Steve,

I'm near the P'cola airport about the same distance from the towers as you are. I have the large array VHF/UHF from Radio Shack. It's atop a pole that is about 5' above my roof line. On all digitals except WPMI 47 I have to get it aimed perfectly and even then I get breakups. The reason is heavy tree cover in my yard. That creates a bad problem. And for me it's even a worse problem than trying to aim my satellite dish through the trees. So by all means try to avoid that if you can.

Bob

Steve,

I have the Televes DAT75 with good results however it is UHF only so you can forget FOX unless you add a second antenna. I had previously used a Channelmaster UHF and it picked up the FOX channel since it is near the high range of VHF. I do use a preamp from CM for UHF and have bought the CM preamp for both the UHF and VHF signal but will wait for less wind before trying a new project. I plan to switch to the CM 7777 preamp and put my old CM yagi back up with the Televes and use the CM antenna for the FOX channel.

I thought a rotor would be a waste of money because the antennas are so closely packed from my location. I was wrong. I'm very glad I bought the CM rotor with remote because at times it is necessary to move the antenna a few degrees to avoid breakup. It was well worth the money.

I would suggest one of the CM yagi antennas as the price is less than half the cost of the Televes delivered. The Televes does have a much better build quality and it is pretty interesting looking especially if you are a Gator fan with its orange accents however being a Seminole I had to take that out of the equation.

If you only want UHF and the price doesn't bother you, I would highly recommend the Televes DAT75. It takes 3 days for delivery to the front door from the United Kingdom - CPC - Ruth Wigmore is the shipping and billing person if you send an email.

On most days I have no problems with any of the digital channels in our area - except WEAR which is hit or miss. Hope this helps.

Hi, I have the radio shack 90 element antenna on a 20 ft pole. No trees to speak of, so I get all channels pretty good. The problem is CBS is on low power and does break up occasionaly. I have the Dish 6000 with OTA adapter and it works great. I believe the Samsung is the only receiver that is a standalone for OTA reception. Check the hardware summary on this forum. They have a complete hardware summary of anything that is out there. I bought my 6000 from Dish Depot, but I was a new subscriber. Look at their url and get a price. You would be welcome to come by and see my setup, if you are interested. PM me if you are.

OK - awesome response so far - I'll do some websurfing and PM some of you for more detailed info.
This is one friendly and fast forum - happy to join in.

iceman143,

Do you think amplification will help me with the trees?

Jerry,

I'm usually unable to get my Dish 6000 to give me audio on the analog channels. When that happens what I hear is just loud static. I never experience it with the digitals. Do you have any idea what might be causing that?

Bob

Bob,

It is strange to me the different reports I've read on the use of preamps. It seems if there are strong broadcasts nearby that the preamp can hurt some reception. Some have reported worse reception after adding a preamp but I found it helped mine. I have one big old oak tree directly in my line but there is nothing I can do to change it unless I put my antenna on a pole near the rear of my property and my neighbors and my wife would probably want to do bodily harm to me if I even considered such an option.

I have the channelmaster 7775 in use and have bought the CM 7777 to allow both UHF and VHF. The specs on both are the same except the 7777 allows a separate VHF connection. Whenever I finally do the replacement (which may take me several months based upon my amount of free time) I would be happy to sell you the 7775 at about half the price I paid back around September. Unfortunately I don't have definite knowledge as to whether it will help with your tree problem.

I do not use my Dish 6000 for analog reception. I have Cox cable for basics, since I have a cable modem on my computer. I did get channel 3 on analog for awhile and never had any audio problem.

iceman143,

When the time comes then yes please let me know.

Bob

You never know which preamp is right for your set up with out trying them.
I have a GC preamp that works very good for me but we tried it on Daniels
set up and it made his worse. Go figure............

Steve,
I wouldn't give up on FOX digital if it was available, so I suggest you go for a VHF/ UHF combo. Of course, if you go UHF only now you can add a second antenna for channel 9 later. VHF only antennas appear to be a thing of the past so you will wind up get a VHF/UHF combo for that second antenna:)

You may not need a rotor, as from Pace/Milton area the towers look like they are almost in-line with one another, straight west of you. As you move south to Pensacola, the fact that WPMI and WSRE are 8-10 mile farther east of the FOX station's tower (I forgot where the CBS tower is, think it near the FOX tower,too) will mean the towers are now seperated by a few detrees on the compass. IF you do need a rotor, I would suggest you get the Channel Master with the digital readout and remote control instead of the Radio Shack model. The RS is really a CM, but with their older analog motor drive unit. It's louder, which I find annoying. I have had both of these. Of course, in Ft. Walton since you would be trying to tune Mobile/Pensacola stations to the west and Dothan/Panama City to the east, a rotor is a necessity:)

CBS HD tower is up state 31 towards Bay Minette, and that is north of I-10. It is not at the antenna farm at Styx River. Rick if it was at Styx River I bet you would get it. Just guessing I would say its 15 or more miles west and a little north of the other towers.

I received the following in response to my question about why we did not get "Live from Lincoln Center" last night on WSRE-DT.



Thank you for your inquiry. We are currently limited to being able to show what is on the HD loop. The schedule can be found
at http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dtvsched.htm.


Hope this helps.


Holly Norris
Membership Coordinator
WSRE-TV

Hello everybody again.
I took the plunge and bought a HDTV setup yesterday. Since I have 4 kids that wreck most of the house, I bought a smaller TV to setup HDTV and nice DVD viewing in the master bedroom for the wife and I to watch after everybody finally gets to bed. Enough personal info! Sorry!

Ok- because I couldn't believe the sharpness, and liked the PC RGB input for divx movies, I went out on a limb and bought a Panasonic 40" LCD RPTV. I also ordered a Samsung T165 HDTV STB from onecall.com for $504 - it has DVI and firewire for future applications, even though my HDTV only has component inputs, not DVI or firewire. Maybe I'll get a DVHS if my signals come in good enough to timeshift good shows I might miss. I love my DishTV PVR, but its just regular 4x3 tv, not HD.

Ok - the TV gets here on Tuesday the 4th, the T165 gets here monday. Now for the most important part, I DONT HAVE AN ANTENNA YET!

I live about 35 miles from the main tower group and antennaweb.org says that NBC, CBS, PBS and ABC all fall within 265 to 270 degrees azimuth from me. That sounds like good news, I'm hoping not to have to buy a rotator thing.

So - can anybody recommend a medium sized antenna that I can buy here in Pensacola that would possibly work for me to mount on my roof? I know Radio Shack might have some, and after research, it seems Lowe's carries a few smaller Channel Master antennas. Any luck with these? I am willing to order and ship one in, but I'd prefer to buy now and install and try to max my Analog reception, then when the HDTV arrives, see if I get HD ok.

What I ideally want is the smallest possible antenna I can get away with, because my neighborhood association is against big anntennas on anybody's roof. I was hoping to mount it about 2/3 of the way down on the back side of my house, where I have a nice look over to the west where the towers are. Is that possible - or are these antennas too big and bulky to mount anywhere but on top?

There are some "suburban" or "near fringe" CM and RS antennas that are around 60" long that say they have 40 mile range - since I am about 36 miles out, is that safe to go with, or do I need to go big and get a 90 mile range monster antenna to ensure good signals?
Is a pre-amp necessary - would that help a smaller antenna? I have a real clear view of the horizon off to the west, few houses or trees at all.

Ok - tons of questions - sorry - hopefully I will be able to contribute someday instead of just beg for help! Thanks in advance...

Steve,

You will need to decide whether you want a UHF only antenna or one that receives both UHF and VHF. Almost all of the digital channels are UHF, FOX is not.

The rotor is a good $100 investment for best reception. You should be able to buy the rotor, wires etc for less than $100 either by internet or even from Lowes. The remote controlled one is quite nice and I have adjusted my antenna more than I ever thought I would but my antenna is highly directional - Televes DAT75. Sometimes a few degrees of adjustment will make the difference for me between some dropouts and none at all. A few dropouts can quickly become very annoying.

It is doubtful the homeowners assoc. can impact your choice of antenna and roof mount. The law in that regard is mostly on your side. I would not want my antenna mounted partially down the side but that is my preference for my home. The less noticeable the better for me. Usually the higher the antenna is mounted and the less line of sight obstructions, the better the reception. There are a number of good antenna manufacturers out there but you must decide the UHF/VHF question first. CM, Winegard, Televes, Blonder Tongue, and Blake are good with some providing higher gain and better build quality depending on your application and needs. I have little knowledge of the Radio Shack ones so I'm little help there.

I would try without a preamp first then decide whether to add it depending upon your reception. I have the CM preamp and have been pleased with it but I also live a greater distance from the towers than you.

My DirecTV satellite reception is very good on my Panasonic plasma but I like to see people's reaction when they see the difference when it is switched to HD and they learn it comes over the air through a rooftop antenna like in the "old days".

Hope this helps more than confuses.

I get the same reaction too, Steve. When friends see that I'm back to using a rooftop antenna they want to think I'm way behind the times. And some will come right out and tell me so. When I try to explain it that goes in one ear and out the other. :)

Originally posted by rray32539
BTW, I do have a BUD and 4DTV, am considering the Motorola HDD200 decoder for the 4DTV receiver should there be any signal worth picking up OTA in my area.

Thanks,

Richard


Richard there are a few of us in FWB receiving Panama City and Pensacola HD. The HDD200 would be great if you want HBO or Showtime in HD but it is no use for OTA signals, only works the 4DTV.

Bob H.

Richard, you should get WPMI-NBC with its HDTV content and WSRE-PBS with HDTV after 7pm. Be warned that PBS HDTV is a lot of repeated demo loops with actual programming being few and far between. Crestview is about the same distance from the Mobile/Pensacola towers as Ft. Walton (where I am) and Shalimar (where Robert is). I feel you will have the same sucess getting these two channels.

Neither of us get FOX or CBS from Mobile. You'll have to see for youself on those two.

Panama City's ABC station is going to start passing HDTV in the near future, and Dothan's WTVY-CBS will go on the air with HDTV maybe in March. They were going to be on the air last Sept. but it hasn't happen for a number of reason. Last time (mid-Dec) they were getting the antenna in place and the crew drop a 30 pound pulley from 1500 feet onto the antenna on the ground. The station engineer expecting the repaired antenna back in March.

I feel that WTVY will be a good possibility. The transmitter will be under-powered, but the antenna will be placed at 1800 feet. I will be only 64 miles from the tower, you will be a little closer.

Panama City's ABC station is already broadcasting, and for me, is weak so I don't get it unless the weather and atmospheric condition are right. Robert seems to get it, but he is maybe 4-6 miles closer. I'm right at the fringe. Can't tell what you're experience will be.

Do note that Mobile's CBS station and Panama City's ABC station are not operating at full power, yet, so there is room for improvements in the future. FOX is already at their full power, so you have to hope you can get a good antenna setup to pull them in.

Richard, what ever you do keep your BUD. The PQ is so much better than the pizza dish. I have had both and wish I still had the BUD. Get a ota only hd set top box and a good out side antenna. The net-work HD is very good.
To me CBS HD is worth the price of a HD box.

Richard, do you have C and Ku on your BUD? if you are interested in seeing the HD thats available on BUD send me a PM and I can bring up a UM receiver and show you whats available for free.

Bob H.

Is WEAR-DT (17-1) actually broadcasting anything? I know they are low power but some evenings (like tonight), I am getting signal strength of 40+, but there is no sound/no picture. With some other stations, including WWL-DT (4-1) from New Orleans and WLOX (13-1) ABC in Biloxi, I have received similar signal strength, and watchable picture/sound for periods of up to 20-30 minutes. But nothing on 17-1. It is showing up as an "available channel" with the designation "Local: Regular Schedule" in the Guide.

I have never got 17.1 here in Magnolia Springs. Jerry can't and he is as close as any body. How in the world are you getting WWL? What network are they? What STB do you have.

WWL-DT is CBS from New Orleans broadcasting on 36-1, remapped to 4-1. I have received it on some of the cold, clear nights that we have had recently. I have the Mitsubishi/directv (Hughes E86?) with a fairly standard outdoor antenna at my roofline (single story house on pilings) here on the beach-- no obstacles out here! When WEAR-DT first came on the air, I did receive some poor quality signal, but, as I said, it has gone. Tonight, I have some signal strength but no picture/no sound.

