Anyone in the Northern part of Port Saint Lucie or Ft Pierce area able to get WFLX and WFLXDT with good reception? If so, what antenna are you using... Im having a terrible time trying to tune it in with my DST3000. It seems the crappy lil TV i have pulls it in much better than the STB..

HTNUT,

I'm in South Stuart, and am using a Radio Shack double bowtie antenna. I get WFLX-DT with 100% signal. I've tried the mega-wave antenna that www.titantv.com recommends, and an amplified antenna from wal-mart, both pale in comparison to the simple radio shack antenna.

David, it's now late October... Any word on WPEC gettin going?????

The CBS website is already saying they are on the air.
http://www.cbs.com/info/hdtv/

But they arent ;)

Yeah, I know that is why I bring this up.

Is WPEC digital really going to be on VHF channel 13? That is, if they ever get a signal going?. I would have thought that there would be testing by now.

Our tower has been reinforced to accomodate our new DTV antenna which should be mounted on the side of the tower at the 880 foot level soon. We are waiting for some back-ordered studio equipment. If we receive it soon we anticipate possibly beginning on-air testing sometime in November on channel 13-1. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Thanks for the info Dave. When you say 13-1 do you mean that it's remapped to that channel by our receiver? What is the actual frequency? UHF or VHF?

WPEC-DT will broadcast on VHF channel 13. Your receiver will remap it to 12-1.

A truckload (!) of DTV equipment will be here at the studio today, basically everything needed at this end for CBS HD passthrough and upconversion of everything else.

We expect the feedline for the DTV antenna to go up the tower (at the west end of Lantana Road) next week, to be followed eventually by the antenna itself.

Oh boy! Christmas came early at WPEC. That's good news indeed.

Here's a link to an equipment block diagram at our vendor's website that will give you a feel for the complexity of what our engineers will be installing and testing over the coming weeks:

http://www.hvs-dtv.com/DTV_Systems/CBS/cbs.html

...and it all has to work perfectly :rolleyes:

Boy. I thought MY home theater system was complex. I see HiDefDave will be quite busy for a while. Thanks for the link. I had no idea that much equipment was involved.

Actually all I'll be doing will be to help "schlep" stuff for the engineers! (I'm a sound mixer.)

I suspect that few viewers, even those who are fairly techically saavy, realize how complex a DTV facility is. And that block diagram only gets the signal to the input of the studio-to-transmitter link (STL) microwave transmitter. After that, out at the broadcast tower site is the STL receiver, then the over-the-air broadcast transmitter, feedline and antenna.

The whole shebang costs about $2 million...and that's just to pass-through CBS HD and upconvert all the SD programming to 1080i. We'll also have the capability of multicasting a second SD stream. We just ordered the gear to do that. (It already appears in the block diagram.)

Girls will be girls. This one is for cliff:o

We have been receiving and viewing the CBS-HD feed here at the studio since Friday.

Today our DTV antenna was hoisted vertically alongside the bottom of our broadcast tower so that the mounting brackets can be attached, which is being done now. The next step will be hoisting the antenna/mount assembly up to the 880-foot level of the tower.

Check DTV channel 50.

WTVX is on the air.

Congradulations WFOR WBFS WTVX engineers!!!!!!!!
3 DTV stations and a new high power analog in 2 years

You guys are great.

Rich

And a great strong signal here on 50-1

Does anyone know when UPN/WB (34-1) is going to start broadcasting HD programming. I'm getting a good analog signal (4:3), but that's not very useful without the accompanying HD programming.

I am in Melbourne and have been enjoying WTVX-DT signal every evening when it is strong enough for me to lock.

Anyway got a message today from Joe Garcia the chief engineer for WFOR CBS Miami,WBFS UPN Miami, and WTVX UPN/WB West Palm/Ft Pierce.
As to WTVX-DT which of courrse is a UPN and WB affiliate and here is what he says about HD at his viacom/UPN O&O affiliate:

" WB HD programming is something we have been discussing. It is a possibility. As for UPN HD programming, you will be seeing some come down soon. Enterprise and others as we progress."


I hope soon! I think once UPN goes HD it will put Fox in a pretty poor light with the FCC when it comes to thier ED.

When do you think HiDefGuide.com will add UPN to their list?

I agree those stations that implement solid HD programming will have a distinct advantage. Once you've watched HD video - you don't want to watch the blurry NTSC analog video any longer. FOX has a very strange attitude towards HD, especially considering they broadcast NFL football. Sporting events are awesome in HD - not only because of the video quality, but also because of the wider angle of view. Maybe the NFL should consider a more forward thinking network to carry their broadcasts!!

I agree. Sports is probably the biggest draw for HD. Especially football. The TV manufacturer that sponsors and provides HD cameras for football will get a lot of support from the viewers. I suspect that since most of the manufacturers are overseas they don't understand American football.

I live out in loxahatchee and picked up 2 RS double bowties last nite. I havent gotten an STB yet because I wanted to see how the RS unit worked so far out. I actually got pretty incouraging results from the analog broadcasts. Fox 29 and UPN were clearer than my adelphia cable. Now the real funny part is that I had bought a 300 to 75 ohm transformer but hadnt fully secured it to the antenna. I simply wedged its terminals under the existing ones. With this type of reception from just my jerry rigged setup I am assuming I will get pretty good results on a digital feed. Am I making the usual comment about assuming correct in thinking I will get good Digital signals considering my current analog reception? Anyone else out west like me and pulling good signals?

I believe when digital channels such as UPN (34-1) are broadcasting analog signals, the transmission is digital. If I'm correct, when UPN begins broadcasting HD your signal strength shouldn't change.

Where did you get the RS double bow-ties? I was just at the RS here in RPB and they are out of them. My friend in western Boynton uses the modified bow-tie. He points it northwest and gets all of the Palm Beach County digital stations. WPEC (CBS) will be on-line soon and we already get ABC, FOX and now UPN. That leaves NBC and WPTV - don't plan on them going digital any time soon. I don't even see any NBC stations in the Miami area so having a large outdoor antenna is not necessary. Your $5 double bow-tie should be just fine.

I picked up the last 2 they had at the Royal Palm RS last nite. Took forever as there was an older gentleman who didnt not speak english very well working at the time. I got them about 6:30PM last nite. I will do the full mod tonight and see how things work then probably pick up an STB by the weekend.

I am looking to buy a STB (Preferably Panny Over the Air Tuner) or SIRT151. Did any one find a good price on these locally? SEARS is offerering it for $449. I am looking for a better price.


I have another question. Does Adelphia have any plans to pass on Digital signals (including HD) through Cable? Other Cable companies in other parts of the country have started offering HD channels through Cable.

Speaking of local South Florida reception, has anyone else noticed a slight delay on the West Palm WPBF-DT ABC channel 16? Both local and national shows. I've been noticing it since Friday. I also get WFLX - no delay and WTVX - no delay.

I have always gotten a delay on WPBF-DT with my Mitsubishi HD5. I just put up a new antenna and it still does it so I think it's normal.

Venkat,

Highly unlikely with Adelphia's current financial situation. I really wish comcast would come back into the area or maybe TWC. Its picking the lesser of 2 evils when it comes to cable. Though I do have to admit I have gotten rather spoiled with my 3mbps cable speeds.

Originally posted by Bighitter
I picked up the last 2 they had at the Royal Palm RS last nite. Took forever as there was an older gentleman who didnt not speak english very well working at the time. I got them about 6:30PM last nite. I will do the full mod tonight and see how things work then probably pick up an STB by the weekend.

Full Mod? What mod are you planning? The only modification I've made was to put on a 300 ohm connector - Is there something else people are doing?

I always find audio probs with WPBF. THe shows that are not in HD the main dialogue seems to come from the Left main speaker. The HD shows it comes out the Center channel as expected..

The mod is to simply take a 300 to 75 ohm transformer and secure it directly to the antenna. Atleast that is what I have read here on the forum. This gets the signal to a shielded 75ohm cable asap. I simply drilled out the existing rivets and used some small bolts to secure the transformer. I am picking up alot of channels with snow and static but I am also picking up alot more channels that are watchable after securing the transformer. I will be picking up an stb this weekend and hope to be seeing some HDTV.

I am leaning towards buying a STB (Zenith From Circuit City) and am hoping to receive Digital broadcasts (Including HD) without using an outdoor antenna. I live West Of Jog on Hypoluxo (South of Lantana Road). One of the reasons I delayed my STB Purchase is the need to have an outdoor antenna .

Last Year I got a good signal (Almost 99% when I put an Outdoor at ground level) of CBS From Miami. But eventually I took it off and decided to wait for the local affiliate to start the digital broadcase.

Thanks

Originally posted by Venkat
West Of Jog on Hypoluxo ...need to have an outdoor antenna?


I'm at Jog and Gateway, with a RS multi-band antenna in the attic pointed at Miami. I get all the Miami and the Lantana West Palm stations. With the current pointing though, I am not quite getting the St. Lucie (16 and 50) but these are repeats of Miami anyway for most content. Perhaps if I got back up there and put the pre-amp back in line, or perhaps with the antenna pointed just a little off south these two would lock. They lock on rainy nights for a moment or two, and the light flickers like they are very close most of the time now.

You should know that early in this thread, is the answer to getting rid of the Channel 5 interference from the lantana antenna farm!... Don't know if you will need to do this, but I would assume you will.

In researching antennas (antennae sp?) from various manufacturers, I have been frustrated that some inform you as to whether it is omni-directional or directional, others do not. Radio Shack does not provide this info on most of their outdoor/attic antennas, where as Channel Master and Winegard do.

