San Francisco, CA - OTA - Page 29

This afternoon I got 7-1 back again. Actually I now get two 7-1's.
7-2, the ABC News Channel is now gone. I knew it was going but I guess it just took awhile past the Jan 29 deadline. Maybe getting rid of it is what caused the problems with 7-1.
I have a Panny plasma with HD tuner built in.

7-2 is still there for me. What Jan 29th deadline? What happened to ABC news?

They ceased broadcasting, it wasn't a successful venture.

Cable, OTA, Satellite?

KTVU-HD fades were OTA. It was OK from 9AM until then.

I live in El Sobrante (94803 zip). Antennaweb shows only 1 digital channel for my address. Is there hope for me in getting OTA HD? I can't get any signal with a TERK antenna I got from Best Buy. Thanks for any input.

You should be able to get OTA. I do in San Ramon. Get yourself an amplified UHF antenna and get it on the roof or as high in your home as you can. You most likely will get CBS as one of the stronger signals for local OTA.

If you are going indoor, try the Radio Shack 15-1880.

I have a DB2 and CM7777 pre-amp in my attic and get most OTA signals.

I live in Castro Valley and use the Radio Shack 15-1880 and it works great for me. Watched the Superbowl yesterday in HD it was awesome.

Any comments on the RS 15-1880 vs the Silver Sensor?
Thanks.

can u elaborate more on this.. ur setup and exactly where in SJ?
in over by capitol/snell.. and superbowl looked great on FOX HD via OTA

The setup is Panasonic TU-DST52 STB, Radio Shack RS-2160 UHF, and Toshiba 36HF72 HD receiver-monitor. Location near 280-Saratoga-Moorpark. Sutro direction is through neighboring trees. Normally get all locals well except KGO-HD. Turn antenna east to get KXTV, KOVR and KMAX from the Capitol.

I hear that the silver sensor works great, but as far as I know it is not an amplified antenna.
The RS 15-1880 is amplified and worked well for me when I was using it. Depending on your location, you may want to concider an amplified antenna as it gives you a better chance at receiving weaker HD signals.

When I bought the 15-1880 from Radio Shack I asked if I could return it if it didn't work. They said yup, so I tried it and it worked. It's $50, buy one and try it, if it doesn't work return it. You won't know if it works or not unless you actually try it in your own house.

Am I the only guy who's system thinks that KRON-SD is HD and and KRON-HD is SD? The first time this happened to me was at least 2 months ago. I'm using the MyHD 120 and I have the latest application and driver installed.

The first time it happened I got over it by deleting the stations and reloading them. But it only stayed correct for a day or so. Ever since, I have found no remedy at all. It's not a major problem but it is certainly an annoyance. For instance at the moment, the info on screen is this:

D04-02 KRON-HD
704x480

Normally, my D04-02 KRON-HD is the HD station, but this is the SD station. I change the station and get this:

D04-01 KRON-SD
1920x1080i

The first line used to assure me that I was getting the SD station, but as you see, the resolution shown is HD, and it IS the HD station.

I have a Terk antenna I bought from Circuit City, and it wasn't cheap and was pretty much a waste of money. Somehow I convinced myself that it was doing the job, but as time went on, I realized it really wasn't. I use it for FM, an indoor powered antenna. I've heard some bad things about Terk. If you can, I think you should consider returning the Terk.

Myself, I get very very good results with rooftop antennas for digital TV, decent analog too. I have a couple but my favorite is a Winegard Chromstar II that's almost 15 years old, I think. It's anti-ghosting, was obviously designed for analog but works great for digital too. It does do a great job on analog and eliminated ~90% of the ghosting that was bugging me. I haven't even bothered to replace the aging RG59 (or weaker!) cabling on it, mainly because I'm having great results, but one of these days I'll go up there and replace it all with RG6, of which I have most of a 500 foot roll remaining.

Yeah, the difference between a Terk or Radio Shack rooftop antenna and a "real" one like a Weingard or ChannelMaster is amazing. For one thing the "real antennas" are about twice as heavy.

I am still trying to figure out, why here in San Mateo, I get ABC and CBS, but cannot get FOX, WB or UPN.

I have read that the latter three broadcast at 500kw, or LESS, but still I thought I should be able to get something.

they ARE all coming from Sutro, right?
Is there some declination that one needs to adjust?

WB and UPN are weaker than ABC or CBS. From a little further south I've not had too much trouble with WB, but UPN has been troublesome, Fox is now the strongest station I get now I've sorted everything out, but it was rather variable before I sorted things out. What antenna are you using?

No declination. Antennaweb will tell you where things are comming from, there are 2 transmitter sites up the peninsula. WB seems to come a bit to the left for me.

thank
using a CM4882, or whichever the larger of the two 8 way bowtie is, and a CM7777 amp, the amp ups my level on the other stations, from about 40-55-60% or so, so not great, but good for LOST on ABC and some CBS watching.

can't get fox over D*, since they hate me for some reaons :-)

2 things to check are the antenna you are using and the direction it is pointing. 260 degrees should get your FOX, CBS, ABC, UPN & WB. I found by pointing the antenna ever so slightly has a direct impact on signal reception. If you are at 260 degrees and still not geting a signal maybe try a pre-amp. The signals are defintely out there.

