Sheboygan County Reception?

[JonC]

All right... I've got the media room, a Front Projection System (Sony G70 - 8" tubes - awesome picture), an HTPC that's displaying DVDs scalled up to 960p, and a good audio system.  It's time for the next step: HDTV.

I'm a DirecTV subscriber and have been looking at the Samsung 160.  I live in Sheboygan County - south of Sheboygan Falls.  As the crow flies, I'm about 45-47 miles from the towers on Capitol Drive.  I already have a top-of-the-line Channel Master directional attennae on a 30 ft tower.  I can receive all the Milwaukee TV analog stations, albeit the low-power stations come in pretty fuzzy.  I don't have any major hills, trees, or large buildings to contend with, and I'm at the top of a rise of a hill.

So, the question is... can I be in HDTV nirvana too?  Everything that I've seen points to I should be able to receive all the current HD channels (with the possible exception of CBS).

Thanks for all comments ahead of time!

Jon

[Kevin Arnold]

Welcome to the site.  Judging by your location you should be able to receive the following stations fairly easily with your antenna:

WTMJ DT 28
WISN DT 34
WMVS DT 8
and a "maybe" on WDJT DT 46 as they are at low power.
WITI DT 33 will not come in.

If your antenna is on a rotor you should be able to get the Green Bay digital stations fairly easily also. You could get your CBS from there. I'll check stations and post later.

[Kevin Arnold]

OK, here's the Green Bay Info:

Analog Ch.     Digital Ch.       Network

2                      23                      abc?
5                       56                      cbs
11                      51                     fox
26                       41                     nbc
38                       42                      pbs

[Greg Oman]

Jon,

Welcome!  I'd agree with Kevin, probably stand a pretty good chance.  Do you know which CM antenna you have?  If you are on a 30' tower, how much additional cable run do you have to the set?

I do routinely pull Madison stations from my home, although had to do a bit of work.  I'm about 50 miles, maybe 55 from there, and relatively low with respect to terrain and my view west.

Greg O.

[JonC]

Thanks for the replies!

I have to say that I was surprised to see that Fox wont come in.  I'm sure the reason why is in other threads that I haven't discovered yet.

Greg:  
I don't know the CM model offhand.  It was put in 4 1/2 years ago when I built the house.  I can tell you it wasn't cheap - the tower plus the antenna ran me about $800 installed.

The cable runs a total of 50' to an amplifier.  It has another 85 ft run from the antenna to the STB.  Total of 135'.  Should I be worried?

Jon

[Gregg Lengling]

So you don't have to search the forums...the reason you won't be able to receive Fox6's Digital is that almost no-one can.  They have a STA (special temporary authority) to transmit from their Studio tower at about 125 to 150 feet with only a couple hundred watts....even though I am only 7 miles away I can't receive them so don't feel bad.

[tschinner]

JonC,

I live just south of you (in between Oostburg and Cedar Grove) and Kevin is pretty much dead-on on his assesment of the Milwaukee stations.  I get CBS (46) pretty much all of the time.

I havn't experimented much with the Green Bay stations although I used to watch ABC (23) before Milwaukee was on the air.

Fox 11 in Green Bay doesn't look like they will be on the air any sooner than 6 in Milwaukee moves their antenna.

Good Luck

[JonC]

Once again, thanks for the replies.

That's really disappointing about Fox.  I probably watch more Fox TV than any other network.  I know that they're only 480p, but it still would be better than 480i.

tschinner: So you're an Oosterburger, eh?  How far south of town are you?  We're located about 5 miles north of Oostburg, just north of 6 corners.  I'm interested in your antenna setup, and if you're receive DirecTV also, or are you OTA-only?

Jon

[jrlenz]

I'm also in Sheboygan Co. (Cedar Grove).  I did nothing special.  I put a RF splitter in my antenna line and ran it to my HiDTV card.  The 3 major ones came in with NO additional work.

WTMJ DT 28
WISN DT 34
WMVS DT 8

Next step: Fix my roter (when it warms up) and go surfing for Green Bay and Madison.

Have fun.  Just another toy to spend money on.

[revrider]

I live in Campbellsport and get all the Milwaukee digitals and the Green Bay digitals which right now are limited to ABC,2,Digital 23, and CBS,5, digital 56. No NBC or Fox out of the north as of yet.

[JonC]

Revrider -

The fact that you live in Campbellsport and still get Green Bay digital gives me great hope!

I may be on my way to make my purchase tonight!

Jon

[JonC]

Thanks to all of you for replying.  I'm up and running, and the picture is beautiful!

Without any playing around at all, I'm able to receive digital on 4, 10, 12, and 58.  I was really surprised about being able to pull in channel 58 due to the discussions on the board, but I can tell you that it comes in great!

I wasn't able to watch more than a few minutes of each football game yesterday, but my jaw was on the floor during the time that I had to watch!  I gotta tell ya... there's nothing like seeing a football game in HD on an 8 ft. screen.

Next up: turn the rotor to the north to see what channels out of Green Bay I'm receiving.

Thanks again to the forum for all of your help.

Jon (in Sheboygan Falls with a Samsung 160 and a big smile on his face!)