I live in Bourbon county (about 10 miles north of Paris), and I have been receiving all Lexington stations with no problem using a small 2 bowtie UHF antenna mounted on my roof. I even get WDKY with it. I added a second TV in the house, and split my antenna feed. Now I can't get WDKY. It comes back if I take the splitter out. I guess I was just on the edge of getting good enough reception. What is the best way to improve my situation? Should I install an amplifier? What type and where in the line would it go (at the splitter, on the antenna itself)?

Thanks, Paul.

As you pointed out, I don't think your WDKY is coming in very strong. I would consider adding a VHS antenna and a Channel Master CM7777 preamp. The cm777 will merge your 2 antennas (uhf and vhf) as well as boost the signal a bit.

pbracken,
i live off clintonville rd. close to ken's new mkt. i am using a channelmaster 4228 and have no trouble with the uhf channels.. are you using an amp or signal booster to achieve wdky? i'm not gonna hold my breath on direct tv. getting out locals in HD anytime soon even though our dma is 67... thanks for any help.....
robbie

I guess I just got lucky with my geographical position. I live on Larue Road out in the stix. I've been able to get all stations with only my little unamplified 1960's era antenna that I stole from my mother-in-laws attic.

I'd like to avoid adding another antenna, especially since I haven't needed one till I added the splitter. Wouldn't amplifying the signal from my current antenna be enough since I am right on the edge of enough signal right now?

The only problem with adding the channel mastrer 3044 is that my splitter is in the attic, and I have no AC power up there. Maybe a 7778 would do the trick. that way I could avoid having to run an AC outlet in the attic.

I guess I just got lucky with my geographical position. I live on Larue Road out in the stix. I've been able to get all stations with only my little unamplified 1960's era antenna that I stole from my mother-in-laws attic.

I'd like to avoid adding another antenna, especially since I haven't needed one till I added the splitter. Wouldn't amplifying the signal from my current antenna be enough since I am right on the edge of enough signal right now?

The only problem with adding the channel mastrer 3044 is that my splitter is in the attic, and I have no AC power up there. Maybe a 7778 would do the trick. that way I could avoid having to run an AC outlet in the attic.

And also using a pre-amp like the Cm7778 would boost your signal where it is cleanest at the first received point. Using a distro amp can possibly distort the signal in long cable runs causing more harm. And not having to worry about a power outlet in the attic would make it easier for you. I wish places like Lowes and Home Depot carried pre-amps and had a wider selection of antennas. I think alot of people would buy this stuff there to test it and could return easier than having to mail this stuff back if it doesn't work.

Got any recommendations on where to buy a CM7777 online?

Got any recommendations on where to buy a CM7777 online?

The place I bought mine from (solidsignal.com) has been very helpful, but they told me they would not be getting anymore of them until March (I thought the one I bought needed to be RMA'd). I do like their eagerness and response time in regard to troubleshooting.
They are the only OTA reception dealer I have bought from online, but maybe they are getting them back in sooner? It looks like they raised the price on them, maybe to deter people from ordering. You might call and ask to see the latest scoop.

It looks like there is a shortage of CM 7777's. Do other manufacturers make a comparable pre-amp (winegard, etc...)?

Thanks, Paul.

For those wondering what is available via Insight in Lexington, I receive the following HD channels broadcast in the clear (not scrambled) so that I just use the QAM tuner built into my TV to receive them. You don't have to buy the HD package to get these:
WKYT 27-1
WTVQ 36-1
WTVQ Weather 36-2
KET 1-6 on 46-1, 46-2, 46-3, 46-4, 46-5, 46-6
WDKY 56-1
TheTube 56-2
? 69-4
WLEX 116-1

I haven't scanned for new channels in the last couple of months so I don't know if I left anything out or not. If you get their DVR and have HBO or Showtime you can also get an HD channel of those as well.

Anyone out there using a QAM tuner, is this still correct? I got a new TV w/built in QAM/ATSC/NTSC tuner and I can't find most of those channels. I get WLEX on 116.1 but that's it for the locals. The TV I got (Sony xbr970) only has one antenna input for all the tuners so to use my OTA antenna they say use an A/B switch... That stinks... It concerned me but since I was told that I could pick up the locals using the QAM tuner, I didn't worry about it. I do get the on demand channel and HBO for free, but neither of those is going to get me the Super Bowl.... I wonder if the tuner just isn't working right or maybe my cable is just bad, I never really had a clear picture on cable.

Anyone out there using a QAM tuner, is this still correct? I got a new TV w/built in QAM/ATSC/NTSC tuner and I can't find most of those channels. I get WLEX on 116.1 but that's it for the locals. The TV I got (Sony xbr970) only has one antenna input for all the tuners so to use my OTA antenna they say use an A/B switch... That stinks... It concerned me but since I was told that I could pick up the locals using the QAM tuner, I didn't worry about it. I do get the on demand channel and HBO for free, but neither of those is going to get me the Super Bowl.... I wonder if the tuner just isn't working right or maybe my cable is just bad, I never really had a clear picture on cable.

Magnavox,
I've got a new flatscreen HDTV by Toshiba and I have to go to my Installation Setup Menu to change my one coax input from Cable to Ant to get my OTA (over the air) stations. This is assuming you have another cable going to an antenna of course. Try that and let us know the results. Dont forget to rescan for that input. The Super Bowl is next weekend!

Roger

Anyone out there have one of them small "HD Ready" flatscreen TVs? I've got a chance to purchase a 20" Flatscreen for $150, but have been informed that they need a HD tuner box to drive it. My question is, do the HD ready TVs have the QAM tuner in them to pick up the HD Digital stations that are riding on the Cable? I've got the Time Warner cable system (Adelphia) and I can pickup some free HD staions such as Discovery on 104.3 and TNT on 109.1. Please post or send an Email.

Thanks,
Roger

Roger, my older Sony projection set is HD-ready and gives me no digital tuner whatsoever, QAM or not. My newer TV with a built-in HD tuner w/ QAM ability unfortunately is not as handy as the one in your set, as I cannot switch from QAM cable to OTA without doing a rescan. It's not so bad going from cable channels to OTA, but scanning to go the other way around is a 15-minute wait. If I set my TV to cable and scan with the OTA antenna plugged in the only channel my tuner can sense is WDKY-DT.. I was hoping I could trick out the channel mapping in my set by scanning in the cable domain with the OTA antenna so I could 'cache' the channel tuning designation for the locals and then just swap in the cable line when I wanted to partake in the free QAM HD channels. It didn't work. My only hope is to find out how to enter service mode in my 32" Westinghouse LCD set and dink around to see if I can manually add channels.

I do have one easy way to go to the QAM channels.. on my Fusion 5 Lite HD card. I simply swap the OTA cable with the cable cable and then load in the channel profile for the QAM channels. Can't watch it on the big screens unless I move that PC, which is a pain.

So I just finished revamping my media PC that I was formerly using for only playback at the Sony projection set. I tried my hand at WinXp MCE 2005 with all the latest patches and the newly released Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600 card I just picked up at CompUSA the other day. After two days of fighting with the hardware and software I finally have an OTA HD-DVR that looks like it is going to be super convenient for the wife to use (w/ included remote control). Plus the older Sony projection set finally has an HD tuner of its own. I still don't understand why OTA HD tuner boxes are like $200 and they can't even record. With computer equipment from 4 years ago and a $100 card you get the same thing with WAY better control and features. It's definitely some work. Oh yeah, that Hauppauge card can't tune QAM, but Windows Media Center likes the hardware and that part of the setup went well.

roger, i have a samsung Sir-T150 that i bought from best-buy a few yrs. ago that was a floor model.. i bought it for $100 but would be willing to sell for $50... it doesn't have the remote but most any universal remote will work most features.. it also can be manually operated from the front of the receiver... i was able to receive 18,27,36,46 in hd with this receiver... robbie

roger, i have a samsung Sir-T150 that i bought from best-buy a few yrs. ago that was a floor model.. i bought it for $100 but would be willing to sell for $50... it doesn't have the remote but most any universal remote will work most features.. it also can be manually operated from the front of the receiver... i was able to receive 18,27,36,46 in hd with this receiver... robbie

I have the SIR-T350, a newer model so Im familiar with the box. The front has controls so I should not even need a remote for it. I'll get with my sister to see if she is interested! :)

sounds good roger... it was just a "starter" hd box for me.. got me hooked on hd and i switched to the direct tv. hd receiver..... robbie

Ben,
Instead of rescanning each time you switch from cable to Ant and back, couldn't you just punch in the HD DT channels by hand so the Tv remembers them that way?

Roger

Magnavox,
I've got a new flatscreen HDTV by Toshiba and I have to go to my Installation Setup Menu to change my one coax input from Cable to Ant to get my OTA (over the air) stations. This is assuming you have another cable going to an antenna of course. Try that and let us know the results. Dont forget to rescan for that input. The Super Bowl is next weekend!

Roger
Magnavox,
I've got a new flatscreen HDTV by Toshiba and I have to go to my Installation Setup Menu to change my one coax input from Cable to Ant to get my OTA (over the air) stations. This is assuming you have another cable going to an antenna of course. Try that and let us know the results. Dont forget to rescan for that input. The Super Bowl is next weekend!

Roger
Roger,
I have to do the same with my TV but my issue is that since I don't have an ATSC and Cable input, I have to either manually change the cable to get the OTA's or put in an A/B switch and flip it to change antennas. I was hoping the QAM tuner would pull them in off the insight feed.
I called Insight and they came out this morning and found that the wire from my house to the Telelphone pole was bad and replaced it. It fixed my "noisy" reception but did not fix the QAM issue. I can't get anyone from insight to say that we should be able to pick up the locals using QAM but I know from this thread that lots of people can.

Ben,
Instead of rescanning each time you switch from cable to Ant and back, couldn't you just punch in the HD DT channels by hand so the Tv remembers them that way?

Roger

I wish. :(

Unfortunately with this particular set you can't punch in what hasn't already been scanned. If I try to do that I instantly get the "channel not found" message. Only after the tuner has scanned channels with enough signal to 'register' in the memory of the set am I allowed to tune to that particular channel. This TV was the doorbuster special at Best Buy the day after Thanksgiving. I'm impressed with what $479 got me, but I shouldn't complain too much since it was such a great deal (though I did stand in line for 9 hours and developed bronchitus).

I live in Nicholasville and have problems with 27,and 56
right now i just have an indoor antenna.need to know what be the best and cheapest way to go? I can even pick up 34 out of louisville sometimes but cant pick up 56 at all. Please help

Here's a pic of both my antennas on my roof. (Actually they are both attached to my back porch.) The smaller Stealth antenna is much better at picking up stable signals. The larger one can pick up more distant ones such as Hazard and somerset and one in Cincinatti but has to be turned perfectly for them. Local Lexington channels and Morehead are there but under certain weather conditions I have to turn off the Pre-Amp for the signal to lock in. THe Stealth is perfect always!

2 antennas

Anyone out there have one of them small "HD Ready" flatscreen TVs? I've got a chance to purchase a 20" Flatscreen for $150, but have been informed that they need a HD tuner box to drive it. My question is, do the HD ready TVs have the QAM tuner in them to pick up the HD Digital stations that are riding on the Cable? I've got the Time Warner cable system (Adelphia) and I can pickup some free HD staions such as Discovery on 104.3 and TNT on 109.1. Please post or send an Email.

Thanks,
Roger

I live in Morehead, I also have Time Warner. I can pick up 3 HD channels thru the QAM tuner in my TV. CBS, TNT, and Discover.
I wish TWC would add the other networks soon. I am tired of playing with antennas with mixxed results.

I just got a new HDTV with a built in ASTC tuner. I did a scan, and it locked onto all Lexington digital stations, but WLEX and WTVQ did not re-map to channels 18 and 36 (they show up on 39 and 40). They also are not receiving any programming information.

CBS, KET, FOX, and ION all mapped correctly, and I receive programming info from all of them.

Does anybody know why WLEX, and WTVQ would not re-map correctly, and why no programming info is received from them? I assume the two problems are related.

Thanks, Paul.

Does anybody know why WLEX, and WTVQ would not re-map correctly, and why no programming info is received from them? I assume the two problems are related.

Yes they would be related problems: PSIP issues. It looks like either:

a) Your set doesn't like the way the PSIP is set up on those stations.

b) Something's happened (like a power glitch) to knock out the PSIP generators at WLEX and WTVQ.

c) Nobody has noticed the problem at the station.

Does anybody know why WLEX, and WTVQ would not re-map correctly, and why no programming info is received from them? I assume the two problems are related.

Thanks, Paul.

The "Virtual" channels will eventually click in. GIve it time. I usually have that problem with Moreheads Ch 67 (DT-21).

Roger

I contacted WKYT about Wheel/Jeopardy being and HD, and was told this:

====
We are working on making this happen in the very near future. At the moment, we are currently getting the equipment to take a “taped” HD program and air it later in HD. (Wheel/Jeopardy are taped three days in advance).

Sincerely,
Barbara Howard
Vice President - Programming
WKYT-TV/CWkyt

====

So maybe soon? Wonder how soon

Interesting, jb_ky1. Thanks for doing that. I also noticed the other day the the TITANTV listings for 27.1 lists those 2 shows as HD - but it may have been that way for a while now.

I was wondering if anyone knew if a satellite dish and OTA antenna can share the same grounding wire, or do they both need their own dedicated ground wire and rod?

Thanks, Paul.

I was wondering if anyone knew if a satellite dish and OTA antenna can share the same grounding wire, or do they both need their own dedicated ground wire and rod?

Thanks, Paul.

I'm no electrician, but I would think they could share a ground wire provided it grounded properly.

Anyone out there using a QAM tuner, is this still correct? I got a new TV w/built in QAM/ATSC/NTSC tuner and I can't find most of those channels. I get WLEX on 116.1 but that's it for the locals. The TV I got (Sony xbr970) only has one antenna input for all the tuners so to use my OTA antenna they say use an A/B switch... That stinks... It concerned me but since I was told that I could pick up the locals using the QAM tuner, I didn't worry about it. I do get the on demand channel and HBO for free, but neither of those is going to get me the Super Bowl.... I wonder if the tuner just isn't working right or maybe my cable is just bad, I never really had a clear picture on cable.

I have a Sony tuner with QAM as well, and was initially unable to tune any of the HD channels after the channel scan. Once I resorted to punching in the channels directly, I was able to get all of the locals. I then manually configured the TV to have the channels and avoid scanning.

The catch is that you can't use the OTA channel numbers -- Insight has them on different channels and there is no remapping in the Sony tuner. My current channel list is:
WLEXDT: 116.1
WDKYDT: 81.3
WKYTDT: 72.1
WTVQDT: 81.1
KET4: 72.6
KET3: 72.5
KET2: 72.4
KET1: 72.13
TUBE (now defunct): 81.5
WTVQ2: 81.4
FUSE: 69.4 (may be gone now; never watch it & didn't configure it)

I got most of these from earlier postings in this thread (thanks!)

