# Some Harrisburg/Philly HD channels OTA not coming in?



## n3ntj

Anyone else out there in the Harrisburg or Phily areas having issues with OTA reception of several channels? I can get WCAU 10.2 fine, but get only 771 on 10.1 Same for WGAL 8.1 and 8.2. The subchannel 8.2 comes in fine, but only 771 on 8.1.

I get all of these stations perfectly fine (90%+) on the TV's ATSC tuner. I rebooted numerous times and even reset the OTA setup and started over.


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## Scoot3r

I have the same issue with 6 abc and 10 cbs...

I know 6 abc switched their digital broadcast from UHF to VHF on June 12... I wonder if DTV has to do something on their side so that our boxes know about that change.


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## hobie346

Scoot3r said:


> I have the same issue with 6 abc and 10 cbs...
> 
> I know 6 abc switched their digital broadcast from UHF to VHF on June 12... I wonder if DTV has to do something on their side so that our boxes know about that change.


Do you have any other OTA digital TV's; you need some way to determine if you can even receive the station's signal via your antenna.

In my case my TV has a built-in digital tuner and I was able to determine that all the stations that I wasn't receiving via my HR20 box where viewable on the TV via the built-in tuner. After performing many resets and rescans on the HR20-700 I'm now able to pick up all the stations that I was watching before the switch over.


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## n3ntj

hobie346 said:


> Do you have any other OTA digital TV's; you need some way to determine if you can even receive the station's signal via your antenna.
> 
> In my case my TV has a built-in digital tuner and I was able to determine that all the stations that I wasn't receiving via my HR20 box where viewable on the TV via the built-in tuner. After performing many resets and rescans on the HR20-700 I'm now able to pick up all the stations that I was watching before the switch over.


I know the WPVI issue is unrelated to my issue.


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## 311Man

n3ntj said:


> I know the WPVI issue is unrelated to my issue.


I am west of Allentown and prior to transition had no issues. I use a DB-8 antenna and now I am no longer able to get ABC6. This is utilizing my HR20-100. I also have an old vhf/uhf antenna in the attic that I recently tied to my H20. With that unit I am able to get ABC 6. However I am not able to get FOX29 at all and NBC10 is marginal. The strange thing is when I did the initial set up with that unit I was not able to get NBC 10 at all and I did get CW17. So I did a channel scan then I got 10 but lost 17. Very strange depending how I scan (by doing initial scan) or just a scan again I would get different channels.

Until you mentioned it I never thought about using the TV tuner (I have a plasma panny). I will see how that works...I am expecting it to be better because I found it to be better than an D* tuner unit I ever had. Problem was i needed connected to D* unit to record.


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## n3ntj

Yep, the issue with watching TV on the TV's ATSC tuner is really related to being able to record a program or rewind live TV. I think we can't get WPVI now because of the change to low-band VHF, even with the power increase to 30kW. I can't get 12.1~12.3 reliably...one day they are crystal clear, the next day, no signal at all. The UHF stations from Philly are more reliable and steady.

The ATSC tuner in the HR20 is very lacking..my opinion and that of many other HR20 owners who've compared that unit's ATSC tuner compared to that of our TVs.

With a recent software update, I can now view 8.1 and 10.1 again, so that issue appears to have been corrected.


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## 311Man

n3ntj said:


> Yep, the issue with watching TV on the TV's ATSC tuner is really related to being able to record a program or rewind live TV. I think we can't get WPVI now because of the change to low-band VHF, even with the power increase to 30kW. I can't get 12.1~12.3 reliably...one day they are crystal clear, the next day, no signal at all. The UHF stations from Philly are more reliable and steady.
> 
> The ATSC tuner in the HR20 is very lacking..my opinion and that of many other HR20 owners who've compared that unit's ATSC tuner compared to that of our TVs.
> 
> With a recent software update, I can now view 8.1 and 10.1 again, so that issue appears to have been corrected.


Recently I have been able to pick up WPVI so I am not sure if they did anymore changes or what. I can't get 12.1-12.3 at all. How far away are you from transmit towers in roxboro. I am about 45 air miles....


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## n3ntj

I am about 75 miles west of Foxborough. I even tried a 7 element VHF yagi yesterday. Not even PSIP info for WPVI when I rescan. I adjusted antenna several times and rescanned. Nothing. They raised their power to 30KW two weekends ago. WHYY 12.1 has had no signal here in a week. No signal or PSIP for 61.1 Ion either since 12 June. I get 3.1, 10.1, and 17.1 at 100%, and 29.1 and 57.1 at about 85%. I wish WPVI would just go back to UHF.

