so does anyone know when we are supposed to get locals in hd through directv. i called a month ago and they told me early december, but then i called last weekend and they told me end of 2007. seems like i can never get a straight answer from them.

so does anyone know when we are supposed to get locals in hd through directv. i called a month ago and they told me early december, but then i called last weekend and they told me end of 2007. seems like i can never get a straight answer from them.

You will never be able to get a person on the phone who actually knows.
D* will have local HD'swhen it has local HD's. I did not believe the "by the end of the year" nonesense, but maybe they will be turned on in the first Q of 2007.

I got the same info as well from a buddy that is a trainer for D*.

I have been wondering if it is possible to connect an OTA HD Antenna to the SA 8300HD that Cox Cable has issued users in Pensacola market.

I have been wondering if it is possible to connect an OTA HD Antenna to the SA 8300HD that Cox Cable has issued users in Pensacola market.


Fraid not. :( I wish you could though!

Cox has added ESPN2HD to channel 744

I've had an HR20 DVR from D* since October and have had NO problems with the unit. My only gripe is the lack of Over The Air and that's beta testing now and should be downloaded to all within the next week or so. Most who have the latest software now are "tickled pink" with OTA and the other minor improvements. I also have an H20 with a Winegard antenna D* installed. It's a small wing style (about 3' span) and uses an amplifier. The design is such that wind load is not a factor and it uses the same type of mount the 3 lnb dish does. Easily installed and very unobtrusive. I believe the model is the S2000. I get 94 to 100% signal on 3.x, 5.x, 15.x, 20.x, 23.x, 33.x, 44.x, and 75 - 85% on 10.x. I live just off the north end of Pensacola airport. I highly recommend this antenna for our area as it rejects multipath well and pulls in all of the digital stations without drop outs, even in heavy rains. For those who are not aware there is a difference in HD from Cable or D*. and OTA, I assure you it is quite noticable with 1080i broadcasts. OTA has much better 1080i PQ than the compressed D* signal or Cox Cable. Standard Digital looks much better than D* locals. Best of all, OTA is FREE. It's also nice to have when D* is in rain fade mode off and on during thunderstorms.

I've had an HR20 DVR from D* since October and have had NO problems with the unit. My only gripe is the lack of Over The Air and that's beta testing now and should be downloaded to all within the next week or so. Most who have the latest software now are "tickled pink" with OTA and the other minor improvements. I also have an H20 with a Winegard antenna D* installed. It's a small wing style (about 3' span) and uses an amplifier. The design is such that wind load is not a factor and it uses the same type of mount the 3 lnb dish does. Easily installed and very unobtrusive. I believe the model is the S2000. I get 94 to 100% signal on 3.x, 5.x, 15.x, 20.x, 23.x, 33.x, 44.x, and 75 - 85% on 10.x. I live just off the north end of Pensacola airport. I highly recommend this antenna for our area as it rejects multipath well and pulls in all of the digital stations without drop outs, even in heavy rains. For those who are not aware there is a difference in HD from Cable or D*. and OTA, I assure you it is quite noticable with 1080i broadcasts. OTA has much better 1080i PQ than the compressed D* signal or Cox Cable. Standard Digital looks much better than D* locals. Best of all, OTA is FREE. It's also nice to have when D* is in rain fade mode off and on during thunderstorms.

If you want ota for your HR20 you can get it tonight. Please read the hold thread.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=73198

Just got the update, very nice. Not sure how it compares to the hr10-250 ota wise, but looks good. Didn't pull in nbc/44-1 or either pbs but that's an issue in spanish fort, hopefully when i live in pt clear that will be rectified.

Anyone hear anything about locals via satellite? Last i heard directv would have it by the 15th, but doesn't seem likely.

Just got the update, very nice. Not sure how it compares to the hr10-250 ota wise, but looks good. Didn't pull in nbc/44-1 or either pbs but that's an issue in spanish fort, hopefully when i live in pt clear that will be rectified.

Anyone hear anything about locals via satellite? Last i heard directv would have it by the 15th, but doesn't seem likely.
Daniel, I have ota on both of my HR20s and still have N.Y. D* told me yesterday that we would have our DMA turned on in the next two weeks. Do you have a Slimline yet. I'm suppose to get one Jan 2nd. I'm afraid we are going to loose our NY feeds sometimes next year and I really hate that.

Just got the update, very nice. Not sure how it compares to the hr10-250 ota wise, but looks good. Didn't pull in nbc/44-1 or either pbs but that's an issue in spanish fort, hopefully when i live in pt clear that will be rectified.

Anyone hear anything about locals via satellite? Last i heard directv would have it by the 15th, but doesn't seem likely.

So has the OTA on the HR20 been enabled for the Mobile/Pensacola market, or did you get the "special midnight push" that went out on December 13th? D* sent me an HR20 as a replacement for my HR10-250 (minor issues since the 6.3 upgrade), but I have held off on activating it until I knew that I could use it for OTA.

I did the special midnight push, works great. No ota before then and i don't blame you. Now i'm trying to learn it. Some things i like a lot, like SD quality blows the hd tivo away, but the interface especially the lack of a "Tivo List" type guide really really sucks.

I'm still using my hd tivo and my hr20, my house that i'm building will have a distribution closet where i'll put all my directv gear and other whole house gear/automation so i'm happy with the added features.

I hate to lose the new york feeds, they have been great. I wonder if we'll lose our east/west sd feeds?

I have the 5 lnb setup outside, works great. Ready for some more HD.

Anyone know how to setup the ability to track nfl players stats while watching games?

For what it's worth i will probably be a custom directv/dish dealer by mid january.

Does anyone in the Panama City area no anyone I can call to calibrate HDTV's?

Anyone have any info on HD local feeds being provided on DirectTV? Do they plan to carry FOX? I might make the switch if they do . . . Seems Comcast isn't going to carry it . . .

For a really professional calibration, go to LionAV.com and see when Greg Lowen will be coming to Fl. He did my 60"XBR and I am so impressed with the picture quality I have put a 70" on lay-a-way for Christmas. Which reminds me, if anyone in the Pensacola area is interested in a really good bargin on a 60" SONY SXRD XBR, I have to sell this one. Discovered after I ordered the 70", it's too big for the bedroom! I bought it in April, had it ISF calibrated after 200 hrs, and have a three year extended warranty which includes 2 bulb replacements. Includes the Sony stand. PM me if interested. Can't beat the price as I can't back out of getting the 70".

RE: D* HD locals - ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and possibly, but undecided, PBS. This from a D* installer that I know.

For those of you with D* HR 20s, OTA is enabled now. Software downloaded last night. Only problems: 5-2 (SD Weather) not listed or available and 55-1 listed, but no such digital channel. WBPG is not digital.

Hey everyone. I received the update this morning and went through the antenna setup but am getting the 771 error (no signal received) on every off air -1,2,3 channel. :( The DTV installer set this up last week and told me to wait for the update. She set it up with a diplexer on both ends to allow me to do this without running another cable.

Could the diplexers be causing any issues? I'm going to go back through the channel setup again but just wanted to toss this out there for you knowledgeable folks. I live in Navarre, FL and am using the default black square off-air antenna installed by DTV. Thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.

RockNTroll, from what I have read you're pretty close to me. I live in Hampton Ridge behind Winn Dixie near the High School. They installed the DB-8 on my roof and from what I see (with the diplexers installed) everything looks fine. You noted having to install something else on top of the DB-8. Were you getting zero signal like I am with the DB-8 only installed initially? Installing that antenna on top of it totally fixed everything? Baffling. I guess I might need to go out and invest in an add-on on antenna too. Dealing with tech support over the phone is painful.

I tried bypassing the diplexer on both ends and just using that line that went into tuner 2 directly into the off air side... Still no dice.

Does anyone in the Panama City area no anyone I can call to calibrate HDTV's?

Audioman,
We (Wow Factor) are the closest ISF calibrators to you. We are located in Pensacola and have travelled over your way a few times and certainly wouldn't mind heading over again. Just to be safe and respectful, I'll PM you contact info. Hope we can help you out!

Graham

Does anyone know of any really good contacts that might work for a DBS company locally and also make calls on the side that might come and look at my off air situation on the side? I live in Navarre and I am tired of scheduling appts with DTV only to get someone that underwhelms in the end. I'm desperate. :p

I got a slimline yesterday, called D* and ask where is our LILs, she said we were put off because of problems, should get them sometimes in the 1st Q.

I heard some good news (unofficial) for Comcast HD Subscribers in Mobile - looks like WALA Fox 10 is going to be finally carried in HD! I had a tech out today and he said they announced it in the meeting today that Fox was being added and that we might see it as early as Friday!

Channel 5 is at it again. Their hd signal is down. It was bad enough during the Alabama's game, now playoffs.

Channel 5 is at it again. Their hd signal is down. It was bad enough during the Alabama's game, now playoffs.
Do we know why this is? Is there any plausible story about it?

I got a slimline yesterday, called D* and ask where is our LILs, she said we were put off because of problems, should get them sometimes in the 1st Q.

We're you responding to me?

Channel 5 is at it again. Their hd signal is down. It was bad enough during the Alabama's game, now playoffs.

Problems all during the Patriots- Jets game. I tried switching from my H10 to the tuner on my TV, but to no avail.

Freeze frames and blocking constantly. Had to revert to SD on D* until the last few minutes of the game when it cleared up.

I lost my signjal during the WKRG game, but I have had no problem with the FOX game.

I haven't had a problem with Fox 10 nowhere near the problem with 5 We should all be good for NCAA championship game. Isn't CBS carrying the superbowl?

do i need the slimline dish? i have the at9 i believe and keep seeing everyone getting this new dish, is there a difference other than its appearance?

do i need the slimline dish? i have the at9 i believe and keep seeing everyone getting this new dish, is there a difference other than its appearance?
No

Anyone having problems today with Fox from Mobile?

achipar

My Fox reception seems to be ok today.

Fox started working right around 5:30 pm on Sat.
Thanks

achipar

I have been getting a good signal at times and then nothing at all. It was working right before 7:00 but when we swithched to watch 24 no signal. I think the station is having problems??????

Just wanted to say I had the guys from "WOW Factor" out this past weekend to calibrate my HDTV. And I am very happy with the results.
So if anyone here in the Panhandle needs their set done, Give GrahamMc a PM.

I called Fox today and spoke with an engineer about the problems getting OTA and a futile attempt to get a waiver. One bright spot from the conversation was that D* has been to Mobile to upgrade the equipment there. He said that all of the equipment was installed a couple of months ago to broadcast their HD signal to D* and they are just waiting on D*. There is hope.

I e-mailed D* about not getting our LILs in the 4th Q like they said we would. This is there reply.

Thanks for asking about HD programming. I'm sorry for any frustration caused by not being able to receive your local channels in HD last year. At this time, Mobile AL-Pensacola FL (your designated market area, as determined by Nielsen Media Research) is not yet on the list of market areas that we currently broadcast high definition. I know that HD programming is important to you and DIRECTV is committed to offering the best possible HD experience to you. In recent months, we have launched the first two of four satellites that will allow us to greatly expand our HD local channel offerings.

The two new satellites have allowed us to begin offering HD local channels in several cities, with many more to come later this year including your area. Because our satellite capacity is still limited, we intend to focus on getting HD feeds of ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC up in as many cities as possible. When the other two satellites become available, we will be able to begin providing even more channels in existing HD local markets (including CW, where available), as well as adding new HD markets and more national HD programming.
Sincerely,

Elisa N
Employee ID - 100126762
DIRECTV Customer Service

This is from D*s web site last Sept.
The 25 local markets to receive HD programming in the 4th Q 06 are.

-- Albuquerque, N.M. -- Mobile, Ala.
-- Buffalo, N.Y. -- New Orleans
-- Des Moines, Iowa -- Norfolk, Va.
-- Flint, Mich. -- Oklahoma City, Okla.
-- Ft. Meyers, Fla. -- Portland, Me.
-- Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Providence, R.I.
-- Green Bay, Wisc. -- Reno, Nev.
-- Greensboro, N.C. -- Santa Barbara, Calif.
-- Greenville, S.C. -- Spokane, Wa.
-- Harrisburg, Pa. -- Springfield, Mo.
-- Jacksonville, Fla. -- Toledo, Ohio
-- Little Rock, Ark. -- Tulsa, Okla.
-- Madison, Wisc.

This is from dbs forum, a poster asking the same thing that I ask.

