Originally posted by BenCJedi
I was expecting the quality to look like American Idol did (well briefly). I hope the fix for the splicer was not choking the quality slider or something.

I don't know if you can compare a drama to AI or sitcoms. I saw the
graininess in Johnny Zero too, but I never watch the show. Did anyone compare to the sd version? I read an article about sitcoms in HD and it
was talking about how they use really bright lights and lots of makeup on
the actors to cover up any flaws in the actors looks. I bet AI is shot the same way. Some dramas to me seem to be shot darker. I don't know if Zero is supposed to look that way or if something is still wrong with 56.

WDKY's HD looks the same as WTNZ's out of Knoxville. Looks like they fixed
it just in time. Be prepared to be underwhelmed by the FOX PQ with HD. It's been discussed at length in the programming part of the forum.

Interesting article in today' Herald-Leader regarding WDKYs splicer troubles. Troubled equipement arrvied yesterday but they say there's still a chance it can't be fixed by bowl time?????

It's in section C1 of paper on the front of the business page.

Originally posted by HDTivoKY
Interesting article in today' Herald-Leader regarding WDKYs splicer troubles. Troubled equipement arrvied yesterday but they say there's still a chance it can't be fixed by bowl time?????

It's in section C1 of paper on the front of the business page.

Here is the article online:
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/business/10823615.htm

Originally posted by HDTivoKY
Troubled equipement arrvied yesterday but they say there's still a chance it can't be fixed by bowl time?????
hopefully that article was authored early yesterday. maybe yesterday afternoons downtime was to replace the hardware.

keeping my fingers crossed.

Why doesn't this suprise me?

I will say this, I was extremely disappointed in the picture quality of Johnny zero lastnight. If they call that HD, I don't think I want to watch the Superbowl. I would rather watch it on SD on satellite. At least its more reliable and doesn't pixelate.

Originally posted by nuts4scuba
Here is the article online:
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/business/10823615.htm
Nice read. But one part struck me at the very end:
The cameras WKYT's news crews use out in the field cost $18,000 to $31,000 each. The videotapes they use cost $13 each. In comparison, a high-definition camera costs more than $200,000, Ogle said. The disks used in those cameras to capture images are nearly $3,000 each.
Good god, is that true? That seems to be an insane difference in the technologies. Where technology is today, I simple cannot see those prices that high for HD equipment. Hell, it's not like these kinds of resolutions have never been attempted before. Oh well, guess this is what happens when I know nothing about what I'm talking about :D.

As for the article, I have no worries that we'll see the Super Bowl in HD. I'm just glad they've had plenty of time to work on everything. Had they turned the signal on just 4 or 5 days later than they did, then we'd probably have something to worry about.

Originally posted by Brinkley
I will say this, I was extremely disappointed in the picture quality of Johnny zero lastnight.
i'm hoping that poor pq is a result of the fox legacy at 480p. maybe the series has been in the can so long that it had to be upconverted. or maybe they are just going for a coarse gritty look.

bernie mac right before it looked pretty good. but not spectacular.

later

Went to RatShack this morning and purchased their 50" boom antenna seen here (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2151) . Mounted it in the attic pointed in the general direction of Lex. I am now pulling in WDKY at around 80%, WKYT at 90%, WKLE at 85% and WKON at 75%. I had to use an antennuator to get WTVQ to tune without moving the antenna. We'll see how it goes from here!

How do you run cable from an attic mounted antenna without having cables on your walls?

My home entertainment unit sits across the wall from a closet, so I ran the cabling into the closet and through the wall to the receiver.

Yup.. through the closets. There were already holes where I needed them to be in this apartment through the floors/ceilings, so I just used existing infrastructure. Though it could be a lot neater if I could punch holes through the wall in other places. I have a large wad of cables wrapping from out of the closet downstairs across the 'hallway' and covered with a rug.

If it's not one thing its another....I just finished cleaning up my cabling and setting everything up from this morning's antenna install. Now, I can receive all Lexington channels minus WTVQ which has a signal around 20%. I was able to fix this earlier today using an antennuator but no dice now. Back to the drawing board I suppose.

Originally posted by HDTivoKY
If it's not one thing its another....I just finished cleaning up my cabling and setting everything up from this morning's antenna install. Now, I can receive all Lexington channels minus WTVQ which has a signal around 20%. I was able to fix this earlier today using an antennuator but no dice now. Back to the drawing board I suppose.

You may need to diplex the new antenna (use for VHF) with whatever you were using before for UHF. The CM 0549 is a good diplexer as is the one from Pico at http://www.picomacom.com/specs/pico/C/C24.pdf

From the Herald-Leader article

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

Indoor rabbit ears might work, but an outdoor VHF antenna would be better, said Kollar of WDKY.

"They're going to have to make an effort to receive us," he said.

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

That was the part that got my ear :(

Originally posted by parkay
hopefully that article was authored early yesterday. maybe yesterday afternoons downtime was to replace the hardware.

keeping my fingers crossed.

No need to cross fingers ... from what I've seen in the past 18hrs or so, the splicer is fixed ...

OK ... Go ahead and cross fingers that nothing breaks between now and game time ;)

Anyone having reception problems today? I have been locking WDKY in at 68-70%, but today I have not been able to lock a signal. 49% is the best I can do and that will not hold the siganal.

Holy Cow! COPS on FOX is in HD! Outstanding.

Originally posted by Brinkley
Holy Cow! COPS on FOX is in HD! Outstanding.
Damn, wish I would've known this. So how did it look compared to last night's programming? Was it decent HD in your opinion?

The picture was great! I wouldn't classify it outstanding or out of this world, but it looked really good. Sort of suprised me actually. My guide didn't say it was HD, but sure enough it was.

IIRC, Cops is a widescreen upconvertion from 480i/p source ...

Anyone in the Harrodsburg/MOW area use an attic antenna and not have to move/rotate it to pick up all the locals? I am thinking of trying one but rotating wont work. Too much un-attended recording.

I pick up the uther 3 fine with a low profile on top of my Ent. Ctr., but have tried 3 set tops with no luck for FOX.

Originally posted by Luke_Y
Anyone in the Harrodsburg/MOW area use an attic antenna and not have to move/rotate it to pick up all the locals? I am thinking of trying one but rotating wont work. Too much un-attended recording.

I pick up the uther 3 fine with a low profile on top of my Ent. Ctr., but have tried 3 set tops with no luck for FOX.

I not sure if you can do this or not. I live in Gleneagles at MOW/I75 on the other side town and have a CM 3016 pointing at WDKY/WKLE. I am almost underneath WKYT and WTVQ and pick them up from the back and side of my antenna. This might not work for you since you are farther away than me. Antennaweb.org shows Palomar Center around 10 miles away from WKYT and WTVQ and about 16 away from WKLE and WDKY. You might be able to point the antenna between them and pick all the channels up. Get the antenna from somebody you can take it back to if it doesn't work.

Originally posted by Luke_Y
Anyone in the Harrodsburg/MOW area use an attic antenna and not have to move/rotate it to pick up all the locals? I am thinking of trying one but rotating wont work. Too much un-attended recording.

I pick up the uther 3 fine with a low profile on top of my Ent. Ctr., but have tried 3 set tops with no luck for FOX.

If you can't get it from a single position with a combo antenna in the attic and you don't want a rotor, there is another option.
For about the price of a rotor, you can purchase a diplexer which will allow you to use one antenna for uhf and high vhf (i.e. all channels except WDKY) and a separate vhf antenna for low vhf (WDKY). This will allow independent aiming of the two antennas and combining on a single downlead. You could stay with your set-top antenna and combine the feed from your low band in the attic behind your TV. You may or may not be able to tune WKLE from the same antenna position off the uhf/high side though as it's in Clay's Ferry, but assuming you get it now from the same position, it shouldn't be a problem. The diplexer is the LH7 88/108 from Tinlee at http://www.tinlee.com/. I'm unaware of this being available any cheaper than this.

I have one on order and I should be able to give a rundown on it by the end of the week.

The broadcast so far looks terrific!

Originally posted by Brinkley
The broadcast so far looks terrific!

Yes..life is good. Hopefully it will continue as I will have a full house shortly :)

I am impressed with the quality. Looks as good as CBS if not better. Great job FOX!

HUGE kudos to WDKY and FOX in general. WDKY for getting on the ball and having that tower, etc. up and rolling by Super Bowl.

Kudos to FOX for a near flawless production from my view! The picture and the SOUND were simply awesome with only about 3 or 4 small breakups since 6pm.

WLEX could learn a few lessons from WDKY!!! How sad for one of the "big three" to be the last station in Lexington with HD. The real sad part is they will be last by a long shot!!!!

Hope everyone else had as good a FOX signal as I did down here in Richmond.:D

had to watch it on distant fox on directv wdky was not comming in at all here

The game was outstanding! Demonspawn your exactly right. The picture and sound were great. Great job WDKY.

Whoops..i meant pjohnscpa.

Kudos to WDKY for pulling off what I thought was going to be impossible. Picture quality was great and local splier appears to be working perfectly. I'm sure this took lots of effort on the part of the local station and they are to be commended. I had a house full of game watchers and all were wowed by the quality.

Yea...the splicer seems to be working flawlessly. They "fixed the glitch".

--The movie "Office Space"

Enjoyed the broadcast, but had a few breakups throughout the game. it was weird that my signal strength was fluctuating between 69% to 82%, but even at the top %, I was still getting the breakups. I wonder if WDKY was still doing some tweaking...

that sounds like multipath issues on your end. If you had that high of a signal, the peasky multipath bug bit ya.

Originally posted by Brinkley
that sounds like multipath issues on your end. If you had that high of a signal, the peasky multipath bug bit ya.

Brinkley,

I'm a newbie...would you care to enlighten me with what you mean above? Thanks!

Its when the digital signal bounces off surrounding objects before it hits your antenna. Trees, buildings, and even cars, that i found out yesterday can cause it. It's hard to eliminate this problem unless you relocate your antenna. Sometimes aircraft going overhead can cause it. It's a pesky problem that troubles alot of people.

I was just shooting in the dark trying to fix the breakup during the game. I moved the antenna around, adjusted the width, etc. and nothing really worked until I took another pair of rabbit ears. Initially, I place the second pair of rabbit ears directly behind the first pair, and the reception got worse. I moved it to the side whereby the two rabbit ears formed a "W", and the breakup pretty much stopped. Don't really have a technical explaination for it, but it worked for me. When I place the second pair of antenna, it did not increase the signal %, but sure did make watching the game a lot better...

Superbowl looked great. Right after the signal widdled down to 0% right now. Guess the splicer overheated.

NEED HELP TO GET WDKY-DT IN GEORGETOWN

junebug8, see my posts on previous pages...starting with post #1510. I am in G'town also and got the signal up and running at my house on Saturday.

The Super Bowl did look simply great yesterday, and the DD5.1 was doing pretty good. I'm very pleased after worrying all week what would happen.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Superbowl looked great. Right after the signal widdled down to 0% right now. Guess the splicer overheated.

Still off the air this morning. I guess since the SB is over, so is digital WDKY.

Originally posted by CentralKY05
I guess since the SB is over, so is digital WDKY.
nascar starts saturday night. so they have a few days to get it going again.

later

I received an email this morning from the Chief Engineer at WDKY, Dave Kollar. He stated that they will be powering down the transmitter during the day due to not having air conditioning in the room it's in.

Originally posted by CentralKY05
I received an email this morning from the Chief Engineer at WDKY, Dave Kollar. He stated that they will be powering down the transmitter during the day due to not having air conditioning in the room it's in.

I have an old air conditioner in the closet I haven't used in awhile. Would that help them? :)

So are they off the air right now? (Mon. 2:05PM) I am mounting an attic antenna right now and I guess It will be hard to aim/tune with them off air.

Originally posted by Luke_Y
So are they off the air right now? (Mon. 2:05PM) I am mounting an attic antenna right now and I guess It will be hard to aim/tune with them off air.
not only are they back up but i am getting much improved signal strength. i was getting 40's and 50's earlier and now i am seeing high 80's.

later

im getting a solid 44 signal and locked looks good .
was unable to get a lock all weekend and with a higher signal.

OK, so after a week of exchanging antennas and screwing with them I went to RS and picked up this Antenna;

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2151

I mounted it in my attic and pointed it somewhere between Clays Ferry and MOW/Win (I live at MOW/Harrodsburg). Went downstairs to see what kind of signal I got... 85-95 on all 4 stations (HD DirecTivo). Wish I would have done this weeks ago.

Thing is, 27 wont come up, it says searching for signal on Ant.1. I test off air signal strength for 13 and get 95 ??

Luke_Y,

WKYT's PSIP generator has been screwed up for almost a week now. My HD-Tivo won't tune it on 27-x either. However, you can tune it on 13-x. The only problem is, none of your season passes and To-Do jobs will work that relate to 27-x until the problem is fixed on their end.

