San Francisco, CA - OTA - Page 288

As my daughter would have said back when she was a teen: "Well, duh!"


Then do what is necessary and quit yer whinin'.....

Yep, simply add a VHF antenna to your collection, aim it at San Bruno, and there ya go.....

That does seem weird. I double checked tv fool again. Same thing.
KDAS-LP +7.9 NM .....LOS......... 33.7 Miles
KSPX-DT -25.7 NM ..... 1 Edge..... 51.5 Miles
KSTS +19 NM .... 1 Edge .... 16.1 Miles

Not sure how tvfool came up with this calculation for LOS in the red zone.
They have made errors before. Not sure what the deal is with this one.
I'll try just the city zip code 94541 and see if any different ?

TVFool must be using the KDAS construction permit for Mt. Tam. They propose a very directional antenna with the main lobe N-NW with every other direction getting only 10-20 watts ERP. That would account for the weak signal LOS. Currently they are still analog on 48 and transmit from near Healdsburg.

Chuck

Hi,



>


KCSM DTV is off the air prior to 8 PM 5/15/2012.

Nothing yet on"KCSM Engineering (KCSMTechIssues) on Twitter"


http://twitter.com/KCSMTechIssues

Or: http://sutrotower.com/

SHF

I tried to record the Preakness this afternoon with Windows Media Center, but I got an error message saying that there was no signal for KNTV 11.1. The signal was coming in fine on my regular TVs. Then I noticed that the PSIP channel info on both of my TVs showed 12.3 instead of 11.1. I hope that KNTV fixes this before the Olympics.

Bob

32.6, KPOP, is a new subchannel on KMTP

it only showed up when i was checking signal strength, it hasnt actually showed in TIVOs channel list yet, so wasnt able to verify if it was english or some other language

Hi,

Well they fixed it, partly?

At 9:45 PM SAT with HDHomeRun I see on RF 12:

11.1 KNTV HD
11.2 CA_NS

EDIT: I got ABC and NBC mixed up, LWN is on 7.2 and 7.3.

At 4:55 PM Sunday the bug showed "@TalkStoopNBC" on 11.2.

New stream local on KNTV or all NBC owned stations?

SHF

Hi,

It was in English at 9:50 PM, "Arirang" was at the top right and audio suggested Korean origin.

Checking again at 10:45 PM, it appears to be "POP" videos from various sources with KPOP, TV-32-6 and KMTV rotating on a bug box.

At this check, it was not English.

SHF

Live Well should be on KGO 7-2, where it has always been.

- Trip

Let me start by saying I'm new to OTA, so any advice is appreciated...

We're located in San Carlos, CA in a hilly area, only 20 miles away from the towers but still 'Violet'. We're only looking for a single VHF-Hi (Channel 7). The rest of our channels are UHF (like KTVU on 44, etc.). All the stations are around 324-330 degrees.



I tried a ChannelMaster CM4228HD without amplifier and got Channel 7, so the VHF gain seems to do it. But, we got none of the UHF stations.

I'm curious if these are even options:
1) Go with a UHF-only antenna like the Winegard HD9095P and pair it with a VHF-only like the YA-1713

2) Go with a combo like the 7698P

--

3) Either way, I think I'm going to need a pre-amp. Does anyone have experience using a UHF-only pre-amp like the AP-4800. Will that hurt our VHF reception at all? Is the 29dBi gain too much for our distance to the transmitters (even with our obstructions)? Or, should we just consider an all-frequency pre-amp?

Thanks for all your help!

KAR

Antenna specs here:
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload...duct%20Cat.pdf

Pre-amp specs here:
http://www.winegarddirect.com/pdf/spec_AP.pdf

I have to believe that you have your antenna backwards. To be more specific, the 'x's should face the tower. There is no way, otherwise, that you get no UHF stations....

bobby, Thanks. I should clarify. I had the 'bow ties' pointed northwest at approximately 330, per the tvfool and antenna web reports I pulled.

I got 0 signal strength (according to my TiVo) on 2-1 (ch 44). Same on 5-1, 9-1 and 11-1.

I'm heading back to Fry's. It could be a bum steer, but the 0 signal strength has thrown me for a loop...

KAR

Usually, if you're only getting VHF-7-13 and no UHF channels with an antenna that SHOULD be getting them, it's because you missed the step of switching the TV set off "CABLE" to "ANTENNA" before scanning. Pretty common operator error.

It's virtually impossible for a 4228 to receive VHF but no UHF, so it's not the antenna....

Forget the high-gain amplifier - it's a ticket to trouble.

Hi,

My BAD.

I got ABC and NBC mixed up. Yes LWN is on 7.2. (And 7.3 in SD so that it appears on a cable tier.)

The program on NBC 11.2 at 4:55 PM had a bug with "@TalkStoopNBC".

SHF

[quote=KingAdRock;22044334]Let me start by saying I'm new to OTA, so any advice is appreciated...
We're located in San Carlos, CA in a hilly area, only 20 miles away from the towers but still 'Violet'.
I tried a ChannelMaster CM4228HD
2) Go with a combo like the 7698P
Thanks for all your help!
KAR

You're not "LOS" "Line-of-sight" to San Franciscos Sutro Tower.
In this case, I like the "yagi" style of antenna for blocked reception areas.
7698 by Winegard or something similar by design.
Get the biggest (Longest) one made.
Try it first connected to one tv without a amp.

