Long distance reception question.

[spacenerd]

I live in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and I have Dish Network. My locals are out of Dayton, I have a outside antenna which allows me to pick up Lima and FT. Wayne channels. That is all good but I am a big Ohio State fan. I would like to receive WBNS channel 10 out of Columbus for their Ohio State coverage.
When I point my antenna towards Columbus the reception is hit or miss mostly miss. They are about 80 miles from our location to Columbus with Bellefontaine (highest point in Ohio) between our locations.
I have tried a local cable company but they charge over $30.00 per month for their basic channels which does include WBNS but I don't want to pay that much for one channel.
I am looking for any suggestions on how to pick up WBNS TV.
Thanks

 

[Jim5506]

go to www.tvfool.com and input your exact address.

The report will not display the address, but you can place the link in a reply and allow us to see the signal levels at your house for WBNS.

A generic report for Wapakoneta shows WBNS to be tropo reception (extremely poor at 100 ft AGL) but your exact location may be better.

There appears to be a ridge south and east of you that blocks most of the potential signal from Columbus stations.

 

[spacenerd]

go to www.tvfool.com and input your exact address.

The report will not display the address, but you can place the link in a reply and allow us to see the signal levels at your house for WBNS.

A generic report for Wapakoneta shows WBNS to be tropo reception (extremely poor at 100 ft AGL) but your exact location may be better.

There appears to be a ridge south and east of you that blocks most of the potential signal from Columbus stations.

That ridge are the hills near Bellefontaine. The highest point in Ohio.
TV Fool

 

[Tampa8]

I live in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and I have Dish Network. My locals are out of Dayton, I have a outside antenna which allows me to pick up Lima and FT. Wayne channels. That is all good but I am a big Ohio State fan. I would like to receive WBNS channel 10 out of Columbus for their Ohio State coverage.
When I point my antenna towards Columbus the reception is hit or miss mostly miss. They are about 80 miles from our location to Columbus with Bellefontaine (highest point in Ohio) between our locations.
I have tried a local cable company but they charge over $30.00 per month for their basic channels which does include WBNS but I don't want to pay that much for one channel.
I am looking for any suggestions on how to pick up WBNS TV.
Thanks

It may be at the cost of other channels, using a highly directional antenna and a signal booster should get it if you only sometimes get it now. As mentioned use TVfool as a guide to what you might need.

 

[jayn_j]

That is a tough one. The general answer for deep reception is to add height and elements. How high is the antenna? What are you using? Something like a Channelmaster 4221 up 30-40 feet might do wonders.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Since you already have Dish, just "move" to Columbus with Dish and get the Columbus locals instead of Dayton. Both sets of locals are on the same arc, so it's just a matter of finding an address in Columbus to "move" to. Have any relatives there? My parents live in central Ohio, and the Columbus locals are far better than the Dayton ones anyway, IMO.

Your spot beam is quite generous, so you won't have ANY problems getting Columbus locals in Wapakoneta.

 

[spacenerd]

That is a tough one. The general answer for deep reception is to add height and elements. How high is the antenna? What are you using? Something like a Channelmaster 4221 up 30-40 feet might do wonders.

These are my antennas at 25' plus a channel master booster. I am too old to climb any higher.

 

[comfortably_numb]

These are my antennas at 25' plus a channel master booster. I am too old to climb any higher.

Are all those antennas running down the same feed? They may be interfering with each other.

 

[edisonprime]

These are my antennas at 25' plus a channel master booster. I am too old to climb any higher.

If you are willing or able to cough out the money, perhaps you could hire a professional to do it?

 

[comfortably_numb]

If you are willing or able to cough out the money, perhaps you could hire a professional to do it?

It would be a lot cheaper (free) for him just to switch his locals to Columbus

 

[spacenerd]

Are all those antennas running down the same feed? They may be interfering with each other.

They come down the tower separate then I am combining the signals just before they come in my house, then feed to a Channel Master booster.

 

[edisonprime]

It would be a lot cheaper (free) for him just to switch his locals to Columbus

True, but he hasn't answered that he would "move". I'm "moved" myself with DirecTV, but I happen to know some people are uncomfortable lying, even on such a small, insignificant, white lie. I've actually told some people I know about "moving" and they were uncomfortable doing that because of that issue. I'm not sure if he is, but he hasn't responded to your question yet. Note that I also asked that if he was "willing or able"; most notably "able".

 

[harshness]

These are my antennas at 25' plus a channel master booster. I am too old to climb any higher.

