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WMYD 20.1 gave up the ghost

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
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MWmetalhead
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Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: WMYD 20.1 gave up the ghost

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:18 am

Thanks for the additional description and Amazon links, sensaipai.

The elements on your antenna are made primarily for UHF reception, not VHF reception. It is also a directional antenna (which you already knew).

This explains in part why WTOL and WJBK are problematic. WTVG broadcasts at a slightly higher frequency than WTOL. So, that fact and perhaps sheer luck in terms of that azimuth line (from their tower to your apartment) are why you can pick them up.

If you choose to buy a new indoor antenna in the future, I would look for one that includes longer rods, or preferably, adjustable dipoles.

I will say the fact you can pick up some Detroit UHF stations with indoor placement from Monroe is fairly impressive. As the crow flies, the Detroit towers are probably 45 miles from your location.

I do still suspect all the amps are doing more harm than good.



senpaisai
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2019 1:37 pm

Re: WMYD 20.1 gave up the ghost

Post by senpaisai » Fri Dec 17, 2021 9:26 am

Yeah, you're right. Sad thing is when I lived with my mother just passed the county fairgrounds, I had built my own antenna out of the shell of a long commercial florescent light fixture we had in the kitchen. It just upped and died one day, so while she went to Lowe's to buy a new one, I removed it from the kitchen ceiling, gut and trash all the electrical components and took into my part of the house. Using a 10 foot section of RG4, I bolted the silver outside wire to the fixture and soldered a copper fractal to the inner copper wire, screwed the other end into a old school balancer, and screwed the balancer into a 75ohm adapter that hooked directly to the TV. No amps at all. That thing was SICK! 😁 All I had to do was lean it vertically against something at ground level and it pulled everything in. The fixture was pretty much functioning as both a dipole and a reflector pumping UHF signal into that fractal. Insane reception, and this was in a part of the house that was an addition the landlord built in the 1960s ... out of cinderblock! I freakin' MISS that homebrew antenna! 😂



innate-in-you
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Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:54 am

Re: WMYD 20.1 gave up the ghost

Post by innate-in-you » Sun Jan 23, 2022 2:52 am

senpaisai wrote:
Sat Dec 11, 2021 1:27 pm
MWmetalhead wrote:
Fri Dec 10, 2021 5:28 pm
It's bizarre you can get WTVG but not WTOL. Both are VHF-hi signals, as each broadcasts on its respective PSIP channel. WTOL cranks out a little more power than WTVG and its transmitting antenna is higher, too.

I would suggest adjusting your antenna or purchasing a new antenna and then rescanning.

Numerous stations were doing test broadcasts with ATSC 1.0 signals before the last repack, btw. Any TV more than a couple years old is very unlikely to have ATSC 3.0 reception capability. Most new sets still lack it.
My antenna is in the bedroom sitting on top of a dresser with 3 amplifiers on it. It's an Ollie's POS I've had for years! 😂 I'm on the 2nd floor of 3 floor apartment complex with east facing windows, so I'm lucky to get anything. But I get the most channels by pointing it between Ann Arbor and Southfield, and if I want WTOL and WJBK bad enough, I have to move the antenna into the living room and point it due north straight down the hallway, but I'll lose the other Detroit stations in the process.

I used to live on the 3rd floor here. Corner apartment with a west facing window. Got everything between Detroit, Windsor, and Toledo. Oh, and I got a Ryzen 3600 rig on a desk just 10 feet away from the TV in front of the east facing window. Once I sit down, turn on the wireless mouse, and wake it up, the TV loses all OTA signal from the interference. It's probably why I got the 41 channels the other night - it was the first time I had shut the rig down completely since building it in September! 😂

I think WTOL's transmitter is in Point Place and a bit farther out than WTVG'S ...
WTOL TX is about 2 or 3 miles SE of WTVG TX.

The easternmost Toledo area TX is WNWO, atop the tallest structure in the whole state.



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