Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

Do you see any glitches or pulses or other interference on the analog?
One possible cause if the problem affects all channels is some loose
connection somewhere along the antenna lead line.



My analog reception is consistently good.

Stan

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

That or a tree in the way?

I have zero problems with any kind of drop outs on my setup.

If you have this issue on all stations, then its some global problem
such as a bad connection, or something getting in the way of the
signal.

There is no tree in the way. The giant antenna I have is in the
attic. I get two channels that are consistently pretty good that
average a signal strength of 75%. My other channels with a lot of
dropout average between 75% to 40%.

Stan

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

The first thing to do in this case is to NOT use an amplified antenna,
it will just make things worse. Try rabbit ears, but rotate them to find
the best position.


I have a electronic amplifer that I attempted to hook up. It actually
made it worst so I removed it.

Stan

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

On Aug 3, 11:15 pm, wrote:
The first thing to do in this case is to NOT use an amplified
antenna,
it will just make things worse. Try rabbit ears, but rotate them
to find
the best position.

I have a electronic amplifer that I attempted to hook up. It
actually
made it worst so I removed it.

Stan

As an inexpensive experiment, you could try a couple different value
attenuators say 3, 6 or 10 dB. If the amplifier made it worse, you may
be simply overloading the front end(s). At 12 miles you shouldn't need
any large antenna unless you have a difficult multipath issue that a
more directional could help though it would have more signal output as
well. Attenuators are excellent for that scenario.

We're in LA and use a Winegard SquareShooter (little over 4 dB gain,
13 dB front-back) 35 miles out, line of sight, signal split 4 ways.
Dropouts are so rare I don't remember the last one.

GG

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
In article ,
"Matthew L. Martin" wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:31:48 -0700 wrote:

| I live about 12 miles away from the broadcasting antenna. I receive
| about 40 OTA (over the air) channels. However, it seems like no
| matter which channel I'm watching, there are always drop outs. The
| picture or the sound does something weird. Then it goes back to
| normal.
|
| Although HDTV is much more clear. I actually prefer analog because I
| don't have to worry about a dropout.

Do you see any glitches or pulses or other interference on the analog?
One possible cause if the problem affects all channels is some loose
connection somewhere along the antenna lead line.

The only loose connection involved is likely that between your pea brain
and your typing fingers. I don't think I've seen a connection between
the two, ever, you ignorant, self centered, hypocritical blow hard.

Matthew


ok, so Matthew has "won" in that he has shown the world, for now and
forever, that he's not at all interested in the discussion at hand--that
he will stalk phil and use anything and everything phil says, no matter
how innocuous, as a springboard for attacking phil.


Boo, bloody, hoo.

Matthew

--
I'm a consultant. If you want an opinion I'll sell you one.
Which one do you want?

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

wrote:
Alan,
Thanks for helping me. I looked at my main channels 2,4,5,7,9,11, and
13 and it appears about 75% strength average. I think the 2 channels
that barely have any dropout have a consistent strength at 75%. The
other ones when there is a drop out, the signal varies from 75% to 40%
or below.

The antenna is in the attic. I don't know the model, I just know that
it's one of those really big antenna VHF/UHF antenna that are suppose
to be on the roof. Probably 5 feet big when it's open. I know the
model, I just know I bought it 15 years ago for about $100.00. The
antenna is hooked up with the same type of wire they use for cable
TV. The closest airport is over 20 miles away. Is that close?

My zip code is 91770. I typed my zip into some website and it told me
that all the big channels are about 12 miles away from me. There
aren't that many hills where I live also. The TV i have is a
Philips 30PW9110D/37B that has a built in QAM digital tuner.

I would apprecitate any help.

Thanks,
stan

In LA, all of the stations are currently digitally broadcasting on
UHF. If you can tune to analog channels, how do the analog UHF stations
look? I suspect your big antenna is not that a good performer for UHF.
Also, if the co-axial cable was put in 15 years ago, it may have been
RG-59 cable. RG-59 has higher loss for the upper UHF channels than RG-6
which is what is strongly recommended for antenna cable use today.

The antennaweb.org digital list for your zip code is a rather long one
which I trimmed to just the stations on Mt. Wilson. The key is the last
number on each line which is the actual broadcast channel of the
station. Stations are simulcasting the digital signal on a different
channel because the analog channel takes up the channel # you know the
station by.

