Philadelphia, PA - OTA - Page 112

Radio Shack stores should carry the Antennacraft 5884 locally - http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...uctId=11000532

Otherwise, you can probably get any kind of the same general design as the HD7010 and 7884, as long as the rearmost element has that 100"+ width for low-VHF.

I was planning on ordering an AntennaCraft 5884 from RadioShack on line and having it delivered to my local Radio Shack. That way if it doesn't work out I have an easy return path. If it works from the ground level I will go through with the complete installation.

Does anyone think that I can I recylce the mount from my old DirecTV dish with the 5884? At a glance the Antennacraft® Universal Antenna Mount looks a lot like my old DirecTV dish mount.

I think that for now I will concentrate on the Philadelphia market. I looked at one of the OTA map guides and I am not as concerned with the New Jersey stations oposite Manayunk. Plus, I think that manual operation of a rotor is to much for the family.

Other than OTA reception my biggest concern is what to do come April when the Phillies cablecasting resumes. Can we go a little off topic and discuss solutions for watching regular season games that are not broadcast on WPHL 17.1 or Fox 29.1? I did read a blog about using Apple TV to subscribe to MLB TV. The workaround require use of Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and some other tricks. http://injimwetrust.com/tired-of-mlb...-a-free-way-to

Not at all. It simply isn't the *best* fit for YOUR particular circumstance.

You could always combine a simple set of rabbit ears to it using a UVSJ if the rabbit ears are adequate for 6 & 12. Like I said, it's a really decent UHF antenna.

Update on OTA reception.

A fellow Haddonfield resident, Bob08033, suggested I go downmarket. Way down. After running an errand I took Bob08033's advice and bought a $4 bow tie UHF antenna and a $6 300 to 75 ohm adapter at Radio Shack. The bow tie, hanging from a suction cup hook inside my North facing window next to my HDTV, picks up every channel in the area. I may have to buy that $99 TiVo Premiere sooner rather than later.

Also my BDP-S380 arrived today so I'll try to get the streaming up and running over the weekend.

If all goes well I'll try to covert to FIOS Internet and Telephone or Comcast Internet and Vonage some time in November. That will give me five months to work on the Phillies.

Thank you for the best cheapskate antenna top tip Bob!

Mike:

Quite surprised that the UHF bowtie receives your VHF stations, especially channel 6. Many people in the Philly area report difficulty receiving channel 6, and the usual discussion is that they have purchased a UHF-only antenna, expecting it to also receive VHF stations. But, in any event, we never argue with success, especially at low cost. Glad it worked out well for you.

Mike, you can go lower, try a paper clip

I've used a paper clip before from Bensalem and King of Prussia and gotten nearly everything from Manayunk. I have even gotten WPVI with a paper clip from KoP, the signal is strong enough.

I hear the tropo is really active now and I guess so because I'm trying to watch the game on 29-1 WTXF-DT (RF 42) and reception is VERY spotty. I ended up doing a re-scan and picked up these stations that I've never seen before (main channels only listed) -

RF / channel / call sign / strength

11 / 11-1 / WBAL / 96
13 / 13-1 / WJZ / 94
15 / 14-1 / WFDC / 83
21 / 16-1 / WBOC / 92
21 / 21-2 / FOX21 / 92
28 / 28-1 / MPT / 84
38 / 2-1 / WMAR / 89
40 / 54-1 / WNUV / 93
41 / 24-1 / WUBT / 85
47 47-1 / WMDT / 86
48 / 4-1 / WRL / 84

Not sure about that RF 21 on those 2 channels, but I'm watching the game on FOX21 instead of 29-1 WTXF-DT because right now the reception is much better on that new station -- not to mention that I didn't pick up 29-1 WTXF-DT in my re-scan. THAT's very unusual. It's a pretty strong station for me and I normally have no issues with it.

WTXF is probably getting obliterated by WMPT in Annapolis.

- Trip

Could they be obliterating each other?

Because I'm getting nothing @ RF 42, and I picked up "MPT" @ RF 28, which should therefore be WFPT out of Frederick.

I just don't understand this stuff very well.

The 28 you're getting is WCPB Salisbury rather than WFPT Frederick.

You can call it "obliterating each other" if you wish. The WMPT-42 signal is strong enough that WTXF-42 fails to decode.

- Trip

Yes, I can see that I was wrong about it being WFPT, in which case it would be showing up as channel 62 instead of channel 28. Still, I don't get why it shows up as "MPT" rather than "CBP." It's too weak to give me any actual programming (tho' strong enough to lock in) so I can't see what it looks like.

One other interesting thing I noted is that I was able to watch WBOC (a CBS station) without any issue. All other CBS stations bomb my VOOM box out (cause it to reboot). That's true of WCBS, KYW and the 'new' Baltimore WJZ that I got last night. But WBOC apparently doesn't have that offensive thingie (technical term) in its signal that the other CBS stations have. This is a known problem for the VOOM, and is now present in most CBS stations and some PBS stations.

Thus I have to use my Samsung box whenever I want to watch WCBS or KYW.

__________________
Sony KV-27HS420
SIR-TS360 receiver (also VOOM OTA box (retired VOOM Satellite box))
RS Model VU-190 XR antenna
Getting 47 strong channels/subchannels out of the Roxborough farm / Trenton / Allentown (farm is ~50 miles away @ 233°)

That thingie would be TV Guide On Screen data

Presumably because they call it "MPT." http://www.mpt.org/transition

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.ph...&callsign=wcpb

- Trip

Is that true? Is that really the part of their signal that's the problem? I get guide info for some channels (but not all) although they only show on the Samsung box cuz the VOOM has no provision for displaying guide info. So it's clear to me that the guide info for other channels doesn't cause a problem for the VOOM. It's just CBS for me. I don't have any conflict with any PBS stations which, BTW, were the first stations to show the problem. The CBS problem began showing up later. I've been OTA since January 2007 and did not have any CBS problem for at least a year (probably longer), but then it popped up and killed my KYW viewing on the VOOM.


