tv antenna

[buickanddeere]

I have the Channel Master 4228HD, supposed to be one of the best extreme-range antennas when I bought it. I see Solid Signal claims it provides 12db gain, under the 'features' tab.

But it didn't accomplish what I wanted. I lost access to the San Francisco stations 60 miles south of here when everything went digital and nothing I've tried can see them now. A couple of different antenna amplifiers with it didn't help.

Local TV is hopeless. PBS run by the State University campus so they don't pay for PBS premium content - its nearly all cooking and travelogues. Other stations are worse, all telenovellas and 'medicine' infomercials. That PBS, Univision, and Azteca are the only network channels I can see.

I would like to hear what others have found successful at this distance.

Height? Rotor? Amplifier located up ON the antenna? RG-6 low loss cable ? Nearby FM radio transmitters ? Have you tried a different TV receiver? Manufactures now go cheap on the RF input when most tv's are connected to a "box".

I would not have much hope for a 4228HD. A CM-2020 or a winegard HD-7698P would be even better.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^I've noticed the flat screen of my neighbors doesn't seem to have near the antenna reception as I do with a 1980 Zenith Console with my rabbit ears.

Always wondered if the RF input on new is inferior to old?

Never lived in a home with cable.

 

[Xfaxman]

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I suppose distant in miles for a TV antenna is sort of up in the air, ends up being a roll of the dice, shot in the dark, maybe even trail and error. I'm almost sort of in the middle-ish of Portland,70 mi. and Bangor,60 mi. but that might depend on how the crow flies, or if the crow stops outside my window at 6 am Sat. morning.
The biggest reason I have for doing this is somewhere around Portland is Ch. 23.2, it comes in ok most of the time and other times it's dicey, so when they have an old western on with Roy Rogers, Randolph Scott or John Wayne, I dont like that dicey signal.

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For that station you need a good UHF antenna. :thumbsup:

Did you try this site? TV Fool

 

[California]

Height? Rotor? Amplifier located up ON the antenna? RG-6 low loss cable ? Nearby FM radio transmitters ? Have you tried a different TV receiver? Manufactures now go cheap on the RF input when most tv's are connected to a "box".

I would not have much hope for a 4228HD. A CM-2020 or a winegard HD-7698P would be even better.

^^^I've noticed the flat screen of my neighbors doesn't seem to have near the antenna reception as I do with a 1980 Zenith Console with my rabbit ears.

Always wondered if the RF input on new is inferior to old?

I should mount this 4228HD higher. All my experimenting was off a second floor balcony, with the amplifier only a couple feet from it. All I could see from there was a couple of powerful Spanish-language stations to the east of San Francisco (on Mt Diablo?) with the same programming I already have locally. I wouldn't spend another $100+ for a roof mast without a better indication than that, that it would accomplish something.

Re quality of internal tuners, I agree. the Channelmaster converter I used for a while had a more useful signal-strength meter and saw several more channels than the tuner in my new flat-screen Samsung TV. And the converter had an important advantage: I could rotate the antenna and survey again, and the new channels would be added to those found previously - better than the new TV that erases the list if you survey again. But the extra channels I saw on the converter were local low power 24/7 religion, visible only when the antenna is aimed right at them, again not what I'm trying to accomplish. Ideally I want to see most of the variety of channels visible in the San Francisco area.

Another thought, 30 years ago Dad had a second antenna on the rooftop mast aimed over the horizon toward the Central Valley. The Walnut Grove towers there had the same national network channels as in San Francisco. Those also disappeared when they went digital.

If I could receive anything with this 4228HD I might be tempted to try CM-2020 or a winegard HD-7698P on a proper mast. With absolutely nothing received, I'm not optimistic that throwing more money at it would get satisfactory results.

Another problem I ran into here is I went looking for an antenna installer and that specialty doesn't exist any more. Closest I could find was someone who does satellite dishes and he said he wouldn't do a mast. At 70+ years my balance isn't what it was when I worked construction and walked beams etc, I would rather hire rooftop work done.

I hate it when someone my age starts talking about The Old Days but in this case I had satisfactory reception up until the digital conversion, now nothing, and nothing I've tried has accomplished a thing. Bah.

 

[k0ua]

Well it looks like some of the manufactures DO publish gain figures. I am on cable of course, but the TV in the "ham shack" has an outside small antenna part way up on my 6 meter verticals mast at less than 20 foot above ground. I get 19 digital stations. I have it mainly for weather alerts in case the cable goes out. Of course I have my VHF radios and cell phone for that matter with weather alerts, but no reason not to have redundancy. If I was serious about it I could put it on my home made tilt over tower I have the main HF antenna's on. But I am good with it as is.

 

[Oldpath05]

For that station you need a good UHF antenna. :thumbsup:

Did you try this site? TV Fool

Yup, that sounds right, 23.1 and 23.2 is UHF, I think most channels in the Portland area are UHF. But I think WMTW 8 in the Portland direction, is VHF, that channel booms right in here, always did. If I read that TV Fool thing right, it's saying it is, I guess, maybe, grafts, charts and instruction manuals always konfuses me, sometimes I have a hard time understanding my own charts, grafts.............

 

[Oldpath05]

"Another problem I ran into here is I went looking for an antenna installer and that specialty doesn't exist any more."

Now why is that, with more and more people dumping this cable and satellite RIPOFF, I would think that would be a good venture to get into, a pickup, some common and some un-common tools and one of them toe-behind bucket lift rigs and your in business, only thing left is a little know how, guess that leaves me out.

 

[k0ua]

"Another problem I ran into here is I went looking for an antenna installer and that specialty doesn't exist any more."

Now why is that, with more and more people dumping this cable and satellite RIPOFF, I would think that would be a good venture to get into, a pickup, some common and some un-common tools and one of them toe-behind bucket lift rigs and your in business, only thing left is a little know how, guess that leaves me out.

I dunno.. think about all you have learned in JUST THIS THREAD!. :laughing:

 

[buickanddeere]

Around here border towns look like 1970 again. Most have new outside antennas pointed towards the US and picking up free 1080i network broadcasts.

 

[buickanddeere]

TV signals , particularly 14-51 tend to be like of sight . 2-6 would almost bend and bounce like ham radio shortwave by comparison.
With both wind turbines and antennas . Height is everything . Don't expect much until the antenna is above the ground clutter and into the desired signals at 30+ ft in height . Line of sight to the horizon is vital.

I miss my outside antenna . An ice storm ruined the big ugly thing by weighing down the channel 2-6 elements . Then Mrs B&D decided she wanted a new deck where the antenna stood .