@GT25Ump

If your worried about DirecTV's $300 dollar HD-DVR, Check out Dish Network's HD-DVR. It is a $100 Dollars Cheaper and is 4 times the product.

I can't post links yet (you have to post 5 times in a forum) but go to google and search for cnet Dish Network and the first link that pops up is the CNET review of the Dish Network HD-DVR.

If you have any questions about its functionality feel free to ask me. I don't mean to be promoting dish network this much, but I have been really pleased with my experience with them and I think if you owe it to yourself to look at all of your options and not just settle on one distributor. Competition between the Big companies means the consumer WINS!!!!

Here's the link for the Dish DVR Revew (http://reviews.cnet.com/Dish_Network_ViP622/4505-6474_7-31778299.html)

....Check out Dish Network's HD-DVR. It is a $100 Dollars Cheaper and is 4 times the product....

Ummm Ok.

GT - I'd suggest doing some research at AVSForm in the Recorder section. The Dish HD-DVR is not without it's own set of issues. In addition, Dish is out of bandwidth for adding HD and have not announced plans for adding any.

Hey guys, I want to fully utilize my HD monitors. Should I stick with cableone and it's limited HD programming or should I install Dish Network which has something like 27 HD channels. I would love to have NFL Network and ESPN2 in HD. I heard cableone is getting some more HD channels for an extra $5.00 a month. Those channels don't appeal to me. I'm getting fed up with cableones programming. They have 2 ESPN classics and no ESPNU. I'm also interested in getting the Big10 network but don't know the details on who will provide it. Anyways I'm at a crossroad and the internet bundle package is the only thing keeping me with Cabledumb.

Advise

Thanks,
Nosok

GT25Ump,

I'm a recent graduate to the HD realm. I live in the northside SC area, and have Directv and a Terk antenna in the attic. I get great reception for all of the SC channels except KCAU-since their tower is the opposite direction as the others.

It's still very surprising you were given the option to buy the national affiliates. I've been a Directv customer for >10 years, and the only way you're SUPPOSED to get the national affiliates is if you live in a rural area where you can't get your local stations via antenna. It doesn't have anything to do with whether they offer our local stations (unfortunately).

I can't get the SF or Omaha stations, but I probably have a wimpy antenna and no amplifier. Question for those of you who have a rotor, how do you move it? Remote I presume, but how far away from the antenna will the remote still work? Any of you out there in SC still able to get SF/Omaha WITHOUT a rotor? I assume I'll need an amplifier, which is fine.

I'd be happy to help you (although I'm not a pro!!!!) any way I can. Take care.

Steve

skjoyce - I have a Channel Master rotor (not sure the model number) and it is wired directly to a little control box that has an I/R remote. I put the control box next to my TV. It has a digital readout of the direction it's pointed, and you can program it for set positions or rotate cw / cww manually. The remote is I/R so I guess it would work 25-30' but line of sight only. I suppose you could get an X10 repeater if you couldn't mount the control box in line of sight. I doubt you could get Sioux Falls and/or Omaha without a rotor and amplifier.

Have you tried pointing the antenna at Terra to get KCAU? Depending on where you live you might be able to get all the stations that way. BTW - I haven't looked at antennas for a while but I didn't hear too many great things about Terk. A CM 4221 or 4228 works great with a 7775 or 7777 amp.

Mark

SC stations coming in pretty good in SF.

Looks like I may have to adjust some antennas. FOX 44 digital is coming in better than my local FOX 17HD here in Sioux Falls. I know I don't have my antenna pointed at the SC tower. I'm pointed at about 100° towards my Rowena tower and I think SC would be at about 160°

Are all SC stations located at the tower NE of SC near Hinton?
Are they all broadcasting in HD? I know NBC is, but it would be great if FOX was.

FOX 17 here for me breaks up alot during "24" and I am only 7 miles from the tower so it would be nice to have an alternative.

For those of you comparing HD satellite receivers/services ....

I think the key thing to getting the most out of your HD service is having a way to record both OTA and satellite HD. I have no experience with Dish so I am of no help there.

My HR10-250 for DirecTV has worked great . only rebooted or locked up 3-4 times in 14 months. The only downside is that receiver does not have a built-in OTA analog receiver. So you can not get non-digital locals .. like for me regular FOX 17 when FOX HD is really bad. D* expects you to subscribe to the locals through their service to get the std analog TV signal, which sucks for now when I have problems getting all locals in digital.

That receiver also allows only HDMI output to be live when outputing HD. If you output 480i, then multiple outputs are live. This is only an issue if you want to run to multiple TV/s at once from a receiver.

My other,older HD receivers(no DVR) allow multiple outputs so you can watch HD on one set and then run the S-Video output w/sound to a set in another room or to multiple sets if you rebroadcast the singal thru a channel modulator. A nice feature if your home is set up to do it.

The dish receiver HD DVR pulls in your antenna and the OTA channels and automatically incorporates them into your on screen guide. This allows you to record 2 shows on the satellite and a 3rd show on the OTA antenna.

One gripe I do have with my Dish HD DVR is that it doesn't connect to my home network. It only has an old school phone line connector (I don't have a phone line). This means I have to log onto Dishnetwork website and order pay-per-view that way. Not a huge deal, but it is an inconvenience.

Thanks Hiltsy. I doubt I'll get the other stations if I direct my antenna towards Terra, since it's nearly 180 degrees from where I need it, but I guess it's worth a shot. I'll look into the CM antennas, maybe I can still send my Terk back to Bestbuy.

Anyone enjoy the continuous freezing of KMEG yesterday during the Colts/Pats game???? How bloody aggravating!!!! I went to my analog tv setting and at least could watch it. Ugh. By the way, my wife noticed there's now a KPTH-HD entry on our tv guide...though doesn't appear to be HD yet. Anyone else?

I can get KPTH digital in Sioux Falls. The game yesterday was not in HD though.

If you are getting freezing on any of your channels, go to your signal strength meter and watch is for awhile. If it is solid and strong, the station may have a problem, but if the signal jumps around alot from high to low you may be getting multipath signals. I am so close to the SF towers that has been an issue with me.

KPTH / Fox is not HD yet and neither is KMEG/CBS for that matter. However, an article in the SC Journal a couple weeks ago said the Super Bowl on CBS would be broadcast in HD. They also said Fox would go HD soon after but I heard they are having some equipment difficulties so the timeframe for Fox HD is not determined.

The HR20 (D*) integrates the locals into the guide as does the HR10-250. The HR20 has a network connection, and I used it to connect to my home network via ethernet and Windows Media Player 11. I can view pictures and listen to music from my PC on the HDTV. Pretty cool. Check out the HR20 forum at DBSTalk for more info.

hiltsy855

Does the HR20 have local analog on the guide or just satellite and local digitial like the HR10 has? I would assume it is structured like the HR10.

My Samsung HD has the following for example:

KELO - 11 -- Satellite
KELO - 11 -- Analog
KELODT - 11-1 --Digitial

Which means I didn't have to give D* an extra $4.99 a month for SD locals to show up in my guide as long as I had an antenna to pick them up. Sounds like that is going to be a moot point on March 6th. On another forum they stated that D*'s whole pricing plan is changing and I'll pay for locals whether I want to or not. From what I can see it is going to cost me $8-12 to keep my same programming as they are also mixing up the tiers.

Also sounded like if you are adding receivers you should do it before Feb 6th to avoid added costs.

I noticed that ch. 460 is listed as KMEGH. The programming looks like standard def. Are they still working out some kinks? Is anyone else experiencing this? I would love to see the Iowa basketball game tommorow in HD.

Nosok

hiltsy855

Does the HR20 have local analog on the guide or just satellite and local digitial like the HR10 has? I would assume it is structured like the HR10.

My Samsung HD has the following for example:

KELO - 11 -- Satellite
KELO - 11 -- Analog
KELODT - 11-1 --Digitial

Which means I didn't have to give D* an extra $4.99 a month for SD locals to show up in my guide as long as I had an antenna to pick them up. Sounds like that is going to be a moot point on March 6th. On another forum they stated that D*'s whole pricing plan is changing and I'll pay for locals whether I want to or not. From what I can see it is going to cost me $8-12 to keep my same programming as they are also mixing up the tiers.

Also sounded like if you are adding receivers you should do it before Feb 6th to avoid added costs.

No, the HR20 doesn't do analog, but as you point out you'll be getting them via D* soon anyway. I will see the same price increase as you - which sucks.

Does anyone know why KMEG comes through my OTA in a seemingly high def resolution (i.e. my I have my picture mode on standard and the picture fills up the entire screen with no black bars) yet, clearly the picture is not in HD?

Hopefully it is in HD for the SUPER BOWL!!!

KMEG's "fake HD" wide mode also appears on my Sony HD set, just as if I had hit the "wide" button on the remote. It has got to be the way they are transmitting it - yet the same engineers are doing the digital transmissions for KPTH - which doesn't do the "fake HD" with their standard definition mode.

I suppose this doesn't affect all HDTV brands, but it always affects mine.

I have emailed the KMEG engineer a couple of times about this, but never get a response. They also don't answer their phone if you call and ask to be transferred to them. Perhaps all of this will resolve itself in the next few days when they turn on the real HD signal in time for the super bowl. Or not. It would be very unfortunate if they continue to broadcast all of their standard definition programming in stretch-o-vision.

I spoke to cableone about the fake stretch o vision and they told me it would be resolved this weekend. Take it for what its worth. Did anyone notice last Monday on NBCHD during Heroes and ABCHD What about Brian? The sound was going off and on and the picture froze at times. It was quite aggravating.

Is this correct that Directv will be getting Sioux City LIL? That would be cool. I might have read Hiltsy885 wrong. Just curious.

Is this correct that Directv will be getting Sioux City LIL? That would be cool. I might have read Hiltsy885 wrong. Just curious.

BVFan gets Sioux Falls locals I believe.

From what I've heard KMEG will go HD for the Super Bowl only. Then revert back to the stretch-o-vision crap afterwards. The reason is they don't have the equipment to inject local commercials into the network feed. So I think for the SB they will just switch over to CBS and leave it there. They did a test earlier this week in HD, Monday I think. KPTH Fox is in the same boat, they just need the proper equipment.

Re: D* locals

Isn't it great they have 142 markets with locals and we're like #144? Sometimes it feels like we'll be the last city in North America to have local HD. :mad:

From what I've heard KMEG will go HD for the Super Bowl only. Then revert back to the stretch-o-vision crap afterwards. The reason is they don't have the equipment to inject local commercials into the network feed. So I think for the SB they will just switch over to CBS and leave it there. They did a test earlier this week in HD, Monday I think. KPTH Fox is in the same boat, they just need the proper equipment.

From KMEG's Website...

KMEG to broadcast Super Bowl XLI in High Definition
A first for Siouxland -- the biggest television event of the year will be broadcast by KMEG in breathtaking high definition. Full power KMEG DT will broadcast in HD over the air on KMEG 14.1. It will also be available on the digital tier of Cable One on channel 460 and Long Lines Cable Channel 103.

