San Francisco, CA - OTA - Page 220

I was going to watch a Giants game today, turned it on, saw that they were using blurry-vision, turned it off. That picture is awful.

Amen to that. I guess KNTV has never heard of this new thing called HD.

Update: problem solved. Found the preamp power plug semi-disconnected (if there's one thing I learnt from 24-hour standby electronics repair in the USAF, it was ask the operator to check the wall plug before going in at 3AM!). The socket is not loose, so I assume something must have fallen onto the wire inside my garage pulling out the plug, but nothing was obvious. Oh well, all's well as ends better!

Lost all my UHF (signal too low for reception 20% or less) on my upstairs HD TiVo and Samsung TV. VHF (7 & 11) come in clearly, but signal strength not as strong as previously (65% versus 85%). The downstairs HD TiVo and Sony TV (closer to the antenna lead in and prior to splitting off to the rest of the house) get a few UHF but nowhere near what I was getting prior to 10 PM last night (didn't try prior to that, but had perfect signal Monday night). Also lost all FM reception (which I was getting yesterday morning, but not clearly).
I'm assuming that it's probably my antenna preamp and not some major problem with all UHF from Sutro...

For trouble shooting I was thinking of just bypassing the preamp on the antenna mast and see if the signal improves. Any other ideas? Or is the indication good enough to just go ahead and order a new preamp??

Thanks.

Excellent point! So many difficulties and TV troubles have come down to a loss of power, a broken wire, or a loose connection. Everyone expects the worst, so it's always great to find the easy answer.

Glad your problem is solved. Shows how much your preamp is doing for you!

Larry
SF

Absolutely! But that brings up another question: My antennas are not supposed to receive FM, and the mast-mounted preamp has an FM cutoff switch (as I recall), yet I definitely receive FM via them. We get zero FM stations that we listen to (KDFC, KALW, KQED, KPFA, KUSF) here without the external antenna attached.

Most FM filters, whether electronic or stubs of an antenna, are not absolute in their signal attenuation. If you are moderately close to transmitters, it might take upwards of 50-60 dB of attenuation to completely stamp out those signals.

For those viewers in the far South Bay, you might notice interference when trying to view KOFY TV 20, which transmits on channel 19 from Sutro Tower. A new low power station has just come on the air from the Mt. Toro area in Monterey County, transmitting on channel 19. They have "This TV" movies on channel 19.1 and color bars, so far, on channels 19.2, 19.3 and 19.4.

Larry
SF

Larry:

I finally got a Channel Master 4228HD on the roof and it works great. I have finally stepped into the world of HD. Thanks so much for your help.

Greg

Great to hear that the antenna is working well for you!

How strong do channels 7 and 11 come in for you compared to the other stations?

Do you get any more distant stations, like 22, 50 or 68 up north or 8, 25, 32 or 46 from down south?

Larry
SF

7 and 11 come in strong (70's and 80's). I haven't gone through every channel but the strength seems to be 50's to 80's. I do not get the channels up north but the antenna is facing south/southwest. I get 8 and 32 but not 25 or 46. So, in sum, I get 2 4 5 7 8 9 11 20 26 28 32 38 40 44 60 65 66.

Greg

Greg, what do you really watch out of those?
I don't watch all that I can get, just 2,4,5,7,9.1,11.1, 11.3,20 and 44.

Am I missing any new channels that worse to watch / record?

Does 8 come in .... everyday ?

You can try manually-entry scan 13 and see what happens.
If successful, it will show reception as FOX35 from the same tower(s) as 8
Welcome to the world of FREE tv in HD.

The only local group of stations that you're not getting are the ones that transmit from the hills above Fremont, Mt. Allison and Monument Peak. One is KICU 36, two are Spanish stations, KDTV 14 and KSTS 48, the fourth is KTEH 54, and the last is low power channel 1.

Since you get 9, you get KTEH on 9.2. Looks like the 4228 is working well for you.

Larry
SF

In a couple of weeks, I'm moving to a new place in Almaden (95120). It's off Almaden Road on the Almaden Quicksilver Park side. According to Google Earth, the ground elevation of the house is about 60 feet higher than Almaden Road. I think it's a straight shot to SF without the signal having to pass over mountains or big hills.