Arrg!

Anyone in Palm Beach County area not receiving WFLX-DT 28? I haven't had a signal since Thursday.

Also, I wish the sound engineer at PEC would give us an update :-)

Has anyone tried to see if they can get Ft Meyers NBC channel 15 remapped to 20-1?
Seems some people can get it at night at Weston and Miami.
They have also received HD NBC.

I received this response 11/8 to an HD status query sent to WPEC:

"We are still installing equipment. Our antenna installation is taking much longer than than we were led to believe. The end of October came and went without the antennas installed on our tower. This is a delicate operation that needs to be done very carefully.

Our goal is still this month although the delays to date have dampened my optimism.

The equipment needed for DTV is mostly installed and tested except for two antennas. Once they are installed it is only a matter of testing the complete system then we will start broadcasting DTV to include High Definition whenever it is available.

I appreciate you concern. Be advised we are probably more frustrated than you are in the delays. We will be providing you service in the near future; I just can not name that date right now."
George Danner

Last Night Strangely The Sunday Night Football was received on 4-1 and CBS was received on 33-1. I was getting CBS on 4-1 and UPN on 33-1. It was strange and couldn't understand this. Did any one observe the same?

I just bought the Zenith HDV420 from circuit on Friday along with the Zenith Indoor antenna an am getting all the channels (including WAMI). The reception is pretty great for almost all the channels (Including UPN from Miami, WB From Miami, CBS From Miami, and couple of Spanish Channels, and PBS). I was surprised to se that I was able to pick CBS From Miami eventhough the antenna was suppose to pick local channels. Stranely enough the Closed Caption on the Zenith Receiver is not working an keeps saying "This feature is not currently available" for all the channels. I am thinking this is a bug with the receiver . I am sure atleast one of these channels but must transmitting Closed Caption. Can some one clarify this?

I am also getting Black Bars on the sides during 4:3 transmission on almost all the channels and am concerned with the possible burn ins. What do you guys do about this? My Zenith does not seem to allow me change the format of the picture.

Concerning your CBS/UPN football question, it wasn't a bug in the system just CBS using all its resources. The NFL requires all home team games to be broadcast on free OTA TV. Since CBS-4 had the rights to carry the game, they moved their CBS primetime prgramming over to their sister station, UPN-33. It stinks for UPN fans but solves a problem for CBS. Basic point: Do not adjust your set.

Originally posted by BarretoA
Concerning your CBS/UPN football question, it wasn't a bug in the system just CBS using all its resources. The NFL requires all home team games to be broadcast on free OTA TV. Since CBS-4 had the rights to carry the game, they moved their CBS primetime prgramming over to their sister station, UPN-33. It stinks for UPN fans but solves a problem for CBS. Basic point: Do not adjust your set.


Yeah I saw this two ...
Barretto are you getting any of the Ft Myers like some people are claming, I live right in the border of I75 and 138, how about you ?

George33027,


15-1 does map to 20-1 WBBH-TV Ft.Myers NBC with a good UHF antenna here in Miami and Broward during short tropo openings across the swamp.

Those who live in West Dade and West Broward have a less interference and are prone to better reception than those who live in the city. The radiational cooling at night in the glades helps to promote thermal ducts which provide skip.

I wouldn't expect to see much, approaching cold fronts usually bring in best conditions which may last up to a day or so and that's your best bet to view new channels.

Thanks to our friends at NBC6 in Miramar, we won't be seeing much from NBC for days to come!

Originally posted by jluzbet
Yeah I saw this two ...
Barretto are you getting any of the Ft Myers like some people are claming, I live right in the border of I75 and 138, how about you ?

I have not tried recieving Ft Myers. I have a RS 90 inch antenna with no amplification. I'm further east and south near Red Road and Okeechobee. Is it worth a try to re-orient towards the NW? Right now I get FOX-29 very well, NBC and CBS from WPB analog and fuzzy.

I asked this on another thread, but, maybe this one is the right one.
What is ch vs remap channel in WPB?

28 = 29-1 Fox

What is 16, 34 etc ?

Need channel and remap to rotate may antenna with channel number

16 is 25-1
i think 50 is 34-1

David, any new news to report about WPEC status???

Channel numbers are heavily dependent on your STB. I am getting WFLX on 29 (not on 28) , and UPN34 on 50. This is what my Zenith Over the Air Tuner is mapping it to.

Originally posted by HTnut
David, any new news to report about WPEC status???

Our DTV antenna is hanging near the top of the tower awaiting being mounted permanently.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's WPEC's HD antenna blowing in the wind!

Seriously though. I will hurry up and wait. :p

Wow, I hope we don't get any high winds before they get that bird firmly attached!! I'm anxiously awaiting WPEC's fullfillment of network HDTV since CBS has the most HD programming including Saturday NCAA Football.

The crew monuted the DTV antenna to the tower today, its center of radiation at 935 feet, and are about to run the transmission line down to the transmitter. We're awaiting delivery of some connectors.

Any news on your NBC affiliate?

I have not heard anything about WPTV lately. I think they busted their budget when they built their new studios last year. www.tvtower.com says "Begin operations by end of 2002". Same for WXEL and WPEC, but we know, thanks to David McRoy, where WPEC (CBS) is at. I think way back in this thread it was reported that they filed for an extension of time.

I installed a rs double bowtie indoor antenna which I placed on top of wall
unit. I have a Hughes 86 hdtv/directv receiver. I am only able to receiver the broadcast for 29-1. Although thru the receiver it shows that I should be able to get an addition 3 or 4 digital stations. I tried repositioning the antenna and stlll only get 29-1.

I live just west of Jog and just south of Woolbright in Boynton.

Any suggestions??

I installed a rs double bowtie indoor antenna which I placed on top of wall
unit. I have a Hughes 86 hdtv/directv receiver. I am only able to receiver the broadcast for 29-1. Although thru the receiver it shows that I should be able to get an addition 3 or 4 digital stations. I tried repositioning the antenna and stlll only get 29-1.

I live just west of Jog and just south of Woolbright in Boynton.

Any suggestions??

I think NBC executives get too much salary and bonus!
This is why the budget is limited and the people in charge think a better studio and housing for the people will generate more revenue?
When they (this is a big IF) get smart and start broadcasting in HiDef, then they will reach more people and the advertisers will pay more.
But, they use budget and other excuses for their failings.

David,

Is that CBS's tower going up west of 441 on Lantana? That is one tall tower! I have been seeing it go up on my way home and wondering who would be nuts enough to be up there 1000 ft up in the air bolting this thing together! It looks to be much wider (thicker than the old tower?). Is the old tower comming down?

Sandy

Hi, Sandy,

No, the new WPEC tower was built a few years ago. Ours is the closest to the intersection. It's a 1,000 footer. The new one you see going up is WPTV's new tower. Our DTV will be on VHF channel 13. Theirs will be on UHF channel 55 so they need a 1,500 foot tower to get comparable coverage area, on top of significantly more transmitter power than we'll need. Yes, the old tower will be dismantled.

WPTV General Manager Bill Peterson (who used to be my boss at WPEC several years ago and who is a great guy...he was the GM of HDTV pioneer WRAL-DT in Raleigh, NC before returning to West Palm Beach) has been quoted as saying that WPTV-DT would be up by January. As with all things to do with DTV, keep your fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, back at WPEC, we received the connectors that were ordered and we'll have the transmission line and antenna tested soon.

Our Chief Engineer, George Danner, promised local hospitals that have wireless telemetry equipment that operates on channel 13 (the wireless "vital signs" transmission equipment used within the hospital) that we would give them a three-week "heads up" before we fire up the signal on the air. Other VHF DTVs have sometimes caused interference to this gear...famously in Dallas, TX where the DTV voluntarily went dark until the SMU hospital could replace its equipment.

The FCC gives us carte blanche to go on the air regardless, but George decided that this was the prudent thing to do.

So look for us in December.

imfgh,

You may need to go to an outdoor antenna.

Thanks David for the information. I enjoy getting insight on the local television broadcasting world. It's also easier to wait when we know how hard all of you are working out there to bring us that beautiful HD picture. I did notice a change at WPTV when the new GM took over - - because that's when I started watching WPEC's local newscast instead.

I'm not too familiar with Palm Beach County...I receive WFLX from down here with no problem at all using an indoor antenna. Can I expect the same from WPTV, or will I probably have to get something outside? If I do, I don't want to make too much of an investment since WTVJ should probably be on the air in the next 8 months. I need to be able to watch Criminal Intent in HD.

I would expect WPTV-DT and WFLX-DT to have comparable coverage areas.

I watched the 4pm NFL game (Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay) on WFLX-DT (29-1) yesterday. I was pleasently surprised the game appeared to be broadcast in a true 16:9 aspect ratio. I compared the picture between my Adelphia Cable FOX channel and WFLX-DT to comfirm that the WFLX-DT picture was indeed being displayed in 16:9 mode. Since I've read that FOX has chosen to broadcasting in 480p rather than 1080i, I didn't expect a 16:9 wide angle view to be broadcast - but there it was. I would say the picture quality was comparable to DVD. The picture quality wasn't as good as football games I've watched on HDNet in 1080i, but it was still a big improvement over over NTSC broadcasts.

