I am looking for other middle Georgia members. It seems that WMAZ (CBS) should be coming online pretty soon. My e-mail is kmbrock@bellsouth.net

have you check out groups.yahoo.com/group/ahdtv ?
It is an Atlanta group about HDTV
also
www.atlhometheater.com
both of these a very active in our area.
Can you receive any Atlanta HD stations?

Originally from Macon, but I've been here 23 years. My brother works for UPN64, WGNM. Still keep up a bit with news of the Macon stations!

Just looking for others who are anxiously awaiting Middle Georgia HDTV

Sorry to miss this post. I'm here as well. Looks like WMAZ has been issued an STA (special temporary authority to broadcast). They are authorized for half power (7kW instead of 14kW). In case anyone hasn't followed the local issues, they managed to get their channel allocation changed from 45 to 4, allowing them to get on the air quicker (and hopefully provide better coverage). It was a big fight with GPTV, who wanted channel 4 for their Athens station.

I'm expecting my new Dish 6000 to arrive today (my previous one died in the storms from a couple of weeks ago). At that point I'll start checking for broadcasts from channel 4.

In other local news, WMGT (41/40 digital) was admonished by the FCC for their lack of progress. They must be on the air by 11/1 or risk losing their construction permit (and channel allocation).

kenglish, any news from your brother's station? Anyone hear anything from WPGA? They are the most silent of all the locals about their plans.

Bob

Just that they wrecked their van and trailer a few weeks ago, leaving Macon for Louisville. That may have set back the station's budget a ways.;)

Breaking news!!! http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/business/3927122.htm

Channel 4 (WMAZ) is supposedly on the air! Thanks for publicizing it, Gannett! :rolleyes: Their website is totally devoid of any mention of DTV/HDTV. I will check it out when I get home today.

According to the article, here's the tentative rollout schedule for the rest of the market:

WMGT NBC 41 (digital 40): November 1 (I'll believe it when I see it - this station has yet to impress me in any way) - transmitter and antenna should have arrived by now
WPGA ABC 58 (digital 32): December 1 - no inital HDTV passthrough, no promises to meet that date
WGXA Fox 24 (digital 16): Target is December 31, the GM is not optimistic about that date
WGNM UPN 64 (digital 50): No word (Ken, anything new??)

Success...my $2 rabbit ears were able to pick up ch. 4 (as long as I held them at head level pointing north :)). Signal strength on the Dish 6000 ranged between 58-75. (How much do I love that signal meter overlaid on top of the picture?) I'll probably start trying out other indoor antennas this weekend, but it's not a high priority for me since I get CBS-HD on Dish already. I'm anxiously awaiting ABC and NBC.

Bob

Anyone hear anything from WPGA? They are the most silent of all the locals about their plans.

I can break that silence. WPGA is very close to lighting up channel 32. All that remains is installing the antenna on the tower, otherwise all the equipment is in place and supposedly ready to go.

Also, WPGA will have 720p pass-thru (but not 5.1 audio) on ABC's HD programs, while all non-HD programs will be upconverted to 720p and pillarboxed similar to what WMAZ is doing.

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
WPGA is very close to lighting up channel 32. Excellent! Any word on what power they'll be broadcasting at? Let's hope for more than WMGT's 3kW. Also, WPGA will have 720p pass-thru (but not 5.1 audio) on ABC's HD programs, while all non-HD programs will be upconverted to 720p and pillarboxed similar to what WMAZ is doing. WOW. This is much more than I expected from them. I was expecting SD for many months, based on the station's reputation for spending as little as humanly possible.

Anyone picking up WMGT these days? I lost them when my amplifier crapped out (ch. 4 is still coming in strong, though). Still just SD at this point?

Bob

I think WPGA will be at 18 kW ERP. It might be less than 18 kW but should definitely be more than WMGT's token effort.

I get about 50% signal strength on a MyHD card on ch. 4 using plain rabbit ears, but after trying a variety of indoor antennas I have yet to see even a glimpse of signal to prove that WMGT-DT is actually on the air. I'm not going to make any further effort to pull in that weak signal, especially if it's only SD.

As soon as I say I'm not going to try anymore to get channel 40, today somebody showed me what it looks like. Now I know what I haven't been missing. I don't think I've ever seen worse looking 480i.

Update: I installed a new amplifier (ChannelMaster something-or-other from Lowe's), and I still can't get 40. It seems the old amplifier I had (Radio Shack UHF-only preamp) that worked well for me has been discontinued. I'm not impressed with the new one, relatively speaking. I think my problem may be in my antenna (Radio Shack mid-size yagi). Being only 12 miles from the towers, there is no reason I shouldn't be getting crystal clear analog reception. I'm getting 4, 13, and 29 great, 24 and 64 reasonably well, and 41 and 58 not well at all. Of course, with the storms lately I may need to check my antenna orientation as well.

Bob

Yeah, an antenna on the roof should have a clear signal that puts cable to shame. It's strange that you're getting 64 better than 41 or 58. 64 is the weakest of the bunch.

You should also be able to get at least some reception on the low power Trinity religious station on W52CL channel 52, and another on WDMA-LP channel 32, which will have to move to another channel (probably 18) when WPGA-DT goes online. Channel 52's antenna is halfway up the WPGA tower, and the channel 32 antenna is somewhere near Napier Ave. I've been able to see a weak signal on both with the Radio Shack double bowtie indoor antenna.

I used to get something on 32 and 52, but not recently. I guess my 64 signal isn't really as good as I made it out to be, but I was excited to get ANYTHING from them (sometimes before I just had white noise). I've read that RS antennas don't do well on the higher UHF. I guess I need to look into something better. Can't complain about the VHF reception though, and 29 comes in very well for a station in the wrong direction (always has, even when I was sure my antenna was oriented properly). :)

Bob

Actually, I think 64 is at full power now.....at least, they are licensed for it. The new transmitter is a couple of miles north of the old site, and it is licensed for over 1000 KW.

Maybe they have increased power, maybe they haven't. My antenna which gets a very clear signal on 41 and 58 suggests they either haven't or it wasn't enough. The picture doesn't look too good on Cox Cable either.

Did Cox move their "head end" to their fancy new digs on Hwy. 247 near the airport, or is it still in Macon (Holt Ave.?) Because if they moved it to the airport, there's no excuse for the poor picture quality I see on all of the local UHF channels on Cox. The towers are visible to the naked eye from the airport!

I hope to purchase a HDTV set this week so I thought I'd drop in. Still trying to decide on which set to get.

rbird- Very rare to see another member from Warner Robins. :)


-Matt-

There's a few of us hanging around.

I don't have an HD set yet, just a Dish 6000 hooked to a plain ol' 27" Toshiba. What can I say, I won the receiver in a contest, and I LOVE widescreen/OAR programming. :)

Bob

Any Middle GA updates?

I got my new TV and HDTV tuner and was disappointed to see that WMGT isn't broadcasting a HDTV signal. I emailed and they said they have no plans for the near future. :rolleyes:

Can you actually see anything on ch. 40? If so, you're the first one besides me to admit it (and I can't currently see it with the antenna/amp combo I'm using). :) I'm still waiting for WPGA to start broadcasting...I can still pick up the LP religious channel on 32, so I know nothing's on yet.

Bob

Yeah Ch 40 comes in great. Looks good. :)

Will ABC be broadcasting in Standard Definition or High Def when it goes live?

WPGA will do 720p fulltime (HD whenever ABC has HD and upconverted with pillarboxing the rest of the time, like WMAZ does), just as soon as someone climbs up their tower to install the antenna.

Yeah Ch 40 comes in great. Looks good. :)

The smiley denotes sarcasm, right?

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
WPGA will do 720p fulltime (HD whenever ABC has HD and upconverted with pillarboxing the rest of the time, like WMAZ does), just as soon as someone climbs up their tower to install the antenna.



The smiley denotes sarcasm, right?

Wayne- The picture on NBC (for me anyway) is a tad soft compared to CBS, but overall it's not bad at all.

Thanks for the info on WPGA.

I can't see 40 from my house in W.R. and I'm not going to try harder to get it, but someone in Macon showed it to me. It is more than just a tad soft, even for 480i. It looks like VHS.

Glad to see there is life out here. I get 40 but don't really care. While I like the programming on NBC, 40 is still just SD digital. It seems to be very vewry low wattage and my signal comes and goes. I am still having trouble picking up other UHF channels with my attic antenna-- anyone nearby want to help? Channel 13 (4 on the HD box) is awesome. I spoke with the GM at a charity thing the other night and he is a big gadget guy and is pumped about HD. Let's see what ABC does now.

I am new to HDTV. I Live in WR and will be looking into buying an STB for OTA only. Already have a projector that accepts 720p and 1080i.

amor, get that STB and some rabbit ears for channel 4 immediately! :D Actually I couldn't get a reliable signal w/ rabbit ears, but any decent antenna will do, as WMAZ is sending out a nice signal even at half power.

Flashram, what kind of set do you have? I didn't think ch. 40 was too bad either (for SD), but I'm watching on a 27" SD set!

I can't wait for ABC. Alias in HD, yum!

Bob

rbird- I have a 55" 16x9 Mitsubishi HDTV. I'm using a Terk antenna that clips onto my DirecTV dish to pull in the OTA signals and they all come in great. Maybe I'm lucky.

And about Alias, I agree! :) Too bad the season is about to end.

How is that Terk wired? I might try that over my attic antenna. Wanna help?

Flashram,
I have a Terk also on my DISH Network dish, but the analog channels are not clear - perhaps one or two out of 7. My dish points to 61.9 as I subscribe to Sky Angel, this is incidentally the same bird that has all the DISH Network HD channels. WHen I get the STB, will see how this setup works for me. I'm right at Hwy-96/S.Houston Lake Road intersection.

All,
As I understand, currently only 2 channels are available in our area:
Channel 4 - WMAZ (CBS)
Channel 40 - WMGT (NBC)

Are there any other channels available yet? I went to antennaweb.org and it shows this chart:

Digital Call Sign Channel Network City State Live Date

* WMAZ-DT 4 CBS Macon GA Now Live
* WGXA-DT 16 FOX Macon GA FCC Extension
* WPGA-DT 32 ABC Perry GA May 15 2003
* WMGT-DT 40 NBC Macon GA Now Live
* WGNM-DT 50 UPN Macon GA Awaiting FCC Permit
WMAZ 13 CBS Macon GA
WGXA 24 FOX Macon GA
WMGT 41 NBC Macon GA
WPGA 58 ABC Perry GA
* WDCO-DT 7 PBS Cochran GA Nov 1 2003
WDCO 29 PBS Cochran GA
* WJSP-DT 23 PBS Columbus GA Nov 1 2003
WDMA-LP 32 DAY Macon GA
* WSST-DT 51 IND Cordele GA May 15 2003
W52CL 52 TBN Macon GA
WGNM 64 UPN Macon GA
WRBL 3 CBS Columbus GA
WTVM 9 ABC Columbus GA

I guess it will take longer for all of them to be available... :-(

I can get WMAZ-DT with rabbit ears placed near a window, but rabbit ears don't work for UHF. Instead I've got the Radio Shack double bowtie ovenrack thing and it does a very good job of pulling in all the analog UHFs, often looking better than cable. It is with this antenna that I can sometimes see the low power religious stations on 32 and 52, so I expect this antenna to live up to its reputation for digital UHF.

I've heard that the timeframe for WGXA-DT is sometime between now and September, not that it matters much since Fox doesn't do high definition. A clear SD picture will be good to have, but only if it isn't soaked in fabric softener like WMGT is.

I still haven't heard a thing about WGNM's plans.

Anyone heard whether WPGA-DT will make the May 15th Live date now that it's days away? :)

Not really responsive BUT i did write to Cox Cable about HD on cable-- just to see what our options would be soon. Their response was that we should have HD cable, including locals, by the 3rd quarter of this year. This may be a pat answer for them but I would sure love some options when my DirecTV contract expires. By the way, I have lost channel 40 (NBC) is anyone else getting it? Thanks

Interesting news on Cox. I just locked into another year of DirecTV though.

May 15th has come and gone and no ABC. Big surprise.

The last I heard, antenna installation was supposed to begin early last week, and the date I heard it should be finished is Friday 5/23. As of right now there is a slight possibility that WPGA-DT could be on the air just in time for "Toy Story" in HD on Sunday. That could easily change, for example the weather can slow down the tower work. I don't have my hopes up, that way I'm not disappointed if it doesn't happen and I can be pleasantly surprised if it does.

Been lurking here following the thread, and decided to add my two cents. I'm located in Statham's Landing in Warner Robins, surrounded by very tall trees. Have a Sony HD200 fed by OTA, Directv, and Cox. First tried a Terk TV55 (mounted on chimney), and was able to receive WMAZ just fine, but not channel 40. Next tried a Radio Shack VHF/UHF with same results. Haven't tried an amp with the RS yet. Probably will wait and see if 40 comes in when they increase power.