WEAR has made its plans for digital TV very clear. On their website:

http://www.weartv.com

it states that they intend to offer an adequate digital signal as early as March 2003, but they have no intention to offer HDTV at any time in the future. In fact, they state that they don't expect the analaog to digital transition to end in 2006 but no sooner than 2010. Perhaps we will get ABC HDTV then. And, perhaps I'll watch WEAR in 2010-- if I'm still around!

rray32539,

Is the antenna you're referring to (that's on sale) the one on THIS (http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F004%5F002%5F000&Page=1) page with the 160" boom?

I bought that one when it was on sale for about half price a year or so ago. I've never been able to get decent performance with it but in my case it's probably due to not enough height and trying to aim through trees.

p.s. I've lived in this area since 1956. The whole time I've been here, WEAR has always been a piss poor sorry excuse for a TV station in every respect. So it's no surprise to learn what they're attitude is about HDTV.

Bob

I have the RS VU190 with the 160" boom and it works perfectly for my location. I am 30 miles from the towers and with minimal trees. I have it mounted about 25 foot high. I get all stations with excellent reception except WEAR/3. I get about a 42 signal strength on WEAR, but no picture. I will not watch any WEAR programming analog or digital until they add HD. I sent their station manger an email back in December and he did NOT even have the courtesy to reply. He and his company both suck. I will also send ABC a complaint and encourage them to cancel WEAR's franchise. DO NOT WATCH WEAR/3.

Other than the fact that WEAR is owned by Sinclair, I am wondering why they appear to have more financial concerns than the other stations in the market. In Pensacola, WEAR is our only choice for ABC, but it would appear that in Mobile, WLOX (Channel 13 from Biloxi) might be an effective competitor. A question for any Mobilians in the forum: Which is the predominant ABC station in Mobile-- WEAR or WLOX?

I know a lot of people in Mobile. WEAR is by far the predominant ABC station. The people that live in west mobile would get WLOX better
than WEAR, now that is if we are talking about OTA. I'm not sure but I think
that cable has both. I have a friend that lives just north of Mobile and he can't get WLOX ota. He has D* and ota but he is going too cable later on this year. [for HD]

I was at Rex TV in Car City this afternoon looking at HD RPTV's. The salesman is telling customers that Cox Cable will have some HD channels available in March. Is that BS?

Bob

No, Cox sent me an email in response to my request for information in early January, stating that they would be offering HD in March. I am just waiting to see what channels and how much is the cost. Only one more month.

Hi all! I live in Pace and I recently bought a Mitsu. WS65311, a Samsung DirectTV STB, and a Panasonic prog. scan DVD. Anyway...I hurried to get everything delivered, took a day off to install the equipment and antenna for the Super Bowl. Sadly, I discovered the day before that our wonderful local morons (WEAR, of course) have decided not to bother providing HD for their customers. The concept of not supplying programming until there is significant market penetration of HD equipment eludes me. Why would people spend thousands of dollars on equipment when there is no programming? I'm sure you all understand, but I made sure to send letters to WEAR, ABC, and all 5 FCC Commissioners. :) I did actually get a short response from one of the commissioners. At any rate, I'm very disappointed and more than a bit agitated about their short-sightedness. Ok, I've vented enough for my first post. :-D Thanks for listening!

Graham

Richard,

I'm convinced that all my reception problems are because of the trees. I love trees so can't bring myself to cut any down. But I probably should since I like good TV too. :)
It's no doubt probably about as good an antenna as can be had for the money. It's working good for Jerry and others and Jerry aint gonna steer you wrong. Go for it.

As far as a display for HD, there's all of a sudden so much available that it's starting to actually look like a buyer's market (even for a cheapskate like me). 4:3 HD RPTV's are now priced locally for as low as $1200. And not much more to get into the 16:9's. But what I'm seeing is the performance is all over the board. And I'm seeing that it's not necessarily true that more money equals a better set.
I'm in the market for one that will do RGB as well as component so I can feed my HTPC to it too.

Bob

If you read some of the other posts on the AVForums, DVI may be the most important thing to have on a new HDTV. My Mit: does not have it. Before this year is out mine may be a 480P tv no 1080i.

Yea, I've been thinking about that too. We all want to believe that a hack will bail us out like always but that's starting to look more and more like a pipedream. Boy I'm sure not looking forward to that day when my CRT projector won't do HDTV anymore.

This afternoon I almost bought the 51" Sony with DVI priced at about two grand. But hell I just started looking. I'm not needing to buy one impulsively so I'm going to kick all of em's tires before I get out my checkbook.

Bob

My son lives in N.C. and is getting a Toshiba 42H81 [I think that is the number] this weekend and it has DVI. He reads the posts on the AVForums and is convinced that DVI is coming. He could have got one for $200 less with out it. 2002 without 2003 with it.

You might want to check out the Panasonic plasma displays. I've had mine for over a year now and the SD and HD picture is excellent. The price continues to come down as you will see if you read the plasma forum. Dell runs some great specials as do several other online dealers.

No regrets here.

A little late to the WEAR party here but in Ft. Walton and points east its possible to get WMBB-ABC in Panama City. After WMBB gets their HD equipment on-line I intend to fire off email to WEAR telling them that they are no longer the ABC station I watch because I got something better. Cox in FWB was still in the dark on any HDTV last time I checked, but when it comes, I intend to lobby COX to include WMBB, which they don't carry in FWB, as the HD ABC station.

With luck, maybe the FWB market which WEAR has a lock on from COX's carry policies, may appear shakey to WEAR and they may jump on the HDTV bandwagon a little sooner.

Good news, my 82 yr old grandmother asked me to help her get a HDTV. She said she's putting the spending limit at 2000 bucks. Since she is old and will have a hard time learning any new equipment..i really want a tv that already has the tuner built in. 42inch minimu size. Also she lives in far west Mobile, i think with the right atannae she can get ABC out of Biloxi?

Also, i'm gonna get her to dump her comcast cable and get her on with directv. So if i do get her a HDTV monitor..i guess i need a directv/hdtv combo box.

Just got a message from Lowell Beckner, Chief Engineer at WMBB-ABC in Panama City:

Regarding HD, we are in the final stages of installation and testing and I hope to have it fully operational by the end of this month. All of the ABC HD equipment has been installed and we're working with microwave issues at this time.

He doesn't mention any plans in increase the power from the current STA 36kW from a 1435 foot tower, which was my other question. For those of you getting DTV channel 19 right now, only three weeks to the end of the month and ABC HDTV!

I'll believe it when I get a HD signal. They have given me 12 different dates since September of 2002. Less than 2 weeks ago they said by 2/15/2003.

Someting will happen once again.

Hondo if you will go back a few pages you will see where Rick had a post
telling about a accident they had with the antenna. Rick has been on top of
this since day one.

Hey Bobby, Hondo may be referring to WMBB in Panama promising to be HD by Feb. 15. The antenna accident was with WTVY in Dothan. I can understand his frustration, as both stations have had promised dates slip. I try to stay positive, but I got WMPI-NBC and WSRE-PBS in HD, at least. Hondo has absolute zero for OTA HD for the two DTV stations that he can pull in.

Anyway, last I heard from WTVY was a month ago?? They hope to have their antenna back for another attempt about March 16. Keep those fingers crossed, Hondo, all's WTVY has to do to get the antenna installed and all's WMBB has to do is get their microwave link from station to tower working and maybe, MAYBE!!! you'll finally get some network HDTV :D

Question, In west Mobile what type of antanna should i get? Putting it outdoors isn't a problem. I only want to pull in the Mobile locals..don't really care about Biloxi

The RS vu190 is on sale for about $50. It is a big long distance antenna. Usually costs $100.

Maybe it just my STB, but WSRE-DT has no audio for the past week when it switches to the HDTV programming or loop after 7 pm. You guys have the same problem?

I've had the same problem.

I just send an email to Roland Phillips at WSRE, maybe that will help.

Rick, I started having the no audio problem back in December. Since nobody else seemed to be having the problem I assumed it was the DTC-100 and just watch the national feed instead.

Bob H.

Robert,

When you say the national feed, do you mean broadcast affiliates on Dish or DTV?

I've had no problem with the WSRE-DT audio. (Mits SR-HD5).

Thanks,, beachrez.

I think we got a coding problem at the station again.

When I first got my STB, WSRE would drop out completely, no audio or video, when they switched to PBS HD feed at 7 pm. Bob Hunzeker had no problem with his DTC-100 so I thought my STB was bad until I heard from either trich (Bobby K) or Cinder that they had the same problem for a couple of months. This was about Feb or March last year. Turned out that the PSIP code, or something, was not setup correctly. Some boxes would fail, others could care less. Worked with the station engineer and he got the problem straigthen out.

Checking in during the day I see the lack of audio is there all the time.

And Bob Hunzeker,. I watched a show about sea life under the polar ice caps a few weeks ago. Last show I know I watch without problem.

Rick, its wierd, at first I had no problems with the DTC-100, seemed to be ignoring the PSIP info. Sometime in December the audio started to quit when they switched to HD. I checked last night and still no audio on the DTC-100, I'll try it on the Hipix tonight and see what happens, not very motivated to figure it out since they turn on HD after Smart Travels anyway, my favorite eye candy on PBS.

Michael, the national HD feed is on Ku-band satellite and runs 24/7 it is watchable with a UM or Integra receiver.

Bob H.

Thanks, Bob.

I just got this from Joe [FOX]

Hi Bobby,

WALA-DT is now capable of passing-thru 5.1 multi-channel sound from FOX.
FOX is planning on doing their entire NASCAR season and continuing with the
rest of their sports line up.

If you have the means, give it a listen on Sunday's Daytona 500 broadcast
and let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Joe

very cool, wonder if they'll do 5.1 on anything else. wish direct would get their hd ppv in 5.1, then i'd start sending them some money :)

Joe ask me to get some feedback from ever one who has 5.1 and is watching the Daytona 500 today on Fox. If you have any problems with the sound,loundness when going from network back to local and back to network. He wants it to be seamless. He also wants to know if you have any audio dropouts. Joe is a engineer who works for Foxs 11 southeast stations. As you all know our area is one of the few places where the engineers are willing
to work with us, so lets give him a hand. Remember how Tim work with us.
Working together Tim fixed the video and audio dropouts on NBC. I was on the phone when CBS came on with there HD and let Jim know we were getting it as far as Pensacola. Now if we just could get the sound fix in PBS.
Rick has been calling so maybe it will be fix soon. If they don't know there is a problem it wont get fixed.

During yesterday's NASCAR telecast, my receiver was indicating 5.1 but the results were not anything special, but I attributed that to microphone placement-- not transmission.

A few months ago, CBS (WKRG-DT) was transmitting "3.2" which sounded great. When they went back to 2.0, I found that I had to increase the volume when watching 5-1, and decrease it when I go to other stations. On the other hand, I have to reduce the volume considerably when watching HDNet's 5.1.

Well, Bobby, if you would like me to be the point man on the WSRE audio problem, lets have a show of hands on who has problems with WSRE and who doesn't and what STB they're using:
So far,
RickRS(myself) - Samsung SIR150 - no audio
Bob Hunzeker - DTC100 - no audio
(added 2/16 at 5:36pm CST)
Bobby K - Sony HD100 - no audio
Bobby K - Sony HD200 - no audio
Cinder - Zenith HD520 - no audio

Beachrez - Mit SR-HD5 - all ok.

Anyone else with another box that either having a problem or not that would like to add to this list, post here.

Would like to know what you're using, Cinder.

I emailed the station engineer Thursday and have not gotten an answer, yet. Will start calling this week to ensure someone at the station heard that they got a problem.

Rick I have a Sony HD100 and a HD200. I have not had any sound in 4 to 6 weeks. Cinder has a Zenith HD520 and a super tv..... Samsung DLP.
I had some lip-sync problems today with the race on Fox. It would come and go.Joe told me that I was the only one that told him that. All the other stations said it was ok.

For what its worth you can call me daniel :) As bobby said i have an hd 520 and no audio.

I just checked channnel PBS/23 and my audio is fine. They were running a For Nature special on turtles and not the loop, but the audio was fine. I have the Dish 6000 with the OTA module.

I looked at 7:10 and again at 7:40 and no sound. If ya'll remember when UPN came on line with digital Jerry was the only one of us that had sound.
Rick talked to Tim and he got it fix. Our PBS may have the same problem.