Originally posted by lwhitefl
I watched the 4pm NFL game (Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay) on WFLX-DT (29-1) yesterday. I was pleasently surprised the game appeared to be broadcast in a true 16:9 aspect ratio. I compared the picture between my Adelphia Cable FOX channel and WFLX-DT to comfirm that the WFLX-DT picture was indeed being displayed in 16:9 mode. Since I've read that FOX has chosen to broadcasting in 480p rather than 1080i, I didn't expect a 16:9 wide angle view to be broadcast - but there it was. I would say the picture quality was comparable to DVD. The picture quality wasn't as good as football games I've watched on HDNet in 1080i, but it was still a big improvement over over NTSC broadcasts.

Your observation was correct. FOX is indeed broadcasting one or two games each Sunday in 16:9 format. WFLX is passing it along, while Miami WSVN cannot be bothered to do so.

Unfortunately, FOX is promoting this format (which they are reportedly also using on some prime time programming) as equivalent to HD, which, of course, it is not.

By the way, the several switches between 16:9 and 4:3 were a network problem and not local in origin.

Originally posted by David McRoy
I would expect WPTV-DT and WFLX-DT to have comparable coverage areas.

David --

Would you expect that the WPTV-DT comparable coverage area will extend this far to the south? I am now receiving WFLX-DT at 72-86.

Originally posted by lwhitefl
I watched the 4pm NFL game (Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay) on WFLX-DT (29-1) yesterday. I was pleasently surprised the game appeared to be broadcast in a true 16:9 aspect ratio. I compared the picture between my Adelphia Cable FOX channel and WFLX-DT to comfirm that the WFLX-DT picture was indeed being displayed in 16:9 mode. Since I've read that FOX has chosen to broadcasting in 480p rather than 1080i, I didn't expect a 16:9 wide angle view to be broadcast - but there it was. I would say the picture quality was comparable to DVD. The picture quality wasn't as good as football games I've watched on HDNet in 1080i, but it was still a big improvement over over NTSC broadcasts.

You should really keep an eye on the "HDTV Programming Forum". FOX has been broadcasting at least a game per week in widescreen since the World Series ended. In that forum, someone usually points out which games(s) it will be, and by looking at titantv or other sources, you can figure out if WFLX will have that game. This week was the first one that WFLX carried.

I have suddenly lost WFLXDT somewhere this week. I all of a sudden get no signal whatsoever. Notyhing has changed or moved in my setup and i have rebooted the DST3000. Anyone else having issues??

Originally posted by HTnut
I have suddenly lost WFLXDT somewhere this week. I all of a sudden get no signal whatsoever. Notyhing has changed or moved in my setup and i have rebooted the DST3000. Anyone else having issues??

You are not alone, I also lost it since Friday, ..
I think they are having problems, bcus I did receive them for a few hours yesterday..

WFLX-DT will shut down sometimes. It's usually during the morning or afternoon of weekdays. Don't waste your time adjusting things when it happens.

It's unbelievable WFLX-DT would shut down over a holiday weekend when football games are being broadcast by FOX in 480p widescreen like they did Thanksgiving day. It's bad enough FOX chose to adopt 480p instead of HD. Apparently WFLX-DT would rather be broadcasting the soaps during the week.

Does anyone one know if WPEC DT is on the air?

They seem to come up and down.

Per TitanTV.com, NBC Channel 55 WPTV-DT is scheduled to go live by March 1st, 2003. NBC Channel 6 WTVJ is still showing July 1st, 2003, as their "go live" date.

What channel will NBC Ch 6 be on?
I thought DT channels had to be above ch 7.
Maybe I am wrong, and ch 6 is the first ch allowed for DT.

I guess it will be like ch 10.

Originally posted by George33027
What channel will NBC Ch 6 be on?
I thought DT channels had to be above ch 7.
Maybe I am wrong, and ch 6 is the first ch allowed for DT.

I guess it will be like ch 10.

30 or 31 not sure.. one of them

What antennas are people using? I am going to get a HD200 from Circuit City when they get more in stock. I live in Boynton Beach (Jog Rd and Woolbright). What antennas do people recommend? I was looking into the
Winegard GS-2000A. I need something small enough to attach to my dish buy still large enough to get all the stations (I don't want the HOA to give me a hard time even though the FCC says I can put up what ever I want). So what is everyone using? I have already check AntennaWeb and it looks like a medium amplified antenna will work. So what antennas are you guys using?

I would be very wary about adding an antenna to my dish. If there is space, consider using an outside antenna in your attic

I did a little research.
NBC is 31 in Hollywood and 55 in WPB

Hey - I live at Pipers Glen and Jog. I've got the same problem.
I printed a list from antennaweb and should be able to get a
number of digital stations. I've tried the rs bowtie and the silver
Both allow me to get WFOR - cbs out of Miami, yet I cannot get the few out of West Palm Beach. I did get WFLX - Fox out of WPB at first then it disappeared. I have tried the antennas point in all directions. I even tried both at the same time. I spoke to a direectv installer yesterday that does side jobs (I have his number) but he recommended the terk.
All forums I've read do not favor the terk, its size for indoors or its price.

I don't think I'm helping you, just wanted you to know that I'm in the same boat.

Lynne

Can someone please call WFLX, or give me a contact number? We have the "A" game at 1 o'clock, and the digital channel is off the air again :-(

Nevermind....it just came on... :-)

They do seem to be off the air and then on the air.
I think sometimes before they switch, they shut it off.

Lynne,

Thanks for the info. That is odd that you can get WFOR out of Miami which is 50+ miles away but you can't get the stations out of WPB right in our back yard. Have you contacted your home owners association about putting up a bigger antenna? I haven't contacted mine but, based on past experiences I am willing to bet the would make it as difficult on me as possible. Also have you tried using an amplifier. That might help. I have read several post from people in Delray and Boca who can receive the WPB stations but they are using bigger antennas.

Your assuming that all transmitters are in the city area.

I think most of the Miami are north at the Broward line except NBC.
Palm beach ABC is in Stuart area about 60 mi north of me.

With the link below you can find the transmitter locations.


Ken

http://www.100000watts.com/

Originally posted by ANSEK
Lynne,

Thanks for the info. That is odd that you can get WFOR out of Miami which is 50+ miles away but you can't get the stations out of WPB right in our back yard. Have you contacted your home owners association about putting up a bigger antenna? I haven't contacted mine but, based on past experiences I am willing to bet the would make it as difficult on me as possible. Also have you tried using an amplifier. That might help. I have read several post from people in Delray and Boca who can receive the WPB stations but they are using bigger antennas.

WPEC-DT may attempt some sporadic on-air testing today. We had to download some new firmware for our PSIP encoder. We're shooting for some serious on-air testing on Monday so don't expect too much until then.

I will be watching channel 13 Dave. Thanks for the heads-up.

Ken, You make a good point. I have previously research the location of all the WPB HD stations (transmitters) and most are within 15 miles of Lynne and myself. Only WPBF (Tequesta), WHDT (Stuart) and the two UPN stations out of Ft Pierce are further away.

Ken - No, I haven't tried an amp yet. I'm not sure what way to go yet.
I pulled up the web site that was recommended 100000 stations and I really don't understand it. So, I guess I'll have to continue to get info here before I do anything else.
Any advice out there??

Thanks,
Lynne

I have the CM 7775 ordered,

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/HDTV_primps.htm

1000000 stations.... put the call sign of the station in the box and hit enter.

The address of the office and a URL for there web page will be there too.

It will also have a blinking antennae icon. If you click on that it will give you a map of the antenna site.



Originally posted by lmfgh
Ken - No, I haven't tried an amp yet. I'm not sure what way to go yet.
I pulled up the web site that was recommended 100000 stations and I really don't understand it. So, I guess I'll have to continue to get info here before I do anything else.
Any advice out there??

Thanks,
Lynne

Try this...


http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/HDTV_preamps.htm

Sorry - I meant for the last post to go to ANSEK and not Ken.

Lynne

I am having success with the Silver Sensor indoor antenna (which is now being sold at Circuit City as a Zenith HDTV antenna). I live in far western Boca Raton and get Miami PBS and CBS as well as FOX29 and several UPN and WB stations. The only adjustment I had to make was to raise the antenna to about 6 feet off the ground (I put in top of the RPTV when I am watching HDTV). I have connected it to the Zenith HDV-420 STB.

Robert - I bought the same one in Circuit City but I'm not having as good of luck as you and mine is on top of my 11 foot high wall unit. I am using a Hughes E-86 platinium stb box.

Lynne

Is it possible that the STB itself may be the problem?

That's possible. How do I find out. I bought it at Sound Advice back in May.
It should still be under warranty.


Lynne

Lynne, Robert might be right, different STBs have more sensitive OTA receivers than others. I bought a Sony HD200 today and plan on doing some testing when I get home from work. I will let you know how it goes. My antenna has no arrived yet but I have a setup I can use for testing.

OK, I just hooked up my Sony HD200 using a set of rabbit ears on top of the TV. I can get WPBF (ABC) 16.1 and WTVX (UPN) on 34.1. Are there any other stations I should be able to get with the rabbit ears? I plan on my ordering my real antenna as soon as I decide which on to choose.

When I do a scan, I get 4-1 cbs, 25-1 abc and 29-1 fox. Cbs comes in real good, fox signal goes from 0 to about 40 so its not worth it and nothing on the abc channel.

Lynne

Since you live around the corner if you want to try the rs bowtie or the silver shadow I'll let you borrow mine to try.
Lynne

Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on it.

WFLX-DT 29-1 is down tonight. What gives? I had to watch "24" in analog.
Ansek - my friend in Western Boynton gets all of the Palm Beach county stations with a Radio Shack double bowtie indoor antenna pointed Northwest. He has the Hughes STB.

