AM21N vs. AM21

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red hazard

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Oct 13, 2003
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St Louis Metro East (Illinois)
The sensitivity on my AM21 is rather poor when compared to my Silicondust receiver or my HDTVs. When DTV launched the AM21N circa 2011, did they use a new generation tuner chip or was the change merely cosmetic?
 
In Madison WI, channels 21.3 and 27.3 are in D*. To get channel 15.3 RF19 AntennaTV, run Miami FL as a secondary zip. To get 47.3 RF49 and 47.4 RF49, run Cleveland OH as a secondary zip. 15.3 will have the right guide, since Miami runs AntennaTV on that channel. 47.3 and 47.4 will have an incorrect guide and there is no way to match to get the correct guide.
 
I am missing several of the .3 channels in the Madison Wisconsin market.
DirecTV stopped updating their OTA database 2-3 years ago or so. Essentially any sub channel added or removed since they stopped caring about OTA will not be updated in the guide/database. So if a station in 2012 added a third sub channel it will not be viewable on a DirecTV receiver using an AM21 (or HR20). What the poster above is describing is adding a secondary zip code if there is a particular station you really want to get. This often leads to it being tunable but with incorrect guide data.
 
In Madison WI, channels 21.3 and 27.3 are in D*. To get channel 15.3 RF19 AntennaTV, run Miami FL as a secondary zip. To get 47.3 RF49 and 47.4 RF49, run Cleveland OH as a secondary zip. 15.3 will have the right guide, since Miami runs AntennaTV on that channel. 47.3 and 47.4 will have an incorrect guide and there is no way to match to get the correct guide.
Where do you get this list that gives you that data?
 
On the DBSTalk.com website, there is a post: Transponder Maps: Domestic & LatinAm. Go to this post, and at the bottom of the first post there are 3 attached files. Open the TPN_Map_Domestic file and at the bottom of the page open the OTA tab and it gives you D* database of channels for the AM21.
 
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DirecTV stopped updating their OTA database 2-3 years ago or so. Essentially any sub channel added or removed since they stopped caring about OTA will not be updated in the guide/database. So if a station in 2012 added a third sub channel it will not be viewable on a DirecTV receiver using an AM21 (or HR20). What the poster above is describing is adding a secondary zip code if there is a particular station you really want to get. This often leads to it being tunable but with incorrect guide data.

But totally still worth it. Sometimes you get lucky.
 
So running Miami FL as a secondary zip, did give you 15.3 in Madison WI. The guide should be for Miami's AntennaTV channel, but should match for you in Madison.
 
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On the DBSTalk.com website, there is a post: Transponder Maps: Domestic & LatinAm. Go to this post, and at the bottom of the first post there are 3 attached files. Open the TPN_Map_Domestic file and at the bottom of the page open the OTA tab and it gives you D* database of channels for the AM21.
Ugh why can't we have those charts... I dislike visiting that site greatly
 
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Wish directv would just scan for the OTA channels like dish does
Problem with Dish (at least last time I heard) is that the Hopper OTA dongle's "add locals" feature was NEVER enabled. Every time you change direction with your OTA antenna using Hopper OTA dongle you have to make a complete re-scan and then you'd lose channels from other directions. I know this is a DirecTV forum but does anybody know if they ever enabled it? Last time I checked (a few months ago) it wasn't enabled even after a few years after introduction.
 
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