No HD Locals = Free Premium Chans

[wolfjc]

Start trying small adjustments in antenna direction and in attic placement. There is a perfect direction and a sweet spot to set the antenna in.

Here is a good site on antennas, both outside and inside, but after you pick one which looks good to you go to Amazon or e-bay the prices look to be much lower on thise sites.
TV Antenna Source Indoor/Outdoor TV Antennas - digital/HDTV

 

[Delta5]

I have run that before, that's how I knew all the chans I'm interested in are UHF from the north. But for what it's worth, here's the info for WAND-DT from my address (according to that TVFool signal locater):

WAND-DT
Channel : Real - 18 Virtual - 17.1
Network : NBC
Signal: Xmit - 49.35 Rx - -91.4 Path - LOS Distance - 53.0 mi
Azimuth: True - 357 degrees Magn - 359 degrees
Height: -100dBm - 6.0 LOS - 17.5

Can anyone decifer this into some info I can actually use?

Sure.

Channel Real - 18 means that is the actual channel. When your 722 does its local scan, WAND should be picked up when it hits 18 (as it goes from 2-69).

Virtual - 17.1 means that your TV will display the channel as 17.1. This allows channels like WAND to be 'Channel 17', but actually be broadcasting on 18. WICS is the same way. They are 'NewsChannel 20', and the channel displays as 20.1, but the actual UHF broadcast spot is at channel 42. Likewise, WRSP 'Fox 55' shows up as 55.1 but actually broadcasts on 44. As you might realize, they can broadcast subchannels on DTV. WICS has both 20.1 and 20.2. 20.1 is the main ABC feed, 20.2 is a 24/7 NOAA radio & radar feed. WCFN/WCIA do a subchannel thing too, Virtual 3.1 = WCIA, 3.2=WCFN, both from real channel 48. Sometimes you see this hyphenated instead, 17-1, 55-1, 20-1,20-2, etc. It's the same thing.

The Signal strengths are telling you how powerful the signal ought to be for you. The RX value can be used to figure out whether or not you ought to be able to pick it up. I've read elsewhere that any stations less than -100 (that means from -0 to -100) should be doable with a decent antenna. An Rx of -91.4 on WAND means that you should be able to grab it, but you may need a moderately decent antenna to do it. The LOS (line-of-sight) distance of 53 miles is. You are 53 miles from the tower.

The Azimuth are the directions to the tower. Magnetic north is different than geographic north, so you get both. Magnetic north is probably the most useful. Grab a compass, and point your antenna due north for the best reception of WAND, as it says that it's at 359 degrees (360=0=N). 90 = East, 180=S, 270=W

The Height has to do with how tall of a tower you'd need to achieve LOS with the station. Think about the curvature of the earth. Don't worry about this too much. Basically it tells you that if you wanted to receive a station that's 150 miles away, you'd have to put up big tower to get it, simply because of the curvature of the earth. That's over-simplifying it, but you get the idea.

 

[ka1z0ku]

Sure.

Channel Real - 18 means that is the actual channel. When your 722 does its local scan, WAND should be picked up when it hits 18 (as it goes from 2-69).

Virtual - 17.1 means that is the displayed channel to the set. This allows channels like WAND to be 'Channel 17', but actually be broadcasting on 18. WICS is the same way. They are 'NewsChannel 20', and the channel displays as 20.1, but the actual UHF broadcast spot is at channel 42.

The Signal strengths are telling you how powerful the signal ought to be for you. The Xmit and Rx aren't that important, but the LOS (line-of-sight) distance of 53 miles is. You are 53 miles from the tower.

The Azimuth are the directions to the tower. Magnetic north is different than geographic north, so you get both. Magnetic north is probably the most useful. Grab a compass, and point your antenna due north for the best reception of WAND, as it says that it's at 359 degrees (360=0=N). 90 = East, 180=S, 270=W

The Height has to do with how tall of a tower you'd need to achieve LOS with the station. Don't worry about this too much. Basically it tells you that if you wanted to receive a station that's 100 miles away, you'd have to put up a huge tower to get it.

I used a compass to point my antenna, and I pointed it precisely towards north according to the compass. So unless I need to go home and move my antenna 1 degree to the west, something else is the culprit. I would say distance is a factor, but I know that at least a couple of the other chans are broadcast from further away and from wider angles. Maybe they are just transmitting a weak signal?

 

[Delta5]

I used a compass to point my antenna, and I pointed it precisely towards north according to the compass. So unless I need to go home and move my antenna 1 degree to the west, something else is the culprit. I would say distance is a factor, but I know that at least a couple of the other chans are broadcast from further away and from wider angles. Maybe they are just transmitting a weak signal?

