But, I notice couple time that they either were off air or reduced power but I hope that the all break-in is done and so We can watch the Packer game in HD ;) .They show the Packer games out of Rockford? I didn't know that, but I guess it makes sense being much, much closer to the Wisc. state line than Chicago.

That's great that we'll be able to get more NFL games in HD for free :)!

I was just getting familiar with my new Elite's split-screen feature yesterday, when I had both the Sox and the Cubs games going at once. That should also come in real handy for the coming football season :cool:.

All you suckers paying all that money for the Sunday Ticket from D* in HD-Lite, eat your hearts out :p!

They show the Packer games out of Rockford?
Only when the Bears are not playing or on CBS

They show the Packer games out of Rockford? I didn't know that, but I guess it makes sense being much, much closer to the Wisc. state line than Chicago.

That's great that we'll be able to get more NFL games in HD for free :)!

I was just getting familiar with my new Elite's split-screen feature yesterday, when I had both the Sox and the Cubs games going at once. That should also come in real handy for the coming football season :cool:.

All you suckers paying all that money for the Sunday Ticket from D* in HD-Lite, eat your hearts out :p!


Rammitinski, I don't know for sure if Packer ever played on the WQRF as I didn't get the boosted power last year to watch it. I just was giving you a hard time about the Packer :D . The Digital just spoiled me I don't like watching Analog anymore.

I like the Picture and Picture feature they are nice to have. I have a Polaroid FLM-3234B 32" LCD with dual tuner NTSC/ ATSC. I wanted to have another ATSC tuner with the Picture and Picture feature and I was waiting to see if Samsung will come out with a DVD-Recorder with a true HD pass though tuner ( I know the recording will be in SD only ) as a second HD ATSC tuner otherwise I am going to get a Samsung DBT-H260F STB for now and get the HD-DVD recorder when it comes out and use that for HD-DVD recording/ player only. I have 2 HDMI input and 2 Component input so I am set.
-Willie

What happened with WTVO cutting to a news commercial at the very end where they announce the results on Dancing with the Stars? My mom is going ballistic although I was able to get in WKOW to keep the women at my house appeased.

What happened with WTVO cutting to a news commercial at the very end where they announce the results on Dancing with the Stars? My mom is going ballistic although I was able to get in WKOW to keep the women at my house appeased.

That was due to a bad switch on ABC networks part, they had been in black for sometime and we rolled part of our next break until ABC had fixed their problem. ABC had actually covered the program, we just covered the black with something else until they got it fixed

Thank you all for answering my questions so quickly.

With my 27" SDTV the subchannels do get a little blurred at times but I have no problems with the main channels. Which brings me to another questions, can the FCC increase the amount of bandwidth allowed in the future or is it something that simply can't be done without interfering with other channels?

I contacted WIFR 23 last month after the 23 Weather Now went on the air and asked them about 23-3 and they said to expect 23-3 sometime next year and that the programming is still in question. They also said to expect to see an improved 23 Weather Now sometime in April.

Again, thankyou for your quick replys

I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing the same problem as me.

I live in Rochelle (about 20 miles south of Rockford) and I have a couple of antennas pointed in the northern direction. One is a Squareshooter (pointed at Rockford), and the other is a 91XG antenna (pointed at Madison, but also strengthening Rockford).

I have had no problems whatsoever with reception for Rockford on all channels until about two weeks ago. I now get a rather strange phenomenon. I have a reading of about 90% signal on my receiver, but WQRF HD has frequent tiny glitches. These are enough to drop the signal for a split second or so. I cannot tell if it is from the video feed coming from Rockford, or if it is something wrong with my setup (which never malfunctioned before).

To tell you the truth, I only noticed it because it altered my watching of the show "Twenty-Four" for the last two weeks. As of three weeks ago everything was perfect. I am wondering if anyone else has had any problems like this - before I go through my entire wiring and troubleshoot.

Thanks for any responses ahead of time.

Jason

You may be getting too much signal

I must admit that I never thought that would occur with a 90% strength. Previously I would lose a channel on and off if the signal hit 60-65%. I didn't think that one had to keep a signal between 70 and 89% to get reception.

The only thing that makes me think that the signal isn't too strong is that other channels that are coming in with the same strength from Rockford don't have any problems.

I will admit though that I am no expert. I am keeping an open mind.

I must admit that I never thought that would occur with a 90% strength. Previously I would lose a channel on and off if the signal hit 60-65%. I didn't think that one had to keep a signal between 70 and 89% to get reception.

The only thing that makes me think that the signal isn't too strong is that other channels that are coming in with the same strength from Rockford don't have any problems.

I will admit though that I am no expert. I am keeping an open mind.

Hi UC,

You have to remember that WQRF is now Rockford's strongest station...by a factor of 6 fold. 22 miles east of you in DeKalb, with my ChannelMaster 4228 pointed towards Chicago in an attic antenna...they peg my signal meter with zero glitches.
With the massive gain you get from an XG-91, I am very convinced you are overloaded. If you can scrounge up a variable attenuator from a Radio Shack somewhere, tune it to channel 42 and see what happens. Betcha that does the trick. It really sounds like your tuner is being blasted with signal and it can't handle it.

Not sure if this is where to post this or not; however, I am in Rockford, IL and have a deep fringe antenna with Channel Master. I can receive Rockford, Madison, most-times Milwaukee and all of the Chicago stations expect CBS.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Welcome but suggestions for what? That sounds pretty good to me. I can only get Rockford and Madison.

I can receive Rockford, Madison, most-times Milwaukee and all of the Chicago stations expect CBS. Does anyone have any suggestions?Yeah, I have a suggestion - COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS and enjoy what you have!

If anyone can receive WBBM-DT regularly from 86 miles away in Rockford over the air, I can guarantee you they'll be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first and only.

Why in the world would you need it anyway when you can get WIFR-DT steadily, and the other two markets most-times?

God - we should all be so lucky.

Not sure if this is where to post this or not; however, I am in Rockford, IL and have a deep fringe antenna with Channel Master. I can receive Rockford, Madison, most-times Milwaukee and all of the Chicago stations expect CBS.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Hi SSW,

Welcome, and yes, this is the place to post! The last two people here are jealous of your great reception. As for me, I'll be blunt: how can I hook up to your system? :D

Seriously, you've done a great job! I assume your antenna is on a rotor, and has a preamplifier. Unfortunately, there is a problem with WBBM-DT: it broadcasts at low power on channel 3 from the Hancock Center in Chicago. As the others have alluded to, it doesn't get out far. The very best antennas can get it reliably out to 40 miles, and you need to have a very serious hunk of metal on the roof or in the attic with a massive preamplifier to make that happen. In short, outside of tropospheric ducting, or "skip", there's no way you'll ever get it reliably. They plan to move to channel 11 at very low power (1,180 watts) in 2009, and your high power FOX digital station up in Madison will effectively kill the signal from making it that far out.

Sorry we can't help on this one. If you think this is bad, us in the Chicago market have it worse trying to get a station we are supposed to get. :(
See the Chicago thread, for the link on "How to get WBBM-DT". It's an eye-opener.

Yes, I have one of those gargantuan antennas on top of the house on a tripod with a rotor. Wife doesn't care for it too much, but comes in handy during football season. By the sound of things, I guess there is no room for me to complain.

Hi UC,

You have to remember that WQRF is now Rockford's strogest station...by a factor of 6 fold. 22 miles east of you in DeKalb, with my ChannelMaster 4228 pointed towards Chicago in an attic antenna...they peg my signal meter with zero glitches.
With the massive gain you get from an XG-91, I am very convinced you are overloaded. If you can scrounge up a variable attenuator from a Radio Shack somewhere, tune it to channel 42 and see what happens. Betcha that does the trick. It really sounds like your tuner is being blasted with signal and it can't handle it.


Argh... I guess I can do it the old fashion way and turn off the boost that I give the signal when I split it within the house. Maybe that will be enough to crank down the WQRF signal. I will just have to remember to turn the boost back on when trying to pick up Madison. Thanks for the help.

If only Chicago wasn't blocked by so much crud in between. I guess that there is one good thing to say about Southern Wisconsin and its wide open farmland. 97 miles to Madison (great signal) and 82 miles to Chicago (can't pick up a thing).

http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_ge.jsp?news_id=cmt-092b6415&feed=cmt&date=20070402

Hello Rockford, Belvidere, Freeport and Dixon...welcome to Comcast!
It will happen, per the press release, by the end of this year.

Argh... I guess I can do it the old fashion way and turn off the boost that I give the signal when I split it within the house. Maybe that will be enough to crank down the WQRF signal. I will just have to remember to turn the boost back on when trying to pick up Madison. Thanks for the help.

If only Chicago wasn't blocked by so much crud in between. I guess that there is one good thing to say about Southern Wisconsin and its wide open farmland. 97 miles to Madison (great signal) and 82 miles to Chicago (can't pick up a thing).

So you are out in Rochelle. You can lock Madison, that's cool...can you get Quad Cities at all? Yes, the ridge at Creston blocks your signal.

So you are out in Rochelle. You can lock Madison, that's cool...can you get Quad Cities at all? Yes, the ridge at Creston blocks your signal.


To tell you the truth, I didn't really try to hit the Quad Cities. I was actually trying to pick up on WGN HD (Cubs Fan). I knew it was a remote possibility, but what the heck. ;)

As for the signal strength with WQRF, I guess that I really was getting too much signal on that station. Thanks for the heads up on that one. You learn something new every day.

This leaves me with the new problem of having a perfect reception on 39.1 when I disconnect the XG-91 and use only the Squareshooter, but inconsistent reception on 23.1 unless I use the XG-91. What a strange way to send signals from Rockford. So much for broadcast standards when it comes to OTA signals. I suppose I cannot complain though. I am getting OTA HD essentially for free (minus commercials of course).

To tell you the truth, I didn't really try to hit the Quad Cities. I was actually trying to pick up on WGN HD (Cubs Fan). I knew it was a remote possibility, but what the heck. ;)

As a Cubs fan, I feel your pain. :)


As for the signal strength with WQRF, I guess that I really was getting too much signal on that station. Thanks for the heads up on that one. You learn something new every day.

This leaves me with the new problem of having a perfect reception on 39.1 when I disconnect the XG-91 and use only the Squareshooter, but inconsistent reception on 23.1 unless I use the XG-91. What a strange way to send signals from Rockford. So much for broadcast standards when it comes to OTA signals. I suppose I cannot complain though. I am getting OTA HD essentially for free (minus commercials of course).
Well, the problem is that when digital channels were picked, WQRF picked the most open one available. Sandwiched between multiple markets, everyone else picked channels that interfere with analog channels in Chicago, or South Bend...or in the case of WREX, why spend the money to go to 1 million watts when 160 kw covers the market nicely. WQRF wanted to blast out...they had the channel to do it...and they went nuts. But a hill up in Madison blocks many folks there from getting it. I don't know, for this market, if that much power has many advantages.
An engineer in Chicago told me that he thought 150 kw on UHF was fine for small markets. I thought he was wrong, but now that I have had 3 years experience with over-the-air DTV, he has a good point. If they want to get advertising revenue in the collar counties of Chicago (McHenry and northern Kane), that's one way of making it happen.