I just got DISH satellite service with the vip622 HD DVR. The vip622 has a built in ASTC tuner that integrates OTA digital channels in with the program guide for the satellite channels. The problem I find annoying is that no programming info shows up for the local OTA channels. It only says "DTV service" in the program fields. Does the vip622 not recognize the PSIP program information? The channels are re-mapped so it is getting that info. Anybody know if this is normal, or is there something wrong?

I really like the vip622, but if the missing program info is normal, then they missed a pretty critical feature in my opinion.

Thanks, Paul.

I just got DISH satellite service with the vip622 HD DVR. The vip622 has a built in ASTC tuner that integrates OTA digital channels in with the program guide for the satellite channels. The problem I find annoying is that no programming info shows up for the local OTA channels. It only says "DTV service" in the program fields. Does the vip622 not recognize the PSIP program information? The channels are re-mapped so it is getting that info. Anybody know if this is normal, or is there something wrong?

I really like the vip622, but if the missing program info is normal, then they missed a pretty critical feature in my opinion.

Thanks, Paul.

Paul,
I have a Vip211 (non DVR and only one tv is supported) and receive my OTA locals via ASTC tuner in the 211. The channels I receive with a strong signal, have programming info available. I do get the "DTV service" in the program fields on the weaker channels (57.1 and 57.2 Wymt and Wkyt) I'm not sure why WKYT is showing up twice though. I get it on 27.1 CBS, 27.2 CW and 27.3 Radar as well as the 57.2 version. I hope this helps.

Steve

With regard to Dishnetwork OTA guide data, changes should be coming soon. I saw an uplink report at satguys last week that listed guide data for lexington digital OTA subchannels. I only currently have an 811 and it is not supposed to work on that one, but as long as you have a 211/622 and subscribe to LOCAL CHANNELS with dish you should be receiving guide data soon.

EDIT: Oops, sorry Steve, somehow I missed your post. Anyway, thats great, OTA subchannel stuff already working for Lex! Just curious, do they include guide data for WUPX (67.#)? The upload report also included KET subchannels, are you seeing those?

Paul,
I have a Vip211 (non DVR and only one tv is supported) and receive my OTA locals via ASTC tuner in the 211. The channels I receive with a strong signal, have programming info available. I do get the "DTV service" in the program fields on the weaker channels (57.1 and 57.2 Wymt and Wkyt) I'm not sure why WKYT is showing up twice though. I get it on 27.1 CBS, 27.2 CW and 27.3 Radar as well as the 57.2 version. I hope this helps.

Steve

Thanks Steve. Hmmm, I get no program info. even on the channels that are being received at 100% (WTVQ and KET). I think I will give DISH a call, and see if they can help. I'm not keeping my fingers crossed though.

Paul.

Like Guber said, the last I heard you had to subscribe to the Locals Package to get the guide data for the OTA stations. I don't think any of the Dish(network) receivers use the programming data supplied via the OTA digital PSIP data.

Like Guber said, the last I heard you had to subscribe to the Locals Package to get the guide data for the OTA stations. I don't think any of the Dish(network) receivers use the programming data supplied via the OTA digital PSIP data.

My research confirms this as well. Boy, does that make me mad. Just another way to squeeze a few more bucks out of me. IMHO, free OTA HDTV inherently includes the guide information. I think this is rather underhanded and devious behaviour by DISH.

Currently receiving lexington DT locals over cable. But i have noticed that the Today show on NBC --- starts out in 16:9 format-- then after a few minutes it converts to 4:3 format. Just wondering -- is this the station, the network or my cable company? It only happens on this one show. Simply weird. Any info appreciated.

pbracken, dish started something new today that softens the blow of purchasing locals a bit. It is called DVR ADVANTAGE. The example they show says a $49.99 fee includes the new AT200 (now their middle package), local channels, the DVR fee, and also their $6 maintenance plan. There is debate as to if it also includes the lease fee (if that is your only receiver).

EDIT: Oops, sorry Steve, somehow I missed your post. Anyway, thats great, OTA subchannel stuff already working for Lex! Just curious, do they include guide data for WUPX (67.#)? The upload report also included KET subchannels, are you seeing those?


I do receive SD locals fom dish. So that would explain why I'm receiving the data.

I'm not sure about the WUPX guide data as I only allowed the ViP211 to keep the channels we watch. I'll try to add it in and see.

Thanks, steve. And WUPX is broadcast on OTA channel 21 (just in case you didn't know).

Hi all,

I live in Midway, Ky. and am served by TWC. I recieve my TV programming from D*, but get my internet from TWC.

Does anyone in Georgetown/Stamping Ground/Midway know what package I would need to get from TWC to get their HD locals (KET/CBS) over QAM? Can I get away with their most basic package? Also does anyone know what channels they are mapped to?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Hi all,

I live in Midway, Ky. and am served by TWC. I recieve my TV programming from D*, but get my internet from TWC.

Does anyone in Georgetown/Stamping Ground/Midway know what package I would need to get from TWC to get their HD locals (KET/CBS) over QAM? Can I get away with their most basic package? Also does anyone know what channels they are mapped to?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

I'm in Winchester with TWC also. It will cost you nothing to get the very few HD channels offered by TWC as long as you can tune QAM. I only pay for TWC broadband Internet (no TV) and was able to sense a bunch on my 'broadband-only' line.. all for free. Of course TWC doesn't serve FOX, NBC or ABC in HD, so depending on your tuner you might not be able to get the both of best worlds (It's a real hassel for me to use the TWC HD channels because it requires an annoying 15-minute scan on my TV set if I want to switch from OTA to cable). If TWC is able to start serving the other locals then I imagine they might lock down the channels they leave out unencrypted at the moment.

Also some free standard def channels come through. Here's the listing:


83.6 = KET4 HD 720p
86.13 = Bloomberg TV 480i
87.4 = ShopNBC
88.7 = CBS HD
101.13 = Toon Disney east or west, not sure?
101.15 = History Espanol
104.3 = Discovery HD Theater
105.1 = OnDemand preview channel
106.6 = Toon Disney east or west, not sure?
108.1 to 108.25 or so = lots of audio-only
109.1 = TNT-HD

I have a Sony tuner with QAM as well, and was initially unable to tune any of the HD channels after the channel scan. Once I resorted to punching in the channels directly, I was able to get all of the locals. I then manually configured the TV to have the channels and avoid scanning.

The catch is that you can't use the OTA channel numbers -- Insight has them on different channels and there is no remapping in the Sony tuner. My current channel list is:
WLEXDT: 116.1
WDKYDT: 81.3
WKYTDT: 72.1
WTVQDT: 81.1
KET4: 72.6
KET3: 72.5
KET2: 72.4
KET1: 72.13
TUBE (now defunct): 81.5
WTVQ2: 81.4
FUSE: 69.4 (may be gone now; never watch it & didn't configure it)

I got most of these from earlier postings in this thread (thanks!)

Dude.. You are the man !!! (I think...). Thanks

I had used the first post that listed QAM channels and I guess they just weren't right for my tuner. I direct keyed the channels and they were all there :D I wonder why the tuner won't auto program them. I wish I hadn't run the cable from my OTA antenna now (although I can get 9 and 12 from Cincinnati and 3 from Louisville using it). I hate pulling cable.....

Currently receiving lexington DT locals over cable. But i have noticed that the Today show on NBC --- starts out in 16:9 format-- then after a few minutes it converts to 4:3 format. Just wondering -- is this the station, the network or my cable company? It only happens on this one show. Simply weird. Any info appreciated.

I suspect WLEX is dropping back to SD in order to run their foul weather / closing crawlers at the bottom of the screen.

Thanks, steve. And WUPX is broadcast on OTA channel 21 (just in case you didn't know).

Well I scanned for this last night and was unable to pick it up. I don't recall ever seeing it in the pass either.

This does bring up a question I have in the back of my mind. The ViP211 shows a bar that indicates the signal strenght and a message the states "Locked". What does Locked mean? It appears that the ViP211 only reconizes channels that are "locked". Some of the weaker channels will show up in a early morning scan(5:00am) but when you try to watch them at nigh I get a message saying there is no signal. This is very different than what my TV receiver does. I will show display stations that have a signal strenght in the teens (usually a lot of pixelization) Needless to say, I pick several more channels using my TV receiver but continue to use the ViP211's receiver for the convience and plus all the channel I care about come in on the ViP.

"steverichmond"
sounds like you are seriously in need of an antenna upgrade. An ATSC tuner has a received signal level threshold where only a high enough signal strength will "lock" the receiver/decoder and allow viewing. Anything less and it just reports no signal, even though one is there, it's just too weak to view. Stations dropping in and out depending on time of day are classic indications of low received signal strength, pixelization is another, but it can also mean multipath from multiple signals bouncing around.

"steverichmond"
sounds like you are seriously in need of an antenna upgrade. An ATSC tuner has a received signal level threshold where only a high enough signal strength will "lock" the receiver/decoder and allow viewing. Anything less and it just reports no signal, even though one is there, it's just too weak to view. Stations dropping in and out depending on time of day are classic indications of low received signal strength, pixelization is another, but it can also mean multipath from multiple signals bouncing around.

You may be right, currently my antenna is a attic install. I'm running a CM 4228 and a CM 7777 preamp.
If these were channels that wanted, I would consider what you are saying. Like said earlier. The ones I want, do come in consistantly Thanks

Ben
I dont get anything on 88.7. You sure about that signal?

Roger

I suspect WLEX is dropping back to SD in order to run their foul weather / closing crawlers at the bottom of the screen.
I notice that tvq doesn't seem to have a problem with thier crawler -- so, your saying that this is basically where KYT needs some equipment upgrades?

Ben
I dont get anything on 88.7. You sure about that signal?

Roger

That was from my scan 3 weeks ago on the 32" Westinghouse set which has since be re-scanned to OTA signals again. Maybe TWC removed it.

anyone know where to find the compass orientation of the wdky tower at clays ferry? i am in paris, and tried the antennaweb site and it still lists the tower as being in danville,ky. thanks in advance for any help...... robbie :confused:

That was from my scan 3 weeks ago on the 32" Westinghouse set which has since be re-scanned to OTA signals again. Maybe TWC removed it.

I noticed today that on my Fusion HD card when I did a scan today that WKYT-DT was detected as 8SVB signalling type and not QAM. I think my tuners were including the channel cause they had enough signal to lock and they arbitrarily assigned it a channel number. I wasn't getting a lock today off the cable, so I think my different tuners had been interpretting that signal from OTA, but through the cable TV line. Weird.

anyone know where to find the compass orientation of the wdky tower at clays ferry? i am in paris, and tried the antennaweb site and it still lists the tower as being in danville,ky. thanks in advance for any help...... robbie :confused:

Robbie the long/latitude coordinates of the WDKY tower is

-84.680278 37.788333

See my post here to map yourself and the towers in the region so you can see your location in respect to these towers. It's pretty easy to do and you don't need a GPS unit if you use the juggling.com website to pinpoint your residence:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9135286&&#post9135286

And also using a pre-amp like the Cm7778 would boost your signal where it is cleanest at the first received point. Using a distro amp can possibly distort the signal in long cable runs causing more harm. And not having to worry about a power outlet in the attic would make it easier for you. I wish places like Lowes and Home Depot carried pre-amps and had a wider selection of antennas. I think alot of people would buy this stuff there to test it and could return easier than having to mail this stuff back if it doesn't work.


I purchased a CM 7778 pre-amp, and after sitting through several lost signal interruptions while watching the UK game yesterday I decided to brave the elements and install the pre-amp. Instead of helping, things are worse. Now the only channel I receive is KYT, and it is showing a slightly lower signal strength than before. I checked my connections, and I think everything is correct. Since my UHF antenna was working to receive all stations including WDKY, I thought I could just hook it up to the combined UHF/VHF input on the pre-amp, and it would boost all my signals.

Do you think the pre-amp is defective, or am I missing something?

I really appreciate all the knowledgable people on this thread. You've all been very helpful to me.

Paul.

I purchased a CM 7778 pre-amp, and after sitting through several lost signal interruptions while watching the UK game yesterday I decided to brave the elements and install the pre-amp. Instead of helping, things are worse. Now the only channel I receive is KYT, and it is showing a slightly lower signal strength than before. I checked my connections, and I think everything is correct. Since my UHF antenna was working to receive all stations including WDKY, I thought I could just hook it up to the combined UHF/VHF input on the pre-amp, and it would boost all my signals.

Do you think the pre-amp is defective, or am I missing something?

I really appreciate all the knowledgable people on this thread. You've all been very helpful to me.

Paul.

Be sure the internal switches are set to "combined" and FM trap "in".

That said, Paris is pretty close in for a preamp. You may need to consider other modification to your setup. What antenna(s) are you using currently?

Be sure the internal switches are set to "combined" and FM trap "in".

That said, Paris is pretty close in for a preamp. You may need to consider other modification to your setup. What antenna(s) are you using currently?

Odd he's having problems considering he's 45 miles east of where I live in Winchester and the CM7777 is a winner for me. I would think he would get the same good results. I have my UHF antenna aimed towards the WBKI-DT tower so the Lex Man O War towers would be received off the side/back of my antenna. Maybe that is why I don't have breakups? Paul, try orientating your antenna to point SW and see if things improve on the backside.

Odd he's having problems considering he's 45 miles east of where I live in Winchester and the CM7777 is a winner for me. I would think he would get the same good results. I have my UHF antenna aimed towards the WBKI-DT tower so the Lex Man O War towers would be received off the side/back of my antenna. Maybe that is why I don't have breakups? Paul, try orientating your antenna to point SW and see if things improve on the backside.

The instruction sheet for the 7778 indicates that the factory default settings are for FM trap on and UHF/VHF combined, but I didn't open it up to verify that it was actually set as such.

My antenna is an old single bowtie UHF from the sixties that I stole from my mother-in-laws attic, and it is currently on the roof pointing south-southwest.

I had no problem getting all stations until I added a splitter for a new bedroom TV. The splitter caused unreliable performance on DKY and sometimes KYT. I was hoping the pre-amp would boost the signal just enough to clear that issue up. So far it has done the opposite. I think I will verify the settings, although I am not looking forward to going up on the roof again :-)

Thanks, Paul.

Be sure the internal switches are set to "combined" and FM trap "in".

That said, Paris is pretty close in for a preamp. You may need to consider other modification to your setup. What antenna(s) are you using currently?

Wow. It's really cold and windy out there. I went up on the roof, and verified that the 7778 settings were correct. FM trap was set to in, and it was set to combine UHF/VHF. Any other ideas?

The instruction sheet for the 7778 indicates that the factory default settings are for FM trap on and UHF/VHF combined, but I didn't open it up to verify that it was actually set as such.

My antenna is an old single bowtie UHF from the sixties that I stole from my mother-in-laws attic, and it is currently on the roof pointing south-southwest.

