I get CBS, NBC, PBS and FOX (3,6,13 and 19) analog with rabbit ears on my circa 1983 RCA.

I went to W-Mart and got the Magnavox CECB and hooked it up to the TV and rabbit ears and let it scan and I got PBS Digital (fake channel 13) I tried NBC, CBS, and FOX on their real channels and fake channels and got nothing.

I beleive Fox 19 is going to flash cut so dont bother there. CBS does not have their digital transmitter online on the Trenary tower yet so you wont get that either. NBC (TV6) has their digital antenna hundreds of feet lower and tens of KWs less power than their analog so dont expect to get that in Marquette either.

Unless you just want to watch PBS I would get a box with analog pass with your coupons. I took the box back to W-Mart.

Dont get a box without analog pass!

Thanks for the update from the U.P.

From looking at some of the coverage maps for the stations up there I really have to wonder how many folks up there are going to get more than one or two stations after the switch over to digital.

Holy crap, i didn't know the U.P. had internet connections ;)

Good to here from our brothers from the north

I'll PM CPanther95 and have him make this the official Marquette thread and tie it to the post with all the DMA listings.

Watch for a possible thread title change to make it inline with other local threads

I just put up a channel master 3018 (I think) with 7778 preamp on the top of the garage on a 5 foot mast in West Ishpeming. My mother in law now gets 3-WJMN, 6-WLUC, 10-WBUP, 13-WNMU, 19-WMQF, channel 14 (snowy) channel 17, and sometimes a snowy... this is not a joke either... 26 WGBA from Green Bay. 1400' elevation must be the reason why. No WBKP from Calumet though. What an idiotic decision to put channel 5 on up there... 5 and 6 very often wipe out each other. There's not enough channel separation between the two. Channel 4 would have been better.

I didn't check the digital stations. A few of the Western/Central U.P. digital stations will flash cut to only digital on 2/19/09. So, I'll evaluate them then.

Hello UP TV Viewers,

I work at WNMU-TV (channel 13) in Marquette and I wanted to let you know that we are happy to answer questions about our digital conversion plans. We are offering a DTV newsletter that can be downloaded from our web site, wnmutv.nmu.edu. Check out our DTV pages for updates, resources and other links.

If you are setting up a DTV converter box or digital television set, it might help to know:

- we are currently broadcasting low-power digital on ch. 33 (UHF) from a tower located in Marquette township (Morgan Meadows).

- on 2/17/2009 we plan to convert to broadcasting full-power digital on channel 13 (VHF) from our Ely Township tower.

- after the conversion, we hope to cover roughly the same coverage area as we do currently, but if you are located in a fringe area where reception is intermittant you may find it necessary to upgrade your antenna.

If you have any specific questions, we'd be happy to try to answer them. You'll find contact information at the link above.

Hello UP TV Viewers,

I work at WNMU-TV (channel 13) in Marquette and I wanted to let you know that we are happy to answer questions about our digital conversion plans. We are offering a DTV newsletter that can be downloaded from our web site, wnmutv.nmu.edu. Check out our DTV pages for updates, resources and other links.

If you are setting up a DTV converter box or digital television set, it might help to know:

- we are currently broadcasting low-power digital on ch. 33 (UHF) from a tower located in Marquette township (Morgan Meadows).

- on 2/17/2009 we plan to convert to broadcasting full-power digital on channel 13 (VHF) from our Ely Township tower.

- after the conversion, we hope to cover roughly the same coverage area as we do currently, but if you are located in a fringe area where reception is intermittant you may find it necessary to upgrade your antenna.

If you have any specific questions, we'd be happy to try to answer them. You'll find contact information at the link above.

Oh Great! Now I won't be getting any signals at all after the conversion!!
I am in a situation where all I can use are rabbit ears. I hope channel 6 at least leaves its channel 7 xmitter on for a while. I think I will buy a converter and try it and if I dont receive anything I will have to bring it back and just do without any TV.

We've heard that Channel 6 (WLUC) is planning to keep their low-power analog tranmitters, so you should continue to receive channel 7 in the Marquette area after the digital conversion.

In the U.P., there will be no way to tell exactly which channels you'll be able to get off the air until after the conversion in February 2009. Some stations are still formulating their conversion plans.

Marquette has terrain issues, so I wouldn't expect much if you live in town. That's why most of us have cable! In my case (living in south Marquette) I can't receive ANY analog channels with just rabbit ears.

We've heard that Channel 6 (WLUC) is planning to keep their low-power analog tranmitters, so you should continue to receive channel 7 in the Marquette area after the digital conversion.

In the U.P., there will be no way to tell exactly which channels you'll be able to get off the air until after the conversion in February 2009. Some stations are still formulating their conversion plans.

Marquette has terrain issues, so I wouldn't expect much if you live in town. That's why most of us have cable! In my case (living in south Marquette) I can't receive ANY analog channels with just rabbit ears.

I wonder why WLUC chose to go to UHF DT considering the terrain issues in the West/Central U.P. Seems like going to any VHF Hi station such as 7 or 8 might have been better for that reason. Plus, the UHF digital transmitter is rather weak at 83kW. Many UHF DT stations such as the ones in Milwaukee and Green Bay are at 1 MW.

Marquette has terrain issues, so I wouldn't expect much if you live in town. That's why most of us have cable! In my case (living in south Marquette) I can't receive ANY analog channels with just rabbit ears.

I have a circa 1983 RCA with a real hot receiver (it is one of those ones with the black plastic masks in front of the CRT) with a great picture. I know how lucky I am to have it and it gives me terrain defying performance with rabbit ears!

I am in the channel 7 coverage area and the supposed channel 6 area

CH6-
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV302649.html

CH7-
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX216053.html

I get channel 7 but not channel 6. I get channel 13 and channel 3 and Fox on channel 19. All these stations will have 10's of KW less power and most will have their antennas hundreds of feet lower. :mad:

HDTV/DTV will not be an improvement for me as I really believe the CECBs wont get solid signals here with rabbit ears. At least I have watchable analog signals here now.

BTW I will get cable if you pay for it:)

I have a circa 1983 RCA with a real hot receiver (it is one of those ones with the black plastic masks in front of the CRT) with a great picture. I know how lucky I am to have it and it gives me terrain defying performance with rabbit ears!

I am in the channel 7 coverage area and the supposed channel 6 area

CH6-
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV302649.html

CH7-
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX216053.html

I get channel 7 but not channel 6. I get channel 13 and channel 3 and Fox on channel 19. All these stations will have 10's of KW less power and most will have their antennas hundreds of feet lower. :mad:

HDTV/DTV will not be an improvement for me as I really believe the CECBs wont get solid signals here with rabbit ears. At least I have watchable analog signals here now.

BTW I will get cable if you pay for it:)

Yeah, probably no chance for WLUC with rabbit ears unless you are 10 miles from the tower. One thing about digital is that you can get the same coverage area with about 10% of the power due to error correction and more sensitive digital receivers. But, if stations such as WLUC choose to go to UHF, that's another matter. UHF degrades much more quickly than VHF especially over hilly terrain. So, I commend WNMU for sticking with VHF. I wish WLUC would have done the same or would jump to 670 kW instead of 67 on UHF. I believe WBUP is going to channel 10 with digital too. Channel 19, WMQF, is going to take a bit of a coverage hit with it's measly 1 kW transmitter. They're going from 500 kW analog to 1 kW digital... so theoretically, going to 50kW digital would give them similar coverage to what they have now. WJMN is licensed to 989 kW on UHF and has applied to go to 1 MW. C'mon TV6, you're going to get blown out of the water. Let's hope they upgrade sooner than later. May have to change the new slogan from "upper michigan's source" to "marquette county's source" if they don't.

suggestion to WNMU:
get rid of the NMU power point bulletin board and replace it with either "MHz Worldview" or "PBS World"

Otherwise, good job!

suggestion to WNMU:
get rid of the NMU power point bulletin board and replace it with either "MHz Worldview" or "PBS World"

Otherwise, good job!

Thanks! Our WNMU-DT programming will change in February. 13.1 will carry our primary channel lineup in SD (currently on 13.2); 13.2 will be all-HD from PBS; and 13.3 will be a delayed PBS feed to give viewers an alternate PBS schedule. This lineup may change again in the future, as more programming is upgraded to HD. WNMU will also begin 24-hour broadcasts on February 18.

Our digital transmissions will be coming from our Ely tower after the conversion, and they will be on channel 13. Channel 33 will go away. Viewers will have to re-scan for our new channels on 2/18. We expect to cover about the same broadcast area as analog 13 does now.

If you have any questions about WNMU-TV, the DTV conversion, or DTV in the Upper Peninsula we are glad to answer. You can email us at dtv13@nmu.edu.

--
Melinda Stamp
WNMU-TV

I have a circa 1983 RCA with a real hot receiver (it is one of those ones with the black plastic masks in front of the CRT) with a great picture. I know how lucky I am to have it and it gives me terrain defying performance with rabbit ears!

I am in the channel 7 coverage area and the supposed channel 6 area

CH6-
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV302649.html

CH7-
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX216053.html

I get channel 7 but not channel 6. I get channel 13 and channel 3 and Fox on channel 19. All these stations will have 10's of KW less power and most will have their antennas hundreds of feet lower. :mad:

HDTV/DTV will not be an improvement for me as I really believe the CECBs wont get solid signals here with rabbit ears. At least I have watchable analog signals here now.

BTW I will get cable if you pay for it:)

Since no one else will say it. I will. It is your Antenna it is not good at all. Time for a new antenna and to use RG6 Coaxial Cable to connect to box. If you want to watch real stations this is your only choice. It is more your antenna then the box you choose. My aunt loves the TERK-55, but there are other choices out there. There is a thread on here that talks just about antenna's

Also as far as passthru you have more then a few choices

1) dtvpal with best tv guide like feature (avail in sears) Passthru is one button push on remote

2) Channel Master CM-7000

3) RCA (turn off box for passthru)

4) Zennith (turn off box for passthru)

5) I believe the apex and Zinwell ZAT-970A? also with passthru but not sure on those two. You need to look into it


Hope this helps. Remember Digital is a all or none proposition. What used to pass in analog with snow or waves will not here. I am 100% convinced it is your BAD antenna

Since no one else will say it. I will. It is your Antenna it is not good at all. Time for a new antenna and to use RG6 Coaxial Cable to connect to box. If you want to watch real stations this is your only choice. It is more your antenna then the box you choose. My aunt loves the TERK-55, but there are other choices out there. There is a thread on here that talks just about antenna's




Good points. If you get a nice outdoor antenna this won't be as much of an issue and if you get a rotator you might be lucky enough to pull in WBKP from Houghton.

Good points. If you get a nice outdoor antenna this won't be as much of an issue and if you get a rotator you might be lucky enough to pull in WBKP from Houghton.

Can she put an outdoor antenna up? if so that is the best

Topic moved to HDTV Locals Forum.

Looks like Charter is adding 3 new HD channels today. They are on the channel guide, but say "To Be Announced."

766 - Smithsonian HD
768 - TBS HD
769 - CNN HD

Now if we could just get the local ABC/FOX stations.

Looks like Charter is adding 3 new HD channels today. They are on the channel guide, but say "To Be Announced."

766 - Smithsonian HD
768 - TBS HD
769 - CNN HD

Now if we could just get the local ABC/FOX stations.

DirecTV had that over a year and a half ago. Man, Charter is SLOOOOOOWW to the HD game.

Bad news. WMQF has filed for bankruptcy
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101285235&formid=387&fac_num=81448

This means it will shut down analog 19 on 2/17 and NOT be in digital either.
This is what happens when you let WLUK into your market, have no local advertising revenue, and have a small coverage footprint. It's still sad that OTA FOX programming will not be available in the west and central UP in the coming weeks.

This situation is more related to Equity's overall financial problems. However, those problems may be related to the way Equity has run its local stations such as WMQF.

It should be noted that WLUK existed for decades before WMQF came along, and WMQF can't get rid of them since WLUK is listed as significantly viewed across the Marquette market (cable systems can carry stations that are significantly viewed without blackouts regardless of whether there's an in-market affiliate).

WMQF may actually still exist on cable even if the broadcast signal is off the air completely. Most, if not all, of the cable systems get the WMQF feed via satellite (unscrambled coast-to-coast on Galaxy 18).

C'mon TV6, you're going to get blown out of the water. Let's hope they upgrade sooner than later. May have to change the new slogan from "upper michigan's source" to "marquette county's source" if they don't.

Seeing the talk here about WLUC being a low power DTV on UHF triggered a brain burp: Is Barrington Bdcsting (WLUC's owner) giving the shaft to their low-band VHF stations?