Email on Local HD from D* PR

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received the following response to my inquiry about HD locals coming to New Orleans by end of 2006. Bad news!
-----------------------------------------

My apologies. Priorities often change in this business and unfortunately a decision was made to put a hold on all remaining HD local markets until we launch the new satellites mid-year and have adequate capacity. Sorry for the false start. The markets will launch later this year - likely in the Q3 time frame. I hope you'll hang in there with us. Robert

Robert Mercer
Director, Public Relations
DIRECTV, Inc.
(310) 726-4683

Not sure if anyone noticed but today Cox upgraded all lower channels to digital. That's right, if you have a digital/Hd box, channels 2-70 are now digital. The analog versions are now located at 1002+.

You can tell by looking at the channel name (WEARD, WPMID, WKRGD)

Steve

First, thanks to all who post here, I've learned alot.

I just recently moved back to Navarre Florida from Washington DC (where I got all of my locals in HD OTA). I get ABC, NBC, and CBS with my OTA antenna, but Fox is a bust. I see this has been a problem for a long time. Does anyone have an update?

Thanks again.

I got an HDTV last week. I've been trying to get--Over the Air-- NBC in Digital and HD but I can not get anything on 47.1. Anyone know if It's not there or down? I can get 3.1, 5.1, 10.1 and analog 15

I live near the flea market in Mobile, AL Not sure what I'm digital channels I'm suppose to get out this way.

I'm getting the HR20 from Dtv soon and love my new HDTV.

Spectrepilot,

not sure what antenna you have, but to pick-up FOX you need a VHF antenna. You can purchase a VHF only and combine it with a UHF. I am in Navarre, and thats what I had to do. I get a very strong Fox signal also.

Greg

NBC is map to 15.1

I have an outside antenna with the combo VHF/UHF. I can get 44.1 Digital.

I've tried 15.1 and get "failed to recieve broadcast"

So you guys are getting NBC in Digital and HD on 15.1? or 47.1?

I have the Terk HDTV-S and I get nothing on FOX.

I have another antenna that I have not tried, but am unsure how to mix the two together.

We've done a few installs in your area and nbc is a tricky one to pull in. Usuallly we can get either fox or nbc, but not both. We use the antennas direct db2 and db4 for most of our installs. I personally can't pickup 15.1 and i'm in spanish fort.

Can't comment if it's down or not, but reception is tough in some spots. Would be happy to have someone check it out for you though.

Daniel

I was getting NBC fine until last weak when I started having problems. I also noticed that the were not boracasting in HD during ER on Thursday. Is NBC experimenting?

We've done a few installs in your area and nbc is a tricky one to pull in. Usuallly we can get either fox or nbc, but not both. We use the antennas direct db2 and db4 for most of our installs. I personally can't pickup 15.1 and i'm in spanish fort.

Can't comment if it's down or not, but reception is tough in some spots. Would be happy to have someone check it out for you though.

Daniel

Back to the old says of UHF reception. Reminds me of growing up in Montgomery as a boy with three UHF stations and one VHF. New Air Force kids would move into town, some with no UHF tuner on their sets! Not required until the mid- 60's. If you lived down in a hole or under tall pine trees, you were relegated to a ghosting and fading and you just had to live with it. Color TV made things even worse. Everybody forgot about those problems with the advent of cable, and now with folks trying to pull in OTA HDTV, all of a sudden, outdoor antennas are important again.

I can't get a watchable analog UHF signal here in Spanish Fort. 15 and 44 are full of ghosts and fade in an out. Different with digital. Usually the picture is perfect, but living down in a hole with those pesky pine trees causes WKRG to go crazy occasionally. Sometimes 44, 42 and 55 pixelate, but not too often.

Oh for the day that D* will have the local HD's!

I get NBC and FOX just perfect, attic-mounted UHF-only antenna in Pensacola. My antenna (Winegard PR-8800) has quite a bit of gain in the upper VHF spectrum, which I believe contributes to my reception of FOX.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ has technical specs on a variety of antennas, might help in a search for the right one.

I am in Holley by the Sea, Navarre. I originally bought DB-8 UHF and mounted it on an outside pole. I picked up all the local channels except for Fox. I then realized (through this forum) that I needed a VHF antenna to pickup FOX. I then went online to solidsignal.com and got Wingard YA1713 VHF antenna and a UHF/VHF combiner and mounted it above my DB-8. FOX is now one of my stronger signals. However, I do occasionally have problems with PBS, 23.1-3 and 5.1 dropping out. Usually 15.1 is good to go. Here is a link I got off the forum to clarify antenna requirements.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

I heard some good news (unofficial) for Comcast HD Subscribers in Mobile - looks like WALA Fox 10 is going to be finally carried in HD! I had a tech out today and he said they announced it in the meeting today that Fox was being added and that we might see it as early as Friday!

First post, but I felt I should drop my lurker status and join in. I was at a mardi gras meeting this morning and I did my usual badgering of WALA's general manager about Fox in HD on Comcast. He said that they were waiting to see how the dispute between Sinclair and Mediacom plays out before they offer their HD feed to the local cable companies. That started a "discussion" between me, the GM and a couple other lawyers about fair use and the merits of watching HD programming free with an antenna vs a cable box. My point was the same one you should all be familiar with. I watch less of his station since it is not available easily in HD when I have other HD options. Wouldn't the advertisers like to know that they are doing all they can to get their ads seen. He said that there is still no way to know who is or isn't watching HD vs SD and that if the cable companies will pay for a crap station like Animal Planet or HGTV, they should have to pay for Fox. He said that they aren;t anywhere near full power on their HD transmissions with just the limited signal they put out costing them over $175k a month in electricity bills alone. He did say that they plan to make an effort to boost the signal strength this year for sports broadcasts and American Idol. He's a good guy, and a funny guy, and I like him, but we just disagree. He seemed surprised that I could pick up WALA with an antenna at all.

Bottom line, no WALA in HD on Comcast anytime soon. I hope I'm proven wrong and Scott was just all bluster.

He said that they aren't anywhere near full power on their HD transmissions with just the limited signal they put out costing them over $175k a month in electricity bills alone.

I was under the impression that they had to be at full power as of last July 1 under FCC regulations. The other area stations went to full power at that time as I recall.

Perhaps it is time to bring this to the attention of the FCC?

Bottom line, no WALA in HD on Comcast anytime soon. I hope I'm proven wrong and Scott was just all bluster.

Seems the tech was mistaken - he probably heard Fox and assumed it was the HD feed when in reality they added all the Fox Sports tier crap . . . .

First post, but I felt I should drop my lurker status and join in. I was at a mardi gras meeting this morning and I did my usual badgering of WALA's general manager about Fox in HD on Comcast. He said that they were waiting to see how the dispute between Sinclair and Mediacom plays out before they offer their HD feed to the local cable companies. ... He said that there is still no way to know who is or isn't watching HD vs SD and that if the cable companies will pay for a crap station like Animal Planet or HGTV, they should have to pay for Fox.

I totally disagree with this line of thinking. As all of the posts on this thread show, there are serious reception issues with the OTA HDTV in this market. Cable TV carriage would cure that problem for many, and give the locals more viewers, so that then can sell more ads and get more advertizing revenue. Local network affilates are being greedy and short sighted when then demand fees for being carried on cable. Yes, I know the FCC authorized such, but I respectfully disagree. Animal Planet may or may not be crap, but it is not a broadcast network. It's only source of funding is by selling to carriers. Locals got no money at all for decades, becuase cable had the ability to put a good clear signal into the home, that that might not otherwise have been receivable.

I am no big fan of Mediacom, but I bet you you can guess which side I am on in the Mediacom - Sinclair broadcasting feud over channel 3. I am happy to see Mediacom stand their ground, and I hope Sinclair suffers dearly for their greed. All that is going to happen if this sort of thing continues is that your cable fees headed up. You can't expect Mediacom to absorb this cost without passing it along to its customers. If Sinclair wins, consumers lose. It is that simple.

I hope Sinclair suffers dearly for their greed. All that is going to happen if this sort of thing continues is that your cable fees headed up. You can't expect Mediacom to absorb this cost without passing it along to its customers. If Sinclair wins, consumers lose. It is that simple.

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm at the point now of just putting an antenna in the attic to b e done with it. I've got 3 HDTV's of varying sizes and brands, that all have tuners. Is there a local company, Mobile or the Eastern Shore that I can hire to do this, or can I purchase a db4 or db8, put it up in the attic myself and expect to get a decent signal strength in West Mobile?

I have an antenna and tuner, but I like my DVR - as I'm not home for my favorite show on Tuesday night - House. . . . I'm seriously considering changing to DirectTV - seeing that I can hook my antenna into the DirectTV box for HD content and record shows from them and DirectTV is supposed to have Local HD soon anyway . . .

First post, but I felt I should drop my lurker status and join in. I was at a mardi gras meeting this morning and I did my usual badgering of WALA's general manager about Fox in HD on Comcast. He said that they were waiting to see how the dispute between Sinclair and Mediacom plays out before they offer their HD feed to the local cable companies. That started a "discussion" between me, the GM and a couple other lawyers about fair use and the merits of watching HD programming free with an antenna vs a cable box. My point was the same one you should all be familiar with. I watch less of his station since it is not available easily in HD when I have other HD options. Wouldn't the advertisers like to know that they are doing all they can to get their ads seen. He said that there is still no way to know who is or isn't watching HD vs SD and that if the cable companies will pay for a crap station like Animal Planet or HGTV, they should have to pay for Fox. He said that they aren;t anywhere near full power on their HD transmissions with just the limited signal they put out costing them over $175k a month in electricity bills alone. He did say that they plan to make an effort to boost the signal strength this year for sports broadcasts and American Idol. He's a good guy, and a funny guy, and I like him, but we just disagree. He seemed surprised that I could pick up WALA with an antenna at all.

Bottom line, no WALA in HD on Comcast anytime soon. I hope I'm proven wrong and Scott was just all bluster.

Yea they are not full power and thats why I won't watch them. I pull a HD Fox feed from D* . It's a shame, if they had any concern for the viewers they would at least go full power . How many complaints do you think they get about their OTA signal every week ? I would bet a boat load . I'm sorry but WALA "SUCKS" !!! :mad:

"I couldn't agree with you more. I'm at the point now of just putting an antenna in the attic to b e done with it. I've got 3 HDTV's of varying sizes and brands, that all have tuners. Is there a local company, Mobile or the Eastern Shore that I can hire to do this, or can I purchase a db4 or db8, put it up in the attic myself and expect to get a decent signal strength in West Mobile? "

DCTPBS-I put a DB4 in my attic myself. Ordered 25 feet of RG6 cable with it. A piece of cake. If you go with a company-contact Cinder. I know him and I am sold on him and his company. First rate! Also- I enjoyed the HD talk (and the food and drink) Sunday too! Small world.

DCTPBS-I put a DB4 in my attic myself. Ordered 25 feet of RG6 cable with it. A piece of cake. If you go with a company-contact Cinder. I know him and I am sold on him and his company. First rate! Also- I enjoyed the HD talk (and the food and drink) Sunday too! Small world.

I couldn't remember if you said db4 or db8. Yes it was a good time. . . a work party with next to no work to do!

Doug

Well it looks like sw11 will be put off. Sea launch had a bad day.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=78244

I have the DB4. It's a directional. The DB8 may be even better. See ya' Sunday!

Hello everyone! I'm in Bay Minette, AL and just wanted to check in here. I just purchased a new Sony kdf-50e2000 and I am loving it. I am using a Terk HDTV-a indoor antenna, and I get abc, cbs, nbc, fox, 2 pbs stations, and utv44 digital stations without any problems at all. I was surprised how well this indoor antenna works.
This is my first hi-def television, so I'm new to this stuff. DirecTV will finally have somebody come out next Friday Feb 9 to install my new HD DVR and dish. I'm really looking forward to it.

If you want HD content go with Dish. Direct only has about 5 channels in HD, but charge the same as Dish

If you want HD content go with Dish. Direct only has about 5 channels in HD, but charge the same as Dish

I have over 10 channels in HD with Directv and more to come this summer (150). Although sealaunch had a failure this a week ago, it may delay the Directv upgrade a month or two.


Also, I filed a complaint with the FCC against WALA this week. They will not give me a waiver so i can get the national FOX even thought they are not at full signal strength and I can't get a signal in Navarre.

I tired to call the station manager but he would not take my call and did not return my message.

Just signed up to the forum and thought I would ask a question. I have D* with an H20-100 with an OTA antenna. I live in West Mobile at the Cody/Gretlot intersection.

I have had no problems until the SUperbowl on Sunday night. The WKRG signal is a 90% but every 30 seconds it drops to zero for about a half a second and then returns to normal. I thought it may be some electrical device in my house causing the problem, so I turned off all of the electical devices (motors), adjusted my Terk indoor antenna, and threw out a few curse words and the problem did not change. Is this an issue with WKRG? Have any of you seen this problem just all of a sudden manifest itself for no reason? Is it the cold weather? Comments or suggestions would be helpful.