888 and all, I'm ordering the 7698p tonight. Will post the results later this week.

Thanks, all.

KAR

KAR

How did you determine that you were getting KGO via rf7 in the City, rather than their UHF repeater straight across the Bay from us? From your description it seems likely that you were viewing the latter unless you have a tuner that indicates the rf channel.

KAR,

Your TVFool report shows you have enough signal but with a 2 edge path in the Bay Area you likely have severe multipath issues. I think the 91XG has the best pattern to deal with multipath but it's possible you are in an impossible situation. The antenna needs to be high enough to clear any close by building and trees. You'd need a high VHF antenna to go along with the 91XG, maybe a YA-1713 but IMO there are no really good high VHF antennas out there. The Winegard HD7698P might be as good a s any.

And I agree you are likely receiving the KGO repeater on RF 35 from Fremont.

Chuck

Chuck,

We're kind of tucked into the backside of a hilly area. It may be mission impossible. We'll see Wed when the 7698 shows up. Yep, the repeater sounds like the likely source of KGO.

Update coming soon.

Thanks,

KAR

Your tvfool report shows KGO on 7 & 35 at basically the same signal level.
Your scan should have picked up all the stations from the LOS location of the 35 tower.
I would use ch 45 & 29 as the test stations for sutro antenna aiming. Before you do automatic scanning.
Then, do 41 for San Bruno Mt.

I still think you'd better go back and check that CABLE/ANTENNA setting.

As pointed out, if you received KGO from the east on UHF, you should have received other stations from Mt Allison. Since you reported receiving ONLY KGO, it was most likely VHF-7 signal and your tuner isn't set right.

Quite honestly, those UHF stations from Allison are likely to be received with a straightened paper clip. Try it.

Not normal, since the 4228 is tuned mostly for UHF channels. I suspect your TV channel scan was set for Cable. Make sure you choose OTA Antenna channels in the channel scan menu.

This morning during I rescan I picked up channels on RF41 here in San Jose. It includes only subchannels 3/4/5 and there is no content or PSIP info. Something new firing up? I don't recall anything else on RF41 down here.

hey karl

41.3-41.5 map to 65.1-65.3, and contain the ION suite of channels (ion, qubo and ion life), and theyre coming in hunky dory down here in coyote.

RF41 also has several encrypted subchannels. they show up blank on my tivo, and arent listed at all in windows media center.

Hi, long time lurker here. We've finally kicked Dtv to the curb and have been using Hulu, Netflix and Apple TV to get our tv fix. While this is all fine and good, my wife has been missing some of the local news. I'm fine watching the news online, but thought I'd throw some questions out there.

I'm a real antenna noob. I grew up with cable, so I'm swimming in deep water here.

1. What are my chances of getting decent reception OTA in Windsor?
2. What kind (brand, model) antenna is recommended?
3. Anyone know of any installation services? I don't trust myself to install correctly.

I've attached a jpg with my results from TVfool. Thanks for any info/direction anyone can offer.

Reception is the NorthBay is tough since we're located >50 miles from the transmitters. Getting good reception in Windsor will be tough unless you've got altitude - are you on a hillside or are you in the flatlands? I'm at an elevation of ~500 ft and I'm able to get 2,4,5,9,20,22,32,36,44 and 65.

A high gain antenna, low loss balun and low loss cable and maybe a preamp (if channel 22 doesn't saturate the preamp) are a good first step.

Thanks. I'm down in the flatland...behind Walmart and in between Hembree and Old Redwood Highway. Elevation isn't an option :-)

I noticed that the two major network stations are missing from your list - the two VHF stations KGO-ABC 7 and KNTV-NBC 11 (RF12). You must not have a VHF antenna installed. VHF carries much farther than UHF so the VHF stations should be stronger up there than the UHF stations from Sutro and Mt. San Bruno. Have you tried to receive them?

Larry
SF

Using the TVFool readings as a guide, reception of the stations in the green and yellow areas, which are all of the local Sonoma and Marin county stations, should be no problem, and with the right antenna the ones from San Francisco are a good possibility, too.

You'll need a very good high gain antenna for both VHF and UHF mounted as high as possible above your roof. Forget about putting the antenna in your attic or using an indoor antenna or you'll just get the local stations in the green and yellow sections of the TVFool report.

What brand and model antenna should you get? There are several possibilities. You can get a separate VHF and separate UHF antenna and then combine them or you can get a VHF-UHF combination. For separate antennas I'd recommend the Winegard YA-1713 for VHF and either the Channel Master 4228HD or the Antennas Direct 91XG for UHF. For a combination antenna, I would recommend the Winegard HD7698P.

You'll find information on these antennas on the Solid Signal website:
http://www.solidsignal.com/ - Click on "TV Antennas and Supplies", then "TV Antennas" and finally "Large Directional" to get to the right page. All of the antennas except he YA-1713 are on the first page. The 1713 is on page 3.

For installation you'll have to check around locally. I don't know who installs antennas up in your area. If you can't find anyone locally then try Crawford Electronics in El Cerrito at 510-758-1445. They put up my antennas and did a great job for me.

Larry
SF