Syracuse NY ADI #81 WSTM-TV analog 3 (permanent)DTV 24...no
41.9 kW ERP at 396 m HAAT v. 210 kW ERP at 393 m HAAT,

Harlingen TX ADI #87 KBGT analog 4 DTV 31...no
100 kW ERP at 396 m HAAT v. 1000 kW ERP at 368 m HAAT,

Traverse City/Cadillac MI ADI #117 WTOM analog 4 DTV 35...YES
100 kW ERP at 189 m HAAT v. 78.0 kW ERP at 168 m HAAT,

Marquette MI ADI #180 WLUC analog 6 DTV 35...YES
100 kW ERP at 296 m HAAT v. 63.0 kW ERP at 257 m HAAT,

Ottumwa IA / Kirksville MO #200 KTVO analog 3 DTV 33...YES
100 kW ERP at 339 m HAAT v. 87.0 kW ERP at 290 m HAAT,

Barrington recently had to have its credit facility repaired (http://www.barringtontv.com/files/1-27-2009%20proposed%20amendment.pdf). In short, the company wasn't meeting liquidity requirements, so its equity capital funder had to dump in extra cash to fix the problem. Maybe that explains the whole problem.

The top 2 mkts were under #100, so that might explain why Barrington arranged more juice for them (maybe they or the former owners had to, not sure about particulars of FCC directive on this) The others clearly weren't required to have digitals upgraded to maximums, and they weren't.

At least in the Marquette market, viewers who lose WLUC post analog will have other choices. But for a few north Missouri counties that will lose KTVO post analog, viewers had better gather 'round their radios!

So, what is it? Is Barrington mgmt. short-sighted or "dumb like a fox?"

Seeing the talk here about WLUC being a low power DTV on UHF triggered a brain burp: Is Barrington Bdcsting (WLUC's owner) giving the shaft to their low-band VHF stations?

Syracuse NY ADI #81 WSTM-TV analog 3 (permanent)DTV 24...no
41.9 kW ERP at 396 m HAAT v. 210 kW ERP at 393 m HAAT,

Harlingen TX ADI #87 KBGT analog 4 DTV 31...no
100 kW ERP at 396 m HAAT v. 1000 kW ERP at 368 m HAAT,

Traverse City/Cadillac MI ADI #117 WTOM analog 4 DTV 35...YES
100 kW ERP at 189 m HAAT v. 78.0 kW ERP at 168 m HAAT,

Marquette MI ADI #180 WLUC analog 6 DTV 35...YES
100 kW ERP at 296 m HAAT v. 63.0 kW ERP at 257 m HAAT,

Ottumwa IA / Kirksville MO #200 KTVO analog 3 DTV 33...YES
100 kW ERP at 339 m HAAT v. 87.0 kW ERP at 290 m HAAT,

Barrington recently had to have its credit facility repaired (http://www.barringtontv.com/files/1-27-2009%20proposed%20amendment.pdf). In short, the company wasn't meeting liquidity requirements, so its equity capital funder had to dump in extra cash to fix the problem. Maybe that explains the whole problem.

The top 2 mkts were under #100, so that might explain why Barrington arranged more juice for them (maybe they or the former owners had to, not sure about particulars of FCC directive on this) The others clearly weren't required to have digitals upgraded to maximums, and they weren't.

At least in the Marquette market, viewers who lose WLUC post analog will have other choices. But for a few north Missouri counties that will lose KTVO post analog, viewers had better gather 'round their radios!

So, what is it? Is Barrington mgmt. short-sighted or "dumb like a fox?"

How about POOR?

Most of their stations are not only in small markets, but are "third-fiddle" in the markets they are in (WLUC is an exception).

Marquette presents a special challenge to OTA television, especially UHF. The city is in a "bowl", with Lake Superior to it's East, and a high plateau (about 500' higher in elevation) otherwise surrounding the city. When I've been to Marquette, I notice that WLUC's analog channel 6 is quite weak. It is city grade on paper, but the city grade signal, in reality, passes over "the bowl". W07DB is there for a good reason.
Regulations about "city grade" coverage work against Marquette. You can build a single TL to serve Marquette, or a single TL to serve much of the land mass of the UP, but not one single site can serve both. If the FCC would allow the city grade signal of a -translator- to provide service to a designated city, one could logically place UHF translators (nowadays, DT) on the hillside overlooking Marquette (e.g., near the TL of WDMJ AM 1320, or even one of the smoke stacks of the UPPCO plant), and have the wide area, full power transmitters centrally located in the UP, even though they won't provide a usable signal to Marquette.

Those complaining about Barrington building weaker digital facilities haven't heard the worst of it. They've asked the FCC for permission to operate the WPBN-DT 7 digital facility with 500 watts instead of 15,400! (check it out fcc.gov-> Search -> TV station query -> WPBN

What you describe is called "DTS" and is allowed in the world of digital. A network of transmitters, all on the same channel, covering areas of rough terrain.

And as for the WPBN thing, that's because WPBN can't get approval for the 15.4 kW. It'll interfere severely with WOOD-DT in Grand Rapids. The FCC never should have allowed WPBN to have channel 7 post-transition in the first place.

- Trip

What you describe is called "DTS" and is allowed in the world of digital. A network of transmitters, all on the same channel, covering areas of rough terrain.

And as for the WPBN thing, that's because WPBN can't get approval for the 15.4 kW. It'll interfere severely with WOOD-DT in Grand Rapids. The FCC never should have allowed WPBN to have channel 7 post-transition in the first place.

- Trip


Yes, when I saw WPBN's original request for 15.4kW from Harrieta, I was thinking to myself it would be a WOOD/WPBN dogfight!
One could argue that WOOD should not have been given channel 7, since WPBN was there first. For that matter, WOOD is proving to be a thorn in the side of WJBK Detroit, as well.

As for DTS in Marquette, that might cause too much interference "on the rim", the tablelands surrounding Marquette. Translators on different channels would be justified, as there is no shortage of vacant spectrum up there. I've done the (wonderful) vacant channel search on your website for several locations in Upper Michigan - other than highband VHF, it's hard to find a channel that is not available!

Abandoning VHF Low (channels 2-6) for UHF isn't unique to Barrington Broadcasting, most stations are leaving VHF Low. There will only be about five dozen stations on VHF Low after the transition, compared with hundreds now. This is because VHF Low is harder to receive with indoor antennas and is more susceptible to e-skip (signals bouncing off the e layer of the atmosphere during summer months and going thousands of miles, interfering with other stations).

In fact, moving from VHF Low to UHF actually represents an increase in electric costs because the maximum ERP for VHF Low analog is 100kW, while the max for UHF DTV is 1000kW (but many UHF DTV stations are operating at less power, resulting in smaller coverage areas).

WLUC terrain problems puts 'em in a fix,it seems. Will have to wait and see if apps for translators or DTS are forthcoming.

I'm guessing that, in the small markets, such low band full power VHF to low power UHF DTV situations may be tolerated for a year or two. Afterwards, this type of operation could be "license-challenge" bait.

(or would it just be "stink bait?":p)

WLUC terrain problems puts 'em in a fix,it seems. Will have to wait and see if apps for translators or DTS are forthcoming.

I'm guessing that, in the small markets, such low band full power VHF to low power UHF DTV situations may be tolerated for a year or two. Afterwards, this type of operation could be "license-challenge" bait.

(or would it just be "stink bait?":p)

analog translators from channels 2-51 aren't required to sign off when the cutoff date comes. The signoff only applies to full power analog stations (WLUC, WJMN, WBKP, WBUP). So, Analog 7 will still be on from what I can tell.

BTW, Obama will sign a bill extending the analog signoff date until June 12th.

This situation is more related to Equity's overall financial problems. However, those problems may be related to the way Equity has run its local stations such as WMQF.

It should be noted that WLUK existed for decades before WMQF came along, and WMQF can't get rid of them since WLUK is listed as significantly viewed across the Marquette market (cable systems can carry stations that are significantly viewed without blackouts regardless of whether there's an in-market affiliate).

WMQF may actually still exist on cable even if the broadcast signal is off the air completely. Most, if not all, of the cable systems get the WMQF feed via satellite (unscrambled coast-to-coast on Galaxy 18).

The problem is that there is no over the air (OTA) FOX option. WLUK is only significantly viewed because there was no other local cable option for the longest time. And, significantly viewed over Charter cable who's lines aren't in a large part of the market. You can't get FOX without cable and that is a sad state for the Central U.P. Not too many other places in the country that don't have FOX over the air. Heck, even in the Eastern U.P. FOX is on digital 10.2 now.

I just think Equity went into the game half-hearted. If they had a better transmitter and some local commercials for revenue, and then challenged WLUK for viewers by being a Packer station, the Marquette market could have chucked the Green Bay station for a local one and over the air and cable customers could have been served.

Either that or WLUK should put up a local mirrored over the air station like WJMN is a mirror of WFRV. It seems to work well.

Speaking of FOX stations, Charter added WLUK to their HD lineup today on channel 781.

analog translators from channels 2-51 aren't required to sign off when the cutoff date comes. The signoff only applies to full power analog stations (WLUC, WJMN, WBKP, WBUP). So, Analog 7 will still be on from what I can tell.

BTW, Obama will sign a bill extending the analog signoff date until June 12th.

Sorry, but I wasn't speaking about the sign-off of any translators. Rather it was about the need of channel 6 to add translators or DTS so their digital will eventually be able to closely match their old analog signal.

[QUOTE= You can't get FOX without cable and that is a sad state for the Central U.P.

Either that or WLUK should put up a local mirrored over the air station like WJMN is a mirror of WFRV. It seems to work well.[/QUOTE]

What about satellite?

In Thompson, I noticed that they get fox from satellite (don't know if it was D* or E*), and it was WNYW (5) New York.

You would only be able to get FOX via satellite if you live outside of the predicted grade B coverage area of any FOX affiliate, or if you got a waiver. Not sure if the satellite companies use WMQF's licensed coverage area or its temporary low-power operation.

If they qualify, DirecTV customers would get WNYW New York and KTTV Los Angeles. DISH Network customers, through All American Direct, can get WAGA Atlanta and/or KTVU San Francisco.

You can get four FOX stations, including WMQF, directly from Galaxy 18 free-to-air if you have the equipment, but that's not really an option for the average consumer.

Sorry, but I wasn't speaking about the sign-off of any translators. Rather it was about the need of channel 6 to add translators or DTS so their digital will eventually be able to closely match their old analog signal.

The digital coverage will never be matched to the old analog coverage pattern due to terrain issues and the frequency of WLUC-DT (UHF). WLUC would have been better served to get a VHF-HI frequency for DT, but I have no idea why the didn't. WNMU did, and they will have substantially better coverage than WLUC. WLUC's owner's, Barrington, have also put up rather weak UHF transmitters (WLUC and WTOM for example). Like I mentioned before, equivalent UHF stations in Green Bay are pumping out nearly 1000 kW ERP. WLUC is pumping out 67 and going up to 83kW.

Regarding the translators, if you look at the Escanaba and MQT translators, they only cover the immediate city limits. So, even with the translators, the coverage is inferior. They need to get a better power amplifier on that main transmitter to seriously address the coverage gaps.

WNMU to go all digital May13th, rescan your converter box and notice it will be on RF 13 ... this is a change from RF33 now. Much better signal in mid May.
http://wnmutv.nmu.edu/dtv/dtv_updates.htm

Eastern U.P. is already on Dish/DirecTV. (those in chippewa/mackinac, luce co are eligible to receive the Traverse/Soo stations)

West/Central U.P. TV stations coming VERY soon to Dish and DirecTV
http://wnmutv.nmu.edu/dtv/dtv_updates.htm

NEGAUNEE -- There's good news for those of you who may lose local TV stations like TV6 after the Digital Transition on June 12.

Right now, those with satellite dishes can't pick up TV6 and other U.P. stations.

But TV6's Chief Engineer and Director of Operations, Sonny Reschka, says TV6 has signed an agreement with EchoStar Dish Network to house their equipment.

A similar agreement is expected to be reached with Direct TV by the end of April.

The deal would mean the satellite companies would carry all local channels on their satellite TV lineup.

"Both companies have indicated they want to have this done within the next two months, which would mean by the time we do the Digital Transition June 12, all those people who may lose over the air broadcasts would now have a choice to pick us up over satellite," said Reschka.

Reschka believes the change would increase TV6's audience by 20 percent.

Anyone know who MMMC is? They just bought WMQF for the bargain-basement price of $100,000. I know they have many problems (lack of ratings, another FOX affiliate on cable they can't get rid of, virtually no local presence, barely on the air in analog and not at all in digital) but $100,000 seems like a steal for a big-four network affiliate.

Anyway, satellite local-into-local coverage could be the thing that saves WMQF. The providers likely won't carry WLUK (DirecTV could because it's significantly viewed, but doesn't use the option in most cases, and DISH can't because of a court order preventing them from carrying out-of-market signals).

Great news. I hope the new management has some success with their investment. A good move would be to just make it a satellite of WLUK, similar to what WFRV does to WJMN. Then the locals won't mind watching your channel and you can chip off some revenue from it.

Sorry, but I wasn't speaking about the sign-off of any translators. Rather it was about the need of channel 6 to add translators or DTS so their digital will eventually be able to closely match their old analog signal.

Probably not going to happen since most of their viewers will continue to receive the signal on cable. The remaining viewers will be able to get the local stations on satellite later this summer. The fact of the matter is that the owner of WLUC is VERY frugal. WPBN/WTOM (Traverse City-Cheboygan) also owned by Barrington will have substantially inferior digital coverage compared to the former analog coverage. I also heard other Barrington owned stations will have similar issues.