I believe in giving to receive. I thought I would contribute a solution to a problem that I was having with the D* H20. My onscreen caller ID stopped working for no reason. After tinkering with everything from the phone line to the H20 receiver, I found a solution to this bug. You have to delete all of the Caller ID log in the H20 and reboot it. This seemed to solve my problem because I am seeing the onscreen Caller ID again. Also, if any of you have a H20-600 and it is rebooting radomly, it is a problem with the heat of the device. D* knows about the problem and will send you a H20-100 (albeit refurbished) for free. All you have to do is box up the H20-600 and send it back to them via prepaid Fedex.

Thanks,
:)
Jody

Just signed up to the forum and thought I would ask a question. I have D* with an H20-100 with an OTA antenna. I live in West Mobile at the Cody/Gretlot intersection.

I have had no problems until the SUperbowl on Sunday night. The WKRG signal is a 90% but every 30 seconds it drops to zero for about a half a second and then returns to normal. I thought it may be some electrical device in my house causing the problem, so I turned off all of the electical devices (motors), adjusted my Terk indoor antenna, and threw out a few curse words and the problem did not change. Is this an issue with WKRG? Have any of you seen this problem just all of a sudden manifest itself for no reason? Is it the cold weather? Comments or suggestions would be helpful.



I live in Richmond neighborhood just off Johnson Rd not far from you and I have a similar issue with WKRG. I have the HR10 (TiVo) unit from D*. I just put up a new antenna the day before the Super Bowl, just to make sure I would get a good signal. The signal strength according to my TV (not the HR10) with the antenna direct to the TV is 95 or higher with WKRG. This is the highest of any of the HD channels. When I send the signal through the HR10, I almost always get pixelation with WKRG, but not with any of the other OTA HD channels - even the ones with much lower signal strength.

I believe WKRG is 1080i, so I don't know if that is the problem for the HR10. I watched most of the game with the antenna directly to the TV. After the great halftime show by Prince, I switch the antenna back to the HR10 and was able to watch the rest of the game without pixelation. Late in the evening is the only time I seem to get WKRG without pixelation through the HR10.

Since I don't watch network TV (except for major sporting events) I haven't worried about it much. I am just waiting for D* to offer Mobile locals in HD later this year (I hope).

Thanks for the reply!

Prince's show did kick ass!!!

WPMI and WEAR all come in very well on my TV with very little pixelation. WALA is hit or miss depending on if they boost the signal. I just find it wierd that WKRG all of a sudden started showing this problem. I hope the problem is with the station and not my receiver. I will try to hook up the antenna directly to my HD set tonight and see if I can replicate the problem. My set is on the wall and it is a pain to get to the antenna port so I have put this off.

Have a great day.

Jody

In Pensacola, I find that WKRG's signal breaks up constantly although I can reeive all other channels (including ones I don't watch-- the digital versions of 33 and 21) just fine. I may be wrong but I think that the digital versions of 5 and 33 (27 and 34) broadcast from the same tower so it is not a question of distance. Supposedly WKRG is at full power (1 megawatt) so there must be some other problem of long standing. Maybe it is the signal that they are getting from CBS; maybe it is in the transmission from the station to the tower. But, I imagine that they don't believe they have a problem!

Luckily there is not much on CBS worth watching. With 24 hour news channels, I am certainly glad I do not have to rely on Katie Couric.

Since the networks rotate the Super Bowl, March Madness is probably the only thing I will watch on CBS for the next couple of years.

Luckily there is not much on CBS worth watching. With 24 hour news channels, I am certainly glad I do not have to rely on Katie Couric.

Since the networks rotate the Super Bowl, March Madness is probably the only thing I will watch on CBS for the next couple of years.
You don't watch SEC [HD] football?.....WOW..............

You don't watch SEC [HD] football?.....WOW..............

Real football is played on Sunday. :)

I live in the Spanish Fort area on Hwy. 225. I watched the superbowl OTA with HR10-250 with no problems the whole game. I was worried about it because, I had just went and bought a indoor Phillips antenna from CC. The antenna came to my house on Friday afternoon, so I installed in on Saturday night. I tried watching a few shows that night and the next morning but, they were badly coming in and out.

So I was worried because everyone was coming over to my house to watch the game on my new HDTV. Needless to say, channel 5.1 must have boosted the signal or something because for almost 5 hours during pre game and game, I had no problems.

I also pick up channel 10.1 most of the time. Channel 3.1 and 42.1 is kinda of hit and miss. I really don't get any other channels OTA.

One other thing, I used to never watch NBC, CBS, ABC or Fox, until I got HDTV. Since OTA HDTV, I have really increased watching the regular channels.

For anyone needing an indoor antenna, the RCA amplified Flat Panel ANT537 is the best of 5 I tried. I live in Pensacola and this was the only one I found that could get all the digital stations without dropouts. It has 25db of gain (adjustable), is small, and asthetic. Best Buy has them and, if you go to the RCA website and print out the page with the suggested retail price, when shown to BB they will price match. I couldn't belive they have it priced @ $15.00 higher than suggested retail. For those of you in Mobile having problems with WALA, this may well cure your problems. I get it here with 80-85% signal on the indoor antenna on the ground floor next to a solid wall.

By the way, I still have the ISF calibrated 60" SXRD XBR1, with stand and 3 yr. extended warranty for sale. PM me for a price that is more than a bargin as I must pick up my new 70" by the end of Feb. or lose my $1000.00 deposit.

I live in Pensacola and have a Dish 211 receiver. I watched the Superbowl without a hitch. I am 30 miles from the broadcast towers. Sometimes, I loose signal on 5 and 10 HD, but not very often.

Need help, this is my first venture into HD...I have a Terk HDTVa indoor antenna for OTA HD. It is plugged directly into my Panasonic TH-42PX60U. When I first plugged it in last week, I got all stations with 80+ on the signal meter. Now I can't view ABC 3.1 or NBC 15.1 at all, even though my signal meter shows 82 for ABC and 77 for NBC. When I go to those channels its just black and then a blue window comes up and says "poor signal quality" I would be willing to put up an outdoor antenna, but I am getting such high numbers on the meter with the indoor. Frustrated.

By the way, I am in Pensacola in the Bellview area right near the fairgrounds.

Anyone have the # to the Master control room, Lost ota is not in HD :mad:

Anyone have the # to the Master control room, Lost ota is not in HD :mad:
I'm getting it in HD.

I live in Richmond neighborhood just off Johnson Rd not far from you and I have a similar issue with WKRG. I have the HR10 (TiVo) unit from D*. I just put up a new antenna the day before the Super Bowl, just to make sure I would get a good signal. The signal strength according to my TV (not the HR10) with the antenna direct to the TV is 95 or higher with WKRG. This is the highest of any of the HD channels. When I send the signal through the HR10, I almost always get pixelation with WKRG, but not with any of the other OTA HD channels - even the ones with much lower signal strength.

I believe WKRG is 1080i, so I don't know if that is the problem for the HR10. I watched most of the game with the antenna directly to the TV. After the great halftime show by Prince, I switch the antenna back to the HR10 and was able to watch the rest of the game without pixelation. Late in the evening is the only time I seem to get WKRG without pixelation through the HR10.

Since I don't watch network TV (except for major sporting events) I haven't worried about it much. I am just waiting for D* to offer Mobile locals in HD later this year (I hope).

I also have the HR10-250. Now that I have gone through the 6b firmware upgrade and deleted everything, it looks like (knock on wood) that the audio drop out problem is gone and my device is not occasionally randomly re-booting, so I can spend more time trying to diagnose my problems with WKRG reception.

I live just a few miles from the station in Spanish Fort, but I do live down in a valley off 225. From the time I turned my rig on in late December of 2005 until this past football season, I do not recall any consistant problems with WKRG OTA-- in fact my reception was nigh- well perfect. I get a strong, non- fluctuating signal on WKRG. I have an eight-bay channelmaster antenna in my attic.

When watching SEC football this season, however, I started getting pixelization and freezing on a regular basis. I thought this was soley a problem with the HR10-250, because during one game I took my antenna lead off the HR10-250 and attached it to my TV tuner, and WKRG came in perfectly. On the next game, however, the pixelization and freezing showed up no matter which tuner I used.

I could not figure out what was wrong. I still periodically have this problem, and it does not appear to be tied to weather phemomena.

Watched the superbowl on Sunday with no picture problems whatsoever, but I know the problem is still there. Based on some of the other posts, both from people with and without the HR10-250, I think the problem may be with WKRG, but I cannot be sure, given the HR10-250's firmware issues which I hope now have been corrected.

WEARDT ABC is now on Mediacom channel 704. Now if they can add WALADT FOX
then all will be right .

I just want to make sure. Am I pretty much screwed from getting OTA HDTV in Niceville without using a NASA antenna?

I just want to make sure. Am I pretty much screwed from getting OTA HDTV in Niceville without using a NASA antenna?

I have a friend in Niceville who can get several stations OTA: ABC Panama City, CBS Dothan, and I think NBC, ABC, PBS Pens/Mobile. Has the antenna above his roof peak with a rotor ($75). Uses a Winegard 9032 (~$45 from Pace Electronics in Pensacola). Very high gain in the UHF band.

http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/Pr-9032.pdf

I was thinking once I built up enough money, maybe taking a shot at the HD8200. My biggest problem with external antennas is lightning and hurricanes. I'm not really keen on having a big lightning rod on the top of the roof and I'd be really pissed to have over $100 just blow away.

While I'm thinking about it, I suppose no one in Niceville has been able to get WALA OTA yet? Among other things I really want to see 24 in HD.

Anyone else not able to pick up FOX OTA last night? I always get this station, but last night was a no go for some odd reason. I hate this stations lack of signal strength!

I was thinking once I built up enough money, maybe taking a shot at the HD8200. My biggest problem with external antennas is lightning and hurricanes. I'm not really keen on having a big lightning rod on the top of the roof and I'd be really pissed to have over $100 just blow away.

While I'm thinking about it, I suppose no one in Niceville has been able to get WALA OTA yet? Among other things I really want to see 24 in HD.

I have a Winegard YA-1713 up in the attic connected to a CM 7777 preamp, along with a CM 4228 for UHF. We have more elevation up in the Crestview area and that probably helps, and you're probably a little farther away from the towers. But I would at least try an attic setup before giving up on it (if you have the space--I was fortunate that the dimensions of my attic space lined up with where I needed to point that VHF monster). The disadvantages you state are the reason I tried the attic in the first place, and I'm glad I did.

Fox is my weakest signal, but it is consistent in good weather. CBS drops in heavy rain, but no problems from ABC, PBS or NBC.

Guys i have some equipment that is either inventory i want to move or personal speakers i am selling due to a new house and new equipment. They are all very high end and i will sell themf or my cost. They are also in mint or near mint condition.

Primarily i have some in wall James Loudspeakers speakers and center, as well as two james towers, a james 83sdx center and a james emb 1200 subwoofer.

This is all high end gear and i hate holding it and would love to help someone get some high end gear at 40% of normal pricing.

You can pm me if interested or email me at daniel@absolutehometheater.net

I just wanted to give a boarmember the chance beforei put these on audiogon for more money.

Thanks,

Daniel

Hello,

I live in Little Rock but I'm going to Orange Beach, AL for a week next month. I'm staying at the Phoenix condos and I was wondering how reception is in the Orange Beach area generally. Here in Little Rock, I'm about 20-23 miles from the towers and I do alright with a three foot telescopic antenna connected to my OnAir GT which is connected to my laptop. From AntennaWeb it said the towers are around 24 miles away from the condos. I was thinking about taking my laptop and tuner with me to watch and record some of the shows I like but I want to make sure I'll probably get a good enough signal to make it worth it.

All that said, how is reception generally in the Orange Beach area? And if I'm at the top of the building does that typically increase reception or make it worse?

Thanks for your help,
Kevin

I would think the reception would be excellent at the top of the condos. The antennas are very high at Wilcox, so the high condo would only help with your reception.

I was thinking once I built up enough money, maybe taking a shot at the HD8200. My biggest problem with external antennas is lightning and hurricanes. I'm not really keen on having a big lightning rod on the top of the roof and I'd be really pissed to have over $100 just blow away.

While I'm thinking about it, I suppose no one in Niceville has been able to get WALA OTA yet? Among other things I really want to see 24 in HD.

