Detroit, MI - HDTV - Page 383

I get both CBET and TVO just fine here in Northville, using a fixed antenna mounted on a closet shelf in my upstairs bedroom.

I also get all the stations broadcasting from the Southfield area. I may be just lucky since my part of Northville is one of the highest points in Wayne county.

Top floor of the old psycho hospital?

By the watertower.

Do u have much luck with Lansing or Toledo?

Make that the watertower near 8 Mile and Novi Road.

I didn't spend much time looking that direction - I aimed the antenna to get the best performance for the Detroit an Windsor stations.

I switched to WOW Ultra TV from Comcast about 3 weeks ago. So far, I've been very impressed. HDTV reception is as clear as Comcast was. Gut feel seems like WOW may have a less HD channels, but it has the ones we watch.
The built in DLNA function is fantastic. After years of trying several servers, WOW with PlayOn just works. Great quality streaming.
I also expanded the 500GB DVR with a 1TB external HDD. It was very easy to do. Plug and Play. This gives me enough space to stack up those HD recordings. The other nice thing, 6 tuners. Which means I can record 6 HD channels if no one is watching TV. For every TV being watched, it reduces the tuner available for recording by one (unless you are watching the same show being recorded).
Whole home DVR as well. I was glad to turn in the 2 Comcast HD DVRs we had and replace them with 3 digital boxes (one per TV) and end up paying substantially less for better service.
WOW seems to have solved the bandwidth issues they faced over Christmas. Let's hope it stays that way.

Hi, I hope this is the right place to post my questions I have about OTA setups since it is local for you guys as well. I live in Windsor and I currently have a "coat hanger antenna" (yes I know I'm cheap) that I put together a couple years ago which is aimed at Detroit. I am able to pick up a good amount of stations but I recently started doing a bit of research about combining signals by stacking antennas to be able to pick up channels from Toledo as well. I know there is a wealth of knowledge on here so I will share what I found so far and hopefully someone can help guide me further with this project.

From what I have read so far when stacking antennas there are a couple important rules:

1. The Antennas that you stack work best if they are identical
2. Make sure one is on top of the other
3. Around 3 feet of distance between the antennas
4. The antennas should be pointed at least 90 degrees apart
5. Two short runs of cable from the antennas to a splitter must be the same length
6. Use a good quality splitter


I am hoping to get some guidance on the products that would work best for my scenario. I will be placing this new setup in the attic to replace the coat hanger antenna. I would prefer to purchase everything from Amazon but with so much selection and price ranges I am overwhelmed. I know some antennas would work better for my application than others so if anyone can chime in on a particular product they would recommend I would really appreciate it.

Here is an screen shot from TV Fool of the TV Signal Analysis from my house: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d1dda8e2dfa7b98

I live in Ann Arbor and received an email from Comcast on Wednesday that my Blast speed would now go up to 50 mbps. So I reset the modem and did get 48 mbps once, but most of the time it's no faster--or even slower--than it used to be, and the signal stalls when I'm on Safari. Anyone else having a problem? Thanks.

I was wondering the same thing about channel 4. It is surprisingly week.

You get all kinds of signal fun up here this time of the year. The F-layer's lower, there's ice on the rivers, fronts come and go and it all results in a big ol' whirlpool of propagation. People in Monroe can get Cleveland television. People in northern Cleveland can hear MY show. Meanwhile, people in Ann Arbor call me complaining that they're getting 99.5 out of Chicago. It's a mess.

I get most of the local stations except Ch. 20 in the high 90's, including Ch.4. Ch. 20 is the low one in the high 60's. This is odd since the other stations on the same stick are in the 90's. Probably due to the difference in frequency. As Dr. Don says, all sorts of things can happen this time of year.

Let's see what reception looks like Sunday with temps in the 50s.

Is this the reason why I'm getting 102.7 clear as a whistle in Ann Arbor
Miller/maple and m-14 area

Usually 102.9 blocks them out

Are you on the far East Side or the Grosse Pointes? WMYD is directional, with a pretty deep null to the ESE. It's so close to Detroit and the Pointes that it is no problem for any outdoor antenna or most indoor antennas in wooden houses, but can be a problem in brick houses and metal commercial/industrial buildings.

