HDTV Antenna hook up issues (1 Viewer)

[Tom Jakes]

I have just purchased a Mitsubishi HDTV with internal tuner. I Hooked up a new "HDTV" / "Regular" VHF-UHF antenna in my attic (VU-90 XR from Radio Shack). I live 36 or so miles from Washington D.C. and have a good line of sight so to speak to the local TV stations. This is well within in the range of the antenna:
VHF = 90 miles
UHF = 70 miles
FM = 70 miles
I am getting a horrible picture. It's very snowy and unwatchable. I recrimped all connectors with gold F-Connectors and nothing has changed.
I suppose I would I get a better picture if it were on the roof? Or do I need a better/ different Antenna? And does it have to be on the roof.
I read some posts and looked at the web site for the 5MS2000 TDP Mini-state Antenna. I'm thinking of putting that in the Attic or on Roof , maybe on top of the entertainment center.

Money isn't too much of an issue I just want to se this HDTV signal!

Any help or sugesstions Would be appreciated.

 

[adamKI]

If the picture is snowy you are NOT getting an HDTV signal. Make sure you are using the HD tuner and not the NTSC tuner in your TV (I'm not 100% sure how that works on Mitsu TVs so someone else can chime in now).

 

[Tom Jakes]

I tried all coax inputs but I started with the ANT/DTV ( Which I'm assuming that is . I'm not getting much of anything. I have s splitter and the other TV is 10 RCA and I don't have a whole lot of signal to that either with regular tv. I'm thinking that I need to put it on the roof. Do you know of any Antenna that works well from inside an attic from 40 Miles for both HDTV and Regular?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Have you tried a Channel Master 4228 outdoor antenna? (I recommend doing a google search to find out a little more about it, and availability).

 

[Lew Crippen]

Just a follow-on to Adam’s point, Tom—are you sure you are tuning the stations digital signals? Snow is an indication that you are still trying to tune their analog signals. Digital signals have no snow. When they are bad, you get pixelation, freezing, or just a black screen. Never snow.

 

[Tom Jakes]

Lou,

That's a good question. I defintely had snow. Are the channels different #'s?? Say NBC is channel 4. Is it the same or another #. I guess it would be another signal for HDTV. (I'm a little slow...)

Either way I think my antenna in the attic test failed. I will double check the channels tonight. Thanks!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Tom they are different numbers. Probably channel 4 can be tuned by entering 4-1 (your remote will probably have a ‘-‘ symbol, or 4-2.

Give it a try tonight.

An alternative is that the digital channels really telecast on another physical channel. So logical analog channel 4 is on physical channel 4 and logical digital channel 4 might be on physical channel 37 (for example).

On way to check this is just to run your remote through the channels. Assuming that your set has some type of scanning function, you might also give that a try and see what comes up.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Most HDTV channels are broadcast on channels over 13 (there are a few that broadcast on the VHF channels 2-13, but it's rare), so you will need to find out what channels the local stations are broadcasting their HDTV signal.

I urge you to find out by going to www.antennaweb.org and checking out the listing of the stations local to you.

 

[adamKI]

Lew has a point, you probably have to get your TV to scan through the channels. In DC, WRC (NBC 4) broadcasts its digital signal on channel 48, once your TV scans that channel, it should link channel 48 to 4-1 so you can tune either one. At least, that's how my SIR-T151 HD tuner works.

FYI, here are some of the DTV channels for Washington, DC:

NBC WRC-DT 48
ABC WJLA-DT 39
CBS WUSA-DT 34
FOX WTTG-DT 36

Check antennaweb.org for a full listing.

 

[Jeff Lehr]

I've read other posts that said having an antenna in the attic will cut the incoming signal strength by as much as 50%...so you'd be getting close to the fringe as you have it set up now. Also, each splitter on the line will decrease the signal by about 3dB, so that doesn't help either. Plus, I believe those antennas are measured in a dried up flat lakebed in the desert somewhere where there are no obstructions, so their numbers aren't exactly true for the real world.
At any rate, I'm sure you'd do much better with it on the roof.

JGL

 

[Mark*L]

Tom

Its me again, If i were you and in fact we do have the same television i would see about looking behind the TV and making sure that you have it connected to Ant-DTV and not the Ant-A or Ant-B coaxial inputs! After that all i had to do was go to Menu->Antenna->DTV->Air, and then let it set all of your stations. Hope this helps!

 

[Tom Jakes]

Mark,

I Have it in the ANT/DTV input and did try the "Menu->Antenna->DTV->Air" thing but I still didn't have any luck . I also hooked it up to the ANT-A just to see if I would get analog an signal, No luck. I think the combination of the Antenna being in the Attic,a long RG-6 cable run, the distance to the stations and the Splitter is where my problems are.

I guess I'm going to look at the Channel Master 4228 outdoor antenna and the 5MS2000 TDP Ministate antenna. They both seem to be able to do the job but I'll do more research on them first.

Tom