Video,

No date on the Cox deal. The more calls they receive, the faster they should move. I get the impression that they are not that concerned about carrying HDTV from WOWT.

Jay

Jay, when will you be increasing your power level? and how much? Thanks

Originally posted by Mike Gann
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.

Any idea when you'll be broadcasting 24/7? And how about that PSIP bug? :)

-- Robert

Robert, We decided not to upgrade the HD encoder on a Friday. Most broadcasters leave well enough alone on Fridays. Most product support and parts are hard to come by during the weekends. Remember what happened to Jay when they did the upgrade.

We will have to see how bad the power bill is and how many eyeballs there are before we go 24/7. The amount of power required for us to run at the 700 kW ERP level would light up Baghdad for quite a while.

The DTV transmitter still has a problem, more parts are scheduled to arrive Monday AM, so the DTV transmitter will not be available now until Monday.

Again, this will not affect the viewers on Cox Cable.

Are any of the omaha stations close to getting Time Warner in Lincoln to carry the HDTV signals?
I noticed that NETV is already on channel 112.

Jay,

Tell me who to call at Cox about WOWT. I have called customer support several times and asked to talk to someone that know ANYTHING about HDTV and they are clueless. I went to one of their Service Centers and asked to speak to someone that knows anything about HDTV and the person at the counter said they knew about it. I asked them what was available in HDTV and they said everything because thier new cable boxes are digital. Typical.

Thanks
Matt

I just wanted to let the Omaha broadcasters know that in the Lincoln area, we are continuing to set people up all the time with OTA solutions to watch your digital signals. The work you've all put in is being seen, and we plan to continue to promote your stations.

Have any of the stations given any thought to advertising a little more on your analog stations that you do transmit a digital signal? It seems that Public awareness is a big problem.

Anyway, we do appreciate all of your hard work, and especially keeping us informed on this forum.

Thanks,

boardmanDJ,

Time Warner has contacted me twice in the past, asked if KETV was passing HD or not. I was told the call was for planning purposes, they did not give me any information as to a time table. I would think this would not take place (at least for KETV) until I install my new antenna and increase power toward the end of June, I would need to hit their head end with a good signal. In June, I will be running roughly the same power as KMTV is currently.

MediaCom contacted me this week, asked the same questions about passing HD. Asked for the contacts at WOWT & KMTV, I gave him Jay, & Scot's number. MediaCom was interested in placing the Omaha market on the system in Atlantic, Iowa.

It's hard to tell with Time Warner. They seem to be on top of alot of things and way behind on others. we've got channels nobody else has never heard of up in the digital tier! (G4TV is just weird).
When Cablevision relocated in the 90's they build the main office and head end in a high spot, however it's on the Southwest side of Lincoln.
I'm sure it's just a matter of time. In the meantime, I've had a guy on my roof checking signal and I found a good deal on a samsung T151.

hey devox how come you didnt answer my private message i sent a couple of days ago??

I'm sure the reason that Time Warner has PBS currently, is the fact that they have Fiber down to their head end.

I've emailed my contact and plan on getting an update for all they plan to offer in the Lincoln and surrounding marketplace. The nice thing for a lot of surrounding small towns, is whatever Lincoln Digital customers can get, so can they. Their website lists the small towns that they service.

We hope to increase our power to 100kW this summer. We are having problems with a vendor who manufactured our transmission line. We purchased it in 1996 for NTSC and DTV transmission. Unfortunately, we discovered that it will not work on channel 22. That is why we had to run a temporary line last Sept when we went on the air.

We are discussing who shall pay for repairing the line. Of course, the manufacture thinks WOWT should eat the expense, my view is "They sold us a product that does not work"

I hope to have a resolution shortly.


Jay

Transmitter is operational again.

Thanks Warren!

I have a Koln-dt question? are they up and running? Titantv lists them today as being up?if so what power? thanks from Omaha.

KOLN says around May 26th for their launch.

S.K.

Warren,

It was very nice last night having the weather radar up on 7.2. SWMBO was very impressed! I hope that is something you can continue to do. Can you tell us the bitrate required to do a radar? Seems like it would be pretty small. One advantage of ABC choosing 720p I guess is that you can have an additional channel while broadcasting and HD show.

Thanks,
Doug

I have the second channel running 2.5Meg currently. The HD side is running a little over 16Meg. (Actually, could do radar in 1 or 1.5 Meg, I just wanted to see if I had any issues at 2.5 Meg).

I was watching the HD side last night looking for any quality issues and did not see any problems.

Playing with the encoder...

SWMBO???, I am not familiar with this.

Warren

SWMBO=She Who Must be Obeyed

Ok, I am familiar with that now.

I was trying to go with South West Meteorology... something like that.

Man, I need to get a life...

Warren

Doug, that was awesome. I hadn't heard that. It was hilarious.

Originally posted by Mike Gann
Robert, We decided not to upgrade the HD encoder on a Friday. Most broadcasters leave well enough alone on Fridays. Most product support and parts are hard to come by during the weekends. Remember what happened to Jay when they did the upgrade.


Any word of the PSIP upgrade yet? :)

-- Robert

Congratulations, Omaha, on having all major networks online & broadcasting digitally! Des Moines is jealous.

Eyedox,

I can remember a while back when you had several channels online and Omaha had zilch. Some things are worth waiting for...

John

Originally posted by Video
Jay,

Tell me who to call at Cox about WOWT. I have called customer support several times and asked to talk to someone that know ANYTHING about HDTV and they are clueless. I went to one of their Service Centers and asked to speak to someone that knows anything about HDTV and the person at the counter said they knew about it. I asked them what was available in HDTV and they said everything because thier new cable boxes are digital. Typical.

Thanks
Matt

I'll echo this. I've called quite a few times and the people are clueeee-less.

ace3 - nice to see you around these parts.. Get your projector yet?

pflep - you are quite insane.


So, if Cox doesn't get around to it, anyone wanna buy a used HDD-200 or a HDD-201? They'll push me to throw an antenna up.. And if I do that, I might as well drop phone service with them as well and just use my cell phones.

I wish there was competition to their broadband networking, tho.. Qwest's service sucked, IMHO.

One who is feeling bold might want to write a detailed letter about HDTV, asking very direct questions, worded very carefully, so there is no doubt what you are asking.
Note the fact that various attempts to customer service brought uniformed results (...everything is HDTV because the box is digital...etc)
Address these to the General Manager and the Head of the Engineering department.
It should it least open a couple of eyes, especially with direct wording that leaves nothing to question.

Originally posted by Video
Jay,

Tell me who to call at Cox about WOWT. I have called customer support several times and asked to talk to someone that know ANYTHING about HDTV and they are clueless. I went to one of their Service Centers and asked to speak to someone that knows anything about HDTV and the person at the counter said they knew about it. I asked them what was available in HDTV and they said everything because thier new cable boxes are digital. Typical.

Thanks
Matt

I'll echo this. I've called quite a few times and the people are clueeee-less.

ace3 - nice to see you around these parts.. Get your projector yet?

pflep - you are quite insane.


So, if Cox doesn't get around to it, anyone wanna buy a used HDD-200 or a HDD-201? They'll push me to throw an antenna up.. And if I do that, I might as well drop phone service with them as well and just use my cell phones.

I wish there was competition to their broadband networking, tho.. Qwest's service sucked, IMHO.

Janet Barnard is the VP and General Manager for Cox. She is the person that makes things happen.

Jay

Originally posted by dimer0
I'll echo this. I've called quite a few times and the people are clueeee-less.

ace3 - nice to see you around these parts.. Get your projector yet?

pflep - you are quite insane.


So, if Cox doesn't get around to it, anyone wanna buy a used HDD-200 or a HDD-201? They'll push me to throw an antenna up.. And if I do that, I might as well drop phone service with them as well and just use my cell phones.

I wish there was competition to their broadband networking, tho.. Qwest's service sucked, IMHO.

I haven't used their service yet but it might be interesting for broadband...

http://www.microlnk.com

NBC Sports for the first time will broadcast live high definition coverage

of the prestigious Visa Triple Crown, beginning with the "Run for the Roses"

this Saturday. The HDTV broadcasts will be available on NBC's DTV affiliate

stations. The HDTV broadcasts will be produced by NBC's cameras and crew,

and will feature the audio and announcers from NBC's standard production.

Jay

Actually, the Visa Triple Crown was High Def LAST year on NBC too. I know because I watched it. Unless you meant that someone other than the NBC Sports CREW did the broadcast (farmed production out to another group?)

For you Omaha Cox folks. ESPN HD in Omaha in June.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2169055#post2169055

ESPN in HDTV - Sweet, but I'm sure it is a premium channel.

Cox broadband works very well for me because I typically use it from 7 am to 5 pm. You can really see the network slow down around 3:30 as all the kids get home from school. I've used their braodband service for three years and wouldn't mess with anything else. Unless I could afford a dedicated DS3. That would be nice.

Let me know if anyone has a used HD200 for sale. I could use a second.

Thanks

The KMTV digital transmitter will not be on the air until later this afternoon, for safety reasons.
The tower crew is un-rigging the tower. They will be leaving town tomorrow after a job well done.


Robert! We upgraded the firmware in our HD encoder to fix the problem in your receiver.

Everyone may have to reboot their receivers.

KMTV-DT is back on as of 3:20PM.

I am brand new to this board this evening and I've been amazed with the great participation from people in Omaha! I am happy to announce that I finally bought a GWII at the Mega Mart this weekend after many years of oogling and drooling. However, I just realized tonight that I have no idea what other equipment I need to get set up here in Omaha.

I currently have analog Qwest cable, but I will probably want to switch to Cox so that I can get digital/HDTV content. I currently have a Samsung T165 receiver on-order, but I just came to the realization tonight that the T165 doesn't decode QAM, so I'm afraid that is going to be a huge waste of money if I ever want digital cable. At the same time, I am afraid that the decoder box that Cox would want me to use would not be very good quality and I can't hook up an antenna to it to get more local channels?

What suggestions do you veterans have? I really need help figuring out what I should do about my receiver...

I've seen several boxes in action in Omaha. I have NO idea of the name/brand, as I live in Lincoln (Luckly Time Warner is nice enough to allow one HDTV box per household at the same rate you would rent a standard box).
The HDTV on ANY of these boxes is amazing. I too thought there might be a problem with quality. If you have a good digital signal, the picture is going to look decent. (It's hard to get away from thinking analog, where you get varying degrees of noise/static/etc based on percentage of signal).
I'm sure there is a hard core TV enthusiast who might argue some of the finer points of picture quality. At this point I see something lightyears ahead of standard quality analog.
If you standard digital channels come in, without pixelating (those little squares that appear when a digital signal cuts in and out) then chances are you'll see an excellent HDTV signal.
I understand that Cox requires you to purchase an HDTV box.

Originally posted by Mike Gann
Robert! We upgraded the firmware in our HD encoder to fix the problem in your receiver.


Thanks, Mike! Watched a while last night and no more reboots!

-- Robert

Warren,

Checked out a bit of Gladiator last night (looked great). While viewing I flipped over to the weather map 7-02. My better half thought that was pretty neat, I do too, how much bandwidth are you currently using for 7-02? Not interrupting the Saturday night flick and still being able to flip over to a weather radar update to watch the storm roll in is pretty cool, as long as the picture quality on 7-01 doesn't deteriorate.

Also, your channel appeared very stable last night from my location, have you done anything different other than replacing failed hardware?

John

Hi John,

The HD side (7-1) is running 16 Meg, the radar (7-2) is running 2.5 Meg. To date, it does not appear that the HD side has needed any more bandwidth. I can turn on statistical multiplexing, so the HD side can take what it needs, but I am still running it with this feature off.

