[NickelPickel]

I live in Spotsylvania, Virginia - near the Spotsylvania Courthouse, and have recently received my Samsung HDTV DirecTV rcvr. I hooked up my large, roof top antenna and tried to tune in ANY HDTV signal with no results at all. A few of the analog DC locals came in, but not clear at all (nothing like digital), but was disappointed that it could not get a good HD signal. I tried the Richmond stations as well to no avail.


I would love some help/suggestions from anyone who lives in the area that I do. Better antenna (the one I have is pretty big and should do the job), amplifiers, BIGGER antenna?


I know that some people in Fredericksburg and Spotsy are geting good signals, but I would sure love to know how they are doing it!!!


Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[TiVo_Al]

My wife used to teach in Spotsy, so I know the area.


You have a tough situation, mid-way between DC and Richmond. I'd guess you're over 50 miles from each, and one of the Richmond antennas is closer to Petersburg.


You'll probably need a really good amplified antenna on a rotor, and that might not do the job. Check out www.antennaweb.org to see their recommendations.


I ran the check and you definately are mostly in the violet (amplified directional antenna) zone for almost all stations.


Good luck!

 

[n4nw]

Here is the line up of digital stations currently receive from my location in northern part of Stafford County, Virginia (38° 27.55' N 77° 27.75W).


Baltimore, MD 120kM path beam heading 46°

WBAL-DT UHF59 NBC 50% of the time

WBFF-DT UHF47 FOX 60% of the time

WJZ-DT UHF38 CBS 80% of the time

WMAR-DT UHF52 ABC 80% of the time


Washington, DC area stations 65kM path, beam heading 42°

WBDC-DT UHF51 WB 100% of the time

WETA-DT UHF27 PBS 99% of the time

WJLA-DT UHF39 ABC 100% of the

WNVT-DT UHF 30 MHZ 100% of the time

WRC-DT UHF48 NBC 100% of the time

WTTG-DT UHF36 FOX 100% of the time

WUSA-DT UHF34 CBS 100% of the time


Richmond, VA stations 102kM path, beam heading 197°

WTVR-DT UHF25 CBS 99% of the time

WRLH-DT UHF26 FOX 00% - signal overload from WETA analog on same frequency

WUPV-DT UHF47 UPN very sporadic running low power

WWBT-DT UHF54 NBC 99% of the time

WRIC-DT UHF22 ABC 99% of the time


Norfolk, VA area stations 195kM path, beam heading 155°

WAVY-DT UHF31 NBC 40% of the time

WTKR-DT UHF40 CBS 40% of the time

WVEC-DT UHF41 ABC 40% of the time


Other stations received,

WNVC-DT UHF57 MHz 90% 35° 40kM Fairfax, VA

WBOC-DT UHF21 sporadic 86° 150kM Salisbury MD


Equipment:

Samsung SIR-T151 & Dish 6000 with 8VSB OTA module, Antennas:

Winegard model HD-9095 at 90' on tower 333' AMSL fixed pointing to 45°

Channel Master 4228 at 100' on tower 333'AMSL rotatable

Both antennas employ Channel Master Titan model 7775 amplifiers tower mounted

Feed lines are Times (.0875") 7/8 75ohm CATV hardline (run from antennas to receivers is 200') for low loss.


With increased distance from DTV transmitters, multi-path reception has not been noted.

 

[danguyf]

I also live in Spotsylvania County, down Courthouse Rd. towards US1 (+38.254708, -077.528765). I've just ordered an HD tuner card for my HTPC and now I'm trying to figure out what I need antenna-wise.


Between antennaweb.org and 2150.com I came up with the following (from closest to furthest):
Richmond:

WCVE-TV 42 PBS

WRIC-TV 22 ABC

WTVR-TV 25 CBS

WRLH-TV 26 FOX

WCVE-TV 42 PBS

WWBT 54 NBC

D.C.:

WRC-TV 48 NBC

WETA-TV 27 PBS

WUSA 34 CBS

WJLA-TV 39 ABC

WTTG 36 FOX

WBDC-TV 51 WB

WNVT-DT 30 MHZ

Those of you in the area, can you post the details of your antenna setups? Antenna(s), rotator?, remote tilter?, pre-amplifier, and which stations come in well?