If anyone would like to try the Terk TV55, let me know via email.

Regards
Walt Irvine

I have not seen 40 for several weeks. I wonder if they are off the air? No big loss, the signal was so low it was pathetic.

Just to confirm, 40-1 is on the air and I get about 90% signal strength on it. Still a crappy picture overall, but it's there and has not gone out at all for me over the past month.

Walt, you may not get any takers on that Terk 55! I've been given one and I connected it up just long enough to confirm that it's more than just Terk, it's Terky, that's why it was given to me.

The other day, using the Radio Shack double bowtie indoor antenna, I was able to see channels 8 (GPTV) and 17 (WTBS) out of Atlanta. The picture was snowy but clear enough for the tuner to lock in the color. How's that for perspective on not being able to tune in digital channel 40 just ten miles away?

Quick update on WPGA: the weather forecast doesn't look too good for Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Wayne- Any updates on WPGA?

I'm told there are some problems with the brackets to mount the antenna feedline on the tower. Once that is solved, it will take about four days (of sunshine) to finish the work.

How about someone posting a picture or two of the tower work, when they get back to it?

Updates? Plenty of sunshine the past few days.

Unfortunately I don't have an up to date update. I don't know if the bracket problem is solved yet.

I've got an update but it isn't good news. The tower work probably won't resume before next Monday (June 9th).

Grr...

Any update is better than none though. Thanks for keeping us posted.

For anyone that still cares, WPGA now says the tower crew will start work the week of the 23rd.

I'm not holding my breath for it. The last bit of optimism I have tells me that it just might be on in time for Monday Night Football this fall.

For what its worth, WPGA is now advertising their new Digital TV -- Coming Soon. The ad even attempts to show thwe difference between analog and DTV. Let's cross our fingers

Originally posted by amor65
All,
As I understand, currently only 2 channels are available in our area:
Channel 4 - WMAZ (CBS)
Channel 40 - WMGT (NBC)

Are there any other channels available yet? I went to antennaweb.org and it shows this chart:

Digital Call Sign Channel Network City State Live Date

* WGNM-DT 50 UPN Macon GA Awaiting FCC Permit
Just a note: WGNM applied for and received permission to change to channel 45 (vacated by WMAZ when they were approved for ch. 4). Last I checked, they had not yet submitted an updated construction permit.

Looking forward to ABC-HD soon!!!

Bob

And a few more weeks have passed... This is really sad. Let's hope the same people working on their tower aren't the same that do their web page. Could there be a more pitiful website on the internet? :)

You don't have to look far to find a more pitiful website, try www.wgnm.com . (Sorry to diss your brother's station, Ken!) At least the 58abc.com program guide via Titan is kept fresh. I'm pretty sure that the site is sparse because the only people at WPGA who would know how to post a web page have better things (i.e. things that involve generating revenue) to do.

Anyway, I have an update for you: I'm told that the tower crew started work on Monday. Tuesday was of course a washout, and I think the latter part of Monday was also, but Wednesday should have been a full day's work.

I'm trying to obtain some pictures of the work that they might share. I'm also trying to convince them to send some "QSL reports" to the first viewers, maybe with some kind of chachka, plus setup an ongoing line of communication for reception and technical issues. Both will likely be via e-mail to a specific address. More details later.

I wish they would update the website, too! :)

Update: the antenna is going up today. Someone from the antenna mfr. is expected to arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) to "sweep" it.

A few photos are at http://www.58abc.com/hdtv .

Thanks Wayne! Hopefully we have a signal by the weekend. As usual, keep us posted.

Update: the sweep indicated a problem located about 1/3 up the tower, the problem was found, and a replacement part (something called a "bullet" which splices sections of the transmission line) is being overnighted. If that proves to be the only problem, and weather permitting (it's T-storming as I write this), there is a strong possibility that WPGA-DT will sign on sometime Friday afternoon.

I've got confirmation that the power level will be 18 kilowatts, much more respectable than the 3 kilowatts WMGT-DT supposedly has on channel 40. As I described before, it will be 720p/60 fulltime, and when the ABC network is not in HDTV, the analog signal will be digitized and upconverted to 720p with bars on the sides. The video bit rate will be cranked as high as the encoder will go, at 17.9 Mbps. The audio is 192 Kbps stereo Dolby Digital, not 5.1. Finally, the PSIP data will map it as channel 58-1, not 32-1. Currently neither WMAZ nor WMGT are doing the mapping.

The e-mail contact for technical issues is hdtv@58abc.com . The engineers are interested in any information you can give them about the brand and model of receiver, antenna, signal strength, etc. and also your location, you can give a general location if you'd rather not be specific. I'm still trying to convince them to do QSL certificates and some form of chachka, but if they do then your e-mail will get you on the list for that.

I sent them my information and congratulated them on the new service. Lets hope they do get ready by the weekend

WPGA-DT went on the air at about 4pm this afternoon.

There's no high definition on ABC tonight but Saturday night there's a movie and Sunday night has Alias and The Practice.

Great news! Just did a scan and picked it up. I'm getting 100% signal strength here in Warner Robins with a crappy Terk antenna. I'll be sure to email WPGA my setup and feedback once some HD material broadcasts this weekend. Thanks again for keeping us posted Wayne.

On a side note, is anyone having problems picking up WMAZ lately? My receiver has a really hard time locking onto it anymore. I was getting 93% signal strength before my problems started.

I get a fairly steady 50% signal strength in NW Warner Robins on a MyHD card with a Radio Shack double bowtie indoor antenna perched on the window sill.

The only problem I have with the signal is that the audio is too low compared to other channels. Be careful changing channels!

I have the same problem with the audio on ABC. WAY too low.

Nice! I can't wait to see it!

Bob

The low audio was solved, or at least temporarily patched, this afternoon.

Did anybody bother to watch "Deep Rising" in HD tonight?

I missed "Deep Rising" but caught some of Dragnet. I figured I'd catch the Swiss Family Robinson that is on right now but it looks like someone at WPGA forgot to throw a switch or something as it's not coming thru in HD. Here's hoping for Alias at 9 p.m.

Alias was in HD and Practice was also.

It probably wasn't most ideal to start it at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon and do a shakedown cruise over the weekend, but at least some of the HD went through.

I finally got a chance to watch ABC last night. The picture looks great, sound still seems a little low but it was the same on the analog channel. I am over near Wesleyan College in Macon and I am only getting a 55 - 60 signal. I get 95+ on WMAZ. Is ABC that much weaker? Even at this signal strength though, the picture is great.

Finally got a signal today. Had to re-orient my antenna (it became misaligned this spring during one of our storms, but I never fixed it since it didn't hamper my WMAZ reception - both it and WDCO analog never have a problem no matter which way the antenna points). I actually had to LOWER it to get any sort of locked signal at all. I thought that was odd.

My signal on my Dish 6000 is 53-55 (compared to the 75-79 I get for WMAZ). I'm in Warner Robins off Russell Pkwy. The picture looked good and hardly dropped out at all, even with such a mediocre signal strength. There's no question that I need a better antenna. This mid-sized Radio Shack model just doesn't work well for UHF, even with an amp.

The grey sidebars during non-HD programming (Judge Mathis in this case) were nice, though they looked weird with the black bars at the top and bottom on my NTSC set. :) No complaining here, though. I realize I'm not the target viewer in this case, and I can always zoom the non-HD stuff to fill my screen anyway.

The audio is still VERY low. I just checked, and it seems to be about half of WMAZ-DT's volume, which in turn was about 2/3 of WMAZ's NTSC volume. I hope this is fixed in the future. I plan to watch Less Than Perfect tonight, we'll see how that goes. I have a volume knob, so it's not a total disaster. :D I didn't notice the analog 58 to be any lower than 13.

Overall, I'm very happy and impressed. (Of course, as I was typing this, I lost the signal. I'm sure it's my antenna, though). Good job!

Bob

When WPGA is showing ABC programming in HD, the audio is "pass through" exactly as it comes from ABC.

I don't think the signal is that much weaker, I think it depends on the antenna, since WMAZ is VHF and WPGA is UHF it's almost apples and oranges to compare them.

Is the audio low ONLY on the HDTV stuff from ABC, but normal when they are upconverting (if that's what they are doing) regular programming?
Or, is it always low?

Returned from Savannah last Sunday afternoon, and immediately tried to get ABC channel 32. No luck at all, but probably because it was storming outside. Continued trying that evening, and Monday during lunch, but still no lock on my HD200. Monday evening I finally got a lock, but very poor signal strength. I'm using the cheapest RS VHF/UHF combo, unamplified. Climbed the roof yesterday evening, and realigned the antenna. Now get signal strength just below the "l" in normal on the HD200 indicator. (For those of you that don't have an HD200, that's probably about 60-70%) Haven't watched much to see if I get dropouts, or what the audio level is compared to other channels. Too busy with a broken computer :(((

My location is Statham's Landing in Warner Robins. Have to look thru many, many trees.

If this works fairly well, I'll probably leave it alone. Otherwise, first step will be to try the Terk TV55 I have, then a better RS antenna with an amplifier.

Regards
Walt Irvine

Bad news, guys. WPGA-DT is off the air. Both channels 58 and 32 share a single microwave radio link from the studio to the tower. The HDTV half of the microwave receiver at the tower was damaged by a lightning strike late this afternoon, and so the HDTV transmitter has no signal to transmit.

It can't be repaired until late Saturday night at the earliest, and that depends on a replacement part being overnighted tomorrow for Saturday delivery. If the part doesn't arrive on Saturday then WPGA-DT probably won't be back on the air until late Monday night.

WPGA still isn't on, that must mean the spare part wasn't delivered on Saturday. Whenever it does arrive, it can't be installed until the wee hours of the morning, because 58 will have to go off the air during the repair.

Edit: It was back on Tuesday morning.

Is anyone having problems picking up CBS lately? If not, can someone just confirm that the signal is still being broadcast, I have not been able to get it for a few months now. All the other local stations come in fine, including analog WMAZ.

Watched some CBS this weekend

Is WPGA still on the air? I got a new antenna (a larger Channel Master instead of a medium-small Radio Shack model) and am still not picking up any signal, even after amplification. I either have a cabling issue, or the trees behind my house just aren't going to let me get a signal no matter what. I have poor signal on 58/64 as well, and only decent on 24/41. Of course, I get nothing on digital 40.

I'm thinking of LOWERING the antenna...maybe I'll be more successful just shooting through the tree trunks.

CBS comes in great, as usual (analog and digital - VHF rules).

Bob

Originally posted by rbird
Is WPGA still on the air? I got a new antenna (a larger Channel Master instead of a medium-small Radio Shack model) and am still not picking up any signal, even after amplification. I either have a cabling issue, or the trees behind my house just aren't going to let me get a signal no matter what. I have poor signal on 58/64 as well, and only decent on 24/41. Of course, I get nothing on digital 40.

I'm thinking of LOWERING the antenna...maybe I'll be more successful just shooting through the tree trunks.

CBS comes in great, as usual (analog and digital - VHF rules).

Bob
Yes, WPGA is still on the air.

I get everything fine with my crappy terk antenna. The only problem is CBS, which used to come in fine. Sometimes if I let it sit there long enough it will get the signal, and it stays steady at 97-100% before dropping a few minutes later. :rolleyes: No idea why it won't lock.

My father is on the Laurens/Wilkinson County line on Hwy 441 and is interested in DTV. Do any of you think there's a chance at getting any OTA HD from there? He's about 37 miles from the towers.

I checked antennaweb.org. According to that, he's got a fairly good shot at everything that's online, but I thought I'd check with the folks that should know. Thanks for any info.

Tom

Ask your dad if he can get Channels 13 and 58 now in analog. 13 has a pretty good signal, 58 is low but not bad. The terrain is fairly flat there so i bet he has a good shot. Antennas are fairly cheap, you can return them to radio shack anyway.

I know that he can get those channels; he has a cheap, medium sized directional UHF/VHF antenna currently in the attic already for analog locals.

I think he'll be able to get CBS fine. It's ABC, NBC, and eventually Fox that I'm worried about. Any opinion on those, and is NBC still 480i?

Anyone have any news on Fox WGXA-DT? Antennaweb is showing it goes live Jan 1st on Ch 16-1.

For what it's worth, I just called the chief engineer at WMGT (NBC), and he said Fox will be transmitting at 250 watts (that's not KW). You'll have to be next door to get it.

Also, he said that he has no idea when WMGT will be increasing their power from the current 1KW. Said it's a corporate decision.

Regards
Walt Irvine

Originally posted by frustated
For what it's worth, I just called the chief engineer at WMGT (NBC), and he said Fox will be transmitting at 250 watts (that's not KW). You'll have to be next door to get it.

Also, he said that he has no idea when WMGT will be increasing their power from the current 1KW. Said it's a corporate decision.

Regards
Walt Irvine
According to several places I've read, Fox will be broadcast at 1000 kW, the same as WMAZ-DT.

