I just scanned the Comcast QAM channels on my JVC DVD recorder and all the HD channels are there and they are now remapped correctly.

I re-scanned my JVC LCD and all the re-mapped channels showed up. 8-1, 11-1, and the TUBE is gone.
Thanks Bob :))

Mick

I re-scanned my JVC LCD and all the re-mapped channels showed up. 8-1, 11-1, and the TUBE is gone.
Thanks Bob :))

Mick

Mick

No problem, he just emailed me back this morning and thanked me for letting hime know about the problems.

Bob

I have tried to figure out what is going on but I just don't get it.

I have Comcast and use a QAM tuner.

KUAS is gone?

KUAT in HD is gone? and now even though the shows that are aired have the PBS HD tag they are clearly less than HD?

Sorry for being dumb but finding this information on the PBS site or the KUAT site is impossible.

As I have posted before, the quality of the Arizona games on FSN SD (Comcast digital channel 31) is consistently very poor due to overcompression. I saw one of the games on DirectTV at a neighbor's house and it looked good, so I think the original source material is ok. Comcast is either getting a poor quality feed from FSN, or else they are recompressing it somewhere in their system.

RJRSW, I don't want to impose, but is this something you could ask your contact at Comcast about?

As I have posted before, the quality of the Arizona games on FSN SD (Comcast digital channel 31) is consistently very poor due to overcompression. I saw one of the games on DirectTV at a neighbor's house and it looked good, so I think the original source material is ok. Comcast is either getting a poor quality feed from FSN, or else they are recompressing it somewhere in their system.

RJRSW, I don't want to impose, but is this something you could ask your contact at Comcast about?

I had asked him about that a while back when I was in their main equipment area and have seen how they distribute everything on to the cable and they do not do anything with the feeds they receive from any source. They just pass through what they are given by the source. Keep in mind the source material can change depending what method the source uses to send it to Comcast. Some come off of satellite. some are hard wired, some are fiber optic, some they get off of antenna and some are microwave.

Thanks for the info RJRSW. I guess Comcast must be getting a different feed from FSN than DirectTV does. In general, I'd say that ESPN on channel 2 is an example of how good SD can look, while FSN on channel 31 is unfortunately an example of how bad it can look. The games on FSN HD look fine, its only the SD channel that looks bad.

I bet it was interesting seeing that equipment room at Comcast. Regarding the distribution, do you know if it's pure digital from the main office to the head end, with analog being generated at the head end, or do the analog signals also originate at the main office? I'm just curious how that works, assuming that the head end is ADS.

What is up with Smallville on Thursdays? The last few weeks the digital clicks, pops and studders are getting worse every week. I am watching it live now on Comcast 8.1 and its almost not worth watching, even the regular non-HD channel is doing the same but on Directv channel 58 its fine but not in HD and picture just looks crappy.

Is anyone having issues with kvoa 4.1 tonight?

Analog is still broadcasting, but I am not getting the digital signal.

Thanks,
Brett

No problem here...SE Tucson near Houghton and Valencia.

I am getting 4.1 at silverbell-speedway quite well with sticks not fully extended as of 9 PM saturday.

Yeah, it came back on sometime during the SNL special.

Thanks,
Brett

Now it (KVOA-DT, 4.1) is out again, just as I want to watch the Superbowl. It just stutters and pops and pauses. I would think that it is my setup, except that all my other channels are ok. If it was my setup, wouldn't I be also missing CBS, FOX, ABC, etc?

I've got a nice, large rooftop antenna with a preamp.

At least I am getting the analog signal. Mostly I just want to know if the issue is with me, or with kvoa.

Thanks,
Brett

And at half time it is working great.

Go figure.

Brett

No Problems here -- but you can see a few pages ago I had the same issues with *just* KGUN. A few days later all channels became choppy.. Turned out to be a failing amp in my powered HD Antenna, replacing it fixed the problem.

Well, at least I don't feel like I am going crazy anymore.

Where did you end up getting the amp?

Thanks,
Brett

Hey Everyone. I'm new into Tucson and will be moving into a house soon and I need to figure out what type of HD service I want. Right now I'm in an apartment with Cox and it isnt that amazing. I was thinking about going with DISH or DirecTV but I'm not sure which one has the better HD. All I really want is to get only HD channels + HBO + local channels + a DVR. Any suggestions? The research Ive done shows that they are practically the same.

Another issue I heard is that when both satellite companies say "local channels included" that only means that those channels show up on your guide and you still require another antenna to receive them. Is that true? Because I want to get those stations for sports games and primetime tv shows.

Welcome to Tucson. A major difference between Dish and DirecTV is that DirecTV does offer 4 of the local channels in HD (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox). Dish does not. However, if you avoid living in some parts of the Marana area, you can get the local channels off the air and it will be integrated into your guide. Both services carry the SD version of all local channels.

As for sports...If it is baseball (Dbacks) or basketball (Suns) that you want, you will find none of it off the air. The DBacks are exclusive to Fox Sports AZ and the Suns have a limited amount of games on FSN and the majority of games are broadcast on MY45 in Phoenix (which cannot be received down here).

^Thanks for that info. I saw that on the bottom of DirecTv website so I think I'm going to go with them. Not sure I really want all of those stations and I believe you have to sign a 2 year contract with them. Or is it a 1 year contract? But I think I might do this for now and then later build my own DVR and just use the OTA

It's one year with regular equipment (SD and not DVR) or two years with "advanced" equipment (HD and/or DVR).

Well, at least I don't feel like I am going crazy anymore.

Where did you end up getting the amp?

Thanks,
Brett


Well, after replacing every segment of cable and power cords and stuff, I ended up just getting this cheesy thing:

http://www.antonline.com/p_Philips--MANT-940--Philips-Accessories--MANT940-UHF-Ind-Out-Antenna-_416926.htm

Note it's only really made for UHF.. But I'm about a mile from sabino canyon and close to the antennas.. I get all the UHF channels in the upper 90% range (according to my TV's ATSC internal tuner) and KGUN which I think is VHF comes in at 85% which is good enough for me.

KGUN won't be on its VHF frequency until after the change-over.

KGUN won't be on its VHF frequency until after the change-over.

Oh crap, you're right. I am probably hosed then.

Does anyone know how Comcast sets the CCI copy protection flag on the "digital starter" channels?

Does anyone know how Comcast sets the CCI copy protection flag on the "digital starter" channels?

Comcast does not set the copy protection flag on any channel they broadcast, they just pass on whatever signal they receive.

Comcast does not set the copy protection flag on any channel they broadcast, they just pass on whatever signal they receive.

I thought it was up to the cable provider to set the CCI flags. The broadcast channels must be flagged as 0x00 = "Copy Freely" per FCC rules, but other channels can be flagged as they see fit. Comcast also has to add their conditional access encryption, so it is not as simple as just passing through that they receive.

For anyone who might be wondering what CCI is, look here and at the references.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_Control_Information
CCI affects the ability to record via firewire from a cable box, or to xfer recordings from a Tivo to a PC via TivoToGo for example.

I had asked the copy flag question a while back to my friend who is the head engineer at Comcast. He told me they do not add or remove any copy flags or modify the signal they receive. The only thing that happens is the non basic channels are encrypted.

There was a problem that started happening last fall that was causing copy protection flags stopping the recording process and it always happened during a commercial. It turned out that even though the networks were not setting any do not copy flags that some of the music sound tracks used in some commercials had copy protection flags set and that was what was causing the recording problems.

The White House wants your opinion on The DTV Delay ACT Bill
President Obama wants to hear what the public has to say, you can comment here

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/dtv_delay_act/

Anybody else having problems receiving the new red-headed stepchild of the DTV stations here in town KGUN-9? I have 4 tuners, one of them gets a broken up signal, the others nothing at all, all the other stations are coming in fine just KGUN who must be having problems with their antenna or ice and are probably at 50% or less signal strength. I've sent KGUN ON YOUR SIDE messages and never receive any replies from the chicken sh*t engineers or whoever is supposed to answer their e-mail because they know they have no excuse for how crappy their DTV broadcast is now after their failed upgrade. They are damn lucky the DTV deadline was extended or they would probably be getting fined up the kazoo since I for one will be contacting the FCC every time I can't receive their DTV broadcast when I can receive every other station in town.

No problem here. Houghton and Valencia.

So does anyone know if the local stations are still going to switch over in Feb? Or are they going to delay?

KTTU and KUVE already turned off analog. No other Tucson stations notified the FCC that they plan to turn off analog on 2/17, so they're all stuck until 3/14 at the very earliest.

As of last night KGUN was running a crawl that they would discontinue analog in 2/17. This was during the 5:00 news. Maybe the crawl person doesn't know what the engineering staff is doing, or vice versa.

Dave

KMSB 11 also had a 15-30 second bump yesterday at 17:58 breaking into the end of the Simpsons credits. it was "KMSB is a BELO subsidary. Get ready for the DTV switch in 6 days." I wonder if it will repeat.

KVOA 4 's 10:00 news stated that they will remain transmitting in analog and digital until the new cutover date 6-12-2009.

KMSB (and the rest of Belo's stations) filed under the old rules to shut off analog on 2/17, but never did under the new rules, so they won't be going anywhere.

A couple of months ago the TV Guide people had problems in providing the TV program grid -- after several days it was fixed.
During the past couple days the TV Guide is not showing the program schedule, only "in progress".
Has anyone else experienced this problem lately?
I'm in zip 85750.
Stressbox

I haven't received TV Guide (TVGOS) listing updates for 2 days now in zip 85737. I did a VBI test on PBS 27 OTA (my TVGOS host) and see slow, sporadic TypeC packets but no real TVGOS data. PBS 6 OTA is the same.

I also checked all CBS and PBS analog/digital channels OTA and on Comcast cable and couldn't find any other channels transmitting any VBI at all.

I hope it's only temporary... I've got 6 days of listings left :(

Welcome to Tucson. A major difference between Dish and DirecTV is that DirecTV does offer 4 of the local channels in HD (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox). Dish does not. However, if you avoid living in some parts of the Marana area, you can get the local channels off the air and it will be integrated into your guide. Both services carry the SD version of all local channels.

As for sports...If it is baseball (Dbacks) or basketball (Suns) that you want, you will find none of it off the air. The DBacks are exclusive to Fox Sports AZ and the Suns have a limited amount of games on FSN and the majority of games are broadcast on MY45 in Phoenix (which cannot be received down here).

I won't be living in a remote area so if I get DISH, will I still be able to receive local channels through their satellite dish?

From what I've been reading online, it seems that DirecTv has the best and most content of HD and both providers have the same amount of content and price. That true?

Still not receiving TVGOS on Comcast zip 85750. Shows when channel scan is scheduled but the scheduled time passes and nothing happens.
Some pages back there was a website which can be accessed -- I tried it (you enter your zip code) and it says the Guide is working. When I tried this some months ago a telephone number was shown and I called it at the time but it seems the number is now gone. I forgot to keep a note of that website but it's on this thread somewhere.
Maybe this is all caught up in the transition to DTV.
Stressbox

Just got a email from Mick who posts here and he let me know that it's fixed for the time being. PBS had inadvertently dropped the TVGOs data. It's back on.

Good info. Thanks. I'll check it out on my TV.
Stressbox

My recording of Chuck tonight has no sound for the entire hour (show, commercials, everything). It was recorded on a DirecTV HD DVR using the HD feed from the satellite.

Can anybody say whether KVOA had audio problems on their broadcast? Or, did anybody watch it on DirecTV and can tell me whether or not they had audio there? I'm just trying to figure out if the problem lies somewhere else, or if my DVR just ate the audio somehow.

My recording of Chuck tonight has no sound for the entire hour (show, commercials, everything). It was recorded on a DirecTV HD DVR using the HD feed from the satellite.

Can anybody say whether KVOA had audio problems on their broadcast? Or, did anybody watch it on DirecTV and can tell me whether or not they had audio there? I'm just trying to figure out if the problem lies somewhere else, or if my DVR just ate the audio somehow.

There were no problems OTA.

My recording of Chuck tonight has no sound for the entire hour (show, commercials, everything). It was recorded on a DirecTV HD DVR using the HD feed from the satellite.

Can anybody say whether KVOA had audio problems on their broadcast? Or, did anybody watch it on DirecTV and can tell me whether or not they had audio there? I'm just trying to figure out if the problem lies somewhere else, or if my DVR just ate the audio somehow.

I did the same to record it and it had sound on the sat. HD broadcast.

Tony

I have just switched to OTA here in Tucson. For the last two days I do not get any guide info on Fox11 and KGUN, but I get it on the other channels. Any ideas?

Just got a email from Mick who posts here and he let me know that it's fixed for the time being. PBS had inadvertently dropped the TVGOs data. It's back on.

Correction: I spoke to the lead tech at Comcast today and it was 'their' mistake, not PBS's. They were doing some diagnostics at the head-end and failed to reinsert the PID for the TVGOS data that they receive from PBS.

