No Signal. Missing analog.

[Bushman]

I blew yesterday by installing a 10' wide TV antenna 30' off the ground thinking that would get me a digital TV signal up at my cabin. Analog was never real clear, but good enough to get the news or a fuzzy football game with just a rabbit ear antenna. I fired up the new system later in the afternoon only to do the channel search and get zero channels.:mad: I talked to a neighbor on the way out and he told me the same thing. He has the best outdoor antenna he could buy with a booster and he is still sol as far as a digital signal. I wish that I had talked to him first. If the digital revolution is an improvement, you sure won't hear that from me.

[ncboman]

The only tv we have is this digital crap. I've been pondering posting the results but have been busy.

The picture is real good if you can get it. There is no 'fuzzy' reception. Either you have a good signal or none at all.

With analog we could recieve as many as 14 stations. Now, often we can only receive 2. The closest station we cannot receive at all at any time.

Since the majority of the populace are on pay tv of some kind, there is no outrage, ... only poor people wondering what happened.

Another fraud perpetuated by our caring government. :mad:

[Sidekick]

I went from 5 channels to 3. One thing to consider that may help is that digital signals are very direction sensitive. If my antenna is more than 5 degrees off I can't pick up some stations. You might try changing the antenna direction and rescanning. And you will have to rescan every time you move the antenna. Just turning it while you watch the screen won't work. Maybe a rotator would help.

[ncboman]

aarg.

I have a rotor out in the barn but hate the things.

I get nice antennas all the time from roofing jobs. Maybe I could align one toward each signal and avoid the rotor. :D

[Altjaeger]

aarg.

I have a rotor out in the barn but hate the things.

I get nice antennas all the time from roofing jobs. Maybe I could align one toward each signal and avoid the rotor. :D

FBI and CIA will REALLY be watching you then!!!:D

I think they may follow my kayaks sometimes thinking the rods are camoflaged radio antaneas.:)

[Greywolf]

NCB... only poor people wondering what happened.

Another fraud perpetuated by our caring government.



all for the cell phone industry and their providers, hmmmmm:rolleyes:


I guess the digit sig is one that does not disburse and decay, but simply stops at it's terminus. At least that's how one of the TV engineers had explained it.

How if you try a sattelite dish on the barn, along side of those antennas:D

We are on cable here.
Asked my wife it was better, and she said Yes, even the bars that wave accross channel 2 and 4 are sharper now:rolleyes:

[Rock Chuck]

All the area TV transmission towers are on a single butte about 20 miles from me - and line of sight from my roof. Or they USED to be, until the neighbors planted a bunch of hybrid trees a few years ago. Now, in the summer when the trees have leaves, my reception deteriorates dramatically. I actually gained a couple channels with the change over. One is a very nice Spanish speaking one and the other is all selling stuff, 24 hrs of it.

[Sidekick]

aarg.

I have a rotor out in the barn but hate the things.

I get nice antennas all the time from roofing jobs. Maybe I could align one toward each signal and avoid the rotor. :D

That's how my Dad has his antenna set up. It works. He gets twice the channels that I do. And only lives 4 miles away.

[ncboman]

I already have 2 antennas up.

If I put up another, maybe the neighbors will have something else to talk about. :D

I've got another big one laying on the ground out behind the barn from a recent job. :rolleyes:

[Greywolf]

Just another thought,

I had heared that the antennas now must have both UHF and VHF elements,
just thought I would mention this, as maybe some do not have both on there antennas?

[Sidekick]

Good point. I think the vast majority of digital signals are in the UHF range. I hear good things about this model. http://www.antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html Check the rest of the site for some good info.

[Sidekick]

This is a helpful link in deciding how to orient your antenna.
http://www.antennapoint.com/

[ncboman]

thanks, those are some good links.

[StringJumper]

Greywolf hit on it - the digital signal is 0 (no signal) or 1 (full signal). There are not .5's in digital programming...either you have it completely or you don't have it at all. There is not a gray area of reception where you receive a diminished signal.

After the switchover more people lost programming than gained it. And don't expect anything to change...the bandwidth opened up by eliminating those analog channels has already been sold by the FCC.

Thank your ex-FCC chairman Kevin Martin.

[Bushman]

Do I drop another $119. for a new antenna like the one from Sidekick's link or do I heed the advice of my neighbor of "Don't waste your money"? Evidently me and my cabin neighbors are in some kind of a hole and around 70 miles from any kind of transmitter with a 100 KW UHF signal. I did mount a means of turning my directional antenna, but orienting it to Green Bay or Iron Mountain 180 degrees apart still got nothing. Back in the sticks up there, I don't think that there is going to be much of a local expert.

[ncboman]

I'm considering the $120 antenna ... but then again, tv ain't that important to me. :rolleyes:

[Bushman]

Well, knowing that I wouldn't have any experts in Pembine, WI. I called an electronics store antenna expert here locally. I told him that I'm 70 miles away from a good signal and he said that UHF will be good to only about 40 miles. I told him that I am working with an old antenna, so he said that if an antenna is going to work with the new signals that it should be a dedicated UHF antenna to help concentrate the signal. We talked about that high gain flat antenna in Sidekick's link and he confirmed that it is a good one, but he said that the higher gain the antenna, the more directional sensitive that it is going to be. I asked if I bought an antenna and it didn't work, could I bring it back? Nope. Once those arms are folded out, if they are folded in, they will likely break the next time out. He went on to say that the northern 1/3 of Wisconsin is pretty much out of service with the new digital "improvement". I'm going to take my neighbor's advice and not waste any more money on the project.

[ncboman]

nearly all the stations I tune to are right at 50 miles away.

[Altjaeger]

I am not sure that is all bad guys. Sometime I wish we had no reception and DVD's only.