* yellow - uhf KTTV-DT 11.1 FOX LOS ANGELES CA 353° 11.2 65
* yellow - uhf KMEX-DT 34.1 UNI LOS ANGELES CA 352° 11.4 35
* yellow - uhf KCAL-DT 9.1 IND LOS ANGELES CA 352° 11.4 43
* yellow - uhf KCBS-DT 2.1 CBS LOS ANGELES CA 350° 11.7 60
* yellow - uhf KTBN-DT 23.1 TBN SANTA ANA CA 353° 11.2 23
* yellow - uhf KTLA-DT 5.1 CW LOS ANGELES CA 352° 11.4 31
* yellow - uhf KWHY-DT 22.1 IND LOS ANGELES CA 352° 11.4 42
* yellow - uhf KPXN-DT 30.1 ION SAN BERNARDINO CA 354° 10.5 38
* yellow - uhf KRCA-DT 62.1 IND RIVERSIDE CA 354° 10.5 68
* yellow - uhf KXLA-DT 44.1 IND RANCHO PALOS VERDES CA 352° 11.4 51
* yellow - uhf KSCI-DT 18.1 IND LONG BEACH CA 354° 10.5 61
* yellow - uhf KOCE-DT 50.1 PBS HUNTINGTON BEACH CA 352° 11.4 48
* yellow - uhf KDOC-DT 56.1 IND ANAHEIM CA 352° 11.4 32
* yellow - uhf KABC-DT 7.1 ABC LOS ANGELES CA 352° 11.4 53
* yellow - uhf KJLA-DT 57.1 IND VENTURA CA 352° 11.4 49
* yellow - uhf KNBC-DT 4.1 NBC LOS ANGELES CA 353° 11.3 36
* yellow - uhf KLCS-DT 58.1 PBS LOS ANGELES CA 353° 11.2 41
* yellow - uhf KCET-DT 28.1 PBS LOS ANGELES CA 353° 11.2 59
* yellow - uhf KCOP-DT 13.1 MNT LOS ANGELES CA 352° 11.5 66
* yellow - uhf KFTR-DT 46.1 TFA ONTARIO CA 352° 11.4 29
* yellow - uhf KAZA-DT 54.1 AZA AVALON CA 352° 11.4 47

In February, 2009, after the analog shutdown, the four stations with
upper VHF 7 to 13 analog channels - KABC-DT 7, KCAL-DT 9, KTTV-DT 11,
KCOP-DT 13 - will switch their digital signal to their current analog
channel. The stations at low VHF 2 to 6 - KCBS-DT 2, KNBC-DT 4, KTLA-DT
5 will stay at UHF. So for digital reception in the LA area, people need
to get an antenna that has good performance for UHF and upper VHF. The
Channel Master 4228 8 Bay bowtie directional UHF antenna is a popular
antenna in LA because it has good performance for upper VHF.

My advice is to first try to tweak your current setup. Check that the
antenna is aimed at or close to Mt. Wilson. If you can, you might try to
tilt the antenna aim upwards as the Mt. Wilson antenna farm is at over
6000'. The UHF yagi part of these big antennas is much more directional
than the VHF antenna. So tilting the antenna up may help.

Check your co-axial cable. If it is RG-59, can you easily replace it
with quad shielded RG-6 cable? That should help performance for UHF.
Also, if you have any connectors that you can access, open them and
check for corrosion.

If tweaking the antenna aim does not help, there are two options. One
is to get a medium power low noise pre-amp from Winegard or Channel
Master. But you are only ~ 11 miles from the antenna farm and a pre-amp
may make things worse.

The other option is to replace the antenna and co-axial cable run. How
much room do you have in the attic? Do you need to get the analog
stations at low VHF? At your close range, a Channel Master 4221 4 Bay is
a good bet to get the upper VHF channels in 2009.

Useful website for antenna info:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html.

Alan F

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

On Aug 4, 12:00 am, G-squared wrote:
On Aug 3, 11:15 pm, wrote:
The first thing to do in this case is to NOT use an amplified
antenna,
it will just make things worse. Try rabbit ears, but rotate them
to find
the best position.

I have a electronic amplifer that I attempted to hook up. It
actually
made it worst so I removed it.

