Found a sweet spot in my closet.

staticMHZ · 03-20-2009, 04:21 PM

So I dug up an old pair of rabbit ears with an amplifier, it's an RCA model but I'm not sure what the model is. It's the silver square one. Hooked it up to a looooong coax cable (about 6 feet), put my tv on and flipped through some channels. Did a scan and my tv's tuner found 6 channels!!! I flipped through and all of them come in great!

Only one of them pixelates and it's one of our PBS stations. They are on UHF channel 19, but maps to 2.1.

So now, I'm getting:

2.1 WGBH-HD 42%
2.2 WGBH-SD 42%
4.1 WBZ-HD 52%
5.1 WCVB-HD
7.1 WHDH-HD 37%
7.2 THIS-TV 37%

None of them pixelate except for the PBS one. I know this is still kinda weak, but still, none of them drop out or anything!!! WOW! 6 channels vs. the 2 i was getting before which would drop out constantly.

I shut my closet door and it still doesn't effect reception!

Before I found myself always getting up adjusting the long dipoles, No more adjusting rabbit ears for me.

This is a big step up compared to when I was only getting 2, now I get 6!

I'll try to get some pics up if I can borrow a cam.

DTVuser2009 · 03-20-2009, 05:52 PM

sounds like getting inventive works well! i still am in awe over my ancient 1960s Sears set sitting on the dirt outside and i get all channels without dropouts and without rotating!

Someone asked me about my DTV reception, said they paid $$$ for the fancy DTV outdoor antennas with the electric rotater and only get half their lineup, and i showed them my TV and they were asking me how i picked up all channels so well, i walked them outside, they saw the old Sears set, with twin-leads going in, and said 'You've got to be kidding me....'

staticMHZ · 03-20-2009, 07:21 PM

hows yours working? No channels dissapear yet?

I have it hanging from some clothes hangers, in the middle of the closet. I might tape it down so it doesnt fall.

DTVuser2009 · 03-21-2009, 07:11 AM

Fine so far, it was raining this morning and cloudier than ya know, and it's working fine and still picking up all the channels. (still cannot receive WAZE (CW) but it's not digital yet!)

staticMHZ · 04-20-2009, 01:23 PM

Our FOX affiliate just boosted their power this morning (780kw) and they come in ROCK SOLID in 720p HD.

52% signal. Solid.

Jay · 04-20-2009, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by staticMHZ

Our FOX affiliate just boosted their power this morning (780kw) and they come in ROCK SOLID in 720p HD.

52% signal. Solid.

Solid at 52%? Nice, anything below 55% for me on my insignia is pixelated garbage.

DTVuser2009 · 04-20-2009, 02:59 PM

i can get NBC/This/WeatherNOW at 26% with an unamplified antenna, but try it with an amplified antenna, it falls apart below 80%.

staticMHZ · 04-20-2009, 04:05 PM

Anything below 35% gets pixelated on my Vizio. Over that is A-ok. Our ION affiliate has sent an application to the FCC back in june 2008, to increase their power to 1000kW (Maximum power for UHF digital). It's still pending right now. They are at about 380kW at the moment. Now that Fox is all setup, now I'm just waiting for our ION station to go full. I noticed that any stations below 700kW, are very problematic over here. All the channels I get, their transmit power is above 700kW. So that's a good sign at least.

At night, my signal meter sky rockets. Morning time, goes back to normal again.

staticMHZ · 04-20-2009, 04:12 PM

our Fox station went from 78kW, all the way up to 780kW. This was a HUGE boost. The engineer said they are still working on raising the transmitter a little higher. Should be all set in another week.

Simpons in HD!