As for me, when all is said and done, I prefer the high power due to signal consistency. Unless, of course, you're using a very high gain antenna and a preamp just 20 miles from the transmitter. :)

What you could do is buy a "notch" filter, a single channel filter like a friend of mine had to do this week when the Champaign CBS station near his house went 1 million watts. They're around $60; you might get one cheaper on Ebay, or maybe another place I am not aware of currently...

Now when 17-1 goes from commercials back to the program (this seems to be the transition point that is causing the problem), my box doesn't reboot like it had before (Samsung SIR-TS360) but now looses audio (picture continues to come in fine), and stops responding to the remote control or front panel controls. It requires a hard reset to get going again, and also triggers the Samsung "click of death" on this box (at least did the three times I let it happen last night, tonight I tried it once to see if the problem still exists and the click-of-death didn't happen).

The click-of-death is where on reset or power-up the box has a relay in there that chatters for quite a while until it eventually settles down (some indeterminate length of time, power-on/off doesn't help it just has to work through it's issues it seems) and then starts its normal boot-up process.

Anyway, so 17-1 is again giving my poor Samsung box grief. I should have known, being a computer guy, that digital processing for OTA reception was going to be the beginning of a whole new set of nightmares in the video world. :)

Anyway, so 17-1 is again giving my poor Samsung box grief. I should have known, being a computer guy, that digital processing for OTA reception was going to be the beginning of a whole new set of nightmares in the video world. :)
Welcome to my nightmare!!! :eek: In all seriousness some tuners and their chipsets are more sensitive to glitches in a switch than others. I have a multiplexer/demux that unclocks the audio (briefly) when there's a switch because it they don't like the glitchy switch. You are correct is saying the "new nightmares in the video world." Digital isn't text-book yet. :(

Do you really want to know how far your favorite Rockford analog and digital stations go? Longley-Rice maps are the best way to tell, and are what is used by the FCC to determine coverage area.

You need to grab Andy S. Lee's Chicago map, to be used in Google Earth or any GIS program that accepts .kmz file extensions for display. This file now includes the Rockford stations. The download link is in the following post, scroll down below the WGN-DT coverage map:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10127219&&#post10127219

It is a 66 MB file, so be careful if you are using dial-up...best to leave the computer on overnight for that. :-)

If you absolutely cannot use Bit torrent to grab the file...grab a copy from my website.

http://weather.niu.edu/gilbert/Chicago.kmz

Very interesting!!!!

I have a Sony A2000 and use the digital output to send the audio to my receiver. I have noticed that ABC (WTVO and WKOW as well) has quite a bit lower level of volume compared to CBS, NBC and FOX. Does anyone know the reason for this? Is there something I can change to help this?

I am using a silver sensor antenna.

I have a Sony A2000 and use the digital output to send the audio to my receiver. I have noticed that ABC (WTVO and WKOW as well) has quite a bit lower level of volume compared to CBS, NBC and FOX. Does anyone know the reason for this? Is there something I can change to help this?

I am using a silver sensor antenna.
In the digital world, standards really haven't been enforced yet. Its coming soon.

In the digital world, standards really haven't been enforced yet. Its coming soon.Here's hoping that the day will come when they develop and enforce resolution and bandwith standards, too (and keep them HIGH).

:)

Here's hoping that the day will come when they develop and enforce resolution and bandwith standards, too (and keep them HIGH).

:)

Agreed. Well, I'm glad to know that it is just an issue of them choosing to use different volume level and not something wrong with my setup.

Agreed. Well, I'm glad to know that it is just an issue of them choosing to use different volume level and not something wrong with my setup.
Volume leveling is a big problem even with the commercials/shows we receive. Tone is set to 0db but the content is.......well :eek: . Our facility is calibrated on +4db = 0db. (NTSC standard) some of the shows we get are as high as +8, +10!!!! The sad part is there's nothing we can do about it because everything is file transfers.

Volume leveling is a big problem even with the commercials/shows we receive. Tone is set to 0db but the content is.......well :eek:God forbid they should ever relinquish any of that COMPLETE CONTROL :).

God forbid they should ever relinquish any of that COMPLETE CONTROL :).
Kinda hard to do. Its all file transfers. (Short of dubbing them to tape and re-dubbing back to server.) :eek:

Kinda hard to do. Its all file transfers. (Short of dubbing them to tape and re-dubbing back to server.) :eek:

Huh? if you check the levels incoming you dont get that problem regardless of your plant's levels. Use A to AES audio converters that have AGC on them. Fortel is a great manufacturer of these. You just feed a DARS signal from your sync generator into them and they take care of the rest.

We dont have level issues at all locally, or even need a level control or audio board like we used to.

I didnt know you knew how to speak Greek.

I have a Sony A2000 and use the digital output to send the audio to my receiver. I have noticed that ABC (WTVO and WKOW as well) has quite a bit lower level of volume compared to CBS, NBC and FOX. Does anyone know the reason for this? Is there something I can change to help this?

I am using a silver sensor antenna.

The immediate answer is that the station is using the old Dolby Specs published from 1999. The last spec re-write (2005) increased the dial norm (actually decresed it but thats a different explaination) to bring it closer in line. If the station would revisit the ABC audio doc's, they would be much closer...HOWEVER...ABC as well as the other networks all have published specs for the station to use a a starting point. The station (or the systems integerator) should be monitoring the other stations and make the adjustment to bring them closer in line with the average in your area.

The biggest problem right now is that none of the networks can agree on a single setting. Each has their own idea of what the dialnorm level should be. Unless the local stations can get together and agree on a local level, it may never match. But at least it will be closer.

Negative so far on #4. (Unless Ast Chf has some suprises for me) :eek:


He has a suprise for you, but it has nothing to do with a subchannel. Our operators are busy enough with 3 stations let alone a 4th. Unless it will produce vast amounts of pure gold then we may add a subchannel.

He has a suprise for you, but it has nothing to do with a subchannel. Our operators are busy enough with 3 stations let alone a 4th. Unless it will produce vast amounts of pure gold then we may add a subchannel.
I can picture him now. " mmmm.............gold............."

WFBN-LP (33) finally back with programming. (Until the transmission path breaks down again) :eek:

WFBN-LP (33) finally back with programming. (Until the transmission path breaks down again) :eek:In HD? :) And what is channel 25 I see on the broadcast/transmitter maps? It's listed as digital, but I can't find it in scans.

In HD? :) And what is channel 25 I see on the broadcast/transmitter maps? It's listed as digital, but I can't find it in scans.
Hardly. Its just a translator of WFBT in Chicago. Its all ethnic programming. Channel 25 is Trinity Broacast Network. Its still an analog 1kw transmitter.

Did the QAM channels change for Insight in Rockford, IL? I'm not detecting any 8x.1 channels anymore when I do a scan. Instead, I'm getting 13-1 (NBC), 17-1 (ABC), 23-1 and 23-2 (CBS), and 39-1 (FOX).

Did the QAM channels change for Insight in Rockford, IL? I'm not detecting any 8x.1 channels anymore when I do a scan. Instead, I'm getting 13-1 (NBC), 17-1 (ABC), 23-1 and 23-2 (CBS), and 39-1 (FOX).

Yep, here too. PBS stayed in the high numbers. I get program info on the channels that remapped lower now, too.

-Carter

Yep, here too. PBS stayed in the high numbers. I get program info on the channels that remapped lower now, too.

-Carter

Which QAM channels do you get exactly? What is the channel for PBS?

Anyone know if you can get QAM channels using charter with only analog cable. I have scanned a few times and don't pick up any :confused:

My SDTV's program guide always lists the programming on FOX 39 DT as DTV Program, I was wondering if it does that to every one or if it's just my SDTV.
WIFR DT had the same thing after their 23-2 problems in April but in the last couple of weeks it has started displaying the program and description again.

I don't have cable or Sat. only an indoor antenna.

Gentlemen,

Can you PRETTY PLEASE put this to rest once and for all by making a phone call or two for me and others on AVS?

The next 4 Formula 1 races are on FOX. Will they be widescreen (16:9) or 4:3, and will they be DD 2.0 or 5.1?

I know Bernie doesn't have them in HD yet (by the end of the season they will per Mr. Ecclestone), but I know the feed they give FOX network is widescreen if they want it.

Just curious, I had posted quiet a while ago that some change over on 17-1 is causing my Samsung SIR-TS360 box to reboot when they do transitions from commercials back to programming. When they go from programming to commercials I will often hear a loud digital squack but it doesn't reboot the box at that point. In the past, the box just sort of locked up, now it's rebooting.

Am I the only one having this problem? Is there someone I can contact, or is it just that the folks over at 17 don't care if I can watch their station or not? {slight sarcasm}

Just curious, I had posted quiet a while ago that some change over on 17-1 is causing my Samsung SIR-TS360 box to reboot when they do transitions from commercials back to programming. When they go from programming to commercials I will often hear a loud digital squack but it doesn't reboot the box at that point. In the past, the box just sort of locked up, now it's rebooting.

Am I the only one having this problem? Is there someone I can contact, or is it just that the folks over at 17 don't care if I can watch their station or not? {slight sarcasm}
Forwarded to the appropriate person.

Forwarded to the appropriate person.I really appreciate that. I've been watching 27-1, but believe it or not I'm one of those strange people that actually would prefer to see local news and even the local commercial spots. Hopefully they'll get it sorted out. They're welcome to contact me if testing with my box would be of any use to them, I'll do whatever I can to assist. Thanks! Steve

hi. i don't know much about this forum so please forgive me if this isn't a place to ask this question.

we have directv here in rockford but don't get any of the HD local channels. is there any other way to receive those channels in HD? we live in an area that doesn't get cable so directv is our option for now.

thanks

hi. i don't know much about this forum so please forgive me if this isn't a place to ask this question.

we have directv here in rockford but don't get any of the HD local channels. is there any other way to receive those channels in HD? we live in an area that doesn't get cable so directv is our option for now.

thanks

This would be the place! Welcome to the forum. The only way you can get them is via an antenna hooked up to your boxes, for now. I suspect it won't be for another year or more until you get them via DirecTV. If you are within 30 miles of the stations, you should be able to get them well with a medium-sized antenna in the attic. If you are closer than, say, Belvidere or Rochelle, a UHF antenna should work decently.

The only way you can get them is via an antenna hooked up to your boxes, for now. I suspect it won't be for another year or more until you get them via DirecTV.
And I think the consensus (and just plain truth of the matter) is that you will actually get the best picture by using an over-the-air antenna rather than DirecTV even when they get Rockford locals. That may change with their new MPEG4 streams, but I know currently they compress stuff to a greater degree than the over-the-air transmissions.

If that info is out of date, please, somebody, correct me.

you should be able to get them well with a medium-sized antenna in the attic.

If the antenna is outside it will get better results

Is FOX EVER going to be HD in Rockford?

Is FOX EVER going to be HD in Rockford?

It's been HD for like 7-8 months, and high power for a few months.

Why couldn't WIFR broadcast the Bears game in HD last night? I've talked with people in chicago that had the game in HD there. Was someone asleep at the switch again?

Why couldn't WIFR broadcast the Bears game in HD last night? I've talked with people in chicago that had the game in HD there. Was someone asleep at the switch again?

I believe WMAQ-DT (the NBC affiliate in Chicago which showed the game) only uplinked it in SD to the other 7 markets who showed it. That's typically how it goes when a local station produces a sports broadcast like this. Because the other affiliates who are on the Bears preseason network are small market, it is a lot cheaper to send it out in 4:3 SD, including to WMAQ's sister station WSNS-DT, the Telemundo affiliate here, in the same building! I'm 99.99% sure WIFR can't be pointed to for a lack of HD on that game.

