Let's just say, more than $2 million, less than $5 million. Keep in mind, this does not let us broadcast local HDTV either, only pass CBS. Not to mention a 10x increase in power costs over VHF television. We need a lot more tv sets being sold....

Let's see, that works out to about $175,000 per local viewer on this board.

Don't you feel special?

A little off the subject, but I figured if anyone can answer this question, it's this forum ...
Does anyone know if FOX or WB in Omaha are anywhere near ready to sign a retrans consent with DISH Network for Omaha locals?

Not sure about the DISH network, but I did noticed TitanTV finally has KPTM and KXVO listed under the Digital Television Guide. Does this mean I can go ahead and purchase my HDTV equiptment and be assured of getting reception?

I've held off purchase till TitanTV had a majority of the stations I watch listed in the Digital section. I live in Omaha here in Benson, so I should be able to recieve them no problem. I'm about 2 miles away from the towers at Crown Point and 15 miles away from KPTM and KXVO's towers.

Are KPTM and KXVO broadcasting a good signal? I haven't heard too much about them, besides people that are on the other side of the antenna trying to receive them.

Thanks for everyone great input and I hope to be able to join everyone soon when I purchase my equiptment.

SoulFX

I posted this in another read, and a member suggested I post it here -- sorry for the screenname, graduate of CU - but don't let that keep you from helping!

Issue - I've got the OTA signal bummer blues, and I would like a better picture from the traditional network affiliates on my w/s HDTV.

Variables
I live 30 miles south of Omaha in the country, west of Plattsmouth, east of Louisville.

Inherited an older over the air antennae with a long cable run and multiple splits from the previous house owner.

I realize I won't get HD quality picture without the tuner on the satellite side, and I run an older version Direct TV – no component video or 5.1 digital audio capability, and am not ready to spring for the $400 to $800 for an upgraded dish / tuner for DirectTV yet.

According to http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/stations.asp the following information about my local affiliates, and this info appears to say that all of the key affiliates will be digital by Spring.

Digital / Antenna Type / Call Sign / Channel / Network / City State / Live Date / Compass Orientation

* yellow WOWT-DT 22 NBC Omaha NE Now Live 351°
* yellow KXVO-DT 38 WB Omaha NE Now Live 291°
* yellow KPTM-DT 43 FOX Omaha NE Now Live 291°
* yellow KMTV-DT 45 CBS Omaha NE Mar 1 2003 351°
green KPTM 42 FOX Omaha NE 291°
lt green KETV 7 ABC Omaha NE 351°
lt green KXVO 15 WB Omaha NE 291°
* lt green KETV-DT 20 ABC Omaha NE Now Live 351°
* blue KMTV 3 CBS Omaha NE 351°
blue WOWT 6 NBC Omaha NE 351°


My options:

Most Expensive
Purchase something like the Zenith HDTV Receiver / ZEN HDV420 to up convert my signal and improve the picture. However, as one product reviewer stated, “it does not receive analog NTSC at all”

Question #1 - If the stations will all be digital by this Spring, the analog / NTSC concern won’t matter, correct?

Medium Expense
Purchase a newer television antenna – according to the recommendation at antennaeweb.org I’ll need a “medium directional antenna with pre-amp” given my distance from the television stations.

Question #2 – Assuming that the inherited antenna is at least 12 years old, have television antennas for rooftops / attics really improved enough to justify this attempt?


Least Expensive
Try in line signal amplifiers from Terk or Radio Shack to improve the signal from the old antennae and long cable runs.

I apologize for the long post, but come here because this forum is awesome, and I’m hoping you all can help answer my questions and provide some advice.

Thank you.

Some questions for you:

1) Where is the antenna mounted?

2) How far doe the lead in wire run, how many splits are there, what condition is the wire in, is it 300 ohm or 75 ohm coax?

3) What is your goal? To get DTV or just get TV.

4) What do you have for equipment now?

Ackpthhh.... Grammy's just came on Cox/805- and the audio is popping every 2-3 seconds. Really annoying.

Called their tech support - they're experiencing it too - have notified the head end of the issue.

FYI - in case anyone else is watching.. Picture is outstanding.

bcwgobuffs,

We have installed antenna in Southbend, Cedar Creek, and South of Louisville (20 roof at hwy50 and hwy 1 intersection if I remember right). We have had fairly good luck getting all of the Omaha station with our single antenna as far as analog goes. I would need to know better what your address is to give you a better idea.

When it come to digital I think you may run into a problem with the WB and FOX. As posted before on page 24 KPTM/KXVO are goiing to be highly directional only to Omaha. I don't think you will get any sigianal where you are. However I haven't done any digital stuff in your area to know for sure. Just wanting to give you the heads up.

When it comes to splits it gets a little weird. The best to to run all of your cable to one area and use the least amount of splitters possible. If not then you will just need a large amp and realize the picture quaility will not be the same.

I don't want to make this to long. Hopefully this will give you some ideas. PM me if you have more questions. I would be glad to help.

Shawn

Audio glitches on the Grammys? Yeah we heard those too here in Des Moines ... every time Eminem said "motherf***er" in his song. Hmmmm .....

Hah.

BTW, It never got fixed - sure hope it's fixed on CBS before tonight's new CSI:Miami.. Thing was - everytime a local commercial was broadcast, the popping would go away -- but national commercials had the popping too. Wonder if CBS decided to cut bandwidth to Omaha or something. :)

I will be checking into the audio popping on HDTV with CBS. I suspect it may have something to do with the Dolby 5.1 they decided to run down for the first time.

It reminds me of a funny skit on an episode of David Letterman. Years ago I worked for an NBC station. NBC played up the grand changeover to STEREO audio for a week! And it did sound great.

Letterman decided to make a big deal out of Stereo on his show also. So he rolled an RCA big screen TV onto his studio, he also rolled out a board with a huge knife switch with the words STEREO on it and a big light on the top.

When he threw the switch, the light flashed and they flashed the word "STEREO" on the screen, and they proceded to celebrate like it was New Year's Eve! Then, in five seconds, the color dropped out of the picture.

Thanks, Scot! Nice to see you guys are here as well!!

Quick question for all you Cox'ers...

While watching HD feeds, my picture blacks out about once every 2-3 minutes for about 2 seconds. I'm assuming this is 'static' in the digital age.

Anyone else have it this bad? .. Anyone have it at all?

I've called Cox out once already to check signal strength to a set downstairs, which they replaced all the cables, etc - out to behind my house from inside my house -- but as an experiment when I was watching CSI:Miami on Monday night, I verified that the blackouts were appearing at exactly the same time on two different setups, so I don't think hardware could be the issue.

Should I call these people again? .. I pay a lot of money each month to have a quality signal coming into my house, and if I don't have it - hopefully they can do something about it.

dimer0, I'm experiencing the same thing on Cox HDTV as you are. I've noticed it the last couple of nights. It is fairly annoying. It seems it can't be perfect. A few nights ago there were some audio problems and now it's the problem with the picture blacking out. I don't know if it's Cox or some network problem. But whatever it is, I hope they can get it figured out soon. I really doubt that it's a signal strength problem on our end, but who knows.

Scot, Mike,

From the neighborhood watch department ;) the following has their analog car parked on your digital street.

Council Bluffs/Omaha NE TV-45 Inc. K45CQ Channel 45

Looks like they are suppose to move to channel 54. Facility Id: 54381 Call Sign: K54GL

Thanks Warren,

I thought that they had already moved! I know Trinity used to be up on Ch. 45.

What programming is on there now?

I guess I better get the UHF antenna hooked back up to the analog receiver.

Trinity Broadcast Network

Warren

Ok, I live close to them - I'll go dig out my jammers and head on out.

DIMER,

I have the same issues with the Cox Cable signal. i.e. periodic "flash".

Reminds me of the days when the vertical hold would occasionally need adjustment.

fyi.

Ok - it's nice to see that this isn't a problem with *my* signal... I'll call Cox and see how far I can get with this. I have a feeling they'll just say something like "Well, HDTV isn't officially supported yet" or something.

WOWT,

Kinda cool seeing your transmitter Windows screen on the air...

Doug

Originally posted by dimer0
Ok - it's nice to see that this isn't a problem with *my* signal... I'll call Cox and see how far I can get with this. I have a feeling they'll just say something like "Well, HDTV isn't officially supported yet" or something.

Pleasantly surprised by the tech I talked to at Cox today.. He's gunna watch their demo HD setup tonight while CSI is on and see if they see it there... He was also very interested about this forum.. So, hopefully he'll show up and become active.

Well, the first segment of the show was perfect, but from 8:15->8:30, it was horrible. Picture and sound going in and out quite frequently (3-4 times a minute)

Scott,

"Let's just say, more than $2 million, less than $5 million. Keep in mind, this does not let us broadcast local HDTV either, only pass CBS. Not to mention a 10x increase in power costs over VHF television. We need a lot more tv sets being sold...."

I'm looking at buying a third DTV receiver, will that help any? ;)

Ouch! I didn't realize there was actuallly a power increase/penalty with switching to DTV other than the costs incurred by broadcasting in the UHF spectrum.

Assuming an eventual transition to DTV-VHF in the future will your costs be as substantial?

Regards, John

John,

Buy two! DTV on VHF would be a wonderful world, power consumption and costs would actually be lower than for NTSC. My problem is, I'm on channel 3. Knowing that Channel 3 has a heck of a problem with power line and motor interference, it is not clear what these types of interference will do to DTV.

Very little testing has been done on lower VHF. It'll be interesting to see if this is a possibility.

Anybody know if PBS (channel 12 in Lincoln/Omaha) is doing DTV work now? They have been off the air a day or two?

Thanks,
Doug

From what my boss told me ( I was out of the office yesterday and he talked to channel 12) they were hoping to be back up on Thursday. The crew was out on the tower trying to get everything ready for the new antenna. With the weather we are having today we think it will be a while yet.

If we here more I will post it later.

Shawn

Shawn, is 12's outage because of the transition to DTV?

Yes, that is what the boss was told.

A Channel 12 Engineer was in our Store on Sunday, and asked me if I noticed that it was off the air, it definitely is for DTV transition, but they don't plan to go on-line until they need to in May '03 for Cost reasons. Another interesting note, they have been filming content locally in HD, of what I'm not sure, but they have the equipment in house to do it.

S.K.