Originally posted by RickRS
Well, Bobby, if you would like me to be the point man on the WSRE audio problem, lets have a show of hands on who has problems with WSRE and who doesn't and what STB they're using:
So far,
RickRS(myself) - Samsung SIR150 - no audio
Bob Hunzeker - DTC100 - no audio
(added 2/16 at 5:36pm CST)
Bobby K - Sony HD100 - no audio
Bobby K - Sony HD200 - no audio
Cinder - Zenith HD520 - no audio

Beachrez - Mit SR-HD5 - all ok.

Anyone else with another box that either having a problem or not that would like to add to this list, post here.



I'm using the Samsung-TS-160 _ Audio is perfect.

Roland Phillips is aware of the audio problem with WSRE now. Quoting his reply via email:

A factory tech will be here on Wednesday to do some upgrades and we will address the problem at that time.

I appreciate your comments and your patience. If you have issues in the future, and when issues clear up, please let me know.

I will be out of town Wednesday-Saturday this week, so if any of you guys having the problem would like to email him, his address is Roland_Phillips@WSRE.pbs.org I have emailed him a list of who has problems and who doesn't so the technician will have all we know. The list is updated to include everybody that replied so far.

Richard, I an sure you can get WPMI-NBC if you go OTA. Mobile has all their antennas on the east side of the city. WPMI is only 59 miles for me (I'm near the mall, on the west side of FWB). Stay tuned for updates on WTVY, coming, I hope, sometime is March.

Does anyone have the latest on when WEAR will come on line with a real Digital broadcast?

Seems to me that the others 5, 10 &15 (specially CBS) are so much better that we will forget about ABC all together if they can't compete with a quality signal.

J C

They have digital now. But you have to live next door to them to get it.
LOW LOW power. Your spot lights around your house has more power.
Some times this springs they are going to move to a new tower and "up"
the power but no HD, only digital.

In response to questions I raised about WKRG's audio, I received the following from Jim Richardson:

"I turned the simulated 5.1 off after getting complaints that it was not true Dolby 5.1. CBS is gearing up for 5.1 feeds to the CBS stations but that is 3 or 4 months away. It will be Dolby E 6.2 , 6 channel surround and 2 for stereo. This will require a new digital IRD from CBS and $4,000 from us for the Dolby E box.
The low audio problems are ours and we will get back on that. The main
thing is they are balanced from HDTV to Standard programming and lip-sync is good. Big problems with lip sync from CBS.
Please spread the word that will not be able to carry the Grammies in
5.1 surround. We have not received the Dolby E encoder or new Harris
digital IRD."

I got sound on PBS. Can Rick get things done or what.

Richard, does $200 sound better than $700. Send me a PM if interested.

Bob H.

Back from the big city of New Orleans. Quick check on WSRE shows that I've got the sound back, too.

I got sound on PBS. Can Rick get things done or what.
Gee, Bobby, you're making me blush. I didn't do anything other than bring the problem to Roland Phillips attention. He's the guy that gets things done at WSRE.

Saturday evening, 2/22-- WPMI-DT (The Fugitive)-- I'm getting rapid flashing across the upper half of the screen. Unwatchable! My set? Local? NBC?

I'm getting it too. Must be them.

Me four!

I sent Tim a e-mail but the last time this happened it was Mon. before it got fixed.

Cox Pensacola says that they are still on schedule to add HD in March, but they expect to add only HBO & Showtime. They are still negotiating with Discovery and the local channels for carriage. Dish passed over Mobile/Pensacola and now Cox is having trouble. Let's send emails to our locals and ask what is their problem. They must want toooo muchhhh $$$$$$$. Why is HD starting out at such a premium.

Not sure if anyone else had this problem but i had a lot of audio issues with cbs last night. I emailed their engineer and this was his reply.

"Yes I noticed some last night. Not sure if it's CBS or us but plan to boot
the system today.

JR

WKRG has the following reply:

We have done no negotiations with Cox or any other cable company yet. Did not
hear anything about Dish.

Sorry no help.

JR

Sounds like more BS from cable.

Guys,

I have a plan to overcome my problem with trying to aim my antenna through heavy tree cover. But I need your expertise.
I'm going to sling a hammer over a high tree limb to get the rope as high as I can. Then I'm going to attach a UHF antenna to the rope and hoist it up and tie it off. I'm not sure yet how to keep the antenna aimed but I think I can figure that out. I may use more than one rope to accomplish that (and any ideas you might have will be very welcome to).
But here's the main question I have. I always thought the UHF elements in antenna were just the little bowtie. But below you see a photo of Radio Shack's UHF only antenna. It shows the same array that is on the front of my 80" VHF/UHF Radio Shack antenna. If all I had to do was hoist a bowtie up the rope that is one thing. But do I need to use something like the UHF antenna in the picture with not only a bowtie but the other elements as well?

Bob

http://members.cox.net/boblowery/ANT.JPG

Bob,

The UHF picture is for a YAGI UHF antenna. For an outside, high gain "Bowtie" see http://www.channelmaster.com/layout_graphics/4228.jpg which is the Channelmaster 4228. That is 40 inches wide and guessing its about 40 inches tall, too. There is a 4 bow version (4228 is an 8 bow antenna). So as you can see, either a high-gain YAGI or an high-gain bowtie would be big.

If you were going to suspend the antenna from ropes tied to trees, I would guess the bowtie's flat, vertical design would be easier to hang. Could be difficult to line up with the station of your choice and repointing it to another station would takes a bit of time.

With either type, I would wonder what reception would be like if the wind picks up. From Ft. Walton, I find that antenna has to be within ~10-15 degrees of the center aiming point or I don't get anything. Of course, if I was closer I might could be off more and still get enough signal.

Couldn't hurt to try.

Thanks, guys.
Hmmm. You've surely given me food for thought. Let me ask you this. My VU-190 is about 3 feet above the roof. I've been blaming my poor reception on the heavy tree cover it has to aim through. If I get it higher with a taller mast, say 10 or 15 feet above the roof, do you think that will give much improvement? I'll still be aiming through trees and there's no way to avoid that.

Bob

Radio Shack carries a 50 ft pole that is made up of 5- 10foot sections that telescope up. After abut 30 feet you need guy wires to hold it stable. But it is another idea and not very expensive. I have one but only have it up about 25 feet, but had it all the way at 50 feet with a rotor and guy wires at one time.

My neighbors hated it. But that is there problem.

Thanks, Jerry. I just checked and it's not available anymore either online or in any Pensacola RS location. But maybe I can find something similiar to use. I think I'll try to go that route before I start throwing the ropes. :)

Bob

Robert I live in the woods. Big oak trees. My front yard faces north and it is so thick that I can not grow grass. My house is in the sun for less than one hour a day. Its just one big canopy. My antenna is pointed right at this
canopy. The wind sometimes has an effect of my signal but 99% of the time its ok. I added 10' to my antenna and it made it worse. Its just over the top of my house now. Sometimes higher is not the answer.

Try Lowe's. They carry Channel Masters antennas and poles, but I do not know if they have a 50 footer or not.

Lowes had one last year, it was $44. I started to get it. [50']

How far are you from the antenna farm, Bobby (I'm just north of downtown P'cola).

Bob

I'm about 30 miles by the crow.

I just got this e-mail from Joe at Fox.



Hi,



Would you please take a look at FOX10 DT? We made a major change this morning and we want to be sure everything is ok. We also added our new station WB55, which should show up as 55-1, but is actually 9-3.



Thanks,



Joe
______________________________________________

Since that e-mail my two STBs have been all over the map looking for our local FOX. One has went from 10.1 to 9.1 and the other one has not found it yet. One has the new channel as 9.2 the other one has it at 55.1.
We are still e-mailing and he said they are not getting any thing on there RCA100. Stay tune...........................

Holy moley, our Warner Bros. station is now a sub-channel to the Fox station?

Is any body getting FOX and if you are is it on 9.1 or 10.1. WB will be turned on Sat. I'm getting it on 55.1 [test pattern] with the HD200 and 9.2 with the HD100. I do not have FOX at all with the HD200 but Joe is working on it. I need some in-put folks.

WB will turned on Sat. at 6:00am digital only for now. It could be on 9.2, 9.3
or 55.1. You will just have to do a scan. I just talked to Joe and they are still working on the FOX channel.

Danniel are you getting FOX with your 520.

I am getting Fox on 10-01 and WB color chart on 55-01. Sound on both. But if WALA broadcasts WB on 09-03, we will never get HD, because there will not be enough bandwidth.

I am not getting fox at all with my 520. i get the color chart on 55-1 for wb. I agree as a subchannel doesn't look good for hd, would love to see smallville that way. Still i'll be very happy with even a digital signal, will be an improvement.

My signal for upn 44-1 has been all over the charts lately, one day its very strong, the next its barely there. Yet i pull in nbc 15-1 perfectly. Any ideas on this?

Daniel I just talked to Joe and he is trying to get back to where they were this morning. They only have one brand STB working now. They have four.
You would think that all of these boxes could get on the same channel.
He is puzzled by why WB is not on 9.3, he said that is where it suppose to be and FOX should be on 9.2...................stay tune.........................

Sounds like a plan. By the way anyone have any idea how to change your user name? cinder is a gaming name and i used it a long time ago, would love to change to a real name...

Richard (rray32539), the WKRG drop out may be normal for your area. I get WKRG with very spotty results here in FWB. It a matter of weather and atmospheric conditions. I rarely see WKRG for more than 10-30 minutes before losing the signal. In the summer I never saw WKRG at all.

WKRG is not in a "testing" mode, they're on the air all the time. But you are at the edge of their reception. They are approved for a megawatt of power but are only running about 55kW under a STA permit, so they can improve. WTVY in Dothan has a better change of being seem in Crestview and Ft. Walton, so I'm really hoping they would finally get on the air.

You guys up in Mobile should also be seeing guide data now for WALA and WBPG on your STBs. Yours truly entered it into the Triveni guide builder down here at the hub in Central Florida.

The plan for WBPG is to do the 16:9 1080i WB HD stuff in 16:9 480i.
Not enough bandwidth to do 1080i so for now just 480i but at least you will get to see the 16:9 versions.

Brian

Thanks Brian, I enjoy Boston Public and other Fox programs in 16:9. Series are good in 16:9, it is the live football that sucks. Looking forward to Smallville in 16:9.

7 PM Thursday
Getting a color bar pattern/test tone on 9-2; 10-1 is as it should be; and there is nothing available at 55-1. No indication of "55-1" in the guide. (I'm using the MITS SR-HD5 tuner.) This is certainly a novel approach to getting a digital station on the air! I wonder if it is being done anywhere else in the country.

beachrez are you getting FOX digital? 9.1 or 10.1

Still not getting fox digital on my end (hd 520). Also no program guide info on wb 55 analog or digital.

Another thing, i am gettind audio dropouts and some pixelation on cbs 5-1. This started a few days ago and their engineer said he was having the same. My signal is nearly 100% and hasn't changed at all from when i was getting great sound/picture. Anyone else getting this?

Daniel I'm getting the same thing on 5.1. Been doing it for a week.
Joe said he will try again tomorrow to get FOX digital back where it was.
He has a RCA DTS100 and some others that don't work.
Rick can you get FOX digital with your Samsung?

WBPG had made it clear that they would go off the air, if they had to pay to go digital. So a novel(but econimical) approach may have been necessary to meet the digital requirement and stay in business.

Fox is coming in on 10-1. If I enter 9-1, it immediately shifts to 10-1, as it should.

It seems that WSRE shifted 23-1 and 23-2 today.

According to FCC documents, the license for WPBG was transferred from Pegasus to Emmis (the owner of FOX in Mobile) on 23 January 2003.

WBPG has had the worst audio that I have ever heard on a station. Hopefully, Emmis will improve that.

Originally posted by Cinder


My signal for upn 44-1 has been all over the charts lately, one day its very strong, the next its barely there. Yet i pull in nbc 15-1 perfectly. Any ideas on this?

I have the same problem with the Sammy TS-160. 44-1 Will pixelate very badly on some days/shows and all the others are perfect. I get a perfect picture from 5-1, 10-1, 15-1, 23-1 & 33-1. Have not tried to scan in 55-1 yet.
Have had numerous conversations with Mr. Reid and he says that both 15 and 44 are the same format @ the same power upconverted by the same system. Supposedly the only difference is the 44 tower is about 6 miles farther East than the 15 one. Wish they would correct whatever it is.

J C

Bobby K,

FOX is too weak for my setup. I believe Robert Z. in Shalimar also have not been able to get them.

