Why is ATSC on VHF so damn finicky?

[KentTeffeteller]

ATSC over the air is finicky to begin with, UHF or VHF. Especially if trees, terrain issues, or more than 30 miles out. If VHF had the same power it did in the days of analog, the situation would have been better for VHF DTV.

[Jeffhs]

My area has channels 3, 5, 8, 19, 23, 25, 43 and 61, all but one transmitting from a western suburb of Cleveland. (Channel 23 is in Akron, sixty miles from Cleveland.) Where I live, a small village some 40 miles from the TV stations, I can get all but channels 8, 19 and 43 using an indoor antenna. All three stations operate with low transmitter power on their original channels (they did not move to UHF as did the others), which means my TV's channel scan skips right past them when I scan for my locals. I live in an apartment building, so cannot use an outdoor antenna for TV, ham radio or anything else (lease restrictions). Moving to a house is out of the question for me as well, since I live on a fixed income (very long story and OT).

[DavGoodlin]

VHF could use some more power based on previous posts. The VHF signals seem to be better if you live in a hole, boxed in by trees that will block/scatter UHF way more.

My experiences upstate at the cabin bear this out. Fortunately we have a good spot, higher and facing an open meadow. Using a Winegard HD7697 and preamp. All comes in good there, not strong but stable, two VHF signals on 7+8 from Binghampton NY are good using a channel 8 - 10-element yagi and no amp. Binghampton has 2 UHF stations WIVT being one of them but neither can be locked in as one transmits from a different location than 7+8. Elmira/corning we get only WETM, from another direction than the others but fairly stable signal.

Even at 38 air miles away from Penobscot Mtn, it is not equally good in the area. UHF from Scranton-Wilkes Barre is now on 21 and 22, while VHF is on 11 and 12.

6 miles south, my neighbor has a cabin in a low, boxed-in area just up from a creek bed. At his place, same antenna and amp brought in nothing (U or V) from Penobscot, being far down the back side of a hilltop. Walking and climbing ladders did little. An 8-bay bowtie UHF turned up nothing as well.

The Winegard 7697 did however pull in Binghampton's two VHF transmitters which is 56 miles away, along a tree-lined creek valley - bit open in that direction. I found a YA-1713 from Antennacraft and thats what they use now. UHF was always a no show deep in the woods. Before the analog shut down, their only channel was WBNG-12, like most folks in the area.