ota UHF reception non-existant?

[JoeLima]

I live in Tampa, Florida, on flat terrain; I have five over the air broadcast channels that are approximately 16 miles away from me, and according to signal strength meters I should be able to receive them all. I live in a second story apartment with windows facing due north, all the broadcast signals come from approximately 116° or almost due east ( 3:30 on the clock.) I have tried five or more UHF antennas (amplified and passive) and cannot get even a fraction of a weak signal when I scan for reception on a recent model LG tv.

What am I doing wrong or missing here?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Joe in Tampa

 

[AB4BF]

I live in Tampa, Florida, on flat terrain; I have five over the air broadcast channels that are approximately 16 miles away from me, and according to signal strength meters I should be able to receive them all. I live in a second story apartment with windows facing due north, all the broadcast signals come from approximately 116° or almost due east ( 3:30 on the clock.) I have tried five or more UHF antennas (amplified and passive) and cannot get even a fraction of a weak signal when I scan for reception on a recent model LG tv.

What am I doing wrong or missing here?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Joe in Tampa

Are you using digital antennas?? JUST KIDDING, just kidding!!

Really, now, First, check your cables. make sure nothing is shorted between the center conductor and the shield. Make sure connectors on both the antenna and the TV are good. Without more information, are you using the antennas inside your apartment? Could be something inside the east wall blocking signals. Maybe try the antenna mounted outside your north window with the antenna pointed east.

Now if cables and wall is more or less clear, check the set up on your TV. are you scanning for all signals? Sometimes different TVs differentiate between digital and analog signals and only search for one type at a time. Make sure its looking for digital signals. Unless all 5 TV transmissions are analog. Also, sometimes TVs have more than one F connector for antenna cable. Make sure you have the correct source chosen on your TV.

Run through all these possibilities first and please post what you find. If none of these work, we'll go from there. Also, other posters on here may have more better possibilities than I !!

Good Luck!

 

[MTS2000des]

Are there any nearby cell sites? LTE can overload the front end of most OTA receivers and especially the amplifiers in antennas. The noise floor may be high, I'd see what it looks like from 470-600MHz with a Tiny SA or similar instrument. Your apartment building may be chock full of RFI from wonderful turdy Chinese goodness. A spectrum analyzer will tell you a good story about what you can expect. The current ATSC 1.0 standard is very finicky about interference. If you've confirmed that the above suggestions don't resolve it, try this:

Take a TV set (one you can easily carry like a 32" or smaller) to another part of the building outside or away if possible (even run it off your car via inverter or battery pack) and try with one of your antennas and do a channel scan. Or take the TV outside of the sphere of influence with the same antenna(s) to another location and if it works fine, you know you have an RFI/noise floor problem.

 

[ChrisABQ]

Try getting a $15 dollar LTE filter off Amazon and see if it makes a difference. They work like magic blocking out cell signals.

 

[cavmedic]

Are you sure you are letting it scan long enough to get past the analog scan and finishing the scan completely? Some tv's can take quite a long time to scan every QAM.

 

[W1KNE]

Sounds like your TV may not be working properly. Did you scan for ATSC AIR or Digital Cable?
Have you tried another receiver (another TV) to see if you have it with multiple ones?

All the signals in Tampa come from Riverview.

Are you sure you are letting it scan long enough to get past the analog scan and finishing the scan completely? Some tv's can take quite a long time to scan every QAM.

OTA is ATSC not QAM.

 

[cavmedic]

Sounds like your TV may not be working properly. Did you scan for ATSC AIR or Digital Cable?
Have you tried another receiver (another TV) to see if you have it with multiple ones?

All the signals in Tampa come from Riverview.

OTA is ATSC not QAM.

Read the manual for any newer tv with a built in tuner. It’s references as a QAM tuner. It might in smaller print mention ATSC, but they are generically referred to as a built in QAM tuner.

I’ve worked for two cable companies over a 26 year span and both companies called it that as well.

 

[W1KNE]

Read the manual for any newer tv with a built in tuner. It’s references as a QAM tuner. It might in smaller print mention ATSC, but they are generically referred to as a built in QAM tuner.

I’ve worked for two cable companies over a 26 year span and both companies called it that as well.

QAM is for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, which is what digital cable is. Over the air uses 8VSB (8 Vestigial Side Band).
I work in a TV station full time, install TV sets out of the box, several times a month due to the cheap manufacturing.
They *might* say QAM, but usually they just say digital. When they scan "Air" they scan for 8VSB, not QAM, so your statement of "to search every QAM channel" is entirely incorrect.

I've been a broadcast engineer myself for 28 years, so I know what I am talking about here.

 

[cavmedic]

QAM is for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, which is what digital cable is. Over the air uses 8VSB (8 Vestigial Side Band).
I work in a TV station full time, install TV sets out of the box, several times a month due to the cheap manufacturing.
They *might* say QAM, but usually they just say digital. When they scan "Air" they scan for 8VSB, not QAM, so your statement of "to search every QAM channel" is entirely incorrect.

I've been a broadcast engineer myself for 28 years, so I know what I am talking about here.

Dude, no need to go all QRZ about this. Your pocket protector is bigger. It’s ok. 😃