921 OTA Reception -Problem mine or theirs?

jcord51

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Nov 29, 2003
63
0
I have an interesting situation regarding OTA channel reception and the 921 receiverer. I recently purchased a Windguard antenna and had it placed on my roof. I live in Howard Beach, NY, only 8.1 miles from the Empire State Building which is where HD/SD signals are being broadcasted from. Yet I'm getting "acquiring signal" and digital break-up while watching some channels and wonder if it's me or the 921? I narrowed the compass orientation to 312 degrees on the antenna as per antennaweb...Fox @44=62 signal strength. CBS @56=76 ss. ABC @45=87 ss and NBC @28=87 ss. All of the channels lock in and have been added to the guide. Yet when you tune them in, Fox and CBS display problems. It's easy to say that the problem is the signal strenght but I've read where people with as little as 50% signal strength have no problems. I also know that I can get a signal mast booster @ $100 but will I realize any improvement? My main question is "is it a 921 software problem"?
 
jcord51 said:
I have an interesting situation regarding OTA channel reception and the 921 receiverer. I recently purchased a Windguard antenna and had it placed on my roof. I live in Howard Beach, NY, only 8.1 miles from the Empire State Building which is where HD/SD signals are being broadcasted from. Yet I'm getting "acquiring signal" and digital break-up while watching some channels and wonder if it's me or the 921? I narrowed the compass orientation to 312 degrees on the antenna as per antennaweb...Fox @44=62 signal strength. CBS @56=76 ss. ABC @45=87 ss and NBC @28=87 ss. All of the channels lock in and have been added to the guide. Yet when you tune them in, Fox and CBS display problems. It's easy to say that the problem is the signal strenght but I've read where people with as little as 50% signal strength have no problems. I also know that I can get a signal mast booster @ $100 but will I realize any improvement? My main question is "is it a 921 software problem"?

I used a terk outdoor antenna and got great HD reception OTA with my prior Samsung HD tuner (which I had before the Dish 921). I got a 1st Dish 921 receiver that, unfortunately, had blue lines in the HD channels. It picked up 0 digital channels, and about 1 or 2 really crappy analog channels. I replaced the wire from the antenna with Monster coax cable, and Dish kindly replaced the receiver. I've now got gobs of local OTA channels. I didn't adjust the Terk antenna at all. Even though I replaced the coax with Monster, I have a hard time believing that the prior receiver still couldn't get ANY HD or Digital signals AT ALL. Hence, I'm inclined to believe it was a software issue or something in the prior receiver. At any rate, the new Dish receiver has no blue lines, and I have tons of HD channels. Sweet.
 
The windgard was the antenna that was suggested by the installer. I also went to their site to read up on the model and know that it got good reviews. I have RG6 wire running, didn't know about monster making antenna wire.
 
jcord51 said:
The windgard was the antenna that was suggested by the installer. I also went to their site to read up on the model and know that it got good reviews. I have RG6 wire running, didn't know about monster making antenna wire.

The Terk antenna has a coaxial f-connector male end. I connect the Terk antenna inside the house using a 50 ft. Monster quad-shielded coaxial cable. The cable cost about $50, but it is worth every penny. I can say that having tested "other" quad shielded cables that burned out after a few days. I don't know what the deal is, but some quad shielded cables seem to die out after a few days of receiving HD signals. But, not the monster cable so far. :)
 
Well I think I found my problem. The Winegard antenna that I purchased from the installer is the model HD4053P which the installer is recommending to all his 811 customers as well. I called Winegard and they stated that this is only a VHF/FM system, not for receiving channels above 14. I will have to have the antenna replaced with the Winegard HD7080P with is a VHF/UHF/FM system. See what happens next week.