Hi Scot from Kmtv 3, I have several questions for you, first question how are you progressing in ota dtv/hdtv, still shooting for the 15th of March?Second question about the ncaa tourney and hdtv will you be able to show the hdtv games on Friday the 20th and on Sunday the 22 on the hdtv channel? and has Cbs said if the war happens how with this effect the hdtv games? I just read that the Masters will have Hdtv coverage all four days!!!! This is awesome. Thanks Scott

I recently tried out a channel master 7775 amp to see how much difference it made in picking up KETV and Wowt. Without the amp I get Wowt at around 70% and Ketv around 50%. After I installed the amp (mast mount) my signal dropped to 30% on Wowt and basically 0% on Ketv (faded on and off). I live about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln and am using a OTA card with my Dish 6000. I don't remember the model # of antenna I have, but its a channel master 8bow uhf. Anyone know why it made things much worse than better?? Some of the stuff I had read said that adding an amp could be overkill and hurt your signal, but I thought I was plenty far out with the signal strengths I was getting. Just wanted to help out the signal a little to stop some of the drop outs I get every so often. Anyone know whats going on????

sb60634

You are most likely over-driving you Echo 6000 input. Is your antenna in an attic or outside? This antenna should do a fine job depending on how high your location is. (On a hill etc..) If you are in between Lincoln and Omaha you are in prime location for picking up quite a lot. I use the 4 element version of the antenna you are using and I always have 100% on WOWT and around 50% on KETV. I'm in NorthWest Lincoln, with the antenna above my garage in the attic. If your antenna is directly connected to your Set Top Box, you shouldn't need amplification.

My antenna is outside. I really don't live in a low area, but there is a large metal building in the direction of where I have to point it. I have often wondered if maybe raising the antenna would help some. I do have a power pole that has a yard light on it that I could mount the antenna on. The only drawback would be the long run of coax and having to bury some of it. I am king of anxious to see Kmtv come on at the higher power so I can see what kind of signal I get from them. I don't see many dropouts with Wowt, but the Ketv signal is touchy some evenings. Think I remember there posts saying they would be increasing power this summer after raising there antenna. Might have to wait for a solid signal until then. Thanks for the info...........

PS. If anyone needs a Channel Master 7775, I have a brand new one. Doesn't look like it will do me much good. sb60634@hlinet.com

sb60634,

Might be a little bit of multipath. I am thinking this due to you mentioned you receive WOWT at 70% with a few dropouts, and KETV at 50% with more.

You might try moving the antenna a few feet one way or the other to see if you can improve this. You may be getting a reflection off that metal building.

Warren

ABC Movie Conair,

Hi Everyone, sorry, I had the web-team list Conair as HD tonight. I was mistaken, it is not.

Warren

Hi everyone in Nebraska!!!

I have a brother in Crete and I was wondering what HD channels he would be able to pick up in his area. I actually live in Albuquerque, NM. I am trying to get my brother in the world of high-def. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

By the way, if you didn't already know, Crete is outside of Lincoln somewhere.

I would think he would be S.O.L. in Crete until KMTV gets their full power signal up. KETV and WOWT are currently doing low power broadcast. KOLN/KGIN will be his best bet sometime in the next few months, as their tower is fairly close to him by Beaver Crossing.

WOWT, any new news on when you will be on Cox?? Patiently waiting.

Thanks
Matt

Video, I wish I could give you a definite date, but I am no longer in the loop on the negotiating. It has moved higher up the chain.

I do expect an aggrement to be reached by the end of March.

Jay

fjerina

If they live in Crete, they are served with Time Warner Cable. If he signs up for HBO, he can request an HD Convertor Box, Currently they offer 2 Channels of HBO and 2 Channels of Showtime in HD. They are also doing the NBA feeds that are being done by TNT to subscribers that have the HD Box. His TV will need HD Component inputs, and then he can just lease the convertor box from them, around $6.00 per month. As soon as Ch. 10 (CBS) (KOLN) and Ch. 8 (ABC) KLKN are broadcating in HD, they plan to add that, I've been told. We'll see. If he needs any additional information, our store is located 30 minutes from Crete.
Here is a Time Warner Link for Crete.

http://www.twcnebraska.com/cable/crete_lineup.shtml

We have a lot of customers using Time Warner for Movies, and an OTA solution for networks, but in Crete, he'll have trouble receiving the Omaha Channels, but KOLN is really close, shooting for April 15th, and KLKN is broadcasting an upconverted analog signal now digitally.

Take Care.

st30247, thanks for the info. I think the cable option would be the best for him especially if they add the local HD channels too. I think it's better to rent a HD converter box from the cable company for $6/month instead of dishing out $500 for a HD tuner which you may or may not get the OTA stations.

Does he already have a TV, if not, he should consider an integrated HDTV. This has many benefits in the long run, such as Recording of HDTV signals that come over the air etc. Regardless, Time Warner is a nice option for awhile. I'm just not convinced that they will offer Networks anytime soon. We'll see.
S.K.

Going to try a little something different on Thursdays @ 10am for one hour.

ABC feeds the affiliates an HD test loop daily. This test loop has HD content of the ABC talent and the like, but also tests the DD 5.1 audio channel by channel. (Left, Center, Right, LS, RS, & LFE)

I thought this may be of some value to both the consumers setting up their HDTV & surround sound systems, as well as the retail outlets setting up systems.

KMTV,

You have a little over a week before the HD feeds for March Madness begins? You going to make it??? HD minds want to know?

Doug

Ahh, what a week for tower work. Nice temps, lots of sun and light breezes. I'm hoping KMTV makes it!

They better!

Between DirecTVs March Madness package and Hi-Def as well, I've invited a lot of people to swing through for games!

Doug

Well, our transmitter proofed out beautifully. We are set in that aspect. Today the crew finished installation of the transmission line on the tower. The first half of the day was too windy. From here on out they will be changing out guy lines.

We have 15 lines to change out. On a good day they say they can do two lines. They need days with very little wind to do it. Knowing Nebraska weather, I'm hoping to be on by March 25.

Following is what CBS is going to be sending us in HDTV for March Madness:

WILL BE FED IN HDTV

FRIDAY, MARCH 21
SUNDAY, MARCH 23
THE BIRMINGHAM-JEFFERSON CIVIC CENTER IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

FRIDAY, MARCH 28
SUNDAY, MARCH 30
THE ALAMODOME IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

From the Final Eight, all games will be available in HDTV.

Throughout the Tournament, we may be scheduled to run non-HDTV games on our NTSC Channel 3, but CBS has asked us to air HDTV games on our HDTV transmitter. We will switch and feed these seperately.

Keep the excitement, we are working hard.

Scot,

Your lineup looks excellent.

Hope things proceed safely with your tower crew.

John

Scott, how is the guide wire replacement going? any chance you could be up and running by next friday? thanks

Had a person saying they were having problems with the channel 6 audio. We haven't had any problems here at the shop so thought I would ask the forum.

No problems with 6.1 from my system.

KMTV, whats the scoop????

Doug

The guy line replacement is progressing slowly. Winds, lightning, and rain have been keeping the crew off the tower. I'm trying to keep my hopes up to be on by the end of March. The transmitter is ready to go.

Well thank goodness that DirecTV is putting the HD NCAA games on channel 198 with the March Madness package.

As John mentioned earlier, just do it safe.

Thanks,
Doug

Any Directv customers in Omaha or Lincoln area getting the Texas game in Hdtv on directv channel 198? I'm getting the not available in your area! I thought if you had the march madness package the hdtv feeds were not subject to blackout.

Any Directv customers in Omaha or Lincoln area getting the Texas game in Hdtv on directv channel 198? I'm getting the not available in your area! I thought if you had the march madness package the hdtv feeds were not subject to blackout.

Any Directv customers in Omaha or Lincoln area getting the Texas game in Hdtv on directv channel 198? I'm getting the not available in your area! I thought if you had the march madness package the hdtv feeds were not subject to blackout.

Ronald,

I thought so too, but they did turn it back on when CBS went to coverage of the war. I talked to DirecTV and the csr basically just said it was subject to the same blackout rules. Not what I thought the intent was either.

Doug

KETV-DT Transmitter is down, I am currently working on it.

Warren

KETV-DT is back on the air.

Warren

Academy Awards last night was VERY NICE.. No flashing black-outs over Cox, either! Very refreshing.

I received my PSIP server late on Friday.

I will shut down the HD side this morning @ 9:30am to perform a software & firmware upgrade to my encoder. Will take roughly 2 hours. Start it again and let it run with the new software for 24 hours.

If all is OK, I will start PSIP on Tuesday afternoon. Again, once I deploy PSIP, KETV-DT will show up on 7-1. This re-map to 7-1 will not affect the viewers on Cox cable, just OTA.

Oscars looked great in Lincoln.

Thanks, S.K.

WOWT on Cox, any word??

Thanks

Originally posted by st30247
Oscars looked great in Lincoln.

Thanks, S.K.
Steve, what are you using for reception and tuning for KETV?

Channel master CM4221 4 bay UHF w/ a Screen, in an attic. Location in the Highlands of Lincoln. North of the Airport. I will say that I have a 2 story house and no tall trees. That certainly helps, but I gage my distance at 50-55 miles from the transmitter. Ch. 6 is 100% signal a majority of the time, KETV around 58%. The set-top that I use is the Hughes built Mitsubishi SRHD400, nice becuase if you also subscribe to DirecTV it puts all of these channel's (including analog) programming information into the DirecTV Guide. So even stations that don't tranmit PSIP info, the DirecTV Guide maps them to 6-1, 7-1, 8-1, etc... Another benefit, is I can stretch out black side bars if I want to to preserve my television from Pospher aging. Questions call me.

S.K.

Thanks Steve.

I'm using an Antennacraft MXU59 yagi in the attic. It's about 100" long if you aren't familiar with it. I live in the vacinity of 40th and Hwy2. I get WOWT-DT at about 75% but KETV-DT bounces around just below the threshold of my Dish 6000.

I've always thought about giving the Channelmaster 4228 8 bay a try. Do you guys have any I could try? I'd hate to buy one and end up in the same situation.

We don't stock the 4228, but If you wanted to try the CM4221 by purchasing it, we'd certainly refund you the money when you return it.

I've tried this antenna in this location, but it was down low by Williamsburg Drive. It kind of depends how high you are. The 4221 wouldn't work down low near Williamsburg Drive.

Give me a call if you want to discuss further.

Thanks, S.K.

I will say, you are in a gray area down there, until KETV gets their new tranmitting antenna sometime in June, After that it should be reliable. I've also been informed that Channel 8 will most likely not be HD until sometime next fall at the earliest. I think they'd like to be up for Monday Night Football, but I doubt it will happen.

I'm counting on all the Omaha broadcasters for my HD. From what I understand KETV-DT should be upping power this summer and KMTV-DT should (hopefully) be up in a week or so. This will give me all the broadcasters of HD. I've gone four months with just WOWT-DT, I suppose another couple months won't hurt me.

Any word on KOLN/KGIN and their tower work progress?

I attended their 50th Anniversary party, and they were talking Apr. 15th time frame, but I don't have a direct contact w/ their engineering department.