WFLX-DT never used to have these problems. Does anyone have a connection there to see what is going on? I had people over to watch 24 last night...

WFLX--- What going on ... I had to see 24 on 480i from WSVN yuk...
Man and this show is getting better every night ... IMMO:p :p

I'm getting 95% on my metter are they testing ? on 13-1....


Any one else ?

K

I'm getting 95% on my metter are they testing ? on 13-1....


Any one else ?

K

YES YES YES!!!! Im getting 100% up here in Saint Lucie. I was quite worried about signal strength up here. Now please bring on the programming!!! David??????

Originally posted by aviators99
WFLX-DT never used to have these problems. Does anyone have a connection there to see what is going on? I had people over to watch 24 last night...

Just spoke to the engineer at WFLX...he said they are only on the air now from 6pm to midnight.

Originally posted by Rudy1
Just spoke to the engineer at WFLX...he said they are only on the air now from 6pm to midnight.

That still does not answer, 24 is at 9:00 pm and they are not transmitting, they have to be having problems ..

Alas, WPEC is testing on 13-1 tonight. Signal is 50 on the E86 in Miami with no mapping yet.

Originally posted by Mark_T
Alas, WPEC is testing on 13-1 tonight. Signal is 50 on the E86 in Miami with no mapping yet.

Where in Miami? Signal here is a rousing 03 with occasional spikes all the way up to 09.

When it is broadcasting, WPB WFLX 29-1 registers in the 70s and low 80s.

Bill,

If I remember correctly, David said they would be testing only sporadically this week, and for us not to expect much until Monday. I don't know what is going on at WFLX...I couldn't get them last night.

Rudy

Bill,

I'm near N. Bay Village by WSVN with a 140' roof top antenna. WPEC analog is always a Grade B type signal (very watchable) but the digital is much weaker only 44-51 right now. WFLX analog is Grade A with the digital always peaked at 100. They seem to be off air (digital) a lot these last few days.

Mark

Anyone notice WSVN DT 7-1 broadcasts having a terrible blue smear on the anchors faces during the news casts lately? Signal has dropped in strenght the last few days too.

Yes. I thought it was strange....

Originally posted by Mark_T
Anyone notice WSVN DT 7-1 broadcasts having a terrible blue smear on the anchors faces during the news casts lately? Signal has dropped in strenght the last few days too.

Originally posted by Rudy1
Bill,

If I remember correctly, David said they would be testing only sporadically this week, and for us not to expect much until Monday. I don't know what is going on at WFLX...I couldn't get them last night.

Rudy

Rudy --

Your recollection is correct. I believe that David also said the coverage area would be about the same as for WFLX. Today, the 13-1 signal is all the way up to 09. Somewhere in Miami, Mark is/was getting 50.

Maybe they are testing on low power, but I don't think I would be receiving any signal if they were not broadcasting something. It really doesn't much matter, as I have WFOR for CBS. It is more a matter of another notch in the gun...another station received.

WFLX was off again last night. No big problem as I watch FOX only for wide screen football along with Sunday Ticket.

Bill

I just spoke to Butch Figurella at WFLX; he says they had some problems with equipment and parts had to be ordered. He expects to hopefully be back on the air tonight.

Bill,

I believe they are only broadcasting a carrier signal. I get no mapping to 12-1 or video on 13-1. I believe we should get a similar signal to 29-1 when they go live. Keep in mind since they will be a VHF signal and their power output will be much lower than WFLX since they are UHF. Keep your fingers crossed. BTW I'm only about 15 mi NE of CG.

WPEC-DT is testing again right now on 13-1 and 13-2. We are aware of the low audio and low video levels and are attempting to correct it. My Mitsubishi receiver is correctly remapping the two program streams to 12-1 and 12-2. We have upconverted regular programming on 12-1 in 1080i (we'll pass all true HD as 1080i as well) and Doppler 12000 Radar on 12-2.

Will the 12-2 Doppler be a regular...

I didn't know you could do 1080 and a sub band like 12-2 together ?


K

Originally posted by David McRoy
WPEC-DT is testing again right now on 13-1 and 13-2. We are aware of the low audio and low video levels and are attempting to correct it. My Mitsubishi receiver is correctly remapping the two program streams to 12-1 and 12-2. We have upconverted regular programming on 12-1 in 1080i (we'll pass all true HD as 1080i as well) and Dopller 12000 Radar on 12-2.

Yes, Ken. Beginning Monday we'll start regular transmission featuring regular programming in 4:3 upconverted to 1080i on 12-1. The 4:3 aspect ratio of upconverted programming will be preserved. We will pass all HDTV programming in 1080i/16:9 on 12-1.

Beginning Monday on 12-2 you'll be seeing programming that will include the live Doppler 12000 Radar plus additional features that will be announced soon. 12-2 is strictly 480i in 4:3 aspect ratio. The bitrate allocated to 12-2 is limited to prevent any degradation to the 1080i image on 12-1.

Our station management will be making official announcements soon.

Here's an exclusive "heads-up" for A/V Science Forum Readers in South Florida:

WPEC-DT will be conducting a program test tonight. We will be transmitting the CBS HDTV primetime schedule on 13-1 (remapped to 12-1) from 8 p. m. to 11 p. m. this evening. You'll see the CBS HDTV feed with no local breaks. You may experience color bars or black during periods when our analog channel will be carrying local breaks.

Please post any reception reports/issues here. (I noticed a few lip sync issues and some freezing when we were testing earlier today, but this may have been due to some tweaking on our engineers' part.)

I will pass along any of your observations to our Engineering Department.
Please remember to mention which receiver or receivers you are using and where you are located, antenna info, etc.

Thanks!

We are aware that the dialog is missing from the CBS HDTV feed and will work on it tomorrow.

Hi Dave,

Great to see WPEC-DT finally cranking up after all the hard work done by the station. Signal strength here in NE Miami is a constant 72-79 on my Hughes E86 receiver. My co-ordindates are 181 degs at 51 miles from the tower with an med gain V/U antenna at 140' above sea-level. 12-1 Picture has a few pixelations with very low audio. Could you ask your engineers what ERP they are testing at and what the full output ERP will be in the future. Thanks for keeping us up to date in the pioneering days of HDTV!

Mark

Thanks for the post, Mark!

As far as I know we are at our full power allocation, 29.5 kW. I'm seeing occasional pixelation here in College Park in NE Lake Worth, about 10 miles from our transmitter, as well. It seems to occur when there is a video "cut," or sudden transition from one scene to another. But it doesn't happen all the time. Doubtless the pixelation is being caused by something associated with the data that we are transmitting. I'm confident that this will be resolved.

Our early evening newscast audio was fine so the missing center or "dialog" channel would seem to be specific to our CBS-HD feed. Our engineers will attempt to sort this problem tomorrow.

While watching our early evening newscasts I was impressed by the improvement in picture quality and the sound quality as compared to our analog service. (I'm the lead sound technician at the station.) I switched between WPEC-DT and WFOR-DT during the CBS-upconverted Survivor and the CBS-HDTV CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and saw more fine detail in the image on WPEC-DT than I saw on WFOR-DT. I don't know why that would be. Ours is not identical to WFOR-DT's equipment. (Also, I have a Zenith IQB64W10W 64" rear-projection HDTV with 9" CRTSs that resolves a little better than most HDTV displays and the difference might be harder to see on most displays.)

Our engineers would like to get everything nailed-down by Monday. They are still testing as of now.

An antenna at 140 feet! May I assume that you are in a highrise?

Dave,

I'm using the roof top of the high-rise I live in. The building management has no idea of what I'm doing with HDTV. I offered to upgrade our MATV system for HDTV with new antennas and amps for free and they told me I was nuts. No one watches OTA these days so they say. Oh well, its their loss and my gain with less signal attenuation since I'm the only one hooked up. Again, thanks for all the posting you have done in the past, just wish other broadcasting stations were as helpful as you guys at WPEC! The forums really benefit from individuals like you. Take care...

Mark

I too am thrilled to be able to once again get CBS HD. Ive been without since moving to Saint Lucie fom down south. I too experienced the pixelations but mostly on the CBSHD commercials.. BTW. Im receiving a signal strength of 100 on my Toshiba DST3000 up here

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard at WPEC. It's worth it. The Doppler 1200 radar on 12-2 was a pleasant surprise. I can't wait for Monday. I didn't check the forum until after 10 PM so I missed everything.

I'm up in the Jensen Beach area....elevation seven feet above MSL. I have read Antennaweb, etc., but would like to get some feedback from anyone who has a comparable situation.

How large - and how high - an antenna should I be purchasing here?
Any specific models you might recommend would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.......

Jim R.

Dave,

I am getting signal strength of about 70 - 80 using a Silver Sensor indoor antenna in SW Boynton Beach. I have to guestimate since my Sony HD200 only shows "Bad", "Norma"l and "Good". Tell everyone at the station we appreciate all the hard work.

Lynne,

I bought a Silver Sensor today on my way home from work. I am now able to get WPEC CBS 12.1, WPBF ABC 16.1, WFLX FOX 29.1 and WTVX UPN 34.1. Signal strength is between the low end of normal and the low end of good. I still can't get WPBT PBS 2.1 but with all of the others who cares.

Dave, I have been logging the WPEC-DT signal here, but it just hits 50% on my HD100. I use a 10 Element Ch.7-13 Yagi, not very high (about 15 feet only). For WFLX-DT I get a solid 94% signal, also the Analog signal is snow free. The WPEC analog signal is just watchable. I will check on the FCC site to see the antennas pattern for your station, perhaps it's directional towards the north. I have a Ch.13 10 element Yagi in a box, and I will be trying it out soon. I am located now next to the FIU Main campus, on Coral Way and 105th. Ave. in SW Dade.