Again, you don't see this with WNMU, WBKP, WBUP, or WJMN. It's not a digital problem, it's a cash commitment issue. (WMQF... well.. same boat as WLUC)

Ironically enough, while going to UHF digital with poorer coverage and then with the addition of WLUC on satellite, it will ADD 20% to it's viewing audience. WLUC is probably ecstatic about the progress.

WNMU to go all digital May13th, rescan your converter box and notice it will be on RF 13 ... this is a change from RF33 now. Much better signal in mid May.
http://wnmutv.nmu.edu/dtv/dtv_updates.htm

Eastern U.P. is already on Dish/DirecTV. (those in chippewa/mackinac, luce co are eligible to receive the Traverse/Soo stations)

West/Central U.P. TV stations coming VERY soon to Dish and DirecTV
http://wnmutv.nmu.edu/dtv/dtv_updates.htm

NEGAUNEE -- There's good news for those of you who may lose local TV stations like TV6 after the Digital Transition on June 12.

Right now, those with satellite dishes can't pick up TV6 and other U.P. stations.

But TV6's Chief Engineer and Director of Operations, Sonny Reschka, says TV6 has signed an agreement with EchoStar Dish Network to house their equipment.

A similar agreement is expected to be reached with Direct TV by the end of April.

The deal would mean the satellite companies would carry all local channels on their satellite TV lineup.

"Both companies have indicated they want to have this done within the next two months, which would mean by the time we do the Digital Transition June 12, all those people who may lose over the air broadcasts would now have a choice to pick us up over satellite," said Reschka.

Reschka believes the change would increase TV6's audience by 20 percent.

Is there any news on this? I will be moving to the Marquette area in a couple weeks (outside of cable coverage) and I'm trying to figure out which satellite company to go with and whether I'll be able to receive the major networks in HD.

They're getting closer... I see there is a DishNetwork uplink set up for them now.... They aren't available for customers just yet... They're working on getting the signal.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=157944&highlight=WLUC


ADD 6520 WBUP{ISHPEMING, MI} MPEG2 SD TID 4412 Tp 12 SPOT 15 Ciel 2 129w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP-A 10

ADD 6521 WJMN{ESCANABA, MI} MPEG2 SD TID 4412 Tp 12 SPOT 15 Ciel 2 129w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP-A 3

ADD 6522 WLUC{MARQUETTE, MI} MPEG2 SD TID 4412 Tp 12 SPOT 15 Ciel 2 129w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP-A 6

ADD 6523 WMQF{MARQUETTE, MI} MPEG2 SD TID 4412 Tp 12 SPOT 15 Ciel 2 129w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP-A 19

ADD 6524 WNMU{MARQUETTE, MI} MPEG2 SD TID 4412 Tp 12 SPOT 15 Ciel 2 129w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP-A 13

WNMU has completed work on its digital transmitter antenna. They have ceased broadcasting in analog. They are now only available on RF 13 in digital.
They feature 3 subchannels, although arranged a little in an unorthodox manner.
Usually HD is the primary channel.
HD on 13.2
SD on 13.1
and 3 hr delay SD on 13.3

WNMU has reported good reception into Wisconsin and the Keweenaw. Good job guys! This is an example of how DT should be handled in the Marquette DMA.

WBUP/WBKP are next on the transition slate. Some time Friday WBUP and WBKP will cease analog. Both stations will sign on the same frequency in digital and offer ABC and CW on each transmitter. You will have to rescan on Friday to get these channels.

WLUC has an application to increase output power a small amount. Don't know if that will help much.

FOX does not have a digital transmitter in the West/Central U.P.

:confused:Bad Antenna? I got 3,7,13, and 19 analog!


Since no one else will say it. I will. It is your Antenna it is not good at all. Time for a new antenna and to use RG6 Coaxial Cable to connect to box. If you want to watch real stations this is your only choice. It is more your antenna then the box you choose. My aunt loves the TERK-55, but there are other choices out there. There is a thread on here that talks just about antenna's

Also as far as passthru you have more then a few choices

1) dtvpal with best tv guide like feature (avail in sears) Passthru is one button push on remote

2) Channel Master CM-7000

3) RCA (turn off box for passthru)

4) Zennith (turn off box for passthru)

5) I believe the apex and Zinwell ZAT-970A? also with passthru but not sure on those two. You need to look into it


Hope this helps. Remember Digital is a all or none proposition. What used to pass in analog with snow or waves will not here. I am 100% convinced it is your BAD antenna

You suffer from cursor hypnosis, my landlord wont let me have an outside antenna(and yes I said that already in an earlier post)

Good points. If you get a nice outdoor antenna this won't be as much of an issue and if you get a rotator you might be lucky enough to pull in WBKP from Houghton.

First, if anyone from WNMU is reading this then turn channel 33 back on!

There is no signal from 13 digital here(and yes I was getting 13 analog very viewable here).

Second WMQF 19 does have a digital transmitter on 19.1 and 19.2 and my signal meter is showing signal but it is so week that I get a blotched up and frozen picture very rarely and "no signal" the rest of the time. 19 needs to crank up their power.

Looks like I have a chance at 3 and 19 but not 13. I still get 7 analog.

WNMU has completed work on its digital transmitter antenna. They have ceased broadcasting in analog. They are now only available on RF 13 in digital.
They feature 3 subchannels, although arranged a little in an unorthodox manner.
Usually HD is the primary channel.
HD on 13.2
SD on 13.1
and 3 hr delay SD on 13.3

WNMU has reported good reception into Wisconsin and the Keweenaw. Good job guys! This is an example of how DT should be handled in the Marquette DMA.

WBUP/WBKP are next on the transition slate. Some time Friday WBUP and WBKP will cease analog. Both stations will sign on the same frequency in digital and offer ABC and CW on each transmitter. You will have to rescan on Friday to get these channels.

WLUC has an application to increase output power a small amount. Don't know if that will help much.

FOX does not have a digital transmitter in the West/Central U.P.

I have a channel master box on order and it is comming soon so I will see if that is actually any better than the zenith box on 19. I am looking at getting a "cookie rack"(DB2 or 1080 or something along those lines) and mounting it on my torch style floor lamp so I can rotate it. No antenna on order yet as I want to check the CM Box first to see if it really is more sensitive.

Surprised to hear WMQF is on the air in digital. I'll have to check it out for myself next weekend. WNMU will not be moving back to 33. I suggest you rescan to see if you can get digital 13. There was a time period they were off both analog AND digital so maybe that's when you had the problem.

I hear rumors that WJMN is having issues. Anyone else see WJMN-DT right now? Where are you?

Final suggestion, you should all try with every effort to have an outdoor VHF/UHF antenna with a preamplifier and RG-6 shield coax. If you have those and still can't get the stations, send a complaint to them. If not, don't bother, it's your issue. Really.

The way I hear it, WJMN-DT is at really low power and won't have a full signal up until November or something.

swiat, if you get a chance, I'd like to know what the digital stations look like up there as far as subchannels and whatnot. I think I have good data on WLUC and WNMU, but everyone else is up in the air, and I don't even know if WDHS flash-cut to channel 8 or not.

- Trip

It would surprise me, too, if WMQF is indeed on the air, because their satellite feed (which Equity uses to feed the transmitter and cable systems) went to black after Friday. Only one other Equity station disappeared in that fashion.

Anyone know for sure if WMQF is on the air?

It is on, the channel ID is showing WMQF and WMQF2 when I get a picture.

However, it must be very low power because I am getting a steady signal but it is not enough most of the time to watch anything but my signal strength meter which on the Zenith box is going from BA under the "BAD" text to about half strength and it constantly fluctuates between those two areas and rarely shows anything.

When the propagation was good I saw scrolling text at the top saying 19.1 and 19.2 were comming soon. It also had color bars, pictures from around Marquette, and I caught a glimpse of an old black and white movie before the green and pink smears hit and it fell off.


BTW I watched the signal meter on 10 and 13 and 13 shows no signal but frequently spikes into the "BAD" area of the meter and 10 shows no signal.


It would surprise me, too, if WMQF is indeed on the air, because their satellite feed (which Equity uses to feed the transmitter and cable systems) went to black after Friday. Only one other Equity station disappeared in that fashion.

Anyone know for sure if WMQF is on the air?

Apparently it is on the air, as they filed with the FCC Friday indicating as much.

And I don't know what kind of gear they have their, but their filing stated they're operating at 1 kW ERP (!). They filed to increase that to... 2 kW ERP.

I wonder what's going on over there.

- Trip

8KW would be good enough here...sigh. The Channel master box comes tommorow.

Apparently it is on the air, as they filed with the FCC Friday indicating as much.

And I don't know what kind of gear they have their, but their filing stated they're operating at 1 kW ERP (!). They filed to increase that to... 2 kW ERP.

I wonder what's going on over there.

- Trip

Well, 1 kW to 2 kW is a 3 dB boost. Basically, if you're receiving them with breakups, it will hopefully solidify for you.

They should really be putting out a fair bit more power.

- Trip

Well, 1 kW to 2 kW is a 3 dB boost. Basically, if you're receiving them with breakups, it will hopefully solidify for you.

They should really be putting out a fair bit more power.

- Trip

I'll let you know Friday when I hit the inlaws... 6 hr drive...
But, the inlaws are basically 300' higher than Hoser_Eh. they are in Ishpeming, Hoser is in Marquette which is basically in a bowl. WJMN appears to be the only problem from what I heard over the phone. WLUC, WNMU, WBUP all come in fine. WDHS is inactive.

Trip, WMQF is ... there's no kind way of putting this... the bastard child FOX of the area. Most locals watch WLUK from Green Bay. WMQF shows Lions football, WLUK shows Packers. Most locals are Packers fans. WLUK is far more professional and has a somewhat more local appeal since WMQF (before it was sold) was programmed out of Arkansas. Real odd situation there when WLUK is allowed to be carried on cable, thus siphoning off any revenue from the local FOX. So, what is going on should surprise no one. Hopefully the new owners are far better than the old ones.

This should have been working 2 years ago.... excuses, excuses...

from WJMN's website:

Escanaba, MI – On June 12th 2009, per federal government rule, WJMN is required to cease operations of analog programming on Channel 3. We are currently broadcasting the WJMN digital signal from a site north of Escanaba.

Since October 2008, WJMN has actively been pursuing a modification to our FCC construction permit for our permanent digital facility. If approved, the modification would allow WJMN to greatly expand its digital coverage area.

As of this date we are still awaiting permission from the FCC to build our proposed new facility. Until we build our new permanent facility, our broadcast reach will be limited to the specifications currently approved by the FCC.

WJMN digital programming is also available on Charter Cable. Check with other individual cable operators to see if you will continue to receive WJMN.

WJMN will make every effort to complete construction of our permanent facility as soon as the FCC approves the modification of our permit. We do not expect to finish construction until November of 2009 at the earliest.

Viewers with questions about the digital transition can call 888-CALL-FCC, 888.643.8809 or 866.760.9566. Status of our construction can be found at www.wjmntv.com.

Trip, WMQF is ... there's no kind way of putting this... the bastard child FOX of the area. Most locals watch WLUK from Green Bay.

I am quite aware of WMQF's former owners. They were quite cheap, as evidenced by this 1 kW digital they had a permit for. I, too, hope the new owners are better with it than Equity was.

And thanks. I'd love to know what the subchannel layout is like up there.

- Trip

Here are the latest updates for coverage maps:
WNMU: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWNMU
WLUC: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWLUC
WJMN: NOT UPDATED YET. VERY WEAK STATION
WBUP: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWBUP
WBKP: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWBKP
WDHS: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWDHS

All I had time to do yesterday was pull the coax out of the Zenith and plug it into the channel master and do back and forth views. I did not adjust anything.

The Channel master box detected 19.1 and 19.2 but the picture was blockier and blotchier than the Zenith. The Zenith, for the most part, showed a fluid and smooth picture with no sound. The Channel Master showed a blocky and blotchy picture with, from time to time, short bursts of sound.

WMQF was playing what looked to be an old black and white western.

Tonight I will start adjusting the antenna and see if I can tell any other differences.

BTW a handy place to find info on UP stations is - http://www.michiguide.com/dials/up.html

WMQF got their boost to 2 kW, and has now applied to further increase it to about 41 kW.

- Trip

Well then I will just consider PBS 13 a loss and not worry about anything other than using the rabbit ears that I have been. I also wont answer the phones for the fundraisers at channel 13 as I have in the past.

Once WJMN gets cranking with a Full MW I wont need another antenna

WMQF got their boost to 2 kW, and has now applied to further increase it to about 41 kW.

- Trip

Well then I will just consider PBS 13 a loss and not worry about anything other than using the rabbit ears that I have been. I also wont answer the phones for the fundraisers at channel 13 as I have in the past.

Once WJMN gets cranking with a Full MW I wont need another antenna

Hoser:
I think WNMU actually has an ace in the hole here - its channel 33 temporary DTV transmitter, just outside Marquette, that they were running until Friday - if they haven't already dismantled it, perhaps they can reset its power down to 15kW and re-license it as a DTV translator to serve Marquette itself (much like WLUC has an analog channel 7 translator in Marquette).
Maybe you could tell them this idea (I don't think they would want to hear it from someone who is literally as far away from Marquette as one in Michigan could possibly be).
I do remember using my portable DTV kludge in Shiras Park, and noting WNMU (temporary) was the only DTV that came in there.

