How to get guide for large geographic area?

[adam1991]

I'm moving toward cutting the cord. The plan is an outside antenna maybe 25 feet up.

I really only want to get the major channels around here--that's 6 broadcasters with their main channels (all the networks) plus their sub-channels. But I can imagine also being able to receive stations from other areas 50-76 miles away, and those are separate metro areas.

When doing TV setup, one tells WMC what your ZIP code is and what kind of signal you have. I've always had cableCARD, so that's easy. But how does WMC let you pick what OTA stations you're getting? How does it limit what it provides for the guide, without overlimiting you? How does it choose what channels to show you in the guide simply by looking at your ZIP code?

[Ed]

You don't pick what stations you get. If a station signal is picked up, but too weak to get a reliable signal, you can remove it/de-list it. There's metadata in the ATSC signal, any signal strong enough to just be picked up only by WMC during the initial scan (meaning it can only tell a station is there - you might not be able to watch it because of crappy signal) - it will match the callsign given by the metadata for that channel/frequency to the guide listings it has downloaded for OTA stations in your region. After scan, there is an interface/section where you can see the signal levels for the stations WMC was able to pick up. You can either re-position the antenna to see how it affects the signal levels as it's displaying this (it cycles through all the stations automatically when in this mode), or just remove the stations with poor signal levels.

The zip code simply lets WMC know what regions to dl ATSC guide data for, to match any possible station you might be able to pick up.

[adam1991]

thanks. Makes sense.