Warren, do you or anyone at WOWT have the contacts to update us?

Thanks, S.K.

I have:

Brent Haun
Chief Engineer KOLN
402-467-9218

Warren

Just wondering --- I've been having problems with the intermittant blackouts on Cox's HDTV channels (as some of you others said you had)... For all those who experienced them before, have you noticed them becoming less frequent? .. The Oscar's had *zero* of them, and last night CSI only had two very quick ones at the end ...

Things are looking up.. Enjoyable to watch HD again. :)

Update on KMTV-DT:

As of this morning, we have replaced 4 of 12 guy lines. 8 more lines to go, then mount the DTV antenna. I am still hoping to be on by the NCAA Final Four......hoping.

Good luck, we are sure hoping you make it.

S.K.

Noticed that CBS appears to have HDTV available from one or maybe a couple venues. Does anyone have information as to which venues will broadcast thier games in HDTV this weekend??

The PSIP server is up and running.

KETV-DT is now re-mapped to 7-1.

Program guide information is also being broadcast in the PSIP stream.

You may need to delete 20-1 and re-scan.

Thanks Warren, Working great on the re-map. I think the Echostar 6000 blocks the guide info.

Thanks for the hard work.
Shawn

HDTV available from this venue only:

FRIDAY, MARCH 28
SUNDAY, MARCH 30
THE ALAMODOME IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

From the Final Eight, all games will be available in HDTV.

Throughout the Tournament, we may be scheduled to run non-HDTV games on our NTSC Channel 3, but CBS has asked us to air HDTV games on our HDTV transmitter. We will switch and feed these seperately.

Here is a picture of the tower crew replacing guy wire number four. Eight more to go.

Warren,

The PSIP server looks like it's working great, the programming guide is a nice feature. Thanks.

--Mike

Hi,

I've finally got my HD Tuner Board installed and setup. I installed a RS VU-90XR on the roof. I'm going to have to do something different as I can only receive KETV reliably (sig strength of 48-64%) and only a blip on WOWT (~11%) and nothing from KPTM or KXVO.

My location as mentioned earlier is the Omaha/Benson area. This evening I was up on the roof rotating the antenna while my dad watched the signal strength. My goal was to get a signal from KPTM, but every way I rotated I got nothing.

I'm sorta stumped right now. I haven't got a chance to ground the antenna mast or the cable yet. Could that be the problem?

Maybe I should look into getting another antenna. After reading around the board it looks like I should put up one of CM's UHF antennas. Something like the 4221 or the 4228 should work. Where at in Omaha would I be able to get one?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

John

I'd like to thank all of the engineers who responded to the e-mail I sent to you last night :) I was 'passed thru' to this site. Interesting reading!
My wife and I compromised on a Samsung 32". I know that's not the 60" plasma, but it beats the ol' 19" 1980's NTSC set we were using.

I have Time Warner for cable, but their analog tier is very grainy. If I am reading this right, KETV and WOWT will beam into Lincoln and since KM3 is going on at full tilt, I should have no problem. KOLN says "By June".

After reading this forum, it appears that I should pick up the following, based on what seems to doing a good job with signals:
Samsung SIR T150/151 HDTV tuner
Channel Master 7775 preamp
Channel master CM4221

I have a friend who wants to ditch a 30 foot tower. I figure if I put that up at my home near 27th & Highway 2 (it's a low spot, unfortunately) in Lincoln, I should be in good shape?
With KOLN coming online soon I'm not too concerned about Channel 3, but since our 'local' NBC affiliate is listed as Hastings Nebraska (yea, right!) I'm hoping WOWT comes in.

With the above scheme, should I have a decent chance of pulling Omaha's primary networks in? (I know KLKN is running a transmitter but it's not HD).

With 10/11 and eventually channel 8 being West of lincoln cause any weird problems? I'm not going to be pulling the analog signals OTA, since I have cable, so I don't thing ghosting should be a problem.

Dave, Since you are at 27th and Hwy 2 you will need every little bit of height that you can get. If your friend has a 30 foot tower just remember that 5 - 8 foot of that will go in the ground for your base unless you have something else in mind. If you bury part of the tower a 20' roof mount may give you more height.

We sell antenna at the shop that will get both your Omaha and Lincoln station. If you are interested please stop down or give me a call I would be glad to help.

Shawn

WOWT, any word on Cox?

Thanks

Video,

Right now, it is in the hands of Cox. We are waiting on an answer from our latest offer.

Jay

Thanks, I hope Cox gets their act together.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by soulfx
[B]Hi,

I've finally got my HD Tuner Board installed and setup. I installed a RS VU-90XR on the roof. I'm going to have to do something different as I can only receive KETV reliably (sig strength of 48-64%) and only a blip on WOWT (~11%) and nothing from KPTM or KXVO.

My location as mentioned earlier is the Omaha/Benson area. This evening I was up on the roof rotating the antenna while my dad watched the signal strength. My goal was to get a signal from KPTM, but every way I rotated I got nothing.

I'm sorta stumped right now. I haven't got a chance to ground the antenna mast or the cable yet. Could that be the problem?

Maybe I should look into getting another antenna. After reading around the board it looks like I should put up one of CM's UHF antennas. Something like the 4221 or the 4228 should work. Where at in Omaha would I be able to get one?

John,

I live in Benson area 1.5 blocks north of 56th and Blondo. I have the cheapest Radio Shack antenna you can buy in my attic. I get KETV and WOWT great. I can't get KPTM or KXVO at all though. I even tried buying signal amplifier, but that only made things worse. I know I could probably improve my chances by going on the roof, but the wife won't allow. She's pissed enough about the DirecTV dish. Let me know how it turns out. I'm not sure where the towers are for KPTM and KVXO.

KPTM / KXVO Towers are south of the Outlet Malls near Gretna, approx.

S.K.

Hi TrentD,

Today I went to Omaha Electronics Inc on 22nd and Leavenworth St. to see if they had the Channel Masters. They didn't have them, but I did purchase a Winegard PR-4400.

I told the gentleman at the store what all I was trying to do. He said that one of the tech guys from KPTM had stopped in earlier and had bought the PR-4400 and said it was a good antenna.

I got home and with the help of a friend put together the antenna and mounted it on the roof. I am now able to pick up both WOWT (56%) and KETV (84%) awesome. When I rotated the antenna toward the KPTM/ KXVO towers I am able to pick up KXVO, but still no KPTM.

I have come to the conclusion that I will need to have two antenna's. One pointed toward Crown Point (WOWT, KETV) and the other pointed toward the KPTM/ KXVO towers. I'm going to see if I can take back the RS antenna tomorrow and possibly look into purchasing the Winegard PR-8800 and/or an amp.

Hmm, I might have spoken too soon. I got home after work and it seems I can't pick up WOWT as well anymore. If the weather isn't too bad tomorrow I'll mess with it some more. I know for one thing I am not looking forward to what the weather looks to be doing this weekend.

-John

I am wondering if Kmtv is going to be on the air by Next Sats final four???I hope so. I have 15 people coming over to watch in Hdtv. I know this is a big project for Kmtv, I know they need good weather to get the guide wires replaced, but only four finished in a Month? maybe the crew needs to be bigger? and work on the weekend if the weather is nice. Good luck Kmtv

As of today, we have replaced 7 of the 12 guy lines (4 each tower leg). They can generally change one per day, two on a good day. These days must be rain/snow free and with winds less than 15 mph. In addition to simply replacing guy lines, the cable rigging must be moved with each leg change, which takes a good half day. These are 5,000 lb. lines. More crew members will not speed the project up. See attached photo

I don't have enough money to pay a tower crew to work on weekends. Based on this, we need 5 to 10 good days to complete lines and antenna. We are working as hard and safely as possible. There is nothing we can do to hurry this process. I am hoping to be able to air the NCAA Final Four and the Masters Golf.......

Thanks,

Thanks for the update, I think we are all anxious.

We can't wait for CBS HD.

S.K.

I talked with Paul Sautter, Assistant Director of Engineering-Transmissions for Nebraska Educational Telecommunications today. They are in the testing phase for their DTV. Should be simulacasting multiple streams during the day, then plan on a single HDTV and a single SDTV for Primetime. They will be testing for 3 hrs each night. April 1, they plan on broadcasting for 9hrs a day.

They are going on with 500kW ERP (located on the UNO Campus). I tried to receive them here at the WOWT studios but the Peter Kiewit building is blocking me to the west.

Jay

Hi all,

First I want to thank all of the local station people giving us updates on the progress of their transmissions.

I currently use an OTA tuner to pick up the locals , but want to move to either cable or satellite to pick up movie channels and the like. The channel I really want is ESPN-HD. In the Programming forum it was announced today that Cox will carry ESPN-HD in some markets but did not elaborate.

Is everyone happy with the other Cox HD channels??? I have tried getting info from Cox and from Furniture Mart about the equipment , but I get totally conflicting stories. The same with the programming. When I called today the person at Cox told me they carried HBO, Showtime, ABC and NBC. They of course plan on adding "lots of new HD channels" in the next year. He also told me to buy the Motorola box they have at the Mart. There is no way I'm going to spend $500 on that box when better boxes are available. Has anyone been able to purchase a newer box that works on Cox? I believe it is supposed to be the 3100 or something like that??? Can they be found online???

Does anyone know what the expansion plans are for channels. ESPN-HD, Discovery, HDnet??????

I'm picking up Ch 40, which re-maps to 12-1 tonight. Thursday.

Seems to be just upconverted version of the same thing on Analog Ch. 12
but the sound is significantly better.

When I read Jay's post earlier today, I just started going through the channels, and got to Ch. 40 and hit 100%.

Thanks for the update Jay.

S.K.

Getting the same thing here. Just happened to be surfing the digital channels on my Mits and it popped up. 100% also.

C Blake

Another thing. If I hit guide on my Mits in the DTV-A input while on channel 12 , it brings up:

12.01 KUON-DT
12.02 KUON-DT
12.03 KUON-DT
12.06 KUON-IP

Interesting

Ch 40 is simulcasting 4 different channels right now.

12-1 , 12-2, 12-3, 12-6.

Pretty cool.

S.K.

Warren,

On your web site you list your current Map with the 18.9 kW Coverage area. I find that to very accurate w/ the installed base of DTV equipment that we have as of today. Do you know if it would be possible to get that same kind of information for WOWT-DT AND KMTV-DT based on their current power ratings?

Jay is that something you could post on the forum and possibly the Ch 3 engineer (I'm not sure who that is yet) do the same. Or even on their respective web sites.

I really appreciate the information that Warren puts on his site noting HD programming etc, we also link our customer's from our site to each of the networks. More HD info from all the stations would be great on the web.

Thanks again, S.K.


S.K.

Steve,

Thanks for the feedback, this is good to know.