I had no problem getting all stations until I added a splitter for a new bedroom TV. The splitter caused unreliable performance on DKY and sometimes KYT. I was hoping the pre-amp would boost the signal just enough to clear that issue up. So far it has done the opposite. I think I will verify the settings, although I am not looking forward to going up on the roof again :-)

Thanks, Paul.

I'd say your best option would be to improve your antenna with something like a CM 4221. If the single bowtie was enough to receive WDKY, likely the 4221 will as well and your performance for UHF and high band vhf (WKYT) should only improve.

OTOH, if you had good signals before w/o a preamp and before insertion of the splitter, you might consider a low gain distribution amp right before the split. For that matter, there's no reason you couldn't also try the 7778 right before the split. You'll either need to put the CM power supply ahead of the splitter or use a splitter that passes DC on one leg.

Odd he's having problems considering he's 45 miles east of where I live in Winchester and the CM7777 is a winner for me. .

Unless I'm missing something here, pbracken is in Paris which is around 15 miles NNW of Winchester and and also about the same distance from the WKYT transmitter.


http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapgen/gif?lon=-84.402778&lat=38.039722&iwd=750&iht=750&mark=-84.402778,38.039722,bluestar,WKYT-TV_LEXINGTON_KY&on=water,miscell,counties,places,CITIES,&off=streets,GRID,shorelin&ht=0.5&wid=0.5

Wow. It's really cold and windy out there. I went up on the roof, and verified that the 7778 settings were correct. FM trap was set to in, and it was set to combine UHF/VHF. Any other ideas?

Sounds like either pre-amp overload or (more likely) the pre-amp head is not getting power.

Went up on the roof again and removed the pre-amp, and now am back to receiving all stations (still have the power supply in the line). I'm still getting occasional drop-outs on KYT, which does not bode well for the superbowl tonight.

What would cause losing most of my channels with the preamp in place? Too much gain? If that was the case, wouldn't it improve my DKY and KYT signal, which were weak to begin with. Is there any way to verify the pre-amp is working properly?

OTA Signal strength according to my vip622 dish receiver

before adding pre-amp

WLEX 100
WKYT 74
WTVQ 100
KET 100
WDKY 69

After adding pre-amp

WLEX no signal
WKYT 69
WTVQ no signal
KET no signal
WDKY no signal

Thanks, Paul.

See post above your's ... make sure that your "splitter" between the two TV's is *not* between the power supply and pre-amp head. Coax should run thusly: Pre-amp-head -> power-supply -> splitter -> TV's ...

... And if you have any of those evil OTA/Satellite diplexers in the mix, all bets are off. ;)

What would cause losing most of my channels with the preamp in place? Too much gain? If that was the case, wouldn't it improve my DKY and KYT signal, which were weak to begin with. Is there any way to verify the pre-amp is working properly?

.


As was mentioned, you were likely overloading the preamp at your relatively close range to the towers. The other possibility is you have multipath which is being exacerbated by the preamp.

The 777x series won't pass a signal without power.

Try the 7778 right before the splitter just for kicks. The cable run to the splitter may attenuate the signal enough to prevent overload.

If you aren't using the preamp, take the power supply out. No reason to unecessarily energize your antenna. :)

I went up in the attic, and sure enough the splitter I was using does not indicate that it has DC passthrough. interestingly, I replaced the original splitter with one that does have DC pass, and now I cannot get WKYT or WDKY at all. I guess splitter quality is important. The original splitter was a Monster brand. I always scoffed at Monster products due to their high prices, but maybe there is something to it?

Now its back up to the roof to put the pre-amp back in, and see if it works now that I sould be passing power to it.

Thanks for sticking with me through all this :-)

Paul.

I went up in the attic, and sure enough the splitter I was using does not indicate that it has DC passthrough. interestingly, I replaced the original splitter with one that does have DC pass, and now I cannot get WKYT or WDKY at all. I guess splitter quality is important. The original splitter was a Monster brand. I always scoffed at Monster products due to their high prices, but maybe there is something to it?

Now its back up to the roof to put the pre-amp back in, and see if it works now that I sould be passing power to it.

Thanks for sticking with me through all this :-)

Paul.

The splitter you had must have been passing DC or there wouldn't have been a signal at all. Try the 7778 in the attic right before the splitter. The signal may be attenuated just enough by the downlead to prevent overload. If not, a distribution amp may be the other option installed at the same point.

See post above your's ... make sure that your "splitter" between the two TV's is *not* between the power supply and pre-amp head. Coax should run thusly: Pre-amp-head -> power-supply -> splitter -> TV's ...

... And if you have any of those evil OTA/Satellite diplexers in the mix, all bets are off. ;)

I just re-installed the pre-amp, and things are different yet the same. I am getting pretty much the same performance with the pre-amp as I did without the pre-amp. I am getting all the stations now, but KYT is still dropping out with a signal strength of 75. DKY has a strength of 61, and it has trouble locking onto it. all other stations are showing 100 strength.

Maybe I should just replace that cheapo splitter I put in with a better one.

I can also try to change where my splitter is in the line, which will not be easy.

I have a Dish vip622, which has a dedicated OTA connection, so no diplexers in the line.

paul.

If we assume then that you will not overload the 7778 at your location, then the solution would seem to be to add a small dedicated vhf antenna and use the separate inputs on the 7778.

Depending on how your attic is oriented, you could even try mounting the vhf antenna inside the attic.

Robbie the long/latitude coordinates of the WDKY tower is

-84.680278 37.788333

See my post here to map yourself and the towers in the region so you can see your location in respect to these towers. It's pretty easy to do and you don't need a GPS unit if you use the juggling.com website to pinpoint your residence:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9135286&&#post9135286

I'm sorry, but that is the old spot, where the transmitter was. It is now in the northern part of Madison County near I-75. The exact placement of the transmitter is below.

http://tiger.census.gov/. . . . (http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapgen/gif?lon=-84.321111&lat=37.880833&iwd=750&iht=750&mark=-84.321111,37.880833,bluestar,WDKY-TV_DANVILLE_KY&on=water,miscell,counties,places,CITIES,streets&off=GRID,shorelin&ht=.05&wid=.05)

Below is suppose to be the coverage area.

http://www.fcc.gov/ . . . (http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1063722.gif)

The exact coordinates is

-84.321111 37.880833

I hope that helps.

NashDigie signing off.

I went up in the attic, and sure enough the splitter I was using does not indicate that it has DC passthrough. interestingly, I replaced the original splitter with one that does have DC pass, and now I cannot get WKYT or WDKY at all. I guess splitter quality is important. The original splitter was a Monster brand. I always scoffed at Monster products due to their high prices, but maybe there is something to it?

Now its back up to the roof to put the pre-amp back in, and see if it works now that I sould be passing power to it.

Thanks for sticking with me through all this :-)

Paul.

Paul,
You might try the Channel Master Stealth antenna (3010). It's pretty stable here in Winchester and gets all Lexington stations. If you can't get a good signal for the Super Bowl, I still have a $50 ticket for my couch available! :)

I'm sorry, but that is the old spot, where the transmitter was. It is now in the northern part of Madison County near I-75. The exact placement of the transmitter is below.

http://tiger.census.gov/. . . . (http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapgen/gif?lon=-84.321111&lat=37.880833&iwd=750&iht=750&mark=-84.321111,37.880833,bluestar,WDKY-TV_DANVILLE_KY&on=water,miscell,counties,places,CITIES,streets&off=GRID,shorelin&ht=.05&wid=.05)

Below is suppose to be the coverage area.

http://www.fcc.gov/ . . . (http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1063722.gif)

The exact coordinates is

-84.321111 37.880833

I hope that helps.

NashDigie signing off.

I must have looked at the wrong record when I first played with the mapping stuff. It should have occurred to me that the WDKY-DT tower should be closer to the WKLE-DT tower.

Dunno where I came up with 45mi betwen Winchester and Paris either. I should just go back to bed. Today has not been a good day at all..

Paul,
You might try the Channel Master Stealth antenna (3010). It's pretty stable here in Winchester and gets all Lexington stations. If you can't get a good signal for the Super Bowl, I still have a $50 ticket for my couch available! :)

Hmmm, that's about how much a stealth antenna costs, so I think I'll pass on the couch seating. thanks though ;-)

Actually, I just picked up a stealth antenna at Lowe's. I guess I'm finally admitting that I need a VHF antenna. I was surprised to see that the Nicholasville Rd. Lowe's had a channel master pre-amp. It was one of the 3XXX series. Wish I had known that as it would be easier to return. I was over at the new Lowe's in Hamburg, and they had a very poor selection of OTA supplies.

I'll let you know how the new antenna works, but I think I'll wait until the -10 F wind chill passes...

Paul.

Hmmm, that's about how much a stealth antenna costs, so I think I'll pass on the couch seating. thanks though ;-)

Actually, I just picked up a stealth antenna at Lowe's. I guess I'm finally admitting that I need a VHF antenna. I was surprised to see that the Nicholasville Rd. Lowe's had a channel master pre-amp. It was one of the 3XXX series. Wish I had known that as it would be easier to return. I was over at the new Lowe's in Hamburg, and they had a very poor selection of OTA supplies.

I'll let you know how the new antenna works, but I think I'll wait until the -10 F wind chill passes...

Paul.

Pbracken,
I'm on the north end of Lexington (right b4 you get to Joyland Bowl, actually I'm from Paris too) and I've got a 3010 in my attic w/preamp. I'm able to get all the Lexington stations as well as some Louisville and Cincinnati (intermittently). It works very well for me. What side of Paris are you on?

I noticed that the new Lowes didn't have much as far as antenna's go. I don't believe that they had any 3010's at all when I was looking.

ben, thanks for the info.. i'll give it a try.. you guys are great for helping people out on here.. wish i wasn't such a tech dummy and could help people also...lol robbie

thanks for the help nash... i believe you may be correct... i had the coordinates off antennaweb's site, but they are a bit outdated! robbie

Pbracken,
I'm on the north end of Lexington (right b4 you get to Joyland Bowl, actually I'm from Paris too) and I've got a 3010 in my attic w/preamp. I'm able to get all the Lexington stations as well as some Louisville and Cincinnati (intermittently). It works very well for me. What side of Paris are you on?

I noticed that the new Lowes didn't have much as far as antenna's go. I don't believe that they had any 3010's at all when I was looking.

I'm on the other side, about half way between Paris and Cynthiana. hopefully the weather warms up a bit so I can install the new 3010.

The HD gods were smiling on me last night. The atmospheric conditions must have improved because I was able to watch the Superbowl without any dropouts last night! I know it won't last though...

Thanks for all the help everyone has provided. It's been fun...

I'm on the other side, about half way between Paris and Cynthiana. hopefully the weather warms up a bit so I can install the new 3010.

The HD gods were smiling on me last night. The atmospheric conditions must have improved because I was able to watch the Superbowl without any dropouts last night! I know it won't last though...

Thanks for all the help everyone has provided. It's been fun...

Paul,
Did you get the Channel Master pre-amp 3038 for the stealth? You might not need it for the Lexington Channels, but it best to install the board in the Stealth antenna before putting it up on roof (unless you just like the view)!

Roger

I wrote to a handful of people at WKYT questioning the plausibility of seeing Survivor in HD this thursday (both their website fed by titantv.com and the CBS parent website indicate HD) and received a response. I thought I would share with you all:

Ben,
CBS does not broadcast ANY of their reality shows in HD! Sorry to
disappoint you. There is no specific date as to when they will begin
shooting reality in HD yet.

Barbara Howard
Vice President - Programming
WKYT-TV/CWkyt
2851 Winchester Road
Lexington, Kentucky 40509
859-299-0411

Fooey! I got tricked during the Superbowl promos as they were widescreen (SD, I guess). I also asked her about Jeopardy and Wheel in HD and I guess she considers those 'reality programming'. Are they *really* shown in HD elsewhere in the country?

Fooey! I got tricked during the Superbowl promos as they were widescreen (SD, I guess). I also asked her about Jeopardy and Wheel in HD and I guess she considers those 'reality programming'. Are they *really* shown in HD elsewhere in the country?

Don't confuse the two issues, Jeopardy and Wheel are *not* CBS productions ... and yes I'm sure they are actually broadcast in HD ... somewhere.

The NY ABC station (WABC) shows both Jeopardy and Wheel in HD.

I contacted someone at WKYT back on 1/31/07 and was told:

====
We are working on making this happen in the very near future. At the moment, we are currently getting the equipment to take a “taped” HD program and air it later in HD. (Wheel/Jeopardy are taped three days in advance).

Sincerely,
Barbara Howard
Vice President - Programming
WKYT-TV/CWkyt

====

WCPO-DT in Cincinnati actually has both of those shows in HD, but good luck getting it. I can't here in G-town. Their digital channel is VHF 10.
WLKY-DT doesn't have them in HD either sadly.

I contacted someone at WKYT back on 1/31/07 and was told:

====
We are working on making this happen in the very near future. At the moment, we are currently getting the equipment to take a “taped” HD program and air it later in HD. (Wheel/Jeopardy are taped three days in advance).

Sincerely,
Barbara Howard
Vice President - Programming
WKYT-TV/CWkyt

====

WCPO-DT in Cincinnati actually has both of those shows in HD, but good luck getting it. I can't here in G-town. Their digital channel is VHF 10.
WLKY-DT doesn't have them in HD either sadly.

I guess Barbara skimmed over my Jeopardy/Wheel HD question and focused on the Survivor one (which I was real eager to find out about anyway). Maybe they are at least aware now that their guide info from titantv.com is not completely accurate on their website nor that the big honcho CBS corp info on that website is correct either. I was reading some other theads on the feasibility of Survivor with HD cameras and it seems like it would more difficult with as much video as they shoot on these types of shows.

I wonder if this were the 1960's, would they be saying "we just can't shoot Survivor in color"?

:)

Paul,
Did you get the Channel Master pre-amp 3038 for the stealth? You might not need it for the Lexington Channels, but it best to install the board in the Stealth antenna before putting it up on roof (unless you just like the view)!

Roger

I installed my new 3010 stealth antenna along with a 7778 pre-amp last night. I am now getting all Lexington stations with a signal strength of 90-100!!

Yeah!!!

Thanks for all the help from you guys. Now I can sleep at night knowing that my DVR is recording my OTA shows without dropouts :-)

Paul.

Learned last night that snow on my roof completely irritates my OTA reception in the attic. WDKY-DT was super glitchy and WKYT-analog (that my wife uses with the oldschool TiVo series 1) was completely unwatchable this morning. Screw the neighborhood deed restriction.. the antenna is handsome enough. I want to do it proper (when it warms up). :)

I installed my new 3010 stealth antenna along with a 7778 pre-amp last night. I am now getting all Lexington stations with a signal strength of 90-100!!

Yeah!!!

Thanks for all the help from you guys. Now I can sleep at night knowing that my DVR is recording my OTA shows without dropouts :-)

Paul.


That's good to hear, Paul! :) Can you pick up Morehead on DT-21(67) and DT-15 (38)? For DT-15 I have to turn to the north side of Lexington to get that signal.