As the color key says on the bottom of the TVfool page, grey channels "will most likely require extreme measures". Any time the NM column is negative and the Pwr column is less than -90 or so, you're pretty much a no-go for all-weather reception.

As Jim5506 noted, you can run your Above Ground Level up as high as you want to see what the models predict.

 

[comfortably_numb]

They come down the tower separate then I am combining the signals just before they come in my house, then feed to a Channel Master booster.

To paraphrase on this topic from another forum I belong to:

"You can combine just about any two antennas with a splitter combiner, but know you suffer a 3.5 db loss from each antenna compared to being used alone. For example you can have one UHF pointed at one town and another UHF pointed at another town. If losing 3.5 db is not critical, it can save using a rotor, but it opens up a whole cluster of possible issues. If you want to combine two same-band antennas using a common 2-way splitter, the antennas must be identical and that is an absolute rule because both antennas must have the same electrical (RF) properties."

In other words, it's generally *not* a good idea to have 2 different UHF antennas pointing at 2 different cities and combining them on the same coax. It's best to use 2 different feeds with an A/B switch. The decrease in gain might be the difference between receiving the locals in Columbus or not.

 

[harshness]

In other words, it's generally *not* a good idea to have 2 different UHF antennas pointing at 2 different cities and combining them on the same coax. It's best to use 2 different feeds with an A/B switch. The decrease in gain might be the difference between receiving the locals in Columbus or not.

I would add that using products that use tank circuits to notch in (or out) certain frequencies (like the old Channel Master Jointennas) is likely to be problematic for the next few years as the repack progresses.

 

[spacenerd]

True, but he hasn't answered that he would "move". I'm "moved" myself with DirecTV, but I happen to know some people are uncomfortable lying, even on such a small, insignificant, white lie. I've actually told some people I know about "moving" and they were uncomfortable doing that because of that issue. I'm not sure if he is, but he hasn't responded to your question yet. Note that I also asked that if he was "willing or able"; most notably "able".

I am not comfortable "moving" but thanks for the thought.

 

[spacenerd]

To paraphrase on this topic from another forum I belong to:

"You can combine just about any two antennas with a splitter combiner, but know you suffer a 3.5 db loss from each antenna compared to being used alone. For example you can have one UHF pointed at one town and another UHF pointed at another town. If losing 3.5 db is not critical, it can save using a rotor, but it opens up a whole cluster of possible issues. If you want to combine two same-band antennas using a common 2-way splitter, the antennas must be identical and that is an absolute rule because both antennas must have the same electrical (RF) properties."

In other words, it's generally *not* a good idea to have 2 different UHF antennas pointing at 2 different cities and combining them on the same coax. It's best to use 2 different feeds with an A/B switch. The decrease in gain might be the difference between receiving the locals in Columbus or not.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I am not comfortable "moving" but thanks for the thought.

I already know I'm going to Hell, so a white lie doesn't bother me too much

 

[spacenerd]

To paraphrase on this topic from another forum I belong to:

"You can combine just about any two antennas with a splitter combiner, but know you suffer a 3.5 db loss from each antenna compared to being used alone. For example you can have one UHF pointed at one town and another UHF pointed at another town. If losing 3.5 db is not critical, it can save using a rotor, but it opens up a whole cluster of possible issues. If you want to combine two same-band antennas using a common 2-way splitter, the antennas must be identical and that is an absolute rule because both antennas must have the same electrical (RF) properties."

In other words, it's generally *not* a good idea to have 2 different UHF antennas pointing at 2 different cities and combining them on the same coax. It's best to use 2 different feeds with an A/B switch. The decrease in gain might be the difference between receiving the locals in Columbus or not.

Thanks for the info. I wondered about that. Looks like a little experimentation is in order.

 

[edisonprime]

I am not comfortable "moving" but thanks for the thought.

I don't know if you read my post earlier, but have you thought about hiring a professional if you can afford one? Or perhaps get different antennas for your VHF-lo (not sure if any of those are in your area), VHF-hi, and UHF stations and then use a combiner? Or maybe just an antenna that does both VHF-lo and VHF-hi and another for UHF if using three is too much? Using a specialized antenna for each would make each type work better. I plan to do so someday when and if I live in a house, though the ones that focus on only VHF (especially VHF-lo) will be harder to find nowadays, but I still think will be worth a look for me. Even though VHF-lo is not in my area, I hope to live in different parts of the country someday to experience different places, so I plan to still invest in an antenna for that.