East Side Reception

[mschneider]

After spending over $25,000 on a new plasma and entire home theater, I'm very upset.  

I live in Whitefish Bay and presently receive just ABC in HD.  I cannot get NBC or CBS in HD.  

My "high-end dealer" has been little help, but that is another issue.  He says "I'm too close to the local antennas on Capitol Drive".  What??  Too close?

I can't get either engineer at NBC or CBS to return my calls either.

Can someone help.  What must I have to correct the system, besides a club to go after my dealer?

[Kevin Arnold]

OK, lets gather some info so we can help.
What kind of antenna are you using - indoor or outdoor.  How does the set receive the HD signal.  Are you using a set top box or is it built in.  Lets start with that and go from there.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Contact that Antenna installing company from another thread
OR
Get local HD channels from Time Warner Cable
OR
Did you try the Radio Shack double bow tie yet?  It might solve your problems for $5 or whatever they charge these days.

You must have a nice Home Theater.  It would be a shame to waste it.

Good luck,

Starving

[Gregg Lengling]

Yes I understand your dilema.  Yes Retailers don't often understand the technology they sell.  Your biggest problem is you are in "Overload City" being right near all those transmitting towers.  It used to be bad with only the 9 High Power Analog stations but now you have another 9 digital stations.  Here is what I would do.

I would go buy a selection of in-line attenuators.  These are devices that have a "F female" connector on each end and are about 1 inch or so long and a little fatter than RG6 coax and made out of metal.  They will come in 3, 6, 10, and 20dB values.  You can use these 1 at a time or in combination to come up with anywhere from 3 to 39dB or more if you add more devices.  This will reduce the over-abundance of signals and their multipath counterparts until you get to the point (by trial and error seeing as you don't have a RF spectrum analyzer or signal analyzer) that you have reduced and removed all the mixing signals and overload to the point you can now receive all channels.

Back in 70's I worked for a company that provided back-ground music to stores and the signal was hidden on WKTI, and Shorewood was always fun to clean up the signal.  I carried on my truck about 100 of these in different values and never once did I fail to get a clean signal after a little trial and error.  Never had to bring out the signal analyzer.

Good luck.

[Talos4]

MS I can sympathize,  I lived on the East side for many years, I literally lived in the backyard of the WCGV (tv24) Tower.  

Reception in your area is very tricky.  please do not assume because you are close to the the towers that reception won't be an issue.

Your are literally getting signal overload.  Run with Greg's  suggestion.  After sime trial and error you will find the combination of attenuators that will sort out all the signals.  I eventually did on several different devices. (see below)

Greg, a couple of side stories of my own.  During the hey days of CB radio, I could listen to WKTI as background music through my CB Radio whenever it was on Or,

I could just walk into my living room and listen to the same station on my old "maggotbox" TV when it was off!!!
:bang:

Hang in there MS, You'll get it figured out.

[mschneider]

Ok, I'm back in town after a few weeks.  

First, thank you to all who responded!!!

Second, my custom retailer has made a first attempt to solve the problem with some progress.  I think the only station I don't receive is NBC.  In all, I get ABC, CBS, WMLW(?), and PBS.  

Here is what I know:

New Antenna installed:  outdoor Channel Master resting inside the attic of my garage (it is the size of a car!)
HD Box:  newest Samsung
TIVO box as well.
Plasma is Fujitsu 50", the newest model
Cabling:  don't know specifics but was billed as fully HD compatable and high-end stuff.
"No corners were cut" in the system.

Attenutators will be my next suggestion to the retailer.

Any other suggestions?  What addition information would help to the experts on this board?

Thank you all again.

[kwinrich]

Your "custom" retailer does not have a clue about how to receive on the equipment they sell. :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:

If you live on the east side, and they sell you an antenna the size of a car, there are problems here.  

The antenna they sold you will make the situation worse:  it is getting TOO Much signal, as Greg mentioned in his post.  In addition, the bigger the antenna, the more directional it is.  Being on the east side,  the stations "appear' from different directions.  So a very directional antenna will not receive the station properly.  You actually need a SMALL antenna in your area.

[mhz40]

- Use a low gain antenna.
- Use high quality fittings and wire.
- Inexpensive high-quality stuff for all of the above (and proper installation tools) are available over the counter at Marmax (6802 W Rawson).

- If the tuner is of poor design, you may have little success.

MHz40

[Doug Mohr]

Originally posted by mhz40
- Use a low gain antenna.
- Use high quality fittings and wire.
- Inexpensive high-quality stuff for all of the above (and proper installation tools) are available over the counter at Marmax (6802 W Rawson).

- If the tuner is of poor design, you may have little success.

MHz40

Does Marmax give advice as well? I am pounding my head against the wall trying to get decent reception. I currently have an antennacraft MX1500 mounted in the attic of my 2 story house on North Ave & Palmer.

I cannot use an outdoor antenna here.

My hunch is that is a signal strength issue since removing the amplifier provides worse reception, but I could be completly wrong.

Thanks in advance

Doug