I am pessimistic that WJMN-DT would come in well in the Marquette bowl when they move their DTV to Trenary. The new proposed pattern is highly directional, a narrow beam aimed at Iron Mountain, that puts its theoretical contour past that city (as well as Marquette and Escanaba). It likely won't do so well in Iron Mountain, either. In relation to the WJMN TL, that city is behind, well, an iron mountain!

Rob (50-week Troll, 2-week Yooper)

Well then I will just consider PBS 13 a loss and not worry about anything other than using the rabbit ears that I have been. I also wont answer the phones for the fundraisers at channel 13 as I have in the past.

Once WJMN gets cranking with a Full MW I wont need another antenna

Hoser:
I think WNMU actually has an ace in the hole here - its channel 33 temporary DTV transmitter, just outside Marquette, that they were running until Friday - if they haven't already dismantled it, perhaps they can reset its power down to 15kW and re-license it as a DTV translator to serve Marquette itself (much like WLUC has an analog channel 7 translator in Marquette).
Maybe you could tell them this idea (I don't think they would want to hear it from someone who is literally as far away from Marquette as one in Michigan could possibly be).
I do remember using my portable DTV kludge in Shiras Park, and noting WNMU (temporary) was the only DTV that came in there.

I am pessimistic that WJMN-DT would come in well in the Marquette bowl when the move the DTV to Trenary. The new proposed pattern is highly direction, a narrow beam aimed at Iron Mountain, that puts it theoretical contour past that city (as well as Marquette and Escanaba). It likely won't do so well in Iron Mountain, either. In relation to the WJMN TL, that city is
behind, well, an iron mountain!

Rob (50-week Troll, 2-week Yooper)

Hi Yoopers. I'm looking for a little help here. My father is going crazy without any television stations at his camp. He has a place about halfway between Rapid River and Trenary. He used to get channels 3, 6 & 13 in quite well with an outdoor antenna (I think it might be a VHF-only antenna, though, which I'll soon be replacing). He now gets zero channels, and is not too happy about the "digital transition".

I have looked at TVFool.com, and it shows that the tower for WJMN is only a couple of miles from his place. I told my brother he should be able to use a paper clip to get that station in. But it sounds like from reading the posts up above that that isn't actually true. Does anyone know where the tower actually is? The news article posted above says "north of Escanaba", but does that mean it's in Gladstone or Rapid River or just on the north side of Escanaba? Also, is that transmitter operating at a very low power right now? I've been trying to find a phone number for someone at WJMN to try to find out what their deal is. It's going to be a big pain in the ass if I need to get a new antenna and point it at Escanaba, and then a couple of months down the road they switch to broadcasting from Trenary.

Also, does anyone have any advice on antennas? We have an antenna tower that stands about 20' high, but of course, it is surrounded by trees that are 50' or more. It looks from those coverage maps that we're going to have a real tough time picking up anything from Marquette, even WLUC and WNMU. The camp is just a mile or two east of hwy 41, and for some reason it looks like a big black hole around there on the coverage maps. It would be great if I could find a way to get back to at least having WLUC, WNMU, and WJMN, but I'm not sure that that's ever going to be possible. I'm thinking of buying two or three antennas and trying them out when I get up there in a week or two. Any advice?

Current WJMN: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS616432.html

Future WJMN: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1305833.html

- Trip

Current WJMN: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS616432.html

Future WJMN: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1305833.html

- Trip

Thank you, that's very interesting. Sites like antennaweb and TVfool don't seem to have as accurate of information as I had thought.

It looks like if I get the right antenna I may have a decent chance of receiving WJMN as well as W40AN (translator for WLUK) from Escanaba. That sucks to lose WLUC, since they're the only ones that would have local news from the area, but I guess they dug their own grave. My brother has spoken to a lot of people in the outlying areas around Escanaba, and none of them can receive WLUC anymore. Most of those same folks have either Dish or DirecTV and can't receive local stations over satellite either, so TV6, which had been about the most popular station to most of those people, is non-existent to them now.

here's the report from Ishpeming:

All of these channels come in VERY good, prob 80+% signal level:
WLUC 6-1: WLUC NBC
WLUC 6-2: NBC-US
WBUP 10-1: ABC
WBUP 10-2: CW
WNMU 13-1: WNMU-SD1 (PBS)
WNMU 13-2: WNMU-DT (looks like PBS national HD, can differ from SD1)
WNMU 13-3: WNMU-SD2 (3 hr delay of 13-1)
WMQF 19-1: test pattern says "coming soon" (FOX)
WMQF 19-2: test pattern says "coming soon"

Other stations:
WBKP: no signal, too far away (sister station to WBUP, reverse subchannel mapping)
WDHS: silent, no signal
WJMN: not even a little signal. pathetic. (CBS)

WJMN is sad. I'm at least getting a low, undecodable during the day signal from WGBA (RF23) and WFRV (RF39) from Green Bay. I might have a chance at night on those stations. That tells you how bad WJMN is.
They need to get their act together.

-------------------------------------------
equipment used:
receiver: Zenith DTT-901
antenna: channel master 3016
preamplifier: channel master 7778 (although I'd recommend the Winegard AP8700 or CM7777)
antenna height: 25' above ground
coax: RG-6 Quad Shield
antenna pointed 170 deg.

you can get this exact setup from solidsignal.com since the local stores don't have the selection

update:
WMQF is sporadically showing old B/W movies and preachers with no audio on 19-1 and 19-2.

WDHS had a test pattern up and 4 subchannels this morning and the station was back off the air tonight. Will this be an iOn affiliate?

WJMN still sucks with no signal in these parts due to the low powered transmitter until November from what I have been reading.

WJMN still sucks with no signal in these parts due to the low powered transmitter until November from what I have been reading.

I'm giving them a deadline of November 15th.

WMQF is sporadically showing old B/W movies and preachers with no audio on 19-1 and 19-2.

Is that station not a FOX affiliate? Don't they show regular FOX network programming at all? Also, will they be carrying the Lions games in the fall?

[QUOTE=swiat;16691596]update:
WMQF is sporadically showing old B/W movies and preachers with no audio on 19-1 and 19-2.


swiat, I thought there was no audio also because the Zenith Box is not getting any audio on 19 but the channel master box gets audio on both 19.1 and 19.2. The Zenith box signal strength meter is showing my signal as right on the border of good (full green no blue). Channel Master shows up to 60% at times.

something is messed up in their signal then since the box receives all other stations just fine. I have heard WMQF will remain FOX, but that remains to be seen. Also, if i was them, I'd show GB football to try and fight with Charter to get WMQF to be the sole network affiliate on the cable system.

WMQF needs revenue.. I hate the Pack, but locally, that's a good revenue source. I wish they'd just sign some agreement with WLUK and make WMQF a satellite of that station. That would be really a wise move.

Why is the banner on WMQF now identifying them as WZMQ???:confused:

I googled zmq and only found a radio station in key largo:confused:

The FCC call sign history says WMQF's call sign was officially changed to WZMQ on 6/23.

I haven't seen anything to indicate MMMRC's programming plans for the station, but IMHO, they would be crazy to drop FOX. Once DISH Network launches their locals package for the market, they will not be able to carry WLUK because a court order prevents them from carrying out-of-market stations. DirecTV could carry WLUK but probably wouldn't because they seldom offer out-of-market stations.

The chances of getting Charter to drop WLUK are slim to none. The only way it would happen is if WZMQ convinced WLUK to tell Charter it can't carry it's signal in the U.P. anymore. Otherwise, Charter can carry WLUK because it's on the FCC's significantly viewed list for Marquette County and a few others.

Perhaps WZMQ's best chance for success would be to reach a deal with WLUK to rebroadcast WLUK's news programming, and get Charter to replace WLUK with WZMQ.

A website is up:
www.wzmqtv.com

Wikipedia says it is staying FOX and My Network TV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WZMQ

I see someone beat me to it.

Channel 19 website-

http://www.mountainvalleyradio.com/wzmqtv.com/wzmq/index.html

The streamer on the bottum of channel 19 says that they are at low power and expect to be at full power in the first week of August.

I hope they are getting rid of that "family feud" font logo.

It's horrible!

Although wikipedia says it is staying FOX, I wonder with the look of that website. It looks like it will be some ministry type of station with southern gospel.

Very courteous reply from WZMQ's new general manager:

Thanks for your e mail Mike. Some of your questions we are still working on.
We would like to continue with FOX but we have not been able to secure them
as of yet. We will be carrying MYNETWORK and White Springs TV (A 24hr a day
movie Channel) and we are in negotiations with another provider who I cannot
disclose who it is but it will be top of the line programming but we will
not know until August 1st.

Also we are now locally owned and are in the process of finding a place for
our studio's on 41 west in Marquette. A simulcast is not possible with WLUK.

Also we have changed the call letters to WZMQ.

We should be at full power by the first week in August. We will be on
Charter Cable before long. Thanks for your interest.

Danny Hood
General Manager
WZMQ TV

In case anyone doesn't recall, Danny Hood is the former owner of the mostly-silent Channel 8 in Iron Mountain.

Here's my update from my dad's place near Osier (south of Trenary). I tried a couple of different antennas.

I started with the UHF-only one from Radio Shack and had my brother stand on the roof and hold it steady against the chimney. We pointed it at Escanaba, and unfortunately only got a low signal but no picture on channels 40 (WLUK translator) and 48 (WJMN). We then pointed it towards Republic and got the same thing (low signal w/ no picture) on WLUC, but were actually able to get enough of a signal on WNMU to get a picture that was frequently breaking up. I found it odd that the one station we could actually pull in with the UHF-only antenna was a VHF station. I decided that antenna was a failure for us.

I then went to Menard's and picked up the biggest outdoor VHF/UHF antenna they sell. It has a Philips brand name and retails for $90, but for some reason they only charged me $60 for it. At first we assembled only the UHF segment and tried the same thing with someone standing on the roof holding it. We were able to clearly pull in WNMU now with a fairly strong signal, so we decided to go ahead and assemble the whole antenna and put it up on the tower (which stands on the ground and is only about the same height as the roof anyway). Unfortunately, we were still only able to get WNMU in clearly. We can get a low signal on both WLUC and WBUP, and actually had a picture on WLUC for a few seconds, but that was about it. We are going to attempt to raise the antenna and clear out some surrounding trees to see if any more progress can be made. And once WJMN gets their act together, it should be no problem to get that station. But for now, my dad's quite disappointed that he can only get PBS where he once could get CBS, NBC & PBS.

I also spoke to several people in the area near my cottage on Lake Michigan about twenty miles south of Escanaba. They are all almost entirely without television now where they used to be able to receive 4-6 channels. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the digital switch isn't a real popular concept among folks in many rural areas.

You would probably be correct in that assumption. There are three issues at play for rural reception:
1) Many VHF stations (like WLUC and WJMN) moved to UHF, and UHF coverage areas are inherently smaller.
2) Many stations (like WLUC and WJMN) chose not to construct UHF facilities at the maximum power allowed by the FCC, 1,000kW. WJMN could eventually get to that level, but WLUC apparently has no desire to go higher than 83kW.
3) Digital is an all-or-nothing format and is harder to pull in.

It's not that digital is a bad idea. It's that the stations in the Marquette/Escanaba area are on shoestring budgets and can't put up a serious transmitter for rugged terrain. WNMU is the exception. I am guessing WBUP has some power constraint with WWUP near the Soo on the same channel. Before getting all dejected, make sure you have a nice preamp on that nice and high antenna. I recommend the channel master 7777 for 90% of you. I installed the 7778 at the mother in law's in West Ishpeming and I can lock WLUC, WNMU, WBUP, and WZMQ with no problems at all. Sure, it helps that area is on a hill and relatively close to the transmitters. But, I can also get an almost decodable WGBA and WFRV from Green Bay. the antenna is only up 20'!

TRY THE PREAMP and nice quad shielded RG-6 coax. If that doesn't work, call the stations and complain. You can order the preamp from solidsignal.com.

WJMN's situation is completely rediculous. They should have at least something respectable on the air by now. Blaming the FCC for an application that has been in the system since Oct. 2008 is unbelievable. That doesn't make any sense. The FCC wants to have this switchover succeed and there are no stations within hundreds of miles on that UHF channel. There's no reason to hold up the application. WJMN isn't telling us something.

I recommend the channel master 7777 for 90% of you.


Any idea what the current draw is on that (or any other) preamp? I am trying to hook this up to run off a 12v car battery. I'm currently using an AC/DC television and a 12V Artec CECB that both run off the battery. I could try an inverter, which I've been considering anyway to try a different converter box, but I'm not sure how long I could run it that way or what size power inverter I would need.

The preamp comes with it's own supply that you have inside the house. the preamp is mounted on the mast. The supply is 15V and less than 1A I believe. try and google channel master to find the exact specs.

why would you want to use some other supply other than the one that comes with the preamp?

The preamp comes with it's own supply that you have inside the house. the preamp is mounted on the mast. The supply is 15V and less than 1A I believe. try and google channel master to find the exact specs.

why would you want to use some other supply other than the one that comes with the preamp?

