I really appreciate all the thought you guys are putting into this problem, let me try to sum up what you seem to all be saying.

Right now I have the antenna hooked up to my TV with 3 coax cables...1 from the antenna into a splitter, one from the splitter to a feed-through connector, and one from the connector to the TV. Is that as much drain as an attenuator would be? I can go to Radioshack if they have them there (again, I don't see it on the website) and pick one up if it would be more effective than this 3-coax-cable setup I have right now. Maybe I need even more signal drain if the problem is overloading.

Someone suggested I get a simple loop antenna. Do you mean something like this?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

I could pick one of those up if I go to Radioshack to get the attenuator. The TV is pretty large, and it's hooked up to a million things, so I don't know if I can carry it to someone else's room on the other side of the building to see if it works. I'll see what I can pick up of the analog stations. Thanks.

Yeah, thats a cheap loop antenna. May be exactly what you need.

OK, if you don't think I should get that antenna, speak now, or forever hold your peace.

Also, can anyone find an attenuator on the site? There isn't a Radioshack right near me, and I don't have a car...might just order it online, and it would be nice to get everything together. Thanks.

On second thought, I might get this stuff from Amazon, since they have plenty of attenuators. How about these antennae:

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT120-Ind...&s=electronics

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT115-Ind...&s=electronics

http://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-MANT-...&s=electronics

Which of those would you go for? Also, they have a large selection of attenuators...what dB should I use?

Good point. Of course, if he can still get 32 and 26-analog, then it still means that he has an overload issue. It's if he can't get them, then the matter's irrelevant.

That said, I just remembered that there's an analog station more proper to test with: WFDC channel 14 broadcasting from WRC-DC's tower, which is the westernmost tower that the Big 4 digitals broadcast from.


You might want to double-check that all those components are working properly, as one of those components may be internally broken. Try a direct cable connection from the Silver Sensor to the TV and see if that corrects anything. Do the testing of analog 14 while you're at it.


Something like that, but not that exact antenna. One of the antenna's specs concerns me:


What's the big deal with that? 300-ohm wire is highly unshielded cable, and is very susceptible to multipath. In analog, this causes ghosting. In digital, this can cause a lack of any picture.

At my house, there's a 50-year-old (or older?) 300-ohm setup to two TVs. With the basement TV, I can significantly affect how much an analog UHF channel is ghosting by simply moving the cable by as little as four inches. This is in a basement at over double the distance between your dorm and the towers. The point is, you're going to want the best of the best: quad-shielded RG-6 cable. RadioShack sells that stuff under the "Gold Series" moniker. It's a tad expensive, but well worth it.

The 15-1838 I mentioned earlier has a connector that accepts RG-6 and RG-59 cable (they share the same connector). If I remember correctly, the antenna comes with a short bit of RG-59 cable, and if it's RG-59, it's not as good as RG-6.

Another good thing about the 15-1838: Unlike many other cheap antennas, there's no cable that's permanently fixed to the antenna; you can always upgrade to more robust cable. The cable usually on these things aren't too shielded or that long.

By the way, for maximum reception with any antenna, have it by a window, and have enough cable length to get to the TV with the antenna there.

I don't know if this has been posted yet, I have FIOS TV and they just sent me a letter to let me know about some channel realignment effective 2/20/2007.

They will add CSN HD and it looks like more. ESPN, ESPN2, NFL HD were 811,812, and 814 respectively. Next month they will be moved up to the upper 820s along with newly to be added CSN HD(really happy now I will get to see the Wizards and Caps in HD). It will be great if somehow MASN starts going HD before the season starts, because now they have both Nats and Orioles.

Not sure, but it looks like FIOS guys are making some room for more channels to be added(I heard about them adding some VOOM channels but no confirmations), or it could be that they are just being pain in the behind.

WBAL-DT is having PSIP issues, and it's causing my Windows Vista box to do the same thing. Media Center maps 59-1 in the EPG to channel 1111, but it still wants a PSIP of 11-1 or it gives "No TV Signal" In true Microsoft fashion, there's no way to override this. WatchHDTV will manually tune 59-1 and get video, but I can't do much with it.

Try tuning your set to 59-1, or rescan and see if it adds 59-1. That should be WBAL-DT

i posted about this last week...but the real question is whether howard and ann arundel counties will lose access to the dc hd channels...they are not listed on the lineup sheet that accompanied the letter (only the baltimore hd channels are)...but i've called three different fios numbers and each tells me that there is no plan to remove the dc hd channels...of course, they have no explanation as to why those channels are no longer listed on the lineup sheet.

i guess we'll see on 2/20.

