OTA 49% explanation, I think?

[Bobby]

My 49% (VHF ch 12.1) problem appears to be gone on my 811. Not sure but could be the fact that I replaced the expensive $79 Radio Shack preamp with a Channel Master 7777 which I had been waiting for, for over two months. Of course this doesn't explain why it didn't happen on the 6000.
I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this as not a problem anymore. If so, could Dish have downloaded a small fix for this?

I'm guessing that it's a signal to noise issue with the RatShack pre-amp. The 7777 is by far the best with S/N. The 6000 may not have been as sensitive. I've always used the 7777 with both my 6000 and 811 and never had much problem with either.

 

[GaryPen]

My 49% (VHF ch 12.1) problem appears to be gone on my 811. Not sure but could be the fact that I replaced the expensive $79 Radio Shack preamp with a Channel Master 7777 which I had been waiting for, for over two months. Of course this doesn't explain why it didn't happen on the 6000.
I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this as not a problem anymore. If so, could Dish have downloaded a small fix for this?

I noticed a marked improvement in OTA digital reception from the P264 update.

 

[psuodu]

I have a Zenith 420 DTV tuner that I continue to use instead of the 811 due to the 49% problem. ABC in Washington DC is my strongest station on the 420, consistently showing in the "good" range. On the 811 it may take several minutes to lock (jumping up to the 80's and then falling back to 49%) after which it is in the low to mid 80's on signal strength. As described by everyone else, changing the station and coming back causes it to again go through the extended process to lock on.

I am in Northern VA, and I have the same problem with the ABC-DT (channel 39). I am about 25 miles from the signal, and after it locks I have a signal of 85%+.

 

[AcuraCL]

I have the problem on my strongest station. I am beginning to think that it is multipath. My 6000 locks on instantely, but the 811 bobs around for a minute or two before it finally locks on then has 90+% strength. I bet it is trying to figure out which signal is the real one and which one is the ghost. The 6000 may be less sensative, so it does not see the ghost.

I know it is not really a ghost but multipathing. Just easier to refer to it as ghost.

The weak stations which I have to have the huge antenna for, lock in right away. Any ghosts from them are probably too weak to cause the problem.

My own experience seems to confirm this. I don't think 49% represents "searching" as another poster suggested: I definitely have stations that once upon a time gave enough signal for the 811 to lock onto during the "scan DTV" funtion, but now just sit there at 0 and never bump up at all.

Some of my stations do the 0 - 49 - 6x bounce and finally lock (after a few minutes, stations 35 miles away), some do the bounce and don't lock, and some go 0 - 49 - 8x and lock instantly (station 10 miles away).

I am pretty sure I have serious multipath issues since I'm in townhouse hell, with hills on 3 sides, and a state park on the 4th side.

My CM7777 is due tomorrow, I have some guarded optimism that it may help pull in another station or two, but I know it won't do a dam thing for the multipath problem.

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

I have about the same thing as Red Hazard, One station 25 miles, 83 percent, never a problem, another station, KRCG 13. Digital 12 has a consistent signal of 88-91 percent but at times I will loose it for 24 hours or more, it takes 15 minutes to lock on and the 811 starts showing it as 13-01 instead of 12-01, seems like it gets confused. My neighbor has a OTA HD tuner and he has no problems with Digital 12.

The 811 still has some bugs in the OTA part for sure !!!

 

[chastulsa]

Well, the weather here cleared up and I decided to do some cleaning up in my hard. Low and behold I found a large vhf only ya know without ---< part on it only the |-|-|-| part. (sorry not good at macro's or HTML) so I decided to through it up with my existing radioshack antenna the next to the biggest one. I bought a VHF/UHF Combiner and added the ole bronze channel master on the same pole 7 feet under the existing popped up the combiner before thge preamp and walla! all my 49% channels came in in the 80's! So I guess the problem with 49% is not software, it's hardware! the 811 has a crappy tuner!

However the software problem for mapping existed. The 49% remaps from 10.1 to 8. But the other 2 with more strength dont hold the remap. So maybe the remap is a UHF only issue? Anyone else have any suggestions? I dumped and rescanned too!

-Chas

 

[Kevinw]

It is the hardware. It has a difficult time with multi-path. I have one channel that does the 49% dance. I recently hooked up a Samsung Sir-T351( courtesy of Scott hear at Satellete Guys) ann it worked flawlessly for OTA. locked all channels with fail. Another upside is the PQ for the HD is even better-much brighter than the 811.

The only cure would be a better antenna or use another box than the 811.

 

[snathanb]

It is the hardware. It has a difficult time with multi-path. I have one channel that does the 49% dance. I recently hooked up a Samsung Sir-T351( courtesy of Scott hear at Satellete Guys) ann it worked flawlessly for OTA. locked all channels with fail. Another upside is the PQ for the HD is even better-much brighter than the 811.

The only cure would be a better antenna or use another box than the 811.

Kevin- I think you hit the nail right on the head with regard to mutlipath. I live 45 miles from all stations, but I live on a tree-less ridge. Nothing anywhere near me that could cause mutlipath. I get perfect signal at 85-90% on all stations with a non-preamped antenna.

Hope you enjoy the 351. That's what I bought before getting the 811. Once I got the 811, I returned it... they are problematic... mine locked up frequently, and the DD didn't work. I found it more buggy than the 811. I take that back... the 811 has more bugs, but the Samsung had more serious ones that effected me.