Thats interesting to hear someone else having problems with 44-1. I'll send another email to tim to see if he is still looking into it. I find that my signal is great until 5 minutes into enterprise, then i have to watch the fuzzy analog signal which sucks.

OK Daniel we are back on. I'm getting FOX on 9.1 and WB on 9.2 on one
STB. Fox is on 10.1 and WB is 55.1 with my other one. I will never understand this..................................
_________________________________________
e-mail from Joe.............

Both channels should be fine now. We have it working great with our DTC-100 and our precision IRD.



Also we are having an issue with the 16:9 flag on the WB55 signal. We are going to have to run it in 4:3 for the weekend, but hopefully we find the problem early next week.



Joe

I'm receiving FOX10 as 10-1 (as before) and now WB55 as 55-1. I am not getting any program information for either WB55 or WJTC-DT (44-1) using the Advanced Program Guide from DirecTV using the Mitsubishi SR-HD5. I did clear my zip code entries, and then re-entered to update the Guide. This gave me the station call signs but no program information for 44-1 or 55-1. I do get program information for 44 and 55 analog. Is anyone having a different experience with this? While I'm asking questions-- On 5-2, the WKRG weather map is squeezed into the upper third of the screen with a bunch of garbage at the bottom. Anyone else seeing this?

Joe said..............................

______________________________________________

Thanks for your help and say thanks to all the viewers on the forum. You early adopters are a great resource for us and we really appreciate your patience with this new technology.



If anyone has any questions please let me know.



Joe

Originally posted by trich
_________________________________________
e-mail from Joe.............

Both channels should be fine now. We have it working great with our DTC-100 and our precision IRD.


Joe

That isn't exacxtly right........
I have the Samsung TS-160 HD DTV receiver. When I tried to scan in the WB-55 Digital channel the guide put the WB-55 on my 10-1 listing and I do not have a Digital channel 10. The Guide still displays all the programming for DT 10 but it brings up 55.

Anyone care to share the e-mail address for Joe @ WALA??

Thanks J C

Here is Joes e-mail add:
addalia@wb18.com

Send him a e-mail Monday. He's a nice guy and he will answer you.

I have two boxes and one has WB on 55.1 and Fox on 10.1.
The other one Has WB on 9.2 and FOX on 9.1. and they are both Sonys.
Go figure...................................................... ......

Joe does not work in Mobile, he works in central Florida.
He works for something like 8 Fox and WB stations from
New Orleans to Florida.

I have 10-1 and 55-1 working now. No program info for 55 or 55-1 though. Bobby do you have program info?

No, all it says is regular schedule.

Anybody watch WMPI-NBC last night during Law & Order: CI and Boomtown? I had a lot of pixelation breakup about every 1-3 minutes. Got so bad I switched to cable. In comparation, WSRE was perfect during this time.

Bob H (Hondo):
WMBB-ABC in Panama City promised HDTV date has past us by again. I email the station today to check on progess. Maybe before hell freezes over :D

Yes Rick I the same thing. I checked my signal strength and was not getting any variations with my signal. I was still getting breakups so it must have been NBC.

WMBB

RICKRS

I don't believe that hell will ever freeze over with this crowd. My family used to own Channel 33 in Anniston, AL now Channel 33/40 out of Birmingham. If our engineer had had this track record he would not have lasted 30 days. These people are a joke. I will be interested in hearing their excuse this time.

The next projected date is for WTVY in Dothan. Currently saying March 19. Guess they didn't commit to a year though. Might be 2004, 2005, or 2006.

I am aware I am negative about these issues. I believe I have the right.

Is anyone in Mobile or Pensacola (besides me) having a problem getting both Fox 10 and WB 55????????

When I scanned in WB-55 my Sammy put WB-55 on channel 10-1 and dropped Fox completely.

Am I the only lucky one in the area???

Thanks J C

Rick:

I'm in Mobile and I routinely get 5, 10 & 15 perfectly. Pixelation on NBC was really bad last night, I switched to analog to be able to at least see the program.

J C

It's been a while since I last posted. Now have a RCA DTC100 on a Sony HD 53 using a new Channel Master rotor and 16 ft. mast. Reception has been great for the last month but now getting bad drop out of 10-1 while signal strength stays about 95 to 100%. 5-1 at 88% looks good. Thought my problems were solved. Any ideas? Thanks.

Just got an email from Joe Smith at WEAR/TV-ABC. They have the antenna mounted on the tower and should be complete in about two weeks. That is a higher power digital picture, but not HD. They currently will make no promise on ever having HD.

Jerry,

This is the antenna on their ~1900 ft tower?

Has Joe Smith stated what power level they will broadcast at? I find it hard to believe it will start at the FCC approved 1 megawatt level what with their foot dragging.

No, but they are at 680 watts now, so it is bound to be an improvement.

Good news and bad news.
I asked Jim Richardson was WKRG going to show all four days of the Masters in HD and this is his answer.

Hey Bobby, yes we will carry in HD. We will not however, be able to carry
the NCAA Basketball games in HD. It requires special switching we do not
have at this time.

JR

Just to add some info regarding cox and HD.

Their main HDTV guy is flying in this week from Atlanta. He is going to be pimping their product...I am a partner for their Internet product..and my contact at Cox is supposed to be taking him around town..I keep pestering him for more info..should have something soon.

Supposedly they have it all up and running in their labs, I am trying to get a peak...

Cox replied to an email that I sent them and said that they would have only HBO & Showtime in HD initially. They are negotiating with locals and Discovery HD for carriage. One of the locals said that Cox does not want to carry the full signal of the locals is the hanging point. I am not sure if that means the 1080i or just the sub channels.

hardwarephfreak posted in the older Mobile/Pensacola/Ft Walton thread so I just quoted his post to bring it to this one:
I passed this thread onto the guy at Cox (Kent) who has been meeting with ???? HDTVs top guy. He tells me a good bit of stuff in confidence so I dont feel right about sharing the info just yet...especially since he said he would be posting here. He did confirm that the majority of the local stations are going along kicking and screaming. Apparently ABC, is about the last station he expects to get over to DTV or HDTV. I want to say he started laughing when I asked about them He said that someone from All Pro Sound gave them a call about this, and apparenly the guy he talked to was LESS than informative, and...hmm..how should I phrase this...not technically competent in his opinion. Right now Cox is negotiating more national HDTV channels (other than Discovery). Don't ask me which though, wait till he starts posting.

I can't remember who and what station they were referring to, but someone here posted about hoping to get Cox Ft Walton to drop a feed from local station and pick one up from Panama City. Kent basically said the stations are absolutley crazy about thier "area" or "turf" for lack of better terms (my words not his)..He said it is next to impossible for them to do that.

I will now shut up and wait for him to drag his butt in here and start posting.

If you passed "This thread" along to the guy at Cox and you posted in an "old" thread. We may never see the info. How about passing the current thread along to the guy.

jerry,

I sent Hardwarephreak an PM suggesting he redirect Kent from Cox to this thread, instead, so hopefully he will get that.

Also, rray (Richard) from Crestview had bumped the old thread. I sorry if I offended rray, I understand you were only having the best of intentions on moving the older thread up the list. Most all of us on this thread use the "thread subscription" feature and don't scan the list looking for our local thread anymore. There is a PM for you from me.

Was anyone able to get Law & Order in wide screen tonight??
Mine was in 4:3 format on HD channel. Boomtown is in wide screen.

J C

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=235974

Damn, I can't remember which thread I linked him to, I may have just posted in the wrong one...at any rate..I'll see him on Monday..I'll make sure he gets the right one.

Hi all, noob here :)

I'read this great thread and have got some good info. Here's my situation and want some advice/guidance if you guys could spare a few minutes to reply.

I am in Mobile, off of Snow Rd. My best estimate is that I am about 35 miles away from the tower @ Wilcox Rd. I have a 49" Panny HDTV and have been drooling to finally make the jump into DTV/HDTV. I am a DirecTV subscriber so I am leaning towards getting a new DirecTV reciever that can also handle OTA for me as well as getting DirecTV's HDTV channels.

First, I want to do this an economically as possible. One of the cheapest HDTV recievers I've seen is the Hughes from Bestbuy for $499.00. ANy opinions on this or can someone recommend something else.

Secondly, Antennas. I've done some research but still need guidance. I live in a restricted neighborhood so a 20 foot big antenna is out of the question for me. I was looking into a Terk 55 but don't know if that will cut it or if I should go with a big conventional antenna and try to put it in my attic. And recommendations on this?

Lastly, What are our locals stations like in DTV/HDTV? In particular, I'm talking about:

WEAR
WKRG
WALA
WPMI
WJTC
PBS

Is all that I want to do even worth investing right now? I definitely have the time and this is a hobby of mine but don't want to sink $1000 bucks into this and have marginal returns & or shoddy reception. (Especially when trying to convince the wifey that this is a necessity, har, har, har).

Any info from you guys would be absolutely great. I've called a few local stations and if you don't get to talk to an engineer, the others seem to be idiots. I called one station which I will not say, and asked the kind lady if they are currently broadcasting digital stations now and she said yes, they've been doing it for years. I said, "really...." "what channel?" SHe told me that her 'comcast digital cable' is great! LOL- I told her, no, no, no...I mean OTA digital TV, you know, HDTV? So was baffled at my questions.....

Good news for you.

The Federal Communications Commission has pre-empted governmental and homeowner association restrictions on certain types of antennae, including outdoor TV antennae.

Here is the web site that explains more:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Should you be threatened with action from the homeowners association, just show them this publication. They can contact their lawyer who will tell them they do not have a case, unless you have an antenna that falls outside of guidelines or your home is registered on the National Register of Historic Places.

As for available digital television signals in your area:

WKRG-DT
WSRE-DT (after 7:00 p.m.)
WPMI-DT
WALA-DT
WJTC-DT

WEAR-DT will only broadcast an upconverted digital signal of its analog broadcast. Their entire video chain will remain analog until it goes to the transmitter. ABC digital and high definition will NOT be available from WEAR.

A Terk MAY work in your area, but I think it would be stretching it a bit. Try a Channel Master, Winegard, or even a Radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna. WALA-DT is on VHF channel 9.

Enjoy.

BDHost, i sent you a PM.

BDHost,

As stated before, all these stations have DTV transmitters.
As far as what's in HD, here's the line-up


WEAR - Has no HD transmissions, waiting for "market penetation" of consumer HDTV equipment to justify going to full HD. May be years from that. Currently, you possibly can't receive the DTV transmission because the signal too weak to get out of the cow pasture where the tower is located. WEAR is working to install a new tower and transmitter, power unknown, to replace the 8 kilowatt weaklyn they are using now.

WKRG - Fully HD capable. You will get the full CBS HD experience, you lucky dog! Almost all the regular shows are HD.

WALA - You get Fox Widescreen, but no HD. This is a FOX network thing, they don't want to go to HD, not the local station's idea. In fact, I think they have HD capability already.

WPMI - Fully HD capable. You get NBC's HDTV. Not as many shows in HD as CBS, and the quality varies from poor to outstanding. Boomtown is one that has outstanding HD quality.

WJTC - No HD equipment, no HD shows

PBS - You should get WSRE from Pensacola. Fully HD capable. In the day they multicast 2 channels, their regular program and a FLA state eduational feed followed by PBSYou. After 7 pm, they broadcast whatever is piped in on the PBS national HDTV feed and drop the regular programming. There has been lots of nights were it a endless cycle of ~4 hours of "HD Demo" shorts. PBS also uses a mix of non-HD widescreen and HD material when they do have real programming on. Quality is good, some non-HD widescreen looks almost as good as HD.

Regard of what programming is on a DTV station, reception is super! I'm in Ft. Walton, so only WPMI, WSRE, and WJTC are within reach on a regular basis. But what I get is clear and sharp, no fade, no snow, no drop-out. Better picture than cable.

BDHost, if I could get only two HD channels it would be CBS and HDnet.
You already have D* so you will get HDnet free. CBS is free so get the
Hughes. Sometimes this year [maybe by the 30th of March] you will get ESPN HD. I must warn you after watching HD it is hard to watch analog.
Go for it, life is short.

Mr. West,


Sorry I was unable to be at the station today, I was once again in Baldwin county.
By the way, we are having PSIP generator problems on CH. 47 and I am having to
ship the unit back to the manufacturer for repairs so there will only be static PSIP
info for the next 3-5 days.

If you'd like to pass this lack of PSIP info along to the AVSForum site, go ahead.