Just replaced some hardware in the transmitter, nothing other than that, must be weather.

Speaking of changes, I have met with the tower crew and we will start the work to replace the antenna at the top of the main tower starting the first week in June.

So, the first week in June 7-0 will be shutdown from the main site, and broadcast from the studio location. Some viewers will have reception problems from this site due to the antenna is not as high as the main tower, and it does not run as much power as the main.

The DTV side of operations will not be affected during this construction until the point where we change from broadcasting on the temporary antenna (current antenna) to the new antenna mounted on the top of the tower. We will need to re-plumb the output of the DTV transmitter from the temporary antenna, to the input of the combiner. Then, re-tap the beam supply on the IOT back up to 36Kv to run at the new power level, then re-sweep the transmitter at the higher power level.

This project will take 4 weeks if the weather co-operates. We will first remove the analog channel 7 antenna from the tower. Install temporary guy wires to the top of the tower so we can remove the top 6' section and bring it to the ground. Once on the ground we will replace the top antenna mounting plate as the new combination antenna takes a larger mount. Raise that 6' section back up to the top of the tower, re-install the top guy wires. Then start to raise the new combination antenna and splitter assembly.

On the ground, we will plumb the output of the analog transmitter, to the input of the channel 7 & channel 20 combiner. Plumb the output of the combiner to the transmission line running up the tower.

After the tower work is complete, we will sweep the entire RF system, combiner, line up the tower, splitter, and antenna. Once this is complete go back on the main analog transmitter on channel 7, and plumb the DTV transmitter to the input of the combiner. Re-tap the beam supply, and re-sweep the DTV transmitter at its new power level. Last, put DTV back on the air at 1/2 licensed DTV power of 350Kw.

One nice thing about this combination 7 & 20 antenna is it will be mounted on the top of the tower, its pattern will not be affected like my current side mounted DTV antenna.

Last, off to the store for hair color for me.

In Omaha to receive Cox cable. you will need to buy the converter box Motorola HD200 from NFM to receive their HDTV braodcasts. Or you need a big screen like a Mits with QAM decoding). You are limted to ABC, CBS and for a premium, HBO and Showtime. They included the NBA allstar game this year for no cost and I hear that ESPN HDTV will be available soon. I think the HD200 cost me about $400 and it is even better this weekend with the Berkshire Hathaway discount (if you own stock or know someone that does).

True, the box will NOT accept an antenna connection for OTA, you will need another receiver for that.

HDTV is exciting, but true to form, it is not cheap to get going. Digital TV, tuner, and if you go cable or dish, you need suscription fees. OTA is probably your best bet if you are trying to keep costs down.

Another viable option would be to use a PC tuner card for OTA. The added benifit would be the ability to record HD onto the computer. If this sounds interesting take a look at the HTPC section here.

devox so i take it u are not selling that tuner anymore?

Warren,
the hair color is in anticipation of Ronald's daily "Are we there yet?":D

Thanks for the responses. For the time being, I decided to change my order for the Samsung T165 receiver down to the more basic T151 to receive over-the-air signal, because I figure I will be switching to Cox Digital Cable as soon as they figure out what is going on with their decoder boxes. I am hoping the Motorola 6100 or the Zenith HDV430 receivers due out later this year will be suitable for decoding the cable signal and then I plan to swap out the OTA receiver for the cable box (I may have to keep the OTA box around if Cox won't pick up more local channels in HD).

That leads to the following question though... have any of you had good experiences with a particular indoor antenna here in Omaha? I am located near 108th and Military if that helps. Almost all of the stations are coded as 'red' on antennaweb.org for me. I was thinking about the Silver Sensor or the Radio Shack 15-1862 based on reviews I read in other forums, but I was curious what has been working for people in this area. Thanks again! Can't wait for the set to arrive!

FYI
I live out in the country 20 miles East of Omaha and have had wonderful luck with a mid level Radio Shack antenna. I'm sorry that I can't give you the model number. I put it in the attic ten years ago when we built the house.
This thing is feeding a one in four out splitter and the signal gets split one more time before it hits my Zenith STB and the signal still is very strong.
I don't use the rotor anymore as pointing it at Crown Point gets me 3,6,7,12 & 26.
What I'm trying to say here is that you don't need a monster antenna in Omaha to get HDTV. I suspect the limiting factor will be multipath issues if your location poses them.
Good luck and I hope this helps.

First, I want to thank all the hard work of the Crown Point and PBS stations. They have really shown that they care about their viewers.
It's so cool that all the station's are up with their DTV transmitters, but I'm still wondering what KPTM is doing. I can pick up KXVO if I point my antenna in that direction, but no KPTM.

With KETV's idea of putting up their radar on a sub-channel, it got me thinking. KXVO and KPTM are run by the same company and have the same tower. Why don't they just run both networks on the digital channel as subs to each other? I think I recall other cities having stations that do that. Wouldn't putting them both on the same digital channel save a whole ton of costs?

Can some of you guys maybe get in contact with someone from KXVO/KPTM and find out whats going on? What they are doing right now, plan to do or whatever. It would be even greater if we could get them to participate in this discussion board. I'm willing as I'm guessing others are as well, to help out with feedback, suggestions, and encouragement in order to get a good signal going to the Omaha and surrounding area.

Oh, and masteropp, maybe you can check out the Winegard PR-4400 available at Omaha Electronics Inc on 22nd and Leavenworth St. It's supposed to be an outdoor antenna, but it's really sort of small enough to be used indoors if you want.

KETV-DT will be delayed to sign-on today, KVNO's FM is on my tower, they are having antenna problems and a tower crew is working on it.

My DTV antenna is near that FM antenna so I need to stay down while the tower crew is near it.

This only affects the OTA viewers, not Cox Cable.

The DTV transmitter will be back on at 3:30pm today.

Might be on late again tomorrow as the tower crew took down the FM antenna and is re-building it. They will take it back up tomorrow.

Warren

My Samsung T151 STB came in today (still no GWII) so I decided to hook it up to try to get my antenna situation figured out before the set gets here. I picked up a Zenith Silver Sensor, a $15 RCA loop/rabbit ears antenna, and also tested a really (really) old basic rabbit ear antenna I found in my basement.

My conclusion is that the $15 RCA works just as well as the $35 Silver Sensor at least in my situation, and the old rabbit ears work almost as well as either of those two but it's a little touchier...

The good news is that I can get channels 3, 6, 7, and 26 with about 50-60% signal strength and that gives me a fairly stable picture and sound. Channels 3 and 6 were a bit fussy and would go out of reception from time to time, but 7 was always there. Channel 26 seemed to have some audio problems part of the evening and then it went out entirely late tonight. I am still not able to pick up WB or FOX...

Going to try out some more antennas tomorrow and over the weekend. I'm definitely still open to suggestions. I think that Winegard would do the trick, but I really don't have the room for it. I need a really small indoor antenna (which I'm sure is most of my problem), but with my early success picking up the major networks, I'm optimistic that I can find something that will pick up everything.

KETV-DT will sign-on late today. More work on KVNO's FM today.

Warren

Does UHF travel better after sunset?
I've had the oddest thing happening on KETV. I'm 'in the fringe', so I'm surprised I get anything at all.
KMTV comes in lovely, WOWT has an occasional hiccup, but KETV only comes in 'sometime after primetime'. I haven't kept close tally, but I can never get them in the afternoons.
Just curious if anybody knew why this may happen.
I know power, location on tower, etc all play into this but do not remember who is where...except that they are all at Crown Point.

Hi Dave,

Yes, (from the amateur radio side of me) when the sun goes down, there is less ionization, & less noise.

Also, the reason you have the most trouble with KETV is due to I am currently running the least amount of power (18.9 Kw), and my antenna is the lowest of the three at Crown Point.

This will be fixed by the end of June (if the weather is good to me) as I will start the antenna replacement the first week of June. Once complete, the antenna will be right up there with WOWT & KMTV (actually a little higher as it will be top mounted, but we are only talking 30 – 40’ higher). The power will go to 350Kw. Here is a coverage map @ 350Kw.

Jay,

Last night I noticed that your AC3 audio level was approximatelly 30db lower than other digital locals. I checked both of my digital OTA tuners (different brands) and they both exhibited weak audio levels. Forgetting to drop the audio level on my processor before changing channels can be real scary.

Anyone else notice this?

John

Just a note.

KMTV-DT may be on the air intermittently during the daytime hours Monday and possibly Tuesday.

We will be upgrading hardware, testing, and making adjustments to the other IOT amplifier. Hopefully we will be transmitting at the 700 kW ERP level by weeks end.

Mike
Last night during prime your signal kept dropping to black for a second or so. My signal strength meter indicates good reception. Is it my STB or are you experiencig some teething problems with your xmtr?
90% of the time your signal was a thing of beauty.

NETV
I was all ready to watch the Nature program on wildlife on WWII wrecks in HDTV last night but no luck. Are you passing any HDTV programming through to your OTA signal as yet? The only HDTV I can recall seeing on NETV has been the demo loop you played during start up. Am I just tuning in at the wrong times?
thanks all

John,

I monitor the transmitter at home with a Samsung, and have not heard the audio discrepancies. We also utilize Samsungs and a RCA's at the studio and all audio seems to be at even levels.

I would be interested if any other viewers are experiencing the same problems.

Jay Nix
Chief Engineer
WOWT-Omaha

So are ALL of the OMAHA market stations now officially on the air with their DT channels?? If so, what % of full power are these stations broadcasting at currently? Enough to reach Pender or Falls City NE? ( I have family in both of those places that want to upgrade to HDTV soon. Just curious if they will have any luck picking Omaha up.

By the end of this week, KMTV-DT will be up to 700kW ERP, licensed for 1megW ERP, 70%.

Pender is 66 miles from our transmitter site but located in a low spot. I would guess that they should be able to pick us up.

Falls City is just shy of 90 miles away. Based on what I've heard that digital is getting out a lot further than analog, I would have to guess that it may be possible to see us that far out, but I'd have to see a signal strength level to trust it.

Remember, in Digital Televison there will be the little thing called "Cliff Effect". That's when you are just inside or outside the signal strength that triggers your decoder. You either get it or you don't.

Eyedox,

KETV-DT is currently at 2.7% licensed power. (Not a chance for Pender)

KETV-DT at the end of June, or first part of July (this year) will be at 50% licensed power. If you look at post 804, there is a coverage map at 350Kw ERP, and it looks like the signal spills into Pender.

At this moment in time the planning for KETV-DT is to be at 100% power mid year 2004.

It's amazing how well these signals are getting out. "full" power almost seems like overkill. Although I suppose the guy in a basement with a small antenna on the fringe of the coverage area would beg to differ.

WOWT is running 3.2% of its allocated power. The time frame for increased power is related to the repair of our transmission line. Hopefully I will have more information sometime in June.

Jay Nix
Chief Engineer
WOWT-Omaha

Good news for people out west near Grand Island. CBS Ch. 11 KGIN-DT plans to launch HD May 26th, with KOLN-DT in the next couple months. My understanding is pretty full power, so they should have good coverage.

Just FYI.

S.K.

We fired up the other IOT cabinet today. After a thorough check-out, we put it on line with the other side. We eased back on the combined power a bit to see how it does overnight.

As of 6:30pm this evening, KMTV-DT began transmitting at the 500 kW ERP level.

(I never knew that the disc in an OPPD power meter could move that fast!)

Mike, what do you figure your range to be to the West?

Do you have a similar coverage map to that of KETV'S that Warrne posted a while back.

Thanks, S.K.

Thanks for the update Steve.