I don't want to use a different power supply, but I would need to power the preamp somehow. The camp where this particular tv/antenna setup is located does not have electricity. For years we've been running the TV off a 12V car battery which we occasionally bring to town to recharge. I have also been using a digital converter box that I can run off the car battery. But for a preamp I would probably need to use a power inverter, which is why I was curious about the AC current draw, so I could determine what size power inverter to purchase.

I have the CM7777. If you PM me or post here and remind me in about four hours when I'm not at work, I'll let you know how much it draws.

I remember that it's not a huge amount.

- Trip

WhitePelican,

I think you could power a preamp off of the 12 volt battery that your running your TV and converter off of. I think you would just have to put +12Volts on the center conductor of the coax. You will need a DC block so that the DC voltage doesn't go back to the TV.

You could also try making your own preamp using a "MMIC" device, by picking the right size resitor you can make it to run off of 12 volts.

If you do use a inverter, I'm sure a small one would be all you would need (25 to 100 watts). You may want something in the 100 watt range so you could also power a compact fluorescent light or two, or DVD player.

Good luck,
Mark

Nobody will get Fox over the Air in Marquette!!!:eek:

See this link-

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=325129



Very courteous reply from WZMQ's new general manager:

Thanks for your e mail Mike. Some of your questions we are still working on.
We would like to continue with FOX but we have not been able to secure them
as of yet. We will be carrying MYNETWORK and White Springs TV (A 24hr a day
movie Channel) and we are in negotiations with another provider who I cannot
disclose who it is but it will be top of the line programming but we will
not know until August 1st.

Also we are now locally owned and are in the process of finding a place for
our studio's on 41 west in Marquette. A simulcast is not possible with WLUK.

Also we have changed the call letters to WZMQ.

We should be at full power by the first week in August. We will be on
Charter Cable before long. Thanks for your interest.

Danny Hood
General Manager
WZMQ TV

Fun.

Look for dual 720p to show up. Barrington just did it in Flint not too long ago.

- Trip

Channel 19 has their affiliations posted on their website now but they still don't have a full power signal yet.


How long has it been since the Digital Disaster??? And we still Don't have any good digital signals in Marquette yet??

Channel 19 has their affiliations posted on their website now but they still don't have a full power signal yet.


It's good to know their network affiliations are so lousy that I won't ever need to attempt to pull in their signal (if that were even possible).

Nobody will get Fox over the Air in Marquette!!!:eek:

See this link-

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=325129

Yes, if you have a crappy antenna system or live behind a hill this is true. Most viewers in Marquette Co. have a pretty good chance at getting WLUC-Dt with a good antenna system and preamp.

Instead of getting all PO'ed and complaining, look at it this way. FOX on 6-2 is another revenue stream for WLUC. It will enable that station to possible upgrade that weak transmitter to something on the order of 300 kW ERP after some time.

It's good to know their network affiliations are so lousy that I won't ever need to attempt to pull in their signal (if that were even possible).

Have you ever watched either of them? "THIS" isn't all that bad. They have some decent movies on there once in a while. Not to mention it's another TV choice for the Marquette market which has had few choices over the air in the past.

Folks, instead of pissing about WLUC and WZMQ, why not direct more of that energy towards WJMN for their pathetic over the air effort of CBS.

Most viewers in Marquette Co. have a pretty good chance at getting WLUC-Dt with a good antenna system and preamp.

And therein lies the rub. WLUC analog used to be available to damn near the entire UP. I used to watch TV6 OTA while I was in school in Houghton, and also at my cottage 25 miles south of Escanaba. Now, you have to have just the right equipment to pick it up in Marquette County alone. It seems like they are counting on cable and satellite to do their job for them now, though.

As another point of reference, I recently re-installed my father-in-law's antenna at his place near Bark River. We picked up WNMU, WLUK (translator out of Escanaba), and even got a very solid picture on WBUP. But we couldn't even get a hint of a picture from WLUC (or WJMN for that matter).

Yes, if you have a crappy antenna system or live behind a hill this is true. Most viewers in Marquette Co. have a pretty good chance at getting WLUC-Dt with a good antenna system and preamp.

Instead of getting all PO'ed and complaining, look at it this way. FOX on 6-2 is another revenue stream for WLUC. It will enable that station to possible upgrade that weak transmitter to something on the order of 300 kW ERP after some time.

Hmmm....I was wondering how long it would be before I would have to start repeating.

Before the Digital switch I was getting CBS 3, NBC 7(6), PBS 13, and FOX 19
Now, after the digital disaster I get NBC 7 (6) analog and that's it. I am only getting analog TV right now.

Please tell me how this is better. Please tell me why I should have to get a new antenna to receive signals that are not there. All those stations except CBS 3 are running 10s of KW less power and their antennas are lower. I was recieving the channels ok before. Now, after the mandate, I'm not.

If you lost your OTA due to a government mandate you would be complaining too. There was nothing wrong with analog but there is plenty wrong with digital.

Maybe we should lobby for a mandate to have the stations add 200 to 1200 feet to their antenna heights and crank their power up to at least 450,000 watts each. That would still not make it as good as analog because you would still get that "pixy dust" on the digital pictures.

If you lost your OTA due to a government mandate you would be complaining too. There was nothing wrong with analog but there is plenty wrong with digital.

The government is only partly to blame for this situation. Many of the U.P. stations which used to operate at maximum power in analog are not operating at anywhere near maximum power for digital:

WJMN: authorized for 1,000kW, currently 9.8kW
WLUC: originally alloted for 1,000kW, now 63kW with permission to bump up to 83kW
WBUP: currently 4.8kW, hard to tell what maximum power is for VHF High DTV, but others are using 30kW or more
WNMU: currently 15.4kW, same confusing situation as WBUP
WZMQ: using 2kW with authorization for 41.6kW, max power for UHF DTV is 1,000kW

The government is only partly to blame for this situation.

Well sure, 99.99% is a part. None of those stations would have needed new equipment if not for the goverment mandate.

With a number of station groups in bankruptcy or teetering toward it, it's hard to call for license challenges. But it may be the tough medicine the Barrington and Barrington-esque groups need to move off of dead center.

In the 150+ markets, do stations get carriage fees from cable/sat providers? Granted, in the smallest markets, the sats don't always provide coverage. Anyway, it would seem that station groups would at least make attempts to allocate those funds to boost power or set up replacement translators to replace lost coverage for their home DMA's or where "white areas" have been created in the change-over from analog to digital.

Anyone try WJMN lately? I heard word they're at full power, 1 MW now. Is this true? If so, any subchannels?

Hmmm....I was wondering how long it would be before I would have to start repeating.

Before the Digital switch I was getting CBS 3, NBC 7(6), PBS 13, and FOX 19
Now, after the digital disaster I get NBC 7 (6) analog and that's it. I am only getting analog TV right now.

Please tell me how this is better. Please tell me why I should have to get a new antenna to receive signals that are not there. All those stations except CBS 3 are running 10s of KW less power and their antennas are lower. I was recieving the channels ok before. Now, after the mandate, I'm not.

If you lost your OTA due to a government mandate you would be complaining too. There was nothing wrong with analog but there is plenty wrong with digital.

Maybe we should lobby for a mandate to have the stations add 200 to 1200 feet to their antenna heights and crank their power up to at least 450,000 watts each. That would still not make it as good as analog because you would still get that "pixy dust" on the digital pictures.


I would say call Stupak and complain, but he's too busy ramming national health care and nationwide construction standards and via an environmental bill down your throat.

Anyone try WJMN lately? I heard word they're at full power, 1 MW now. Is this true? If so, any subchannels?

I cant receive them and they were not supposed to go 1MW til November so your source is probably wrong. I think I will open another tab with their website...just a sec...

According to this-
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1305833

Their modification was granted on 22 July. Even so they said they wouldn't be on until November at the earliest.

Channel 19, WZMQ, talked about going full power in "the first week of August".
Well it is 10pm on the 7th and the first week is pretty much over and they are still at low power. Is it time to write them off?

Looks like WZMQ is at full power today. The Zenith Box still does not get the audio on this channel while the Channel Master Box has no trouble.

I rescanned and this is the only Digital OTA I can get here.

As far as the others
I dont see how channel 35(6) can advertise it as Fox Ewe Pee when you cant get it in nearly as many areas as the old analog stations.

Nothing on channel 48 yet either. Maybe Green Bay Sold it to Minneapolis/ST. Paul;).

The problem is the physical geography around Marquette. To its East is Lake Superior. To its West, uphill, is the Superior Upland Plateau that covers much of the Central U.P.

When you build a TV transmitter licensed to Marquette, you have a choice.

You can build a transmitter right in town, or at the edge of the plateau overlooking Marquette, that actually will serve Marquette, and the Eastern end of the plateau. Or, you can build a station well into the plateau, which will serve places on the plateau, and provide theoretical coverage (and thus cable carriage) of Marquette, Iron Mountain and Escanaba, but not usable OTA coverage to Marquette itself (signals, blocked by the edge of the plateau, pass over the town).

You cannot do both with one transmitter!

WLUC, WBUP, and WJMN have chosen the latter.
WNMU used the former for its temporary facility, and transitioned to the latter.
WZMQ has chosen to serve Marquette itself.

The problem is not really due to digital (yes, the fact that the digital transition has brought with it a UHF transition for lowbanders WLUC and WJMN has exacerbated the problem). WLUC (also known as "with luck, you see") in analog had to build a translator in their own city of license (W07DB - still providing NBC for those with analog).

There is a "right" way to serve the Central U.P., but it would take money (I wonder how much, very small translators are not very expensive, are they?):
Have "rural" DTV transmitters at their current sites on the plateau (actually, WJMN is not on the plateau), and use small translators to serve Marquette, Iron Mountain, and Escanaba. The translators would all be on channels different from the main site, but could share one channel with each other (e.g., WLUC on 35, but all translators on 14)
Ideally, in the three cities, broadband antennas could be shared by all five stations to further reduce costs.

Escanaba already gets Fox and PBS from translators of Wisconsin stations. Esky used to have an analog translator of WLUC (W14CE) until quite recently, and I don't know why they dropped it.

WJMN might be able to use their existing channel 3 for the "rural" transmitter (if their antenna could pass to the bottom of the channel and Canada doesn't object) and their existing channel 48 STA facility is already their Escanaba translator.

As I've mentioned before, WNMU already had (maybe still has) a turnkey Marquette translator in its channel 33 temporary facility, which was fine in Marquette in 2008.

(BTW, did WZMQ ever get on cable? in early August, they were the only station I could get with my portable in Shiras Park, but they were not being carried by Charter in Manistique.)

Agreed 100%. We truly won't know if the situation requires translators until the main stations approach max legal power (1 MW). TV6 is so cash strapped they can't even afford to put their digital antenna at the top of their tower! I think the VHF TV6 antenna is there now.

So, keep pinging WJMN and WLUC to
1) increase transmitter power to AT LEAST 300kW (WJMN will be 1MW in Nov.)
2) increase antenna height

I would hope they'd put in some LD translators in Escanaba, Houghton, and Iron Mountain, in that order... that would really make people much happier.

I wonder if the new highly directional pattern of WJMN will really work so well. it's basically pointed at Iron Mountain... people in MQT/Negaunee/Ishpeming may not get a signal too well.

LD translators would seem like the best way to go for the UP. Lot less power cosumption overall, better coverage too.

WJMN won't really be 1000kw - it will be 1000kw* - and that is a big asterisk!

Their CP is for a highly directional antenna, aimed at Iron Mountain, with 1000kW as the power in the major lobe (998 kW will be beamed at TV Fool's reference point for Iron Mountain).
The point is to use not much electricity yet still get a theoretical coverage curve that just barely skirts around the far edge of Iron Mountain. They won't really be OTA there (the signal is blocked by one iron mountain after another), but the theoretical coverage forces the cable company to deal with WJMN (WFRV, really) for CBS, and stops the cable company from substituting WCBS off the satellite if they don't agree with WFRV's terms.
In some directions, it is barely better than an LD station.

Some effective power levels for the WJMN CP, given by TV Fool for the generic city points:

Escanaba: 266.27 kW
Manistique: 18.21 kW
Marquette: 104.34 kW
Munising: 23.64 Kw (does not matter, an even worse "bowl" than Marquette).

Rapid River and Escanaba should do Okay, and a good outdoor antenna in Marquette should actually have a chance (this is because WJMN's site near Trenary has a better terrain path into Marquette that those on the plateau).

Manistique, which had been getting WJMN well in analog, will have very "iffy" conditions even with the full digital facility.

WJMN won't really be 1000kw - it will be 1000kw* - and that is a big asterisk!

Their CP is for a highly directional antenna, aimed at Iron Mountain, with 1000kW as the power in the major lobe (998 kW will be beamed at TV Fool's reference point for Iron Mountain).
The point is to use not much electricity yet still get a theoretical coverage curve that just barely skirts around the far edge of Iron Mountain. They won't really be OTA there (the signal is blocked by one iron mountain after another), but the theoretical coverage forces the cable company to deal with WJMN (WFRV, really) for CBS, and stops the cable company from substituting WCBS off the satellite if they don't agree with WFRV's terms.
In some directions, it is barely better than an LD station.

Some effective power levels for the WJMN CP, given by TV Fool for the generic city points:

Escanaba: 266.27 kW
Manistique: 18.21 kW
Marquette: 104.34 kW
Munising: 23.64 Kw (does not matter, an even worse "bowl" than Marquette).

