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I did a quick hookup of an outside antenna yesterday evening and had good results. It is a very old, 10 element job I cleaned up and put new terminals on it.
As I posted before, I had been using a cheapie Phillips amplified, set top antenna and was getting CBS, FOX and our local PBS station. The ABC signal was very weak and the NBC signal non existant. The majors are located 40+ miles to the south, all on the same mountain top. The LOS is fairly clean but there are some hills in between.
Set top antenna:
CBS - ~ 62% strength
FOX - ~ 82%
PBS - ~ 60%
ABC - ~49%
NBC - 0%
Outside antenna:
CBS - ~ 82%
Fox - ~ 88%
PBS - ~ 66%
ABC - ~ 66%
NBC - 0%
The PBS signal is still weak due to their temporary antenna and gets interference at times and is ok at other times. The ABC quality is pretty good, I get occassional interference but is not a problem at all. The others are very good. When I spoke to the NBC engineer, he told me they are transmitting the minimum signal as did ABC. Apparently, the NBC guy either lied or does not know his equipment is not working. (But he didn't seem to care)
I still getting a bouncing signal of around +/- 3-5% when it is below 70-75%. Above that, it is pretty stable. Below that, it bounces around quite a bit.
The DTV broadcast quality has really surprised me. It is so much better than the analog, which is pretty bad here, no matter what you use. It is on par with my Dish output and the HD is excellent.
I guess the moral to all of this is, if you're not getting decent reception then check with your local station. Some are cutting corners while others are complying with the FCC. If you are within 50 miles, you should get a decent signal with a not real expensive antenna.
As I posted before, I had been using a cheapie Phillips amplified, set top antenna and was getting CBS, FOX and our local PBS station. The ABC signal was very weak and the NBC signal non existant. The majors are located 40+ miles to the south, all on the same mountain top. The LOS is fairly clean but there are some hills in between.
Set top antenna:
CBS - ~ 62% strength
FOX - ~ 82%
PBS - ~ 60%
ABC - ~49%
NBC - 0%
Outside antenna:
CBS - ~ 82%
Fox - ~ 88%
PBS - ~ 66%
ABC - ~ 66%
NBC - 0%
The PBS signal is still weak due to their temporary antenna and gets interference at times and is ok at other times. The ABC quality is pretty good, I get occassional interference but is not a problem at all. The others are very good. When I spoke to the NBC engineer, he told me they are transmitting the minimum signal as did ABC. Apparently, the NBC guy either lied or does not know his equipment is not working. (But he didn't seem to care)
I still getting a bouncing signal of around +/- 3-5% when it is below 70-75%. Above that, it is pretty stable. Below that, it bounces around quite a bit.
The DTV broadcast quality has really surprised me. It is so much better than the analog, which is pretty bad here, no matter what you use. It is on par with my Dish output and the HD is excellent.
I guess the moral to all of this is, if you're not getting decent reception then check with your local station. Some are cutting corners while others are complying with the FCC. If you are within 50 miles, you should get a decent signal with a not real expensive antenna.