AM21 question...

1211 Views 10 Replies 10 Participants Last post by tfederov, Jul 13, 2008

Tiger62

Discussion Starter · Jul 13, 2008

I haven't seen this discussed elsewhere, so I just thought I'd throw it out there and hope that someone can ease my mind

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I'm picking up (with great difficulty, sometimes) all of my "local" OTA channels (all UHF) with the AM21 but when two of my channels revert back to their old VHF slots (9 and 12) next February, is the AM21 going to receive them OK? I know that probably sounds like a ridiculous question, but I haven't seen any discussion of the AM21's VHF digital reception capabilities.

I've been pondering what a PITA just the antenna rigamarole is going to be but I've pretty much resolved that. Comments?

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skyviewmark1

· #2 · Jul 13, 2008

Hopefully DirecTV will quickly convert then to the new locations once they change. Not sure what will be involved, but I suspect it will be seamless on the customer side. But then who really knows until it happens.

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carl6

· #3 · Jul 13, 2008

There are really two questions here. The first is: Can the AM21 receive and work with VHF as well as UHF signals, and the answer is yes, that will be no problem. The second is: Will DirecTV have the proper channel mapping implemented when changes occur next February. The answer to that is unknown, but they are working hard to accomplish that.

Carl

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bhelton71

· #4 · Jul 13, 2008

Tiger62 said:
I haven't seen this discussed elsewhere, so I just thought I'd throw it out there and hope that someone can ease my mind ...

I'm picking up (with great difficulty, sometimes) all of my "local" OTA channels (all UHF) with the AM21 but when two of my channels revert back to their old VHF slots (9 and 12) next February, is the AM21 going to receive them OK? I know that probably sounds like a ridiculous question, but I haven't seen any discussion of the AM21's VHF digital reception capabilities.

I've been pondering what a PITA just the antenna rigamarole is going to be but I've pretty much resolved that. Comments?

I have 1 VHF station local - (CH8-1 VHF:9) and the AM21 has no issue receiving it. We will have 1 other station that I know of (CH13-1 UHF:46) reverting back to its VHF:13 slot.

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Tiger62

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 13, 2008

bhelton71 said:
I have 1 VHF station local - (CH8-1 VHF:9) and the AM21 has no issue receiving it. We will have 1 other station that I know of (CH13-1 UHF:46) reverting back to its VHF:13 slot.

That's the answer I was looking for. Thanks

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rhambling

· #6 · Jul 13, 2008

it also depends on the tribune database. the am21 doesn't scan for the channels, it receives the info from a third party for the channels numbers. that database has to be updated for the am21 to get the new channel numbers.
i assume that after the switch you would need to resetup the antenna so it can download the new data

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bobnielsen

· #7 · Jul 13, 2008

rhambling said:
it also depends on the tribune database. the am21 doesn't scan for the channels, it receives the info from a third party for the channels numbers. that database has to be updated for the am21 to get the new channel numbers.
i assume that after the switch you would need to resetup the antenna so it can download the new data

The Tribune database got messed up on one of the subchannels here and 7-3 showed up in the guide for a while instead of 7-2. When it was corrected there was no need to redo the setup. Hopefully it will be as seamless as that but as we all know, stuff happens.

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K4SMX

· #8 · Jul 13, 2008

Tiger62 said:
.....I'm picking up (with great difficulty, sometimes) all of my "local" OTA channels (all UHF) with the AM21 but when two of my channels revert back to their old VHF slots (9 and 12) next February, is the AM21 going to receive them OK? .....I've been pondering what a PITA just the antenna rigamarole is going to be but I've pretty much resolved that. Comments?

Since your two stations will be in the VHF high band, you may be able to pick them up with your existing UHF antenna, especially if it's a bow-tie/screen reflector type. You'll just have to see how it works. If not, you can buy a VHF high band-only antenna and use a splitter/combiner, which would probably provide a smaller visual "footprint" than a full VHF low band through UHF combo antenna.

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cwdonahue

· #9 · Jul 13, 2008

Tiger62 said:
I haven't seen this discussed elsewhere, so I just thought I'd throw it out there and hope that someone can ease my mind ...

I'm picking up (with great difficulty, sometimes) all of my "local" OTA channels (all UHF) with the AM21 but when two of my channels revert back to their old VHF slots (9 and 12) next February, is the AM21 going to receive them OK? I know that probably sounds like a ridiculous question, but I haven't seen any discussion of the AM21's VHF digital reception capabilities.

I've been pondering what a PITA just the antenna rigamarole is going to be but I've pretty much resolved that. Comments?

Do you have a VHF/UHF antenna or UHF only? That's where the rubber meets the road on this one. Because WBBM (Ch. 2) in Chicago had Ch. 3 assigned as its digital channel, I had to make sure I bought a VHF/UHF antenna. Then I had to add an antenna amplifier due to the low signal level on Ch. 3. Thank goodness WBBM is moving up higher in the VHF range when analog shutdown occurs on Feb. 18. My HR20-100 just barely holds the signal now. I got an AM-21 for my HR21-700 last week. It pulls in VHF much better than the OTA tuner in the HR20.

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houskamp

· #10 · Jul 13, 2008

biggest question will be is your antenna good enough..
I have stations all the way fron 2 to 54 and can recieve them all with the am21..

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tfederov

· #11 · Jul 13, 2008

I had that concern earlier, Dallas has one VHF station and I was wondering if they were going UHF after the 19th. Looks as though they'll be staying where they are.

I'm guessing worst case it'll be a couple of days for the providers (satellite and cable) to adjust to any issues brought on by the transition. Then again, they may be working with the local networks performing mock runs to make sure everything works fine come D(igital) Day.

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