I Can't Get The OTA Antenna to Work

[ccuser]

I have searched, read and bought bunch of stuff to catch OTA channels but I can't get the damm OTA antenna to work for HD/ATSC (digital feed).

Here is the setup I have:
- Sony Bravia XBR4 series 40" HDTV (it has ATSC tuner built in)
- Dish Network VIP 722 receiver.
- Trying to catch Dallas OTA, Located in Plano TX 75023
- I am located in 37 mile north of broadcast stations (according to antennaweb)
- Antenna first I used was TERK HDTVi
- Second Antenna: outdoor Philips MANT900

First I connected Terk HDTVi indoor antenna directly to TV. I picked only FOX, NBC & ABC,(VHF feed) but missing pretty much all UHF channels.

After failed attempt with indoor, I bought bigass 40 mi UHF/70 Mi VHF philips MANT900 antenna. I mounted it at least 20 feet above the ground; 2 feet above with chimney in hope catch all the signals. But it only ended up getting few of irrelevant religious channels.


After this I decided to get RCA DH140M signal booster amplifier to make up for any lost signal. It didn't do the damm thing either.

After all the failed attempt I bought 2 diplexers and combined cable with dish coaxial cable and connected to VIP 722's ATSC tuner, This receiver show signal strength around 60-70% on channels that I am getting. Using diplexers and connected with Dish rec. I am getting 2-3 more UHF channels then previous setup. but still I am missing CBS 11 (KTVT) TXA/UPS 21 (KTXA), mynetwork 27 (KDFI) and CW33 (KDAF).

I am out of ideas and frustrated after spending so much time and money and still unable to get them. Any helpful suggestion will be highly appreciated. Sorry for this long post.

following this the antenna photo :

 

[Jim5506]

I must assume you are in the area of Flowermound or The Colony.

The reception you got with the indoor antenna is about as expected, but you should have gotten nearly everything with the outdoor antenna.

Best equipment would help - Either a Winegard HD789 series VHF-high/UHF antenna or a similar Channel Master. If you need a pre-amp go with a low noise pre-amp like the CM 7777 or CM7775.

Check the fittings to be sure you do not have any of the braid on the outer shield that is shorting out the central conductor of your RG-6 cable (You ARE using RG-6?).

AntennaWeb does not look too good unless you have a large pre-amped antenna, but TVFool disagrees.

Put your exact address into www.TVFool.com to see what your possibilities are.

My son-in-law was getting a bunch of digitals from Waxahachie with a similar antenna in an attic under a tin roof, but that is much closer to Cedar Hill than you are.

P.S. - I always recommend against diplexing since it reduces signal on both your OTA and satellite feeds.

 

[ccuser]

first I want to thank you for reply.

I must assume you are in the area of Flowermound or The Colony....

I am in Plano TX, 35-38 miles north of Cedar Hill/ Broadcast area according to TVfools.com

...The reception you got with the indoor antenna is about as expected, but you should have gotten nearly everything with the outdoor antenna...

I know, I taught this big antenna over chimmney will fix it. I read through forums and other articles, they all suggested that 40 mile UHF antenna will be good enough. I was very furstrated when I ended up with only handful local HDs.

...Best equipment would help - Either a Winegard HD789 series VHF-high/UHF antenna or a similar Channel Master. If you need a pre-amp go with a low noise pre-amp like the CM 7777 or CM7775.

I already have $60 just on antenna, if adding pre-amp can bring in other channels, I wish to do that since it would be more cost effective. Unless there is huge advantage of going with your suggested antenna.

I am not very familiar with jargon used, if someone can shed more light on what exact product/specification I should look for in signal booster/amplifier/ pre amplifer.

One more thing, how would I provide power to pre-amp if it is going to be close to antenna. or does it power it self. reason I asked because previous RCA amp/booster was right before TV with AC adapter to it.

...Check the fittings to be sure you do not have any of the braid on the outer shield that is shorting out the central conductor of your RG-6 cable (You ARE using RG-6?)...