Good luck at WPEC,

We're going to fire-up WPEC-DT at about noon today to troubleshoot the dialog channel problem. You'll see HDTV color bars from CBS HD in New York until 12:30 p. m. then you'll see The Young & the Restless in HD until 1:30.

Mark,

I was wrong about the test power levels. We are doing all the tests at 7.5 kW ERP. Full power will be 29.5 kW ERP.

Do NTSC type color bars mean anything in the DTV world?

Dave,

Thanks for the info. I feel a lot better knowing you guys were only at 25% capacity. I feel pretty confident you will have a good amount of viewership down here in Miami when your at 100%. Your signal strength is excellent for 7500 watts at 50 mi even though I'm up high. Hopefully, most of the board members to the south of me will get the signal too. Will you be at full ERP on Monday as planned or does the audio troubleshooting keep the power down til ??

Mark

We seem to have fixed our audio problem. Now we're dealing with finding a fix for the freezes and pixelation. Our engineers are going to compare the data stream coming into the transmitter site with what we're getting off the air. We'll also look at how much payload the SD channel is using. It may be necessary to go into statistical multiplexing rather than fixed payload limits between the two program streams (which would mean more $.)

Look for sporadic testing at low power this weekend, particularly when CBS is sending us some true HD. Hopefully we can get the bugs worked out. I'm not sure whether we'll be at full power Monday. I'll try to find out.

aces8ter,

Yes, color bars are useful in DTV...for adjusting your monitor! ;)

Dave, I hope you guys will be broadcasting when the Florida v. Maryland game is on this Saturday. It is one of 2 HD games CBS will broadcast this month.

Hi all,

I am receiving the following

UPN33
UPN34
WPEC (CBS W PALM) -12-1, 12-2
WFOR (CBS Miami) - 4-1
WFLX (FOX W PALM) 29
ABC (16-1)
WPBT (2-1, 2-2,2-3)

I am receiving very good signal strength on almost all of the above with an indoor antenna that I bought (Retails for $34.00 made by Zenith for HDTV Reception and approve by HDTV Standards Board- No idea what this is ??). Initially I was skeptical that this antenna will do it but when I installed it It was a surprise. This allowed me to convince my Wife to keep the STB as I didn't have to put any outside antennas.

I live on Hypoluxo West of Jog Road. If I can get Miami Station with an indoor antenna (Great signal strength) People south of me should get the above signals.

I am receiving the following

UPN33
UPN34
WPEC (CBS W PALM) -12-1, 12-2
WFOR (CBS Miami) - 4-1
WFLX (FOX W PALM) 29
ABC (16-1)
WPBT (2-1, 2-2,2-3)

I am receiving very good signal strength on almost all of the above with an indoor antenna that I bought (Retails for $34.00 made by Zenith for HDTV Reception and approve by HDTV Standards Board- No idea what this is ??). Initially I was skeptical that this antenna will do it but when I installed it It was a surprise. This allowed me to convince my Wife to keep the STB as I didn't have to put any outside antennas.

I live on Hypoluxo West of Jog Road. If I can get Miami Station with an indoor antenna (Great signal strength) People south of me should get the above signals.

Venkat,

What STB do you have? I have the same antenna with a Sony HD200 in Bonyton Beach (Piper's Glenn and El Clair Ranch Rd) and I can't get WPB, WFOR or UPN33.

For all who have difficulty receiving certain stations, be aware that the transmitters for both Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations are scattered around. Take a look at this website and enter you street address to get a map of the compass directions in which all the stations lie from your house:

www.antennaweb.org

In some cases a roof-mounted outdoor antenna or an attic-located outdoor antenna may be required to receive distant signals.

The transmitters for WFLX-DT and WPEC-DT (along with WPTV-DT and WXEL-DT, both comming soon) are near the intersection of Lantana Road and Highway 441 west of Lantana.

WPBF-DT and WTVX-DT's transmitter sites are near the Palm Beach County/Martin County line west of Stuart.

Miami/Ft. Lauderdale stations are similarly scattered around Broward and Miami-Dade Counties.

Dave,

I am currently watching the Florida v. Maryland Basketball game in HD.

Here is what I have observed so far:

Audio-
Quality is good, volume is normal, I noticed one quick drop out early in the game but none since. I have also noticed the audio is out of sync during the commercials.

Video-
Quality is spectacular. There is some pixelation during player close-ups. I am not sure if the pixelation is due to movement or signal.

Location-
West Boynton Beach (Piper's Glenn and El Clair Ranch Rd)

Other than the constant pixelation during motion...the basketball game looks great. The non motion shots are wonderfull. Once the pixelation prob is worked out it'll be all good.

Audio on 12-2 (around 5 pm 12/14) sounds like a misdirected FSK data stream - what is that? Receiver is Hughes E-86. I'm watching through its downconverted 480i output.

Thank you so much for your reports, guys. Our engineers are monitoring the Forum and your observations are very helpful. Please continue your feedback! Also, please tell us whether we are transmitting the SD subchannel with Doppler Radar when you observe good, bad or mediocre HD pictures and sound.

Thanks loads!

Dave,
I have not been able to pick up the chanell the highest I got the signal was to 6, I have a Wingard 15 feet above ground level and my location is about 3 miles away from WTVJ headquaters, Have you guys pump it up at full power yet ?
BTW I have a DST-3000

We are supposed to start full-power operation sometime today.

Looks like we'll go on at full-power at noon today.

Scotty! More Power! Hospital paging systems stand by. Here we go!

As always. Thanks Dave for the updates. We appreciate it.

I understand they will be on the air at 12:30 PM today. Would appreciate reception feedback.

I'm getting a steady 100 percent - but I'm only a few miles from your antenna. Are you going full time now or is there still more to do?

Getting a full 96% signal. I live north of Okeechobee Blvd off of Military Trail, aprox 11.2 miles from towers.

I am so psyched for CSI and all my fav CBS shows in HD...and being a weather buff I love the .2 Doppler radar channel.

Kudos Guys..

Hi Dave,

12:06, no signal coming through up here in South Stuart. Are you at full power?

Originally posted by ANSEK
Venkat,

What STB do you have? I have the same antenna with a Sony HD200 in Bonyton Beach (Piper's Glenn and El Clair Ranch Rd) and I can't get WPB, WFOR or UPN33.

I had Zenith 420 for a couple of weks and returned it for SIRT151. Both Zenith and the SIRT151 picked up both the stations. Zenith had problems with captioning and disabiling 480i outputs when 1080i was being used. I for got to mention that I also get the two Spanish channels (I believe 47 and 51).

We are on at full-power now. We have been adjusting lip sync...how does it look?

We anticipate making some more adjustments to eliminate the freezing and pixelation. We sent a 10 second sample of our data stream to be analyzed by Trevini Systems and haven't heard back from them yet.

Dave,

The audio sync is off just a liitle. You don't notice it unless you look hard for it. The picture looks great, no pixelation. The signal strength is also very strong here is West Boynton Beach using small indoor antenna and Sony HD200.

Y & R looks good. It's funny that I now notice how cheesy the set looks. When they were at the airport I could tell that the arrival/departure monitors were actually photographs.

We're still tweaking the lip sync.

2:55 Just checked again - still nothing up here in Stuart.

james_h,

Are you using a VHF/UHF antenna or just UHF? (We're on VHF channel 13.)

To All,

I continued to experience some freezing, pixelation and lip sync errors after the engineers had made some corrections. It was only after I tuned to a different channel (4-1 in this case) and then back to 12-1 that I saw the fixes. Go figure...

Does anyone know if the silver sensor is vhf as well as uhf??

Lynne

David,

Thanks for the hint. Of course I am using an RS double bow-tie, which does not pull in VHF.

I've tried a few VHF set top antenna's I have laying around, but the best I can do is just a trace of signal.

Guess I have to commit to the outdoor antenna now...

I have another question which is completely unrelated.

Right now on the east coast it is 5:04 pm. Why does the time of post show 5 hours later??
Lynne

You're looking at Greenwich Mean Time (GMT.) That's the time in Greenwich, England. You can go into "User CP," then "Edit Options" then "Time Offset" to select your own time zone.

Lynne,

The Silver Sensor, pictured here: http://www.antiference.co.uk/sensor/?KeohiHDTV , is for UHF-only.

To All,

We are discovering that the receiver at the studio is decoding fine now but that my Mitsubishi SR-HD5 ATSC receiver is still getting occasional freezes and pixelation. This is something that might be correctable via adjustments at the station, if that should prove to be neccesary.

I say "if that should prove to be neccesary" because I'm debating whether the problem might be on my end. Since I'm using a very large roof-mounted, high-gain VHF/UHF antenna (the reportedly now-discontinued Radio Shack VU-210XR, which I installed in order to get reliable reception of Miami DTV stations), allbeit with no preamp, and since I am only about 11 miles from the WPEC-DT transmitter, I'll experiment with a variable attenuator (which will allow me to selectively reduce the signal level from the antenna reaching the receiver) in an effort to determine whether my problems may be due to receiver overload. It has been documented that excessive signal level can cause poor DTV reception. A high-gain antenna close to a high-power transmitter might conceivably overload a receiver.