That information is easy for John FX Browne (or Jay's & Scot's) consulting engineer to generate.

I will update the coverage map on the website in June to reflect the increased coverage area when we install the new dual band antenna, and throttle up the transmitter power.

I was watching NET tonight myself, that is pretty cool. Thanks Jay for the information.

Warren

I use Cox Omaha and am pleased so far but want more. I currently get HBO, ABC and CBS. No NBC yet, but you can read earlier that WOWT has done their part and it is now in Cox's hands to get it on the air.

CBS has been awesome for College football and the NFL playoffs, unfortunately, not all the regionals in the NCAA tournament are bing broadcast in HDTV. The Duke/Kansas game last night was not HDTV for instance. But I know the Final Four will be. Also the Masters last year was awesome in HDTV on a 100" screen.

I want them to add NBC, but would rather have them pick up HDNet but I think it is exclusive to Direct TV at this time. I wish someone from Cox that knows something would join this forum and keep us informed.

A quick question for you all. I am about to pull the trigger on an OTA box. My choices locally are either the Zenith 420 or Samsung 151.
Anybody have experience with either of these units? Any preferences? The price is $399 either way so that's not going to be a deciding factor.
I also have no interest in upgrading my DSS to HDTV so the upscale combination tuners are off the table.
Thanks

Keep in mind most inexpensive $399 OTA boxes leave out the NTSC tuner, therefore requiring customers to toggle back and forth between different inputs on their TV's. Integrated DirecTV / ATSC Boxes also include an NTSC tuner so you can keep the TV set to 1 input, as well your AV receiver can remain on 1 input making this an easy transition for the user. If you are a current DirecTV customer, you will get Guide listings as well for DirecTV / ATSC / NTSC channels, as well as re-mapped channel identifiers in the case the the local station is not sending PSIP information.

FYI

S.K.

Thanks Steve
You make a good point but I am still going to go with the basic STB. I'm sure that a single solution would be more elegant, but the set I am looking at will remember chroma and black level settings for each input and my experience with analog TV has led me to believe that NTSC, DVD and DSS all look better tweaked individually.
Nevertheless have you had any feedback on the Samsung or Zenith STBs?
The station has a couple of Samsung boxes and they work fine. The guys at Circuit City lean toward Zenith. RCA had an OTA box but it is apparently discontinued.
Any dope you might have on these boxes would be very helpful. Thanks again for responding.
Mike Plews

NET DTV 40 is on the tower near Mead NE. KYNE 17 is on the tower at the UNO campus.

12-6 KUON-IP will be a data channel. NET is using this to distribute large data files to schools.

I directed Paul Sautter to this site so he can join our discussions.

Jay

Do you know if NET will be showing any HD content soon. Currently they are streaming NET1, NET2, PBS KIDS durring the afternoon and last night.

I was just wondering if they will do any HD soon, or wait until May.

S.K.

Mike, I have a Samsung T-151 and it works great. I have had not problems with it. The only thing it doesn't have is discrete on/off codes, which is a minor detail. I do not know if the Zenith has codes or not. If you already have Directv you could call them and ask them to give you credit towards a new box. I have heard of several people who were give a 250 credit to get a new box. That would give you both Directv and OTA.

NPTV

I'm getting 12-01, -02, -03, and -06 at about 95%. Whoo Hoo! I'm looking forward to seeing Paul sign on here.

I'd like to know their Plans for DTV, programming wise. Do they plan on running the HD/DT2A/PBSHD feed while simulcasting NET1, or 2? I'd love to have access to great programs like Tracks Ahead, and Smart Travels.

I just upgraded my Cox digital cable to HDTV with the HDD200 converter box. Tonite I fired things up for the first time and watched the NCAA basketball games on my DLP front projection system. I'm still wiping the drool off my chin, and my facial muscles still hurt from all the grinning over the past several hours! This is way cool. Thanks KMTV and Cox. I want more, however. Feed me, I'm starving for more HD stuff!!

mooneycj

I've done a little calling around and got refered to someplace with the phone number of 731-6900. I didn't catch the name of the place, but the guy I talked to said they have the CM 4221 antenna. He was very knowledgable about the current situation with KPTM and said I'm pretty much out of luck for getting their Digital Signal.

I sure would like to know what KPTM is up to. I think I remember the guy from that number above saying KPTM had an antenna on order or something. I'm really disapointed with them right now, even more then usual.

On the up side I am able to pick up 40 solid and get a choppy signal on 17. I would probably get a better signal on 17 if I had the antenna pointed in its direction.

SoulFX

If you need info on the Channel Matser Line or Antennas or Rotators, etc.. We sell them.

CM4221 & CM4228 They also make rotators that work off of infrared Channel codes. So in the Omaha market where people up north need to rotate back and forth, this might be a better solution, then trying to blend 2 antennas together. The problem we are finding, isn't the 2 antennas interfering w/ one another, but just the loss in the 2-way combiner is enough to kill the digital signal strength. So either 2 lines w/ an A&B switch, or some might want to consider a simple antenna rotator.

Any questions, call me at the store.

FYI

One thing people need to remember is that if you are using an antenna for analog and digital both, for multipule TV's and someone turns the rotor the other TVs will more than likely lose the siginal. If you are buying a antenna for your DTV decoder only then a rotor would serve that purpose. In our experince this is not what usally happens.

I think in Omaha a 2 antenna combiner would work. Since the only stations who are doing DTV are in Omaha and the coverage area they were shooting for was Omaha only. I also believe that it will work once the stations go to full power when looking at the Omaha and Lincoln area.

We are trying a new meter (the sedelco that was at the forum we were at Steve) and I think this new information I can gather will support that. I will be seeing if this is true on Monday as I try to get readings from channel 12 DT. Are they up 24/7 or only doing some testing? I have been out of town since Thursday Night so I have not got a chance to look at it.

Shawn

Steve and Shawn,

I thank you both for your suggestions and tips. I took a look at some rotors today and they look nice, but most of the good one's are up in the $60+ range, where another antenna would just cost me another $33.

I've got a unique situation that might work in my favor. The HDTV Tuner I'm using (myHD PC card) actually has two F connectors on the back. I figured for the two antenna route I could just run each antenna on a separate line to the card and be set. A combiner would be sleeker, but I figure as long as I have two connectors I might as well use them.

Right now the HDTV Tuner is the only thing using the antenna. Every other television in this house receives all the analog channels just fine with each set sprouting Rabbit Ears.

Also if anyone's interested I found this cool link yesterday that has a plot of all of everyone favorite antenna's compared against each other:

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/kq6qv/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

I'm still mad at KPTM, but caring less as I'm finding awesome programing on ABC and NBC.

-=-
SoulFX

Shawn,

To cover the 50% rule for the 1st year, ETV is going to be on approx. 9 hours a day starting tomorrow. 1 pm to 10 pm is what they are planning, now I've noticed that they've been on a little later than 10 pm so far, maybe just in the testing phases I'm not sure. They are trying to convince the programming department to play some of their HD content. Technically, they are ready, so they could stop the simulcast and route the HD through 12-01 from time to time.

All for now.

S.K.

Steve, in Lincoln, is 12.1 up in Lincoln? I tried 26.1 in Omaha about 5 this evening and nothing. how much power will 12.1 and 26.1 be running? also when will Koln in lincoln be going live?

Thanks Ronald in Omaha.

Ronald,

In Omaha try channel 17 and see if that gives you the DTV of PBS. In Lincoln 12.1,12.2, & 12.3 (UHF channel 40) are up and running. They will be running at 500 ERP. I was told today that they would be up from 1 pm to 10 pm.

Shawn

Shawn,

What is digital channel 17??? I am picking it up at about 18 percent tonight.( obviously no picture) Maybe it is something I already new about but just forgot. hahaha
But I can't seem to remember. By the way I am still picking 15-1 at about 55 percent, with sound and picture , which is weird for my location.

Thanks
cblake

Warren,

The PSIP information that shows up in my guide is 24hours off. I didn't realize this until I scheduled an event from the guide. It has the correct current date, but for some reason the time information for the shows are all ahead by 24 hours.

I would be able to confirm if this is just a problem on my end, but no other station is currently broadcasting PSIP show data. If everything is okay on your end, I can alert the software developers for the myHD card about the issue and maybe they check into it on their end.

Thanks

-=- SoulFX -=-
John

Channel 17 is the DTV transmitter for Omaha. They actual got PBS on channel 26 not channel 12. So 17 is the DTV channel for the people in Omaha. I believe that the transmitter is located at UNO campus.

Again it is great that you are getting 15-1. Hope it continues for you.

Shawn

I thought Channel 40 was doing multiple sub channels during certain times of the day. What times do they do this? I can't seem to be able to select anything besides the first channel on it.

They are doing the multiple sub channel while they are up and running which is suppose to be 1 -10 pm. The way I understood Paul at NETV the only time they would not be doing the sub channel is when they do a HD broadcast. I guess that would be expected.

Today at the shop I had to delete and re-add channel 40 to get the sub channels to come back in. You might try that.

Shawn

Shawn, Omaha's pbs last Friday was 26.1,26.2,26.3 and nothing since, maybe they are not quite ready to go live in Omaha, If Lincoln's pbs is running at 500kws I'm surprised I'm not getting this in Omaha?

Ronald,

The Channel you want to check for is the actual Digital UHF Channel that the station is broacasting with, for example Ch. 22-1 for WOWT (Ch 6 analog) If the station is transmitting PSIP data than the Digital Receiver will automatically call it 6-1 for example. So when you put in 26.1 you get nothing, but if you put in 17-1 as Shawn suggests, you should get something, or in the case of NET in Lincoln, you would put into your receiver 40-1, 40-2, etc.. and the receiver should automatically re-map it to 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, etc.. From then on you will tune it either way, but the first time you have to either auto scan the channels, or directly put in the actual broadcast frequency followed by a -1 or .1 in some receivers.

For Mitsubishi NetCommand users, the "Sub/Cancel" Key is the "-" key FYI.

Channel 10 tells me June 1st, which is later than originally thought. They were shooting for Apr. 15th, but Brent told be more likely June 1st.

Hopefully sooner.

cblake, 17 is the NET out of Omaha. I assume the same thing that Ch. 40-1, (12-1) is.

S.K.

Ronald,
I would think that is actually UHF channel 17 and it is being remapped to channel 26.1 and so on. I said above that for us in Lincoln everything is being remapped to ch 12.1 and so on. However today I couldn't get anything until I deleted and re-add channel 40 which is the actual channel. You may need to delete and re-add like I did.

Shawn

[QUOTE]Originally posted by soulfx
[B]Warren,

The PSIP information that shows up in my guide is 24hours off. I didn't realize this until I scheduled an event from the guide. It has the correct current date, but for some reason the time information for the shows are all ahead by 24 hours.