Thanks. I tried both suggestions. Manually entering 59-1 redirects to 11-1 and scanning didn't produce a 59-1.

I guess I'll be watching WRC for the immediate future.

I've got sound on both 11-1 and 11-2 as of 6:30 AM this morning. It looks like WBAL got the PSIP problem worked out.

Don't get that antenna. It has a flat lead rather than a coaxial. Flat leads can pick up all kinds of crap that will lead to errors.

I've got the Samsung HDTV tuner and was considering gettting the Comcast Basic (non-digital) package here in DC.

I was wondering, aside from the local stations, what other HD stations can I get QAM (ie can I get "Comcast Sports Net HD", "ESPN HD", or any others)?

Please let me know (especially ESPN HD).

Thanks

Whatever they don't encrypt. It's hit or miss and changes a lot. Just do a rescan every week to see if anything pops up.

I am aware of this, but I was hoping that perhaps another forum member who uses the DC Comcast could more specifically answer my question.

Ugh. I was still looking at black screen as of 7:30 or so this morning.

I'm going to hope they are still tweaking something my tuner doesn't like instead of panicking about the problem.

You should try ANTALTMIKE's suggestion of a paper clip as an antenna. I tested this on my OnAir USB tuner, and observe signal levels from 4 to 28db on different OTA channels. Signal levels below 18 db are not useful, but if you really have overload the paper clip antenna should work as a test.

Good luck

Should I just wrap it around the prong of the coax cable?

The bad PSIP info may have messed up the channel settings. If entering channel 59 or 59.1 does not work, you may need to do a rescan in case the receiver is now messed up on where to tune to WBAL-DT.

I believe you mean that your self test indicated "signal to noise ratios" (SNR) of 4 to 28dB.

After all this hype it better be something good.

My Samsung T451 receiver doesn't have any issues with 11-1 and 11-2. Shows up to date guide info for both channels. My USDTV receiver OTOH says 'No program information available.'


So, now it's Thursday and what's on 7.3? A Test pattern, wow!!!

Well, I know this, those customer service reps don't know squat. Just 2 days before I received the letter to tell me about CSN HD, I actually called them and asked them how come we are not getting that channel. She told me because Comcast won't give it to them, and after calling and email Comcast and talking to them again, the second rep told me he doesn't know why.

Also I wouldn't trust that sheet, mine says that we will be getting the CSN Philadelphia. I am sure we are getting the DC CSN, so don't worry about the sheet. Don't bother calling them either, the reps don't know much at all, they need to get ones that specialize in FIOS TV only and actually have an idea of what they are telling their customers.

No, you should plug the paper clip into the center terminal of the cable connector with the other end free in the air. This is a very weak antenna, but if it shows a weak signal you know the receiver is functioning.

Last night, I watched the Magic Flute on 26-1-- great visuals, but the sound was decidedly subpar. I was listening to on B&W DM601 speakers in stereo mode, and I found it to be muffled, lacking dynamic range. and not at all engaging. I was curious as to the (lack of ) plot, so the subtitles helped me through. I was getting the odd audio dropout, but it seemed to lack any engaging qualities whatsoever-- quite unlike my CD collection.

Does WETA starve the audio stream for bits? Do I need a better antenna?

WETA starves its video stream. I don't know if they do that with the audio stream, but they might.

The way digital TV works, a "better" antenna won't improve the sound.

What's on 7.3?

(drum roll)

Who's on First????


Its called LocalPoint. I'll let the content speak for itself. It is very out-of-the box thinking, 100% local, and I believe a really, really local alternative for television.

And no, I don't own a chunk, I just created the technology.

What's the LocalPoint web address (if any)?

Anyway, I'm glad that 7-3 is online, whatever it is. I guess I'll have to check it out. And if it were sports content, I think we'd know by now.

Edit: By the way, I've made my general update to the OTA list, except for the link to the LocalPoint website. If there is none, I'm done for now. What are everybody's thoughts on it? Is it easier to navigate than the old list?

Good news! I just checked WBAL's PSIP info, and there were no errors. I'm getting it fine in my office now. Last time I checked (lunch time) there were still issues, but now it's OK.

Mark

Added: OK, I posted too soon... I was checking something else, and it turns out that they aren't sending program guide info currently...

How long does it take Comcast, FiOS etc to add these stations to their line-ups? Are the considered "have to carry" under the law?

Thanks for keeping us updated.