Regards,

Tim Reid

Thanks all for the great responses. Cinder, I got your PM and really appreciate the info. I will respond to ya when I get more time. One more question:

My Panny 47" is HDTV capable, but I do not think it does 720p. Will my reciever upscale automatically or what? The only reason I know it doesn't support 720p (besides the manual saying so) is that I rented an XBOX game that was outputting in 720p and all I got on my screen was garbage unless I turned off HDTV capabilites in my XBOX :(

Having trouble with my homeowner association. I am aware of the FCC document. They wish to argue that attic placement do not degrade signal strength/image quality. My installer thinks other wise. Need data to support outside placement. Do you have any idea where one could find such data/testing?

I would suggest contacting Winegard or Channel Master tech support and seeing if they have data on the loss in a typical attic. However I think the FCC has already stated that the homeowner's association can not restrict you from installing a outside antenna of a reasonable height on property that you own.

Where are you located smboyer?

smboyer, Dont bother wasting your valuable time getting anything for your HOA, tell them to have their lawyer check C.F.R. 1.4000. If you are not in a historic district, the dish is not over 1m in diameter, the antenna is not over 12 feet above the peak of your roof and there is no safety issue, they cant do a damn thing to stop you. Tell the HOA to stick it where the sun dont shine. As you can tell I love HOA's, one of our local ones has a grass police that measure the height of your grass and issue tickets if its too tall and you should see what happens if you leave your garage door open, nobody at the golf club will play with you for weeks :)

Bob H.

One of the things that is mentioned in the FCC memorandum is that the viewer must serve notice on the homeowner association that he is seeking a declaratory ruling. From the FCC site regarding challenging an association rule or governmental ordinance:

"There is no special form for a petition. You may simply describe the facts, including the specific restriction(s) that you wish to challenge. If possible, attach a copy of the restriction(s) and any relevant correspondence. If this is not possible, be sure to include the exact language of the restriction in question with the petition. General or hypothetical questions about the application or interpretation of the rule cannot be accepted as petitions.

Petitions for declaratory rulings and waivers must be served on all interested parties. An entity seeking to impose or maintain a restriction must include with its petition a proof of service that it has served the affected residents. Similarly, an antenna user seeking to challenge the permissibility of a restriction must include with the petition a proof of service that the antenna user has served the restricting entity with a copy of the Petition.

If you are an antenna user, you must serve a copy of the Petition on the entity seeking to enforce the restriction (i.e., the local government, community association or landlord). If you are a local government, community association or landlord, you must serve a copy of the Petition on the residents in the community who currently have or wish to install antennas that will be affected by the restriction your Petition seeks to maintain. For example, if a homeowners' association files a petition seeking a declaratory ruling that its restriction is not preempted and is seeking to enforce the restriction against a specific resident, service must be made on that specific resident. The homeowners' association will not be required to serve all other members of the association, but must provide reasonable, constructive notice of the proceeding to other residents whose interests may foreseeably be affected. This may be accomplished, for example, by placing notices in residents' mailboxes, by placing a notice on a community bulletin board, or by placing the notice in an association newsletter. If a local government seeks a declaratory ruling or a waiver from the Commission, the local government must take steps to afford reasonable, constructive notice to residents in its jurisdiction (e.g., by placing a notice in a local newspaper of general circulation). Proof of constructive notice must be provided with a petition. In this regard, the petitioner should provide a copy of the notice and an explanation of where the notice was placed and how many people the notice might reasonably have reached.

Finally, if a person files a petition or lawsuit challenging a local government's ordinance, an association's restriction, or a landlord's lease, the person must serve the local government, association or landlord, as appropriate. You must include a "proof of service" with your petition. Generally, the "proof of service" is a statement indicating that on the same day that your petition was sent to the Commission, you provided a copy of your petition (and any attachments) to the person or entity that is seeking to enforce the antenna restriction. The proof of service should give the name and address of the parties served, the date served, and the method of service used (e.g., regular mail, personal service, certified mail)."

If you wish to file either a Petition for Declaratory Ruling or a Petition for Waiver pursuant to the Commission's Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule (47 CFR Section 1.4000), you must file an original and two copies of your Petition on the following address:

Office of the Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554
Attn: Media Bureau

Hopefully, the homeowners association's lawyer will advise them to drop the issue.

Richard

Joe [FOX] made some changes with the PSIP today but had to go back to the last settings. Here are two of his e-mails.



Hi Bobby,



We made a change in our PSIP table to accommodate viewers using Samsung receivers. Would you please take a look on your Sonys to see if you still have both channels?



Thank you,
_____________________________________________________

We are having trouble with our PSIP generator also. It’s not associating the guide data for the correct channel. I expect to have it going next week.



I put the table back to the way it has been since the 3rd. Let me know if your boxes are back in action.



Thanks again for your help I couldn’t do this without you and the other viewers.



Joe





Joe

This past week as been a fun one for me, Tropospheric ducting conditions were very strong, allowing me to pull in WKRG for extended periods (franslate extended periods as long enough to watch a complete program :)). Saw all of Raymond and all of CSI: Miami on Monday, with signal fade during Still Standing.

During this time I tried to tune WALA, only to had the tuner lock up on me so I couldn't even change channels to go back to any of the good channels. Had to break the lock by powering down and then retuning to a "safe signal before the tuner had a change to tune in WALA on power on. My STB is the Samsung SIR-T150. Is this one of the problems that Joe is referring to in his email?

On another note; I'm hearing impaired so I use Closed Captions (CC). Watching WKRG's HDTV was great, the CC worked as well as analog TV (pretty darn good!) WMPI-NBC has always been a problem for me. During HD programming the captions lag way behind the dialog and has lots of dropped characters and incorrect characters. Oddly enough, the non-HD programming is often fine. WSRE-PBS has no CC on HD programming, but I think thats a national problem.

Anyway, can any of you guys turn on your CC during Boomtown tonight and see what you get? If you're not watching Boomtown, try it during American Dreams. WMPI is doing a great job except for this CC issue and I'm trying to get them to work this out to.

Thanks

I've been away for a week, and returned to find that although I receive strong signals from 45 and 47 (readings of100 on Mits SRHD-5) but neither audio nor video. I noted the message from Tim Reid to JC West on 3/12 in this forum. I can't tune in WPMI as 47-1 or as 15-1, and neither 44-1 or 45-1 will bring in WJTC. Any one else in the same boat? Is this the problem that Tim Reid is mentioning?

Just checked both WPMI and WJTC (1:45 pm Sunday afternoon). There is not any problem with my Samsung T150 STB on these two, audio and video is fine. Well, WJTC has its pixelation problem, but that's it.

Rick--
Thanks for the quick response. I'll keep trying then...

I got good signal strength but no picture. No picture for the last few days.

From Tim Reid:

Our PSIP generator had to be shipped back to the manufacturer for repair. This has affected the various brands of STB's differently. At the station, our Panasonic STB recieves the signal just fine but our RCA does not. At home on my Samsung SIR-165, after rescanning channels, has no problems. It appears that the various manufacturers using different methods of decoding PSIP info. I was going to suggest rescanning but it appears you've already tried that. Some STB's hold the PSIP info in the memory until rescanned. Our PSIP generator should be back in service Monday or Tuesday and hopefully these probelms will go away.

Regards and thanks to you and the rest of the forum for the continuous info as it is a learning process for us also and the feedback from you guys helps.

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV NBC 15/DT 47
WJTC-TV UPN 44/DT 45
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, AL 36609-9038

Tim Reid appears to have fixed the problems with his PSIP generator-- NBC and UPN are back.

Indeed, althought i'm getting a lot of dropouts on upn, but rock solid on nbc.

Also i now show abc 3-1 on my guide, but no signal. Anyone else have this?

I'm getting drop-outs also. Tim needs to call Jim Richardson and find out how to set the PSIP. I have never had any problems with WKRG.

Yes, I have ABC-3-1 on my guide, but no audio/no video. However, I don't intend to watch WEAR-DT until they at least announce a plan for HDTV. As long as they refuse to consider offering HDTV, I refuse to watch.

Me tooo! I have not watched WEAR TV this year. I sent the GM an email in December and he never even had the courtesy to reply. NO WEAR TV!

I'm in South Mobile and have a hard time picking up analog channels with the top of the line radio shack attenna . Will I have any problems picking up the HD Channels if I add a HD box to my tv .

Wkrg and WALA are Crystal clear but Wear and WPMI are pretty bad. The attenna is 35 feet in the air now . Should I go higher ?

With HD, you either get a picture or NO picture at all. There are no snowy pictures. Right now, most DT stations are not at full power, until they get more customers. Higher is not always better. You might want to wait until more stations are broadcasting at full power.

I'd say just getting wkrg and wala is worth going HD. Granted Wala is only going to be widescreen dvd, its still a lot nicer than regular tv.

I still dont' receive a very good analog wear, but hey are putting their antenna on a higher tower so i feel your reception will pick up. No one knows yet what power they will be at. But won't be HD.

WPMI is a weird one, this channel and UPN have given me many headaches. I finally pulled them in by using a channelmaster preamp (which also pulled in the WB and WSRE (pensacola pbs) but UPN still is inconsistent. Others on this forum can give you better opinions on PreAmps, but in my situations it increased all my signals (except wkrg which i'm practically under) from 50% to 90%, with only UPN going back and forth from 50-90 continiously causing dropouts.

Also if you have directv or dish even more reason to go HD. And finally Comcast in Mobile is rumored to go HD in january.


Side note to those on board, when i was in birmingham this past week i was surprised to see Charter Cable advertising specifically as the "HD Cable Source" specifically advertising discovery HD.

I have Dish Network but thought I would wait until the 921 comes out this summer and get the Local HD channels if I can now . It does sound like I might have some problems doing this .

What do you suggest to use for a preamp ?

I am using the channel master 7777, others can give you better opinions on this since i am fairly new to antennas. One thing i would suggest is try the in line preamp that radio shack sells just to see what that does, you can return anything you try at radio shack.

WKRG in my opinion is worth it alone to have hd, but wala would be a plus if thats all you can get. I'm pretty confident you'll get some more if you study your area and try out a few different things like a preamp, or tweaking your antenna a bit.

Goodluck, and i you'd like some help let me know since i'm fairly close to your area (daphne).

Following is an edited (shortened) version of a press release:


EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 2003--DIRECTV, Inc., provider of the nation's leading digital multichannel television service, announced today 39 new markets where it plans to launch local channels by year end, bringing the total number of markets it will serve with local channels to 100, representing 84 percent of U.S. television households. DIRECTV also said it is evaluating plans to add more markets beyond the additional 39 markets by year end or early 2004. DIRECTV today offers local channels in 52 markets.


The next scheduled 39 local channel markets are (includes):

Mobile, Ala., Pensacola, (Fort Walton Beach), Fla.

Advanced digital compression technology and DIRECTV 7S, a spot beam satellite scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, will provide the capacity for the majority of the 39 markets.

I sent Joe an email inquiring about the loss of WEAR 3's digital signal. Here is his reply:
Yes, it's off while we're installing both our channel 3 antenna and the
full power digital antenna atop the tall tower. We expect to be
broadcasting channel 3 from the tall tower as early as tomorrow morning
(weather and war permitting). Soon afterward (and I don't know exactly
how soon), we will begin broadcasting channel 17 from the tall tower.
I'll send you an e-mail when we get back on-air with DTV.

Thanks,

Joe

I talked to a directv installer this past weekend and he confirmed that we are about to get locals in our market. He also indicated that they will be doing free dish installation and swaps to the oval 3lnb for anyone who doesn't have one yet.

Right now i get the east/west coast feeds of nbc and fox, which gives me a lot of freedom when recording shows on at the same time with my replay tv. I guess when we get locals i will lose the national feeds, that sucks. Would gladly give up locals forever since i get them with my antenna already.

Cinder,

Do you have or know someone with a "huntiing cabin" (hint hint nudge nudge"), in other words, an address far enough from the Mobile market where local into local doesn't apply? Find a small C-band dish and subscribe to the "Denver 5" You can get the networks on the Mountain time zone that way. They are all on the same satellite, so you would not even need a dish mover. The picture is better, too.

BTW, nothing against DirecTV, my wife works in their customer service call center here in Crestview. But I still have my big dish, a DirecTV dish , which is a perk my wife gets for working there, and cable, as well as the digital OTA tuner and antenna. More TV than I can possibly watch.

