. The reason you can't get 53 very well is their analog transmitter is down in Georgia. Their HD transmitter is located on Signal Mtn with all the other stations so you should be able to pull them in good as well.

If you are worried about not getting a good signal, why not go out and pick up an HD receiver and hook it up to your current TV just to see what kinds of signal levels you get. You can always return it if need be.

Off topic here...but what would I be able to get if I hooked up a HD reciever to a non-HD tv? Would I be able to see the subchannels just not in digital?

Most if not all HD receivers will downconvert the HD signal so it can display on a regular TV, so you will get both HD channels and SD subchannels.

ColdBrew, what does this mean, you "tuned" the attenna? How? And, will amplification of the antenna cable improve the signal strength?

By tune, I mean to adjust the direction of the antenna. I'm using a directional antenna and I moved it so that it picks up PBS as strong as possible. It is the network I have the most problems with (I did that is).

The amp that I got would only help you if you have split the signal coming out of the antenna several times or if you are running the cable from the antenna for a really long length.

If you are having reception problems, sometimes a preamp will help, like what SCVOL bought above.

Is anyone having any luck pulling in WDSI lately? My Tivo reports no signal, but when I scan that channel on a Samsung receiver it locks the receiver up, so I'm wondering if they are transmitting but their PSIP is screwed up or something.

Anyone with a Dish HD receiver picking up OTA guide information for WFLI-53? I have a model 942 receiver, and I can pickup guide info on all of the other locals except WB53.

I was receiving WDSI last night through my Pioneer plasma's receiver. Didn't get a chance to check it on my other receivers...

I've had Directv for 5 months and had their guys install the off air antennae. My reception has been "less than avg" to say the least. The ONLY channel that comes in decently is the CBS affiliate. And that is still pixelated every few seconds. What can I do to get better HD reception?? I live in East Brainerd off of Morris Hill, not too far from the mall. Any help guys??

I am receiving all the locals from Chatt. in Cleveland with a antenna in my attic. From what I know most satt. installs that I have seen use some very cheap and not to good antenna. The proper antenna and proper placement is of utmost importance. I was told no way could I pick this stuff up without erecting a very high tower but I can get it all with less than 100.00 worth of antenna, amp etc. from my attic. Others on here from your same area should be able to advise what equiptment they are using. I am using a Channelmaster 4228 8 bay bowtie antenna hooked to a Channelmaster 7777 amp. Hope this helps.

Great, thanks for the info. Any idea where I can get this equipment and how to set it up?

A few items of interest:

I'm still having trouble receiving WDEF (CBS). Haven't tried tinkering with the antenna yet though.

Still no WDSI (Fox) for a while).

WTVC (ABC) still coming in clear.



Switching gears to Comcast......I began beta testing their On Demand service here in Chattanooga a couple of weeks ago. Everything seems to be working fine and they tell me that they have approximately 1300 hours of programming loaded onto their server as of right now. They plan to have over 4000 hours of programming loaded soon.

There's a good mix of free programming and pay programming, although the more interesting selections are of the pay variety. There is only one HD movie (The Ring 2) for download and it will cost you about $4.

There's quite a lot of free on demand programming for kids, which for me is good timing since we just had our first baby a couple of weeks ago. There is also a whole section on parenting topics, including a two part informational program on infant CPR (surprisingly so).

Lots of Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet type stuff. There's several sub-categories for every type of programming.

There's some adult programming available with lots of detail in the description write up lol

There's even a section for personals where you can upload a description of yourself and read others' descriptions and then (for a price) contact one that appeals to you. Kind of like on-line dating, but over cable.

The only thing that bugs me (besides quality programming overall - that may be fixed as more stuff is loaded onto their server) is that when rewinding, fast forwarding and pausing the on demand programming, there's no way to see how far along you are in the show, or how much of the show is remaining. It would be nice if they had a feature similar to what they have on the DVR that has a horizontal bar that tells you where you are in the program when you want to move forward or backward in the program.

I will also add that the picture quality even on the standard definition programming looks surprisingly good. Even friggin sesame street looks decent.

I just purchased the CMaster 4228 and 7777 preamp at solidsignal.com. Got it in about a week.

Tonight I noticed that WTCI is apparently broadcasting the same HD concert on all 4 of their sub-channels (Cream Reunion Concert). This is insane because doing this makes the resolution crappy on all 4.

The 19300Mbps data rate becomes something like 4825 on each channel. It really looks awful.

I'm calling them tomorrow 629-0045

Anyone having a problem with ABC? I'm not sure if something is wrong with their tower or if maybe the weather has killed my reception...

Not your problem it's off the air. They have Channel 61 disease.

I believe they've been working on installing a new antenna this week so they can increase their power.

Fine with me, as long as it fixes all their audio drop out problems...

At least they are doing it while most of the shows are doing repeats...