Downtown Experiences

[kcornell]

I am located downtown (17th and Wisconsin) and just got a Samsung SIR-T451.

Here are my results:

- OTA reception is poor with an amplified indoor antenna (15dB).  I can pickup MPTV ( and Fox (33) if I play with the antenna, but other channels I can't get much of a trace.  Tall buildings are a large factor.  I doubt getting a more powerful indoor amplifed antenna will drastically change the situation.  Rooftop antenna not an option in an apartment building.

- Although specs on the Samsung SIR-T451 say that it is QAM-capable, the tuner does not pick up any channels from my basic TWC cable feed.  I thought the FCC's "Must Carry" rule meant that the local channels had to be in HD on the most basic of cable services (ie, not a premium HD package for which there is an extra charge).  Am I wrong in this assumption, or is there something I need to do on the tuner? (Right now I have just asked the tuner to search for feeds on "STD" cable, not "HRC" or "IRC", as I don't know what they are and the manual doesn't explain.)

[oflaherty]

Kcornell – I've got an older Samsung receiver. I tried an amplified indoor antenna but it didn't work very well from my location on the east side. Folks in this group recommended the Radio Shack "Double Bow Tie" indoor antenna and they were right. It performs much better than anything else I tried.
I can now get all of the local channels - but positioning of the antenna is critical.

I'm no expert, but it sounds like you maybe getting too much signal with that amplifier. You should be able to get the full power local stations at your downtown location.. like at least 4 and 12.

Try without the amplifier – try a different antenna..

--Sean at TMJ

[Den Mayer]

I too have an OTA Samsung T-451 up here in GBay....

   I used it to verify that the ABC-HD Basket Ball Game was in
       Std Def tonight for the First Qtr...    
       The News Dept had the Engr Dept throw the 'switch'
        about 7 minutes later....      Presto, 720P HD Basket Ball!

   On the T-451 QAM Cable Question:   I've used my T-451
      once to Scan the GBay TWC Channels in the Std,
       Harmonic, & Incremental frequency Modes.....  Over 2 hours.
    My T-451 found only about 7 Digital Std Def channels
      between QAM Channel    81-1 thru 125-1........
     I found NO HD QAM Channels......    My bet is
        that they are on QAM Channels 126-1 thru 160-1??
          and the T-451 does not go that High'..
     As my Question to a GBay TV Chief Engr, He did not know
        which TWC QAM channel represented his HD Programming....
       There is a little blurb on the Madison HDTV site on QAM cable
           channel equivalents......
      Might the MKE HDTV web site post TWC QAM channels???
         THere is QAM coding on all Cable & scrambling on some....


      AS for a good UHF antenna,   consider the ChannelMaster
         3021 ($25) 4 bay bow tie as a 'minimal baseline' unit...
       It can be room mounted for experimentation....  attic/
           closet too for permanence......

[kcornell]

I've used both unamplified (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F001%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1868) and amplified (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F001%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1838)

antennas from Radio Shack.  The amplified one provided slightly better performance but I could not pickup ABC last night for the game (despite, according to AntennaWeb, being less than 5 miles from the tower. In fact, I'm less than 5 miles from every MKE DTV broadcast tower, except Fox, which I can get.)

I am wondering if all the activity I was picking up on frequency 34 (ABC) was actually Fox (33), which I can tune into.

Perhaps a call to TWC will help me somewhere on the cable front, but I have a feeling whoever answers the phone will not know what is going on.

Only one way to find out...

[audiopile]

try a Zenith silver sensor antenna. These are cheap <$30 and work surprisingly well for most HD signals (Chanel 8/ 10DTV may be questionable). The trick with this is to place it in a window and spend the time trying different angles for differnt stations. oddly enough - the very short range you are dealing with can make antenna alignment more difficult and critical.. Basically - I just use some masking tape to create  a  marked protractor that shows where it needs to be for different stations..
apartment living does have it's limitations - no chance that a old CATV's sitting on the roof and the wire still runs into your living room?
     Final point - the cable between your antenna and the STB is critical. Is there any chance this is deffective?