Mick

All the TVGOS info is back on my Pioneer plasma now.

TVGOS back on for me. Shows Host as "6", PBS. Thanks all.

I did the same to record it and it had sound on the sat. HD broadcast.


So it's just the crappy DirecTV DVR then, huh? Thanks for your help.

FYI for those of us that have Directv, PBS channel 6, My TV channel 18 and CW 58 are all now in HD. I had to add the channels to my HR-21 to see them on favorites.

That's good news indeed. However, that reminds me about 27. Can anyone get 27-3 OTA through their DirecTV receiver, yet?

I'm considering a Tivo HD. Does anyone here use a Tivo Series 3/HD on Comcast digital? I'm wondering how well it handles the U of A games on FSN, since sometimes they are simulcast on the HD channel and sometimes they are not. Ideally I'd like to record the HD version when available (chan 258) and the SD version otherwise (chan 31). I suspect that may be difficult though. Neither tvplanner.comcast.net nor titantv.com accurately lists what is on the FSN HD channel, so I suspect that the Tivo guide doesn't know either. Has anyone found a good solution for this? Thanks.


Speaking of Comcast, I noticed yesterday that they finally added labels in the cablecard channel list for the new HD channels they added last fall. Anyone using cablecard should now see "Fox News" on channel 240 instead of a blank label, for example. The separate Golf and Versus channels are now correctly identified also.

Spocko... It looks like the listings at http://msn.foxsports.com/tv/schedule may be correct for FSAZHD. There, you can select the date and select channel FSAZHD to see the whole day. The TVGuide website also looks like it may be correct http://www.tvguide.com/Listings/default.aspx. There, you can put 31 & 258 in your favorites for a quick look.

Both sites indicate that the 2/26/09 game is not in HD and the 2/28/09 game is. We'll see...

I assume if you had a Tivo 3/HD (dual tuners), you could record both channels to be on the safe side.

Frequency for KUAS on Comcast?

Does anybody know the exact frequency that Comcast sends out KUAS on cable?

I can't find it... I don't think it is at 777MHz where the KUAT-x subs are and it is not up at 603MHz where KUAT is with KTTU.


Thanks.

bbbobbb:
Is there any difference between KUAS HD and KUAT HD? They seem the same to me OTA. I'm snowbirding (Hey, it beats waterboarding) in NW Tucson, in the shadow of Mt Lemmon, so I can't get KUAT or any of the other transmissions from Mt. Bigelow without considerable effort, but I get KUAS (and KWBA) easily with an OnAir GT and an 11" whip. When I went to another part of Tucson where I could get both PBS broadcasts they were running the same programming on the HD channel. KUAT also has V-Me and Create, while KUAS has Kids and World. I note that KUAS does not identify itself as such; its VCT says it's KUAT HD, same as KUAT's VCT.

This is all a change from last year, when KUAS had only PBS-HD (in 1080i) and KUAT had 4 SD subchannels of PBS and local programming. Now both HD feeds are 720p.

On Comcast cable, using the GT and no cable box, I find KUAT HD on 87-2 (603 MHz) and an SD copy of it on 98-13 (111 MHz). Create, Kids and V-Me are on 121-1, -2 and -3 respectively (777 MHz). None of those SD channels has a VCT. I didn't find PBS World at all. Oddly, KUAT HD is 1080i on cable; that's a waste of bandwidth unless they're actually getting a higher resolution from KUAT than what's being broadcast.

PBS-HD no longer exists as a separate programming service. It now more closely resembles the commercial networks' HD feeds, with a mix of HD and 16:9 and 4:3 SD upconversions.

BTW, I was in Phoenix recently, just south of the South Mountain antenna farm, and I was surprised to receive KVOA and KTTU with the same 11" whip, inside a stucco house, no less. Had to adjust carefully and they weren't solid, but they were there.

Yes, KUAS and KUAT show the same HD. Here's an explanation from earlier in the thread:
Today's Lineup:

6.1 - PBS
6.2 - V-ME (Spanish)
6.3 - Create
6.4 - Off the air

27.1- PBS
27.2- PBS Kids
27.3- World

Of course, this could change based on the whim of whoever is making choices (not decisons).

It would be nice to know what their roadmap is and where they plan to land. This is truly getting annoying.
This is final, approved, permanent (AFAIK, and I work here) channel lineup. As you've noticed, we're now over compressing the HD to crap 720 as well. I tried to be as convincing as possible to keep 1080i on one mountain at >16, but in the end the appeal of having "HD" on both mountains won out. The problem is coverage-- 6 can't hit the foothills, and 27 can't hit green valley/sierra vista. In order to offer PBS proper to everyone as with analog, we need to simulcast it on both. I pitched the idea of a 1080i+1 sub / 480p wide + 3 subs but in the end market research determined that 720+2 / 720+2 was optimal, quality be damned.

We've had 27-1 downressed for some time, and there were no viewer complaints so they kept it.

We still feed cox and comcast 17ish megabit 1080i over fiber, so if you've got cable, you can still see us in high quality there. Dish and Directv pull our OTA so y'all that enjoy triple compression. Sigh.

Thank EBO & Coyote. That is what I thought that they were the same.

My problem is that the program guide I use (TVGuide) on my Mac does not have the right shows at the right times. Comcast's cable guide (also TVGuide driven) does have the right shows so I thought it was either a different channel or something was messed up. I have reported the problems on up the chain so maybe the El Gato people who make the tuner will help with getting the channel guide right...

Thanks again.

BB

On Comcast cable, using the GT and no cable box, I find KUAT HD on 87-2 (603 MHz) and an SD copy of it on 98-13 (111 MHz). Create, Kids and V-Me are on 121-1, -2 and -3 respectively (777 MHz).


That's strange. I'm also on Comcast in the northeast and I have different channel assignments. I find KUAT HD on 6-1, and the SD version on 98-2.

My current HD QAM channels are as follows. These all happen to match the OTA channels except for CW.

4-1: NBC
6-1: PBS
8-1: CW (OTA channel 58-1)
9-1: ABC
11-1: Fox
13-1: CBS
18-1: MyTV

Spocko... It looks like the listings at http://msn.foxsports.com/tv/schedule may be correct for FSAZHD. There, you can select the date and select channel FSAZHD to see the whole day. The TVGuide website also looks like it may be correct http://www.tvguide.com/Listings/default.aspx. There, you can put 31 & 258 in your favorites for a quick look.


Thanks! Both of those sites appear to use TVGuide data, and both appear to be correct. This is helpful. The Tivo guide does not have accurate info for FSN HD, it just shows the same info as for the SD channel just like the Comcast tvplanner site does.

spocko:
I too see those designations on my GT, but they are virtual, not real channel numbers. The OP was asking for the real channels (actual frequencies) used for PBS programming on cable. It's no accident that the virtual major channel numbers match the OTA analog channel numbers (or, for CW, its analog channel on Comcast); that's what virtual channels are for.

On Comcast locally the HD feeds of CW (18-1) and PBS (6-1) are both on cable channel 87, CBS (13-1) and Fox (11-1) are on 88 and ABC (9-1) and NBC (4-1) are on 89.

The 6 SD feeds on channel 98 do not have virtual channel numbers so your receiver reports the real channel. It apparently assigns them subchannel numbers 1-6, although the real subchannel numbers are 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 19.

For my education, can you please tell me what a "GT" is? Also, how do you know the difference between the virtual channel assignments and the real ones? I think the only data I have available through my TV is to run a channel scan and see what it gets, which I assume shows the virtuals.

Note also that I was not able to find PBS Kids and PBS Create on my latest QAM channel scan, but I know there are there because my Tivo (with cablecard) gets them. Perhaps there is something fishy with the VCT for those channels.

Thanks

For my education, can you please tell me what a "GT" is?The AutumnWave OnAir GT is a USB-connected digital/analog tuner that does both 8VSB (OTA) and clear QAM (cable). Convenient for use with a laptop. The included app allows both additive scan and addition of a single channel. As with most such devices it allows the computer it's connected to to be used as an HD DVR.

Also, how do you know the difference between the virtual channel assignments and the real ones? I think the only data I have available through my TV is to run a channel scan and see what it gets, which I assume shows the virtuals. The Channel Manager shows virtual channels where available, otherwise real channel. In any case, the channel editor shows the real major channel.

The GT can also be used with the free TSReader Lite, which shows a wealth of technical details about an RF channel and its subchannels, including the real subchannel numbers.

Note also that I was not able to find PBS Kids and PBS Create on my latest QAM channel scan, but I know there are there because my Tivo (with cablecard) gets them. Perhaps there is something fishy with the VCT for those channels.

ThanksThey're on real channel 121 as follows:

121-1 Create
121-2 Kids
121-3 V-Me
121-4 KWBA HD
121-5 LATV

Only KWBA HD and LATV have a VCT.

I live in Vail Arizona which is basically South East Tucson. Can someone recommend a good antenna solution to be attached to my roof so I can pick up the local channels once they all start transmitting in HD. If there is a attic solution, I would like to hear which antenna also. (I also hope it will pickup non HD channels also) My televisions are all digital. Please let me know which namebrand and where to buy it in Tucson.

I live in Vail Arizona which is basically South East Tucson. Can someone recommend a good antenna solution to be attached to my roof so I can pick up the local channels once they all start transmitting in HD. If there is a attic solution, I would like to hear which antenna also. (I also hope it will pickup non HD channels also) My televisions are all digital. Please let me know which namebrand and where to buy it in Tucson.

Have you tried a Zenith Silver Sensor indoors and/or in the attic? It not, try to mount one at or near your roof....it works outdoors(not necessarily recommended by manufacturer), too.

I live in Vail Arizona which is basically South East Tucson. Can someone recommend a good antenna solution to be attached to my roof so I can pick up the local channels once they all start transmitting in HD. If there is a attic solution, I would like to hear which antenna also. (I also hope it will pickup non HD channels also) My televisions are all digital. Please let me know which namebrand and where to buy it in Tucson.They're transmitting now and have been for several years. All are on UHF now but KGUN will move their digital transmission to channel 9 (high VHF) when they shut down their analog. Most are on Mt. Bigelow, about 34 miles almost directly north of you and should be line-of-sight. Most of the analogs are there as well. If you have an antenna for the analogs now and get 9 and the UHF analogs fairly well you should be all set. Do a scan for digital channels and see what you get.

Whether an attic antenna will work for you depends a lot on what it has to look through. Stucco walls make a very effective RF shield. But it's worth a try before you mount it on the roof. For brands I'd stick with Channel Master or Winegard. I'm partial to 4-bay or 8-bay bowties (the CM4228 does quite well on ch. 9 for a UHF antenna) but I don't see many around here. Most look more like the CM2016. But drive around your area and see what others are using.

Go to www.antennaweb.org and/or www.tvfool.com and plug in your zip code to see where the transmitters are from you.

Looks like COX is remapping their QAM HD channels today. The 76.x, 105.x and 106.x have been moved to 71.x, 72.x and 73.x...I am doing a rescan/relabel this morning. What a way to start the morning.

I hope that is a sign of things to come. On Cox's website today the channel lineup for Tucson has changed. There are roughly 10 new HD channel assignments. Sci-Fi HD is listed finally as is CNN HD. I hope this means they will be implemented soon. As of now, they are not connected.

hm, I'm not able to see any of the 71.x channels with either of my ATSC tuners and I can no longer get fox in HD. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Thanks for the heads up regarding the COX reassignments for their clear QAM channels. I wonder why they are changing them and also wonder why they don't map them to something easier for us to relate to (in other words, why not map KVOA-DT to 4-1 instead of to 72-2)?

Is any one else having problems finding the clear QAM HD channels on Cox? I realize that they remapped the channels but I am not finding them even after doing a rescan. I did add a coax splitter the other day, so now I'm wondering if it's the splitter causing problems or if the channels don't exist.

I'm having some problems too. I find some channels but not all.

Cox is having all sorts of problems. On my SA HD recorder the guide showed
differnt programs and Times for the HD network channels and the SD network channels. They seemd to be aware of the problem but had no idea why it was that way or when it would be fixed. the channel listing showing the new HD chnnels has been that way for over a week. Cox claimed it did not show the new HD channels so I sent them a screen shot of the web page and got no responce.

Is any one else having problems finding the clear QAM HD channels on Cox? I realize that they remapped the channels but I am not finding them even after doing a rescan.
As of early morning 3/12, these are the new Cox clear QAM channel assignments I've identified.
19-1 TBS 480i
71-1 KWBA HD (CW) 1080i
71-2 KMSB HD (Fox) 720p
71-3 PBS V-Me 480i
72-1 PBS HD 1080i
72-2 KVOA HD (NBC) 1080i
72-3 PBS Kids 480i
72-4 KOLD Weather 480i
73-1 KOLD HD (CBS) 1080i
73-2 KGUN HD (ABC) 720p
73-4 PBS Create 480i
74-1 KTTU HD (MyTV) 1080i
75-6 Pentagon Ch 480i
80-6 SANN 480i
85-1 C-SPAN 480i
86-4 C-SPAN2 480i
88-3 C-SPAN3 480i

Thanks for posting that list. I can get all of them to work except for the 71.x's. Is anyone else having this same problem? I have two tuners and neither of them can find those channels, but have no problem with the other ones.