I dont know much about the CM 7778, but I have the pre amp CM 3038 made specificly for the Stealth. Good clean pciture even without the Pre amp turned on! :)

Roger

That's good to hear, Paul! :) Can you pick up Morehead on DT-21(67) and DT-15 (38)? For DT-15 I have to turn to the north side of Lexington to get that signal.

I dont know much about the CM 7778, but I have the pre amp CM 3038 made specificly for the Stealth. Good clean pciture even without the Pre amp turned on! :)

Roger

Yes, I can get 67 out of morehead. I also picked up a new station when I did a scan. It was WLJC DT-7 (65), which appears to be a christian station. I'm not sure where it is broadcasting from.

I'm not too inclined to go up and rotate my antenna to try for DT-15, but maybe I will explore the airwaves some more when the weather gets warmer. Are there antenna rotators available with wireless controls?

I thought this below would help everyone to show where the broadcasting towers are. All you need to do is click the station and it shows the location of the tower.

http://www.w9wi.com/tvdb/states/ky.htm

NashDigie signing off.

I thought this below would help everyone to show where the broadcasting towers are. All you need to do is click the station and it shows the location of the tower.

http://www.w9wi.com/tvdb/states/ky.htm

NashDigie signing off.


Very cool map! It does raise one question in my mind, My signal strength or WTVQ is approx 10% stronger than WLEX and WKYT. According to the map they are fairly close to each other. Does WTVQ push more power?

Very cool map! It does raise one question in my mind, My signal strength or WTVQ is approx 10% stronger than WLEX and WKYT. According to the map they are fairly close to each other. Does WTVQ push more power?

WLEX-DT is 475kw, while WTVQ is just 370kw and WKYT-DT is a VHF channel at 30kw, so I can't compare it with the other channels, but WLEX is a little more powerful.

NashDigie signing off.

Very cool map! It does raise one question in my mind, My signal strength or WTVQ is approx 10% stronger than WLEX and WKYT. According to the map they are fairly close to each other. Does WTVQ push more power?

They should be "close" seeing how they are mounted on the same tower ... not to mention using the same antenna (for WLEX and WTVQ) ;) WKYT is a couple of miles down the road. In any case, WLEX is putting out more ERP although I don't remember the exact figures ... 475kW for WLEX vs 380kW (ish) for WTVQ.

Edit: Arrrggh .... Digie beat me to it. :D

WKMR-DT on Channel 15 is in Morehead ( actually Clearfield)

WLJC is in Beattyville

WLEX-DT is 475kw, while WTVQ is just 370kw and WKYT-DT is a VHF channel at 30kw, so I can't compare it with the other channels, but WLEX is a little more powerful.

NashDigie signing off.
If this is true, then WLEX should be showing a stronger signal strength than WTVQ right??

Keep in mind, The difference between 475KW ERP and 370KW ERP is less than 1db ...

If you're trying to calculate how much power any given station squirts your way, also be sure to take into account directional transmitting antenna patterns as related to your location ....

I usually check out this website from time to time ( http://www.100000watts.com ) and from what I can tell it says this about WLJC-DT:

WLJC 65 Beattyville KY to go DTV-only

First in KY? Not sure if they have done it yet... I didn't see anything on WLJC's or FCC webpage about it.

NashDigie signing off.


Do you actually receive the Lex stations consistently?

If so, that's pretty amazing. I'm still struggling to get a consistent signal from the a.k.a. "in the bowl" Lexington transmitters. ;)

I usually check out this website from time to time ( http://www.100000watts.com ) and from what I can tell it says this about WLJC-DT:

WLJC 65 Beattyville KY to go DTV-only

First in KY? Not sure if they have done it yet... I didn't see anything on WLJC's or FCC webpage about it.

I'll have to check channel 65 analog, but it's been some time since WYMT has broadcasted analog on 57, so I'd say they're also "DTV-only".

WKMR-DT on Channel 15 is in Morehead ( actually Clearfield)

WLJC is in Beattyville

Yes, I know. The reason I mentioned those 2 stations was that they are more distant from us but still able to lock onto with our Stealth 3010 antenna. With the lower threshold signal we can easily see if a pre amp is working right for the antenna. Tho I did state that I was pointing my antenna just north of Lexington from Winchester to pick up channel 15 in Morehead is because the signal is being received from the rear or my antenna. I really like the Stealth antenna as it seems to be omni-directional! :)

Roger

Yes, I know. The reason I mentioned those 2 stations was that they are more distant from us but still able to lock onto with our Stealth 3010 antenna. With the lower threshold signal we can easily see if a pre amp is working right for the antenna. Tho I did state that I was pointing my antenna just north of Lexington from Winchester to pick up channel 15 in Morehead is because the signal is being received from the rear or my antenna. I really like the Stealth antenna as it seems to be omni-directional! :)

Roger


Roger,
How strong is your morehead signal?

Do you actually receive the Lex stations consistently?

If so, that's pretty amazing. I'm still struggling to get a consistent signal from the a.k.a. "in the bowl" Lexington transmitters. ;)

I don't get them constinently. Back on Nov. 13, I did get the digitals of 18 and 36 out of Lexington and the analogs of 18, 27, 36, 46, and 56. I also did get some digital channels from Cincinnati and even Dayton, OH. I also did get an analog channel (CW 26) out of Springfield, OH, which is a little farther than Dayton, OH. All that was achieved by a Radio Shack U-75R antenna. I only get KY or OH channels when there is tropo conditions going on.

NashDigie signing off.

Roger,
How strong is your morehead signal?

DT-15 (38) I can get at 69% and picture is steady. Of course WUPX DT-21 is real good at 98%.

Roger

If this is true, then WLEX should be showing a stronger signal strength than WTVQ right??

Depends: Firstly what you see on your receiver is really a signal "quality" reading (more or less this is a measure of how hard the error correction algorithms are working) not a "strength" indicator. It's possible that your receiver could be going into "overload" on WLEX's stronger signal, thus forcing the error correction to work harder ... You can use a variable RF attenuator to figure out if this is the case. For me, both WLEX and WTVQ come in the same at either 95% or 100% depending on which receiver I use to check.

FWIW, I see the same type of "anomoly" with WDRB and WMYO out of Louisville. Given the higher antenna height for WDRB-DT, one would expect WDRB to be "stronger" at my house. Yet, for the past month, WYMO-DT has been consistantly 10-15 points higher than WDRB-DT

Depends: Firstly what you see on your receiver is really a signal "quality" reading (more or less this is a measure of how hard the error correction algorithms are working) not a "strength" indicator.

That makes good sence. I had always assumed it strength.

It's possible that your receiver could be going into "overload" on WLEX's stronger signal, thus forcing the error correction to work harder ... You can use a variable RF attenuator to figure out if this is the case. For me, both WLEX and WTVQ come in the same at either 95% or 100% depending on which receiver I use to check.

Ok, the 3 WKYT digital channels usually have a 75% readings as well as WLEX digital. However the 2 WTVQ channels usually run between 82 to 85% I get all the KET channels out of Morehead at 100%. Could that strong a signal have an effect on my Lex channels? I't not a big deal at all, I'm just curious.

Could that strong a signal have an effect on my Lex channels?

Yes it's possible that the nearby KET transmitter *could* be strong enough to overload a pre-amp or the RF front-end of your receiver ... but again, you can't really determine that from the SQ numbers alone. I can't explain the WLEX vs WTVQ anomoly with 100% certainty, because there could be other factors in play (like co-channel interference from southwestern OH or even WV.) As for the WKYT numbers, I think it's more likely that your antenna is sub-optimal for VHF-hi.

... Just all part of the fun with using terrestrial wireless ... ;)

I have decided not to suffer any longer without the networks in HD.

I have Dish Network and was ok until they took my CBS HD away. I started watching CBS HD on my TV thru Aelphia (now TimeWarner) on my Sony XBR2 60" and QAM tuner. This did not cut it. I got spoiled with my VIP622, recordings to watch at my leisure and skip commercials. The cable co. still does not know when it will get the other 3 networks.

I also tried a Channel Master 3671 antenna and 7777 pre-amp. I had spotty results with CBS & ABC, and no luck with FOX and NBC. Thanks to all here for the help and advice.

After too much time and money I finally read about a simple solution that took all of a five minute phone call. I am now and have been for a few weeks enjoying flawless HD networks signals and recordings and my VIP622.

Moving service address, keeping billing address (http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=88285&highlight=moving)

Yes it's possible that the nearby KET transmitter *could* be strong enough to overload a pre-amp or the RF front-end of your receiver ... but again, you can't really determine that from the SQ numbers alone. I can't explain the WLEX vs WTVQ anomoly with 100% certainty, because there could be other factors in play (like co-channel interference from southwestern OH or even WV.) As for the WKYT numbers, I think it's more likely that your antenna is sub-optimal for VHF-hi.

... Just all part of the fun with using terrestrial wireless ... ;)


Well, I think I figured out why may Lex digitals were not producing the expected strengths. It was the FM trap on my CM7777. Yep I had it out. When I put it in the "in" postion. WKYT shot up to 93% and my Wdky is up to 72%. I'm happy!

I just thought you like to know that WDKY (Fox 56) will be in a news agreement with WKYT (CBS 27) to have them to produce a one hour morning news at 7am on Fox 56 starting next month.

NashDigie signing off.

Question for anyone out there - is anyone using a product that uses the free TVGUIDE ONSCREEN epg? In particular, I am just wanting to confirm that a product like the Sony DHG-HDD500 (ATSC 500GB DVR) would work in an OTA ONLY environment with respect to guide information for all of our ATSC channels (WUPX also).

Question for anyone out there - is anyone using a product that uses the free TVGUIDE ONSCREEN epg? In particular, I am just wanting to confirm that a product like the Sony DHG-HDD500 (ATSC 500GB DVR) would work in an OTA ONLY environment with respect to guide information for all of our ATSC channels (WUPX also).


I've used it in the past, It seems to work very well. If I recall correctly, it got its updates overnight. I ended up disabling it due some firmware issues inside my TV in reguards to the TVGuide Service.

I am still having troubles with fox 56. I live off nicholasville road almost directly across from central baptist hospital. I have a 80 inch 32 element rat shack antenna on a 10ft mast off my chimney on a rotor. I have put lots of effort into getting this antenna up and mounted. My problem is only with fox 56 signal. I honestly get mid to upper 90's on my signal strength on all local channels except fox. I have done a good bit of reading, and know the troubles with the low band channel 4 that fox uses, and know that it isn't a preferred number due to interference issues in that range. About 25 percent of the time, i can almost get a watchable signal ( mid 70's in strength), but most of the time, the signal is just all over the place. I have 2 different hd tuners i have tried. I have the older hd tivo with directv, and the tuner built into my sony 60 sxrd tv. I have tried an in line amp that i had left over from my old terk tv 55 hd antenna, with no noticeable results. Is the signal just bouncing off buildings and other houses? I would think with this big of an antenna, one would have better results. What makes this even more annoying, i set up the exact same antenna on a mast with a rotor for a friend that lives less than a block away, same tv even, and he gets fox no problems. Do i need a vhf only antenna? man i would hate to have to get another antenna for this one channel, but it bums me out when i can't watch fox in hd. The daytona 500 was painful to watch yesterday in standard defination.

I am still having troubles with fox 56. I live on nicholasville road almost directly across from central baptist hospital. I have a 80 inch 32 element rat shack antenna on a 10ft mast off my chimney on a rotor. I have put lots of effort into getting this antenna up and mounted. My problem is only with fox 56 signal. I honestly get mid to upper 90's on my signal strength on all local channels except fox. I have done a good bit of reading, and know the troubles with the low band channel 4 that fox uses, and know that it isn't a preferred number due to interference issues in that range. About 25 percent of the time, i can almost get a watchable signal ( mid 70's in strength), but most of the time, the signal is just all over the place. I have 2 different hd tuners i have tried. I have the older hd tivo with directv, and the tuner built into my sony 60 sxrd tv. I have tried an in line amp that i had left over from my old terk tv 55 hd antenna, with no noticeable results. Is the signal just bouncing off buildings and other houses? One would think with this much effort and that big of an antenna, one would have better results. What makes this even more annoying, i set up the exact same antenna on a mast with a rotor for a friend that lives less than a block away, same tv even, and he gets fox no problems. Do i need a vhf only antenna? man i would hate to have to get another antenna for this one channel, but it bums me out when i can't watch fox in hd. The daytona 500 was painful to watch yesterday in standard defination.

I can't get WDKY-DT either, but I can pull WDRB-DT FOX 41 (Digital 49) out of Louisville at 50-80% sometimes with a indoor antenna here in Georgetown.

WLEX is gonna boadcast the local news in HD!

http://www.wlextv.com/global/story.asp?s=6109136

WLEX is gonna boadcast the local news in HD!

http://www.wlextv.com/global/story.asp?s=6109136

That's awesome!

We've had CBS (WKYT) in HD for quite a while.

We got FOX (WDKY) in HD about three weeks ago.

We had problems w/ KET4 when they switch to HD programming during primetime, but I initiated a fix by getting the KET and the TWC techs talking to each other after a service technician had come out and told me it was a KET problem (turns out it was a TWC problem). That's working now.

Now, how can we get ABC (WTVQ) and NBC (WLEX) HD flowing through the pipes? I'm just trying to get a ballpark estimate at this point.

I've tried TWC by various methods including certified mail -- no comment.

Tried the local franchise authority. County's not even sure what human is responsible for that.

BUT, I DID GET A RESPONSE FROM WLEX:
Please excuse my tardiness in returning your email but I was out of town all of last week.

We are in conversations with Time Warner about carrying our digital and HD signal. Things are progressing less quickly than I would have hoped but I anticipate a successful conclusion by spring.

Thanks for making contact and I hope to have good news for you soon.

Tim Gilbert
President/General Manager
WLEX-TV
859-226-7654


Wow! He even apologized for a delay of a couple of days. If I hear from WTVQ I'll let you know.

What Can You DO?
I suggest e-mailing/writing to management at both stations. If it's as true for you as it is for me, point out the fact that you find yourself watching CBS/FOX HD programming instead of programming you used to watch on ABC/NBC because you're hypnotized by HD (admit it, you are). Since the providers and cable are in a push-pull as to whether cable should pay for over-the-air HD signals, perhaps we can convince the providers that the battle over revenues may be losing them money in terms of viewers.

Contact WTVQ by going to their homepage and clicking on "About Us" (sorry, can't add URL as I don't have that privilege, yet).
Contact WLEX by going to their webpage and clicking on "Contact Us."

We've had CBS (WKYT) in HD for quite a while.

We got FOX (WDKY) in HD about three weeks ago.



After reading your post, I decided to give Time Warner a scan here in Morehead, Sure enough, FOX (WDKY) in HD is there. That's really cool, as I struggle with that channel OTA. I'm going to stick with OTA setup but it's nice to know if I lose FOX 56, I have a backup.