Fittings appears to be okey. I am using RG-59, Since I choose to go with diplexer, I decided to go with RG-59 , thats what everybody recommeded for Dish. Is it big NO NO for OTA ??????

...AntennaWeb does not look too good unless you have a large pre-amped antenna, but TVFool disagrees.

Put your exact address into www.TVFool.com to see what your possibilities are....

I am getting bunch info from TVfool. from what I can intrepet, I should be okey to get signal.

P.S. - I always recommend against diplexing since it reduces signal on both your OTA and satellite feeds.

I am just trying to cut down wire clutter. My room is already messy...

 

[riffjim4069]

IMO, something is not right....your antennas may not be properly aimed or you may need to find the sweet-spot on your roof. We recently moved to NE Rowlett (newby here) and I pretty much pickup all the local channels using a $5 Radio Shack bow-tie antenna, both upstairs and downstairs. Surprisingly, the signals levels are quite strong. I brought along a spare CM-4228 that I plan to mount in the attic when it cools down in a couple months to feed the entire house.

As much as I love SatelliteGuys, your best source for local OTA information would be the Dallas HDTV thread over at the AVSForum: Dallas, TX - HDTV - AVS Forum

Prior to moving to the Dallas area, we lived in a deep-fringe, low-lying, area 51+ miles outside DC and 55+ miles from Richmond, yet our reception was quite reliable once I did a little homework. We used to have some very knowledgable local OTA enthusiasts back in the old VOOM DBS Forums...however, the information in these old threads should still prove useful since many of the posts were OTA related: (you may wish to PM a couple of the members since they are from Plano)

http://www.satelliteguys.us/old-voom-your-area-forum-archive/5561-dallas-texas-voomers-unite.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/old-voo...ive/8895-ota-locals-multiple-televisions.html

Here is some of my old OTA posts that may (or may not) be useful. I'll post more when I get time this evening.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/hd-over...st-ota-antenna-what-good-antenna-install.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/101356-post179.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/337640-post3.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/555842-post5.html

 

[mcrutland]

Forgive me if I insult your intelligence, but did you make sure that you TV settings are set to OTA instead of cable.

 

[riffjim4069]

One more thing, how would I provide power to pre-amp if it is going to be close to antenna. or does it power it self. reason I asked because previous RCA amp/booster was right before TV with AC adapter to it.

I will post pictures of my setup this evening.

Fittings appears to be okey. I am using RG-59, Since I choose to go with diplexer, I decided to go with RG-59 , thats what everybody recommeded for Dish. Is it big NO NO for OTA ??????

RG-6 is highly recommended for both Dish and OTA.

 

[mastermesh]

I know this is seriously sounding like an insult, but it's not meant to be... look around at other houses in your area and see which direction their antennas are aimed. It might be that you aren't aiming the right direction or something... if your tv has a signal meter on it, get someone to help you by going down to living room with a cell phone while you are aiming and use the signal meter.... if you have enough extra coax and an extra little tv, you might even take the extra tv outside to the antenna as you aim so that you yourself can see the signal meter as you turn the thing.

 

[jbmiller]

what about adding a rotor to the antenna. that might help alot. i added one to my antenna since the tv towers were in different directions.
john

 

[ccuser]

I wanted to update this post for anyone else who may be struggling to get signal from 35-45 miles distance.

I emailed all the major local channels, some responded back basically asserting what I learned in forums. Nbc affiliate recommended using preamp with no more 3db noise and 20+ db gain for my distance. Abc affiliate pointed to avsfourms.

AP3800 (2.8 db noise, 28 db gain) winegard solved my problem. Since I was dipeluxing I had to supply power in garage and run cable to dipeluxer. Now I am getting every single local channel.

MAN. COWBOYS & NFL GAME LOOK AWESOME IN HIGH DEF....

 

[branchbouncer]

Glad you got your OTA working right an added plus is that OTA is the best(usually)PQ you can get