I saw in another thread that brcobb said, "I have a CM 4228 with a CM 7777 amp.", so I'll be looking those up.


Many thanks.

 

[n4nw]

I am usning both the CM 4228 w/CM7777 preamp as well as the Wingard HD9095 w/CM777 preamp.


Both of my antennas and pre-amps are mounted on my ham radio tower more than 90' above ground. I find that the directivity is much sharper with the Wingard and hence it is able to pull in the distance stations (Baltimore for me) better than the CM4228. However, because I am situated just about in the middle between Richmond and Wishington's transmitters the reduced fonty to back ratio of the CM4228 allows me to point it towards the Richmond transmitters of 6, 8 & 12 and receive the Washington transmitters of 4, 5, 7, 9 & 50.


Nevertheless important is that our greater distance from the transmitters, whild imposing a problem receiving adequate signal also practically eliminates any problems from multi-path signals.


Both of these antennas with suitalble pre-amps will work for our area as long as you place them at least 30' above ground - unless you live in a hole or valley!


Tom


Quote:

Originally posted by danguyf Those of you in the area, can you post the details of your antenna setups? Antenna(s), rotator?, remote tilter?, pre-amplifier, and which stations come in well? I saw in another thread that brcobb said, "I have a CM 4228 with a CM 7777 amp.", so I'll be looking those up. Many thanks. [/b]

 

[danguyf]

I guess at 90' you don't have to worry about tilting! Do I understand correctly from your previous post that you have one or both on a rotator? Do you find you need to adjust beyond simply picking up stations outside D.C. and Richmond?

 

[riffjim4069]

I received the following correspondence from WTTG-DT (FOX5) this evening:


Hi James,


I don't know why your reception of WTTG-DT isn't reliable but you right it could be a height issue. We are a couple of hundred feet lower on DTV than WUSA and WJLA. We do get the opposite reports from viewers in the Winchester, VA area who receive us better than any of the other stations. We are also higher transmitter power than the other DC stations.


To answer your other question, we are planning on installing a new DTV Antenna on our tower that will be approx. equal to the other stations. If we do it won't be until sometime in 2005. That will include WDCA-DT on Ch. 35 or 20-1.


If there is any way to increase your height or adjust the direction of the antenna, it might be worth a try.


Regards,



Message:

ATTN: Programming/Engineering


Subj: Poor OTA broadcast reception (WTTG-DT) in Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania County


I live Spotsylvania County (Fredericksburg mailing address), VA and experience unreliable OTA reception of your digital broadcast station WTTG-DT. I am using a Channel Master 4228 direction UHF antenna with Channel

Master 7775 UHF preamp. For the record, I have been receiving the major DC broadcast stations---those who are broadcasting at full power---reliably and without problem, 24/7, for about 18 months (WRC-DT, WJLA-DT,

WUSA-DT). Your stations is the only one causing me problems (pixilation, drop-out, etc.). I would suspect the problem is not with my equipment.


I am located roughly 55 miles from your broadcast tower and I can often pull-in the Baltimore stations in the evening and early morning hours. I also have a 2nd CM-4228 antenna (mounted on the opposite side of the

house) in which I am able to pull in the Richmond digitals.


I noticed your broadcast towers are roughly 200ft lower than the other DC stations. Could this be why I am having such a difficult time receiving WTTG-DT - especially during the day? With FOX getting ready to broadcast in HD (up to 6 NFL games each week), it is imperitive that FOX5 come in as reliably as the other DC locals.


Do you have plans to raise your antenna - HAAT? Do you plan to increase kW?


Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.


R/S,

Jim...