Course,
I will def look into that VHF/UHF. I'm using an Amplified antenna. I've been receiving 7 and 11 for months. But suddenly I've lost them COMPLETELY. MY DLP signal strength has no bars at all no matter how I point my antenna.

Heres a question.

Suppose my tuner is not well (not calibrated right or something)...
is it possible to buy a DVR with an HD tuner and watch channels via the recorder rather than fix the tuner in the TV?

In VCR it could be done. You simply run the antenna into the VCR and set the tv to channel 3 and then change the channels on the VCR.

However with the new digital format rolling in, I'm not sure it's even possible.

Aug

Ok heres the link to my antenna.

It seems to say it's both UFH and VHF

http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/uc/rsk/Support/ProductManuals/1502186_PM_EN.pdf

FWIW, here in NYC, the local CBS affiliate Channel 2 is tramsmitted digitally from a high up UHF channel, 63 if I recall correctly. My antenna is an ancient Radio Shack VHF/UHF roof mount pointed at the ESB antenna, maybe 10 miles as the crow flies. My Samsung HDTV will not pull it in most of the time, neither will a Sammy SRT351 ATSC tuner. But a Channel Master CM7000 ATSC tuner has no problems whatever with it. No problems with any of the other channels on any of the devices. So yes, it could be the tuner and as suggested earlier, your first response should be rescanning the channels. And check with the neighbors, see if they also suddenly developed problems with those channels.

I did a rescan and now 13-1 and 9-1 are present. However 11-1 and 7-1 (fox and abc) are GONNERS.

They're not even in the channel line up to add.

I've seen this before with my TV where it suddenly drops a few channels off the list.

As I stated, our tv in the garage is getting all the stations just fine using a converter and rabbit ears. MY $40,000.00 hi def super duper fantastic 10,000,000/80i digital supersonic piece is a crapper!
funny how that works huh?

all HD channels are UHF. The # you see is most likely a virtual channel so stations can keep their "brand" number.

But it could be that they're xmitter is on lower power. worst thing about digital TUNERS is that unless it gets the signal, you can't manually bring it in like Analog stations. Stupid imho.

Not all HD channels are UHF. Some are VHF in certain locations, but the problem the OP posted is going on all over the US since the switch over.

You can see general discussions here including ongoing discussions for particular areas of the US. For the OP, there is one for Los Angeles as well.

John

HD digital staions in my area are both VHF and UHF. Some of the problems are low transmitter power, different transmit antenna lobe configurations to prevent interference with other stations, multipath on strong and weak signals, antenna relocation changes, people believing that all HD channels were UHF and bought UHF antennas, ( the bean counters like VHF as it requires less power), during atmospheric "ducting" a rescan of the TV will raise hell with local channels on the same frequency, rabit ears just won't cut it anymore, and the magic government boxes are only digital and not high def. so if you want hi def you have to by the tv anyway and BTW the tuners in the latest TVs are superior in performance. ( I have six of them, 3 Sony's, 2 Sharps, 1 MY-HD 120, ) (and I had a Sony CRT, 2 Samsung T165's, and 1 MRD 200)
JJK

hmmm.... well, if there are still stations allowed to broadcast on VHF then the whole "digital transition" is a crock.... One of the major points was to free the VHF band for non-TV transmissions. Last I really checked in to it (a few years ago) everything had to be UHF 13-51. Below 13 & above 51 had to change their transmission to fit in the new range so it could be used for something else. Must be an exception for stations who couldn't figure out how to change over after 13 years. :/

hmmm.... well, if there are still stations allowed to broadcast on VHF then the whole "digital transition" is a crock.... One of the major points was to free the VHF band for non-TV transmissions.

Actually the reason for the switch was because the broadcast monopolies lobbied for it. Their purpose was to be able to get more stations into less bandwidth (which is possible with digital). This was (as usual) for their benefit and not the consumer's.

Of course, they also control the message in the US via the media monopolies.

John

This may not be the case in your area, but I know that several of our local stations planned to go "black" for a short period of time after the final switch.

As I understand it, the stations have been runing both analog and digital signals concurrently using two separate antennas. The down time is necesary to remove the analog antenna and reposition the newer digital antenna for maximum legal output.

This may not aply to all digital stations, depending on their transmitting tower.

Update to my post. Researching the matter this weekend I came across information that clarified the situation. Several of the NYC stations actually used the digital switchover date to switch to a different frequency for their digital service. CBS Ch 2 went from transmitting on UHF 56 to UHF 33. ABC Ch7 and PIX Ch 11 also switched channels. During the cutover on Friday there were periods when those stations were actually off the air. Some are still transmitting a public service announcement on the analog channels they had been using advising users as to their options regarding the digital switch. They will continue these broadcasts for the next few weeks. In my particular case, all the main digital services now offer me 100% signal strength on all receivers and only ION (nee PXN) drops down to 70%. I did miss recording 20/20 on Friday due to my ignorance of the channel switch for ABC, but that was my only casualty due to the cutover. All in all a painless experience since i did catch the show live off of cable.

