HI all. I also have an RCA antenna in my attic, and I live in the NW burbs from Chicago. At the same time the new antenna went up back in Oct '16 my prior perfect channel ABC 7.1 became very shotty and not worth watching. I have my antenna laying on a board of wood ontop insulation, and redirected it but still no success. Ran channel scans, did direct 1 tv connection, and still bad. There’s no way I’m walking around my attic on the beams for 2hrs as one person suggested, and I’m rather not roof mount it for cosmetic reasons. Did anyone find a fix I’m not looking into. All the other channels work great which is why i doubt it’s the antenna itself unless channel 7.1 now has some new frequency my antenna doesn’t pick up well.
I have sent 2 emails and several tweets to abc 7 Chicago and have heard absolutely nothing from them in return. I guess it’s not too much of a loss to me since I haven’t bothered to contact them more often or attempt to contact the FCC about it.
ABC 7 Chicago might not care about having lost a viewer who wasn’t paying them through sat/cable via retransmission fees but their advertisers are certainly not getting anything from me because of the loss of signal.
There is a major station in my area that has the most difficult reception of all. It decided to save bucks by not using all of its allotted power for transmission and at the digital cutover spent very little money on upgrading its facilities. Its attitude has been, “Who cares about OTA, we’ll make our money through cable.” This same station loves to trumpet itself as a “socially caring, community serving station.” No one has ever gotten any replies from them whenever difficulties arise. Who knows whether anyone even works there…
Sorry to drag this one up again but I thought I’d post an update:
Well its been nearly 12 months with no reception from ABC 7 Chicago. I’ve attempted to contact them via email and twitter on numerous occasions with absolutely no response from them. I’ve filed a detailed complaint to the FCC today. I doubt anything will come of it but I figure it is worth trying.
Something will definitely come of the FCC complaint.
The FCC will contact ABC coporate, or the station, and they will have to respond.
Sorry, perhaps I should have said I doubt anything worthwhile will come of it. I expect ABC 7 Chicago to list their broadcast signal info and the FCC to acknowledge that it meets some vague requirements and…closed
Well I am confused. Here is the response from the FCC:
Thank you for your submission. Your complaint provides the FCC with important information we can use to develop policies to protect consumers, remedy violations of the Communications Act, and encourage future compliance with the law.
Please follow the link below to a consumer guide that includes relevant information on the issue you have raised.
As such, no further action is required by the FCC. Your complaint was closed as of today.
Thank you for your submission and help in furthering the FCC’s mission on behalf of consumers.
Link to consumer guide:
DTV Reception - https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/217426546-DTV-Reception
I am really confused…that link is pretty much useless. That is where I originally clicked on “TV” and filled out the form to file the complaint. I do not see any useless information and no “consumer guide that includes relevant information on the issue you have raised”. Its as if they have no interest in broadcast TV
So I replied asking:
What on that link specifically has any guide how to handle an issue with a lost broadcast signal? That is the site where I originally clicked on TV and filled out the complaint.
They replied with:
The following links will show what is in your viewing area and what ABC stations are local for your area.
DTV reception maps https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps
ABC Local Stations http://site.abc.go.com/site/localstations.html
Thank you
So I visited their site and ABC 7’s site. The FCC site showed that my zip code should be receiving a strong signal from ABC 7 Chicago and I replied with:
According to the https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps link ABC 7 Chicago should be viewable from my zip code (strong signal). Yet, no signal is found. What do I do from here? Your website says I should be able to get their signal. I used to receive the signal just fine. Two different antennas and 2 different amplifiers have been used and still the signal is not found. Keep in mind it is not that it is a weak signal…there is no signal found at all.
I’ve communicated with ABC 7 Chicago, they have not responded to my communications. What steps do I need to take to attempt to resolve this issue from this point?
And their response:
Your complaint provides valuable information and is shared among FCC bureaus and offices to spot trends and practices that warrant investigation and enforcement action. If the FCC needs more information about your complaint, we will contact you directly.
Each year, the Enforcement Bureau takes hundreds of actions on behalf of consumers that result in tens of millions of dollars in penalties. These actions encourage companies and individuals to abide by the law and reduce future misconduct.
Thank you for your help in furthering the FCC’s mission on behalf of consumers.
At this point I think my complaint is done. The FCC may or may not do more. I suspect at best I can hope they add this to some list of things to check the next time they are checking the Chicago area’s broadcasters. I will say this…the FCC did respond to me very quickly. I am actually impressed.
Regardless, I think I am out of luck for the near future.