Originally posted by demonspawn
im getting a solid 44 signal and locked looks good .
was unable to get a lock all weekend and with a higher signal.

The opposite for me now! The signal is weaker and I can't keep a lock. Here we go again. I wish they would just keep it in one place, so I can stop fooling around and moving mine around to find a new position. Total PITA!

Originally posted by HDTivoKY
Luke_Y,

WKYT's PSIP generator has been screwed up for almost a week now. My HD-Tivo won't tune it on 27-x either. However, you can tune it on 13-x. The only problem is, none of your season passes and To-Do jobs will work that relate to 27-x until the problem is fixed on their end.

Sigh....It would be great if we could get the phone and e-mail for the right people at each of the four stations handy somewhere all in one post (like if we could get a mod to put it on the first page of this thread) so we could all let them know when somethings wrong, you know the squeaky wheel :)

Originally posted by Luke_Y
OK, so after a week of exchanging antennas and screwing with them I went to RS and picked up this Antenna;

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2151

I mounted it in my attic and pointed it somewhere between Clays Ferry and MOW/Win (I live at MOW/Harrodsburg). Went downstairs to see what kind of signal I got... 85-95 on all 4 stations (HD DirecTivo). Wish I would have done this weeks ago.

Thing is, 27 wont come up, it says searching for signal on Ant.1. I test off air signal strength for 13 and get 95 ??

Will that fit through a 18X24" ceiling port to my attic? I assume this antenna just folds out.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Will that fit through a 18X24" ceiling port to my attic? I assume this antenna just folds out.

It should. I have a Channel Master 3016 that is 66" long. When you fold it out it is 66"x83" . It fit through my 24x24 without any problems. I got it a Lowe's. It costs around 35 dollars. The Lowe's on Richmond Rd had a couple left last weekend.

Luke_Y,

Do a channel re-scan. I just did and 27-x is back!

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Will that fit through a 18X24" ceiling port to my attic? I assume this antenna just folds out.

Yep It folds.

Originally posted by nuts4scuba
It should. I have a Channel Master 3016 that is 66" long. When you fold it out it is 66"x83" . It fit through my 24x24 without any problems. I got it a Lowe's. It costs around 35 dollars. The Lowe's on Richmond Rd had a couple left last weekend.

Cool! Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to try moving my wireloop around and creating a director to see if that improves my signal. Otherwise I think I'll hit Lowes and check out that antenna (if there are any left). Maybe the Lowes off of Nicholasville Rd has some also.

I just hate how I had a solid signal twice and within the last week + yesterday something changed twice to worsen my signal and cause me to try a bazillion other things to get back to a stable lock. Litterally right after the Superbowl was over and the Simpsons came on my signal went from 44% to 21%-25% and no lock. I wonder if WDKY had the power up a little bit higher than they should have to make sure more people could get the Superbowl and then after that they flipped the power back down where it should (?) be.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
I wonder if WDKY had the power up a little bit higher than they should have to make sure more people could get the Superbowl and then after that they flipped the power back down where it should (?) be.

I very much doubt that. It's more likely that today's changing weather conditions are affecting the propogation in "interesting ways." Count me as one on the losing end today.

Contrary to my earlier optimism, based on experiments over the weekend, I now think that the only way that we are going to get consistant results is with an outdoor VHF (or combo) antenna. (And not a Sensar or Stealth type)

Of course, YMMV

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
I very much doubt that. It's more likely that today's changing weather conditions are affecting the propogation in "interesting ways." Count me as one on the losing end today.


How do you explain signal during Superbowl = good and signal after Superbowl = immediately lower/bad. I'm just bing suspicious because I can't see the Superbowl correlating with the weather that closely. As soon as the Simpsons came on , the signal went crappy on me.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
How do you explain signal during Superbowl = good and signal after Superbowl = immediately lower/bad.

Coincidence ... (perhaps the start of some evening/night skip)

Note also that they shut the digital xmitter off completely not long after "American Dad" started. (or perhaps it overheated.)

Anyway, I had 100% signal right up until they shut it off, yet still had occasional video dropouts and freezes throughout the SB. There's more going on than meets the eye wrt that "strength" reading. For instance, right now I can spin my 20dB RF attenuator from min to max, and have no effect on my reciever's "strength" reading for WDKY

signal 51 to 58 and seems to be a stable one im still locked.
i am guessing the weather too wtvq is also comming in properly it usually does not come in good.

I seem to have a lock with 32% signal right now. I guess the weather is a factor. Hard to tell if my signal will get better or worse when the folliage starts growing on trees in the coming months. I'll probably move the antenna a little back and try adding a director to try to pick up more signal.

I finally got mine tweaked at 80% signal. The key that got my signal high was to have the rabbit ears aiming out the window. Not a single breakup. Kind of suprised.

Just lost all reception. Hmmm.....

Holy cow. I am not even getting a blimp of signal now. Anyone else having problems?

Now the signal is bouncing all over the place.

Oh the headaches Ive been through

I cant get WDKY... for some reason the Analog Channel has significant ghosting... even with my outdoor antenna. the rest of my channels.. WKYT, 36, 2 KET's and Pax (that one I jsut started picking up yesterday) all come in with a >80 signal.

An FM Trap improved WKYT... but didnt allow me to get WDKY

An Attenuator didnt improve anything.

Now I am going to go buy a larger antenna soon but since the super bowl is over i dont feel like messing with it... especially if i still cant lock it.

Originally posted by ShadowEKU
I cant get WDKY.
they seem to be down this morning. it was reported earlier that they have cooling issues at the transmitter that require overnight shutdown.

later

edit: they are back up at 10am

I had been struggling with WDKY reception since they went on the air. I no longer go by the signal strength meter on my Samsung SIR-T351. I was getting 80% strength with my rabbit ears, but no lock. I was getting 30% signal with my roof mounted un-amplified UHF antenna, and would get a picture but with significant dropouts and pixelation.

I eventually tried replacing my coax cable. The 100' run from my roof antenna goes into a splitter with one side going into a Pansonic DVD-recorder, and the other going into the OTA receiver. The cable I was using from the splitter to the OTA recevier was a 3' cheapo cable that came with the unit. I replaced it with a better coax cable with a screw on f-type connector, and voila, I had perfect reception at 40% strength via my UHF antenna. Have not had a dropout on WDKY since I made this change (3 days). Getting a perfect picture using a UHF antenna goes against conventional wisdom, but it works for me. I live north of Paris, about 40 miles north of the tower.

I don't get this antenna stuff. I don't think there is any actual physics behind it, but more something like black magic.;)

Originally posted by parkay
they seem to be down this morning. it was reported earlier that they have cooling issues at the transmitter that require overnight shutdown.

later

edit: they are back up at 10am

I came to this conclusion sunday.




edit: Spacebar malfunction...?

Im getting full signal again finally! Seems like last night they had issues. Back to 80%.

AI looks great!

Man where did everyone go? Signal went to crap again tonight. Bad weather ya think?

Brinkley,

Of course I am looking at the cable feed, and it is fine. We have been checking the signal and it has been rock solid. 8VSB especially on low VHF can be tricky. If your antenna is in the same position, you might want to look for some outside interference sources. Fluorescent light ballasts, motors, bad grounding..etc......DKY is on channel 4 which is closer to 60Hz, the electrical frequency and anything, that is broke can cause problems. One easy way to track it is to take an AM radio and tune off of a station. If you hear a loud buzz, you can usually locate..again usually locate a source of interference. These type of interferences can even be caused by power line problems and your neighbor's electrical problems.......I'm just digging. but with RF and Digital, you never know....Good Luck
Winston

Originally posted by Brinkley
Signal went to crap again tonight.
i've still got a good signal here. it still seems higher than it was for the superbowl.

later

good signal now....70-80%

Brinkley,
If your signal is dropping, look for something that is happening at that time....the change is on your end..not the transmitter or the weather.

I have had the antenna in the same place for the last week without hardly any drops of audio or video. Found a better place plus it looks better now since I don't have to have this antenna on my kitchen table. Seems like a good lock now. AI looks pretty good.

Cool,
I would just be aware of thing turning on in the house...ie..heat pump, outside lights..etc...just look for patterns if you are having drop outs.

I have my normal 40% signal and I am getting tons of video breakups. Audio seems OK though. It's weird sometimes 40% signal is rock solid and then it gets finnicky with macroblocking-a-plenty.

And after I post, 40% signal is rock solid again. So weird!

multipath..you can't see it.....

I created a new dipole without the twinlead 'stem' and moved this antenna back a truss in the attic. I also moved back the reflector and added a director. I am getting the same signal strength as my original dipole I made around 40-44% signal (occassionally 49%). Hopefully the director and this new placement will help to beat the multipath bitblaze was referring to.

Well, it looks like any hope for WDKY-DT moving out of the VHF-lo band is officially crushed ... For now anyway, they've elected to keep channel 4 as their final digital frequency.

And WKYT will stay on 13. So will WLOS in Asheville which will probably mean I'll never get either consistently. This doesn't make sense to me why the FCC would allow this. Guess it's "living in the fringe" blues for me. I suppose I can hope co-channel interference won't be as big a problem with the lower digital powers.

At least WDKY isn't likely to have alot of competition on 4.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Well, it looks like any hope for WDKY-DT moving out of the VHF-lo band is officially crushed ... For now anyway, they've elected to keep channel 4 as their final digital frequency.

Cheap bastards! LOL Well they'd use less power to broadcast on low VHF than high UHF. They probably figured this into the whole tower construction process and did a budget analysis. I'm happy to have FOX-HD. I just need to get the signal more consistant.

Cpcat..

Use a rotor or two antennas ... there better than 90 degrees apart.

WDKY may change later after they see what other stations have selected.. For example 27 and 46 will be available in the Lexington market after the analog shutoff..

WDKY will have lots of competition on channel 4 ..( from every analog device with a modulator switch).. as well as every source of impulse noise..

Remember Lexington is a UHF market ... there aren't many antennas out there up for VHF-Lo.

Digital power is not calculated nor measured in the same manner as analog power... The DTV power is an average power over the entire 6 MHz. bandwidth while the analog power is peak visual power..

Originally posted by William Smith
WDKY will have lots of competition on channel 4 ..( from every analog device with a modulator switch).. as well as every source of impulse noise..


I noticed WAVE's first round election application also popped up today ... They are sticking with Ch 47 ... Humm, I wonder why ;)

I guess a frequency in hand is worth three in the air as far as WDKY is concerned.

Originally posted by William Smith
Cpcat..

Use a rotor or two antennas ... there better than 90 degrees apart.



I've tried just about everything to tune WKYT and can't. It's my theory that at least part of the problem is co-channel interference from WLOS analog right now. This is also a problem for me with WB 34 analog Campbellsville vs. digital 34 FOX Knoxville, UPN 30 analog Nashville vs. WVLT 30 Knoxville, 17 analog Nashville vs. 17 WKOP digital Knoxville. VHF analog 12 from Chattanooga vs. WYMT digital 12 Hazard is an issue for another member of the forum in Morristown, TN.

This should improve after the analog shutoff, but right now the airwaves are so crowded reception is a challenge to say the least in the fringe. I think as the cable companies in fringe areas ramp up DTV before analog goes away there will be some problems.

Whether two co-channel digitals will interfere like the analogs do I guess only time will tell.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
I noticed WAVE's first round election application also popped up today ... They are sticking with Ch 47 ... Humm, I wonder why ;)

I guess a frequency in hand is worth three in the air as far as WDKY is concerned.


Two reasons...


1. They spent a BUNCH of money building the CH 47 plant ( including new tower and antenna).

2. They asked if we were going back to 46..

Originally posted by William Smith
Two reasons...

1. They spent a BUNCH of money building the CH 47 plant ( including new tower and antenna).

And that's a good thing ... for me, anyway. I can even use my Microwave and Washer and turn lights on and off without causing their signal to dropout. Perhaps, eventually, WDRB's DT will be just as reliable :)

Oh well, I'd hoped the new WDKY plant would improve things, but all of the old problems (minus the splicer/PSIP issues) are still there, plus I don't get quite as much signal to start with.

i live in georgetown... i bought an 80 inch outdoor antenna for my attic from radioshack...trying to get wdky-dt but the signal is bouncing all over the place...can not get a lock...i do not understand why i can not get a signal...i can get cbsand abc from an indoor antenna....i am so frustated with wdky...can anybody help me...i am fed up of wasting my time and money.....

FM seems to be a major problem for me with WDKY. You might try an FM trap. See http://www.tselectronic.com/antenna/winegard/ft7500.html?tse_Session=4fc5af1fdcabcb0bc7a8defa6405ccbc

Don't bother with the FM trap at Radio Shack. It's worthless.

The next step if that doesn't work may be to go outside.

How exactly do you have everything set up? If you are still using separate antennas you have to do something to eliminate multipath i.e. similar signals coming from both antennas will cause problems. You'll need separate downleads with an A/B switch or you'll need to diplex them.

sometimes mulitpath is your friend.

wdky is SSE from my location and the bulk of my condo is between my rabbit ears and the transmitter. i am getting my best reception with my antenna pointed almost directly east.

later

Originally posted by William Smith
Two reasons...
1. They spent a BUNCH of money building the CH 47 plant ( including new tower and antenna).