When CBS Sports presents Super Bowl XLI on Sunday, Feb. 4 (5 p.m., CT) from Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Fla., live on the CBS Television Network, highlighted among the technological advances that will be incorporated during its coverage are high-speed cameras and high-tech lighting that enable the cameras to be seen in fullest resolution. Super Bowl Sunday also features the CBS Television Network’s biggest one day of programming in high definition television format.

IMO they must be having issues with something becuase tonight while the wife and I were watching TV they were switching between the stretch-O-vision crap and standard view and it was even making a mess of the signal they send to Dish, even more annoying was the fact that when they went to stretch-O-vision the audio would go out of sink and there was a bad, delayed echo.

IMO it's never a good thing when you are trying to work out your bugs during your prime time programming.

KMEG is not broadcasting in their fake stretchy mode as of 3:01 pm central time. It appears they are ready to broadcast the Super Bowl in HD.

Are the rumors true that the Super Bowl is the only thing they plan to broadcast in HD???

KMEG is NOW broadcasting in HD, as of 7 PM Saturday night. First show: CSI Miami. They are broadcasting on 14.1 and on CableOne on 460. Sound is not dolby digital, though.

KMEG is NOW broadcasting in HD, as of 7 PM Saturday night. First show: CSI Miami. They are broadcasting on 14.1 and on CableOne on 460. Sound is not dolby digital, though.

Yes, I saw that too. The HD was going in & out so they must have been testing. A positive it that when they went back to SD it wasn't stretch-o-vision crap. The audio was really screwed up at times too, hope they get it straightened out by SB time. I noticed they did a couple of local commercials during CSI, but there was a commercial for Macy's too that I don't think we would normally see here. I hope they stay with this setup, and that my info about KMEG dropping HD after the SB is incorrect.

KMEG's general manager was on their 6:00 news last week, saying that he knew it had been a long wait for HD, but the good thing is that once the HD has been turned on, we'll have it forever (or something very like that.)

Now, how about their other station KPTH-Fox in HD?

I noticed they did a couple of local commercials during CSI, but there was a commercial for Macy's too that I don't think we would normally see here.


There is a Macy's in sioux falls (although that isn't relevant in this forum).

Does anyone have any news about whether KPTH is going HD? 24 in HD would be SWEEEEEET!!!!!

Super Bowl looked great on KMEG tonight, the outcome sucked since I'm a Bears fan! But, I was impressed with the HD broadcast, looked great!

KMEG HD. Super Bowl looked real good..better than KELO. No sub-channel...I'll take the improved pic quality over better sound every day that ends in "y".

KMEG HD. Super Bowl looked real good..better than KELO. No sub-channel...I'll take the improved pic quality over better sound every day that ends in "y".

Totally agreed. There were instances where they had some 'issues' with picture quality but overall I think they did a great job. Hope it stays that way (no sub-channel).

I think KMEG's picture quality is just great. I did not have any glitches in the Super Bowl, nor since.

Come on KPTH...You can dooooo it!

KPTH-HD

I emailed the general manager of KPTH (Fox) in Sioux City to ask when they would have their broadcasts in HD. Here is his reply:

We have turned our attention to getting KPTH in beautiful HD. It is a bit more complicated than the KMEG project. We should be in HD mid to late March.
Sooner if we get a few breaks.

Mid March - not such a long wait.

KPTH - FOX in HD will be awesome.

I only watched a few shows on KMEG this week, but it looked to me like HD was hit & miss. Earlier in the week Criminal Minds was 4:3 SD pillarbox, and yesterday CSI was HD. At least they got rid of stretch-o-vision on SD. Maybe they are forgetting to flip the switch to HD....

I noticed that too hiltsy. I was wondering if they were having probs with the equipment already.?

I think KMEG forgets to flick the HD switch - remember when KSFY went HD? It was a constant problem for the first couple of weeks; over time they "fixed" it.

I think KMEG forgets to flick the HD switch - remember when KSFY went HD? It was a constant problem for the first couple of weeks; over time they "fixed" it.

Yep that's probably it. I watched a little KMEG on Saturday and they had all the HD CBS sent. The golf at Pebble Beach looked great. Thanks KMEG!!!

Anyone know why SD Public TV hasn't been broadcasting HD? :confused:
Or why My-KPTH is showing a screen saver of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition? :p

I got this message recently from them:

We had an equipment failure in December and cannot broadcast HD. We have some equipment on emergency order but it isn't expected to arrive for another 30-45 days. The equipment we need is in high demand and is out of stock so we are waiting for it to be manufactured.

We will be replacing the whole HD encoding system later this summer. We were unfortunate to have a failure in the old system before we got it replaced.

Steven Thum
TV Programming Assistant
South Dakota Public Broadcasting

Looks like the PBS guys got their new equipment in; Jewel was in 1080i last night on Soundstage. Looked like only stereo audio though.

BVFan gets Sioux Falls locals I believe.
DirecTV is going to make me subscribe to SD locals starting in March I believe. AND charge me more for it. No talk about HD locals except I read somewhere else that D* is adding many more local HD markets by end of year. I forget the number though.

I think KMEG forgets to flick the HD switch - remember when KSFY went HD? It was a constant problem for the first couple of weeks; over time they "fixed" it.

When you see this on KMEG, just call the newsline and ask them if they are having trouble with the HD signal. If they are not or don't know, ask them to ask the engineer to flip the HD switch. I was a routine caller to KELO and KSFY when they first went HD. I had many Sundays I would call KELO and ask for a flip switch and lo and behold about a minute later HD Football. Never really had a bad experience calling anye station, you just have to stay pleasant and be a concerned viewer.

Better yet to get the engineering phone number, but that is hard to get.

You should just make sure that the programming you are trying to watch is supposed to be HD. All CBS football and other sports are not HD.

Sometimes you find out there are network or local issues. PLUS the weather and school reports are a whole other issue that still PMO. KELO and KDLT have to switch to SD for these and they run them only during the programming and not during commercials. So sometimes you get a HD commercial and then they switch to SD during the program to run the message at the bottom.

With the launch of DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11 satellites in 2007, DIRECTV will have the ability to deliver more than 1,500 local HD and digital channels and 150 national HD channels, in addition to new advanced programming services for customers.

Found this on the D* site. Maybe by the end of the year D* will be a viable alternative to any cable system to get HD - including local HD. AND maybe the cable companies will have to make their phone, internet, cable bundles more attractive to keep us.

One would think 1500 locals would include almost all markets. Right now SF gets 7 SD locals from D* so if you add 5 HD locals - that is 12 channels. 12 into 1500 gets us to about 125 markets -- SF is #116 and SC is #143 according to Nielsen so it may be neither of us will have local HD from D*, but all markets above us may not have HD local channels to broadcast so I guess we will have to wait and see.

What's up with ch. 460 in Sioux City. I was anxious to watch the triple header on KMEG in HD. They need to get there heads out of there asses!

Ya, I didn't get KMEG or KPTH OTA this weekend. I assumed the weather caused problems. I had a little trouble getting KTIV also. KCAU & KSIN were fine though.

Last night's HD broadcast of the Oscars on KCAU-HD had a gorgeous picture, and for the first time (that I've noticed, anyway) the sound was in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The combination of the pristine picture and the well-mixed sound was perfect - right up until KCAU switched to SD and injected the "school closings" every half-hour or so. When that happened, I had to switch to KSFY - and that lost me the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Guess you can't have everything.

I talked to one of the KPTH Fox guys on Saturday, and he said their HD broadcasts should be on the air "in a couple of months." (!) When he saw my reaction, he said, "well, maybe by the end of March." Yeah, whatever.

I live in Moville and I am using my Windows Media Center PC with a digital tuner card to watch HD over the air. I am now get KTIV, KMEG, KPTH, and PBS in HD, but I cannot seem to add KCAU and the CW. Can anyone tell me which channels these are? Also, I have tried to add these channels to my listings based on TVTitans listings, but my Media Center asks for a frequency as well as a station number. Does anyone have any ideas on this. Please help if you can!!! Thanks.

I live in Moville and I am using my Windows Media Center PC with a digital tuner card to watch HD over the air. I am now get KTIV, KMEG, KPTH, and PBS in HD, but I cannot seem to add KCAU and the CW. Can anyone tell me which channels these are? Also, I have tried to add these channels to my listings based on TVTitans listings, but my Media Center asks for a frequency as well as a station number. Does anyone have any ideas on this. Please help if you can!!! Thanks.

KPTH is not HD at this time, but it is SD channel 49 (44.1). FYI, KPTH has a subchannel for MyNetwork TV programming on channel 49 (44.2). KCAU is HD, but on low power at this time (so you may not get it in Moville) and they broadcast on channel 30 (9.1). KTIV broadcasts HD on channel 41 (4.1) and they have a subchannel for CW programming (4.2). As far as frequencies go, I don't know them. Hope this helps.

I live in Moville and I am using my Windows Media Center PC with a digital tuner card to watch HD over the air. I am now get KTIV, KMEG, KPTH, and PBS in HD, but I cannot seem to add KCAU and the CW. Can anyone tell me which channels these are? Also, I have tried to add these channels to my listings based on TVTitans listings, but my Media Center asks for a frequency as well as a station number. Does anyone have any ideas on this. Please help if you can!!! Thanks.


IF you want to find out what out there go to www.antennaweb.org and enter your zip code and click on options and enter 200 in the heigth box and enter you will get all station but keep in mind you may or not get all the station but give you idea what is out there and how far away and which direction they are and under digital it will show what the actual channel they transimt on.

Anyone heard more on when KPTH - FOX is going HD?

KTTW - Sioux Falls is extremely unreliable. I get about 40% signal from them - 7 miles away. I get a 75% signal from KPTH - 70 miles away. And I am pointed at the SF tower!

Would love to get the big ass VHF antenna (KTTW is on CH 7) off my roof.

Got a reply from KPTH ---

I appreciate your email.

Interesting how these signals fly! Wow.

We will upgrade to HD on KPTH in the next 45 to 60 days.

Scott Eymer
General Manager
KPTH TV Sioux City

That is excellent news.

Hopefully KPTH is HD before 24 is done!

I live in vermillion, SD and my KPTH/KMEG signal is 100% (30 miles away), while I don't even get the KTTW signal.

I talked to one of the commercial sales guys from KPTH and he told me that it will be another 3 to 4 weeks before they begin broadcasting in HD.

Here's why: they have to move most of their KPTH video equipment from their present location in South Sioux City, NE to the new home at the KMEG facilities in Dakota Dunes, AND some of the old equipment that they won't be using has to be shipped off to another station in Arizona. They have to install their equipment in Dakota Dunes and make sure everything is functioning -- THEN they can work on the transition to HD.

He said we should be looking for Fox-HD by baseball season!

Hopefully KPTH is HD before 24 is done!

I live in vermillion, SD and my KPTH/KMEG signal is 100% (30 miles away), while I don't even get the KTTW signal.

Nobody does - unless you live within 5 miles of the tower on a hill with a category PURPLE directional antenna.