In other central Nebraska news ABC KHGI DT 36 in Kearney came on the air this evening. They are sending out a digitized analog 480i signal similar to KLKN. Picture is a little better mainly due to a lack of ghosting. I spoke with the engineer yesterday and he told me KHGI DT would be coming on today and FOX KTVG DT 19 would be turned on on Wednesday. They also turned on ABC KWNB DT 18 in Hayes Center on Monday. No definite plans for upgrading to 720p on the ABC affiliates plus all these are low power. Sounds like KGIN DT 32 will be the last in the Tri City area but it should be worth waiting for.

Originally posted by Mike Gann
As of 6:30pm this evening, KMTV-DT began transmitting at the 500 kW ERP level.


Prior to this power increase watching KMTV during daylight hours, especially twilight was a trying experience. I was getting very frequent dropouts, to the point where I didn't bother watch your DTV station until after sunset...

Yesterday and today: No dropouts at all, daylight or not!

Just want to let you know that your increase in power provided a recognizable benefit to someone.

Received this from ABC:

Please be advised that “NBA Playoffs On ABC” (Game #2 Eastern Conference Final) scheduled on Thursday, May 22, 2003 in the 8:00 – 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 – 8:00 PM-PT time period as well as the NBA Finals On ABC” scheduled on June 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 18, 2003 in the 8:00 – 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 – 8:00 PM-PT time period will be broadcast in HDTV/5.1 Audio.

This afternoon we went up to 700kW ERP.

After addressing some issues with one of the IOT's, we re-proofed the transmitter for 700kW ERP. We were pleasantly surprised, however, that the transmitter would easily run at the 800 kW level, and well in specs. Since we recently received our new STA (special temporary authorization) to run at 700kW, we will stay there.

I will try to find the pridicted coverage maps and get them posted.

Tyler, where in Nebraska do you live? I am curious how far away and in what type of terrain do you live?

Just a quick update to the antenna replacement project.

The dual band antenna is finished, and has been moved to temporary storage.

Tower crew will show up the end of next week, they will prepare to take delivery of the dual band antenna on June 4th, one oversized truck which can only travel during daylight hours, and only Monday - Friday.

I have been working with the web team, they will come up with a page on the omahachannel.com website which we will post pictures and updates as this project moves forward. More to come on this.

Do not have the exact date which I will start broadcasting on the aux transmitter at the studio site for analog, but at this time, the plan is to still continue the DTV broadcast from the main transmitter site for the duration of this project, toward the end, we will switch the DTV transmitter to the new antenna once we re-proof the transmitter at the higher power level.

Project is still estimated at 4 weeks, pending weather delays. This would put it at the end of June, or first part of July for completion.

Originally posted by Mike Gann
This afternoon we went up to 700kW ERP.

After addressing some issues with one of the IOT's, we reproofed the transmitter for 700kW ERP. We were pleasantly surprised, however, that the transmitter would easily run at the 800 kW level, and well in specs. Since we recently received our new STA (special temporary authorization) to run at 700kW, we will stay there.

I will try to find the pridicted coverage maps and get them posted.

Tyler, where in Nebraska do you live? I am curious how far away and in what type of terrain do you live?

I live in Blair, so my problem wasn't distance but obstructing terrain. The hills on the south edge of Blair present a bit of a problem for low power signals...

Attached is the coverage map for KMTV-DT at 700 kW ERP.

Blue line = 100 mi radius.

Thanks Mike.

Any word on KOLN-Dt 25? The 26th has been here and gone.

gpflepsen, check this out about KOLN...

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=125241

Hopefully about mid-june.

Originally posted by dcad
gpflepsen, check this out about KOLN...

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=125241

Hopefully about mid-june.

Thanks!

What a PITA for KOLN.

dcad Thanks for the info.

Their Sister Station KGIN-DT 32 in Grand Island came on board by May 26th but as you can read in the previous post it could be mid June, but Ch. 10 announced in a news broadcast last week that it could be a couple months. So time will tell. Hopefully soon. An interesting note on Ch. 32, they are stretching 4x3 programming at the station and sending it out 1080i stretched and a little cropping of the top. I can only assume Ch 25 (KOLN) will do the same, but we'll see.

S.K.

Steve, stretching the picture really bothers me. PBS 40 does a zoom which crops the top and bottom. I'd just as soon have the original 4x3 with side bars. Those with HDTVs susceptible to burn-in can zoom it on their own. I don't want it done for me because in this case, I'd prefer it not zoomed.

I hope KOLN DT won't distort the picture.

I aggree with you, however, most 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen HD Sets won't let you zoom, stretch, etc if the Signal is 1080i. That has been addressed going forward by most brands, but it is still an issue. Thats why set top boxes can be benificial to do the stretching for you.

But I aggree with you, I hope Ch. 10 sends it out w/ Bars on the side.

My Zenith 420 STB will allow stretching or pillarboxing only on SDTV signals. When 26 in Omaha is operating in multicast mode I have this option. 1080i must be displayed as it was broadcast.
I would suggest to the folks at NETV that if you are not broadcasting HDTV material in its native resolution then don't upconvert when broadcasting only one channel.
Frankly the zoomed video is unwatchable on my 57" set. Recently I was looking forward to a Nature documentary about life on the WWII wreckage in the Pacific. I figured that this would look fantastic in HDTV.
The show looked better in analog form on my 12 year old 27" set than the upconverted signal did on a brand new 57" Sony.
Is PBS making any of this programming availiable in HDTV? If so is NETV passing any of it through as such?
This should not be interpeted as a jab at NETV. I just can't recall seeing any HDTV programming on their air as yet.

Originally posted by Mike Plews

Is PBS making any of this programming availiable in HDTV? If so is NETV passing any of it through as such?
This should not be interpeted as a jab at NETV. I just can't recall seeing any HDTV programming on their air as yet.


It's my impression that NETV could be passing more HD than they do. Check out this
Web Page (http://www.ptvdigital.org/dt2a_sked.html) to see the National PBS HD feed. I would love to see Tracks Ahead, Chefs A' Field and Smart Travels: Europe.

Also, I wish they would stop using 12-05 for the HD channel. Why can't they just broadcast it on 12-01? It wrecks havoc with my tuner when subchannels aren't there after it is programmed to think it is there.

I have sent them e-mails before with these points but haven't heard a reply. Am I alone in my thinking?

We have added a link on our home page www.theomahachannel.com (under "Coming up on KETV 7") which I will post updates to our progress as we replace our main antenna. The link is "KETV Installs New Broadcast Antenna"

I will be adding pictures to this area as well.

We just finished installing our new Miranda HDTV-Upconverter. This replaces the three year old unit that was purchased for our cable project. Hard to believe that we have been feeding Cox HDTV for over three years now.

The Miranda looks a lot better than the Sony on both cable and OTA. Technology has come a long way in the last few years.

Hello everyone! I'm setting up my father's new HDTV and I was wondering if anyone in the dundee/fieldclub (52nd and Dodge) area of Omaha has had any experiences with indoor antennas. Or any experiences with OTA HDTV in the area at all for that matter.

We were going to go with Cox for service but with them charging $500 for a hd box (thats not going to be available for 1.5 months), I'm thinking OTA is a much better equipment investment. I'd like to get it hooked up so that we can watch the NBA finals in HD, we'll see if I can arrange it that quickly...

Great to see such a wonderful HDTV resource for my home town on the web.

In Dundee signal strength will not be a problem but multipath may cause you some grief.
If you can get a strong , ghost free. signal over the air on your analog set at your location you should be OK with digital.
Make sure you buy your OTA box from a retailer with a solid return policy and jump in.
WOWT, KETV and KMTV look really good in HDTV and the nice thing about them is that their transmitters are grouped so closely that once you have one tuned in all of them will be fine.

Hi All,

Quick question for those of you receiving multiple Omaha stations. Is anyone else receiving WOWT-DT with low level AC3 audio? I have two OTA 8VSB tuners, both receive lower than normal audio on WOWT when compared to KETV, KMTV and those channels provided by Dish such as DiscoveryHD and CBSHD out of NY.

One tuner is a Dish 6000, the other is in my HTPC (HiDTV Pro).

Anyone else have to crankup the audio gain to listen to WOWT-DT?

Thanks in advance for all responses.

John

Guess I have never noticed any audio problems with Wowt-dt or any of the rest of the dt's. I am using the same dish 6000 setup as you are I would guess. I live about 40 miles southwest of Omaha.

sb60634,

When you change channels between WOWT-DT and KETV-DT on your 6000, you don't notice that KETV-DT is much louder than WOWT-DT? Hmm.

I've had WOWT-DT locked in for some time now on both receivers, I'll remove it from my channel listings on both receivers and reacquire, I'll post my findings.

Thanks for the reply.

John


UPDATE: I reacquired WOWT-DT on both receivers, no change, the audio level remains very low when compared to other local digitals and Dish provided AC3 compatible pregramming. Any comments, suggestions?

Received this from ABC as I noticed the games were not in DD 5.1.

Superceding in part previous advice, “Stanley Cup Finals on ABC Presented by Nextel” scheduled on May 31, June 2, 5, 7, and 9, 2003 in the 8:00 – 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 – 8:00 PM-PT time period as well as the “NBA Finals On ABC” scheduled on June 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 18, 2003 in the 8:00 – 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 – 8:00 PM-PT time period will be broadcast in HDTV/Stereo Audio and not, HDTV/5.1 audio as originally advised.

My tower crew has arrived as we were planning on starting the antenna replacement project this month. It is raining, so we are in a "rain-delay" mode currently.

Originally posted by johnwcookjr
sb60634,

When you change channels between WOWT-DT and KETV-DT on your 6000, you don't notice that KETV-DT is much louder than WOWT-DT? Hmm.

I've had WOWT-DT locked in for some time now on both receivers, I'll remove it from my channel listings on both receivers and reacquire, I'll post my findings.

Thanks for the reply.

John


UPDATE: I reacquired WOWT-DT on both receivers, no change, the audio level remains very low when compared to other local digitals and Dish provided AC3 compatible pregramming. Any comments, suggestions?

Maybe someone else has some idea's. Given your location I wonder if maybe you are getting some interference from some of the other channels since you are so close to them.

Jay,

Any news on COX broadcast of WOWT HDTV? I haven't seen any updates recently.

What's the hold up?

Thanks, Sutan

Cox has shown little interest in acquiring WOWT on their HDTV tier. From what I understand, communications have virtually stopped. I will try to obtain more info this week.

Jay

Hi everyone, for the past 3 days, here in Fremont I have not been able to pick up channel 7 through OTA. I get all the others just perfectly fine. I know they are revamping some stuff but it sounded like it wasn't going to be off the air. I've tried messing around and reaiming my antennae with no luck, but all the other OTA channels come in great. Any ideas? Thanks.

Evening bearcat2002,

If we go back 3 days to Sunday morning, if you were tuned in at that time, I had a problem with my PSIP configuration. My HD side was on 7 - 1 and then it went back to the default 20 - 1. The radar also moved up to 20 - 2.

I had to re-configure the server to fix it, and for a while things were going between 20 - 1, 20 - 2, and 7 - 1, 7 - 2,. So, long story short, maybe I really confused your receiver and you need to delete KETV-DT and put it back.

If that does not fix it, it must be the weather. But hang in there, we are upgrading the DTV side this month, and after we get the new antenna up, you should have no problem getting us then.

Anyone else notice the camera going out of focus tonight during the nba finals game on the HD broadcast? First I thought it was just my eyes, but my wife confirmed that it was the broadcast. Sure hope they can take care of that, was giving me a headache..........