Hi John,

I checked the time on the server which downloads my program guide and it is OK. That server is also locked to my house time code, which in turn is suppose to lock my HD encoder to it. I checked the time on the HD encoder and it is set to Zulu time (which is 6 hours ahead of CST).

It appears it is OK here at the station. Does your time on your guide show the correct time? I know it had the correct date.

I do not have a receiver here which will allow me to setup a record event off of the program guide. I will have to make a call tomorrow to my PSIP vendor and ask about this issue.

Might not hurt to touch base with your vendor of your card as well. I will let you know what I find out.

Warren

Right Now, Ch. 12-1 (40-1) etc. Through 12-6 (40-6) are all transmitting the same programming.

They'll probably be shutting down the transmitter in a minute or so, tough.

Yep, they are off the Air.

S.K.

Any News from Ch. 3 ???

Steve, I have not heard anything this week on Kmtv, last update was last Thursday and they had 5 guidewires left to replace, The weather looks good though Friday, so hopefully this will help them in finishing in time for the Final four on Sat? thanks Ronald in Omaha.

st30247 (Steve)

Do you have any equipment at the store to try to grab a show to record off the program guide I broadcast as a double check for soulfx (John)?

Thanks
Warren

Warren,

Looks like this is a software issue on my side with the myHD card. Evidently I was running the first version that actually supports PSIP data. I downgraded the version to a previous one and then found that it doesn't support PSIP at all.

Hopefully the development team for the card will smooth out the PSIP issues as they progress on their software. For now I still have the option to use TitanTV as a basis for setting up events as well as manually putting in the info.

Thanks for checking into it on your side. I'm relieved to have figured out what it is, and I bet your even more relieved to find out nothings wrong on your end =.)

-=- SoulFX -=-
John

All rigging has been moved to the final guy anchor. We have four lines left to replace, the tower crew will get one replaced today. These last four are actually interlaced with those lines of another tower so it is a little more complicated and slower going.

A conversation with the crew chief today reveals hopes to have the guy lines completed this week. They will then move the rigging for the antenna placement. With good weather, it looks like the antenna mounting may occur on Tuesday or Wednesday, the 8th or 9th. This dashes my hopes of being on for the NCAA Championship game.

However, I am very hopeful that we will be up on the 10th or 11th, in time for the weekend Golf Masters finish.

Scot

Thanks for keeping us up to date. Hope the final stages go smoothly for you and the crew.

Shawn

At least that will keep my in-laws out of the house this weekend!

Hmm, Well I just took a look at the show information for KETV. It's got the right time now. I'm not sure if its something I did or maybe Warren. When I switched versions and reloaded the channels maybe that fixed it somehow.

I now pick up the sub-channels for the PBS stations. I'm receiving both KYNE and KOUN great. When I did the channel scan it picked up the subs. I guess the trick was to do the scan when they actually had the subs going.

Sounds like your making some good progress Scot. I'm looking forward to receiving KMTV. Thanks for keeping us up to date on the progress.

-=- SoulFX -=-
John

mooneycj, you have a private message!


currently I have non-digital cox cable and no antenna on my roof. I am in the process of shopping for my first hdtv set and have not had good luck watching real hi-def broadcasts in a home like environment here in town. If any of you guys are here in Omaha and would have 30 minutes some afternoon or evening to give me an audition and talk hdtv shop, I would greatly appreciate it! Send me a pm or email to xegpal@hotmail.com

Thanks,
Chris

John,

So, if I understand correctly, you can now setup a record event off of the program guide I broadcast and it is OK now?

I have not changed anything here since last night when I was checking the clocks on the servers here. The only thing I did (as I have done for the past week) was to edit Nightline to the expanded 45 minute version.

If re-loading your software did it that is great. I am still waiting for a call back from my vendor for their comments.

BTW, if you place your cursor on the program listing, and press "info", you will get a short line or two on what the episode is about.

Warren

NO NCAA FINAL FOUR IN HDTV IN OMAHA !!!!!WHAT A BUMMER!!!! I realize this is a huge project for KMTV, but reading this forum lead me to believe the final four would be in hdtv so I invited alot of friends over Sat and Mon. It sounds like your tower crew really underestimated the amount of work!!!I hope you can make the Masters, but I will not hold my breath on this one. I just wish KMTV would have concentrated on over the air Hdtv sooner than the cable Hdtv, or done what Ketv ant Wowt went low power and then go with the full buildout. VERY DISAPPOINTED HDTV FAN IN OMAHA!!!!!

Can't win them all, Ron.

NETV in HD!!! 12-05 is running the local "Statewide". I'm skeptical of the HD, I think it's a 480i upconverted zoomed to fill the screen. Where do you find a listing of HD for NETV?

NETV isn't doing HD when they are doing multipule sub channels. If they were doing a HD feed you would only get 12-1 or 26-1 if in Omaha. In a SD mode they can do multipule channes. So you are right is isn't HD. When I talked to Paul he wasn't sure when they would do HD broadcast. I'm trying to find a link I will post it when and if I do.

Added

I did find this but it is only for NETV and NETV2
http://mynptv.org/nptv/nptv_sched/netv_sched.html

12-05 is the ONLY channel being broadcast right now. The logo "Bug" says HD.

You can look at the TitanTV listings and they list the 8:00 and 9:00 show as being Letterboxed. I think that will be an indicator for it being either 480 widescreen or HD.

PBS DTV Schedule (http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dtvsched.htm)

Here is the type of PBS DTV schedule (http://www.ptvdigital.org/dt2a_sked.html) I was looking for.

I hope NETV can broadcast a good part of this. Is it too much to ask?

Warren,

Indeed. I am now able to schedule a recording directly from the program guide. The episode information is neat. I also noticed on the schedule when a show is going to be broadcast in HD it has a (HD) after the title. Thats very helpful.

I was wondering. Is there more information that can be added to the episode description? Something like TitanTV does with their descriptions (episode title, summary, cast, rating, etc). If not thats okay. That much info would probably get really cluttered on-screen.

-=- SoulFX -=-
John

soulfx (John)

Thanks for letting me know your record events work now.

On the Program Guide info. I have been adding the (HD) to the title of the show manually with an editor which came with the PSIP software. When I place myself in the viewers shoe's, I would want to know which programs are in HD myself. So I decided to do this.

I have been working with Tribune (where I get my Program Guide data feed) to see if this can be added in so I do not need to do it manually. This is work in progress. I found out all the episode information comes from the syndicator, so Tribune sends out what they receive from the Syndicator.

What is interesting, and I need to find out is, why does TitanTV's episode information have more detail like you mention (I.E. who the cast is). I will see if I can find this out.

As for the rating of the show, that is included in separate fields in PSIP, there is one for audio type, closed captioning, rating, and re-distribution control.

Warren

Wow. I need to watch this thread more often.

Getting 26.1 (channel 17) and such nicely here in Millard... with 5% signal.

-- Robert

I'm hoping for a miracle and tomorrow afternoon I will turn on my Hdtv and Kmtv will be up and running? I'm so disappointed they will not be on the air this weekend. I hope they can make it by next weekend ???? Scott or Mike what is the progress? or lack of progress? I realize your station is trying to get this done, but all the delays is disappointing.

None of you on this board are half as disappointed as we are!

There are three guy wires left to go. The winds Thursday, when the front came in, were too high to safely change any guys. Today we had snow, sleet, rain, and wind. Sunday into Monday a big snow event possible.

Had the weather cooperated, we were planning to hang the antenna Tuesday or Wednesday. We have the antenna rep on hot standby to fly in from Chicago to sweep and tune the antenna.

The tower crew has to weave the remaining guys between those of KETV.

KMTV, KETV, and WOW each have a set of guys that are interlaced with those of another station.

Mike:

Will KMTV's problems affect the feed to Cox cable? In other words, will I get KMTV high definition (the final four in particular) even though OTA reception is down?

Corey J

Cox HD will not be affected. It will be available.

Kmtv has relied on the national cbs hdtv feed, they should have started these tower mods last summer and fall, I called 1 year ago and said when can I receive the final four in hdtv? I was told next year no problem. 1 year later and still no final four!!!!! with Mike's update looks like the masters coverage is in serious jeopordy????

Warren,

I did some searching for Tribune and came across the website www.zap2it.com run by Tribune Entertainment. When browsing across their TV guide I did find extended info like cast etc. It appears Tribune has access to the info, but may not be passing it along to the PSIP servers.

I've noticed that most episodes that appear in my PSIP show guide don't have descriptions. Is this normal? For example I get an episode description for tonights Dharma & Greg, but "No Description" for Spin City.

-=- SoulFX -=-
John

Hi John,

I just checked the server for the episode listings, and I do see one for Spin City tonight. That said, I did have to edit Spin City tonight as Nightline was expanded to 45 minutes. I have been having a problem with any show which runs past midnight. My PSIP server wants to break the show which runs past midnight into two events. If the show ends or starts up at midnight it is OK. I am working with my vendor on this, so that might explain the issue with Spin City.

As for Saturday for a check on your end, all the shows have information with the exception of:
10:30 am: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
11:30am: NBA Inside Stuff.
3:00 pm: MLS Soccer.

That is interesting on what you found at zap2it.com as I do get my data from Tribune. I will give my rep a call on Monday and raise this question.

I will let you know.

Warren

6:00 pm Saturday:

Is anyone getting the HD feed on CBS (KMTV) from Cox? All I'm getting is the upconverted SD signal on Cox channel 805, no widescreen High Def. I called Cox tech support, they say their feed from KMTV is coming that way ("with the black sidebars" according to the tech). I can't get anyone over at KMTV, I did leave a message, however on Mr. Gann's mailbox. I'm bummed. I got a taste of the widescreen feed last week (the Kansas game from San Antonio), it is so much better than the standard definition feed it makes you want to cry. It seems like the only reliable HD feeds I get are from HBO and Showtime.

Corey J

6:30 pm:

I'm getting the high def feed now. Thanks, whoever is responsible!!

Go Jayhawks!

Corey J

Hi all,

Is it just me or are the analog KPTM and KXVO uhf channels down?

I started looking for the Nascar broadcast on Faux around noon, its now almost 3:00 and still nothing on either channel.

John

Fox is down here too.

Ronald,

I'm really disappointed in the delays at KMTV as well. Not so much the delays of the tower crews, but more the overly optimistic target dates of management. I am not naive and understand that the population of HDTV owners in Omaha does not provide the business case to accelerate OTA transmissions. I also understand that KMTV does deliver HDTV through Cox. Actually, I probably would have switched to Cox digital (Integrated Mits owner) if I knew they were not going to meet any of their target dates. The following is an e-mail I received shortly after I purchased my HDTV:

Trent,

Currently KM3 is delivering all CBS HDTV programming most of which is 1080i, directly to Cox Cable. All other programming is upconverted. This is available on their digital tier. We are in the process of tower modifications and installing new equipment to be able to broadcast HDTV by October of this year. We will be broadcasting a full 800kw signal at that time. It is yet to be decided how much programming we will carry on this system, I foresee at least 12 hours every day.