TvRadioWorld Link (http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/ga/tv.asp?m=mac)

A clarification: that's 250 watts ground. The Fox engineer doesn't know what his antenna gain will be. He doesn't have it yet. If it's about 12db, that should make radiated power around 4KW. As far as I know, WMAZ is around 7KW, with 14 KW max allowed. I think WMGT is around 3-4 KW. Their max is 48 KW. I haven't been able to get in touch with the WPGA engineer yet.
Regards
Walt

Cox cable should have HDTV available around June, according to the CS people. They have a sign up list already.

It's been a while since I last visited this thread, but there hasn't been anything new to talk about since WPGA-DT started last summer.

Yes, the word is that HDTV will be on Cox this summer. WMAZ and WPGA have confirmed that Cox has started the ball rolling to carry their signals.

There has also been some early groundwork for Macon local channels going up on DBS this year.

Walt, I know for sure that WPGA-DT is currently doing 18 kilowatts ERP.

The TVRadioWorld information is outdated: it shows WMAZ-DT on channel 45 and WGNM-DT on channel 50. WMAZ got permission to move to channel 4 about four years ago, then WGNM got permission to take WMAZ's spot on 45 last January.

I've heard nothing about when WGXA-DT will go on the air, or when WMGT will increase power and ditch the world's worst 480i MPEG encoder.

After the power company cut my cable line, I spoke with Cox and asked about HD. I was put on a list and will be notified when it is available. I spoke to the installer however, and he was pretty clueless. He said that they already have HDTV (he meant digital cable). That's better than the customer service person I talked with about a year ago who told me that HDTV was already on channel 52. She meant HGTV!

There's almost as much cluelessness in the stores. I think Hi-Fi Buys is the only store that knows there are two OTA HDTV signals on in Macon and can actually demo them.

I talked with one of the head honchos there and they said that all they were waiting on was for the Premise equipment to arrive. They hope to have something up and running by the end of May or begining of June. Up until last week the customer service didn't have a clue. I had one tell me it we wouldn't have it till 2006

A month early, that's a pleasant surprise.

Has anyone else noticed that WMAZ has had no PSIP information for the past few weeks?

Hi all, I hope someone still reads this. I live in Duluth, GA and was going to buy a Terk HDTVI antenna. Has anyone that lives in my general area have any luck. Thanks,

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
A month early, that's a pleasant surprise.

Has anyone else noticed that WMAZ has had no PSIP information for the past few weeks? I wonder if this has anything to do with why my Dish 6000 is no longer locking in on this channel. I recently replaced the cable from my antenna (it had a splice in it, at which point it had corroded) and now I get about an 80% on the signal meter from WMAZ-DT, but no signal lock. I am also getting about a 65% from WPGA, also with no lock. The other possibility is multipath, I suppose. I'm trying to aim through/around pine trees, unfortunately. My analog signals have never been better, though.

As for WGXA, according to their FCC filings, they have no money (or that's the excuse they're using, at least).

Bob

The trees could be a part of the problem. New leaves and the sap is flowing. But if you can't get WPGA then I don't think WMAZ's lack of PSIP is causing it.

WGXA's excuse is pathetic.

Great news!

With my Dish Network 811,Winegard Sensor Antenna, from my home off Wesleyan Drive, I can now get CBS (WMAZ) 83-ish%, ABC (WPGA) 79-ish%, and NBC (WMGT) 65-ish%.

Now only Fox is lagging behind. Any word from WGXA?

Cox is now taking pre orders for HD TV If you have signed up in the past it would be wise to check to be sure that you are still on the list.

http://www.cox.com/MiddleGa/

Even though I think Cox Cable is 'the very devil' based on my customer service issues with them in the past, I decided to register for the HDTV info to see what happens. I am an HDTV hound and would switch from Dish to Cox if the later had better offerings.

Then I decided to call the CS number and was told that HDTV "is not planned in Middle Georgia in the next two years. Maybe late 2006... ."

Yup, thats the well-named but spelled incorrectly-spelled 'Cox' I remember.

I think I'm going to put up a good outdoor antenna for the local stations and get the rest of my HD from DirecTV. I'm not going to subscribe to an overpriced Cox digital package as a prerequisite to get local HDTV over cable. And I won't rent their STB for $9.95 a month either.

Wayne, that's what I am doing now but am considering a switch. I dropped DirecTV HD after just a few months (and the end of football season). I was paying about $80 month for DirecTV with HD and HBO & Cinemax plus another $13 for Cox's local stuff. I can get the over the air local stuff fine but not PBS, that my kids watch most of the time. So, I weas paying over $90 for TV service and that's just too much for me. I think I can get Cox's HD for less, we'll see.

I had a call from the Director of Customer operations for Cox and May 2nd is the target date. They will be using the Motorola 6200 cable box and not the SA 8000 as shown on the cox com page.. Currently the boxes are in limited supply. supposedly the people that sign up early will be given advanced notice as to when to pick them up.

I live in Warner Robins and am thrilled to hear that Cox will be rolling out their HD service soon. I recently bought a 56" Samsung DLP tv and am dying to watch some HD programming on it without buying a receiver for it! The only question I have is, May 2nd is a Sunday. They're rolling out this new service on a Sunday? I called several weeks ago and got put on the list. Called today to confirm and have no clue if the customer service rep put me on the list again, or confirmed that I'm already on the list. I'd like to do the self install rather than paying someone to come out and hook up the new box and leave me $30 less in my pocket for five minutes worth of work.

Bob

I hope that the 2nd is when they roll out the service. We are supposed to get some advance notice as to when to pick up the cable box from one of the Cox Expos. From what I was told they will be in short supply to start.

I walked in to the Expo down in Warner Robins today and asked the guy when the HD service was starting. He told me May 3rd. Told me to stop by with my old set top box and they'd swap it out for the HD box and set up the HD service on my account. I hope he knows what he's talkin about!

Bob

just for kicks looked at D16 and notice Fox WGXA-DT is on the air, all I've seen so far is Standard definition.

That's cool. I hope they start with the "Fox Widescreen" soon. Supposedly Fox has sent the appropriate reception hardware to all of their affiliates (or was that just their O&O stations?) so there hopefully shouldn't be too much delay.

I still can't get a lock on any stations (though I'm getting decent signal strength on 4 and 32). Looks like I will have to be moving my antenna AGAIN. Any Warner Robins folks want to pull out a compass and tell me what heading their antennas are pointed toward? These pine trees are killing me for digital. My analog signals have never looked better, though.

I'm interested to find out how Cox's service looks. I don't care for their television service at all (their analog channels have HORRIBLE picture quality). All you guys who are looking for more HD programming might want to look at Dish Network. As far as I can tell, you can order their HD Pack without any other programming (just a $5 service fee, unlike DirecTV who makes you order their mega package just to get HD).

Bob

Dang it, you beat me to it. For the same reason (just for kicks) I tried 16 and was shocked to find a signal there. I immediately came here to let everyone know. It's weak but it's on the air. I'm curious to know what power and antenna height they have.

I just made a modification to my Radio Shack double bowtie antenna, replacing the 3 feet of twinlead wire with a coax matching transformer. I also have a 6 dB inline preamp connected. I'm actually getting a signal on channel 40 for the first time.

I'm using a MyHD tuner card in my PC.
WGXA-DT 16: 21-25%
WPGA-DT 32: 53-58%
WMGT-DT 40: 44-49%
For a clear picture it needs only to be in the low 20's without dipping.
WMAZ-DT being VHF requires a different antenna, but on a good night I can get 44% with rabbit ears extended completely horizontal like a "T" and elevated.

The towers for WMAZ, WPGA, WMGT, and WGXA are all in the same location. They are on Cochran Short Route (Hwy. 129/87) at the Bibb/Twiggs county line. WGNM's tower is located a few miles north of the others. The compass direction is almost exactly 45 degrees from the Dunbar/Vinson intersection, about 30 degrees from the Watson/Houston intersection, and about 20 degrees from the Russell/Davis intersection. I hope that's helpful.

If WMGT can get their HD act together, hopefully in time for the Olympics, and assuming WGXA will be doing HD because their network is in fact supplying the necessary gear to every affiliate, then that will be the big four networks in Macon on the air with HDTV. That's a milestone for sure. There are larger cities that have worse.

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
about 20 degrees from the Russell/Davis intersection. I hope that's helpful. This is very close to me. Thanks for the help.

Bob

An update from the Statham's Landing area. I just installed a ChannelMaster Titan 7777 preamp with my Radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna (the cheapest they sell), and am now getting a solid lock on ABC, a good lock on NBC (only breaks up occasionally), and a signal but no good lock on Fox (continually broken up). Of course, CBS is solid as always. I have to go through many, many trees, so I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the preamp. Before, I could not get a watchable picture on NBC, couldn't get Fox at all, and ABC broke up occasionally.

I'll wait until Fox has something to offer, and upgrade the antenna.

Regards
Walt Irvine

WGXA's 480i seems to look better than WMGT's. WGXA is transmitting 8 Mbps and WMGT is transmitting 6 Mbps, but WMGT looks far worse than 6 Mbps is capable of.

I have some tools that let me interpret the PSIP data transmitted by each station. There are currently two problems, one is that WMAZ doesn't seem to be transmitting any PSIP at all, the other is WGXA apparently hasn't set the clock on their new gear because their System Time Table says it's April 1997.

And I've been told that some Cox employees are currently "alpha" testing Cox HD in their homes.

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
I've been told that some Cox employees are currently "alpha" testing Cox HD in their homes.

The Cox employee who is my next door neighbor has been 'alpha testing' D* since he moved in two years ago. :)

Originally posted by rbird

I'm interested to find out how Cox's service looks. I don't care for their television service at all (their analog channels have HORRIBLE picture quality). All you guys who are looking for more HD programming might want to look at Dish Network. As far as I can tell, you can order their HD Pack without any other programming (just a $5 service fee, unlike DirecTV who makes you order their mega package just to get HD).

Bob

I dunno where you ge the idea that D* makes you carry their mega package, which I assume you mean Total Choice Premier.. You can have the HD package on ANY of their programming packages.. including regular Total Choice..

As for COX HD.. while in Norther VA I had the COX HD stuff with all the progamming i have now (hbo showtime premiums) .. and it was MUCH more expensive.. not all the COX pricing is the same.. but you HAD to have digital service.. (or at least digitial gateway a 5$ charge) they let you rent the box from them.. although at one point they tried to chang eit where you had to buy one from Best buy.. after complaints or whatever they stopped that it seems.. You got the locals for free.. (which at the time was only ABC and NBC) you got the HBOHD and SHOWHD if you carried those packages.. then ESPN and DSCVRY were about 6.50$ a peice.

The box fee was 11.95$ or so a month.. and they charged a 100$ non-waivable fee for instalation.. at that time.

The quality was just as good as OTA and D* have ever been for me.

In the end.. I'm very happy buying my Hughes HD D* box.. and as soon as I get out of the house, move my antenna and run a line to my multiswitch from my antenna I'll be dropping the 13$ cox is charging me for just locals.

So you're saying that the minimal Cox Digital package required for the HD is the $5.95 Cox Gateway? If that's true then getting HD locals from Cox becomes more attractive than paying $53.24 for their cheapest digital tier package which has less channels than you can get for $36.99 from DirecTV, and all but 12 of them are in fact analog.

And I'd prefer to buy my own HD receiver. Brand-name Cablecard tuners can't get here quickly enough for me. If there's one thing I despise most about cable, it's those lameass cable boxes that you have no choice but to rent.

I'm still going to crunch the numbers and decide whether to go with Cox or with DirecTV + antenna.

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
So you're saying that the minimal Cox Digital package required for the HD is the $5.95 Cox Gateway? If that's true then getting HD locals from Cox becomes more attractive than paying $53.24 for their cheapest digital tier package which has less channels than you can get for $36.99 from DirecTV, and all but 12 of them are in fact analog.

And I'd prefer to buy my own HD receiver. Brand-name Cablecard tuners can't get here quickly enough for me. If there's one thing I despise most about cable, it's those lameass cable boxes that you have no choice but to rent.

I'm still going to crunch the numbers and decide whether to go with Cox or with DirecTV + antenna.

I'm not EXACTLY sure what all was required.. it was over a year ago that I had cox.. and it was in a different location all together. In the end D* has been the cheapest for me by far.

From what I understand from Cox is that if you already have digital cable service you will only have to pay the higher cable box rental and you'll have their HD service. The digital cable box is something like $3.95 a month and the new HD box will be $9.95 a month. This will include NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN HD and INHD1 and INHD2. Discovery Theater HD will be an additional $4.99 a month. Also, if you already pay for Showtime or HBO you will get Showtime HD or HBO HD at no additional cost. I'm getting pretty psyched about next Mondays rollout. Anyone hear from Cox yet offering them a box or installation??

Bob

Hmm.

I wonder if you do not subscribe to Cox currently and wish to only get the local stations that are HD (or even plain digital), will there be an option for that level of service? I doubt it, but if it were reasonable they probably could get quite a few DBS customers in the door.