Rapid River and Escanaba should do Okay, and a good outdoor antenna in Marquette should actually have a chance (this is because WJMN's site near Trenary has a better terrain path into Marquette that those on the plateau).

Manistique, which had been getting WJMN well in analog, will have very "iffy" conditions even with the full digital facility.

Manistique doesn't have a significant population base so I don't necessarily fault WJMN for that. But, the highly directional pattern? I need to understand that better. Old omnidirectional plots with 1 MW ERP covered IMT and the rest of MQT/Negaunee/Ishpeming better.

WJMN won't really be 1000kw - it will be 1000kw* - and that is a big asterisk!

Their CP is for a highly directional antenna, aimed at Iron Mountain, with 1000kW as the power in the major lobe (998 kW will be beamed at TV Fool's reference point for Iron Mountain).
.


This is the plot-

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?frame=Y&temp=92476&rotate=0.00&p0=0.159&p10=0.135&p20=0.127&p30=0.141&p40=0.169&p50=0.201&p60=0.227&p70=0.240&p80=0.224&p90=0.194&p100=0.161&p110=0.134&p120=0.129&p130=0.156&p140=0.194&p150=0.225&p160=0.258&p170=0.306&p180=0.377&p190=0.469&p200=0.581&p210=0.706&p220=0.833&p230=0.937&p240=0.991&p249=1.000&p250=0.999&p260=0.993&p270=0.937&p280=0.836&p290=0.712&p300=0.577&p310=0.444&p320=0.338&p330=0.272&p340=0.227&p350=0.191&p360=0.159&

And this is the supposed coverage-

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?n=DT1305833.html

Which assumes that any point on Earth more than 10km from the transmitter is a perfectly smooth sphere.

Do a TVfool for Munising or Iron Mountain (or, for WLUC, WBUP and WNMU with regard to Marquette itself) and you'll use a vast difference.

Which assumes that any point on Earth more than 10km from the transmitter is a perfectly smooth sphere.

Do a TVfool for Munising or Iron Mountain (or, for WLUC, WBUP and WNMU with regard to Marquette itself) and you'll use a vast difference.

The TV fool map
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dWJMN
is using the old WJMN coverage pattern. Not the latest one with the tight beam towards Iron Mt.

(BTW, did WZMQ ever get on cable? in early August, they were the only station I could get with my portable in Shiras Park, but they were not being carried by Charter in Manistique.)

WZMQ Audio is now no problem on the Zenith box so that is fixed.

ZMQs streamer today said that you should email your friends and tell them to call Charter and Demand;) that channel 19.1 and 19.2 be carried on cable.

swiat, I'd like to thank you for your recommendation of the CM7777 preamp. My brother put it up and plugged it in, and was instantly able to pull in WLUC-DT very solidly where we could get no picture at all before. He never even attempted to re-aim the antenna, but had cleared out a lot of trees in the meantime. This is at our camp near Osier, where we had only been able to pull in WNMU previously. My dad is now happy to have a few more TV channel choices and to be able to get TV6 news.

swiat, I'd like to thank you for your recommendation of the CM7777 preamp. My brother put it up and plugged it in, and was instantly able to pull in WLUC-DT very solidly where we could get no picture at all before. He never even attempted to re-aim the antenna, but had cleared out a lot of trees in the meantime. This is at our camp near Osier, where we had only been able to pull in WNMU previously. My dad is now happy to have a few more TV channel choices and to be able to get TV6 news.

They announced that they were taking channel 35 down last night for "electrical upgrades to the transmitter". That probably means they upped the power. I will check and see if that is what was. Maybe TV35 is now at "full power".

They announced that they were taking channel 35 down last night for "electrical upgrades to the transmitter". That probably means they upped the power. I will check and see if that is what was. Maybe TV35 is now at "full power".

Hoser Eh, I feel your pain. What's with the writers at channel 35..."electrical upgrades to the transmitter"...what other kind of upgrades could they mean?

"Plumbing upgrades..." Suppose that could happen, particularly if it was water-cooled...

"Gas upgrades..." Yep, maybe that too, such as switching from a dehydrator to nitrogen in the coax. But, that's the coax, not the xmtr. Or, maybe they'll have it run on LP gas so they can pick up the Junior Samples crowd, as he quipped in an old "Hee Haw" skit, something to the effect of "Wonder when they'll make TVs that run on LP gas." (why do I still remember that?)

"Sewer upgrades..." Nope, that would be a coax upgrade for most stations.:p

Or, maybe they could just have said "transmitter upgrades!"

(after further study, saw that 35 = WLUC = Barrington Broadcasting. Somebody got an in-company promotion from KTVO :-\ )

They announced that they were taking channel 35 down last night for "electrical upgrades to the transmitter". That probably means they upped the power. I will check and see if that is what was. Maybe TV35 is now at "full power".

Is it back on the air?

They announced that they were taking channel 35 down last night for "electrical upgrades to the transmitter". That probably means they upped the power. I will check and see if that is what was. Maybe TV35 is now at "full power".

NOT EVEN CLOSE! Full power for UHF is 1MW or 1,000 kW. WLUC has only applied to go up to a measely 83 kW. It's still embarassing and will help faily little compared to the old power level at 63 kW ERP.

WJMN will be at full power (1MW) when they get around to getting their digital facilities in Trenary up and running.

http://northpine.com/broadcast/index.html


MICHIGAN:
WZMQ/19 (Marquette) is on the air with a schedule of This TV and My Network TV.

The station recently upgraded to 41.6kW and is back on Charter cable channel 14.


It had gone silent in June after being sold to MMMRC, LLC.


It was formerly FOX affiliate WMQF,

but FOX moved its affiliation to WLUC/6.2, which also carries a 10 p.m. newscast, some syndicated programming, and AmericaOne. (9/14/2009)


http://northpine.com/broadcast/index.html

That is old news. I rescanned and it is still showing WMQF. They still do not have a program guide on yet and they still have that annoying "ZMQ rquette"
in the lower left hand corner.

When they take off the "ZMQ rquette" and put on a program guide that will be news.




http://northpine.com/broadcast/index.html


MICHIGAN:
WZMQ/19 (Marquette) is on the air with a schedule of This TV and My Network TV.

The station recently upgraded to 41.6kW and is back on Charter cable channel 14.


It had gone silent in June after being sold to MMMRC, LLC.


It was formerly FOX affiliate WMQF,

but FOX moved its affiliation to WLUC/6.2, which also carries a 10 p.m. newscast, some syndicated programming, and AmericaOne. (9/14/2009)


http://northpine.com/broadcast/index.html

NOT EVEN CLOSE! Full power for UHF is 1MW or 1,000 kW. WLUC has only applied to go up to a measely 83 kW. It's still embarassing and will help faily little compared to the old power level at 63 kW ERP.

WJMN will be at full power (1MW) when they get around to getting their digital facilities in Trenary up and running.

TV35 took the Fox affiliation away from channel 19 which was ota in Marquette so TV35 should go to a full MW.

TV35 took the Fox affiliation away from channel 19 which was ota in Marquette so TV35 should go to a full MW.

Yeah, well, good luck with that. They should be at 1 MW considering the rough UP terrain though. I read that the chief engineer at WLUC left to go to WNMU. That can't help trying to convince Barrington to give them more $ for a legitimate transmitter.

Barrington needs to pony up for a solution soon here and with their other former low-bander KTVO in MO. The longer they wait, the stronger the likelihood some starving broadcast attorney puts a bullseye on these underpowered stations via license challenge. "Starving" is the operative word here, of course.

1 Meg is not the answer for the UP. I'd vote for fill-in translators that have better LOS into pop. areas that sit in the shadows like Marquette. The power bills would be way lower.

1MW wouldn't solve the problem completely, but it would help a lot.

The real issue is that 91.5 percent of households in the Marquette market have cable or satellite. (http://tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/Cable_and_ADS_Penetration_by_DMA.asp) With just 8.5 percent of households relying solely on over-the-air signals, broadcasters in the market don't have much need to beef up their signals.

I wouldn't advocate 1 MW at Republic, necessarily, for the reasons you said. 300kW at Republic for the main transmitter and 15 kW LD at Escanaba and Hancock/Painesdale
300 kW would get into Iron Mt. just fine.

Fall 2009 HD Local HD Launches
These are the markets expected to launch over the next two months:

September
Charleston-Huntington WV
Columbia SC
Huntsville-Decatur AL
Bluefield-Beckley WV

October
Jackson MS

Updated 9/29:
November
Marquette MI
Missoula MT
Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson ND
Sherman TX-Ada OK

pulled this from satelliteguys.us. They usually are cutting edge with these announcements. So you all won't be stuck with Dish Network for locals.

Of course. Marquette has had cable since the 1960's. At first cable had ABC, CBS, and NBC and later added PBS and then WKBD out of Detroit and that was it until the late 70's. If more of the stations were OTA in Marquette we would have More OTA viewers. Cable has been entrenched too long and there were, what some say, dirty deals with it in Marquette in the early 80's.

OTA has Never really been a choice here because of the entrenchment of cable.

1MW wouldn't solve the problem completely, but it would help a lot.

The real issue is that 91.5 percent of households in the Marquette market have cable or satellite. (http://tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/Cable_and_ADS_Penetration_by_DMA.asp) With just 8.5 percent of households relying solely on over-the-air signals, broadcasters in the market don't have much need to beef up their signals.

WZMQ still is NOT transmitting a program guide!!

Email Danny Hood. Go to the website http://www.wzmqtv.com/ and there is some contact link. Mention his guide isn't working over the air and on Zap2it/Tribune Media WZMQ isn't even listed!

WJMN was scheduled to be full power in November, now it has been pushed into next year some time, probably spring or summer with the bad weather. Note that the temporary station broadcasts with 9.8 kW ERP, the permanent station will have 1,000 kW ERP. WJMN will be on DirecTV in November according to a press release from DirecTV. The following is from an email I received from the WJMN engineer:

WJMN-TV New Information

1. WJMN-TV has been granted a Construction Permit on July 23, 2009 to build our new permanent DTV facility at our previous site South of Trenary, MI. Projected completion date summer 2010.

2. WJMN-TV will be available on Dish Network in August 2009.
DirecTV has informed us they intend to start their local service mid 4th quarter 2009.

3. WJMN-TV is currently broadcasting DTV from a temporary site Northwest of Escanaba. This temporary facility has an approximate range of 25 miles around the city of Escanaba

4. Our signal is now on UHF channel 48 but will be indicated on your tuner as 3-1 or 3.1. The best possibility for good reception is a good quality UHF outdoor antenna. The cable from the antenna should be RG-6. If you intend to use an amplifier the best place for an amplifier is as close as possible to the antenna.

5. Until our Trenary facility is complete aim your antenna at Northwest Escanaba. After our new facility is operating you will need to re-aim your antenna to our site South of Trenary.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 12, 2009

DISH NETWORK TO PROVIDE WJMN-TV CHANNEL 3 LOCAL SIGNAL

Escanaba, MI – Starting Wednesday, August 19, WJMN-TV Channel 3’s local signal will be available on DISH Network.

“At WJMN we are pleased to provide our content to the people of Upper Michigan via our partnership with DISH Network. Along with important coverage like local breaking news, severe weather and school closings, WJMN will feature programming from the CBS Television Network, America's Most Watched Network,” said Perry Kidder, WJMN President and General Manager.

DISH Network is currently testing the WJMN signal.

deleted

from the satelliteguys.us forum:

Latest report is that we could see all of the November launches on Wed, Nov 11th.

Two more weeks...

November
Marquette MI
Missoula MT
Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson ND
Sherman TX-Ada OK

Now available on DirecTV:
WLUC (NBC), WBUP (ABC), and WJMN (CBS) in HD
WBKP (CW), WLUC-DT2 (FOX), WZMQ (MYT), WNMU (PBS), WNMU-DT2 in SD

Now available on DirecTV:
WLUC (NBC), WBUP (ABC), and WJMN (CBS) in HD
WBKP (CW), WLUC-DT2 (FOX), WZMQ (MYT), WNMU (PBS), WNMU-DT2 in SD

Does WLUC-DT2 (FOX) 6.2 broadcast in HD? Or is that only a SD channel over the air, too?

SD over the air and on satellite. Better than nothing.

Anybody have any idea when dish network will get the locals in HD? I signed up for dish network not knowing they were only sd, if I had known I would have gone with directv instead. Anyway, anyone have any info? I find this unacceptable especially with the superbowl coming up.

Anybody have any idea when dish network will get the locals in HD? I signed up for dish network not knowing they were only sd, if I had known I would have gone with directv instead. Anyway, anyone have any info? I find this unacceptable especially with the superbowl coming up.

I just heard from Dish... "when pigs fly"

kidding, sort of.

Any news on WJMN and the Trenary tower? I call the 800 number and get ignored. It would be nice to be able to use my converter boxes again as WZMQ went off the air about a month ago and has not come back on so I am stuck with analog channel 7 and thats it.

Yep, 2010 and all I get is analog.

WJMN-TV website now says the transmitter is going to be installed in mid-August,will be working around mid-September.it's great to know WJMN people were on the ball and got this done in a very timely way isn't it.

