HDTV reception [Repair]

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From: vjp2.at on 9 Apr 2010 20:47

How do you improve HDTV reception?

My best reception is with the NYC official station.
(25>4>5>9>2, no 7,13).
I'm using a Supersonic portbale with an antenna tha came with
a USB TV receiver. I can't even find a decent cheap antenna.

We used to have dozens of stations before HDTV.
No way I'm getting cable.
We are proud we are the only house without cable.
My late dad refused to ever let me get a VCR.

- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

From: Dave Platt on 9 Apr 2010 21:28

>How do you improve HDTV reception?

Put up a decent antenna on the roof, and run decent 75-ohm coax to
your TV. Antenna height helps a lot. So does aiming the antenna
towards the transmitters (this may require a rotator, or an
electrically-steerable antenna in some places, if the TV transmitters
aren't all in roughly the same direction).

If you can't put an antenna on your roof, you might be able to put one
in the attic.

>I'm using a Supersonic portbale with an antenna tha came with
>a USB TV receiver. I can't even find a decent cheap antenna.

What you need, in terms of an antenna, depends quite a lot on where
you are.

In some areas, a UHF-only antenna is adequate. Take a look at
http://www.tvantennaplans.com/ - there are plans for a home-built
Gray-Hoverman DB4 antenna design you can make yourself.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=81982 has boatloads
of additional information, including several design variations.

If your area still carries digital TV on some of the VHF frequencies,
you may need more than this. The old-standard analog-TV roof antenna
(which covers VHF low band, VHF high band, and UHF) will almost always
work fine for HDTV.

If you've got a big roof with lots of room, want a "stealthy" antenna
that the neighbors don't see or complain about, and the TV
transmitters are mostly in one direction, consider putting up a
"terminated rhombic"... it's just four pieces of wire in a diamond
shape, with the feedline at the "away from the transmitters" end, and
a resistor at the "towards the transmitters" end.

Remove the resistor and short the ends together, (or leave 'em open)
and you end up with an unterminated rhombic, which will receive
signals well from both directions (but not from off to the side).

--
Dave Platt <dplatt(a)radagast.org> AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

From: stratus46 on 10 Apr 2010 03:32

On Apr 9, 5:47 pm, vjp2...(a)at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
> How do you improve HDTV reception?
>
> My best reception is with the NYC official station.
> (25>4>5>9>2, no 7,13).
> I'm using a Supersonic portbale with an antenna tha came with
> a USB TV receiver. I can't even find a decent cheap antenna.
>
> We used to have dozens of stations before HDTV.
> No way I'm getting cable.
> We are proud we are the only house without cable.
> My late dad refused to ever let me get a VCR.
>
> - = -
> Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
> http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
> ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed..}---
> [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
> [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

You have 3 VHF-HI channels in NY. List here

http://www.dtv.gov/stationlist.htm

If you folks have a house, there is a good chance this antenna could
work well for you.

http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/HD7694P.pdf

It's 5.5 ft long, 3 ft wide, quite small compared to older all channel
antennas that went down to channel 2. This unit is VHF-HI and UHF
which will cover all the spectrum in your area. The gain is good, and
front-to-back ratio (ghost rejection) is good also. If you're hidden
behind big buildings or hills you may have problems but if you have a
clear shot at the towers, this will get you going well.

G²

From: Robert Macy on 10 Apr 2010 12:57

From: Jeff Liebermann on 10 Apr 2010 16:54

On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:47:45 +0000 (UTC),
vjp2.at(a)at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

>How do you improve HDTV reception?

Bigger, higher, better, antenna.

> My best reception is with the NYC official station.
> (25>4>5>9>2, no 7,13).
> I'm using a Supersonic portbale with an antenna tha came with
> a USB TV receiver.

The USB dongle type of HDTV receivers are worse than awful. They
usually don't have enough sensitivity to work in marginal situations,
which includes your indoor arrangement. As others have suggested, an
outdoor antenna and coax will work. Adding an antenna mounted
pre-amplifier will do even better, but may not be necessary.

> I can't even find a decent cheap antenna.

Antennas are not rated for decency.

> We used to have dozens of stations before HDTV.

You still have the stations. What seems to have changed is your use
of an unspecified model USB HDTV dongle, which might be lacking in
sensitivity. Find someone with a portable HDTV and try it at your
location. If it works better than your USB HDTV dongle, there's the
problem.

> No way I'm getting cable.

Not even coax cable such as RG-6/u? Fear of coax cable is a rare
disease, but easily cured by using twin-lead instead.

> We are proud we are the only house without cable.

Welcome to the wireless generation. No wires, no cables, no TV.

> My late dad refused to ever let me get a VCR.

VCR's are so 20th century. The 21st century does DVR (digital video
recorder) such as Tivo. The big advantage to me is that I can view
shows when I fell like, not when it's broadcast. Also, I can fast
forward over the commercials.

I lived without a TV for about 15 years. I was too busy getting into
trouble and making money to waste time watching TV. However, as I got
older, I also became lazy, and eventually bought a small junk TV. Like
any addict, that led to a VCR, DVR, satellite dish, home theater,
numerous boxes, antennas, Hulu, UCTV, and a tangle of cables.

On a cost per minute basis, TV is a rather expensive pastime. I watch
TV about 2 hours per day, or about 730 hrs per year. I pay about
$800/year for DirecTV. Ignoring the cost of hardware, that's about
$1/hr. I could do better with Netflix.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

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