They have a brand new tower up out at Rowena - right by the KDLT tower. Now if they just get it into action.

Hopefully KPTH is HD before 24 is done!

According to the web site -- FOX has 10 more episodes of 24 left. Should get to see some in HD if everything goes right for KPTH.

They have a brand new tower up out at Rowena - right by the KDLT tower. Now if they just get it into action.

They built their own? I thought they were going to use the KDLT tower.? Anyways, it would be nice to see them at full power.

They built their own? I thought they were going to use the KDLT tower.? Anyways, it would be nice to see them at full power.
When I look online at the FCC site, it appears to be a seperate location, but you are most likely correct. If you drive on that county road west from Larchwood to Gitchiemaniteau(sp?), isn't there two or three towers in a row there?

The FCC site shows the KTTW broadcasting height at 260 m lower that KDLT and it shows them broadcasting at 5kW on their permit, but could be on the same transmission tower. KDLT is broadcasting at 860kW.

When I look online at the FCC site, it appears to be a seperate location, but you are most likely correct. If you drive on that county road west from Larchwood to Gitchiemaniteau(sp?), isn't there two or three towers in a row there?

The FCC site shows the KTTW broadcasting height at 260 m lower that KDLT and it shows them broadcasting at 5kW on their permit, but could be on the same transmission tower. KDLT is broadcasting at 860kW.

If you follow the "local map" link on the FCC site, you end up with an identical map for the proposed location of KTTW-DT and the current KDLT-DT. The next tower just west of KDLT is KWSD's (CW) tower. And the next one (closest to Gitchie Manitou :) ) is just a backup for KELO analog and FM.

Has there been anyword on when KCAU might move their HD antenna to the Hinton area? It is starting to get old having to move my antenna from facing Hinton to facing Downtown Sioux City. The old part is when I forget to rotate it and my tivo gets nothing recorded due to no signal. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Has there been anyword on when KCAU might move their HD antenna to the Hinton area? It is starting to get old having to move my antenna from facing Hinton to facing Downtown Sioux City. The old part is when I forget to rotate it and my tivo gets nothing recorded due to no signal. :mad: :mad: :mad:
I talked with the operations manager at KCAU a couple of days ago and he indicated that they will broadcast digital from the Hinton tower at full power sometime in May.

I talked with the operations manager at KCAU a couple of days ago and he indicated that they will broadcast digital from the Hinton tower at full power sometime in May.

I hope that's true, I live 25 miles away and get nothing from KCAU, and I get 100% signal from everyone else. That would be great! :)

Hi, all...

it's been awhile since I posted here. Glad to see more and more people are getting into the HD world.

About DirecTV getting the Sioux City local channels, I can tell you that I just talked with DirecTV last week and I was told that "Sioux City is not on the radar" for adding locals anytime soon. She was looking at the schedule of local deployments, and Sioux City was not on the calendar at least through the end of the year. That's a bummer, because I understand that when they do launch local channels in Sioux City, it will probably be our HD signal that they'll pick up.

One more note, in response to the question about the CW, there is NOT HD programming yet available on the CW. When they make it available, we'll look into what it would take for us to pass it through. Unfortunately, I don't think technology has caught up enough to allow us to pass through both our HD from NBC and a new HD stream from CW at the same time. So, don't hold your breath waiting for CW in HD.

Has anyone else had problems with KPTH? I've had 100% signal strength all day, but no picture. Same for 44-2. Is it me or are they having problems? Just wondering

Before I had to leave on Sat. night, I watched a little of KMEG 14 during the pre-game Road to Final Four. I noticed they kept the Weather Bug map, the one that showed all the watches and warnings in the bottom left corner. And while the pregame was going on, it was in HD even with the bug! I was impressed. Did they do this during the game(s)? I think they even made the bug slightly transparent. Now if KELO could do that, that would be great.

Also, does anyone know what KDLT is advertising as their change to KDLT news is? I keep seeing commercials that say a change is coming to KDLT News. My thoughts are maybe an HD News Cast.?~ColAvsFan

CableOne in Sioux City has made available it's previously announced HD channels of Discovey HD on 494, National Geographic on 495, A&E HD on 496, HGTV HD on 497, and Food Network HD on 498. Also looks like they will be adding ESPN 2 HD soon since it is showing on the guide. Not sure if ESPN 2 HD will have extra charge like the 494-498 channels. Anyone heard?

My understanding is that ESPN2-HD will be a part of their basic digital tier, just like ESPN-HD and TNT-HD - no extra charge.

The picture quality (so far) is mostly excellent on the new HD channels. Discovery HD Theater has some brilliant programs - now we'll have to see how often they repeat the same shows.

CableOne has moved ESPN HD to channel 491 and added ESPN 2 HD on channel 492. TNT HD is no longer being provided. They were forced to drop it and Court TV when CableOne wouldn't agree to a large increase in cost for Court TV.

I talked to one of the commercial sales guys from KPTH and he told me that it will be another 3 to 4 weeks before they begin broadcasting in HD.

Here's why: they have to move most of their KPTH video equipment from their present location in South Sioux City, NE to the new home at the KMEG facilities in Dakota Dunes, AND some of the old equipment that they won't be using has to be shipped off to another station in Arizona. They have to install their equipment in Dakota Dunes and make sure everything is functioning -- THEN they can work on the transition to HD.

He said we should be looking for Fox-HD by baseball season!

The Baseball season has started. Any updates?

Perhaps they meant "World Series."

I have noticed that they are now again broadcasting a digital signal - perhaps tonight there will be a HD signal.

Perhaps they meant "World Series."

I have noticed that they are now again broadcasting a digital signal - perhaps tonight there will be a HD signal.


I watched the Cubs and the Cards on Saturday and still no HD from KPTH :mad:

I wish I understood what takes so long for them to hook up the HD equipment? Anyone know why it is so difficult?

I received a reply from Scott Eymer, General Manager of KPTH about the HD upgrade schedule:

We suffered two tube losses last week on KPTH which delayed our launch of HD.
I will miss my goal of May 1 but not by much. We are very close!

Don't know what kind of "tube" he means - I thought everything was solid-state digital.

I received a reply from Scott Eymer, General Manager of KPTH about the HD upgrade schedule:



Don't know what kind of "tube" he means - I thought everything was solid-state digital.

Not in the transmitters.

Hi, all....

in case you didn't get an email from me, let me tell you that KTIV's digital signal (HD and the CW) are down today (4/30). We were attempting to "tweak" a part on our digital encoder when it failed completely.

A new part has been ordered, and we're hopeful it will arrive Tuesday and we can get it installed before noon.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi, all....

in case you didn't get an email from me, let me tell you that KTIV's digital signal (HD and the CW) are down today (4/30). We were attempting to "tweak" a part on our digital encoder when it failed completely.

A new part has been ordered, and we're hopeful it will arrive Tuesday and we can get it installed before noon.

Sorry for the inconvenience.
I missed the best show on all of tv tonight. HEROES! What is the chance of replaying it in HD sometime?

Sorry, Husker 619, we don't have any way to replay Heroes.

Husker 619, Heroes replays friday on Scifi Channel or you can get the episode from iTunes for $1.99. I took the iTunes route, it isn't HD but it looks like a DVD.

Thank you for your interest. We are presently working on strengthening our
2000 foot tower so that we can put up a full power antenna. We hope to have
this done in the next month or so weather permitting.

Dan Ackerman
Vice President of Engineering
Citadel Communications Company, LTD.
402-436-2275
DAckerman@klkntv.com

More great news for some of us that cannot currently receive KCAU.

More great news for some of us that cannot currently receive KCAU.

I'd like to see KCAU get the new antenna going as much as anyone, but I'm not holding my breath. Every one of these 'projected' startup dates have been off by months.

Asking for some input...

believe it or not, I still don't have an HD at my home. So, I'm wondering if people in this forum would mind sharing some of what's good and what's not to help me select an HDTV.

I am limited to no bigger than a 37" screen. Anybody have any input on makes, models, etc?

Dave, If you are limited to 37" I would look at the new LG 37LB5D that supports 1080P. Pflanz in Sioux City has one on display. For the price it looks like a winner to me.

Sams club sells a brand called Vizio. They are dirt cheap and I bought one (50" plasma) and am perfectly happy with it. Check out the reviews on Cnet. They have a free 1 year in home warranty service where they will pay for someone to come fix any problem you have. Great service, I used it to have them fix a noisy fan (they actually replaced the fan as well as some chip board) all for free.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know there are perfectly viable options besides the Big name brands.

Dave:

Go to Pflanz, tell Vance what you are looking for and he will take care of you. Trust Vance and you will be happy.

Thanks for the input, everybody.

Anyone have any updated info on when DirecTv will have locals in HD in Sioux Falls? The HD-DVR receiver I got from them doesn't currently support an off air antenna (so they say). Any DirecTv HD-DVR users out there picking up locals in HD with an antenna? I really want to see the final episode of Heros in HD!

Thanks for any info!

Jim

The HD-DVR receiver I got from them doesn't currently support an off air antenna (so they say). Any DirecTv HD-DVR users out there picking up locals in HD with an antenna? I really want to see the final episode of Heros in HD!

Thanks for any info!

Jim
Jim,
I just installed the new HR20-100s from Directv (tivo replacement) which is an HD-DVR and it will do OTA. Shows up in the guide also so you can record it. What Receiver did they give you?

Jim,
I just installed the new HR20-100s from Directv (tivo replacement) which is an HD-DVR and it will do OTA. Shows up in the guide also so you can record it. What Receiver did they give you?

Thanks for the quick reply. I have the DirecTV HR20. Maybe I just need to get the lastest software update. Do you have an OTA hooked up to it? I didn't read the manual...just took Directv's word for it. Thanks for the info! I'm excited to get home and check it out.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have the DirecTV HR20. Maybe I just need to get the lastest software update. Do you have an OTA hooked up to it? I didn't read the manual...just took Directv's word for it. Thanks for the info! I'm excited to get home and check it out.


Yes, I have OTA hooked up to the receiver and working. When that receiver first come out, OTA was not an option. Many updates have come out since the release of the HR20. The tuner that is in my HR20 works so much better than my older HR10 for OTA. :D :D :D

Yes, I have OTA hooked up to the receiver and working. When that receiver first come out, OTA was not an option. Many updates have come out since the release of the HR20. The tuner that is in my HR20 works so much better than my older HR10 for OTA. :D :D :D

Awesome. Did you setup the OTA yourself, or did Directv do it for you? Could I trouble you for the brand and model of the OTA? Thanks tons!

Heres the reply sent today from the General Manager at KPTH.


Mr. Koson,

We are very close but continue to have equipment issues that cause a delay.
I know our viewers are anxious, we are too! I think we are down to a few weeks before we broadcast KPTH in HD.

Thank you for your email and your interest in our HD roll out.


Scott

Hopefully Kpth is up soon, is there any more news on Kcau boosting their signal?

I've noticed glitches in KCAUs audio. Are they working on there signal?

