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My location is atop a mountain south of Allentown, 40 plus miles north northwest of Phila stations. Using the RCA DTC-100 and a RS antenna, I receive Phila CBS near flawlessly -- rarely even a small glitch. Fox digital generally comes through well. ABC also usually works, NBC is dicey.
Allentown's WLVT (PBS-channel 62-3) is another story. I'm less than a mile from their tower. I could probably hit it with a rifle from my deck! What I mostly get is moments of visual splendor interrupted by equal (or longer) periods of "crackup", "weak signal", or nothing. Other times I get the picture OK, but the sound is unstable, going into unintelligible loops when the video picture changes. I can wait for another scene change to jog the sound back to normal, or switch channels and then return, which (usually) restores normal sound.
This has been ongoing since startup last fall. I called WLVT a few months back, spoke with an engineer, asking how to orient my antenna. It normally points south southeast, about 90 degrees clockwise from the WLVT tower. He said since I'm so close, orientation shouldn't matter. I tested this briefly, and he seemed to be right. He went on to say there were some known problems with PBS's national feed, but PBS was negotiating with a new HD feed service, and not about to correct the problem before negotiations were complete, and the new service on board. That was months ago!
Does anyone have similar problems with WLVT? Or suggestions as to what may be wrong? My hookup is strictly OTA, never been linked to a satellite, nor updated, etc.
Channel 69, the other Allentown TV station, is even closer than WLVT. Perhaps a quarter mile or so away. Their digital weather channel comes through loud and clear. Many other signals come off that tower, however. Could my problem be some kind of RF interference caused by proximity of these towers?
Allentown's WLVT (PBS-channel 62-3) is another story. I'm less than a mile from their tower. I could probably hit it with a rifle from my deck! What I mostly get is moments of visual splendor interrupted by equal (or longer) periods of "crackup", "weak signal", or nothing. Other times I get the picture OK, but the sound is unstable, going into unintelligible loops when the video picture changes. I can wait for another scene change to jog the sound back to normal, or switch channels and then return, which (usually) restores normal sound.
This has been ongoing since startup last fall. I called WLVT a few months back, spoke with an engineer, asking how to orient my antenna. It normally points south southeast, about 90 degrees clockwise from the WLVT tower. He said since I'm so close, orientation shouldn't matter. I tested this briefly, and he seemed to be right. He went on to say there were some known problems with PBS's national feed, but PBS was negotiating with a new HD feed service, and not about to correct the problem before negotiations were complete, and the new service on board. That was months ago!
Does anyone have similar problems with WLVT? Or suggestions as to what may be wrong? My hookup is strictly OTA, never been linked to a satellite, nor updated, etc.
Channel 69, the other Allentown TV station, is even closer than WLVT. Perhaps a quarter mile or so away. Their digital weather channel comes through loud and clear. Many other signals come off that tower, however. Could my problem be some kind of RF interference caused by proximity of these towers?