Forget the HD8200. It is a monster UHF/VHF combo and it will gain you nothing compared to most high gain UHF antennas. You will not pull in WALA form Niceville with it or any other antenna. I know because I tried (with an 8100, it's immediate predecessor) from my location which is a little closer than yours with a better line of sight. (But if you insist... let me make you a deal.) Get a good UHF. (Winegard 9032) They are small and light. When a hurricane comes (I hate to even say that! ) you just lower it down. Lightning? Mine is 4 feet above my roof line. I don't think it changes the odds that much.

To all you guys that live fairly close the the towers and have trouble with WKRG (and othe stations). Could the signal be too strong and over driving you receiver? I live 60 miles fron the towers and very seldom have any drop outs. Of course I must use a high gain antenna but my signals for all the stations ride at about 90 and only waiver a few times a month... usually on absolutely beautiful clear days... go figure. Sun spots?

Just a thought.

Forget the HD8200. It is a monster UHF/VHF combo and compared to most high gain UHF antennas and it will gain you nothing. You will not pull in WALA form Niceville with it or any other antenna. I know because I tried (with an 8100, it's immediate predecessor) from my location which is a little closer than yours with a better line of sight. (But if you insist... let me make you a deal.) Get a good UHF. (Winegard 9032) They are small and light. When a hurricane comes (I hate to even say that! ) you just lower it down. Lightning? Mine is 4 feet above my roof line. I don't think it changes the odds that much.


I think I might look into the 9032. I'm curious if you can get VHF with it though. I was also thinking of putting it in the attic, that way I wouldn't have to worry about lightning or hurricanes but I don't know what that would do to my reception. Any thoughts?

Masbama, I hope you got just half of the beads etc I tried to throw to you today. I had to clean up and get to the reception so I didn't really see anyone after the parades.

I tried to get the other guys to throw to you too, but you know how that goes. You can barely hear yourself think, and when you get alcohol involved, etc. . .

See you at the next meeting.

We are here to help anyone with technical issues receiving WKRG-DT, 5.1 5.2. Most of the calls I get relate to overloading with the Dish Network receivers and the dropping of signal with DirecTV. Currently, we are not having any technical problems. Thank You, JR

We are here to help anyone with technical issues receiving WKRG-DT, 5.1 5.2. Most of the calls I get relate to overloading with the Dish Network receivers and the dropping of signal with DirecTV. Currently, we are not having any technical problems. Thank You, JR

I for one have the problem with 'dropping' and I have the D* Hr10 TiVo unit. I know these units have very fussy tuners in them, but I have my antenna aligned so that WKRG gives me the strongest signal with my TV's built in tuner and I still get pixelation and drops with WKRG through the D* unit. I never have problems with other channels.

The problem has many probable causes. Multipath, do you live near a flight path, reflected signals from aircraft can cancel your received signal. Signal too strong, overloading, disconnect preamp if your using one and see if it's better. We use and reccomend the Channel Master 4228 and the Channel Master 3039 preamp, if you need one. Remember the interference you had with analog, spark plugs, line noise, CB radio, it showed up in different patterns on your TV, with digital it will show up loss of signal or pixelations if it is strong enough. JR

The problem has many probable causes. Multipath, do you live near a flight path, reflected signals from aircraft can cancel your received signal. Signal too strong, overloading, disconnect preamp if your using one and see if it's better. We use and reccomend the Channel Master 4228 and the Channel Master 3039 preamp, if you need one. Remember the interference you had with analog, spark plugs, line noise, CB radio, it showed up in different patterns on your TV, with digital it will show up loss of signal or pixelations if it is strong enough. JR

Hey, WKRG, glad to see you here! I have the CM 4228 in my attic, and the Direct TV HR 10-250 and for almost a year had no OTA WKRG problems whatsoever. I went through the college football season in 2005 when the Crimson Tide was on almost every week for awhile with nary a glitch.

In the fall of 2006, WKRG started acting up periodically. During a couple of SEC football games, the signal started pixelating and freezing, and the problem has contintued intermittantly. Don't remember any significant issues during the Super Bowl, but saw the pixelation the other night on 5.1. Oddly, 5.2 seems to always come in OK. I suspect the HDTV signal is the devil in the detail. These problems do not appear to be related to weather: I cannot relate them to any particular phenomemon.

I live right off 225 down in a valley. The KRG transmitter is just a few miles from my house, but in addtion to being at a lower elevation, I have some tall pines around that house so that analog UHF reception is never adequate with any antenna: full of shifting ghosts. The ghosts are not a problem with the digital signals though, I either get a signal, or I don't!

I am going to try and split my UHF line into one feed for the HR 10 and the other for the tuner in my plasma. Maybe the problem is caused by too much signal rather than too little? I guess splitting the two will knock about 10db off the line. Now, watch me not get one or more of the channels that were coming in just fine!

Please stay tuned and let's see if we can diagnose the problems!

BTW, any idea on when we will be getting HDTV locals on Direct TV in this market? When it is working correctly, WKRG has one of the most beautiful OTA HD signals in the market: the SD signal on Directv Channel 5, shall we say, leaves something to be desired.

WKRG,

I have had the pixilation and signal loss now for over 4 weeks. I bought a new antenna, mounted it in the attic, and installed an amplifier on the OTA antenna line. The signal loss is still there. About every 30 seconds, I lose the picture and sometimes the sound. I have turned off all electric devices in my house and it is still there. I live about 5 miles from the airport. Could this signal loss be a product of the Doppler Radar located at the airport? I watched WKRG 5.2 and my picture would pixilate every 180 degrees with the Doppler sweep. Is this coincidence? This seems very interesting to me. Have they upped the power on the doppler? My signal is lost every 30 seconds and 180 degrees of the visual sweep without fail.

My OTA signal strengths are as follows:

WEAR: 98%
WKRG: 100%
WALA: 85%
WPMI: 86%

I have direct TV using a H20-100 High Definition Receiver.

I have moved my antenna 5 times to see if the problem goes away and it has stayed consistent. I have removed my amp and it has stayed consitent. WKRG is the only station with a problem. I called Direct TV and explained the problem and they said that it was a problem with the local station.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Address: Smithfield Subdivision (Cody and Grelot), Mobile, AL 36695

Hello Mobilelawyer and BackLasher,

Well we will try and check-in once a day and try to be of help. Splitting your UHF antenna will drop your signal 3db. Make sure the splitter is broadband, say 5 to 900 MHz. You can also buy a active splitter, no loss. You won't have any problems with the two signals, and if your plasma HDTV tuner is 5th generation things will improve. Not sure when DirecTV will start putting markets on satellite in HDTV. Big problem is bandwidth and not enough room for all the signals. DirecTV did call me and said they were working on it. Feb. 2009 our analog will go away and they will need to do something.
BackLasher, Our doppler radar is located 6 miles East of Spanish Fort at our transmitting tower and is not related to your 30 second drop-out interval. DirecTV has a problem with that receiver. I have worked with a couple of viewers that had the same problem and replacing the receiver or hooking directly to HDTV tuner input on your TV, if it has one, fixes the problem. Hopefully they will do a firmware upgrade download here soon. JR

WKRG,

Thank you for the reply. I am in process of contacting D* and getting a new receiver. I will keep you all updated. Thanks again.

***UPDATE: I just got off the phone with D* and they said that it is possible that the tuner in my H20 is oing bad and they are shipping out another unit. I will install it Saturday and post the results on this board. I have my fingers crossed!!!!

One more note: Could any radar interfere with the WKRG signal on a consistent basis. I agree that the Doppler cannot be the problem, but the consistency of the signal dropping out sure is wierd.

BackLasher

Hi JR (WKRG):

I appreciate you checking on the boards for problems with any of our members. I live off of HWY. 225 also between the 8 and 9 mile marker. I rarely have any problems picking up your channel.

I am using a Philips Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Amplified Antenna MANT950 (don't laugh but it picks up better than my large Channel Master unamplified antenna in the attic) and a HR10-250 Directv Tivo. My signal strength for your channel normal runs around 90 strength.

I got set up to start picking up your channel in HDTV about 2 months ago. Since that time, I have found myself watching more and more shows off your network (instead of Directv) because the HDTV is so addictive.

So please tell all the other people in your organization that we appreciate their hard work!

Ryan

DCTPBS: Yes- I got the beads. Thanks! What a fine, upstanding parade that was. Y'all looked great! Thanks again; I'll see you soon.

WKRG

First, nice to see you monitoring and replying!

Located near the Pensacola airport but the N/S runway is shut down so interference caused by aircraft movement should be minimal or non-existent. I have two HD units. #1 is using the DirecTV H20 unit as the tuner, with a simple indoor antenna, Once I found the right direction for aiming, you are OK (along with everyone else except (VHF) WALA-DT).

The second set (a Mitsubishi DLP) has it's own tuner, and is connected to the HR20. OTA signal comes from an outdoor antenna at the roofline of a two story building. Here is where I have problems.

From the outdoor antenna, using either the Mits tuner or the HR20 (or the H20), your signal varies between 70 and 0. All other signals are rock solid. I can get Mobile's religion channel (20 or 21?), WHBR, WALA, WEAR, WPMI, WJTC, WSRE all at about 90-100. If I could get your signal at a constant 70, that would be great. But it drops to zero randomly, and frequently. It just bounces all over the place.

No amplifiers but the antenna signal is diplexed with the satellite signal (and then un-diplexed). I have tried re-orienting the antenna on several occasions but that hasn't helped. (An indoor antenna on the first floor and rear of the house yields no signal although it works upstairs at the front of the house.)

Any suggestions would be appreciated, as CBS is my most watched station-- when I can get it.

Beachrez,

I know some of my suggestions may sound far fetched but give this a try. Remove diplexers from both ends of antenna feed and connect directly to TV and directly to antenna. I know your receiving all the other channels but try it and good luck.
Now general info for all readers:
Signal levels with UHF are strange and can vary greatly with where you have the antenna mounted. No suggestions on how to find the Hot spots or RF holes. Our digital is on channel 27, 553MHz, UHF, and all other local stations are UHF, except WALA, which is on CH-9 VHF. So keep in mind an all UHF antenna might not work well for WALA which is on VHF.
PSIS data in our digital stream tells your set that we are channel 5.1 and 5.2 even though we are transmitting on CH-27. JR

I did noticed some intermittent pixelizing in our prime time programming Thursday night. Could have been a CBS problem or ours, looking into it. JR

Did anyone notice that the first 5 minutes or so of American Idol was not in HD last night? I also had some pixelization problems watching American Idol last night.

I have a Winegard YA-1713 up in the attic connected to a CM 7777 preamp, along with a CM 4228 for UHF. We have more elevation up in the Crestview area and that probably helps, and you're probably a little farther away from the towers. But I would at least try an attic setup before giving up on it (if you have the space--I was fortunate that the dimensions of my attic space lined up with where I needed to point that VHF monster). The disadvantages you state are the reason I tried the attic in the first place, and I'm glad I did.

Fox is my weakest signal, but it is consistent in good weather. CBS drops in heavy rain, but no problems from ABC, PBS or NBC.

Dirac,

Wow, I just noticed you are in Baker. Where abouts? I'm a mile north and a mile west of "downtown" on 4A.

I'm astounded that you can get WALA OTA and maybe I should retract my advice to MysteryGoat though I still think it is a long shot for him. As I said, I bought and tried a Winegard 8100 which had the highest advertised gain I could find at channel 9 (12db over a reference dipole) and got a big zero for signal strength. I finally got a waiver from WALA and Directv now pipes me the NYC Fox station so it's not an issue for me now. Except that OTA is usually a better picture.

WKRG JR,

How nice to have a local pro looking in. Thanks for your interest.

You mentioned that WKRG will switch off its analog xmitter in 2009. Will your digital signal remain on channel 27? I hope, I hope, I hope!

Do you know about the other Pcola/Mobile stations?

BTW, for the various sporting events I watch, WKRG/CBS picture quality is the best. There is usually a little pixelation when a camera scans with a crowd scene in the background. But I suspect that is the nature of MPEG-2 compression when the scene becomes random-like and that there is nothing that can be done about it. Do you think the standard will ever evolve to MPEG-4 for OTA broadcasts?

We are appreciative of your presence, Wkrg.

I have not yet had a chance to play with the splitter, but will try to work on it this weekend.

Thanks for monitoring.

WKRG JR,

But I suspect that is the nature of MPEG-2 compression when the scene becomes random-like and that there is nothing that can be done about it. Do you think the standard will ever evolve to MPEG-4 for OTA broadcasts?