I wonder what they are going to do with the 1,739 ft tower WAVE 3 is currently using? I have a hard time calling it "old", since if I recall correctly it was new in the early 90's ... It's also the tallest structure I know of around these parts ....

Originally posted by junebug8
i live in georgetown... i bought an 80 inch outdoor antenna for my attic from radioshack...trying to get wdky-dt but the signal is bouncing all over the place...can not get a lock...i do not understand why i can not get a signal...i can get cbsand abc from an indoor antenna....i am so frustated with wdky...can anybody help me...i am fed up of wasting my time and money.....

I believe that it's time to go to the roof...I know I did (being in Versailles) and I get a 85% signal with no breakups ..see pic of my monstrosity (or so says the family ;) )

Originally posted by chuckgr
I believe that it's time to go to the roof...

Yep, that seems to be the best remedy ... at least until 5th generation chips start trickling out. Money, money, money ... spend that money :D

Wow! I am getting as high as 69% signal for WDKY-DT INSIDE my attic with my home-brew wireloop antenna (w/ reflector and director). The weather conditions must be awesome for me tonight.

I noticed WDKY-DT doesn't seem to be going offline, so perhaps they got the air conditioner installed.

The wireloop is giving me a much better signal than my 'upgraded' rabbit ears I had used on my tabletop antenna (commissioned to UHF now). The wireloop is very easy to make, so I am going to recommend those with troubles and on a budget to check out this website:
A cheap and easy TV antenna (http://www.wfu.edu/~matthews/misc/dipole.html) . That's exactly what I created.

Twinlead 300Ohm cable is $4.99 at Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-004)
http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/ProductImage/15/15-004.jpg

Cut the spade connectors off a 300-to75Ohm converter. Solder it the split of the wireloop so you can screw in an RG-6 cable to an amp
http://mcm.newark.com/productimages/standard/3938135.jpg

I use 33-290 MCM Distribution Amp (http://mcm.newark.com/NewarkWebCommerce/mcm/en_US/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=33-290&N=4) which has am FM trap that could also help.
http://mcm.newark.com/productimages/standard/3938228.jpg

Use some good shielded coax cable to go from the antenna to the amp to your receiver/tuner.

Additionally make the reflector and director to help reduce multipath and lock in a higher signal.

Those of you with houses could try making a wireloop and tacking it to the awning on your house. I have mine pinned to the studs across the attic ceiling. Finding the sweet spot was the hard part. I think I actually have my director and reflectors on the wrong side of the antenna, so I may switch them to see if my signal improves further.

Just installed a low band VHF antenna (V4 MKII). Used a UHF/VHF combiner.
Click here for description of the equipment (www.antennasdirect.com/VHF%20channel%20listings.htm)

Getting great lock ins.

WDKY 100%
WTVQ 100%
WKYT 100%
WKLE 93%

Located at MOW and Harrodsburg Rd

http://affiliates.onlineagency.com/sites/3879/images/antenna3.jpg

i live in georgetown and having trouble getting wdkyin hd...the signal is bouncing around...do i need to get a low band vhf antenna...

Originally posted by junebug8
i live in georgetown and having trouble getting wdkyin hd...the signal is bouncing around...do i need to get a low band vhf antenna...

What have you tried up to now? A better antenna is always a good idea but if you're still in the attic the best thing may be to go outside. Did you try the FM trap?

i tried out side also....the signal kept bouncing around...i had a 80 inch outdoor antenna from radioshack...that antenna had a 70 mile range and i live in georgetown and still bounced around....

Originally posted by junebug8
i tried out side also....the signal kept bouncing around...i had a 80 inch outdoor antenna from radioshack...that antenna had a 70 mile range and i live in georgetown and still bounced around....

RS overstates the range on their antennas by about 200%. In other words, that antenna is probably good for 30-40 miles. It still might work, though. Be sure you're aiming correctly. Go to http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp and punch in your lat/long coordinates for precise compass bearings to the towers. A good place to get your lat/long is http://terraserver.microsoft.com/ you just have to put in your address. Which antenna is it exactly? You need an antenna with gain in the low VHF which typically means a UHF/VHF combo.

I'm assuming you are not having any trouble with the other digitals. If you are, you'll need to consider a problem elsewhere such as connections, balun, receiver, etc. I'm also assuming you've already tried a quality FM trap such as the one I suggested in the above post from Winegard. You may need to consider a preamp if your cable run is over 50 ft or so. The CM 3041 at Lowe's is good and it's medium gain would be about right for your location. Be sure the FM trap is set to "in". In general, get the antenna as high as possible for your installation.

If still no luck, you'll have to shop for a better antenna. I'm getting WDKY right now with a Channelmaster 3016 (avail. at Lowe's) at about 30 ft. I'm using a CM 7777 preamp with the FM trap in. The CM 3018 (bigger than what I'm using) also available at Lowe's should be more than you'd need. However, if you are in a valley and/or have significant obstruction to line-of-sight you may have difficulty no matter what you do.

i am not having trouble with the other stations only wdky...thats why i thought about getting a low band antenna like that guy has in the other post....do you think thats what i need....

A low band antenna won't work if something else is corrupting the reception i.e. FM. It will also require you either to run two separate downleads into an A/B switch or figure out a way to diplex it else it might even make things worse by creating multipath between it and your present antenna.

If you want my help, please try to answer the questions I ask. Otherwise it's very difficult for me to give you advice.
What is the exact antenna you are using?
Are you using a preamp? If so, what is it?
How long is your downlead? Where outside have you tried and how high?
Have you tried the FM trap? If so, which one?

Does it mean WDKY's splicer is off when the FOX56 logo falls within the 4:3 area of the screen (as it is now with Good Day Live)? I prefer the tiny icon in the outmost right. I swear on 4:3 programming they placed the tiny icon on the side before.

Junebug8 I sent you a PM

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Does it mean WDKY's splicer is off when the FOX56 logo falls within the 4:3 area of the screen (as it is now with Good Day Live)?

Nope, it just means that they are running an SD feed through the "local" upconverter.

Most FOX primetime programming is provided on both the SD and HD feeds, even if it is 4:3 SD->HD upconverted at the network: i.e, "The Simpsons." Generally, the network HD feed will *not* have the old white "FOX" or superimposed "FOX56" logos. Another way to tell is just about everything on the network HD feed will light up your DD5.1 light, local or SD feeds will always be DD2.0


Note: There are times when I've seen both the new 16:9 bug and the old 4:3 bug at the same time, I'm not sure what that implies.

Note2: I haven't noticed any significant splicer glitches or goofs since they fixed it before the SB ... OTOH, they haven't had to deal with multiple HD feeds (regular season NFL Sundays) yet either.

i was going to use a low band antenna only for fox.....i didnt try a fm trap...what is a fm trap....i took down the other antenna...

I believe an FM trap prevents FM frequencies from getting into your receiver. Less interferance = higher probability that you will be able to get a more solid lock on the channel of interest.

i wonder if adelphia will get wdky-dt

"Theoretically" speaking, an FM trap usually isn't going to help for Low VHF 4, because the fundamental frequencies for FM Broadcast band those traps are made for are ABOVE Low-VHF TV band. However, if you are using a preamp(most come with built in "switchable" FM traps), strong FM signals can certianly overload the amp and can "effect" reception on channel 4(or anywhere else for that matter). A "herringbone" pattern on Analog TV stations is sign of interference from a FM audio carrier(which could be caused just about anywhere "on the dial" by preamp that is being overloaded by strong, nearby FM signals).

I suppose it is possible however that even without a preamp, a FM trap can help for 4 if by some weird chance the front-end of receiver itself is being overloaded by nearby, strong FM signals. I just think that is generally quite unlikely if you aren't using a amp/preamp .... but, who knows how "good" the RF performance is on VHF for some of the ATSC receivers that are out there - So, it's probably worth a shot if you have hi-power FM band transmitters within about 6~7 miles of you, and that FM trap has been reported to help others out ....

Now ... Hi-VHF channels(ch 7-13) in some circumstances can actually be effected by Harmonics coming from nearby "strong signal" FM broadcast band transmitters. For instance, A FM transmitter on 96.5 is also going to put out a small amount of signal at 193MHZ(VHF channel 10). In most cases this isn't a problem, since stations are required to meet guidelines concerning "spurious transmissions", although there is only so much they can do. FCC generally also does a good job keeping stations with such "relationships" apart from each other, although it gets tough when you are trying to cram so many NTSC+ATSC stations(as well as FM's) into a finite amount of spectrum. Anyway, in this case, If it's not the tuner or a preamp being overloaded You can't really get rid of those "harmonics" with a FM trap, because the "signal" is actually there in the "airwaves". The same harmonic relationship CAN be a problem where "overloaded tuners+preamps are concerned, and this is one circiumstance where FM trap can help.

I do know that without the use of a good FM trap(the FM trap in my CM7778 preamp certianly seems to be working well) here, and with the use of preamp, I get a real mess all over the place(VHF/UHF), because broadband preamp gets overloaded by strong nearby FM signals.


Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Most FOX primetime programming is provided on both the SD and HD feeds, even if it is 4:3 SD->HD upconverted at the network


AFAIK, I think All Fox programming is provided by Fox on the "HD feed" via the splicer, upconverted at network when it's SD programming. I don't think I've ever seen the Net 4x3 SD bug on their HD feed, even during 4x3 programming, not to say that it isn't possible that it has happened ...

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Note: There are times when I've seen both the new 16:9 bug and the old 4:3 bug at the same time, I'm not sure what that implies.


From what I've seen, I think even if the station is switched to "local"(or, for some reason the SD feed from Fox that's feeding their analog plant), the splicer STILL inserts(when Fox is telling it to) the local splicer bug when Fox is sending programming out via the splicer, as well as commands to the splicers to insert the bug(they remove the bug during commercial breaks for network programming). I've even seen the splicer bug present when WXIX-DT, Fox Cincinnati has run a U.C. game in place of Fox programming. It went "on and off" screen simulatonously with the Commercial breaks during Fox programming along with the local splicer inserted bug at WRGT-DT, Fox Dayton, which was running Fox programming at the time.

Early on, when Fox Dayton first started using their splicer, the splicer/Splicer bug seemed to have gotten "stuck" on a couple of occasions, and the splicer inserted bug was even present during mid-day local/syndicated shows like "good day live". I only saw that once, though, around the time Fox started doing HD via the splicer in September.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged

Note2: I haven't noticed any significant splicer glitches or goofs since they fixed it before the SB ... OTOH, they haven't had to deal with multiple HD feeds (regular season NFL Sundays) yet either.

I was seeing WDKY-DT Saturday night from up here, and noticed that between 10:20~10:35pm or so, I was getting the "4-3" thing from them again(they were decoding just fine on my receivers though), but, around 10:35, the PSIP remapping info from them changed to "56-1" again, and it was still "56-1" from the upconverted SD coming through the splicer from the Fox feed at 11pm onwards during "Mad TV"(with just the "fox 56" splicer inserted bug in 16x9 area).

I had also heard from a friend in Lexington who set up a new HD set with integrated ATSC tuner this weekend. He tried a bunch of stuff, and could not get the thing to "find" WDKY-DT at all, although he was getting everything else. However, with a small, whip antenna stuck in a planter, the ATSC receiver in his HDtivo had no problems whatsoever with WDKY-DT. He even said that antenna was picking up WUPX-DT(46 miles) and WKSO-DT(60 miles).

Soo, given what I'm still seeing(apparently "sporadically" given the 4-3/56-1 "thing")and, that quite a few folks here seem to be having similar problems(where they can't even "see" any indication of WDKY-DT) I still have to wonder if they might be having PSIP "setup" issues which are effecting certian receiver models .... Either that, or perhaps there are some receivers out there which are having "performance issues" on lo-VHF ....

Forgive me if I missed it, but just an off-hand thought -- I'm curious, is there anyone out there using a Samsung receiver(and what model) that is working "OK" with WDKY-DT? I ask because There are a couple of PSIP related issues that can happen at the stations which at least a few of the samsung receivers(the 151 and 165 especially come to mind) especially can have "problems" with ..

Just some thoughts, For what they are worth (about .02 cents or less ...)

Originally posted by junebug8
i was going to use a low band antenna only for fox.....i didnt try a fm trap...what is a fm trap....i took down the other antenna...

This is the link to the FM trap I gave you several posts back: http://www.tselectronic.com/antenna...7a8defa6405ccbc
FM signals can be a source of interference especially on low vhf because the entire FM band is located between VHF ch. 6 and 7. A "trap" filters out these signals while allowing the TV signal to get through.