Thursday's game will be in HD for WMAQ, but for the other 8 stations, including WSNS-DT, no. A list of those stations is here (although they forgot to include WSNS-DT).

http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/television.html

Why couldn't WIFR broadcast the Bears game in HD last night? I've talked with people in chicago that had the game in HD there. Was someone asleep at the switch again?

Nobody asleep. WMAQ-TV was the origionator of the game thus it was Fibered to them. From there they uplinked in SD to the rest of the world.

Thanks for the explanation guys. I’m so spoiled now watching things in HD that I get my nose out of joint hearing someone else has it in HD and I don’t. Maybe soon this will all shake out if the government actually goes through with the HD mandate this time.

Do you guys happen to know if they will be upgrading the signal to HD for the Bears games this season or the next? I'm looking to get the Samsung 260F and a DB2 for my apt in Rockford and I don't think I'll be able to get the Chicago signal directly.

Do you guys happen to know if they will be upgrading the signal to HD for the Bears games this season or the next? I'm looking to get the Samsung 260F and a DB2 for my apt in Rockford and I don't think I'll be able to get the Chicago signal directly.

Well this season, preseason is over with. Next season I would doubt it.

Hey Im coming back to rockford/machesney park in 1 month and wondered what antenna to get to pick up chicago locals, if I can get them at all...?

Will the 91xg from antennasdirect do it? It actually seems too big for me so any info before I come home is greatly appreciated.

Hey Im coming back to rockford/machesney park in 1 month and wondered what antenna to get to pick up chicago locals, if I can get them at all...?

Will the 91xg from antennasdirect do it? It actually seems too big for me so any info before I come home is greatly appreciated.

Hi Angrydad,

Well, you have a *shot* at it. A guy who has a Winegard HD8200P can get WTTW-DT (PBS) from State Street just east of downtown, IIRC. You are correct in that you'd need that antenna or a ChannelMaster 4228 for any chance of getting it. As always, line of sight with Chicago is about 60 miles; after that, no promises. You would also need a ChannelMaster 7777 preamp or similar to beef up the signal to lock it.

P.S. If you put that on a rotor, you'll easily get Madison, WI stations.

P.P.S. You won't get WPWR-DT (MNTV), which broadcasts on 51; there's a low-power analog WCFC-CA 51 on the north side of Rockford. Also, WYCC-DT gets interference from WHA-TV analog 20 in Madison; WCIU-DT gets interference from WKOW-TV analog 27 in Madison, and WTTW-DT can get interference from the FOX affiliate in Madison. But with the highly directional Yagi, you *may* be able to null them out, as others have, to get the Chicago stations. Be advised, however, that in 2009, WLS-DT goes to channel 7, and WBBM-DT goes to channel 12. The monster Winegard HD8200P may be the long-term antenna you need.

sebenste,

Thanks for your input. When you say "WYCC-DT gets interference from WHA-TV analog 20 in Madison" for example, can you clarify for me a bit?

Does this mean sometimes I would get each of these channels, or does it mean I dont get them at all..Im confused.

Also when certain channels move to VHF, Shouldnt I just be able to hook a VHF antenna up to this preamp you mentioned?

Hi,

Has anyone else here in Rockford just recently lost the Madison PBS (WHA-DT) station? I had been getting it for the past year or so, but it's been out all this past week. Superficially, my antenna appears OK, and I can still get other Madison digital stations. I'm curious if WHA-DT is down, or if I've got other problems going on.

Thanks,

Sean

sebenste,

Thanks for your input. When you say "WYCC-DT gets interference from WHA-TV analog 20 in Madison" for example, can you clarify for me a bit?

Does this mean sometimes I would get each of these channels, or does it mean I dont get them at all..Im confused.


No problem, because I made a mistake. WYCC-DT broadcasts on channel 20;
WYCC-TV analog broadcasts on channel 20. WHA-TV (analog) broadcasts on channel 21; they broadcast digitally on channel 20). So, WYCC-DT would get interference from WHA-TV analog 21.

Also when certain channels move to VHF, Shouldnt I just be able to hook a VHF antenna up to this preamp you mentioned?[/QUOTE]

Yes, that's the beauty part of it. Initially, WLS and WBBM would be at low power, but WBBM has proven they can go to high power. WLS might be hobbled in some directions because of channel 7 digital signals in surrounding markets.

sebenste,

Excellent info. Thank you. Im stuck in Beijing for a bit longer and cannot test anything out here.

Im now wondering if I should just forget Chicago channels, and focus on Madison with a smaller Antenna (wife freaked when I showed her the xg91, and HD8200P). Would the antennasdirect 42xg be worthwhile to me? If I had a sure thing in capturing Chicago channels I could prolly persuade her in a bigger unit.

sebenste,

Excellent info. Thank you. Im stuck in Beijing for a bit longer and cannot test anything out here.

Im now wondering if I should just forget Chicago channels, and focus on Madison with a smaller Antenna (wife freaked when I showed her the xg91, and HD8200P). Would the antennasdirect 42xg be worthwhile to me? If I had a sure thing in capturing Chicago channels I could prolly persuade her in a bigger unit.



I belive the 42xg is the same antenna as the xg91 where as the xg 91 is 3 pieces and the xg42 is 2 pieces so in another words if you dont put the 3rd sections on and it will be a xg42 order a 91 xg then put it together as a xg42 and wait a few months and add the 3rd section and your wife won't know it :rolleyes:

Also with WMTV 15 out of Madison will have conflict with WGN 9 in Chicago as both are on channel 19 for the digtial and will stay there after analog shutdown.

-Willie

Willie---HAHAHAHAHA...........I love that advice. I didnt know I could do that. I think I will take your sneaky advice. Thanks bro.

Willie---HAHAHAHAHA...........I love that advice. I didnt know I could do that. I think I will take your sneaky advice. Thanks bro.

Just make sure you tell her they ship the small antenna in the same box as xg91 model :rolleyes: :D

But go to the Antenna Direct website and look under the 91 installation manaul and see how the unit is put together. 42,43 & 91 series are good UHF antenna but no good on the VHF side. I use to live in Walworth, WI which is about 30 miles northeast of Machesney Park and I had CM 4228 with CM preamp 7777 and a rotor and I was able to get all the Chicago expect WBBM 2 (DT-3) at 70 miles away, this setup was indoor on 2nd floor apt. But currently I am using a homebuilt DB-2 antenna indoor w/CM 7777, which I get Rockford, Madison & Milwaukee station between 43-60 miles away but I lost the Chicago station as I am on the wrong side of the building. Gilbert is correct about the CM 7777 it good unit because you could use a sperate UHF and VHF antenna because it does have a seprate input for UHF/VHF and VHF and it will combine on the output to the TV. With the CM 4228 and the homebuilt DB-2 I use the combine UHF/VHF input and I was able to get my PBS DT-10 on channel 8 and get FOX DT-47 on channel 11.

I do go by a new subdivison everyday and I did see one house out of 50+ new homes and it had a CM 4228 on a rotor on a small tripod and it really did not stick out like a sore thumb, I see more dishes on the other houses before I saw the CM 4228 (40" X 40"). Yes WG 8200 is a monster at 16 feet long but very good UHF/VHF antenna. XG91 is a good long range UHF only antenna and is only just under 8 feet and it will not be wide as WG 8200. With XG91 you may have a shot at Milwaukee stations.

-Willie

You may want to go to www.tvfool.com for result of siginals from the station where you will live.

Ok I have a question about installers fees. I called a guy to install my purchases since Im out of town. The estimated charges would be $125 for the service call (includes trip charge) and $80 per hour (the first hour is included in the service call) plus any parts needed.

Does anyone have a tip on a better price, or is this one about average?

Almost forgot, I need a XG91, rotor, and CM 4228 preamp installed.

Where are you? I will tell you most places charge more to people who dont buy the equipment from them. Who did you call?

I emailed primetime tv. Im in Machesney Park.

http://www.primetime-av.com/

Ok I have a question about installers fees. I called a guy to install my purchases since Im out of town. The estimated charges would be $125 for the service call (includes trip charge) and $80 per hour (the first hour is included in the service call) plus any parts needed.

Does anyone have a tip on a better price, or is this one about average?

Almost forgot, I need a XG91, rotor, and CM 4228 preamp installed.

I do not know of any installers in Rockford area but as Jeff Whitford said " I will tell you most places charge more to people who dont buy the equipment from them." would be true. Just check with where you got the quote from with the antenna system you want and see if it will come close in price. I hope you meant CM 7777 pre amp as CM 4228 is a 8-bay antenna.

-Willie

Try Bock Antenna & Satellite. They are in Loves Park.

Try Bock Antenna & Satellite. They are in Loves Park.
sorry double post

Try Bock Antenna & Satellite. They are in Loves Park.
I did email them, but they havnt responded at all.

I do not know of any installers in Rockford area but as Jeff Whitford said " I will tell you most places charge more to people who dont buy the equipment from them." would be true. Just check with where you got the quote from with the antenna system you want and see if it will come close in price. I hope you meant CM 7777 pre amp as CM 4228 is a 8-bay antenna.

-Willie
Bah....I made a typo. Heres what I ordered
Channel Master CM 7777 Titan2 VHF/UHF Preamplifier with Power Supply (CM7777) | Qty: 1
Antennas Direct 91XG UHF Antenna (91XG) | Qty: 1
Channel Master CM 9521A Complete Antenna Rotator Kit with Infra-Red Remote Control and 250 FT Rotator Wire (CM9521A) | Qty: 1

I did email them, but they havnt responded at all.

Most business will respond better to a phone call than an email. For obivious reasons.

Yea I would but since Im in China, I cannot.

Good reason.

Well I finally made it back to Rockford. I got everything hooked up ok. When I Sync my Rotor should I have it pointed north or south? Does it have to be exact? I dont have a compass.

I am able to point mine west NW and get both Rockford and Madison

Well I finally made it back to Rockford. I got everything hooked up ok. When I Sync my Rotor should I have it pointed north or south? Does it have to be exact? I dont have a compass.

Due north. The more exact it is, the better it will be for you. If you have a good eyeball, you can get it within 10 degrees and you'd be OK. Either way, your directions would be off on your display, and you could just remember which ones offer the best reception.

Yea I had mine pointed south during the scan....oops. But for some reason it stopped NW and I too am able to get Rockford/Madison with no problems at all.

Yea I had mine pointed south during the scan....oops. But for some reason it stopped NW and I too am able to get Rockford/Madison with no problems at all.

Welcome back to the Midwest. Were you able to get Chicago stations? The arrow on the caseing of the rotor should line up with the front of the antenna to the arrow on the rotor.

-Willie

Good old Wisconsin. At least we can count on Illinois' largest state park to keep the lands flat so that we can grab good HD signals. :)

Too many hills and obstructions keep me from getting a decent Chicago feed (with a long range antenna). Oh well. Less Cubs games in HD I guess.

Hello all,

Whenever WTVO-DT shows high-def sports from ABC, the audio sounds like it is coming from a tin can. It's a nationwide problem, according to the AVS programming forum, that is corrected by an equipment purchase from the station (or as a workaround, to drop down to DD 2.0). Just curious how WTVO-DT plans to address the problem? WLS-DT in Chicago now sounds fine,
but I don't know what they did to solve it. Since I don't have 5.1, I don't know if they dropped to 2.0 or bought the equipment. I am *guessing* the latter.

