How to get Harrisburg, Scranton, Salsbury, Baltimore, and New York?

[Nertz!]

What would be needed to get Harrisburg, Scranton, Salsbury, Baltimore, and New York stations on the HDTV?

 

[BRNout]

What would be needed to get Harrisburg, Scranton, Salsbury, Baltimore, and New York stations on the HDTV?

One Hell of an antenna.

 

[dustintv]

What would be needed to get Harrisburg, Scranton, Salsbury, Baltimore, and New York stations on the HDTV?

One Hell of an antenna.

No kidding. I don't know about digital antennas, but you can't even get all those on a regular antenna I don't believe. I would think Salisbury would be too far south.

(On a side note grandparents in Lebanon have an old VHF/UHF tuner TV in their basement, and though I could never get WGAL Ch. 8 on it, I was able to get all the UHF channels in the region(15, 21, 27, 34, 43, 49) as well as the Scranton stations(16, 22, 28, 44, 56), all coming rather clearly.)

 

[Stuart]

Nertz,
Just to be curious, why did you pick these cities ???

 

[Nertz!]

Because they are the closet surrounding markets.

 

[Rustyfender]

I know years ago (back in 87-88) when I lived in N.E. Philadelphia--and before PHL even had cable...I could pickup Salisbury, MD (channel 16) off and on on my rooftop tower antenna...along with New York very well...about 80% of what I could pickup PHL stations. You'd never get the Scranton stations' signal up and over the mountain up in Lehigh Valley.

 

[stevations]

google the worldwide tv fm dx association or WTFDA, you can get distant dtv reception with an outdoor antenna, amplifiers and the help of weather conditions. I live in Virginia Beach and can get Philly TV sometimes, mainly in the morning when there is fair weather humidity and some fog burn off or nights when you can see a vapor ring around the moon. Winter there is not much distance reception. The strongest station from Philly is Ch 26 KYW 3. Salisbury MD ch. 16 puts out a huge signal on Ch 21, don't know if there is a local in your area to block this station. Of course now a days the internet has alot of tv stations. Some people have reported DTV stations from a thousand miles away. People in Cape Cod, MA have seen Florida on digital tv. Without an outdoor antenna you are lucky to get your local channels on dtv.

 

[fybush]

I would definitely encourage you to come join us at WTFDA (www.wtfda.org), where you'll get lots of good advice.

In the DTV world, sometimes even a good outdoor antenna isn't enough anymore. Back in the analog era, there were 67 available TV channels (2-36 and 38-69) that could be used to accommodate all the TV stations serving all those closely-spaced markets around the region. When channels 52-69 were taken out of TV use, and channels 2-6 became unsuitable for DTV, that left just 43 channels into which to cram all those signals that used to fit in 67 channels.

Actually, it left 43 channels in which to cram even more signals than used to fit in 67 channels, since the FCC is still licensing new low-power TV channels and, in some areas, "digital replacement translators" to help overcome the limitations of DTV signals in sprawling markets like Harrisburg and Scranton.

You'd do well to go to rabbitears.info and take a look at who's on what RF channel in each of your nearby markets, and you can get a sense of what channels are open enough that you might have a shot at DX reception, and what channels are just completely blocked because of nearer co-channel signals. That might give you an indication of what you can and can't expect to receive.

(An easier and quicker way to get that same list is to use TVFool.com - plug in your address and the height of the antenna you plan to use and you'll get a very reliable list of what you should and shouldn't be getting.)

 

[8638]

I would definitely encourage you to come join us at WTFDA (www.wtfda.org), where you'll get lots of good advice.

In the DTV world, sometimes even a good outdoor antenna isn't enough anymore. Back in the analog era, there were 67 available TV channels (2-36 and 38-69) that could be used to accommodate all the TV stations serving all those closely-spaced markets around the region. When channels 52-69 were taken out of TV use, and channels 2-6 became unsuitable for DTV, that left just 43 channels into which to cram all those signals that used to fit in 67 channels.

Actually, it left 43 channels in which to cram even more signals than used to fit in 67 channels, since the FCC is still licensing new low-power TV channels and, in some areas, "digital replacement translators" to help overcome the limitations of DTV signals in sprawling markets like Harrisburg and Scranton.

You'd do well to go to rabbitears.info and take a look at who's on what RF channel in each of your nearby markets, and you can get a sense of what channels are open enough that you might have a shot at DX reception, and what channels are just completely blocked because of nearer co-channel signals. That might give you an indication of what you can and can't expect to receive.

(An easier and quicker way to get that same list is to use TVFool.com - plug in your address and the height of the antenna you plan to use and you'll get a very reliable list of what you should and shouldn't be getting.)

Scott:

Ah, so true! My example on the Central Jersey shore (south of Toms River) is WTXF, Fox 29 (RF 42). When they were analog on 29, they were my best Philly station, hands down, 100 percent reliable. Now, with the same rig/preamp/rotor, 8-VSB reception is, at best, 60 percent during summer/tropo season. And I'm 57 miles from Roxborough, hardly DXing. The problem, as best as I can figure, is WSAH Bridgeport, CT, also on RF 42. I don't know why WTXF didn't return to 29, but they sure are short spaced on 42. And where could they go to alleviate this? Nowhere, because, as you stated, the available slots are less than in analog times.

 

[stevations]

Another source of tv station info is w9wi.com, lists all tv stations in US. Noticed there is Annapolis MD on CH 42 which would interfere during tropo openings. An outdoor antenna, directional antenna and rotor are more important now for reception that during the good old analog days. The UHF dish antennas are the most directional, but don't know if they still make them. Plus they are a huge wind catcher. Another problem is that when two digital signals clash you get nothing but when two analog stations were together you would get a mix of both signals watchable to some extent. An antenna rotor would confirm your CT station theory by pointing north and seeing if there is a signal from that station.