San Francisco, CA - OTA - Page 3

I got mine years ago at Best Buy but I notice it isn't on their website so I'm not sure if they sell it at the stores anymore. Seems like there is always at least one for sell on eBay. When scouring the web, try the following keywords: Silver Sensor, Zenith Antenna, ZHDTV1. I think it is still considered the reigning king of indoor antennae.

You can get the Silver Sensor anywhere now days. I've seen them at BB, Sears, Fry's, etc, etc. I bought mine about 4 years ago and I had to go get one in London. I wish it was worth it. It's not a bad attennae, but it didn't work as well as my RS double bow-tie. I lived in two locations during this time period, the Marina up in SF and in Sunnyvale. It just didn't perform as well. The RS Amplified HDTV antennae though, kicks it. By far the best indoor attennae I've had.

Last week they weren't at CC (Mt. View), Sears (Los Altos) or Fry's (Palo Alto).

Hi all,

I live in the Los Gatos Mtn. I get 12 OTA digital channels, but NOT Channel 2 (fox). Sometimes I get snippets, but not reliable. Does channel 2 transmit at lower power?

My antenna setup is CM 2020, 22 db mast mount amp, and a antenna rotator. My Sony tv pulls in the channel 2 better than the DIRECTV HD Tivo box, but both are not reliable.

thx,
Glen

Sony KDF70XBR950
Hughes Directv HD Tivo box

I got mine at Orchard Supply Hardware in case you are still looking.

I currently have a D* HR10-250 HD-DVR with Zenith Silver Sensor. I am getting CBS-W from D*, & I am able to pull in KNTV by using Silver Sensor. My house is single story with no major tree or higher building around it.

Before I start spending money on OTA outdoor setup, I was wondering anyone has experience with regarding possible OTA HDTV reception for following channel in South San Jose, CA area:

FOX (CH 2.1)
ABC (CH 7.1)
KQED (CH 9.1)

When I enter my street address in "antennaweb.org" I only get following digital stations, none of station I want is listed:

* yellow - uhf KSTS-DT 48.1 TEL SAN JOSE CA 344° 18.8 49
* yellow - vhf KNTV-DT 11.1 NBC San Jose CA 155° 8.1 12
* yellow - uhf KDTV-DT 14.1 UNI SAN FRANCISCO CA 344° 18.8 51
* yellow - uhf KICU-DT 36.1 IND SAN JOSE CA 345° 18.0 52
* green - uhf KTEH-DT 50 PBS San Jose CA FCC Ext 345° 18.0 50
* violet - uhf KKPX-DT 65.1 PAX SAN JOSE CA 300° 44.4 41
* violet - uhf KSMS-DT 31.1 UNI MONTEREY CA 139° 13.6 31

If I enter adjacent zip code, which is about 5 miles north of of my house, I was able to get following digital stations:

* yellow - uhf KSTS-DT 48.1 TEL SAN JOSE CA 331° 13.9 49
* yellow - uhf KTEH-DT 50 PBS San Jose CA FCC Ext 331° 13.0 50
* yellow - vhf KNTV-DT 11.1 NBC San Jose CA 172° 13.5 12
* yellow - uhf KDTV-DT 14.1 UNI SAN FRANCISCO CA 331° 13.9 51
* yellow - uhf KICU-DT 36.1 IND SAN JOSE CA 331° 13.0 52
* green - uhf KKPX-DT 65.1 PAX SAN JOSE CA 293° 43.2 41
* lt green - uhf KTVU-DT 2.1 FOX Oakland CA 296° 46.9 56
* lt green - uhf KBHK-DT 45.1 UPN San Francisco CA 296° 46.9 45
* lt green - uhf KRON-DT 4.1 IND San Francisco CA 296° 46.9 57
* lt green - uhf KCSM-DT 43.1 PBS San Mateo CA 296° 46.9 43
* lt green - uhf KCNS-DT 38.1 SAH SAN FRANCISCO CA 296° 46.9 39
* red - uhf KGO-DT 7.1 ABC San Francisco CA 296° 46.9 24
* red - uhf KPIX-DT 5.1 CBS San Francisco CA 296° 46.9 29
* red - uhf KBWB-DT 20.1 WB San Francisco CA 296° 46.9 19
* red - uhf KTSF-DT 26.1 IND SAN FRANCISCO CA 293° 43.2 27
* red - uhf KMTP-DT 33 IND San Francisco CA FCC Ext 296° 46.9 33
* red - uhf KQED-DT 9.1 PBS San Francisco CA 296° 46.9 30
* red - uhf KSMS-DT 31.1 UNI MONTEREY CA 156° 17.8 31
* blue - uhf KFSF-DT 34.1 TFA VALLEJO CA 296° 46.9 34

Questions:
- Should I realy invest on an outdoor OTA setup?
- Is there any possibility I could get "reliable" HDTV signal from ~ 52miles away?
- If possible what will be the idea antenna, & how high should it be to get reliable reception?

