OTA (DC) and DirecTV (Baltimore)

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planbe

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Jul 25, 2012
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Let me start by stating what I'd like to accomplish and see what recommendations the forum has.

I live in Baltimore 21224 and have DirecTV service. I am a Redskins fan and should be able to pick up the games OTA broadcast on WTTG with the correct antenna setup. I don't want to pay for the Sunday Ticket.

Is there an unobtrusive indoor solution for picking up the station OTA? I will primarily watch on one TV.
Can I roof mount an antenna and have the signal travel to my all sources through the same lines as the DirecTV signal, perhaps splitting the line just before the sat box? My current setup uses a swim system.

Are these feasible? Is there another possible solution? Please LMK.
 
planbe said:
Let me start by stating what I'd like to accomplish and see what recommendations the forum has.

I live in Baltimore 21224 and have DirecTV service. I am a Redskins fan and should be able to pick up the games OTA broadcast on WTTG with the correct antenna setup. I don't want to pay for the Sunday Ticket.

Is there an unobtrusive indoor solution for picking up the station OTA? I will primarily watch on one TV.
Can I roof mount an antenna and have the signal travel to my all sources through the same lines as the DirecTV signal, perhaps splitting the line just before the sat box? My current setup uses a swim system.

Are these feasible? Is there another possible solution? Please LMK.
Click to expand...
AS GEICO'S GECKO says "Forged Bout it" TV fool shows WTTG as 2edge for signal so I say no to indoor antenna. If you are using Directv AM-21 as the tuner it dosen't scan for channels so it must be preprogrammed as the secondary market. Lastly run a single coax from roof mounted antenna to TV/Tuner do not combine with Directv signal.
 
I was afraid of that. I have an 100+ year old home, so running lines is not always as easy as I would hope.
What about an attic antenna?
And what are some antenna recommendations?
 
Keep in mind, not all the Redskins games are on Fox5. Preseason games are on 4, AFC games are on CBS (9), MNF is on ESPN (20, I think), NFL Network is on 20 as well (I think).

That being said, you will probably need to receive 4, 5 and 9. I assume you get ESPN, and maybe NFL Network. 4 and 5 are UHF, 9 is VHF. This means you need a combo antenna, for those three channels. All three are at the same position, and about 36 miles from you based on the zipcode. I'm guessing an indoor antenna won't cut it, but a medium sized combo antenna mounted on the roof will do the job. Maybe something like the AntennaCraft HBU44 (note: I haven't used this, just picked it out of the air). Someone else here can probably give better specific antenna advice. I have the old Channel Master 4228 (8-bay bow tie) with pre-amp and it works great, but they don't make that one anymore.
 
boba said:
If you are using Directv AM-21 as the tuner it dosen't scan for channels so it must be preprogrammed as the secondary market.
Click to expand...
If you have the HR34 it WILL Scan the channels in that are not in the database (I have one and it works great)

Also since he is talking about a Fox affiliate I'm sure its in the database ;)
 
boba said:
AS GEICO'S GECKO says "Forged Bout it"
Click to expand...
I thought he was worried if he had to take off "clothes" to be on the nude beach?

TV fool shows WTTG as 2edge for signal so I say no to indoor antenna.
Click to expand...
actually a buddy of mine is in a 2edge area here in Minneapolis (45 miles away from the towers) and with an amplified indoor antenna he gets all the UHF stations fine. VHF is iffy
 
I'm not worried about the pre-season. I will get 15/16 regular season games this year if I can get the WTTG signal.
Am I missing something? Can I have a secondary market on my receiver? My understanding is that is only possible if you live between to markets (ie Columbia MD)
I'm still reading that I have to run a line from a roof/(maybe attic) antenna directly to my television.

I don't know that I'm understanding what I read about receivers, so below is a list of the receivers I have.