You didn't tell me what antenna from Radio Shack you have. I need to know to be sure it's adequate for receiving all the channels you need. The Channelmaster 3041 preamp I mentioned before has an FM trap incorporated in it. If the RS antenna is adequate, you may have success by using the preamp from Lowe's (which you can return if it doesn't work) and since it already has an FM trap, you won't need another one. It will be simpler if you can receive all the channels over one antenna, otherwise you may run into problems combining more than one antenna on the same downlead. In that case you would typically need to "diplex" the antenna signals to separate the frequencies so you don't have similar frequencies coming from different antennas which will cause multipath (bad signal). Your other option would be to run separate downleads from each antenna into an A/B switch but most people would rather not have to get up and switch something when they change the channel.

Where is the closest WB digital station (that does HD) to us in this area? Anyone know?

Originally posted by N.REED
Where is the closest WB digital station (that does HD) to us in this area? Anyone know?

None last I checked. I don't think either the WBKI-DT in Campbellsville or WSTR-DT in Cincinnati are passing the HD content over their digital broadcast. Many many posts ago in this thread WBKI-DT was described as a "shoestring operation". I don't know if that has changed. It might be a good idea to look in the louisville and Cincinnati threads to see where they stand with their WBs. I would sure like to watch Smallville in HD.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
I don't think either the WBKI-DT in Campbellsville or WSTR-DT in Cincinnati are passing the HD content over their digital broadcast.

WSTR-DT 33(64.1 remap) Cincinnati has been passing through WB HD (and DD 5.1) Since Last Fall. So has WBDT-DT 18(26.1 remap) Dayton.

WBDT would be pretty much impossible to receive from Central KY, due to distance and because WLEX 18 is co-channel.

WSTR-DT also is a little far from Lexington, and it's low power STA currently. It might be doable from Georgetown and points North once they go "full power" though .... I'm not sure what the "southernmost" person is that is receiving them.

Originally posted by cpcat
FM signals can be a source of interference especially on low vhf because the entire FM band is located between VHF ch. 6 and 7. A "trap" filters out these signals while allowing the TV signal to get through.

I'm sorry, but basically that is wrong. Really, Only FM interference+channel 6 is a problem for the reason you mention. Now, if you have say, a hi-power FM station within a few hundred yards of your antenna , you might get it all over the dial.

Nearby LOW BAND FM signals (approx 88-89MHZ) CAN be a source of interference to LO-VHF CHANNEL 6 because of "adjacent channel interference" issues becuase Channel 6 is 82-88 MHZ. Channel 6 NTSC audio carrier especially, which is at 87.7MHZ.

But, actual "splatter" from FM signals is not going to reach below the "high parts" of channel 6 ... Lack of good selectivity of TV tuners made(inexpensively) for 6MHZ channel sizes explain why the channel 6 NTSC video carrier can be effected by "adjacent channel" FM interference.

If you have a FM broadcast band signal "interfering" on channel 4 that is helped by a FM trap, it's either because your preamp+tuner is seriously "overloaded" from a very nearby, strong FM signal, or because you have a VERY strong FM signal coming from right next door(and I mean right next door)- In which case poor RF shielding on consumer equipment may be more likely the issue rather than tuner "overload"/selectivity issue, or something else that really should not be happening is "going on" ....

For this reason, FCC does not allocate ch 6 to TV stations, and FM frequencies in 88MHZ range in the same market.

TV Ch 2-6= 54~88MHZ.
FM broadcast band = 88-108MHZ.
Aviation, Ham 2 meter band, Public safety/police/fire/etc/Noaa weather/etc = 108~174MHZ
Ch 7-13 = 174-216MHZ
217~469MHZ - Lots of stuff
UHF TV Ch 14~69 = 470-806MHZ

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
WSTR-DT also is a little far from Lexington, and it's low power STA currently. It might be doable from Georgetown and points North once they go "full power" though .... I'm not sure what the "southernmost" person is that is receiving them.

Not me. I'm on the south side of Lexington, but I'd probably need a high gain UHF antenna outdoors to even have a chance (and they'd probably need to be at full power with my luck).

I read a bit back in this forum on WBKI-DT. They have some cable agreement for Louisville. I wonder the liklihood they'll do HD and get on Insight in Lexington too. Ideally they'd go HD and really push out the signal, but that would mean $$$ and that's probably something they don't have.

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
I'm sorry, but basically that is wrong. Really, Only FM interference+channel 6 is a problem for the reason you mention. Now, if you have say, a hi-power FM station within a few hundred yards of your antenna , you might get it all over the dial.

Nearby LOW BAND FM signals (approx 88-89MHZ) CAN be a source of interference to LO-VHF CHANNEL 6 because of "adjacent channel interference" issues becuase Channel 6 is 82-88 MHZ. Channel 6 NTSC audio carrier especially, which is at 87.7MHZ.

But, "splatter" from FM signals is not going to reach below channel 6 ...

For this reason, FCC does not allocate ch 6 to TV stations, and FM frequencies in 88MHZ range in the same market.

Ch 2-6= 54~88MHZ.
FM = 88-108MHZ.
Aviation bands, Ham FM 2 meter band, Public safety/police band/Noaa weather/etc = 108~173MHZ
Ch 7-13 = 174-216MHZ

I appreciate your depth of knowledge in this area and your correction benefits *me*. In a practical sense though, I think my advice to Junebug8 is still valid and I'm afraid this will confuse the heck out of him/her.

I guess my experience with an FM trap being critical to receiving WDKY probably is due to my use of a preamp. Either that or the two 50 kw FM stations I have about 2 miles away may be just too close.

Originally posted by cpcat
In a practical sense though, I think my advice to Junebug8 is still valid and I'm afraid this will confuse the heck out of him/her.


Other than the point I mentioned, I agree with all your comments, except in most(almost all unless your sitting right under the FM tower, perhaps) cases I would not expect a FM trap to help Channel 4 reception if a preamp isn't being used.

I don't really see how the correct information on any given issue is anything but "useful" and practical for those reading it, however.

So, In a "practical sense" -- let me put it this way ...For Ch 4 -- if a preamp is being used, Try it without a preamp first(then if "available" try it with FM trap on preamp switched in(on) and out) to see if that helps before purchasing a FM trap .... And, unless you are very close to high power FM transmitter, don't expect a FM trap to have much chance at improving reception on Channel 4 ....

Originally posted by cpcat

I guess my experience with an FM trap being critical to receiving WDKY probably is due to my use of a preamp. Either that or the two 50 kw FM stations I have about 2 miles away may be just too close.


I would guess both of those things probably have something to do with it .... I would also wonder about the RF shielding used in your receiver, as well as the RF performance of the receiver, especially concerning selectivity of various models of ATSC receivers on VHF ....

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
WSTR-DT also is a little far from Lexington, and it's low power STA currently. It might be doable from Georgetown and points North once they go "full power" though .... I'm not sure what the "southernmost" person is that is receiving them.

I've gotten WSTR on occasion here at the cave, usually during the morning and with strong tropo conditions.

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
I was seeing WDKY-DT Saturday night from up here, and noticed that between 10:20~10:35pm or so, I was getting the "4-3" thing from them again(they were decoding just fine on my receivers though) ...

Missed that occurance ...

Originally posted by cpcat
You didn't tell me what antenna from Radio Shack you have. I need to know to be sure it's adequate for receiving all the channels you need.

From the description, it's almost certainly the VU-90 XR, which should perform at least as well as the CM3016 if not a bit better.

I broke down and bought a CM3016. Unfortunately all it did was make my hands very greasy. My wireloop with director and reflector performs much, much better in the attic. Back to the drawing board on how to improve my signal inside (again, can't put an antenna outside due to apartment people)! I don't have much 'play' in the attic to point the CM everywhere I would like, so it was a lost cause for me.

My WDKY-DT signal isn't too great today. Ironically it is very clear and nice outside, so you would think signal should be stable and strong today.

i have found that on cloudy or rainy days my signal gets better for wdky alot more stable usually when its clear my reception for all channels is spotty.

Returned the CM3016 and got the RCA ANT1250 as Brinkey had suggested. I tried everything with the RCA this morning and just cannot get any better than my homebrew setup. There would be instances where the signal would shoot up to 100% for a second and then 0%. I was getting the same thing with my Emerson tabletop antenna. I really think my apartment must be in a bad place and the signal is blocked by the condos across the way. I'm just getting a trickle of signal and it isn't quite enough to grab a solid lock unless weather conditions are ever so right. Right now WDKY-DT is fine alternating between 36-44% signal, but watch.. at primetime I'll have the same strength, but the picture will be so garbled with macroblocking it won't be worth watching.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Right now WDKY-DT is fine alternating between 36-44% signal, but watch.. at primetime I'll have the same strength, but the picture will be so garbled with macroblocking it won't be worth watching.

It sounds like you've tried just about everything you can short of putting the antenna outside with a clear shot above the roof line.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
It sounds like you've tried just about everything you can short of putting the antenna outside with a clear shot above the roof line.

Tried it outside on my balcony, but it's not high enough (when compared to the height when inside the attic). I'd love to mount a roof antenna, but the property owner made a big stink about me even having a dish (and that isn't attached to anything.. it's on a 15' water pipe in 5 gallon bucket of cement I created on my balcony). I am curious what kind of signal I could get with my wireloop outside at the same height on the other side of the panel where it is now. I am thinking with some light wood or thick cardboard I could tack the antenna to it and attach a pole and just kind of wave it outside as high as I can and see what I get (seeing I can't scale the building or anything). I'd like to try this without incurring cost, so I may be dumpster diving to find something long, light and sturdy to use temporarily just to see what I can get. Or maybe I will just dump the dish and add cable TV to my cable Internet.. just wish my MyHD card was the QAM one that just came out.

I did some more monkeying in the attic with my dipole, reflectors and director. I'm out of wire to use at the moment for further enhancement. My WDKY-DT signal is like clockwork.. right after primetime no more breakups! It's randomly perfect or randmly crap during the day (mostly crap). I'm sooo close, but not quite.

Gonna try a different RCA antenna again. I think the first one was a Wal-Mart return cause I noticed the tape on the inside bag was already broken when I took it out of the box. I'm hoping I just had a bum antenna and the antenna doesn't really work that poorly (WKYT-DT was only 11% signal all over the gain dial.. I get 100% now with that I have).

I work on one method for awhile, get frustrated and try another and then back to what has worked the best so far, given my situation.

I am curious why WKYT does not go to 5.1 audio. I noticed on CSI there's a big banner at the start that says "available in DD 5.1" or something like that. My HD card says the audio is only stereo (DD2.0). Do they lack the equipment for 5.1?

Originally posted by BenCJedi
I did some more monkeying in the attic with my dipole, reflectors and director. I'm out of wire to use at the moment for further enhancement. My WDKY-DT signal is like clockwork.. right after primetime no more breakups! It's randomly perfect or randmly crap during the day (mostly crap). I'm sooo close, but not quite.

Gonna try a different RCA antenna again. I think the first one was a Wal-Mart return cause I noticed the tape on the inside bag was already broken when I took it out of the box. I'm hoping I just had a bum antenna and the antenna doesn't really work that poorly (WKYT-DT was only 11% signal all over the gain dial.. I get 100% now with that I have).

I work on one method for awhile, get frustrated and try another and then back to what has worked the best so far, given my situation.

I am curious why WKYT does not go to 5.1 audio. I noticed on CSI there's a big banner at the start that says "available in DD 5.1" or something like that. My HD card says the audio is only stereo (DD2.0). Do they lack the equipment for 5.1?


You might try this indoor antenna:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F001%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1880

I read that some people liked it over at hometheaterspot forums. It looks like it is in stock at all the Lexington stores. If it doesn't work you can just take it back.

I don't think WKYT has the equipment for 5.1. LouisvilleHDTV is showing that WKYT broadcasts in 2.0. http://louisvillehdtv.com/lex.aspx

Don't you just love it when the Wednesday night basketball game goes pass 10:00 and WKYT can't show CSI:NY in HD?

Originally posted by nuts4scuba
I don't think WKYT has the equipment for 5.1. LouisvilleHDTV is showing that WKYT broadcasts in 2.0.

Don't you just love it when the Wednesday night basketball game goes pass 10:00 and WKYT can't show CSI:NY in HD?

Correct. WLKY does not yet have the 5.1 equipment either ... but at least they have HD on "basketball nights." :)

There was a rumor that CBS was working on some type of "group buy" deal for those affiliates that are still lacking the 5.1 equipment, but I haven't seen any chatter about that recently.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Correct. WLKY does not yet have the 5.1 equipment either ... but at least they have HD on "basketball nights." :)

There was a rumor that CBS was working on some type of "group buy" deal for those affiliates that are still lacking the 5.1 equipment, but I haven't seen any chatter about that recently.

We have a NBC station here which doesn't pass the 5.1 for the same reason. The owner Gannett broadcasting decided not to buy the equipment to pass the 5.1 last year for they claim there just wasn't much need for 5.1 at the time. The good news with the new year Gannett stations have a new budget and will be adding the equipment this summer.

