I am in NYC and when I ran a new scan after the switch I now receive PBS but I lost Channel 2.1, 2.2 (CBS), 9 (WOR) and 21 (WLIW).

Did anyone else in NYC lose them too?

Originally Posted by cycler

I am in NYC and when I ran a new scan after the switch I now receive PBS but I lost Channel 2.1, 2.2 (CBS), 9 (WOR) and 21 (WLIW).

Did anyone else in NYC lose them too?

I'm not in NYC, but have you done a TV Fool plot yet? It'll help determine how far away you are from broadcast towers. Post your results and we can better help you.

Thanks - I did it -
TV Fool
My antenna is indoors - I'm on a very low floor in a big building and there are lots of big buildings all around and the signal fluctuates during a show. Tonight, for example, I was watching Fox and several times during the show I had to move my antenna so it doesn't seem that aiming it in a specific direction is the answer.

Originally Posted by cycler

Thanks - I did it -
TV Fool
My antenna is indoors - I'm on a very low floor in a big building and there are lots of big buildings all around and the signal fluctuates during a show. Tonight, for example, I was watching Fox and several times during the show I had to move my antenna so it doesn't seem that aiming it in a specific direction is the answer.

You're practically standing underneath broadcast towers! Bet you're experiencing signal overload. What kind of indoor antenna is it? Powered?

Side note: I looked at a few of your older posts, and it looks like you were fine up until the transition right? Have you tried rescanning for channels since June 12? Some of your stations may have jumped frequencies.

Originally Posted by Jay

You're practically standing underneath broadcast towers! Bet you're experiencing signal overload. What kind of indoor antenna is it? Powered?

Side note: I looked at a few of your older posts, and it looks like you were fine up until the transition right? Have you tried rescanning for channels since June 12? Some of your stations may have jumped frequencies.

It is powered - Terk (the one that has the weird looking arm).
I was mostly ok until the transition - the same sort of reception issues - needing to move the antenna during a show alot of the time.

I did scan after June 12 which was when I gained PBS (WNET) since it wasn't available as DTV until then but I lost Channel 2.1, 2.2 (CBS), 9 (WOR) and 21 (WLIW) (which also wasn't available as DTV until June 12).

I know that CBS broadcasts from the Empire State Building but I don't get the best reception aiming the antenna in that direction.

So - if I am so close how do I fix it? I don't know how to interpret the map.

Thanks!
Susan

Originally Posted by cycler

I am in NYC and when I ran a new scan after the switch I now receive PBS but I lost Channel 2.1, 2.2 (CBS), 9 (WOR) and 21 (WLIW).

Did anyone else in NYC lose them too?

No, actually today I had the opposite happen. I actually gained 21, but only because I experimented hooking up a TV directly to the antenna itself and not to a 4 way splitter. So 21 is definitely working here in NYC post-transition, but trickier to keep than the other stations.

I shut off the antenna and did a scan - I had 20 channels before but I only had 8 channels after the scan so I put it back on and did another scan and now I've got 22 channels! 9 is back and all of the "regular" channels so I guess that I ought to be satisfied.
Right now I've been watching CBS for the last hour and the reception has stayed ok.

Hi Cylcer

I am a reporter with BusinessWeek magazine and very interested in talking with people who are not able to watch TV as well now that they have gotten one of the converter boxes. I am doing an article on this very problem and would love to hear about you situaiton.

Could you please email me at: commentsforjoel@gmail.com.

Joel Schectman

PS You can take a look at my other article on the transition here.

I just read the posts about people in NYC not getting reception. I'm one of them too!
DTV is great when you can see it. Can you help me out to find what the problem is?

I recently brought an indoor dtv antenna (RCA ANT1500 Flat Multi-Directional) that is not amplified. My HDTV has it's own, built in amplifier, that, when turned off, my reception is non existant. Like your previous post, I went to TV Fool (my test) and found out that I'm only 9 miles from most of the channels that I want to catch. I can only get WNYW-DT and WWOR-DT the clearest, and WNBC-DT and WCBS-DT with skips and artifacts. According to TV Fool and to DTV.gov most of these stations, including a station that I'm not getting at all (WABC), are being broadcast from the same location.

My location is typical for New York homes--I live in a two story town house on the first floor. There are attached homes on both sides of me and a house close to the back of my apartment (maybe 25-30 feet away). My hdtv is close to a window in the living room that is at the back of the house.

What should I do to get better reception and the channels that I'm missing?

Originally Posted by Piggie

Sounds like you box or TV has the known "old memory problem" lots are finding after the transition.

Here is the solution I keep reading over and over.

1) totally unplug the antenna
2) scan for channels and probably get none, this is wanted.
3) then unplug the TV or converter box for 5 minutes.
4) hook back up the antenna, plug it and the TV or box in
5) do a fresh full scan.

This washes out any thing the box should be refuses to forget often finding all the channels. Sound like you pretty much did this. If you still have missing channels try the above steps.

Glad things are better!

Thanks! I did that and it located the same channels. I guess that I'll call 21 and see if they've got any ideas - after all, they are a PBS station and they NEED their viewers so it's in their interest to get that channel to us!

BTW - because I am limited in where I'm able to put my TV, I was only able to keep the antenna in one location. Last night I moved it to a place that I hadn't thought it's be able to stand but that that improved the reception greatly! I was able to watch 2 different channels and not need to move the antenna at all!

I'll try it out and let you know what happens. Thanks.

It is unfortuante that although I get clearer and allegedly more chanels, I looses chanels on a rotating basis. Chanel 7 out form 9am to 2pm, then with spotty reception. NO 21, 50, 55 at all. Chanels 2,4,5/9,11,13 and 25 all alternate when I can get a clear signal. I mean isn't 11 on 42nd Street??? All I have to say is WOW!

Originally Posted by JEM40

It is unfortuante that although I get clearer and allegedly more chanels, I looses chanels on a rotating basis. Chanel 7 out form 9am to 2pm, then with spotty reception. NO 21, 50, 55 at all. Chanels 2,4,5/9,11,13 and 25 all alternate when I can get a clear signal. I mean isn't 11 on 42nd Street??? All I have to say is WOW!

Welcome to the forum JEM40. What kind of antenna are you using? Have you been to www.tvfool.com and filled out the address information to see which channels you should be receiving?

Originally Posted by JEM40

It is unfortuante that although I get clearer and allegedly more chanels, I looses chanels on a rotating basis. Chanel 7 out form 9am to 2pm, then with spotty reception. NO 21, 50, 55 at all. Chanels 2,4,5/9,11,13 and 25 all alternate when I can get a clear signal. I mean isn't 11 on 42nd Street??? All I have to say is WOW!

I beleive 2,4,5,7,9,11,13,25 and 31 are all coming from the Empire State Bldg. 50 is in NJ, 21 and 55 in Long Island.

It looks like we can all forget about any kind of set top antenna. For reliable reception, that antenna must be on the roof.