Hi all:

Does anyone know the qam channels for foxhd and cbshd on insight cable? I switched to dish network earlier in the year so the qam channel numbers I used to use previously seem to have changed. I'm currently helping my parents set up their new tv with insight basic and haven't been able to find foxhd and cbshd (important for football today!).

Here's what we've found:
PBSHD - 74.26
NBCHD - 86.2
ABCHD - 86.1

Missing:
CBSHD - ?
CBSWeather - ?
FoxHD - ?

If anyone knows where the missing channels are, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

-Carter

Hello all,

Whenever WTVO-DT shows high-def sports from ABC, the audio sounds like it is coming from a tin can. It's a nationwide problem, according to the AVS programming forum, that is corrected by an equipment purchase from the station (or as a workaround, to drop down to DD 2.0). Just curious how WTVO-DT plans to address the problem? WLS-DT in Chicago now sounds fine,
but I don't know what they did to solve it. Since I don't have 5.1, I don't know if they dropped to 2.0 or bought the equipment. I am *guessing* the latter.

Upgrade your speakers. :D

Anybody know if there's something funny with the WREX digital signal? I'm using an inside antenna (amplified) and can get the signals from WTVO and WIFR just fine, but I can't seem to pick up WREX.

Thanks

From my experience, an indoor antenna just doesn't always give acceptable results with DTV. I had one I bought a "nice" one from walmart, plugged it into the wall and I had decent results on analog but every time I think I'm doing fine with digital it would start to cut in and out. I would suggest getting an outdoor antenna, even if it is placed indoors. I have a Channel Master 4228 outside but many people put them in an attic. I had it about 5 feet off the ground in my porch for a few days before getting it on a pole and had success getting rockford and wha-dt from madison. DTV is so much more enjoyable than analog, but only if you have a good lock on it.

Tip: Make sure you have RG6 not RG59 cable from your antenna to your turner.

Tip: Make sure your antenna isn't too close to electronics - like your TV or DVD player or . . .

Anybody know if there's something funny with the WREX digital signal? I'm using an inside antenna (amplified) and can get the signals from WTVO and WIFR just fine, but I can't seem to pick up WREX.

Thanks

In DeKalb, comes in good as usual. As was stated above, indoor antennas can be flaky when you have multipath issues (on analog TV, you'd see it as "ghosts", and tuners don't like that).

Anybody know if there's something funny with the WREX digital signal? I'm using an inside antenna (amplified) and can get the signals from WTVO and WIFR just fine, but I can't seem to pick up WREX.

Thanks

You know, I have the exact same problem. I have had no problems with WREX's digital signal until about two weeks ago. All the other Rockford channels, and even three Madison channels, come in with a full digital signal. WREX I can't even pick up. It is so strange.

I did email on two different occasions to the station (different contacts) and they said everything is okay on their end and operating normally. I find it so odd that it just stopped working like that. I know my antenna works great, as like I said, I can receive three Madison channels beautifully.

I have an outdoor Philips antenna mounted in my garage. I hope this gets resolved soon! I miss the NBC shows! ( I could always watch it in Analog. Ick.) aha.

Anybody know if there's something funny with the WREX digital signal? I'm using an inside antenna (amplified) and can get the signals from WTVO and WIFR just fine, but I can't seem to pick up WREX.

Thanks

You sure you don't mean you can't get WIFR?

All of a sudden starting yesterday, I only get WIFR in 480i. I can get all the other local channels in all their HD glory, but something seems to have gone awry with WIFR (23-1)

Anyone else having this problem. I have an amplified indoor phillips antenna.

Well, here is their response.

I had asked if they were having issues.

Their reply is as follows:
Yes. Our upconverter went out. Should be fixed tomorrow.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

You sure you don't mean you can't get WIFR?I'm 45 miles E/SE of Rockford, and I've always had the most trouble with WREX, also.

You sure you don't mean you can't get WIFR?

All of a sudden starting yesterday, I only get WIFR in 480i. I can get all the other local channels in all their HD glory, but something seems to have gone awry with WIFR (23-1)

Anyone else having this problem. I have an amplified indoor phillips antenna.

I don't have a problem with anything except WREX. The others are just fine. It's just strange to me, since all 3 towers are in the same neighborhood, and I'm not too far away (Rockford, near Cherry Valley)

Is anyone else having problems with WQRF? Up until about 2 weeks a go 39.1 came in fine. Now it doesn't show up at all. Any idea why this happened? I tried calling the station and have never gotten anyone to answer the phone.

Is anyone else having problems with WQRF? Up until about 2 weeks a go 39.1 came in fine. Now it doesn't show up at all. Any idea why this happened? I tried calling the station and have never gotten anyone to answer the phone.

Nope. It has a blow torch of a signal. What kind of antenna setup are you using?

Nope. It has a blow torch of a signal. What kind of antenna setup are you using?

I never needed an antenna before. What kind would you recommend?

I don't have a problem with anything except WREX. The others are just fine. It's just strange to me, since all 3 towers are in the same neighborhood, and I'm not too far away (Rockford, near Cherry Valley)

You shouldn't have any reception problems for WREX-DT from that area unless your right behind that ridge close to the mall. Then you may have some issues with signal loss/multipath.

I never needed an antenna before. What kind would you recommend?
You have no antenna of any kind?

You have no antenna of any kind?
Nope. All the locals come in fine except for WQRF which I've only recently had problems with.

I would suggest a cheap set of rabbit ears, maybe from an older tv from the past that came with one, or get a cheap set from Walmart.

Or do what I did several years back, I took a coax cable and stuck a pop can on the end. That thing worked better than the rabbit ears.

Nope. All the locals come in fine except for WQRF which I've only recently had problems with.
You have to have something on there a piece of cable or something.

No, you don't want rabbit ears. You need either a loop or bowtie antenae (equally cheap and takes less space). All of the Rockford digital channels broadcast on UHF, not VHF.

medoug.

No, you don't want rabbit ears. You need either a loop or bowtie antenae (equally cheap and takes less space). All of the Rockford digital channels broadcast on UHF, not VHF.

medoug.

True for the moment, however WREX will be going back to VHF-13 next year after analog goes away. Thats why they are low power now on UHF.

WIFR will be staying UHF but moving from low power on 41 back to 23 and higher power

I had found a list one time of permanent allocations for the stations after the cutover, but I can't seem to find my bookmark. Does anyone have a link? I'm interested in the Rockford, Madison, Chicago, Milwaukee stations in particular.

I had found a list one time of permanent allocations for the stations after the cutover, but I can't seem to find my bookmark. Does anyone have a link? I'm interested in the Rockford, Madison, Chicago, Milwaukee stations in particular.

I have one at http://weather.niu.edu/dtvstations.xls , which shows current and future allocations, but probably not the one you want. Still, I hope it is helpful.

I just found out that rockford will be getting RTN (Retro Television Network) It will be on WREX-DT. For more information visit http://ir.emdaholdings.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=289368

I have been enjoying RTN programming for the past several months with my FTA Ku band 1 meter dish. RTN mainly offers some shows from the 60's, 70's & 80.s like Get Smart, Gomer Pyle, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, and much more. All affilaites offer different line ups so WREX and WKOW "may" not air the same shows at the same time. For more information on RTN try searching it on wikipedia.

I just found out that rockford will be getting RTN (Retro Television Network) It will be on WREX-DT. For more information visit http://ir.emdaholdings.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=289368

I have been enjoying RTN programming for the past several months with my FTA Ku band 1 meter dish. RTN mainly offers some shows from the 60's, 70's & 80.s like Get Smart, Gomer Pyle, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, and much more. All affilaites offer different line ups so WREX and WKOW "may" not air the same shows at the same time. For more information on RTN try searching it on wikipedia.


Hmmm. Betcha it gets on 13.3. And 13-1 will macroblock more as a result, unless they have really good current generation encoders. We'll see!

RTN is using 8PSK modulation and MPEG4 encoding. STB's that decode 8PSK aren't "everyday" units. What are you using? There are only two broadcast units that decode MPEG4 8PSK, Sencore and Tandberg.

RTN is using 8PSK modulation and MPEG4 encoding. STB's that decode 8PSK aren't "everyday" units. What are you using? There are only two broadcast units that decode MPEG4 8PSK, Sencore and Tandberg.

I use a MPEG-2 fortec star STB. When my satellite is aimed at galaxy 10R located at 123*W I get 11 RTN, 5
MNT, 2 FOX, 3 ABC stations located across the country that are in the clear. They are managed by Equity in Little Rock, ark. who sends the signals to G1
0R and then they are picked up by the local sations via satelite and rebroadcast OTA. This is an OTA forum so for more information on this goto a fta (free to air) forum such as http://theftashow.8.forumer.com . For more info on channels available on mpeg-2 ku band check out http://www.ftalist.com .

Are they HD?

no . . . but maybe by feb 2009 some may be. What I hear is that mpeg-4 will start replacing mpeg-2, mpeg-4 will allow for a better HD feed, but currently a HD STB will cost $500+, so I'll be holding off on that purchace. I don't think their is enough HD programming on KU band to justify that purchace, Some ncaa and network feeds are in HD but not worth the money for me.

Why doesn't rockford have a pbs? It seems to be a standard station every where else.

Sometimes the madison pbs will come in for me but its not reliable.
I'm tired of the hassle trying to receive a pbs station so I'm going to get cable.

My guess would be that because the cable company carries both WTTW & WHA, and probably didn't think rockford would be able to support it.

Before you let Comcast concast you into monthly fleas, you may want to make sure a one time fee of a better antenna or an FTA Ku satellite (the size of a dish network dish) would be better. If you can get an antenna set-up that will pick-up Madson's PBS you'll be in good shape for PBS programming with 3 sub channel's that go off @ 7pm to allow a good HD feed. With a FTA satellite you can currently get Montana PBS. You can also recieve about 7 different pbs feeds like pbs, pbs kids, create, V-me, but those require an AC3 decoder on your home theater or similar. You can also get a couple HD feeds that require a more expensive HD reciever. Do alittle research on that before opting to go that way. A complete OTA antenna or FTA satellite system will cost from $150 to over $300 for a complete outdoor set-up.

I can get Madison PBS 21.5 only after 9pm at night when things calm down. I've watched a Milwaukee symphony a few weeks ago in pbs HD and turned up the stereo, it felt that we were in front row seats!!! The sound was amazing as well as the video. I wish we could get the other sub's during the day.

And, is it me or is it weird that WREX zooms in on an HD show for SDtv? for example, yes I have hdtv, but i have a small tv here by my computer. I have noticed when I watch Conan, instead of seeing the black bars because of the widescreen format, the picture is zoomed in, where the nbc logo is half cut off, and somtimes the face is half off the tv. Also when they put text on the screen during the show its cut off too on the sides. Very annoying!

I can get Madison PBS 21.5 only after 9pm at night when things calm down. I've watched a Milwaukee symphony a few weeks ago in pbs HD and turned up the stereo, it felt that we were in front row seats!!! The sound was amazing as well as the video. I wish we could get the other sub's during the day.

