Digital Conversion

[D***@ndersnat.ch]

Anybody here? This being a Utah-based group, I thought I'd ask if
anyone is having the same problems I'm having with the ballyhooed
conversion to digital TV. I'm only about five miles from the towers of
most of the SLC stations, but all my box will pick up is Channel 13.
Others I know are having similar problems, able to pick up only some
channels, and not others.
I smell a gigantic debacle come next year. Anyone else?

[bgeer]

Post by D***@ndersnat.ch
Anybody here? This being a Utah-based group, I thought I'd ask if
anyone is having the same problems I'm having with the ballyhooed
conversion to digital TV. I'm only about five miles from the towers of
most of the SLC stations, but all my box will pick up is Channel 13.
Others I know are having similar problems, able to pick up only some
channels, and not others.
I smell a gigantic debacle come next year. Anyone else?

I hear ya...& I live in Albuquerque!

I used to live in SLC, tho, & it probably depends on which direction
that 5 miles is. Like, are you too close to the mountain & live in
a signal "ground shadow"?

I have a direct view of the antenna farm on the mountain above Abq & I
"mostly" get good reception using rabbit ears. Wind & clouds make a
difference in reception, tho sometimes changing the angle (rotational
&/or width) of the rabbit ears helps.

When I first hooked up rabbit ears to my combo dvd/vcr then to my
HDTV, I got really poor results. I tried a cheap signal splitter -
coax from the antenna in on one side, 2 coax out the other side direct
to dvd/vcr & HDTV, & that helped a lot.

I get slightly poorer reception in our kitchen which is a wall farther
than the one in the front room.

A neighbor close to me put up a roof antenna & gets really good
reception pretty much all the time. I'd do the same, only I don't
have an attic or crawlspace for antenna leads to all my tvs.

I'm in the process of tinkertoy'ing a MythTV together with a Kworld
HDTV card in it. If I can find a spot in my house with better
reception, I may use that as my primary channel feed & build mini-itx
Myth clients for under the tvs.

Yes, it's going to be really interesting if/when analog tv is really
turned off & lots of people satisfied with marginal analog reception
can't get any tv at all. Will there be a rush to cable/dish, or will
people learn to read & listen to AM radio again...:-)

Cheers...

[jkarras]

   Anybody here?  This being a Utah-based group, I thought I'd ask if
anyone is having the same problems I'm having with the ballyhooed
conversion to digital TV.  I'm only about five miles from the towers of
most of the SLC stations, but all my box will pick up is Channel 13.  
Others I know are having similar problems, able to pick up only some
channels, and not others.
   I smell a gigantic debacle come next year.  Anyone else?

I was going to ask and state similar to what bgeer said about ground
shadow.

What is your current KSL 5 analog reception like? Do you use an
outdoor or attic based antenna or rabbit ears with that setup. What is
the HDTV setup like? If I remember correctly the new digital tower
that all the major stations except KSTU (FOX 13) are using is on the
KSL property so your reception should be similar to the analog
reception for KSL. The exception to that is 2,4,5,7,11,13 are all VHF
for their analog stations while the digital stations are UHF. This
would affect someone like me that lives farther north in the Ogden
area. The digital stations for 2-1,4-1,5-1, etc... are on UHF around
the channel 40 range. KSTU will be converting back to their VHF
allocation after the 2009 cut off. All the other stations will remain
at their current UHF frequencies. VHF tends to travel farther than the
UHF signals. But reception in this end of the valley is still very
good.

I have a coworker that lives in Layton close to the mall he picks up
the HDTV signals just fine with rabbit ears. I have a friend in Roy
who uses rabbit ears but get terrible reception because he is just off
the hill by the Frontrunner stop and so he has some shadow. If he put
the antenna outside or in the attic he would get much better
reception.

Check out antennaweb.org type in you address and other
characteristics. It will give you a map with the directions to the
broadcast antennas. I don't know if it can take in to account the
possibility of ground shadow in your case. But its worth a look.

Jonathan

[GMAN]

Post by D***@ndersnat.ch
Anybody here? This being a Utah-based group, I thought I'd ask if
anyone is having the same problems I'm having with the ballyhooed
conversion to digital TV. I'm only about five miles from the towers of
most of the SLC stations, but all my box will pick up is Channel 13.
Others I know are having similar problems, able to pick up only some
channels, and not others.
I smell a gigantic debacle come next year. Anyone else?

So you are very close to Farnsworth peak? When i lived in Magna, i lived in
the shadow of that stupid little hill that sits right up front of Farnsworth
peak (I lived at approx 7200 W 3500 South). I couldnt get crap from analog
without snow. Yes, you can live so close to the towers, the signal goes
basically straight across over you. In my case it was a physical hill upfront
of the towers (Go to the reans parking lot in Magna, and see the stupid thing
and youll see what i mean).

Als what type of antenna are you using? I think all BUT Fox13 is using UHF and
13 is on VHF. If all you have is an old VHF antenna, you obviously will not
get anything but 13.

[TeddyBare]

Post by GMAN

Post by D***@ndersnat.ch
Anybody here? This being a Utah-based group, I thought I'd ask if
anyone is having the same problems I'm having with the ballyhooed
conversion to digital TV. I'm only about five miles from the towers of
most of the SLC stations, but all my box will pick up is Channel 13.
Others I know are having similar problems, able to pick up only some
channels, and not others.
I smell a gigantic debacle come next year. Anyone else?

So you are very close to Farnsworth peak? When i lived in Magna, i lived in
the shadow of that stupid little hill that sits right up front of Farnsworth
peak (I lived at approx 7200 W 3500 South). I couldnt get crap from analog
without snow. Yes, you can live so close to the towers, the signal goes
basically straight across over you. In my case it was a physical hill upfront
of the towers (Go to the reans parking lot in Magna, and see the stupid thing
and youll see what i mean).
Als what type of antenna are you using? I think all BUT Fox13 is using UHF and
13 is on VHF. If all you have is an old VHF antenna, you obviously will not
get anything but 13.

I am in Ogden, and I have great reception with one of the new conversion
boxes and outside antenna on a 30' mast. The antenna is a UHF / VHF
combination using coax cable and a rotor.