I've noticed glitches in KCAUs audio. Are they working on there signal?
The KCAU HD audio has been a problem for sometime. I have complained to both KCAU and CableOne. After complaining it seems to get better for a while then eventually degrades. KCAU claims the signal going out from them to CableOne is good and the problem appears to be somewhere after it leaves KCAU. I can't get KCAU HD with an antenae to verify if the audio glitches are just through CableOne. Is anyone receiving KCAU HD with an antenae experiencing the audio cutting out for about 30 seconds every 10-15 minutes?

I get KCAU OTA but I don't watch that much. I'll check. One thing I have noticed since they started broadcasting is that the volume level is about 2/3 of every other station I can receive. It's quite annoying.

From the FCC's latest report 07-91 dated May 18th, 2007 ....
"According to the station, at the “eleventh hour,” the owner of the tower proposed by KCAU-DT, Sioux City, Iowa, for its DTV facilities changed its mind and decided to not permit the station access to the tower. The station states that it is now pursuing the prospect of using its existing analog tower site for collocating its DTV facilities. The station states that it is working with the tower owner to obtain its consent."

Wow, that sounds very harsh. I hope the tower owners change their mind soon.

From the FCC's latest report 07-91 dated May 18th, 2007 ....
"According to the station, at the “eleventh hour,” the owner of the tower proposed by KCAU-DT, Sioux City, Iowa, for its DTV facilities changed its mind and decided to not permit the station access to the tower. The station states that it is now pursuing the prospect of using its existing analog tower site for collocating its DTV facilities. The station states that it is working with the tower owner to obtain its consent."

This is an interesting response...but I can tell you that from what I know it isn't exactly true.

We had been negotiating with KCAU to put their DTV antenna on the new digital tower we co-own with KMEG and KPTH. That didn't work out, and they decided to try to put their DTV on the old analog tower that is co-owned by KTIV and KCAU. That's where they are working right now, and my understanding is that they are almost done with the work.

It's just weird that the previous post talks about "working with the tower owner to obtain its consent" when KCAU is one of the owners of that tower.

Anyway, I think KCAU will soon have their DTV up and operational.

Thanks for the update Dave

Thanks for clarifying that Dave. Glad to hear KCAU is nearing completion. Anybody hear when KPTH will be going HD?

Here's some news I originally posted in the Cedar Rapids thread which may be of interest. NOTE: this applies only to Iowa and not to the rest of the region.

Gov. Chet Culver has signed Senate File 554 (http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=BillInfo&Service=Billbook&ga=82&hbill=SF554), which allows video providers to seek a statewide franchise to offer cable television.

Up to now, cable companies have had to negotiate a franchise for each city in which they operate, but large telecommunications companies are hoping to avoid dealing with hundreds of cities as they seek to compete with incumbent cablecos such as Mediacom.

An FCC report (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-179A1.pdf) released in December found that cable rates have grown 93 percent since the mid-1990s. The report also found that satellite services don't compete effectively enough with cable to hold down rates, but a wireline competitor can.

Critics have warned that the bill doesn't give cities the say they currently enjoy on issues such as access channels. They've also warned that the bill specifically bans communities from enforcing mandatory build-out provisions. Some fear that provision would allow providers to bypass some areas in favor of more affluent neighborhoods whose residents would be more likely to buy premium services.

But the bill also specifically prohibits providers from denying access to potential customer groups because of income.

The bill also reinstates the full five-percent franchise tax on video services. The tax is allowed under federal law, but state courts have ruled that cities can't charge any more than is needed to regulate the service.

I'm thinking of getting to DISH in the next few weeks, mostly because I'm tired of Cableone. I have a few questions since I know Dish doesn't have HD in Sioux City so I would have to rely on OTA signals. In Sioux City, does Dish carry the electronic programming guide data and if so, are there any sub-channels with guide data? Thanks in advance.

Pparry - Dish receivers allow you to hook up an OTA to receive the local channels (In HD where available). The receiver is also capable of getting the progroamming guide data from these channels and it integrates that data into the entire programming guide. So what you see when you access the guide is your dish channels in Blue and OTA channels in yellow. This works on both the normal HD receiver and the HD DVR receiver (I have both).

Thanks for the info Nace- I know on the Satellite guys forums there is a lot of discussion about local subchannel guide info. Are there any local subchannels that can be received in Sioux city area, and does Dish provide the guide info for those subchannels?

Thanks.

You can get all the subchannels with your OTA and they will show up in the program guide but the actual tv listings don't show up. On the guide it just says "Digial Service". Which to me indicates they are not sending the info out in those channels.

Nace- Thanks for the information. Hopefully Dish updates the subchannel info.

Sorry if my above post was vague, the TV stations themselves have to send out the signal that has the program guide data in it. It has nothing to do with dish network.

Awesome. Did you setup the OTA yourself, or did Directv do it for you? Could I trouble you for the brand and model of the OTA? Thanks tons!
You proably have this worked out already. If not, the antenna equipment you need will vary with your location. If you are close to Rowena, rabbitears will probably work. I have a friend on a hill in Dell Rapids that is using a small, amplified rabbit ear type antenna.

Go to antennaweb.org and type in your address to see what your signal strength and direction is for the HD stations. That is the best place to start. Then if you need some other help, come on back here.

Hi, all...

I just heard today that the tower crew has about two weeks of work left on the KCAU tower. I don't know for sure the status of their transmitter.

Hi, all...

I just heard today that the tower crew has about two weeks of work left on the KCAU tower. I don't know for sure the status of their transmitter.

Dave - Thanks for the update.

Howdy all, been away from the thread for a bit. Talking of this KCAU tower, where exactly is it? I'm hoping it's NE of SC, like the KTIV/KPTH/KMEG one is, so my antenna will pick it up.

Thanks.

KCAU-DT will be on the same tower as KTIV's analog antenna, so yes, it's near Hinton, Iowa.

Is anyone having trouble getting KMEG these last couple of days?

Is anyone having trouble getting KMEG these last couple of days?

I've been having trouble getting Letterman in the evening (about the only time I watch TV in summer). I wasn't sure if it was my equipment or what. One time I checked and the signal was at 100% but I had no picture or sound. I'll have to check on my other receivers.

Hi, all...

I just heard today that the tower crew has about two weeks of work left on the KCAU tower. I don't know for sure the status of their transmitter.


Have we heard anymore on how close KCAU is to getting to full power?

I recieved another update on the KPTH HD situation. Hopefully they keep there word!

Paul,

KPTH in DT will be available on Cable One well in advance of Football Season.
I expect our pre-season games to be in HD.

As a matter of fact, our target date is to offer the All Star Baseball game in HD...which is less than 2 weeks away. We are that close (finally)!

Thanks for asking. We appreciate our viewers.

Scott

Will see :)

I recieved another update on the KPTH HD situation. Hopefully they keep there word!

Paul,

KPTH in DT will be available on Cable One well in advance of Football Season.
I expect our pre-season games to be in HD.

As a matter of fact, our target date is to offer the All Star Baseball game in HD...which is less than 2 weeks away. We are that close (finally)!

Thanks for asking. We appreciate our viewers.

Scott

Will see :)


That would be awesome! I think the All-Star game is July 10 - next Tuesday. Then all we need is for KCAU to get their new transmitter going and we're good to go. I heard they'll be up & running in 2 weeks but I've heard that same thing for the last 3 months.

Mark

On Cableone Ch. 475. Football can't get here any sooner. Now I just need the Big Ten Network to get on board with Cableone. I may end up going with Directv.

Paul

On Cableone Ch. 475. Football can't get here any sooner. Now I just need the Big Ten Network to get on board with Cableone. I may end up going with Directv.

Paul
They are not broadcasting it yet OTA HD :(

I recieved another update on the KPTH HD situation. Hopefully they keep there word!

Paul,

KPTH in DT will be available on Cable One well in advance of Football Season.
I expect our pre-season games to be in HD.

As a matter of fact, our target date is to offer the All Star Baseball game in HD...which is less than 2 weeks away. We are that close (finally)!

Thanks for asking. We appreciate our viewers.

Scott

Will see :)

Umm....No HD for the All-Star game, at least OTA. We WILL be the last city in the country to have all networks in HD. Anyone getting HD via CableOne?

Im watching the game right now on cableones feed ch. 475! Its really a crisp picture. I dont know why you couldnt pick it up ota. An engineer fromkpth left me a voicemail telling me that they were online with cableone and didn't mention ota. Please post when you guys recieve a signal.

Thanks, Paul

I get KPTH OTA and it is still not HD. Is cableone's still HD or did it go back after the game?

this is the email i got today:
There are never any guarantees, an unforeseen problem could still develop...but I expect we will have over the air HD by this time next week.

Umm....No HD for the All-Star game, at least OTA. We WILL be the last city in the country to have all networks in HD. Anyone getting HD via CableOne?

We have FOX in HD in SF, but I could not get OTA last night .... too many trees ... low signal... FOX sucks here too. I also get FOX HD on cable thru my PC on a QAM card, but that signal was jerky. Whoever owns FOX here really doesn't care about the viewers. I think we can write the FCC about that and if I find the right site I will.

We have FOX in HD in SF, but I could not get OTA last night .... too many trees ... low signal... FOX sucks here too. I also get FOX HD on cable thru my PC on a QAM card, but that signal was jerky. Whoever owns FOX here really doesn't care about the viewers. I think we can write the FCC about that and if I find the right site I will.

Wow I can't believe a 'bigger' city like Sioux Falls wouldn't have FOX HD OTA by now. Regards the FCC, your FOX certainly should be at full power by now so that is a legit complaint, but no stations are being forced to do HD, only digital.

Yup, Im just waiting for Sioux Falls Fox to go full power or Sioux City Fox to go HD for OTA. Its the last network I cant get for HD.

Can you guys or gals give me some advice on a reliable OTA so that I can pick up our locals. I will be getting Dish in a few weeks and they told me that they will install the antenna. I preferably would like to put it in my attic. I will also be using 3 receivers. Will I need an amp? Need help. Please Advise.

Thanks
Paul

Paul:

Just use the "Search this thread" for the word 'antenna' and you will find many posts about the antennas many of us use.

Your location and distance from the towers you are trying to reach will impact the model of antenna and whether you need an amp.

Good luck, and be patient as you aim your new antenna to find the sweet spot.

Paul,

Go to www.antennaweb.org and put in your coordinates. It will give you where you need to point the antenna from your location. It works great. Just get a compass and set them.
I have had really good luck with Antenna Directs products. I am 50 miles from each and am pulling them in with no problem with a DB4 at Sioux Falls and a DB8 at Sioux City.

Thanks for the advice guys. I just picked up the VU-90 XR from radioshack. It got some good reviews so I went with it and I intend to lay it up in my attic. I still have a few questions. 1) When I tested the antenna in my house I couldn't pick up kpth hd or kcau hd. Does anyone else have this problem. 2) Should I point the antenna towards the North?
Thanks again
Paul

It all depends on where you are at. If you are not within 10 or so miles from Sioux City, then you will not be getting KCAU. KPTH is only putting out 480p and at 50 miles it is pretty consistant.