Does anyone know any new information concerning WLEX, NBC digital transmitter? It's damn shame all of the other major networks beat NBC to the gun. Heck, even FOX beat NBC, now that is sad! I have sent several email's to NBC asking questions about their transmitter and expected completion date. Of course, no response whatsoever. I hate WLEX anyway, but I want to see the West Wing in HD!!

Originally posted by Brinkley
Does anyone know any new information concerning WLEX, NBC digital transmitter?

Nothing new. Dave Powell at WLEX said it would be at least June/July ish. I wouldn't expect (nor really want) anything before the end of the current programming season. (I'd hate to miss any episodes of "Lost" in HD due to 'construction' work :) )

PS: Latest WLEX info (http://www.wlextv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1549052&nav=EQlxJSG5)

So what is the deal with NBC? Are they building their own tower or sharing ABC's tower?? I have heard both, just wondering what to believe.

Just a side note.....I just saw that ESPN-HD will be broadcasting the Kentucky game tonight starting at 9pm. I am thinking about going down to Rupp arena and take pictures of ESPN's HD truck. Bout time they broadcasted KY in HD!!! :)

Originally posted by Brinkley
So what is the deal with NBC? Are they building their own tower or sharing ABC's tower??

Asked and answered numerous times in this thread ... They are/will be leasing space on WTVQ's tower. If you don't believe me, go check the construction permit at http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=73203 and see for yourself that the CP references WTVQ's tower.

Hint: Click on the "ASRN" link listed under the digital CP.

Pipe down bro. It was just a question, and yes I have read the other posts and the question wasn't truely answered. I have heard from the engineers themselves that they were building their own tower. I just wanted clarification. It seems that WLEX doesn't really want to get into the whole HD scene, or they wouldn't have drug their feet for so long. I don't see them getting online anytime soon, so I will drop the question all together. I am just ready for some wildcats tonight in HD!

wow! Rupp Arena in HD was amazing! This must be what heaven looks like!

Originally posted by Brinkley
Pipe down bro. It was just a question, and yes I have read the other posts and the question wasn't truely answered.

LOL ... yes it was - but the most recent occurance I could "find" by using a thread "search" on "WLEX tower" was on 1/4/2005 which is a few pages back now. Just seems like it was yesterday to me ;)

If i don't find something relatively fast i ask questions simply put. I don't like using the search function for certain things. WLEX is too lazy to even compose an update on their website, instead, we get a date change on January 28, 2005. Pretty sad!

As of about 9 a.m. today (Sunday) I couldn't get a lock on WDKY.

As of about 10 a.m. I have a stable lock and watchable signal. I know how weather, tropo, etc. can effect things but I can't see any evidence of any tropo enhancement right now on other channels and I'm wondering if WDKY may still be working on things. Anyone else?

No problems here. 80% signal.

100% here.

Originally posted by Brinkley
WLEX is too lazy to even compose an update on their website, instead, we get a date change on January 28, 2005.

Actually that little tidbit represents far more effort to inform the public than most stations have managed. It's Dave's (pre-emptive) way of saying, 'Save your e-mails, nothing has changed here.' (I suspect that he was anticipating a new round of calls and e-mails due to WDKY finally coming on line.)

There are many factors that affect the decoding of a DTV signal. Rf signal strength is just one of these factors. Next week if I get a chance I'll do some measurements and "see" how the signal really looks..

I can see both towers (WKLE and WDKY) from my house and can make a good comparison between the two signals..

As to WLEX,, right now all DTV changes are frozen as the stations are sorting out their final channel selections..so since they have filed on the WTVQ tower that's where the FCC thinks they are going.

Originally posted by cpcat
I know how weather, tropo, etc. can effect things but I can't see any evidence of any tropo enhancement right now on other channels and I'm wondering if WDKY may still be working on things.

WDKY's DT signal seems to be much more sensitive to enviromental conditions than the other stations here at the cave ... even more so than WAVE and WLKY @ 76mi ea. For instance, a steady signal Q reading of 37% - 44% on my receiver is sufficient to decode most UHF's and VHF-hi stations without significant dropout problems. Past experience with WDKY showed that at least 72%-79% sig Q was required to achieve the same results.

Originally posted by William Smith
As to WLEX,, right now all DTV changes are frozen as the stations are sorting out their final channel selections..so since they have filed on the WTVQ tower that's where the FCC thinks they are going.

LOL ... I would hope that WLEX wouldn't just decide to throw up a new tower without getting approval from somebody :D

OTOH, I wonder if it's possible to build a new tower next their existing one without causing everything to come crashing down.

one problem.... Zoning...

Ask WDKY about trying to build a new tower in Fayette county...

The 400' free stander you see from Nicholasville Rd is in Jessamine County ( By feet)..

This is a NIMBY town....


And the same folks complain about their cell phones not working in their basements..

I was watching AI tonight for the first half an hour with no issues, then all the sudden the pic froze and scrambled on me. My 811 recv was showing signal strength averaging around 68% from beginning to end of AI.

anyone else experience the same thing, or am I just experiencing a multipath issue? I am using an amplified indoor antenna made by Jensen (Model TV931). I pick up the other stations fine...

TIA...

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
LOL ... I would hope that WLEX wouldn't just decide to throw up a new tower without getting approval from somebody :D

OTOH, I wonder if it's possible to build a new tower next their existing one without causing everything to come crashing down.

The current tower is the second 600' tower WLEX has had at that site..

There used to be another tower on their site (it was a 300' self supporter) located near their new studio. In the late 50's a storm front came through and blew it over taking out the guy wires of the main tower. The tower collapsed onto the building and a section came through the roof hitting the receptionist in the head and killing her and her unborn child. It happened at lunchtime. I was told the story and shown the pictures by the last two people to see her alive. When I was there in the 80's, the guy who saw the tower fall into the guy wires was still there. He told me he got under a bench in the room closest to the tower base and rode it out there.

I'm seeing WDKY-DT at 4-3 again currently ... No remap to 56-1 ...

By the way, most of the time when I am getting them(which of course is not all the time from 118 miles distant), WDKY-DT decodes just fine with about 30% "signal quality" readings, the same as it takes for any other station ... In my experience, if there is a lot of other "noise" present - which of course could be coming from anything from an overloaded preamp, to "impulse nose" to uncorrectable multipath or co-channel interference from other stations(the latter which is probably not likely to be much an issue if you are well within their coverage area, except perhaps in some cases during periods of "intense" Sporadic E or tropo propagation "activity" - which is generally quite rare - Strong Signals from the SW(Texas mostly) were present on lo-VHF ch 2~6 in this area via E-skip on Sunday evening however ...) among other things, it might take "higher readings" than normal ...

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
I'm seeing WDKY-DT at 4-3 again currently ... No remap to 56-1 ...

among other things, it might take "higher readings" than normal ...

Humm ... PSIP looks ok to me at the moment. The "higher readings" than other stations phenomenon is pretty much a constant here, which, of course, does not exclude the possibility of significant localized noise.

Originally posted by William Smith
The current tower is the second 600' tower WLEX has had at that site..

There used to be another tower on their site (it was a 300' self supporter) located near their new studio. ....

I've often wondered why broadcasters tempt fate by locating their offices/studios within the radius of the tower 'collapse zone.' I'm surprised that nobody was seriously injured during the ice-fall event at WTVQ a couple of years ago - seems like that happened around lunchtime too.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Humm ... PSIP looks ok to me at the moment.

Yup, It's back to 56-1 remap now at 12:41pm here too since the last time I punched in 4 around 12:18 or so when it was still going to 4-3 ...

Originally posted by vinuxd
I was watching AI tonight for the first half an hour with no issues, then all the sudden the pic froze and scrambled on me.

Well, I had several freezes throughout the entire program with 100% showing on the sig-Q meter. I still suspect that *some* of these problems may be occurring somewhere in the STL path. OTOH, every station was a bit spotty last night ... It remains a mystery ...

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
I've often wondered why broadcasters tempt fate by locating their offices/studios within the radius of the tower 'collapse zone.' I'm surprised that nobody was seriously injured during the ice-fall event at WTVQ a couple of years ago - seems like that happened around lunchtime too.

Years ago microwave technology was pretty much the phone company's game.. Few private businesses could afford to install and maintain the links. The telcos used to rake in money by charging the networks to deliver video to the stations. If the stations had to link to the transmitter it was done by phone company as well.. KET was on telco for the first 9-10 years of its life until the KEWS system was built after the 1974 tornado outbreak..


WLEX was an exception... In 1955 AT&T refused to deliver the NBC and (later ABC) programming to the station as they didn't want to build the links.. WLEX constructed their own system of microwave links to connect to WLWT. This system was upgraded later to 4 hops from the original 2 and was in use until it was replaced by the NBC Skypath system 1985..I was gone by the time they dismantled it (late 80's- early90's I think). They did a news story on dropping the 500' tower at Williamstown.


NBC paid WLEX for "rent" on the system just like they would have paid AT&T..

Anyone have any idea when WTVQ is going to transmit HD on Insight? It would be nice to see LOST or ALIAS in HD.

Its a corperate thing...

Currently Insight is carrying 3 out of the 4 Local Stations that are carrying digital signals. I anticipate that to increase to 4 out of 5 with WLEX. If you are looking for who the problem is, I might look at Media General, who owns WTVQ, not the local guys, they have no control. I can't go into any more specifics here, but, the same offer is on the table to TVQ as the other broadcasters. You might want to read that the FCC made some major rulings last week concerning, digital multi-cast. Again, we would be more than glad, and can flip the switch and have them on in seconds, if an agreement is made.

Thanks,
Winston

When I spoke with an engineer at WTVQ last summer they indicated the problem revolved around multicasting. Basically it is the same argument many broadcasters around the country are using (if you carry our main signal you have to carry all sub-channels too).

With the death of ABCNews it seems like WTVQ's parent company should pull back on it's multicast demand. I don't blame Insight for not wanting to carry a weather map sub-channel from WTVQ. I think the rulings that Winston speaks of will be helpful in moving things forward.

Oh BTW Winston...any word on those new Motorola 6412s??? :)

Thanks for keeping us up to date of what Insight is up to!

Need some help from you guys if possible. I live next to central baptist hospital. I just installed a radio shack 80 inch uhf/vhf antenna on my roof. I have it installed off my chimney on a mast that is rotor controlled. I still can't get a lock on channel 56.1. I can get a signal around 70 up to about 73 on my meter, but still no constant lock, and only got video for about 2 seconds but it is all broken up. I have tried a 10db amp, with no added luck. What making me mad is a friend of mine and i bought the same antenna, both have it up high off our roofs, and we live less that 1/4 mile from each other, and he is getting it good and strong, while i'm still struggling to get it. Should i try an FM trap or some other in line device to help me out? I have read all 84 pages of this thread and am still not sure what to try now, i'm getting very tired of this, have been trying to get this stupid channel for a month now. I can't believe that with this big antenna roof mounted with a rotor for god sakes, that i can't suck in this channel. thanks for reading, sleddogn

Originally posted by sleddogn
Need some help from you guys if possible. I live next to central baptist hospital. I just installed a radio shack 80 inch uhf/vhf antenna on my roof. I have it installed off my chimney on a mast that is rotor controlled. I still can't get a lock on channel 56.1. I can get a signal around 70 up to about 73 on my meter, but still no constant lock, and only got video for about 2 seconds but it is all broken up. I have tried a 10db amp, with no added luck. What making me mad is a friend of mine and i bought the same antenna, both have it up high off our roofs, and we live less that 1/4 mile from each other, and he is getting it good and strong, while i'm still struggling to get it. Should i try an FM trap or some other in line device to help me out? I have read all 84 pages of this thread and am still not sure what to try now, i'm getting very tired of this, have been trying to get this stupid channel for a month now. I can't believe that with this big antenna roof mounted with a rotor for god sakes, that i can't suck in this channel. thanks for reading, sleddogn

It's funny, but that's about the same signal I'm getting 65 miles away. I'm not sure what to tell you. An FM trap would be worth a try but I'm convinced there's something intrinsic to their signal which is making it very difficult for us to receive. William mentioned this a couple of posts back and said he might be able to analyze the signal soon and give some feedback. The other possibility is maybe low band just doesn't work very well for digital. I took a CM 3016 (similar to what you are using) and I "straightened" the VHF elements which increased my low band vhf performance significantly (just be careful not to break them). I didn't notice any loss of performance in the high band vhf, but I'm sure I lost a little.

I've tweaked and tweaked and tweaked some more. I'm to the point with my low band performance that I can see a watchable signal from WAVE 3 analog (135 mi) fairlly consistently but still no go for WDKY 4.

