Should I be getting Fox 6-1?

[beckkl]

From what I can piece together from different posts,  Fox finished their work, and are broadcasting their digital signal from a higher elevation.  Is this correct?  I live in Wauwatosa, and still can't pick up 6-1.  I can pick up everything else fine.  Are they broadcasting the upconverted signal during the daytime?

Thx
Kyle

[borghe]

in wauwatosa, yes, you should be getting it. depending on where you are though the towers will be fairly split so you might have to work with aiming. I am on 68th and bluemound and get low 90's....

[Joseph S]

Yes, you should. If you can't get it complain to the FCC, the Fox reps on AVS are good for saying it's a "few users." The fact is they're not covering their FCC mandated coverage zone and are in violation.

[borghe]

you are actually incorrect. Their FCC coverage is technically only their Class A range. And even worse, it is not the city of license. It's basically the City's main post office and it's zip code. If you are in the city's main post office's zip code, and you have an antenna 30' from ground level pointed at their antenna and still can't receive Fox 6, you can then complain to the FCC. If you don't meet all of those requirements, you are without grounds to complain to the FCC about them not providing a signal.

Next up would be their city of license (Milwaukee, which living in Tosa you still don't qualify), and finally their class B license which would extend to the rest of metro milwaukee and further.

Also, the key thing here is the antenna 30' form the ground and pointed directly at the tower.

Not defending their low power, but they aren't breaking any FCC mandates or licenses.

As for getting them, a couple of words of wisdom. If you are using an indoor antenna, life will be rough. In my house, even with a double bow tie from RS I would only get unstable 70's from the high power milwaukee stations. low power forget about it. 50-70 very unstable. Now my house is massively shielded, can't get a cell phone signal to save your life, but that's what I'm getting at. If you truly want free OTA TV it is crucial to invest in a rooftop antenna, or at the very least an attic antenna.

Also, position position position. The towers are mainly located in two different areas and depending on where you are those two areas might be at a pretty wide angle from each other. You will have to mess with position and get all of the signals in as best as possible. Easy with a rooftop.. you just rotate it until you get the best compromise between all stations.

you might not get a perfect signal on all stations. I can get a solid 100 on 58 with me rooftop, and I can get a solid 100 on Fox, but between the two I can only get low 90's (and even worse, low 70's on the Tivo).

Make sure you are using quality cable (RG6), as few splitters as possible, and if you have to use splitters, make sure you have a good preamp on the line.

Hopefully some of this helps.

[beckkl]

It does help.  I am using an indoor antenna.  My house is solid brick, and I have cell phone problems as well.  T-Mobile coverage in Tosa sucks bigtime..... but that is another story.  I'm still surprised though, that I can't get ANY signal whatsoever.  I am using the ATSC decoder that is built in to my panasonic tv, and it wont even find the channel in the cannel scan.  Oh well.  Time to get out the ladder.  Any suggestions on good, cheap rooftop antennae that I could get in the area?

[borghe]

yup.. sounds like exactly what I have.. and it isn't t-mobile.. my wife's sprint phone gets no signal as well.. we actually have to turn her phone off or make sure it's on the charger when she is home otherwise her battery will die within 10-12 hours of being in non-digital mode.

As for an antenna, really any single antenna at Radio Shack will work fine.. No matter what you will get pegged signals and actually will likely have to throw a 20dB attenuator on your line anyways. If you are interested in doing it yourself, like I said, just go to radio shack and get an antenna.. the cheapest or one of the cheaper ones will work fine. If you aren't interested in doing it I can give you information for Kemmer TV. They installed mine and it works like a charm. Give me a PM if interested.

No, indoor wasn't a possibility for me either.. Even with the unfallable RS DBT the best I could get with convenient placement from the high powered ones was a wavering low 70's or so... low powered stations would have frequent dropouts.. With the antenna on the roof now everything is pegged.

[beckkl]

Cool, I will have to give a whirl tommorow.

As for your sprint phone, my girlfriends has a mode where you basically set the phone to only use digital signals.  We did that in our old place.  On her phone it was under the "Roaming" menu.  That kept the phone from sitting in analog mode.

[borghe]

yeah, we do that and it still sucks up juice like nobody's business...

one time she left her phone in the car for like 3 days when we were away from home... came back and it still had a charge... but if she leaves the phone in the house (which is always set for digital only) it will be dead in under 12 hours...

btw, her phone kind of sucks.. was like LGs first 65K phone...

[Matt Heebner]

Well, I am at 60th and Wells and I CANNOT get FOX whatsoever. I have no problems getting all of the other signals. I am still deciding what to do regarding this. Either have an rooftop antenna installed of go with TWC for football season. Both will cost apprx. the same amount.

Frustrated with FOX,

Matt

[JamesMLV]

Are those who are getting it aiming towards the northeast?  Thats how ours is right now, and we're stuck at about 10%.  We still need to get a rotor, that would probably help fine tune.

I'm on 61st and Lloyd.

[picopir8]

I live just south of the highlands, and ever since I rewired my "rooftop" antenna I get fox 6-1 at low yet watchable power levels.  Anyway, I put rooftop in quotes because I actually have two antennas at my house (they were both there when I purchaced it) and I never bothered to see which the wire is connected to.  One is in the attic and points due east.  The one on the roof points north east.

[Matt Heebner]

Well, I was messing around in the attic today and just for laughs I turned my Radio Shack double bow-tie antenna due east. I still have a big UHF antenna pointed north by northeast, and I combine the signals to my box.

Guess what...I am picking up FOX with about the same signal strength as NBC according to my Samsung box.  I was knda stunned. My DBT is exactly east, maybe even slightly southeast. I don't really understand it but it seems to work. Again I am at the corner of 60th and Wells in 'Tosa.

Matt

[Tom Snyder]

I'm thinking it's all about the interference with 12's digital signal. If you go due east from Tosa, you pick up enough Fox6 peripheral signal to get it with a low enough WISN12 signal strength to avoid the interference...

[bubbaridesfast]

Will Fox be increasing their signal strength? I still cannot get any signal on 6-1 at 64th & Coldspring in Greenfield with a rooftop Winegard that DirecTV installed along with my Samsung box back in April. I have no problems with anything else except occasionally 58-1 may pixelatte (I spell that OK?).
Should I add a pre-amp or wait for Fox to increase the power?

[Gregg Lengling]

WITI has plans to increase power and a better antenna, but that project may take until late next spring.