weird reception.

TV Fool I use to get the memphis,tn locals after 10 pm every night. now with my winegard hd 9032 pointed almost to the north, slightly northwest (its weird that memphis comes in better this way) i get the memphis stations in at about 6 to 7 every evening and they stay in all night until about 8 am the next morning. I want WLMT to stay in all the time and i just can't seem to make it happen. right at this moment it is in at 78% strength. I have a channel master 7777 as my pre-amp. how can i get WLMT and maybe all the memphis stations to stay in all the time?

90chevy,

WLMT is 68.4 miles from you with a NM of only 4.2 . You're right on the edge of the digital cliff. 70 miles and NM = 0 are rule-of-thumb boundaries. tvfool says your antenna is at 25 ft. Can you get it up to 40 or 50?

Originally Posted by 90chevy

TV Fool I use to get the memphis,tn locals after 10 pm every night. now with my winegard hd 9032 pointed almost to the north, slightly northwest (its weird that memphis comes in better this way)

That is weird. If this is important to you, I would forget about WBBJ and WLJT for a few days and try pointing the antenna at 255 degrees and test at different times of the day.

At any rate, anything that works is going to take quite a big investment in time and/or money, with no guarantee of success.

Good Luck,
Rick

Height, preamp, stacked antennas. That's what I do to get signals which have negative nm "on the ground" at my location.

My TV fool:

TV Fool

Oh, and Rick, 25 feet is the default TV fool height...

Originally Posted by Rickideemus

90chevy,

WLMT is 68.4 miles from you with a NM of only 4.2 . You're right on the edge of the digital cliff. 70 miles and NM = 0 are rule-of-thumb boundaries. tvfool says your antenna is at 25 ft. Can you get it up to 40 or 50?



That is weird. If this is important to you, I would forget about WBBJ and WLJT for a few days and try pointing the antenna at 255 degrees and test at different times of the day.

At any rate, anything that works is going to take quite a big investment in time and/or money, with no guarantee of success.

Good Luck,
Rick

Right now the antenna is about 30 feet up. i had it at 40 feet and reception got worse (no memphis at night). i've tried it at 255 degrees and memphis rarely came in. i checked the signal a few times a day over about a weeks time. it just seems to pick up better pointed north. also my neighbors which are about 100 yards away get WPTY and WLMT all the time and they are pointed at 255 degrees.

Originally Posted by 90chevy

Right now the antenna is about 30 feet up. i had it at 40 feet and reception got worse (no memphis at night). i've tried it at 255 degrees and memphis rarely came in. i checked the signal a few times a day over about a weeks time. it just seems to pick up better pointed north. also my neighbors which are about 100 yards away get WPTY and WLMT all the time and they are pointed at 255 degrees.

I actually ended up with my UHF antenna in the corner of the master bedroom because that was the best UHF reception spot I had access to (I don't have roof access). On the other hand the VHF antenna is out in the yard. Again, because that was the best spot for VHF reception. When I lived 100 yards to the east I never had any problems with an attic mount. Fringe reception definitely can be tricky!!!

i did as rick said and i put the antenna back up to about 40 feet and pointed at 255 degrees. no memphis signal as of yet.

Height is generally better, but it may work better lower, or 3ft to the left. Outer fringe signals are diffracted off intervening obstacles/terrain and can vary immensely over small distances, in any direction. An installer with a meter could find out where the sweet spot (if any) is, you can too, but it will require alot fo time on your part.

Originally Posted by 90chevy

also my neighbors which are about 100 yards away get WPTY and WLMT all the time and they are pointed at 255 degrees.

Hey, find out what kind of antenna they're using!

R.

Originally Posted by n2rj

Oh, and Rick, 25 feet is the default TV fool height...

That may be, but the height of 25.0 feet does not appear on the TVFool report unless it's specifically typed in by the user.

R.

Originally Posted by nbound-au

Height is generally better, but it may work better lower, or 3ft to the left. ... An installer with a meter could find out where the sweet spot (if any) is, you can too, but it will require alot of time on your part.

Spot-on. About two months back I participated in a 'real' antenna survey and within a two or three foot range (up/down/right/left) the signal strength may not change, but the received waveform can have dramatic changes.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rickideemus

That may be, but the height of 25.0 feet does not appear on the TVFool report unless it's specifically typed in by the user.

R.

the neighbors is an older antennacraft vhf/uhf and it looks smaller than mine. no clue on the model number of it though. and right now i am getting all memphis stations pointed at 255 degrees.

90chevy,

If you could add photos of your neighbors working antenna it might help us.

Jim

Originally Posted by Fringe Reception

90chevy,

If you could add photos of your neighbors working antenna it might help us.

Jim

I would but i don't have a camera. i'm trying to to find it here on the internet. they are looking to see if they can find the papers to it. they say they keep all papers for everything.

Got a smartphone, kids got an iphone? All can take pictures and then be uploaded

Originally Posted by nbound-au

Got a smartphone, kids got an iphone? All can take pictures and then be uploaded

i have a basic cell phone. lol. but i did find out the neighbors have an antennacraft c490 with an antennacraft pre amp. they get WPTY and WLMT all the time with no pixelation and the antenna is 30 feet in the air. I should be able to do the same with my winegard 9032 but i can't?

90chevy,

Your Winegard 9032 isn't a bad choice, so I have to suggest you try it at different locations. A sideways move by a foot or two (or ten feet) may be all that is required to firm up your reception. Of course, continue to try it at different heights at those different locations. Are you having fun, yet?

Jim

Is your antenna pointing at any close by trees per chance?

Originally Posted by Fringe Reception

90chevy,

Your Winegard 9032 isn't a bad choice, so I have to suggest you try it at different locations. A sideways move by a foot or two (or ten feet) may be all that is required to firm up your reception. Of course, continue to try it at different heights at those different locations. Are you having fun, yet?

Jim

that will be fun.lol

Originally Posted by n2rj

Is your antenna pointing at any close by trees per chance?

points right at the edge of some branches about 40 yards out.

90chevy,

On post 10 above, I mentioned a 'real' antenna signal survey. The yellow dot is where I proposed to mount a new antenna mast for this customer to take advantage of a base plate and existing guy wire mounts from a prior installation ... but ... after walking the entire roof with a Sadelco RF Spectrum Analyzer the best location is where the red dot is located.

The goal was to thread-the-needle through the neighbors trees at the top of the photo and I was amazed by the improvement in the signal waveforms by backing-up a few feet to the south. What you are trying to do is a bit of a black-art and there are no rules cast in concrete, so keep trying.

I should add, 5 to 6 feet above the peak of the roofline is the sweet-spot there: any higher or lower and the signals at this location become distorted.

Jim