I'm also in the same boat...having tried a half dozen things and WDKY-DT being unstable/unwatchable. So far the homebrew setup antenna is the closest I can get to a lock. At various times the signal is fine.. just never when I'd like it to be. I'm beginning to think low band VHF was a stupid channel for WDKY to elect as their DTV choice. Other markets were trying VHF and I believe elected their UHF channels because they found it worked better and more reliably for the customers. I don't think WDKY did their homework. Maybe there's just too much interferance in certain pockets of Lexington and unfortunately some of us live in those pockets.

i am at the corner of MOW and darby creek road. that is only 10.5 miles from clays ferry. i am using a rabbit ears indoors and in the 500 square feet of of my second floor i have a three foot square area, next to the ceiling, that i am able to receive WDKY with no problems.

except for the fact that my antenna seems to get the best signal pointed almost directly east, which is about 60 degrees away from the transmitter.

i will probably try to build the folded dipole to improve reception. if that does not help, i may try installing it in the attic before i buy an antenna to put into the attic.

although at only 10 miles from clays ferry, i would have expected it to be easier to get a good signal.

Originally posted by BenCJedi
I'm beginning to think low band VHF was a stupid channel for WDKY to elect as their DTV choice. Other markets were trying VHF and I believe elected their UHF channels because they found it worked better and more reliably for the customers. I don't think WDKY did their homework.

Channel 4 was alloted to WDKY by the FCC. Subsquently, WDKY twice tried to get their allotment changed to Channel 22 and were denied both times.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Channel 4 was alloted to WDKY by the FCC. Subsquently, WDKY twice tried to get their allotment changed to Channel 22 and were denied both times.

I thought they had a choice.. channel 4 or channel 56. Why didn't they elect channel 56 for digital?

Originally posted by BenCJedi
I thought they had a choice.. channel 4 or channel 56. Why didn't they elect channel 56 for digital?

Because channel 56 will not exist in the post analog world (only ch2-ch52.)

Essentially, WDKY-DT is "stuck" on ch4 until the lights go out on all the analog xmitters in the region.

So if I read the FCC release correctly Insight will not be required to carry the secondary WTVQ channel. This should clear up WTVQ's argument and allow Insight to move forward with the channel. Right?

Originally posted by kyalumtwin
So if I read the FCC release correctly Insight will not be required to carry the secondary WTVQ channel. This should clear up WTVQ's argument and allow Insight to move forward with the channel. Right?

Not that WTVQ actually has anything useful on their .2 subchannel.. it's just a weather map with the audio from the .1 subchannel.

Originally posted by kyalumtwin
So if I read the FCC release correctly Insight will not be required to carry the secondary WTVQ channel. This should clear up WTVQ's argument and allow Insight to move forward with the channel. Right?

No it doesn't change anything. WTVQ can still "hold out," although at somepoint, it will become foolish for them to not be on cable (given the ~90% cable+DBS penetration in our market.)

I'm actually home tonight during primetime to tweak WDKY-DT. I moved the first reflector down into an arc below the wireloop and the picture is much more solid. American Idol looks SWEET. Of course I have such unpredictable results. I may just have to bend a reflector a different direction every night to consistantly get a good signal. Maybe I could hire a monkey to live in the attic and do this for me. :)

I was actually shocked on the results on the last dude to be voted off. I am just glad that Carrie Underwood is still on there. Good ol country girl.

Damn it! Another week with CSI: NY NOT in HD! I enjoy UK basketball and all, but why can't someone at WKYT flip the switch when the game is over? Or better yet the Cat's should only agree to play if their games are shown in HD. :)

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Damn it! Another week with CSI: NY NOT in HD! I enjoy UK basketball and all, but why can't someone at WKYT flip the switch when the game is over?

Ahh ... now they begin to understand why I aimed an antenna at WLKY/WAVE ;)

Originally posted by BdoUK
Oh BTW Winston...any word on those new Motorola 6412s??? :)

Thanks for keeping us up to date of what Insight is up to! [/B]

BdoUK,

We are scheduled to receive the Motorola 6412 Dual Tuner DVR's sometimes in May. I think that is a pretty good date now, but with Motorola one never knows.

We will also be spinning out new software to all existing DVR's on the morning of March 1st. This is the new improved Interactive Guide from TV Guide. We have been testing it for the last 2 weeks and I think everyone will be much happier with it. The advertisement's on the left are gone, and there is now video of the channel you are on while in the guide. Plus other features.

Also, we will be replacing our DMX channels that are on 301-345 with Music Choice and repositioning them to 901-955


Hd's Statement about the FCC ruling is correct, in that it doesn't change anything legally. Cable Companies and Broadcaster much enter into agreements of their digital signals.

Currently local broadcasters have a choice of imposing what is called Must Carry or they can chose to enter into Retransmission Agreements. Retransmission agreements usually have side deals, such as advertisement deals, or say they could ask the local cable company to carry their sister networks, MSNBC, FOX NEWS..etc...not sure how it all works..but you get the gist. I'm not in programming.

Now flip the coin and say you are a weak signal, analog channel that cannot reach a Cable Companies Headend. You now build a digital transmitter and can deliver a good signal and you really have nothing to negotiate. But you are in their DMA, you can now demand must carry. Basically what the broadcaster were asking for was, Dual Analog and Digital Must Carry with Mandatory Multi-cast. That would be a pretty sweet deal.

Doesn't matter if your a Dish Customer or Cable, you better keep an eye on this, because ultimately, the rules will apply to all. There is a push to go all digital by the end of 2006 which Cable Companies support, but as you would expect the broadcasters do not. Once the Analog Signals are killed on the broadcasters stations, it will be back to business as usual.

Winston

The NASCAR race today looks great!

Originally posted by Brinkley
The NASCAR race today looks great!

Independence Day after looked and sounded horrible! It looked like an upconvert of the DVD and there were annoying popping noises every few seconds. We weren't alone though as others were posting that their FOX affiliate showed it the same horrible way.

I have been following everyone's experience with WDKY and installed a MKII low band VHF antenna this weekend and have had great luck so far.

This leads me to ask about your experience on picking up WTVQ-DT. My problem is that sometimes I get a good signal and others times it is like they have dropped their broadcast power dramatically. I have an external CM4228 on a rotor and the MKII on the same mast (but not on the rotor) about 3 feet above the top of the chimney level. I am above half way between Lex. and Versailles. I get WKYT fine (at about 90%) and get WKLE well (usually in the high 70's to low 80's). When I am picking up WTVQ, I am getting a meter reading in low 80's but at other times, the meter reading is down into the high teens - low 20's. With a broadcast freq. on Chan. 40 and looking at the broadcast pattern on 2150.com, you would think that I would be much better off for WTVQ than WKYT but this is definately not the case. Sunday afternoon was an example with WTVQ too weak to lock in but WKYT was rock solid in the 80's. For me they are both in approx. the same direction and, from 2150.com, WTVQ has the higher broadcast signal strength. With the reception range of the 4228, I wouldn't expect a problem at 14 - 16 miles.

I am in a country/suburban area with no tall buildings/towers/etc. around me. Any one have any thoughts about the source of the issue.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Mike

Originally posted by kymikes
I have been following everyone's experience with WDKY and installed a MKII low band VHF antenna this weekend and have had great luck so far.

This leads me to ask about your experience on picking up WTVQ-DT. ...


Mike,
Your problem is probably weather related to some degree. WTVQ's current digital antenna is mounted about half way up their tower, which seems to make the signal more vulnerable to odd tropospheric conditions. Since they signed on the air, I've had to relocate my antenna several times (usually with changing seasons) to keep a good lock on WTVQ.

It is also possible that the new low band antenna may be affecting your local RF refraction a/o multipath patterns.

I've always been able to clear up my WTVQ problems by moving the antenna around, up and down etc ... (well unless there's a strong wx front that's knocking out every station ... )

FWIW, my WTVQ reception was also a bit spotty on my "primary" antenna last night, but my alternate was working fine.

Originally posted by kymikes
I have been following everyone's experience with WDKY and installed a MKII low band VHF antenna this weekend and have had great luck so far.

This leads me to ask about your experience on picking up WTVQ-DT. My problem is that sometimes I get a good signal and others times it is like they have dropped their broadcast power dramatically. I have an external CM4228 on a rotor and the MKII on the same mast (but not on the rotor) about 3 feet above the top of the chimney level. I am above half way between Lex. and Versailles. I get WKYT fine (at about 90%) and get WKLE well (usually in the high 70's to low 80's). When I am picking up WTVQ, I am getting a meter reading in low 80's but at other times, the meter reading is down into the high teens - low 20's. With a broadcast freq. on Chan. 40 and looking at the broadcast pattern on 2150.com, you would think that I would be much better off for WTVQ than WKYT but this is definately not the case. Sunday afternoon was an example with WTVQ too weak to lock in but WKYT was rock solid in the 80's. For me they are both in approx. the same direction and, from 2150.com, WTVQ has the higher broadcast signal strength. With the reception range of the 4228, I wouldn't expect a problem at 14 - 16 miles.

I am in a country/suburban area with no tall buildings/towers/etc. around me. Any one have any thoughts about the source of the issue.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Mike

WTVQ is still at low power and broadcasting from a relatively low tower location. See http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WTVQ
They are using their 61 kw STA which is also directional to the north I believe. They are supposed to be at full power in July.

Edit: It's directional to the SW.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged

It is also possible that the new low band antenna may be affecting your local RF refraction a/o multipath patterns.



Certainly possible. Spacing of 60 inches should be more than enough even at channel 14. I've cheated this rule even down to around 40 inches or so and it seems to not make a difference at least down to channel 15. At channel 40 it will be even less. I've had more of the opposite problem since I've added low band i.e. the uhf section interferes with the low band performance which is what you'd expect given the much longer wavelengths involved. Spacing of at least one wavelength (and you can probably get away with even less in the vertical plane) is supposed to be minimum but not always practical especially with low band.

What is the "MKII" low band antenna? I'd like to look at it. I have an Antennacraft 3bg17 on the way. It's as big as I think my installation will allow and still allow for a rotatable setup.
http://www.antennacraft-tdp.com/pdfs/3bg17_.pdf

Edit: I see, he's referring to the Antennasdirect V4 MKII.

HDTVChallenged & cpcat,
Thanks for your reply. It wasn't the Low Band antenna as I had these problems before I installed it (I did cheat the vertical separation as I first trying to see what I got on channel 4). I knew WTVQ was still at low power (61 kW) but I thought WKYT was also still on low power (<61kW). The lower position on the tower could give some "strange" results. I was assuming with the dramatic change it was some quirk in my setup but it does make more sense that it would be a weather/tropo symptom but my prior experience (mostly analog) was to see more gradual type of changes.

In my setup, I don't have too much of an option to change antenna position much beside mast height (taller is almost always better) since I am set to a chimney mount. The chimney mount doesn't lend itself to much flexibility. I am currently using a fairly short mast and can probably go to a 20 foot mast with the chimney mount (about 3 feet between the two supports) and still feel pretty safe (don't really have any way to support with "guy" wires). I will give that a try once this "maybe" bout of snow/ice blows through.

WKYT is at their full power of 30 kw and probaby even more importantly at their full power height of 280+ meters or so. VHF takes much less power to cover the same area.

Don't know what else to tell you that you don't already know. Higher will most likely be better. You won't do much better on channel 40 than the 4228 with any other antenna that comes to mind unless you want to stack. Assuming WTVQ ups their power and height this summer like they're supposed to you'll likely be fine. You might consider a preamp (low gain would be my choice at your distance) if you're not using one already.

I'm assuming you are diplexing the two antennas already to prevent multipath between them. Actually, that's interesting. How are you doing this? Are you able to receive WKYT off of the low band antenna and use a vhf/uhf diplexer between the two? If you are still getting WKYT from the 4228 and simply combining through a splitter you may be introducing mulitpath.

cpcat,
I am using a diplexer. The V4 MKII seems to roll off pretty much above channel 9 and doesn't seem to be causing any signs of multipath as yet. I was afraid that I might have some signal degradation on WKYT since it is on channel 13 but I see no difference between before and after in terms of signal level or quality (still only been one day) so I assume that I am getting virtually all the channel 13 signal from the 4228. I had started with a short mast expecting that I might have to do some "configuration" and then go for "quality". I have stayed with the short mast since it seemed to be working pretty well. I have the mast attached to the top of a chimney about a story and a half off the ground but still readily accessible since it is only about 5 ft. above the roof line on that end of the house. Once I go with a taller mast, any changes start to get more involved. Currently I can just lay the mast down on the roof to make changes and it goes back up easily. Once I go to 20 ft mast, I start to get into some upper body exercise levering two antennas and the rotor. My days of attempting to go up a mast like a monkey are becoming just a memory.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

If you are using a standard VHF/UHF diplexer, and you have the 4228 hooked to "UHF" and the V4 to "VHF", then you are receiving WKYT from the V4, not the 4228. This is perfectly o.k. and isn't surprising since WKYT's signal seems to be so robust in the Lexington area. If this is the situation, multipath between the two antennas shouldn't be a problem.

Lo-band VHF/ High band VHF+UHF diplexers are available, but not common.
I have one made by Tinlee in Ontario.

