This morning was fantastic!

[mastermesh]

This morning I was fooling around with my digital tv since I'd read in tvfool that there were more analog channels out there... so I do some scans this morning and some manual edits to channel list... what do you know, the local kansas city stations came in... both analog and digital!!! They were there for about an hour before the sun got too high. First time I've ever got those suckers. What's very surprising about it is that we are in the 65233 area code, so our real locals are out of Jeff City/Columbia. Some of these KC stations were coming in from around 100 miles out, and the antenna was aimed the completely wrong way to get them. My dad has an old antenna since he just replaced his. This has me seriously thinking about trying to hook it up to just get the KC stations, but I think it'll be a shot in the dark since the distance is so far. Would an amp help with sort of thing?

Even if they never come in again, I'm just glad that the tv got them scanned and locked in today so that in the future if they ever do come back they'll still be in the channel list... The TV that we have is dumb in that it doesn't keep the channel list when you redo the blind scan... and you can't edit the channel list on the digital side, just the analog side to add/delete channels. Now that we have these, I'm going to not be doing any more blind scans for a while for fear those channels in the list will disappear.

 

[mastermesh]

It happened again yesterday and this morning, right at sunrise. Seems that there's just enough tropospheric bounce at that time in the morning... I'm going to try to see if it happens again tomorrow, and if so, try scanning them in with the converter box that has a meter so that I can try some more stuff later with a second antenna or amplifier.

 

[Anole]

I was about to say . . .
But DigiBlur already said it:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/hd-over-air-ota/142281-should-i-upgrade.html#post1446017

The other thing, is if you would be happy with SD and don't need HD, get one of the CECB converter boxes which allow you to add channels, and go crazy!

As for TV DXing, bigger, and higher are worth a lot of free gain.
Then, you amplify as a last resort.

 

[Scroll]

I thought of doing that but here in FL much taller usually means one more projectile in a storm.

 

[mastermesh]

wow. TV Fool estimates the antenna needs to be about 68 feet tall to get channel 50... and around 80 feet for some of the channels even further out than that... Right now the antennas mounted to the top of our chimney... it's a one and a half story house, so that brings it up to probably around 25-30 feet or so in the air already. Another 30 feet might be possible with some long poles from a hardware store... but would probably not be too stable in the wind unless it was a lot longer than 30 feet and was tied down to the chimney better with more straps. I don't really want to buy an antenna tower. Oh well.... it was worth looking in to but seems like it might be too much hassle to actually get just a few more channels. Money would probably be better invested in a new pansat 9200 satellite receiver to get s2 channels.

 

[Pepper]

TVFool lists several additional very low power digitals that "should" be viewable in the same general direction my antenna is pointed now, but I get nothing with the ViP622 tuner.

Maybe I need a better OTA box, or maybe they are not actually broadcasting all the time?

 

[Don_M]

TVFool lists several additional very low power digitals that "should" be viewable in the same general direction my antenna is pointed now, but I get nothing with the ViP622 tuner. Maybe I need a better OTA box, or maybe they are not actually broadcasting all the time?

Probably the latter. A listing in TVFool is not a guarantee that a broadcast exists on a channel from a given location and at a given ERP -- particularly those involving "very low power digitals." Their database apparently includes all granted construction permits. Meanwhile, some permit holders file applications solely to reserve post-transition assignments. A CP may imply a right to broadcast, but it doesn't obligate the holder to do so.

 

[elder]

I have a channel that I can only get its VHF analog, but after reading mastrmesh's post I am going to try some early morning scans to see if I can find that elusive UHF. Thanks!

 

[elder]

I found a hopeful at 85% scan, I'll try again when the tropo ducting forecast is better. Too bad one can't select the desired channel and play antenna games in attempt to get it. All these rescans are a pain. I call it a government TV, it does what it thinks best for you.