[dave420]

I live in Rhinelander WI which is way up north.... anyways, i have a dtc-100

and am trying to pick up OTA HD on my local nbc station.... the tower is only like 1.5-2 miles away, so I figured I could use an indoor antenna. Right? I bought a kinda expensive rca amplified antenna (35 at walmart)


Hooked it up went to channel A all I can receive is a real horrible picture of my nbc channel 12. The digital is NBC 16-1 or 16 and I cant get it. Also I tried to get another station (channel 28-1 or 28 abc, station 28 miles away) And couldnt get it Anybody know why Its not recognizing it? I havent tried it in a couple days, and was figuring maybee i was trying it like at 5 at night when it wasnt broadcasting (7pm to 10pm or so)Can I only possibly tune into it during 7pm or whatever. Or can I get the signal all day?


SO many questions so many problems!!!

Why cant I get it?


Thanks Guys!

 

[jckessler]

You shouldn't need an amplified antenna. At 2 miles away, amplification is likely overloading the tuner on the DTC100. Additionally, most amps on indoors antennas are noisy, and will degrade the signal quality even if the signal strength is increased.


Try an unamplified antenna. The Zenith Silver Sensor (Sears or CC) is a good one. Even the $3 single bowtie antenna at Radioshack will likely work better that the one you're currently using.

 

[GotHDTV?]

Quote:

Originally posted by dave420 I live in Rhinelander WI which is way up north.... anyways, i have a dtc-100 and am trying to pick up OTA HD on my local nbc station.... the tower is only like 1.5-2 miles away, so I figured I could use an indoor antenna. Right? I bought a kinda expensive rca amplified antenna (35 at walmart) Hooked it up went to channel A all I can receive is a real horrible picture of my nbc channel 12. The digital is NBC 16-1 or 16 and I cant get it. Also I tried to get another station (channel 28-1 or 28 abc, station 28 miles away) And couldnt get it Anybody know why Its not recognizing it? I havent tried it in a couple days, and was figuring maybee i was trying it like at 5 at night when it wasnt broadcasting (7pm to 10pm or so)Can I only possibly tune into it during 7pm or whatever. Or can I get the signal all day? SO many questions so many problems!!! Why cant I get it? Thanks Guys!

I live about 2 miles away from my Television towers and I can tell you I have the same problem. If it is like my situation, then you probably have alot of multipathing. My area is red according to antennaweb.org, which says I need a medium/large directional outdoor antenna, so an indoor antenna won't cut it.


For a while I was using an amplified outdoor antenna inside (I'm in a condo) to get the stations; waiting for HD cable. Now I finally got the cable.

 

[dave420]

yeah it says i need a red to...... i figured it was wrong...... so should i try the bowtie or should I just get the cheapest (like 35-40) Radio shack roof/attic ant.? I want a silver sensor but the closest cc is 3 hours away. sears doesnt cary them here

 

[jckessler]

Try this:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...113670&loc=111

 

[kenglish]

Best Buy has Silver Sensor now, too.

 

[greywolf]

Aluminum or stucco siding can be a problem.

 

[dave420]

ok..... so I have that answered now....... what about like before 7 pm when they dont have high definition programming available, will I still be able to see a channel? or can I only see the channel after 7 (or whenever theyre showing HD??

Thanks guys!

 

[greywolf]

Non HD programming is still available as standard definition digital.

 

[dave420]

Well thank you

 

[jckessler]

Upconverted programming (pretty much everything outside of primetime and special events) will look much better than analog OTA or cable, and will be closer to DVD quality.

 

[GotHDTV?]

Quote:

Originally posted by dave420 yeah it says i need a red to...... i figured it was wrong...... so should i try the bowtie or should I just get the cheapest (like 35-40) Radio shack roof/attic ant.? I want a silver sensor but the closest cc is 3 hours away. sears doesnt cary them here

You may get lucky, but I doubt that the Silver Sensor or the Double Bowtie will work for you as they are indoor antennas. Although my sister lives 1 mile away from me and she can get decent reception with the radioshack amplified "digital" indoor antenna (and her house is in the red also). You may want to try that as RadioShack has a liberal return policy (although it is like $80). If you can put an antenna on your roof (I couldn't) and point it to the towers, then you should be ok.

 

[Ratman]

On the DTC-100, have you verified that the Antenna A input is set to "AIR"?


Make sure it is set to "AIR", then perform a channel scan using "Acquire off-air guides". This should detect all channels (digital and analog) and also map them to the PSIP/sub-channel properly.