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How do you.....

50.110.221.47
Posted on December 27, 2016 at 18:51:14
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 No more cable or SAT. I'm going to use a couple of cheap things over the net like maybe Sling and Netflix. I'm going to put up an antenna for over the air.

I get antennas, I'm a ham, I have a decent antenna and rotor I will put up at about 24 feet. What I don't get is these HD tuners. Am I going to have to scan for each rotor direction? I have stations I will receive in three directions. On all these TVs I've seen you do one scan and that's it. Don't tell me I have do a new scan each time I move the rotor. I've done scans and moved the antenna back to a previous direction and manually entered a channel number that worked in that direction but no go. You have to rescan with the changed direction? Say it ain't so. I've seen no TV tuner with preset banks.

Also there seems no info on these TVs to compare tuner quality. Your thoughts welcomed.


ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

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RE: How do you....., posted on December 28, 2016 at 13:26:06
mrdavis842
Audiophile

Posts: 274
Joined: February 22, 2013
 It ain't so! The scan just presets the channels that are strong enough for the TV to display and only has to be done once, although you might want to scan once a year to see if any new channels are available. If the stations in the other two directions are not strong enough they will not be picked up during the initial scan. I believe (not sure though) if you reposition the antenna and scan again you will lose all your previous presets so it would be better to scan the direction where the most channels are available and then reposition and manually add/edit the additional channels. Once the channels are preset you do not have to rescan or re-add them even when changing position.

"I've done scans and moved the antenna back to a previous direction and manually entered a channel number that worked in that direction but no go."

Even if you wiped out the previous presets if you manually enter a valid channel it should still work. You may have entered the channel number of the station instead of the actual channel it was broadcasting on.

As for tuner quality it's not like an FM tuner for longer distances. They are not the weak link for local broadcasts. If you are not receiving a broadcasted channel it will almost always be because of the signal strength, interference, antenna or antenna position.

 

RE: How do you....., posted on December 29, 2016 at 20:31:37
Mr Peabody
Audiophile

Posts: 1109
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Joined: August 14, 2010
 Also with the over the air, it's digital, so you will either receive it, or not. It's not like the old days where you might get it in but with some snow, then try to adjust.

Your main channel may have addition channels too. As an example. our PBS station comes in on 9, but you hit the channel up button and it will go to 9.1, 9.2, and so on until no more stations. We have the regular 9, one may be 24 hours PBS kids, one may be news, or just more PBS type programming. One of our other stations has a .1 which is all old TV programs, which is great. So even if you get 4 to 6 OTA stations you could really have a couple dozen. The HD signal is usually very good. Another local has their own 24 hour weather on a .n channel.

If it helps, from what I understand all these digital stations are in the UHF band.

 

RE: How do you....., posted on March 26, 2017 at 14:29:56
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 Im over 35 channels with this DIY antenna at the link. Pretty good when you consider DC is over 50 miles away AND much more importantly there are mountains in between. I'm watching the NCAA on CBS today. But my TV like many does NOT allow manual add. (see owners manual link) I must move the antenna and rescan. I can get more gain with this antenna by adding a reflector but then it becomes single v bi-directional but being bi-directional by design it allows me to get 25 ch from the best positions scan. I need to move it to a different direction to get the other channels but then lose many of the previous channels.


owners manual

https://files.bbystatic.com/LIRoQ2G3dDUR6o9QH%2BFjWQ%3D%3D


the add/remove function only changes what happens when you use channel up/down button on the remote

ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: How do you....., posted on March 26, 2017 at 14:35:28
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 doing well with my diy antenna. Knew of all or nothing signal and subchannels, an ION station near here has 6 , MhZ near DC even more. Sadly all 6 from Ion suck , three being shopping channels! Thanks for the reply. Sorry I forgot to respond


Sherman : )



ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: How do you....., posted on March 27, 2017 at 00:27:40
mrdavis842
Audiophile

Posts: 274
Joined: February 22, 2013
 Your TV has an Add/Skip Channels function in the Menu > Channels menu so you should be able to manually add channels. Manually tune to a channel using the number buttons then go to Menu > Channels > Add/Skip Channels to see if it will let you add the channel to the list. The channel should be there and it should let you add it to the list of channels. If you can manually add the channels I would use the auto search to scan in the 10 channels in the one direction and write them down (or just the ones that you want to tune to) then move the antenna and auto scan in the 25 channels. Now move the antenna back and manually enter in each of the 10 channels and add them to the list of existing channels as you go. Once you have added the 10 channels I would use Menu > Channels > Favorites to add the 10 channels to the favorites list. That way you can switch to the favorites list and avoid having to go through the other 25 channels that you can not receive in that position. Unfortunately, it looks like your TV only lets you have one favorites list so you will have to flip through the 10 unavailable channels when in the 25 channel position. You could try hiding the 10 channels with the Skip function and see if they still show up in the favorites list but I doubt it.

You could make another antenna to try multiple antennas, one for each position.

 

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