And, is it me or is it weird that WREX zooms in on an HD show for SDtv? for example, yes I have hdtv, but i have a small tv here by my computer. I have noticed when I watch Conan, instead of seeing the black bars because of the widescreen format, the picture is zoomed in, where the nbc logo is half cut off, and somtimes the face is half off the tv. Also when they put text on the screen during the show its cut off too on the sides. Very annoying!

Quite possibly! It's becoming a standard operating procedure for stations to downconver that way. ESPN is another good example. I know its a pain to watch but until all HD broadcast material is 4x3 safe, we'll have to cope.

My guess would be that because the cable company carries both WTTW & WHA, and probably didn't think rockford would be able to support it.

Before you let Comcast concast you into monthly fleas, you may want to make sure a one time fee of a better antenna or an FTA Ku satellite (the size of a dish network dish) would be better. If you can get an antenna set-up that will pick-up Madson's PBS you'll be in good shape for PBS programming with 3 sub channel's that go off @ 7pm to allow a good HD feed. With a FTA satellite you can currently get Montana PBS. You can also recieve about 7 different pbs feeds like pbs, pbs kids, create, V-me, but those require an AC3 decoder on your home theater or similar. You can also get a couple HD feeds that require a more expensive HD reciever. Do alittle research on that before opting to go that way. A complete OTA antenna or FTA satellite system will cost from $150 to over $300 for a complete outdoor set-up.

Actually there is a channel allocated for PBS here. It's channel 33. Never built, it is licensed to DeKalb (unless it gets built, Weigel's low power 33 has a happy permanent home). I was told it was never built because it couldn't be financially viable here. Heck, look at PBS in Peoria and in the Quad Cities. www.wtvp.org shows they nearly avoided bankruptcy, and the Quad Cities WQPT (http://www.wqpt.org/board.html) no longer has funding from Blackhawk College, and will have to curtail their programming.

I've posted about this before, but it seems to be getting worse..

I can't seem to pick up WREX DT or WIFR DT off the air. I'm using rabbit ears, and can get WTVO and FOX just fine, but not 13 or 23. I'm just off Newberg, between Perryville and Mulford, at a high spot.

I've never had a problem getting 23, and have been able to get 13 from time to time, but now I can't seem to get either one.

Is it me? Any suggestions?

Thanks

I've posted about this before, but it seems to be getting worse..

I can't seem to pick up WREX DT or WIFR DT off the air. I'm using rabbit ears, and can get WTVO and FOX just fine, but not 13 or 23. I'm just off Newberg, between Perryville and Mulford, at a high spot.

I've never had a problem getting 23, and have been able to get 13 from time to time, but now I can't seem to get either one.

Is it me? Any suggestions?

Thanks

WREX-DT and WIFR-DT are lower power stations compared to WTVO and WQRF. You may want to try something other than rabbit ears.

hi my tv ia a sumsung ln40a650a i have cable ran thru my qam tuner.what channels should i be picking up.i get like 15 butt i am missing two local station's fox and one other.
anyone else have this problem.forgot my cable was insight and changed to comcast.
thanks

********* . com has a great site for it!!!

Anyone have a good idea to get in 39.1 WQRF from janesville i can get the other 3 from my indoor terk antenna but 39 is a no go!! Will i have to wait till Feb 09 ????

I had found a list one time of permanent allocations for the stations after the cutover, but I can't seem to find my bookmark. Does anyone have a link? I'm interested in the Rockford, Madison, Chicago, Milwaukee stations in particular.

www dot mad city hd dot com

Anyone have a good idea to get in 39.1 WQRF from janesville i can get the other 3 from my indoor terk antenna but 39 is a no go!! Will i have to wait till Feb 09 ????
Is your terk amplified? If so try unplugging it. 39.1 had the strongest signal of all of them. You may be getting too much signal.

Anyone have a good idea to get in 39.1 WQRF from janesville i can get the other 3 from my indoor terk antenna but 39 is a no go!! Will i have to wait till Feb 09 ????Unless an analog channel from somewhere is interfering with it, I doubt if Feb. '09 getting here will make any difference.

I don't know if they're planning on raising the power much, because it's already quite a blaster and really gets out there as it is.

yea hopefully when i get my terk outdoor antenna up on the roof it will come in !i only have problems with the fox channels wmsn (madison) 47 and 39(wqrf) go figure !!!! Does anyone know when 13.3 Retro tv is set to launch????

Well fox in Madison is VHF. Its digtal channel right now is 11.1. Did you saying "yea" mean that your antenna is powered? Did you try what I told you?

Well fox in Madison is VHF. Its digtal channel right now is 11.1. Did you saying "yea" mean that your antenna is powered? Did you try what I told you?


yea 47 is trying to switch from 11.1 to 49.1 i cant wait!! as far as turning it off
to get 39 in no go i think its due to the fact i have a huge cliff behind my house which is also the way towards rockford!! I will let you know when i can get someone who has a bigger then a 6ft ladder to put my outdoor terk up (hdtvo) outdoor antenna!!!

I passed the digital test for 23 Yes what do i get for a prize????

?

?

23 turned off there analog channel today at 5 25 pm i was making fun of the fact !!!

does any one know when wrex is adding retro tv to its lineup??

does any one know when wrex is adding retro tv to its lineup??
Hopefully in 09. In got squeezed out of the 08 picture no thanks to an insanely tight budget.

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2008/12/22/news/local/doc494f3d4672144727695385.txt

Updated: Monday, December 22, 2008 1:12 AM CST

Viewers of WIFR Channel 23 digital television should receive a stronger signal with fewer dropouts starting today, according to a news release from the station. WIFR was recently granted permission from the Federal Communications Commission to increase the power of its transmitter from 50 kw to 100 kw.

The station will begin broadcasting the stronger signal at some point in the morning hours and should complete the process by the end of the day, the release said. The FCC has mandated all broadcast television stations shut down analog transmitters and broadcast only digital signals beginning Feb. 17, 2009.
---

FYI...you might get a stronger signal from it now.
:cool:

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2008/12/22/news/local/doc494f3d4672144727695385.txt

Updated: Monday, December 22, 2008 1:12 AM CST

Viewers of WIFR Channel 23 digital television should receive a stronger signal with fewer dropouts starting today, according to a news release from the station. WIFR was recently granted permission from the Federal Communications Commission to increase the power of its transmitter from 50 kw to 100 kw.

The station will begin broadcasting the stronger signal at some point in the morning hours and should complete the process by the end of the day, the release said. The FCC has mandated all broadcast television stations shut down analog transmitters and broadcast only digital signals beginning Feb. 17, 2009.
---

FYI...you might get a stronger signal from it now.
:cool:


Now if WREX would just do the same thing. It's the only station I can't pick up on my tv in the basement.

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2008/12/22/news/local/doc494f3d4672144727695385.txt

Updated: Monday, December 22, 2008 1:12 AM CST

Viewers of WIFR Channel 23 digital television should receive a stronger signal with fewer dropouts starting today, according to a news release from the station. WIFR was recently granted permission from the Federal Communications Commission to increase the power of its transmitter from 50 kw to 100 kw.

The station will begin broadcasting the stronger signal at some point in the morning hours and should complete the process by the end of the day, the release said. The FCC has mandated all broadcast television stations shut down analog transmitters and broadcast only digital signals beginning Feb. 17, 2009.
---

FYI...you might get a stronger signal from it now.
:cool:
I have 23.2 on and it has been cutting in and out a few times this late morning. Maybe I've gotten too much signal now.

I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but on the noon news on WIFR 23-1, it was widescreen, and looked a TON better than 23 analog! I saw this on a 37" brand new Vizio at work during the Presidential Inauguration. I thought...oh, they must be stretching it...but before I completed that thought, it was clear they were NOT stretching it. Even better: local news shots from field cameras were also in widescreen and possibly HDTV! They also looked VERY good to my eyes. Tonight, at 10 PM, I was at home ussing a set top converter box, and I letterboxed it...and it was very nice looking widescreen. If they wwere testing, it was a GREAT test!

Now, they aren't promoting it; I just noticed it today. I checked just last week to see if any Rockford newscast was in HD or widescreen, and I didn't see it then. It may be very well upconverted SD, but man, it looked really good, and I could see Andy's facial features a lot more clearly than before. I could tell when SD cameras were used at the Presidential Inauguration, and WIFR's newscast was a lot better looking than those SD cams!

No doubt it's 16:9...and it's either very, very good upconverted 480i or with their encoders, adequate HDTV.

I am amazed WIFR was the first to be in widescreen and/or HD for their newscasts and field cameras. I was thinking WREX would be first, then WTVO and WIFR would battle for second/third. Oh well...

What do all of you think?

They have been doing the news for several weeks that way.

They have been doing the news for several weeks that way.

Wow, so much for breaking news. :o So is it HD or not? Hard to tell...

Yeah, the news is definitely HD, and even some of the field cameras.

Now I just wish 13 would get their signal power boosted so I can pick it up in my basement.

captclueless, maybe after the DTV switchover when WREX-DT moves from 54 to 13 you will have better results. when i have my CM 4228 pointed at Madison WREX-DT will get choppy at times, mainly in the daytime. The other Rockford channels do just fine. I live in byron and WREX is directly north and the others are just a little East while Madison is just West of WREX.
Don't forget to rescan your tuner after the switch over

So is it HD or not? Hard to tell...Well, I watched it at noon and at ten today, and it appears to be HD, although not the greatest I've ever seen by a long shot.

Also, every field shot I saw on both broadcasts was definitely both 16:9 and 4:3 SD. Maybe they do have some HD field cameras, but I didn't see one single shot from them on either broadcast today.

Even the shots of the weather maps didn't seem to be HD. Just the in-studio shots of the newsreaders behind the desk and of the weather guy, and that was it.

But I will say that Nichole Vrsansky is even cuter in HD.

does anyone know the status of the rockford channels are they switching or not?

does anyone know the status of the rockford channels are they switching or not?

Last night on wifr news at 6, one of the anchors said that all of the rockford stations were going to go ahead with the switch as planned on feb 19th.

Last night on wifr news at 6, one of the anchors said that all of the rockford stations were going to go ahead with the switch as planned on feb 19th.

My contacts in the market concur.

Last night on wifr news at 6, one of the anchors said that all of the rockford stations were going to go ahead with the switch as planned on feb 19th.

I wonder why they chose Feb. 19th because wasn't Feb. 17th the target??

The White House wants your opinion on The DTV Delay ACT Bill
President Obama said he will not sign the DTV transaction act into law on Monday until he hears what the public has to say, you can comment here

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/dtv_delay_act/

Here's the list of stations that have notified the FCC of Feb 17th sign off.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-221A5.xls

I wonder why they chose Feb. 19th because wasn't Feb. 17th the target??

I meant the 17th. sorry.

Hey all,

WREX is not doing well with 12 kw down here in DeKalb. At my place on the northwest side, I used to get it easily with my ChannelMaster 4228 UHF antenna. But now, I only have VHF antennas pointed east and south. Picking it up off the side isn't working from either antenna. I have one for standby use and that one may need to be added to my antenna arsenal to get it. As a side note, I have a ChannelMaster 4228 (discontinued) UHF-only antenna at work, and it's near the top of a 80' building, or about 60' up. It gets WREX-DT in going from good to bad. But to be fair, 13 analog off that thing was multipath Hades and I fully expect my third generation tuner isn't liking it.