I built a separate 5 element VHF antenna tuned to 85 MHz (center freq for ch. 6) from scrap parts yesterday and still no go. I calculated the gain to be approx. 6.2 dB over a dipole and added my 30 dB pre-amp. Still no WPVI. I am lose faith on this one. I think I am stuck unless they decide to go to UHF. I am thinking the issue may be related to my home. We can't do outside antennas here and am stuck with making antennas and putting them in my attic. Modern homes don't have much attic space due to the attic trusses.

Anyone else around the Lancaster, PA area here that CAN get WPVI OTA?


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## 311Man

n3ntj said:


> I am about 75 miles west of Foxborough. I even tried a 7 element VHF yagi yesterday. Not even PSIP info for WPVI when I rescan. I adjusted antenna several times and rescanned. Nothing. They raised their power to 30KW two weekends ago. WHYY 12.1 has had no signal here in a week. No signal or PSIP for 61.1 Ion either since 12 June. I get 3.1, 10.1, and 17.1 at 100%, and 29.1 and 57.1 at about 85%. I wish WPVI would just go back to UHF.
> 
> I built a separate 5 element VHF antenna tuned to 85 MHz (center freq for ch. 6) from scrap parts yesterday and still no go. I calculated the gain to be approx. 6.2 dB over a dipole and added my 30 dB pre-amp. Still no WPVI. I am lose faith on this one. I think I am stuck unless they decide to go to UHF. I am thinking the issue may be related to my home. We can't do outside antennas here and am stuck with making antennas and putting them in my attic. Modern homes don't have much attic space due to the attic trusses.
> 
> Anyone else around the Lancaster, PA area here that CAN get WPVI OTA?


I am in Allentown and have large channel master antenna in attic and I am able to get WPVI but no luck with 10 and 29. I have DB8 on roof get all channels except WPVI is not reliable (mostly not). Was thinking of swinging it around to see if I can pick up channels from WB/Scranton as I pick up NBC28 from there on the back end.


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## n3ntj

311Man said:


> I am in Allentown and have large channel master antenna in attic and I am able to get WPVI but no luck with 10 and 29. I have DB8 on roof get all channels except WPVI is not reliable (mostly not). Was thinking of swinging it around to see if I can pick up channels from WB/Scranton as I pick up NBC28 from there on the back end.


You will probably have more luck doing that than trying for WPVI.


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## rcodey

I lost WCAU-10.1 and WPHL-17.1 8-9 days ago. Rebooted my HR20-700 several times but still can't get them. 10.2 and 17.2 come in with no problem so I'm receiving a signal. Anyone still having this problem? It seems like a sofware issue with DIRECTV.


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## n3ntj

I'm still getting 10.1~10.3 and 17.1 and 17.2 here near Lancaster, PA on my HR20-700.


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## 311Man

n3ntj said:


> I'm still getting 10.1~10.3 and 17.1 and 17.2 here near Lancaster, PA on my HR20-700.


I am receiving those channels fine from west of Allentown area. I do not receive WPVI (CH6) on my outdoor UHF antenna however I tested with my attic VHF and it comes in fine - so signal strength has improved with that channel. Problem for me is the attic attenna only receives 3.1 and 6.1 and 10.1 is marginal.

Has anyone tried using a VHF/UHF antenna combiner with success? Thinking of combining the two antenna I have to finally get all my locals back.

Also if there is anyone in the Allentown (Lehigh) area that is successful receiving any Wilkes Barre Scanton locals I would like to know. May save me a trip on the roof if anyone knows if I have a shot at getting them.


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## no static at all

311Man said:


> Has anyone tried using a VHF/UHF antenna combiner with success? Thinking of combining the two antenna I have to finally get all my locals back.


A _"UVSJ_" is the best way to combine separate VHF & UHF antennas together. The insertion loss is very low.

http://yhst-18278607509093.stores.yahoo.net/pico-0389.html


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## 311Man

Any thoughts if this antenna could actually assist in picking up WPVI (CH6) with its low VHF frequency?

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=HDTVO


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## n3ntj

311Man said:


> Any thoughts if this antenna could actually assist in picking up WPVI (CH6) with its low VHF frequency?
> 
> http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=HDTVO


I'd think you'd have to be pretty close to Phily for this 'contraption' to work. Anything more than 25+ miles from Philly, you probably need a real antenna. Still no WPVI here.. I've given up.


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## 311Man

n3ntj said:


> I'd think you'd have to be pretty close to Phily for this 'contraption' to work. Anything more than 25+ miles from Philly, you probably need a real antenna. Still no WPVI here.. I've given up.


Well...I have two antenna's (one on roof one in attic) and neither of them get me ALL the channels. My outdoor DB8 has picked up CH6 only twice since the transition.

Looks like I too am going to wave the white flag on picking up WPVI. May break down and get locals from Directv I guess. I have been grandfathered with DNS but only in SD... was using OTA for HD. Ugh...who said this transition was a good idea.


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