Pic of D* OTA antenna?

[Fgsilva]

all my stations are on UHF so I should probably not need to worry about VHF.

I have one station on VHF too. The Sensar doesn't have a problem picking it up.

 

[raoul5788]

I have channel 10 and 12 in my area. The Channel Master 4228 picks them up fine.

 

[Fgsilva]

So I moved but my D* installation is not till Wednesday. So I went ahead to Radio shack and got this one indoor antenna http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103916&cp=&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

It looks pretty funky on top of my 65 inch TV and that kinda reminds me watching TV when I was a kid, with the rabbit ears on top of our old B&W TV!!!

Interesting that during the day the signal seems much lower than at night (somebody said once sun interference?). Also, the signal really goes from 0 to 83 sometimes!!! At night if I move it around I can get it stabilized with a minimum of 60% for the major nets and get a stable reception. Though it was a pain watching the Oscars on ABC last nite as the signal kept bouncing up and down and therefore, really bad pixelation. At a point, the signal was completely gone! It could have been the rain though as we had rain all day yesterday in sacramento. Anyway, I guess this just confirms that, once I have the D* OTA antenna up on the roof I should be getting these channels with no problem!

Oh yeah, and I have not also seen any difference between my OTA and what I was getting before with D* HD DN! Maybe my HDTV is not that great to start with. In fact, i was quite disappointed with my local PBS as the quality of the pic was kinda lame!

 

[Fgsilva]

Well, they installed their crappy bow-tie antenna and that thing is a peice of sh**&! Yesterday late afternoon-night, signal strength was good. This morning it was very low or gone for most stations!!! It seems to work worse than the indoor antenna I had! ONce I get some extra money, I guess I'll have to go with the Winergard then! Or maybe try the silver sensor. Can I buy the silver sensor at a store or is it only online?

Thanks!

 

[ChrisPC]

A bow-tie is about the best antenna you can get. Was it moved overnight?

 

[Hall]

Right on top of your TV may not be the best location. Do you have different spots you can try it in ?? As close to a window that faces the towers is the best bet !

I believe the signal meter bouncing in LARGE numbers like yours is doing is from "multipath" reflections. Keep rotating the UHF loop around 'til you get a stable number, not necessarily a high one.

What antenna did D* end up installing ?? The airplane-wing looking one linked earlier ??

 

[Hall]

Speaking of the antennas that D* or E* supply, do they have one or two models they always use or do they base the antenna according to your location, mainly distance ??

I would presume that a major "requirement" for D* or E* is that it's mountable to your dish mount.

 

[Fgsilva]

I'm not sure. that's a possibility cause the guy may have let it a bit loose up there and we had rain with winds.

A bow-tie is about the best antenna you can get. Was it moved overnight?

 

[Fgsilva]

That's about the best spot I can put it. My tv is far from windows. I actually purchased this other antenna at radio shack http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2131034&cp=&pg=2&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

It works actually pretty well. The problem is that I need to use the remote to rotate it (internally). For most stations I do a strong signal (over 80). but then what is best for one station is not as good for another one...

The OTA antenna they installed is kinda square with wires all around it and it looks like a bow-tie. it's not the same as in the link at the begining of this forum. I'm checking with my installer about getting a winegard that charper mentioned earlier.

and the funny thing also is... I just got a brochure that Surewest is another cable company in my area! They have all the HD D* plus HD for ALL premium movies channels. but that's a whole other story...

Right on top of your TV may not be the best location. Do you have different spots you can try it in ?? As close to a window that faces the towers is the best bet !

I believe the signal meter bouncing in LARGE numbers like yours is doing is from "multipath" reflections. Keep rotating the UHF loop around 'til you get a stable number, not necessarily a high one.

What antenna did D* end up installing ?? The airplane-wing looking one linked earlier ??

 

[Fgsilva]

and again now I"m having the same problem with the OTA!! there are good days and there are bad days! Could it be weather related? It was really windy yesterday. Yesterday all day long (and night) signal for all stations was bouncing from 0 to 80! No way to get a stable signal! And to think by being close to the stations I'd get a better signal. I was doing much better when I was 50 miles away before at the top of the hill. I tried a different antenna up there (radio shack 30 bucks UHF antenna) but no improvement. Well, but I tried that yesterday when any antenna I tried was having the bouncing signal. Now, one of the installers did say something about my area not being a good area due to many trees and obstructions, etc. somebody also mentioned here that it sounds like I'm having a multipathy problem... Oh well, at least I do get the four major HD DN. With OTA I'd add PBS, WB and UPN. Not sure what to do. I don't have the 'dough' to get a better antenna; besides I'm not sure it will work unless I put it really high (which I can do anyway first cause it's expensive and second cause it's a rental!).