What the diplexer does is allows passage of wanted signals and filters unwanted ones. In this situtation, the standard VHF/UHF diplexer will filter out all VHF from the 4228 on the UHF input and vice-versa for the VHF input and the V4. It's like a "crossover" in audio. The crossover point can be set pretty much anywhere, but is between the VHF and UHF bands in the standard VHF/UHF variety.

If you have problems with WKYT and you want to go back to receiving it through the 4228, a cheap "jerry-rig" would be to get a commonly available lo-hi diplexer and run the V4 through the "lo" side and then combine the 4228 in directly with a wideband splitter. The only thing you won't filter out is any low band from the 4228, but there's not likely to be enough to cause a problem. Lo-hi diplexer available from pico: http://www.picomacom.com/specs/pico/C/C24.pdf

I'm moving out Harrodsburg Rd to the Firebrook subdiv (right on the border of Fayette & Jessamine Co.). Is anyone in that subdivision getting an OTA signal, if so what channels and what equipment are you using?

Anybody have any suggestions?

I'm amused.. I climbed into the attic and put an extra 18" ride/crash cymbal on the director side from my wireloop. Now my signal for WDKY-DT is 49-53%, up from 36-44%. Occasinally it bounces down to 36%, so it isn't the perfect solution.

Now I am pretty sure most of my troubles with FOX are related to my large assembledge of cymbals in the room right below the antenna. That should have occurred to me sooner.. All that metal has to be doing something.

I just wanted to pop in and say thanks to Winston and all those at Insight. When I got home from work tonight the new iGuide was on my 6208! It is much more attractive than the previous TVGuide effort. I can't wait until the 6412s show up in May :).

Is WDKY-DT off the air at the moment? I have 0% signal for them right now. I had a recording that kicked off earlier this morning that came out flawless, so I know they were up at least this morning.

Yea....its 10:50am and 0 signal here. First time in a week its dropped below 80 percent.

I'm getting some of the best signal I have ever seen (64%) right now. By the way.. this is my antenna contraption in the attic.

First a view looking up to the roof and my special director that made a huge difference for me.

Also noticed tonight if I reboot one particular PC in the room below (not the one with the MyHD card), my signal for WDKY-DT drops 0-13% with absolutely no lock. As the machine reboots and windows 2000 first starts to load the desktop my signal shoots back up to normal. Weird huh?

http://home.insightbb.com/~refuel/pics/HDTV/antenna/VHF_ch4_ant01.jpg

http://home.insightbb.com/~refuel/pics/HDTV/antenna/VHF_ch4_ant02.jpg

I'm moving out Harrodsburg Rd to the Firebrook subdiv (right on the border of Fayette & Jessamine Co.). Is anyone in that subdivision getting an OTA signal, if so what channels and what equipment are you using?

Anybody have any suggestions?

I just recently bought a new 52" HDTV and switched to Dish Network. I am looking to purchase an antenna to pick up the local HD channels. I live off Man 'O War between Nicholasville Road and Harrodsburg Road. Anyone have any suggestions to what equipment I should buy that will pick up good quality but won't cost an arm and a leg?

Originally posted by lucent23
I just recently bought a new 52" HDTV and switched to Dish Network. I am looking to purchase an antenna to pick up the local HD channels. I live off Man 'O War between Nicholasville Road and Harrodsburg Road. Anyone have any suggestions to what equipment I should buy that will pick up good quality but won't cost an arm and a leg?

I live in the very same area. Hopefully you will not have as much trouble with WDKY-DT FOX on VHF ch4 as I did (see solution in pictures above w/ ride/crash cymbal). Hopefully you can mount an antenna outside. I also use this amp with my antenna:
http://mcm.newark.com/productimages/standard/3938228.jpg
http://mcm.newark.com/NewarkWebCommerce/mcm/en_US/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=33-290&N=4
I noticed the very same one at Home Depot on Harrodsburg Rd under the RCA brand. I think it was $29.99. This same antenna/setup gets me 100% signal for WKYT-DT.

For WTVQ-DT a simple tabletop UHF/VHF antenna and Channel Master 3044 amp gets the job done for me with around 80% signal. It did not perform as well for me as the above amp for WDKY-DT. It's around $45 at Lowes.
http://www.channelmaster.com/images/3042_45.jpg
Also I can pick up WKET-DT with this setup (except recently.. I have no idea why).

The receiver I am using is a MyHD HDTV tuner/capture card in my PC. It had two inputs, so I can pick and choose the best channel reception individually and combine to a master channel list.

You might try the amplified RCA antenna Brinkley is using (~$27 at Wal-mart). He gets great signal, but he's on the other side of Nicholasville Rd from us. I tried that antenna ahd had pitiful results, but as I said earlier in the thread I think Wal-Mart sold me a dud antenna cause it couldn't receive even WKYT-DT. I experimented with my home brew antenna before I tried another one. I returned the dud at Richmond Rd Wal-Mart, so if you purchase one, don't buy it there, as it is probably back out on the shelf.

Your having trouble with WKLE-DT?

When did you start having trouble?

Have you re-scanned the channel ? I did update some of the PSIP tables in January

Originally posted by William Smith
Your having trouble with WKLE-DT?

When did you start having trouble?

Have you re-scanned the channel ? I did update some of the PSIP tables in January

A couple weeks ago William. I didn't touch that antenna, but depending on the time of day I only get 13-42% signal. Most of the time no lock at all as of late. I been meaning to climb back into the attic and try that antenna in a different spot, but I have a nice 87% signal on WTVQ right now. I will try a rescan, but the annoying part is that it breaks all my scheduled recording timers, so I refrain from doing that. My last channel scan was around mid February. I might have some time thursday to do a rescan and set up my timers again. I'll let you know if that clears up the problem.

Ok , Just trying to head off phone calls....

Old topic but, does anyone know of the current state of WLEX? Seems like things are very quiet on the channel 18 front.

They are in the process of putting their digital transmitter on WTVQ's tower. Who knows when it will be complete. Hopefully soon.

anyone know if the sec championship will be in hd tommorrow? Thanks:)

I saw on WKYT's website that they were listing NCAA games on UPN. I sent Wayne Martin an email to see if they would be showing different games than what will be on 27 and this is the reply I got:

"Yes, The games we carry on UPN will be different than the game on WKYT.
The games we will be allowed to carry on UPN are the afternoon games on
Thursday and Friday and we will join the 9:50 pm game on Friday night in
progress around 10 pm. We will air games on UPN on Saturday and Sunday.
Thanks for your interest."

Here are Thurs/Friday games. I don't know which ones we will get. He said
that "When what we are showing on WKYT is in HD, you will have the
game in HD on WKYT Digital 27-1."

NCAA First Round HD/SD Viewing Guide

Thursday March 17, 2005

12:15 PM Wisconsin-Milwaukee #12 vs. Alabama #5 HD
12:20 PM Eastern Kentucky #15 vs. Kentucky #2
12:40 PM Pittsburgh #9 vs. Pacific #8
12:45 PM Niagara #14 vs. Oklahoma #3 HD

2:50 PM Iowa #10 vs. Cincinnati #7
2:55 PM Penn #13 vs. Boston College #4 HD
3:10 PM Montana #16 vs. Washington #1
3:15 PM Texas-El Paso #11 vs. Utah #6 HD

7:10 PM Chattanooga #15 vs. Wake Forest #2 HD
7:10 PM Nevada #9 vs. Texas #8
7:20 PM Utah St. #14 vs. Arizona #3
7:25 PM Winthrop #14 vs. Gonzaga #3 HD

9:40 PM Fairleigh-Dickinson #16 Illinois #1
9:40 PM Creighton #10 vs. West Virginia #7 HD
9:50 PM UAB #11 LSU #6
9:55 PM UCLA #11 vs. Texas Tech #6 HD

Friday March 18, 2005

12:15 PM North Carolina State #10 vs. Charlotte #7 HD
12:25 PM Ohio #13 vs. Florida #4 HD
12:30 PM Iowa St. #9 vs. Minnesota #8
12:30 PM SE Louisiana #15 vs. Oklahoma St. #2

2:45 PM University of Central Florida #15 vs. Connecticut #2 HD
2:55 PM New Mexico #12 vs. Villanova #5 HD
3:00 PM St. Mary's (Ca.) #10 vs. Southern Ill. #7
3:00 PM Alabama A&M/Oakland #16 vs. North Carolina #1

7:10 PM Louisiana-Lafayette #13 vs. Louisville #4 HD
7:10 PM Vermont #13 vs. Syracuse #4 HD
7:20 PM Northern Iowa #11 vs. Wisconsin #6
7:25 PM Delaware St. #16 vs. Duke #1

9:40 PM Old Dominion #12 vs. Michigan State #5 HD
9:40 PM George Washington #12 vs. Georgia Tech #5 HD
9:50 PM Bucknell #14 vs. Kansas #3
9:55 PM Mississippi St. #9 vs. Stanford #8

WDKY-DT just went to 0% signal. Not even a blip! Anyone else?

Hard to tell for sure from up here but WDKY-DT does appear to be off air(or at reduced power) at ~12:30pm.

Around or just before noon, was getting just enough for PSIP lock from them -- to 4-3, was 56-1 last time I looked last night ...

Update 12:42pm: Getting indication of signal from WDKY-DT now ...

I'm getting signal again, but no programming from WDKY-DT at the moment. Hmmm.. just a black screen with ~49% signal (my norm).

Splicer must be offline

WDKY-DT good to go at 2:05pm!

Originally posted by BenCJedi
WDKY-DT good to go at 2:05pm!

Psst ... it's quite possible that they may be working on finishing the new analog plant ... or something else on the tower. I get the feeling that they got just enough of the basics completed to make it on air for the SB.

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Psst ... it's quite possible that they may be working on finishing the new analog plant ... or something else on the tower. I get the feeling that they got just enough of the basics completed to make it on air for the SB.

Why do they need a new analog plant? Isn't analog being phased out and their respective channel 56 designation going on the auction block anyway?

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Why do they need a new analog plant?

Good question ... :D

... I think William addressed this many pages ago ...

In part, they may be able to reuse the new analog xmitter in digital mode should they eventually get a UHF assignment.

Can you guys recommend a good attic antenna for southern Fayette Co on Harrodsburg Rd area and the best way to run the coax from the attic to the first floor? Is there an easy way?

I've got room for a big antenna and possibly a rotor, but I'm not sure what the rotor does or how to operate it.

is anyone else out there experiencing dropouts on WKYT-DT today during the UK game... it seemed to be worse right before the UK game started... and during halftime... kinda like they're trying to fix something during these non-game moments...

Originally posted by ragamuffin
is anyone else out there experiencing dropouts on WKYT-DT today during the UK game... it seemed to be worse right before the UK game started... and during halftime... kinda like they're trying to fix something during these non-game moments...

I did. I also saw some last night during Yes, Dear. I have a great signal between 90 and 100 percent, but then it just drops to 0. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed.

Originally posted by nuts4scuba
I did. I also saw some last night during Yes, Dear. I have a great signal between 90 and 100 percent, but then it just drops to 0. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed.
Thanks for the confirm... I hauled my antenna and tuner over to work to put the game up in a conference room... and I can see the top of the WTVQ-DT tower from the second story window my 4-bay antenna is sitting in... and I'm getting about 96% signal level... so I was curious if WKYT-DT was having technical issues...

I too was having signal drop out right before the game. I was tuning in 27.1 using my rotor control, and had good signal strength between 95 and 97, and it kept droping between 0 and 40 every 15 seconds or so. It has stopped since the game had started that i noticed.

I haven't seen any since halftime of the UK game.

Originally posted by nuts4scuba
I did. I also saw some last night during Yes, Dear. I have a great signal between 90 and 100 percent, but then it just drops to 0. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed.

Had the same during Letterman and Late Late show last night ...

The 27.2 and 32.2 (WLKY) games look particularly bad today - much worse than anything I've ever seen on (SD) D* ...

The games on UPN did look bad. I thought the game during the UK game on UPN looked better than the later one though. Not by much

So when do we get to watch the Wildcats in HD? They need to win against Cincinnati?

Originally posted by BenCJedi
So when do we get to watch the Wildcats in HD? They need to win against Cincinnati?
Half of the first and second round sites are in HD this year... this is 4 of the 8 venues in HD! (16 first round games, 8 second round games in HD) ...unfortunately Kentucky ended up at one of the non-HD sites in Indy...

All 4 regionals will be in HD, as well as the Final Four. This is a major increase in HD from last year where only ONE regional was in HD, and one first/second round site was in HD.

Yes Kentucky must beat Cinci to get to the round of 16... where everyone will be in HD from there on out to the final game.

Thanks You CBS!

My WDKY-DT signal is MUCH improved today. A tree company was hired to cut down a bunch of trees on the rental property including the annoying 2 that were encroaching my direct view for satellite TV. My satellite signal is up and WDKY-DT is around 64% now from inside the attic. I would've figured management to have the trees trimmed, but completely cut down.. I'm shocked. I think WDKY-DT's signal will be much more reliable for me now. Amazing how removing some trees changes everything.