Any news on WJMN and the Trenary tower? I call the 800 number and get ignored. It would be nice to be able to use my converter boxes again as WZMQ went off the air about a month ago and has not come back on so I am stuck with analog channel 7 and thats it.

Yep, 2010 and all I get is analog.

You can't even get WNMU? either you live in the deepest part of the MQT bowl or you have a very poor antenna system. Do you have an outdoor VHF/UHF antenna with a preamp and RG6 coax? If not, try those.

WJMN-TV website now says the transmitter is going to be installed in mid-August,will be working around mid-September.it's great to know WJMN people were on the ball and got this done in a very timely way isn't it.

on the bright side it will be the most powerful transmitter in the U.P. once/if it is up an running... they will put WLUC to shame.

sad it is more than a year after the transition and they are still running more or less a digital translator as a station.

You can't even get WNMU? either you live in the deepest part of the MQT bowl or you have a very poor antenna system. Do you have an outdoor VHF/UHF antenna with a preamp and RG6 coax? If not, try those.

I am in an apartment and using rabbit ears. I used to get all the major networks except ABC (which I got until they took the channel 28 (10) transmitter off the air.

I got channel 13 PBS analog in stereo on my circa 2004 Samsung and mono on my circa 1983 RCA.

Yes there is one cable company here but it has become expensive, bloated and clunky. I liked it better when they had 36 decent channels for $8.95 per month but that was the previous cable company (Bresnan). Cable has been around here since the 1960's and most people knuckle under and buy it because the "local" stations don't care about their signal coverage in Marquette.

Channel 13 PBS is actually the only station in Marquette but they don't broadcast their signal into here.

Channel 35/6/7 has a 25 watt transmitter in town which is what I am getting.
7 used to get stomped from time to time by a station in Sudbury Ontario from their tower in Wawa Ontario. So during the transistion there were times that I could not get a local station but I could get channel 7 out of Sudbury/Wawa(depending on propagation of course).

If the cable company would let me buy only the channels that I want I would sign up tommorow but that taint gonna happen.

Charter is a large enough company that they are required to offer a basic package that only includes the local channels, public access, home shopping, and a few others. They don't advertise it because they don't make much money on it. It's not really that cheap, though...with taxes it'd probably run $20-$25/month and you'd only get about 20 channels, half of it public access and home shopping.

on the bright side it will be the most powerful transmitter in the U.P. once/if it is up an running... they will put WLUC to shame.

sad it is more than a year after the transition and they are still running more or less a digital translator as a station.

Just like Citadel TV are blockheads for continuing to run their two low-banders on low-band (4 Quad Cities, 5 Central IA), the folks at Barrington that own WLUC aren't far behind. At least their low-banders went to UHF, but they seem content to leave transmitter power output about that of a toaster and a couple of hair dryers for WLUC and its other low-bander in MO.

I am in an apartment and using rabbit ears. I used to get all the major networks except ABC (which I got until they took the channel 28 (10) transmitter off the air.



Well, rabbit ears are only really any good for VHF. You may try putting a $30 amplifier in line to pull in WNMU. If you can't get that, then maybe your walls are lined with some sort of steel mesh.

Amplifier: get a low noise type such as the Channel Master 7777, 7778, or Winegard AP-8700. I know it's an outdoor preamp type, but it will work fine indoors and the noise level is like 5 dB lower than the crappy Radio Schmuck ones.

Antenna: for UHF, maybe try the Antennas Direct DB2 (could put on porch or it may be small enough inside... basically, you need something better for UHF...), just go here and browse:
http://www.solidsignal.com/cview.asp?mc=03&d=over-the-air-tv-antennas-supplies&c=TV%20Antennas

See if you can put an antenna near a window or on an apartment porch. Rabbit ears only work when you are nearby pretty strong stations... and mostly VHF stations

Just like Citadel TV are blockheads for continuing to run their two low-banders on low-band (4 Quad Cities, 5 Central IA), the folks at Barrington that own WLUC aren't far behind. At least their low-banders went to UHF, but they seem content to leave transmitter power output about that of a toaster and a couple of hair dryers for WLUC and its other low-bander in MO.

WTOM (NBC) Cheboygan (also a Barrington station) is just as bad. You can't get it in the Eastern U.P. or in Gaylord. It's so pathetic they have to broadcast NBC on a tower (WGTQ) 20 miles across the lake.

<snip>See if you can put an antenna near a window or on an apartment porch. Rabbit ears only work when you are nearby pretty strong stations... and mostly VHF stations

Not worth the hassle. Why go through all that only to find that the signals really are not there. They were there when analog was around but with these great new digital signals they are broadcasting to the back of their eyelids.

Oh BTW I have been using a bowtie on both sets all along also.

ABTW Channel 19 is on cable so that leads me to assume that they lowered their transmitter power after they went off the air about 2 months ago.

If you look at the maps on TVFool.com you can see that he's right. WZMQ is the only digital station delivering a signal to Marquette that is strong enough to be received with an indoor antenna. Unfortunately, poor transmitter placement and low power levels have made broadcast irrelevant in Marquette. I was not even able to receive WBUP-10 when I camped at Van Riper State Park a few weeks ago, just 6 and 13 - with breakup.

If you look at the maps on TVFool.com you can see that he's right. WZMQ is the only digital station delivering a signal to Marquette that is strong enough to be received with an indoor antenna. Unfortunately, poor transmitter placement and low power levels have made broadcast irrelevant in Marquette. I was not even able to receive WBUP-10 when I camped at Van Riper State Park a few weeks ago, just 6 and 13 - with breakup.

Doesn't help that Marquette is a sharp 300' drop below the ground level where the transmitters are at. Indoor antennas are a thing of the past for over the air in the rough terrain of the NW'rn UP now. Guess you're S.O.L.

Duluth has a similar topographical challenge. However, they placed the transmitters on the edge of the hill in Duluth. In Marquette, they placed the transmitters inland in an effort to provide a better signal to Iron Mountain and Escanaba. They could kind of get away with that in the analog era, but digital is less forgiving. Not to mention the low power levels.

Duluth has a similar topographical challenge. However, they placed the transmitters on the edge of the hill in Duluth. In Marquette, they placed the transmitters inland in an effort to provide a better signal to Iron Mountain and Escanaba. They could kind of get away with that in the analog era, but digital is less forgiving. Not to mention the low power levels.

You've really hit the nail on the head. WLUC at 83kW was operating 100kW analog VHF. Comparable UHF digital for full powered stations is 1MW, similar to WFRV/WGBA/WBAY and what we'll see from WJMN by this fall. WBUP chose to go to channel 10.. not totally stupid, not really smart either. WWUP is up at 25kW from Goetzville. The close proximity keeps WBUP from increasing their power to 30+kW what WOOD/WWTV are running for VHF digital. WNMU-DT is only running 15.4 kW ERP, WBUP-DT is only running 9kW!

The Republic area is a good area for many transmitters due to the high terrain. The problem is that there are many hills between Republic and Marquette. I think we'd see better signal levels if the VHF stations in the area were on the order of 25kW and the UHF stations were 300kW or greater.

But, they can't afford it so that's how it is.

FYI

Topic added to main US list of markets. At long last.

Correction-
They used to have a strong enough signal. They went off the air sometime in June and when they came back on cable the OTA signal was gone. Either they changed their antenna or lowered their power or both.

That means I am only getting analog channel 7 and have been since June.


If you look at the maps on TVFool.com you can see that he's right. WZMQ is the only digital station delivering a signal to Marquette that is strong enough to be received with an indoor antenna. Unfortunately, poor transmitter placement and low power levels have made broadcast irrelevant in Marquette. I was not even able to receive WBUP-10 when I camped at Van Riper State Park a few weeks ago, just 6 and 13 - with breakup.

You've really hit the nail on the head. WLUC at 83kW was operating 100kW analog VHF. Comparable UHF digital for full powered stations is 1MW, similar to WFRV/WGBA/WBAY and what we'll see from WJMN by this fall. WBUP chose to go to channel 10.. not totally stupid, not really smart either. WWUP is up at 25kW from Goetzville. The close proximity keeps WBUP from increasing their power to 30+kW what WOOD/WWTV are running for VHF digital. WNMU-DT is only running 15.4 kW ERP, WBUP-DT is only running 9kW!

The Republic area is a good area for many transmitters due to the high terrain. The problem is that there are many hills between Republic and Marquette. I think we'd see better signal levels if the VHF stations in the area were on the order of 25kW and the UHF stations were 300kW or greater.

But, they can't afford it so that's how it is.


The stations broadcast from those inland transmitter sites (WLUC, WBUP and WNMU are also on a plateau) because they are closer to being equidistant to the three places in the Central U.P. where people actually live - Marquette, Iron Mountain and Escanaba, where they can get theoretical coverage of all three cities.
If those cities are in the blue circle, cable has to carry them. It does not matter that MQT and Esky are in bowls, Iron Mountain is behind an iron mountain, and they can't really be seen well over the air (and could not when they were analog - WLUC on 6 may have been seen in MQT okay decades ago, but not since they moved to their current site).

This is why they have/used to have translators in those cities when everything was analog.

Cable/satellite must-carry rules are based on market assignment, not actual coverage area. If the station is in the market, it can invoke must-carry status for any cable system and satellite provider serving the market. Coverage area is irrelevant.

WLUC is the only Marquette-market station with translators, and only in Marquette and Escanaba. WBKP did have a translator in Marquette for a few years until WBUP signed on. As far as I know WJMN and WNMU never had translators. (The Green Bay FOX affiliate has a translator in Escanaba.)

The theoretical coverage of Marquette is about as strong as the Chicago stations' theoretical coverage of Milwaukee, if that says anything. Here is a direct link to WLUC's coverage area:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dwluc (It should be noted that the area in purple is pretty much useless unless you have your own tower.)

Hopefully this doesn't come across as confrontational, just trying to set the record straight...

Not confrontational at all, but how can you say WLUC's coverage is even close to that of WFLD (Chicago) or WITI (Milwaukee) if you look at the coverage radius of the green or light blue? 83 kW isn't cutting it. There is a near plateau of coverage vs power when you start getting above 500 kW. WLUC has a long way to go.

Not confrontational at all, but how can you say WLUC's coverage is even close to that of WFLD (Chicago) or WITI (Milwaukee) if you look at the coverage radius of the green or light blue? 83 kW isn't cutting it. There is a near plateau of coverage vs power when you start getting above 500 kW. WLUC has a long way to go.
What Jon is saying.. the coverage of WLUC is the same as a Chicago station trying to COVER Milwaukee. He's not saying its the same as the coverage of Chicago or Milwaukee stations

Yes, I was comparing the signal strength of WLUC and WBUP in Marquette to the signal strength of the major Chicago stations in Milwaukee. They are roughly the same...point being, WLUC and WBUP don't really cover Marquette.

We'll see what happens after WJMN lights up at 1MW. There will be some competitive pressure to improve the coverage of WLUC and WBUP.

Well, it is what I figured. WZMQ moved to a different tower and lowered their antenna AND lowered their power!

Well, it is what I figured. WZMQ moved to a different tower and lowered their antenna AND lowered their power!

Looks like a move from Dead River to Ishpeming and going from 41kW to 31kW ERP. Isn't Ishpeming much higher than Dead River? Maybe the tower rental was just too steep for them at Dead River.

Can anyone with a decent antenna setup give me an update on WJMN? Is it at 1 MW yet and how well does it come in from your location?

Well here it is...mid September 2010 and I just checked and no WZMQ or WJMN.

Only channel OTA here in Marquette is analog 7.

Well here it is...mid September 2010 and I just checked and no WZMQ or WJMN.

Only channel OTA here in Marquette is analog 7.

I was thinking the same thing today,but then starting thinking they probably meant mid-september 2011.:eek:

wjmntv website now says it should be on around the end of the month.:rolleyes:

here is wjmn-tv website funny how they keep extended the time to get the work done.www.wfrv.com/news/michigan:rolleyes:

Ok, I give up. There never will be OTA DTV/HDTV in Marquette. I'll sell the converters at a rummage sale and when the TV's go I just wont get any programs. Problem solved!

If WLUC converts its channel 7 translator to digital, there should be at least two channels recievable! (FCC is proposing a 2012 deadline for translators to convert...or leave the air.)

Also, it looks like WJMN stands a chance of reaching Marquette once it's finally done. Being a full 1,000kW, it will have the largest coverage area of any station in the UP.

More important than their higher power, WJMN will be Southeast of Marquette, not behind the bluff to the west that overlooks it, so there will be a signal path into most of Marquette proper, though it still won't be very easy.

Sadly, WLUC, WBUP and WNMU could quite easily have run digital translators to serve Marquette itself. WNMU, in particular, could simply have left the pre-transition channel 33 transmitter "on" to serve Marquette.

