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Hi Folks,
Am getting a new Wide Scrn HDTV with turner soon, and need to know something about how to set it up, to receive HD OTA "local" stations.
I presently have a UHF/VHF/FM (yagi) Antenna from Radio Shack in the Attic, and receive local (standard) Channels on it.
My understanding is that one needs a "special" HDTV antenna for reception of the HD channels that are availavle OTA, is this right, or can I use my existing OTA antenna.
IF, i need another UHF Antenna ( I think HD is xmitted on UHFbands), how would i combine those two antennas, to receive all the local broadcasts?
Am getting a new Wide Scrn HDTV with turner soon, and need to know something about how to set it up, to receive HD OTA "local" stations.
I presently have a UHF/VHF/FM (yagi) Antenna from Radio Shack in the Attic, and receive local (standard) Channels on it.
My understanding is that one needs a "special" HDTV antenna for reception of the HD channels that are availavle OTA, is this right, or can I use my existing OTA antenna.
IF, i need another UHF Antenna ( I think HD is xmitted on UHFbands), how would i combine those two antennas, to receive all the local broadcasts?
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11999 views
Catching up !
FELLAS !, I am SO sorry I haven't gotten back with a reply to all of your posts. Been busy with family, showing my NEW TV off
, and just haven't had time to get back online and read your posts. THANK YOU ALL, for responding, and your patients !
Ice,
OF COURSE !, I didn't think about just adding the channels manually ! I guess you CAN teach an OLD dog, new tricks!
I probably could have read that in the Manual for the TV, but it's almost 100 pages, and I keep going to sleep while I'm reading it ! 
Don't have a Signal Strength Meter built in, and would like to have that capability ! I suppose one can "add" one inline, true? Can you recommended a good brand ?
raoul5788,
Very glad you prompted Ice to reply about the eat/sleep comment.
I just thought he was hibernating, most Bears do about this time of year !
PS: Great Car pic !, I used to own a 1949 Studebaker, just like yours !
Wyr,
It's SO good to see you online, was worried if everything was ok. Please keep in touch, and thanks for your comments, they're always welcome.
All,
Given Ice's comments on the sensitivity of aiming, I thought to get a Compass up in the Attic with me. It's easy to get a little disorientated up there. I had thought to set up a new mount. Like a Floor Flange and Pipe, where I could get more precise settings. Right now I got it hung with some Nylon Cord, and it's hard to get it moved "a little".
I have a small portable TV (batt op), that I thought to take up in the Attic with me, to watch the signal, but it's Analog, and I don't think it will be sensitive enough to zero in on the Towers, like a Digital would. ( Ice, have a comment on that? )
When first connecting the system up, I got SO many HD/SD Channels, I thought it was just fine! However, as I tune back in on some, there's sound dropout and pictilization on several, which I may be able to clear up (some) with the aiming adjustments.
Once I get past the holiday season, I'll have time to find out if techpuppy was right about that foil backing on the roofing Plyboard, it just may be the reason for some of the signal problems. (DTV - 32 Ch total, 7 below standard ).
I did some Cable swapping the other day, checked out the Analog part of the Antenna, and it's NOT all that good either. (18 Ch total, 8 below standard). Customarily I have the TWC box connected to the Analog Receiver.
Let me take this opportunity, to wish each and every one of you, and VERY Mary Christmas, and prosperous New Year. It has been such a joy, finding this site, and "meeting" good people like you guys. My VERY best to all of you. :up
FELLAS !, I am SO sorry I haven't gotten back with a reply to all of your posts. Been busy with family, showing my NEW TV off
, and just haven't had time to get back online and read your posts. THANK YOU ALL, for responding, and your patients !Ice,
OF COURSE !, I didn't think about just adding the channels manually ! I guess you CAN teach an OLD dog, new tricks!
I probably could have read that in the Manual for the TV, but it's almost 100 pages, and I keep going to sleep while I'm reading it ! Don't have a Signal Strength Meter built in, and would like to have that capability ! I suppose one can "add" one inline, true? Can you recommended a good brand ?
raoul5788,
Very glad you prompted Ice to reply about the eat/sleep comment.
I just thought he was hibernating, most Bears do about this time of year !
PS: Great Car pic !, I used to own a 1949 Studebaker, just like yours !
Wyr,
It's SO good to see you online, was worried if everything was ok. Please keep in touch, and thanks for your comments, they're always welcome.
All,
Given Ice's comments on the sensitivity of aiming, I thought to get a Compass up in the Attic with me. It's easy to get a little disorientated up there. I had thought to set up a new mount. Like a Floor Flange and Pipe, where I could get more precise settings. Right now I got it hung with some Nylon Cord, and it's hard to get it moved "a little".
