[Larry Kenney]

Yesterday I purchased a Sony HDTV and it was delivered today. I set it up and did the auto channel search and it found lots of channels... but they were all NTSC, except one, KQED 30.1. Where were all of the other digital channels? I had my multiple element Radio Shack outdoor VHF/UHF antenna pointing right at Sutro Tower, which is only about 3/4 to 1 mile directly west of me. I'm at 300 feet and the digital antenna is at about 1600 feet above sea level.


After a fairly long period of hit and miss while rotating the antenna, I did finally receive all of the digital channels I expected to get. However, almost every channel is received with the antenna pointed in a different direction. All of the digital signals are coming from the same antenna on Sutro Tower, but I get the most stations with the antenna in a south to southeast direction, a couple with the antenna pointed northwest, and one when it's pointed northeast.


Could the direct signal possibly be outside the lobe of my antenna when pointed at Sutro Tower, are the reflections off all of the hills and mountains around here causing signal cancellation, or is there something else causing this? I'm receiving the best signals from reflections off Mount San Bruno, Mt. Tam or maybe the East Bay hills. Does anyone have any idea what's really causing this reception phenomenon?


The only problem I foresee with this is having to rotate the antenna every time I change channels. I've had to make a table showing the antenna direction for each station, so I don't have to hunt every time.


By the way, I watched "Saving Private Ryan" on channel 7.1 (i.e 24) tonight and the picture and sound were absolutely wonderful!


Larry

San Francisco

 

[NiteWrider]

Hi Larry,


Tomorrow my Sony HDTV will be delivered, and I'm afraid that I might run into the same problem as you. I live in Pacifica and I don't have a line of sight to Sutro Tower, due to hills, but I'm able to receive the analog channels 2, 4, 5, 7 and 9 without having to rotate the roof antenna. However, I've never been successful in receiving any of the analog UHF stations like 20 and 44.


My questions for you is:


1) What kind of outdoor antenna do you own?


2) Have you figured out why you need to rotate your antenna for each digital channel?


3) Have you even been successful in receiving the analog VHF channels (2,4,5,7,9) at one antenna setting like I have?


4) What kind of signal strength are you getting on the digital channels?


Oh, and any tip you have for me would be most appreciated.


Thanks,

Nite

 

[DTC mac]

At 3/4 to one mile from sutro tower an outdoor antenna wil be over driven. You are in the enviable position that rabbit ears should be more than enough antenna to pull in goregeous signals.





An afterthought: LOL that you put oreintation and SF in topic ( arent I bad to luagh at that, sorry )

 

[NiteWrider]

DTC mac,


Unfortunately I'm situated about 10 miles from Sutro Tower with hills in between, so rabbit ears don't work very well. What has been working very well for my analog VHF TV and FM receptions is a roof-mounted antenna RS VU-75XR #15-2151 w/ a high-gain signal amplifier #15-1109. However, my analog UHF receptions have been unattainable, so I fear the same for DTV signals.

 

[vdcone]

You both live in difficult areas for TV reception. Larry, you are so close to Sutro that you are under the pattern from the tower - not sure how deep the null might be, but the signal is still more than you can handle. Pacifica could be a big problem, although you may be able to pull it of with a dedicated directional UHF antenna with a good preamp mounted at the antenna. Radio Shack has one for under $20 as I recall. The preamp is very important so get a good one - high end Channel Master or such. I use the RS yagi for East Bay and may move it to Sutro to try and manage the multi-path I get on my 4 bay bow tie antenna.


Larry, if I were you I would invest $20 in the RS 2 bay indoor bow tie. It seems to work well for others in SF. You will need an 300-75 ohm balun to connect it, but that is no big deal.


I checked the DTV local channels that were added this morning and they are all there. I'm a bit disapointed because the local feeds must be OTA and not microwave. Major multi-path on some of them. Looks just like a typical cable feed. Anyone else seeing this?


Don