Over the next day or so I will test reception of WPEC-DT with my Zenith IQB64W10W ATSC receiver and my RCA DTC100 ATSC receiver in addition to my Mitsubishi SR-HD5. If I note any reception anomalies amongst these I will report them to our engineers and to all of you here.

Audio Issues: I'm still getting variable lip sync performance. We'll have to look into that, too. Also, if you are finding that your Dolby Digital decoder won't let you use Dolby Surround ProLogic and that you can only get the main front left and right channels, we are aware of it and will address this, too.

Please continue sharing your observations with us. Thanks!

Update from zip code 33409:

I'm experiencing solid signal, good video but intermittent lip sync issues during Everybody Loves Raymond on WPEC. ABC 16 does the same however, but FLX 28 is fine in the sound area.

Can anybody else confirm the ABC 16.1 sound issue? I have never have the syncing right on that channel.

TIA,
GT Smith

Well, they're running Monday Night Football right now and you seldom actually see anyone speaking in TV coverage of a football game, but I'll give it a gander. (FatVision sucks! ;) )

i totally agree. With football the syncing is not _that_ crucial :-)

I do see it during the commercials though.

Just FYI, I checked at about 7:30pm, and I was getting 73 signal strength on WFLX-DT but only 5 on WPEC-DT.

Aviator,
I was getting 94 from WFLX but 0 from chanell 13

I am having large freezing problems with 12-1 / 12-2. Decided last night before the football to check them out since they went live, took me a half hour to get unfroze. I finally had to switch channels from the guide. I have also had problems like this but not as bad from 39-1. My stb is a samsung t150 set at 720p. This also turns my fp xg852 into a light show, loses sync. Any ideas?

JASON

Jason,

We're still making some adjustments in an attempt to fix this. Most decoders now seem to be getting some pixelation or a very brief freeze once every few minutes or so. We'll continue to try and fix the problem.

Since the silver sensor is only uhf can anyone recommend a vhf/uhf indoor antenna??

Lynne

Lynne,

I can't recommend a VHF/UHF indoor antenna but, I have one question. Why do you want VHF? The only stations in our area broadcasting VHF would be WPLG (ABC) in Ft Lauderdale and WSVN (FOX) also in Ft Lauderdale. I am fairly confident that you would not be able to receive either station with an indoor antenna. The great this is WPBF (ABC) and WFLX (FOX) both broadcast UHF and are currently up and running.

Originally posted by ANSEK
...I still can't get WPBT PBS 2.1 but with all of the others who cares.

Ouch, you are missing some of the best demo loop programming for showing off your HDTV! Although I have watched every minute of WPBT 2-1 HDTV programming at least five times, I have not grown tired of seeing it. I tend to watch a few minutes, (and sometimes much more), every evening that I turn the set on. The shot on HD video is specifically designed to show the color improvement of digital and to show the resolution improvement of High Definition.

When I have folks over, the "wow" factor is definitely with the PBS demo.

(I put a $25 RS in the attic pointed 185 degrees true from west Boynton.)

I don't have sat, but I would guess that HDNet would put me in the "who cares" category for WPBT. Since I don't have it, WPBT is really the best.

Pogo,

I have been conducting a few experiments with the location of my antenna and a small RS VHF/UHF/FM amplifier. The weird thing is I can get 2.1 at night but I can't get it during the day. At night the signal strength is in well into the "Good" range on my HD200 but during the day I can't get enough signal to receive an image. I wonder why that is? I do agree with you that the PBS demo loops are some of the best HD content around. It certainly rivals what I watch on HDNet.

After reading this thread yesterday, I went home last night and scanned for new OTA stations, sure enough I now have CBS.

Dave, I am seeing the radar picture on .2 (you asked).

This is great!

BTW, I have a Sony HD100 if that matters.

Originally posted by ANSEK
I have been conducting a few experiments with the location of my antenna and a small RS VHF/UHF/FM amplifier. The weird thing is I can get 2.1 at night but I can't get it during the day.

I, (and a few other Boynton area folk), had to add a VHF-Lo filter to reliably get all the Miami stations. The filter eliminates the overload from the channel 5 antenna at Lantana and 441.

BTW I don't use an amp. Bought it but since I got all the stations without it, I don't use it. I have been thinking of trying it back in the line because I seem to be the only one complaining about occasional retrace lines on channel 4 Miami. I'm thinking that a marginal signal might be choking the bandwidth, but only visible at image changes with maximum data transfer.

If you need the filter specifics, start here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=910318&highlight=151236#post910318

and note the different part numbers in my post a few messages down:

For anyone contemplating building the filter, the combiner/splitter RS Cat.# 930-0061 David listed may be an online order number only, but the store has a 15-1237 ($9.99) which exactly fits the spacing of the VHF-Hi and UHF ouputs of the three band splitter, and the 75-Ohm Coax "F"-Type Terminator needed is Cat. # 15-1144.

ANSEK,

We (WPEC-DT) are broadcasting on VHF channel 13, remapped to 12-1 and 12-2.

What is the range for ch. 13 ?

Dave - I don't have a uhf not vhf and right now I am receiving wpec on 12-1, signal is around 85, picture is great but no sound at all??
Also, I am trying to get abc - WPBF which maps to 25-1 on my e86 hughes. I get a signal in the 80's but no picture or sound. Any idea's?? I sure would like to get abc.
I also get 4-1 wfor and 29-1 wfox both are really good.
Lynne

Originally posted by David McRoy
ANSEK,

We (WPEC-DT) are broadcasting on VHF channel 13, remapped to 12-1 and 12-2.

Dave,

My error. I forgot that UHF starts at 14.

On another note I was able to get WPBF and WFLX last week and this weekend now. I am unable to get either. Am I the only person with this problem?

I just solved the problem with no sound for wpec. I turned the dolby digital to off on the stb box and the sound came on. I guess the audio is not digital.
Lynne

Watching PEC tonight, still have lip syncing issues and pixelation from time to time. sub channel .2 looks great though.

Any updates David?

We are, in fact, transmitting Dolby Digital audio...all ATSC DTV audio is Dolby Digital. We are currently only transmitting DD 2.0 at the moment and we need to adjust our DD encoder to send metadata that will instruct home DD decoders to allow Dolby Surround ProLogic processing of the DD 2.0 stream. I believe we'll be working on that today.

We continue to try and get rid of the freezing and pixelation. We are still trying to determine why lip sync is good sometimes and bad at others. We have noticed that sometimes commercials from CBS are coming into our facility will bad lip sync.

WPBF had the lip sync problem too when they started their digital broadcast. I remember them running a loop with someone clicking a movie scene board (I forgot what you call them). I only get occasional pixelation but the picture is very watchable.

Ayone install an attic antenna recently? I'm going to try it and would love to discuss the details with someone...

I put a UHF yagi my attic about a month ago, works great for WPBF-DT and WTVX-DT. My telephone number is 221-7896.

From The Stuart News :

http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/tv_radio/article/0,1651,TCP_1083_1616993,00.html

Somebody please help. I can't get WPBF and WFLX anymore. I used to be able to get both stations with above normal signal strength (HD200 only says "Bad", "Normal" and "Good"). Now, I can't get those stations. I have tried pointing every which direction konwn to man with no luck. Is there a problem with these stations?

Ansek, They are probably off the air. I know that WFLX-DT has only been broadcasting evenings.

WFLX-DT is off the air. WPBF-DT is on the air right now, and miracle of miracles...THEY STOPPED STRETCHING 4:3 IMAGES! Yipee!!! :D

I am still not getting WPBF. When I go to do a manual channel add it tells me that Digital Channel 16 not found. I am going to buy a new antenna that will be mounted in the attic and see what happens.

WPBF's broadcast antenna is in Stuart so it may be too far away for your antenna.

HiDefDave - I second that "Yipee!!" Please do not stretch that digital goodness.

I'm now still getting 100 signal strength from WPBF-DT but no picture or sound. It's probably on their end.

And now the picture and sound are back.

PEC is good and strong. But I can't get 50 or 16 tonight. Last night 16 came in, haven't moved antenna, guess I might have to re-think the antenna situation. I haven't been able to get 50 in for a few days, at one point my signal for 50 was in the 85-95% level. I can get 28 but not steady. Could my inconsistency in reception come from atmospheric conditions?

debsman,

Pardon me if you are already aware of this, but the vast majority of DTV receivers will "remap" the channel ID of a DTV station to mimic the analog version of a station's channel ID once the DTV signal has been received for the first time.

Try tuning to 25-1 for WPBF-DT and 34-1 for WTVX-DT.

OK, I bought a RS 15-2160 and placed it in the attic above my garage. I pointed it south (185 degrees). I was able to receive WBFS, WPBF, WFLX, WPEC and WBZL. I then put the VHF Lo filter described in this thread. I was only able to get WPEC at that time. I then removed the filter and took a small indoor antenna and pointed south and took another small indoor antenna and pointed north west. I attached both to a RS 15-1113 using combiner and I am now able to get WPBT, WPEC, WFOR, WBFS (really low signal), WTVX, WFLX, WPBF, WBZL. This is similar to where I was a few nights ago and then in the morning I could not receive any of the Ft Lauderdale stations. If this works during the day I think I will leave it alone.

I was suprised to receive an email from WHDT -59 with the pdf file containing their HD Programs for the entire week. Does this mean they are at full power?

Also, IS any one receiving WHDT in PAlm Beach County?

I noticed HDT was in Adelphia's listing but I haven't tried the ATSC broadcast yet.

I also got the pdf by email. Do you have a signal from them? I have yet to pick up their signal in Parkland.