Any comment is appreciated.

Anyone get HD OTA in San Ramon, CA? What kind of antenna do you use and how many channels do you get?

I have Comcast cable and I'm considering switching to DirecTV. The DirecTV solution for local HD channels is an OTA antenna co-mounted with the dish. I don't have line-of-sight with Sutro (the Hayward hills are in the way). I don't want to switch and then find out I'm SOL with respect to the local HD channels.

Anyone in Pleasanton, Dublin, Danville, Alamo, and Walnut Creek will likely have the same line-of-sight issues to Sutro that I do, so I'd like to hear from anyone in these cities who have OTA HD.

I have comcast and enjoying it so far. I am disappointed about KTVU (Fox HD) not being telecast through them.

I am thinking of getting an antenna so I can see the football games in HD.

I live in Livermore (Tri-Valley) and am hoping someone can tell me what I need in the way of antenna for my location and anything else to get going.

I wanted to get some input before I go out and buy a decoder.

Thanks for any advice.

Matt

a lot of people use antennaweb.org's wizard to help determine antenna. i think titantv.com also has one.

I'm in the "flatlands" of Berkeley and recently installed a MyHD 120 PCI card + daughterboard. I hooked up the card to both my rooftop antennas, a Winegard Chromstar II Ghost Killer Model CS-7210 that I bought for analog TV probably almost 15 years ago, and the one it replaced, a pretty standard analog rooftop antenna (which had pretty serious ghosting issues for me). I managed to pick up the NBC Olympics HD broadcasts (better on 48-2 than 11-1) by pointing my Winegard in the direction of the signal (antennaweb.org gave me that). Now that the Olympics are over, I'm back to pointing it at Sutro Tower, more or less. I'm picking up KTVU-HD (however, yesterday I was getting audio cutouts, but I think that may be an issue with my PC's problems - need to reinstall my struggling Windows 2000). I'm also getting KPIX (5-1) HD. KQED HD (on after 8 PM) comes in fine, and KRON-HD (57-1) seems to be 24/7 HD. It's nice to have at least one station that you can depend on to have an HD signal, even if I'm not into lacross. I have to wonder what I might get with DirecTV or Comcast HD content. However, I figure that HD content OTA will continue to escalate (I hope!).

I'm finding that HD is tremendous, but even the SD DTV stations are great. A virtually noiseless TV image is a revelation to me. The MyHD cards (and digital TV scene in general) are formidably complex as far as issues are concerned compared to the Leadtek Winfast TV2000 Deluxe PCI card (supports analog TV only) I was using, but the quality of the images make it very much worth it.

I'm in Livermore (Murdell and Stanely). The antenna of choice is the CM 4248 (or 3023 2-piece equivalent). Get an pre-amp (CM 7777). Mine is chimmeny mounted on a 10ft mast. Aim directly at the Dublin grade. You should get all the sutro stations. Also, you'll get KNTV's re-broadcast from Mt. Alison off of the side of the antenna, so you can get NBC without a rotator. Note that there is no direct line-of-sight to sutro.

There are several others in this valley that all use the same set-up. It works well. Rock-solid reception.

San Ramon and Dublin (and parts of Pleasanton) are more problematic because of multi-path.

I've had OTA for 2.5 years. I recently picked up the comcast HD box to get ESPNHD. BUT if you want fox, upn and wp, you must go OTA. It was really sweet to watch 3 games yesterday in HD (ignoring fox's audio issues).

pm me if you have more questions.

jeff

Jeff,

I'm a lot closer to the hill between my house (San Ramon) and Sutro than you are, so I might have more problems than you even though I'm closer to Sutro.

I'd rather use a smaller OTA antenna, such as the Winegard Squareshooter or a 4-bay, if I can due to homeowner association issues. I know about the FCC rulings, but I'd rather not alienate them by trying to put up something too big.