I've noticed some odd characteristics of HDTV regarding depth of field. Some of it is for the sake of drawing attention to the close up of the object on the big screen that looks really cool!
It reminds me of some of the old color TV shows I watched. When color first came out, people wore lots of red and drove really bright cars. When stereo TV came out, there were lots of vehicles passing in front of the screen from left to right, or right to left, etc.
I wonder if something didn't get flipped to "OH WOW" mode on the camera. Is it me, or are we seeing more shots of balls going into hoops, from above?
:)

I noticed the wide shot going soft from time to time also. At first I thought the camera might have had a back focus problem as the changes seemed to coincide with zooms.
After watching for a while it became less likely to be a camera problem as the character generator also went soft along with the picture. This suggests some kind of switcher or synchronizer problem at the network.
It only seemed to happen on the wide shots and only on one of the cameras. Interesting. HDTV production is still a work in progress.
I've got to say that when it looked good it looked very good.

I just wanted to bop in and see what kind of reception the Lincoln folks are getting with all the recent upgrades to both Omaha and Lincoln channels.

Can anyone give a quick rundown for Lincolnites :)

Thanks

dzntz,

Where is your location? You can call me directly at the store, and I can give you detailed information about where we've had good luck so far, and where we haven't.

Some areas can get Digtal 3, 6, and 7, some can only get 3 and 6.

Northwest and Northeast Lincoln has the best reception so far, but we've had pretty good luck as far south as 56th and Saltillo Road with everything but Ch. 7 which should change by the end of this month.

Ch. 8 is only 480i Digital, not HD, but most of Lincoln can receive it. The problem is that they broadcast from their station, which is located near the State Pen, in SouthWest Lincoln, which for most people is opposite the Omaha stations.

PBS Ch 12 (40-1) is very strong, and North of Lincoln, so this works well with 1 antenna pointed in the Omaha direction.

I live in the Highlands and receive all 3 majors in Omaha plus PBS 12, but can't get 8 with 1 antenna.

KOLN Ch. 10 will be sometime this summer in full HDTV, but it will most likely be Mid Summer before they are broadcasting digitally.

Call if you want more info.

Thanks for your interest.

I'm near Highway 2 and 27th Street, one of Lincoln's low spots.
I have an antenna about 30 feet off the ground (roughly 15-20 feet roof mount equivalence).
Channel 3 comes in beautifully
Channel 6 comes in with a rare belch
Channel 7 comes in when it darned well pleases, generally after sunset.
Channel 8 seems to come in every other day. I wonder if they might be doing something lately with their transmission, as it used to be crystal clear. (I'm not far from their tower)
Channel 12 comes in great.

I was quite surprised by my results, and look forward to the higher powered broadcast from 7. It should come in lovely.

I'm just south of HWY 2 and 40th street toward the top of the hill. My antenna is mounted in tha attic (Antennacraft MXU59) pointed towards Omaha.


I get:
great reception from 3 and 12,
strong signal from 8,
weak but fairly steady ch 6,
and 7 barely blips the signal meter and won't give a picture.

Once 7 is on high power 'm very confident my attic mount will work very well. We'll see about 10/11 coming from the west.

I have made some changes to my encoder settings, lets see if this helps with the detail issue. (Loss of detail on camera shots)

I need some help with this, can you remember back to the Super Bowl, did you notice this loss of detail back then? I do not think I had this problem back then.

Reason for the question is, I am starting to think this may be my software upgrade I did to enable my PSIP data and program guide.

I am working with my encoder vendor to fix this. I was unable to watch the feed coming into the station off the HD receiver during the NBA, so I do not really know if the NBA issue was me, or ABC. But I am working on this.

Wow! Thanks for the detailed and quick responses everyone. I live just west of the North Star High School in the new development areas up there (so basically, on the interstate). Sounds like I'm in prime "Omaha reception" area :)

Any recommendations on minimum antenna gear to get, I don't want to mount anything too big, and would prefer to go with an attic antenna if at all possible.

What do you think?

Thanks again :)

Radio Shack has a nice antenna that should handle your needs. (No, I don't work for them)
It's relatively inexpensive as well. ($21.99). It's not real bulky and pulls in Omaha stations just fine. You should have no trouble, since you're on the other side of the clutter. My concern would be stations like 8 and 10/11, since their towers on the opposite direction. May need to add an antenna later

What's the name of the $21.99 antenna?

Sounds like a good place to start :)

NBA in HD,

I sent out an e-mail to my sister stations in Hearst - Argyle who are also an ABC affiliate.

I received feedback from WTAE who had a viewer complaint about the loss of detail on some shots. So it appears this was an ABC issue.

Please let me know if you see this again. I will be watching too, but with the antenna replacement project going on currently, and keeping things moving forward on this project, my time to watch is limited.

There's a UHF only antenna on the below link. Cat # 15-2160. (second row, second from the left)
The range is 75 miles, not 60 like stated earlier.


http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F004%5F002%5F000&Page=1

Reception in Kearney (on top of the hill in NE part of town is excellent). I can receive all 5 digital signals--even KHAS dt 21--at times in the 85-90% range on signal strength. I was under the impression their signal covered only G.I. and Hastings. I'm also glad because now I can get KHAS crystal clear. Their analog signal was usually very fuzzy. KHAS dt's signal has only dropped out completely just a few times. This has been done with the stealth or batwing antenna from my Dish Network person.

For PBS, I receive KHNE's signal (Giltner) since my antenna is on the East side of the roof. You would think I'd get KLNE's better since they are by Holdrege/Atlanta. They have to be closer as the crow flies.

Now if there was just more high definition programming besides the CBS, PBS, HBO stuff!!

KGIN dt 32 (ch 11)'s high definition picture is excellent. My only complaints are (1) they don't seem to be in stereo when broadcasting just a(non high def) straight digital signal, (2) when watching their digital signal in standard definition, the picture seems distorted when watching their news or Letterman. It's like the middle part of the picture or person's body is disproportionately bigger than their head. That's not a problem, though, when watching their high definition picture in standard definition. It gets so annoying to look at that I flick back to the analog signal. For discussion sake, I have a 60" Zenith HD compatible TV with a standard screen (not the High Def stretched or rectangular screen). That could be my problem, too.

I noticed someone complaining about the low audio on Ch 6 in Omaha. I noticed the same problem when watching KHAS and I think I notice it the most during NBC programming (not during, for example, their local news). Is it an NBC coincidence??

Originally posted by johnwcookjr
sb60634,

When you change channels between WOWT-DT and KETV-DT on your 6000, you don't notice that KETV-DT is much louder than WOWT-DT?

Could it be your A/V receiver configuration? Could your receiver switching from Dolby Digital 5.1 to Dolby Surround account for the volume change you notice. I don't notice any change in volume, but going from KMTV or KETV to WOWT frequently results in a change from Dolby 5.1 to Dolby Surround...

Warren,

Just wanted to say that the pictures look great. Thanks for the information on the website. It will be neat to see the progress of your change over.

http://www.theomahachannel.com/

Shawn

Thanks Shawn,

The following text is not posted at the website yet, but wanted to take a moment and post a couple of picture’s of KETV’s new antenna, and tell you a little bit about it.

This antenna is a new technology for broadcasters just introduced last year, that being it is a dual band antenna. Meaning this new antenna enables KETV to broadcast on both channel 7, and channel 20 at the same time through this single antenna.

It is so new, that KETV in Omaha will be installing the second one manufactured, and putting it on the air. The first one just went on the air in Southern Illinois, WSIU (channel 8 / 40) a PBS station.

The antenna manufacture says there are 3 more behind KETV being built. As you know, KETV's took 11 months to manufacture; I do not know the call letters of those 3 stations though.

Second picture.

I'm new to this forum from what I read I think I will enjoy being apart of it. I got this new Mitsubishi TV with the integrated decoder. Does anyone out there know how to hook this thing up to Cox Cable. I've given it a try a couple different ways. Now I'm about to give in and start asking people. Any ideas???

Warren, thanks for the pics. I must say that this is enormous! I imagined it would be about 1/10 the size! Can you say what an antenna like yours is worth?

Patiently waiting in Lincoln for KETV-DT to light up the sky :)

Does anybody in Lincoln have a problem with Channel 8 lately? I live near their studio, but it haven't been able to pick it up the past week.
DT-31, I believe.

Dave, I don't tune to DT-31 very much, but the times I do view it, it comes in fine.

I'm near 40th and Old Cheney with my antenna pointed towards Omaha.

gpflepsen,

That would be between .5 - 1 million.

BTW, I know you have been waiting for KETV-DT to throw a good signal into Lincoln coming up on 8 months now, I am looking forward to this upgrade as much as you.

Once the new antenna is operational, I would also be curious as to how the analog performs as well. Not only to see how this new antenna performs compaired to the one I am on the air with now, but I am thinking of making VHF channel 7 the home of the DTV signal once analog is turned off. Whenever that day comes...

Warren

Warren,

I hope no U2 spyplanes fly over that truck on the road, Washington will be spooked!

Thanks for posting the pictures. When do you expect to hoist the new antenna up? I may come up with a pair of binoculars and take peek.

John

Hi John,

Don't know when that will be at the moment, the gin pole showed up today, the big winch will show up tomorrow, at that point they can place the gin pole on the tower.

Weather needs to co-operate with us too.

Warren

The big wench will show up tomorrow? There are so many inappropriate comments I could make :)

I have an interesting question (at least I think so). How will DXing work with digital? May seem a bit premature, but once everybody in the US gets up to their full power I would suspect you could get the occasional skip phenomenon where you can get "something on everything from 2-50" like I did late one night with analog. The form in which the signal is transmitted really doesn't matter (analog or digital), ask long as it's getting to your reciever, right?

Now the bonus question...
With remapping, this DX jackpot could create some problems. Let's say you pick up DT-24 out of Kansas City, which remap's to Channel 5. You also pick up DT-21 out of Hastings, which remaps to Channel 5.
What happens? Is the OTA box seeing them as 24 and 21, or is it seeing them as 5, creating a 'fight'?

Dave, I believe the receivers just implode when confused that way, at least my Dish Network Model 6000 would :)

Dave, you raise a good point, yes, you are correct the digital signal will still propagate just as it did when it was analog with "ducting" as it is still RF.

The issue will still be, what is the transmitter frequency. Take KETV-DT channel 20 for example. I re-map back to 7-1, but your receiver is still tuned to channel 20, I just change your display as it is decoding the PSIP tables in the stream. So, if another channel 20 signal comes to your receiver, the multi-path would more than likely take me out. But, if a RF channel 7 signal came in, I would still be there as I still am on channel 20.

Now if that DX channel 20 came in strong enough, and your receiver was able to decode it, 7 - 1 would go away, and what ever was in that PSIP stream for channel major & minor number would be displayed on your TV. So you would be watching KETV-DT 7 - 1, and all of a sudden your receiver would display that new program, kind of like someone just changed your channel on your STB or TV. Wouldn’t that be weird?

On the question of two different RF channels mapping to the same major & minor channel number, I would have to agree with gpflepsen, I don't think the software can handle that, I will make a call and see if I can find out, will be interesting to see what they say anyway. I know each station has a transport stream ID, so maybe that is handled in the software some way.

I don't know if I want to take that call, I have a hard enough time explaining my SAP channel on the analog side. :)

Dave, I gave this more thought today, I would bet what would happen is the data in the receiver would just be over-written for that channel.

Meaning if both stations re-map to 8 - 1, the last channel viewed would write over the table in the receiver for 8 - 1.

Would be the same if you took your receiver with you on vacation and turned it on in another market and scanned. The data should just be over-written.

Thanks!
It will be interesting to see what happens when the atmosphere gets jiggy with it.

On another note, I've noticed that as the trees in my neighborhood fill in, my reception seems to get a little flakey.
Oh well, that will soon be taken care of!

Dave,

Received some information back on what is suppose to happen should two channels map to the same major & minor channel number.

I was told as long as the TSID is different (transport stream ID) it will show up as an additional channel mapped the same way.