WYMD and WDIV, at least last I knew, are not on the same tower. WMYD is on the same tower (NW Corner 8 Mile / Meyers) as WWJ-TV, WTVS and WUDT-CD, WDIV is on its own 59-year-old tower (NW corner I-696 / Greenfield) with WXYT FM 97.1 and no other TV station.
Edited by itsthemultipath! - 3/9/13 at 3:41pm

Correct-20, 56 and 62 are on the same tower. What I was saying was only 20 is a low signal, not the others on that tower. And I am on the west side, near the Plymouth/Livonia border, so I should not be affected by their null to the SE.

Why WMYD is weak at your place is a true mystery. They are blowing nearly a half million watts ERP in your face and they are not very far away at all.

TV signals sometimes defy scientific wisdom. WTVS and WWJ-TV are transmitting from the same tower, on adjacent channels, yet it is not uncommon for one to be stronger than another one moment, than the other to be stronger the next, at the same receiver! Someone in my family, nearly 50 miles from the WKBD/WPXD site, gets WKBD fine, and gets the new WPXD fine on a bowtie in the attic, but not on the deep-fringe antenna on the chimney! Funnier, TV fool shows an "orange" signal for the part of the house where the attic bowtie is, but no signal for the chimney! The attic antenna also pulls in WDWO-CD about 80% of the time!

Welcome to the wonderful world of propagation interference and multipath. I swear, Town Center creates more reflection problems than anything. When we were in the Traveler's Tower... not five miles from everyone, we could NOT get 62-1 to save our souls. In fact, we had to listen off of the program line because, 6 stories up, we couldn't lock in on our own 18kw signal two miles away. WGAR was always giving us fits during the winter. 7.1 was iffy and you could walk to that tower and back during lunch. And, yes, I put up the most directional antenna I could grab.

I am also having a problem with WMYD Ch.20.
I live 31 miles west of the broadcast tower, and up until a few days ago received a solid and watchable signal.
Is it possible that WMYD engineering changed something the same time they added 20.2 CoziTV?
Coincidentally, that's about the same time my reception of WMYD became unwatchable.
Of course the weather has been quite different these last few days as has been suggested, but none of my other channels seem to be affected like Ch.20.

Channel 20 has been at reduced power for about 2 weeks now. I wonder if they even know it!!!

They're not at reduced power. They're not working on anything. Everything is normal.
If you're having issues, it's atmospheric-related, as I've mentioned.

I don't think so Dr Don...Tropo conditions were not active a week or so ago when temps were solidly in the teens and 20's(typically, tropo is non-existent in the cold winter months). They are definitely broadcasting at very reduced power!

They have also been mapping to 21-1 and 21-2 on my Samsung for MONTHS now...that seems to happen a LOT with WMYD!

Well, I spoke to their engineering department before posting that. I'd think they'd know. Full power. Not working on anything. Now, if you have some confirmation that he's lying to me, let me know.

And if you think there aren't any signal issues Michigan when weather is in the teens, then you know nothing about signal propogation. Ask a ham.

And if there aren't any signal issues when weather is in the teens, then explain to me why our signal goes to crap in Monroe until noon when the weather's sub-freezing. Hmmmm??

I'm not gonna argue over this with you, but I do know OTA and I have an elaborate set-up 53' up....typically, when experiencing tropo, signals levels fluctuate dramatically over a short period of time. WMYD's signal has been stable for 2 weeks, but at over half the power that I've gotten from them in the 3 yrs I've had my tower! Others are having the same issues, confirming my observations. They are having issues, for sure!!!

Don,

Any idea when the last time is that they ran corrections on WMYD, or do you know if they might be using an adaptive-correcting exciter?

- Trip

No idea. They're not one of ours, so I have to call same as anyone. You're welcome to dial 'em up. Ask for engineering. They put you right through.

I was just wondering because it's entirely possible to be at full power but have low SNR. Unless it's using adaptive correction, that's a possible explanation for the low signal quality folks are seeing.

- Trip

I emailed WMYD and got an instant reply!
He said they are operating full-power, but had recently switched to and are currently using their aux transmitter. He said they will be switching back to their main transmitter sometime next week and will investigate the aux transmitter when they switch back.

Well, that's still full power.