03-05-2011, 04:45 AM
Ammo -
What works great for someone else will have absolutely no bearing on what you need, unless you are lucky and it coincidentally just works. There are way too many variables that affect reception. 500 people could post glowing reviews of an antenna, but if it's wrong for your situation it'll "suck."
You need to be aware of such things as:
1) tower locations and distance
2) any relevant terrain or tropo issues
Goto a place such as http://www.highdefforum.com/local-hdtv-i...ception-9/. Don't show up there until after you've got a tvfool.com report that includes a guesstimate of your antenna's height AND you used your exact home address. Don't be afraid to share that info! Other forum members will look on Google Maps, street view to help identify issues in your immediate vicinity.
3) Include some data such as, "I get these channels OK but not this one." Post the signal level percentages you're getting, as shown on the TV. Keep a log---it helps to have numbers when battling the voodoo.
4) Be aware of, and refer to channels by their RF (real) channel, not by their familiar station ID, which has been kept for historical and marketing reasons but probably moved up into the UHF range at the digital switchover. Very few VHF channels exist today. The tvfool.com report will reveal the true channel numbers, your TV will not unless the virtual and real channel numbers coincidentally happen to be the same.
What works great for someone else will have absolutely no bearing on what you need, unless you are lucky and it coincidentally just works. There are way too many variables that affect reception. 500 people could post glowing reviews of an antenna, but if it's wrong for your situation it'll "suck."
You need to be aware of such things as:
1) tower locations and distance
2) any relevant terrain or tropo issues
Goto a place such as http://www.highdefforum.com/local-hdtv-i...ception-9/. Don't show up there until after you've got a tvfool.com report that includes a guesstimate of your antenna's height AND you used your exact home address. Don't be afraid to share that info! Other forum members will look on Google Maps, street view to help identify issues in your immediate vicinity.
3) Include some data such as, "I get these channels OK but not this one." Post the signal level percentages you're getting, as shown on the TV. Keep a log---it helps to have numbers when battling the voodoo.
4) Be aware of, and refer to channels by their RF (real) channel, not by their familiar station ID, which has been kept for historical and marketing reasons but probably moved up into the UHF range at the digital switchover. Very few VHF channels exist today. The tvfool.com report will reveal the true channel numbers, your TV will not unless the virtual and real channel numbers coincidentally happen to be the same.