But on a nastier note, they couldn't even lock it from the NIU Holmes Student Center antennas, some 180' up! They get blips of it, but a lock isn't there (it's even too weak to resolve any PSIP data). To be fair, those antennas are probably just UHF antennas, albeit professional (cable TV) quality ones. In any case, until that issue is resolved, it's been taken off the NIU campus cable system and replaced with WTVO-DT instead, which proverbially pegs the signal meter.

Edit: I unhooked one of my two ChannelMaster 4228 mesh screen UHF antennas, which I used primarily just to get WLS and WTTW in Chicago. When my 6th gen tuner came along, one of the two antennas wasn't needed anymore. So, I put it into a VHF slot on my VHF-UHF splitter, put it on the north side of my attic, pointed it towards Rockford, and it took a lot of tweaking to get the reception of WREX to a solid 60% lock, just leaning against a wall until the weather warms up and I can spend more time up there. I can't get WWTO-DT 10 anymore on my VHF antenna pointing south since that slot is now filled, but due to a hill in the way, I rarely got it anyway. If they go 80 kilowatts, then it'll happen, but until the weather warms up, this is what I have for now, which is fine.

Also, a friend of mine in Waterman, using a Winegard HD7084P pointed at Rockford, is now able to lock WREX-DT solidly for the first time. And, a guy on the Chicago OTA board who lives in Plano, 25 miles southeast of DeKalb, got WREX for a few minutes this afternoon, but then lost the signal. He can lock WTVO fine, but not WIFR or WQRF.

I am amazed WIFR was the first to be in widescreen and/or HD for their newscasts and field cameras. I was thinking WREX would be first...

So much of our equipment would need to be upgraded/replaced first, and with this economy, that seems far off. (Then again, I've been in for surprises before, and I've only been in this business for a year.) I think the studio cameras are digital; the field cameras are definitely digital but probably not HD-capable. However, our production board is an analog Ross 630, our master control switcher is a 20-year old Grass Valley model, and our house routing is all analog --- I'm no engineer, but I think those are our weakest links. IMO, the RVS-630 would need to be replaced with a digital switcher before we could even consider HD production.

Is WIFR-DT moving back to 23 or did I miss somethng? 13 now pegs the signal indicator on my Insignia Converter box in Byron Il with CM-4228. On my HDTV 13 scans in as 0.1 and 0.2, I rescanned a couple times and it keeps going back to 0.1

I have an antenna in my garage that does a great job. I own a flat panel samsung tv and I have one antenna line split, one to the tv and one to my vista media center computer to record tv.

After a rescan, my samsung tv picked up all the channels perfectly, all with strong signals, even three channels from madison.

After a rescan in Vista MC, I can get all the stations but WREX. WREX shows zero signal and does not work at all.

I know its not a matter of fact that the antenna is not strong enough, as I can pull in a 75% lock on three madison channels in VMC, and they come in crystal clear, and again, WREX is 100% on my samsung tuner.

I am wondering if it is the way VMC handles finding tv stations in your area... I believe WREX switched bands or something, and it just may not be updated in the VMC software yet. The VMC software seems to 'tune' based on zip code.

Did this make sense? Does anyone have any idea or suggestions how to fix this? I appreciate the help.

Well, up here on the "hill" [ N. Wright Rd ] in Janesville was getting 13 HD BEFORE yesterday with at least 60% signal. Now no signal whatsoever. Also seem to have lost 17 digital , but 17 analog still comes in, albiet snowy.

I have a garage attic antenna ( 14 element uhf/vhf outdoor type ) with a dual port amp on it supplying 11 db boost per port. All the Madison stations still come in great. as well as 39-1, 23-1, but no 13 or 17 DTV.

Did some of these stations switch frequency and transmitter location when they went full digital? I was under the impression that most stations would be going "full power" when they switched to only digital. Yes/No?

This is on a Phillips 26PF5321 LCD in our bedroom and a Mitsubishi LT-46231 in the living room. Neither gets the above mentioned channels anymore even after a rescan. I have an RCA ATSC21 , maybe I'll try hooking that up and see if it gets anything my two sets won't.

13 moved to RF channel 13 I believe, you probably need to re-scan to pick it up.

This is on a Phillips 26PF5321 LCD in our bedroom and a Mitsubishi LT-46231 in the living room. Neither gets the above mentioned channels anymore even after a rescan.

Did rescan.... actually twice. Last night and just an hour ago. Samo-samo here...

Did rescan.... actually twice. Last night and just an hour ago. Samo-samo here...

If you haven't already, first delete the channel(s) you are having trouble receiving before re-scanning.

I think the stations are still having problems. 30 minutes ago, I checked my Philips HDTV and 17-2 was on, but black screen on 17-1, which is impossible. Now a few minutes ago both 17-1 and 17-2 are on. Still no 13. I did manually delete 13-1 on my second rescan and still no 13.

I also just connected up an unused RCA ATSC21 HD tuner cleared it a did a fresh scan. Doesn't pick up 13 DTV either. Are they on another planet or is there some broadcast format or sub code info that they are using that won;t work with all DTV tuners?

I have the DirecTV H20 receivers, rescanned on both of them last night and both found 13 without problems, so at least it *can* work. :) Today I did a scan using my eyeTV hybrid USB tuner using just a small desktop antenna, and although I had 13 before it is not coming in now. Channel 3 and 27 from Madison are, though, as well as 17/23/39 from Rockford, so maybe something isn't quite right exactly... I dunno.

Just FYI, the USB stick is using the Xceive XC5000 tuner and LG DT3305 ATSC Decoder.

Ok, went back to the RCA ATSC21, did a rescan, still no 13. I then checked signal strength for the other Rockford stations, 17-1, 23-1, 39-1. I noticed 17-2 breaking up a bit and sure enough, signal was only about 30 - 35%. However 23-1 is hovering around 55-60% and 39-1 is at least 75%. So, given the weather and maybe something different with 13's transmission location or actual power output, I may not get 13 DTV here on the north side of Janesville.... unless I go outside with my antenna on a mast. Don't wanna do that. Don't need 13 that much.:o

There must be something amiss though. We should be within the reception area and I see others are having some problems too.

We watch 27-2 mostly [ almost like TV Land and no cost :) ] and 3-1 for NCIS, Mentalist, news weather.

The RCA ATSC21 is a very old and not-very-sensitive tuner, isn't it? If so, you might do better with a Samsung DTB-H260F or something newer.

The RCA ATSC21 is a very old and not-very-sensitive tuner, isn't it? If so, you might do better with a Samsung DTB-H260F or something newer.
You need to read the rest of my posts. The RCA was just another try since my two other HDTVs also stopped picking up the WREX signal.

This is on a Phillips 26PF5321 LCD in our bedroom and a Mitsubishi LT-46231 in the living room. Neither gets the above mentioned channels anymore even after a rescan. I have an RCA ATSC21 , maybe I'll try hooking that up and see if it gets anything my two sets won't.

All the Madison stations still come in great. as well as 39-1, 23-1, but no 13 or 17 DTV.

13 moved back to ch 13 VHF.
You may need to get a different antenna.
Just a thought...

Does anyone know what WREX ERP is now. I don't think their at the 15KW on RF 13. Moving from RF 54 to 13 they would have to substantially lower their power. <shrug>

Hey all,

WREX is not doing well with 12 kw down here in DeKalb. At my place on the northwest side, I used to get it easily with my ChannelMaster 4228 UHF antenna. But now, I only have VHF antennas pointed east and south. Picking it up off the side isn't working from either antenna. I have one for standby use and that one may need to be added to my antenna arsenal to get it. As a side note, I have a ChannelMaster 4228 (discontinued) UHF-only antenna at work, and it's near the top of a 80' building, or about 60' up. It gets WREX-DT in going from good to bad. But to be fair, 13 analog off that thing was multipath Hades and I fully expect my third generation tuner isn't liking it.

But on a nastier note, they couldn't even lock it from the NIU Holmes Student Center antennas, some 180' up! They get blips of it, but a lock isn't there (it's even too weak to resolve any PSIP data). To be fair, those antennas are probably just UHF antennas, albeit professional (cable TV) quality ones. In any case, until that issue is resolved, it's been taken off the NIU campus cable system and replaced with WTVO-DT instead, which proverbially pegs the signal meter.

Edit: I unhooked one of my two ChannelMaster 4228 mesh screen UHF antennas, which I used primarily just to get WLS and WTTW in Chicago. When my 6th gen tuner came along, one of the two antennas wasn't needed anymore. So, I put it into a VHF slot on my VHF-UHF splitter, put it on the north side of my attic, pointed it towards Rockford, and it took a lot of tweaking to get the reception of WREX to a solid 60% lock, just leaning against a wall until the weather warms up and I can spend more time up there. I can't get WWTO-DT 10 anymore on my VHF antenna pointing south since that slot is now filled, but due to a hill in the way, I rarely got it anyway. If they go 80 kilowatts, then it'll happen, but until the weather warms up, this is what I have for now, which is fine.

Also, a friend of mine in Waterman, using a Winegard HD7084P pointed at Rockford, is now able to lock WREX-DT solidly for the first time. And, a guy on the Chicago OTA board who lives in Plano, 25 miles southeast of DeKalb, got WREX for a few minutes this afternoon, but then lost the signal. He can lock WTVO fine, but not WIFR or WQRF.


I have the new 4228HD and I have in a attic single story ranch house and I have it pointed about 300` to Madison and I was able to lock on WREX 13 since they switch from 54 to 13, while the Rockford is at 240` and currently I don't have any pre-amp hook up to it yet but I was able to get Madison FOX 47 which is on 11 with good lock on it too. When I move it to Milwaukee I was able to get PBS 10 which is on 8 for DT and no problem getting them.

Willie

That is probably the problem with me. If 13 moved to the lower power RF position, then I may have to get that rotor that I've had sitting it a box mounted up in the garage attic. :o

That being said, I still get Milwaukee analog channel 6 off the side of my antenna, and before "transition day" was getting Milwaukee analog channels 4,10, 12 and UHF 18 and sometimes 24, with my antenna parked at about 300 degrees towards Madison. That does mean I'm picking up all the Rockfords off the back/side of my antenna. I just think it's weird that I get Milwaukee analogs off the side when they are farther away, but Rockford is iffy. But, there are always terrain issues, power levels, etc.:(

That is probably the problem with me. If 13 moved to the lower power RF position, then I may have to get that rotor that I've had sitting it a box mounted up in the garage attic. :o

That being said, I still get Milwaukee analog channel 6 off the side of my antenna, and before "transition day" was getting Milwaukee analog channels 4,10, 12 and UHF 18 and sometimes 24, with my antenna parked at about 300 degrees towards Madison. That does mean I'm picking up all the Rockfords off the back/side of my antenna. I just think it's weird that I get Milwaukee analogs off the side when they are farther away, but Rockford is iffy. But, there are always terrain issues, power levels, etc.:(

Exactly. Sorry I'm late in replying here, but WREX's power doesn't seem to be transmitting effectively with its 12 kw. It should be a blowtorch here in DeKalb, but it is not. Maybe the antenna or transmitter needs to be tweaked, I don't know. But it should do better than what it is right now. With 12 kilowatts, the rejection of the antenna of a relatively weak signal is not surprising. You'll need that rotor to get it.

