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Originally posted by dmbatch:
One more question, If I get the 3021 w/preamp and point it towards the Baltimore stations, will the signal from the DC stations be strong enough without the overload problem, or should I point the antenna at a neutral location between Baltimore and DC and get the attenuator? Looking at the map of station locations from www.antennaweb.org, the Baltimore stations seem to be in the opposite direction from the DC ones.
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The stations shouldn't be opposite from each other, the Baltimore stations are ~45 degrees, the DC ~65 degrees, and PBS digital ~90 degrees. You can point at Baltimore and DC still comes in pretty strong (still overloaded), but then more susceptible to multipath (depending on what's around you). Also PBS digital may lose signal (don't know the beamwidth of 3021, maybe 45 degrees).
I have the DISH 6000 so subchannels may vary.
Channel mappings analog to digital:
2-52 (3 subs) WMAR ABC Baltimore
2.1 (14x9 1080i of SD, 720p HD)
2.2 (4x3 480i of SD)
2.3 (4x3 480i Doppler Radar Map Centered on Baltimore)
4-48 (1 sub) WRC NBC DC
4.1 (16x9 1080i of SD with black bars, 1080i HD(Just LENO?))
5-36 (1 sub) WTTG FOX DC
5.1 (16x9 1080i of SD with black bars, 480p 16x9 shows)
7-39 (1 sub) WJLA ABC DC (NO HD CONTENT or plans to broadcast)
39.2 (4x3 480i of SD) THEY SUCK!
9-34 (1 sub) WUSA CBS DC
9.1 (16x9 1080i of SD with black bars, 1080i HD(just 'bout every show)) Never watched CBS much, watch just about everything now (some of the shows I notice, they take the 4x3 content and crop and sample to display in 16x9 HD-mixed feelings 'bout this, trading content for resolution, but CBS still rocks)
11-59 (1 sub) WBAL NBC Baltimore (most troublesome station to lock onto)
59.2 (14x9 1080i of SD, 1080i HD)
13-38 (1 sub) WJZ CBS Baltimore
38.1 (same as WUSA)
END OF ALL VHF channels, all have digital carriers
22-42 ??? WMPT PBS Annapolis (Local analog 42 causes problems, never been able to tune in)
26-27 (2 sub) WETA PBS DC
26.1 (1080i HD from 7am-12am??, loops of weekly programs, IRELAND loop just recently on, really, really ROCKED!)
26.2 (4x3 480i of SD)
45-46 (1 sub) WBFF FOX Baltimore
45.1 (same as WTTG)
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Also, you say to get rid of my VHF antenna. Does that mean that the HD stations are available all the time, whether they are in HD or not? If not, I would lose my ability to get my local channels when the rain interrupts my Sat reception.
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If you can get all the digital stations, as you can see above, there is no need for a VHF antenna. I've had mine for 3 months, with no problems receiving the DC stations(WJLA 39 went out on a couple days(signal but no content), but who cares?). When I first set up, I put my 3021 on my back porch on a 5 foot pole and pointed in general direction between DC and PBS transmitters, through the neighbor's oak tree (will see about leaves in summer)... rock solid, no significant drop outs, in rain, wind, or snow. I had issues with the Baltimore stations. I needed a preamp, I had to mount the antenna on the roof. Found out higher is not better, because of multipath and other signal interference, overloading, co-channel bleeding, EM interference, and the list goes on. I originally used a Winegard 4800 (29db), couldn't even attenuate the signal(up to 40db) because channel 56 (1.5mi away) oversaturated the input capacity of the preamp. Switched to a Winegard 4700 (19db), better but 56 still saturates a bit... looked to get more chicken wire to increase the rear rejection capabilities (56 is transmitting about 180 deg from the DC/Baltimore channels, probably different for you), couldn't find any. Still had trouble receiving WBFF and WBAL(definitely multipath and interference signal problems) moved up and down all and around the roof, and finally settled that if I wanted ALL the channels reliably, I would have to use 2 antennas, so now I have a 4248(Balt.) and 3021(DC) and 4700 preamp and attenuator... still experimenting; thinking 'bout getting CM 7775 or 0064 preamp (higher input capacity). Looks like 6wpw(Ken) is far enough away to get everything from his attic no less!
Short of it is... I don't know what will happen in your case, everyone seems to be a bit different. If you want, I can loan you my 3021 and one of my preamps for you to try out. Just email me
[email protected], won't be able to do it this weekend... maybe on a weekday next week sometime or next weekend. Gotta be ready for NCAA final four!!
Tam