Ah, you mean it was Fox's problem? I was SURE it was either a weak signal off my antenna or my OS going South! CBS's HD I had no problems with, but the Fox sound would cut out every few seconds!

Muse,
It wasn't you. Check the HDTV programming thread and you'll lots of chat on it.

Best,
jeff

Wish I'd known that. I went up on my roof and changed the directions on both my antennas and rescanned all the stations. Now, I'm going to have to put them back and rescan. I should have at least considered the possibility that it was Fox's problem. I'll know better next time. Thanks!

Duskie:
I live in the Evergreen Area. Before I purchased a new HDTV, I went to CC and picked up the Samsung 360 just to see if I could pull in any digital signals. We don't have cable or satellite so OTA was the only option for us. I was able to easily get all of the stations that I was aware of that are broadcasted off of Sutro. I even managed to get Channel 11 (48.2?) which is located on the Telemundo tower in Fremont. Even the PAX station came in and I don't know where that comes from.

My antenna is on the roof (single story). It is a 15 year-old Winegard log-periodic antenna on top of a 15-foot mast. There is rotor attached as well but I didn't have to move it to tune in any stations. The cable from the antenna has the FM separated from it before it runs around the house on RG-6 cable to the garage where it is split to the various tv's in the house.

We have since purchased a new HD-ready tv and plan on buying LG's LST-4200A next month as our OTA receiver. I took the Samsung back after my "test" was done. HTH.

My local FOX digital OTA channel has been out for about the last 12 hours. It's still out as we speak. Does anyone who gets KTXL OTA having this same problem too?

KTXL is the Sac fox station. The local to SF bay area (which from your sig is where you are) is KTVU (56.1 RF, 2.1 PSIP).

don't know what their status is right now.

jeff

KTXL was out OTA yesterday evening, although it was apparently working fine on Comcast (via Comcast's direct fiber feed) in Sacramento.

You will get more information by posting in and/or reading the Sacramento OTA thread.

As you know, KTXL is the Sacto Fox affiliate. I get its digital signal pretty well here in Petaluma, while I get zilch for KTVU-DT. So I get to watch Niners in HD courtesy of KTXL-DT.

Where are you located, maddog?

KTXL is off the air during construction to increase their power from 290,000 watts to 1 megawatt. They intend to be on the air on weekends for football. They feed Comcast via fiber which is unaffected by the transmitter project.

I was just told by Comcast technical support that FOX has not provided them with a channel for their HDTV broadcasts. I was away from the area Sunday, but I recorded the SD broadcast of the 49ers game. During the game there were some HDTV logos on the screen.

Does anyone know what the status is for HDTV for KTVU-DT OTA and what is going on with FOX and Comcast?

Cox owns KTVU, and they are "asking" for more than Comcast is willing to pay to carry the HD feed.

There is a huge discussion of this in the Comcast HD thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=san+francisco

The 49er game was broadcast in HD by KTVU OTA. There was a snafu or two, but it worked.

Thanks fizbin. Does anyone know what's up with FOX HD and Comcast?

Quick and dirty, Cox/KTVU evidently wants more than "normal" for their digital feed and Comcast supposedly has told them to pound sand.

There is more on this in the SF BAY Comcast thread but that's about it in a nutshell.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I asked Comcast if that was the case but they declined to say it was. I've got to get my antenna back up in the next two days!

At least you can get KTVU-HD OTA, up here, nothing, not on Comcast, not on D* not nowhere, no how.

Guess you can tell I'm not ecstatic about the situation.

When D* starts with FOX I'm going to see if I can squeak it in under a waiver from the SAC affiliate as I guess they hand them out like candy up there, whereas KTVU is a flat NO.

Jim

KTVU_HD OTA came on at the start of the 49er game in glorious HD. Went to commericial and is still SD. It is 10:50 am now. Wha happen??? Of course D*TV has this game blacked out, but 3 or so other games are going in HD. KTVU had a glitch?

Jerry

Anybody know what is up with CBS football out here in the Bay Area? For some reason when they have a scheduled doubled header they often change to a single header. I understand why they black out the raiders games, but why not show any other games. I was expecting to get some good HD action today from CBS, but it looks like CBS is short changing us and not giving us the double header. If anybody knows what is going on, please share.