Well, today is supposed to be the big day for WTVY to light up their digital transmitter. No joy in getting a signal here, and if should be booming in at their antenna height and my proximity to the transmitter site. Anyone with a contact there who can find out if they are in fact on the air?

Thanks for the help .

Does anyone around the area have a Dish network 6000 setup that I could bug with a few questions ? Thanks

WTVY-DT

Their date is now "under review". Don't know what that means. I sent an e-mail to Wade asking for clearification - no reply yet.

I guess the impending War will be their excus for missing this date. THey have had many delays everythung for wrong antenna, to 15 lb pulley fell and damaged they last antenna.

Will post Wade's response when he reply's.

Bob H

Richard,

I had gotten an email from Wade Thomaston in Dothan. He did not response directly to my question about the damaged antenna being here, but he did say that there would be a delay due to the rains we have been having. He's hoping that they will have something week after next. I know its disappointing to hear of another delay.

At least I believe Dothan is on the level. Nothing they could do about a damaged antenna and I wouldn't expect a crew to climb a 1800' tower in bad weather.

I have heard nothing from WMBB-ABC in Panama City. I just check their DTV broadcast when I can and hope to be surprised. Both Dothan and Panama City have been very slow getting HDTV, but the day will come.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030319/195419_1.html

Let's see, WTVY-DT... pulley fell, there's a war on, hopefully their run of bad luck has nothing to do with the stars in the heavens not being in alignment. :rolleyes: I've worked with Gray Communications before, they're pretty straight arrow. Hopefully they'll be able to get the monkey off their back and a digital signal on the air soon.

As for ABC, WEAR-DT won't have anything spectacular other than a upconverted digital signal, but maybe next week I can see them. I doubt they are doing much tower work with the weather we've been having. :confused:

One thing, DirecTV adding local market means it will be the analog broadcasts digitally compressed, right? I don't think they will be doing HD for all the local markets that they carry when HD requires more bandwidth than they seem to had.

No HD Rick. I had all network channels a few years ago and the PQ at that time was good. They are probably compressed to the max now.

Local Channels on Dish network are very fuzzy so I would think that direc tv would be the same way . Atlanta Locals look better than Bham and Jacksonville locals.

The HD PQ on WKRG today [NCAA] was almost as good as any game I have ever seen on HDnet.

Even though it's just analog converted to digital television, the Oscars are on WEAR-DT. Very strong signal in Crestview, no breakups at all. (Of course, I live on a hill, your mileage may vary.)

Richard, believe me they looked a lot better in HD, especially J.Lo, Catherine, Jennifer etc :)

Bob H.

Bob,

I wasn't too thrilled with the picture quality on WEAR-DT. Of course, knowing the source material, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

BTW, got the converter in yesterday's mail. I have a full plate this next few days, though. My parent's home burned to the ground Monday night, no serious injuries, but house, car, and MY pickup truck were destroyed. I'm having to do the insurance work. I'll send a PM re: UM when I get free.

Richard, I guess thats one way to get a new truck, glad everyones OK. When you get a chance take a look at the connector on the convertor so I can make sure I have the right VGA cable to conect to it.

Bob H.

WTVY-DT Update

GOt the following from Wade Thomaston in response to an email about their go live date.

Hopefully we will be on by April 1st.
Wade Thomaston

Hope this date holds. I would love to get HD CBS

Oh, please! Oh, pretty please! Let WTVT get that antenna and their HD transmitter going!

When did you get that message from Wade? We're in for some rainy weather this weekend going into Monday and Tuesday. But if that message is recent and Wade feels that Tuesday next week is a possible start date, maybe our CBS-HD ship is finally arriving!!

I still haven't gotten any response from Paname City's WMBB on their ABC-HD installation. Earlier claims that they have all the equipment for HD seem questionable, since they had a working DTV transmitter for months now and they still don't have HD. I keep checking for HD whenever tropospheric condition are good and the signal is strong here on the west side of Ft. Walton and there is some ABC HD programming on.

WEAR-DTV from Pensacola is a strong signal here in Ft. Walton, too bad there's no HDTV planned from them anytime in the future.

WTVY-DT

Got the email from Wade on Thursday. I have been checking periodically for a test signal or pattern. Nothing yet. Hopefully this rain and high winds will not have delayed the installation of the antenna. If they were planning on doing the work this week end I would say we will not meet the April 1 date. Maybe soon though.

I have the old plasma warmed up and waiting. Can you imagine moving from Dallas where we had HD and having a good signal to an area with no HD digital programing. Such a waste of electrons to watch SD on the Zenith.

I'm ready for this. It's now been a year of promises and missed dates.

WMBB has quit responding to my inquiries as well. I don't know what their problem really is. They say everything is installed except the digital link between their studio's and transmitter. Have been waiting on installation of microwave link for many months.

This from Joe Smith at WEAR:

Rick,

Our actual tower height is 1906 ft. and we are currently at 700 watts.
We will within the next month upgrade the power on the transmitter, but
it may only be temporary...our company doesn't want us paying the huge
power bill when there are less than 1% of the viewers with sets capable
of receiving the signal.

The main thing I found interesting, WEAR is transmitting at 700 watts!!! That flea power! But with the added height of the antenna, I get a good signal anytime I tune WEAR-DT 17 here in Ft. Walton. All the channels that are hard to catch (for me, at least) are on towers of 1200 ft or less. This bears out something Roland Philips at WSRE told me, that digital signals can use less power than what the FCC estimates, but tower height is the key to area coverage. Roland currently pushing out about 280 kilowatts from a 1800 foot tower. He's approved for 1 Megawatt, but has said he has no intend of going to that level since he thinks the current STA setup has excellent coverage.

So a quick poll, guys - how's your reception of WEAR-DT?
Maybe if we are getting the signal ok, we should push for WEAR to invest their money in HD gear first, instead of higher power? What do you think.


For the record, I'm using a fringe antenna, with ~21dB preamp, so my setup is not "bare-bones basic", but it isn't far from it.

I seem to be receiving a very strong signal from WEAR-DT-- much stronger than from WKRG-DT-- but I refuse to watch ABC-3 until they announce their plans, with realistic dates, for passing along the ABC network digital programming. Until then, I don't care how stong (or weak) their signal might be.

Rick I get a strong signal from WEAR[digital] but to tell the truth the PQ is not mush better than there analog channel. Its 7:50 pm right now and on D* there is a NBA game on 198 a hi-school allstar BB on HDnet, movie on HBO, all in HD, plus CBS HD,PBS HD and FOX W/S so I have no reason to watch WEAR.

You all need to tell the general manager at WEAR that you will not watch their programming until they go HD. I have.

Hey, people, the point is if you can get the signal fine with the 700 watt power level, tell the WEAR management that. Then suggest that they install HD equipment FIRST, and add more power to the transmission later. As it is, I'm with you. I don't watch WEAR-DT if there is anything more entertaining on and I would certainly prefer to watch a HD show.

I get wear fine in my area, better than upn actually, much better.

As for abc, i'm not willing to give up shows i enjoy just because i don't agree with the local affiliate. That said i am in a hiring freeze per se with abc:) i will watch MNF and Alias because i am hooked and they are grandfathered in, no new shows though, i won't check them out until i can watch hd.

Agreed, Rick. You get more flies with honey than vinegar. Tell them you WILL watch them, but want your TRUE digital signal, especially starting with pass-through of high-definition. Other stations in this market are switching between their prime-time high-def network signal and upconverted local programming.

I sent my e-mail off to Carl Leahy this morning. The decisions being made RE: HDTV and true digital are not being made locally. Mr. Leahy is a pretty decent guy. Give him some ammunition to send to Sinclair's Maryland headquarters.

I sent Carl a nice email back in December, asking him when WEAR would go digital and add HD. If he is such a nice guy, why did he NOT even reply to my email. WEAR sucks, Carl sucks, and Sinclair really sucks. Let me know if he even replies to anyone's email.

I've talked to Joe Smith several times, he has been very informative and even gave me good information to pull in nbc and upn digital feeds. He seems frustrated that they are not going HD, but doesn't outright say it.

That said Wear and Sinclair do suck, if they didn't we wouldn't be discussing them in this way. I think Sinclair is the disease, and Congress is debating (well on hold now with war) allowing companies like Sinclair to own even move stations in an area. Imagine if they ran all our stations :) Anyway i really don't see much change until the local joe 6 packs start getting more HD. I've seen more than a few Non Home Theater types buy hd tv's in the last cpl of months but no hd tuner. In their situation they will have HD Cable in 3 months so that is holding them up, but eventually the numbers will change and Wear will be forced to change.

All that said i send them nice emails from time to time to keep the level of emails inquiring about hd at a nice level, because while sadly i believe i will not see my raiders in HD on MNF this year, i am hopeful for 2004. And thats 2 years earlier than they're saying now. ( i would interject a somewhat un pc joke here involving uprisings and terrorist like behavior to force their hands, but i'll abstain for now given the current climate.)

Well, still no CBS-HD from Dothan, yet. Something is afoot, they ARE working on the tower as explained in this un-dated note to viewers: http://www.wtvynews4.com/station/headlines/266536.html Please, pretty please, something by the end of the week!! :)

We Have Lift Off

At 5:40 this afternoon I started receiving WTVY-DT. I have a signal strength of 94 on my Sony Receiver. No picture or sound but the PSIP information shows WTVY-HD1. It maps as channel 4.1 in the guide but is actually channel 36. I live on 30-A and have my antenna currently pointed at the tower. I receive only a signal strength of 89 on WMBB.
WTVY-HD1 trips the HD light and adjusts the format to 16.9.

Hopefully they will begin programing shortly.

Hey ! Hey ! Hey!

Finally we have made progress in my area on HD signals.


Bob H

Supposedly I should be able to pick up WTVY-DT with a piece of wire. No dice. WALA-DT breaks up every now and then. Everything else works fine up here on the hill.

I guess it's time to open the wallet again and get another Yagi, and aim it directly at Miller's Crossroads. I thought I'd get lucky and pick up signal from the back side of the antenna, as WTVY-DT is on a reciprocal heading to all of the other transmitter sites to my west. Diplexers, new antennae, where will it end? :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Cinder
I've talked to Joe Smith several times, he has been very informative and even gave me good information to pull in nbc and upn digital feeds. He seems frustrated that they are not going HD, but doesn't outright say it.



What did you do to "pull in the feed from upn"?

Thanks J C

Richard

I checked WTVY yesterday afternoon about 4:30; nothing. After seeing Hondo's report this morning I went home and scan for WTVY at 8:15; nothing. They could be in a test mode where they are switching the transmitter off and on at different times, so you could hold on that new yagi until we know that they are transmitting continously. Time to email Wade for a WTVY progress report.

Thanks, Rick.

Since WKRG-DT is beyond my reception area with their low power transmitter, WTVY-DT will be my CBS provider. Can't wait until they light the candle.

I'm still amazed that I can pull in WEAR-DT from a distance of over 80 miles from their transmitter site, with their power being only 700 watts. And it's a rock solid signal. Now if they can only get their act together regarding true digital video and HDTV prime time programming....

He gave me the degrees apart that each station tower was and walked me through tweaking the antenna little by little until i pulled in the stations. There is about a mm sweet spot where i can get every station great, however upn still gives me some dropouts, and in bad conditions still screws up pretty bad. I'm going to move the antenna some more to get it more precise, try to move it forward and away from the metal air shaft to its left as i've been told somewhere on this thread.

I still don't really understand why i get almost a full bar on nbc with no dropouts, but i get a full bar that continually drops to poor in certain conditions causing dropouts on upn. I know they're pointed in slightly different directions, but aren't they on the same tower? Makes very little sense to me.

Daniel

I have a suspicion that there is a misplaced decimal point here somewhere. 70 Kwatts (70,000 watts) or maybe even 700 KW might account for WEAR-DT signal strength from the 2K foot high tower. For comparison, and these numbers are from www.100000watts.com,
Channel 9 WALA-DT (& WB55-DT) 1135' 124 KW
Channel 17 WEAR-DT (ABC) 1900' not listed yet (but not 0.7 KW!)
Channel 27 WKRG-DT (CBS) 833 55 KW
Channel 31 WSRE-DT (PBS) 1801 287 KW
Channel 34 WHBR-DT (Religious)1361 108 KW
Channel 45 WJTC-DT (UPN) 1499 1000 KW (1 MW)
Channel 47 WPMI-DT (NBC) 1830 1000 KW (1 MW)

WTVY-HD1

I have received their signal continuously since 5:40 yesterday afternoon. Their programming came on line at 6:30pm. Watched my first HD programming at 9:00pm last night and then watched part of their 11:00 am HD program this morning. Every thing else has come through as 16:9 with a 4:3 window. Black bars on sides. Got the following email from Wade after sending him a congratulatory email last night.

