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Need Help with OTA Antenna

post #1 of 11
10/13/07 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
I've got a regular CRT tv in the bedroom that is not connected to the sat because Direct TV charges too much. I bought a $10 antenna at walmart but it only picks up 1 channel. I have gone through the menu for the tv to scan for local channels but can't get anymore. I am not in a rural area. I am in South Florida. There has to be more channels out there broadcasting over the air. I've also been to antenna web and just got confused. Can anybody explain what I need to do to get local channels?
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post #2 of 11
10/13/07 at 2:17pm

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

Did you buy a VHF or UHF antenna? For standard broadcast channels, you need VHF, but for HD you need UHF. What channels are you trying to tune in?
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post #3 of 11
10/13/07 at 3:42pm

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

Go to www.antennaweb.org and type in your address. It will give you a map of the HD antennas around your home and tell you how big or if you need a directional antenna.
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post #4 of 11
10/14/07 at 4:23am

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

I'm not sure exactly where you are Jack, but I googled cities on both coasts (Ft. Meyers and Miami) and they both seem to have VHF stations for their network stations. You may have bought a UHF antenna. If so, I would try a VHF antenna. By your original post, I'm guessing you aren't interested in HDTV.
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post #5 of 11
10/15/07 at 7:45am

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

I skipped over the part about "regular CRT TV". That means you cannot recieve HD channels (well, not without an HD to analog converter).
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post #6 of 11
10/15/07 at 9:40am

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

Jack, we need more information to be able to help you.

If you are only recieving one channel on the antenna, chances are you won't receive anymore with the digital box Hanson has suggested.

What model antenna did you get? Was it advertized as an "HDTV" antenna? If that is the case, it may not work for your local analog network channels. HDTV broadcasts on the "UHF" band, most of your local networks are on the "VHF" band.

You say you got confused by the data you got from antennaweb. The bottom line is with a tiny set-top antenna like you have, you are probably only going to be able to recieve the channels in yellow and dark green.

I use analog TV like you are trying to use in a guest room and other rooms in my house, but I'm using a big in-attic antenna. If you are in a good area, you should be able to pick up lots of stations.

Remember you will only be able to get analog stations 'till February 2009.
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post #7 of 11
10/16/07 at 2:26pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

Ok this tv is an old CRT model. No HD. I just want to recieve regular OTA broadcasts in my area. I am in Miami. The antenna I bought is a Phillips UHF/VHF/FM indoor antenna. I got it at wallmart for about 10 bucks. It only gets 1 channel. I can get one channel by just plugging a coax cable in the back of the tv an not connecting it to anything else.
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post #8 of 11
10/16/07 at 4:10pm

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

I believe on the old CRT models, the UHF portion of the antenna connects to a pair of lugs (labeled UHF) on the back of the tv. The antenna should also have a ribbon cable with two U type metal connections at the end. These connections attach to the lugs. You will not receive UHF reception until you hook this portion of the antenna up. Also, your TV should have a setting for Cable or Antenna reception. This may be a switch on the TV or set via a menu setting. It should not be on the Cable setting and should be set to the antenna setting (maybe called OTA, TV, Antenna, Normal or similar). The VHF portion of the antenna receives channels 2 - 13 and the UHF portion of the Antenna receives channels 14 - 83 or higher depending on the tuner. I hope this helps.
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post #9 of 11
10/16/07 at 5:08pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

I think it's the TV. It's at least 12 years old. There is only one regular coax connnector on the back. And yes there is a menu on screen that lets choose antenna or cable. Well thanks guys. I think I'll just buy a new tv for the bedroom.
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post #10 of 11
10/18/07 at 5:32am

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

Jack, save your money I don't think it's the TV, though it may be. Even very old TVs should be able to pick things up over a conventional $10 antenna if the antenna is working and you are close enough to the signals. The one I'm using in my bedroom is 10 years old and picks up local analog broadcasts over an antenna perfectly.

Is this like the one you bought? http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2625059 . I would recommend returning the antenna, if you are getting one channel, and it's the same one you would get with no antenna or just a coax plugged in, the antenna is not doing it's job, it may be defective.
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post #11 of 11
10/22/07 at 11:50am

Re: Need Help with OTA Antenna

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo
For standard broadcast channels, you need VHF, but for HD you need UHF.

Not entirely true. HD channels can be broadcast on both VHF and UHF frequencies. Same holds true for standard analog broadcasts. I'm not sure where people are getting this from as I've seen it repeated numerous times. Depending on where you live, there may not be any HD locals on VHF (or UHF for that matter). But they do indeed broadcast HD locals on VHF. In fact, after the digital switch in 2009 there are some stations that are moving back to their original frequency assignment in the VHF frequency range.

My local HD channels are broadcast on both VHF and UHF. I use an Antenna's Direct 91XG UHF antenna to pick up three of my locals (WGXA Fox on channel 16, WMGT NBC on channel 40, and WPGA ABC on channel 32) that are UHF and a Wade Antenna VIP 306 VHF antenna to pick up my last local (WMAZ CBS on channel 4) that is VHF.

If the situation were reversed and I was trying to pick my local analog channels, then I would still need an antenna (or antennas) that could pick up both VHF and UHF. WGXA analog is on channel 24, WMGT on channel 41, WPGA on 58, and WMAZ is channel 13.
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