CBS test signal

[SteveClemetson]

I just hooked up a Radio Shack U-120R in my living room.  I'm picking up channel 4 and 10 .... and <drumroll> test patterns for CBS58 on channels 1-1 and 1-2.  Now I'm off to the 'Shack again to get a pre-amp.  I want to see if I can pull in Madison.

[tenth_t2]

I think you'll need to be out on the roof for that, unless you're on the very western side of Waukesha county.

Let us know!

Greg O.

[SteveClemetson]

I don't think I'm going to get Madison.  Unforunately, after my property the terrain shoots up pretty good.  If I were 6-7 houses west (and on top of the hill), I'd be more confident of my chances.  Once I get up in the attic, I'll point south and see (just for grins) if I get anything from Chicago.

Still, with the pre-amp I was picking up the Milwaukee channels with signal strengths of 90-100 from my living room --with the antenna only 4 feet off the floor.

[sp44]

What pre-amp did you buy?

[SteveClemetson]

The pre-amp is the Rat Shack 15-1113C High Gain UHF/VHF/FM Signal Amplifier.  I believe it was $24.95.

[tenth_t2]

I wouldn't give up just yet.  Once the weather warms, you'll really have to get out on the roof.  Since you're dealing with such weak signals, taking the roof out of the equation may just do it for you.

You're about 5 miles further west than I am, I prefer to think that with some experimentation you may be surprised.  I was surprised that even with the one row of houses to my west, and them being up higher, I can still do it.

Either the ChannelMaster 4228 or the Winegard PR-8800 offer an average gain of 12db, the vu-120 is about 8.5db. A 3db drop is half your signal strength.  As they cost about $40....

For a beer or two afterwards, I may be able to be persuaded to give you a hand.

Greg O.

[Todd Wiedemann]

Hey, Greg, I might invite you over this summer to help with my antenna, too ...

Do you like bloody marys ?? I have a unique recipe that people go out of their way to have.  

Seriously, I'd bet I can get Madison too, I'm sure that I'm at a high enough elevation.

[This message has been edited by Todd Wiedemann (edited 03-03-2002).]

[Kevin Arnold]

About those Madison channels....WISC 3 (ch 50 is the most powerful and easily received. I routinely get 88-90 and son good nights can get it with the antenna pointed the wrong way. WKOW 27 (ch26) is almost as powerful with 85-88 here in Hartland. WMTV 15 (ch.19) is the weakest because it is on a tower on the west side of Madison. It scores a 68-70. Since this is NBC it is duplicated by WTMJ. Only advantage is that they broadcast 24/7. Fox in Madison is WMSN 47 (ch.11) which is owned by Sinclair and will be on probably several years after Fox 6 comes on. I have the biggest Winegard (don't remember the model) with a preamp. I would think the 8 bay bowtie pointed west would work just fine into about Moreland Road.

------------------
Kevin Arnold
38" RCA widescreen w/a spinnable antenna

[Tom Weeden]

Actually, WMTV's tower is about 3 miles closer to Milwaukee than the community tower that WISC/WKOW are on.  WMTV-DT runs lower effective radiated power than the other guys due partially to tower loading constraints (smaller transmit antenna).

A couple of maps are posted on our web site, one is topographical and one shows estimated DTV coverage of WMTV-DT if you're curious.
 http://204.246.5.24/tcweeden/wi_topo.gif  http://204.246.5.24/tcweeden/wmtv-dt.gif

Your site is great!  The local Society of Broadcast Engineers chapter in Madison is working on something similar to help get the DTV/HDTV word out.

--Tom Weeden
  Chief Engineer, WMTV/WMTV-DT Madison
  tcweeden@15wmtv.com

[tenth_t2]

Hey Tom,

Great to see you here!  I have determined that my alleged reception of ch19 several weeks back was probably a mistake on my part.  I have had no luck since, however I believe that you were running 1/3 power of the other stations.  I'd be happy to report my results if you let us know when the power gets bumped up a bit.

Greg O.