"well, if there are still stations allowed to broadcast on VHF then the whole "digital transition" is a crock"

HappyFriar, I don't know where you're getting your information about the digital transition, but everything you've said about it here in this thread is wrong. In fact, others have also posted some incorrect information as well. The fact is that there are a lot of companies wanting to offer new wireless services and they needed the bandwidth to do it, the UHF television band was largly unused and the FCC auctioned the upper portion of this valuable real estate.

The UHF band used to extend from channels 14 to 83. The FCC auctioned off channels 70-83 years ago and then recently auctioned off 52 through 69. The VHF band in the US has remained untouched. Channels 2-6 are in one frequency band and then there is a large frequency gap between channels 6 and 7. (Broadcast FM radio is in this gap along with some other stuff.) The next band is 7 through 13, then another very large gap between channel 13 and channel 14. 13 is the end of the VHF band and 14 is the start of the UHF band, which now only extends through channel 51.

VHF television stations had the option of moving back to their original VHF channel assignments if they had been operating their temporary digital transmitters in the UHF band. Here in Albuquerque, VHF channels 7 and 13 moved back, Digital channel 9 started on channel 9 and stayed where they were. All the other VHF stations have decided to stay in the UHF band, but they are allowed to keep their original VHF channel numbers in name only for branding purposes.

Well according to the official dtv.gov site, there are still both VHF and UHF stations in the digital format so you need an antenna capable of both. This seems to be my experience as well in the Clermont Florida area (just west of Orlando):

http://dtv.gov/fixreception.html

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/dtvantennas.html

If you go to http://www.antennaweb.org, you can enter your exact address and see what stations use what frequencies in your area.

Since the switch over I have lost several channels that I have been getting for years. I do have a good Winegaurd u/v antenna with amp and rotor and could get many more channels before. I think most of the problem with antennas is that the direction has to be almost dead on, where analog you could get close and still get good reception. Also at this time of year, if you have trees close by in the path, you could lose all or most of the signal.
I live about 50 miles north east of Philly and as of now can't get any channels from there. When I did my last scan, I started with the antenna pointed north, then scanned. I did a new scan about every 10 degrees until I hit north on the other side. My converter box is an RCA and allows me to save the previous scan. I tried other brands and none of them would do that. If I did a second scan, it would wipe out the first one.
The stations still doing analog are all very low power stations. Not exactly sure what is considered low power, but I would guess a few miles transmitting distance.

Lynn

PS: I think it's a conspiracy to drive us all nuts.

The actual channel in use is also in parenthesis on your display when you select it.
JJK

"The actual channel in use is also in parenthesis on your display when you select it. "

YMMV - It depends on your receiver. Mine doesn't.

The TV and FM radio towers here in Albuquerque are over one mile tall (1609 meters.) (OK, they're really only about 50 feet tall, but they're at the top of a 10,678 foot (3254 meter) mountain and Albuquerque is 5,280 feet (1609 meters) above sea level.) FM radio and TV reception has never been a problem around here. Pretty much everybody for 60 miles (100 km) around town has a completely unobstructed view of the towers. They are the highest transmitters in the world.

My Antenna is indoor/outdoor. Should I mount this on the eaves of my house, on the outside? Perhaps that might help?

Aug

Putting your antenna outside may help. If you can attach enough cable to let you move it around to find the best reception that would also help.

My reaction to the transition is that I feel very sorry for those who do not have cable. For those thinking about getting the HD for free over the air rather than paying for it on cable - good luck....

"For those thinking about getting the HD for free over the air rather than paying for it on cable - good luck...."

Actually, it's not that difficult and millions are doing it quite successfully..

I have both over-the-air HD and cable HD, on the local channels, over-the-air looks better than off the cable due to the conversion step on the cable which compromises the image quality. The cable HD also has a somewhat lower bitrate than the same channel with the antenna.

I concur with John's assessment regarding OTA HD being better than off cable. I have a similar setup and actually record OTA HD onto my ReplayTV DVRs, which are not HD. However, the downrezzed HD is output anamorphically onto 4:3 SD and is gorgeous when played back onto my widescreen display. Not HD, but a damn sight better than any SD I've ever seen.

The live OTA HD newscasts (in house, not news events) as viewed on my Sony 46" 1080P and 40" appear as good as Bluray/HD movies. Sharpness, resolution, color for all practical purposes is identical with "0" banding but there is some minor pixelation during the initial scene change for about 1/8 of a second. I coudn't be happier with OTA as I receive all the old local channels and sometimes with "ducting" some of the channels 300 miles away. Those channels (12 to be exact at this time) do clutter up the spectrum however as most of the time "no signal". So at this time there are 28 local digital channels and 3 analog.
JJK