I finally put up an antenna today, a Channelmaster 3018 (from Lowe's) on a 10 foot mast attached to the chimney of my single story home. It is pointed at about 120°, no rotor. No amplifiers, a 100' shielded RG6 cable from Radio shack hooked to my Samsung SIR T451. I am seeing great reception of 27 (CBS, UPN), 32(CBS), 36(ABC) , 46 (PBS), 52 (PBS), and decent reception of 56 (Fox). I live in North Versailles, where Adelphia Cable does not do HD. I'm a happy camper now. I am surprised to receive the Louisville CBS affiliate, I'd rather pick up WBKI (WB) Ch. 34 from Campbellsville.

Looks like we'll finally see the Wildcats in HD:

Friday March 25th
9:40 pm Utah #6 Kentucky #2

Originally posted by tlwiz
I finally put up an antenna today, a Channelmaster 3018 (from Lowe's) on a 10 foot mast attached to the chimney of my single story home. It is pointed at about 120°, no rotor. No amplifiers, a 100' shielded RG6 cable from Radio shack hooked to my Samsung SIR T451. I am seeing great reception of 27 (CBS, UPN), 32(CBS), 36(ABC) , 46 (PBS), 52 (PBS), and decent reception of 56 (Fox). I live in North Versailles, where Adelphia Cable does not do HD. I'm a happy camper now. I am surprised to receive the Louisville CBS affiliate, I'd rather pick up WBKI (WB) Ch. 34 from Campbellsville.

If you would like the Cambellsville station you will probibly need a rotor in your setup... Im pretty sure its south west of your location...

OK here's a strange one. After installing a large Ant. in the attic I have had 90+ signal strength on all the locals for a while now. The other day I noticed dropouts and pixilation on fox 56 (4). I checked the signal strength and it was 90+ on one tuner but only 50+/- on the second tuner (HD DirecTivo). I checked the rest of the stations and they are all 90+ on both tuners, it is only a problem on Fox.

Any ideas?

Originally posted by Luke_Y
OK here's a strange one. After installing a large Ant. in the attic I have had 90+ signal strength on all the locals for a while now. The other day I noticed dropouts and pixilation on fox 56 (4). I checked the signal strength and it was 90+ on one tuner but only 50+/- on the second tuner (HD DirecTivo). I checked the rest of the stations and they are all 90+ on both tuners, it is only a problem on Fox.

Any ideas?

Not all tuners/decoding chips are created equal. I've suspected this for awhile because folks in close proximity to my location are reporting signal strengths for WDKY-DT around 95%, while the best I have gotten is 64% (that's my upper bound) and I have tried like a million and one things to improve it. I have heard the next iteration of my card (MyHD) has a better digital tuner in it, so I think my reception of WDKY-DT would improve, but I don't have another $239 to test that theory right now. It's just possible your 90+ receiver has a better tuner than your HD DirecTiVo. Are you seeing dropouts on both receiver for WDKY-DT?

Another possibility.. since WDKY-DT is VHF and low band VHF it is not immune from interferance from electric shavers, neighbor's lawnmower, invisible pet fence, etc. Some days my WDKY-DT signal is perfect and others it is unwatchable (well that used to be the case until recent trees were removed from the property). I read somewhere that other markets that tried VHF for HD weren't panning out too well either. Maybe VHF is just not the spectrum for OTA DTV.

A quote from WDKY's web site: (here) (http://www.wdky56.com)

WDKY FOX/56 has completed the construction of its new 1200' broadcast tower located near I-75 and Clays Ferry Road. The new broadcast tower is the tallest structure in Central Kentucky, as well as the tallest television tower in the area. The station will begin broadcasting its analogue signal on Channel 56 from the new site on Monday, March 28th.

Perhaps my signal overload problems are about to cease ;)

WBKI's transmitter is near Bardstown...

WAVE's analog tower is taller at 1700'. Its near La Grange..

Originally posted by BenCJedi
Not all tuners/decoding chips are created equal. I've suspected this for awhile because folks in close proximity to my location are reporting signal strengths for WDKY-DT around 95%, while the best I have gotten is 64% (that's my upper bound) and I have tried like a million and one things to improve it. I have heard the next iteration of my card (MyHD) has a better digital tuner in it, so I think my reception of WDKY-DT would improve, but I don't have another $239 to test that theory right now. It's just possible your 90+ receiver has a better tuner than your HD DirecTiVo. Are you seeing dropouts on both receiver for WDKY-DT?

Another possibility.. since WDKY-DT is VHF and low band VHF it is not immune from interferance from electric shavers, neighbor's lawnmower, invisible pet fence, etc. Some days my WDKY-DT signal is perfect and others it is unwatchable (well that used to be the case until recent trees were removed from the property). I read somewhere that other markets that tried VHF for HD weren't panning out too well either. Maybe VHF is just not the spectrum for OTA DTV.

Just to clarify, the HD DirecTivo has 2 OTA tuners in it and these are the 2 I am referring to. One is at 90+ and the other is below 50. Shouldn't be interference as they are part of the same unit and when you watch the signal strength display one holds rock steady at 90 and the other wavers between 40-50. This is not intermittent but constant.

It used to be rock solid 90+ on both tuners. One just dropped one day and has been that way since. I suspect it's probably a hardware problem with the HD DirecTivo and I should probably look for help in that specific forum, or just try to exchange it. It's just strange that it's only on FOX, all the other channels are solid 90+ on both tuners???

Also It seems luck would have it that when it goes to record one of our shows on Fox, it always uses the tuner with the bad signal....

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
A quote from WDKY's web site: (here) (http://www.wdky56.com)

Perhaps my signal overload problems are about to cease ;)

How did that pan-out for you? My analog reception of FOX56 really stinks now. On the plus side my FOX-DT signal is a high 64%, so I don't really care they made their analog signal WORSE for me.

http://home.insightbb.com/~refuel/pics/HDTV/antenna/FOX56_A_D_compare.jpg

Originally posted by BenCJedi
How did that pan-out for you? My analog reception of FOX56 really stinks now. On the plus side my FOX-DT signal is a high 64%, so I don't really care they made their analog signal WORSE for me.

I haven't noticed much of a difference wrt Ch56 proper, and I haven't yet gotten around to checking on my old intermodulation issues. On the plus side, my WDKY-DT reception has stabilized a bit (as of last week.) Although, I'd bet that the changing seasons has more to do with the improvement than the analog move - I seem to recall a similar seasonal improvement before the new tower went up.

First off, I have been long timer lurker in the AVS Forums and have found the information to the best bar-none. In fact, I just outfitted an entire home theater room with equipment that I researched in this forum. Thanks to all who post information in these forums, it is invaluable.

Now to my situation; I live on the east side of Frankfort just outside the city limits surrounded by the palisades and a hill. My HD tuner is built-in to my Hitachi 57S715. The antenna is mounted in the attic for aesthetic reasons and I doubt I will be able to move it outside.

Originally I had the largest available UHF only antenna from Radio Shack that I bought 7 years ago when I had satellite TV. I tried using this antenna with a RS 15-2507 30dB amplifier and was only able to get the KET and ABC feeds in HD. After I finally figured out that I needed a VHF antenna to get the CBS feeds I bought a CM 3016 and CM 3041DSB amplifier in desperation to see the UK games in the NCAA tournament :( . With this configuration I was getting signal strengths of ABC - 71, CBS - 60, KET - 60 (all Lexington feeds). I haven't really put much effort into the WDKY feed since I did not realize it was up and it doesn't seem to be coming into my channel scan. These values results in a audio dropouts and occasional pixelation on the CBS feed, the ABC feed seems to be okay, and I haven't watched the KET feed enough to comment on its quality. I then tried a larger CM 3018 (this is the largest antenna I can get in my attic) and it didn't seem to improve the signal by more than a couple of points. I also tried the RS amplifier instead of the CM and it only added a point or two as well.

My question is...what other antenna/amplifier configurations should I consider or am I just at my limits for my environment? Remember this is an attic mount situation. I am hesitant to order anything that can't be returned based on the above experiences.

Originally posted by fuzzman99
My question is...what other antenna/amplifier configurations should I consider or am I just at my limits for my environment? Remember this is an attic mount situation. I am hesitant to order anything that can't be returned based on the above experiences.

I doubt that there is any magic bullet for you. You'll probably get better mileage from moving the antenna out to the roof.

Thanks for your input HDTVChallenged. I suspect that you are right.

I was wondering if going to a CM4228 and a separate VHF only antenna like the Winegard HD4053P or PR5030 along with a CM7777 would provide any significant improvement?

Also, assuming the answer to the above question is no and I stay with one of my current options is there anything other than overall signal strength that I should consider in whether to keep the 3018 over the 3016 and the RS amp over the CM amp?

Originally posted by Brinkley
They are in the process of putting their digital transmitter on WTVQ's tower. Who knows when it will be complete. Hopefully soon.

I was just trying to get a waiver from WLEX so I could get the HD feed from DirecTV, and after the "NO", the email I got back today says...


We plan to be on Channel 39 on the WTVQ tower by July.


-Byron

Originally posted by fuzzman99
Thanks for your input HDTVChallenged. I suspect that you are right.

I was wondering if going to a CM4228 and a separate VHF only antenna like the Winegard HD4053P or PR5030 along with a CM7777 would provide any significant improvement?

Well, my experience has been that pre-amps don't have much of an effect either way for VHF channels (WKYT-DT and WDKY-DT.) If you are limited to the attic, I would first try removing the pre-amp completely then try to find a location that gives you the best signal. Once you have that, put the pre-amp back in loop and see if it helps any.

Personally, I'd keep the 3018 over the 3016. The CM pre-amps are going to be a better choice wrt overload resistance and noise levels.

Originally posted by sneaky262
I was just trying to get a waiver from WLEX so I could get the HD feed from DirecTV, and after the "NO", the email I got back today says...


are you telling me we are going to finally see channel 18 digitally? yron

Originally posted by julian11
are you telling me we are going to finally see channel 18 digitally?

That's what he said... Well, July anyway. I guess it HAS to happen eventually.

Sneaky 262, I,ll believe when I see It, I have been disapointed numerous times.

Sort of off topic, but if anyone is in the market for a new HDTV, slickdeals.net has a 30" Philips refurb with warranty for $359 with free shipping. This TV sells for around $800 on amazon.

Found another good buy on a HDTV. Big Lots behind Turfland Mall in Lex has several Samsung 50" plasmas brand new still in box for only $2999. Model number HPN5039. Full factory warranty.

I have had my Hitachi RPTV for a couple of weeks and I have noticed something that concerns me. It seems that the HD feed that I am receiving from Channel 27 from my antenna goes out of focus every now and then. I have only noticed this during the NCAA basketball games and I noticed it last night watching the Amazing Race. This doesn't mean that it isn't happening on other shows or channels, it just so happens that this has been most of my viewing on this TV. I would have to assume that this is a camera issue and not a TV, Tuner, or Antenna issue being that the feed is digital, but I just need some reassurance that the TV is okay. Unfortunately, there is no one else in my neighborhood watching HD and in particular from an antenna. Does anyone else see this problem?

Fuzzman99,
I have been watching a lot of the NCAA tourney on 27-1 through an OTA antenna and I have not seen this issue. Maybe my eyes aren't as sharp as yours but I did not see this type of effect. I am in Versailles so I am a bit of a distance from the transmitter but usually get a pretty strong signal on an HD TIVO as my receiver. FYI.

During the tourny, i noticed the same thing. Clear picture, then it went somewhat blurry. I believe it was the camera operator. I hear the focusing techniques on HD cameras differ somewhat compared to regular SD cameras. Is Amazing race in HD now?

I, too, have noticed this momentary blurry focus. I convinced myself that it relates to the fact that WKYT is downrezzing the picture from 1080i to 740p to accomodate UPN Lexington on 27-2. I have no proof this is the case but assumed it was a function of some sort of dynamic bandwith allocation. Just my opinion though.

I don't watch Amazing Race, but I noticed a couple of times watching the games get blurry for a few seconds. I blamed it on the camera operator.

Originally posted by Brinkley
During the tourny, i noticed the same thing. Clear picture, then it went somewhat blurry. I believe it was the camera operator. I hear the focusing techniques on HD cameras differ somewhat compared to regular SD cameras. Is Amazing race in HD now? Amazing race is not being broadcast in HD but the picture Quality is excellent!

Originally posted by HDTivoKY
I, too, have noticed this momentary blurry focus. I convinced myself that it relates to the fact that WKYT is downrezzing the picture from 1080i to 740p to accomodate UPN Lexington on 27-2.

Maybe ... then again it could be related to the Harris encoder's pre-filtering settings.

In a stunning blow for "localism," WDKY will be pre-empting "The OC" and "Tru Calling" tomorrow in order to show the Legends' season opener. Hopefully, they will have the good sense to pipe through FOX-HD on the DT.