That's what I'd like to know. Bottom line, what's the least I'd have to pay to get local HD on cable?

I just talked with a Cox guy who is into the newer hi-tech stuff. He has seen the Cox HD and says it looks great -- of course he says that. He told me about some new technology that is coming soon -- wireless cable. I know that is an oxymoron (and who better to be oxymoronic than Cox) but he said that cable and HD cable and internet and even Cox telephone service will be delivered much like cell phone service is delivered. There will be a small antennae that can receive the signals even through walls. Sounds pretty cool.

This is from the Cox site.
http://www.cox.com/middlega/digitalcable/digital%5Fcable%5Fpricing.asp and for HD http://www.cox.com/middlega/digitalcable/HD_Teaser_Pricing.asp

Just got an email that the new date for the launch of Cox's HD is now May 3rd.

I got the e-mail from Cox about picking up their HD box. Almost immediately, I also got a call from Derek, the HD guy there. He is nice and seems to know what he is talking about. Here is the deal. To get cable HD you have to get the digital service too. Total price is about $70 per month. If you get a premium channel, you will also get the HD version. They have HBO, Starz and Showtime HD. Specials: They have a trade in your dish special where you have to give up your dish and 1 of the satellite boxes. In exchange, Cox will install the HD for free and you get the digital and HD service for about $50 for 1 year. That includes 1 premium channel, the sports pack, the movie pack and the variety pack. Much cheaper than DirecTV and cable for locals and antennae for local HD.
Has anyone called DirecTv to see what they will do to keep a customer?

Wow. Having to subscribe to the (partial) Digital plan to get the HD is a bummer.

Don't think I am interested when the Cox selection is not that impressive in terms of number of HD channels. Especially, when one could just Voom for $39.00 and get much more HD AND real digital channels with no commitment and nothing down.

I was hoping for a lifeline equivalent of just the local HD stuff. Sigh.

Call me if you get it MaconDog, er DAWG... :)

Now if only Cox's HD service was actually working!!! I picked up my box at 9:15am and hooked it up. It failed to load the menu or display any HD channels. They came up with "this is a subscription channel, call Cox to subscribe". I called them and they said they had to send a reset to my box to get it to work. Well it's 8pm and I'm STILL waiting for their reset to go thru. The guide has loaded but that's it. HD channels still say the same thing. I called about 2 hours ago and they said my reset was STILL in the "pending" stage. Said they had 1100...yes ELEVEN HUNDRED resets backing up their system. They have no clue how long it'll take for the reset to actually reach my box. *sigh* goold ole Cox!!!

Bob

Check the sticky thread in the HDTV hardware forum. Existing DirecTV customers who have had service for more than a year are being offered a $99 deal. It includes one HD receiver, a triple LNB dish, and installation. It requires one year commitment to the HD package which is $10.99 per month. Some people are also getting six months of free Showtime.

DirecTV Total Choice and the HD package are $47.98 per month.

The Cox deal sounds sweet, up until the end of the first year when they jack your rates back to normal. I can't stand to look at their pricing. It's like a f***ing IRS tax form. They don't show a straight-up price for all three digital tiers plus one premium, but as far as I can tell, the regular price of everything in the $50 offer adds up to $80 a month, including $10 for the receiver. And don't forget the local sales tax, local franchise fees, "FCC regulatory fees", and other surcharges that they take the time to itemize on your bill but conveniently don't take the time to disclose in any advertising.

I put the numbers in Excel, and the DirecTV HD receiver pays for itself in 15-24 months depending on your DirecTV subscription. Paying at least $70 per month for HD on Cox after the honeymoon is over is painful.

Just in case someone is interested......my reset came thru about 8:45pm last evening. I can tell you this.....the HD looks stunning. I watched "Everybody Loves Raymond" in HD last night and it looked great....nearly three dimensional. I also went in to the Expo store this morning with a flyer my wife had picked up last week that gave you six months of free Discovery HD. They were unaware of the promotion but the girl at the counter got it to go thru on my account. Hopefully today I'll have Discovery HD when I get home....

Bob

I live in Warner Robins, and have an OTA tuner. With an outdoor antenna, i have good digital reception of all four networks. But at this point I only get HD broadcasts ABC and CBS....FOX and NBC come in digital but no HD. I know FOX doesn't broadcast HD yet, but NBC does, just not out of WMGT.

Can anyone with the COX-HD service say for sure if they are receiving NBC in HD.

The techs at the expo swear that NBC is in the package with 50% of their programming in HD? I am sure that the figure is incorrect. But with the current promo, of Discovery HD free for six months, it might be worth the cost if you can actually add HD programming from NBC, ESPN, and Discovery.

Thanks

George P. Burdell

I just found all of you guys...........didn't realize there was so many local folks on here. I just got my Sony KP51WS510 and D* SD service in December. I have been thinking about the Cox HD and wondering what the true cost would be. I too was hoping for a HD "basic lifeline service"
In hindsight I wish that I had gotten the D* HD receiver but the TIVO won me over. Thanks for all the info.

Mark

I have Cox HD and do get programming from NBC in HD. It's not many programs I watch, but they do broadcast in HD. Tonight's ER will be in HD. You can see all their HD line up at the NBC web site. Hope this helps....

Bob

How does that work exactly with NBC? Is it WMGT? They told me they had no plans for broadcasting HD in the near future.

WMGT seems to be sending 480i OTA. Not even 480p like WMAZ the ABC station on SD stuff. Pathetic - when is the Olympics set to start? I think the Greek contractors must be building our NBC HD feed. bah.

WMAZ CBS and WPGA ABC both upconvert non-HD programming to 1080i and 720p respectively so that the signal is HD 24/7 to avoid mode-switching which freaks out receivers. Nobody is doing 480p here, I doubt WGXA will do it before they are equipped for Fox HD.

Some of the non-HD ABC programming is upconverted by the network and sent on the HD satellite feed, and WPGA uses that when available. You can tell who is doing the upconverting. If ABC does it, there are black bars on the sides. If WPGA does it, there are CRT-saver gray bars on the sides.

I've been told by someone who got the Cox HD package, if I understood him correctly, that the supposed-to-be HD channel 705 for WMGT is not only 480i but the channel was already available on the HD box before the HD service was activated, like the rest of the standard 480i digital cable channels.

I tried all the Cox HD channels before the HD boxes were available and none of them would work. You just got a blue screen with the standard "this is a subscription channel, call Cox to subscribe" announcement in white lettering. This was true for channels 704 thru about 711. Basically the three networks, espnhd, inhd1, inhd2, and the three premium channels.... Discovery HD, HBO HD, and Showtime HD.

Bob

From all this it appears to be conflicting reports on the NBC station.

Wayne, if I understand properly, channel 705 is the NBC station and it is in fact WMGT, still broadcast in 480i. If it is WMGT all the time, I'd be surprised if they have HD on cable broadcasts but not any OTA material. But then again, I'm not very well informed about how the cable infrastructure works.

I guess I can just get a box and see for myself, but I'd like to know what I am getting. We just need someone to tune in leno and be sure it is 1080i and not the crummy stretch 480i.

Thanks for the info Wayne, your right ABC and CBS are 720p and 1080i respectively. Brain flatulence on my part. The point was simply that A.T.M. WMGT is plain ole 480i OTA from my (and your) experience.


Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
WMAZ CBS and WPGA ABC both upconvert non-HD programming to 1080i and 720p respectively so that the signal is HD 24/7 to avoid mode-switching which freaks out receivers. Nobody is doing 480p here, I doubt WGXA will do it before they are equipped for Fox HD.

Okay, I got a more detailed explanation for what I was told. His TV has two sets of component inputs but only one is HD, the other they eventually discovered is SD only. He already had his OTA box on the HD input and the cable installer connected the Cox HD box to the SD input, so only 705 could be seen. Until they figured it out and put the cable box on the HD input, they didn't think the HD service on the box was activated. Sorry about that.

Moved my antenna from outside the house where part of the roof negated any kind of signal from 16 & 40.. moved it inside to part of my atic and now have 100 on ABC, CBS & NBC and 72ish on FOX..

I'm severly disapointed by the local NBC affialiate's total abandon of HD thusfar ... hopefully FOX's rush to HD with EQ purchase for all fox affiliates will mean FOX broadcasting in HD this football season

Originally posted by Bripeace
Moved my antenna from outside the house where part of the roof negated any kind of signal from 16 & 40.. moved it inside to part of my atic and now have 100 on ABC, CBS & NBC and 72ish on FOX..

I'm severly disapointed by the local NBC affialiate's total abandon of HD thusfar ... hopefully FOX's rush to HD with EQ purchase for all fox affiliates will mean FOX broadcasting in HD this football season

What antenna are you using? I am in NW Macon and I would love to know your antenna type. I am using Winegard GS2000 (a.k.a Sensar) outside the house and I am gettiing about 75% on CBS-WMAZ and 50% on ABC. None on WMGT or FOX.

Last time I tried WMGT (last night), looked like they were upconverting the signal and using black bars for 4:3 content, ala, WMAZ. I haven't checked lately, been doing some wm9 conversions, and tying the computer up.

Tbone,
I noticed the same thing about WMGT tonight. I have an over the air receiver, and it indicates that the signal is being received as HD despite the black bars, so i figured they same as you that they are upconverting. it is definitely an improvement over the old stretch broadcasts they had, but I still wonder when they'll have Leno broadcast for me in true hd. if they pull it off for the olympics that'd be awesome. especially with fox not too far behind

Any one try to contact them about a time table?

Last I heard a few months ago it was "we'll be doing HD soon". But it was coming from a person who also said "our signal reaches out 35 miles, you need to re-do the channel scan".

Upconversion is a good sign. It means they now have an upconverter, and they have an MPEG encoder that can do more than 480i. But that's only about half the equipment they need. They also need NBC's high definition satellite feed and a device to switch between NBC-HD and upconverted content (non-HD shows and local commercial breaks).

Does anyone know if WMGT is broadcasting the digital signal at full power yet? God I hope not.

I receive my CBS and ABC at very good levels (Dish 811, 87ish and 82ish respectively) and yet almost never get a lock on WMGT. Heck, if the weather is right, I get 11 Alive in Atlanta to lock more often than WMGT.

I am off Wesleyan Drive in Macon, with a Sensar external ant.

WMGT is getting better and better. Law & Order is in widescreen right now. can't be sure yet if it is HD, but it is possible. It looks pretty good.

I live in WR and get WMGT pretty well. If you're not getting good reception way up in wesleyan maybe you should make sure your antenna is pointed properly for their tower. their signal is somewhat weaker than cbs and abc though.

Wow! I just checked Law & Order on WMGT and it idefinitely looks HD. Even the wife noticed the difference. :) Using an OTA antenna BTW.

**update**- Leno was NOT in HD, so who knows what is going on.

I don't think it was HD. I watched the second episode of Law and Order and there was no fly by indicating it was HD. My guess is that it was actually the widescreen presentation being upconverted. it did look good, but then I am comparing it with the past few months of stretch they've had.

It was also a lot grainier than the material I know was HD on CBS and ABC. I could be wrong though.

ER is 100% without a doubt in HD right now on NBC. I stand by what I said about Law & Order also.

Originally posted by shahm
What antenna are you using? I am in NW Macon and I would love to know your antenna type. I am using Winegard GS2000 (a.k.a Sensar) outside the house and I am gettiing about 75% on CBS-WMAZ and 50% on ABC. None on WMGT or FOX.

I am also using the wingard sensar (the amplified one)

One thing to note as has been pointed out...

NBC is DEFINATELY doing HD broadcasts now (Not just DTV) ER tonight was without a doubt in HD BUT.. seems the signal is weaker??? this last weekend when i moved the Antenna i was getting 100% flat out on NBC but now it's jumping all over the place from 59 -> 79

I'll check my antenna alignment but with CBS and ABC still coming in 100% and fox coming in spot on 72 i doubt thats it..

Also is anyone else still getting a picture on fox? I still get the signal (72%) but now picture ... just black

UPDATE: Leno isn't in hd but hes in Vegas so maybe this series of shows (whilst in vegas) isnt' in hd... OR nbc is doing manual switching and don't want to have to have someone busy doing that at 12:30am.. which i can imagine considering they don't even do 11oclock news

Fox had a picture this afternoon when I checked. But either their signal is weak or my antenna isn't as well tuned for 16 as it is for 32 and 40. I receive 32 the best, then 40, then 4 (on a different antenna, since it's VHF), then 16.

I'm not receiving 40 any better than when I added an inline preamp to my antenna which enabled me to receive it for the first time, so I doubt they've increased power. As far as I know, it's still 3 kilowatts with an antenna placed only halfway up the tower.

Is Cox channel 705 now HD and not 480i?

Anyone have opinions on the quality of each station's upconversion?

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick


Is Cox channel 705 now HD and not 480i?