I would like to install a rooftop antenna, but my wife doesn't want our first act to be to "destroy" the view for the uphill neighbor, so I'm thinking of first trying an antenna in the attic. It is a composite roof, which I understand is the best option for the signal to pass through. I need to pull in ABC and NBC on VHF, in addition to the UHF stations. The attic is pretty spacious but I'm wary of going crazy with a huge antenna.

Any recommendations for a specific antenna, or advice in general?

Jim

I'd go to tvfool.com and enter your exact address and a realistic antenna height above ground. I entered your zip code and 30' and the results were not very encouraging. It shows Sutro Tower as a 2 edge path.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9fbe07ec24aa5d

Definitely an outside antenna required from these results.

Chuck

Looks like my specific location may be better than general Almaden:

http: //www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d9fbe97717a6fd5

All the stations I care about are line of sight. Do you think a modest size attic antenna might work?

(Sorry for the mangled URLs, apparently I don't have enough posts to send URLs.)

Jim

Oh yes, that's much better! You should have a good chance with an attic antenna. I'd still go with the largest one that will fit without much hassle.

Chuck

Hi All,

I'm wondering if I should look into a distribution amp? I have 4 tuners, one in my garage, 3 in my living room (tv + dual tuner dvr). The antenna is mounted above the garage, the signal is split in the garage attic and goes to a tv there, and to the living room which is about 50 feet away, and the signal is split 3 ways in the living room.

For almost all the stations I get (KCRB + Mt. Sutro, Mt. San Bruno and Monument Peak), the signal meter seems to be always 'full' in the garage, and I've never noticed any degraded signal or cutouts. The exception is KAXT which doesn't always stay full on the meter, but I don't think I've seen the signal cutout, and it's hard to tell when things look bad if it's interferrence of lack of bandwidth.

In the living room, however, things are different. A lot of the time the signal meter is full, especially at night, but sometimes the meter is much lower, and I'll see interferrence or loose the channel breifly.

I'm thinking since the signal is good in the garage, boosting it after the splitter in the attic would help signal quality in the living room? (I'd be worried about possibly overloading the tuner in the garage if i put it before the splitter?) Does this make sense?

[quote=toast0;18736537]Hi All,

I'm wondering if I should look into a distribution amp?

I'll see interferrence or loose the channel breifly.


Yes and No,
Be aware of things & conditions when the signal drops and pixelates.

... Did an airplane just fly overhead and drop my signal ?
... Did I just turn on a light with a dimmer switch, etc ?
... Tv signal drops ... when I turn on the heater / AC ?

... Are the cable connections in the living room loose ?
... Did the dog / kids damage the living room cable ?
... Are ALL the cables the same ? RG-6 ?
... Is the splitter a UHF-VHF splitter ?
... Is the cable properly grounded ?

Based on the limited information you provided.
It may, or may not, help.

What kind of DVR do you have? I have some additional information for you on that if it's a DTVPal DVR.

Chuck

I'm using MythTV with two PCTV HD 800i cards.

I understand now. If you want to use a distribution amp I'd replace the 2-way splitter with a CM-3412, not too much gain and a low noise figure.

It's not clear from what you wrote before that you need one though. I'd check all the things that 888CALLFCC listed because it sounds more like a connection problem.

Chuck

Ok cool. I'll definitely check the connections, and try to pay more attention when I'm having problems to see if things are correlated with dimmers or airplanes or the kitty playing with the wires

No Joke.
Here ... a 4 foot fluorescent tube ballast was causing "non-stop" pixelation
to some vhf channels. When turned on.
This mystery took me 5 months to discover. Lots of wasted time.
Gee, must be the antenna. not always the correct answer.

Check everything.
... Your neighbor or a local business that is arc-welding from 8am- 5pm
if you have pixelation between 8am - 5pm Etc,

You turn on the tv, time for dinner,
You turn on the gas kitchen stove. Click, Click, Click, sparks the flame.
The tv signal drops. ?
Must be the antenna. ? Wrong The pilot-sparker dropped the tv signal.

For now, ... Don't blame the cat !
Ben

Throw - away.
Those 3 foot "coax" jumper cables that come with new consumer electronics

Use RG-6 cable .... with UL listed stamping printed on the side. "CATV."