I have a small portable TV (batt op), that I thought to take up in the Attic with me, to watch the signal, but it's Analog, and I don't think it will be sensitive enough to zero in on the Towers, like a Digital would. ( Ice, have a comment on that? )
When first connecting the system up, I got SO many HD/SD Channels, I thought it was just fine! However, as I tune back in on some, there's sound dropout and pictilization on several, which I may be able to clear up (some) with the aiming adjustments.
Once I get past the holiday season, I'll have time to find out if techpuppy was right about that foil backing on the roofing Plyboard, it just may be the reason for some of the signal problems. (DTV - 32 Ch total, 7 below standard ).
I did some Cable swapping the other day, checked out the Analog part of the Antenna, and it's NOT all that good either. (18 Ch total, 8 below standard). Customarily I have the TWC box connected to the Analog Receiver.
Let me take this opportunity, to wish each and every one of you, and VERY Mary Christmas, and prosperous New Year. It has been such a joy, finding this site, and "meeting" good people like you guys. My VERY best to all of you. :up
tvfool.com New Tower Locator
Gees, I hate to post twice in a row, but I've ran across a Site, much like Antennaweb. Gives UHF/VHF Towers, Azimuths, Power, lots of stuff, thought you'd like to check it out at:
www.tvfool.com
Have a good Day !
SWHouston
Gees, I hate to post twice in a row, but I've ran across a Site, much like Antennaweb. Gives UHF/VHF Towers, Azimuths, Power, lots of stuff, thought you'd like to check it out at:
www.tvfool.com
Have a good Day !
SWHouston
PB,
I liked it a LOT more than some of the others one can use, and you're right about the "Saves", I just GOT to have something in my hand I can look at !
Specially liked the way you can select the Analog and Digital stations separately, but, I did send the Administrator (andy.s.lee) a note, asking that he make the Towers able to be "sorted" by Azimuth and Channel number. I use those two "sorts" a lot more than I do by the"Rx_dBm" (strength of signal at the selected location).
I'm not sure just how many of that type site you're interested in, but maybe the following might help in some instances:
CEA Antenna Tower Locator:
http://antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx3px#
Broadcast Stations Tower Locator:
http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp
Radiostation World (TV & FM):
http://www.radiostationworld.com
GPS Coordinates & Magnetic Declination:
http://www.topozone.com
or
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp
or
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer
Additionally you might be interested in:
Tropospheric Ducting Forecasts:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_wam.html
VHF Propagation Map, N.A.:
http://www.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/ham/aprs/path.cgi?map=na
A couple URL's above, are other sites which do the same as fvfool, just wanted to show them, someone may prefer those.
(can't understand why though) !
Have a good Day !
I liked it a LOT more than some of the others one can use, and you're right about the "Saves", I just GOT to have something in my hand I can look at !
Specially liked the way you can select the Analog and Digital stations separately, but, I did send the Administrator (andy.s.lee) a note, asking that he make the Towers able to be "sorted" by Azimuth and Channel number. I use those two "sorts" a lot more than I do by the"Rx_dBm" (strength of signal at the selected location).
I'm not sure just how many of that type site you're interested in, but maybe the following might help in some instances:
CEA Antenna Tower Locator:
http://antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx3px#
Broadcast Stations Tower Locator:
http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp
Radiostation World (TV & FM):
http://www.radiostationworld.com
GPS Coordinates & Magnetic Declination:
http://www.topozone.com
or
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp
or
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer
Additionally you might be interested in:
Tropospheric Ducting Forecasts:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_wam.html
VHF Propagation Map, N.A.:
http://www.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/ham/aprs/path.cgi?map=na
A couple URL's above, are other sites which do the same as fvfool, just wanted to show them, someone may prefer those.
(can't understand why though) !
Have a good Day !
I have Dish with Hopper3. I choose to get local channels OTA and had a "guide list" established at my previous home. Having moved a few miles away, I wanted to update the list by appending a couple new stations via a rescan. As many would know, some stations come in with the UHF/VHF antenna aimed in one direction, while others come in better with a different direction.
Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.
It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.
Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?
Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.
It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.
Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?
