Lousy TV reception
 

(I live in Riverside California, about 60 east of Los Angeles).

Most of the channels come in OK (from good to great) but some channels
are lousy (very snowy). Almost all of the signals come from broadcast
towers on Mt. Wilson (about 45 away).

I've installed a new antenna (the "old"-style) but not a dish antenna.
The antenna is rated for the distance.

I've run a new coax-cable from the antenna through a signal-amplifier
to the TV, which is about 30' from the antenna. The antenna is
horizontal and is pointed toward Mt. Wilson. (I first used a compass
then the old "turn it until the picture is OK" trick but neither
improved the reception.

I don't think there are any sources of interference between Mt. Wilson
and the antenna.

Does anyone have any suggestions? (I don't want to get cable-TV).

In article . com,
wrote:

I've run a new coax-cable from the antenna through a signal-amplifier
to the TV, which is about 30' from the antenna. The antenna is
horizontal and is pointed toward Mt. Wilson. (I first used a compass
then the old "turn it until the picture is OK" trick but neither
improved the reception.

You normally need to be able to see the tower to get TV
reception. Can you see Mt Wilson from where you are at?
If not, you may need to get higher in the air. There
are likely buildings and power lines taller than your
antenna, and you need to get over them for a majority of
the line of site to the transmitter.

The range printed on antennas are marketing terms, not
technical specs. To get a station 45 miles away, you
might need an antenna rated at 160 miles or more. All
the more difficult if it is UHF (above channel 13) since
those signals fade more quickly in the atmosphere.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

I'm using a Terk TV38 UHF/VHF Large Directional Outdoor Antenna which
has a "pink" CEA color-code (which is more than what I should need).

The main-boom of the antenna is about 12 inches above a flat roof (I
can't raise the antenna hight because I live in a condo-development).

The main-boom of the antenna is horizontal and it is pointing to where
Mt. Wilson is (but I cannot see Mt. Wilson from my house because it's
45 miles away).

Nobody's mentioned buying a digitial over-the-air tuner.

I live 60 miles from Chicago and my analog TV reception can best be
described as horrible. However, with a digital tuner, I get all the
stations with DVD quality picture.

www.antennaweb.org can tell you if you can get digital stations, but I
find it overly conservative. It says no stations can be received at my
location, yet they all come in fine.

Granted, a digital OTA tuner is expensive, but for me, I cant watch
TV without one. If your TV has video input jacks, I'd look into this.
Maybe you can borrow one from a friend and try it out first.

dickm



On 28 Aug 2005 20:33:14 -0700, wrote:

(I live in Riverside California, about 60 east of Los Angeles).

Most of the channels come in OK (from good to great) but some channels
are lousy (very snowy). Almost all of the signals come from broadcast
towers on Mt. Wilson (about 45 away).

I've installed a new antenna (the "old"-style) but not a dish antenna.
The antenna is rated for the distance.

I've run a new coax-cable from the antenna through a signal-amplifier
to the TV, which is about 30' from the antenna. The antenna is
horizontal and is pointed toward Mt. Wilson. (I first used a compass
then the old "turn it until the picture is OK" trick but neither
improved the reception.

I don't think there are any sources of interference between Mt. Wilson
and the antenna.

Does anyone have any suggestions? (I don't want to get cable-TV).