OTA broadcast are not compressed so no MPEG-2 or MPEG-4

Ricknau,

Good morning. Good questions. As far as I know all the local stations will stay on their new channels. The lower channels, 3, 5 are very subject to impulse noise, lightning for one, and would not be usable for digital in the Summer. The big problem for broadcasters with high power UHF is the power bill. :))
Biggest problem I see with MPEG4 is that it is not backward compatible and would make all current receivers unusable. MPEG4 would allow us to transmit two 1080i streams or one 1080P stream, which would be very cool. I hope in the near future the OTA receivers will have smart decoders flexible to changes in the future.
MPEG 2 does fall apart when there is too much action especially if the broadcaster is running multi-channels and limiting the bandwidth needed for HDTV. We limit our 2nd channel, Doppler Radar, to 2 MBs leaving the balance, 16-17 MBs for our primary 5.1. MPEG 4 has it's problems too which may be much more irritating to the viewer. JR

Ricknau,
MPEG 4 has it's problems too which may be much more irritating to the viewer. JR

Yeah, I've been wondering if MPEG-4 will be the panacea we all wish for. I can't wait for Directv to switch over to it so I can see for myself. My worry is they'll just over exploit it to cram in more channels so the picture quality won't improve as much as it could

OTA broadcast are not compressed so no MPEG-2 or MPEG-4


Actually the HD data stream is highly compressed at the beginning of the process. Up to like 50:1. It's essential in order to be able to squeeze the final transmitted OTA signal into the narrow bandwidth allowed by the FCC.

Here's a great link explaining the whole process. It's written for the laymen but even so it gets pretty deep.

http://www.broadcast.net/~sbe1/8vsb/8vsb.htm

I looked back through the thread but didn't see this mentioned. Does anybody know what happened to the music video channel on 3-2? I really miss this channel. I have Dish w/OTA but a friend at work is asking about Fox on Comcast and when it will be available in HD. Thanks

Our Digital is running at 50% power. Power supply failure 6AM 02/28. Will let you know when it's repaired. JR

Our Digital is running at 50% power. Power supply failure 6AM 02/28. Will let you know when it's repaired. JR

A subject a bit off topic and hope you can provide some insight...since you work for a TV station, WKRG, are you at all familiar with the continuing saga of our NBC affiliate here in New Orleans, WDSU? Several of us in the New Orleans area have tried to find out when WDSU will re-start their digital broadcast with absolutely no response from WDSU. Are you perhaps friends with some of the engineers in the New Orleans area that may have a clue as to what is going on?

It has been a year and a half since Katrina, and still nothing from them. ALL of the other New Orleans broadcasters have re-started their digital broadcasts, so none of us here can understand what is going on.

Any insight you can provide would be most appreciated.

John

According to Fox10tv's website. Their HD signal will be carried on Cox Cable.
Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and they will get a deal with Comcast, Mediacom, Directtv, Dish soon.

http://www.fox10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6161438

Fox HD is now on Cox, channle 710

I looked back through the thread but didn't see this mentioned. Does anybody know what happened to the music video channel on 3-2? I really miss this channel. I have Dish w/OTA but a friend at work is asking about Fox on Comcast and when it will be available in HD. Thanks

I miss it, too. In the beginning it was totally commercial-free and I wondered how they could afford to keep it on the air; I thought maybe they were just testing it out. Then they went to showing commercials regularly so I figured it was here to stay. Then a month+ ago they just started showing the same crappy SD pillarboxed local signal that they show on 3-1 :(

WKRG-DT is back to full power. JR

WKRG-- Coincidence?

Now that you are back to full power, for the first time in a month or so, I'm getting your signal at a very consistent 75-80 reading. Is it possible that the power supply had been failing for weeks and your signal had been compromised during that time?

Coincidence?
Yes, it was a Coincidence.
This was large 480v 3 phase, 200 Amp contactor, it either works or does not and has nothing to do with the signal quality. Stay Tuned. JR

Has anyone had any pixelation/break-up problems with WPMI-DT 15.1 during the past week. I have had good success picking up their signal (and everyone else's) for the past two years, but in the past week, I've noticed a lot of breakups and distortions. Is anyone else seeing this? FYI - I live in West Mobile for what it's worth.

Yes, I was just coming to this thread to post the exact same question. WPMI has been dropping every 45 seconds or so for the last several days, and curious as to why I was up in my attic for about 2 hours yesterday rerouting cables to make sure there wasn't any interference etc. I have 2 hdtv receivers hooked up, a Directv HR20 and an LG-LST3510a and they both experience the same continuous issues on WPMI that neither of them did until recently.

I'm in the complete opposite direction from you, over in Pace, FL.

edit: I sent an email to WPMI, if I get an update I'll post it.

According to Fox10tv's website. Their HD signal will be carried on Cox Cable.
Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and they will get a deal with Comcast, Mediacom, Directtv, Dish soon.

http://www.fox10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6161438

I can see the WALA-DT channel in my mediacom TV guide via my cablecard, but no signal.... YET!

Fingers crossed...

Doc

Gulf Breeze, FL

WPMI-15 has become unwatchable to a high degree. Pixelation, dropouts. Glad to see that others are seeing this. Obviously the station has changed something..

Thanks for the replies on WPMI. I added a splitter and a second HDTV about a week before this problem started, and last weekend I played around in the attic for a few hours and even went back to my original configuration, but still had the problems. The signal meter on my HR10-250 shows that WPMI's signal tends to bounce around a lot. It's usually 90-92, but every few seconds drops down into the 70s. I don't remember it doing this before the pixelation started.

Teronzhul - let us know what you hear from WPMI. If you can post their contact info, I will send them a note as well. I wish we had a contact with them like Jim over at WKRG!

I'm also having problems watching WPMI-DT at home. Echostar 6000 and Samsung t451, Channel Master 4228 with preamp up 60' on ham radio tower. I will give the chief a call and post whats going on. Stay Tuned. JR

I have also been having problems with WPMI-DT over the last week.

I am also having problems receiving WALA-DT 10.1 on my DirecTV HR-20 using OTA. If I hook up the OTA directly to the TV I get the channel and it's signal is very good but as soon as I connect the OTA to the HR-20 I lose the picture and sound. Has anyone else had this problem with the HR-20. I have made various calls to DTV with them being of no help.

Please help.

I am also having problems receiving WALA-DT 10.1 on my DirecTV HR-20 using OTA. If I hook up the OTA directly to the TV I get the channel and it's signal is very good but as soon as I connect the OTA to the HR-20 I lose the picture and sound. Has anyone else had this problem with the HR-20. I have made various calls to DTV with them being of no help.

Please help.

I have that problem with the HR10, but with WKRG. My only solution so far is to not watch WKRG.

I know the OTA tuners in the HR10s are pretty bad, but I thought the HR20 OTA tuners were supposed to be very good.

WPMI-DT

I have also noticed breakups on Channel 15-1 that I haven't seen before. Tim Reid, Chief Engineer for WPMI and WJTC has always been very helpful and responsive in the past. If he is still there, he can be reached by email with an address at clearchannel.com (I think)

cmkratt: I just fired the email to their technical department, which may or may not be the correct place to start. tech@nbc15online.com

Here is additional contact info from their website:
WPMI-NBC15
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, Alabama 36609
251-602-1500
251-602-1547 fax

In any case I'm sure JR at WKRG will likely have better success at getting a firm answer.

FYI - this has been happening through Cox as well. If it's an OTA issue, it's bad enough that we (Cox) are experiencing the same problem. Our head end has notified their engineering department, so hopefully it will be corrected soon.

I'm also having problems watching WPMI-DT at home. Echostar 6000 and Samsung t451, Channel Master 4228 with preamp up 60' on ham radio tower. I will give the chief a call and post whats going on. Stay Tuned. JR

Jim - you 'da man! Love having you on the board!

Is WPMI better tonight, or is it just that they don't have anything broadcasting in HD?

I'm also having problems watching WPMI-DT at home. Echostar 6000 and Samsung t451, Channel Master 4228 with preamp up 60' on ham radio tower. I will give the chief a call and post whats going on. Stay Tuned. JR

Same for me on Mediacom last night via Cablecard (ch. 702). All other HD in wonderful glory, but WPMI with sound dropouts, pixelation... my wife said "is this what we are paying for?"

Fortunately, the little I've watch tonight seems okay.

Cheers,
Doc

Any insiders know the future channel # for WALA-DT on Mediacom? I had the placeholder for WALA-DT come up on a routine cablecard channel search, with correct show information and HD "info" for the current time slots.

Currently, the local mediacom HD channels are 701, 702, 703, 704. Perhaps 705 will be WALA-DT when they get over the bickering...?

Cheers,
Doc

And here it is straight from the source in response to my email.

We have an infected NT 4.0 PC that controls the adaptive setup on the transmitter. We hope to have it fixed as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering


I would imagine this shouldn't be too difficult a fix to implement, but I'm not an engineer. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon enough.

And here it is straight from the source in response to my email.


I would imagine this shouldn't be too difficult a fix to implement, but I'm not an engineer. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon enough.

Thanks for the update - let's keep our fingers crossed on this one.

And here it is straight from the source in response to my email.


I would imagine this shouldn't be too difficult a fix to implement, but I'm not an engineer. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon enough.

Yes, it's called on Operating System upgrade with all Security Patch downloads installed...

Micro$oft strikes again! :p

I have also been having problems with WPMI-DT over the last week.

I am also having problems receiving WALA-DT 10.1 on my DirecTV HR-20 using OTA. If I hook up the OTA directly to the TV I get the channel and it's signal is very good but as soon as I connect the OTA to the HR-20 I lose the picture and sound. Has anyone else had this problem with the HR-20. I have made various calls to DTV with them being of no help.

Please help.

I posted about this problem in another section on this board. FOX sucks bad enough as it is. :mad: But when you hook your antenna to the HR20-700 or any other DVR, the DVR splits the signal so you can record two channels at one time. So your already weak signal is now further weakened by the DVR splitting it for you. I have yet to find a solution to this. I am trying to avoid having to put a huge azz antenna in my attic due to all the cathedral cielings, etc making it a pain. All of my UHF channels come in nice and clear on my Terk HDTVa indoor antenna, and Fox is around 60% so it pixelates. I live for the day that DirecTV starts broadcasting locals in HD.

Well, according to antennaweb.org I shouldn't even be receiving WALA at all, but using a large outdoor antenna I receive it at 95% according to the HR20 signal meter. I have no dropouts during normal weather/conditions.

It does suck that the internal splitter can't be circumvented, but it is a necessary evil for dual tuner recording.

Teronzhul, Where are you located at. I do not understand why I can not get WALA on my HR20. AntennaWeb stated that I am only 3.5 miles from 10.1 antenna. I do not have much between me and the antenna. I have a radio shack 90 mile antenna in the attic. Oh well, I guess I get to wait until DirecTV gets locals in HD.

A VHF antenna is needed for WALA-DT. It is broadcasting on Channel 9. All other digital stations in the area are broadcasting on UHF channels.

in my last house i had terrible trouble with wala. When i first moved in i got it fine in analog. Then the digital transition happened and i lost all channels (of course), so i got a new antenna. With this i picked up everything when things were at low power. Then when everything went "full power" i lost wala completely and was never able to receive it again. I lived in daphne as well but could not get it. Barring waiting for directv to launch it getting a small vhf antenna is the best option for it.

I'm in Pace, FL and about 39 miles away from the 10.1 transmitter. I had initially tried an in attic antenna and had no luck until I moved it outside.

I'm not sure exactly what type of antenna you have, but even a UHF only antenna still has decent gain for vhf channels 9-13. I have seen small single element outdoor uhf bowties out here in pace that still pick up fox at about 55-60%.

At only 3.5 miles with a 90 mile rated antenna you could be overloading the tuner. As the others recommended you might want to just try a small indoor vhf antenna and see what happens.

Just wanted to throw out that we are now directv dealers if anyone needs service. We primarily focus on our customers but being custom we can schedule in a weeks notice for new installs.

I have been having major audio/video dropouts on WKRG Saturday and even worse on Sunday, OTA on my HR20, anyone else having these same issues? WKP

WKRG Dropouts

I frequently have the problems that you describe, and had them yesterday and most of today (Sunday).

Starting a new thread for our area, the old one was very long, covering 3+ months.

WSRE having pledge week again. Even with the "not ready for prime-time" programming lineup, I going to pledge this week, for the first time. Main idea is to let WSRE know that HDTV can attract viewers and money. I intend to ask that the pledge be earmarked for HDTV programming and equipment. For me, PBS is currently my biggest source of HDTV. Of course, since I'm not using a dish, there only NBC to compete with in our area:)

Waiting for word that FOX is ready to go widescreen. Any news?
Just passing through your forum here, but couldn't help but quote the seed posting...things sure have come a long way, eh? :)

Ed
Crenshaw County, AL

WKRG Dropouts

I will check out our equipment today.

