Best OTA?? Guess I gotta try again

[Su Meri]

I've wasted a lot of time and money on OTA's that the store tells me will work to pick up local HD.
I swore I was done, but I have to figure something out before the new season of 24 start up.
Can someone give me a slam dunk for picking up HD locals here in Vegas?
Thanks

 

[Jordan420]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=148479

 

[Claude Greiner]

How far are the towers?

In Detroit we use a Square shooter antenna, does a great Job with the towers an average of 20 miles away in the same general area.

 

[zman]

I still think the best solution is to get an old fashion UHF/VHF outdoor antenna(think mine is 6 foot long). I bought one at Frys, it is for external use, but I mounted it inside my attic. I picked up most of my HD channels easily, as they transmit on UHF. THere is one local channel in dallas that transmits HD on VHF, it took some work pointing the antenna to bring in that channel, but once I got it pointed, it works great.

 

[dougruss]

I've wasted a lot of time and money on OTA's that the store tells me will work to pick up local HD.
I swore I was done, but I have to figure something out before the new season of 24 start up.
Can someone give me a slam dunk for picking up HD locals here in Vegas?
Thanks

What does www.antennaweb.org recommend?
Put in the info and see what Digital channels are available and what is recommended for an Antenna.

Copy & Paste the info back here and someone may be able to Help?

 

[Su Meri]

Below is what it came up with. Looks like my greatest distance is just over 5 milies

yellow - uhf KEGS-LP 63 IND LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 63
yellow - vhf KTNV 13 ABC LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 13
* yellow - vhf KTNV-DT 13.1 ABC LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 12
yellow - uhf KFBT 33 IND LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 33
yellow - vhf KLAS 8 CBS LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 8
* yellow - vhf KLAS-DT 8.1 CBS LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 7
yellow - uhf KINC 15 UNI LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 15
* yellow - uhf KINC-DT 15.1 UNI LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.2 16
* yellow - vhf KLVX-DT 10.1 PBS LAS VEGAS NV 61° 5.3 11
yellow - vhf KVBC 3 NBC LAS VEGAS NV 60° 5.3 3
* yellow - vhf KVBC-DT 3.1 NBC LAS VEGAS NV 60° 5.3 2
green - uhf KEEN-LP 17 A1 LAS VEGAS NV 321° 23.5 17
green - uhf KYRK-LP 35 IND LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 35
lt green - uhf KNBX-LP 31 BOX LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 31
lt green - uhf KHDF-CA 19 HTN LAS VEGAS NV 320° 23.5 19
red - uhf KBLR 39 TEL PARADISE NV 60° 5.3 39
red - uhf KVWB 21 WB LAS VEGAS NV 61° 5.3 21
red - vhf KLVX 10 PBS LAS VEGAS NV 61° 5.3 10
red - vhf KVVU 5 FOX HENDERSON NV 61° 5.3 5
* blue - vhf KVVU-DT 5.1 FOX Henderson / Las Vegas NV 66° 5.5 9
blue - uhf K57FA 57 TBN LAS VEGAS NV 61° 5.3 57
* blue - uhf KBLR-DT 40.1 TEL PARADISE NV 60° 5.4 40
blue - uhf K23BS 23 PBS JEAN NV 240° 23.1 23
blue - uhf KTUD-CA 25 UPN LAS VEGAS NV 119° 4.3 25
violet - uhf K49AB 49 CBS PAHRUMP NV 253° 22.6 49
violet - uhf K44AA 44 NBC PAHRUMP NV 253° 22.6 44
violet - uhf K42AA 42 ABC PAHRUMP NV 253° 22.6 42
violet - uhf K52AC 52 NBC MERCURY, NEVADA TEST NV 297° 35.0 52
violet - uhf K48AB 48 CBS MERCURY, ETC. NV 297° 35.0 48

 

[HatGuy]

Call a professional antenna installer. Slam Dunk! $$$

 

[zman]

The only FOX station I see listed here is in the VHF band. Make sure you have an antenna that is both VHF and UHF. Also, my ABC-HD channel is on the VHF band and it took some tweaking to get that channel to come in correctly. VHF seems to be much more directional so you need to point the antenna right at that tower, the other UHFs will probably come in regardless of where you point it.

 

[bhelms]

...VHF seems to be much more directional so you need to point the antenna right at that tower, the other UHFs will probably come in regardless of where you point it.