Exactly. Sorry I'm late in replying here, but WREX's power doesn't seem to be transmitting effectively with its 12 kw. It should be a blowtorch here in DeKalb, but it is not. Maybe the antenna or transmitter needs to be tweaked, I don't know. But it should do better than what it is right now. With 12 kilowatts, the rejection of the antenna of a relatively weak signal is not surprising. You'll need that rotor to get it.

It would be interresting to see what the MER and the EVM readings are. MER shoud be 27+ and EVM should be below 4.

It would be interresting to see what the MER and the EVM readings are. MER shoud be 27+ and EVM should be below 4.
I live at the East edge of Rockford, near Alpine and Charles, which is near the highest point in Rockford. I am using amplified indoor antennas (2), one is a Terk which includes rabbit ears and the other is a Radio Shack which also includes rabbit ears. I find it nearly impossible to lock onto WREX, channel 13. Is the correct Transmit Number for this station 54? I did find that the Rabbit Ears need to be about 21 inches long to lock onto WREX. The other 3 Rockford stations lock in very well. Right now, I have the TV connected to the Terk locked onto 13.001 and 13.002 without breakup. Since I just looked up the transmit number, 54, I am going to try to set my other TV to that number and see if I can get a lock on WREX on that TV.

----------

OK, I just went to the other HDTV tuner which shows Transmit number, Channel number and Signal Strength.
I set the transmit number to 54 and was not able to get any signal no matter how I adjusted the antenna. Then I set the Transmit number to 13. After extending the rabbit ears to full length, the meter jumped to 57%.

Apparently the reason that I was getting a good signal prior to the switchover, is because the transmit number was 54. I assume that 54 was UHF and 13 is VHF. Maybe now, thanks to the help found here, I can get WREX good enough to view it on that primary over-the-air tuner. :-)

After more tweaking, I got the signal strength up to 65. This is good enough to watch both WREX programs. The rabbit ear length is 19 inches for both. The tips are 6.5 inches apart. This Radio Shack antenna has a mesh reflector with a wire bow tie in front of the reflector and rabbit ears behind the reflector. The bow tie had to be rotated a little clockwise from full counter-clockwise. The upper left and lower right wire segments extinding from the center hub now form a vertical straight line. The amplifier dial is set to three o'clock, not quite maximum. Rabbit Ear length and Bow Tie rotation are very critical! Signal strength is about 90 for the other 3 Rockford stations.

The antenna is sitting just below and just in front of the wall mounted TV, which is not ideal.

Before the switch-over, I used the Terk with this tuner and had it on a high shelf in a nearby closet, where the Terk was getting all four Rockford TV Stations most of the time.

I live at the East edge of Rockford, near Alpine and Charles, which is near the highest point in Rockford. I am using amplified indoor antennas (2), one is a Terk which includes rabbit ears and the other is a Radio Shack which also includes rabbit ears. I find it nearly impossible to lock onto WREX, channel 13. Is the correct Transmit Number for this station 54? I did find that the Rabbit Ears need to be about 21 inches long to lock onto WREX. The other 3 Rockford stations lock in very well. Right now, I have the TV connected to the Terk locked onto 13.001 and 13.002 without breakup. Since I just looked up the transmit number, 54, I am going to try to set my other TV to that number and see if I can get a lock on WREX on that TV.

----------

OK, I just went to the other HDTV tuner which shows Transmit number, Channel number and Signal Strength.
I set the transmit number to 54 and was not able to get any signal no matter how I adjusted the antenna. Then I set the Transmit number to 13. After extending the rabbit ears to full length, the meter jumped to 57%.

Apparently the reason that I was getting a good signal prior to the switchover, is because the transmit number was 54. I assume that 54 was UHF and 13 is VHF. Maybe now, thanks to the help found here, I can get WREX good enough to view it on that primary over-the-air tuner. :-)

After more tweaking, I got the signal strength up to 65. This is good enough to watch both WREX programs. The rabbit ear length is 19 inches for both. The tips are 6.5 inches apart. This Radio Shack antenna has a mesh reflector with a wire bow tie in front of the reflector and rabbit ears behind the reflector. The bow tie had to be rotated a little clockwise from full counter-clockwise. The upper left and lower right wire segments extinding from the center hub now form a vertical straight line. The amplifier dial is set to three o'clock, not quite maximum. Rabbit Ear length and Bow Tie rotation are very critical! Signal strength is about 90 for the other 3 Rockford stations.

The antenna is sitting just below and just in front of the wall mounted TV, which is not ideal.

Before the switch-over, I used the Terk with this tuner and had it on a high shelf in a nearby closet, where the Terk was getting all four Rockford TV Stations most of the time.

WREX 13 has stopped doing analog on 2-17-09 and switch digtial from 54 UHF to 13 VHF-Hi the old analog channel.

Willie

Did WTVO and WQRF end analog programming as planned? WTVO was supposed to be a 60 day nightlight.

Thanks,

Did WTVO and WQRF end analog programming as planned? WTVO was supposed to be a 60 day nightlight.

Thanks,

All are off the air except WTVO, nightlighting for 60 days.

Comcast is currently providing Rockford digital TV from PBS stations WHA (Madison) and WTTW (Chicago). However, they are only providing the HD channel from WHA. I have asked Comcast to consider switching to WTTW for PBS HD since, in my option, WTTW has better HD content. I have not yet received a satisfactory reply from Comcast. Does anyone have any thoughts as to why Comcast would not want to make this switch?
Thanks for responding.

Is anyone having audio dropouts? I have had Fox39 audio dropouts on both Over-the-Air and on DirectTV Tivo (waiting for the new Tivo this fall). The Tivo dropouts are repeatable...so I don't think it's my TV having issues. The dropouts start with a buzz and last about 5 seconds.

Thanks in advance (would just like to know it's them and not me!)

Is anyone having audio dropouts? I have had Fox39 audio dropouts on both Over-the-Air and on DirectTV Tivo (waiting for the new Tivo this fall). The Tivo dropouts are repeatable...so I don't think it's my TV having issues. The dropouts start with a buzz and last about 5 seconds.

Thanks in advance (would just like to know it's them and not me!)

lark930, I was having something similar last night while watching American Idol with OTA and a Dish 722 PVR. I haven't watched this weeks episode of 24 yet, but that was recorded with Vista Media Center OTA so I'll see if it has the same problem. On the Dish you get a static popping sound, no audio, and then the audio comes back.

Channel 13's move from 54 down to 13 caught me off guard. The DB-4 on a rooftop pole was doing great until then. I live near Elm Ave and Renrose in Loves Park but am now having a lot of trouble getting 13 in the evening, about the time of the Jay Leno show. I guess it is a problem with multi path distortion caused by temperature changes between the ground and overlaying atmosphere. I have a lot of city buildings, houses and trees between me and the antenna on the west side of Rockford.

So, I built a 3 element ch. 13 Yagi and put that on the rooftop pole (26 feet above ground level). This works some of the time, but an indoor rabbit ears also works some of the time for Ch. 13. Bok Antenna service told me all I need is rabbit ears. Not so, too much trouble with temp related multi path.

Today I ordered the Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 Yagi for channels 7-13. What do you think, will this a have enough gain to prevent dropouts on 13? I hope so.

BTW, did you guys lose signal last night (Tues) eve during the intense rain storm? All the local digital channels went into distortion and then 23 went off the air. Ain't DTV grand?

Dick

This works some of the time, but an indoor rabbit ears also works some of the time for Ch. 13. Bok Antenna service told me all I need is rabbit ears. Not so, too much trouble with temp related multi path.

Dick

Bock Antenna told you that you may be able to get them with just rabbit ears. Some people do but there are no absolutes with antennas.

It seems like I am stuck...prior to the DTV switch I was able to pick up all local channels without issue but now WREX 13 is just being a thorn in my side.

Location: walking distance to RVC

Set 1: Dish Vip 211 using a RCA ANT1500

Set 2: Vista Media Center w/ Hauppauge HVR-1800 using an old ATI HD-TV Wonder antenna

I'm curious if anyone has any possible suggestions.

Have you rescanned your channels since the switch? I have also found that many cutomers with Dish Boxs need to go into the menu then install then local channels rescan then press select all.

Have you rescanned your channels since the switch? I have also found that many cutomers with Dish Boxs need to go into the menu then install then local channels rescan then press select all.

Rescanned multiple times, deleted all channels, rescanned again, fully power cycled boxes, rescanned...

It seems like nothing I do will get the channel to pick up

Comcast is currently providing Rockford digital TV from PBS stations WHA (Madison) and WTTW (Chicago). However, they are only providing the HD channel from WHA. I have asked Comcast to consider switching to WTTW for PBS HD since, in my option, WTTW has better HD content. I have not yet received a satisfactory reply from Comcast. Does anyone have any thoughts as to why Comcast would not want to make this switch?
Thanks for responding.

The head end is 90 miles away from Chicago, vs. 60 from Madison, so via an antenna, WHA-DT wins hands down as most reliable. They'd have to fiber in WTTW, and that isn't cheap. Sure, you can get it on a 200' tower in Rockford, but definitely not consistently.

Channel 13's move from 54 down to 13 caught me off guard. The DB-4 on a rooftop pole was doing great until then. I live near Elm Ave and Renrose in Loves Park but am now having a lot of trouble getting 13 in the evening, about the time of the Jay Leno show. I guess it is a problem with multi path distortion caused by temperature changes between the ground and overlaying atmosphere. I have a lot of city buildings, houses and trees between me and the antenna on the west side of Rockford.

So, I built a 3 element ch. 13 Yagi and put that on the rooftop pole (26 feet above ground level). This works some of the time, but an indoor rabbit ears also works some of the time for Ch. 13. Bok Antenna service told me all I need is rabbit ears. Not so, too much trouble with temp related multi path.

Today I ordered the Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 Yagi for channels 7-13. What do you think, will this a have enough gain to prevent dropouts on 13? I hope so.

BTW, did you guys lose signal last night (Tues) eve during the intense rain storm? All the local digital channels went into distortion and then 23 went off the air. Ain't DTV grand?

Dick

Hi Dick,

Welcome to the forum! Been busy but I wanted to reply and say...you bet. If you still get dropouts, then you are suffering from multipath. On analog, you would have seen "ghosts". On digital, you see dropouts/pixellation. By using a high gain antenna, you minimize multipath while getting a stronger primary signal.

I use a ChannelMaster classic 4228 UHF 8-bay antenna with a mesh screen, and I get it, no dropouts, on the northwest side of DeKalb. That antenna blows mine out of the water. If you still get dropouts, your tuner can't handle it. Newer tuners less than 2 years old do a great job, for the most part, at rejecting multipath, especially Samsung, Mitsubishi and LG TV's (and LG/Zenith converter boxes). They have new "6th generation" tuners that are very sensitive and reject multipath very well.

It seems like I am stuck...prior to the DTV switch I was able to pick up all local channels without issue but now WREX 13 is just being a thorn in my side.

Location: walking distance to RVC

Set 1: Dish Vip 211 using a RCA ANT1500

Set 2: Vista Media Center w/ Hauppauge HVR-1800 using an old ATI HD-TV Wonder antenna

I'm curious if anyone has any possible suggestions.

The RCA ANT1500 is multi-directional and does not pick up channels 2-13 well at all. Since WREX is back on 13, that does not bode well for you.
Can you put an antenna in an attic, or on a roof? I'd suggest this:

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/cl_ant.htm

Get the ChannelMaster 3675 on the top right. It will do you well in an attic or outside.