Hi,

If black, cut it up into 3" pieces.

When I got my first ATSC card I used one to connect and no NO DTV stations, it would not pass RF beyond 3-4. Now I get ~ 75.

I use White RP-59 with preattached connectors now. The Fire Hose PG-6 is too big.

SHF

PG-6 is too big?? I always used the fattest stuff I can get my hands on. Hmm, maybe I should try some different cable from the antenna??

Hello everyone,

So this is my first post, however I like many people have been referencing AVS Forums for many of my questions. I have decided that I am cutting my UVerse cable and moving to OTA because I really only watch the network stations, and everything is available online. I previously used OTA channels before when I lived in Phoenix right next to the transmitting towers. I have been trying to research as much as possible, however I could use some advice on transitions from cable to OTA.

Here is my situation. I have a HTPC with Windows 7 in my living room, and I am in the process of putting an extender in my bedroom. I just ordered an HDHomerun Dual Tuner. I also have an additional tuner in my HTPC.

As far as my antenna placement situation. I live on the second floor of a condo complex. I am renting the condo, so I would like to avoid making modifications to the condo if it is something that isn't cheap to fix once I vacate. I do have a balcony, however I do need to check with the HOA president to see if there are some type of rules in place. Maybe she'll let me put something on the roof.

Although I know I will recoup all costs by cutting cable, I would like to keep all expenses under a reasonable budget. But I don't want to sacrifice quality to save a few pennies.

So what do you all think is a good antenna for my situation? I know that it will vary per exact location, but I am concerned with having to worry about the network channels that are VHF (ABC and NBC). In Phoenix, I think they were all UHF. Also since I know I might need to try different antennas, if you could recommend a store with a good return policy.

Here is my TV Signal Analysis results from TV Fool (had to add the '----' since I'm not allowed to post URLs yet):

----http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d9fbe3461c63732----


I appreciate any help and advice you could give me. Thanks in advance.

Can someone give me some recommendations related to which antenna to purchase and where to locate it? I live in Los Altos and my TV Fool url is http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9fbea1525b9e4e. I am replacing comcast with OTA tv. I have the a dual tuner HD Home Run http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun_atsc and am interested knowing what kind of antenna(s) to purchase and how to set it up.

My thoughts were around the following alternatives:
- connect to one multi directional antenna and split the signal so the same signal goes in to both inputs in the hd home run
- connect to HE HomeRun two multi directional antennas, one for each input in the HD HomeRun.
- connect HD HomeRun to two uni directional antennas (58 degrees and 324 degrees)
- Attic versus roof installation . Attic is easier but roof is possible as well.
- Do I need to amplify the signal if I split it? What products do this and where would I get one?

I have a limited opportunity to purchase a second hand Antennas Direct ClearStream4 HDTV Antenna for $60 that expires tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but I've read most of this thread.

It doesn't look like the ClearStream4 has very good VHF reception, according to this http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/TemporaryPage.html The graph seems to indicate about -15 db on channel 7 (ABC KGO-DT, Sutro Tower), and about -5db on channel 12 (NBC Virtual channel 11 KNTV-DT, Mt. San Mateo). I would pass, unless you were thinking about getting a directional UHF+VHF for Sutro and Mt. San Mateo, and using the ClearStream 4 to pick up the San Jose area stations (KTEH, KICU and KAXT).

I'm in San Jose near the 880/280 interchange, and I've got a Channel Master 4228 HD pointed at Sutro Tower. Although it's pretty directional, I still pick up the San Jose stations, as well as Sutro and Mt. San Mateo and KRCB. My guess is you can probably do the same from Los Altos, which isn't too far away.

I'm pretty sure the concensus is that if you can get the antenna on the roof, it's going to perform much better. Most of the people doing attic installs seem to be much closer to Sutro; doesn't mean it won't work in the attic though. I bought and had my antenna installed by Dick's Antenna, cause I'm clumsy and didn't want to get up on the roof. (Plus I had already screwed up and bought a 'unidirectional' antenna and mounted it on an old satellite dish post, and it worked really poorly, so my wife was mad! and wanted a professional involved