I have a Venturer HDTV 22 in Digital LCD TV. It worked ok and I was able to pick up local TV. But after the switch to digital, I have never been able to pick up a local network station. I obviously don’t use the TV very much but today we had a blizzard in Washington and I needed to get weather information. So I checked all the cords – I only have an antenna hooked up to the TV. I scanned the channels again and it picked up only one channel – Daystar which is channel 74. Then I scanned again and it barely picked up a local access chanel (in Spanish) in nearby Virginia. What an odd variety of stations. The local stations are 4,6 and 12 and I cannot get any of them.

Do you have any suggestions?

 

Have you purchased a digital converter box that is required to pick the channels? I don't know if your TV has the correct tuner, so that is why I mentioned the converter box. Also try this:

http://www.dtv.gov/fixreception.html

 

Its a digital TV so it doesn't need a converter. I have moved the antenna as well. I got the stations before the conversion so I would think it wouldn't be the antenna. It has the round circle and I have the antennas extended to the full length.

 

Just because you have a digital TV doesn't mean you have the required tuner. What is the model # for your TV?

 

The problem is most likely your antenna. What was good enough for analog signals isn't always good enough for digital. From your description. it sounds like you have rabbit ears with a UHF halo. You may need to go to an outside antenna - the higher the better.

With the old system, you could pull in weak stations. With digital, it is either a good picture or no picture. Thank a politician.

 

I believe this is the model number -PLV36220S1. There was very little info on the Venturer website. The antenna is a Phillips indoor amlified antenna - VHF, UHF, FM HDTV digital. 32dB Amplification MANT310.

Actually I do have to tune in the stations - they don't just come on clear. I have to tune the antenna to get the clearest picture. The station on chanel 74 comes in fairly clear but the lower spectrum station on chanel 7 is pretty fuzzy. What is weird is that I got the stations wrong. There is an ABC affiliate in Washington DC on chanel 7 but I can't get it. I get that Virginia station in Spanish. Why would I be able to get these two stations but not more?

I live in a three story townhouse so it would be very difficult to get an antenna up on top of that. Are there any other options? Thanks so much for your help.

 

When the big switch first came reception was so bad in some cities the FCC went to peoples homes to try to find a solution. In some cases stations were allowed to increase the power in other cases the frequencies were changed. The station your trying to get may be one that was missed. You might actually call the station or Email them. Most have someone to respond to problems like this.

 

when you scanned for channels, you did set it to "antennae" correct?

here is another site that may help you locate the channels you should be getting: The Digital TV Transition: Reception Maps

and Antennas and Digital Television


I cannot speak too much about DTV but I know a person that is using this antenna and I can say, in our area, it works very very well:

Indoor VHF/UHF/HDTV Antenna with RF Remote Control - RadioShack.com

 

This tells me that you are trying to pick up analog stations on your digital TV. Channel 74 is probably a low-power station -- one of the few that are still allowed to transmit analog signals.

A digital station won't be fuzzy. It will either (1) display a pristine picture, (2) display a stuttering mess of blocks and freezes, or (3) display nothing at all.

Run the TV through its auto-channel setup for DTV with the input set to antenna (not cable).

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I had the thing set to CATV instead of air. The choices are a big primitive to use so I missed that setting. Now its all coming through very clearly. You are a lifesaver!!