My son now lives in NYC, Greenwich Village, on the 10th floor of a 30 story building. He has an HDYV (birthday gift from us) buy won’t shell out for cable. He currently gets no reception, uses it to view DVD’s. Before we buy him an indoor antenna for christmas, I would like to know if it is likely to provide reception or are there just too many tall buildings around blocking the signal. And if it is likely, and likely is all I as confirmation of, what will he be able to get, I assume the three majors plus public television.
I grew up in Brooklyn and never had cable until I was in high school - reception was generally good. Signal used to come from the top of the WTC; I believe the Empire State Building is the major site now.
We got 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC), 5 (FOX), 7 (ABC), 9 (WWOR, then syndicated content, now UPN), 11 (WPIX, then syndicated, now “The CW”))and 13 (PBS).
It would be impossible to tell, without knowing more about where his apartment is relative to other tall buildings, line of sight from the transmitter, and a host of other factors. The only way to really find out is to buy an antenna and hook it up.
Try a Silver Sensor. Remember after Feb 17th digital TV will take over. Analog will be gone and most but not all digital (DTV) will broadcast on UHF. Most NYC TV station will return to their VHF channels but some like WCBS, WNBC and WNYW will stay on their UHF channels and map to their VHF channels. For example WNYW is now on channel 5 (analog) and channel 44 (DTV). It will stay on channel 44 but it will show up as channel 5 due to PSIP mapping. So you will need a UHF antenna to get channel 5. This is because it’s on channel 44 and mapping to channel 5
Silver Sensors are UHF antennas but are usually OK for the high VHF (channel 7-13). So you may need rabbit ears AND a silver sensor. If you’re using a outdoor antenna and mouting it somehow make sure it gets UHF
I live in Chicago 5 miles from Sear Tower and I can’t get any DTV stations, due to buildings. DTV is much more sensitive to buildings. So I’ll have to get cable or lose TV after Feb 17th. Which is a shame 'cause right now I get 16 analog stations near perfect.
That’s astounding. I’ve never seen a situation where one can get good analog and not get digital. Maybe on first generation digital tuners, but never on current boxes. If the analog is snowy or has strong ghosting, I can see where there might be a problem. I’m on the northwest side (Lawrence and Kedzie) and have a rooftop antenna and get perfect and strong digital signals on all channels.
The Silver Sensor is a good idea for a small, indoor unit, but nothing beats a TV antenna that looks like a TV antenna.
From some of the reports that I’ve read, the problem in Manhattan is not low signal strength, it’s multipath. Multipath is what creates “ghosts” on analog TV. It’s so bad that Manhattan has been used as a field test site for evaluating the ability of ATSC receivers to deal with severe multipath. Early ATSC receivers were notoriously bad at coping with multipath. Some of the latest receiver designs are supposed to be much better.
Heh. My sons live only a few blocks from the Sears Tower and their digital reception is iffy – their apartment faces aways from the tower.
My own digital reception (I’m less than five miles from several stations and no more than 10 miles from any of them) is extremely chancy. Too much ground obstruction. I could compensate with a taller antenna, but digital is definitely trickier than analog.
Nitpick - no more UPN. It’s now “My 9” and is pretty much unwatchable. Remember that WWOR started as an independent station in SECAUCUS, NJ!
Anyway, I live on the first floor of a 3 story apartment building in Brooklyn, and I pick up all the above stations fine even without an external antenna, although ABC buzzes a lot.
This is the answer. I’ve lived in several apartments in Manhattan, and it’s totally unpredictable. Reception can change dramatically, even between rooms in the same apartment, even depending on where HE is, relative to the TV. So if you buy him an antenna for Christmas, be prepared for the possibility of returning it. He may have to be content watching DVDs, if he won’t shell out for cable.
I’ve been lucky where I am; about 2 miles north of the ESB, facing North, I find that I get great reception with a simple pair of $8 rabbit ears. Analog reception is terrible, but digital is fine. Sometimes I have to get up and move it around. Oh, and PBS doesn’t come in at all.
The $8 rabbit ears work better than an $80 antenna (looked like this) I bought and returned.
I used to be able to watch the NYC over-the-air television broadcasts with no difficulty in my old apartment that was north of New Paltz. My understanding is that when the 9/11 attack destroyed the repeater antennas on the World Trade Center, the networks felt that with most of their viewers either living in the city or having cable, it wasn’t worth the cost of replacing them.