Stan

As an inexpensive experiment, you could try a couple different value
attenuators say 3, 6 or 10 dB. If the amplifier made it worse, you may
be simply overloading the front end(s). At 12 miles you shouldn't need
any large antenna unless you have a difficult multipath issue that a
more directional could help though it would have more signal output as
well. Attenuators are excellent for that scenario.

We're in LA and use a Winegard SquareShooter (little over 4 dB gain,
13 dB front-back) 35 miles out, line of sight, signal split 4 ways.
Dropouts are so rare I don't remember the last one.

GG

GG,
I got to buy one of these. Thanks so much. At least now I know it's
possible.

Stan

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

As an inexpensive experiment, you could try a couple different value
attenuators say 3, 6 or 10 dB. If the amplifier made it worse, you may
be simply overloading the front end(s). At 12 miles you shouldn't need
any large antenna unless you have a difficult multipath issue that a
more directional could help though it would have more signal output as
well. Attenuators are excellent for that scenario.

We're in LA and use a Winegard SquareShooter (little over 4 dB gain,
13 dB front-back) 35 miles out, line of sight, signal split 4 ways.
Dropouts are so rare I don't remember the last one.

GG

GG,
interesting. I got to try one of these. I didn't even know they
existed.

thanks,
stan

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:08:49 +0000, theory4debate wrote:

The antenna is in the attic. I don't know the model, I just know that
it's one of those really big antenna VHF/UHF antenna that are suppose
to be on the roof. Probably 5 feet big when it's open. I know the
model, I just know I bought it 15 years ago for about $100.00. The
antenna is hooked up with the same type of wire they use for cable
TV. The closest airport is over 20 miles away. Is that close?

I'm sure Alan will cover this in great detail, but with that type of
antenna, and it should be good enough at only 12 miles, it needs to be
pointed precisely. So plug in your exact address in antennaweb and then
make sure the antenna as close to the direction as possible. While it
might work better outside, as long as there's nothing else between you and
the towers and it's not a metallic roof, the attic should be fine.

--
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http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
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HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Is there such thing as OTA HDTV without dropouts?
 

Alan,

thanks for your help. Here is a reply to your questions...

In LA, all of the stations are currently digitally broadcasting on
UHF. If you can tune to analog channels, how do the analog UHF stations
look?

I just went through all my Analog UHF and here are the results for the
channels that register on my TV....

22, 28, 30, 34, 40, 54, 56 excellent picture.

33, 45, 46. 50,52, 58, 63 a little snow on picture, but very
watchable

18, 25, 44, 57, 67 a lot of snow, barely watchable

24, 27, 62, poor, can see picture, but unwatchable

I suspect your big antenna is not that a good performer for UHF.
Also, if the co-axial cable was put in 15 years ago, it may have been
RG-59 cable. RG-59 has higher loss for the upper UHF channels than RG-6
which is what is strongly recommended for antenna cable use today.

Do you still recommend me changing the cable wire after knowing the
results of my analog UHF channels?

Channel Master 4228 8 Bay bowtie directional UHF antenna is a popular
antenna in LA because it has good performance for upper VHF.

I will look into that.

My advice is to first try to tweak your current setup. Check that the
antenna is aimed at or close to Mt. Wilson. If you can, you might try to
tilt the antenna aim upwards as the Mt. Wilson antenna farm is at over
6000'. The UHF yagi part of these big antennas is much more directional
than the VHF antenna. So tilting the antenna up may help.

I never aimed the antenna at Mt. Wilson. I only installed the antenna
without consider that. I don't even know which way is the front of
the antenna. I'm guessing it's the side that is pointy like a arrow.


Check your co-axial cable. If it is RG-59, can you easily replace it
with quad shielded RG-6 cable? That should help performance for UHF.
Also, if you have any connectors that you can access, open them and
check for corrosion.

I got to look at that.


The other option is to replace the antenna and co-axial cable run. How
much room do you have in the attic?

A lot of space. I can stand up.


Do you need to get the analog
stations at low VHF?


Here are my results for analog VHF channel....
2, 5, 7, excellent picture

4, 9, 11, 13 very good, some lines on the picture, but no snow.

6, snowy picture and not watchable

Thanks for your help,

Stan