Helping an elderly neighbor receive OTA channels, need help

[2timer]

Hi guys. I know this isn't about newer tech, but I've a question. My next door neighbor is an older veteran. He purchased a digital TV, one year old, but only gets one channel. I'm trying to help him get all the OTA channels so he can watch the local news.

He has a 19" Toshiba DTV with HDMI, VGA, and RCA inputs. But since he wants to watch OTA, I plugged in an antenna in the COAX. When I do a scan for channels, it only picks up one channel.

Weirdly, if I open the menu and scroll up and down the "Channel Add/Delete" menu, I sometimes can pick up the other local stations. But I can never pick them up when channel surfing or channel scanning.

I've told him his problem is the signal is weak. Is there an inexpensive solution to picking up a weak signal, without moving the TV? If he purchases a 20' coaxial and mounts his antenna on the roof, will this work? The antenna he has is passive, it's big and cost $$20 from radio shack, but it doesn't have a DC power jack to plug in.

Thanks.

 

[fralexandr]

What kind of antenna are we talking about? does it have rabbit ears and a circle? Is the antenna an outdoor antenna? is it omnidirectional?
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-9SToKtnkJfn/learn/learningcenter/home/antenna.html

I'm guessing that you scanned for both digital and analog channels?
Do you know where the TV radio towers are?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_in_Colorado_Springs,_Colorado
It looks like colorado springs/pueblo area should have several OTA channels.

Putting the antenna on the roof should help, but it will obviously make it harder to adjust if direction matters.

It might be better to just give him an old PC/tablet and teach him to surf Hulu 😛 or the news websites (you could even let him use your internet if he doesn't have his own). Though that would depend on $ I suppose.

 

[2timer]

Hi Alexander. This is the antenna he has: http://m.radioshack.com/radioshack/product/detail.do?itemId=3643548&categoryId=2739589&cust_categoryId=&path=Home%7CTV+and+Video%7CAccessories%7CAntennas%7CIndoor%7CRadioShack%26reg%3B+Indoor+HDTV+Antenna

it's an indoors antenna with rabbit ears and an amplifier shape.

That's a good question about the scan. The channel scan doesn't have options. But, I think it's both digital and analog, because when I open the channel list, it does categorize the channels as digital and analog.

And I'm actually in Tucson - old sig sorry. 🙂

 

[fralexandr]

http://www.avsforum.com/t/131829/tucson-az-hdtv
You should get several stations.
If they're digital, they usually go something like 5-1, 5-2,7-1, 7-2 etc
and if they're analog they just list a plain number, i.e. 5, 7.
the avs link says that many of the towers are around Mount Bigelow, though you might also want to try Tumamoc Hill

the manual for the antenna if you haven't looked over it yet
http://www.radioshack.com/graphics/uc/rsk/Support/ProductManuals/1500246_PM_EN.pdf
the manual indicates the antenna is not omnidirectional

if you want you can also return the indoor antenna and purchase an outdoor one.
indoor antennas are usually much smaller than outdoor ones and shaped differently, to save some living space. There are a few outdoor antennas on radioshack.com that run $29.99
http://www.radioshack.com/family/in...9&pg=1&searchSort=TRUE&retainProdsInSession=1

-----
fwiw, i've had good luck with a leaf style directional amplified antenna (for me, it worked better than the terk amplified directional kind)

the monoprice indoor/outdoor is pretty well reviewed
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=1090102&p_id=4730&seq=1&format=2#description

 

[2timer]

http://www.avsforum.com/t/131829/tucson-az-hdtv
You should get several stations.
If they're digital, they usually go something like 5-1, 5-2,7-1, 7-2 etc
and if they're analog they just list a plain number, i.e. 5, 7.
the avs link says that many of the towers are around Mount Bigelow, though you might also want to try Tumamoc Hill

the manual for the antenna if you haven't looked over it yet
http://www.radioshack.com/graphics/uc/rsk/Support/ProductManuals/1500246_PM_EN.pdf
the manual indicates the antenna is not omnidirectional

if you want you can also return the indoor antenna and purchase an outdoor one.
indoor antennas are usually much smaller than outdoor ones and shaped differently, to save some living space. There are a few outdoor antennas on radioshack.com that run $29.99
http://www.radioshack.com/family/in...9&pg=1&searchSort=TRUE&retainProdsInSession=1

fwiw, i've had good luck with the leaf style antenna (for me, it worked better than the terk amplified directional kind)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...090102&p_id=4730&seq=1&format=3#specification

Awesome! I will recommend the "leaf" style antenna to him. Thanks a bunch!

 

[The Stigenator]

www.antennaweb.org --> put in address and it will tell you which direction to point at. Remember your antenna has to be perpendicular to direction.

 

[2timer]

www.antennaweb.org --> put in address and it will tell you which direction to point at. Remember your antenna has to be perpendicular to direction.

'preciate the link, thanks!