Lost OTA channels, Where do they go?

[mopee3]

I am a Dish satellite person and have been so for a longgggg time. Currently am using a 501 for kids and 625 reciever for me and wife. Have 2 dishes, one aimed at 110/119 and other at 129. Bought a Radio Shack UHF/VHF? 40 inch antenna a couple of years ago and hooked it to the 625, and then via HDMI cable to the 42" Panasonic HD panel (no tuner). I received OTA Digital signals just great until a few months ago and then then one day was going to record on one of the stations and they are all gone. Was receiving local NBC,CBS,ABC, and Fox on and off. Now they are no longer, is it due to the DTV thing? Should I just put up different antenna? I have purches a TERK HDTVo antenna, will this get my stations back?

Help!

Moe

 

[Jim5506]

June 12 I believe it was, all the NTSC (analog) signals were changed to ATSC (digital).

You need to add a digital converter or preferably an ATSC HD digital tuner to your Panny.

That will get you your stations back since your antenna is probably satisfactory, being UHF/VHF.

 

[bebop]

I got the DTVPal converter box from Dish, because it was rated fairly well and had the same remote layout as my existing Dish Network remote. There are many other options, but you will probably do just fine with that or something like it.

If you have one of those govenrment coupons, you might be able to get it for around $30.

DTVPAL.COM

 

[mopee3]

June 12 I believe it was, all the NTSC (analog) signals were changed to ATSC (digital).

You need to add a digital converter or preferably an ATSC HD digital tuner to your Panny.

That will get you your stations back since your antenna is probably satisfactory, being UHF/VHF.

I just talked to Dish they say if a analog signal comes in via the OTA port it will be switched to digital before being sent to my Panny. Are they correct??

Also to the best of my knowledge the stations I was/should be receiving are all broadcasting digital signals which the 622 should send right through.

Any more ideas? I probably need to find a converter box to see if Dish knows what they are talking about as far as converting the OTA signal.

Could it have to do with the antenna not a VHF but really only UHF and maybe the stations are sending out VHF signals?

Moe

 

[boba]

Thanks for clarifying that you are using a 622 instead of the 625 in your original post.What is your zipcode so we can go to TV Fool or AntennaWeb and see what you have for broadcasts available? On the 622 go to menu 6-1-5 I think it is and erase all your local channels then rescan for digital locals. Let us know what you results are.

 

[Peter Parker]

The 622 can only tune digital signals. the reason that you lost some channels is that many of the stations are now broadcasting at a different frequency. Do a rescan and you will likely get all or some of them back.

 

[mopee3]

I have deleted all channels and rescanned to no avail, my zip is 99362. I was receiving both digital and what looked like converted analog for over a year. Now nothing, but I will rescan tonight and see what I get.

Sorry about the misinformation about the 622 being a 625.

Thanks for the help.

Moe

 

[boba]

TV fool is showing most of your broadcasters are UHF in the range of 23 miles away and a rough compass heading of 145 degrees. You should have little problem receiving your local channels. Try doing a hard reset of the receiver(unplugging AC power) then after clearing channels out of Digital TV memory rescann for Digital locals. Hope that gets them back. Come back with results please.

 

[mopee3]

There backkkkkkkk, we found them!!

Well last night I again checked all connections and then scanned for the OTA locals. Nada, nothing, no way, etc.

So I called Dish again, fourth or fifth time. Well I got through right away to “Andrew” and lo and behold he knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it. He had talked and struggled through the same problem with a fellow for 2 hours the night before.

Here’s the skinny, the 622 has a fault. Hum really, anyway the fix is to reinstall the “Defaults”, reboot the box and then rescan for the locals. Yep it all worked and they are there just like before. Some where along the line in the software updates the fault was produced.

Only question I have now is what to do with the new Terk HDTVo antenna that will show up at my door next week.

Thanks for all your help and I hope this helps someone else.

Moe