[dbdsac]

I reside on the east side of Sacramento County and will be installing a new UHF antenna on top of my 2-story home for my OTA Digital/HDTV stations on Thursday. The Walnut Grove transmitters are @35 miles from my home. I currently have a Radio Shack UHF Yagi antenna mounted in my garage that performs well for most channels but when I want to watch NBC it is not very stable. At first I was considering a Channel Master 4-Bay model, but then I began thinking about an 8-Bay model if it would help me pull in KTVU's digital signal (channel 56) out of San Francisco. I am a huge SF Giants fan and most, if not all of their games are broadcast on this channel. The paperwork on this antenna says it is good for only 60 miles but I believe the tower for SF broadcasts is closer to 100 miles away. Is there anyone out there living in my vicinity that can shed some first hand knowledge on this thought? Can I get SF from Sacramento? If so, do I need a rotor or will I be close enough to the line of site of both sets of transmitters?

 

[mbroder]

Sorry, not likely...


I live in Antioch, which is a lot closer to S.F. and I can't get any S.F. stations. I get all the broadcasts from Walnut Grove, no problem.


I am also a huge Giants fan and have been trying for the past 2 years to get the KTVU signal. It sounds like DirectTV may come to the rescue for me because Antioch is considered part of the Bay Area. I know that I will be getting CBS-HD from DirectTV starting in a couple of days, and FOX is supposed to start sometime soon as well. Hopefully in time for opening day.


Good Luck

 

[c5Guy]

I barely get Sacramento with an eight-bay in EDH.

 

[dbdsac]

Thanks for the replies....doesn't sound promising. Oh well...

 

[videojanitor]

I'm in the Pocket area of Sacramento, and I have received a few SF stations on rare occasion. Specifically, I've picked up KTVU, KRON and KBHK. I'm using a small (don't know the model number) chimney-mounted Channel Master antenna with a rotor -- with something larger, I might get these channels more often, but SF reception at this distance really is a crapshoot and depends mostly on atmospheric conditions.


If you want to watch the Giants games on KTVU, your best bet is going to try to tune in KTVU *analog.* I can *always* see that by turning my rotor, though again the quality varies -- sometimes pretty darned snowy -- other times, almost as good as a local channel. But, if you just gotta see the game, you CAN see it.


--Bill R.

 

[Pacbellguy]

I'm in Antioch also and Mt Diablo is between us and San Francisco. Can only get Sacramento (Walnut Grove) stations.

 

[SonomaSearcher]

Quote:

Originally posted by mbroder I am also a huge Giants fan and have been trying for the past 2 years to get the KTVU signal. It sounds like DirectTV may come to the rescue for me because Antioch is considered part of the Bay Area. I know that I will be getting CBS-HD from DirectTV starting in a couple of days, and FOX is supposed to start sometime soon as well. Hopefully in time for opening day.

Sorry to bear the bad news, but you are probably out of luck on Fox. KTVU is not owned by Fox (unlike KPIX, which is owned by CBS), so it will not be included in the DirectTV service.


But, if you are nice, maybe KTVU will give you a waiver when you explain you are unable to receive its signals over the air. Unlikely, but worth a try...

 

[R. Boyce]

The Bay area DTV stations are sometimes very strong in the Sacramento area during warm Summer weather. At other times there is no signal at all. The availability of the bay area stations is entirely dependent on signal propagation conditions which is determined by the weather.

 

[dbdsac]

Quote:

Originally posted by R. Boyce The Bay area DTV stations are sometimes very strong in the Sacramento area during warm Summer weather. At other times there is no signal at all. The availability of the bay area stations is entirely dependent on signal propagation conditions which is determined by the weather.

R. Boyce-

Summertime is baseball season...maybe I will get lucky. What kind of equipment are you using to receive these signals and do you you need a rotor or is SF and Sac in the same line-of-sight?

 

[jerrymc]

Quote:

Originally posted by Pacbellguy I'm in Antioch also and Mt Diablo is between us and San Francisco. Can only get Sacramento (Walnut Grove) stations.

I have no doubt that your reception of SF signals is no good from Antioch, but Mt Diablo isn't the problem. SF is slightly north and east of Antioch, while Mt Diablo is southeast. The

terrain in your way is probably the Oakland Hills.


Regards,

Jerry

Antioch native