Generally, just the opposite is true! The higher the frequency, the more directional, LOS it will be. Also, UHF frequencies don't do well "terrain following", i.e., they won't bend to follow the natural curvature of the earth, essentially limiting the practical range to about 60 miles, + or -. You can improve that situation with elevation and clear LOS (minimal trees, obstructions, etc. I'm guessing zman had a unique situation that made his VHF channel very touchy. In my case the VHF channels are tolerant and I need to carefully tune the antenna for the UHF channels. YMMV...

 

[dougruss]

What Antennas have you tried?

And what TV.....HD Ready,or HD with Tuner ??
Did you Scan for Digital channels ?

 

[Su Meri]

This week I tried the Terk. This is what my installer recommended to me. Needless to say I will be taking it back to Fry's tomorrow.
It picked up 2 of the 4 locals but the highest signal was 67.
I think if I could go back in time I would stick with Cable. The fact that the year is 2006 and I have to go play Bob Villa and stick a 100 year old antanna on my roof is pissing me off.
All I want to do is watch prime time shows in HD, is that too much to ask. I promise if Dish does not have local hd's when my contract runs out this winter I am going back to cable.

 

[htguy]

Could the proximity (closeness) to the broadcast towers be causing multipath issues?

Have you checked the Vegas reception thread over at AVS? :

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=148479

Good luck.

I guess that I am lucky to be 80 miles from the towers and get perfect reception.

 

[htguy]

Here is another NV HDTV resource:

http://www.renohdtv.com/

Just scroll down to where they talk about antennas.

 

[bluetrain1]

buy a bowtie and maybe a rotor

You will in fact need to mount your antenna outside and up as high as you can to get the best OTA HD signals. On the plus side, I use a small bowtie antenna that weighs next to nothing and cost all of $30.00 to get over a dozen reliable HD stations (plus of course many of their additional , generally useless sub channels). Ground it, use good quality cable and connections, and forget about anything with an active amplifier. You are so close that the amplifier will likely do more harm than good. For stations in very diverse directions an old fashioned 1960's style antenna rotor works great (welcome to the hi-tech world of over the air HD). I keep looking for a smart rotor tied into your channel selection but have yet to see one. If a cheap FTA satellite receiver can drive a motor with pinpoint accuracy you would think a $3000 Sony television could do the same to an over the air antenna with motor but so far no such product exists that I know of.

 

[dougruss]

The biggest mistake you made was listening to your Installer recommending a Terk Antenna !!

 

[oljim]

The biggest mistake you made was listening to your Installer recommending a Terk Antenna !!

You can say that again, over priced snake oil

 

[Bradtothebone]

I didn't realize it, but Las Vegas has a really weird situation - all of the "Big 5" digitals, i.e. ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and PBS, are VHF!

You have:
ABC, channel 12, 119 degrees, 16kW erp,
CBS, channel 7, 119 degrees, 30.1kW erp,
PBS, channel 11, 61 degrees, 105kW erp,
NBC, channel 2, 60 degrees, 27.7kW erp, and
FOX, channel 9, 66 degrees, 86kW erp.

Note that these are transmit channels, not "virtual" channels.

So, it looks like what you really need is a good VHF/UHF antenna. The UHF would only be used for the "minor" digitals and the analog UHF's. It doesn't have to be really big, since you're so close to the towers. I don't know what kind of roof you have, but you MAY be able to put it in your attic - that's where mine is.

If these 5 channels are what you are primarily interested in, you can probably find a "sweet spot," rotation-wise, that will give you a solid digital signal from all. Somewhere in the middle of the 119/60 degree area would be a good starting point. Since they're all VHF, you WILL be subject to interference from electrical sources inside and outside your house and/or low-flying aircraft reflections. Not knowing anything about where your house is, I can't guarantee success, but if you buy the antenna from a reputable dealer, they'll take it back if it doesn't work.

Use a good quality RG-6 cable to run from the antenna to the receiver, and be sure to use a ground block if your antenna is outdoors.

Best of luck, and trust me, if you can get a good OTA signal, HDTV doesn't get any better!

Brad

 

[havana]

I keep looking for a smart rotor tied into your channel selection but have yet to see one.

bluetrain 1, if you already have a rotor, the Chanel Master 9537 may be what you are looking for...if not you can get the complete system that includes the "9537"...it ain’t your grandpa’s old noisy rotor control box.

check out:
http://www.channelmaster.com/home.htm

I bought a "9537" about a year ago...it’s great, small, light, works and looks cool.

 

[havana]

Opps..click products, then Antenna Rotators.

 

[GeorgeLV]

Most of the people with reception issues in Vegas live right up against the mountains in Henderson. Bunny ears work perfectly fine for most people.

BTW, if you live in a stucco house AND want to use an indoor antenna, you will get dramatically better reception if you can place you antenna so it looks through the window.