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19 views
After having continuing trouble with my eight+ year old Dell Inspiron laptop I am looking to hopefully catch a good deal on new one. My options to buy is Costco and Sam's Club. It seems like a lot of new laptops are 2 in 1 which I do not need. I use the laptop to mainly surf the web and keep up with my finances, money and bills. I would like to have at least a 15" screen and having a touchscreen is a plus. The keyboard would need to lighted also. I don't game any. It would have to be Windows instead of and not Mac. The brands I see the most are Asus, Dell and HP. My two last laptops has been Dell's. Of these brands are there any standouts over the other brands. My budget (hopefully) is $600+-. Also while researching I noticed that do not have ethernet ports.
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Dang female lions don't mess around when it comes to their kiddos....aka whelps.
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vvefv5xW77s?feature=share
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vvefv5xW77s?feature=share
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Supporting Founder
Pub Member / Supporter
Apple Fall Hardware Event takes place today, September 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. It marks the debut of new CEO John Ternus and the expected reveal of Apple's first foldable phone.
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2033 views
S
when was the last time they innovated something
I'd probably say when they came up with their M-series of processors with integrated memory. That allowed Apple to get away from the inefficient Intel CPUs that were limiting their notebook computers.when was the last time they innovated something
Supporting Founder
Really excited for this season with Kentucky having a new coach and some really exciting recruits. Probably won't last long, but here's hoping this season is great.
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..I hate playing in Ames.
I hate playing in LA ...
Buckeyes had 2 weeks off and came out and looked absolutely terrible ... broke in a new Freshman Qb, but that wasn't the worst part ... undiscipline play, at last count they had 10 penalties.
Freshman in the end of the game trying to play catch up, had a lot of Over throws ... Bucks lose ...
#1 Miami struggled but pulled away in the end beating North Carolina by 3 ...
Tuesday the CFP brings out thier Playoff Top 12 again ... Buckeyes should drop from #2 to about #22 (they won't) had they had thier Starting QB, it would have been a different game ...
They could lose the rest of thier games at this point.
My in-Laws came from Iowa, she was a graduate of ISU. Unranked Iowa teams beat the #24 and #25 teams on Halloween.
And I heard that your QB made a poor choice after scoring the tying touchdown, leading to a fifteen yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff. The Cyclones were then able to take advantage of the resulting field position to get close enough to score the winning field goal.
In a NCAA Football season of bizarre endings, this has to rank right up there.
Pub Member / Supporter
Pissed off at the crappy healthcare costs
My health Insurance renewal for 2027 just came in. Going from $827 a month to $1,187 a month. Deductible going up a $1k to $9,350. Max out of pocket also going up $1k to $11,000. Doctor co-pay of $40. Urgent Care co-pay $50. ER 50% coinsurance after deductible. That's all in network. Out of network is double, should it be needed.
Have to think about this. I'm really tempted to just go without now. I only go to the doctor once or twice a year. I pay out of pocket for Tirzepitide and can do without the Rosuvastatin (crestor) now. Really tired of spending over $10k a year and getting nothing out of it.
After years with Blue Cross I switched last year to Ambetter as my Blue Cross premium was going from $1200 to $1800 for a Silver plan and the Bronze plan was still going to be $1300 at BCBS. Ambetter was $827 for the same coverage with a Bronze plan. Didn't think it would jump this much so soon.
I'm guessing a Silver plan is probably over $2,000 a month for 2027.
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413 views
Such a scam. Healthcare.gov shows me cheaper individual plans available for 2027 from ambetter that ambetter doesn't show on their website. Looked it up. I've spent $68,000 in premiums the last 5 years and got nothing out of it except a few doctors visits and labs.
I'm on Medicare but the rest of the family is on ACA. ACA is ridiculus. The ACA premium has been about about $1900/month with a $9K deductible for the past 10 years - no eye or dental. A lot of money and yet we get so little in return. I haven't signed up for 2027 yet but I expect the cost to be higher.
Pissed off at the crappy healthcare costs
My health Insurance renewal for 2027 just came in. Going from $827 a month to $1,187 a month. Deductible going up a $1k to $9,350. Max out of pocket also going up $1k to $11,000. Doctor co-pay of $40. Urgent Care co-pay $50. ER 50% coinsurance after deductible. That's all in network. Out of network is double, should it be needed.
Have to think about this. I'm really tempted to just go without now. I only go to the doctor once or twice a year. I pay out of pocket for Tirzepitide and can do without the Rosuvastatin (crestor) now. Really tired of spending over $10k a year and getting nothing out of it.
After years with Blue Cross I switched last year to Ambetter as my Blue Cross premium was going from $1200 to $1800 for a Silver plan and the Bronze plan was still going to be $1300 at BCBS. Ambetter was $827 for the same coverage with a Bronze plan. Didn't think it would jump this much so soon.
