For the past few months I have been unable to watch one of the stations that is in my area. I figured it might have something to do with the position of my antenna, or a weak signal in general. However, after looking at antennaweb I realize that the station is one of the closer towers to me and in the exact same direction as stations that I am picking up well. I noticed that of the 3 stations that I pick up, the one that doesn’t come in is the only VHF station. Am I on to something? What can I do?
Possibly.
Your antenna may not be designed to pick up VHF stations. Not all of the ‘flat’ indoor ones are great at this.
This is the antenna I have. https://smile.amazon.com/Vansky-Outdoor-Motorized-Rotation-Amplified/dp/B071V7SV6P/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=150+mile+antenna&qid=1579105591&sr=8-3
It picks up a station that is 52 miles away in the opposite direction it is pointed. I doesn’t pick up a station that is 13 miles away from where it IS pointed.
Have you looked up the station info in the FCC database? Have you tried connecting the 2nd output from the antenna’s amplifier to the TV to see if the TV can “see” the station?
There have been a number of VHF stations that were “repacked” in the US over the last 2 years. Some changed the actual frequency (but not the channel number advertised.) Others “took the money” and went dark. Still others moved their transmitter site. Most databases, other than the FCC’s are not keeping up with all the changes very well.
I’ll try to bypass the Tablo and direct connect to the tv tonight
If that station is much closer, it’s possible that it’s overdriving the tuner (i.e. sending too strong a signal).
Can you try tweaking the antenna so it’s pointing slightly away from that tower and do a rescan and/or pick up an attenuator?
Matt,
Thanks for the link to the FCC data. The station, for VHF, is squirting out enough signal and is located high enough on the tower to overcome the limited terrain contours in Terre Haute, especially since you’re so close-in.
I looked at the reviews left on Amazon for clues. Several users have reported that the included cable was relatively cheap and undersized, and some even reported poor connectors. If you’re still using that cable, I would check it out.
Also, it appears that the amplifier itself is located in the antenna. This is normally where you want it to be, but in your case it makes it virtually impossible to shut off the amp function without shutting down the whole antenna. As Tablo suggested, over-amplification may be the source of your problem. Rotating the antenna “off-axis” from the tower farm may cut the signal strength enough to clear the issue.
From personal experience, the chip set used in Tablos seems to be a bit more susceptible to both low signal and high signal conditions. I live upstate from you, and our tower farm is only 6 miles away. I have a non-amplified antenna (30 mile range) in the attic, aimed about 40 degrees off axis. When I aim “dead-on target” I overload very badly.