I greatly appreciate your interest, it will be worth waiting for.

Scot Krayenhagen
KM3 Director of Operations
10714 Mockingbird Drive
Omaha, NE 68127

As you can see the target date was October. This came and went, and by that time I had found TitanTV and this forum. KMTV has since missed numerous targets in January, February and now March.

On the other hand KETV informed me that they would not be broadcasting HDTV until May of 2003. They came in 7 months early based on the Warren's intermediate solution. I understand KMTV will be broadcasting at full strength versus KETV's interim solution, but weak HDTV is better than no HDTV. I've always found in the business world its better to be a week early than a day late.

Don't get me wrong I don't want to start KMTV bashing here because I don't even come close to understanding the difficulties involved with this transition. I am just frustrated by the overly optimistic targets. I highly doubt there is a snowballs chance (no pun intended) that they will even be close to ready for the Masters. I think you are looking at sometime in May. At least thats my new expectation. Hopefully, I'm not disappointed.

Trent, I think your post really hit the nail on the head! I talked to Kmtv last March about over the air dtv/HDTV and I was told late 2002 or early 2003, I 'm not questioning there effort, I'm wondering about there construction plans, why not reinforce the tower and change the guide wires out in the fall and early winter when the weather is not a difficult, then built there dtv/HDTV center, when winds will not stop construction on the ground,. My wife told me to put my Hdtv disappointment in perspective with the war going on. My final comment is the weather looks great the rest of the week, maybe there will be a chance for the masters this weekend?. FYI DirecTiVo/dish has USA networks Hdtv coverage on Thur and Fri.


Ronald, HDTV fan in Omaha. Good luck Kmtv!!!!

Nova: Runaway Universe (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/)

I believe this will be the first opportunity for NPTV to air an HD program. They have carried the SD widescreen programming, here's to hoping they get HDTV on!

7:00pm ct

Final 4 in HDTV was very nice. For some reason, Saturday's first game was not coming in properly but it later switched over. Not sure what happened. I watched Saturday's game on the Plasma, but fired up the projector for the championship game. For those that are waiting for over the air, this is the second year in a row I have been able to get it over Cox. It may have been the third year, but I didn't have the box until last year. Stay tuned, the Masters is sweet in HD.

Too bad Roy didn't get the win.

Video, I'm sure the Masters will look super this year with all the Hd cameras they added. I'm hoping Kmtv can make it up later in the week? The weather looks great the rest of the week!Directv/Dish customers with Hd receivers can watch USA networks HD coverage on Thu/Fri.
Go KMTV!!!!!

Hi, everyone, any update on Kmtv's progress? The weather looks great the rest of the week.

Originally posted by soulfx
Warren,

I did some searching for Tribune and came across the website www.zap2it.com run by Tribune Entertainment. When browsing across their TV guide I did find extended info like cast etc. It appears Tribune has access to the info, but may not be passing it along to the PSIP servers.


John,

I received a call back from my rep at Tribune today. They told me the zap2it.com site is under Tribune, but it gets fed data from multiple sources. The site which feeds my server gets data from one source. They are looking into changing this so my feed can have more data, but no time table for this was given to me.

Warren

KMTV, how is the tower progress coming? Any chance to get on the air this week????

No, Hdtv MASTERS IN Omaha! I thought Kmtv might make it this week, the weather was good Tues, thru Fri, there last report last Thursday they had three guides wires left, if they did one per day they finish the guides on Thursday, hang the antenna/transmitter and flip the switch on Friday? guess not, maybe next week? The Masters looked great on Usa's hd-feed, just wish I could watch Cbs's weekend hdtv coverage :(

Guy wires are replaced!
The antenna went up this Saturday morning (See attached picture).


The antenna crew has to order a custom-cut piece of six inch feedline to couple the antenna to the existing feedline. Measurements for the feedline had to be taken after the antenna was in place.

This should arrive early next week. Next the antenna manufacturer will sweep the feedline and antenna to make sure all is well. If so, then we will be good to go on the air.

Thanks for the update Mike. I'm excited to have all three channels broadcasting in HD!

Thanks, Mike. I have a couple of questions, how long does it take to sweep the feedline and antenna? and how involved is adding the six inch feedline attachment? Thanks for all your responses and good luck.

Ok I have a couple of questions,

I was at Best Buy today and they had 50 percent off open box Directv setups. So I bought an open Box Samsung T160 for $299. I couldn't pass it up. I have been waiting for Cox to add more channels but that doesn't look like its going to happen. Everytime I call them they have no clue and give me no answers. But. after thinking about it I really wonder if I want Directv. I don't think we want to have a box for every TV. Here's my other questions.

1. Is there any way to use Picture in Picture with Directv boxes???

2. Can you get just the Directv HD channels. I would consider keeping my cable and just adding HBO, SHO, and HDNET and any future offerings. Has anyone been able to subscribe just to those????

3. Is anyone from Cox out there that has a clue about what is going to be offered?? Las Vegas Cox already has Discovery HD and ESPN-HD. And where is HDNET dangit!!!!

Right on time Channel 3! My HDTV reciever arrived Friday.
now hopefully the antenna people won't have to add more than 1000 feet to my roof (darned low spots!)

Ron,

Luckily, I had no expectation of KMTV making the Masters. It's unfortunate because the only good HDTV sporting events CBS has are now over and they were so close. Sure, CBS will broadcast a few AFC games, but who knows how many we will get in Omaha.

On another note, I have a question for anyone with an integrated Mits that has Cox. I understand that you do not need a converter box with the integrated Mits for HDTV when you have Cox's digital tier. Do you also get HBO-HD and Showtime-HD without the converter box? Does Cox have ESPN-HD, Discovery-HD, or any others. Just curious. I am currently an integrated Mits owner who uses DirecTv (non-HD) and OTA.

Thanks for any help. Good luck KM3.

Ok just read 34 pages of posts and my mind is boggled so bare with me.

i am a cox digital cable subsriber with a toshiba hdtv tv and i need to get the decoder in order to watch high def. I was wondering if I should just go with the HDD-200 or HDD-201 or if that will not work and i should shell out the extra dollars for the 5100 model. I would prefer the cheaper option, yet i do not want to sacrifice to much quality.

Thanks,
Andrew

rajdawg (Andrew)

Welcome to the forum!

Quality will be the same across all three of those box's (HDD-200, HDD-201, & 5100) as they are all basically the same. The difference is the HDD-201 is the export model, and the 5100 is the all in one box (it has the HDD-200 inside it).

The least expensive is the HDD-201. The 5100 would take up less shelf space since it is a one box solution.

Cox tells me the HDD-200 & HDD-201 are end of life per Motorola, the 5100 is the new box. What does end of life mean? Basically they will not produce anymore of those box's. Question is, how long will they support those box's? I simply do not know.

Hope this helps...

TrentD

Cox offers Showtime in HD, and HBO in HD currently, along with KETV and KMTV. You can receive KETV & KMTV without their box, but if you want HBO & Showtime in HD, it is my understanding you need their converter box & side car, or the 5100 all in one box.

Is the 5100 box available?? Last time I had checked furniture mart they weren't available yet.

Last time I checked the 5100's were on backorder, that was about 3 weeks ago.

Check with Russel Weaver @ NFM, he seems to be the person following this.

Warren

I think NFM had a Motorola 5100 about a month or two ago, couldn't get it to work reliably with Cox. Also, check the HDTV hardware forum about the 5100. Lots of folks around the country have had problems with the 5100 and there have been many updates of the firmware. For some folks, however, it has worked great. For these reasons, I went ahead and bought the HDD-200 from NFM, it works great. Be advised, however, that standard definition channels look better from the basic Cox digital box, only use the HDD-200 for high definition.
mooneycj

mooneycj how much did the HDD-200 cost you at NFM, and I have a question about set up, do you just run the coaxal cable from the converter box into the hdd-200 or do you use component video cables.
Also does cox support the 5200 from motorola becuase i would love to record some programming as well. I really hope cox gets on the same page becuase some one told me theyd start renting boxes in May, then someone else said next year, and someone else said never. They also better start getting channel like HD-net and ESPNhd, becuase I wanna watch the CWS in Hi Def

On a side note does NFM hire at age 16, becuase I would love the employee discount.


Andrew

rajdawg, for around $300 or so you can order the HDD-201 from KU-SAT in Canada. I actually was sent the HDD-200 which is the exact same box for sale at NFM, and NFM wants $500 for it.

As far as hook up goes, there is a high speed cable that goes from the digital cable box into the HDD-200. Then I have component cables running from the HDD-200 into my tv. For sound I have a digital coax going from the digital cable box into my home theater receiver. I have no audio cables running from the HDD-200. Works great!

Cool, i look into ordering the HDD-201 and hope that they send me the HDD-200. If i do get the HDD-200 it is my understanding that the cable box is not needed or is that wrong??

You need the Cox digital cable box with the HDD-200 and with the HDD-201. The 5100 is the box that has both the digital cable and the hdtv decoder built into it. Personally, I have never had any experience with the 5100.

Alrighty thank you

rajdawg,

The best deal for the Canadian version of the HDD-200 (which is the HDD-201) is at www.kusat.com. Here's a direct link:

http://www.kusat.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=127

As far as I can tell, the 200 and the 201 are virtually identical as far as electronics goes. It's just a change cosmetically between the two.

It looks like it would be about $330 US to get the HDD-201 via UPS Express. When I ordered mine, I chose UPS ground service, but it looks like you can get it faster for the same money, as there's an additional $21 customs charge on the ground shipments that's included in the air service.

I've actually read more about problems with the 5100 box than the HDD-200/201, but then again, there are possibly more 5100s out there right now.

Jeff

Disclaimer: I am merely a satisfied customer of kusat and am not recommending them for any other reason including financial interests.

I know this isn't the place for this question, but I was just wondering if you were only running your digital coax out of the digital box. I have to use analog on anything but the digital channels or it will cut out. How is yours setup?

I have an old HDD-201 that I bought in late 2000 for Cox HD. Since I've moved and switched so many times and no longer am a Cox customer (it's a long story, but I refuse to do business with them any longer), I have this box sort of sitting around doing nothing.

If anybody in Omaha is interested... I do have one sitting in my closet that I may be convinced to part with. It works like a champ.

