Question re: DTV Converters

I went to Mom's house and installed her two DTV converters on Saturday. On one TV, we got all the channels that the DTV coverage map said to expect at her zip code; on the other TV, one of the channels didn't "load" during the auto scan, even after multiple attempts.

My first guess is that she probably needs a signal amplifier in the coax coming from the antenna, and prior to the split for the two TV's. The second thought is, maybe the antenna could stand to be rotated a bit, since the channel that failed to load is supposed to have a strong signal in her area. Or maybe a combination of those two solutions.

Good news is, she "gained" one local station that she lost a few months ago when they cut back on their analog signal...but she really hates to lose the other station.

Am I on the right track, or am I out in left field with my theories? My TV at home is an HD unit I've had for a couple of years now,so I have no personal experience with the converter boxes until now. And thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

IMHO, DTV is a scam to make everyone pay for cable or dish.. On analog, I could get no less than 10 stations, with decent clarity. With DTV, and the most expensive indoor antenna, I can get 3 stations, sometimes, but with lots of stopping and pixellation. I am just going to live without TV.. Mine has not been turned on in several weeks, and I do not miss it..

OK, thanks for the opinion. It didn't address the question I asked, but at least the post drew a response.

I think the DTV delay date is for more than the few % that have not gotten the DTV boxes. I have an idea that the FCC, and the station engineers are working overtime, attempting to get the DTV systems working. I live several miles from a major CBS station, and I cannot even get a decent signal ..

Did you try swapping the boxes to eliminate the possibility that 1 of the boxes is defective.

I picked up about 15 stations, but lost one, when I installed the converter yesterday. Alot more channels than I want. I had no idea that some channels have as many as four sub-channels with different progamming. I expect to get even more in June when they all come off reduced power. I am using a cheap $10 UHF/VHF antenna I got off eBay. I am 25 miles from Boston on high ground. My picture quality is greatly improved.

I should have mentioned that my converter has "pass through" capability. That means I can switch out of DTV with the remote and get the old analog line-up if I want. Your mother should be able to do the same.

The network I lost was ABC. It now comes from a different direction (station). It surprised me because it was the strongest analog signal.

Generally, amplifiers cause more problems on DTV than they solve. The problem is not low signal, it is reflections or "ghosts". All of the digital receivers and converter boxes have a signal strength display (bar graph or number readout). Use that to check to see if your antenna is peaked up on the signals you are trying to receive. Move the antenna slightly and see if you raise the signal level at all.
Are all the stations you are trying to get in the same direction? Go to www.antennaweb.org and type in your location, and it will tell you where the transmitters are in relation to you, and whether they are UHF or VHF. A huge "gotcha" in DTV is the concept of "virtual" channel numbers. The FCC made all of us "brand" our digital signal with our analog channel numbers, even though they are a different channel. For instance, the TV station I work for is channel 34, our digital assignment is channel 35, but we have to identify our digital channels as 34-1, 34-2, etc. The real problem with this is if the station has a VHF analog or original channel, and their digital assignment is a UHF channel -- then you are trying to receive UHF on a VHF antenna, which doesn"t work well. Antennaweb.org will tell you the actual RF channels you are trying to receive, and what antenna you need to use to get them.

Write me directly if you have any other questions.

Brian Hoover, Chief Engineer, WNIT PBS, South Bend, IN

For once, the government got something RIGHT. I am often against change but going from analog to digital is the best thing I have seen from Washington in years.

My Dad, the 91 year old retiree, has a difficult time with change. He would never be able to understand Dish, would be confused with the number of channels on cable and besides, his son is too cheap to buy him either. So rather than getting the converter box like I use at home, I pick him up a 40" Samsung LCD unit. It uses one remote, takes him from 12 channels to 30+ and each is as clear as a quality photograph.

For those who are against dishes and cable, digital is the only way to go!

On the down side, I watch much less TV now. What happens is that every program I seem to watch has facial shots of the actors. With the digital, the warts, zits and female facial hair are so vivid. I never realized how nasty so many of the actors are actually.

