Quote:
Originally Posted by old_tv_nut
Quick thoughts:
1) I forgot if you said before (and you don't say here) if you are using an outdoor antenna. VHF channels will be more difficult than UHF, generally.
2) Duplicate channels can be caused by not erasing your old channel list when you re-scan your set. Re-scan, and make sure you are not in an "add new channels" mode.
In rare cases (like Chicago) some stations had both a UHF and a VHF signal on the air for some time, and that always resulted in duplicates. If that is the current case for anyone, they need to go through the channel list and manually delete the ones they don't want.
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I only have one indoor antenna (my ClearTV digital one) on my set. I don't want to go to the trouble of putting up an outdoor antenna.
I've tried to erase the channel list, but it doesn't work. The usual method of unplugging the set for a period of time, then pressing the power on/off button for 30 seconds to one minute, does not work either. The instruction manual (on a DVD, not a printed manual) does not say anything regarding the channel list, except how to add or delete certain channels from it (I cannot physically add or delete individual channels; I must check or uncheck a small circle on the channel list near every station the TV receives, depending, respectively, upon whether I want to include or exclude that channel from the scan list).
I always thought it was the other way around (UHF would be more difficult to receive than VHF), due to UHF's much shorter wavelengths. The only thing I can come up with is that VHF DTV signals are transmitted at lower power than are UHF ones, resulting, of course, in weaker signals that travel shorter distances.
It's at times like this I wish the government hadn't fooled around with the country's television broadcast standards and done away with the old system that had served us well for over fifty years. NTSC was doing just fine, and resulted in at least some reception even if the signals were weak. DTV is all or nothing, meaning if the signal is too weak (below a certain threshold level), there either will be no picture at all, or else the picture will break up into squares and be unwatchable. I like the idea of being able to watch other programs (Antenna TV, MeTV, RTV, et al.) on DTV subchannels, and the much clearer, interference-free picture afforded by DTV, but the reception problems, which no one much had before DTV...well, I don't want to say it's too much, but I don't like those problems any more than asnyone else.
I looked on eBay this afternoon and found many indoor and outdoor DTV antennas, but I'm hesitant to get an all-channel indoor one because it may not work in this area. I don't know, as I said in my post, why channels eight and 19 are so difficult to receive (other than the fact that they are transmitted over VHF DTV channels).
I live within one mile of Lake Erie and get excellent reception from Detroit stations (including their CBS channel 62) using the indoor antenna in the summer. If I could get channel 62 all year long, I wouldn't be concerned as to the loss of channel 19 in Cleveland, which is the CBS station for northern Ohio; however, 62, as well as all other Detroit TV stations, only comes in during the summer.