I tried the RS 15-1880 last night and got 2 ABC channels (dropping in and out) but nothing else. I will order a Silver Sensor and see if that does anything. One of the ABC channels I got had "720p and 16x9" but still shows up 4x3. Does anyone know why?

15-2160 is the UHF only antenna that I got from Radio Shack. It is directional and just what the doctor ordered at $24.99.

FYI: Just got this email from NBC regarding the antenna move to San Bruno....

Jonathan:
Thank you for your note. We are still working through some regulatory and manufacturing delays that have pushed back our anticipated launch of early 2005. At the moment, we're hoping to have our new transmitter on San Bruno operating sometime in June.

Thank you again for writing,
Jim Monroe
NBC11

...so I guess this means I'll have to reorganize/orient my antennas and cabling...(again). Tony

Hi,

I am new here. A few questions/thoughts to share:

1. I got the "POS" Terk 55, the new Samsung 451 STB, the week before the Super Bowl. I set it up on the roof with a 10-foot pole, but was not getting any signal.

2. Went to radio shack and got a 5-foot extension, and a in-line powered amp, 50' of quad-shield RG6 cable. And then magic happened. I got signals.

3. Most of the stations has 8-10 bars (out of 10) signal strength.

4. But sadly, I got only 1-2 bars with CBS and therefore nothing is appearing on TV.

5. From AntennaWeb I found CBS, like ABC and FOX, is from Sutro tower. Does anyone have the same or similar problems? I really want to watch CSI in HD.

6. I live in Fremont (94539) east of Hwy 680/Washington Bl.

Any suggestion is appreciated. Thanks.

I think that this is pretty much par for KRON -- I have had the same thing happening for quite a while now, and stopped worrying about it some time ago.

Any comments on the RS 15-1880 vs the Silver Sensor?
Thanks.

/step on soapbox/

Yeah don't do it. I don't get why people keep asking for what to install advice and keep going to radio shack against the collective experience of many tired and weary former RS antenna owners. For an extra $20 get a Channel Master 4228 and be done with it. You can mail order them for $50 or goto Lashers in Berkley, Schads or Frys. Or email Chris the antenna doctor, eh has a grage full of Channel Master and Wineguards. After spending 2-4K on a HD tv, why skimp on the antenna? after it works it pays for itself in two months.

I realize that RS has one good model and it appears to be OEM by Wineguard but since it isn't marked as such many folks get the wrong one. For every " I set it up and it works" there seems to be 2-3 people who bought RS and are now SOL.

PLease do yourself a favor get a Channel Master 4228 or Wineguard Square shooter or if you cannot mount outside get the silver sensor. Also get a CM rotor and 7777 preamp. Also use new RG-6 wire. This setup works for the majority of SF viewers compared to a minority of RS owners.

/step off soapbox/

I tried 6 indoor antennas, some similar to the silver sensor ,and the out door uhf only antenna from radio shack(directional) was better than all the rest. When indoor antennas are moved as little as a 1/4 of an inch, all bets are off, the outdoor antenna is pointed directly at Sutro tower from about 10 miles away with no obstructions.

yea the indoor antennas ive given up on.. i only got nbc.. waste of money and returned it.. i suggest just being done with it and get a rooftop antenna..

ive mentione dthis before a few pages back, but seeing as antenna issue has come up again, ill post my setup and experience so it might help

i forget what model im using, but i got my rooftop antenna from Home Depot, yes home Depot.. its an RCA brand..

http://www.rca.com/product/viewmodel...CI210,00.html?

its either the
ANT3020X
or
ANT3030X

and it has a 40-60 mile radius, again i forget its been a while.. and it was around $50-60 if i can recall..

anyways.. i just put it up and using RG6 cable.. i didnt have a clue about all that pin pointing the antenna to Sutro or whatever, so i just put it up on the roof.

i have a samsungt ts360, i did a search and picked up 16-17 digital channels, again its around there, i forget. 2-1,2-2, 11-2, 11-2, etc.. im sure pretty much all of em, fox-hd, nbc-hd, all the digital KTEH (9-1, etc) channels, WB-HD, CBS-HD, ABC-HD, 44-1.. some mexican digital channels, and other local digital channels.. (sorry if i made a mistake, but u get hte idea)

and to this day i am satisfied, no drop outs or problems at all, havnt touched the antenna or changed the direction even once. and im not using any AMP or stuff like that.

also just recently we split the connection to use it as an antenna for the reciever for FM stations and im picking up a bunch of FM stations i couldnt get before either

as for my location..

im in San Jose.. capitol/monterey/snell area..

Good luck to all

I rechecked the channel again with a search using the Samsung 451,

I don't have CBS (5 nor 13), I don't have Ch. 9 PBS (I do have KTEH, Ch. 54).

And I seem to have all the other channels, SD and HD. Watch "Lost" and "Alias" on 7-1 HD last night for the first time, it was great.

I live in Fremont/680/Washington area. Does anyone have the same trouble with CBS and CH. 9?

Thanks.