I hope that is a sign of things to come. On Cox's website today the channel lineup for Tucson has changed. There are roughly 10 new HD channel assignments. Sci-Fi HD is listed finally as is CNN HD. I hope this means they will be implemented soon. As of now, they are not connected.

Sweet! Any word on when this will go down? Here's hoping they can add these channels before the finale of Battlestar Galactica :)

As of early morning 3/12, these are the new Cox clear QAM channel assignments I've identified.
19-1 TBS 480i
71-1 KWBA HD (CW) 1080i
71-2 KMSB HD (Fox) 720p
71-3 PBS V-Me 480i
72-1 PBS HD 1080i
72-2 KVOA HD (NBC) 1080i
72-3 PBS Kids 480i
72-4 KOLD Weather 480i
73-1 KOLD HD (CBS) 1080i
73-2 KGUN HD (ABC) 720p
73-4 PBS Create 480i
74-1 KTTU HD (MyTV) 1080i
75-6 Pentagon Ch 480i
80-6 SANN 480i
85-1 C-SPAN 480i
86-4 C-SPAN2 480i
88-3 C-SPAN3 480i

I've got no problem down in Sahuarita withthe above but a friend in Tucson did the rescan of his Samsung LCD and didn't find any of the remapped channels. Any ideas?

Thanks

I've got no problem down in Sahuarita withthe above but a friend in Tucson did the rescan of his Samsung LCD and didn't find any of the remapped channels. Any ideas?
I'm on the east side of Tucson and the listing I posted came from a 550 series Samsung LCD. Channel mapping is the same on my Panasonic DVD recorder. No clue why some Cox customers in Tucson service area aren't seeing all the clear QAM channels.

As of early morning 3/12, these are the new Cox clear QAM channel assignments I've identified.
19-1 TBS 480i
71-1 KWBA HD (CW) 1080i
71-2 KMSB HD (Fox) 720p
71-3 PBS V-Me 480i
72-1 PBS HD 1080i
72-2 KVOA HD (NBC) 1080i
72-3 PBS Kids 480i
72-4 KOLD Weather 480i
73-1 KOLD HD (CBS) 1080i
73-2 KGUN HD (ABC) 720p
73-4 PBS Create 480i
74-1 KTTU HD (MyTV) 1080i
75-6 Pentagon Ch 480i
80-6 SANN 480i
85-1 C-SPAN 480i
86-4 C-SPAN2 480i
88-3 C-SPAN3 480i

I am able to get all of the above, except C-SPAN3 is on 88-12 for me. In addition, I find a bunch of programs on the channels listed below (I didn't try to figure out what they all are, but I think 85-50 and 86-12 are COX advertisments):

21-1
80-1
80-2
80-3
80-4
80-5
80-8
80-9
80-10
85-50
86-12
94-10
103-1
103-2
103-3
103-4
103-5
103-6
103-7
103-8
103-9
103-10
107-1
110-1

I still wonder why COX doesn't assign the broadcast channels to something that would look more like the OTA channel assignments (i.e., map KVOA-DT to 4-1 instead of 72-2).

Quick question...Just recently moved to new apartment complex located at Sunrise and Via Palomita, just east of the La paloma resort, and was curious if anyone had any recommendations for an ota antenna to get hd locals with...Thanks a ton.

Cable. You're in the shadow of the mountains, so odds are if you try for OTA you'll spend a whole lot of money and end up with a whole lot of frustration. KUAS and KWBA won't be a problem, but anything from Mt. Bigelow would be pure luck to receive.

I live on Speedway and Wilmot, I subscribe to Cox Limited Basic, and my tv is a Olevia 237T. Ever since I got my HDTV, I could receive all the over-the-air HD channels no problem. Now with this channel update, I'm getting everything on the new channel numbers EXCEPT 71-* to 74-* which includes FOX, NBC, ABC & CBS. Why am I getting everything correctly except these? Too weird. Just to note, I AM getting the 480i versions of FOX(103-9) ABC(103-7) CBS(103-3) and NBC(103-4). Any help is appreciated.

Probably being blocked by the trap Cox has on your line to prevent you from accessing the expanded basic channels. You'll need to call and convince them to roll a truck to replace the trap with one that doesn't block 71-74. They're usually reluctant to roll a truck, but if you remind them of the following from their own website (http://www.cox.com/arizona/cable_hd.asp), they'll eventually give in. If not, go up the management chain till you find someone who will.
A minimum service level of Cox Basic Cable required to receive broadcast HD channels.

I am new to this forum and I have a question that I have tried to search but have not been able to find an answer. If anybody has some time to answer it I would appreciate it.

We live pretty close to the Rincon mountains and can receive all the digital stations EXCEPT 58.1, the CW. We can BARELY get the analog signal of 58. We receive all of these signals OTA. There is no cable in our area. I have not investigated getting a satellite system as I really don't want to spend for it if I don't have to. We really don't want to lose the programming from the CW if there is anyway to get it OTA. I suspect that we might be in a signal hole or valley based on comparing our location to where I've read the transmitter is located for channel 58. On one occassion only that I know of KGUN broadcast the programming from 58 on 9.2 and we were able to pick that up. We were hoping this meant that they were going to give the CW a permanent home on 9.2 but it was not to be and they went back to using that for a Spanish language station.

Does anyone know what plans KGUN (the current owner of both 9 and 58) has for the CW? Are they planning to keep the transmitter where it is now? Are they going to move the programming to a different broadcast channel/location? Are we doomed to lose the OTA signal from 58 when the transition finally occurs in June or do we need to do something else to get the signal? Must we succumb to satellite in order to receive programming?

We have tried a few other antennas and a friend nearby with a large rooftop directional antenna on a rotator cannot manage to pull the digital version of the station in. Thanks for any help/insight.

Without a specific location, it's hard to tell, but Mt. Fagan tends to block KWBA's signal to anything east of Houghton. The only hope you have is a lot of height and a very directional, high-gain antenna like the 91XG from Antennasdirect. No idea if they plan to move it, but it's unlikely since any other location would cost them coverage of either their city of license (which the FCC won't allow) or of large areas of Tucson (which the beancounters won't allow).

Rats. Sorry about not providing better info as to location but you are right we're east of Houghton and a little ways south of Broadway, in a valley. Thanks for the antenna recommendation. Maybe we can try it, put it up high and see if it works. I wish there was some way to testing for signal strength before we install an antenna.

But if that doesn't work do you have a recommendation as to satellite service? All we want is to get the regular OTA broadcast channels as inexpensively as possible and with decent service ... and maybe faster Internet as well since we're currently using dial-up. No DSL out here either.

I'm beginning to think this whole digital switchover is designed to force people to go to cable (if available) or satellite.

You can plug your exact address into the coverage maps at TVFool.com and get a pretty good estimate of what it's going to be like for you, but the ridge a couple miles south of you throws a huge amount of variability into the equation to the point that any model will have a large margin of error.

I believe only DirecTV carries the Tucson locals in HD. The good news is that they carry all 7, so at least you won't have to mess with an antenna for the rest if you don't want to, unless you want the extra subchannels.

Not sure if this would show up on cable or not, but ever since KGUN fixed their non-HD issue from last week/weekend, the sound has been EXTRA LOUD like KOLD used to be until I complained enough about it they finally adjusted their levels so it hasn't been that bad lately. Has anybody else noticed this for KGUN/ABC? Compared with KVOA/NBC, KMSB/FOX, and KOLD/CBS which are all Dolby Digital like KGUN/ABC, I have to turn down the volume 20% or more for KGUN now or else it's noticeably too loud, and this was never an issue before. I'm going to try calling the station because I never received any replies from KGUN on your side regarding the non-HD programs the had for several nights which I'm not surprised yet another station has no time to respond to their viewers.

I hope that is a sign of things to come. On Cox's website today the channel lineup for Tucson has changed. There are roughly 10 new HD channel assignments. Sci-Fi HD is listed finally as is CNN HD. I hope this means they will be implemented soon. As of now, they are not connected.

Here's the offical word from cox:


Thank you for your inquiry.

We are happy to assist you. The following HD channels will be launched
in your area on 04/10/09:

Travel HD (748)
Spike HD (767)
Bravo HD (760)
NFL HD (766)[Must have Sports & Info Tier]
MTV HD (717)
SciFi HD (750)
HGTV HD (741)
CNN HD (736)
Planet Green HD (764)
TLC HD (742)
Versus HD (769)

Just remember that the "official word" from Cox isn't worth the electrons used to deliver the email. 2/3 of Phoenix missed the original release dates provided by the CSRs, and nowhere in the state is up to their announced "80 HD channels by the end of 2008".

Thanks Cox! For giving us the SciFi channel in HD AFTER the one show on SciFi I actually watched has finished its run.

At least we're getting CNN.

Hi all, I live down in Sahuarita. Currently I use COX with cable cards in my Tivo S3. My Cox bill is huge however and I'm thinking of dumping everything except internet since pretty much all we watch is network TV anyway. If I can get my $180 Cox phone/internet/TV bill down to just a $40 internet bill and just get all my TV free OTA, I would be happy. I realize that COX transmitts the network HD stations as unencrypted QAM which I could have the TiVo record, but I'm not sure if the TiVo would correctly recognize and apply guide data to the QAM channels. Would my best bet be to simply use an OTA antenna on the roof or in the attic? I'm pretty sure the TiVo does a pretty good job of mapping guide data to the OTA channels. Does Sahuarita get good reception OTA on all the HD networks?

Thanks!

Sahuarita is a great location for OTA. The area has a clear shot at all 3 of the transmitter locations, and isn't too far out that you need a huge antenna. A couple points to keep in mind:


You'll need a rotator for KWBA and possibly KUAS. Everything else is on Mt. Bigelow, so if you don't care about CW, PBS Kids, or PBS World, you'll be fine without one.
KGUN is moving their digital broadcast to VHF in June, so you will need an antenna that handles high VHF in addition to UHF.

I would say that your best choice for an antenna would be the Winegard HD7694. It covers all the channels you need and isn't too big or expensive.

EskimoPie:
Tivo does not provide guide data for clear QAM channels without cablecard. You can do manual recordings, but without guide data you would not be able to do name-based recordings. It sounds like your best bet would be OTA, which Tivo does handle nicely.

Hey Sahuarita neighbor...I was in the same boat as you, trying to cut Cox expenses. Our VCR finally kicked the bucket last year and after looking at Digital Cable/Satellite with PVR, Tivo, etc., to replace it to record my wife's favorite shows, I finally settled on an HTPC with a QAM capable tuner card running MediaPortal. That was about two weeks ago so I am still an absolute novice at the whole thing, but so far, really digging it. MediaPortal will (after some headbanging configuration attempts) map your channels to an electronic program guide like Tivo does.


Even without a tuner card, an adequate PC can stream fullscreen HD content over the internet from hulu.com or from the networks' own websites and it will look almost as good as live HD (my wife can't tell but I can). My wife was pretty much pleased with the HD internet streams alone. I took on the tuner card and MediaPortal thing as my own challenge.

After a while, we may find our way to just cutting off the cable except for internet and using OTA and hulu for all our television programming...

Dish Network started broadcasting NBC, CBS, ABC, and CW this week in HD.
I'm down here in Green valley and use a Antennas Direct DB4 to pull in all the locals from Tucson. I figure I'm about 40 miles south of Bigelow. Do not need any amps or extra boosters.

The new channels dropped today on Cox near River and 1st including:

CNN HD - 731
HGTV HD - 737
AMC HD -741
Bravo HD - 743
Spike HD - 748
MTV HD- 750
Planet Green HD - 753
TLC HD - 755
Sci-Fi HD - 756
Travel HD - 765
NFL HD - 766 (requires Sports & Info Tier; might just have to get that now)
Versus HD - 770

So we get AMC HD in addition to the ones listed earlier, which I happy about. I would have preferred FX HD to Planet Green, but other than that, I am a lot happier with these new channels (even if they added these AFTER the end of Battlestar Galactica). I would have been more excited about AMC HD if Mad Men didn't already show up on ON Demand in HD the day after an episode airs, but at least now I could watch it as soon as it airs.

OK! How did you get the extra channels? Did anyone else get them? They did not show up here in Sahuarita.

Woke up to a grey-screened tivo (assumuing the channel update had some issue with the cablecards), rebooted and now I've got em too.

