# OTA Reception Question



## AvoGrower (Apr 29, 2007)

I live at a high elevation in Fallbrook CA about 75 miles from Los Angeles's Mt Wilson. I get excellent San Diego reception from a roof mounted Radio Shack 15-2160 (U-75R) antenna. I oriented the antenna to Mt Wilson, to see if I could pull in LA stations. To my surprise I get 96 - 97 signal strength on both tuners from KFLA-DT (8-1, 8-2). TVFool reports that it is a low power digital station. I do not get any other Mt Wilson stations. An ideas on why I can pull in the weak station and not the others?

I am using an HR20-700 receiver with about 60 feet of Cat 6 cable directly to the antenna input on the receiver. 

Thanks,


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

cat6 cable or RG6 cable? Try plugging it into the tuner in your TV and see what you get. HR20s have terrible OTA tuners.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Davenlr said:


> cat6 cable or RG6 cable? Try plugging it into the tuner in your TV and see what you get. HR20s have terrible OTA tuners.


They actually have exceptionally sensitive OTA tuners but they are poor at mulitpath....if you are in an area with no multipath issues, they are fantastic tuners.


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## Scott in FL (Mar 18, 2008)

AvoGrower said:


> I do not get any other Mt Wilson stations. Any ideas on why I can pull in the weak station and not the others?


I have no idea... I just did a quick search for KFLA (channel 8) and KABC (channel 7) in the FCC's data base and the two transmitters are very close to each other. KABC is a little higher, and a lot more power (25 kw vs 300 watts, or 19.2 dB). The only other difference I can see is that KFLA's antenna is directional towards 90 and 200 degrees. You can see the plot by going to http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=28566 and clicking on "Relative Field Polar Plot." But it looks like Fallbrook is in a null (at about 150 degrees), making your reception even harder.

I also see that KFLA has something going on with an application to move to channel 22 and increase power to 15 kw. Perhaps they've already moved and are no longer directional??? I've seen errors in the FCC data base before, and this would make sense. As you're using a UHF antenna that might be why you can receive KFLA on ch 22 but not KABC on ch 7.

But I would think you would be able to receive other UHF stations from Mt Wilson, such as KNBC.


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## AvoGrower (Apr 29, 2007)

Turns out that I was picking up 8.1 out of San Diego off the back of my antenna, but Directv was reporting it as 8.1 out of Los Angeles. Issue closed.

Thanks,


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