One degree won't make any difference. Dumb question, but you are sure that it's pointed north, right? I mean, you know generally which way north is without the compass, and that's where it's pointed, right? Just checking. I ask because I once helped a directionally-challenged friend of a relative put up an OTA antenna. They didn't really know for sure which way North was (WTF?!?) and I discovered that their compass didn't really work either. So they thought the antenna was pointed south when it was actually pointing northeast.

I don't really know how WAND's signal strength compares to others, but it's great over here. There are many variables at play as to whether or not you can pick up a channel.

It's likely that the problem is just in the placement of your antenna, or in how the antenna is picking up stations. Keep tinkering. Some antennas are better or worse within the UHF band than others. I would try tinkering with the location of your antenna. Keep it pointed north, but try different areas of your attic. Try near a window, if you have one up there. If that fails, get a better antenna. If that still fails, try that better antenna with a quality pre-amp/amp.

It could also be the (probably) cheap pre-amp that the Phillips is using too. That could be causing a problem. I've read that cheap ones can inject more noise than signal. Can you try it without the pre-amp? See if that makes a difference. The first pre-amp/amp I bought was one from Radio Shack. It was crap. It would boost the signal strength on weak channels, yes, but it also drastically increased the number of dropouts and pixelation.

Like I said, I spent about $120 on my DB-4 and ChannelMaster 7777 pre-amp/amp combo, and I'm very happy with the setup.

 

[Foxbat]

The main problem I always have with attic installations is all the little metal bits (roofing nails, joist hangers, rafter ties, etc.) that can "steer" or "reflect" the UHF frequencies reaching your antenna.

Do you have a single story ranch or a two story home? Placing a good antenna higher and outside is better than placing an excellent antenna indoors and it really isn't that difficult. However, I wouldn't encourage you do try anything you're not comfortable doing.

I've been doing antennas (as a hobby) since the 1970s. Take a look at my Photo Gallery on this site to see my UHF antenna installation at the peak of my roof. An 8' step ladder was used to get at this location.

 

[ka1z0ku]

One degree won't make any difference. Dumb question, but you are sure that it's pointed north, right? I mean, you know generally which way north is without the compass, and that's where it's pointed, right? Just checking. I ask because I once helped a directionally-challenged friend of a relative put up an OTA antenna. They didn't really know for sure which way North was (WTF?!?) and I discovered that their compass didn't really work either. So they thought the antenna was pointed south when it was actually pointing northeast.

I don't really know how WAND's signal strength compares to others, but it's great over here. There are many variables at play as to whether or not you can pick up a channel.

It's likely that the problem is just in the placement of your antenna, or in how the antenna is picking up stations. Keep tinkering. Some antennas are better or worse within the UHF band than others. I would try tinkering with the location of your antenna. Keep it pointed north, but try different areas of your attic. Try near a window, if you have one up there. If that fails, get a better antenna. If that still fails, try that better antenna with a quality pre-amp/amp.

It could also be the (probably) cheap pre-amp that the Phillips is using too. That could be causing a problem. I've read that cheap ones can inject more noise than signal. Can you try it without the pre-amp? See if that makes a difference. The first pre-amp/amp I bought was one from Radio Shack. It was crap. It would boost the signal strength on weak channels, yes, but it also drastically increased the number of dropouts and pixelation.

Like I said, I spent about $120 on my DB-4 and ChannelMaster 7777 pre-amp/amp combo, and I'm very happy with the setup.

I'm using a small $5 camping-use compass from Walmart, but I believe that it's pointing me in approximately the right direction.

As for my equipment, I know it's small and relatively cheap, but as my wife says, why should I spend another $90 to (maybe possibly) pull in one more channel? I am remaining optimistic that another explanation is forthcoming, especially since this little thing is pulling in so many other channels with good signal strength and no problems with picture quality. To that end, I just sent an email to the Chief Engineer for WAND, perhaps he'll have some idea of the range of his broadcast & what people have done to pick up the signal.

 

[8bitbytes]

The main problem I always have with attic installations is all the little metal bits (roofing nails, joist hangers, rafter ties, etc.) that can "steer" or "reflect" the UHF frequencies reaching your antenna.

Do you have a single story ranch or a two story home? Placing a good antenna higher and outside is better than placing an excellent antenna indoors and it really isn't that difficult. However, I wouldn't encourage you do try anything you're not comfortable doing.

I've been doing antennas (as a hobby) since the 1970s. Take a look at my Photo Gallery on this site to see my UHF antenna installation at the peak of my roof. An 8' step ladder was used to get at this location.

Exactly.

Adjusting the placement is not to get the direction true but to take into account the problems with an attic / indoor mount location.

There's no need to pay $90 when a $25 antenna will work fine.