So you would have two stations mapped to the same channel, but the call letters would be different in your list.

An update on the tower work, we are still waiting for the main winch to arrive. This is scheduled for Friday. Hope to install the gin pole this weekend, and start on the antenna removal the first part of next week.

Warren,

That's interesting, "two stations mapped to the same channel, but the call letters would be different in your list." I wish I lived in a local that could test that theorem.

Dave, please let us know how it goes.

John

Here in Kearney, I'm learning as I go as far as this digital thing goes and have found all your comments very interesting.

I have a Dish 6000 receiver and noticed Ch 5/KHAS in Hastings must not be doing something right in their digital signal as far as re-mapping goes (or whatever the correct term is). Their Digital signal is on 21 but when my receiver scanned for the digitals it placed it at 21 and not below Ch 5's analog signal in my Dish program guide/listings. All the other stations- Ch's 11, 13, 17, 29 all re-mapped to right below their analog signal. Ch 5's call letters showed up but nothing showed as far as Ch 5 being their parent signal.

Once everybody is up to full power, I'm also looking forward to what kind of distant signals I'll be able to pull in. (So, KETV hurry up with your upgrade.) When the weather is right, I'm always picking up distant UHF signals better than distant VHF sig's. Case in point is Ch's 42 & 15 in Omaha. Their signals come in amazingly clear at times and don't seem to fade in & out as much as a distant VHF signal might. I rarely get the Omaha VHF's to come in but I can receive the UHF's quite a bit of the time.

Once again, Omaha stations hurry up with your upgrades!! haha

Thanx everybody!

Well, I am still waiting for the hoist (notice I did not call it the winch, two reasons, first, I can't spell winch, and second, everytime I call it the winch, it gets delayed).

Anyway, the truck hauling the 50,000 pound hoist blew out two tires 100 miles out of Omaha, it is delayed to have this repaired. We believe it will arrive this evening.

They just reported that a tower worker fell to his death at the Seward KOLN/KGIN tower.

Sad news indeed.

The Hoist has arrived.

Warren how is the tower updates going? hopefully safe and well. I was reading the AVS Des Moines HDTV threads and wow! Kmtv thought I was impatient? They are sponsoring a boycott of Woi in Des Moines advertisers for not having a hdtv signal anytime soon.

The tower work is currently going slow. The winds are gusty and slowing us down a bit.

We have to install stand-off's on the tower to keep the load & tag lines away from the conduits on the tower.

We have made up the stand-off's, but did not get those installed today.

The stand-off's will be installed on Friday, then move the gin pole up next to the RCA antenna, install a brace between the gin pole and the antenna, then start to remove the RCA antenna. (Weather permitting)

That antenna will be brought down in 3 different sections.

The picture below is of the tower with the gin pole mounted just below the antenna to be removed, it is the structure on the side of the tower which looks like a little tower itself.

Warren

Originally posted by Ronald L M
Warren how is the tower updates going? hopefully safe and well. I was reading the AVS Des Moines HDTV threads and wow! Kmtv thought I was impatient? They are sponsoring a boycott of WOI in Des Moines advertisers for not having a hdtv signal anytime soon. I live in Des Moines and am a part of the DSM thread ... WOI has had their DT antenna up for 6 months. They have had all the equipment wired for 6 months. They have broken promise after promise, missing deadline after deadline, and lied to the FCC to get more and more time just to save money on electicity. They are the only network to refuse to let DISH NETWORK carry them locally, because they are greedy. They refuse to go HD even though ABC is an awesome HD network ... even though HD equipment is now one fourth of the cost from a year or so ago. We were tired of their excuses and how poorly they treat the public they servce, so they get what they deserve.

The winds are too high today to do any tower work, the forecast for the weekend does not look good either.

So, we are shut down until Monday of next week.

Hey Eyedox, that's amazing WOI won't let Dish carry them...why not? Do the stations that are carried by Dish have to pay part of the uplink costs? I would think it would be nothing but a win-win for stations to be on Directv/Dish.

Update...

Winds today were too gusty, Tuesday does not look good for the tower crew to work either.

Maybe Wednesday.

Hey Eyedox, that's amazing WOI won't let Dish carry them...why not? Do the stations that are carried by Dish have to pay part of the uplink costs? I would think it would be nothing but a win-win for stations to be on Directv/Dish. Yes, they do ask most stations to carry some of the burden of the uplink costs ... but WOI is already using satellite space for DIRECTV so there would be NO additional costs to them to allow DISH to carry them too. Marshall Porter, the GM at WOI is just a petty, whining little boy who loves to bang the DirecTV drum. The advertiser boycott here is starting to really snowball. WOI is screwed if they don't get their act together soon. DTV and HD and DISH or else.

Warren,

I'd imagine today's weather wasn't much better. Great pictures.

Thanks, John

Hi John,

You are correct, did not get much done, we did try to move the gin pole up the tower, but only got it moved about 100' before we had to stop due to winds. It is just below the antenna now. We hope to get a break in the weather Thursday and start taking the RCA antenna down.

I am going to attempt a two day test of 1080i on my HD encoder Thursday & Friday of this week. ABC is not feeding any HD those two days, so it will all be 4 x 3 upconverted. I want to see what the encoder looks like in that mode. So, if you have any problems, it will more than likely be due to that change. Will switch back on Saturday to 720p.

Looks like you are on the Aux transmitter today. I hoping that is a good sign that the winds are down enough to remaove the antenna.

Good luck.

Since KGIN is at full power from their transmitter at Heartwell (just SE of Kearney), I was wondering how far out some of you might be catching them. It seems like these digital signals are going further than expected, especially in the right weather. Every once in awhile I can catch Ch 10 (analog) and was thinking if things are right 10's digital signal might reach Kearney on occasion. Same thing goes for some of the Omaha digital sig's.

First - I was very thankful I found this thread. I found it on Monday of this week. I would have posted earlier, but it took me four days to get through all of the history over my lunch hours! What a great local site - I must say hats off to the suppliers (KETV, KMTV, Zager, etc.) that make this so much more informative.

Second - Due to what I saw on this thread I went out last night to NFM and bought a OTA receiver (Samsung T151) and for testing purposes I grabbed a cheap Terk amplified antenna ($50 version). I live at approx. 132nd & Center. I was able to get 3, 6, and 7 digital at about 35% signal on my main floor on my SDTV. When I moved to the basement (where my home theater is), I got absolutely nothing - very much expected. However, the test told me if I put some small amplified antenna in my attic and ran cable down to the basement, that I could have good reception for my HDTV.

So my question - has anone ever tried this? I really am an antenna idiot so I am afraid that if I go with a true outdoor/attic antenna that I am really going to be out of my comfort zone. Especially with the whole directional aspect of antennas. I really just want to put something in my attic and it work without having to worry about a rotor. I realize that some people have two antennas pointed in opposite directions to make it work - but if I am afraid of one antenna, you can imagine what two will do to me.

Any thoughts, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

What a great site!

Gumby

csschrot,

Yes, we switched to the aux transmitter this morning. Made some progress today in-between wind gusts.

The tower crew raised the gin pole to the mid point on the antenna to be removed where they installed a brace between the antenna, and the gin pole. Tomorrow if the winds are lite, we will raise the gin pole the rest of the way and start to remove the RCA antenna.

It will be removed in three "picks".

BTW, the HD encoder is currently running 1080i now, I will either switch back tomorrow, or Saturday to 720p. (Just a test of 1080i)

Gumby, A simple $20 non-amplified four bowtie antenna in your attic would give you a ton of signal to your STB. Just be sure to use a good balun and RG-6.

The above will out perform your amplified antenna. The preamps in some of those antennas are not very stable for digital.

Gumby, if you need help or have questions on your install, feel free to give me a call at the station.

I'll post the antenna model etc., tomorrow when I look at the box at the station.

I'm sure the antenna guys on this forum will be happy to post their favorite antenna picks.

Mr. Gann, where would be a good place to purchase such an antenna? Does it have a name? :-)

Thanks!

Mike -

Thanks for the reply. I sent you a PM back as I do not know what a "balun" is (I warned everyone I was an antenna idiot). I will wait to hear back from you regarding the brand name and model number of the antenna you have at the station after you get in tomorrow.

However, a quick search of excite only gave a few bow-tie antennas out there. All of the bow-ties I found were UHF only. I would think I would want a VHF/UHF combo antenna, right?

If anyone else has recommendations, please speak up. Thanks again Mike.

Gumby

Radio Shack has a four bowties, or Siver Sensor has a very good one. I have used versions of both (I now use a Radio Shack UHF only outdoor antenna). Let me know if you want one of my indoors ones.

The antenna that we have used with great success is the Channel Master
4221. It runs $22.18 and is available at Mid-State Electronics which is down the street from the KM3 studios, 10811 Emilline Street.

It is a UHF only antenna. All of the local digital stations are in the UHF band.

I just picked up a Silver Sensor at Sears today. It was a bit more than what I thought, but let me tell you...it works superbly! I get all 3 broadcast channels and KXVO very well. Signal strength pretty much maxed out to my Hughes Platinum. No go with KPTM. But I get that ok in analog. This has been a great thread and also a good learning experience.

Mike

Gumby,

I have an amplified Terk in the attic now, reception is marginal at best (some channels fade in/out depending on weather and time of day), pointed due north from Papilliion torwards Crown Pointe.

I may install something more robust in the near future as well as a rotor but thougt I'd wait a bit until everyone approached full power. Who knows at full power my problems may be solved without spending any more money on atennas. However I suspect I'll still need a rotor to pick up the KXVO/KPRM south west of here.

Glad you found this thread, everyone's contributions both broadcasters and consumers have been an enjoyable learning experience.

After the advent of cable in the late 70's early 80's who would have dreamt over the air reception could bring roof top antennas back into the fold. They're becoming more and more noticable as one drives through Omaha, maybe it's just me rubbernecking out the window looking for them.

Plkease let us know what antenna works for you.

John

Two additional questions -

1) Mike refered to getting a good "balun" - what is it?!

2) The antenna refered by Mike is UHF only - don't I want a VHF/UHF combo to get the lower numbered digital channels?

I think I will stop by Mid-State tomorrow and see what kind of trouble I can find there. Thanks everyone once again.

Gumby

In checking this morning, I had no signal from KMTV. Are they down? Also, has anyone gotten a signal from KPTM?
Thanks!

Mike

Nevermind. KMTV is back up. (Need to find a schedule...hehe). But...I've never gotten a digital signal from KPTM. Has anyone?

Thanks!

Mike

Warren,
Thanks for the update. The KETV website is also looking really good.

I'm curious...Is the way in which you are going about this install "typical"? It seems much safer than what I've heard of other situations (Tower crew dangling thousands of feet in the air).
I've never heard of taking the top section down, then taking the new antenna up on it. Perhaps you've simply gone into finer detail than I've heard in the past, when it comes to tower stories.
With the increase in tower accidents, it certainly sounds like your way of doing things is a positive.

The plan for today is to install the temporary guy wires on the tower.

Then we hope to take down the top 6' section Tuesday, replace the top plate assembly, and take that section back up by the end of the day.

Warren,

Maybe this has been asked before... but once the new antenna is installed on the tower, how much testing will be needed before you begin broadcasting at full power?

Also, because the antenna is dual band, does this mean that KETV will be the first of the networks to broadcast DTV 24/7 in Omaha?

-- Robert

Hi Robert,

Testing:
Once the new antenna is on the tower, and all the transmission line is connected back up, Dielectric will visit to sweep the system. We will look at the combiner, transmission line, splitter, and antenna. That will take one full day. Adjustments to the combiner and or splitter will more than likely fall into day two. Once Dielectric gives the OK on the system, channel 7 analog will go back on the air.

