Bad OTA reception

[flyswatta]

I have a roof mounted antenna (don't know what kind, but it's pretty big), and can pull in analog channels okay. I setup a Hughes HIRD-E8 for HD reception and am getting wierd results. Basically the screen has green splotches all over it and "smears" really badly whenever there's action. I'm pretty sure the antenna can pull in HD, since the autoscan picked up the HD channels.

According to antennaweb, I'm yellow and green for the channels that I'm interested in.

Here are my thought processes, and hopefully you guys can chip in with some wisdom/experience:

- Does it sound like I just need to adjust my antenna?
- Would an amplifier added to the antenna help?
- could the receiver be bad?
???


Oh, and I don't have an HDTV, I was hoping to get a better picture on my normal tv, so I have it set to 480i output.

Thanks!

 

[Jim5506]

That old antena is probably a VHF antenna, and it may pull in UHF weakly. Try a Radio Shack U75-R it only costs $25 and should do well for UHF yellow and green.

What frequencies did Antennaweb report your digitals on, not channels but frequency (last number in each row).

 

[flyswatta]

Ahhh, very interesting. When I click on "Show Analog Stations Only" on antennaweb, it shows all VHF. I think you nailed it on the head.

The frequencies (for channels that I'm interested in) are FOX 35, CBS 19, NBC 41, and ABC 9. When I go into my tuner, and look at the signal strength for those numbers, I get:

9 100%
19 60-72%
35 65%
41 30%

I was thinking that they were regular channel numbers, not frequencies. Anyway, you think all I need is a UHF antenna and I should pick them up?

 

[roashru]

flyswatta, I have a HIRD-E8 with the NTSC tuner burned out from my experience watching ATSC TV on that receiver the "green splotches" are more likely signal break-up. The video smear you see could be slow live compression i see that a lot when watching football games.

 

[flyswatta]

I think my antenna has the UHF. I looked the picture of the U-75R and it looks identical to the back half of my antenna.

roashru, do you think then that it's the receiver (possibly burned out) more than anything? I noticed that the green spotches are mostly on the bottom half of the screen.

 

[sksatellite]

Ahhh, very interesting. When I click on "Show Analog Stations Only" on antennaweb, it shows all VHF. I think you nailed it on the head.

The frequencies (for channels that I'm interested in) are FOX 35, CBS 19, NBC 41, and ABC 9. When I go into my tuner, and look at the signal strength for those numbers, I get:

9 100%
19 60-72%
35 65%
41 30%

I was thinking that they were regular channel numbers, not frequencies. Anyway, you think all I need is a UHF antenna and I should pick them up?

If the channel number are 21 and above, its UHF channels. Or, your TV is set for cable instead of TV station, check it out and set your TV back to TV side and see if any improvement in picture quality.

 

[navychop]

14 & above are UHF.

 

[charper1]

Questions I have not seen asked/answered yet:
What is your zip code?
Are you 100% sure the antenna is aimed correctly?
How how far apart are all your different signal headings?
Can your current antenna accommodate that current width?
What are your topographical surroundings like?

Antennas really can't be compared by "looks" and are not created equally, having the correct antenna and aimed correctly is key. So knowing what make & model you have can be VERY helpful.

 

[mckeesd]

Can someone help me, I am using a indoor ota with my new HD ready tv and I am trying to find out what are the local channels for HD in my area. It is my understanding that channel 53 is KABC but I am not getting a signal. My UHF channels 22, 28, 34, 44, 52, 54 and 56. Please help

 

[charper1]

What is your zip code so we can look up your DMA info and see where you are in relation to your towers.

 

[RandallA]

Can someone help me, I am using a indoor ota with my new HD ready tv and I am trying to find out what are the local channels for HD in my area. It is my understanding that channel 53 is KABC but I am not getting a signal. My UHF channels 22, 28, 34, 44, 52, 54 and 56. Please help

Go to www.antennaweb.org and enter your address and zip code. It will tell you what channels are available, where to aim and how far the towers are.

 

[flyswatta]

I ended up getting another unit from the guy and it works great! Thanks for all of your help!