Receivers In my house:
Model: HR21-700
Model: HR24-500
Model: H25-100
Model: H21-200


 
you can only get one city's stations with Directv (unless you are in one of the extreme cases where you can get significantly viewed)
If you bought a AM21 (which is an OTA adapter to plug into the DVR) you can put 2 zip codes in and the database will load those cities locals. You still need an antenna to get Washington DC but you could record programs from the antenna onto the DVR
 
Ok... now I think we are getting somewhere. Will this work?
Antenna with a short run of cable to the AM21 connected to an upstairs TV/ DVR. (Eliminates the need to run/hide long lengths of wires)
Record the games live on that TV.
Use the Whole home DVR to watch that recording on any TV in the house.

Obviously I'm not getting the most out of the OTA signals, but in theory this would serve my purpose.

Another option is to use a Slingbox connected somewhere in the DC area, but I'd prefer not to throw a lot of $ into this.
 
planbe said:
Ok... now I think we are getting somewhere. Will this work?
Antenna with a short run of cable to the AM21 connected to an upstairs TV/ DVR. (Eliminates the need to run/hide long lengths of wires)
Record the games live on that TV.
Use the Whole home DVR to watch that recording on any TV in the house.

Obviously I'm not getting the most out of the OTA signals, but in theory this would serve my purpose.

Another option is to use a Slingbox connected somewhere in the DC area, but I'd prefer not to throw a lot of $ into this.
Click to expand...

sure that would work
 
So what's this HR34 you were talking about earlier?
I was looking on DirecTVs site and it said coming soon.

I really appreciate all the replies!
 
the HR34 is a 5 tuner receiver. Been out since beginning of year

The advantage of a HR34 with the AM21 is it scans stations not in the database. Here are the Washington DC stations in the databse (yes WTTG is one of them) ;)

WRCDT 4.1
WRCDT2 4.2
WRCDT3 4.3
WTTGDT 5.1
WJLADT 7.1
WJLADT2 7.2
WJLADT3 7.3
WUSADT 9.1
WUSADT2 9.2
WUSADT3 9.3
WFDCDT 14.1
WDCADT 20.1
WHAGDT 25.1
WETADT 26.1
WETADT2 26.2
WETADT3 26.3
WETADT4 26.4
WNVCDT 30.1
WNVTDT 30.1
WNVTDT10 30.1
WNVCDT2 30.2
WNVCDT3 30.3
WNVTDT3 30.3
WNVCDT4 30.4
WNVTDT4 30.4
WNVCDT5 30.5
WNVTDT5 30.5
WNVTDT6 30.6
WNVTDT7 30.7
WNVTDT8 30.8
WNVTDT9 30.9
WWPBDT 31.1
WWPBDT2 31.2
WWPBDT3 31.3
WHUTDT 32.1
WDCWDT 50.1
WDCWDT2 50.2
WDCWDT3 50.3
WWPXDT 60.1
WWPXDT2 60.2
WWPXDT3 60.3
WFPTDT 62.1
WFPTDT2 62.2
WFPTDT3 62.3
WPXWDT 66.1
WPXWDT2 66.2
WPXWDT3 66.3
WPXWDT6 66.6
WJALDT 68.1
 
i put the HBU33 in my attic and ran a short length of wire (<10 feet) to my tv. I get WTTG but the signal fades in/out at times. I may need to fine tune the aiming, but its generally pointed in the right direction. Would you recommend any signal booster/filter to help, or are those only used to offset losses due to long wire runs and splitters?
 
How are the other DC channels, particularly DC 50?

An amplifier will likley do more harm than good. You will need to spend some time experimenting with not only aim, but different locations in the attic to find a sweet spot for WTTG.

If possible, mounting outside the attic is the best way to address signal reliabilty issues.
 
Not necessary true on the pre-amp. I'm using one (CM 7775 UHF only pre-amp) in Columbia, but I have a long 100 ft cable run from the antenna to the TV. Without the pre-amp, I wasn't able to receive much of a signal from DC.

Oh, and DC 50 is awesome because 50.3 is Antenna TV!
 
It is hard to preduict when pre amps are necessary. I don't need one but I have a neighbor here in suburban C that can't receive 50.3 (This TV) without one. He also said he had problems receiving the new 20.2 (Currently a feed of the local Fox station but soon to be MundoFox) when it is disconnected.
 
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