RSanora: I presume that these new channels haven't been added in Sahuarita yet. The channel line up on the Cox cable website for Green Valley doesn't include these new channels:

http://ww2.cox.com/residential/arizona/tv/channel-lineup.cox

By how much does Green Valley and Sahuarita usually lag behind Tucson when it comes to new HD channels? Does anyone know?

I noticed that KMSB FOX11 is showing all syndicated HD shows in a format where the 16:9 picture is surrounded by black bars (I get the OTA HD version, no cable).

For example, Seinfeld on KTTU is in 16:9 full screen, looks great. The same Seinfeld episodes are on KMSB too, but in this weird 16:9 with bars all around. Same with all other syndicated shows I've seen, like The King Of Queens and American Chopper.

So I was gonna contact them about it, since it's been going on for months and nothing has been done. Who knows, maybe nobody else cares.

But I'm not sure how I should put it. I would like to use the correct technical terms if possible, and also be able to counter any BS argument from them, if I get any.

Anyone have any ideas? Anyone here from KMSB that could answer this, or maybe someone else who knows why this is happening?

Those two stations share tech staff and if the engineer for 18 can get it right, he can certainly do so for 11. Unless the feeds 11 gets are pre-formatted in low def letterbox or some other goofball permutation, there is no logical reason other than oversight or laziness for what you are seeing. I can't say for sure but I bet the station has to pay higher prices for a full HD version of a show than for the low def copy. It is also possible they are waiting for an old contract with syndicator to run out before making a change. Whatever they tell you, it will have to go through the BS meter for vetting. Please post their answer for us to see. --Tom
PS: Just thought of something: some TVs store individual format settings for individual channels. Are you sure your TV is not reverting to a previously stored setting for letterbox or other re-formatting just for ch 11 different from that for 18?

Anybody OTA that has noticed low signal strength and choppy video/poor quality broadcast from KMBS 11.1 for Fox? I just tried watching House from last night and it recorded but was unwatchable there was so much data missing. I don't think it's my antenna/tuners, all other stations were working fine yesterday and are tonight, but Fox is still not right, not as bad as last night but still not coming in full strength. I think they had this problem before when they lost part of their transmitter power or something, you'd think they'd have it beefed up a bit more by now since they were supposed to be only digital already in Feb and now in not much more than another month, but I guess they're not going to do it unless they're forced to.

I am having issues with 11.1 also. My signal is now at 60 and was running at 80 a few days ago. All other stations look good with good signal.

I think they had this problem before when they lost part of their transmitter power or something, you'd think they'd have it beefed up a bit more by now since they were supposed to be only digital already in Feb and now in not much more than another month, but I guess they're not going to do it unless they're forced to.
It was really bad for most of Saturday morning and afternoon. Their signal was normal strength, but highly distorted. I tried to report the problem, but there doesn't appear to be any technical staff available on weekends. By Saturday evening they were running at reduced power, but minus the distortion. Looks like they experienced another transmitter failure. Guess it would be asking too much to notify viewers of the problem on their web site.

On KMSB-DT I am seeing two white dashes near the top of the screen on SD programs. It's been like this for several months, maybe longer, as Carey P and Rommel42 first noticed it back in '05:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6043506#post6043506
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6051539#post6051539

Can you guys see it as well? I am getting KMSB-DT through DirectTV, but if people see it on OTA and cable it means it's KMSB's fault.

I captured it on video so you can get a better idea of what it looks like. The first video goes frame by frame and the second shows normal playback and then a frame by frame. It alternates between the left and center right sides on top of the screen. Normally it looks like there are two of them.

Video 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umvn4kITVTg)
Video 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UOdKSiiOC0)

Yes, I saw the marks a month or two ago now and reported them to the engineer at KMSB. He said they were looking into it and I"ve asked him a few times since then if they ever figured out the problem and apparently they haven't. Pretty lame if you ask me it shouldn't take months to figure out why you've got marks on your SD programming and fix whatever the problem is.

The KMSB engineer used to be fairly responsive and actually get things fixed fairly quickly, that's changed recently for some reason.

He sent me an e-mail today since I reported the low signal strength at the KMSB website using Contact Us and he said he wasn't aware of any current signal strength issues and there was a problem on Sat that was resolved by Sat night, apparently though they fixed that problem but they aren't at normal power still which if I remember correctly has happened before. I'm going to reply to him tomorrow to check this forum since other people are having the same low signal strength issue. He said DirectTV and cable, etc. all get the feed from OTA and haven't complained so he didn't think there was a problem, not a very good excuse though since apparently there is still something not working at full capacity.

I can't believe they can still be this screwed up and apparently not even able to diagnose when there are problems or have any kind of monitoring to tell them when there are issues or have any kind of backup or redundancy to keep things going when there's a problem. How often are we not going to be able to get a signal from these stupid stations when we're all digital in June??? Welcome to the 19th century version of the 21st century.

UPDATE: American Idol recorded just fine tonight so maybe they are back to full power now as of tonight.

I was surprised to see that we now have Comedy Central HD on Cox at Ch. 746 :D Looks like it was added either this morning or yesterday.

If only all of us Cox customers got thoes additional channels. Even though we pay the same as Tucson We do not get the same service here in Sahuarita.
Talking to Cox was a joke. They tried to say we do not get less service for the same money. It looks like they just do not want our business here in Sahuarita and Green Valley. Thats why I am looking into Dish or Direct. It is the only way I am going to get any new HD channels.

As I told Cox I see A dish on a new house almost everyday. When are they going to wakeup?

Hey Sahuarita neighbor...I was in the same boat as you, trying to cut Cox expenses. Our VCR finally kicked the bucket last year and after looking at Digital Cable/Satellite with PVR, Tivo, etc., to replace it to record my wife's favorite shows, I finally settled on an HTPC with a QAM capable tuner card running MediaPortal. That was about two weeks ago so I am still an absolute novice at the whole thing, but so far, really digging it. MediaPortal will (after some headbanging configuration attempts) map your channels to an electronic program guide like Tivo does.


Even without a tuner card, an adequate PC can stream fullscreen HD content over the internet from hulu.com or from the networks' own websites and it will look almost as good as live HD (my wife can't tell but I can). My wife was pretty much pleased with the HD internet streams alone. I took on the tuner card and MediaPortal thing as my own challenge.

After a while, we may find our way to just cutting off the cable except for internet and using OTA and hulu for all our television programming...

Thanks for the tip... I have a fairly high end media PC running allready for Bluray playback. I got a QAM card a while back for it and played around with it for a bit but never really got it to work right (in VMC). I have the TiVo already and it has a high WAF so I want to keep using it if possible. I ordered a Clearstream4 from Antennas Direct (Actually ordered it cheaper on Amazon through them) that should get here tomorrow. I'm hoping to be able to mount it in my Attic and get a solid signal without having to mess around with climbing on the roof.

On KMSB-DT I am seeing two white dashes near the top of the screen on SD programs. It's been like this for several months, maybe longer, as Carey P and Rommel42 first noticed it back in '05:
Yes, I've been seeing them again for a while now on SD, mainly commercials. I've got use to them. I see them OTA and also on cable if I look closely (since I watch cable on a smaller 42" set). I actually thought I saw them on KGUN too, but smaller.

What bothers me more now is the lip sync delay on most channels except for FOX for some reason. It is especially bad with KOLD OTA and on Comcast cable. Just a slight problem on KGUN OTA. I wish the delay was the other way so I could add delay to correct but the audio is already after the video :mad:.

I also notice that FOX was dropping out alot OTA for a while, while watching 24, but now seems to be better.

Well I got my Clearstream4 from antennas direct and got it mounted up in the attic. I'm happy to report that I am getting all the Mt. Bigalow DT stations. Most are at 100% power according to the TiVo S3, and the weakest (FOX) is at about 85%.

I'm in southern Rancho Sahuarita and TV Fool reports that the Mt. Bigalow xmitters are 35 miles away. The antenna is mounted in the attic of my two story home pointing through ceramic roof tiles at 26 degrees true (directly at the mountain). No pre-amp is installed, just ~100-150ft of RG6 to the TiVo on the other side of the house and downstairs.

I'm a little surprised that I don't get 58.1 (CW) since its only 17 miles away, but it's south east of me and the antenna is pointing north. I guess this antenna doesn't have capability back there. It doesn't bother me though because I don't watch anything on the CW anyway. Also a little odd is while I get 40.1 (Telemundo) at about 60%, I don't get 27.1 (PBS) which is in between Mt. Bigalow and 40.1. I suppose 27.1 might be in an antenna null as I only get ~20-30% with no picture. I don't care much about PBS anyway but I might crawl back up in my attic and tweak the antenna west a little bit to see if I can get both Mt. Bigalow and PBS in the main beam.

I do get 6.1 from Mt. Bigalow clearly which is another PBS station. What is the difference between 6.1 and 27.1?

What is the difference between 6.1 and 27.1?

The main feeds (6-1/27-1) are the same, but the extra subchannels are different.

27 has PBS Kids and PBS World.
6 has Create and V-Me.

- Trip

As I understand it, KGUN Channel 9 is going back to VHF Channel 9 on June 12. I'm out in Cochise County and get my all my TV from OTA (more than enough TV for me), and both TVs have digital tuners. I currently have a UHF only antenna and get all the stations listed in post #1 of this thread, except for PBS 27/27.1 and WBA 58/58.1

Figuring I will need to add a VHF antenna, I was looking at them at an online store and noticed this: "It is important to note, however, that most of our UHF antennas will capture high frequency VHF signals (Channels 7-13), so we typically only recommend using VHF antennas to capture the low end of the VHF band (Channels 2-6). Occasionally, a VHF capable antenna may also be required on channels 7 and 8."

So it possible I will still be able to get digital Channel 9 VHF with my UHF only antenna after the transition? It's a Winegard HD9095. I can't get analog Channel 9, but assume that's because it's analog?

Also, I guess there's no chance for WBA channel 58 for me? Is their only broadcast tower behind A Mountain? TVFool.com shows them with a compass heading of 248, slightly south of due west for me, in the direction of Sierra Vista. Everything on Mt. Bigelow is NW of me.

I wouldn't suspect a yagi+corner reflector UHF antenna like that of having any sort of VHF reception, but if it works on 9 analog now you might be OK. No way to know for sure until they actually make the switch.

The Mt. Bigelow stations have a large elevation advantage over KUAS on Tumamoc Hill and KWBA on whatever hill it broadcasts from. Too much geography in Cochise County to expect reliable reception, especially if you're east of Bisbee. Anything in the next valley over (e.g. Cochise and Douglas) is shaded from KWBA's transmitter by the mountains.

He actually said he gets no reception on analog 9. A VHF antenna might be a good idea.

- Trip

Thanks for pointing out my inability to read, Trip :p.

Thanks for pointing out my inability to read, Trip :p.

Don't worry, I sometimes can't read as well. Even worse is when I can't type. :D

- Trip

I live in Phoenix and KAET just recently returned to channel 8 in digital and my signal actually got better. I have a 4 bow tie UHF antenna and get all channels in Phoenix and Tucson with no tiling except for CW IN Tucson.
I don't think you will have any trouble with a UHF antenna on 7-13.
Tom

Bowtie antennas have much different reception characteristics on VHF than yagis.

Bowtie antennas have much different reception characteristics on VHF than yagis.

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I should have realized that since I don't get any analog channels in the 2-13 range that my yagi antenna style can't receive VHF. The only analog channel I can receive is a fuzzy Spanish language channel on 34. Which was fine with me, all I wanted was digital UHF, and it tics me off that I have to change antennas now just to keep receiving Channel 9/ABC.

Yes, I am east of Benson, near Cochise. Accoring to TVFool.com, I'm 55 miles from Mt. Bigelow. When I moved out here in 2005 I got Dish Network as the neighbors all said you can't receive TV by antenna. Back then Dish didn't have the Tucson locals in HD, and it really ticked me off that for $50 per month all the network programming was in crappy SD. So in researching on the web it seemed that the Winegard HD9095 yagi style UHF antenna with a 96" element and a pre-amp was the best bet for reception in "fringe" areas, and mounted it on a 25" pole alongside the house. It did work great, I get all the Mt. Bigelow broadcast stations at 70-85% signal strength. I enjoy movies more than most TV shows (except football season) and I found that 90% of my TV time was either watching TV OTA or DVD/Blu-ray movies, so when the contract expired I dropped Dish.

Since then I had a new neighbor move in and they get excellent OTA reception with a UHF antenna only on a 10' pole, half the size of mine and VHF elements with pre-amp, so it seems such a large size may not be necessary. I'm thinking of perhaps going with a Clearstream antenna, or eBay is full of these "AMPLIFIED ROTOR VHF UHF" only 2'x2'x1' in size that claim a range of up to 100 miles. The cost of either would be about the same as adding a VHF antenna. And the small size would be a plus - even with 3 guy wires on the 25' pole, when the wind gusts up to 40-50 mph, that 8' yagi antenna really dances and sways - plus, a smaller target for lightening in the monsoon season. Any thoughts?