-- Robert

Redwood,
In response to your question on audio cables - I have both analog cables and a digital coax cable running from my Cox digital cable box to my Denon receiver. The Denon automatically detects whether the signal is analog or digital. I do not have any audio cables, however, running from the HDD-200 to the Denon receiver.

Hi Everyone,

I might need to shutdown the DTV transmitter tonight. I am preparing for the new antenna to be installed in June.

To feed this new antenna, I need to install a combiner which will enable me to combine the output of the analog transmitter, and the output of the digital transmitter into one transmission line running up the tower.

I am working on installing this combiner now. The reason for the shutdown is, I must connect the digital transmitter to the combiner, that sets up the rest of my measurements over to the analog transmitter.

This will not affect the viewers on Cox Cable.

Devox i sent you a pm and if u want to talk to me you can reach me at Rajdawg73 on aim, arehmann@cox.net on e-mail, or even through private messages

The digital transmitter will be turned on late today, still working on the combiner installation.

I have shut down the main 7-0 (analog) transmitter as well today, currently programming off the aux transmitter at the studio site.

Hope to be back on with both by 5pm today.

Warren, looks like you are back up and running. Thank you for the notice on being down. It helped me out on a install today.

Hi Shawn,

Yes, the DTV went back on the air roughly at 1pm, analog went back on at 2pm.

Did not get as far as I had hoped, the weather did not co-operate. I wanted to get the analog transmitter running into the combiner, and the combiner output to the transmission line running up the tower. But it looked like rain and we could not take the chance of opening up the line and getting water in it.

But, we did get the combiner hung, and cut transmission line segments to get the digital transmitter into the combiner, and the analog transmitter into the combiner. All that is left is to get the output of the combiner connected to the line running up the tower. Will do that in June when the new antenna is installed.

Say, did you get my e-mail with the analog coverage map?

Warren

Kmtv, how are you proceeding on your antenna sweep ? close to going live? thanks

I think there is *one* difference between the HDD-200 (which I have downstairs) and the HDD-201 (upstairs).

The HDD-201 has a menu you can pull up to change how it behaves when it gets fed a 4:3 signal (non-HD).

The HDD-200 leaves you with only one option - you're gunna get black bars on the left and right of the picture, with original aspect ratio maintained.

The HDD-201 --- you can opt for changing the aspect ratio to have the picture fill the whole screen.. (I love this)

(Someone was also telling me that the black bars on the left and right are dangerous to a RPTV..)

Just thought I'd add another success story to the thread. :cool:

I'm up in Blair and wasn't sure how well things would go with the hills rising up south of town. Put a Winegard PR8800 on a 6 foot mast and without any amp was picking up WOWT cleanly at about 69%, KETV (44-49%) and KYNE (35-40%) with very frequent dropouts. Hooked up an old 10dB amp I had laying around (8-10 years old) and boosted WOWT to 89%, KETV to 50% and KYNE to 45% both still exhibit occassional dropouts. Can't get any signal for KPTM or KXVO...

Figure to pickup a new higher power amp and see if I can't eliminate the dropouts as well as tweak the antenna orientation and see if KXVO/KPTM will come in.

But Law & Order and Leno looked incredible last night :D

KMTV, can we have a update?last Sat, all you had to do was attach a cable and sweep the system, its Thurs and still no signal. More problems? thanks

where is devox i wanna talk to him about that hdd-201

Looking back through this thread it appears KETV, WOWT, KPTM and KXVO are running temporarily at a low power. KETV is planning to go up to 350Kw in June, KPTM and KXVO will go full power sometime next year, KMTV will be at 250Kw when they come on line (soon...)

But I don't see anything on WOWT's plans for increasing from their temporary 38Kw. Anyone have the information? Jay, can you fill in this blank?

And did I miss the information on what KYNE is running at and what their plans are?

After the antenna was installed, the tower crew had trouble getting the elbow complex (the coax transition between the feedline and the antenna as it goes through the tower) to lineup without interference from the tower members.

The manufacturer has modified and tuned the elbow complex and hopefully it will be here tomorrow (Friday). If so, and if the winds aren't too high, the crew will install it tomorrow.

When it is installed the antenna tech will fly in and run an electronic sweep of the antenna and feedline before we apply RF.

Anybody want some used guywires. They are over a 1,000 feet long and weigh about 5,000 pounds? There are twelve available.

So, I picked up a Samsung SIR-T160 Directv/OTA box last week at Best Buy as an open box for $299. I had been using a Samsung T-151 OTA only box and it worked great, but I was thinking of switching to Directv. But I can't get KETV to come in good. The signal meter says 100%, but i get bad audio. The picture is perfect. I have tried playing with the audio settings and tried different connections. WOWT, and PBS come in great and the audio works fine. Any ideas????? I know KETV will go high power soon, but I don't want to wait. I am using an indoor amplified antenna. (I have tried three different models : Radioshack, GE, Optima). And I do not want to have to put up an outdoor/attic antenna. Any antenna recs??? (Under 50 bucks). If I don't get it working I may have to sell the box or take it back and go back to the T-151.

Mike

Great News! Thanks for your hard work. It's very appreciated and I can't wait to see things in beautiful digital/HD!

Now it sounds like it's time to head over to Ebay and list those guy wires!
make sure "buyer pays shipping" :)

mdg (Mike)

Did you try turning off the amp on your antenna? 100% seems strange to me.

Warren

Thanks Warren, but I have tried everything. Turned off the amp (gain) turned it up, unplugged the power supply .... on and it every possible position. Just can't figure it out. Hook up the same setup up to my old box and works great. Oh well. I think I am just going to have take it back, hate too because it was a bargain.

Mike

Mike, last try here, does the box have a format switch on the back, 1080i, 720p, 480i?

If so, try switching it to another format, maybe the box has an issue with 720p?

Warren

Thanks Warren , will try that tonight. I suppose it could be a problem converting the 720p to 1080i. I will try that, although even it it works to try the switch, I dont want to have to get up to change the switch. I doubt it is the problem because the audio does change with antenna position changes (changes from no audio to cutting out every 2 seconds.)

Thanks for you help Warren.

Mike

Mike,

I sent you a PM about your Samsung 160.

Thanks
Jeff

Tylerdurden,

WOWT is planning to increase the ERP to 100kW this summer. We do not have a definite date on full power. We are waiting to evaluate the performance of full power verses medium power. Our sister station KOLN in Lincoln should be on with full power in several weeks. We are currently reaching Lincoln reliably with just 38kW. Increasing to 100kW this summer should be a definate improvement. We will be making the full power transition soon, but a date has not been determined.

Jay Nix
Chief Engineer
WOWT

Jay,

What power level will KOLN come on at? And will KGIN in Grand Island come on at the same power level or what will that be?

Thanks,

Thanks for the response Jay. I'm up in Blair and at night pickup your signal loud and clear without a hitch, but have noticed during the daytime I get occassional to frequent dropouts. I'm betting as you increase power and your signal separates itself from the background noise my daytime dropouts will go away.

Considering I live in one of the lowest points in Blair, I'm really happy with the results I am getting and am looking forward to the increased dependability a higher power signal will bring. Now if we could just get the networks to provide all programming in HD... ;)

Just wanted to say thanks to all the contributors here, it is both interesting and informative. Plus I think it's great that some of the stations have engineers and others who actually care about the viewers. Sorry about intruding on Omaha’s thread but I detect some frustration by some members from time to time with the delays of some of the Omaha stations but maybe I can put this in perspective for you. I live in the tri-city area and we have been waiting 19 years (in some cases) for our CBS, ABC and FOX affiliates just to broadcast in stereo and it still hasn’t happened! The two stations that actually do broadcast a stereo signal are on the low VHF band and the pictures are consistently full of EMI and RFI making them almost unwatchable if you are more than 35 miles away. Plus if you do have a good antenna the wind and ice will do it in over time. So basically every station out here leaves something to be desired.

Now on to digital television – we presently have 3 stations broadcasting a digital signal

KHAS-DT 21 Hastings NBC 1.35 kW at 271’ HAAT
KLNE-DT 26 Lexington PBS 375 kW at 813’ HAAT
KHNE-DT 28 Hastings PBS 200 kW at 1200’ HAAT

The PBS affiliates come in very strong and send out an occasional hi-def feed but KHAS is a different story. They are only going to be sending out upconverted 480i and have no plans to EVER go hi-def or full power but even the 480i is a huge improvement. Surprisingly enough after upgrading my antenna system with RG-11 cable, a Winegard 8700 preamp and a Channelmaster rotor I am receiving it 95% of the time with only occasional dropouts. Night time reception is excellent. The antenna is the front end of an old large combo antenna and is about 20’ above the ground. I’m about 39 miles away from the transmitter and the terrain is flat. When I get a chance I will upgrade the antenna and go to 35’ above ground.

By the way Jay, I was getting some decent tropo Tuesday morning so I checked channel 22 on my DTC100. Sure enough, there was Martha Stewart on WOWT 6-1. That’s a trip of 167 miles. Crank up the power so we can get an occasional glimpse of Jay Leno in hi-def!

The rest of the stations that aren’t transmitting DTV yet

KOLN-DT 32 Grand Island CBS 831 kW at 899’ HAAT
KHGI-DT 36 Kearney ABC 8.4 kW at 587’ HAAT
KTVG-DT 19 Grand Island FOX 10.6 kW at 456’ HAAT

This data was taken from the FCC website at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html

KHGI will only be upconverting 480i and you know about FOX so it looks like CBS and PBS are the only networks going hi-def out here.

Now is there anyone from Lincoln or Omaha who wants to trade places?

Cornhustler

Well said.

I'm thrilled to be in Lincoln and able to pick up NBC, ABC, and very soon CBS. The people in the Omaha/Lincoln area should be very satisfied not only with what we already have but with the fact that the engineers will take the time to keep us updated on the progress. CBS will get here when it gets here.

I also can't believe that you picked up a bit of WOWT 165 Miles away.

Good to have the input.

Thanks,

Cornhustler

One other thing, the good news is that when KOLN goes on-line approx. June 1st I've been told, they plan to light up KGIN also.

Good luck.

Hey All,

I have been watching and waiting for digital TV, particularly HDTV, since I first heard of it over a decade ago. I bought a 25" analog TV in 1991 and vowed not to buy another until I could get an HD capable display. (I don't count the 13" in my bedroom.) I never expected it to be 10 years. When the 46" Mits 46805 got close to the $3k mark, I bought one. Along with the new DVD player that I had, it was something.

I don't think anybody on this board would minimize or particularly blame the local stations of Nebraska for making the transition a bit late. Most of all I have been amazed and appreciative of the forthright nature of the local station engineers and their willingness to discuss their progress. I have been bugging them periodically for about 3 years. We are all small markets and the financials alone made this a difficult haul for the broadcasters. It will be a long time before any of them realize a dime in profit for their efforts over the last several years. Hats off to our locals and their efforts! Its been a long time coming, but worth the wait. Even SWMBO is dissapointed when we miss the HD version live and have to watch a VHS copy.

