I'm pretty close to where you were in Vienna. When the switch over happened we lost the OTA digital signals for 5, 7 and 9. Now 7 is solid, 5 is spotty and 9 is non-existent on my brand new HDTV.
I had been using a simple bow tie antenna and a digital tuner box with the antenna laying behind the TV now I have a better antenna which is amplified in my house slightly above where the bow tie was. I will put up an external antenna eventually but It is a back up. On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 10:42 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]>wrote: > On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 8:46 PM, Robert Carroll > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Speaking personally, it does not matter to me if TV broadcasting is > ended. > > I do not think that there is any imminent danger of over-the-air TV > coming to an end as a result of the cellular industry trying to grab > more spectrum. Chances are they are not going to get what they want > from the FCC, at least not under the current administration. Not to > mention that too much has already been invested in the current system > by the TV broadcasters, the viewing public as well as government. > > > > With the switch from analog to digital, I am able to receive only two > local > > digital broadcasts despite having a very large VHF-UHF antenna mounted 10 > > feet above the roof of my 2-story house. I dwell in Vienna, VA, which is > on > > the Capital Beltway only 10 miles from the transmission towers. Prior to > > the switch, I could receive at least 14 TV broadcasts. Effectively, TV > > broadcasting is ended for me and I must rely on cable for TV viewing. > > I lived in Dunn Loring, just outside Vienna, as the transition to > digital took place. I had an antenna at ground level in a low spot, > yet could get all the local digital broadcasts. There would be > occasional interference from passing vehicles and aircraft due to > multipath, but I did get the stations, even Baltimore on occasion. I > now live out in Fauquier County and can still get all the local DC > stations, sometimes Baltimore and even Charlottesville, Petersburg and > Richmond occasionally with the same antenna, albeit roof mounted now. > > Perhaps you are just in a bad location for general reception, there > is something amiss in your antenna system, or your tuner is not as > good as it could be. It is hard to get info on tuner specifications, > but under digital broadcasting, that component is much more important > than it ever was under analog broadcasting. I dunno, but you should > be able to get better reception than what you have indicated. How do > any of your neighbors fare? > > A lot of folks used those analog to digital converters when the > switch to digital first happened, and there are now many of them just > laying around as users of those boxes eventually bought digital TV > receivers. See if you can beg or borrow one from somebody, hook it up > to your antenna, plug it into your set and see how well it receives > the local stations. If it gets better reception that what you are > currently using, that could mean that your tuner is weak. Better > reception, but yet not great, could still mean there a problem with > your antenna system and it is not providing sufficient signal. > > > -- John Duncan Yoyo -------------------------------o) ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