Cheap, futuristic looking antennas usually suck. The ideal width for a half-wave dipole to pick up channel 7 is 32", which you're just not going to get in a 2x2 antenna. Either get a VHF-only antenna and a combiner and use your existing UHF antenna, or a real high VHF/UHF combo like one of the Winegard HD769P series.

I'm thinking of perhaps going with a Clearstream antenna

I just installed a clearstream4 in my attic and get great reception of all the Mt Bigalow digital stations. I'll try tuning analog channel 9 tonight and see if this antenna has any performance there.

EDIT: I do get analog channel 9 in the attic with the clearstream4, although it's very grainy. The picture is stable and the sound is clear though. Guess I"ll just have to wait and see if it's enough to get a lock on the digital signal when it comes.

Does anyone else have a problem with the FOX HD feed on cox? During nationally originated content, my tivo and QAM tuner in the TV have audio glitches, and the cox-supplied box has video stuttering issues. I get no problems with the OTA feed.

This has been ongoing for over a year, and although they say they're looking into it I've never heard anything back. A friend of mine who lives nearby sees the same thing, so I'm wondering if it's just restricted to our area, as weird as that sounds.

Did anybody else have a problem with the season finale of 24 tonight? I'm recording it OTA on my Tivo S3 and it recorded short by about 10 minutes. Turns out there is a gap right in the middile. When the first hour ended it cut to commercial, and in the middile of the commercial it suddenly dropped back into the show but 10 minutes had gone by. I wasn't watching it live, but about an hour had allready recorded when we started watching it.

Seeing that the Tivo recording is short by ~10 minutes I gotta believe the tivo screwed up. Because if the network had actually shorted the episode by 10 minutes, the TiVo still would have recorded the full 2 hours and 1 minute it was scheduled to.

What would cause this? Loss of OTA signal for those 10 minutes?

Yes, I was watching FOX OTA in my theatre and it went down right at the start of the second hour. I couldn't believe it! I quickly ran out to my plasma and started watching it on Comcast. I didn't notice it came back until about 20 minutes later and watched it OTA from then on.

When I checked the other stations during the time FOX was down, I noticed KGUN's signal was almost 13% or so. But it had been higher before. I imagined some power failure at the mountain cascaded over to Ch 9 (are they on the same tower? I don't remember), but then all was well 20 min later again. Something must have been reset. What bad timing!

Cheap, futuristic looking antennas usually suck. The ideal width for a half-wave dipole to pick up channel 7 is 32", which you're just not going to get in a 2x2 antenna. Either get a VHF-only antenna and a combiner and use your existing UHF antenna, or a real high VHF/UHF combo like one of the Winegard HD769P series.

Well, I won one of those 'cheap, futuristic looking antenna' on eBay, much to my surprise, just over $50 shipped. I generally agree with your opinion, but decided to give a chance. I don't think I can link to eBay on AVSForum, but if you do a search for "AMPLIFIED VHF UHF OUTDOOR HDTV HD ROTOR" you'll find it & see what it looks like, if curious. The back elements are curved forward, kind of giving it the look of a Klingon starship, LOL.

But, I just got done installing it, and by golly it works, and works well. I actually get a little stronger signal on the digital channels, and now I get all the VHF channels I couldn't get before. I still don't get anything that doesn't broadcast from Mt. Bigelow, but I'm in Sulphur Springs Valley at 4200' elevation, with the north end of the Dragoon mountains at around 5000-5500' elevation between me and Tucson, so nothing not broadcasting from Mt. Beglow's elevation is going to make it through.

But now I'm ready for KGUN to go back to VHF 9 on digital, and the new, much smaller antenna is less of a target for the wind and lightening.

As I understand it, KGUN Channel 9 is going back to VHF Channel 9 on June 12.

I don't understand why anyone currently getting what they want out of a UHF antenna would have to add VHF. It was my understanding that KGUN would continue digital 35 on bigalow and would add digital 9 as a translator on tumamok sometime after the transition. My research told me that similar actions would take place for KVOA and KOLD. Is this incorrect information?

I don't understand why anyone currently getting what they want out of a UHF antenna would have to add VHF. It was my understanding that KGUN would continue digital 35 on bigalow and would add digital 9 as a translator on tumamok sometime after the transition. My research told me that similar actions would take place for KVOA and KOLD. Is this incorrect information?

Yes. KGUN-DT is returning to 9.

KVOA and KOLD are doing what you suggest though.

- Trip

I don't understand why anyone currently getting what they want out of a UHF antenna would have to add VHF. It was my understanding that KGUN would continue digital 35 on bigalow and would add digital 9 as a translator on tumamok sometime after the transition. My research told me that similar actions would take place for KVOA and KOLD. Is this incorrect information?

Well, I certainly wasn't pleased in that getting what I wanted out of a UHF antenna I had to add VHF just to continue receiving KGUN digital. But my information, confirmed by Trip in VA, that for some reason I fail to understand KGUN digital is returning to VHF channel 9 next week after the analog shutoff.

But, I sure questioned if it was worth the bother to continuing receiving KGUN yesterday when I turned on the TV at 5:30PM to watch the ABC evening news and was treated instead to a 30 minute paid programming infomercial on some exercise equipment. :mad: Geez, what is it with the Tucson stations, with KGUN the worst offender, in broadcasting so much paid programming on the weekends? Are they that effing financially strapped? The viewing area for Tucson TV stations has to be over a million people, but they act like they're in the Billings Montana DMA.

Can't schedule things far in advance when they don't know what the NBA schedule will be like.

I don't understand why anyone currently getting what they want out of a UHF antenna would have to add VHF. It was my understanding that KGUN would continue digital 35 on bigalow and would add digital 9 as a translator on tumamok sometime after the transition. My research told me that similar actions would take place for KVOA and KOLD. Is this incorrect information?
According to http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php KGUN will indeed go from 35 to 9, but the other stations will stay where they are.

However, KGUN turned off their analog transmitter at midnight last night, and they are still on digital channel 35. Anyone know WHEN the move from 35 to 9 will actually occur, and if that is still the plan?

Sometime today. They may need to flip a couple switches to finish the conversion.

They're still on 35 so far... I'm eager to see if I can pick them up after the move. What is their logic for moving back to VHF anyway? With every other station in the area on UHF, they're bound to loose viewers who don't want to have to deal with combo antennas.

Uses less power to cover the same area and better performance in rough terrain.

Uses less power to cover the same area and better performance in rough terrain.
I bet it's to save money then... would be nice to know when the switch will happen. Can't believe they didn't do it at the same time.

Here in the shadow of Mt Bigelow at Sun City Vistoso (northern Oro Valley) I have an outside Yagi UHF antenna with a Channel Master pre-amp. After the switch yesterday, all channels except KGUN are coming in. The Tumamoc Hill channels are high powered enough that they come in on the side of the antenna pointed towards Bigelow. KGUN now on VHF channel 9 draws a blank with the exception of an occasional pixelated screen. I've deleted it from my menu until they make changes.

Here in the shadow of Mt Bigelow at Sun City Vistoso (northern Oro Valley) I have an outside Yagi UHF antenna with a Channel Master pre-amp. After the switch yesterday, all channels except KGUN are coming in. The Tumamoc Hill channels are high powered enough that they come in on the side of the antenna pointed towards Bigelow. KGUN now on VHF channel 9 draws a blank with the exception of an occasional pixelated screen. I've deleted it from my menu until they make changes.

A Winegard YA-1713 would give you a good lock on it. (or the even cheaper AntennaCraft Y5-7-13) Mount it 4ft under the UHF antenna, join them with a band splitter and done!

KGUN now on VHF channel 9 draws a blank with the exception of an occasional pixelated screen. I've deleted it from my menu until they make changes.

They are not supposed to make changes, channel 9 is going to be their permanent home. I am in the process of re-scanning, I'm guessing my antenna won't pick it up either. :(

Maybe I'll just suck it up and get CableCARDs.

EDIT: my antenna is an indoor one, and I managed to adjust the "rabbit ear" portion of it to pick up channel 9 with around 80-85 signal strength (on my TiVo Series 3). Yay. Can still keep the cable company away. :)

Ok, just re-scanned the TiVo S3 and switched KGUN from 35 to 9... I'm very relieved that I get the VHF channel at a solid 70% signal strength with my Clearstream 4 antenna in my attic. I was worried I'd have to splice in a second antenna or something, but it looks like I'm good to go. AWESOME!

I use a winegard MS-2000 UHF/VHF antenna that is mounted on the roof of my house just north of the UofA and it seems that I can no longer pick up channel 9 (or 35). I've been reading the past page or so of comments and it seems that KGUN might still be in the process of changing their broadcast in some way. Could someone please explain what might still be changing and whether or not that could change whether or not I can pick up their signal? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Yesterday I had great reception on RF 35, this afternoon nothing after deleting the old channel and scanning 3 times.
Only channels I do receive using a 20+ year old indoor rabbit ears:

6.1
6.2
6.3
11.1
13.1
13.2
13.3
27.1
27.2
27.3

Here are the results from antennaweb for my location:
DTV Antenna
Type Call Sign Channel Network City, State Live
Date Compass
Heading Miles
From RF
Channel
* yellow
vhf KGUN-DT 9.1 ABC TUCSON, AZ 36° 19.0 9
* yellow
uhf KMSB-DT 11.1 FOX TUCSON, AZ 36° 19.1 25
* yellow
uhf KOLD-DT 13.1 CBS TUCSON, AZ 36° 19.1 32
* yellow
uhf KHRR-DT 40.1 TEL TUCSON, AZ 269° 9.7 42
* yellow
uhf KTTU-DT 18.1 MNT TUCSON, AZ 36° 19.1 19
* yellow
uhf KUAT-DT 6.1 PBS TUCSON, AZ 36° 19.1 30
* yellow
uhf KUAS-DT 27.1 PBS TUCSON, AZ 247° 3.2 28
* yellow
uhf KVOA-DT 4.1 NBC TUCSON, AZ 36° 19.2 23
* green
uhf KWBA-DT 58.1 CW SIERRA VISTA, AZ 154° 33.4 44
* green
uhf KUVE-DT 46.1 UNI GREEN VALLEY, AZ 36° 19.0 47
Note:



Physical Area UofA 6th St and Mountain

I use a winegard MS-2000 UHF/VHF antenna that is mounted on the roof of my house just north of the UofA and it seems that I can no longer pick up channel 9 (or 35). I've been reading the past page or so of comments and it seems that KGUN might still be in the process of changing their broadcast in some way. Could someone please explain what might still be changing and whether or not that could change whether or not I can pick up their signal? I'd really appreciate it.

They should be done with the transition now. They will broadcast on channel 9, and channel 35 is no longer used by them.

Yesterday I had great reception on RF 35, this afternoon nothing after deleting the old channel and scanning 3 times.

As that table shows (the last number on each row), KGUN is now broadcasting on channel 9, and is the lone Tucson station to broadcast their digital signal in the VHF range. Up until yesterday, they were like the other stations using UHF, and they were broadcasting on channel 35 even though the designation was 9.1 on the receiver side. In that table for example, you see that KVOA digital 4.1 is actually broadcasting on channel 23.

As of last night, KGUN is broadcasting digital 9.x on channel 9, which means that many if not most UHF antennas can no longer receive their signal. This is why you guys no longer see 9.1. You need a VHF capable antenna in order to continue to receive it. Some UHF antennas, like mine, have the telescoping VHF antennas on them, others will need a separate antenna.

dougleto, is it possible that you just need to fiddle with the antenna direction in order to receive channel 9? If yours can do VHF, that might be all you need to do.

I use a winegard MS-2000 UHF/VHF antenna that is mounted on the roof of my house just north of the UofA and it seems that I can no longer pick up channel 9 (or 35). I've been reading the past page or so of comments and it seems that KGUN might still be in the process of changing their broadcast in some way. Could someone please explain what might still be changing and whether or not that could change whether or not I can pick up their signal? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

It's simple... analog (NTSC) 9 got shut off and digital 35 (ATSC) moved to digital 9. Do a re-scan and you should be all set (assuming you can pick up VHF channel 9 OK.

Long story short, KGUN 9 moved from broadcasting digital on RF channel 35 to RF channel 9.

Right, I understand that they moved to VHF, and I did rescan with 2 different tuners and neither of them can find KGUN. And supposedly, my antenna should be able to receive VHF and is omnidirectional but I'll try moving it around a little and see if that helps. Any other suggestions?