Steve

I dunno if TWC changed something in my area, but the 'free' QAM HD such as FOX-56 is not tuning today. Could be my Fusion 5 HD card messing up or TWC started encrypting them so Internet/broadband-only 'leech-customers' such as myself would have to at least pay for the most basic TV service package to get these HD channels. It's probably my PC and QAM tuning as I upgraded drivers a few weeks ago, but it wasn't a problem til tonight.

After reading your post, I decided to give Time Warner a scan here in Morehead, Sure enough, FOX (WDKY) in HD is there. That's really cool, as I struggle with that channel OTA. I'm going to stick with OTA setup but it's nice to know if I lose FOX 56, I have a backup.

Steve

So what is the FOX 56 digital channel designation on TWC cable now?

Roger

So what is the FOX 56 digital channel designation on TWC cable now?

Roger


It shows up as 105.009 on my TV's tuner.

Steve

I know this is probably the wrong forum for this, but have any of you had ISF calibration performed on your sets. My set looks great now but some of the posts I've read lead me to believe that it can actually look better. I spoke with BGHE and they said they don't do sets that they didn't sell, Barney Miller's didn't return my call. I inquired with Chad B. (http://www.hdtvbychadb.com) from Ohio and he said he does do Central KY but it would be several months before he was down this way. He's gotten great reviews on other sites I've visited. If anyone has had it done on their set, who did it for you. (i'm posting this here because I was looking for local contacts). Thanks

That is very lame of BGHE. I wouldn't even consider doing business with them. I have been a long time customer of Barney Millers. Tony Spires is the sales manager there, call and ask for him, then inquire into the calibration prices etc..

That is very lame of BGHE. I wouldn't even consider doing business with them. I have been a long time customer of Barney Millers. Tony Spires is the sales manager there, call and ask for him, then inquire into the calibration prices etc..

Pardon my Stupidity here, but who is BGHE? I want to avoid dealing with any company that has a policy like. Thanks.

Steve

Pardon my Stupidity here, but who is BGHE?

BlueGrassHomeEntertainment? ... before you rush to judgement, consider that they may have *one* person to handle this task for all of their custom installation work. I suspect that one person is kept fairly busy ... otherwise I'd have to question if they have enough work to stay in business. ;)

Still, it would be nice if there were a good calibrator or three in the local area. Anyone care to invest in the equipment? ;)

Pardon my Stupidity here, but who is BGHE? I want to avoid dealing with any company that has a policy like. Thanks.

Steve

BGHE doesn't work on sets they don't sell because they don't want to provide a substandard service to their customers. They are familiar with their sets and know all the tweaks. They don't want to learn on the customers dime. I prefer a company that turns down quantity to ensure their quality stays high, I wish more places would have an attitude like that.

BGHE doesn't work on sets they don't sell because they don't want to provide a substandard service to their customers. They are familiar with their sets and know all the tweaks. They don't want to learn on the customers dime. I prefer a company that turns down quantity to ensure their quality stays high, I wish more places would have an attitude like that.


I have a Sony and I believe that BGHE sells Sony (they say that on their website). They referred me to Barney Miller and I left a message for someone(I can't remember the name of the voicemail that the receptionist put me in). I guess I'll wait for Chad if noone else has any recommendations for this area.

WDKY Fox-56 HD is down this morning due to STL problems. It seems like the wind is blowing them around a bit today. When I called they said they will have the STL realigned after the weather breaks. On the upside, Insight may have the fiber feed from WDKY working tonight. I just checked Weather.com, windy tomorrow too. Tower crews don't react well to high winds. (to borrow a bit from "Hunt for Red October")

FWIW, I don't have enough signal for a lock, currently, so don't know if there's any decodable audio/video, but at around 11:45am I'm getting enough signal from a DTV station on 4 from the south(as is usual from 118 miles for them) to say it looks like WDKY-DT's transmitter is still on the air ...

Hello, I recently moved from Lexington to Nicholasville and have just purchased a 60" xbr2 sxrd from Barney Miller's (saturday delivery). Will I need an antenna for OTA HD reception of the lexington stations, or will the tuner in the display pick them up without one?

Thanks.

Hello, I recently moved from Lexington to Nicholasville and have just purchased a 60" xbr2 sxrd from Barney Miller's (saturday delivery). Will I need an antenna for OTA HD reception of the lexington stations, or will the tuner in the display pick them up without one?

Thanks.

Heh, yeah, you will still need an antenna for Over The Air reception to get FREE HD TV! You might go with a Phillips rabbit ear antenna with Pre-Amp. Keep the box to return it in case you dont get all the Lex stations you want. If that dont work out get a small outside antenna from Lowes to get better reception.

Roger

WDKY HD is back up on Insight, I've been told they installed the fiber equipment today. No word on when the HD transmitter will be back online.

Hello, I recently moved from Lexington to Nicholasville and have just purchased a 60" xbr2 sxrd from Barney Miller's (saturday delivery). Will I need an antenna for OTA HD reception of the lexington stations, or will the tuner in the display pick them up without one?

Thanks.
I wasn't able to keep a digital signal without one. I picked up the Philips amplified ant from Wal-mart and was able to get everything but WDKY. I ended up taking thatt one back going with a Stealthtenna in the attic, now I get all the Lexington Digital and even some Cincinnati and Louisville analogs when conditions are right.....

BTW... I'm on the North Side of Lexington.

Either TWC removed WDKY-DT from their 'freebie' DTV/HD stations I was picking up on my broadband-'only' cable line or installing the new HD card drivers messed up tuning the channel or the channel is still there, but the xmitter is offline, just like it is for off-the-air reception right now. Is the transmitter water-logged or something? I swear someone moved my house temporarily under Niagara falls earlier tonight.

WDKY-DT (OTA) was still down when I checked (~11am) ... Looks like TWC is using an antenna to capture them. The funny part about this is that I probably wouldn't have noticed that WDKY was offline had it not been mentioned here ... American What? ;)

Another reason I would not use Bluegrass Entertainment is because of price. I tried to get my seats locally so I would not have to get them delivered from a website. The price they gave me was more than double on a set of 6 seats.

Does DirectTV or Dish offer an integrated HD receiver that can TIVO (or other DVR capabilities) locals? I really want to switch over to satellite but I need my TIVO.

TIA,

Phil

Does DirectTV or Dish offer an integrated HD receiver that can TIVO (or other DVR capabilities) locals? I really want to switch over to satellite but I need my TIVO.

TIA,

Phil

I don't know about Dish, but DirecTV's new HR-20 (HD-DVR) has an OTA tuner built-in and can download program data and include it in your guide for recording.

Does DirectTV or Dish offer an integrated HD receiver that can TIVO (or other DVR capabilities) locals? I really want to switch over to satellite but I need my TIVO.

TIA,

Phil

The original dish DVR (Displayer 7100) can record locals, but only if you pay for them via dish's local package, it has no OTA tuner. This receiver is only standard def.

The newest dish DVR, the Vip622 on the other hand is said to be awesome from what I have heard. It can tune locals to record via satellite or OTA and is high-def AND mpeg-4 capable, which everyone is moving towards. I don't know how much longer mpeg-2 will be along for the satellite companies, but right now I am riding them out until my Dishplayer 7100 is no longer able to use their service. At which point Dish WILL HAVE to upgrade me free to the equivalent DVR whenever this happens, as I paid flat-out for my 7100 and the whole leasing receiver thing doesn't sit quite right with me.

Here's a review of the Vip622. I wouldn't mind having one, but it would cost me more in fees to upgrade to one because Dish would charge me a $5/month DVR fee that their original DVRs don't have to pay, plus the lease fee of the receiver, plus $5.99 month if I want the OTA HD local tuning to have guide info on the receiver (which is dumb IMO):
http://reviews.cnet.com/Dish_Network_ViP622/4505-6474_7-31778299.html

For DVR'ing local HD I built a media center PC w/ a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 HD card using Windows Media Center Edition 2005. I just ran 50' of SVGA cable from the livingroom where the HTPC is located to my newer LCD HD set in the den. It's nearly dual-room capable to serve HD programming time-shifted to either TV in either room. I ordered a Firefly RF remote last night to finish the project. The other nice thing about building a media PC is that you can play back virtually any media file you throw at it, including online content.

Thanks Shak. I'll take a look at the Direct TV solution.

Thanks Ben. It's a great solution except I don't think my wife and kids will go for anything but a seemless integrated solution. I have media center with the xbox 360 extension and I can say without a doubt I'm the only one to have ever used it

I don't know about Dish, but DirecTV's new HR-20 (HD-DVR) has an OTA tuner built-in and can download program data and include it in your guide for recording.

Do you know if DirecTV charges a fee to obtain guide info if you use OTA for your local HD?

No. DTV doesn't have an additional fee for OTA guide info. And you can get guide info for at least 2 areas on the HR10-250. I don't know about other models though.

WDKY-DT (OTA) was still down when I checked (~11am) ... Looks like TWC is using an antenna to capture them. The funny part about this is that I probably wouldn't have noticed that WDKY was offline had it not been mentioned here ... American What? ;)

That explains why the TWC FOX-HD hiccups and glitches the same as OTA reception at home.. they are doing the same thing. It is cheaper than fiber or a satellite uplink. Just unfortunately low band VHF is so susceptible to interference from anything electrical. I do wonder if WDKY plans to try for a different channel in 2009

That explains why the TWC FOX-HD hiccups and glitches the same as OTA reception at home.. they are doing the same thing. It is cheaper than fiber or a satellite uplink. Just unfortunately low band VHF is so susceptible to interference from anything electrical. I do wonder if WDKY plans to try for a different channel in 2009

Should be some nice UHF Channel available when 2009 comes around. Such as 18, 27, 36, and 46... I was reading some old applications on the FCC.GOV webpage about WDKY-DT Trying to get channel 22 a long time ago, but during that time WLEX-DT was assigned channel 22, but of course they are now on channel 39.

That explains why the TWC FOX-HD hiccups and glitches the same as OTA reception at home.. they are doing the same thing. It is cheaper than fiber or a satellite uplink. Just unfortunately low band VHF is so susceptible to interference from anything electrical. I do wonder if WDKY plans to try for a different channel in 2009

I doubt that TWC gets a fiber feed from WDKY anytime soon, unless they feed fiber from the transmitter. I don't know how Insight would feel about TWC installing fiber inside Lexington..... Maybe somebody else knows. A satellite uplink to TWC isn't happening, maybe Dish or Directv will uplink soon, but they wouldn't let TWC downlink their feed. A sat uplink just to feed a headend is cost prohibitive (and in the world of "I moved, but my satellite receiver hasn't" waivers, and DVR skipping breaks, TV stations are getting pretty lean) Maybe WDKY can fiber HD from Columbus to TWC, WSYX-WTTE is right across the street from TWC in Columbus, and TWC does handle the fiber feed to WDKY from Columbus (now there's a thought) TWC is all over the Lexington DMA, it's in everyone's best interest to solve this.

A future UHF freq for WDKY? We can only hope this is in the works.

WDKY said they realigned the STL antenna today, so hopefully they are all back to "normal" as it were. "24" in HD tonight, rock on!

Dave Powell from WLEX retired. IMHO he is a great engineer, sorry to see him go. I guess he'll spend more time in his little red Corvette :)

I wonder if we could all get together and tour a few local transmitter sites, I bet that's a liability no TV station would accept..... dang it I must be a geek!

HDTV4us over and out.

I wonder if we could all get together and tour a few local transmitter sites, I bet that's a liability no TV station would accept..... dang it I must be a geek!

HDTV4us over and out.

Many moons ago on this thread William Smith from KET offered a tour, but I guess there was not enough interest as nothing else was every said about doing it. Maybe the option is still there?

I'm still open to give a tour.. maybe even have some folks from here hang around for a chat.. We're working on a studio retrofit for HD that will have to be complete in about 18 months so things are a little hectic. Maybe a TX site visit could be arranged ( no promises there as there are issues with other folks equipment being on site). I might even be able to swing it so you can see the new WUKY transmitter facility which is running HD radio..

If there was enough interest...


Let me know what you think..

William

That explains why the TWC FOX-HD hiccups and glitches the same as OTA reception at home.. they are doing the same thing. It is cheaper than fiber or a satellite uplink. Just unfortunately low band VHF is so susceptible to interference from anything electrical. I do wonder if WDKY plans to try for a different channel in 2009

You want to know something even more "interesting?" WDKY-DT is not, I repeat not, available on TWC in it's Community of License. Sinclair must have let some systems slip through their fingers.

I might even be able to so you the new WUKY transmitter facility which is running HD radio..



Speaking of HD radio... I got one a couple of weeks ago. It is nice! Although we only have 1 station in Lexington that broadcasts in HD and its WUKY. I can drive about 5 miles north on 75, and I get Cincinnati stations in HD, and I love the HD2 stations. Hopefully Lexington Radio Stations will jump on to HD radio soon. But AM radio sounds so much better!

Well, I took delivery of my new display on Saturday and went out and purchased a Phillips amplified indoor antenna. (I live in Nicholasville in Keene Crossing behind Lowe's). I received all the Lexington digitals with the exception of WDKY (Fox). I was getting signal strengths in the low 80's for these stations. The two favorite shows are on Fox (House & 24) so this wasnt satisfactory. I returned the Phillips and tried to find the Channel Master 3010 Stealthtenna that others here have had success with. After much searching, I found one at the Winchester Lowe's (their last one) I paid the DirecTV installer a $100 to mount the antenna on the roof for me and couldnt be happier (he supplied mount and rg6 cabling). WKLE, WKYT, WLEX, WTVQ all are 95 or higher strength. WDKY fluctuates between 87-93. WBKI is 82, and WUPX is 73 with stable picture. I am very impressed with that little antenna, and this is without an amplifier.

I have the HR10-250 DIRECTV TIVO HD, which is the older tivo model, the new one i believe is a directv inhouse brand dvr. My model is great with recording ota locals. Works just like the other channels, and they are intergrated into my guide just like all the sat channels, its great. I have read that some people were not happy with the way the newer hd dvr works comparted to the older tivo version.

All last year I combined two rabbit ear antennas in a loft over my garage and successfully received all the locals including WDKY-DT until I took down the boxes of Christmas decorations -- lost FOX and KET. Since then I have been trying to find the right "spot" to get the lost signals back with no success. Two weeks ago, I bought the Stealthtenna from Lowes, installed it in the loft and am now getting all the locals again. Great little antenna -- highly recommended. Location is near Liberty Road and Fortune Drive.

I am having one problem, however. My OTA feeds through the Directv box and the signal from WLEX-DT comes in strong at 89 - 96, but it frequently drops to 0 for an instant. No pattern. It makes WLEX-DT unwatchable. I have split the antenna to also feed directly to the TV and the picture is solid when I select that source. Seems obvious that the Directv box is the problem. I hesitate to ask for a new receiver from Directv as I am reading about all kinds of problems with them. Maybe I am better off with this issue than I would be with some of the other problems. Does anybody have any experience with Directv and their receivers? Thanks.