I got the .pdf at my work email today, too, but wonderful Acrobat 3.0 couldn't open it properly. :rolleyes:

Stll getting nothing on channel 59 here in Lake Worth.

Any info on NBC station going digital yet?

George. WPTV NBC will go digital some time between March and December 2003. What do you expect from an affiliate that spent big bucks on a new building and state-of-the-art studio - and then comes in last to provide viewers a digital picture (not counting PBS). They fought it as long as they could.

HiDefDave, I see nothing on 55-1. Am I wrong about WPTV? I'm not trying to bash them and I wish them success. It's just, to me, they have not lived up to their promises.

I wish someone at WPTV would get involved with this message board. Dave has be great in keeping the community informed on what is occurring at WPEC. That has gone a long way with me in my appreciation of Dave and all others at WPEC who assisted in the digital TV roll-out at WPEC.

Does anyone know someone at WPTV? May we could send them an email.

I received an apparently eroneous report this morning that WPTV-DT had signed-on but they have not. I think their analog signal may be coming from their newly completed tower, however.

It's really unfair to blame WPTV for their delays. They have been trying to complete that new tower for years, fighting government red tape, especially from Palm Beach County. A county inspector actually prohibited them from testing their DTV transmitter into a dummy load because the transmitter manufacturer had forgotten to put a label carrying UL, FCC and CE certifcation on the back of it. This plus endless hassles from zoning, etc.

I don't know when they'll be on the air. I just look at their website for clues.

Can someone who was able to open the .pdf from WHDT tell us all what it says?

Originally posted by David McRoy

Can someone who was able to open the .pdf from WHDT tell us all what it says? [/B]

Program Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Monday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Programming
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]Arts Unlimited magazine
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]Arts Unlimited magazine
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]TONIGHT with Dan BryanഊProgram Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Tuesday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Programming
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]Tomorrow -the science magazine
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]Tomorrow -the science magazine
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]TONIGHT with Dan BryanഊProgram Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Wednesday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Programming
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]Motor Sports Review
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]Motor Sports Review
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]TONIGHT with Dan BryanഊProgram Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Thursday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Programming
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]Destination -the travel magazine
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]Destination -the travel magazine
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]TONIGHT with Dan BryanഊProgram Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Friday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Programming
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]European Journal
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]European Journal
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]TONIGHT with Dan BryanഊProgram Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Saturday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Program
1530 [03:30 pm ]Explorer Club -children
1600 [04:00 pm ]‘Whatevr ’ --teenage show
1630 [04:30 pm ]NASA Educational file
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]MIG -the business magazine
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]MIG -the business magazine
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]Estate Auction PreviewഊProgram Schedule for WHDT-59 Stuart (Adelphia 17)

Sunday
0000 [12:00 am ]America ’s Collectibles Network
1500 [03:00 pm ]Paid Program
1530 [03:30 pm ]Explorer Club -children
1600 [04:00 pm ]‘Whatevr ’ --teenage show
1630 [04:30 pm ]NASA Educational file
1700 [05:00 pm ]5 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1730 [05:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
1800 [06:00 pm ]People &Politics
1830 [06:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
1900 [07:00 pm ]7 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
1930 [07:30 pm ]TODAY with Ben Posner
2000 [08:00 pm ]Faith Matters
2030 [08:30 pm ]In Focus -a documentary film by ...
2100 [09:00 pm ]Spanish Hour from DW-tv
2200 [10:00 pm ]German Hour from DW-tv
2300 [11:00 pm ]11 o ’clock News Live from Berlin
2330 [11:30 pm ]Estate Auction Preview

I stand corrected then. So who did they P*** off at the County? Ask someone from WPTV to join this forum. We all know people that might be able to help them along. You know, like Tony Soprano. "I don't care what label may, or may not be there." "You will pass this inspection - or else."

Well, the tower is built, now. It's just a matter of time before they can get their DTV operation going. Naturally they'd want to make sure their analog service is all settled-down first.

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
I stand corrected then. So who did they P*** off at the County? Ask someone from WPTV to join this forum. We all know people that might be able to help them along. You know, like Tony Soprano. "I don't care what label may, or may not be there." "You will pass this inspection - or else."

Maybe you all could write to the County commissioners and tell them how displeased you guys are that the County has stood in the way of WPTV going live with their digital signal. That ought to ruffle a few feathers and get someone wondering who's directly responsible, and may just lead to some action. Here are their e-mail addresses:

Commissioner Karen T. Marcus/Dist. 1
KMARCUS@co.palm-beach.fl.us

Commissioner Jeff Koons/Dist. 2
jkoons@co.palm-beach.fl.us

Commissioner Warren H. Newell/Dist. 3
WNEWELL@co.palm-beach.fl.us

Commissioner Mary McCarty/Dist. 4
MMCCARTY@co.palm-beach.fl.us

Commussioner Burt Aronson/Dist. 5
BAARONSO@co.palm-beach.fl.us

Commissioner Tony Masilotti/Dist. 6
tmasilot@co.palm-beach.fl.us

Commissioner Addie L. Greene/Dist. 7
AGREENE@co.palm-beach.fl.us

My 2-cents:

It's all water under the bridge now.

I am still having major lockups with 12-1,12-2 WPEC and 39-1 WBZL. Is anyone else having this problem. It's not my setup I get all these channels with no problem.

2-1 WPBT PBS
4-1 WFOR CBS
16-1 WPBF ABC
23-1 WLTV UNI
29-1 WFLX FOX
34-1 WTVX UPN
51-1 WSCV TEL
69-1 WAMI TFA

JASON

Jason,

Can you provide a little bit more information such as STB Model, Your Location, Antenna Type, Antenna Size, Antenna Location. The people monitoring this thread are very helpful and I am sure someone can help you.

Samsung sirt-150
Western palm beach county
Channel master 4228a with remote control rotator
Located right above roof line.

I have no problem picking these channels up. They don't like to let go once selected then they drop out causing my xg852 to put on a unwanted light show.

JASON

Jason,

Your lock-ups are likely due to something on our end. I'm getting the same thing here in Lake Worth and we're seeing artifacts on our professional Trevini Streamscope receiver at the studio in Mangonia Park, as well.

I took my RCA DTC100 ATSC receiver to the station so that our engineers can monitor the signal with a real-world, early generation consumer receiver alongside our more up-to-date professional demods. Meanwhile I'm monitoring on Zenith and Mitsubishi receivers here at home. Together with all of your guys' input we'll eventually "massage" the data stream and sort all of this out.

Today we managed to get the Dolby Digital audio from CBS to pass on the air from the CBS HD feed so that your home decoder will give you 5.1 channels instead of only 2.0. Our engineers believe that they know how to achieve the same result on our upconverted programming that originates in 2 channels and will be experimentng with this as well.

Of course they'll continue to attempt to remedy the lock-ups and artifacts. An engineer from our equipment vendor is supposed to come by in January to help out as well.

This was the reply I got

WHDT-59 is available on Adelphia ch 17 in standard definition on the Boca system. Over-the-air HD reception would require a good outdoor antenna since the station is still running at reduced power until at least Feb 03. After that, off-air reception will be easy.

David --

Which CBS programs are in 5.1? Certainly none that I watch, which admittedly is not very many.

Or is it a WFOR shortcoming?

Originally posted by wjbjr
David --

Which CBS programs are in 5.1? Certainly none that I watch, which admittedly is not very many.

Or is it a WFOR shortcoming?

I don't know which are in 5.1 but I can say that when watching WPEC the rear channels are far more active than when watching WFOR. I am sure that Dave from WPEC could provide a great answer.

I haven't been able to receive a WPEC-DT (12-1) signal the past 2 - 3 days as I did earlier in the week. Is anyone else in the Palm City area having a similar problem?

I tuned into PBF last night to check out Saturday Night Fever and found I was receiving no audio. Anybody else experience this?

Why is WPEC not passing the HD signal for Becker? WFOR has it in HD.

Can anyone confirm the lag in audio tonoght during the Christmas movie on PEC?

Whew!

None of the CBS-HD programming is distributed in Dolby Digital 5.1. It's either 2-channel stereo in DD 2.0 or Dolby Surround in DD 2.0. (Our Dolby Digital encoder is set to detect Dolby Surround sources and automatically create a Dolby Surround ProLogic II surround mix for the AC-3 DD 5.1 stream that we broadcast. Home decoders receive instructions for downmixing to 2-channel stereo or mono, as needed.) CBS-HD will eventually have DD 5.1 programming.

I'm not sure why WFOR-DT's audio would have less active surrounds unless their DD encoder is setup differently fom ours (there are a lot of setup menu options!) I seem to get mono from them all the time.

If we didn't pass Becker in HD someone here must have forgotten to "flip the switch." I'll look into it.

With regard to lagging audio, I wasn't watching the movie but we have noticed variable lip sync accuracy on our feed coming in from CBS-HD. It's yet another thing we'll be working on.

Did anyone catch CBS-HD of basketball on Saturday? I noticed a lot of pixelation on us compared with WFOR-DT.

I have received a report from a viewer who gets all of the Miami and West Palm Beach DTV stations on the built-in tuner on his 38" RCA HDTV except WPEC-DT. He lives close enough that he should definitely be getting us. He does get PSIP data that allows his tuner to display our channel numbers, call letters, etc., but he gets a blank screen and no sound. Anyone else experience this?

He does get PSIP data that allows his tuner to display our channel numbers, call letters, etc., but he gets a blank screen and no sound. Anyone else experience this?