I live in Scottsdale and have a 4 bow tie UHF antenna and receive all your stations fine but KGUN signal strength did drop from 100 to about 80 for me. If you have a good UHF antenna mounted outside I would think it should work for KGUN. Also they may not be at full power yet.
Tom
oops,make that a signal strength of 69. I still get a solid lock at that level.

according to this site: http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus/mb/engineering/maps/index.html?zipCode=85719

KGUN 9 is transmitting at 10 kW !!!! not even above 100 kW no wonder I can't pick up the signal... I have RCA 1450 amplified Antenna which is omnidirectional and UHF/VHF ready. I have it positioned to pick up all stations from Mt. Bigelow (don't tell me to adjust my antenna) as well as others like 27.x and 58.x (although 58.x is transmitting so weak than before the switch)

So my EyeTV (from Elgato.com) did scan and was able to add 9.1 but give me "no signal" message. It did add 4.1, 6.x, 11.1, 13.x, 18.1, 58.x. as well as those spanish stations.

My HDTV did add all those mentioned above EXCEPT 9.1

What's weird is that both device are connected to same antenna via splitter.

I had 9.1 on both just fine before the switch. so apparently 10 kW is the reason why some of us are not getting the KGUN signal at all regardless of change from 35 to 9.

So hello KGUN why are you transmitting so weak or low?

I live near the Prince and Campbell area in case you wanted to know where my line of sight to Mt. Bigelow is.

So take a look at http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus/mb/engineering/maps/index.html?zipCode=85719 and click the station on left then when tower appear on the map then click the tower to view how much it is transmitting. You will notice that KGUN is the only one that is at 10 kW!

It went downhill yesterday morning! I did rescan on both devices! I did move the antenna around but it ended up back in the same position that got all the stations just fine except for KGUN 9 so don't tell me to move it around again because 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 18 are on Mt. Bigelow! no reason to reorient it!

For many of you who has antenna ALREADY pointing at Mt. Bigelow, there is no need to rotate it! just rescan! So obviously KGUN 9 is not transmitting at full power at all.

It's weird KGUN 9 worked fine during their many test dates but not today.

Also WB 58.x is transmitting so weak but good thing my amplifier was able to pick it up and display the channel on both. You know both KGUN and KWBA are owned by same business so something is wrong here. Why are they not transmitting strong enough for us?

OK enough rambling and good night!

VHF signals like KGUN on 9 do not require as much power to cover the same distance as UHF signals like all the other stations. They have higher power levels because they need them to cover the same area.

KGUN at 10 kW should be able to cover the same area assuming an outdoor VHF antenna at 30 feet, so on and so forth.

- Trip

They'll quickly figure out that 10kW on VHF isn't going to cut it. As bad as the reception situation is in some parts of town (Oro Valley), most of the city itself and points south are some of the easiest places to receive DTV of anywhere in the country thanks to the 6000'+ advantage the antennas have over surrounding terrain, and the large number of issues here will translate to a whole lot more with people who aren't as well-informed. I suspect that KGUN will soon file a request to boost power, but it will take a long time to get approved because any changes have to be approvied by Mexico first.

I have it positioned to pick up all stations from Mt. Bigelow (don't tell me to adjust my antenna)
----
I had 9.1 on both just fine before the switch. so apparently 10 kW is the reason why some of us are not getting the KGUN signal at all regardless of change from 35 to 9.
----
So take a look at http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus/mb/engineering/maps/index.html?zipCode=85719 and click the station on left then when tower appear on the map then click the tower to view how much it is transmitting. You will notice that KGUN is the only one that is at 10 kW!
----
It went downhill yesterday morning!
----
It's weird KGUN 9 worked fine during their many test dates but not today.
----


So on the one hand, you are aware that they changed from channel 35, UHF to channel 9, VHF. On the other hand, you keep refusing to acknowledge that it might have ANYTHING to do with your problems?

Did their tests broadcast on channel 9 instead of 35?

Did your antenna pick up the analog channel 9 good when they were broadcasting there?

I doubt the power has much to do with it in your location. It seems that one of the main points of VHF is that it uses less power, and the chart you linked to doesn't show that you'd be affected at all. Not saying that couldn't be the case, but for you to dismiss that it has anything to do with going from UHF to VHF seems very premature. Has the VHF performance of this antenna proven to be good before?

They'll quickly figure out that 10kW on VHF isn't going to cut it. As bad as the reception situation is in some parts of town (Oro Valley), most of the city itself and points south are some of the easiest places to receive DTV of anywhere in the country thanks to the 6000'+ advantage the antennas have over surrounding terrain, and the large number of issues here will translate to a whole lot more with people who aren't as well-informed. I suspect that KGUN will soon file a request to boost power, but it will take a long time to get approved because any changes have to be approvied by Mexico first.

I absolutely agree. I'm going to be watching most VHF stations very closely to see if they file anything interesting.

- Trip

Several more HD channels were added to Cox Cable's HD tier this morning here in mid-town Tucson (near 1st and Wetmore):

725 Fox News Channel
727 Speed
742 E!
747 FX (and with that, I can now say goodbye to the SD channels forever, yeah!!!, now BB just needs to perform their follow-up visit and fix my HDTV)
749 BET
751 VH1
752 CMT
757 Disney
758 Cartoon Network
762 ABC Family
763 Nickelodeon (I don't watch these last four, but it good to see children in Tucson will be entering the HD-era)
771 Encore (require Movie tier)
772 Biography (requires Sports and Info, I think)
774 Fox Business Network (ditto)
775 MLB Network
779 HBO2 (requires HBO sub)

Some of you may think you are in a good location or have the right and proper antenna. But you are still not receiving KGUN 9 over the air. I live down in Green Valley and I am 42+ miles from Mount Bigelow. I have a 4 Bow Tie Antenna, and I am receiving KGUN 9 at 61+ strength even when there transmitter is showing 9 KW output. I do see and watch KGUN 9 with a bright and clear picture. So some of you need to rethink your picture quality and look at your current antenna and see if it really is VHF capable. I have no PreAmps, Amps or boosters of any kind. Just a antenna 12 Ft. off the ground out doors. This is at 2:30PM on June 15, 2009.

I've tweaked my yagi UHF antenna pointed towards Mt Bigelow, and I now get all the local Tucson channels with the exception of KGUN Channel 9. Where I live in Oro Valley we are too close to the Catalina mountains to have line-of-sight to Bigelow, and the signals generally pass over our heads and hit ground somewhere near the Tortolita mountains. I don't watch KWBA 58-1 or -2, but they do come in if I re-point my yagi to the southeast. I refuse to stick a big-boom VHF antenna on top of my house just to get one channel, KGUN-9. Here's what I'm getting with a small 4 director-element yagi + Channel Master 7778 pre-amplifier, with signal strengths varying between 70 and 88:

From Mt Bigelow ------- From Tumamoc Hill (reception on the side of my yagi)

Channel station RF ---- Channel station RF

4-1 KVOA 23 ---------- 13-1 KOLD 13
6-1 KUAT 30 ---------- 13-2 Weather 13
6-2 V-Me 30 ---------- 13-3 (Tube disclaimer) 13
6-3 CREATE 30 ------- 13-5 (Tube disclaimer) 13
11-1 KMSB 25 -------- 27-1 KUAT 28
13-1 KOLD 32 -------- 27-2 KIDS 28
13-2 Weather 32 ----- 27-3 WORLD 28
13-3 (Tube discl) 32 - 40-1 KHRR 42
18-1 KTTU 19 --------- 42-3 KHRR 42
46-1 KUVE 46
46-2 KFTU 46

It's asinine for KGUN to be the only VHF station in the city (region really). This stupid move forces people to buy a new antenna or figure something out that wasn't needed before the transition when there were on UHF!!! I hope they lose serious viewership from it. Are people complaining to them? I called their station and after waiting for 30 rings, some lady picked up and said yep, we are on VHF now, and sent me to the technical guy who wasn't there and never called me back. I guess it's safe to say they are staying in VHF whether we like it or not???

Does anyone on the Tucson westside or even around UofA or ... anywhere in the Tucson valley for that matter have a 4 bowtie configuration like the guy from Green Valley and is also getting 9-1? I'd like to know if that actually works.

It's nice--well not nice, actually, due to the reception problems--to know that with KGUN-DT being back on real channel 9, it's even causing bad or no reception in metro Tucson, in the "clear sight to Bigelow" area.

I'm in the SE valley of metro PHX and previously had no problem with KGUN on 35, but last Friday when they went back to 9--poof it's gone. And won't come back after several rescans.

9 on 35 was the most solid Tucson signal up here. At times I could get 4 and 11 on whatever their transition UHFs were, and still get a choppy signal on 18 now. Never could get DTs for 6 or 13, before June 12 or since.

I even have less than ideal signals from the three real VHF DTs here (8, 10, 12) since Friday's switch and I'm only about 5 miles from the South Mountain sticks. Disclaimer: using cheapo $9.00 RCA VHF/UHF indoor antenna.

I would agree with the several Tucson posters that the VHF DTs definitely need to petition Uncle Charlie for more ERP.

I'm on the west side above Camino de Oeste on Trails End. I get 9.1 & 9.2 fine using a Channel Master UHF 2 bow tie antenna. It is an unostructed shot to Bigalow.

Before the switch I also received 27.1,2,3 fairly well. Right after the switch I lost the 27's. I sent an email to KUAT asking if they reduced their power or moved their broadcast antenna. No response so far from them. I did change the aim of my antenna to the NE and now get the 27's fairly well. Not sure if moving the aim of the receiving antenna away from the broadcast antenna helped. Maybe they upped their power about the same time. Or the signal is bouncing off a hill to the NW of my location. When I don't have much else to do I'll play around with the antenna aim. I have it temporarily mounted on a wall until I determine the best aim and until I figure the stations are done fiddling with their signals. Then I'll mount it on the roof.

Interestingly my DigitalStreem box also found 28.1,2,3 which it also shows are the "true" channels for the 27's.

After transition to digital my sony xbr6 lost tv guide info. And DTV Pal connected in Tv Guide+ mode for DVR recorder not retransmitting guide to my DVR as well.
Anyone else experience that? Which channel suppose to transmit tvguide on top(piggyback) of digital channel VBI line 14? or there will be analog channel left for tvguide?
Anyone has this problem?

PSIP is working ok, but it is not used for tvguide data on my systems.

Digital TVGOS is carried as a couple of extra PIDs in the digital stream, not as VBI data. It was offered to CBS affiliates first, but not all of them were interested in carrying it, so KOLD might not have it. The only way to know for sure is to look for the PIDs (normally 0x111 and 0x112) in the stream using TSReader

Does anyone in town have the EZ-HD antenna? How about the Antenna Craft HBU33 or 22? How about the Winegard HD 7694?

Digital TVGOS is carried as a couple of extra PIDs in the digital stream, not as VBI data. It was offered to CBS affiliates first, but not all of them were interested in carrying it, so KOLD might not have it. The only way to know for sure is to look for the PIDs (normally 0x111 and 0x112) in the stream using TSReaderTrue, PIDs 0x0111 and 0x0112 are reserved for TVGOS data that can only be used by certain digital receivers (actually 0x0112 is "reserved for future use"). However, some stations also feed older versions of TVGOS on PID 0x0110 that some digital receivers such as the DTVPal and Artec can convert to VBI lines on their analog outputs for use by older receivers that require the analog format. This is defined by SCTE 127 (http://www.scte.org/documents/standards/approved/SCTE1272007.pdf). There are other uses defined there such as Teletext but I'm not aware of anyone else actually using it.

When I was in Tucson in February none of the local stations was transmitting any of those PIDs. In Phoenix KAET (PBS) is transmitting all of them, according to their TSReader Output (http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/az-pho/2728-0_0.htm) on RabbitEars.

I have new data as of last weekend that is yet to be uploaded to RabbitEars. TVGOS is still not available in Tucson.

- Trip

They'll quickly figure out that 10kW on VHF isn't going to cut it. As bad as the reception situation is in some parts of town (Oro Valley), most of the city itself and points south are some of the easiest places to receive DTV of anywhere in the country thanks to the 6000'+ advantage the antennas have over surrounding terrain, and the large number of issues here will translate to a whole lot more with people who aren't as well-informed. I suspect that KGUN will soon file a request to boost power, but it will take a long time to get approved because any changes have to be approvied by Mexico first.

Well, surprisingly at around 50 miles out in Cochise County, near Cochise, I get 4.1, 6.1-.3, 11.1, 13.1-.2 & 18.1 at around 70-75 signal strength and KGUN 9 comes in around 65, more than adequate for a solid lock.

