OTA antenna and Dish DVR

[lunchpailer]

Hi -
I just purchased and HDTV and signed up for Dish HD. This is an awesome web site with a tremendous amount of information.
I live close to Green Bay, WI and Dish does not offer my local channels in HD yet. (I've heard they're coming soon! ) I bought a radio shack 15-1892 to see if I could get my locals OTA. I have a ViP722 and it has a connection in the back to connect the antenna. I did that and scanned for local channels and added a few to my dvr. The problem is when I try to watch a local HD channel it tells me the signal strength is about 65-70 then the channel goes blank. Does anyone have this same setup and can you give any info on how to get better reception?

TIA

 

[webbydude]

From what I've seen, you need at *LEAST* a 75 on your OTA signal to keep things consistent.

Perhaps another antenna and/or booster/pre-amp may help. You many want to cross post in the OTA section. They may be able to give you better ideas and pointers.

Oh yes...

 

[rogerpl]

Hi -
I just purchased and HDTV and signed up for Dish HD. This is an awesome web site with a tremendous amount of information.
I live close to Green Bay, WI and Dish does not offer my local channels in HD yet. (I've heard they're coming soon! ) I bought a radio shack 15-1892 to see if I could get my locals OTA. I have a ViP722 and it has a connection in the back to connect the antenna. I did that and scanned for local channels and added a few to my dvr. The problem is when I try to watch a local HD channel it tells me the signal strength is about 65-70 then the channel goes blank. Does anyone have this same setup and can you give any info on how to get better reception?

TIA

my 622 get OTA readings from 64-100 and usual holds above 60- I have an inline amp on mine and works fine. without out it i get maybe one station.

 

[Buzzdar]

what is a good inline amp?

 

[griz_fan]

you might want to try a different antenna. Have you been to atennaweb.org They can help you narrow down how much antenna you might need. Sometimes, the cheap-o $19.99 antenna from WalMart will actually work quite well. But, if you are more than 15 miles or so from the broadcast towers in your area, you might want to seriously consider an outdoor antenna for optimal reception. I'm about 15 miles away from my local broadcast antenna array, with flat terrain and a good line of site. I had this antenna, and got pretty good digital reception (I have both UHF and VHF digital stations), but on a few channels, it would loose signal, which can wreck a DVR schedule. So, I went with a roof-mounted antenna, its been rock-solid since.