Posted on 06/17/2009 12:46:03 PM PDT by conservativesister
HELP, this digital TV conversion really is horrible! I used to get 9 channels with my antenna. I bought a new digital TV and now I get 2 channels, and they are spotty. I live outside the cable covered area and they will not bring it on up the road, so how can I get local TV stations like I did before?
DirecTV??
Go back to your antenna?
Get a dish of some kind.
On 11JUN09, I got lots of DTV signal. On the afternoon of 12JUN09, I had basically nothing. So I re-scanned the TV ... and it found more signals than I had before.
Re-scan your TV.
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
We’re on antennas and I had to rescan after the transition.
Yep. Satellite TV is your only option.
You may need a better antenna. Try this site -> http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
Please come over here, fso301.
Btw, It’s raining to beat the band here in MI so I didn’t test my signals.
We are having the same problem.
Amen, bro. The thing that sold me on Directv is the ability to set you dvr from an internet-ready cellphone or computer anywhere. Dish TV doesn’t have that luxury. I missed recording something once and found out about this capability. Never again will something be missed.
Yep a better digital type antenna would probably do it.
Getting a different antenna helps lots of folks.
Same here. We were receiving 14 digital channels before the shutoff date. All we watched at the time was HDTV, after that date my dad hit the “find channel” button on the remote to search for any new HDTV channels and came back with 1! Just 1!. Can’t get anymore. We’re 50 miles LOS from Seattle five hundred feet up a mountain.
You can't. They're stopping those transmissions now...
Some channels moved. At 11:59 pm last Fri night, WHDH-TV 7
in Boston had an analog signal on Ch 7 and a digital one
on Ch 42; then they switched them both off and powered up
the digital signal on the frequency of Ch 7.
They soon found that many people who could pick them up on
Ch 42 couldn’t pick them up on Ch 7! They’re saying the FCC
didn’t allocate them enough power. So for now they switched
CH 42 back on (with FCC permission) and are trying to get a power boost for the Ch 7 digital frequency.
The FCC and other sources are saying you should re-scan
Some are even saying unplug antenna from your TV. Unplug
converter box, etc. Then plug everything back in and
rescan.
Also: your antenna may not be adequate enough.
Some complaints have come in about Channel 6-es in
Schenectedy and Phila. Also some complaints about
stations putting their signals on “VHF-Hi” (i.e.,
channels 7-13; VHF-Lo is 2-6)
And I know how much you’d miss “I’m a Celebrity, Get me out of here”
/sarc
You could call Obama and ask him to fix it for you. I will help if you send a campaign contribution. :-)
You could get a much bigger antenna, and make sure it includes VHF, apparently during the “transition period” some stores sold UHF-only “DTV” antennas, which worked since the DTV broadcasts were in the UHF spectrum.
Now many are in VHF, which doesn’t propogate as far, and also I’ve read somewhere that the power levels aren’t allowed to be as high. Kind of like “bait-and-switch”.
You could get a satellite feed, directTV or Dish Network. they are available anywhere, and often have local channels.
You might be able to boost your signal with a larger or preferably higher antenna and a pre-amplifier. But, the best choice may be a satellite TV dish.
It's not free, but it's competitive with terrestrial cable (if you could actually get that). Both DirecTV and Dish Network will give you the equipment for free, if you commit to keeping the service for 1-2 years. You should be able to get it installed for a minimal cost, as well.
What kind of antenna do you have? Make sure it is a strong UHF antenna. Most of the digital stations are on the UHF frequencies.
If your antenna is old, consider replacing the antenna and the cable from the roof. Cables lose the ability to transfer higher frequencies first as they age. Check all the cable connections.
Make sure the antenna is oriented toward the towers. I have a small roof antenna and the one station that transmits off axis has a much lower signal strength than the channels that are in line with the antenna.
get cable. You can get only on air local stations for about $20.
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