Hi all, here is an update. I still plan to play and tweak things for fun, and I'd love to hear what others are getting but I'm very happy with what I get now. For what its worth the coax path from my antenna to my TV is ridiculously long and contains multiple connections and that still doesn't seem to be a problem.
I have the same hardware:
Channel Master 4228 UHF 8-Bay HDTV Antenna (Long-range)
Channel Master 7777 Titan High Gain Mast-Mount Preamp
Sony 50" SXRD rear projection
I figured out last week that my TV was somehow locked onto physical channel 6 for channel 6.1. I checked www.tvfool.com, which is an awesome site you should check out if you haven't, and learned that my TV should be looking for 6.1 ABC on physical channel 33. Once I asked it to "look again" it found ABC 6.1 with around 60% signal strength. To get better reception for it I pointed my antenna to 230 degrees since I get all the channels at 190 degrees just fine.
Now I get all the following:
3.1, 3.2, 6.1, 10.1, 10.2, 15.1, 15.2, 15.4, 18.3, 18.4, 24.1, 24.2, 47.1
They all come in fantastic and make me never want to watch cable again (granted I only have analog cable). Now I just need ATSC tuners for/in the other 2-3 TVs in the house.
Minnesota: Rochester
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unterhol
- New Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:14 pm
quick update
Hi all. I'm slowly getting a new channel every now and then as they ramp up to digital. I thought I'd add an update here.
I replaced my coax from the attic to the basement with one straight cable run where an old gas vent was removed. That did seem to make things a bit more reliable, so better is nice, but it was fine even before that.
I finally have my antenna pointed so that I haven't gone up to tweak it for months (maybe a year?). I'm pointing it out the sidewall vertical sided part of my attic instead of through the shingled part. Even though that is pointing less directly at the towers it gets far better performance. I'm guessing something about the shingle material, or the many metal nails hurts the signal more than a couple degrees on the compass.
I replaced my coax from the attic to the basement with one straight cable run where an old gas vent was removed. That did seem to make things a bit more reliable, so better is nice, but it was fine even before that.
I finally have my antenna pointed so that I haven't gone up to tweak it for months (maybe a year?). I'm pointing it out the sidewall vertical sided part of my attic instead of through the shingled part. Even though that is pointing less directly at the towers it gets far better performance. I'm guessing something about the shingle material, or the many metal nails hurts the signal more than a couple degrees on the compass.
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eliwhitney
- Major Contributor
- Posts: 484
- Joined: Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:14 am
- Location: Oklahoma
Hi unterhol -
Yup, the decking wood plus those shingles w/ the mineral coating & - as you posted, nails - all contribute to nearly a 40% -50% immediate loss of signal between the same antenna outside vs what it does inside, trying to "receive" through all that!
So, aiming out your gable is going to have better results . . . . . that older CM #4228 had a medium angle {nearly 90} so, a couple of degrees shouldn't matter.
And, rescan come the 12 June or whenever your reception goes "awry!"
Hope that the new coax run WAS quad RG-6 ? . . .essentially the same $$ {~ $8 / 50 feet coils w/ prepared ends or $13 = 100 feet}. . . http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2
eli
Yup, the decking wood plus those shingles w/ the mineral coating & - as you posted, nails - all contribute to nearly a 40% -50% immediate loss of signal between the same antenna outside vs what it does inside, trying to "receive" through all that!
So, aiming out your gable is going to have better results . . . . . that older CM #4228 had a medium angle {nearly 90} so, a couple of degrees shouldn't matter.
And, rescan come the 12 June or whenever your reception goes "awry!"
Hope that the new coax run WAS quad RG-6 ? . . .essentially the same $$ {~ $8 / 50 feet coils w/ prepared ends or $13 = 100 feet}. . . http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2
eli