All last year I combined two rabbit ear antennas in a loft over my garage and successfully received all the locals including WDKY-DT until I took down the boxes of Christmas decorations -- lost FOX and KET. Since then I have been trying to find the right "spot" to get the lost signals back with no success. Two weeks ago, I bought the Stealthtenna from Lowes, installed it in the loft and am now getting all the locals again. Great little antenna -- highly recommended. Location is near Liberty Road and Fortune Drive.

I am having one problem, however. My OTA feeds through the Directv box and the signal from WLEX-DT comes in strong at 89 - 96, but it frequently drops to 0 for an instant. No pattern. It makes WLEX-DT unwatchable. I have split the antenna to also feed directly to the TV and the picture is solid when I select that source. Seems obvious that the Directv box is the problem. I hesitate to ask for a new receiver from Directv as I am reading about all kinds of problems with them. Maybe I am better off with this issue than I would be with some of the other problems. Does anybody have any experience with Directv and their receivers? Thanks.

I've been noticing this the last week or so as well, I have a attic setup and it feeds into a Dishnetwork VIP211 receiver. I've not bee able to detect any pattern and only happens on WLEX-DT. The frequency varies from 10 to 12 times a hour to 0 per hour. It usually goes blank for 1 to 3 seconds and then is perfect for a while. My signal strength typically is around 85 to 90%. I'm not sure what the deal is.

Steve

I had 2 Dish 921's.
One for upstairs and one for my Home Theater "Manly Room".
Seems ONLY the upstairs 921 would catch and loose the signal - constantly.
The Home Theater worked perfectly - every time.
Within 2 - 3 months, BOTH 921's croaked. Upgraded to the VIP 622's.
Signals come in loud and strong.
Methinks there's something odd with the DVR tuners. Maybe you can swap it out?

Frustrating point for me, was no method to recover a few shows I hadn't had time to watch.

Odd new situation now: One of my VIP 622's wouldn't send a clear signal thru the HDMI port to my projector. Traded the upstairs for the downstairs and all is well. Fortunately, I only use component connections on the upstairs TV.

I hope this info is helpful.

cheers,

Karlito

I had 2 Dish 921's.
One for upstairs and one for my Home Theater "Manly Room".
Seems ONLY the upstairs 921 would catch and loose the signal - constantly.
The Home Theater worked perfectly - every time.
Within 2 - 3 months, BOTH 921's croaked. Upgraded to the VIP 622's.
Signals come in loud and strong.
Methinks there's something odd with the DVR tuners. Maybe you can swap it out?

Frustrating point for me, was no method to recover a few shows I hadn't had time to watch.

Odd new situation now: One of my VIP 622's wouldn't send a clear signal thru the HDMI port to my projector. Traded the upstairs for the downstairs and all is well. Fortunately, I only use component connections on the upstairs TV.

I hope this info is helpful.

cheers,

Karlito

I thought about getting it swapped out. But I figured Dish would say that there were to many variables and could not be responsible for any OTA p roblems. If the problem presists, I'll switch the OTA feed back to the TV tuner and see if resolves the problem

Manly room Huh. I need one of them! lol

Steve

Yep. Manly Room. Original concept was to call it the "DogHouse" - for when I'm in trouble.
The wife had NO part in the decorating process. No flowers, no doily's, nothing girlie.

Bar, Beer Fridge, Dart Board, Card Table, and 140" of Hi Def projection bliss !
I am the king at home - at least in the basement. :)

cheers,

Karlito

I have a Dish 942 and a Dish 622. You can record 3 channels at a time. Also record 1 OTA HD channel and another HD channel. I will never go back.

Can't find a Stealthtenna anywhere in Lexington, anyone know where one is ?

Can't find a Stealthtenna anywhere in Lexington, anyone know where one is ?

Your best bet is to call the Lowe's stores. Nicholasville Rd location had them on clearance and were sold out on Sunday. Richmond Rd were all sold out too. Hamburg and Nicholasville (city) location are new stores and do not stock, and will not stock this item, I was told. I bought the last one at the Winchester store, Sunday at regular price ($59.92). I would give them or the Richmond (city) store a call. The only place online I could find one was Crutchfield. Maybe Channel Master is fazing them out? Good luck.

Can't find a Stealthtenna anywhere in Lexington, anyone know where one is ?

I went to Lowe's a couple of weeks ago... they had one for $60.00... I then visited Radio Electronics on Skain Ave (behind the Herald Leader Building on Midland)... and picked one up in the mid $40.00 price range.

Can't find a Stealthtenna anywhere in Lexington, anyone know where one is ?

I got mine at the Richmond Road Lowes about three weeks ago -- about $40.00 so I guess it was on some kind of sale. It was the last one on the floor -- maybe they have or will get more? I know there were none at the new Lowes on Winchester Road last week. Not much there for OTA installations. It worked for me because of my space limitations, but any antenna designed for outside or attic installation ought to work. Of course, location is the key -- I think I got lucky.

You'd think Lowes would have a better OTA antenna section. Why don't they sell all the good stuff like these Steathtennas, Channel master 7777 pre-amps and CM4228 UHF antenna and the Yagi VHF antenna that WDKY recommends? These particular products increase probably of succesful reception in Central Kentucky and none are ever stocked at mainstream retail or at sufficient quantity. With more people harnessing free OTA signal with the advent of digital television you would think more of these products would be available locally.

Almost every piece of my antenna system had to be bought online because these components are not available in the region.

A business opportunity for someone to make a killing on these particulars..

I think I have called every Electronics store in Lexington and can't find one. The Radio Electronics is also sold out.

A business opportunity for someone to make a killing on these particulars..

Despite appearences to the contrary, the latest "industry estimates" put cable+satellite penetration at ~90% in our DMA. So, it's not quite the gold-mine one might think. ;)

FWIW, the local Lowes usually has no more than 2 CM3020's in stock at any time, along with the usual crappy rabbit-ear indoor antennas. If it weren't for me, I suspect they'd have much less antenna (and antenna accessories) biz. ;)

Well, I live in Mt. Sterling so I don't think I have any other current option.

I found a stealthtenna at a Lowes (not really local but within reasonable driving distance) and I think I may be getting it tomorrow. I live in Mt Sterling and currently get everything good (90%+) except wdky. I have a CM3044 amp I am using with a UHF antenna that was already installed at my house many years ago when I purchased it. I think the Lowes stealthtenna model is 3010 which has no preamp builtin but there is one available for add on. Question is = will I be OK with the 3010 and 3044 or should I go with the 3010 and order the optional preamp 3038 that is installed into the antenna housing?
My concern is the the dreaded VHF signal and all the various scenarios of passing or overamplifying UHF and/or VHF, this is hurting my head after reading all of the different situations on this board.
Has anyone already tried this in Mt Sterling or Morehead?
Any advice would be appreciated. Yeah, I know there are better antennas, this one just looks better and I think I can get the "approval", if you know what I mean.

Question is = will I be OK with the 3010 and 3044 or should I go with the 3010 and order the optional preamp 3038 that is installed into the antenna housing?
My concern is the the dreaded VHF signal and all the various scenarios of passing or overamplifying UHF and/or VHF, this is hurting my head after reading all of the different situations on this board.
Has anyone already tried this in Mt Sterling or Morehead?
Any advice would be appreciated. Yeah, I know there are better antennas, this one just looks better and I think I can get the "approval", if you know what I mean.


I wouldn't think you'd be prone to overload in Mt. Sterling. The 3044 should do fine.

The Stealthtenna has weak UHF performance but you could always use it for vhf-only (diplexed to your current antenna) if you find the uhf performance lacking.

I found a stealthtenna at a Lowes (not really local but within reasonable driving distance) and I think I may be getting it tomorrow. I live in Mt Sterling and currently get everything good (90%+) except wdky. I have a CM3044 amp I am using with a UHF antenna that was already installed at my house many years ago when I purchased it. I think the Lowes stealthtenna model is 3010 which has no preamp builtin but there is one available for add on. Question is = will I be OK with the 3010 and 3044 or should I go with the 3010 and order the optional preamp 3038 that is installed into the antenna housing?
My concern is the the dreaded VHF signal and all the various scenarios of passing or overamplifying UHF and/or VHF, this is hurting my head after reading all of the different situations on this board.
I'm guessing that your existing UHF antenna is a pretty good one. It just doesn't get any VHF (which is why you don't get WDKY, on RF channel 4). The 3010 antenna will probably do worse at UHF and better at VHF than what you have now. With the added VHF capability, you might start getting WDKY.

The signal strengths in Mt. Sterling are not that high, so you don't need to worry about overamplification due to your CM 3044.

My biggest concern is that you'll lose performance on all the UHF channels. You might not have the same availability and stability that you're used to. Adding a pre-amp doesn't make an antenna any more sensitive than it already is. Pre-amps are designed to overcome any cable and splitter losses that occur after the antenna. If you have a lengthy cable run or if you split the signal prior to your distribution amp, then a pre-amp might help a little. However, the reduced performance of the antenna itself is more of a problem, in my opinion.

The attached plot shows the transmitter locations and relative signal strengths in Mt Sterling. You should be able to pick up all the channels in green near the top of the list (assuming your antenna is correctly pointed for each station).

Why do you want to change antennas if the current one is working fine? If you're doing this to pick up WDKY, you should consider if it's worth losing some UHF quality.



Best regards,
Andy

Yeah, I want WDKY and my current antenna is UHF only. If I use both antennas with the diplexer mentioned above, is there a chance that I would get some kind of signal cross interference from one to the other on the UHF or does the diplexer filter out the UHF from one and the VHF from the other?

Despite appearences to the contrary, the latest "industry estimates" put cable+satellite penetration at ~90% in our DMA. So, it's not quite the gold-mine one might think. ;)


The only problem with our DMA is that it isn't in the top 50, so it takes longer for the satellite and cable companies to do cool things like give local HDTV and mpeg-4. I guess we need a larger number of couch potatoes in our region. :D

is there a chance that I would get some kind of signal cross interference from one to the other on the UHF or does the diplexer filter out the UHF from one and the VHF from the other?

That is exactly what a diplexer is made to do. Diplexers:
http://www.picomacom.com/specs/pico/C/C24.pdf
You'd use the HLSJ if you want to continue to receive WKYT via your current uhf antenna. Use the UVSJ if you want a straight division between uhf and vhf (you'd then receive both wdky and wkyt from the Stealth).

RS carries a standard vhf/uhf diplexer (UVSJ).
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103923&cp=&pg=2&sr=1&origkw=uhf+vhf&kw=uhf+vhf&parentPage=search

Preamps with separate uhf and vhf inputs usually have them built in.

CM makes several preamp models with separate uhf/vhf inputs.

The only problem with our DMA is that it isn't in the top 50, so it takes longer for the satellite and cable companies to do cool things like give local HDTV and mpeg-4. I guess we need a larger number of couch potatoes in our region. :D

Judging from the girths I see out on the streets, I think there are plenty of couch potatoes available ... but few are among the "converted." ;)

In any case, I see that ChannelMaster (the company) has been sold yet again, so this might explain why their products are in short supply at the B&M stores.

It looks like StarkElectronics has sold out of just about all of the Wade single-channel yagis (including both Ch4's) ...

So, it looks like we may be down to the overpriced-for-the-performance RatShack options.

It looks like StarkElectronics has sold out of just about all of the Wade single-channel yagis (including both Ch4's) ...

So, it looks like we may be down to the overpriced-for-the-performance RatShack options.

I have one of these if anyone's interested. I've mentioned this a number of times here but as of yet no one will seem to bite. :)

I think the Lowes stealth antenna model is 3010 which has no preamp builtin but there is one available for add on. Question is = will I be OK with the 3010 and 3044 or should I go with the 3010 and order the optional preamp 3038 that is installed into the antenna housing?
.
Partner, I was happy with just the 3010 without the pre amp on so you should just see what happens when you install it. If the Stealth doesn't pick up all the signals already, you might not need the extra ompth!

You other guys out there that want a Stealth might try purchasing one on the internet. I seen one on Ebay for only $25 awhile back.

OK, I picked one up today and hope to put it up tomorrow morning. I'll let you guys know how it works out. The Lowes in Ashland (Russell) had one more but the box was pretty beat up. The Lowes in Winchester said they were sold out but that it was a stock item for their store, he looked at all of the other region stores and said he didn't think it was a stock item for anyone else in Lexington, Richmond, or Morehead.

OK, I picked one up today and hope to put it up tomorrow morning. I'll let you guys know how it works out. The Lowes in Ashland (Russell) had one more but the box was pretty beat up. The Lowes in Winchester said they were sold out but that it was a stock item for their store, he looked at all of the other region stores and said he didn't think it was a stock item for anyone else in Lexington, Richmond, or Morehead.

This is an excellent antenna! All the stores that sell HD TVs should care them as a matter of course. You will find that this one will not be blown around like the others and looks better on the roof. Try the attic first tho.

Stark Electronics have them for sell for $37.60 plus $9 shipping for those who trust the internet for buying.

http://www.starkelectronic.com/cmant.htm

OK, everything installed and adjusted about as good as it gets. I can now get WDKY at around 80%, it bounces around quite a bit (using watchhdtv meter). I am using the RS 2586 combiner, I had one laying around. Now I can't get Wkyt channel 3 (weather radar). and WKYT now comes in at about 65-70% but is watchable with no problems for now. I think I am going to get the lo VHF filter that cpcat mentioned, the HLSJ then maybe I can readjust my antenna for WDKY only and not try to split the difference for both. Thanks for your recommendations guys. I'm not out of the woods yet, but, I think I am one part away.

Whats up with CBS? The sound for the SEC Finals were all messed up and they keep switching from HD to SD. Back and forth, back and forth. WTF

I just actually got off the phone with someone in master control at KYT and told them that the sound wasn't so good, then said yeah, it isn't. So I guess the guy fixed it. I told him I really didn't feel like holding my antenna up to get WLKY. So it seems to be working okay now.

OK, everything installed and adjusted about as good as it gets. I can now get WDKY at around 80%, it bounces around quite a bit (using watchhdtv meter).

Humm ... well I'm glad you've had some success. But just for the record, by CM's own specs, this antenna has a -(minus)4.6dBd gain on lo-VHF, +0.5d gain on hi-VHF and a -(minus)1.6dBd gain for UHF, which means you're probably better off using a coat-hanger ... provided it's cut to the right length ;) Good luck banishing the impulse noise on ch4. :)

Sorry if I am off track with this post on this forum.

For sale. Two Palliser Eastwood Home Theater Chairs. Never used. Manual recline w/premium leather. Black. Paid $1369. Located in Lexington. PM with offer

http://tancity.net/mediachairs

Looks like a second station here in Lexington will be doing their news in HD, from what I am reading:

It would be WKYT-TV, but personally I rather watch LEX18.
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/business/16880115.htm

One last post on how my new setup is working. Hopefully this can help somone else in a similar situation.
I had a stealthtenna and a UHF antenna combining at the bottom of the mast with a RS 15-2586 (straight UHF/VHF splitter), I have a 3044 amp inside the house. This worked pretty good except WKYT signal went down (to about 72%) but I got a decent WDKY signal (about 80%).

