Please help a newbie! OTA antenna??

[fishgirl]

I am one of those unlucky ones who is without my local ABC station right now. So I decided to try hooking up an indoor antenna to my VIP722. It seemed pretty straight forward. The instructions said I need to be in single mode, and plug the antenna in to the place that says "antenna in" (duh!) and then go to the local channel menu and scan. I get NOTHING. Not even a weak signal shows up. I live in an area that should have good antenna reception. I hooked the antenna up to a different tv the old fashioned way and was able to at least get two channels. So why is my VIP722 not recognizing the antenna? What am I doing wrong? Is there some other setup component I missed? Please help!! I miss my ABC shows!!!

 

[boba]

What city and zip in Oregon? House apartment single story Etc.

 

[fishgirl]

Newberg, OR 97132 Single-story house

 

[KAB]

Go Menue, 6, 8: Analog Type, make sure it is set to offair, NOT cable. If it was on cable, switch it and scan again.

 

[toto]

Not sure of your physical address, but centering on map from antennaweb ABC should be picked up by rabbit ears (remember the ears are VHF the ring is UHF)

 

[fishgirl]

Analog type is set to offair.

Our antenna is an RCA ANT1400. It's flat. I tried to post a link, but the forum won't let me since I'm new!

Thanks for all the quick replies so far! I really help I can get this figured out with your help!

 

[wetz73]

On your other TV, was one of the channels you were able to get ABC? If not, the antenna will not work for you. You may need and amplified antenna. If ABC is one of the channels, does the antenna pick up ABC when hooked directly to the TV your 722 is on?

 

[KAB]

Also keep in mind the tuner in the 622/722 is not the best in the world. You mentioned you got two stations on your TV. They might not get picked up by the 722. As SPEED said, you probably need an amplified antenna.

 

[toto]

Go to antennaweb.org. Type in your physical address, zip and one or multiple story(Name, City, State not necessary). This will give you a lot of info including a color code on antenna type. Remember yellow is rabbit ears green not much more and light green because of the conservative approach of the site is powered rabbit ears. The street map will give you a line drawing of the direction from your home of the towers. This is the best guide you will find outside a local professional.

 

[fishgirl]

Hmmmm..... sounds like I need a stronger antenna. I hooked this one up directly to my main tv and didn't get ABC at all. I'll send my husband back to the store for a different antenna. If that doesn't work, I'll be back for more help! Thanks again!

 

[stimpson]

You can also check out the OTA forum. Lots of good info there as well. Good luck.

 

[BuddyBoy]

Not sure of your physical address, but centering on map from antennaweb ABC should be picked up by rabbit ears (remember the ears are VHF the ring is UHF)

I must be missing something. My read of the antennaweb chart is that ABC digital is broadcast on UHF channel 43.

 

[wetz73]

The digital and analog channels are different. For example, our local CBS is 31 analog, 30 digital (shows as 31-1 right now) while our MyN is 59 analog, 39 digital. After 2/17, many stations will change actual channel number.

 

[fishgirl]

Okay, so now we got a bigger, better antenna. I was able to pick up three channels when hooked up directly to the tv. I still got nothing when hooked up to the receiver box. When I'm in my local channel menu, the signal strength indicator shows nothing and is all grayed out. That makes me think that the receiver is not even acknowleging that an antenna is connected. What is this screen supposed to look like when you have an antenna connected?

 

[CJBaker]

Make sure you are tuned to the ACTUAL channel number on the box and not the VIRTUAL channel number. See TVFool.com for more info. You will get a bar across the bottom when it finds something. The digitals may display a channel on your TV but it may not be the actual channel number. (i.e. channel 51 UHF here displays as 10.1) TVFool will tell you where to be. I found the tuner in the 612 to be very good at receiving channels

 

[Dah-Henny]

I watch OTA directly hooked to the TV. The receiver's tuner is not as sensitive as the TV's. I also have the OTA fed into the receiver, mainly, so that when the 722 gets a lock on the OTA channels, I can get the guide data on the epg.

This may help, but you need to know the transmit numbers of the channel you want. Go to the set-up of local channels, select add channels (NOT SCAN CHANNELS), then enter the transmit number. Adjust the antenna until the receiver gets a signal and locks onto it. Then select done so that the receiver will store it.

 

[garys]

Okay, so now we got a bigger, better antenna. I was able to pick up three channels when hooked up directly to the tv. I still got nothing when hooked up to the receiver box. When I'm in my local channel menu, the signal strength indicator shows nothing and is all grayed out. That makes me think that the receiver is not even acknowleging that an antenna is connected. What is this screen supposed to look like when you have an antenna connected?

Did you enter the transit number or scan for the local channels?

 

[cparker]

What antenna did you get? (The "bigger and better" one)
Where did you PUT this new antenna?
(Is it outside? Inside?)
Is it in a location where it is pointed, more or less, in the direction of where the TV station transmit towers are located?

If this new antenna is having trouble when connected directly to a TV, then the issue seems NOT to be the VIP722.

Using the charts and graphs at TVFool.com it appears you have a mountain range (or a line of hills) between you and the transmission towers. Is Newberg in a valley?

Your antenna should be pointing at about 20 degrees magnetic to get started. Do you have a compass? Get a compass. Needle pointing north. Stand, facing north, put your arms out in front of you, palms of your hands together. You're pointing north. Now take your RIGHT hand and move it away from your left hand (left hand stays pointing north) so that the distance between them is about 20 to 24 inches. Your right hand should be pretty close to pointing at 20 degrees.

Of course, if you have a compass to begin with, you can probably figure out about where 20 degrees would be.

Guys, she appears to be in a 2Edge area on TVFool due to terrain. No Line of sight to towers. I put her antenna on a 40 foot mast and still couldn't get line of sight, but most of the towers aren't that far away. Around 20 miles.

 

[reddice]

Welcome to the reality of Digital TV fishgirl. DTV can be a real pain to pick up reliably even if you live close to the towers. The LOS and multipath are big problems that analog TV does not face. Besides a better picture I don't like trying to pull in DTV. Analog is able to travel father and it is more reliable yet it has a worse picture. It may be snowy but at least you can watch it. With DTV if you don't get a signal at least around 50 you get pixelated boxes and then nothing but a black screen. Talk about progress. After the transition there are going to be a lot of people who won't be able to get any TV OTA at all digital.

 

[jlong27]

I had to get an outdoor antenna. Before that my 622 would pick up nothing. I did hook up the outdoor antenna inside my house and it didn't pickup all the channels. Once I mounted it to the roof and pointed it toward the antenna farm in my area all channels came in perfectly. The antenna I purchased is not amplified and it's about a 1'X1' square. Not the old school metal monster.