I'm in the same boat, EXCEPT we get less DTV channels then analog channels, and NONE of the regular networks (CBS, ABC, NBC). PBS has 3 staions, Fox and something called the WB come in, and a spanish station, but nothing worth watching. This is with new antenna, new DTV set (no box) and new cable. HUGE waste of money so yuppies can have more cell phones.

Like kenstrac said. Did you try swapping the boxes, that is the only way you will know if you have a bad box. My guess. Bought a box several months ago but have not yet tried it as is for the camper as we have Watch TV in the house.

Davis: IMHO, DTV is a scam to make everyone pay for cable or dish.. On analog, I could get no less than 10 stations, with decent clarity. With DTV, and the most expensive indoor antenna, I can get 3 stations, sometimes, but with lots of stopping and pixellation. I am just going to live without TV.. Mine has not been turned on in several weeks, and I do not miss it.."
.
On the contrary, HD TV is the reason I am doing away with my direct Tv. Last I checked I had 30 channels available and better reception that analog. I am over 50 miles from any sation.

Read n9lhm again and do the signal strength bit.
I would add that in my opinion any "in door antenna" isn't worth bringing home. nothing but scam. I once taught antenna design for the army signal corp.

At work we put up some tv antennas. Could not get by in our area without an amplifier and outside ant. Amp will help with the losses in the line and splitters ect. Good RG6 cable will help.Like N9lhm said, you can't go by the stations number as their RF channel. Some stations in our area went from a low vhf to uhf. Completely different ant. Some stations we deal with are not running at full power yet. Some are. My understanding is they will never run as much power as analog. I don't think you can expect to much quality or consistency from $50 china made convertors either.

Isn't going to happen without a rotor, low loss cable and an antenna mounted amp. An amp located just prior to the tv/dtv tuner just amplifies noise.
If there is a FM radio broadcast tower within 20 miles. It will likely require an antenna mounted FM filter prior to the amp. The FM filter built into some amplifiers isn't tight enough.
A tv antenna in oder to have gain to pickup distance signals has to be a Yagi design. They pickup signal from the ends and null signal from the sides.
A tv antenna is like aiming a rifle. A portable FM radio antenna is like a grenade. One is long range and directional, the other short range and omnidirectional.
dtv converters vary. Some are sensitive, selective and user friendly. Others are not worth the box they are packed in.

dtv was introduced for a technical reason but some individuals seen and took morally questionable acts in order to gain from it.
They are not making any more land and they are not making any more radio spectrum. You can't cheat the laws of physics.
Nobody cried when Tv channels 70 through 83 and 84 through 114 disappeared.

Can"t help ypu on this one, but can you get a good signal to that TV without the box? IE is the antenna and cableing good?

We live on the fringe area for several stations, and it looks like we"re going to loose a number of stations when the changeover takes place. We already have pretty good antenna system(s). and even the strongest oftem break up, loose audio and picture. As far as I"m concerned this is another government screw up. No, Washington didn"t do us any favors. Just so they could sell a bunch of the spectrum to the land mobile services. We could live with a little snowy pictures, but this is rediculous!

Ghosts and refelctions effecting Digital signals?
Analog concerns for sure, but not supposed to exist with ones and zeros

Yes, reflections. Digital TV is a stream of data, and the system sees reflections as duplicate, extraneous data.

Most of the difference between the firs-generation receivers and fifth-generation receivers is the ability to reject the duplicate data. They are a LOT better, but not perfect.

Tuner front ends are much more sensitive than they were twenty years ago, and the need for in-line amplifiers is not nearly what it used to be. Amplifiers can easily make the situation worse by causing overload and generating spurious signals. Check your signal strength indication before concluding that you need an amplifier. Many of the signal "quality" displays actually indicate signal-to-noise ratio along with signal strength. Recheck the display after putting an amplifier in the line to make sure that the reading hasn"t gone down.