Now, on the DTV side of the house. I will need to take the DTV transmitter off-line for one to two days. I need to un-do the modifications we did to this transmitter to get it to run at a low power level, then raise the power, re-sweep, and do another proof of the transmitter. Once that is finished, put it back on the air.

The tough part is juggling the schedules of two field engineers who have other stations to put on the air, each station is working with tower crews, and weather delays so things are stacking up. It is very possible the antenna will be on the tower for a while ready to go, before we go back on it due to the scheduling of the field engineers. I was hopeful to have the field engineers here next week, but that fell apart due to the holiday coming up this week. It now looks like those engineers will be here the week of July 14th, so I will go back on sometime during that week.

As for being 1st running 24/7, WOWT has that record, KMTV has the 1st at the highest DTV power level in the market. The only thing I can claim to is the DTV antenna will be the highest in the market, and top mounted. As for the broadcast day for DTV, I am thinking I will move to 9am - 12 midnight 7 days a week once the project is finished.

As for power, I will not be at full power once the new antenna is operational, I will be at 50% or 350 Kw ERP, in my mind, full power is what my DTV facility is licensed for, that being 700kw ERP. I need one more amplifier cabinet to get to full power.

Warren

Did not get the top 6' section taken off the tower today. We spent quite a deal of time balancing the tower out with the temporary guy wires.

Maybe tomorrow.

Warren

Any word on KOLN? Did last month's accident hamper progress?

Sorry Soap fans, CBS is not feeding the "Young and the Restless" in HD today (Wednesday).

Wind speeds are too high to do any tower work currently...

Will try again tomorrow.

Warren

The tower crew did remove the top 6' section of the tower, and lowered it to the ground. We removed the old antenna mounting plate, and installed the new plate.

Will attempt to take it back up tomorrow.

Warren

Great News KETV!! Sounds like things are moving forward (I should have taken an extra week of vacation though) ;)

I am curous about KOLN as well, but with Channel 3, I can wait.

Anybody have info about Channel 51? It's a new full power CP for Lincoln, with a tower near KOLN's Beaver Crossing site.

Cox subscribers:

It looks like Cox is adding ESPN-HD (channel 820) and Discovery HD (channel 821) to their lineup soon. They show up in the program guide, but according to the CSR that I talked to at Cox, they are being tested and they hope to have them up by August 1. This marks off 2 of my 3 "wants" from Cox, with NBC being the only major thing missing from the lineup right now.

Not to hack on our NBC affiliate, but I'm not sure that it's Cox that is keeping NBC-HD off of the cable system. The affiliates have a tremendous amount of power in what can be carried on a cable system as far as network affiliates go. It's pretty likely that WOWT is trying to negotiate some pretty fantastic terms in exchange for Cox carrying their HD feed. It seems pretty silly to extort money and services out of a cable company so that they are allowed the "honor" of carrying commercial-supported broadcasts. Just another example of how the US government is driven by money and lobbying, rather than by the people. Sigh.

Jeff

Channel 51 from http://www.transmitter.com/FCC96317/NEatwch.html

is WOWTV?

I'd like to know what ch. 51 is and what the web page means.

According to the FCC database it's a CP (analog) for a full power TV station. The mailing address is One World Herald Plaza in Omaha.
Figured maybe the KPTM folks were pondering a UPN affiliate or somebody is trying to get Lincoln their own NBC affiliate.
Who knows...maybe it's the church lady!

I hope Cox starts to offer ESPN and Discovery soon. But then again I hope they rent the Boxes. Ideally Motorola will come out with its combination hdtv tuner/pvr box. I would pay 20 bucks a month to rent that!!!! I do wish they would carry HDNET too but that is wishful thinking at this point. Also great timing. I am currently a Qwest cable customer and use an OTA tuner. Had a flier in my door yesterday for half off Cox Telephone, cable, and high speed internet for one year. Think I will have to try it.

Mike

I agree about HDnet. I'd love to have it, but I'm not holding my breath to get it.

Yes, it would be great if Cox rented the boxes. I'm pretty sure it will have to come to that eventually, but for right now, the $300 HDD201 from Canada does just fine for me.

Jeff

I saw all the new HD channels on the guide for Cox last night..... WAYYY excited.

Now, I hope I'm not gunna need to subscribe to anything else here..

First - Has anyone in West O. been able to successfully pick-up FOX digital OTA braodcast? What antenna do you use because my channel master 4221 must not have enough to get it.

Also, regarding signal strength - I have readings of 35 - 55% for the three big ones (NBC, CBS, ABC). Should I be concerned? Seems like this is a little low.

Thoughts appreciated.

Gumby

I cannot pick up kptm in the west central Omaha, I think we should all call Kptm and say lets increase you signal, I bet they are not complying with fcc rules with such a loooowwwww powered signal, they should reach all of Omaha. If you want Hdtv get DirecTV, the locals are all available ota and DirecTV just added Espn-hd, Discovery-Hd, Hdnet-Movies.

Thanks Ronald - We may have to so that. Hopefully they can 1) increase their power and 2) provde some NFL games in HD this upcoming football season.

If I was Santa I would give KPTM a lump of coal for Christmas. Seriously, nothing has changed since they first put up their transmitter last November. Looking over the FCC records their final DTV solution looks nice, but for now the DS STA really stinks. What I can't figure out is why KXVO comes in okay, but KPTM never shows up at all.

I have not been able to get ANY digital signal what-so-ever from KPTM. KXVO comes in fine, and I thought they were on the same tower...etc. This is using a Silver Sensor in the 96th and Harrison area.

M

According to the FCC website, KHAS in Hastings has also applied for a construction permit for analog facilities approximately 24 miles west of their current facilities. This new tower is already being used by 102.3 FM and 94.5 FM and is located in the same general area as channels KGIN 11 & KHGI 13. If you're driving along the interstate it is the one to the SE of Kearney with the white strobe lights. This would place it about 88 miles west of the Beaver Crossing location. This is close to the spread between ABC channels 13 & 8 (83 miles) and CBS channels 10 & 11 (86 miles). Right now there is a gap of 131 miles between NBC affiliates KHAS and WOWT and a gap of 128 miles between KHAS and KNOP North Platte so a new NBC affiliate there would make sense. Remember this is pure speculation.

The KETV tower fell down. Holy Crap!!! I thought I only saw three sets of lights off my deck last night. I doubt there will be HDTV OTA very soon for ABC.

I suspect those temporary guy wires weren't hooked up very well.

Glad I have Cox.

I saw that on the news too! I hope there was nothing on ABC that anyone wanted to see in HD soon. I wonder how long it will take to get a HD signal back on the air?

Did you hear if anyone was hurt?

Lets all thank God that no one was killed in the tower accident, Warren hang in there and good luck on rebuilding a new tower.

Sorry to read this. Was anyone hurt? I hope not.

It seems like Nebraska has had it's share of tower accidents over the retrofit period for HD.

Last year did two die in a tower collapse in western NE. Then the KOLN tower a few weeks ago and now this. Are we just an aberration or have there been many tower accidents across the country?

Good Golly...

I would have expected trouble with that top portion, that was temp-guyed, but the entire tower?
I guess at that height, there are too many unknown factors (weak links, corrosion, weather, etc).

I'll repeat the "thank goodness nobody was hurt" sentiments, and will look forward to some insight on what may have happened. I know that could be awhile, since lawyers, insurance companies, and coprorate officials will need to look at things first.

As a positive note, perhaps this could lead to a new, stronger tower, with opportunities for additional RF entities on the tower, who would like to broadcast from Crown Point.
That skyline view has to look odd now.

One more thing...

Since their new antenna isn't mounted, is it safe or did it get damaged?

This is nuts! Just the other day as I was at lunch with a friend, I was telling him about KETV's tower progress. I remember mentioning something about how I cannot believe people could work on those things, let alone mount a big antenna right on the top of the tower. Then we both started talking about how it's amazing those towers can support all that weight... especially towards the bottom of the thing. Then today I see that the tower went down! This really sucks...

When Warren stops back in when he gets time, I really hope he has good news about the new antenna being undamaged. That would be really, really bad if that was destroyed.

I was out in that area last night, too, with family watching fireworks. We left around 10:45 and I remember seeing the towers and mentioning, briefly, that the new HDTV antenna was going up.

-- Robert

Hey Guys, Warren is pretty bummed out as to be expected. He will get through this. There is a lot for him to do at this point, so I don't think he will mind me posting some info.

The tower fell on both his new and old antenna. The building sustained quite a bit of damage. The tower did penetrate a portion of the transmitter building roof.

The channel 6 tower is severely damaged and the area below the tower has been declared unsafe. The guy wires from the 7 tower pulled sharply on the channel 6 guy level number six (second from the top) and pulled the tower out of plumb big-time. As the day progressed, the tower shifted back, closer to plumb. This shifting is a sign of instability. The cross-members and redundants are distorted between the top two sets of guy wires.

One of the guy wires on the channel 6 tower appears to be frayed badly. If the tower surives through the night and the thunderstorms, the SpectraSite tower crew from Lincoln will try and parallel-splice the guy wire until a replacement arrives.

The rest is still in the planning stages.

Mike,

Sorry to hear the bad news for both you and WOWT. I'm glad to hear no one was injured and hopefully that report is true.

Thanks for the update.

John

Originally posted by Mike Gann
Hey Guys, Warren is pretty bummed out as to be expected. He will get through this. There is a lot for him to do at this point, so I don't think he will mind me posting some info.

Thanks for the info Mike! I just saw on KETV's 10pm news that the tower collapsed squarely on the new antenna. :(

I am certain that KETV has insurance on everything, that's good news. Hopefully the new antenna and tower will be built concurrently.

As for WOWT's tower, I hope it holds! Please pass our regards on to Warren next time you two speak. I think we all know this project was very important to him...

-- Robert

That is too bad about the tower - It was a miracle that no one was hurt or on the tower at the time of the collapse. Thank God it was a holiday.

I have to admit, I must feel like I should apologize, because I actually came here to complain. I sure am glad that I looked at the history here before posting, otherwise, I would have been posting a rant of some sort. You see, I just finished installing my antenna yesterday while my wife and children where out of town. I was able to watch Leno last night (Fri) in glorious HD. My first HD program......It was AMAZING!! Anyway back to my story....I was going to demonstrate the sheer power of HD to my wife tonight (Sat) by watching Dragnet - we have never even watched one episode, but it was the only thing in HD tonight. When I saw "no signal" come up on the display, I was super upset. Needless to say, we ended up just watching a DVD. I never got to see the news.

Anyway, best of luck to Warren and his crew for a speedy and safe recovery.

Gumby

I understand your feelings exactly. I did nearly the same thing when KETV wouldn't lock. In fact, a strong reason for buying my HDTV OTA box was due to the fact that KLKN, our local ABC is now upconverting...and I wanted the full monty.
But hey, now I'll have something "new" to look forward to NEXT summer. from the HDTV arena. The return of KETV-HD!

Good morning, any Lincoln members have any info on Klkn, I have heard they are currently low power and no HDTV, I was wondering if they are in the process of upgrading their signal strength and showing HDTV, and would there full power signal reach Omaha? Thanks

At this point KLKN is transmitting from their studio tower (low antenna height) one the Southwest side of Lincoln. They are kicking out the standard 17 or so kilowatts in order to cover Lincoln (However, I have trouble picking them up less than 20 or so block away.
They are definately not broadcasting in High Definition, but simply upconverting their standard definition picture.
Several months ago I e-mailed the engineer and was told that they were trying to get it into the budget for the coming year (cash for the equipment to show high definition and go full power on their analog broadcast tower).

