Does anyone know the OTA signal quality threshold for a Coolsat 8000? I'm trying to pick up a local PBS station and the quality fluctuates between 75 and 95 but no luck scanning the channel in.
Coolsat 8000 question
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it should work....I know when I had a 8000 the Ion station showed up in the low 70's and I could scan it in
95 quality should definitely scan it in
95 quality should definitely scan it in
Thanks. I finally got it to scan, but it's pixellating pretty bad. I'm using an old 35 mile antenna without an amp. I guess I'll need a bigger one, or an amp to pull it in. Living with mountains on all four sides drastically limits OTA.
Edit: Funny thing... Even though Antennaweb said I couldn't get it, I decided to try to scan in a local independent channel. No luck on the independent channel, but I scanned in WKYT-SD and WYMT-HD (both CBS affiliates) with perfect pictures at 90 degrees from the position they are supposed to be at. I suppose the signals could be bouncing back off of a mountain or something. Anyone else ever had anything like this happen???
Edit: Funny thing... Even though Antennaweb said I couldn't get it, I decided to try to scan in a local independent channel. No luck on the independent channel, but I scanned in WKYT-SD and WYMT-HD (both CBS affiliates) with perfect pictures at 90 degrees from the position they are supposed to be at. I suppose the signals could be bouncing back off of a mountain or something. Anyone else ever had anything like this happen???
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yeah I've seen that happen...actually on my setup all the Minneapolis stations are NE (45 degrees)...Ion is 90 degrees off the rest. The original owner of the station didnt want to pay Minneapolis advertising rates so he put the tower about 45-50 miles up the road from Minneapolis neat St Cloud. So its 90 degrees off the rest and it works fine here
did you try your tvfool report? (tvfool.com) and see what they say for setup
did you try your tvfool report? (tvfool.com) and see what they say for setup
Yeah, its about 55 degrees off from whats shown on tvfool. It comes in weak at the location on the report. As I turn the antenna it fades out, and then comes in strong when I get 50-55 degrees east. I can't figure it out, but I'm not complaining. I get two more CBS stations now.
That reception at ~ 90 deg off the true direction is pretty common if you're around hills, and hills are particularly harmful on the VHF stations, since multipath (ie ghosts on analog) is more likely. I tried to set up a friend for OTA reception, and every one of the local stations gave the best signal when the antenna was turned 90 deg off the true direction. At first I thought that this might help, since the channels were in different directions. Ie I figured that if he was getting reception by bouncing off a nearby hill that maybe he'd get reception for ALL the channels when aimed at that hill, but that didn't work. I was able to find all the local channels for him, however he didn't want to use a rotor to move the antenna, so he gave up and reverted to DirecTV locals (which at first he couldn't get, but when they changed sat due to the switch to HD, they were on a sat he could see).
When our locals first started going digital, I bought a few of those little Ku antennas since they were all temporarily on Ku. I eventually tore down my VHF antenna and still use the little Ku antennas even on one channel that switched back to VHF. However it's interesting that for ME, the 2 UHF channels come in best when aimed roughly in the right direction, but the VHF channel, received on the VHF antenna, comes in when 90 deg off the real direction, except on one of the antennas that I have mounted UNDER my deck, real close to the ground. This antenna picks up all three channels aimed approximately in the proper direction (ie the best compromise between the 3 real directions). It works MUCH better than my highest gain antenna that is mounted on a rotator up above my roof. Almost like there is plenty of signal there, but putting the antenna up where it can see all the multipath messes it up, but the antenna that's low must not pick up the multipath stuff?
In any event, for Ku channels and nearby (~ 50 mi) VHF), I recommend getting one of those small rooftop Ku antennas that usually cost around $50. I got mine from Solid Signal. They have a nice selection of antennas. But those small Ku antennas can be put just about anywhere, like under my deck, and I had one mounted in the attic of my garage for a while, and they work really well.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the actual reason for responding was to say that I think that multipath could be the reason for the Coolsat not scanning in the channels. I know that you'd think that if you're getting good quality that it means that the signal is clean, but I think the Coolsat gets confused by the multipath stuff. My 8100 usually worked fine with S/Q similar to the above, but sometimes would get confused and wouldn't scan things in. Same with my TV and other receivers.
When our locals first started going digital, I bought a few of those little Ku antennas since they were all temporarily on Ku. I eventually tore down my VHF antenna and still use the little Ku antennas even on one channel that switched back to VHF. However it's interesting that for ME, the 2 UHF channels come in best when aimed roughly in the right direction, but the VHF channel, received on the VHF antenna, comes in when 90 deg off the real direction, except on one of the antennas that I have mounted UNDER my deck, real close to the ground. This antenna picks up all three channels aimed approximately in the proper direction (ie the best compromise between the 3 real directions). It works MUCH better than my highest gain antenna that is mounted on a rotator up above my roof. Almost like there is plenty of signal there, but putting the antenna up where it can see all the multipath messes it up, but the antenna that's low must not pick up the multipath stuff?
In any event, for Ku channels and nearby (~ 50 mi) VHF), I recommend getting one of those small rooftop Ku antennas that usually cost around $50. I got mine from Solid Signal. They have a nice selection of antennas. But those small Ku antennas can be put just about anywhere, like under my deck, and I had one mounted in the attic of my garage for a while, and they work really well.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the actual reason for responding was to say that I think that multipath could be the reason for the Coolsat not scanning in the channels. I know that you'd think that if you're getting good quality that it means that the signal is clean, but I think the Coolsat gets confused by the multipath stuff. My 8100 usually worked fine with S/Q similar to the above, but sometimes would get confused and wouldn't scan things in. Same with my TV and other receivers.
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