Not sure about Cox, but the OTA signal is definitely HD, at least the last two nights for Law & Order and ER.

I have no problems with OTA signal strength on any of the channels here in WR. All the channels are coming in fine.

Originally posted by Flashram
Not sure about Cox, but the OTA signal is definitely HD, at least the last two nights for Law & Order and ER.

I have no problems with OTA signal strength on any of the channels here in WR. All the channels are coming in fine.

well looks like tommorow i'm in for a session of

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

For any doubters about NBC broadcasting in HD, Jay Leno is now HD also.

can someone please check fox for me?

I am getting signal 72-79 and am getting no picture.. at all.. although abotu 2 months ago i was gettin signal..

Just checked, it's there.

Any other middle ga people notice that the Braves are on in HD on Cox channel 790? I watched them play the Phillies last night and it appears they're going to broadcast the game tonight too!

Bob

Just saw today where you can preorder a DVR from Cox. Be glad when it arrives. https://www.cox.com/MiddleGa/DigitalCable/DVRform.asp

Here is a schedule of the HD broadcasts of the Braves on Cox. https://www.cox.com/MiddleGa/DigitalCable/Braves_HD.asp

Just saw a commercial, saying dishnetwork now has locals in the macon area. Called and confirmed. Unfortunately I cancelled my service a month and a half ago when I moved.
Good news is, that after 3 months, I can get all new equipment for the same price as a new subscriber. Was also told that the HD box came at no additional charge other than the programming committment. can anyone confirm this?

My OTA stuff looks great by the way, just waiting on fox now.

Dish Network has announced Macon locals, but I don't think they actually have them up yet. Their point of presence is supposed to be at WPGA (and DirecTV's will be at WMAZ), and when I spoke to WPGA's engineer last week they had not yet installed any equipment or the fiber connection to Colorado or wherever at WPGA.

Just FYI:

WMAZ-DT is running about 7KW, has a great signal at Lake Joy (Houston County). 4-1 looks great, 4-2 when Doppler radar is on is ok, 4-3 (yes, you need to rescan) will probably be the radar channel when the Republican convention is on. There were PSIP issues during the DNC. Currently, there are some audio problems, as well.

WGXA-DT (Fox) appears to running on a Special Temporary Authority at a whopping 1.6KW (flea power), but seems to be having PSIP problems, preventing many digital receivers from viewing their signal. It's pretty when it works, but that isn't often.

WPGA-DT (ABC) seems to have things working quite well. Great signal, at their full licensed power, PSIP is generally correct, though program guide information is usually way out in left field.

WMGT-DT (NBC) apparently can't get switching between SD and HD feeds automated, and the master control help doesn't seem to remember. They're operating at 3.3KW, and that makes it tough to get a good lock on them... frequently, especially at night, WXIA-DT from Atlanta's a better choice.

WNGM hasn't put a digital signal out there yet - here's hoping they do soon. And if we could just get a good high power WB affiliate, we'd be all set!

I'll see if I can poke the right people at WPGA to get their program guide up to date. Then it will probably become outdated again and won't be corrected until the new fall schedule starts. We'll see.

As I understand it, WGNM applied for and got approval to use the digital channel number that WMAZ was originally assigned, after WMAZ applied for and got approval to switch their digital to channel 4. Doing so "reset the clock" on WGNM's construction deadline, starting on the date that they got the approval, which might have been their real intention. Nevertheless, I heard that they're working on it, and it's going to be a very strong signal, like 100KW. I'll check again with the person who told me to refresh my memory.

Regarding Dish Network, it seems Dish went with alternate plans for their point of presence, I've been told they located at the Clear Channel radio stations, which are right behind Cox on 247. They should be receiving strong OTA signals, the towers are definitely line-of-sight there.

I'm undecided about bringing in the locals via satellite - it seems kinda silly to pay $6/month when they're mostly all up on digital, and I'm getting decent signal from them.

While you're poking around at PGA, how 'bout getting Hal to set his PSIP major channel # correctly... I'm working on John at WMAZ, particularly in light of the FCC now requiring PSIP (effectively adopting the ATSC recommendations, as I understand it).

I'm hopeful that they'll get the PSIP/PID table issues straightened out at WMAZ before the Republican Convention - if they go wall to wall coverage on 4-2 like they did with the DNC, the Doppler ends up MIA on 4-3.

Am also in contact with WGXA, hopeful that they'll get the issue with PSIP/PID straight soon. I've *seen* WGXA-DT, but the last couple of weeks, the receiver shows plenty of signal, but "24-1 is currently off the air."

Unfortunately, at WMGT and WGXA, digital is not a priority. WMGT is busy building a newsroom/news set/control room, and preparing to get the local newscasts started in just about a month - word is Sept 6 or so for the startup of that endeavor. Also, WMGT's engineer's wife's been very ill, in the hospital, so you know that's taking time, too.

I do wish they'd get the widescreen right on the NASCAR races, though!

I have been watching losts of movies lately, HBO-HD, and lots and lots of X-Box. I tried to watch the olympics this weekend and noticed that i got no signal at all. My signal on WMAZ is at 97. Is there a problem with NBC? What is their digital channel, that may be my problem. Thanks, Project Gotham Racing #2 is pretty awesome!

It's digital channel 40. I had a marginal signal as usual on Sunday afternoon, when the HD was showing swimming instead of the U.S. basketball team getting spanked.

Those of you in WR picking up 16 and 40, what sort of antenna are you using? My rather large antenna (with amplifier) is picking up 4 and 32 just fine (most of the time) but I can't get any signal on the other two.

Also, anyone else out there still using a Dish 6000? Is there a big difference in local channel reception with the new 811? I'm wondering if I need to upgrade my equipment to something a little newer.

Bob

I've received 40 with a Radio Shack double bowtie and a Winegard Squareshooter, either connected to a Radio Shack 6dB preamp.

I'm using the cheapest RS VHF/UHF combo with a ChannelMaster Titan 7777 preamp, and get CBS and ABC perfectly, NBC breaks up continually, FOX is barely there sometimes (not very often). I have to go thru many, many trees, and consider myself lucky to get ABC. I intend to upgrade the antenna "real soon now".

I'm in warner robins, (just off watson), using a mid sized radio shack antenna. I think it is a Channel Master 90 inch or so. I do have an amp on it, feeding an older samsung STB.

I get all four channels very well. Dropouts are more frequent now with trees in full effect, but still very rare and brief. If you're missing Fox and NBC I'd check direction. Very minor corrections had huge impact on my reception of NBC in particular. I get Fox, but don't watch anything on it at the moment. That will change with football season.
The broadcast strength of ABC and CBS seems to make them a little more tolerant of antenna misalignment, but not so with NBC.

The olympic loop has been cool despite the sony commercial btw.

Actually, I'm down by Lake Joy...

With the biggest VHF/UHF combo antenna Radio Shack sells, up about 15 feet, with a Channel Master Spartan 3 amplifier, I get excellent signal on 4 (WMAZ-DT, CBS) and 32 (WPGA-DT, ABC), fair on 40 (WMGT-DT, NBC) and a low signal with some dropouts on 16 (WGXA-DT, Fox).

It's only in the past week or so that WGXA has had the correct PSIP tables, so that my receiver (US Digital) can get the video. A friend who's an engineer fixed 'em up over there.

Now if WMAZ-DT can get the PSIP tables right during the RNC (supposing they send gavel-gavel coverage on 4.2 like they did for the DNC) and have the Doppler correct on 4.3.

Still not a even blip here on 16 or 40 (I even replaced some connectors on my cabling and re-aimed), but 4 and 32 are coming in great. I guess I'll just be waiting for a power increase from those two.

I live off Russell Parkway in WR.

Bob

I'd say you're just not pointed right... aiming is critical for those, and a friend in Rio Pinar (west side of WR, off Smithville Church Rd) gets 40 with no amp and no trouble. He said he hasn't been able to get 16 yet, though.

I am, as the crow flies, 5 miles further from the transmitters than he is, with a similar antenna, and do have to have the amp for 16 and 40.

I can point the antenna to Atlanta and get all but 19 from there, mostly only at night, but I'm only 15 feet, remember.

Even while pointed toward ATL, I get 4 and 32 fine.

You may be right. I'm as close to 26 degrees as my cheapo came-with-the-sat-dish compass can get me, though. I could try aiming while watching the signal, but that would require another person to watch the meter while I rotate, and my wife has near zero patience for that. :)

You must have a really clear view to be able to see Atlanta from your location. I am aiming around pine trees (though my most recent aiming attempt actually barely misses them) and I think that's just not possible for me. Though I guess I should actually check those channels before I commit to that statement. :D

Bob

From here, it's around 30 degrees... antennaweb.org shows 29 and 30 degrees for all the stations - but at short distances, you being off Russell would easily account for 2-3 degrees, and it shows 44 to 45 degrees for my friend's place in Rio Pinar. A location on Russell itself shows 29 degrees or so.

I'm not convinced antennaweb is all that accurate, but I put the transmitter location coordinates in my GPS receiver... in my case, at least, antennaweb was pretty close... I'm just not sure that Rio Pinar is far enough west to get a full 15 degrees of difference in azimuth.

At any rate... if you can turn up the TV to a level you can hear at the antenna, force it to channel 40 and go out and turn it - very, very slowly - until you hear audio. Mark the mast and mount at that point. :)

So it looks like fox is not running hd football for us? Man I was sure looking forward to more HD football.
Last night we didn't have the GT game in HD either...and that was ABC. It was scheduled from what i saw. Usually it's NBC that screws the HD deliveries, not ABC. I'm getting robbed of HD football, tragedy. Still a great finish though.

Well I know that Cox doesn't have an HD channel for FOX yet, but am I right in guessing that FOX didn't broadcast OTA any HD football yesterday either?? I noticed the highlights for about five or six NFC games were shown in HD last night on ESPN HD. So I assumed that those highlights being in HD were from FOX games broadcast in HD, since they carry the NFC games. Anyone have a clue when we'll get a Cox HD FOX channel??

Not specific at all, as I don't even have Cox HD. but I would wager a guess that fox will not be on cox in hd, until after they have the OTA working. Which is what I use. Hopefully, they'll have that by next week though. As I would like to watch those games.
Our fox affiliate was listed in another thread as one that was ready for the hd material.

So does anyone know anyone over at fox we can call and see whats going on?

The OTA isn't digital.. still just a 480i digital signal. This upsets me mostly because my Redskins got blacked out on Sunday Ticket because it was shown on fox here but no HD.

Last Wednesday ABC said that the Saturday night primetime football games, because they are regional (different games in different parts of the country), will not be in HD. ABC is apparently not equipped to do multiple simultaneous regional games in HD.

I sent WGXA an email asking about their HD service. This is the reply I got:
Hi Robert.


We don't have any plans to
broadcast HD this year. We
hope funding will be available
sometime next year to complete
the HD project.


Thank you.
Richard Blanton
WGXA-TV

I guess we're not going to be seeing any NFC games in high def anytime soon! I'm still not sure why WGXA is listed on another thread as being ready to go high def last Sunday. I guess misinformation abounds!

Well that's no fun. World Series, NFL postseason, Super Bowl. That's a lot of excellent material we'll be forced to watch in SD. Seems like an opportunity lost, when you consider the built in audience these events represent, to promote your other programming.

Knowing that they are not about to go HD, I know for sure I won't be watching much of anything on fox.
Guess I'll be watching all AFC games with the exception of MNF and ESPN's sunday night games.

Originally posted by Bobbareeno
I sent WGXA an email asking about their HD service. This is the reply I got:
Hi Robert.


We don't have any plans to
broadcast HD this year. We
hope funding will be available
sometime next year to complete
the HD project.


Thank you.
Richard Blanton
WGXA-TV

I guess we're not going to be seeing any NFC games in high def anytime soon! I'm still not sure why WGXA is listed on another thread as being ready to go high def last Sunday. I guess misinformation abounds!


Sigh I simply cannot believe this, no Super Bowl in HD. God I hate living down here sometimes. Oh to be back in DC with all my channels HD and O&O

Got this last night from WMGT (NBC 41, Digital 40):

I just wanted to let you know that I "think" we have the gear in place to
receive the race in the widescreen SD format that you had inquired about.
Being so new into NBC High definition we did not have all the gear in place
that we needed to receive this hybrid feed. We're going to give it a run on
our next race. The reason for the "think" in the first line is a result of
not being able to test the system for Nascar until Nascar. I will be on site
for our next race to work out any bugs.

This from the chief engineer there. So there's hope for us in middle GA.

WMGT-DT is, indeed, sending the widescreen NBC NASCAR feed. Pretty pictures. Thanks and kudos to Chris McClendon over there for staying on it, and finding out what they needed to do in order to bring this to viewers in middle GA.

What are they doing? Downconverting the HD to SD, but still broadcasting it as 16:9? (I don't think NBC has a SDTV widescreen feed).

