I have the same problem here outside of the Chicago area... for reference, I'm about 60 mi SW of Chicago.
I have three converters installed in my home to prepare for the transition - they are on TVs in "non-critical" areas, i.e., bedrooms, kids rooms, etc. I have DirecTV for the primary TV sets (basement and family room). Anyway, the picture I receive via antenna is acceptable - there is some snow, but the picture is perfectly viewable. However, the converter boxes seem to have less RX sensitivity, or something. I can only get a fraction of channels "available", and sometimes more channels than other times - for example, the local NBC affiliate worked fine Tuesday night (we watched Leno) but last night there was a LOT of digital artifacts and the audio was terrible... Picture had artifacts also. For what it's worth, there is an overlay available that works with Google Earth that will graphically show you the available coverage of any TV station. For the Chicago market, I find I'm on the fringe (unfortunately, I live in a river valley, which also affects my reception) so I need to do something with my antenna. For years, I've had it in the attic with no problem, but now it looks like it's going to have to go out - either on the roof, or on the tower. I have not checked to see if the newer digital TV transmitters are operating at lower power levels than their analog counterparts, but I wonder if this could be one reason for my experiences. And of course, we're going to transition in February - not the best time of the year to be climbing towers. (Hey FCC - why not transition in June when the weather is much more conducive to tower activities? Ah-h-h, government at work... Gotta love it.) Good luck! Mark - N9WYS -----Original Message----- From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com On Behalf Of TRACOMM Having issues converting over to digital TV. My father "volunteered" my services to a few of his friends, all serious seniors, Detroit market, As an elecronic wizard (my dad's words) I should be able to make anything with wires work well. Most converter boxes I tried took forever to scan, channels missing, analog TV worked great. Most of the seniors already had their "free" box, obtained with the converter box coupon. Only boxes I have found so far that seem to work very well are the DigitalStream & Zenith pass thru boxes, scan quickly, best picture on rabbit ears. Cost more, but worth the price. Below is a message from another user group, also detailing the frustration in switching over to digital. CJD --- In l...@yahoogroups.com, BB <beazer...@...> wrote: > > I went out to the home of an elderly couple having problem hooking up their converter boxes. When I arrived, the man had set up the boxes correctly. His problem - he was missing half of the stations he had before! I ran the scan about 10 times. Each time it found different stations. But very few of the UHF channels from Phx. > > According to www.antennaweb.org - he should be able to get them all - plus some of the Tucson stations. He's getting the Tucson ones that are 70 miles away, but not the Phoenix ones that are 30 miles away. He's using an indoor set top antenna, the kind with the built in amplifier. We tried different settings without much change. > > Weather conditions at the time - rain. I've noticed at my house when it rains, some channels have severe pixelation. > > With the converter turned off, he gets all the Phoenix stations analog signals just fine on that indoor antenna. But going through the converter, he's missing a few of the incidental ones...ABC, UPN...ION. > > Needless to say, he isn't too happy. It looks like unless we can come up with a better option - he needs to call DISH. If Congress wants to talk to an average consumer about what they think of digital television - he'd give them an earful! > Any ideas? > Bea Lueck