When you say lay the antenna flat, are you laying the antenna flat? I don't know the shape of the VU-90 XR from Radio Shack, but Digital signals need to be alinged to be able to get them. With a Yagi this is even more true than the chicken mesh style of antennas. YOu need to get clearance away from objects. Keep the antenna at 90 degrees from the ground and point it towards the tower you want to receive the signal from, at the proper coordinates.

Thanks Ben for the advice. I live in Morningside right at the 10 mile mark from the Hinton Tower. I live 3.5 from the Terra Tower. Is there a time frame in which KCAU and KPTH will have more power to transmit like the others. Also what could I use to mount the antenna in the attic?

I am not sure of the time frame. From what I have read here, KCAU and KPTH should have been up awhile ago. But priorities and budget speak louder than our viewing preferences. I am more interested in KPTH, as Sioux Falls Fox HD feed will never reach me. Right now I am pulling in Fox HD via Directv.

In regards to a antenna mount. It all depends on your attic's layout and spacing. Just get a mast and some brackets from Radio Shack and support it in the attic that will fit. If it is in the attic it can be a little crude.

Does Directv have Sioux City locals in HD?

Directv does NOT have SC locals, and, to the best of my recent knowledge and dealings with them, has no intentions of adding them anytime soon. But it's no big deal...I get great HD reception from NBC and CBS, and receive great FOX picture with my antenna pointing to the Hinton tower. I'm told (by all these fine folks on this thread) that KCAU is "soon" to add their signal up north also, so we'll all be able to get it without moving our antenna to the Terra building for reception. Best of all, there is no monthly fee for this, which is NOT what you'll get with Directv. I have Directv, and like it for the most part.

Does anyone have any more info on where and when the new KCAU signal will be?

Or how about KPTH HD OTA?

Skjoyce,

Do you get WCBS Ch.80, KCBS Ch.81, WNBB Ch.82, all the way to Ch. 89 with your D*. These are the 4 big channels. According to titantv.com you should pick up these channels with your dish. Is that the case? Do they come in HD? I would still like to bring in my locals through an OTA. It wouldn't hurt if you had these to fall back on.

Anyone have a problem with their Directv receiver? Just recently, whenever I put in the number for my local channel (4, 14, 44, etc.) I get this "BONG" noise and the channel doesn't change, and the top of the screen says "channel not available". However, if I go to the guide, and go to 4, 14, 44, etc., the program info is there and I can press "select" and go to the channel. My questions are "why did this start now and what the heck is going on?" I have unplugged and reset my receivers, to no avail.

Thanks.

Nosok12,

The only way you will recieve all of those channels in the 80's is if you "move". In siouxland you will never get all of those channels, unless you were grandfathered in. OTA is just as good, if not better.

Ben

Thanks Ben. I'm installing an radio shack 80 inch antenna in my attic. I will be getting the new 5 lnb dish from D*. I need a directline to all 3 of my hd recievers. What's the best way to do this? I have 2 recievers upstairs and 1 downstairs. Any advice will help. Also here's some info on KPTH DT.



Glad to hear you are enjoying KPTH in HD on Cable One. As you may also be aware, our KPTH-DT signal has been on the air at full power for several months, albeit in Standard Definition mode. Our goal is to have the HD signal fed to that transmitter in time for the first NFL pre-season game on August 9th. We hope you enjoy the results.


Ed Bok

KMEG/KPTH Chief Engineer


Paul

Reply from KPTH: Our goal is to be operational by the first NFL Pre-Season game on August 9th. As always, delays can happen but the sooner the better for all of us! Thanks.

Are we really 2 weeks away from Fox HD? I sure hope we are.

Edit: I just realized that nosok12 gave us this info just 2 minutes before my post. So it sounds like they are really trying to meet THIS deadline, unlike all the others I have heard.

I sent an email to the chief engineer at KCAU with no reply yet. The guys down at KPTH will reply within a day. KCAU needs to get their heads out of their asses!

Finally got a reply from the engineer at KCAU.
We are working on the full power transmitter right now hopefully we will have it done with the next week or two.

Thanks

Hopefully both KCAU and KPTH will be up and going at full power within the next couple of weeks.

Paul

Awesome! Except we've been hearing "we'll go HD in 2 weeks..." now for about 3 months. Everyone remembers "The Money Pit", right? :D

Anyone have an update on KTTW HD signal upgrade? Last I heard they were looking to add onto the Rowena towers. At that time the engineer said August or September for completion. Well, it's August.

Anyone have an update on KTTW HD signal upgrade? Last I heard they were looking to add onto the Rowena towers. At that time the engineer said August or September for completion. Well, it's August.

Right now there are three towers SW of Rowena. One of the 500 ft towers has no transmitter on top. I assume that is the FOX tower. The other two have transmitters on top. Every time I go by there I look to see if the third tower has a transmitter on it. If I see one, I'll let everyone know.

Thanks Ben. I'm installing an radio shack 80 inch antenna in my attic. I will be getting the new 5 lnb dish from D*. I need a directline to all 3 of my hd recievers. What's the best way to do this? I have 2 recievers upstairs and 1 downstairs. Any advice will help. Also here's some info on KPTH DT.


I'll take a shot at this since I have a similar situation. At some point you will have to incorporate a 3 way splitter. Try to make the line from the TV/s to the splitter as short as possible. The longest run should be a single coax from the antenna to the splitter. Every splitter or connection will drop the signal some. If you go with a two way with a run to the upstairs and a run to the downstairs, then split the upstairs with another two way, you have degraded the upstairs signal more than the downstairs. That may be better for your setup as long as you can still get a good signal.

Don't buy the cheapest splitter - Find one that spells out the dB loss right on it.

You may want to run a single line from the antenna to one TV first. Just a loose coax line running on the floor, to see how good that signal strength is first. Then tweak your antenna to get the strongest signal.

If you read this thread back a few pages, I know others in SC have purchased a singal amplifier to help their signal strength.

Wow I can't believe a 'bigger' city like Sioux Falls wouldn't have FOX HD OTA by now. Regards the FCC, your FOX certainly should be at full power by now so that is a legit complaint, but no stations are being forced to do HD, only digital.

The only think "big" in Sioux Falls is the city budget and property taxes to pay for it.

When I look on the FCC site, it appears that KTTW keeps extending their temporary permit for the transmitter. I just looked and it now expires in November. Once they are at full power it will be a whooping 5 kW. The present digital signal is at .022 kW. KDLT and KELO are over 800 kW. Also looks like all the SC stations are in that power range.

KTTW has been OTA HD for around two years, but at the .022 kW power. Hopefully the 5kW for their permanent site is an error.

Back a few years, KTIV analog channel 4 came in ok all the way to Larchwood, and they are only at 100 kW. The lower on frequency range, the less power output is needed to cover any given area. So 5kW may actually do a decent job for the Sioux Falls vicinity.

I turned it to KPTH OTA this morning and it looks just like KTIV and KMEG. Looks like they made the switch to HD last night. Hope it staps and I can watch the football game in HD tonight! Now all we need is for KCAU to boost their signal, hopefully soon before college football starts!

When and If KCAU goes full power OTA can you please post.

Thanks,
Nosok12

I just recieved this email from the Chief Engineer at KPTH.

Just a quick note to some viewers who recently inquired about out HD over-the-air signals…



We believe we have everything in place to put a High Definition signal on KPTH-DT 44-1 beginning this evening. Take a look and let us know how it went.



FOX Sports presents a special NFL preseason match-up between the reigning Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys, live and in HD from the Texas Stadium in Irving, TX. Play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and analyst Troy Aikman call all the action Thursday, Aug. 9 (7:00 PM CDT) on FOX.

(TV-N/A) HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1



Thanks for watching!



Now we need to put pressure on KCAU to follow suit.

Nosok12

I'll definately post when I first see if or when KCAU OTA goes full power.

....We believe we have everything in place to put a High Definition signal on KPTH-DT 44-1 beginning this evening. Take a look and let us know how it went....

Uummm - I just started watching the 2nd half and there's no HD. Possibly they don't have the equipment to insert the stupid weather bug with an HD picture. This sucks. Did anyone watch the 1st half?

The 1st half looked great, awesome picture, total HD. Don't know what happened in the 2nd half. I wonder if it had something to do with the weather bug.

First half did look very good. Better PQ than what I get from D* national HD FOX feed. The 5.1 audio was an added bonus that I wasn't expecting. Blaming the weather bug for lack of HD feed later on. I'll give them a mulligan for the first night, but someone local might want to get the number for the "switch-flipper" over there.

Hi everyone.

I just wanted to let you know I live approx 35 miles NE of Sioux Falls and I am able to pull in KPTH with a signal of around 68. So far this is the only FOX OTA station I can get. Way to go KPTH!!!

I only watched the first half. So for me, the PQ was terrific!!! It was the first time I have ever seen Fox in HD. So it was a treat for me. I know KMEG can put the weather bug over the HD signal (or I have seen it before), so I wonder why KPTH can not. Tani, it sucks that KTTW can not put out a full power HD signal, doesnt it?

Hi everyone.

I just wanted to let you know I live approx 35 miles NE of Sioux Falls and I am able to pull in KPTH with a signal of around 68. So far this is the only FOX OTA station I can get. Way to go KPTH!!!

Wow - you are NE of SF and you still get signal? They must have boosted their signal a bunch. I live in SC and I have to rotate my antenna off-axis or I get drop-outs. I'm probably getting too much signal if I point at the tower. Way to go KPTH - now get the weather bug issue fixed, please!!!

Not only did 44.1 get a facelift, 44.2 MyKPTH is no longer ran off of a computer. In other words, PQ improved to levels almost of what KPTH-DT were at before the HD upgrade.

I saw "School Of Rock" with Jack Black was in HD on HPTH last night. Good picture!

This is KPTH stance on the weather bug problem.


Glad you enjoyed the game. Thanks for the feedback.



Unfortunately the issue of having to go to SD for things like weather alerts, EAS tests and alerts, etc., is not our decision. Fox doesn’t give us an HD feed that we can route through our plant and manipulate in any way. It is our hope that at some point they will rethink that decision, but for now that is the situation.

Got my OTA antenna installed in my attic today. Picked up 3 of the 4 Local HD channels perfectly. Only thing is KCAU is dragging there feet. We need to continue to email their engineers and put the pressure on them. Hopefully it will work. I need LOST, Greys, and College Football in HD!

Nosok12

Yeah, KCAU needs to step up to the plate now.

How is everyones reception of KPTH'sHD digital signal? I never had a problem with picking it up before. Now I seem to have a signal strength of 45 on my HD Tivo. I am getting in the 90's on KTIV and KMEG. Are all of the Sioux City stations on the Hinton tower? Maybe I need to realign my antenna. Just curious. Thanks.....

The weather bug issues is an ongoing problem. For you new to HD, wait until we have ice or snow on a Sunday and you want to watch NFL. No local HD almost all day some Sundays last year and most of New Year Day for the college stuff.