I have been getting major drop outs on American Idol the past few eposides. So I am thinking about upgrading my antenna and buying a pre-amp.

I would like to buy something that goes into the attic. What does everyone recommend? I live in Bay Minette, zip code 36507 so I am fairly close to most towers (30 mile range). Right now I am using the Philips Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna (MANT950) from Circuit City wall mounted behind the TV. My land is fairly flat without a lot of trees.

All responses are welcome! :)

Based on some others suggestions, I put an 80" Boom Antenna (Radio Shack - $59.99) and mounted it in my attic, and get 85%-95% signal on all channels with very few drop-outs. I'm in Chickasaw. . . .

I have been getting major drop outs on American Idol the past few eposides. So I am thinking about upgrading my antenna and buying a pre-amp.

I would like to buy something that goes into the attic. What does everyone recommend? I live in Bay Minette, zip code 36507 so I am fairly close to most towers (30 mile range). Right now I am using the Philips Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna (MANT950) from Circuit City wall mounted behind the TV. My land is fairly flat without a lot of trees.

All responses are welcome! :)

I'm no expert, but...

Antennaweb.org positions your zipcode at the center of the Bay Minette By-Pass. From that point here is what antennaweb reports:
* yellow - uhf WMPV-DT 20.1 TBN MOBILE AL 154° 18.5 20
* yellow - uhf WHBR-DT 33.1 REL PENSACOLA FL 156° 18.5 34
* yellow - uhf WEAR-DT 3.1 ABC PENSACOLA FL 157° 19.4 17
* yellow - uhf WJTC-DT 44.1 IND PENSACOLA FL 146° 23.5 45
* yellow - vhf WALA-DT 10.1 FOX MOBILE AL 186° 12.6 9
* green - uhf WEIQ-DT 42.1 PBS MOBILE AL 206° 16.0 41
* red - uhf WSRE-DT 23.1 PBS PENSACOLA FL 151° 20.5 31
* red - uhf WKRG-DT 5.1 CBS MOBILE AL 194° 13.2 27
* red - uhf WPMI-DT 15.1 NBC MOBILE AL 151° 20.5 47

If you would like to get a more exact reading you can get it at www.antennaweb.org ...I used a height (under "options") of 50' to give a more accurate result being as the website is normally ultra-conservative.

Getting back to the results...the longest haul from the midpoint of the Bay Minette Bypass is less than 24 miles. But, the dropouts you mention are coming from WALA-DT 10.1 FOX...this station is the closest station listed from your zipcode center...only 12.6 miles. If the other stations are coming in fine, but this one isn't then you might have a problem with too much signal/power rather than too little, but there again I'm not sure of the output power levels of these stations.

There also may be an issue of multipath causing your signal to be degraded...if you have an television with an analog receiver on it you could try this and see if you're getting "ghosts". If you have many houses, buildings, trees, etc., around you then you could be experiencing multipath. Does your signal strength indicator hold steady or does it increase and decrease sporadically? From what I understand a more directional antenna (yagi) will do a better job at taming multipath than will one of the rectangular/screen-backed CM4228-type antennas.

You might want to first try moving your antenna to other points in the room. If that doesn't work you might want to next buy a length of RG-6 quad-shield and try your present antenna in the attic. The added elevation might be all you need. If you have a pair of family radios(walkie-talkies) they can be *very* helpful in adjusting the antenna. If positioning your present antenna in the attic doesn't fix things or if you need to reposition your antenna when you want to watch, say, WKRG-DT 5.1 CBS, then you might need something you can use in conjunction with a rotor. The distances you're looking at do not require a large antenna, but maybe one that deals with multipath issues.

Hope this helps,
Ed

WKRG has become unwatchable. Dropouts and pixalation, and total loss of signal are coming so fast that I can't even see enough of a show to know what is going on. Nothing has happend to any of the other networks so something must be wrong with WKRG. Any one else seeing this?

We are not having any technical issues at this time. Any of you now getting dropouts when it was more or less solid before? The Basketball games have been a switching nightmare for CBS and I have seen some dead air and black for several seconds. Stay Tuned.

WKRG has been more or less solid until Monday Night.. I have alway gotten a 98-100 signal on there. Last night the signal was 81 - 86 with so many frequent dropout to no signal that I couldn't even see enough of the shows to know what was going on.. All other networks are at same signal level and quality as before.. Nothing on my system has changed nor has antenna been moved or anything. I don't have an answer to what is going on.. All I know is something is not right.. And my wife is not happy since most all the night shows she watches come on CBS..

Greetings:

Last evening I watched an eposode of CSI recorded on 3/19 via DirecTV HR20 HD DVR and it was perfect.

I am in Theodore using an outside antenna and since the Digital Conversion began WKRG has been the most consistant quality day after day of any of the locals.

Sorry to hear of your problems, I've had that kind of stuff in the past and it's no fun.

J C

I have no problems with WKRG, you may have something on your end.

Well if no one else is having problems then it has to be on my end.. But Sunday all was beautiful... Monday it went to crap. Nothing changed on my end. And no other problems with any other digital channels.. Signal level decreased by almost 20 points. Haven't touched anything that might be a culprit.. So I really don't know.. But as of right now, I am still getting serious drop-outs.. It's happening on both my recievers (DISH VIP 622's). Have no way (easily) to hook up the tv to antenna alone so don't know if it's receiver related or not. Just seems strange.. Maybe someone erected something new close by that I don't know about..

I have had the same problems with WKRG from some time. I have adjusted my antenna so that WKRG's signal is stronger than all others and I still have pixelation and dropouts. None of the other channels give me any problems.

I am in west Mobile off Johnson Rd near Dawes and I have spoken to several others in the area and they seem to have similar problems.

From time to time I have had some pixelation problems due to probably multipath.. But this is something different. This is a signal drop.. from 99 down to 80.. And constant drop-out every few seconds. So bad that it is unwatchable.. This is something new and not the same as the multipath issue that I have had in the past. Something has changed.. Just don't know what it causing it. Going to have to climb up in the attic and readjust the antenna, but as far as I can tell, it hasn't moved.

WKRG Sat. 3/24 4:35 CDT

I've removed the diplexers from my system and I now have a direct line from the antenna to the HR-20 tuner. I am splitting off to the Mitsubishi TV tuner as well. I'm having have audio and video breakups in 5 -15 second intervals. If I look at the signal meter, it settles into the 75-80% range and then drops to "not available"; back up up to 65-70%; down to 0. This is happening on a regular basis. I have the same behavior using the builtin Mitsubishi tuner. On my other set, I'm using an indoor UHF antenna with the H20 tuner. My signal there is actually a little better, but I'm still seeing the frequent drop offs in the WKRG signal. I can get Mobile's channel 20 (or is it 21?) with its multiple subchannels.

Is it correct that your transmitter is located near (or even co-located) with the WHBR transmitter (DT33)? I have no problems with their signal.

WKRG reception problems.

WKRG'S transmitting tower is located 6 miles East of Spanish Fort, AL off HWY 31 and about 2 miles West of WALA's tower. I don't know what to tell you about the drop-outs. WKRG's signal is solid at my house on two different antenna and on four different set-top-boxes. Two Samsung T-451, one Samsung H260F, and an old DishNetwork 6000. I live near Cottage Hill and Shillinger Road. I don't see the problem at the studio on 4 different receivers so I don't think we are having problems. There must be some kind of interfering noise or signal at your location. You might take a portable analog TV and see if there is anything on channel 27, you won't see the digital but maybe something else. Try moving your antenna to a different location. If your using a preamp try bypassing it. I have found that some preamps do terrible things. If there are strong FM signals in your area they will overload the preamp causing all kind of signals that are not really there. Good luck with your problem. Please Stay Tuned.

FSNSH??? this just showed up this evening on the Comcast ch. guide. Is that some version of Fox Sports?

I will be moving to the Pensacola Area next weekend. It looks as though Cox offers local HD Channels. Can anyone verify that I would be able to access them (and which ones) via a QAM tuner with their basic video service?

Thanks ahead.

Has anyone noticed if Cox has moved WALA FOX 10 to a different digital channel? I was out of town for a week and it used to be on 109-2. There was no signal there today. Then I noticed that the NASCAR race which was televised on Fox was on 86-1. However the channel kept pixelating which is not unexpected due to the rainy weather.

I will be moving to the Pensacola Area next weekend. It looks as though Cox offers local HD Channels. Can anyone verify that I would be able to access them (and which ones) via a QAM tuner with their basic video service?

Thanks ahead.

Yes, I have witnessed this in two locations with a friends toshiba dlp and my fathers sharp aquos. Neither of them subscribe to a digital package yet they have the locals in the clear. I know they recently added Fox, but I believe they still don't have the local ABC affiliate.

Side note, I was personally very unimpressed with what I saw on both of those sets. While I've had only a little time to watch the Cox signal, I was generally unimpressed. I saw considerably more pixellation than I see at home with OTA.

I will be moving to the Pensacola Area next weekend. It looks as though Cox offers local HD Channels. Can anyone verify that I would be able to access them (and which ones) via a QAM tuner with their basic video service?

Thanks ahead.
Yes, I have Cox (Fort Walton area) and get the local broadcast stations in HD with a QAM tuner. I believe that the FCC requires all cable systems to carry the local HD signal unencrypted if they carry the SD signals.

During the day we are running low power on our backup transmitter and antenna. We are doing some maintenance on our main tower and the FCC requires us to shut down the main digital for safety reasons. We should be finished by the end of this week. Stay Tuned.

Thanks cerk65.

Does anyone in the area know which Channels are available via QAM?

In this area we have NBC, CBS, FOX, and PBS HD signals from the Mobile/Pensacola stations with Cox. I can pick up Pensacola's ABC HD signals OTA, so I would assume that Cox will have it in Pensacola.

I have a new weird problem. I updated to a large boom antenna that is mounted in my attic this weekend. I can now pick up the channels alot better without dropping them much (except for my problem). WKRG is my strongest channel. WKRG is peaking at 95 and staying constantly from 92 to 95. Next is ABC at 92 to 88 and then FOX at 85 to 81.

My problem is when I switch over to watch WKRG (even though I have an excellent signal) it acts like it is dropping the signal. Now for the weird part, I can turn both of my tuners into WKRG is it works perfect! Then I can change either tuner to another channel from WKRG then and it continues to work for the rest of the day. Then the next day, I might have to do this again. Which is a real pain if I am trying to TIVO something.

My next problem is that since I upgraded antenna, the receiver box resets itself once everyday or so that I know about. I could be resetting itself more that I am not home.

My first guess was the my antenna might be overdriving my HR 10-250 but, my old antenna that I used to use has an active pre-amp for it. My new antenna has such a strong signal that I do not even have the pre-amp hooked up.

I am open to any suggestions because it has me stumped! :(

Thanks cerk65,

That's what I wanted to know.

My first guess was the my antenna might be overdriving my HR 10-250 but, my old antenna that I used to use has an active pre-amp for it. My new antenna has such a strong signal that I do not even have the pre-amp hooked up.

I am open to any suggestions because it has me stumped! :(

I also have the HR10-250 and since I installed the unit I have had the same problem with WKRG. I have used a couple of different antennas. I quit watching WKRG (excpet for major sporting events) becuase the picture was dropping and pixelating. When I plug my antenna directly into the tuner in my HD set the problem improves greatly, but still occurs occasionally.

In research I have done, apparantly the tuners in the HR10 are very poor quality. This still doesn't make any sense because I have adjusted the antennas so that the highest signal strength is WKRG. And the probelm occurs (to a lesser degree) without the HR10 in the equation. I don't know if there is interference from somehting but, until D* offers HD locals for Mobile, I guess I just won't watch WKRG (and miss out on the advertisers buying time on that channel).

http://tv.yahoo.com/listings

Take a look at Comcast, Digital Mobile, AL listings for channels 208, 211, 213?? Are these coming anytime soon?

Does anyone know why WSRE's HD channel is not showing HD programming. They are just doing a simulcast of the SD channel. They had much more interesting programming on the HD channel. I checked their website but didn't find out anything. It still says that they are showing HD programming.

Call monday and ask them . I am .

WSRE ph #850-484-1200
fax#850-484-1255

Does anyone know why WSRE's HD channel is not showing HD programming. They are just doing a simulcast of the SD channel. They had much more interesting programming on the HD channel. I checked their website but didn't find out anything. It still says that they are showing HD programming.