Gilbert Im alittle surprised that you are picking up a VHF channel so well with a UHF only antenna

Ahh but the CM 4228 has a rather good coverage down to about CH11 you can stretch down to about CH 7 with it if you're within 30 mi. If you look at a gain chart like this one:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4228.html

The gain is not bad but if you are willing to make some modifications you can see a good amount of improvement in the high VHF gain.

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

Channel 13's move from 54 down to 13 caught me off guard. The DB-4 on a rooftop pole was doing great until then. I live near Elm Ave and Renrose in Loves Park but am now having a lot of trouble getting 13 in the evening, about the time of the Jay Leno show. I guess it is a problem with multi path distortion caused by temperature changes between the ground and overlaying atmosphere. I have a lot of city buildings, houses and trees between me and the antenna on the west side of Rockford.

So, I built a 3 element ch. 13 Yagi and put that on the rooftop pole (26 feet above ground level). This works some of the time, but an indoor rabbit ears also works some of the time for Ch. 13. Bok Antenna service told me all I need is rabbit ears. Not so, too much trouble with temp related multi path.

Today I ordered the Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 Yagi for channels 7-13. What do you think, will this a have enough gain to prevent dropouts on 13? I hope so.

BTW, did you guys lose signal last night (Tues) eve during the intense rain storm? All the local digital channels went into distortion and then 23 went off the air. Ain't DTV grand?

Dick

Hey, I live in Roscoe, I could not receive squat either, I built this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw and I receive so much more, no drop outs or pixilation. I even get some Madison channels! The best thing is, I didn't even put it on the roof because it was cold out side, I just propped it up in the corner behind my TV.

I am thinking about putting up a CH4228 when it gets warmer, but this works fin for now.

Good luck

The CH4228 is being redesigned to improve usable gain in the upper VHF range, where channel 13 resides. Otherwise, it is mostly a UHF antenna. But, in strong signal areas or line of sight situations, a wire wrapped around a tin can and hung from a window might suffice :).

All the recent DIY recipes I've seen for antenna construction have been for UHF antennas. VHF antennas, with longer elements, are more cumbersome to design and build.

I don't know if this is just my converter box or is this something wide-spread but I just noticed every channels EPG is off by 1 hour. I have a Insignia converter box from Best Buy.

What time zone is it set to in the menu?

Gilbert Im alittle surprised that you are picking up a VHF channel so well with a UHF only antenna

Yeah, like others have said, hyou get about 5 dB gain from it...it's a CM 4228 classic, not the HD model which has been tweaked for better performance on channels 7-13, at the expense of channels 14-51...although the loss is on the order of 2 db for UHF. That's about 40%, but 40% of a heck of a lot is still a lot.

What time zone is it set to in the menu?

It is set for Central and the current time was right but the programming was off by 1 hour for example last night it said ER was on from 6pm - 7pm but every thing seems to be fine now.

Hey, I live in Roscoe, I could not receive squat either, I built this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw and I receive so much more, no drop outs or pixilation. I even get some Madison channels! The best thing is, I didn't even put it on the roof because it was cold out side, I just propped it up in the corner behind my TV.

I am thinking about putting up a CH4228 when it gets warmer, but this works fin for now.

Good luck

That area up there from Rockton to the WI/IL border is hard to get reception due to not only the river valley, but the big hills between the towers and downtown Rockton. It was hard for a live truck to get a signal back to the station in that area even with a 50' mast. I can only imagine what a DTV is like. :eek:

Anyone else not able to receive 13-1 all of a sudden? Up until last friday, I was able to receiver it fine. Now my signal strength is all over the place. Nothing on my end has changed at all. I am even using an indoor antenna to pick it up, and it worked fine before, but now, nothing.

My tv is picking up a signal, in fact I got it to get 92% solid for a while, but my tv is still just displaying a box that says "poor signal quality"

Any suggestions?

I am in loves park near 251 and theodore st.

13-1 spotty here at best. External antenna, north side of Machesney Park.

Hmmm. weird. Now this morning, it works perfect.

I'm at Renrose and Elm Ave in Loves Park. Channel 13 has been a real problem since it changed from the temporary channel 54 back to its channel 13 transmitting frequency.

Two weeks ago I got a medium sized yagi antenna that is cut for channels 7-13. This was mounted on the rooftop pole above the 4 bow-tie DB-4 UHF antenna. But, channel 13 would drop out around 10:30 PM just like clock work most of the time, but rabbit ears in the house would get it OK. Now and then it would be OK, seemingly dependent on the weather. Conclusion: I had not found the "sweet spot" for it to minimize multi-path distortion.

Then, I realized that the UHF and VHF antennas were too close to each other. Each needs some space around it. I moved things around on the roof top pole to give a good 4 feet between the UHF and VHF antennas and since then (knock on wood) channel 13 has been rock solid -- and UHF channels 17,23, 39 continue to be their usual solid selves.

Funny, moving the VHF Yagi antenna upwards 2 feet made all the difference in the world.

Dick

WIFR news is now in HD. Interesting. Looks great from DeKalb!

Beginning sometime yesterday afternoon (Monday) I get no sound on the ABC and CBS channels.

Channels 17-1 and 23-1 have no sound. Channels 17-2 and 23-2 have sound. Channels 13-1 and 13-2 have normal sound.

I did a rescan on my tuner. Am I the only one without sound on these two channels?

Sound problem solved. The sound feeds from the two stations was either stereo or dual mono. It had no 3.1 or surround info in it. So, because my amplifier that runs the L&R speakers had died (unbeknownst to me) I had no sound. And, because the Outlaw pre/pro interpreted the sound feed as "Digital" I could not switch the decoding of the input to something like Dolby Pro Logic that could synthesize a center channel.

The bad amp was replaced and all is now OK, but I have a new realization of the amount of time the local channel sound feeds from ABC and CBS are something less than expected for "digital" stations.

NBC, on the other hand, does a nice job of providing surround sound more of the time.

I run my HT with four small Hafler amps so replacement of an amp now and then is not a big deal. Better than those huge multi-channel amps all built on one chassis. My $0.02:).

Hello all, reviving this thread from the dead. I moved to Sycamore this past week and am trying to pickup up channels from Rockford. Bought a RCA VHF/UHF antenna rated for 65 miles yesterday and set it up in the attic. It was a big waste of time and money as I only picked up one channel, WTVO. Doesn't make much sense to me, there must be some kind of metal sheathing on the roof that is totally blocking the signal. I was going to return the antenna, but destroyed it trying to fold it back up to fit down the hatch.

I found that if I stick my old Silver Sensor in the master bedroom I can pick up everything but WREX. The reception isn't stable. I'll have 80% one minute and 0 the next.

It doesn't seem like it should be this hard to get reception from Rockford in Sycamore. Anyone else around Rt 23 and Mt. Hunger able to get reception short of a huge roof mounted antenna? Any thoughts on things to try?

Keep in mind that I can't put an antenna on the roof as it's considered a common area and antennas are not allowed on the patio either. Satellite dish is fine, but no antennas.

You could try one of the smaller UHF antennas like the 8-bays that there are instructions to build in the HDTV Tech forum. UHF ANT thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13951915#post13951915) I have one I built and just put in the window behind the shade pointing northward. As I am on the S side of Rockford this works for me. If you have a proper facing window you can give it a try. The parts are only about $15.

Wrex is broadcasting on the VHF band and the Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna. As far as the strength going from 80 to 0 and back again you actually may be getting too much signal. Are you in a home association?

Yup, dealing with an HOA. I knew that they didn't like antennas before I even put in a bid so I can't knock them too much.

My first though is am I perhaps dealing with multipath or indirectly picking up a reflected signal. I was thinking of trying Antennas Direct Clearstream 1, it's readily available at Best Buy. For it's size it seems hard to believe that it's much better than your typical indoor UHF loop.

Also looking at the Winegard SS-3000. Kind of odd looking, don't know if it lives up to it's marketing or if it's a piece of junk.

The easy solution would be to pick up Rockford via my Dish Network setup. However Sycamore is in the Chicago DMA so they won't let me have it, despite the fact that Rockford is technically available OTA. With Chicago some 60 miles away and Rockford only 35 the DMA doesn't make a lot sense either.

You may get a alot of crap but i'm pretty sure legally that they cant keep you from putting an antenna on your roof.

Keep in mind that I can't put an antenna on the roof as it's considered a common area and antennas are not allowed on the patio either. Satellite dish is fine, but no antennas.

I haven't looked, but it would be interesting to see if you could fashion or purchase an antennal that was shaped like a satellite dish with a reflective grid and some active receiving elements... Wonder how that would go down in the battle. :) (Or if it would even be big enough to work in your area)

Funny enough Radio Shack does have an antenna that (sort of) looks like a satellite dish.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2348191

I'll play nice and try some other indoor options first. If that doesn't work then I'll press the HOA. Heck, I've noticed neighbors that have three or four dishes up, I don't see a small unobtrusive antenna like the Antennas Direct ClearStream2 as being any worse than multiple dishes.

You can't fool Mother Nature or violate the laws of physics. Unfortunately, too much of the descriptive literature about antennas is nonsense bordering on the criminally dishonest. The Antennas Direct ClearStream2 you mentioned is only rated at 50 miles and is UHF only. You could easily build a better UHF antenna yourself and save a bunch of $$.

A separate Channel 13 Yagi for the top end of VHF and an 8 bow tie UHF antenna should do the trick -- if they were roof top mounted. I forget the exact rule of thumb but an attic installation is only about 50% as good as a roof top, but usually still better than down in the house itself. At 65 miles distant you should have enough signal strength for an attic installation.

Keep in mind that there are "sweet spots" for reception and their distances apart vary by wavelength. As I recall, a sweet spot for channel 13 is about 12 feet apart from spot to spot, and the distances are proportionally less for the UHF channels. It's all based on wavelengths. But, moving an antenna a few feet one way or another can often make a huge difference, especially for in-attic installations.

I would be tempted to give a channel 13 Yagi a trial in your attic and move it around to try and find its sweet spot. This is the antenna I am using for channel 13:

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=Y5-7-13&xzoom=Large#xview

The UHF channels might be received OK with an in-attic installation and building one is not too difficult as UHF wavelengths are much shorter than channel 13. Recipes abound here to do so. But, if you build one of the projects listed here make it a large antenna, an 8 bow-tie version. And, again, try moving it left and right and forward and backward to find the "sweet spot" for at least the weakest UHF channel. Unfortunately, sweet spot locations vary by wavelength so the preferred location for one channel may not be the same one as for a different channel. But, Sycamore is only 65 miles away so you should have enough signal strength to allow for a little imprecision in positioning an antenna, especially for UHF.

Again, there is no magic in antenna design. You can't substitute fancy product descriptions for number of working elements and square inches of receiving elements.:(

Funny enough Radio Shack does have an antenna that (sort of) looks like a satellite dish.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2348191

I'll play nice and try some other indoor options first. If that doesn't work then I'll press the HOA. Heck, I've noticed neighbors that have three or four dishes up, I don't see a small unobtrusive antenna like the Antennas Direct ClearStream2 as being any worse than multiple dishes.

Hey JM,

I was on vacation last week and missed this completely. Sorry to hear of your troubles...I thought you'd get a lot more, but you are in a fairly low area.

You should be getting WQRF pounding into your antenna, at 900 kw.