I suggested to KELO that they run their weather and school closings during local commericals when they switch to SD. We know that will never happen - that is the only time they don't run the screen crawler.

Only station in SF with that can broadcast in HD with local info on the screen is KSFY - ABC
Someone correct me if I am wrong on that, but that has been my observations.

I have never seen KSFY-HD run a crawl, just a graphic that states to switch to analog for weather details. They did an excellent job at minimizing the amount they showed that graphic too during the Vikings preseason game the other day. Which looked great by the way in HD.

Yesterday I did a search on my antenna for digital stations and it pulled in 5 Des Moines stations. They don't always stay locked in, but for the most part they have. Has any one else noticed this? The channels I picked up was 19.3, 17.1, 17.2, 8.1 and 8.2. I am in NW Iowa. I only have rabbit ears mounted in my attic for an antenna. Thanks

Yesterday I did a search on my antenna for digital stations and it pulled in 5 Des Moines stations. They don't always stay locked in, but for the most part they have. Has any one else noticed this? The channels I picked up was 19.3, 17.1, 17.2, 8.1 and 8.2. I am in NW Iowa. I only have rabbit ears mounted in my attic for an antenna. Thanks

There has been some serious skip going on the last few days. I'm located in south central SD about 200 miles due west of Sioux City. A couple of days ago I scanned for digitals and picked up channels from both Sioux City and Sioux Falls, this with my antennas pointed north/south. The skip also plays havoc with my normal local channels which are 50 miles from my home (co-channel interference).

WIth the humidity as high as it has been, this is not unexpected. I have recieved Minneapolis and Omaha stations before in NW Iowa. These were analog stations, however.

Check out this tropospheric ducting (http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html) site for info on how it affects UHF/VHF reception.

I hadn't read any of the recent discussion about receiving distant HD signals, but last night when I had my system scan for new channels, it found 8 new ones!

I live in Sioux City, but received crystal-clear broadcasts from Des Moines and Ames, and from the Sioux Falls PBS station. Blew me away! My wife suggested it was caused by the same phenomena that has caused the blood-red sunsets recently, or perhaps the new bathroom vents we recently installed into our roof! I was pleased to see there is a less-magical explanation.

I expect the reception of these stations was a fluke, and that some kind of solar-flare activity is the reason behind the bounce.

How is everyones reception of KPTH'sHD digital signal?

My reception is great. I get 100 % in Vermillion, SD. I have to say that the picture of the Vikings v. Jets game looked amazing. Good job KPTH.

Has anyone heard about KCAU's upgrade? I keep hoping that they would be up by the time college football hits the airwaves.

From what we've heard, KCAU should be firing up their full power transmitter "soon."

And, just so you know, KTIV will probably have the same issues with the "weather bug" as it affects our HD feed as I've been reading about in this thread. We don't yet technically have a way to insert the "weather bug" over the digital signal, so we have to switch to SD during that time. The idea of just putting up a msg about switching over to the analog for severe weather info is interesting. I don't know if we can do that, but we'll talk about it.

Dave,

Do you know how soon were talking for KCAU? A week, a month? Their chief engineer told me 1-2 weeks and that was 3 weeks ago. I sure hope it is done sooner than later.

From what we've heard, KCAU should be firing up their full power transmitter "soon."

And, just so you know, KTIV will probably have the same issues with the "weather bug" as it affects our HD feed as I've been reading about in this thread. We don't yet technically have a way to insert the "weather bug" over the digital signal, so we have to switch to SD during that time. The idea of just putting up a msg about switching over to the analog for severe weather info is interesting. I don't know if we can do that, but we'll talk about it.

Dave,
Why not just put the weather bug on 4-2 since it's SD anyway?

Can anyone explain the following:

I live in a higher part of M'Side (or at least it's not in a valley). I can get all the S.C. digitals (even weak ass KCAU) on my 32" LCD, in the street level portion of my home. And that's with a very basic $15 UHF/VHF antenna, about three feet away from the TV. I then decided to experiment and took my 19" LCD to the downstairs family room (with same antenna) and was able to get all local digitals (other than KCAU). I didn't even have to set the antenna in a window sill. So I figured I'd have the same results with the Samsung 52" LCD that I just purchased and have in that same family room. But NO. Same cheap antenna, stretched in numerous different ways and I can only get KMEG & IPTV for digital, ARGH. I will admit that the big tv is on the southern most portion of the basement so it's hard to get the antenna to point towards Hinton & S.D. towers. But why would it work for a small TV down there and not for the big TV? Any opinions or facts may calm me down! :mad:

Next item...
Since 2003, I've been receiving the four national affiliates from D*, in place of our S.C. locals not being offered by them. I think I've heard that not all Siouxland area D* customers are getting that deal, which doesn't make sense. We're going to be upgrading to the D* HD package next Monday and we were intending to drop the national affiliates ($6 a month) and just use the cheap antenna to get the locals. But seeing it looks like that won't work in the basement, now I'm looking at two options. Either keep the national affiliates and hopefully they'll let us upgrade to their HD versions of those channels OR to get a quality antenna to pick up the S.C. locals without a problem and MAYBE even Sioux Falls/Omaha stations. Last January I was looking into the antenna option and I had someone recommend the Channel Master 4228, a rotator & a 7775 or 7777 amp. They suggested going with Pflanz, seeing they could install as well. I believe that a CM 4228 sells for about $80, an amp for about $55 and don't know how much for the rotator.....let alone cost of installation.

So I guess I'm looking for opinions from some of you "antenna vets". Is it worth the trouble to get the fancy antenna (and everything that goes with it) or do you think it'd make more sense to just enjoy the national affiliates? And is that still the best option of antenna out there (and route to take for purchase/install) to possibly pick up digital channels from Sioux Falls & Omaha? Your thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks

GT in Sioux City

I just installed a radio shack $55.00 boom antenna in my attic. Point it towards the north and get 3 out of 4 locals (No KCAU). I'm in M'side as well and these channels come in clear as can be. I just ran the coax from the antenna to the existing coax that's in my house. I had D* installed on Saturday and he ran all new wiring to my recievers. It worked out great. The only thing I'm waiting on now is for KCAU to transmit at Full Power.

Different sets have different receivers. About all you can do is experiment like you are doing. When KCAU goes full power you won't need a rotor. Hopefully that won't be too far down the road. I think nosok12 has the right approach, just put an antenna upstairs or in the attic. If D* is giving you nationals right now, you're lucky. They certainly won't give you national HD - I don't think. OTA is your best option. Go with a CM 4221 (smaller version of the 4228) or the new 4220. I'd try it w/o an amp at first - you can always add one.

Are you guys getting this game in HD? I'm not. It should be in HD. I hope this won't be an ongoing problem throughout the season. One side note, I spoke to an engineer at KCAU and he told me the same thing that Madsen has told us "soon". I asked "well will it be ready for the beginning of football season". He replyed "when's that?" I then explained labor day weekend. He said that will be their goal. I wonder about these guys sometimes. Let's hope they get it done "very soon". I need my HD.

I think it changed at halftime. Now watching it in the 3rd qtr, it's DEFINITELY coming in HD. Looks fantastic as I'm watching my first sporting event on my new TV (52" LCD Samsung).

GT

Yeah I see it now. Wonder what happened? It's all good now. Hope Driver is ok I just drafted him.

Does anyone know why they keep giving us the perception that they are on the brink of turning on HD. I think if one was to read back through this post we'd find that they have been close to going full power in HD for the better parts of 3 months or longer.

Are they having trouble with financing or are they just not very well organized. I hope they figure it out soon because some of us would like to watch the Huskers and Boston Legal in HD.

Is anybody else notice a loss of KPTH signal strength? I have a mid-80's to 90's on both ktiv and kmeg, but a really low signal on fox. From me readings they are on the same tower, and that my antenna should be adjusted right. Is KPTH full strength?

Thanks,
Ben

My KPTH is coming in close to full strength. Watching the baseball game now. Fox has the best HD picture!

So I've officially decided to give up on the rabbit ears. They only cost $15 and have done a fantastic job for the price, but I'm tired of screwing with them off and on.

So I went to Pflanz to see what they could do for me. They barely gave me the time of day, seeing I wasn't looking at any of their garbage TV's. The salesman mentioned that they had a CM but not a 4228 or 4221 and he really didn't encourage me to purchase it. And reluctantly admitted that someone there MIGHT be willing to install it for me, for $55 an hour and it could take 4-5 hours (I'm not kidding). He eHe just wasn't enthused about this whole antenna saga I'm dealing with here, ha. So screw them. When I have poor customer service, I'm done with them, no matter if someone else might have done a better job.

BUT, he did make a side comment about Wintronics being strong in the antenna category. Have any of you dealt with them before? I drove over there but they are closed on weekends. I'm holding out hope that they can help me out. I want a quality antenna, whether it be a CM or not, that will give me quality digital picture for the locals (yes, even a weak 9 wich I get in inconsistently on my upstairs TV) and an antenna that will allow me to pick up Sioux Falls and maybe even Omaha on occasion.....and it would have to be installed because I honestly have no talent for this sort of thing, ha.

Anyways, just venting due to the poor customer service at Pflanz and getting frustrated that I simply can't get this saga taken care of swiftly, ha. Thanks for your time.

P.S. KCAU-TV has always been "cheapskate" and continuing to prove it by not getting up to full power like the "real" stations in town, sigh.

GT in M'Side

GT try Radioshack. I got my antenna from them and it works great. No dropouts with perfect picture. I live right off of Glenn and Newton.

What is it, about how much and will they install?

GT

The hills and valleys down there in Sioux City must really screw up reception, as I can pull in the 3 full power HD stations from Sioux City, as well as the 3 full power HD stations from Sioux Falls with rabbit ears in my basement. I do get an occasional blip here or there, but nothing I can't deal with.

It's the VU-90 XR and it goes for around $55.00. I don't think they do installs. I installed it in my attic in which I fed it to the current coax that runs throughout the house. I don't know your setup but it was quite simple to do. I had D* installed last weekend and he ran new rg6 cable to all of my recievers. OTA and Satellite have to be fed separately. I'm really happy with my OTA and D*. I'm anxious for the new HD's to light up and KCAU to produce HD OTA. Hope this helps.

Just got this reply from the engineer down at KCAU.

Thanks for your email. Yes weather and equipment delays have kept us from going full power until Thursday or Friday of this week, barring any unforeseen problems. We should be testing our equipment on Thursday and ready to go by Friday 8/31 in time for the Nevada/Nebraska game at 230PM Sat., again without any problems.

Again take it for what its worth. I'll believe it when I see it.

Husker & HD = good. Too bad I wouldn't bet on KCAU pulling through with it.

I guess we can only hope it's true, but going by their track record, I'll believe it when I see it, too

Well the Corndog game isn't supposed to be HD anyway :D, but glad to see KCAU is getting closer.