The real problem existed at the higher levels of decision making. The inability of the FCC to make some common sense rulings at earlier times to speed the adoption process comes to mind. The constant blockage from NAB and Hollywood. The fact that nobody seems(ed) to be able to decide on a cable standard. These few items and many others (8VSB vs COFDM) delayed the rollout of this great new TV standard by 5 years at least. Many battles are left to wage particularly on cable standards and recording rights. Many who have analog inputs on their TVs still face the possibility of being down-rezed because Hollywood wants to protect their precious property from pirates. Don't know about you guys, but I'm less enamoured of Hollywoods efforts everytime I see some of them in an interview.

Ultimately HDTV will be a revolution, but please forgive those of us who have followed its development for over a decade for getting impatient in the last hour. The funny thing is that it was never about getting viewers better TV pictures, it was about the government wanting to clear spectrum and sell it for billions for cell phones! The cost of spectrum has dropped a bit in the last few years.

Thanks for reading my opinion,
Doug

Is it just my HD Tuner card or has anyone else noticed a "strobe" effect watching KYNE-DT? I tried watching the Husker baseball game on KYNE today, during the delay noticed some storbing during the Julia Childs show, it continued into the game, so bad I was getting a headache and just had to switch back to cable. Anything that moves seems to be subject to this "stobe" effect, but the faster something moves the more headache inducing it seems to be.

I haven't noticed this on WOWT or KETV, so am assuming it's something about KYNE and not my system...

DEVOX COME BACK, i wanna talk to you about that HDD-201

Kmtv, any chance to be on this week?

I have informed Brent Haun, Chief Engineer of KOLN, about this forum. Hopefully, he can answer many of the questions pertaining to their HDTV on-air date and ERP.

Jay Nix
Chief Engineer
WOWT-Omaha

Yes!

I talked to Brent Haun yesterday. They are hoping to be up and running around May 26th. They have to do some modifications to the tower. I hope Brent comes on to give us more information.

Shawn

So Mike
Our HDTV arrives this Saturday. The only reason my wife will allow it into the house is for Law and Order and Judging Amy in HD over the air. I'm not going to spend Tuesday night sleeping out on the deck with the dog am I?

Mike,

Watch your sets on Wednesday night........I think your dog is going to be lonely. Our antenna Engineer just arrived in Omaha this hour. There is one small piece of line to install. Barring any problems in the tuning, we should be on soon. That being said, I see there is a line of thunderstorms heading our way......

I'd also like to thank Doug Ehlers on Post #714. He hit the nail on the head. Omaha's Broadcast Engineers have been very busy this last year and sill have much to do. We appreciate the support.

I would also like to thank Kmtv's Scot Krayenhagen & Mike Gann for there time and effort in this long time consuming process. Lets flip that switch and we will all cross our fingers. Thanks Kmtv.

WOWT, any new information about Cox cable in Omaha. Is there a target date?

Thanks

NETC will have a special HD commissioning with the Governor. We will
transmit NET HD Programming at 11 AM April 23 (WED). We will then transmit
the PBS loop all day after the commissioning.

FYI

I assume Ch. 26-5 and 12-5

S.K.

YES YES YES KMTV is up!!!!! Its 11:30 am Weds and they are up and the picture on Young and the Restless looks great, thanks Scot, Mike from Kmtv, what are you guys going to do now that you will not have to answer any more (when are you going to be up questions?) Thanks again.

100 % Signal on 45-1 (3-1) in Center of Lincoln at our Store.

Looks great.

Also the NETV event started a little late, but is on the air right now, local shots of Lincoln in HD, Kind of cool.

S.K.

I was on the phone (tuned to 45-1) with Mike when they were testing this morning. He is going to park it on 250kW ERP.

I read him the responses on this board while he was tweaking on the transmitter. His reply for Ronald "I guess I will have to remove the "Ronald Filter" from my computer now"

Congrats go to all the Engineers at KMTV. A job well done!

Jay

My apologies to Paul Sautter and the Engineers at Nebraska Educational Television, today the Governor pulled the switch for the official launch for state wide HDTV coverage for PBS. Paul had multiple transmit sites, tragedy with a tower crew incident, and multiple hurdles to overcome to make his May 1 deadline. A paramount task that deserves high praise!

Jay

WOO HOO! I can finally pick up OTA DTV in Columbus. I am currently receiving with 3 bars on my SIR-T151 and a Channel Master 3020 in my 1 story attic. I might be able to get a little bit better with some tweaking, I just put the antenna up there this afternoon. I would like to put the antenna up on the roof, but I am renting (don't know if the landlord will allow it). I also can pick up KUON channel 40-1.

I can't wait until tomorrow when there is some CBS HDTV programming.

I remember Warren mentioning that there would be a power increase with KETV this summer. Is there any definite date for the power increase? Just curious. Of the 3 networks they are the only one I am having dropout issues with. Thanks KMTV for you hard work.

KETV will increase power in June of this year. We will go up to roughly 350Kw ERP.

Matter of fact, I met with two members of the tower crew today to go over the layout and plan.

We will finalize the plan the first of next week, at the moment; it looks like we will start the work the first week in June. The project will take 4 weeks to complete if the weather co-operates with us.

The analog side of the house (7-0) will be broadcast from the studio location, so reception of 7-0 will be an issue for some people.

The DTV side of the house (7-1) will still be broadcast from the same tower and power level until the end of the project when we connect to the new antenna.

I will post more next week when the plan firms up.

I visited Scot and Mike at KMTV's transmitter site today, two very proud engineers. Shook their hand, a job well done!!!

Warren

Hot Dog! KMTV at 81%. Looks terrific. Thanks for the great work guys (this includes all of you at KETV, WOWT, and KETV, too.)

WOO HOO! I can finally pick up OTA DTV in Columbus. I am currently receiving with 3 bars on my SIR-T151 and a Channel Master 3020 in my 1 story attic. I might be able to get a little bit better with some tweaking, I just put the antenna up there this afternoon. I would like to put the antenna up on the roof, but I am renting (don't know if the landlord will allow it). I also can pick up KUON channel 40-1.

I can't wait until tomorrow when there is some CBS HDTV programming.

Scot,

Looks like, at least to me, KMTV is suffering the same problem that I believe WOWT was a few months back with their PSIP server causing my OTA receiver to reboot every two minutes or so.

I have a Samsung SIR-T150 and it's happening regularly. Every two minutes, the image freezes, I have about two to three seconds of the last say .2 seconds of audio looping over and over, then the box reboots itself.

I looked at the guide and I see your PSIP data says "KMTV 1080i/29/15M 1" so something is getting broadcast.

Jay at WOWT contacted their software vendor and apparently there is a fix for this.

Otherwise, great work! I am getting a good, strong signal in Millard with just a rat shack double-bowtie antenna.

-- Robert

Just wanted to give a big THANK YOU to everyone in this thread for answering every single "HDTV in Omaha" question I had. DLP projector is on order, and now I'm just waiting to piece together my audio system. The wait is going to be long and horrible. I can't wait to experience what everyone else here is.

Hello to Pflep! See ya at MAM sometime this year?

dehlers: Relation to Larry & Judy? I'm good friends with Rebecca. I think we've met before. :)

Thanks again to everyone. Watching Formula1 on the bigscreen will be a dream come true. ;)

- A.C.

Robert,

I actually talked with Mike (KMTV) about this yesterday. They are running the same Tanberg Encoder that WOWT runs, so the fix is relatively simple.

Jay

Originally posted by ace3


Hello to Pflep! See ya at MAM sometime this year?


- A.C.

AC, don't think I'll be driving at MAM this year. Still dealing with problems from my knee.

Good to see more folks here from the area. It's crazy how totally whimsical chance meetings happen, and by that I mean dimer is whimsical :D

Do any of the DTV broadcasters from this area have any numbers on how many are actively watching the DTV signals? Just from the people I know and this board you'd think the numbers are not small and insignificant anymore.

This is putting more value back into free TV, and I thank those responsible for making it happen.

Oh woe is me! I am going through Ronald withdrawal. You still out there?

I want to thank everyone for their patience during the HD project.

Thanks for the signal reports, and please keep us informed. As Jay stated, we are running 250 kW ERP right now. After we get some idea how the coverage is at that level, we will test at 700 kW ERP and see if there is much difference in our coverage. So please get an average benchmark of our signal.

Also, if you noticed popping in the audio during the "Young and the Restless" soap, it seems to be satellite transponder specific (it was also evident on the cable HD). The problem went away when we went to the evening programming transponder. We will visit with CBS on that one.

Also we will update the HD encoder with the latest software to fix the problem with the Samsung SIR-T150.

In order to bring Ronald out of hiding, we have decided to raise our DTV power to 350 kW ERP as of 5pm this evening.

This puts us at half of our power capability at this time. We will run one of the two IOTs at full power and see how the coverage is.

Let us know!

Originally posted by Mike Gann
In order to bring Ronald out of hiding, we have decided to raise our DTV power to 350 kW ERP as of 5pm this evening.

This puts us at half of our power capability at this time. We will run one of the two IOTs at full power and see how the coverage is.

Let us know!

Steady at 82%

What time do you power up the DTV? I tuned in today about 11:25 and 11:35 to nothing.

We were working on the remote control today. We will be up by 11am on weekdays and off after the ten o'clock news.

Not sure yet about the weekends, will let you know.

This is for Mike and the other affiliates. Do you guys have any idea of the percentage of viewers who get your signals OTA? About 6 months ago I put an antenna up and don't know why I waited so long.

Ha, Ha, Ha very funny Mike! Getting a great signal, but I live in Omaha, Mike ,Kmtv's news format at 10:00 is great, Ok, here I go again!!!does Kmtv have a long range plan to broadcast the news in hdtv?

We plan to tackle something easy first, like broker peace in the Middle East.

We will then solicit donations from the HD viewers to pay for the conversion.

I have no idea how many digital viewers there are in this market.

devox how come you didnt respond to my second private message?

Transmitter is down :(

The DTV transmitter failed around midnight this morning. I have parts on order, they are scheduled to arrive Saturday AM.

Hope to have it back Saturday afternoon.

This will not affect the viewers on Cox Cable.

WOWT, any new information about Cox cable in Omaha. Is there a target date?

Thanks

The tower crew is painting the new steel ehancements around our antenna.

We won't be on the air until they are finished, early this afternoon.

We were back up about 2:10pm. Painting is done. Some ice shield work tomorrow (Saturday). Don't know if they will be done by 11am.

Our dtv broadcast day will be 11am - 11pm seven days a week.