[mythtv-users] OT: OTA CBS in Chicago?

[George Mari]

Dewey Smolka wrote:
 >
[deleted]
> 
> If anyone is getting WBBM in Chicago, how are you doing it?
> 
> 

I'm in Vernon Hills, about 30 miles from the Sears and Hancock Towers.

For my VHF reception, I'm using a home-made folded-dipole antenna, cut 
to channel 3, as described here:

http://www.wfu.edu/~matthews/misc/dipole.html

This and a Channel Master 4228 for UHF are mounted in my attic, 
connected to a CM 7777 pre-amp, then split to 2 TVs and my HD-5500 card.

I never get drop-outs or any kind of signal degradation on WBBM-DT - it 
comes in perfectly for me.  My signal strength is always between 50 and 
75% on my TV for WBBM, higher for the UHF stations.

I'm about 60 miles from Milwaukee, and I even get the Milwaukee VHF 
analog stations with that setup, but not the digital ch. 8 from Milwaukee.

A couple of months ago, I setup a Zenith converter box for my parents, 
who are about 12 miles from Sears tower, close to O'Hare airport.  They 
didn't get WBBM-DT either on the initial channel scan, so I tried 
repositioning the rabbit ears they had completely horizontal, and 
"broadside" toward Chicago.  I re-scanned, and WBBM-DT came in just 
fine.  That set is on a second floor, east wall, so they have some 
advantages there.

  I think the person who posted previously mentioning multi-path is on 
the right track.  If you can see multiple ghosts on analog ch. 11 
currently, you may not have any better luck when WBBM-DT moves to Ch. 12 
in June.  You may just need to invest in a better antenna.  Or if you 
can get your current antenna higher up, towards an east wall, or by a 
window, or outside.

It's proably a good idea anyway, because ABC Ch. 7 is moving their 
digital signal back to analog ch. 7 in June, so that will be 2 VHF 
stations we'll need to receive here in Chicago.