For anyone with over-the-air antenna TV - any problems recently? (movies, live in)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been out of town quite a bit, and settled back in to find that about half my TV stations are are gone - most annoyingly, PBS and Movies. But CBS has been blanking out, too, and WOR, I think.
Have you been experiencing problems? There was a brief ribbon crawl at the bottom once saying that TVs will have to be re-set on August 1, so I'm wondering if there's some major re-adjustment or re-alignment going on.
Who can I call? I can't find any governmental office at the city or state level that has oversight over television broadcasting.
You are not alone, everyone with OTA is losing channels.
We lost Movies!, PBS/Thirteen, and many others since last summer. Tried new antennas with no real change.
My guess is all those new tall buildings going up around Central Park and elsewhere are starting to block signals.
Many stations moved from the Empire State building down to World Trade Center, which is fine. But sight lines more and more are being blocked by new tall buildings. This is bad for those who live in say five or six story/low rise buildings, they just cannot get clear signals.
Do you have an indoor or outdoor antenna also does it have a amp if it does check it could of fizz out also make sure you have Rg6 cable i have a mohu leaf in a bedroom it had a cheap cable i could only get 7 when change the cable i got over 50!
You have to re-scan your TV for channels. Go into the setup of your TV for the over the Air Antenna and do a RE-SCAN.
In 2019 most channels will be switching frequencies so you will have to re-scan to reconnect your channels again. I just did it yesterday and got all my channels back. Channel 4 and I think 2 will need a re-scan on Aug 1st.
P.S. I am connected to my old TV Roof antenna from maybe the late 80's and still works great! I get 69 free Over the air channels nice and clear from the Bronx.
No need to by a new antenna if you have an old one laying around, it's mostly marketing hype. The only people who need special antennas are very suburban or rural areas.
You are not alone, everyone with OTA is losing channels.
We lost Movies!, PBS/Thirteen, and many others since last summer. Tried new antennas with no real change. My guess is all those new tall buildings going up around Central Park and elsewhere are starting to block signals.
Many stations moved from the Empire State building down to World Trade Center, which is fine. But sight lines more and more are being blocked by new tall buildings. This is bad for those who live in say five or six story/low rise buildings, they just cannot get clear signals.
Bugsy, you highlight an annoying problem with OTA broadcast TV, or its industry, which is that sometimes they just persuade you to get a different, more expensive antenna. But a guy at some electronics store told me that - his take - if you fit the requirements of a low-end antenna (e.g. distance), spending more isn't going to help.
I lost channel 5 and if you go to their Facebook page a lot of people say the same thing. Fox 5 responded to do a rescan now and on August 1st. I did several with different TV sets and antennas and none picked up channel 5 which previously was an easy signal for me to receive. Doing the rescan got me channel 4 back which I didn't have for many months.
Bugsy, you highlight an annoying problem with OTA broadcast TV, or its industry, which is that sometimes they just persuade you to get a different, more expensive antenna. But a guy at some electronics store told me that - his take - if you fit the requirements of a low-end antenna (e.g. distance), spending more isn't going to help.
Only real difference in OTA is going from any sort of indoor antenna to those mounted outside such as on roof or whatever. Other than that while there may be *some* difference between basic rabbit ears and more fancy modern indoor antennas, it usually isn't that much.
Our indoor antennas are are NOS items from the 1980's purchased off ebay cheaply. All gave excellent results until recently.
Besides mid-town there are several new tall buildings going up on the UES (61st street, 80th and Second and 81st and Second) which could be impacting reception.
While common advice is to have antennas facing sight line of broadcast towers, signals do bounce off things and thus even a tall building of whatever not in sight line can affect reception.
Shame many buildings took down their master tv antennas as cable began to take over how people got television.
Haven't any of you guys called anyone to complain? The channel, the FCC, the DCA, your congressperson?
What are they going to do? Force a building blocking signals to be torn down? Things are what they are, and that is one reason why so many went over to cable or satellite back in the day. The promise of clear and stable reception regardless of location, weather and other factors.
Growing up on SI don't recall anyone ever having either television or radio (especially FM) reception issues. There aren't many tall buildings, and things only got better when many if not most stations moved down to the WTC from Empire State building.
Only thing FCC did awhile back was pass a rule that LL's cannot prevent people from attaching satellite dishes to their buildings. Though I think there are some restrictions.....
Channel Thirteen consistently responds to complaints from OTA viewers that they haven't reduced their signal strength, and if anything have cranked things up a bit.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