I replaced the 2586 with with a standard 5-900mhz splitter/combiner and now my WKYT is back to 93% and WDKY stayed about the same. I think I will leave this in for awhile and see how it does over the weather changes. Here is what I am getting, on an almost perfect day (using signal meter on DISH vip622):
WLEX 18 = 100%
WKYT 27 = 93%
WTVQ 36 = 100%
KET 38 = 82%
KET 46 = 72%
WDKY 56 = 78%
ION 67 = 83%
I am using a UHF antenna, a stealthtenna 3010, a standard coax splitter (combiner), and CM 3044 amp, I have this setup going to a PC(HDTVwonder card) and a Dish ViP622, signal strengths show about the same on both. Located in Western area of Mt. Sterling.

2 things I might try:
1. try to fine tune the stealthtenna to optimize signal on WDKY (I was trying to split the difference with wkyt before).
2. try the VHF hi/lo splitter (hlsj), I think I have one laying around somewhere

Thanks for all your help, guys :)

2 things I might try:
1. try to fine tune the stealthtenna to optimize signal on WDKY (I was trying to split the difference with wkyt before).
2. try the VHF hi/lo splitter (hlsj), I think I have one laying around somewhere

Or 3) you could just try a real VHF antenna. ;) :)

2 things I might try:
1. try to fine tune the stealthtenna to optimize signal on WDKY (I was trying to split the difference with wkyt before).
2. try the VHF hi/lo splitter (hlsj), I think I have one laying around somewhere

Thanks for all your help, guys :)

You forgot choice #3, try using the Stealth pre amp 3038 that was designed for the Stealth Antenna. You can always take it back to LOwes if it dont work out better.

Roger

Or 3) you could just try a real VHF antenna. ;) :)

Cummon, give the little 3010 some respect. It might not have the theoretical specs, but it seems to work for several people on this thread. Mt. Sterling may be a stretch for it, but somebody had luck as far away as Morehead. But the way these fickle signals seem to be, it could work for me but not my neighbor. If I were still having trouble in Lexington, I would give the Steathtenna a try -- if you can find one.

Yeah, I hear you guys. I agree about this not being the best solution, but, it is a better looking solution. If I have to sink any more money into it, I will probably talk to cpcat about his yagi 4. But so far it is working out pretty good so I'll try it out for a couple of weeks. For Fox, I only watch Nascar and 24 on a regular basis, so, I'm not going to sink alot of time or money into 1 channel. I wish they would have given this thing a little more wingspan, it is 55". If it was 63" we might have a little better reception also. Maybe a project down the road.

If I have to sink any more money into it,

That being my whole point. :D You can probably make a better ch4 antenna out of twinlead and a balun for $5-$10 vs. $40-$60 for the 3010. I'm not saying 3010 won't work, I'm just saying it probably isn't worth the cash outlay. :)

See BenC's DIY project.

I already tried the DIY antenna and it did not bring in a good enough signal. Best I could do is low 70s and wouldn't stabilize enough to lock. My guaranteed best bet for the money would be the yagi 4 that cpcat offered me. I may still go that route. We have some bad weather coming in the next few days, that will be the ultimate test. If it doesn't work I'll return it and call cpcat.

Cummon, give the little 3010 some respect. .

I still have mine. This Stealth was what started it all for me.

I'd say even the smallish 3016 (which I also have) performs better, but the only problem with the 3016 for some is that it's not the Stealth. :D

Anyone frustrated about channel 27's being slow to switch the ncaa games into hd? Took them alsom 15 minutes from national hd coverage at noon today. Wake up fella's.

I have one of these if anyone's interested. I've mentioned this a number of times here but as of yet no one will seem to bite. :)

I also have one of the Wade single-channel yagis channel 4. Anyone in the Morehead area, let me know. Thanks,

Steve

Yeah, I want WDKY and my current antenna is UHF only. If I use both antennas with the diplexer mentioned above, is there a chance that I would get some kind of signal cross interference from one to the other on the UHF or does the diplexer filter out the UHF from one and the VHF from the other?
FYI, a diplexer will actually handle the two frequency bands separately, so you should NOT have any crosstalk between the UHF and VHF sides. A regular splitter does not do that, so then you WOULD have crosstalk between the two sides.

Best regards,
Andy

thanks for the help.....the stealth and the uhf antenna are working pretty good using a standard splitter/combiner. In bad weather wdky is actually around 88-90% signal strength. The diplexer (uvsj) made my wkyt almost unwatchable.

This below I copied from a article at www.tvnewsday.com

WKYT LEXINGTON, KY, TO AIR HD NEWS BY JUNE
Gray's CBS affiliate is promising "true and full" HD with no upconverted SD from the field. It's the "biggest thing" since color, GM says.
Gray Television’s WKYT Lexington, Ky., plans to offer “true and full” local HD news by June 1, according to Wayne Martin, general manager of the CBS affiliate.

Unlike other local HD news pioneers, WKYT will shoot HD in the field, according to Martin.

“We will be true and full HD,” Martin says. “We have already acquired and are using [Sony] HD cameras in the field. We will have HD cameras in creative services. We will have HD cameras in the studio.”

About 30 other stations are now offering HD news. But most are shooting news in the field in widescreen SD, upconverting it and then integrating it with real studio HD for broadcast.

At WKYT, Martin said, the only programming that will be upconverted after June 1 is “legacy footage” and non-HD syndicated programming.

“It’s going to be the biggest thing for our viewers since the conversion from black and white to color,” Martin says. “I think it is that significant. The investment that we are making will not have an immediate return, but long range people are going to recognize the quality of what we are providing.

“Our market penetration with HD sets is in the mid teens right now,” he adds. “That will increase exponentially over the next two years.”

WKYT will be the first Gray station to go with HD news, but may not be the first in Lexington, the 63rd-largest TV market. Cordillera's WLEX, the NBC affiliate, announced last month that it would begin offering HD this spring. "We are on target for April 26," Promotion Director Chip Alfred. "We are moving full speed ahead."

WKYT's Martin says that WKYT has been gradually equipping itself to be fully HD for the past four and a half years. “We didn’t just decide to do this six months ago.”
Martin credits station engineer Chas Callaway with the HD upgrade. “The vision has come from [Gray COO] Bob Prather and the execution is with Chas.”

In connection with the news upgrade, WKYT will also upgrade its digital CW affiliate to HD by June 1, Martin said.

In connection with the news upgrade, WKYT will also upgrade its digital CW affiliate to HD by June 1, Martin said.

Like I said when this first surfaced in fredfa's omnibus thread:
I'd bet that CWKYT-HD will only be available via cable, otherwise expect both CBS-HD and CW-HD to reach new lows in the PQ dept.

In any case, I don't care ... it's too little too late ... I've already gone to WLKY for CBS HD @ 1080i/5.1 and WBKI for CW at 1080i/full throttle (as far as I can tell.) :) I don't see any point in going back to WKYT, unless there's some scheduling conflict that can't be resolved some other way.

PS: Of course WKYT could always surprise us by installing a second digital transmitter :D ... but I can't find any evidence of that @ the FCC site. If it's there, it's well hidden.

This below I copied from a article at www.tvnewsday.com
In connection with the news upgrade, WKYT will also upgrade its digital CW affiliate to HD by June 1, Martin said.

YES!!!! this makes me very happy. My wife opposses the antenna going up on the roof (asthetic reason)

Will WKYT suck bandwidth from the primary subchannel though and we'll have two lossy/pixelated HD shows? Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that ATSC is limited to 19mbps. Maybe they'll discard null packets in exchange for higher quality?

Maybe another benefit to all HD news is no more 'we forgot to flip the switch to go from SD to HD'?

Will WKYT suck bandwidth from the primary subchannel though and we'll have two lossy/pixelated HD shows? Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that ATSC is limited to 19mbps. Maybe they'll discard null packets in exchange for higher quality?


The HD channel for 27 WKYT will be at 720P which is still considered HD with the sub channel being either 720p or 480i. FOX did the same thing when they had the TUBE on a sub channel.

The HD channel for 27 WKYT will be at 720P which is still considered HD with the sub channel being either 720p or 480i. FOX did the same thing when they had the TUBE on a sub channel.

480i though is not HD. That would be what WKYT already gives to us for the CW :D

Anybody else been hearing terrible sound quality from WKYT during the tournament coverage? Sounds like they have the treble all the way up or something.

Anybody else been hearing terrible sound quality from WKYT during the tournament coverage? Sounds like they have the treble all the way up or something.
Yes, I gas having the same sound problems, it would come and go, definitely sounded like too much treble. I am also having a problem receiving 56-1 and I live close to the station, anyone else having a problem with 56-1?

Anybody else been hearing terrible sound quality from WKYT during the tournament coverage? Sounds like they have the treble all the way up or something.

Yep ... and the monologue portion of Letterman (3/21) was "screechy" too. In possibly related news, the radar sweep (27.3) disappeared overnight - just in time for the onset of severe weather season. :rolleyes: Perhaps they are prepping to feed CW-HD to the cable outlets????

Yep ... and the monologue portion of Letterman (3/21) was "screechy" too. In possibly related news, the radar sweep (27.3) disappeared overnight - just in time for the onset of severe weather season. :rolleyes: Perhaps they are prepping to feed CW-HD to the cable outlets????

How about they feed it to the OTA outlets instead? :)

Yep ... and the monologue portion of Letterman (3/21) was "screechy" too. In possibly related news, the radar sweep (27.3) disappeared overnight - just in time for the onset of severe weather season. :rolleyes: Perhaps they are prepping to feed CW-HD to the cable outlets????

GAH! Where is my Radar sweep???? I need to know if I can ride my motorcycle down to the Boonesboro boatdocks for Thursday nite bike meet! Looks like rain! Rats!

:(

Anyone done a scan on TWC's QAM stations recently?

I currently get WKYT-HD, WDKY-HD, KET4-HD, Discovery HD and TNT HD.

I'm hoping that they have added (or will soon add) WLEX and WTVQ.

Just wondering if anyone has happened upon either of them recently...

Thanks,
SC

Anyone done a scan on TWC's QAM stations recently?

I currently get WKYT-HD, WDKY-HD, KET4-HD, Discovery HD and TNT HD.

I'm hoping that they have added (or will soon add) WLEX and WTVQ.

Just wondering if anyone has happened upon either of them recently...

Thanks,
SC

I'm not the authority to check since technically I have cable, but only am paying for their Road Runner Online broadband Internet (which is slow when compared with InsightBB btw). A few leaked/in-test-stages/unencrypted channels do show up on a scan, but it is less than were showing up around Christmas. WDKY-DT was the only HD one I was picking up on a scan last week. New drivers have just come out for my Fusion5 HD card that is QAM-256 capable, so I plan to do the update and rescan tonight to see what I can pick up now.

How about they feed it to the OTA outlets instead? :)

Oh yeah ... that would look *real* nice squeezing two HD feeds into 18Mbps. :D Just for reference, I believe KET4 is running right around 12(ish)Mbps. ;)

In any case, now that I've thought about it, they may have turned the radar sweep off just for the NCAA.

Tonights ncaa games on 27 had both 27.1 and 27.3 carrying the HD feed of the same game. Why would that be?

Tonights ncaa games on 27 had both 27.1 and 27.3 carrying the HD feed of the same game. Why would that be?

I noticed that too. I think we would have to do rescans on our tuners to see the .3 subchannel disappear. I guess by default our tuners put the .1 content on the currently non-existing .3 subchannel. The quality looked too impossible for two subchannels to both be in high def. :)

I found out that if they had the encoders set correctly, we were getting the best bandwidth usage like that. The 27.3 was just a mirror image of the original, not using any extra bandwidth. I posted about this over in the HD programing section of AVS, and Ken H said it was the bandwidth "jackpot" if they had the encoders set correctly to maximize the pic quality.

I noticed that too. I think we would have to do rescans on our tuners to see the .3 subchannel disappear. I guess by default our tuners put the .1 content on the currently non-existing .3 subchannel.

Correct. Some tuners will notice the change immediately, others may need a rescan. If you have a D* receiver, you may have to wait until the APG supplied channel mapping gets updated. D* is still carrying WHAS's 11.2 subchannel, even though it's been discontinued for several months.

Has anyone done a QAM scan on insight lately? I used to get HBO and 2 channels of insight on demand. Now I don't get any of them. I do get the locals still. Unfortunately, My tv doesn't auto tune any of them. I have to manually put in the channel and then it will show. I was wondering if maybe there was something else out there now that I don't know about.

Straight from the GM:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: CWKYT in HD?
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:21:54 -0400
Message-ID: <E6B12F6A7FAD9A46AA3BD7045E77CC1B04A25314@exchsrv.wkyt-tv.com>
Thread-Topic: CWKYT in HD?
Thread-Index: Acds9dSo8C/1iFWVQ3yJzKYnC48uqAADPTKt
From: "Wayne Martin" <Wayne.Martin@WKYT.com>
To: "Ben

You will definitely be able to get it off air. We do plan to do this by June 1 or sooner. Thanks for your interest.

Sent by Good Messaging (www.good.com)


-----Original Message-----
From: Ben
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:49 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Wayne Martin
Subject: CWKYT in HD?

Hello!

I read at tvnewsday.com that WKYT plans to bring the CW network in
glorious high definition. I was wondering if this will be available for
off-the-air viewers such as myself in Winchester this June? Word on the
street is that WKYT is only planning to provide CW in HD to ONLY cable
viewers, such as Insight. I'm not aware of Time-Warner covering your
station (CBS-HD) or any CW network in their channel package in my area
either. I am feeling sort of left out in the forthcoming upgrade. I
would appreciate your response in regard to this rumor.

Currently I have tried hard to pull in CW in high definition from
WBKI-DT-Louisville, but where my home lies, it is a fringe signal that
is sporadically available when the weather is exactly right. It really
is a struggle to watch my favorite CW shows in HD right now. The news of
WKYT bringing CW in HD made my day. I do hope the upgrade is not
reserved for cable customers only. If an additional transmitter to
maintain quality for CBS-HD and CW-HD is being installed for OTA
broadcast to supplement bandwidth, that would be icing on the cake.
Thank you for your time and understanding of my concern. I look forward
to your response.

Sincerely,

WKYT-fan
Ben

Straight from the GM:

You will definitely be able to get it off air. We do plan to do this by June 1 or sooner. Thanks for your interest.


LOL ... well that was concise, ultimately non-commital and yet completely useless information (with respect to the actual technical details.)