I woke up this morning to a pleasent suprise. KCAU was coming OTA on my D* reciever. I must say I'm thrilled to have KCAU on board with the rest of our locals. Now I'm anticipating D* new HD lineup to go into effect within the next few weeks. I will no longer view anything in standard def. Hope you all have a fun and safe labor day weekend.

Nosok12

Awesome! Is the signal strength comparable to the rest of the networks?

Good to hear on KCAU FINALLY upping the power. Guess the pressure from HUSKERNATION was too much to bear, with that game Saturday on ABC.

As for my personal saga involving improving my antenna situation (over screwing with the rabbit ears constantly). While still considering the Radio Shack route, I'd still rather have an opportunity to pick up Sioux Falls/Omaha stations. Dropped by Wintronics (down by Ivy's Liquor) and they have several Channel Master 4228's, along with rotors, masts/tripods, etc... All the goodies, but no installation.

So now I'm digging thru the yellow pages tryin' to get quotes on how much to plop that baby on my roof, along with wiring to two TV's. Currently have two quotes. One from Soo Satellite for $50 an hour (appox. 2-3 hours of work) and another from a guy that put up my HD D* dish this past Monday (who works for Premiere Satellites, I believe it was) who wanted $250 straight up. I kinda want to go buy the CM today and screw around with it alittle, here over the weekend. I'm definately have ZERO talent for this type of thing but would like to see if I could slap it together (somewhat) and see if I could pick up anything by just setting it on my deck, off the back of the house. ;) Any fresh thoughts/ideas are always appreciated!

GT in M'Side

GT25Ump,

Depending on where you live in M'Side you might get something from Omaha or SF from your deck. I live down in the valley just southeast of Glenn / S. St. Aubin intersection (not too far from nosok12 it seems) so I had to put my antenna & rotor on the roof, but I can easily get Omaha KELO & WOW. If you're up a little higher you'll have better luck. Give it a try. I'm not sure you'll get Omaha or SF w/o an amp though.

Awesome! Is the signal strength comparable to the rest of the networks?

Yes, I'm getting the same signal strength as all the others in Sioux City. I watched George Lopex on there tonight and the pic was in HD and it looked great. Can't wait for the Tenn @ Cal game tomarrow night!

Glad to hear that that KCAU is online. What is the farthest away anyone is receiving it and KPTH? Anyone in Sioux County picking the 2 up? I am in North Sioux County and am getting them at about 20% and not a very reliable picture at all if any. I get the guide data for the 2, but I have not scene a picture on KCAU yet.

Just curious if it is me or my equipment.....

I am even farther north than you, Ben, and I am now getting KCAU, KTIV, KMEG, and KPTH digital up here in Larchwood with my rabbit ears!

I am now the proud owner of a Channel Master 4228, purchased from Wintronics for $65. I also picked up a tri-pod, mast and 50 feet of coax. I decided to hang tight on the pre-amp and rotator, for the moment.

I picked up the antenna on Friday afternoon so I could try to slap it together and see what luck I'd have getting it to work before it ended up on the roof. I attached the antenna to a five foot mast and stuck it in a tri-pod. I was then able to take it out on my backyard deck and then set it on top of my table out there, for alittle extra height. I then made use of antennaweb.org and found the direction to aim it towards the Omaha tower to pick up WOW and KETV down there, looking fantastic. With the antenna aimed the wrong direction, I was even able to pick up all the Sioux City channels, though with some breaking up at times. All from the 2700 block of South Cornelia.

So I'm VERY excited to get this up on my roof, with a rotor, and should be totally set to get Omaha, Sioux Falls & Sioux City channels! It's lookin' like a pre-amp won't be needed. Thanks again for the advice.

I made some phone calls to see who I could find to install it on the roof and run the wiring for it, down to my two tv's (one in living room and one in finished basement). So far, I guess the one that sounds the most promising is Soo Satellites for $50 an hour and he figures it will take two hours. I'd still like to get some more quotes, so any other suggestions would be appreciated.

GT in M'Side

I am even farther north than you, Ben, and I am now getting KCAU, KTIV, KMEG, and KPTH digital up here in Larchwood with my rabbit ears!

Thanks. I had better go and adjust my antenna a little

I am getting KCAU HD loud and clear in Vermillion, SD! Picture looks great. I had my doubts they would get it up and running, but, I must eat my words and give a hats off to the KCAU team.

I'm in Sioux Center - just bought antenna Model: 15-2187 from Radio Shack and its sitting on a stereo cabinet in the living room next to the TV. I'm pulling in KTIV, KMEG and KPTH with the best signal strength I've ever gotten. Haven't tried to get KCAU yet but want to so the wife will be happy. I have also gotten KUSD to come in somewhat, but have to point the antenna a little bit.

Not sure how well the mounting will happen in the attic since the parts that came with it are more like a sat dish mount - no rotational ability. I'm in a low part with a lot of trees.

My goal is to be able to get the big networks without having to mess with the position of the antenna. I think this is going to do it.

COLAVSFANINNWIA: How the heck are you pulling Sioux City stations with rabbit ears? You definitely know something I don't about antennas. . . :)

CP

I'm in Sioux Center - just bought antenna Model: 15-2187 from Radio Shack and its sitting on a stereo cabinet in the living room next to the TV. I'm pulling in KTIV, KMEG and KPTH with the best signal strength I've ever gotten. Haven't tried to get KCAU yet but want to so the wife will be happy. I have also gotten KUSD to come in somewhat, but have to point the antenna a little bit.


COLAVSFANINNWIA: How the heck are you pulling Sioux City stations with rabbit ears? You definitely know something I don't about antennas. . . :)

CP

I guess since I grew up w/o cable, I dont mind getting up and moving the ears for the different stations i want to watch, it does take some fine tuning at times. Even the Sioux Falls stations take some adjusting.

Now that all the major locals are in HD (i.e. ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC) OTA I cancelled my dish network subscription and bought an HDTV Tuner for my MacMini so that I can use my MacMini as a DVR.

The few cable channels that I watch I now just buy those shows from iTunes. I figured it would be cheaper in the long run and frankly I got sick of paying a subscription for stuff I either can get for free or stuff I didn't watch.

My question is has anyone else gone this route or considered going this route?

No, but I am seriously thinking about dropping CableOne and taking DirecTv - they will soon have 80 HD channels, and I can also get the networks in HD from my existing antenna.

I've had Directv for about 3 weeks now and love it. I pay the same amount that I did for cableone. The new HD channels should be here within the next week or so. I hope they can launch the BTN in HD this weekend.

Okay, so I have my Channel Master 4228 pitched up on my roof, here in M'Side. I also went the rotor route, so I could try to pick up Omaha & Sioux Falls.

After screwing with it for two days, this is where I stand. I'm able to get three Omaha stations when pointed the right direction, down south. That's great and I'm pleased. The problem is up north. I'm only able to get the S.F. NBC affiliate (KDLT-46). I found a place on the internet that listed the digital information for the Sioux Falls TV stations. That tipped me off to the problem. KDLT, while on the same tower as the others, has much more power. It's digital signal is supposed to reach 88 miles, which explains why I'm getting it in. Now, KSFY (ABC) has only a 50 mile distance, which explains why I can't get it in, down here. The tricky one is KELO. It's power is for 75 miles, which is about 5-7 miles not enuff for where I am at. BUT, late last night (for only about 10 minutes) I was able to get it in. And then this morning for not more than five minutes, I had it in.

Why am I trying so hard to get KELO? Because they are showing the Broncos-Bills game tomorrow, while the crap stations around here show the ****** Chiefs, and I'm trying to avoid going to a bar to watch the game. If I hadn't had these little "teases" here this weekend that it may come in, I'd give up.

Do you think that a pre-amp would make the difference in getting KELO in, and maybe even KSFY? I've read that a pre-amp could screw up the S.C stations, which are coming in fine.

Also, when I had a guy setting up my antenna on Thursday, he went the "lazy route" and used a splitter of some sort, to avoid alot of the extra wiring. He patched into the satellite wire running down my house and attic and used a special splitter for each TV. It doesn't seem to be affecting the quality of the picture but I worry that it may have affected the strength of the antenna by not having a wire directly from the roof, straight down to the receiver/tv.

Any thoughts? Thanx.

GT in M'Side

GT:

I don't know a whole lot about this stuff but here's what I'm pretty sure of with a couple of your questions:

1. I believe the splitter issue will only affect the strength of the signal to the respective televisions - like a water pipe, if you keep siphoning off part of the stream to a different area, everybody gets a smaller amount. It *might* cause some weak signals to your sets, but it depends on how many splits there are. I don't think 2-3 should be much of a problem.

2. Pre-amp. You get the signal you get. Amplify static and you get static. The pre-amp will help with the splitter issue as it amplifies the signal received by the antenna to over come the degredation due to splitting. The pre-amp can't create a signal that isn't there. (I may be way off on this one, but that's how I've always understood it).

I noticed I was getting KDLT with little effort lately - 80 miles is no wonder. As for KELO and KSFY, I have issues from time to time. In addition, I sometimes can get KPTH without messing with the antenna and sometimes not - today is a day where I have to mess with it if I want to see my Bears beat up the Chargers this afternoon. But then, I just have the Radio Shack antenna still sitting about 5 feet off the floor on top of the stereo cabinet.

Curtis

Is anyone else noticing a signal strength drop in KSFY-DT? It used to be the same strong signal as KELO and KDLT on my display...right at 90-100%. Now it bounces b/w 40-50-60% and there are noticeable glitches in the HD programming. Stinks b/c I can't get KCAU-DT even after they have gone to "full" power. I assume it's my setup. Just curious...

On my HR20 I am getting a steady 77% on all HD channels except KCAU and KTIV 4-1. I am getting 4-2 for some reason, but not 4-1. On KCAU I am getting an occassional 25%, but it is very infrequent and I am not able to lock onto a signal.

Vikes/Lions game not being broadcast in HD? KPTH isn't showing it in HD.

According to HDsportsguide.com it is to be broadcast in HD.

I am sure that whoever is working just has to flip the switch and it would be in HD. Way to drop the ball (no pun intended) KPTH.

I was also curious of what the problem was yesterday with KPTH. This is the response that I got.

We aren't yet sure exactly what happened. Our operators were apparently under the mistaken impression that the game in question was not originating in HD, since Fox still occasionally airs games in SD.

Upon further examination, however, it appears that the devices in our plant that switch the Fox content between HD and SD may not have been communicating with each other. We won't know for sure until Prime Time this evening when the next HD program is scheduled to air...Including Prison Break. We'll be looking into the situation and will have it resolved as quickly as possible.



Our apologies for the annoyance.

I noticed that Prison Break is coming in as HD. Hope they have the problem fixed.

Is anyone else noticing a signal strength drop in KSFY-DT? It used to be the same strong signal as KELO and KDLT on my display...right at 90-100%. Now it bounces b/w 40-50-60% and there are noticeable glitches in the HD programming. Stinks b/c I can't get KCAU-DT even after they have gone to "full" power. I assume it's my setup. Just curious...