TVGOS...Using Comcast cable my TV guide no longer works. I'm in 85750, Foothills. This happened some months ago and it turned out that Cox fed Comcast and somehow PBS had to reestablish itself as host.
Anybody experiencing this and has anyone found out what's going on?
Stressbox

TVGOS...Using Comcast cable my TV guide no longer works. I'm in 85750, Foothills. This happened some months ago and it turned out that Cox fed Comcast and somehow PBS had to reestablish itself as host.
Anybody experiencing this and has anyone found out what's going on?
Stressbox

I'm in the 85743 Comcast area near Cortaro and Silverbell and I'm still getting the TVGOS information on my Pioneer plasma with QAM tuner off Comcast cable.:confused:

I'm in the 85743 Comcast area near Cortaro and Silverbell and I'm still getting the TVGOS information on my Pioneer plasma with QAM tuner off Comcast cable.:confused:

Thanks. Glad to know it's still operating. Apparently it's different in 85750, Sunrise and Kolb. I have a Misubishi LCD with QAM and in the diagnostic panel the Host shows 0/0 whereas previously it was 0/6.
Strwssbox

I'm in the 85743 Comcast area near Cortaro and Silverbell and I'm still getting the TVGOS information on my Pioneer plasma with QAM tuner off Comcast cable.:confused:

Do you know what channel you're getting TVGOS on? I was getting it from Comcast Ch6 analog. It stopped transmitting TVGOS last week sometime (85737). I'm running out of TV guide listings and can't find another TVGOS channel.

Do you know what channel you're getting TVGOS on? I was getting it from Comcast Ch6 analog. It stopped transmitting TVGOS last week sometime (85737). I'm running out of TV guide listings and can't find another TVGOS channel.

I just ran a diagnostics and even though I still have the TV Guide info showing the diagnostics suggests that the TVGOS new data has quit.

Section System-Statistics
85743
0x80
0x0
(Host Channel is now blank):(
0:0-30
0x0
0x2F45
0x0
0x0
N/A
N/A
N/A

I will send the Head Engineer at Comcast a email and see what he knows about what is going to be happening with TVGOS data.

I just ran a diagnostics and even though I still have the TV Guide info showing the diagnostics suggests that the TVGOS new data has quit.

Section System-Statistics
85743
0x80
0x0
(Host Channel is now blank):(
0:0-30
0x0
0x2F45
0x0
0x0
N/A
N/A
N/A

I will send the Head Engineer at Comcast a email and see what he knows about what is going to be happening with TVGOS data.
Will be interested to know what Comcast says. My TVGOS is still stalled and diagnostics still shows "0" host and Channel "None" Wonder if PBS is quitting its role as Host?
Stressbox

Thanks Bob,
I have lost my TVGOS too. The last transmission seems to have been 6/18/09 at 05:28:15 (GMT) and I have all my listings through 0400(local) Wed but no listings after that time.

I'll call too and leave a msg.

Mick (85750)

Are there any other AVS members living in a condominium that can suggest how to approach the board to ask about having an OTA antenna installed? I am more than willing to foot the bill for the antenna and the coax? My goal is to tie it into the cable plant so as to feed my unit and any other in my bldg that would like ditch cable/satellite.

I would also be interested in any recommendations for an antenna that covers both the VHF/UHF antenna that can pickup all the local stations. I live in the area of Speedway/Pantano.

Does anyone else that has an Olivia LCD or any other TV hear a kind of a crackle in the sound on KGUN 9? I notice it most on their morning local news broadcast. My other TV's don't do it.

I also wrote an email to KOLD to find out about TVGOS a week ago, I got no answer.
I guess all of us in Tucson are sol.
I bought a DTVPAL DVR, and it can use TVGOS, but as I found out there is none to be had here. It still has a guide that use's PSIP data, but these top rated TV stations here rarely transmit anything more than a days worth of info.

I just sent an Email to the KOLD lead tech today. Hopefully I'll get a reply.
The lead tech at Comcast knew nothing about any changes but he was going to contact KUAT (PBS) to see if they ceased inserting the TVGOS data.

Mick

I just sent an Email to the KOLD lead tech today. Hopefully I'll get a reply.
The lead tech at Comcast knew nothing about any changes but he was going to contact KUAT (PBS) to see if they ceased inserting the TVGOS data.

Thanks Mick & RJRSW,
You must've affected something because I just noticed TVGOS data coming in again on Comcast CH6 analog. Yipee!! :)
-Mike

YES! It began downloading data again around 1400 local time. Guess they must have found a problem at KUAT.

Mick

UPDATE: The listings are continuing to populate, Today (6/23) I have full listings for Day 4 and Day 7. Loading normally!!

FCC site is showing KGUN 9 with a Effective Radiated Power of 110KW. Does this mean they are jacking up the power from the 9KW they been transmitting at?

FCC site is showing KGUN 9 with a Effective Radiated Power of 110KW. Does this mean they are jacking up the power from the 9KW they been transmitting at?

No, the 110 kW was their analog power level.

- Trip

Thanks Mick & RJRSW,
You must've affected something because I just noticed TVGOS data coming in again on Comcast CH6 analog. Yipee!! :)
-Mike
Also thanks to Mick and RJRSW. My TVGOS showed up this AM with complete listings.
Stressbox

All my listings are gone again in Tucson/Comcast.
As of 6/25 at 1704(GMT) there was some type of system Flash event and even though all the Ads are correct, there is no program listing data at all.
Hopefully, the Macrovision folks were sending a new firmware level out.


UPDATE: I just checked this morning 6/26 and day 1,4,7 listings all have been populated with new listings. Seems to be working again. :)

Mick

Hey everyone. I'm getting an EZ-HD antenna and putting it on my covered patio. It's going to be mounted on a 18" J-mount mast and then with the 4 screws into the wood of the patio cover.

Last night we had some big time winds with the storm... is there anything i should be afraid of with the wind damaging the antenna? I'm sure other people in tucson have larger antennae and they do well. I just don't want the parts of the antenna to bend or break or for the whole thing to get torqued or fly off. There arn't too many elements and it seems pretty wind-resistent, but... any mounting advice or should i just not worry? Thanks!

by the way, here is the link of the EZ-HD antenna by Denny.
http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/ez_hd_tv_Antenna.html

A re-scan this morning here in northern Oro Valley shows that KGUN channel 9 must have increased their power. I now get VHF signals from KGUN 9-1 and Mexicanal 9-2 on my little UHF yagi antenna.

Edit: KGUN must have been just testing with temporary higher power, as their signal has disappeared this evening for my Oro Valley location.

Anyone wrote e-mail to tv stations for this? Or knows anything?
My tvguide version - 09.01.54
Host State - 0x80
Host ID 0x0
Host Chan NONE
on ATSC Slicer:
PAT and PMT has numbers but TVG has 0

Any help?:confused:

Does anyone know of any logic as to why KWBA 58 would be generating more radiated power than KGUN 9? It was my understanding that they are both owned by the same corporation now. KWBA 58=62KW KGUN 9=9KW.
Just wanted to know anyones thoughts on this.
Yes I do know KWBA 58 is farther away from Tucson than KGUN 9.

KWBA's broadcast on 44 is 1000kW, KGUN's on 9 is 10.3. Not sure where you came up with those numbers. VHF needs far less power than UHF to cover the same area, which is the primary reason why KGUN elected to go back to 9.

Checking out the FCC web site and they are showing KWBA at 680 KW right now, and yes I do see that KGUN is now at 10.3 KW. Over at www.DTV.gov they are showing KGUN at 9 KW and KWBA at 62 KW. Go figure.

Can anyone recommend an indoor antenna? I live at Speedway/Pantano on the 2nd floor of a condominium complex and my unit faces south. I currently have a Zenith Silver Sensor but since moving into this place I've had poor to spotty reception. If I point towards Bigelow I get nothing at all; pointing west I get 27.1-3 fairly well and if I point southeast I kinda get 4.1 but it's intermittent.

The Zenith Silver Sensor is the best one that I have found for indoors. Being your unit faces South you have a bad situation for a indoor antenna. You should also be able to pick up 58.1 and 58.2 pointing SE.

As Trip has noted on the channel change thread, KGUN wants to F/C their translator (K16EO) on 16 to digital, at 9kW:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=774107&formid=911&q_num=5370

Subsequent to the transition of its digital operations to VHF channel 9, KGUN-TV has been contacted by more than eight hundred viewers across the Tucson metropolitan area who no longer receive over-the-air broadcast service of KGUN-TV. KGUN-TV has worked with these viewers, many of whom rely on indoor antennas, in an attempt to restore broadcast service. These efforts have included instructing viewers how to double re-scan their digital tuners and on the proper use of indoor VHF antennas. However, these efforts have failed to restore KGUN-TV’s broadcast services to many viewers widely spread across the station’s market.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1318846&Service=LD&Form_id=346&Facility_id=36915

VHF needs lower power to replicate a contour, but many of the levels across the country are far too low to replicate indoor reception with high-power UHF. KGUN on 9 reminds me of KBAK on 10 in Bakersfield, CA. Solo, lower powered (under 20kW) VHF stations in an otherwise UHF market.

Fox Sports Net Arizona on Cox (Ch. 734) seems to now be a 24-hour HD channel starting today. Looks like the majority of the content will be in SD, but at least that's better than a test pattern being used for times when a Diamondbacks game isn't on.

The Zenith Silver Sensor is the best one that I have found for indoors. Being your unit faces South you have a bad situation for a indoor antenna. You should also be able to pick up 58.1 and 58.2 pointing SE.

In my old apartment it worked really well. I had rock solid reception to everything. However my new condo has reception problems and KGUNs switch to VHF was not so kind to the Zenith since it is a UHF only antenna. 27.1-3 is quite good and 6.1-3 is also pretty good, but 4.1, 13.1-3 are a bit spotty at times, 18.1 is generally good; I cannot get 58.1-2 over here at all. I think I had better reception in my old place because I clear clear LOS to Mt Bigelow from my living room window.

My HOA has something in their CCRs about a master antenna and I have it on good authority that there are analog antennas and wiring still present. I'm hoping I can use the reference to "declarant may provide a master antenna for each bldg..." as a means to try and get a DTV/HD antenna put up.

My HOA has something in their CCRs about a master antenna and I have it on good authority that there are analog antennas and wiring still present. I'm hoping I can use the reference to "declarant may provide a master antenna for each bldg..." as a means to try and get a DTV/HD antenna put up.

Why would anything have to change? "analog antennas and wiring" should work perfectly fine for DTV.

If it's an old VHF-only antenna, it might need to be replaced to work with the mostly-UHF digitals.

- Trip

Why would anything have to change? "analog antennas and wiring" should work perfectly fine for DTV.

I don't think any of it is still hooked up.

Fox Sports Net Arizona on Cox (Ch. 734) seems to now be a 24-hour HD channel starting today. Looks like the majority of the content will be in SD, but at least that's better than a test pattern being used for times when a Diamondbacks game isn't on.

Cool, thanks for the heads up! It looks like Comcast has done likewise. I'm very happy about this. I hated not knowing in advance if the Arizona games would be broadcast on the HD channel or not.

It's also possible that the SD content may look better on the HD channel than on the SD channel since the HD channel has more bandwidth.

Today, Cox Cable here in Tucson (near 1st and Wetmore) added several new HD channels to their lineup:

WGN America HD - 716
NBA Network HD (requires Sports tier) - 768
NHL Network HD (requires Sports tier) - 776
Big Ten Network HD (requires Sports tier) - 777
CBS College Sports Net HD (requires Sports tier) - 778
Hallmark Movie Channel HD (requires Variety tier) - 790
Lifetime Movie Network HD (requires Variety tier) - 791

Glad to see WGN for the Cubs games. I don't have the two tiers that have been expanded, but I am seriously thinking of adding the sports tier so that I have access to the NFL Network for the upcoming season. Now we just need to see TCM HD, the Weather Channel HD, BBC America HD, and HDNet and I'll be happy.

It looks like old analog channel 16 which was a translator/repeater whatever for KGUN9 has switched to digital. They said it's now channel 9-3 but didn't know what frequency it sits on. Any one have any ideas?? It better be still on UHF since that was the whole point.

It looks like old analog channel 16 which was a translator/repeater whatever for KGUN9 has switched to digital. They said it's now channel 9-3 but didn't know what frequency it sits on. Any one have any ideas?? It better be still on UHF since that was the whole point.Ummm . . . 16, maybe? From the RabbitEars.Info "VHF Nightmares" file:

KGUN 09 35 09 ABC Tucson, AZ (Journal)

07/13/09: KGUN has requested to light up K16EO-D immediately.



KGUN-DT: 3740' 10.3 kW DA
K16EO-D: 588' 9.00 kW DA

Per my Digitalstream box 9-3 & 9-4 are on RF channel 16. It also shows 4-1 on RF 4 and 23. An strangely enough it duplicates 27-1 to -3 which are on RF 28 as 28-1 to -3.

As an aside I wonder if our wonderful AZ Star newspaper will ever include the new channels including analog 29 in its TV listings? :)

Hey, nice, I can get KGUN again on UHF. The wife would have been unhappy without Dancing with the Stars.

News about possible service interruptions at KUAT and KUAT-FM public radio...

http://azpm.org/status/

Kirk

Hey, nice, I can get KGUN again on UHF. The wife would have been unhappy without Dancing with the Stars.

