OTA Help please

[B_Kranski]

*yellow
vhfWKBT-DT8.1CBSLA CROSSE, WIJun 12, 2009 (post-transition)344° 9.6miles 8*yellow
uhfWHLA-DT31.1PBSLA CROSSE, WI203° 11.5miles 30*yellow
uhfW67CH-D67.1NBCROCHESTER, MN203° 11.3miles 50*yellow
uhfWXOW-DT19.1ABCLA CROSSE, WIJun 12, 2009 (post-transition)203° 11.3miles 14*yellow
uhfWKBT-DT8.1CBSLA CROSSE, WI344° 9.6miles 41*yellow
uhfWXOW-DT19.1ABCLA CROSSE, WI203° 11.3miles 14*yellow
uhfWLAX-DT25.1FOXLa Crosse, WI203° 11.5miles 17*red
uhfK62EV-D62.1NBCROCHESTER, MN288° 15.1miles 43Note:
These are my stations (digital only from where I live) I am having a hard time picking up cbs and nbc which are both in a yellow area (small multi directional) I live in a 2 story apartment and don't have an option of placing an antenna on the roof and most likely no chance of getting one in an attic either. Before the switch over I had no problems getting the CBS channel, but now that they are back on VHF I am having problems getting them. What would be a good option?

Current antenna's that I have...
rabbit ears, terk HDTVa, Phillips MANT940 (uhf only)

I was wondering what a good antenna would be, I really need to get CBS, I have about 9 shows I watch on CBS and not getting them HD is not worth watching them. Thanks Bill

(or wish Dish Network would hurry up with more HD Lils)

 

[Dale_Gribble]

Use the rabbit ears for VHF and the Terk for UHF. You will need a combiner that has 2 outputs one marked VHF, the other marked UHF. Looks like channel 8 is north of you so have the rabbit ears spread out horizontal, one pointing east and the other pointing west. If this still does not bring channel 8 in, you could try a do-it-yourself yagi. Picture attached shows how to make a quick and cheap 3 element yagi using rabbit ears for the center element. A yagi will work OK indoors. I made my own 10 element yagi on a wood boom for my attic and I get a good signal from Channel 7 in Wausau, 73 miles from my house.

 

[B_Kranski]

Thanks, I will give that a try, Bill

 

[B_Kranski]

Looks like I am not the only people in my area that are having big problems getting reception. The tower is only 9.6 miles from me, but for others (city of La Crosse and south) are having some real issues getting it. Prior to the transition they were broadcasting on UHF channel 41 and now they are back to VHF channel 8 and most people have antenna's geared for UHF. There has been alot of complaint about the stations lack of range and they have filed for a 25% increase in power...but I think they are a low power station anyways compared to many in my area. [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKBT[/ame] says that after the Febuary transition it is only going to be broadcasting at 20kw...that to me seams pretty low. Since they were broadcasting in 494 kw prior to the switch in digital. The antenna is High up sitting at 1,627 feet. So I am thinking that they are not even coming close to covering there coverage area since I am 9.6 miles from the site and can't even get a signal. They serve I think 17 counties...

 

[Dale_Gribble]

20kw does seem low compared to analog, they probably ran 316kw on analog channel 8. But for digital VHF 20Kw is a lot, I don't know of any digital stations that have more than 20kw. There are 3 VHF stations near me and 2 have 16.9kw and one has 17.3kw.

 

[Voyager6]

VHF-High (7 - 13) has a maximum of 30kw for digital.

 

[Tower Guy]

20kw does seem low compared to analog, they probably ran 316kw on analog channel 8. But for digital VHF 20Kw is a lot, I don't know of any digital stations that have more than 20kw. There are 3 VHF stations near me and 2 have 16.9kw and one has 17.3kw.

It looks like WKBT is in FCC zone 3. The maximum ERP on High band VHF should be higher than 30 KW.

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2008/octqtr/pdf/47cfr73.699.pdf

Yet the FCC database dropped the specifics. It's in the transition filing. 20.7 KW now, 25.7 KW on June 12.