(Quote)

You should be receiving most of the CBS prime in HD. Also, the 11:00AM show is in HD.
Thanks for the note. We are getting there finally.
Wade Thomaston

Better check further. They have been on the air continuously.

I’m skunked! WTVY in Dothan is just out of reach. My Samsung T150 was showing a weak signal indicator when trying to get them last night but it couldn’t get a lock. As Richard in Crestview, I’ll be looking for a better UHF antenna to wring a few more dB of gain, if its possible.

Also, Wade at WTVY reports they are going to be broadcasting intermittently:
We are not leaving it on all the time during the testing phase. We will be on tonight during prime time. It will be on each night during prime and Saturday for the final four.
Wade Thomaston
He will be covering the prime time hours, so Hondo, you can’t complain :) And by the way, what antenna are you using in Santa Rosa Beach?

On Thursday night, I kept losing WKRG-DT (5-1) while trying to watch CSI, etc. WKRG is now the weakest signal in this market. I sent a note to Jim Richardson. He replied promptly:

"We will be going to 1,000,000 watts at 1800' but not for a couple of
years. Cost for upgrade is $3 million. Can only suggest a mast mounted
pre-amp or turning you antenna a little for better reception of our signal."

I also commented that for the past month or so I have been getting a weird picture on 5-2, their SD-weather channel. (I get the picture squeezed into the top third of the screen, and garbage below.) He responded:

"You must have receiver setting incorrect as to the picture on 5-2. It
should be full picture. It is correct on all the sets I have seen."

True, if I change the output to SD, it is correct, but still incorrect with the 1080i output (of a MITS-SRHD5). Anyone else seeing an incorrect picture? I guess something is happening in their upconvert.

I get 16:9 on 5.2 and I keep my Sony on 1080i all of the time. The picture is "BAD" very blurry. I just tried to put it in 4:3 with my box but it stays 16:9.

Broadcasters won't upgrade unless forced by the feds. Then, they do the legal minimum.
They say it's because there are few sets that can get the signal.

Of course! If they send out upconverted analog, or a weak digital signal in the guise of saving money, the switch will drag out for years. Why would anyone buy a set that can't pick up anything except when you live under the transmitter site or if the tropo skip is good.

I'm supposed to get WTVY-DT. I don't get it, and probably won't unless I put up ANOTHER Yagi, diplexer, etc. This hobby gets expensive, and I'm beginning to run out of roof space and available electrical ground points for masts.

Michael Powell at the FCC is, if I'm not mistaken, at least pushing for specific performance on the digital issue. But of course, money talks, and Congress is in the back pocket of the major station owners. More promises broken...
:(

Does anyone in Mobile/Pensacola have the Hughes E86 Receiver?
If so I'd like to compare notes on reception with you.

Thanks J C

"Anyone else seeing an incorrect picture? I guess something is happening in their upconvert"
Beachrez, I have the Dish 6000 and I get the same weather picture as you. I get the weather radio audio and a squeezed picture of radar image. Tell him that it is there signal, my 6000 works fine on all other channels.

Jerry on both of my Sonys HD100 and HD200, 5.2 is in 16:9.

Thanks for the replies about 5-2. I'll forward the information to Richardson at WKRG-DT.

For JC West: I use the Mits SRHD-5, which is a Hughes E86 with a different label. I get 9,17,31,45 and 47 at 100. 27 is usually about 50-55, and 34 is around 76-82. I have a fairly standard outdoor antenna with the top being about 25-30' above the sand. (I live on the beach!)

Is this the information that you are looking for?

Does your unit get WB-55.
Fox is on 9-2 and WB is on 9-3 and my Samsung TS 160 can not separate them.

Does UPN-44 pixelate or is it a good solid picture?

Thanks J C

Response to JC West:

I get WB55 on 9-2 and/or 55-1; UPN (44-1) is usually pretty good. For awhile I was getting PSIP information on WJTC-DT and WB55 such as the call letters, but no program schedule. Lately, I am not getting the call letters-- just "Local Digital" and still no program information in the guide.

Richard (rray325539), I'm the one that led your to believe getting Dothan WTVY would be a cakewalk. Mainly, because I believed that myself. I don't remember the power level that Wade Thomaston said they would be radiating at, but I'm thinking it was about 80kW. Compare that to WMBB Panama City (38kW), WEAR Pensacola (8.3 kW), and WKRG Mobile (55kW), our current low wattage champs, I thought WTVY would have better reception. Wade himself was didn't think that his signal would carry to Ft. Walton

One thing I may be overlooking is antenna pattern. WTVY is using a non-directional antenna. Its signal is evenly radiated in every direction of the compass. If you check the FCC info, WEAR is using a very directional antenna, beaming the majority of its signal to Pensacola. In fact, everybody is using a directional antenna except WALA-FOX and WTVY-CBS.

It sounds if you're using fixed antennas. If I were you, I would try pointing my antenna at Dothan first. The front to back ratio of a fringe antenna is typically 12-18 dB or better. So you can get a big boost in signal by pointing the antenna east. If that gets WTVY for you, then its your choice, another antenna pointed at Dothan and duplexer to couple it into your downlead or a rotor to swing your exsisting antenna back and forth from Mobile to Dothan.

All:
I lost WJTC-UPN this weekend when I rescanned the channels on my Samsung SIR-T150. I know this is a mis-programming on the digital bit stream at WJTC, this is exactly the problem I had with WSRE when I first got the box. Anyone else also missing WJTC (channel 44/45)? Anyone willing to rescan their channels and see if WJTC drops out after that :)

Also, beachrez, WEAR's reported power of 700 watts comes from an email from Joe Smith himself. I agree, that seem very low. FCC has a STA on file for WEAR with a ERP of 8.3 kW, still very low, but more believable.

Hello to everyone, I have been lurking on and off for a while but finally needed to post. Anyway, I got to see COX HD cable last weekend (CBS Texas vs. Syracuse Final Four) and it looked great.:D I have been reluctant to put up an antenna and go OTA, but it looks like COX will come through soon. I was told most likely May, but I was also told Jan and Mar in my prior inquiries. I guess good things come to those who wait. Initially they were going to beta-test publically, but then decided to do it only internally.

I thought I read earlier on this thread that WKRG would not carry the NCAA tourney in HD, but would have the Master's. Did any of you watch it on OTA? If this is true, then would COX be getting their feed from CBS satelite?

COX's box is of course the SA3100HD, and it sounds if they will have plenty of options to make everyone and their pocket book happy. I don't won't to speculate or repeat any of the stations that they will carry since few are finalized but it sounds like several more are close.

Did the person from or affliliated with COX ever post, as mentioned earlier? It's great to have insiders on threads (I think). Hopefully cable will push Sinclair into bringing us HD MNFB! I know a lot of folks like me that have HDTV ready sets that just don't want to fool with OTA right now.

welcome to the AVSforum and our humble Mobile/Pensacola/FWB thread, ssmurphy.

As far as Cox, I don't recall officials from Cox having posted. Since you appear to have heard what Cox is putting together, what's the Gulf Coast version going to be like? I'm expecting the locals with HD or widescreen programming, WKRG, WALA, WPMI, WSRE, as a basic HD package, maybe Discovery and HDNet included, and a premium package with HBO HD and Showtime HD.

I'm really wondering what the pricing structure will be. I'm guessing we will be required to subscribe to digital cable to get local/basic HD. I hear that some cable companies are requiring a monthly fee for their HD STB, so I'm expecting that, too. What have you heard of that?

In fact, I think that the possible price of cable HD may be great enough that I will stay with my OTA. While FWB has problems with the weaker stations, so we don't get CBS HD very well from WKRG or WTVY, what you do get is super, reception like you won't believe. When WKRG and WTVY get the full transmitter rolled out, it should be easy to pull in OTA here in FWB. Just a 20' pole and a RS 120 antenna and you got crystal reception.

Having email with Joe Smith a little, HD cable will pressure Sinclear. If their numbers go down as more people go to HD programming, Sinclear won't have a choice but to get that HD equipment to keep up with the Joneses. When, well thats the 64k question.

Maybe now is the time to make friends with the management of Circuit City, Rex, Best Buy, Art's, Sears, or wherever you bought your gear and volunteer to preach the gospel of HDTV. Many of the sales droids are actually shooting themselves in the foot by not having an HDTV signal for a customer to look at. Best Buy in Pensacola only shows analog signals on its digital sets. No wonder the great masses are not flocking to buy!.

To their credit, I bought my Sony 16:9 from Rex in Mary Esther. Of course, any such purchace requires spousal approval. (For my boating purchases, she is lovingly referred to as "The Admiral") The one thing that sold my wife was the BEAUTIFUL picture from HDNet that was piped in to all of the HDTV sets. It went from "we already have a big screen" to "we have to get this one!"

Having a few customers around that can explain the workings locally could help them and us immensely. For the most part, the guys and gals that sell this gear can't afford it, and thus know little or nothing about it. The Best Buy guy didn't even know there was OTA in the Pensacola/Mobile market! He thought you needed a pizza pan dish to get a HD signal.

Maybe even help them with a fact sheet, and a link to this forum, re: local HD and how to get it. It could help them boost sales, increase market penetration, and give us the ammunition we need to fight the evil corporate powers at Sinclair!

I am a novice to the forum so please be patient.

I live on Pensacola Beach in a high-rise (8th Floor) with a clear view from the balcony to the northwest, west, and south.

I just hooked up a TERK antenna (Terk 55) and am receiving all the local analog stations but for some reason I can't get any of the digital stations. For example, I am receiving WKRG analog (5.0) but am getting no signal on WKRG digital (5.1). I am even not getting the local PBS digital station.

Is there any reason I can get the analog channels but not the digital channels?

Is it just a signal strength issue or do I need to tweek the equipment? I have a Sony SAT HD-200 with a Terk eliptical dish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Have you done a digital [local] scan with your HD200? You should get all of the digital channels. Are you getting the HD channels on D*?

I haven't run a scan myself although the channels are showing up on my guide....I just am not getting a signal or a picture when I tune to them. From reading some of the other posts, I understand that the Terk is not a very good antenna but it is receiving the analog stations. If it's the antenna, does anyone have any suggestions for a better antenna that can be mounted on the balcony of a condo? Thanks.

Trich,

You were right...I changed the DTV input on the HD200 from cable to antenna and I'm now getting all of the digital channels. Thanks so much.

ABC is a little weak...has anyone else found this?

Also, is there a better antenna for a condo balcony than the Terk 55?

Thanks again.

Go to RS and get a good UHF-VHF antenna, if it don't help take it back. Less than $50.

Anybody have problems with WPMI last night during L&O? I was see lots of breakup for what has been one of the best channels for Ft. Walton.

Rick, we usually watch L&O but it was a repeat so I did'nt see it.......... Sorry

I didn't watch it either, but i've been getting increasing number of breakups on upn, with a day here and there where the picture is fine. I always show a strong signal, but it drops to bad on occasion causing breakups and slow motion of the screen.

One thing i have noticed is when it starts getting bad if i switch channels and switch back its better. However say i was mapped to 44-1 watching it, it breaks up so i switch channels, then switch back, only now i'm watching 45-1. could this be a psip issue?

Anyway just curious, i have a zenith hd520.

Daniel

Rick, I didn't have any problems with L&O last night and can't wait to see tonight's special. I did however get a surprise tonight, while checking on ch 4 we actually got ch 13, not the digital yet but it was very clear. so I can now cansel cable!!! we have an ABC!!

oh and to answer a previous question we live off Beal & Memorial I was off line for a while and out of the loop

Linda, what are you using for equipment, antenna, mast hieght, receiver etc. Enquiring Shalimar minds want to know.

Bob H.

Linda,

I'm not certain that it already happen, but WMBB-ABC of Panama City was going to redo their antenna. It would allow more signal toward FWB. And it does seem like there is a stronger signal from them now a days.

WTVY Wade Thomaston has told me that at first they will only transmit during primetime hours, so keep that in mind when scanning for them on channel 36. I got them one night for a couple of hours. I'm getting ready to order a Channel Master 4228 UHF only antenna to see if that will get CBS in FWB. The Blake antenna are interesting, but $50 vs. $150 suggests I try the Channel Master first.