WJMN will have a strong directional signal to Iron Mt. but should have some signal to the north since it is so high and so powerful... Not a perfect lobe towards Iron Mt, more like a lopsided oval:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?frame=Y&temp=101023&rotate=0.00&p0=0.159&p10=0.135&p20=0.127&p30=0.141&p40=0.169&p50=0.201&p60=0.227&p70=0.240&p80=0.224&p90=0.194&p100=0.161&p110=0.134&p120=0.129&p130=0.156&p140=0.194&p150=0.225&p160=0.258&p170=0.306&p180=0.377&p190=0.469&p200=0.581&p210=0.706&p220=0.833&p230=0.937&p240=0.991&p249=1.000&p250=0.999&p260=0.993&p270=0.937&p280=0.836&p290=0.712&p300=0.577&p310=0.444&p320=0.338&p330=0.272&p340=0.227&p350=0.191&p360=0.159&

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1305833.html

Ok, I give up. There never will be OTA DTV/HDTV in Marquette. I'll sell the converters at a rummage sale and when the TV's go I just wont get any programs. Problem solved!

satellite and cable are necessarily evils in the rough terrain and small market type transmitters of the Central/Western U.P.

Now WJMN website says they hope to be broadcasting at full operational power October 8.Now what are the odds there will be another delay.:rolleyes:

Yeah, it's getting pretty funny now isn't it? At least they have the lines up, the antenna up, and the transmitter installed. They are 3/4 complete.

www.wjmntv.com

... and they will be blowing away WLUC, WBUP, and WZMQ by Thanksgiving.

The only question I have is, How will WLUC/Barrington respond? After all, they carry NBC AND FOX now. Using that "we're too poor" excuse might not cut it with the extra FOX revenue. Perhaps they already have plans to boost the transmitter next summer... who knows? WLUC needs to go to 500kW ERP just like the other Barrington station in Traverse City did, WPBN.

WJMN is now broadcasting finally,Appears to be a very good signal,granted I have city cable in Crystal Falls.but our city picks up the signal from the Trenary site,I waited long enough but the wait appears to be well worth it.:)

Looks like they want viewer input:

"Work continues on WJMN-TV's upgrade to high-power digital broadcasting.

WJMN powered up it's new transmitter over the weekend. While testing and calibration work continue, the signal may come and go during the work day.

WJMN engineers would like to hear from our antenna viewers, and what strength you are receiving the new signal. Please send your reception feedback to us by email at demitchell@wjmntv.com"

I have been watching WJMN since yesterday,and I can now say this WJMN signal makes WLUC signal look well is pathetic a good description.:)

WLUC houses the equipment for DirecTV and DISH Network. As of October 7, 2010 the DirecTV technician was on site to swap WJMN to over-the-air reception and was unable to get a useable signal at our location in Negaunee Township. He was going to go south on US41 to see how far he would have to go to pick up the signal.

WLUC is working with our regional engineering on our problems with reception. We currently have a directional antenna on our tower pointed to the North (installed in 2003). Another idea is to work on getting our analog removed from the top and using an omnidirectional.

We have been watching the changes for low power to digital and are working on what we would install in Marquette.

WLUC houses the equipment for DirecTV and DISH Network. As of October 7, 2010 the DirecTV technician was on site to swap WJMN to over-the-air reception and was unable to get a useable signal at our location in Negaunee Township. He was going to go south on US41 to see how far he would have to go to pick up the signal.

WLUC is working with our regional engineering on our problems with reception. We currently have a directional antenna on our tower pointed to the North (installed in 2003). Another idea is to work on getting our analog removed from the top and using an omnidirectional.

We have been watching the changes for low power to digital and are working on what we would install in Marquette.


not totally surprised re: WJMN

maybe it's because they have a highly directional signal to the southwest from their transmitter in Trenary. A cardiod pattern from Trenary might have been smarter.

...and I hope you guys at WLUC do move the antenna to the top of the tower for starters...but ultimately, 83kW ERP is peanuts compared to what many digital UHF stations are using across the country. Many full powered stations are 1MW. Getting halfway there would be a major step forward. Too bad you can't have a PBS-style telethon to raise money for the capital improvements.

Marquette's "bowl" Terrain is another issue.... good luck with that. seems to me the only way to address that is work on a 15kW LD translator.

I would definitely second adding a translator in or directly over Marquette as opposed to trying to push more power out of the existing site. I don't think 1000kW from deep in the plateau would serve Marquette effectively (all that RF would fly right over the town), but a translator right in town would not need 15kW. In fact, a mere 100w could likely do it.

I would say do the same for Iron Mountain and Escanaba. I wonder what happened to the channel 14 translator at Escanaba, I believe I saw it (analog) as little as about 5 years ago.

@wlucengnr: I recently got a hold of some old (1975-76) copies of a magazine published by TV DX buffs. I was quite surprised to see someone logged W55AE in Manistique as a translator of WLUC back then. I never saw it, I wonder what years it had been on the air, and exactly where it transmitted from. It could not have been on the air very long.

Now available on DirecTV:
WLUC (NBC), WBUP (ABC), and WJMN (CBS) in HD
WBKP (CW), WLUC-DT2 (FOX), WZMQ (MYT), WNMU (PBS), WNMU-DT2 in SD

Are the locals over DirecTV still this way (HD for NBC, ABC, and CBS; SD for FOX)? I have NYC feeds in HD for NBC, CBS, and FOX (but no ABC) and would switch to locals if they're all HD, but I'd rather stay how I am with no ABC than to lose the FOX HD (based on the shows I tend to watch).

Would DirecTV let me keep the distant network feeds as well as get the locals? That'd be the best for me if they would.

Are the locals over DirecTV still this way (HD for NBC, ABC, and CBS; SD for FOX)? I have NYC feeds in HD for NBC, CBS, and FOX (but no ABC) and would switch to locals if they're all HD, but I'd rather stay how I am with no ABC than to lose the FOX HD (based on the shows I tend to watch).

Would DirecTV let me keep the distant network feeds as well as get the locals? That'd be the best for me if they would.

According to the DirecTV website, they have since added WLUC-DT2 in HD. (I'm not sure if this is available OTA or they are just getting a direct feed from WLUC.) However, depending on when you added distant networks, there's a chance you are grandfathered to keep those anyway.

On a related note, can someone who sees WLUC over the air tell me if they're doing HD on 6-2 as well as 6-1, or if 6-2 is in SD?

- Trip

On a related note, can someone who sees WLUC over the air tell me if they're doing HD on 6-2 as well as 6-1, or if 6-2 is in SD?

- Trip

NBC in HD on 6-1
FOX in SD on 6-2

That's surprising. Barrington invested in dual HD gear in other markets.

- Trip

WLUC has asked FOX if we can send HD over-the-air and we were given specific information on what we can do. According to agreements with FOX we can only provide HD to cable and satellite.

Well, look at it this way, the NBC picture doesn't look like crap due to excessive sharing of bits.

WLUCengr, are you guys going to upgrade the PA to something in the 2-300kW+ range and move the UHF antenna to the top of the tower?

As of right now our power will stay at 83kW. We are looking into removing the old analog antenna at the top and possibly install an omnidirectional to help with signal problems to the south.

As of right now our power will stay at 83kW. We are looking into removing the old analog antenna at the top and possibly install an omnidirectional to help with signal problems to the south.

Well, it's nice you're keeping an open mind, but I'm afraid that without increasing the power you will trade complaints from the south to complaints from the north due to a lower field strength to the north with an omnidirectional antenna.

Poor you... have to deal with a tight budget and angry callers. Don't envy the pickle you're in for a second. Good luck. Perhaps Barrington will be more open minded if you remind them of how they helped WPBN when they had problems. They're now at 500kW ERP and have many less complaints.

I heard somewhere that your transmission line power rating may be the gating factor in a power increase. I guess there won't me much change until at least May with winter coming up.

The other option may be to install digital translators at Marquette, Escanaba, and Iron Mountain. In the long run, I don't see how that's more economical than a single site improvement. Although, I guess the RF7 translator is still chugging along.

I have an idea for you... How about purchasing WDHS and changing WLUC's pattern to be more north. The 2 patterns would have very slight overlap, and you'd cover Escanaba and Iron Mtn. along with improving existing coverage in MQT county

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/contourplot.kml?gmap=2%26appid=1317761%26call=WDHS%26freq=0. 0%26contour=36%26city=IRON_MOUNTAIN%26state=MI

WDHS has been operating the minimum number of hrs per year to hold onto the license and I bet with the economy the way it is, it could be purchased for a fair price.

Otherwise, WDHS would make for a nice iOn affiliate.

Bringing this thread back around. I'm in Negaunee Township, down the hill from WLUC on M-35 before it hits 492. I can't seem to get anything over the air. I have a converter box and an old set of rabbit ears. I got a faint signal on 19.1 but lost it and that was it. No TV6 or 13 or 11. TV and ears are in the center of the house. Would the signals be going right over my house? I'm trying to dump cable and get some over the airs but no luck. At camp, on the end of Co Rd 581, I can pick up seven channels but the towers are out there too.

Bringing this thread back around. I'm in Negaunee Township, down the hill from WLUC on M-35 before it hits 492. I can't seem to get anything over the air. I have a converter box and an old set of rabbit ears. I got a faint signal on 19.1 but lost it and that was it. No TV6 or 13 or 11. TV and ears are in the center of the house. Would the signals be going right over my house? I'm trying to dump cable and get some over the airs but no luck. At camp, on the end of Co Rd 581, I can pick up seven channels but the towers are out there too.

Sadly for you, the Upper Michigan stations have "built to the minimum" when it comes to DTV - spending just enough to keep their full-service licenses in force, which keeps them on the cable and satellite services.

Your location is affected by terrain, and WLUC's signal is rated as fair to poor, despite a distance of only 19 miles. Nevertheless, a TV Fool check on the coordinates of the intersection of 35/492 suggests you should get ABC, PBS, NBC and (as an SD subchannel) Fox with an outdoor antenna on a roof aimed WSW. (no guarantees).

Sounds like I'm pretty much SOL here. If I could get the channels I get out camp, I'd be good to go. How about satellite (dish)? Wrong forum? I'm trying to save a little cash. I want to keep my internet and i think the only choice is Charter here but if I can save, I'd go with dish but it'd have to have the locals.

Anyone?

Bringing this thread back around. I'm in Negaunee Township, down the hill from WLUC on M-35 before it hits 492. I can't seem to get anything over the air. I have a converter box and an old set of rabbit ears. I got a faint signal on 19.1 but lost it and that was it. No TV6 or 13 or 11. TV and ears are in the center of the house. Would the signals be going right over my house? I'm trying to dump cable and get some over the airs but no luck. At camp, on the end of Co Rd 581, I can pick up seven channels but the towers are out there too.

Rabbit ears are for VHF, not UHF (WJMN, WLUC, WZMQ are now on UHF). Also, you'll need an outdoor antenna and possibly a preamplifier. The cheapo indoor antennas don't cut it now. I put up an outdoor antenna VHF/UHF antenna at a house in West Ishpeming near the triangle motel using a Channel Master 3016 antenna, a Channel Mater 7778 amplifier, and RG-6 quad shield cable. They now get get WJMN, WLUC, WBUP, WNMU, WZMQ 100% of the time. It's really easy if you are willing to spend $100-$125.

Local channels are available on both DirecTV and Dish Network. Your choice if you want to spend the money.

BTW, the converter boxes make a difference too... They are not all created equal. some of the Insignia and Zenith models work pretty good.

Links to order:
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=CM-3016&d=Channel-Master-CM3016-Suburban-Advantage-TV-Antenna-%28CM3016%29&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=CM-7778&d=Channel-Master-CM7778-Titan-2-VHFUHF-TV-Antenna-Preamplifier-with-Power-Supply-%28CM7778%29&c=Pre-Amplifiers&sku=020572077781

You'll have to search for the coax and connectors. Just order the RG-6 quad shield (or worst case RG-6). Stay away from cheap crap RG-59.

from the Michigan Buzzboard (http://mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=33133&p=407526#p407526)and From RBR.COM:

Perry Sook’s Nexstar Broadcasting Group will be the owner and/or operator of 65 broadcast television stations once it closes on the acquisition of CBS affiliates in the Green Bay-Appleton WI and Marquette MI Nielsen DMAs. The seller is Liberty Media Corporation.

The stations are WFRV-TV in Green Bay and WJMN-TV in Marquette. The price will be $20M, with $2.5M of that in the form of stock that will go to an affiliate of the seller.

Sook commented, “The acquisition of WFRV and WJMN highlights Nexstar’s role in the industry as a leading consolidator of stations in mid-sized markets through accretive transactions. Similar to other Nexstar transactions, the acquisition allows the Company to expand and diversify its station portfolio and presents a new opportunity for the Company to leverage its intellectual capital and operating management. In addition, entering Wisconsin and Michigan represent a natural complement to our existing Midwest operations. “

He added, “The purchase price for the two stations is less than five times the average 2010/2011 pro-forma projected cash flow. Under Nexstar’s ownership both stations will realize additional retransmission revenues as well as synergistic operating improvements, and on a pro-forma basis the acquisition will be immediately accretive to results and de-leveraging on a debt-to- cash-flow basis. We’ll also bring effective online marketing solutions to local and national advertisers through the launch of Nexstar’s e-Media and mobile offerings through our proven Community Portal model.”

The stations come at a considerable discount from the amount Liberty is believed to have paid for them. They came from CBS Corporation in a deal that included a stock buyback, and were valued at $64M in an RBR-TVBR Transaction Digest item. The Liberty/CBS deal was filed with the FCC 2/13/07.