I don't know Citadel's corporate edict (I've heard of a few other groups that are deliberately dragging their feet, but none that have interests in Nebraska), but chances are, we may not see KLKN go true digital until about the time KETV gets back up.

If anybody can calculate KLKN's full coverage map, and if it will indeed reach Omaha, then it might be adventageous to contact KLKN and Citadel about pushing their HDTV updgrades forward.

Not to be cynical but KLKN put up their jr. league DTV broadcast just to claim being the first station broadcasting digitally in Nebraska. Sure, they got some coverage and ad-spots with Shaefer's, but the accolades stopped there.

I live at 40th and Old Cheney and can see their antenna tower. Today for the first time I couldn't get a lock on their signal.

I am sure Warren will see through this setback and beat them to providing Lincoln with an HD signal.

Curious - was the tower collapse due to the 70-90mph wind gusts we got Saturday night?

No, the tower fell late Friday nights with no wind.
It's really crazy, because there was less load on the tower, with the antenna off of it at the time...and the temp guy-wires had handled more wind earlier.

I was glad to see WOWT stayed up after the storm, despite concerns over the damage.

Hey everybody, just wanted to let you know that KETV (I assume Warren) put pictures of the tower on there website. http://www.theomahachannel.com I feel bad for what happened but thank you Warren for sharing the pictures.

Shawn

Dito what Shawn said,

Sorry Warren, to hear the news.

On a lighter note, for those in the Lincoln area, Ch 10 KOLN signed on today, channel 25-1 DT Remaps to 10-1.

350 kWatts located on their Beaver crossing Tower, just west of Lincoln, approx. 20 Miles.

They are stretching 4X3 stuff to fill 16 X 9 window, but will pass through HD signals un-touched.

Depending on their feedback they will decide which way is the best to send out the 4X3 signal. I did pass on this forums preference on the issue.

Still waiting to hear from KLKN-DT (ABC) 31. What I do know, is when they do get their front end in, they plan to broadcast from their station in Lincoln at the same strength as they do now, which isn't very strong as noted by gpflepsen.

FYI

Hi, anyone have in FCC info on hd locals and being forced to subscribe to full basic cable and digital cable, in order to receive the hd locals, I can get analog locals on a limited basic, I would think hd locals would also fall into the same FCC guidelines. Thanks

P.S. Just heard on Wowt news that there tower is damaged and will have to be taken down! No specific details were given, sounds like we may be losing Nbc-hd as well.

I should note that my antenna is optimized for Omaha, ie pointed at Omaha and is broadside to KLKN and KOLN.

I just tried to lock on KOLN and don't get a signal. Are they up as of 5:15 pm today?

That is bad news for WOWT. This is going to put a wrench in the areas HD plans, I mean has put a wrench in the plans.

Here's to hoping the work goes smoothly and safely.

I hope this will speed WOWT onto Cox, it is the only missing channel since they are adding ESPN and Discovery. I guess it would also be nice if they could swing a deal with HDNet as well.

Originally posted by st30247


Depending on their feedback they will decide which way is the best to send out the 4X3 signal. I did pass on this forums preference on the issue.

I assume the preference relayed is for non-stretched OAR material. At least that's the vibe I get from this crowd and is my personal preference.

Yes,
No-streteched, although, it looked pretty good earlier today, that is Stretched KOLN-DT.


There are still on as of right now. 5:30.

S.K.

So what is the antenna solution for getting Omaha and KOLN which are about 122 degrees apart?

I cannot get a fix with my attic mounted MXU59 Antennacraft.

Is it at all feasible to mount a "west bound" antenna in your attic and tie it in to an exisiting outooor antenna that is facing east?
I've heard that mounting two antenna's together can cause some goofy problems. I didn't know if spacing them out by hiding one of them (since KOLN & KLKN is most likely available through an attic mount with no problem) would create a new set of problems.

Perhaps a rotor is the best bet?

gp,
if you have our complete antenna package would won't have any problem. If we just need to add the antenna for 8/10 and 10 digital we can also do that. The only problem is 8 DT (depending on where in live) and we can work on that if we need. I wasn't having any problem with our antenna package at all today. In fact I was getting 10-1 at 90% or better.

Give me a call tomorrow and we can talk about it or just drop me a pm with your phone number and I will call you.

Dave most of the install we do in Linclon are attiac antenna and it not a problem.

If anybody has questions just drop me a call or pm.

Shawn

At our store we've simply got one pretty directional antenna (CM4221) pointed toward Ch. 8's tower at their station, and the other double bay CM4228 pointed toward Omaha coupled together with a Hi-Freq two way splitter/combiner, and are getting everything just fine, all in the 90-100% range. These antennas are, however 30 Feet up in the air. At home, I'm having problems, however, because of the closeness in Freq. from Ch. 22 and Ch. 25. If I combine them both, it kills Ch. 25. One problem I might be having is that the second antenna I'm trying is a YAGI style, and might be getting some multi-path or is simply not got the gain of the CM4221 pointed toward Omaha. I'm going to try two CM4221, like we do at the store, and see how that works.
If I filter the Eastward antenna from about Ch. 23--33, it works just fine. The filter that I'm using, however was custom built for this purpose, and they didn't slope it enough, and it is cutting too much of 22 off. The filter runs about $99.00. so hopefully two identical antennas will be the answer.

I asked the question because of multipath and interference concerns.

In regards to the 99.00 filter, WOW! I thought the expense of HDTV stopped with the TV and receiver :)

Well the only multipath we are having problems with is channel 31 (8-DT). That is only when we are running our regular package with the MXU-59. If we run just the regualr antenna package we don't have a probelm. However most of the people aren't to worried about it since they aren't passing any HD. We just test a channel 31 trap for people wanting channel 31. I not sure on the cost but I'm confident it will be less than $50.

I will get back to everyone on the cost tomorrow.

What do you have for antenna's now? I believe you mentioned you have the MXU-59 but maybe I wrong.

Shawn

Originally posted by csschrot


What do you have for antenna's now? I believe you mentioned you have the MXU-59 but maybe I wrong.

Shawn

Correct. Don't know if you remember me or not. You first exchanged a Dish LNB for a DTV LNB. I gave you the adress of this forum then. A few months later you sold me the MXU59 with an old piece of mast. I was sporting the fasionable Forest Gump leg brace.

Let me know what you come up with for combining signals from 8 and 11 with Omaha's DTs. I don't care for analog reception.

The filter that I have is actually used when trying to squeeze modulated cable channels from a DVD / TIVO / SAT receiver etc. into the cable band without effecting the Digital channel tier for use in whole house video distribution. It just so happens that the range of freq. that it blocks, falls in the range of Cable 74--85 which is the same as Ch 22--33 UHF. So I thought I'd try it. But they are costly, especially the Band Pass / Band Block Custom made filters.

What a horrible setback for KETV, WOWT, and HD in Omaha. I feel terrible for the engineers working so diligently in your area to get things up and running. We have the opposite problem here in Des Moines of lazy stations that don't want to do even the bare minimum (WOI, KPWB, KDIN) ... for instance, WOI (ABC) just went on the air at 500 watts ... (0.5kw!!!) No one can receive them, even at the base of their tower.

Sorry kids, big Bird will not be seen in HDTV today so that we may bring you WOWT and KETV in High Definition...I don't suppose there's room for a temporary set up that would cover both Omaha & Lincoln from Channel 40's tower?

Maybe this has been discussed previously, but I have noticed that Leno has an audio sync problem from my CM 4221 antenna with a Samsung SIR-T151 decoder. The video is slightly behind the audio. My antenna is in the attic and I get signal strength between 35% - 55%. I have approximately 115' of shielded RG-6 connecting the antenna to the decoder, but I get a good signal, so I wouldn't think this could be the problem.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Gumby

Notice:

We will have to shut down the digital transmitter for a while this afternoon.

The tower crew will ride the elevator and do a quick visual inspection of our tower to see if all is well.

Later this week, or after they are done with the WOWT tower, they will ride down each of the guy wires that were common to KETV and look for any damage.

Mike,

I am not an antenna engineer, so forgive me if I am wrong, but looking at the slideshow on KETV's website, it appears than the new HDTV antenna didn't really sustain any damage other than maybe getting scuffs on the paint. I looked at the photos and it looks like the tower just sort of draped itself over the thing... doesn't look bent or damaged to me. But again, I am not an engineer and have no idea what kind of craziness is stuffed inside those huge pipes.

What say you?

-- Robert

Any new info on the damage to Wowt's tower ?and any new info on why Ketv's tower collapsed? I wonder if pending lawsuits will kept a lid on specific info on these subjects?

DevoX

Yes, the new antenna appears only "pinched" about 3/4 the way up (antenna's bottom is the short gray end that drops down into a socket at the top of the tower) but it's not clear if antenna got bent at the pinch (thus no longer straight).

Remember that this antenna is very expensive and expected to last many years and perform to guaranteed specifications and comes with a manufacturer's warranty.

So, if a station is paying a million dollars for a new antenna and the manufacturer is guaranteeing certain performance and it got whacked by tons of steel falling at terminal velocity then you can be sure it won't be repaired by an auto body shop and installed a thousand feet in the air with fingers crossed that coverage won't be adversely affected and have a missing part due to antenna being dented/tilted, and that it's mechanical survivability isn't threatened and the top section won't break off at the dent after years of wiggling around in high winds.

Think of a transmitting antenna as a table lamp. You can raise the lampshade and increase the illumination area underneath. This is why tall towers are effective. (But when the lamshade gets raised the light level decreases, so you have to 'turn up' the transmitting power to overcome...mixed metaphors). You can also tilt the lampshade or put a big dent in one side, and the illumination area also changes (which is akin to directional antennas). Also think of the antenna as a pipe which once dented will never have the same mechanical strength after straightening.

My diagnosis: the antenna is toast and should be scrapped (although someone would probably buy at a 'scratch and dent sale').

Scott Fybush features KETV in his somewhat famous "Tower Site Of The Week". he was through Omaha back in 2001, I believe.

http://www.fybush.com

Who owns the land at Crown Point?
On another message board where the tower crash is being discussed, it was suggested that the high valued land (As it is no longer in a cornfield) be sold by 3, 6 & 7, take the cash and invest in a candelabra tower out in the same vacinity as KPTM's tower for all the TV and radio stations.
This would help some RF problems and multipath issues (that really goof up digital) from the existing towers. If WOWT has to remove part or all of their tower anyway, and I believe KPTM is going to have to do something additional to accomodate analog and digital, it could be a win-win situation for everyone in Omaha and even Lincoln.

Anyone in Omaha area able to pull in Koln from Lincoln? Its to bad Lincolns Klkn is not full power and in hd so us Omaha residents could pull in ABC-HD, I just don't understand why Lincoln gets all of Omaha's tv and most of Omaha's radio and Omaha gets little or nothing from Lincoln? Thanks Ronald in Omaha.

Lincoln's transmitters are well west of Lincoln. KOLN is near Beaver Crossing or Goehner. KLKN's is further North and West. This means their signals have to travel 20-30 miles just to get into Lincoln.
On the other hand, Crown Point is on the West side of Omaha which is roughly 45 miles into the edge fo Lincoln.
So, in theory, Lincoln stations would make a 65-75 mile hop to get into Omaha.
Omaha stations only make a 45 Mile hop to get into Lincoln.
(The mileages are not "as the crow flies", so it's probably a hare shorter)

There are also terrain issues, as I understand. Lincoln is in a bit of a valley, while Omaha (especially at Crown Point) is at a higher elevation.
An engineer would be able to give you the nuances.

At this point KLKN is broadcasting in town, from their microwave tower at their studio location, at a low power, on a low tower, in Standard digital. Nothing comparable to what KETV was kicking out.
I also miss Channel 7's radar at my disposal. Great use of an Aux channel. Any chance some other station could do something simliar?

