ANT OTA Question

[budda]

I am going to install a ANT for my mother-in-law, This is for the turn over to digital in the winter, she lives in Hancock WI, This is near Plainfield WI, right now she gets two channels from Wausau WI with rabbit ears, one channel good one not so good. I am looking at ANT, most I have seen have a range of 60 UHF, and the VHF range from 50 to 120 miles. question is Am I wasting money worrying about the VHF, from what I have seen most HD Digital channels are UHF, Any suggestions or comments welcome , thanks Also plan is to just mount it to a pole probley not very high but  will amplfy it, would say 6 to 10 feet, ya I know higher the better, but the back woods people worry about lighting and stuff. Thanks:rock:

[Tom Snyder]

First check antennaweb to see what channels are available and how far away from those signals she is.

[budda]

Only one at this time is digital but here it is..



Antenna
Type   Call Sign   Channel   Network   City, State   Live
Date   Compass
Heading   Miles
From   Frequency
Assignment
   blue
uhf   W48DB   48   PBS   WAUSAU, WI      176°   11.1   48
   blue
vhf   WAOW   9   ABC   WAUSAU, WI      356°   51.4   9
   blue
vhf   WSAW   7   CBS   WAUSAU, WI      356°   51.4   7
   blue
uhf   WHRM   20   PBS   WAUSAU, WI      356°   51.4   20
*   violet
vhf   WSAW-DT   7.1   CBS   WAUSAU, WI   Feb 17, 2009 (post-transition)   356°   51.4   7
   violet
uhf   WFXS   55   FOX   WITTENBERG, WI      7°   60.7   55

[jkane]

My Dad is in Pittsville and gets Wausau quite well.  But he has a big antenna on a tall tripod on his roof.  I grew up with that.  He gets all the digital channels except one.  I forget which it was.  Could have changed since I tested it out last spring.  But I recall as a kid that channel 20 was always weak, and his digital converter I got for him gets that one.  Seems like it was not PBS.  I can't say for sure if it was CBS or ABC though.

I have a cottage in Wild Rose.  I get the Green Bay stations digital.  You might want to swing to the east and see what you get.  I can see the analog Wausau stations pointed east, but the digitals don't come in.  I know if I swing north, I can get the analogs there from Wausau, but Green Bay has more stations, so I leave it east.

I didn't try pointing north when I tried out the digital converter box a couple weeks ago, so can't tell you what I would have gotten.

[budda]

I will check it out this fall I have toget the ant and stuff then install it on a good weekend, hopefully bsfore it gets too cold , thanks again greenbay is a good idea.

[kevbeck122]

I don't think WFXS (FOX 55) has their digital transmitter live yet, so you most likely won't get that until February if you decide to go with Wausau stations.  Here is a map of the digital towers in the Wausau viewing area: http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast-market.php?dma_name[]=Wausau-Rhinelander.

[John L]

Isn't there a brand new TV station in the Wausau area thats been on the air for about 2 years now?

 They never did any analog broadcasting, they are strictly digital.  So when they signed on about 2 years ago they signed on as a digital TV station.  I believe they are independent, no affiliation of any network.

-John L.

[John L]

I don't think WFXS (FOX 55) has their digital transmitter live yet, so you most likely won't get that until February if you decide to go with Wausau stations.  Here is a map of the digital towers in the Wausau viewing area: http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast-market.php?dma_name[]=Wausau-Rhinelander.

I think that map has answered my Question from my above message.  WTPX 46-1 is the station I was thinking. Yea they never started out  in analog, strictly digital. I see they also have sub-channels 46-2, and 46-3.

-John L.

[troyriley]

Here's what I determined using tvfool.com. From Hancock, she's within reach of Green Bay (77 mi), Wausau (55 mi), and Madison (74 mi) stations. Of those, right now, all but one of the digital stations are on the UHF band. The only one that isn't is Fox 47 out of Madison (broadcast on channel 11). But, in February, Wausau's CBS and ABC affiliates will be on 7 and 9, and Green Bay's Fox will be on 11. You're going to need a strong antenna for both UHF and VHF. Also, I would recommend installing the antenna as high as you can. You could try lower with an amplifier, but I think you'll still want to get it higher. Only six to ten feet high may give her reception problems. A rotor would be a good idea too. According to tvfool for instance, her strongest ABC station would be from Green Bay and strongest CBS station would be from Wausau.

[WPXE ION]

I think that map has answered my Question from my above message.  WTPX 46-1 is the station I was thinking. Yea they never started out  in analog, strictly digital. I see they also have sub-channels 46-2, and 46-3.

-John L.

WTPX is an Ion Media O&O station. I has been on air for a few years now. It is lower power signal so I doubt the original viewer in this thread will see it at the city he provided. Unless he has a really big antenna. It is a simulcast of what we broadcast here at WPXE.

You are correct it was never analog, just digital.