Being up on the mesa is probably a big part of your success. You've got a clean shot across the ocean and down the San Fernando Valley to LA. I've tried a similar setup from down lower in Goleta valley, and have only gotten a few channels, presumably because the Mesa (that you're on top of!) blocks the faint signal from Mt. Wilson.
--Ted
On 5/27/2021 11:44 AM, Levi C. Maaia - K6LCM via SBARC-list wrote:
Thanks to everyone who replied with some useful info on OTA digital TV in Santa Barbara. I decided to try my luck with roof mounting and adding a VHF antenna + duplexer. To my surprise, I was able to pick up many Los Angeles, San Diego and even Tijuana stations from my home on the Mesa! KNBC 4 (UHF ch. 36 - 90+ miles away) seems to come in much more reliably than KSBY 6 (K10PV-D relay on VHF ch. 10 - 5 miles away on Gibraltar), even with a high gain VHF high band beam antenna. So I accomplished what I set out to do: receive live NBC network programming for free! Attached is a screen grab of the 94 over-the-air DTV channels that I am able to capture at the moment. Most are actually from out of our SB market area. We'll see what happens in the winter when ducting is not as favorable as it is now.
For those interested, in addition to some 5' antenna mast sections from Home Depot and a standard metal strap chimney mount, I also had the best luck with pointing these two antennas toward Mt. Wilson (Northeast from my QTH). I don't really need to use the rotator for the UHF antenna since KEYT seems to come in even better off the back side of the antenna.
PXL_20210527_183935163.jpg
*PBD WA-2608 Digital Amplified Outdoor HD TV Antenna with Mounting Pole & 40 ft RG6 Coax Cable* https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0748KYTZN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_tit... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0748KYTZN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
*30-2475 - Fringe Directional Antenna VHF-Hi HDTV 174-230MHz* https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014M0XXES/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_tit... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014M0XXES/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I combined the two antenna feedlines right at the mast with this device so I could run a single RG-6 coax to the TV. (Do not use a regular cable TV splitter to combine VHF and UHF antennas, you will cut your already weak incoming signal levels in half)
*Antennas Direct VHF / UHF Antenna Combiner* https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PBTPN4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_tit... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PBTPN4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Remember that the TV channel number used in marketing and branding is not necessarily the same as the RF channel. For example, while KTTV Fox 11 is actually on RF channel 11 (VHF) and KABC 7 is actually on RF channel 7 (VHF), KEYT 3 is actually on RF channel 27 (UHF) and KNBC 4 is actually on RF channel 36 (UHF). TVFool.com http://TVFool.com and Wikipedia are good resources for referencing which RF channels local TV stations are actually on.
Happy DTV DXing & 73!
LCM
*Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM*
www.levimaaia.com http://www.levimaaia.com/ +1.805.604.5384 tel://+1.805.604.5384
On Thu, May 6, 2021 at 10:42 AM Levi C. Maaia - K6LCM <k6lcm@maaia.com mailto:k6lcm@maaia.com> wrote:
Anyone in Santa Barbara/Goleta/Carp using an antenna to pick up over the air TV? I'm wondering if the KSBY signal can be picked up around these parts. I'm getting KEYT and (ABC and CBS) but no NBC. I think KSBY in SLO has a DTV translator for the South Coast on Gibraltar but I can't pick it up from the Mesa. Anyone else having any luck? LCM
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