Update on the WSRE issue - Apparently, they are upgrading to local HD servers, so right now we're watching a mirror of the SD channel (upconverted) until the servers are in and get loaded with HD programming. At least it's for a good cause!!

Graham

Edit:corrected WEAR to WSRE. Oops! ;)

Local News in HD?

WPMI (NBC15) has a lot of new on-air talent, and is completely remodeling their set. Might this be a prelude to the move to HD local news? They said that the new set would be ready by 16 April.

I have a new weird problem. I updated to a large boom antenna that is mounted in my attic this weekend. I can now pick up the channels alot better without dropping them much (except for my problem). WKRG is my strongest channel. WKRG is peaking at 95 and staying constantly from 92 to 95. Next is ABC at 92 to 88 and then FOX at 85 to 81.

My problem is when I switch over to watch WKRG (even though I have an excellent signal) it acts like it is dropping the signal. Now for the weird part, I can turn both of my tuners into WKRG is it works perfect! Then I can change either tuner to another channel from WKRG then and it continues to work for the rest of the day. Then the next day, I might have to do this again. Which is a real pain if I am trying to TIVO something.

My next problem is that since I upgraded antenna, the receiver box resets itself once everyday or so that I know about. I could be resetting itself more that I am not home.

My first guess was the my antenna might be overdriving my HR 10-250 but, my old antenna that I used to use has an active pre-amp for it. My new antenna has such a strong signal that I do not even have the pre-amp hooked up.

I am open to any suggestions because it has me stumped! :(

I have had a problem with my HR10-250 and 5-1 ever since the 6.3 upgrade last fall. My problem is that every other day or so, my picture on 5-1 will freeze - basically just lock up and skip every second or so like it's trying to catch up with the broadcast, but with no sound whatsoever. The only way I can get it to reset is by changing the channel for an hour or more, or resetting the system by unplugging and plugging back in.

I recently got an HR20 for my other tv, and haven't had any problems at all. After several hours on the phone, DirecTV is sending me an HR20 to replace my HR10-250. It's a shame because I prefer the functionality and interface on the HR10-250, but this 5-1 problem is just too annoying.

And fyi - my signal strength is 95.

i had the same problem. I have an hr10-250 and a hr20-700 adn switched antennas to the hr20 and have no problems anymore.

for what it's worth we're directv dealers now so if anyone ever needs anything i can help. We are small and custom so no long lines.

for what it's worth we're directv dealers now so if anyone ever needs anything i can help. We are small and custom so no long lines.

I'm waiting for locals in HD before replacing my HR10 with an HR20 (I love TiVo suggestions).

I mounted my dish on a pole and would hope to replace the 3LNB dish with a 5LNB dish. Do they use the same diameter pole or am I going to have to put a new pole in the ground?

for what it's worth we're directv dealers now so if anyone ever needs anything i can help. We are small and custom so no long lines.

Couple of questions:

When will the long awaited D* locals be turned on for Mobile?

If D* adds any MPEG4 HD channels before locals are turned on will we get them?

Thanks J C

Couple of questions:

When will the long awaited D* locals be turned on for Mobile?

If D* adds any MPEG4 HD channels before locals are turned on will we get them?

Thanks J C
Soon, we are in the next group.

I really don't want to get rid of my HR10-250. The Tivo Interface is a lot superior to DirectTv software. My son has the new style DirectTv DVR and no one in my family really understands how to use it very well.

I am hoping they can work the problems out with the HR10-250. I was going to buy another HR10-250 the other day off of eBay for the easy interface but, they are costing more now than they did when they were new. :(

WKRG-DT is running low power on our back-up transmitter. This will affect the reception for viewers and cable head-ends. Tower work should be completed by the end of the week.
Please stay tuned..

http://tv.yahoo.com/listings

Take a look at Comcast, Digital Mobile, AL listings for channels 208, 211, 213?? Are these coming anytime soon?
And this morning A&EHD, UniversalHD and National GeogpraphicHD are in my program guide. Things are looking up for Comcast-Mobile. Here's to waiting for WALA and the TiVo software upgrade!

Thanks for the heads up.

for what it's worth we're directv dealers now so if anyone ever needs anything i can help. We are small and custom so no long lines.

Hi Cinder, I've got a question for you. I see that Directv is advertising that they will soon have over 150 HD channels. Do you know when this will occur and what the channels will be? I looked up the Directv website but it was not the most helpful.

Directv is a quiet company with regards to what they will be offering. I'm a dealer to take care of customers, referrals and friends, if not for those people i don't think i'd have the patience to deal with them as they are a pain in finding information and getting paid. But as a service based company i want to take care of every aspect of my clients electronic lifestyle and this is one.

That said, i think there is some good speculation on the DBS site. I know our locals are coming soon, they won't give me anything clearer than that, but soon. I would be that most of the channels come in the fall with cartoon/comedy/scifi/etc go live in HD. Should be interesting.

Cinder as soon as they come out with new HD channels, I am going to get you to hook me up with whatever new stuff I might need. Right now I have a Tivo HR10-250 and it is my understanding that I will have to upgrade this and the dish?

You can still use your hr10-250 for awhile. The new locals and eventually most of the new HD's should be mpeg-4 so you'll need to upgrade to the hr20-700 at that time. You will also need a 5-LNB dish. Would love to help you out when you get there. We are a full service custom home theater company so we can help you in any capacity that you need.

email me anytime at daniel@absolutehometheater.net

Daniel

Cinder as soon as they come out with new HD channels, I am going to get you to hook me up with whatever new stuff I might need. Right now I have a Tivo HR10-250 and it is my understanding that I will have to upgrade this and the dish?
DirecTV CFO: HD Plans Moving Along


Quote:
(Multichannel News) _ DirecTV Group chief financial officer Michael Palkovic said the direct-broadcast satellite giant is moving ahead in its plans to launch 100 HDTV channels by the end of the year http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6407416.html, but he conceded that some of those channels will be multiple feeds from sports packages like NFL Sunday Ticket http://www.nfl.com/ticket.

Palkovic said DirecTV already has about 70 HD channels under contract and that number is growing. But when asked whether Sunday Ticket would count as 13 separate HD channels -- the package airs 13 out-of-market games each week -- he said it would.
...



See the rest of the article at: BroadcastNewsroom

WKRG-DT has completed tower work and is back to full power. Mediacom viewers: Three of the Mediacom cable headends use the same digital receiver which is unable to update it's Program Mapping Table, PMT, after we made required PID address changes. We have been working with them to resolve the problems. Please stay tuned.

WKRG-DT has completed tower work and is back to full power. Mediacom viewers: Three of the Mediacom cable headends use the same digital receiver which is unable to update it's Program Mapping Table, PMT, after we made required PID address changes. We have been working with them to resolve the problems. Please stay tuned.

Back to 100%? Now my signal is down to 86.. Always use to have 99-100. Am I going to have to climb back up in the attic again to adjust the antenna. :)

We've done a few installs in your area and nbc is a tricky one to pull in. Usuallly we can get either fox or nbc, but not both. We use the antennas direct db2 and db4 for most of our installs. I personally can't pickup 15.1 and i'm in spanish fort.

Can't comment if it's down or not, but reception is tough in some spots. Would be happy to have someone check it out for you though.

Daniel

Daniel I sent you an email. DTV installed a DB8 OTA Antenna on another pole right next to my dish back in January. At the time the installer said she couldn't make any promises it would work but installed it anyway. I was able to immediately see the new mapping on my guide for the -1, -2 channels (etc) but they won't come in. It just searches for signal on them.

In March I called DTV to complain and asked about any alternatives. They said they would submit requests to all major local affiliates for me. A month later I received information indicating that Fox was the only station that approved my request. So on DTV I have been enjoying Fox in HD on ch 88.

If you or anyone else is interested in making some install money I would appreciate someone looking at my DB8 to be sure it was installed correctly. I checked it out and it looked fine but I could have easily missed something. I would love to also receive ABC, NBC, and CBS. Has anyone had any success with any indoor antennas? Can anyone recommend a good UHF antenna? I read the DB-8 is good but this one isn't doing anything at all. Will diplexers cause any issues with OTA reception? Instead of running another line (messy) she used diplexers.

Thanks.

I don't get over to Navarre often. So I can't help much. I do know that the DTV system knows by zipcode what channels to start looking for and will put them in the guide even if you don't have enough signal to actually view them.. Not exactly sure how or why. Just know it does. Although I sell and service both Dish And DTV I am a lot more familiar with Dish receivers. if you haven't been to antennaweb.org to check for what type of antenna then you need to do that. But I suspect from Navarre you are going to need one heck of an antenna.. I am sure there is a closer dealer to you than me. I only get to Navarre about once a month..

Diplexers will cause some loss in your line. It is always better to run a separate line if you can possibly do it.. But let me say that the loss is minor and shouldn't be what is causing you not to get any signal.

Daniel I sent you an email. DTV installed a DB8 OTA Antenna on another pole right next to my dish back in January. At the time the installer said she couldn't make any promises it would work but installed it anyway. I was able to immediately see the new mapping on my guide for the -1, -2 channels (etc) but they won't come in. It just searches for signal on them.

In March I called DTV to complain and asked about any alternatives. They said they would submit requests to all major local affiliates for me. A month later I received information indicating that Fox was the only station that approved my request. So on DTV I have been enjoying Fox in HD on ch 88.

If you or anyone else is interested in making some install money I would appreciate someone looking at my DB8 to be sure it was installed correctly. I checked it out and it looked fine but I could have easily missed something. I would love to also receive ABC, NBC, and CBS. Has anyone had any success with any indoor antennas? Can anyone recommend a good UHF antenna? I read the DB-8 is good but this one isn't doing anything at all. Will diplexers cause any issues with OTA reception? Instead of running another line (messy) she used diplexers.

Thanks.

i am in daphne, and DTV installed the DB8 antenna for me as well. abc and cbs came in great with the outdoor but nbc and fox didnt come in at all. i bought the terk indoor antenna from best buy and i get all 4 in perfectly. so i can't say it would definitely work for you. but its working great for me so much that i took the outdoor antenna down.

Can anyone recommend a good UHF antenna?

http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/Pr-9032.pdf

Costs about 40 bucks. With an amp it pulls in all the p'cola/mobile UHFs for me at 65 miles. Although I have it mounted outdoors.

I'm waiting for locals in HD before replacing my HR10 with an HR20 (I love TiVo suggestions).

I mounted my dish on a pole and would hope to replace the 3LNB dish with a 5LNB dish. Do they use the same diameter pole or am I going to have to put a new pole in the ground?

Doesn't look like anyone answered this for you. It's a 2-inch outside diameter pole. I looked forever for one that size. It turns out it's the same as Dish Network's "SuperDish" pole. No one here knew what a DB9 was, but most dealers should know what the SuperDish is and that it requires a 2" mount.

Don't get 2" conduit or iron pipe or schedule pipe, it's not exactly 2" OD. I think 2" fencepost is about 1.875" OD also. Got the pole (finally!) from Ross Satellite in Crestview.

Anyone have any insite to WALA ever being added in HD? They're the only major network still holding out and not being carried in HD on Comcast.
I see in the paper today where WALA is hosting the annual shareholders meeting this weekend for Lin - the station owners. Anyone feel like picketing the meeting to show our dissatisfaction to get them to lower their request to be carried by Comcast??

WALA-HD was just picked up last month by Cox for the Gulf Coast area, so I'd take that as a fairly good sign. Perhaps they're backing down on negotiations a little? Good luck to you!!

Graham

I got this email from WSRE:

[I]We have decided to make our HD channel our signature channel, thus carrying the regular WSRE schedule. Currently during primetime, we are airing programming in HD if it is produced and available in HD. We plan to air more and more in HD as it becomes available to us. Also, over the next few months we will be implementing some new digital equipment which will allow us to record HD programs and play them back in HD at their regularly scheduled times.

We feel we needed to move in this direction to get us where we need to be positioned for the future. Please bear with us during this time of transition. Thank you for watching WSRE.

Did you know that WSRE is a locally owned, non-profit organization, supported by viewers like you? If you like the television programs and services WSRE offers to our community, please consider becoming a member by making a contribution today. Call (850) 484-1240, 1-800-239-9773 or visit http://www.wsre.org and click on Pledge Now.

Thank you,
Robin McArthur

Actually I'm disappointed. The regular WSRE programming is not the greatest.

.... Thank you, Robin McArthur



I got a suggestion for Robin...

Hey Robin, why don't you up the 23-1 bandwidth a little. Your PQ sucks. The macro blocking is the worst I've seen of all the locals. The slightest bit of motion an the PQ falls apart.

For those of you who are able to pick up WALA, have you seen the new weather channel on 10.3?