Last night I did a rescan on my Samsung SIR-T165 HD Tuner that I use with my D-VHS recorder and to my surprise I picked up two of the local network digital channels. The reason I was surprised was I live on the NW side near Cortaro and Silverbell and have never been able to get any of the channels broadcasting from Mt. Bigelow. I had been only getting 27.1. 27.2, 27.3, 40.1 and 58.1 once in a while before.

I now am able to pick up KGUN on 9.3 and 9.4 with a good signal strength which I understand is now coming from their prior analog repeater tower. I also now get CBS on 13.1, 13.2 and 13.3 which I never could get at all. The signal is only 1 bar but it locked on and pretty much stayed locked on through the entire Mentalist show last night.

Does anyone know if the local CBS station is also now broadcasting from their old analog repeater tower also? Where are the repeater towers located that they are now using? I was going to tweak my rooftop antenna direction slightly to increase the channel 13 signal if possible. Is there any time line for the rest of the network locals to start using the old analog towers that use to serve the NW area of Tucson?

I talked to the engineer at ch 13 a while back and he told me their digital repeater was on Tupamoc hill which is where their old repeater was located.

Do you know what channel they are broadcasting on for 13.1 from the repeater tower?

I know on Bigelow they use 32. I understand that 9.3 is using 16 for their repeater and 35 for Bigelow.

The KOLD repeater is on channel 13.

KVOA, similarly, has one on channel 4.

- Trip

No entry for it on RE, Trip? You've got KGUN's and KVOA's but not KOLD's.

No entry for it on RE, Trip? You've got KGUN's and KVOA's but not KOLD's.

KOLD's is a fill-in translator. Expand out the main KOLD technical data and you'll see 13 there.

- Trip

Cox cable on Monday added a few new channels here in Tucson:

MSNBC HD - 769
The Movie Channel HD - 785
More Max HD - 786

Still waiting for TCM and the Weather Channel. Don't get Cinemax and the Movie Channel. You couldn't make me watch MSNBC if you paid me... but I am sure there are others who like to see this channel added.

Does anybody know why there's no closed caption on ch 58 (KWBA) at all. All of shows that are supposed to be CC'd didn't show any CC at all...

Estrella TV. Channel 18-2 is broadcasting en español this afternoon. The logo shows "MyTV Tucson". I think it's coming from Mt Bigelow.

Haven't any of these local broadcasters heard of Retro Television Network???? Seems we are one of the few major markets without it.

Quick List..

4 - NBC
6.1 - PBS
6.2 - PBS - ME (Span)
6.3 - PBS - Create
9.1 - ABC
9.2 - ??? (Spanish)
11.1 - Fox
13.1 - CBS
13.2 - Weather
18.1 - MY TV
18.2 - ??? (Spanish)
27.1 - PBS
27.2 - PBS Kids
27.3 - PBS World
40.1 - Telemundo
46.1 - Univision
46.2 - Telefutura
58.1 - CW
58.2 - Span/English Mix

This is what I have for Tucson... (screenshot is from EyeTV's Channel listing)

Hello all,

I live in Queen Creek, and since I don't have cable I no longer get metropolitan Phoenix channels only Tuscon channels, which is fine. The only issues I am having is since I bought my RCA amplified flat digital antennae I can only get 4.1,6.1-3,11.1,13.1-3,18.1-2, and some spanish channels that I also receive. I would like to get PBSkids 27.2, CW 58.1, and ABC (KGUN) 9.1 (which I had but lost after the digital conversion date in June as I scanned the TV thinking I would get new channels and lost this one that we watched frequently in the process). Thanks for your help

Raven...You probably are getting all you can get out in Queen Creek. The antenna for 27 sits at a lower elevation and different location from the other channels. 58 transmits from about 25 miles south of Tucson and 9 is now VHF. Queen Creek is not an ideal location for OTA viewing.

raven86:
I'm surprised that in Queen Creek you get reasonable reception of many Tucson stations but not the Phoenix ones. Plugging Zip 85242 into TVFool says you're about 26 miles and line-of-sight to the antenna farm on South Mountain but 76 miles and 1-Edge from the Tucson stations on Bigelow. Granted, the Phoenix PBS station doesn't carry the PBSKids channel you want but the stations should be an easy shot unless you have a local obstruction.

I haven't tried to get the Phoenix stations from Queen Creek but I have from Casa Grande (34 miles, 1-Edge). Using a Silver Sensor on a pole (but well below the roof line) I got poor reception pointing it at Phoenix, but easily got the UHF stations by taking a bounce off a neighbor's stucco house in the opposite direction.

Anybody else having problems with KGUN 9 coming in over the Outside Antenna. It looks like there signal levels have dropped some the last (2) two days.

Anybody else having problems with KGUN 9 coming in over the Outside Antenna. It looks like there signal levels have dropped some the last (2) two days.

Seems like KGUN issues continue. Cut out for us just before the start of FlashFoward. It cut out about the same time last night too. Anyone else having the same issues lately?

I ordered a signal booster to help my reception. I can truthfully say it has worked for me. I have a DB4 outside antenna. I live down in Green Valley, about 40 to 45 miles south of the towers on the mountain. I was getting good signals on everything, except for KGUN 9. Then with the switch over I had a problem now and then with there weak signal down here. This was after the digital switchover and KGUN decided to say money on there transmitting signal and went back to the VHF signal at 9 KW output. I purchased a MOTOROLA 48095-001-00 signal booster from Tigerdirect.com for less than $ 40 including shipping charges. I can say that it has boosted my signal level by 14 to 16 points on the meter.

MacAttack103

I have the same DB4 antenna and Motorola amp and the amp made a huge improvement for me also. I live in the NW area and have to receive everything from the repeater towers near Tumamoc hill because Mt Lemmon completely blocks everything from Bigelow for me. I now can even receive Channel 58 from near Sierra Vista.

Hi,
New member here - I'm in Tucson, hence I'm posting in this thread. If I'm not posting my note in the correct thread, would someone please direct me to the right spot. Thanks a lot.


TV reception is OTA -- I am located in NE Tucson, near Tanque Verde & Catalina Hwy. Am receiving all of the stations mentioned in this thread, although I've only recently started receiving KGUN 9.3 & 9.4 (less than a month ago).


I am looking for some help and am hoping someone here can PLEASE help me!

I lost the TVGOS tv guide in June and have been unable to receive it since then. The grid is empty. This is bad because my Toshiba Symbio DVR works off the TVGOS guide.

My setup:
Toshiba HD DLP television, model: 46HM94
Toshiba Symbio HD DVR
Antenna (OTA) reception.

I've tried several things. Searching the internet I found the TVGOS setup code list and have fiddled with several of the settings but nothing seems to help.

Diagnostics says I'm using vers.08.01.27
Is there a way to "enable VBI" or is it set at the factory? (this option isn't on the TVGOS setup code list, hence the question)

Does anybody know which station in Tucson is broadcasting the TVGOS signal? I've tried 4.1, 6.1, 9.3, 13.1, 13.2, 18.1, 27.1.

Thanks very much

No one in Tucson is currently broadcasting TVGOS data.

I'm getting TVGOS over Comcast Cable channel 6 on my Pioneer Plasma but I'm not aware of any OTA broadcasts with TVGOS. It was supposed to be carried on the local CBS affilitate but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for 13 to ever do anything correctly even if they ever actually tried to.

It was supposed to be carried on the local CBS affilitate

As far as I know, no Raycom stations are carrying TVGOS.

- Trip

No one in Tucson is currently broadcasting TVGOS data.

I'm getting TVGOS over Comcast Cable channel 6 on my Pioneer Plasma but I'm not aware of any OTA broadcasts with TVGOS. It was supposed to be carried on the local CBS affilitate but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for 13 to ever do anything correctly even if they ever actually tried to.

As far as I know, no Raycom stations are carrying TVGOS.

<sigh> That's too bad. I'm sad. ;(

Thank you all for your replies. Do any of you know why Raycom stations aren't carrying TVGOS?

Thanks a lot

Well Cox has had the new HD channels and OnDemand available to the Sahuarita and Green Valley area going for a week now. It nice to finally have the same service Tucson has had for over a year. Maybe I will not see so many Direct and Dish trucks in my neighborhood.

Let me know when the price per HD DVR drops below $5.00 each (what I pay to DirecTV) and I'll be in. My bill with Cox would be $120.00/month in HD DVR fees alone if I had the same 6 HD DVRs I have through DirecTV.

Six DVRs wow if I had 4 I would have changed a long time ago. I have to get phone and internet from Cox. No copper from quest to my house. Changing service always showed a higher total bill or I would have changed a long time ago. I now would not get any new channels that I care about so I will probably stay with Cox. But if it ever gets cheaper or the same to have another sevice with more channels then I may change.

During the past couple days my TV guide listings are not updating. I'm in zip 85750. This happened several months ago and it was PBS who had to restore TVGOS.
Anybody have the same problem??
Stressbox

During the past couple days my TV guide listings are not updating. I'm in zip 85750. This happened several months ago and it was PBS who had to restore TVGOS.
Anybody have the same problem??
Stressbox
Yep,
I put up the warning last week:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1190207



Mick

During the past couple days my TV guide listings are not updating. I'm in zip 85750. This happened several months ago and it was PBS who had to restore TVGOS.
Anybody have the same problem??
Stressbox

Hi Stressbox,
I'm in 85749 and posted a similar note on Oct 11th in this thread. I lost TVGOS in June. Were you receiving TV reception via OTA or cable?

Yep,
I put up the warning last week:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1190207

Thanks for that link, Mick. I followed the link and it shows comcast as carrying TVGOS (I'm SOL using OTA :().


Cheers,
Julia B --> sad because I no longer have TVGOS

Hi Stressbox,
I'm in 85749 and posted a similar note on Oct 11th in this thread. I lost TVGOS in June. Were you receiving TV reception via OTA or cable?



Thanks for that link, Mick. I followed the link and it shows comcast as carrying TVGOS (I'm SOL using OTA :().


Cheers,
Julia B --> sad because I no longer have TVGOS

I was receiving TVGOS data from Comcast Analog but as far as I know, there is no TVGOS in Tucson now. Cox/Comcast and OTA is gone until Rovi gets some type of agreement with either PBS or CBS. I have not received any updates since 10/24.

Mick

Thanks for the update Mick. I am on Comcast cable and still no TVOS as of this AM. Does anyone have a contact with PBS Tucson who helped last time?
Stressbox

The last time was simply a change at PBS on the way they transmitted the TVGOS stream. This time, the TVGOS data is not even being sent by PBS since they do not have an agreement with Rovi to continue the service.

Mick

What can be done to get TVGOS back?
Stressbox

What can be done to get TVGOS back?
Stressbox

I wrote to rovi and to kold-13 to inquire about this issue but haven't heard back from either {I suppose I'm not surprised}. I am wondering if I should write again (or maybe call?). I wonder if it would help to try to enlist a consumer advocate group? In my case, my DVR is dependent on TVGOS.

Cheers,
Julia B

No many comments about this. Must mean there is little interest in the subject?
Called PBS, Tucson, and they say they feed all the information as before. Called Comcast and they said the TVGOS was discontinued when they converted to digital-- this doesn't seem right because the Guide was okay after the conversion date.
So I guess it's a stalemate somewhere.
To add insult to injury the Arizona Star announced in today's paper that they are discontinuing their weekly TV Guide and are offering the alternative of paying for a TV magazine to be included with the Sunday paper. Probably a cost saving measure.

Stressbox, stressed

And the "new" TV Mag is incomplete. It does not list the digital sub channels such as 6.2, 6.3 etc and it doesn't list analog channels 21 or 29 that I can receive on one of my converter boxes. Of course the daily listings in the paper doesn't list these either. I sent a messge to the "TV" editor yesterday about all this. I wonder if he/she will reply?

And the "new" TV Mag is incomplete. It does not list the digital sub channels such as 6.2, 6.3 etc and it doesn't list analog channels 21 or 29 that I can receive on one of my converter boxes. Of course the daily listings in the paper doesn't list these either. I sent a messge to the "TV" editor yesterday about all this. I wonder if he/she will reply?

I too was rather 'underwelmed' with the replacement TV Mag. For $39 we can get a year of the real TV Guide delivered and just cancel the 'Red Star' since the TV listings were the only thing left worth reading. :(

Mick

Where oh where has TVGOS gone?
Hope it's back soon on Cox or OTA.

Per the "reader advocate" the AZ Star has no plans to update the daily TV listing toinclude the new sub channels.

Where oh where has TVGOS gone?
Hope it's back soon on Cox or OTA.

I'm sad TVGOS is gone, too. :(

I'm sad TVGOS is gone, too. :(
I am not happy about TVGOS too.

feels like we are in desert island

even Tucson is 2nd largest city in AZ.

Ch13 should work on making data available for people.

It's not KOLD's fault. Though the service was first offered to CBS affiliates, it's not exclusive to them by any means. Blame Rovi for not working harder to secure an affiliate in the market.