Ya, that seems to be the case. I'm not liking this tropo thing very much and I wish it would just go away so I could get back to regular old Philly stations.

I just did a re-scan and things seem to be back to normal. 29-1 WTXF-DT (RF 42) came in @ a strength of 94%, so I (hopefully) will be able to watch this afternoon's game on ch 29 without major disruption.

If they play.

Ya, I got this email from MIND this morning (relevant portions only) -

Greetings!
Effective Wednesday, October 12, MiND is changing its channel lineup!

FRANCE 24 debuts TODAY! Broadcast live from Paris, France 24 gives a French perspective to international current events through diversity of opinions, debate and confrontation of viewpoints. The channel provides keys to understanding ever more complex events through in-depth analysis. FRANCE 24 puts culture at the forefront of its programming.

Please note that MHz Worldview is no longer available from Independence Media but many MHZ programs can be seen on our four channels: MiND TV, NHK, RT and France 24.

I'm wondering what this holds for the MHZ programs I like (basically, International Mystery)

Your prior comment to the effect that WBOC is not listed as a CBS owned station prompted my reply. I'd guess that you probably are correct about that and that's why it doesn't have the offensive thingie. I Googled WBOC and the first hit was the station's website which came up along with this short blurb by Google -

6 minutes ago - CBS affiliate serving the Delmarva peninsula. Includes national and local Maryland and Delaware news and sports coverage, beach and traffic ...

So it's an "affiliate," whatever that might (technically) mean. I said it was a CBS station because it was displaying the CBS logo and was carrying CBS programming when I tuned to it. But if it were truly owned by CBS, I doubt it would be carrying a Fox subchannel.

But what do I know.

I believe KYW is also a CBS "affiliate" and it definitely has the offensive thingie.

Your link to your prior post was interesting because you were responding there to my 03-01-11, 08:32 PM post in which I noted that "MHZ is back on WYBE (35.3)." I also said that I'd gotten an email from Mind in which they said -

We Want MHz!
More and more people are letting us know that they want MHz back on MiND!

With your continuous donations we are getting closer to achieving our goal of bringing back MHz to our audiences!

Very interesting! (exclamation point). They accepted donations to bring back MHZ and now they've dropped it for the (lame?) French 24 channel? (exclamation point)

Don't sound right to me.

But what do I know.

WBOC is locally owned by Draper Communications. It does not carry TVGOS, but most affiliates of TVGOS are CBS stations. The local CBS station could choose to decline TVGOS (as WBOC seemingly has) and then it's offered to the local PBS. If the PBS also declines, then Rovi tries other local affiliates. I'm guessing WMDT also said no, leaving Salisbury without TVGOS.


TVGOS and the PSIP guide data are two different things. The latter is required by the FCC (12 hours worth) while the former is a commercial service offered by Rovi.

- Trip

I can not get for the life of me is ABC channel 6. All other channels come in very strong. I am in MT,Holly NJ.

What type of antenna are you using?

- Trip

What kind of antenna are you using. Is it inside or outside?

I have two
Terk HDTVa Amplified indoor HDTV antenna and strength of 92% or better on all channes but ABC 6
Channel Master's CM3000A a strength of 96% or better on all channes but on ABC 6
ABC strength is 20%

i havent read this thread in a very long time. but did something change with 6? my hr10250 never got 6 in because the DB8 is only UHF and i knew that when i bought it

today i just hooked up a tivo premiere and i got channel 6 in

HOW is this even possible...havent checked signal strength but i'm really shocked

Is your CM3000A outdoors? I'm certainly no expert but Wikipedia says:

Because of the nature of VHF-LO frequencies, WPVI-TV is difficult to tune without an outdoor VHF/UHF antenna.

It goes on to say (for newsposter?):

A temporary power increase to 30 kilowatts was granted, with WEDY in New Haven, Connecticut and WRGB in Schenectady, New York having to give their consent. Some viewers did notice an improvement in their signal. Because of potential interference to other stations and to FM radio, there was doubt as to whether this increase could be granted. Three months later, WPVI was still getting complaints.

Lucky you!

Looking at the two antennas you have, neither is appropriate for receiving low-VHF signals like WPVI-6. Amusingly, the indoor antenna is probably better, but the amplifier wipes out any advantage.

You'll want to look into some type of larger outdoor antenna (perhaps the Y5-2-6 like I have) to combine with your current CM3000A using an HLSJ. I'm not sure what to recommend for the indoor antenna, though you'll likely need something larger and unamplified.

- Trip

Much to my surprise, I was able to pick up Channel 6 with an Antennas Direct DB2 mounted in my attic. But I've got a good line of sight to the towers and such, even though I'm in eastern West Chester (Willistown). Go figure.

My response to this scenario is just that different tuners have different sensitivity, and the one on the Premiere is apparently much better with VHF-LO than the one on your HR10250. As I'm fond of saying, "Don't argue with success!" ;-} But I wouldn't be surprised if it's not reliable, as weather and seasons change. You might find you need to get a better VHF antenna to maintain decent reception on 6.

already found out it's not solid enough to record off of..oh well..and of course 12 is really bad still, mostly out with occasional bursts of in

I'm getting 6abc reliably too all the way in the Mount Pocono area. I don't know exactly when it began, but I first noticed Thursday night.