AB - Calgary, Lethbridge, Southern Alberta - OTA

[msgohan]

In west Lethbridge, rabbit ears upstairs get me a fairly solid signal to my Samsung HDTV. The signal strength screen shows "bars" rather than a percentage, and with some effort put into aiming the antenna I'm getting 9-10 bars (with LNA turned on). I don't know where the scale maxes out, and the manual doesn't offer any explanation.

TV Fool report

The same antenna, through the same RG-59, to my ATI TV Wonder 600 USB stick gets me tons of continuity errors and picture/sound breakup every few seconds.
TSReader HTML export

Also, I don't know where to ask this, but is it normal for upscaling on 1080i channels to look this bad? My only other source for HD is Bell's 720p so I don't know what to expect.

[dtvman1]

@bigboy2085: You have your tv set to scan cable, not broadcast tv. This is why you are picking up cable cnannels.

Go into the tv menu find the setting for antenna / cable , and pick antenna.

Next do a channel scan. You should end up with at least 1 hdtv channel.

The strongest channel in Calgary is citytv on 5.1 ( real channel 49).

Make shure your tv antenna is connected when you scan, you may have to place it in front of a window to pick up a signal.

Avoid placing your antenna in front of large metal objects, any house that has stucco contains a metal screen that reduces signal greatly.

Try and place your antenna in a high , but stable place where it will not fall.

[bukester]

bigboy, it seems your tv is not scanning for the ATSC (digital) channels or maybe your antenna is not placed properly when the scan is going through it's paces.

Is there a setting to change it to scan for 'digital' only? There should be a setting to change the source to 'antenna' as well.

Point your antenna towards the West or NW towards broadcast hill or even hold it up in the air or towards a window when scanning.

Maybe give that a try.

[Billsmith]

I find it hard to believe that you don't receive any digital channels! Try to attach a single length to wire to your antenna connector and then rescan. You shouldn't receive any more than 8 analog channels in any case. The total number of local receivable channels is 12!!!! Are you certain that you are NOT receiving four digital channels or that you haven't identified them as digital???

[Mike FM]

That picture you posted looks to me as if you captured it from TS Reader. Am I right?
I have the same quality problems when watching off my Haupauge tuner but the same picture on any TV from 19" to 55" provides crisp, clean and beautiful quality.

[Baslim]

A fair bit of CISA material is in SD upconverted to 1080i.

[msgohan]

Mike, VLC via TSReader yes. The upconverted stuff looks just as bad on my TV. The actual HD content looks great on both of course.

[msgohan]

Solved my breakup problem with the USB stick tuner by using a longer USB extension cable to move it away from my PC case, monitor, etc. Getting 100% signal from CISA-HD according to TSReader.

[netyang]

Got Terk HDTVa indoor antenna today. after scan the channel, got all digital channels with almost full strength signal for each channel.

[Juliab]

Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty new to OTA and my results don't seem to make much sense. If you have any suggestions, that would be great.

TV Fool Link

I live on the 5th floor of an apartment in Beltline near 17th ave & 5th st.
The apartment faces south. I have a terk HDTVa facing the balcony window.

I pick up the HD versions of CBC & CTV absolutely perfectly, the quality is great.

But I can't pick up any other digital channels? This seems very strange to me since they all come from the same NW location, and from what I have read, CityTV & Global have pretty strong signals and it seems like others are receiving them.

Your help is appreciated!

Thanks, Julia

[bukester]

Sounds like you should be able to get CityTv and Global, I get them at 17th and 26th albeit I'm a little farther West. To get all 4 channels some antenna moving/jiggling may be necessary. (you may have tried to already). Maybe the concrete walls are blocking out the signal. Maybe try a long coax to your antenna and put it outside or nearer to the balcony. Or you may just try orienting the antenna W or NW (away from the window) and see if you can pick anything up. Also my reception seems to improve at night.

[magnet]

CITY and Global are weaker signals than CBC and CTV. I have a tougher time getting those stations on the side of the house opposite the transmitter.

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by Juliab

The apartment faces south. I have a terk HDTVa facing the balcony window.

Does reception improve if you aim it more towards the west (to the right of the balcony)? You also might get a bounce from a nearby highrise too, so a bit of time re-aiming/scanning, re-aiming/scanning, re-aiming/scanning might be needed.

[poutanen]

Hi Julia,

Based on your TV-fool report the other two channels should be easier to get than CBC and CTV! There are a few things you can try.

1) Your antenna is amplified, the two strongest channels are the ones you're not getting so it may be over amplifying the signal. Try turning down the amp if the antenna has that option.

2) Aim the antenna at the transmitter instead of the window (already mentioned, sorry)

3) Try a different TV / tuner, etc. or a different antenna.

[Juliab]

Thanks for the responses!

I finally got the TV to recognize CityTV, but the channel cuts in and out.

I will keep fiddling with the antenna and see if that helps.


Thanks