OTA Question?

[spacenerd]

I am having problems with OTA reception. I am getting close to 100% signal strength for my local channels showing on the Dish OTA Guide. But only Channels 8.1 and 8.2 are looking good. Channels 27.1, 27.2 27.3, 35.1,35.2 are breaking up. Could the OTA tuner be bad or is it something else?
Spacenerd.

 

[cpdretired]

I am having problems with OTA reception. I am getting close to 100% signal strength for my local channels showing on the Dish OTA Guide. But only Channels 8.1 and 8.2 are looking good. Channels 27.1, 27.2 27.3, 35.1,35.2 are breaking up. Could the OTA tuner be bad or is it something else?
Spacenerd.

I would say it's the antenna. Your VHF is fine but not the UHF. What type of antenna do you have. Indoor or outdoor. Distance from the transmitter.

 

[Bobby]

I would say it's the antenna. Your VHF is fine but not the UHF. What type of antenna do you have. Indoor or outdoor. Distance from the transmitter.

You can’t really say that. These are virtual channel numbers. We don’t know what the RF channel numbers are. Spacenerd, where do your OTA channels come from?

 

[spacenerd]

So after more searching for the problem I have discovered that by switching to using the TV tuner I have the same problem. And to answer your questions. It is a outside antenna. Transmitter is about 16 miles away in Lima Ohio. I live In Wapakoneta. 8.1 and 8.2 are stronger signals than the other channels I mentioned. I am now thinking a bad connection maybe or if it is the antenna or amplifier not sure what I can do I am 72 and to old to crawl up 25 ft.

 

[cpdretired]

So after more searching for the problem I have discovered that by switching to using the TV tuner I have the same problem. And to answer your questions. It is a outside antenna. Transmitter is about 16 miles away in Lima Ohio. I live In Wapakoneta. 8.1 and 8.2 are stronger signals than the other channels I mentioned. I am now thinking a bad connection maybe or if it is the antenna or amplifier not sure what I can do I am 72 and to old to crawl up 25 ft.

Stay on the ground and call a professional.

 

[spacenerd]

Update on my OTA problem. Now that it is 50º outside instead of 0º everything is working fine. I found the rotor was frozen and facing the wrong direction, also replaced a couple coax connectors that had pulled apart slightly, again I am thinking cold weather. And found that Satellite Connections in Lima ( my local Dish retailer) has a service tech who would have climbed my tower and fixed the problem if I needed him.

 

[telstar_1]

Update on my OTA problem. Now that it is 50º outside instead of 0º everything is working fine. I found the rotor was frozen and facing the wrong direction, also replaced a couple coax connectors that had pulled apart slightly, again I am thinking cold weather. And found that Satellite Connections in Lima ( my local Dish retailer) has a service tech who would have climbed my tower and fixed the problem if I needed him.

Right, but dish's own techs they send out to compete against dealers won't even set foot on a roof.

 

[tjboston5676]

Right, but dish's own techs they send out to compete against dealers won't even set foot on a roof.

Because it's not safe. So many people don't know basic ladder safety. And technically techs are allowed on roofs but require fall protection. However nobody has fall protection. Ultimately it'll come down to what the tech is comfortable with. Me personally if I can get up safely I'll do it. But I have been to houses with pretty steep roofs where someone decided the dish needed to be at the peak, and it's just not worth the risk so I'll install a new dish that's actually accessible and run new cable instead.

 

[cpdretired]

You said the transmitter is sixteen miles away in Lima. Is there a reason to have a tower?

 

[Mr Tony]

You said the transmitter is sixteen miles away in Lima. Is there a reason to have a tower?

Maybe he has lived there a while? Back in the day Lima was a weird short market. Their NBC/FOX station is full power (the 8 he mentions) whereas CBS & ABC are low powered (the 35). Dayton and Ft Wayne are within reason distant wise so back in the day people had big antenna setups to get all 3 markets.

 

[spacenerd]

You said the transmitter is sixteen miles away in Lima. Is there a reason to have a tower?

Yes there are times I want to watch WHIO out of Dayton, 60 miles south also our PBS station WBGU is in Bowling Green, Ohio 60 miles north of us.