Antenna aiming

[Lar_s]

Sitting here in Surprise AZ and get good reception with my regular antenna, but no NBC. Have a separate antenna up on a post on top of the ladder, and aim it at the signal antenna about 30 miles away. Barely get a signal, then mostly nothing. I've hooked to the cable inlet, the living room only inlet, and now directly to the TV. We were here two years ago and ran the same antenna to get perfect reception.

Any ideas?

My neighbor ran his other antenna and plugged it in to the inlet next to the roof antenna on his rig and has great reception... I don't know why this would work any better.

Guess I'm stumped

[mikestock]

azdryheat wrote:
Try THIS

When everything went digital we had 10 local channels. All but one went the UHF route but one, the ABC, affiliate went VHF. That was the first mistake, but they also set their tower away from the mountain where the others located. If you had a fixed outdoor antenna you had the choice of the 9 channels on the same mountain with a UHF antenna or do as they told customers, that they needed a VHF antenna and where they needed to aim it, mostly requiring an antenna rotor to accommodate them.

There may have been an unavoidably reason for this but after about a year they gave up, and began piggybacking off an independent channel as 68.2. I don't know why all this happened but it was an obvious mistake to take the VHF route when all the others were UHF and another mistake to locate away from the rest of the signals.

[Gonzo42]

Thanx, wa8yxm !!!

[wa8yxm]

Gonzo42 wrote:
One little thing that you might want to do is clean all the electrical connections using a de-oxide. I used to get mine from Radio Shack and I still have some left, but I don't know right now where I can get more.

All Electronics dot com

And in assorted flavors. Check 'em out. THe link is direct to De-Ox-It.

[myredracer]

If you go to TVFool.com you can enter your zip code or address and it will list all the stations in your area, signal strength, transmitter location and if signals are line of sight to the transmitter or a reflected signal. If that station is LOS and a good strength and you can't get it, then you'll know for sure the problem is at your end.

[Gonzo42]

You can get video switches at Wally World. I have two different ones, one an A-B switch, and one a 4-to-1 switch.

[Lar_s]

I've been so busy that perhaps today is the day I tackle this. I did stop at Best Buy yesterday and asked about an A-B switch that I could use near my TV ... guess that's old tech as they don't carry them. Thx for all the advice. Even the guy at BB said getting NBC here has become quite a problem as more and more people are switching back to over air programming.

Thx again

[Mortimer_Brewst]

Dennis12 wrote:
Go to CNN, they tell the same lies

Just how is this helpful?

[Dennis12]

Go to CNN, they tell the same lies

[Tom_M1]

If the LAVA antenna is amplified it requires 12 volt power which is sent up the coax. If this is the case, connecting a cable directly from the TV to antenna will not work. Also connecting to the cable TV connector will not work.

Many "Digital TV" antennas are tuned mainly for UHF channels (14 thru 51) and work poorly for VHF channels (2 thru 13). Many newer RVs are using the King Jack antenna which doesn't do well for VHF channels. The NBC station KPNX broadcasts on VHF channel 12. Make sure the antenna is pointed in the right direction. Phoenix TV transmitters are located southeast of your location. If you have a Jack, the flat edge should point toward the transmitter.

Here's a link to an article by Chris Bryant that may help:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130814121735/http://blog.rv.net/2008/06/tech-tune-up-your-tv-antenna

[Sam_Spade]

There usually is a signal amplifier inline with the "antenna" cable.....but not inline with the "cable" input. That amp needs power.

And the small end of the antenna is the front (just incase a brain cramp has occurred). 😉

[rrupert]

Since the switch to digital it's all about signal strength. I would go with the suggestions above plus use high quality cable. The better the cable the less signal loss there is, plus when you go higher in signal frequency the more loss there is in the cable. Get RG-6 over RG-59 because it has double shielding and larger gauge wire, thus less signal loss. Also, you want the best connectors suited for RG-6.

[Lar_s]

Thx for all the info... especially AZdryheat... whew, who knew. Much of this I've checked and rechecked, but the aiming thing might need some work on my part, plus I'll recheck the quality of my antenna. This LAVA antenna has worked well in the past.

Thx again

[wa8yxm]

Conditions change, Solar activity is kind of strange this year and can mess up TV signals something fierce. as can other things.

Also coax that was good 2 years ago. may no longer be good

My first suggestion is check all connetions

My second is more height. for Height is might.

[Mandalay_Parr]

I would buy a new cable. Make sure it is a TV cable and not a ham radio cable.