alg2468

I have a Venturer DTV Converter Box - model STB7766G1 - I bought at Target. It is very similar to the Winegard Converter Box and like the Winegard can operate with 6 D Cell batteries beacuse it has an external power supply. The menus are very similar to the Zenith box (some of the parts are the same,too). The box works very good for rural reception - I just 3 miles northeast of Providence, RI and have no trouble getting stations from the Providence and Boston areas (a distance of around 50 miles). The box can even get signals at a lower signal levels than either the Digital Stream and Zenith boxes, of which I also have both and perform very well.

Mr. Know it all

If you will let me add my two cents.

Some people on here are confusing a lack of signal - for a lack of quality of converter box.

How can I explain this so you people can understand.

Television before 6/12 was analog VHF, after 6/12 most television stations are digital UHF.

VHF - television signals are transmitted like looking at a pencil standing on it's point. Hold your arm in front of your face and look at your arm.

Radio signals are transmitted like dropping a pebble in a mud puddle. The signal radiates equally in all directions and ripples out to the edge of the puddle.

In the analog days there were two effectively transmitters for the TV
station.
A transmitter for the video and a transmitter for the audio.
The video transmitter was Amplitude Modulation see
NTSC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The audio was FM at a much lower power.

The reason that the video was a higher power is that AM is more susceptible
to noise requiring a stronger signal at the receive and a higher power
output of the video transmitter

Television station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"In North America, full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are
generally limited to 100 kW analog video (VSB) and 10 kW analog audio (FM),
or 20 kW digital (8VSB) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go
up by 5dB(W) to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 63.2 kW digital. Low-VHF
stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM.
There are no stations on channel 1.

UHF, by comparison, has a much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a
shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up
to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels
travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer
from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF,
making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in the U.S., the FCC is
taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in
contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This
means that some stations left on VHF will be harder to receive after the
analog shutdown. Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37
in North America for radioastronomy purposes."

UHF communications are more "line of sight" communications than lower
frequency VHF.
It is sort a like having a sound vs a light. If you make sound it radiates
in all directions, around buildings, through walls, down into holes
(valley).
Shining a light does not go around corners or through walls and if it is a
pinpoint light it doesn't go down into the valleys.

The earth is round and eventually the beam of light, UHF tv the beam will
no longer touch the earth but go up into the sky.
Here is some information concerning line of sight and how it effects TV
http://www.softwright.com/faq/suppor...re_values.html

ETS_LOS_Discussion

Horizon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The height of the transmitting antenna is factored into the power output of
the TV station.
The power output for TV & FM is rated in ERP (Effective Radiated Power)
There are a number of factors the go into this calculation.
Several Key items are:
Height of Antenna. listed both as HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain) and
AMSL (Height Above Mean Sea Level)

HTNut

Think I understand what your saying, but haven't some of he converter boxes had some revisions to their ATSC tuners? Some of the earlier boxes (atleast by comparisons on the web) showed poorer reception results compared to the newer ones. I know some people on these forums are receiving signals much better on their converter boxes then their 2004-2006 digital (or HD) TVs.

Mr. Know it all

Ok,

So UHF signals do not go through roofs, trees with leaves, through airplanes, flocks of birds or even swarms of bugs. It does not receive well in rain storms or snow.

The signal is a very direct line of sight. Analog UHF was like that pebble dropped in a puddle it went everywhere with ease.

So the first thing that you now need is a UHF antenna and if you are more than 40 miles from a television transmitter you might also need a pre amplifier.

You have to use a Quad Shield type wire to minimize loss. The higher in frequency you go, the more signal the wire looses.

You have to use a antenna rotor - because the beam width of most television stations are only about 30* off center. If the antenna is pointed more than 30* away from a straight line of sight - you are not going to get a signal or a good signal.

The sad part is that stores sold junk converter boxes and people bought them because they were cheap. These are the same people that only buys nothing but the best when it comes to what they eat or the cars they drive or the clothes they wear or how they live.

A junk converter box is not going to have the same reception as a good converter box.

The stores, which wants to make a maximum amount of profit sold these boxes at a premium price - so they could line their pockets with cash.

Even of you brought the box back when it did not work, they still kept your $40 government coupon. They made $40 for something that has less technology than a pocket radio.

I have found only two boxes that works.

One was a Zenith DTT 900 and the other is a Channel Master CM 7000

The DTT 900 all had issues with internal clocking, where the picture signal does not match sound. The sound has issues because it is only about half what your normal television sound was, so when you turn off the converter box the sound from the television speaker - static is very loud.

Out of all the CM 7000 boxes I had, only one had issues where when you turned it on it made a noise on the audio of the television that sounded like a squeal. I sent it back and am waiting for a repair / replacement box.

The CM has a little less sensitivity than the Zenith, but out performs it with the quality of sound and a 12 hour program guide.

Anyone that bought one of the so called cheap boxes from a local department store or Drug Store - got what they paid for.

At one point, the Channel Master box was the whole way down to $12 each delivered to my front door.

Mr. Know it all

Yes there are cheap televisions = that were made a few years ago that did not have as sensitive tuners as a new converter box. But not all converter boxes are equal. There is no minimum standards of how well a converter box has to work to be able to be sold in a department store for $40 + each.

The most important part to remember is that if you hold your arm in front of your face, you can see your arm, as you move your arm around the side of your head it gets harder to see your arm with your eyes, when you hold your arm behind your head, you cannot see your arm at all. The same is true with a UHF signal, if you have your antenna pointed in the wrong direction or even off center too far - you are only going to get poor to no signal at all.

It is important to use a good quality antenna which receives both UHF and VHF signals. If your station is 40 or more miles away from your house - you will need a high quality antenna like a Winegard 8200U and possibly even a pre amplifier.

If there is a mountain between you and the transmitter, even a good antenna and pre amplifier will not receive the signal. A amplifier only amplifies the signal that is present, it cannot amplify something that is not there. The only real purpose of the amplifier is to compensate for long runs of wire and loss from splitters and connectors.

The best signal you can have is what ever is at the antenna.

DTVuser2009

I found that my cheapo Apex box seems to pick up a couple of channels that my Dish DTVPal Plus will not, and vice versa.

BarbVeal

I was told all converter boxes would be about the same. I thought I was way ahead of the game and did everything in December 2008. Now I get very little reception that I had before on analog. Oh well, I'll just go ride my horse in lieu of watching TV. haha

Aaron62

Hi Barb, welcome to the forum, have you tried doing a double rescan on your converter? Here's some info about it: FCC News Release: DTV Reception Problems? Try "Double Rescanning: