HPP TV reception

[Punawild]

For those of you in mid/lower HPP I would suggest rescanning. I'm in a low spot on 13th & haven't gotten NBC or CBS since they went digital. Ever hopeful I rescan every month or so and today the scan found both 13.1 (nbc) & 13.2 (cbs)! Shocked me when I saw Alex Trebek/Jeopardy clear as can be. Hopefully, those of you without those channels will have the same luck.

[H22]

Nice! Sometimes a very minute change (tree falling out of the way, etc) can make a difference! I don't see that they've made changes recently (or at least on file with the FCC).

Right now you can also get CBS on Channel 45, if you point your antenna towards Mauna Kea. Eventually, if they do what I think they are planning, you'll get NBC from there too. Should really fill in the spotty areas nicely!

[Bullwinkle]

the down side to digital - the signal is narrow beam one needs to be spot on to get them all

[H22]

None of the OTA TV signals that serve the eastern part of the big island are narrow beam. I'm currently engineering what will end up being the "narrowest" beam DTV signal, and it still will serve out a fairly wide pattern from the antenna.

Up in Mountain View, I can rotate my antenna approximately 45 degrees with no change to reception.

[Bullwinkle]

using a db4 my "window " is about 5 - 10 degrees .... tough to get 4.1 and 10.1 in the same alignment but can be done - a good blow will shift things if not ratcheted down

edit: details

"HIGH GAIN ANTENNA: High gain antennas have narrow beams and may require a rotor to move the beam (rotate antenna) between stations with a wide angle separation. "

http://copradar.com/othdtv/index.html

[TomK]

I'm in lower HPP and tried rescanning but still can't get 13.1 or 13.2, in fact the signal meter on my TV shows zero signal for those channels (although I'm not quite sure how the meter works). I generally get a signal strength of 60-80% for all the other channels without having to move my antenna btw, although I did try various different positions when rescanning - it didn't help unfortunately.

[Bullwinkle]

another issue with digital signal is that very often its an all or nothing affair - there is a minimum signal that seems to to be required to "assemble" the digital signal......

I find tuning to the weakest channel first - and then working the arc outward.... a small portable tv at the antenna sometimes worth its weight in gold

when we deal with satellite digital signal its a 1/4 watt at 24,000 miles - narrow beam...... dont know what the local tv stations beam out these days.... a db4 or 8 should do it classical design and cheap

[H22]

High gain antenna, as you pointed out, is on the receive side. The transmit side, for all Hilo-side stations, is not narrow beam.

You point your high gain antenna in the direction of the station, as you would have done for analog TV stations back in the day, or FM stations today on a rooftop antenna.

Just making sure the correct information is out there! There are no (stand-alone) narrow-beam TV stations licensed to the eastern side of the Big Island. The closest one is a stand-alone station I'm engineering.

[H22]

You're correct in that it's all-or-nothing, and the suggestion to find the weakest signal first is a good plan.

[TomK]

Bullwinkle - yes, it's why I mad the comment that I wasn't sure how the meter worked. I get the impression that if the signal is weak then it just drops everything and says zero signal, but am not certain. In any case, definitely couldn't get 13.1 or 13.2.