This IS an alternative to buying a full-blown ($$$) HDTV encoder and all the peripherals! (Here at KSL, most viewers think we run our news in HD....the 16:9 SDTV looks so good!)

NBC does send a hybrid 16:9 SD feed... that's what WMGT-DT brought us today. Apparently, WMGT didn't have all the gear in place to receive it. They do now. Very nice picture.

You might want to get with NBC Ops, or failing that, Chris McClendon at WMGT, for info on it. It's annoying for viewers who know the feed is available, but can't see it on their local affiliate.

Hi guys,

I moved to warner robins from tallahassee this week so I am new to this forum. I am watching the DAl/PITT game on 4-1. the picture looks good but I can't tell if it is HD. The picture is 4x3 with side bars on my my Sony widescreen tv. In tallahassee, all HD ota content is in 16x9.

thanks,

Kenny Council

Originally posted by kcouncil
Hi guys,

I moved to warner robins from tallahassee this week so I am new to this forum. I am watching the DAl/PITT game on 4-1. the picture looks good but I can't tell if it is HD. The picture is 4x3 with side bars on my my Sony widescreen tv. In tallahassee, all HD ota content is in 16x9.

thanks,

Kenny Council
The game is not in HD. Welcome to Warner Robins. :)

I live in Atlanta and got the Dallas/Pitt game in HD from my local Atlanta FOX station, WAGA channel 5. I've been trying to help a friend in Cochran get the Macon DTV stations and it looks like they are a little behind with their digital game. He can only get WMAZ and the ABC affilate. It's really too bad that the Macon stations are not up to speed with the digital implementation because the digital/hd technology is awesome. For your sake, I hope the Macon stations get up to speed in a hurry. For the stations that are giving you HD, write them a "positive" email, for the stations not broadcasting in HD write them and encourage them to implement this asap, tell everyone you know with an email address to do the same. Everybody will benefit in the long run. If nothing else, the Bulldog nation in middle Ga should ask for the HD because a lot of the Dawg games are broadcast in HD. The LSU, Tenn (don't remember is the SC game was or not) games have already been shown in HD and the Ark game will be in HD this weekend. I'm betting the Florida and Auburn game will be in HD.

Good luck and write you local stations

Originally posted by Harleyman1340
I live in Atlanta and got the Dallas/Pitt game in HD from my local Atlanta FOX station, WAGA channel 5. I've been trying to help a friend in Cochran get the Macon DTV stations and it looks like they are a little behind with their digital game. He can only get WMAZ and the ABC affilate.

Good luck and write you local stations
NBC, CBS, and ABC are all broadcasting HD in the Middle GA area. Just waiting on Fox to get with it. According to a statement they made last month, they are hoping to have the funding to do the upgrades next year.

I don't know if WMGT's signal will reach Cochran, and WGXA is probably even less likely, but it's good news that WMAZ and WPGA can.

Originally posted by Harleyman1340
I've been trying to help a friend in Cochran get the Macon DTV stations and it looks like they are a little behind with their digital game. He can only get WMAZ and the ABC affilate. It's really too bad that the Macon stations are not up to speed with the digital implementation because the digital/hd technology is awesome.

WPGA-DT (ABC) is the only station in the Macon market making their full licensed power. Hal Sutton's the chief engineer over there.

WMAZ-DT (CBS) is making about half their permitted power. They're good about passing HD... if CBS sends HD, that's what's on the air. John Timms is the CE at WMAZ, and is very, very good about trying to address any issues you may notice.

WGXA-DT (Fox) is making a whopping 1160 watts. Almost a waste of time, especially since they're not sending any HD at all. Richard Blanton's the CE, and right now, looks like he's fubared his PSIP stream again, so even if you see signal, you may not get anything.

WMGT-DT (NBC) is making 3300 watts, on channel 40, right next to their full power analog channel 41, so that makes things challenging right out of the box. Chris McClendon's the CE, and now that things are settling down from the launch of their news operation, he's taken time to make sure they do a better job with HD and the ED stuff (like NASCAR) that NBC sends.

Down at Cochran, you can't expect to see Fox or NBC. They just aren't making enough power.

Where I am, near Perry, Fox does OK (with some breakup sometimes) and NBC is decent most of the time.

What's up with WPGA lately? The latest episodes of NYPD Blue and Desperate Housewives weren't broadcast in HD. Or at least they hadn't switched over before I gave up on them and switched to the SD feed (didn't want to record windowboxed material). On the plus side, my WPGA-DT reception has been very good lately.

Bob

Originally posted by oldave
WGXA-DT (Fox) is making a whopping 1160 watts. Almost a waste of time, especially since they're not sending any HD at all. Richard Blanton's the CE, and right now, looks like he's fubared his PSIP stream again, so even if you see signal, you may not get anything.
I hadn't recieved Fox24 (DT16) for about a month. A few days ago it started coming in again. I live about 15 miles west of Macon Mall, half way between Lizella and Roberta, off the main road. I'm about 20 miles from the towers.

Attention AVS forum members:
My name is Ralph Carson and I am Fox 24's Assistant Chief Engineer. I have read various comments on PSIP problems on our channel 16. We have repaired these problems. However, they appear to show up only on some sets and we have no knowledge of which ones. Our monitor receivers do not display the problem. If you are receiving our signal with sufficient strength and are not getting a picture I would like to know more about it. please post your make and model, and let me know what is happening. If you have been getting our signal, but are no longer getting it in spite of having good signal, I would like to know more.

I can assure y'all that we (the engineering dept) are very interested in DTV and are doing all we can to promote it. However we must wait for the corporation to move on it. Until then, we are doing all we can to be ready. Meanwhile, we want to iron out the kinks in the system we have, and your help in this regard will be appreciated. Thank you,

Ralph Carson
FOX24

Ralph,

Any idea at all when Fox will be up and running with a high def feed? I'm a Cox subscriber and am dying for some Falcon games on Sundays in high def. Also I understand "24" will be broadcast in high def this year. We're huge fans of the show. I know I had read in another thread that Fox 24 would be broadcasting in high def as of 9/12/04. Was this something that was planned but was cut at a higher level? I'd like to know who at Fox corporate I'd have to email to express my frustrations. Thanks for your time,

Bob

Waiting mostly for some Fox HD. Glad to know you care about DTV. Hope you can keep it running. No problems now, but for a month or so I wasn't recieving a picture on my Mits WS-73711. It has an integrated tuner, but no signal strength meter. I also have a Voom set top box with a signal meter and it was showing a 96 signal, but I was getting no picture. Everything is fine now. Hope you can keep it that way and please bring us some HD as soon as possible. Thanks for letting us know you're there. I assure you, if I have any problems with reception, I'll post them here. Thanks again....

Ralph:

I am curious as to the difference in the power of your signal compared to WMAZ and WPGA. WMAZ (DT 4) and WPGA (DT 32) are off the charts signal-wise on my Dish Network 921 receiver, but your digital 16 does not show at all. FWIW I live off Wesleyan Drive in North Macon with a nice Winegard antenna and amp.

Thanks in advance,

Miguel Garcia

Anyone else having problems with WMAZ Digital 4.1 and 4.2 today? I'm having to watch Army/Navy game on analog 13. This game is supposed to be in HD. I'm getting no picture (or sound), but signal strength is 100. I hope they haven't fried anything over there. I hope they can get this fixed before the SEC Championship game. Oh well......

It's working fine for me. Getting both picture and sound.

Originally posted by Flashram
It's working fine for me. Getting both picture and sound.
Thanks Flashram, must be something in the Voom STB. Tomorrow I'll hook my vhf antenna back up to my tv's integrated tuner and see if it will come in. If it work's then, it must be something with the Voom STB.

It's probably not your Voom. I spoke with John Timm on Friday. WMAZ replaced their PSIP box on Thursday. They might have a few things incorrect that are causing trouble to some boxes. Also, they changed the major channel number in their PSIP from 4 to 13, to comply with FCC rule going into effect I think in February. Not coincidentally, WPGA has done the same and is now 58-1 instead of 32-1. You might need to rescan channels to pick up the change.

The FCC rule about major channel numbers is some messed up logic. It makes sense only for stations that will be moving their digital to their NTSC channel at the end of the transition period. Stations like WPGA and WGNM which have no choice but to stay on the digital channel because channels 52+ are being eliminated, well they shall forevermore be known as 58 and 64 and that makes little sense. (Yeah, I understand that stations have a lot of "brand equity" in their channel number, that's certainly true for 13 which had a camera on the scene when Moses parted the Red Sea, but I'd argue that it is not true for relative newcomers like 58 or 64.) Here's where the logic gets really screwed up: I believe WMAZ has decided to keep channel 13, but let's suppose that they had decided to keep channel 4 instead. According to the rule WMAZ will have to keep using major channel number 13 forever. So after the transition when channel 13 becomes vacant, let's suppose somebody new comes in and gets a license on 13. Since major channel 13 is already in use, guess what major channel number this new channel 13 would have to use? They would have to use 4!!!

John Timm also said they upgraded encoder software, and the new software can do statistical multiplexing, which if they can get it going will dynamically reallocate more bits to HD and give the doppler exactly as few bits as it deserves. That should increase HD quality, good because they've been giving it only 12 lately, making room for the SD subchannel they used for election coverage.

Meanwhile, WPGA is having some troubles with closed captioning on digital, plus their encoder will at random times freeze up. Their PSIP box also tends to just stop sending data. They might have some outages of indeterminate length as they get that resolved.

Thanks Wayne, that's some great info. When I got Voom over a year ago, they supplied an OTA antenna for their STB. It has worked great up until now. Channel 4 still won't come in after a scan with the Voom STB. When I purchased my HDTV a year and a half ago, I let the salesman talk me into getting a new OTA antenna. He said the old antenna's would not work with HDTV. I found out he was wrong after I hooked my old one up to the HDTV. Then I decided to replace it anyway and hook the new one up, after all I had already bought it. I use it with my HDTV's integrated tuner. It was an Winegard UHF (HD9095). It works fine, I can pick up the Atlanta stations minutely in daytime (with dropouts) and mostly at night (occasional dropouts). I've been picking up 4 since, although I haven't been able to get Atlanta's channel 10 (11). Yesterday, I disconnected my Winegard and hooked the old one up (so old, I think it's a ChannelMaster VHF/UHF/FM). Low and behold, Atanta's channel 10 (11) comes in better than any of the others from Atlanta, no drop outs in daytime yet (as the other Atlanta channels do). But, like I said at the beginning of this post, still no WMAZ 4. Any ideas, anyone. Now that College Football is coming to an end, I don't really watch anything else on CBS. But, I do watch the news on WMAZ 4.1 and check out the radar regularly on 4.2. Thanks again.

Dear Bobbareeno:
We had originally hoped to be on the air with HDTV in December. Corporate has nixed that and we are now looking at an indefinite time in 2005. However, there are other developments that could alter that schedule. I cannot go into detail, but our management needs to know that you are out there and you care. Cards and letters can be sent to:

WGXA TV
P.O. Box 340
Macon, Georgia 31201

I have loved surround sound since the quadraphonic sound of the seventies. Few people had heard real quad and didn't realize how good it was because of the proliferation of fake or technically inferior gear on the market. Quad was improved too late to save it. With modern digital surround sound, this is not a problem. This is a feature of HDTV and will make television more immersive and enjoyable. I recently visited someone who had an HDTV set operating in the room. At first I did not pay it much attention, for while it looked good, I have seen NTSC pictures that look very good also. The thing about HDTV is, is that if it's not a huge screen size, it's very subtile. You're sitting in the room talking to someone and then suddenly it hits you! "Wow! That picture is gorgeous!" I am a believer. I assure you that I will do all I can to promote HDTV at WGXA and anywhere else.

Ralph Carson
Assistant Chief Engineer
WGXA TV

P.S. Dear Voomvoom: I have noted your model and make. I am starting a database of sets that we have "gotten lost" on. Thanks.

Dear TowJumper:
We are transmitting on low power at this time. However, we are fairly high on the tower. An preamplifier can help. I recommend putting the preamp at the bottom of the mast rather than the top. This way, if it needs servicing or replacement, it can be done with taking down the antenna and mast. While it may not perform as well as if it were on top, I believe the difference will prove to be negligible. Any antenna system that will work with analog TV, (both bands) will work with HDTV. The antenna is widebanded and it doesn't matter. As to whether one antenna works better than another depends on the type of antenna. However, what works better with analog generally works better with DTV and HDTV. Don't forget to use lightning and surge arrestors.

Ralph Carson
WGXA TV

Ralph:

Thanks so much for the reply, good to know someone is promoting DTV (and HDTV) at WGXA.

I thought about trying different amp/preamps with my setup but since it pulls in 13 and 58 (DT and analog) so well I was going to leave well enough alone and wait for a power boost from your station to perhaps solve the problem.

And idea when his could happen (power boost)?

I may not watch the Superbowl this year otherwise - HD football has me completely spoiled on the 50 inch plasma.