I get KOLN digital no problem. Their signal maxes out through my Hughes satellite receiver via a Zenith Silver Sensor. I am in the area of 96th and Harrison in Omaha.

Mike

PS. Still wondering where KPTM's digital signal is.

Living in Kearney, I'm getting KOLN's digital signal on a regular basis. I have no problem catching it in the eve and night. I live in Kearney on top of the hill in the NE part. So, their full powered signal is packing a wallop. What's interesting about this also, is that Kearney is west of Ch 11's tower in Heartwell--some major overlapping of signal there. This could get real interesting as far as reception goes when everybody goes full powered on their digital.

Mon or Tue eve last week, I was also pulling in KMTV & WOWT's digital signal between 9:30 & 10:30. Can anybody tell me if either one of them are close to full power or what percentage of full power they are at now?

I'm sitting here in a low spot in Lincoln, aimed at Omaha (Can't get KOLN half the time), and I'm watching KSFY and KELO in Sioux Falls, as well as KTVG in Grand Island.
I don't understand the intimate charcteristics of radio/tv waves, but I wonder if the fact that there's no "snow" on digital, you actually get these signals from time to time, but don't know it on analog.

Just wondering of channel 6 digital is down for everyone. I got a new HD receiver and was wondering if the signal was down tonight or if I had a hardware problem. The other receiver got channel 6 with no problems, hence I am a little nervous.

Gumby

Originally posted by Gumby
Just wondering of channel 6 digital is down for everyone. I got a new HD receiver and was wondering if the signal was down tonight or if I had a hardware problem. The other receiver got channel 6 with no problems, hence I am a little nervous.

Gumby

I was wondering the exact same thing, I rebuilt my HTPC with HD Tuner card today and just got it back up and am not getting a WOWT-DT signal either...

WOWT took down the HDTV antenna just this week. Its in the Omaha World Herald today. They wanted to get the weight off their tower before they start assessing repairs. The paper gives a 3 to 8 week timeframe for getting it put back... HDTV was nice while it lasted...

They must have done it yesterday. I was watching NBC just two days ago, I believe.
You can be sure when 6 & 7 get back on the air, it will be Christmas all over again!!

This really bites, If they need to get weight off the tower, take the analog antenna down, not the digital antenna. Just when this market was all up and running, wham an accident, I hope Warren and Jay sue the heck out of the company that was doing the tower mods, if they are found responsible for the tower falling. I think its time Omaha, Lincoln residents start looking at picking up Hdtv signals in other cities, I have been researching large uhf antenna and preamps. HTF fan in Omaha.

I dropped a note to Ch 6 the other day. They replied back this a.m. and said their digital signal is down while they inspect their tower because the Ch 7 tower collapse.

Originally posted by Ronald L M
I think its time Omaha, Lincoln residents start looking at picking up Hdtv signals in other cities, I have been researching large uhf antenna and preamps.

You better research about 80 miles of RG-6 too.

Patience Ronald, patience...

Spending all of my time at Crown Point, I havn't been able to keep the forum informed.

We removed our HD antenna from the tower yesterday. The crew had to use that tower leg and height to rig for repairs. The crew waited several days to climb the tower (to see if it would collapse, then spent several days evaluating the damage. The structural engineer arrived on Tuesday to obtain all of the data to run the numbers. Structural supports are ordered (3-4 week delivery) They placed some temporary 8" channel iron brackets on Tuesday which allowed the tower leg to realign. They then put the three bolts back in that were sheared when the tower twisted. (we went 5 days with bolts missing in one leg)

This rebuild is going to be a tedious process, so please be patient. I do not know when DTV broadcasting will resume.

Jay

Attached is a photo, notice the elevator guide and the X bracing.

C-O-X

I would gladly watch your station in HDTV on Cox cable if you can get it there.

We now have CBS, ABC, HBO, Showtime and will have ESPN and Discovery by the end of the month. NBC is what I typically watch if I watch prime time, but cannot beleive that it is still not on Cox.

How long before we have NBC??

Hopefully you don't have to climb those towers!!

Good luck getting back up, I have an antenna in my attic that I can hang old clothes on for a while. At least the new season doesn't start for a while.

We are the Pioneers of HDTV watching. There willbe times when it feels like we are caught in a rut, and the wagon wheels won't turn.

Besides, our neighbors don't necessarily know what's off the air, or whether we can watch anything. All they know is that we had HDTV first!
:)

Are those of you with Cox HDTV experiencing any problems lately? The last month or so I've had a lot of audio and picture dropouts when I'm watching any of the channels. The funny thing is it usually only happens during the day and evenings. During the late night and early morning periods of time I don't experience any problems. Could there be some interference happening or possibly I'm not getting a strong enough signal for the HDTV? (I have absolutely no problems on the digital cable channels that aren't HDTV)
I called Cox once and they weren't much help. I will try them again, if the situation doesn't improve before the launch of ESPN HDTV.

ABC has always had the dropouts and I understand that they are software related to the compatibility of the converter.

Just saw ESPN and Discovery HD today at the street of dreams. Appearantly they are beta tesing with some people and somehow it was on one of the homes out in Bennington.

Just a week away, but why couldn't they have had it last week for the all-star game HR Derby???

Originally posted by PlumPeach
Are those of you with Cox HDTV experiencing any problems lately? The last month or so I've had a lot of audio and picture dropouts when I'm watching any of the channels. The funny thing is it usually only happens during the day and evenings. During the late night and early morning periods of time I don't experience any problems. Could there be some interference happening or possibly I'm not getting a strong enough signal for the HDTV? (I have absolutely no problems on the digital cable channels that aren't HDTV)
I called Cox once and they weren't much help. I will try them again, if the situation doesn't improve before the launch of ESPN HDTV.

Yea, you're not the only one.. The dropouts seem to be across all channels (It got sorta annoying during CSI on CBS/ch.805 last night)

They come and go depending on the month. :) This is a wider problem than just your premises I believe, cuz I had someone come out and check signal strength - ****, he even ran new cabling, etc - and still have the issues.

I watched Alias on ABC last night - no dropouts until the show was over and the practice started. I then changed channels to CSI and had no problems there.

Call customer service and have them flash your digital box to reset it. Also, turn your HDD off then back on. I haven't had any problems on CBS and very little on ABC in quite some time.

Cycling power on my HDD seemed to help. I did have one more dropout during an hour-long show, but it's better than 1 every minute.

ONE MORE DAY UNTIL DISCOVERY & ESPN IN HD ON COX!!!!!!!!!!!

Any word on when Cox is going to get the new decoder boxes?

... I miss ABC and NBC in HD!!! =(

For what its worth, for those who just want Network TV and are concerned about spending money on a Cox Box that may not work on a different system if you ever move, Samsung's new SIRT351 is both an Over the Air ATSC box as well as a QAM in the Clear Tuner, like the Mitsubishi Integrated Sets. So if you wanted a solution that will work on Cox and would also work with an Antenna if you ever moved, this starts shipping to us in August. Suggested retail $449.00, we'll most likely be selling them for $399.00.

Remember, this won't work for anything Scrambled on the Cox system, so if it costs extra, like ESPN, etc.. this wouldn't be a great option.

As for Time Warner in Lincoln customers, they plan to launch a new HD tier around Sept. 1, supposed to contain KOLN (HD), and eventually KLKN (ABC) when they get their HD equipment. He even mentioned WOWT, but with them being off the air that seemed a stretch, Discovery (HD), and ESPN. They are looking at others. From what I've been told, Discovery and the networks will come through in the Clear, if you have a QAM tuner, but haven't been able to confirm this yet. I've been trying to get PBS which is already offered on Ch. 112 if you have an HD box, but it is supposed to be in the clear, so I'll keep investigating, and give an update when I know more. They also are planning on offereing an HD PVR sometime in Oct.--Nov Time frame. I have no details on the features of the PVR box.

FYI

Thanks for the info about the samsung Steve. Hopefully Cox will pass ESPN and discovery in the clear although I doubt it. I would by a T351 and sell my T151 in a heartbeat if it works that way.

That's very interesting regarding Time-Warner. I wondered if the 351 would be worth considering.
Will the 351 contain seperate inputs for an outdoor antenna and cable? I'd like to have OTA capabilities in addition to the QAM.

Anyone notice in addition to Discovery and ESPN, we now have a couple nebraska public tv stations in HD on Cox? ..

This was all just off the channel guide.. Discovery as of yesterday was saying it was a subscription service - I was told differently a week ago, so today is the day we'll see what's going on!

We got the 351's in late yesterday afternoon, I'll break into one today, and let you know about its inputs, etc..

S.K.

Cox subscribers:

I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm watching ESPN-HD and Discovery HD right now, and Discovery at least looks PHENOMINAL! The bad news is that Cox wants $8.95 per month extra for the two channels. On one hand, it's not a huge amount of money... on the other hand, you would think that they would cut some of us "early adopters" some slack, especially considering that we need to pay extra for the digital boxes, extra for digital cable, and now extra for the HD channels. My cable bill is already $130/month. Yikes.

I need to get a part-time job, just so that I can pay for the HD addiction.

Jeff

Any news yet on WOWTs antenna inspection? Is it ok and are they going to put their HD antenna back online?

Mike

We are running two crews simultaneously on both towers. The SpectraSite crew is replacing bent members on the tall tower. Once those are replaced, the structural engineer will fly back in to determine if the tower can be fixed as it stands, or decide if we have to un-stack the tower to reach the two bent sections.

Downtown, Deter's Tower Service are hanging new transmission line and sweeping the antenna for maxium performance. We also are expecting a consulting engineer to arrive on Tuesday to start rebuilding our antique RCA 'E' backup transmitter.

I will let you know as soon as possible.

Jay

Can some one summarize the stations I should now be able to get from 156th and harrizon in HD?

I have played a little in trying to get the kxvo and kptm but all I get is channel 12-5 netv from that direction. I have not tested the other direction since the attenta incidents.

I just called DTV and found out that sunday ticket will be broadcasting some games in hd. I bet espn hd will simulcast some games in hd huh? Locals arenot planned until the end of the year, and it is up to the local stations wether they broadcast in hd.

Last question. I worked for about an hour trying to tune in my hd sattelite dish, and resorted back to the round one. Any tips on getting those to work? Are they that much harder to tune in? I typically take my dish out camping and have the round one setup on a cement block in several minutes.

P.S order your nfl sunday ticket today for a $20 discount.

Thanks a ton.

Daryl

I got the dish setup by moving a tv and the receiver outside. It was not that bad. When I plugged it back in 12-1,2,3,4 and 5 all came in HD(or at least digital). but this morning the channels are not listed except for 5. I am going to build a table that includes station, direction, power level, status, broadcast times, and resolution for each. I am completely bummed out about getting all the husker games in analog because of the ketv antenna going down. Is it really going to be a year before they have an interim solution?

Hi Daryl, sounds like I'm not the only one bummed about losing Ketv-dt, Wowt-dt, I bet it takes at least a year, Ketv has to have a new antenna build, then construct the antenna, (which could take along time with the windy weather around here). I have not heard anything new from Wowt and how there repairs are going? I know cox comm has ketv-dt but you have to buy a 500.00 receive, then subscribe to digital basic which is around 50.00 a month, I have directv, which makes me depend on Ota signals for the locals in digital and hdtv, not cable, 1 month ago Omaha was sitting great for digitals and now we only have 1 of the big 3, its kinda frustrating since Omaha's big 3 station engineers have put great effort and money forward to get on the air and wham in seconds, hours and hours of work down the drain and no Ketv-dt for a year (no monday night football in Hdtv), we will see about Wowt, Daryl check titantv for program listing in digital and hd. Hdtv fan in Omaha.