HDTV OTA reception in Oceanside, CA ( San Diego North County) (1 Viewer)

[Westly T]

I live in Oceanside, California. This city is located in San Diego North County. I find I can get some OTA HD channels. Before buying my equipment I tried to find out if anyone else knew if I could get reception, but came up empty, so I thought I'd add a post in case others in my area also want to know.
I just got a JVC Dish Network 6000 with the 8VSB OTA HD module and did some testing to see what local HD channels I could get in my far from ideal location. I can get KGTV-DT (25) and KFMB-DT (55) with a signal strength of 60 - 70% but found reception best when turned slightly to the left of the highest signal strength, about 62-64%. I'm using a large YAGI (Radio Shack 15-2162 now discontinued, I got it for $4.95 new in a RS store!) with 100" boom and 34 Elements sitting on a 10' pole on the ground. I live in the San Luis Rey River canyon near HW 76 and College. There is a 2-story house across the street directly in the path to the 168-degree transmitters, not to mention the hills and mountains. I couldn't get any other channels, but there are huge trees in the path to the LA stations, and other objects in the way to others. I used a high quality RG6 cable approximately 35' in length with a Channel Master 300 Ohm to 75 Ohm transformer. I've also tried it in an upstairs bedroom pointing through a window and only lost about 2% of the signal strength.
This weekend I'll have a Channel Master Model 7775 UHF high quality preamp and plan to try an attic or roof location to see if I can get more stations. I'll post again when I have more information. I want to keep my antenna out of sight as my HOA forbids antennas, even though federal law over-rides this rule, because I don't want to make enemies unnecessarily. Currently there zero antenna's visible in my neighborhood and only a few DSS dishes (my DSS dishes are also hidden).
Source of information on local stations: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/address.asp
Read the FCC info allowing antenna’s here: Link Removed

 

[RajeeK]

Good to see a fellow San Diegan with HD. I just set up my HD system with a Mitsubishi DirectTV box yesterday (Got it used from Tweeter for $300 with HU Card). They accidently mispriced it and gave it to me for that price. Right now I also have a huge Radio Shack antenna on the roof (210xr or something like that $5 also from RS). I'm in Carmel Valley and like you the ONLY one with an antenna. It is not hidden by any means so I expect someone from the HOA to visit shortly. But I have the FCC law in hand and am waiting for them. Never the less I am going to have to add an additional antenna to get all the stations, since they are broadcast from two sites (Mt. Soledad and Mt. Wilson) and are very directional. I've gotten signal from all stations but really havn't keyed in on CBS yet, ABC and PBS come in 100 signal strength and NBC at 72%. Not to shabby, but I'm going to have to work on CBS. I'm going to add a UHF only antenna for CBS and ABC and use a combiner for the two antenna's. I'd like to continue to hear your experiences and will keep ya updated on my progress.

 

[Westly T]

With a small Radio Shack YAGI on my 2 story roof and a Channel Master 7775 preamp I'm getting the following San Diego digital and HD channels:

KFMB 8 on channel 55 - 01 is HD, 02 is digital
KPBS 15 on channel 30 - 01 is HD, 02 is a different HD
CH1 NBC 40 on 40
KUSI 51 on 18
KSWB 5 on 19
intermittently 23 on 25
intermittently 31, but if antenna is turned eastward it comes in good, but nothing else.



I won another Channel Master 7775 on ebay but don't have it yet. I'm Using the large YAGI on my roof for the LA stations. I get the following LA stations but some drop out intermittently.

KCBS 2 ON 60
KNBC 4 on 36
KTLA 5 on 31
KABC 7 on 53
Something on 66
intermittently 22 on 42
intermittently 31 on 23

All the above are received using 2 fixed antennas, no rotator.

 

[Grant B]

do you need to switch between the two?

 

[Westly T]

I tried connecting them together on the roof, but the LA stations suffered quite a bit. Now I ordered another preamp for the LA antenna and should have it today. I'm going to try combining them after the preamps and see how it works. If it causes ghosting it won't work, but I'm hoping for the best since the antennas are pointing in opposite directions. I'll let you know what I find out, if it does require a switch, I got a Radio Shack remote switch for $2.97 just in case (the long discontinued model on clearance).

 

[RajeeK]

Westly,

I've got a two antenna setup also. But when I tried connecting them,it TOTALLY wiped out my reception I am going to have to go with a switchalso. I found one that is remote controlled and it should be arriving in a few days. I'll just program my Pronto with it and should be pretty easy to switch between both antennas in an instant. I also have a Channel Master 4248 coming in a few days. I get such poor CBS, I wanted to try a different antenna than the RS Yagi I have now.

Have you ever tried the Radio Shack booster vs the Channel Master 7775. I have a RS one right now, but notice that much of a difference.

 

[Vay]

I have a question for all of you here in San Diego. Excuse my ignorance here. So does this mean you guys can get this TV reception completely free (less the equipment you bought) without having to pay anything or subscribe to any service with Time Warner Cable or Cox or any of those people? Including the HDTV reception?

Thanks!