The Pittsburgh/JAX game last night on ESPN HD was spectacular, however it was painful to watch SportsCenter HD and see cuts of the Falcons getting thrashed in HD -- painful because of the beating Atlanta took AND because of how great the HD feed looked... .

Miguel

Update on my problems:
Saturday I had left a message on channel 13's website about my problems. Today an Engineer from channel 13 called me and asked about my problems and we talked about 10 minutes. He said they were having problems with Mits sets, but didn't know what was causing it. He said I might have to do a re-scan on my Voom STB. I already had. He also said he was going to contact Voom and see if together they could figure something out. We said our Thank You's and Goodbye's. About an hour later I did a re-scan and it came in, but this time it's on 13.1 and 13.2. I then tried my Mits integrated reciever and low and behold, it's working too. I called the Engineer back and gave him a report. He said they hadn't done anything or made any changes, since we had talked. Now I'm confused, but at least it's working. Thanks to all.

After reading about the troubles some of you are having and considering my inability to recieve Fox at all, i did a rescan last night. I still get WMAZ at 4.1, 4.2, 13.1 and 13.2 all at 100/100 rate -- a beautiful picture. I get the ABC channel (crappy football but great picture) at about 60. FOX still does not show up at all, too bad, they have some nice programming. I live near Towjumper near Wesleyan College. He cheats at girls' soccer (of all things)

Ralph,

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to know you're promoting HD over there at Fox. I will definitely sit down and send a letter to the address you provided. When I see the Falcon's highlights on ESPN-HD it nearly kills me to see them in HD when I've been forced to watch the game on WGXA in SD. I hope Fox corporate gets you guys up and running in HD soon. I know I'll be the first to sing your praises if you do! Once again thank you for your reply to my questions.

Bob

I can occasionally get DT-40 (remapped to 41), anyone know if NBC is operating at full power yet?

Originally posted by Macondawg
I live near Towjumper near Wesleyan College. He cheats at girls' soccer (of all things)

Cheat? Well at least none of MY girls tested positive for any Balco products.

Has anyone had any problems with PSIP changes lately? It seems that the only station that got it right was WMAZ. WPGA went from 32.1 to 58.1, and then 32.2 in the past few days. NBC made some changes too. Since the changes, I am experiencing more dropouts than before on both ABC and NBC.
Regards
Walt

Can I pick up cbs and abc out of Macon, Ga ota. I live in Dublin, Ga and antenna.web says I am 42 miles from the macon stations. I was wondering if the digital signal was strong enough to pick it up in Dublin.

I'd be suprised if you could get them, they run at pretty low levels. However, I think the actual towers are south of Macon so you might not be that far away. Can you pick up the analog broadcasts?

I have picked up the analog signal in the past with no problem but it takes a good antenna. I have dish network now and I get macon with them it is not hd though. I e-mailed Hal Sutton at 58abc and he said they were operating at 18 kilowatts and maybe it was enough to pick it up in Dublin with a large mast-mounted antenna. I do not know anyone in Dublin that receives the digital signal most people in Dublin do not know what digital or hd is.

WPGA should be doing 58.1 on their PSIP, as I said previously they switched from 32.1 to 58.1 to comply with the nearsighted FCC reg that goes into effect soon.

I don't think it should be surprising to get either WMAZ or WPGA in Dublin, however you'll need a good outdoor antenna. What would be surprising is to get WMGT or WGXA in Dublin.

Originally posted by Wayne Bundrick
WPGA should be doing 58.1 on their PSIP, as I said previously they switched from 32.1 to 58.1 to comply with the nearsighted FCC reg that goes into effect soon.

Frankly, I don't see where it matters in the grand scheme of things... I know WMAZ is channel 13, so my instinct is to tune 13 on the digital... and if a new station comes along, on some other RF frequency, but they're sending 4 as their PSIP major channel... that's ok, too. They just market/promote themselves as channel 4.

I'm a Dish subscriber, and I know that Speed Channel is 150. I know that GAC is on 167. However, if I were on DirecTV, they'd be on different channels. With cable, different channels still.

The purists among us may wish for PSIP info to align with the actual RF frequency... but how many out there actually know what RF frequency their satellite reception is on? How many could tell you the IF?

It's a non-issue, especially as such things as the actual RF channel become more and more transparent to the end user... remember, these are the same folks who, to this day, have "12:00" flashing on their VCRs.

Hey Y'all:
The FCC is mandating that we put in dynamic PSIP. This instead of HDTV capability. That is their priority. I reckon it has something to do with the broadcast flag, but I'm not sure. If you get our DTV signal it should look better than the analog signal, even though it isn't HDTV. However the analog signal is much more power. If you are getting our analog signal weakly, it is doubtful you will get the digital signal at all. No word on when we will get passthrough of HDTV.

Ralph Carson
WGXA TV 24/16

Originally posted by Ralph Carson
No word on when we will get passthrough of HDTV.


If it's not by 2/17/05, can you say "WAGA-DT"? I thought you could.

Let management know that if they can't be bothered to bring us NASCAR on Fox in HD, there'll be some much taller antenna masts going up around here, with antennas all pointed at Atlanta.

Once we've gone to that trouble, and got 'em sighted in nicely on the ATL digital stations, why would we bother ever turnin' 'em back?

People (the audience) will vote with their feet, and once you lose viewers, it's not easy to get them back (since they never see your promos!).

I know there are a lot of nascar fans, but the superbowl is the bigger event. To not have HD for the biggest television event of the year is ridiculous. Not to mention some of fox's best programming is about to start and is available in HD, specifically 24.
I haven't watched fox since I moved out of WAGA's broadcast area and I will not until they are broadcasting hd. It stinks because i have had to watch a bunch of AFC games over the falcons, but oh well.

I've definitely pondered the WAGA signal though. How big of an antenna would it take?

Originally posted by burdell
I've definitely pondered the WAGA signal though. How big of an antenna would it take?

I get WAGA with a lot of dropout during the day with the biggest antenna Radio Shack sells. There's also an amp on it, but the antenna's only 15 feet up.

At night, WAGA is beautiful, even if the antenna's not aimed real well (as in "pointed at the Macon tower farm out on the Cochran short route").

Keep in mind that we're at Perry (just about - Lake Joy).

I'm going to take the antenna up to 40 feet, and I believe I'll have a nice clean digital stream from WAGA 24/7. This work will be completed in time for the Budweiser Shootout.

WAGA-DT is on channel 27, with 846 kilowatts at 332 meters (1089 feet). They have a CP to go to 1,000kw. Unsure if they've done this yet... no app for a license to cover appears to have been filed yet.

WAGA-DT is the 2nd highest powered digital station in the Atlanta market (WUPA-DT makes 1,000 kilowatts) at the moment. Several have construction permits to go to 1,000 kilowatts.

In contrast, WGXA is making 1160 watts at 155 meters (508 feet). Their analog antenna is at 244 meters (800 feet), and they make 1290 kilowatts.

Rant time...

WGXA had a PSIP issue throughout the World Series, meaning many in Middle GA were unable to see a single game on the digital. Betcha the sponsors don't know that... they paid for X eyeballs during the series, but WGXA delivered X-(however_many_digital_sets_couldn't_receive_it). We watched it on WAGA-DT.

Management doesn't understand that, while DTV is in its infancy, the early adopters (those of us on this forum, for example) frequently are those with a little more disposable income than average. Which would make us, as a group, a demographic highly desirable to advertisers.

That's a point that should be made to the sponsors of the Super Bowl on WGXA (watch for promos that say it'll be brought to you by blah, blah and/or blah... then call or write those places and tell 'em you won't be seeing their ads during the Super Bowl, because WGXA can't be bothered to install an HD gear).

To be fair, it's hard to quantify the group watching DTV in mid GA, because I don't believe Nielsen is breaking out the ratings that way yet... but lacking that, management *does* understand when clients are calling and cancelling or demanding lower rates because they're hearing from people who won't/didn't see the spots they paid for.

When management won't listen to the audience, it can be helpful to target their clients... the advertisers... in order to be heard.

End rant... :)

Two quick inquiries.

Roughly speaking where do you aim for Fox atlanta? I can't figure out how to get antennaweb to look that far away. I'm just off watson near walmart, so the aiming shouldn't be too much different from lakejoy.

Secondly, I read this in another thread

You should (should being the operative word) have no trouble picking up your unencrypted locals. Your Cable Co. should be passing local digitals (WUSA-DT, WTTG-DT, WJLA-DT, WRC-DT, etc.) through unencrypted...just as long as there is a carriage agreement in place - all you need is a basic of lifeline subscription. If your locals are being encrypted then you should contact your local Cable Co., local Cable Commission and FCC in that order. Remember: your digital locals broadcast both SD and HD depending on the source material.

Is this true for our area? It does seem misleading that cox says HD is available at no extra cost, then requires not only the digital package but also a stb rental. Right now I maintain a basic Cox subscription since it is so cheap when coupled with an internet connection, but it sure would be nice to not have to deal with an antenna any more.

Noticed for the first time last night that WGXA was not stretching their signal. Hopefully that's a signal that they are making progress. Seem to recall that was a big step for 41. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, Feb 6 is fast approaching.

Originally posted by burdell
Two quick inquiries.

Roughly speaking where do you aim for Fox atlanta? I can't figure out how to get antennaweb to look that far away. I'm just off watson near walmart, so the aiming shouldn't be too much different from lakejoy.



Roughly NW... probably will take two people with walkie-talkies or cell phones to get it lined up well.

Is this true for our area? It does seem misleading that cox says HD is available at no extra cost, then requires not only the digital package but also a stb rental. Right now I maintain a basic Cox subscription since it is so cheap when coupled with an internet connection, but it sure would be nice to not have to deal with an antenna any more.

In order for standard televisions to receive digital signals, the cable company would need to convert the digital back to analog, which they are not allowed to do.

I've no idea what Cox is doing, not being in an area served by Cox, nor being interested even if I were.

I'll have to check on WGXA over the weekend... no idea what's happening over there since a contract engineer straightened out their PSIP tables for them a while back.

I don't know if the local digital broadcasts are unencrypted on Cox as they are apparently required to be, but in order to receive them without renting their HD box, you would need (either in a STB or built into the TV) QAM tuning capability, as that is how digital channels are modulated on cable.

WGXA is still stuck in 4:3

Raise those antennas higher, point 'em to Atlanta in time for your Super Bowl parties!

heh... I have a friend in Centerville that can't get WGXA-DT at all. Not that it would have mattered for the World Series, PSIP was fubar, so nobody could see anything anyway... but he had to watch the Series with all the nice ghosting and stuff on WGXA analog (and he's a life-long Red Sox fan). I kept calling him and telling him about the pretty pictures on WAGA-DT.

Now he's annoyed about having to watch the Super Bowl the same way... I guess I should be nice and invite him over for the SB :)

I'm on top of the QAM tuner part, my question was more towards the service itself. Everything I've read seems to indicate that retransmission of HD locals should not be encrypted. I haven't checked to see if cox does encrypt them but tech support indicates they do charge premium fees which also seems to be out of bounds.
The research I've done does support that retransmitted locals should not be encrypted but I've had no luck finding the rules that specify the standard.


I guess I want to know if anyone with a QAM tuner has checked to see if cox does encrypt the local feeds.

Hey Y'all:
I am keenly aware of these issues. I would hope that you would return to us when we make improvements. We are not owned by Fox network. We are owned by Peidmont Television LLC.

Ralph Carson
A.C.E. WGXA TV

Ralph:

Thanks for fighting the good fight!

Honestly, I will not re-aim my OTA to get Fox, I will just watch ABC and CBS. We have discovered several new shows (to us) that we watch on WPGA and WMAZ because they are DT and usually HD. These include the CSI shows, Raymond, King of Queens, "Philandering" Housewives and Boston Legal.

I WAS a regular '24' viewer and my wife was addicted to 'American Idol' but I doubt we will return, on our 50 inch plasma, compressed SD (Dish locals) look dreadful by comparison to HD (of course) but also in comparison to stretched SD DTV feeds OTA. The SD OTA news on WMAZ looks very impressive.

If I can figure out how to post them, I will snap a couple shots of the WMAZ news show OTA DT and the the WGXA News24 (Dish locals). The difference is striking.

Aside from the Falcons games, we have given up on Fox24 entirely in my household. Shame really, since I wanted to check out the local news show and I hear good things about "House".

PLEASE let us know if anything changes at WGXA.

Miguel Garcia
Macon

So I take it that Fox isn't going to be on Cox in HD anytime soon either?

On another topic, I live in Atlanta but my parents live in Warner Robins. When I come down on the weekends and we watch football on CBS, the pixilation on scenes with any motion at all is HORRIBLE. That's on Cox, I don't know what OTA might look like. But I can tell you that the HD picture from WGCL is tons better than the one from WMAZ, with none of that blocking and pixelation. I assume that it's because of the silly weather radar subchannel they're running--but I don't understand why that would affect the cable version also.

