Help!!

[aubowen]

Sorry, I am not very technical at all of this. I live in an area where we can't get local channels through Dish. The basic local channels packaga I buy doesn't offer digital or HD. And the quality is literally snowy on about a third of the channels. I am curious as to how I find out about an over the air antenna. Would my area be close eneough to get HD. Dish has something about it on their website, but acted clueless when I called them.

My address is
170 Lee Road 42
Opelika, AL. 36804

 

[tsduke]

Go to www.antennaweb.org and enter your address. The site will give distacne to towers and type of antenna recommended.

 

[aubowen]

So, with my address it only lists a PBS and CW as digital. Does that mean those are the only 2 that are HD. It doesn't say which are HD.

 

[Peter Parker]

Those are the only two that could be HD. There is no analog HD .

 

[Sparkman]

Wow, Directv doesn't offer any locals there either. You are in what seems to be a Digital Blackhole.

 

[cparker]

Sorry, I am not very technical at all of this. I live in an area where we can't get local channels through Dish. The basic local channels packaga I buy doesn't offer digital or HD. And the quality is literally snowy on about a third of the channels. I am curious as to how I find out about an over the air antenna. Would my area be close eneough to get HD. Dish has something about it on their website, but acted clueless when I called them.

My address is
170 Lee Road 42
Opelika, AL. 36804

You have several digital stations less than 40 miles away. ABC, NBC, and FOX out of Columbus, GA ought to be reachable for you, but I have no way of knowing if the land is flat or if you're in a hilly area. Those are 125, 126, and 132 degrees from you and 30 to 40 mile range. Those are all on UHF which I find preferable. The CBS affiliate out of Columbus, GA is not showing up as broadcasting digital and it's on VHF. If you want that channel with the rest you would have to go to a VHF/UHF antenna as I don't think there's a UHF antenna out there that will do well on the lower VHF channels (in this case channel 3 VHF). I'm shooting through trees and picking up UHF digital (HD) channels beautifully that are 42 miles away. So, is it possible? Maybe. If you're really not technically savvy and not comfortable with this stuff, then by all means find someone that knows antennas in your area and see if they can hook you up. With very few exceptions, I would not trust a typical Dish installer to do an antenna installation.

No slam on the GOOD installers that I know are out there. but the typical Dish installer in these parts pretty much only needs to know how to drive the truck.

 

[aubowen]

You are right on. It's very frustrating. Also, no way to get high speed where I live. I am about to get Wild Blue through Dish. I hope it is good.

 

[aubowen]

Thanks CParker. Now if I could just figure out who is trustworthy in the area and lets see if I can get this going. Thanks again!

 

[boba]

Cparker is right on the major networks milage wise are easily reachable with VHF/UHF antenna. All should be reachable with a rooftop antennaunless you are in a hilly area.

 

[aubowen]

Cparker is right on the major networks milage wise are easily reachable with VHF/UHF antenna. All should be reachable with a rooftop antennaunless you are in a hilly area.

Not hilly at all.