David, I suspected that there was a problem with the antenna modulator of my Mitsubishi HD-5 receiver - I was right. The store that I bought it from swapped it out with a new one (this will be number 3) and I now receive OTA better than I did before - with one exception - WPEC-DT. I'm using the RS 15-2152 UHF/VHF 80-inch boom antenna in the attic, pointed N-NW. So I'm picking up your signal from the Lantana Road/441 antenna farm on the back end of my antenna. Before I swapped the receiver I got WPEC-DT steady (except for the minor pixellation problem) with a signal strength close to 100 (when you went full power). Now your picture drops out and the signal strength is about 40. But now I get WFOR (which i didn't even get before) with a steady picture and a signal strength of about 60 (on the back end of the yagi no less). All other local DT stations are steady and all other local VHF and UHF analog stations are clear. I did all of the testing yesterday afternoon and evening (Sunday). Is it possible that you were back to low power Sunday? I can't think of any other reason for this to happen.

Dave said,

Did anyone catch CBS-HD of basketball on Saturday? I noticed a lot of pixelation on us compared with WFOR-DT.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dave,
Though I can't compare with WFOR (since I don't receive it), I have
noticed a lot of pixalation (more so with the moving picture) on Kentucky game. I have thorughly enjoyed the game as it was my first HD college basketball game.


Thanks,
Srini

David - is the WPEC HD broadcast signal strong enough for me to pickup in Palm City? I'm using a UHF/VHF antenna in my attic connected to a Hughes E86 HD satellite receiver. The antenna is pointed at 180 degrees which is what TitanTV recomends, but I'm getting a weak signal from WPEC. It's enough to get a picture, but the pixelization is pretty bad.

Did anyone catch CBS-HD of basketball on Saturday? I noticed a lot of pixelation on us compared with WFOR-DT.

Dave,

I caught the basketball game and also noticed the pixelation. I stayed with WPEC vs. WFOR because WFOR seems to have a softer image than WPEC which I do not find pleasing. I can't explain it.

On the "Becker" broadcast, I noticed the 8PM broadcast was not in HD from WPEC but was on WFOR, I did not check the 8:30PM broadcast. (It was back to back Beckers last night.)

Dave,

Why is WPEC still not passing the HD signal from CBS? I am watching "Yes, Dear" and no HD on WPEC but there is HD on WFOR. This is not good considering the nice article written about WPEC last week. Who can I call to have them "flip the switch"?

WPEC-DT has been SD all night. What's up?

I got my Channel Master 7777 VHF/UHF preamp in the mail today and replaced the cheesy one that I bought at home depot. Wow. I'm now getting a signal strength of 95-100 on almost everything except WFOR which is at 70. The only problem left is that I'm getting interference on analog channel 12. The preamp has an FM trap, and that helped a bit, but the channel is still not watchable. That's ok though because WPEC-DT is fine now.

WPEC-DT appears to be coming in HD for CSI-Miami. It switches from 16x9 and 4x3 commercials and then back for the program. Just got my DST-3000 setup and I am able to pull in WPEC-DT, WPBF-DT, WFLX-DT and WTVX-DT with the RS Double Bowtie sitting ontop of my Entertaiment center though I am getting alot of pixelation and signal loss on some of hte channels. I am going to put it up in the attic tomorrow to see how much it improves the signal. I do appear to be getting almost 100% signal on WPBF-DT now.

Not bad for living out in the middle of nowhere a.k.a Loxahatchee.

WPEC is broadcasting CSI-Miami in HD but they were not broadcasting CBS's earlier lineup in HD.

Pickle, What antenna do you have and where is it mounted?

Ansek,

I'm using the Radio Shack 15-2152 UHF/VHF 80-inch boom antenna in the attic, pointed N-NW. My friend who lives in Western Boynton has been tweaking his antenna. You need something that will reach WPBF-DT (UHF 16) and WTVX-DT (50) which are located in Stuart, Northwest of you. If you can get these two steady on the front end of the antenna then anything South of Boynton that you pick up on the back side of the antenna is gravy (PBS?).

I assume that someone forgot to flip the switch again (often! :rolleyes: )

Our engineeers monitor this site so they'll be aware of it.

lwhitefl,

What signal strength are you getting from us as compared to the other stations?

Joel Graffman. I also live in Palm City and noticed you are using an Yagi in the attic. How is it working out for all the Locals? I saw where you get wpbf and wtvx great but was unsure of the otheres. Also, I noticed you were nice enough to put your phone number down and may call you sometime soon. I have a 3lnb DirecTV dish up (with clear view of SW sky). I have been wondering about using an Attic antenna. Some people have been talking about the RS double bowtie and went to RS to see. It looked so small that I wondered how it could even pick up the Microwave in my kithen. ha ha. Anyway, some others in our area (lwhite for example) are using (with some success) indoor antenna. Do you need a lot of room up there in the Attic? I have a standard one story house with attic and would try to have one installed (in fact, do you know a good installer in our area)?
I was thinking about the TERK that attaches to the Dish but then saw your comment. I live in the Martin Downs Country Club development (near Publix on Martin Downs BLvd) and am curious about your setup, and receptiton and recogmmendations. Thanks in advance.

David,

25-1; consistent 97 digital signal strength
50-1; consistent mid 70's to mid 90's digital signal strength
29-1; not broadcasting this am, but normally similar to 50-1
12-1; 24 - 27 digital signal strength

I tried using a Levitron antenna amplifier yesterday, but it didn't seem to help the signal strength. The antenna is in the attic pointed at 180 degrees.

lwhitefl

Lwhitefl.... what signal strength produces acceptable viewing levels for HD in our Palm City area?

In Palm City I would expect you'd need an outdoor VHF/UHF anteena, whether installed on the roof or in the attic. While WPBF and WTVX are close to you, WFLX, WPEC and WXEL are all located west of Lantana.

WPEC-DT is on VHF so you need a VHF/UHF antenna.

WPEC-DT has been operating at half-power since sometime yesterday, so this may have contributed to some reception problems as far out as Palm City.

Our SD stream is turned off for now due to some testing. We are going to try some other things, as well, in an effort to get rid of freezes and pixelation while still being able to run an HD and an SD stream simultaneously.

For Bob Wagner.

I have a single story house in Danforth. My attic may be bit larger than some as I have 8' ceilings, but UHF yagis can fit almost anywhere. I haven't tried very hard with receiving WPEC-DT as a quick look indicates a rather poor signal on their analog station.

My current setup is the UHF Yagi pointed WSW towards the WPBF tower combined with a FM omni-directional dipole. If you would like to look at it give me a call.

After the first of the year, I expect to experiment with antenna placement to see if I can receive the WPalm transmissions. This includes purchasing a channel 13 yagi for WPEC.

Joel

I also live in Palm City and I'm using the Outdoor Radio Shack antenna. I receive all DT stations at 100%. Here is a problem that I have discovered recently. When I have the oval dish selected in dish setup for Direct TV I get fluctuating signal strengths in all stations, sometimes to the point of drop-outs,(mostly WPBF). When I change the setup to "no dish" the signal strength meter remains steady and at 100% and no more drop-outs. I have the Mits.HD4 receiver. I don't know yet if this is a receiver problem or a Direct TV problem. Someone else may want to try it and see if they get the same results.

I have the Mits.HD4 receiver. I don't know yet if this is a receiver problem or a Direct TV problem. Someone else may want to try it and see if they get the same results.

There was an issue with the Mitsubishi, Hughes, and Toshiba STB's (all the same) when FOX 29 DT went on air that sounds similar to what you describe. I think it was resolved with a firmware update but I'm not sure. Try a reset by pressing "Action" wait 2 seconds and "Power". You may want to unplug it over night and see if that kind of reset will help too. It may also just be a design flaw because most people will say that selecting "no dish" will improve signal strength of OTA.

Thanks, Electricpickle. I'm trying your suggestiion on my Mitsubishi SR-HD5.

Guys,

We are back up at full power.

Our test involving turning-off the SD subchannel stream seems to have verified suspicions that the pixelation on the HD channel were due to something else since they have persisted during the test period during which the SD channel has been absent, so it has been turned back on.

As I mentioned in my prior post, we'll be altering the data stream over the coming days (or, considering that we're in a holiday season, perhaps a week or so) to try and fix the pixelation and freezing issue. Our equipment vendors think that they know what's going on. (And if that doesn't fix it I'm confident that another fix can be produced...at a price. :rolleyes:

I'll be working through the Christmas Holidays and will be online as well, so if you folks care to pass along any observations here on the Forum, please do so. We certainly appreciate the feedback.

Merry Christmas!

Nice improvement here once you went back to full power. I am going between 90-95% signal strength on my Toshiba DST3000 with just the Radioshack Double Bowtie sitting onto of my Entertainment Center out in Loxahatchee. Feed is actually very good with minimal pixelation so far into Jag. One or two minor moments of pixelation followed by a fraction of a second video dropout it seemed. Good work guys keep it up.

I am now picking up all 4 local stations at the following percentages from my Toshiba.

WPEC = 90-95%
WPBF = 100% pegged
WFLX = 100% pegged
WTVX = 70-75%

Dave

Now that you are at full power I am happy to report that for the first time I am seeing the carrier for WPEC-DT 13 from here in Melbourne. I have not got a very good lock on it yet though. Will report if I do.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everybody in South Florida.

This not "flipping the switch" thing is getting contagious. WPBF is not passing the HD signal from ABC. We need to keep a list of numbers so we can call the stations when this happens. Last night they flipped the switch 5 minutes into the program and audio was all messed. I feel bad for all the people who where expecting an afternoon of HD from ABC.