CBS (WMAZ DT) OTA when watching HD Football is more pixilated than ABC (WPGA DT) OTA.

Not sure why WMAZ is more pixilated but it certainly is in comparison to WPGA and ESPN HD/ HDNET etc.

However, the pixilation is not what I would describe as 'HORRIBLE' at all on my set. How is WPGA on Cox HD?

I had to call Cox when I installed my 3rd digital cable box. Pixeliation was horrible. They did a test and found that I was losing signal along the run. I have 10 cable outlets with 8 TVs connected and a house amp installed at the start of the run. They came in an redid my installation removing several splitters in the process. I still got some pixelation so the then installed a line amp toward the end of the run and things have been fine since.

Originally posted by Ralph Carson
Hey Y'all:
I am keenly aware of these issues. While I don't want y'all to go to WAGA-DT, I wouldn't blame you if you did. I would hope that you would return to us when we make improvements. We are not owned by Fox network. We are owned by Peidmont Television LLC. If it were up to the engineers we would be HD with full power by now. It pains me to read these complaints and not be able to do something about it. When I can, I will.

Ralph...

I understand that Piedmont is in some... shall we say... economic distress... and that they're not turning loose the $$ to upgrade (I don't know that they actually *have* the $$). And I do undestand that the engineers want it to be full HD, 24/7, with the power granted in the CP. I don't for a minute believe it's an inability of engineering to pull it off; I fully recognize it's management's problem.

Unfortunately, for those of us with the ability, we don't see why we should watch the SD video on WGXA-DT when we can see HD from WAGA-DT. Fox stepped up and is sending the Super Bowl in HD and *all* NASCAR on Fox will be HD (though, granted, 720p).

As for going back later, that's possible for some, I suppose. Others won't see the need to invest in a rotor (or have the ability), so once an antenna's pointed at Atlanta, they likely won't ever change it. Legislation and audit teams out looking for incorrectly pointed antennas would be the only way to force it.

It's a catch 22... WGXA needs the viewers to keep the ad rates up... but they need the ad revenue in order to buy the gear to keep the viewers.

Incidentally... WAGA-DT is now available on DirecTV, and with a little "creative addressing" for service address, DirecTV subs with HD receivers need to no more than hit the DirecTV website to get it.

With all that said, I don't believe the vast majority really care one way or the other about HD. Certainly a vocal minority here on boards like this do, but of the 20 or so here in our office, ony 2 of us even *have* HD sets. And only one of us cares whether NASCAR is ever on TV. My next door neighbors do care about NASCAR, but they don't care about (and couldn't describe) HDTV.

2 points. I don't think that The Fox station here really cares about the few people who might get an antenna and pick up the Atlanta stations. Their audience watches Fox on Cox cable

Second, tell me more about this creative addressing with DirecTV. I looked on the website but nothing stands out to me, but what do i know. My e-mail is kmbrock@bellsouth.net. Thanks olddave.

For what it's worth, I just noticed on channell 999 (DirecTV) that Macon, GA is on the list to have local channels in 2005.

Anyone in Warner Robins getting this channel? I climbed on the roof today to realign my attenna and I am now getting 17-1 at 93 signal strength. The signal strength is fluctuating though. I hope it lasts! I am now getting CBS, ABC in HD and Fox in SD. I briefly had 5-1 FOX but I lost the lock.

Kenny

Originally posted by kcouncil
Anyone in Warner Robins getting this channel? I climbed on the roof today to realign my attenna and I am now getting 17-1 at 93 signal strength. The signal strength is fluctuating though. I hope it lasts! I am now getting CBS, ABC in HD and Fox in SD. I briefly had 5-1 FOX but I lost the lock.

Kenny

WTBS so far only broadcasts Braves games in HD, everything else is upscaled, although with very good quality, it's still basically SD. 5-1 is HD, 5-2 is SD. So you are saying you can only get 5-2?

Any idea when the locals will be available on D*? Nobody knows at D* and i am missing 24, Alias, etc because my D* Tivo will only record from the Satellite! Maddening, i tell you.

I subscribe to Cox HD service and can tell you that without a doubt there's a difference between CBS, ESPN, and ABC HD. ESPN HD and ABC HD have awesome pictures during a football game. CBS has a very pixellated picture. CBS's picture, when moving on a fast play, looks especially bad. Since I've gotten the DVR box from Cox I can say it's not as bad as with my old HD box, however ABC and ESPN's pictures simply blow away CBS's picture. On another note, It truly saddens me to know that WGXA won't be running the Super Bowl in HD here in Macon/Warner Robins. I'm a huge fan of the show "24", and it kills me not to be watching that in HD either. I've voiced my displeasure here as well as to WGXA. I guess we're at the mercy of management. The NFC games on Fox look awful in SD.....it's hard to go back to SD especially after watching games in HD.

Ok, I'm finished rambling now....hope you all have a great day.

Bob

Anyone using a QAM tuner with Cox? I hate to buy one only to find out that cox is ignoring CableCard rules and retransmission rules.

Also, just wondering why if cox can carry WAGA SD, why they don't carry it in WAGA HD. Seems to be an obvious service that is lacking.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the new satellite rules play out. I think the new SHVIA specified something about frequently viewed stations being available to DBS. With local cox already carrying the atlanta locals...seems logical that D* and E* should be allowed to carry atlanta locals as well. Add this to the fact that D* has already announced that Atlanta will be one of the first markets to get locals in HD, maybe there is hope in the coming months.

Originally posted by kcouncil
Anyone in Warner Robins getting this channel? I climbed on the roof today to realign my attenna and I am now getting 17-1 at 93 signal strength. The signal strength is fluctuating though. I hope it lasts! I am now getting CBS, ABC in HD and Fox in SD. I briefly had 5-1 FOX but I lost the lock.

When I have the antenna pointed at Atlanta, I get:

2-1, WSB-DT
2-2, WSB-DT (ABC NewsNow)
5-1, WAGA-DT
5-2, WAGA-DT (SD)
11-1, WXIA-DT
11-2, WXIA-DT (usually 11Alive Doppler)
13-1, WMAZ-DT
13-2, WMAZ-DT (Doppler)
OCCASIONAL - 14-1 through 14-4, WPXA-DT (Pax, Pax West and 2 religion channels)
17-1, WTBS-DT
17-2, WTBS-DT (SD)
OCCASIONAL - 19-1, WGCL-DT (bad PSIP major channel #, should be 46-1, may have changed by now)
34-1, WUVG-DT (Athens - Univision)
36-1, WATL-DT
43-1, WUPA-DT (Bad PSIP major channel #, should be 69-1, may have changed by now)
58-1, WPGA-DT
63-1 through 63-4, WHSG-DT (TBN channels, believe this is a bad PSIP, too, think it's supposed to be 58-1 to 4)


The only problem children are WGCL and WPXA, and WGCL has an application in to go up significantly in power.

Once WGXA and WMGT get their acts together and actually transmit some power, should be able to see those, even with the antenna pointed at ATL.

1. What type of antenna setup are you using? Rooftop, attic, etc.
2. Are you using a preamp?
3. Which brand/model antenna?

I'm in WR and am really bummed about Fox24 not broadcasting HD:confused:

1. Outside antenna, on 18 feet of mast... need to go to 30 ft at least
2. Yes, using a Channel Master pre-amp
3. The biggest antenna Radio Shack sells

Anyone noticing WPGA-DT missing the cut back to HD tonight after spot breaks?

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations on antenna installers in the area? I want to put up an antenna that will pick up the Atlanta stations prior to the Super Bowl.

The back of my house is 3 stories and I really don't feel that I need that kind exhilaration at this point in my life.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

I would hope that viewers that put up an antenna for Atlanta would go ahead and install a rotor. How much more does it cost? There is also the possibility of picking up Columbus. (I don't know if anyone has successfully tried it) I believe that our local management is now convinced that we need to do HDTV pass through, though I cannot speak for them. It looks like the next thing we will be doing is dynamic PSIP. That will just cost money, without any benefit. Yet, the FCC is mandating it. If they did things right, they would have required that all TV sets sold have DTV receive capability as soon as a modulation standard was decided on, regardless of whether it was an HDTV set or not. Since then, tons of NTSC only sets have been sold. What a bungle. That would have improved the profit picture for HDTV signifigantly. Then improvements would be driven by profit outlook, not FCC mandate. a tuner for this could have been mass manufactured for pennies. Anyway, we are where we are. I believe it will catch on, but it will take a little while.

Ralph Carson
Assistant Chief Engineer
WGXA TV

I recently tried a Channel Master CM4221 UHF antenna, and about all it did was make ABC rock solid. Still can't get NBC or Fox reliably. I should have gotten the eight bay Channel Master. If anyone would like to try the 4221, give me a call at 922-9711 (evening), or email wirvine@mindspring.com.

My setup now is the cheapest RS combo, the CM4221, and a CM Titan 7777 preamp. The Titan preamp has separate, switch selectable VHF/UHF and UHF Only inputs. Setting the switch to allow the UHF Only input, also changes the VHF/UHF input to VHF.

Regards
Walt Irvine

Originally posted by Ralph Carson
[B]I would hope that viewers that put up an antenna for Atlanta would go ahead and install a rotor. How much more does it cost?

$80-$100. Kinda steep on top of mast, antenna and amplifier. My thoughts are "get it pointed for Atlanta, and lock it down."

I believe that our local management is now convinced that we need to do HDTV pass through, though I cannot speak for them.

We appreciate the tough spot you're in... but until we see an HD Superbowl picture, and HD NASCAR on Fox, WAGA-DT is still the winner for those with the capability.

It's been said, and I agree, that the number who care/have the ability is miniscule. Of course, some of us can be vocal :)

If the cost of a rotor is $80.00 to $100.00, that's not too bad, considering that it is a one time cost. People routinely pay up to $40.00 a month for cable. And after you have spent that $100.00 for the rotor, the programming is free. It's always good to have a backup, and the ability to swing that antenna around is just that. I wouldn't put up a tall antenna without one.

Ralph Carson

58-1, WPGA-DT
63-1 through 63-4, WHSG-DT (TBN channels, believe this is a bad PSIP, too, think it's supposed to be 58-1 to 4)

If WHSG-DT used 58-1 then it would conflict with WPGA-DT. It's anybody's guess as to how your receiver would handle it. But according to FCC records. WHSG's NTSC channel actually is 63 and their DTV is 44 so their PSIP major channel number is correct.

Speaking of WPGA, this morning they upgraded the software in their upconverter. I thought it already did an outstanding job but Hal Sutton says the quality should now be even better, with more consistent chroma levels and less scaling artifacts. He also recently tracked down the problem they were having with digital closed captioning, that's working properly now. His next task is an encoder software revision that will let him change the MPEG program stream number from 2 to 3 (this is not the same as the PSIP minor channel number, but apparently some receivers incorrectly display this number instead of PSIP minor channel which might be why some of you are saying you see it as 58-2). The reason he has to change it is so that the video and audio PIDs will comply with the FCC's new minimum PID number rule. When that happens you may have to rescan, keep that in mind if you suddenly can't see WPGA-DT in the coming weeks.

$80 bucks may not seem that bad, but when you consider it is $80 on top $100 for an antenna, $300 for a receiver, $40 for a mast and mount.
It's really not a cheap way to get four or five channels, not to mention the hassle.
Unlike the majority of people, I love this stuff. So I deal with the hassle just so I can enjoy the HD, but I wish cox, dish, et al, were allowed to provide me the content that is available, that I am willing to pay for, and weren't forced into this non-capitalistic protection of the little guy. The locals don't provide me any added value and in some cases are just unable to keep pace. Yet others aren’t allowed to come in and compete for my business. Maybe I am just missing something, but I think that if Cox wanted to retransmit anchorage Alaska locals, and I am willing to pay for it, then it should be allowed.

/end rant – maybe I should contact my congressman rather than a message board

Yeah, I don't really care for exclusivity either, as in syndex or network protection. However, that is very common in many industries, and is a contractural agreement between the content provider and the distributer. it draws a lot of ire because the public is exposed to it, and everyone loves their freedom. Regardless, there has to be money made by all parties concerned in any business enterprise, and television is unique in that we do give away the product to the general public. However, it isn't free, in fact it is very expensive. So we have to be sure that when middle Georgia viewers see a program that we air, that we are getting paid for it, since we are the contracted distributor. Duplicate signals from other markets just serve to water down the market because they are paid for from somewhere else. The advertising is worthless because no one is going to drive a hundred miles to buy a product in another city, unless it is something very unique, and in that case, then they will get it over the internet. So, we would be harmed by another station that isn't even competing against us. That is the reasoning, and I think it's fair. However, in return it is our duty that we should provide an equal air product, and I will always work toward that when I can. However, I do understand how folks feel about the blue screen. I wish there was a better way. Thank you,

Ralph Carson
Assistant Chief Engineer
WGXA TV24

hoping for Fox HDTV this nascar season on Cox. Any idea when this might happen?
thanks