I'm guessing a Silver plan is probably over $2,000 a month for 2027.
I had an old Wireless Joey replaced by a Wireless Joey 4 (Android TV) - still have a Hopper 3 without the Hopper Plus. What do I have to do to get the EPG to show channel logos instead of "Dish"? This is annoying as hell and it's been this way for over a month…
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Lifetime Supporter
Looks like dish is Bankrupt. Filling tomorrow Tuesday June 30th
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14593 views
S
www.aboutamazon.com
Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network
Globalstar satellites, radio frequency spectrum, and operational expertise will enable Amazon Leo to add Direct-to-Device (D2D) services to future generations of its low Earth orbit satellite network.
www.aboutamazon.com
S
www.foxnews.com
SpaceX reportedly seeks 80,000 cell sites to become a wireless carrier | Fox News
SpaceX is reportedly pursuing 80,000 cell sites to turn Starlink into a wireless carrier that could compete with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile for cell coverage.
www.foxnews.com
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Lifetime Supporter
This should hit a lot of folks with a dose of reality. I can only imagine how much more common this will get as AI progresses.
I read several stories on this and most are clear as mud. They say a lot of the stolen bitcoin has been "locked out" and that everyone will be made financially whole. I guess time will tell if either of these statements are actually true.
www.cnbc.com
I read several stories on this and most are clear as mud. They say a lot of the stolen bitcoin has been "locked out" and that everyone will be made financially whole. I guess time will tell if either of these statements are actually true.
Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in biggest-ever cryptocurrency theft
The company later added it began recovering assets impacted by the breach after pledging to cover losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users.
www.cnbc.com
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Over the past year I have been tracking the changes on Western Arc. The past 3 months have had a lot of changes that I posted in the other MPEG2 Western Arc shutdown thread. Now that 129 is (basically) out of commission, here is where Western Arc stands. This is just a national channel list, (no local channels) based off what I can see and what others have contributed. Thanks to everyone who has helped me come up with the locations of some of the channels – I would try and list all of you out, but I know I would forget someone! As has been suggested in other parts of the forum, it would be great to collect the spotbeam data for those who could contribute!
A couple of pieces of info:
When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.
Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:
A couple of pieces of info:
- Out of the 64 transponders between 110/119, there are currently 50 transponders that Dish is licensed to use. 22 are Spotbeams, 28 are ConUS transponders (14 transponders are licensed to DirecTV and Dish doesn't have access to them)
- Those 28 ConUS transponders are divided as follows:
- 10 are dedicated to National HD channels (ESPN, CNN, Disney Channel, etc). Dish is maxing out at 16 HD channels per transponder (note – in an earlier post I said there was one transponder with 17 HD channels, that was an error on my part. When I double checked my listings, one channel changed transponders). Before the transition, there was a maximum of 14 HD channels per transponder.
- 1 transponder is dedicated to adult content
- 2 are a mixture HD PPV Movies/4k channels
- 3 are set aside for HD Sports channels that are only on for live games (NBA League Pass, the PAC 12 alternate channels, some PPV events, etc); 3 SD PPV Sports Channels are there as well.
- 7 are for SD and/or music channels. Dish is maxing out at 26 SD channels per transponder thus far on the SD transponders.
- 5 transponders on 110 I have no channels listed but Dish operates. (they are labeled as ConUS on my chart below) There are other things that could be on those transponders, like RV Distant Networks, internal testing channels, etc, that I can't see. They might be able to be used for additional content, but I am not sure exactly what is on those transponders.
When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.
Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:
- During this migration from 129, Dish converted 7 ConUS transponders on 119 into Spotbeams – that is how they ended up fitting on all the HD locals that used to be on 129. (for those interested, TP 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 are the ones that used to be ConUS on 119 that are now Spotbeam)
- Removed almost all SD duplicate channels that are offered in HD
- Converted remaining SD channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4
- There are also 2 subtle things that changed from the HD channel perspective
- At the beginning of the transition, Dish decreased the number of PPV Movie channels – prior to this transition the PPV channels HD PPV movies were 502-522; now they are 502-517.
- At the beginning of April when MLB, NBA, and NHL regular seasons were all going on at the same time and this transition began, there were a ton of games "joined in progress" for the HD feeds. That wasn't common since the days before the full time HD RSN's. The reason for that was prior to the transition, Dish had 4 transponders set aside for HD Sports – 2 transponders was the bandwidth set aside from the HD RSN's before Dish dropped the RSN's, then 2 transponders were for alternate channels. Now we are down to 3 transponders for HD sports.
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