I have having the exact same problem. Something happend about a week ago and KSFT-DT has not worked well since. I used to get a good 90-100% signal, now its 50-60% and completely unwatchable. Anyone have any news on this?

Here is the contact info for the engineer at KSFY.

Darrel Nelson
Chief Engineer
605-373-7357
dnelson@ksfy.com

I will be emailing him now that someone else is reporting issues.

I have an older Samsung set top box used to receive the over the air signals BTW...just in case it is equipment related.

KSFY-DT

I have 2 Dish HD boxes (DVR 942 and 811). Both have the same problem. Noticed it about 9/12. Hasn't been right since. All other Sioux Falls stations are coming in at a strong signal, so I don't believe that it's at my end.

He promptly replied to my email...

"We will look into this as soon as our transmitter engineer returns. I know of no reason why this is happening at this time. There are no indications of any problems, but we will be investigating this and try to find the reason."

...whatever that's worth.

I have a weird problem with KTIV 4-1. I have a HR20-700 Directv ird and am not getting 4-1 to come in. The crazy thing though is that 4-2 comes in loud and clear.

Anybody else have a HR20 with erradic behavior?

I have given up on KCAU. Maxed out at 25% signal strength.

The KSFY Engineer emailed me back....

"I just wanted to get back in touch with you on this matter. We have discovered a power drop-off problem with our digital transmitter and are in the process of renting the necessary test equipment to help us resolve the issue.

thank you for contacting us on this and for your patience in this matter."

Hopefully this can be resolved soon.

Ben - How far away from SC are you? If you are close, perhaps you are getting too much signal. The signal meters on D* receivers measure signal quality, not necessarily signal strength. I'm in SC and have enough antenna / amp to get Omaha, and I have to point off-axis sometimes to keep the signal locked. FWIW.

I was wondering if anyone was having problems with getting the Congratulation slide for D* Ch. 498. I can pick it up on both of my H20's but get a gray screen on my HR20. Any advice?

Ben - How far away from SC are you? If you are close, perhaps you are getting too much signal. The signal meters on D* receivers measure signal quality, not necessarily signal strength. I'm in SC and have enough antenna / amp to get Omaha, and I have to point off-axis sometimes to keep the signal locked. FWIW.


Hiltsy,

I live in Northern Sioux County, about 35 miles away from the antenna. It coudl be that, but what would explain 4-2 coming in perfect? I have a feeling it is a quirck with the HR20-700.

I am sure that whoever is working just has to flip the switch and it would be in HD. Way to drop the ball (no pun intended) KPTH.

I think all the FOX affiliates are set up with automatic switching so it sounds like an equipment problem.

I know KSFY and KELO have(or had) to do manual switching as I have called them several times.

Any DirecTV customers hoping that, with the forthcoming activation of DirecTV 10 and it's expanded capabilites to provide HD content, we (Sioux City/Sioux Falls residents) will be able to get HD locals straight from our DirecTV receivers (without having to use OTA)? The new HD content and speculation have been widely covered at http://www.dbstalk.com (http://www.dbstalk.com). Just wondering if I'm the only one. Thanks, and here's hoping so!

To me it does'nt matter. I prefer OTA.

I am looking rather forward to the new HD content. Some say it will start tomorrow. It looks to be a huge jump and the content looks to be rather nice.

Man HD is addicting. I watch some dumb **** just b/c it is HD.

To me it does'nt matter. I prefer OTA.

I am looking rather forward to the new HD content. Some say it will start tomorrow. It looks to be a huge jump and the content looks to be rather nice.

Man HD is addicting. I watch some dumb **** just b/c it is HD.

Yup...21 new channels today, though about 7 of them where premiums. I hear ya on the HD, I'm pumped for it. Hopefully with the new channels there will be some good stuff to watch now.

So we'll see on the locals. I'm just trying to avoid OTA because I don't want another antenna/dish on my roof and the indoor variety only picks up KDLT. I'm located at the bottom of a few hills, so I'm sure that's the culprit. Though I did get to watch Heros in HD, and it was incredible.

Let me report that we haven't heard any info yet about DirecTV adding HD locals in the Sioux City market. We do have an agreement in place, so we're ready to go when they are, and we know they were in the market quite a few months ago doing so testing for a potential OTA receive site in Sioux City...but we haven't heard anything recently about when it might start.

As far as OTA HD, depending on where you live, the OTA signal will usually be MUCH better than anything the satellite folks can provide. I'm not enough of a techie to understand it all, but I'm told they have to compress the signal so much that it can really affect how it looks.

I think all the FOX affiliates are set up with automatic switching so it sounds like an equipment problem.

Do you know how hard that is to remedy? By that I mean, would it require a lot of work on the part of the station or is it something that can be fixed in a day or two?

Anyone else notice that all the digital stations are out for kmeg and kpth.

Ignore my above post, it looks like they got everything fixed in under an hour. Good Job!

Dave,

Any word on DishNetwork adding the local channels in HD?

Everyone,

I have an external antenna for picking up the local OTA HD channels. It's mounted to a pole that is cemented into the ground but yet when it gets windy it still moves a bit (porb less then a 1/2 inch) and my reception goes from 90+ percent down to 0 ever few min or ever few seconds. I realize that digital is directional but it is VERY frustrating to try and watch programing (especially in heavy rain when the satellite goes out) that cuts in and out ever 30 seconds. How do you guys stabilize your antennas so that there is no loss of signal. I know a bit about how HD works, but I don't see why I go from 100% signal to 0 with a slight breeze lol. I can understand if the antenna was moving several inches but it is not moving that much ( I have watched it when it is very windy out) and I have had solid reception when the signal is at 50 to 60%. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks,

Anthonyi - You could install some simple guy wires to stabilize the antenna. Keep in mind the signal meter measures signal quality, not necessarily signal strength, at least with D* receivers.

Since sometime yesterday, I have not been receiving a digital signal (zero signal strength on my HR10 and HR20 DirecTV receivers) for 14.1 KMEG-DT out of Sioux City. I continue to receive all of the other OTA Sioux City channels (2.1, 4.1, 44.1) that I received before, as well as all of the Sioux Falls digital stations - all with as good or better signal strength than their respective averages I've been seeing in recent past.

Is anyone else in the area experiencing the same thing? KMEG having issues, or something else?

:confused:

Since sometime yesterday, I have not been receiving a digital signal (zero signal strength on my HR10 and HR20 DirecTV receivers) for 14.1 KMEG-DT out of Sioux City. I continue to receive all of the other OTA Sioux City channels (2.1, 4.1, 44.1) that I received before, as well as all of the Sioux Falls digital stations - all with as good or better signal strength than their respective averages I've been seeing in recent past.

Is anyone else in the area experiencing the same thing? KMEG having issues, or something else?

:confused:

I have the same thing, no signal from KMEG, but everyone else is fine.

same thing here in sw mn. but kcau is still there . i have a winegard ss-2000 should use a meter of some sort to fine tune it!

I was thinking about that, but I would have to move the antenna as the area it is in now does not allow for any wires.

On Dish receivers it calls it signal strength, so I would think would be actual signal strength rather then quality, and when I move the antenna it will go up or down.

Would the antenna "shaking" with about 1/4 of an inch or less movement cause the signal to go from 90+ strength to 0?

I emailed the engineer at KMEG to ask about the missing digital signal, and the reply was that they had to turn off the digital transmitter for maintenance, but should have it back up some time this weeekend.

I am not receiving KMEG 14.1 in Vermillion, SD either.

I have a question. I was really looking forward to watching the Lions v. Redskins game this weekend. It was supposed to be the early game on fox. KPTH is not showing the game. Sioux Falls FOX is even playing the game.

My question is, who is in control of showing these games?

Let me report that we haven't heard any info yet about DirecTV adding HD locals in the Sioux City market. We do have an agreement in place, so we're ready to go when they are, and we know they were in the market quite a few months ago doing so testing for a potential OTA receive site in Sioux City...but we haven't heard anything recently about when it might start.

Dave,

Do you guys know of a timeframe when Directv will be adding locals from Sioux City? Not just hd, but sd too. I got a friend that wants to get Directv, but lives up near Okoboji, which is a little to far to be pulling in OTA of any sort.. Being that Dish net is the only one providing it at the moment, I was curious if Directv has it on their timeline.

Thanks,
Ben

Has anyone heard when KMEG is going to come back on?

Any day now is what I'm hearing. They shut it down to make repairs. I'll email Ed Bok again if it's not up by the weekend.

KMEG 14.1 is back up and running

I'm not getting it. Is anyone else recieving KMEG 14.1 now?

Nope. DOA in Sioux City.

Makes me wonder how they will handle their digital signal in a couple of years when the analog signal is turned off.

As of noon today I'm now getting KMEG digital 14.1. Also last night KTIV digital was down after Conan. Did anyone else notice it? It's back up now though.

Just got my new Samsung LCD a few weeks back, and got my DirecTV HD upgrade installed last Friday. Purchased an OTA (Phillips indoor) antenna and set it up on Sunday morning in hopes of catching the Viking game in HD on KTTW.

I was able to get all the other local channels in HD at 80% strength plus. However, KTTW (17.1) registered 0 signal strength no matter where I moved the antenna.

I live on the east side of Sioux Falls (in town). KSFY-DT and KELO-DT are at 97 degrees and KDLT is at 107 degrees from my address. KTTW is at 221 degrees, so it's 124 degrees off from the "furthest" other networks. One thing that complicates the situation is a large maple tree that is in the direction of the KTTW tower.

I returned the Phillips OTA antenna yesterday and stopped at Best Buy to ask them about KTTW. The person I spoke with stated that mine is not an uncommon occurrence in the Sioux Falls market, being able to receive all local HD channels except KTTW. Is it because of the disparity in the location of the broadcast towers?

I'm trying to decide on my next step(s) as I really would like to receive ALL of the locals in HD, especially since I'm a big Viking fan and after watching the Monday Night Football game last night on ESPNHD, there's no going back!

Here are what I perceive as my options. Please comment on them or add any that I'm missing (which is quite likely, since I'm not a big techie).

1) Find an indoor antenna that does pick up all locals in HD.

2) Find an outdoor antenna that does that.

3) Wait (hope) for DirecTV to get locals in HD added to its lineup in Sioux Falls.

Thanks in advance for any light you are able to shed on this situation.

Scott

Scott - Don't waste too much time trying to pick up KTTW 17.1. FCC site lists them at only 5 kW ERP. I've heard of others in SF that cannot pickup this station with much better antenna systems. Eventually, I think the FCC rules will require them to be much higher power (Feb '09?? deadline).

I would suggest you try option 1. Try pointing your antenna (I assume it is a directional unit) at Sioux City and try Fox KPTH 44.1 (also 14.1, 4.1 and 9.1 - and 2.1). I can get these (similar distance as you) pretty solid (except 9.1) using just an indoor 'silver sensor' directional table top antenna pointed out the window. With this you should be able to still pick up the high power SF digitals 11.1, 13.1, 46.1 ( & 23.1?). That would give you all the major networks OTA then.