But good work anyway. :)

Hey everyone, I have tried to go back through the 99 pages of posts that we have here and figure the answer out on my own, but I have no clue where to begin. I am new to the whole HDTV business. I just got a HDTV 3 months ago, I have a Philips Mant510 antenna. I live right outside Lexington (versailles, about 5 minutes from the Airport in Lexington). I can pick up 18.1, 36.1, and all of the KET channels in high def. I can also pick up most of the Louisville stations which include 41.1 (Fox High Def). I have been to antennaweb and seen where I am in relation to the stations, I have also seen that 56.1 and 27.1 are VHF channels and not UHF. I can pick up all the UHF channels in the area, but never the VHF ones. My antenna is both VHF and UHF though. What's the deal? I'm not too far away from WKYT to pick it up. I pick up the normal 27 just fine, same with 56. I am fine with 56.1 because I can get my fox high def from the louisville channels.

What is the problem here and what can I do to get 27.1 to come in? I've also tried it under 13.1 but no luck. PLEASE HELP! Let me know what you wise high def guru's think about this, thanks

I have been to antennaweb and seen where I am in relation to the stations, I have also seen that 56.1 and 27.1 are VHF channels and not UHF. I can pick up all the UHF channels in the area, but never the VHF ones. My antenna is both VHF and UHF though. What's the deal? I'm not too far away from WKYT to pick it up. I pick up the normal 27 just fine, same with 56. I am fine with 56.1 because I can get my fox high def from the louisville channels.

What is the problem here and what can I do to get 27.1 to come in? I've also tried it under 13.1 but no luck. PLEASE HELP! Let me know what you wise high def guru's think about this, thanks

Those indoor antennas are weak in picking up good HD signals in relation to outdoor antennas. THe signal has to be strong and steady for the HD tuner to pull it in. I'm in Winchester and get all the Lexingoton stations plus Beattyville and Morehead. Do you have outside access to your roof or porch? A small Stealth antenna by Channel Master should help you out alot! Doesn't have to be high to pull all our HD signals in from Lexington. :)

Do you have outside access to your roof or porch? A small Stealth antenna by Channel Master should help you out alot! :)

... And for the price, a small VHF/UHF combo antenna like the CM3014 or 3016 would be even better. ;)

Well, I spent some time searching the FCC CDBS database this morning, and conld not find any sliver of evidence that Gray/WKYT has applied to install a secondary digital transmitter in Lexington (or surrounding areas.)

So either WKYT is goofing us, or they've found a way to defy the laws of physics and mathmatics or they have a new and "interesting" definition of HDTV. As the blind man once said, "This, I gotta see." :D

I hope they don't do something like DirecTV and forumate 'HD-lite'. That's still not true high-def to me.

I hope they don't do something like DirecTV and forumate 'HD-lite'. That's still not true high-def to me.

Too late ... technically they already are squarely in the "HD-Lite" camp.

Too late ... technically they already are squarely in the "HD-Lite" camp.

What I don't get is .. why spend tons of money on upgrading cameras and equipment to HD for the news and then broadcast it less impressively?

Indeed ... :) I suspect the answer is the almighty $.

Well...$$$ is part of it. The actual real reason is BANDWIDTH. To get the bandwidth you need the money, a lot of it. The real factor is that there aren't enough HD consumers to support the added cost. It just goes in a big circle. Not many people want to invest until they can get almost everything in HD. Right now most companies estimate around 5% or less HD usage, so, why spend big bucks? "HD-Lite" is supposed to be about 80% of the quality of the std HD and actually it probably still meets the technical requirements to be HD so they are still in compliance with the federal requirements for 2009. Maybe as more people convert over to HD, the companies will add the bandwidth. Even at the 5% level, most of those people don't even know the difference between hd-lite and hd and don't care, so even more reason for the broadcasters to save money early in the game.

i've read that using the old c and ku band 10ft dishes will allow one to get the best HD bandwidth for the wild feeds that are used by the big networks. anyone using one here?

It appears that Insight has a new HD channel 929 that popped up on the radar today... currently displaying a FSN-HD logo that is revolving on the display... hmmm...

I live right outside Lexington (versailles, about 5 minutes from the Airport in Lexington). I can pick up 18.1, 36.1, and all of the KET channels in high def. I can also pick up most of the Louisville stations which include 41.1 (Fox High Def)

I live in Versailles, I haven't tried to get 41.1, but I do get 56.1 just fine. I'll rescan and look for Fox on 46.1, it might help me get through some bad impulse noise. Thanks for the info!

Hey guys/gals, new member to the forums. I logged on to get this darn motorola box fix to allow HDcontent repeaters!

I am scrolling through the forums to find the fix, if any of you know the link right off hand I would truly appreciate it!

Seems Insight's boxes don't allow for any receiver to hook up and channel its signal through! But the guys at best buy assured me there is a firmware fix and that this forum has the info, woohoo!

So I will be surfing to get it, so that I can finally get my receiver to work injunction with my motorola box!

I live in Shelbyville and subscribe to Insight Cable of Louisville. I put an outside antenna w/pre-amp from Radio Shack in my attic to get the Lexington channels about a month ago. Everything worked great, I got Lexington channels in HD. I switched my signal to antenna yesterday and the Lexington channels were like the signal was coming from rabbit ears, the digital channels will not come in at all. But I can get WAVE 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 also 32.1 even though my antenna is pointed toward Lexington.

Can anyone explain what might have happened?

Thanks

Along with LEX 18 news going in HD, look for a new HD news set and new graphics... Just thought I would pass that along.

Also, anyone figured out how WKYT is going to broadcast their CBS station in HD as well as the CWKYT at the sametime?

Along with LEX 18 news going in HD, look for a new HD news set and new graphics... Just thought I would pass that along.

Also, anyone figured out how WKYT is going to broadcast their CBS station in HD as well as the CWKYT at the sametime?


Has anyone heard the exact date when WLEX News is going HD? I looking forward to it!

Steve

Has anyone heard the exact date when WLEX News is going HD? I looking forward to it!

Steve


I've been told that they are shooting for the 26th of this month. It's on a Thursday, kind of a odd day to begin broadcasting the news in HD, but I am looking forward to it also!

Also, anyone figured out how WKYT is going to broadcast their CBS station in HD as well as the CWKYT at the sametime?

According to an article in the Herald Leader (which was also quoted in fredfa's "HOTP" thread) they are planning to run both subchannels @720p. 'New equipment will allow them to do this,' so they say. In the meantime, at least there's WLKY and WBKI for those lucky enough to be in range.

Having encoded HD feeds at an average of 9.5 Mbps, I can say its one of those things that looks good on paper but....

Having encoded HD feeds at an average of 9.5 Mbps, I can say its one of those things that looks good on paper but....

Well, it would definately be a "breakthrough" if they manage to get it to work. :) I'm still betting that it (CW-HD) will wind up being a cable (and eventually DBS) only service.

I live in Shelbyville and subscribe to Insight Cable of Louisville. I put an outside antenna w/pre-amp from Radio Shack in my attic to get the Lexington channels about a month ago. Everything worked great, I got Lexington channels in HD. I switched my signal to antenna yesterday and the Lexington channels were like the signal was coming from rabbit ears, the digital channels will not come in at all. But I can get WAVE 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 also 32.1 even though my antenna is pointed toward Lexington.

Can anyone explain what might have happened?

Thanks

Sounds like maybe a loose coax cable connection to your antenna. Did you move your antenna outside? We need more info.

Well, it would definately be a "breakthrough" if they manage to get it to work. :) I'm still betting that it (CW-HD) will wind up being a cable (and eventually DBS) only service.


IF they start out at 45 Mbps they might make it to 10...

Sounds like maybe a loose coax cable connection to your antenna. Did you move your antenna outside? We need more info.

I checked all the connections and they're ok. I used about 30' of RG6 cable and run it to one tv. The Lexington stations are good enough to watch but not real clear on analog channels only. Before last week they were prefect especially 18.1. 3.1 3.2 3.3 and 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 also WLKY 32.1 all receive a digital signal with the antenna pointing the opposite way toward Lexington.

I didn't try putting the antenna outside, it would be a big hassel just for a test, I wouldn't want to leave it permanent. I thought since it was bringing in a good signal from Lexington for about a month, that wasn't the problem.

Hey guys I am in lexington, and I just thought I'd let any golf fans out there know that they are feeding USA's coverage of the Masters on 27.1 in HD. I'm a huge golf fan and didn't know this was the case, but just got home from work and saw it on over-the-air. I think broadcast times are after the news until 730pm. So check it out tomorrow night!

So check it out tomorrow night!

They'll only carry the live afternoon feed (if they remember.)

IF they start out at 45 Mbps they might make it to 10...

I'm also curious to see how WKYT will do it. ESPN is able to have 2 silmultaneous HD feeds that look like HD to me..so I guess if you spend enough money anything is possible.

When the local news goes HD, boy they are gonna have to hire new newcasters along with new sets, boy our local peeps are UGLY and FAT!

According to an article in the Herald Leader (which was also quoted in fredfa's "HOTP" thread) they are planning to run both subchannels @720p. 'New equipment will allow them to do this,' so they say. .

Wow. Really bad idea. :(

Here's the article for those that normally don't deviate from this thread to look in HOTP (hot off the press) thread:

http://www.kentucky.com/179/v-print/story/32074.html

We know 19mbps is the (current) max transmission bandwidth for OTA, but what we don't know is if it is possible to use two transmitters to send out 38mbps on the same frequency (at least I haven't confirmed that yet). If the new equipment is capable of that (.1 subchannel gets 19mbps and .2 and .3 share the other 19mbps) then I think they'll have a breakthrough.

They could do something even crazier like 2 HD channels and two SD channels with weather. They could sell ALOT more advertising. Judging by that guy's reaction in the article ...
"We were afforded the opportunity to also broadcast The CW network, and we would have been fools not to have taken advantage of that," said Chas Callaway, vice president of engineering at WKYT.

'Fools' cause they would have been throwing away a cheap opportunity to sell their station more advertising. The CW is an interesting enough network that they have some good shows, so people are more apt to watch (and see advertising that they sell). I bet they opted for CW for this reason (and make it easier for those of us more East of Lexington to receive the network).

I think the new equipment they are talking about just handles reencoding better than their current equipment. I haven't seen a thing to indicate thay are even thinking about adding a seperate tower.

I think the new equipment they are talking about just handles reencoding better than their current equipment. I haven't seen a thing to indicate thay are even thinking about adding a seperate tower.

Why would they need another tower?

does this mean that all the UK games being broadcast by the Big Blue Network will be in HD? I know the Lincoln Financial games won't be, but since WKYT = Big Blue Network...seems that we will get more HD games this fall/winter.

http://lh5.google.com/image/bencjedi/Rh2myRoOEmI/AAAAAAAAAEA/uZRXuYcN6eQ/s800/WKYT-HDNews01.jpg

http://lh5.google.com/image/bencjedi/Rh2mzRoOEnI/AAAAAAAAAEI/oPa6LbqyjQk/s800/WKYT-HDNews02.jpg

http://lh3.google.com/image/bencjedi/Rh2mzxoOEoI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/WCds62nbXt0/s800/WKYT-HDNews03.jpg

You beat me to it :)

... It wasn't to bad, nice picture on my end, but I thought WLEX would be the first.

CWKYT is standard def still

704X480
29.97fps
~3.86mbs

Of course they are only showing local car dealers anyway right now. Hopefully Smallville in HD tomorrow at primetime!

CWKYT is standard def still

704X480
29.97fps
~3.86mbs

Of course they are only showing local car dealers anyway right now. Hopefully Smallville in HD tomorrow at primetime!


Yeah, I was looking for that too, but it looked the same to me... Maybe Wheel and Jeopardy in HD tomorrow also.

By the way.. love how clear the news was. You can read the gravestones and prices on the gas pumps. Sharp!

By the way.. love how clear the news was. You can read the gravestones and prices on the gas pumps. Sharp!


Well I missed it. I was hoping they be HD this morning but it didn't happen. I'll try to catch them this evening.

Steve

I could have sworn that they were not HD last night. I'm on Insight, could they not be feeding the "right" WKYT HD feed to their CBS HD channel? I'll check again tonight...man, that will be awesome. I was expecting June...this is much earlier than expected. You would think that they would be advertising if they had already made the switch.

Definitely HD over-the-air last night. I missed the very beginning, so I don't know if they announced they were switching over to HD or just spot-checking. Sounds like WKYT hasn't provided the HD feed to Insight or, as you said Insight didn't feed it through to you.

I'm very interested to see if CWKYT will be in HD tonight for Smallville. Looking at news TS last night showed 80mbps bitrate for video. Wonder what 40mbps would look like. I'm not certain that is accurate.

Looking at news TS last night showed 80mbps bitrate for video. Wonder what 40mbps would look like. I'm not certain that is accurate.

It's not accurate. Maximum possible with ATSC OTA from any station is 19.38Mb/s, and that includes audio+PSIP - meaning everything the station is sending has to fit in that 19.38Mb/s.

And no, you can't have two stations(even if they were both ran by WKYT) transmitting on the same channel in the same area, they would interfere with each other, not allow you to "increase bitrate" .... Update : Oops, that's not entirely accurate ... For example, I don't know how well it works, or if anyone is using it effectively and, It wouldn't allow more payload(increase bitrate), but with ATSC it is possible to have several transmitters operating in the same area+transmitting the same services, for example in order to fill in coverage area gaps. I think they are calling this "distributed transmission" if I recall correctly, but This is sometimes reffered to as a SFN(single frequency network), Other signal modulation in use in other areas of world for DTV may be better suited for this, however. : end update

The info you're looking at often not very accurate, and it's not set up so that it's a number that shows you what bitrate is at any given time, anyway ... If you're using TS reader+assuming its working properly ----- what should be accurate bitrate at any given time is look at the "active PID" list in center of screen or use some of the charts in view/chart .....

NOTE: If you're feeding it just elementary streams via say a firewire interface from a STB "tuned" to a specific program service -- often reffered to as" subchannel", it wouldn't show you accurate info on all the stations multicast streams, only the elementary streams for the subchannel you're "tuned to" on the STB.

Attached is example for KET(in this case WCVN-DT, Covington, KY), since that's one we both get. I have PID 0x0031 Highligthed, this is the video stream for KET 1. At the moment, it's 2.20mb/s (the green "bars" chart in the center of screen where 0x0031 is lit up in blue is what to look at for the bitrate info) ...

At bottom center of screen, in the "MPEG2 statistics" box you'll see a reading labeled "MUX bitrate" ... This will show around 19.38mb/s, and it's the reading for everything the station is sending, and might even include "null packets" to fill up that 19.38Mb/s if the video/audio and other data(datacasting or PSIP/etc) isn't using up all of it. In the "tree" list at left, you find detailed info all the entires for the station's PSIP tabgles + PAT/PMT, and the PID info for the elementary streams(audio/video/et) and what they are ...

Sorry it's so "blurry" and generally unreadable, I had to resample it to get it to fit as an attachement here, and figured you'd be able to see enough/tell enough of what I was talking about on your setup+TSreader install ...

Hope this helps, TSreader is very cool ...