I started seeing it over the weekend on my TV as 10-7. I heard years ago that they used to broadcast the CW as 10-2, do you think that channel 10 would do subchannels on a perminanent basis?

Is anybody having issues picking 10 analog or 10-1 on OTA? It was working fine yesterday? I tried calling, but I get the message that all circuits are busy. I can get Fox10 via directtv fine, and can get 25 analog from biloxi, but can't get it in hd. Does anybody have the 411?

Its backup now.. I even heard the people with Comcast even went down. I'm still curious.

We have had a bad power hit on our Sigma High Power Digital Transmitter. We are now running on our low power back-up and hope to have main system repaired and back on the air tomorrow.

I noticed on the DBS talk website that the Mobile DMA listing for HD locals has been changed from Coming Soon to Announced. I cannot find an announcement any where on the internet giving a date. Dos anyone else have any other info on this?
Thanks WKP

I haven't seen a date yet. I read from the D* notes that they have about 59 markets and will be up to around 70 by the end of the year. I hope we are sooner than that. I'm not sure if they are waiting for the new satellite to be launched(June 20) and operational(Labor Day) to add additional HD locals for DirectTV.

We have had a bad power hit on our Sigma High Power Digital Transmitter. We are now running on our low power back-up and hope to have main system repaired and back on the air tomorrow.


Thanks.. Was wondering why my signal dropped from 100 down to an unwatchable 68.. Hope it's fixed soon.. :)

We have had a bad power hit on our Sigma High Power Digital Transmitter. We are now running on our low power back-up and hope to have main system repaired and back on the air tomorrow.

On a side note. Are Digital Transmitters that unreliable.. Over the years of analog I can't remember very many times that WKRG was lost. But since the advent of digital, it seems like WKRG (as well as others too) are constantly battling over tramsmitters going down or working at low power. If this is any indication of things to come, It's going to be a lot of trouble to watch TV

WKRG-DT is back at full power. Yes we are still working the bugs out of the new digital installation. Our analog is solid state, air cooled and very reliable, whereas the digital water cooled, 2 IOT tubes, 35,000 volt power supplies, and 4 times as much power. The IOT tubes are $35,000 each and the protection circuritry is complex. Most of our problems are related to the power company service and the problems that they can cause. Stay tuned.

WKRG

I just thought I's mention that since your tower work (which you reported in mid-April) has been completed, I've not had the reception problems that I had earlier. Your signal has been strong and consistent.

Channel 7 Digital (Channel 12 Analog)

I don't think anyone has mentioned it but we have had an additional digital station here in Pensacola for a few months. It is available OTA. They are broadcasting 7-2, 7-3, 7-4 and 7-5. I've never mentioned it since it is pretty awful in terms of content and PQ (no HD) but this evening (05/25/07, 7:30 PM) I discovered that they are broadcasting Tampa Bay Rays baseball (vs Chicago White Sox). The digital broadcast on 7-2 is far better than the analog on 12.

News Hour on PBS

This evening (Tues., 29 May 2007), WSRE-DT (23-1) has expanded the video to fill the 16:9 lanscape. The top/bottom of the picture is cut off. While I'd like to see this program in HD (and I think there are plans to do that), I hope WSRE doesn't plan to continue this approach of expanding a 4:3 picture to fill the 16:9 screen.

Can anyone tell me if ESPN or Discovery or Universal HD(Or a list of all channels) that are sent in clear unencrypted QAM signals via cox cable?

I want to purchase an HDHomeRun device for my media center if I can capture all the QAM/nonPremium channels, but if only the local channels are in QAM, I will probably stick with my atsc solution....

HELLO ALL, Anyone from the CRESTVIEW, FL area know how may HD OTA Channels I can look to pull in, out here in the sticks... Dothan? Pcola? PC? or maybe even Mobile with a Channel Master 4228 + CM 7777amp... Being way out here in the woods, I am leary of the kinda quality HD that I can actually get, is it going to be worth the investment...?

Can anyone tell me if ESPN or Discovery or Universal HD(Or a list of all channels) that are sent in clear unencrypted QAM signals via cox cable?

I want to purchase an HDHomeRun device for my media center if I can capture all the QAM/nonPremium channels, but if only the local channels are in QAM, I will probably stick with my atsc solution....

Here is the fine print from the Cox Gulfcoast website....

*The High-Definition Television service described here is available only to residential customers within the Cox Gulf Coast serviceable area. HDTV receiver and remote required. Separate subscription to Cox Basic service required for local HD channels. Expanded Basic or Digital Cable is required for some HD channels. Digital Cable required for premium HD channels. Paid subscription to Digital premium required for HD premiums. An HDTV receiver or CableCard and an HDTV set required

Confused about what they offer? I have expanded basic. I get the locals in HD, ABC, 2 NBC, 2 CBS, 2 PBS, and Fox stations. CH 44 is broadcast in HD but only shows SD programming. According to their statement I should get "some HD channels" in addition. They used to have ESPN2 HD unscrambled but it is now scrambled. ESPN HD and TNT HD are scrambled also even though all 3 channels are part of the expanded basic package in SD. The HD service is a simulcast of the regular programming, so it is not like you are getting new programming. ESPNU is an unscrambled Digital Channel but it is not in HD. MOJOHD was unscrambled for about a week but is now scrambled again.

Cox basically wants you to buy a STB and pay extra money for Digital cable and then get their HD service for "free". They don't get that their big advantage over satellite TV is that the consumer can hook up as many cable ready (or qam digital cable ready) tvs as they have cable outlets in their homes for 1 price. If they make me take a STB for HD then I will leave for satellite so I can have more channels for about the same cost. Sorry for the soapbox.....

HELLO ALL, Anyone from the CRESTVIEW, FL area know how may HD OTA Channels I can look to pull in, out here in the sticks... Dothan? Pcola? PC? or maybe even Mobile with a Channel Master 4228 + CM 7777amp... Being way out here in the woods, I am leary of the kinda quality HD that I can actually get, is it going to be worth the investment...?

HD OTA is ABC & PBS from Pensacola, NBC from Mobile, CBS from Dothan, and Channels 44 & 35 are also available. You might be able to pick up Panama City HD stations if you are located east of Crestview. I haven't been able to pick up FOX OTA.

They must be setting up for the media center Cable card--That pretty much answers my question. HDhomerun is just an intermediate solution, and I probably will hold out for the ATI Occur.

Thank you cerk65.

HELLO ALL, Anyone from the CRESTVIEW, FL area know how may HD OTA Channels I can look to pull in, out here in the sticks... Dothan? Pcola? PC? or maybe even Mobile with a Channel Master 4228 + CM 7777amp... Being way out here in the woods, I am leary of the kinda quality HD that I can actually get, is it going to be worth the investment...?

I live in C'view and have that same set up. I get all the locals but Fox. YES it is definitely worth the cost. BTW I took the wire screen off the 4228 and also get Dothan's WTVY . There was no loss in signal strength from the other stations.

In case you haven't noticed, or if you've been waiting for it before you jumped, Cox now has ABC-HD in the Gulf Coast area!! It's available on channel 703, but the guide data hasn't been populated quite yet. Enjoy!!!!!

Graham

I noticed WEAR HD last night when I was hooking up my Mom's new TV.

BTW, in case anyone wasn't aware, new TVs that have a digital ATSC tuner built in will pick up the local HD channels on cable at no extra charge. If you subscribe to basic cable the local HD channels are available unencrypted. From what I understand this is according to federal regs... Pretty neat if you don't want to pay the HD charges just to get channels like ESPNHD, TNTHD, etc.

Steve

Hello

Has anyone noticed a drop in signal strength on wpmi digital channel 47.
I usually have a signal strength reading in the mid to a high 80's but since
this weekend my signal reading has been low to mid 70's( hd-300) but even
lower on my H20-600 low 50's to low 60's. Is anyone else having this problem?

Threads merged.

Threads merged.


Merged with what? Where?

Post #2734 was started as a thread and was merged into this one.

Has anyone taken a look at TVGuide or Yahoo listings online? They show a dramatic rearrange of channels as well as no WKRG HD, no ESPN2HD, No Sports South HD and No Golf/VS HD.

hmmm - that is a kind of morph listing from 2 or 3 years ago and now . . . the HD channels in the high 100's is how it used to be several years ago when Comcast first offered HD channels - seems to be an out of date channel listing to me. . .

Anybody else loose OTA WKRG 5.01 and 5.02? Or just me

I don't think it is an old channel guide. I've had digital cable and HD since Comcast first offered it. WPMI-HD has always been 232.

I beg to differ - originally the ppv channels were originally in the 200's and when they first added HD it was in the high 100's - WEAR and WPMI . . .

mea culpa

So has there been any more word on WALA in HD with Comcast? Or is it still a sit and wait game?

Also, I noticed alot of other Comcast markets are starting to pick up the Food Network HD and HGTV HD. Anyone have a clue if we can expect these in the Mobile market anytime soon, or any other notable HD additions to our channel lineups?

Has anyone else heard an update on when they are coming? I laughed when someone posted that we would have them before 2007, and now I am wondering if it is going to be 2008. With the new bird up in the air, maybe they are on the way shortly - I hope.

Also, any other local Directv users who are contemplating putting up the new dish and replacing their HR 10-250 for the HR 20, so that you will be able to receive the locals in high def? I really cannot see any reason to make the jump until the locals and the new hd channels are on line.

What say the rest of you? Not much activity on this forum for the past few months. Have you folks stopped watching TV?

I don't think we are watching less tv. I already have a slimline dish and a hr20 but I still have a hr10-250 that I'm waiting till locals and or more channels to show up in hd before switching out. I can get the major networks in hd with my indoor antenna. I'm not expecting more national hd on D* till around the middle of sept.

WALA Fox 10 HD is now on Mediacom Cable. here in GulfBreeze It comes in very well. Now all four networks are in HD on Mediacom.

Hmmm - with Mediacom having it - hopefully Comcast will not be far behind? One can only hope . . .

I don't think we are watching less tv. I already have a slimline dish and a hr20 but I still have a hr10-250 that I'm waiting till locals and or more channels to show up in hd before switching out. I can get the major networks in hd with my indoor antenna. I'm not expecting more national hd on D* till around the middle of sept.

Maybe we'll also have the locals by then, or maybe they'll come at the same time.
Did you buy the new equipment on your own, or did you get it from D*?

I have seen the slimline on other homes, and I wonder whether it will be too heavy to mount in the location of my current dish, which is on a roof eave.

Hmmm - with Mediacom having it - hopefully Comcast will not be far behind? One can only hope . . .

Seriously! I'm tired of watching Fox Saturday baseball in standard def.

Anyone have a response to Food HD or HGTV HD coming to our area soon? Those are a couple of stations that get watched quite a bit around here, so it would be great to have these in HD.

Thanks.

I got my equipment from Direct TV. I was able to upgrade the hr10-250 to a hr20 for $99 around Oct last year and was able to keep the old box. Hopefully we'll get locals a little after D10 goes live being we are still on the next list to go live.

I got my equipment from Direct TV. I was able to upgrade the hr10-250 to a hr20 for $99 around Oct last year and was able to keep the old box. Hopefully we'll get locals a little after D10 goes live being we are still on the next list to go live.

Hope so.

For some reason, I am not getting emails when someone posts to this thread, even though I am subscribed. I just come back and monitor periodically. Maybe that is the reason activity on the thread seems to have decreased.

anything happening in Panama City HD?

Don't be surprised if the the 2009 "cut off" of the analog channels gets pushed back again.

Alarm! Alarm! (Reuters Story) (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2738723820070727?feedType=RSS&sp=true)

Is 5.X transmitting at reduced power? For the last several weeks I am getting a very low signal and it comes and goes or has 1 or 2 second blanks. Previously, 5DT was my best signal from a Mobile station. I'm in Pensacola.

Is 5.X transmitting at reduced power? For the last several weeks I am getting a very low signal and it comes and goes or has 1 or 2 second blanks. Previously, 5DT was my best signal from a Mobile station. I'm in Pensacola.

For awhile, channel 5 had folks that monitored this thread. They may still be doing so and can respond with correct information.

I have not noticed any problems with 5x lately, but, as they say, your mileage may vary!

Responding to the cut off date, I don't believe it will be changed as the FCC has announced the auction for the vacated frequencies and they must guarantee the start up date for the users.

Responding to the cut off date, I don't believe it will be changed as the FCC has announced the auction for the vacated frequencies and they must guarantee the start up date for the users.

I am certainly not advocating moving it back, but when I consider the effect that short- term policical considerations have on governmental decisons theses days I often have to use the term "sadly predicable".