Bob, you know a guy that has a Winegard HD8200, their top-of-the-line VHF/UHF ant. in Shalimar, right? Did he ever set it up? Any word on his ability to get FOX on ch. 9 or CBS on ch 27 or ch 36?

As far as the problem I had with WPMI Wednesday, last night there was no problem what so ever.

May 1, 2003 is another deadline date, I believe. Anybody coming on line then? There is a number of stations in Panama City that haven't powered up yet, any info?

Linda, if ABC in standard def. DTV was something you were looking for, have you also tried WEAR-DT channel 17? They are still using a very low powered signal (8.3kW) but they got it installed on their new tower at 1899 feet. I get a very good signal from them anytime I check.

Robert, we have the HD8200 winegard on 35' mast with a cm rotor. no preamp but are considering it, only problem is my husband doesn't really want to lower the mast again to add it on!!! we can receive fox but never with the sound. always comes and goes, which annoys us because of Nascar!!! inside we bought an RCA 38" tube HDTV (we are not into projection or plasma) with HDTV and Directv already built in. we have been thrilled with it so far especially Crossing Jordan! Half the time I don't know what you guys are talking about so I just keep reading!!! the only way we have to see signal strength is thru the tv and only on hd not regular ota. the highest it has ever shown is in the 70's or so for wpmi . so I was going to ask what kind of preamp you guys would recommend and where to purchase.

I'm now getting Biloxi's ABC feed on 13-1 and 13-2, but not all the time. When I can get it, quality is very good. Finally get ABC stuff in HD, though I don't really watch much on ABC. Sure would've been nice at Super Bowl time! BTW, I'm in Pace using a RS 190 ant. and a Samsung STB. Anybody else getting good signal?

Graham

GrahamMc
It may be tropo effect. I was getting WWL from New Orleans last night. That's over 200 miles to Ft. Walton. They are on channel 36, remapped to 4-1. That's the same as Dothan WTVY, which is in my scanned list and why I just happen to tune that channel. Checking Heburn's website suggest we just had an intense effect past over our area last night and it may continue tonight. Check it out at http://www.iprimus.ca/~hepburnw/tropo.html

Linda,
Can understand your husband's reluctance to drop the antenna down. If you do look for a preamp, Channel Master's model 7777 is considered the best. I don't know where to get one locally, and for that matter I don't know where to get a Winegard HD8200 in FWB since Key Electronic closed its doors, but an on-line source would be http://www.starkelectronic.com/allamps.htm If FOX is just viewable sometimes on your rig, the preamp may be the ticket to get them all the time. I have a new UHF antenna and a 7777 on its way from Stark Electronic right now. The 7777 will replace a Channel Master Spartan Preamp I'm using right now. Call me, I'm in the book, if you would like to try a preamp out.

Rick there is a company in Pcola that carries or will order anything for us but cannot sell direct but told me who to call and he gave me best price I could find anywhere. The person I actually purchased from was Doug at Panhandle Satellite 850-438-0690 and the people with the info and wholesale only that gave me his number was Pace Electronics (Craig) at 800-822-0075. they were all great helps. no freight charges etc. we did a lot of research on the internet before deciding exactly which antenna we wanted and tv. one sales person at Circuit city told us we were crazy to buy the rca but we have been ecstatic with it. I was wondering, with one of the highest quality antennas and a preamp, would you be able to pick up stations in, say, Montgomery? You would think they would have higher outputs in the larger cities. I plan on doing some more scanning tonight to see what we can pickup.

Rick, let me know when you get your 7777, I'll take the spartan off your hands for my RS190.

Bob H.

Actually, Linda, Mobile/Pensacola is a higher Nielsen rating market than Montgomery (62 vs. 116). Mobile/Pensacola had DTV stations before any other part of Alabama, including Birmingham.

Our chance of getting a Montgomery station is very slim, as I believe they have the same low powered transmitter problem that we have for our CBS stations. And 100 miles plus is more than what could be reasonable expected. If you want to see were some of the Montgomery towers are, you can go to www.100000watts.com look for their listings page and click on the towers under the station info for a map. Note that if after "Network Service" it starts with "new - to be " then the DTV transmitter is not on the air.

So, did you have any luck with your DX'ing effort? I didn't get New Orleans tonight, and boy, that was a shock when I got it Friday night. Did get WTVY Dothan for most of "The District" and "The Agency".

Bob, hoping to get the new gear about Thursday-Friday. Will get in touch then. I'm interested in what others can get. FOX is our problem station, because they are at full power already, so its up to us to get the darn thing. I may be in a hole, as far as reception goes, or maybe my antenna's too beat up (if you saw it you would see what I mean), but I was throwing in the towel on VHF until Linda chinned in. Still going for a seperate UHF antenna for right now.

For what it's worth:

Called Lowell Beckner at WMBB in Panama City yesterday to ask about the hold-up on getting ABC-HDTV. He told me that they ran into problems with the microwave link they needed. He has worked for sometime trying to get the problem solved on the cheap and save the station some money. He finally threw in the towel and more equipment has been purchased. He stated that WMBB WILL have HD within 30 days. He was pretty positive about that. So, maybe...

On a seperate issue, Beckner said that there has been no changes to the antenna or the power level. Since I have crappy reception of WMBB last summer, I expect that I will see a degradation of reception again within a month. Maybe the CM4228/7777 will give me the boost I need.


And in news westward of Ft. Walton:

Tim Reid at WMPI/WTJC finally responded to my note about losing WJTC-UPN. They are now experiencing problems with the second PSIP generator at WTJC, a loaner from the company that they are using. The company now appears to be blaming the software for least some of the PSIP grenerator problem. Tim is frustrated with all this, and confused, as they use the same setup for both channels, WMPI-NBC and WTJC-UPN, and WMPI have been fine. There is no telling when I will get WJTC back.

For the rest of you, I suggest you don't rescan your tuner, you may also lose WTJC, as I did. Supposingly, this problem only shows up with Samsung tuners, but you never know.

I was wondering if I was the only one in the Pensacola area getting DTV OTA. I guess I'm not.

I'm located off of Lillian Hwy and Blue Angel.

I'm also having problems with my Samsung receiver and the WJTC-DT feed. I'm getting a lot of artifacts on the feed. I too got a reply from Tim about a week ago and he said they are working with Samsung on the problem. It seems to only affect the Samsung receivers.

Also, is anyone having problems with the Fox feed during prime time? Whenever music or more than one voice is sent it sounds like a scratched CD. This doesn't seem to happen before 7:00.

Just to let others know the DTV channels I recieve with my outdoor 18' antenna :

ABC (WEARDT)
NBC (WPMIDT)
UPN (WJTCDT)
CBS (WKRGDT) x2
FOX (WALADT)
PBS (WSREDT) x3
TWB (WBPGDT)

Most af these are showing 9 bars on my Samsung SIR-T151 receiver.

Thanks all for being here.....

Steve

Originally posted by RickRS


Tim Reid at WMPI/WTJC finally responded to my note about losing WJTC-UPN. They are now experiencing problems with the second PSIP generator at WTJC, a loaner from the company that they are using.

When does Mr. Reid expect to get back on his normal PSIP generator?
I have the Samsung TS-160 and I am actually getting better reception on UPN now than I was a few days ago.

RUTE:

There is something out in the real world that is preventing the Samsung boxes from getting UPN-45 properly. I have been complaining to Samsung since November 2002 and they say they're working on it.........

I do not have a problem with FOX DT.

J C

JC West

Thanks for the info. I may try a rescan tonight to see if Fox clears up. The picture is fine and audio is fine until prime time. Then whenever music is played on the channel I get a clicking noise in the background like a scratched CD.

We'll see if the rescan fixes it.

Thanks,
Steve

I just got this from Joe {55.1] so he needs some input.
Are you getting it in 16:9?
__________________________________________

Hi Bobby,



When you get a minute would you please take a look at 55-1 (WB55) and let me know if you are receiving it in 16:9? We fixed the problem today that caused us to keep it in 4:3. It’s still only 480i but The WB Network HD shows will be in 16:9 SD, which looks really good for SD.



Thanks,



Joe

I'm getting UPN now (5 PM, Thursday) as 4:3 with side-bars, so I presume that true 16:9 will be fullscreen. I had been getting all 4:3 stretched to fill the screen. This 4:3 sidebar is the same behavior that I get with Fox (9-1, remapped to 10-1). I'm using the Mitsubishi SRHD-5 (Hughes E86). I do get the WB55 call letters but I still receive no program information for that channel (9-2, remapped to 55-1). I don't get program information for WJTC-DT either.

Originally posted by trich
I just got this from Joe {55.1] so he needs some input.
Are you getting it in 16:9?


I just got home and checked WB. It's in 16:9 although it's a 4:3 picture with grey side bars. But that's normal for widescreen transmissions of 4:3 shows.

Now, if my info for that channel would just say "HD" instead of "SD":)

Steve

ATT: beachrez
About your guide, Joe said this.............




Also we have a problem with our guides for both channels right now. We are working with the PSIP generator manufacturer to get it rectified. I’ll let you know when they are back in the stream.



Thanks for posting this,



Joe

Well, I did a rescan of channels and as soon Micheal Jackson came on Fox at 7:00 I started hearing the ticking sound in the background. This doesn't happen if only one character is talking. It happens when characters are talking and music is playing at the same time. It sounds just like a CD with a scratch on it, sorta like a ticking sound in the background.

It only happens after Fox switches to the National Feed at
7:00.

Oh, and it doesn't happen on any other channel and this is just the stereo feed through my TV. I'm saving my pennies for the surround sound speakers.....

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve

OK, after some research and talking to some people on another forum, I decided to try and narrow down the clicking.

I've verified that it only happens when FOX is receiving the national feed. It happens between 7:00PM and 9:00PM CST. It happens during the national feed comercials also but not during the local comercials.

After talking to some folks in the other forums, it looks like FOX may need to adjust their IRD. I sent them an e-mail and we'll see what happens.

If you'd like to verify this, watch the FOX OTA feed between 7:00 and 9:00PM. You'll hear the clicking in the background when there are multiple sounds, such as music or multiple characters talking. It's most noticable during the music.

Steve

Speaking of sound issues, anyone know an eta of when wkrg will go 5.1? I know they said the insanely low db level on their digital channel is due to them preparing for the transition, but i'm ready for some surround :)

Also i have a zenith 520 and have issues with UPN which may also be psip related. Basically i'll have a strong signal then it will randomly drop out, if i change the channel and change back it will remap to a new subchannel and all is well for awhile, then i get dropouts again. Sometimes more frequent than others. I"ve tweaked my antenna numberous times and get every channel including NBC in great, but get persistent dropouts on upn.

Rick,did you get the 7777 installed yet? any difference in reception?

Bob H.

Bob, yeah, I got the CM7777 preamp and the CM4228 UHF antenna up this weekend.

First reaction was no improvement, still restricted to WEAR-ABC, WMPI-NBC, WSRE-PBS, and WJTC-UPN. WMBB-NBC in Panama actually seem worst, couldn't find it at all, at first, and later that night it showed up but was very poor. Nothing from WKRG-CBS Mobile or from WTVY-CBS Dothan. But Monday and Tuesday night appeared to have some tropospheric enhancement, as WKRG-CBS showed up with good reception for a couple of hours and WMBB-ABC was coming in, too. Getting WKRG has happened with my old antenna before on some nights, so I don't think I got any real improvement. Still, my old antenna is a mangled mess now, so no going back:D

Oh the joy of being in a fringe area!

Hi all! Just wanted to post my experience of receiving OTA hdtv in the area. I found this site when I was researching tvs and this thead motivated me to try my hand at pulling in some hdtv. Right now I'm getting WMPI-NBC, WSRE-PBS, and WJTC-UPN with a zenith 420 receiver, a silver sensor antenna, and a 7777 channel master preamp if you can believe it. Signal strength hovers around the top of normal and the bottom of good with a few occasional dropouts. At first I thought I had wasted my money with the limited hdtv in the area, then I saw the PBS hdtv demo feed. Now I know what everyone means when they say it's like looking through a window. They were showing shots of South Carolina and some of the nature sceens were breathtaking. After seeing that, it was hard to switch back to my cable feed. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and experiences. Keep the information comming.

Does anyone now where the Biloxi Transmission tower is for their ABC?