As of wednesday we now have a HD signal for WJHL CBS on 11.1, and WKPT ABC 27.1. Just want to let every body know the great news.:D

JediMan
Great timing for you with the superbowl this weekend!
Do you know the location of the ABC station transmitter relative to a town on the map?
I'll try to see if I can tune in as I don't have a dependable HD-ABC station. I'm on a 3300' mountain and have had reception from some amazing distances, if I don't have to go over another mountain (MT Mitchell?)

Barney Evans
Brevard, NC

The transmitter is atop Bays Mountain in Kingsport, TN.

Thanks, but I forgot that FOX out of Charlotte is also 27.1 in my area, so no chance for me.

Barney

Jedi,

I live in Gate City. I hooked up to HDTV last night (02/24/03). I had some problems with CBS and their audio feed. Did you have the same experience or did you not watch? Why are they on 11.1? Everything I have says they should be on 58.1?

What ota antenna are u guys and gals using in Tri Cities to pick up Hd signals. I havent had much luck with the silver sensor since I live in a two story with a big oak in front of the house. I only picked up fox at about a 35% signal and they are broadcasting in 480i. I then took the antenna to the attic and got some weak reception from cbs Wjhl and nbc wcyb. I have bought a large multidirectional antenna from the Shack to try in the attic if i can figure out how to put it together. Thanks to everyone for an awesome forum.

I use the bowtie model from Radio Shack. I think it is no longer available. No luck with getting Fox from my location. All the others come in strong.

I am in northwest carter county and using the RS 190(no longer available), with channel master rotator, and winegard pre-amp.

As for signal strength:

wjhl - 11.1(was picking it up on 58.1) very poor reception
wcyb - 5.1(was picking up on 28.1) just like it is next door
wkpt - 19.1(was picking up on 27.1) almost as good as wcyb

I have had my antenna as high as approx. 50'. But I get better reception with it now approx. 20' up. I am aiming my antenna at all 3 towers on holston mountain.

Hello,
I'm in Corbin KY picking up WCYB with very few dropouts (101 miles away).
I was actually aiming for WJHL and never really expected WCYB would come in as it supposedly is only at 186kw on the FCC site. What gives?
I can't believe I would pick this up UHF at that power from this distance.

Also, anyone know what power WJHL is currently at? I can't get a signal at all there. I can get a signal from the ABC station (forgot the call letters) but no picture.

Thanks.
Charles

Originally posted by cpcat
Hello,
I'm in Corbin KY picking up WCYB with very few dropouts (101 miles away).
I was actually aiming for WJHL and never really expected WCYB would come in as it supposedly is only at 186kw on the FCC site. What gives?
I can't believe I would pick this up UHF at that power from this distance.

Also, anyone know what power WJHL is currently at? I can't get a signal at all there. I can get a signal from the ABC station (forgot the call letters) but no picture.

Thanks.
Charles

I think WJHL is at 50 kW, but I'm not sure. I do know that they're on channel 58, which has lots more trouble bending over terrain. WCYB and WKPT on channels 28 and 27 can bend more.

Something else I've noticed about digital TV is that power is not as important anymore. My signal strength on my ABC--52 miles and 17.9 kW--is the same as my CBS--79 miles and 460 kW! I can even just barely pull in Fox from 79 miles away at 2.97 kW!

But why are you going for WJHL? If you're in Kentucky, why not just watch CBS on WYMT-DT on 12 or WKYT-DT on 13? Or are they not in HD?

- Trip

Trip,
I do get WYMT strong. WKYT has a directional antenna (not my way). I'd like to have another option though because WYMT multicasts and also shows local programming sometimes pre-empting
CBS programs. You are correct in that WJHL is at 47kw. Their engineer resonded to me via email and was very helpful. He says full power sometime in 2005. He suggested that the ABC station was still at low power as well.

I benefited today in having two NBC stations. WBIR in Knoxville switched off the HD feed after the race but I was able to continue to watch HD on WCYB for the post game show.

I guess it's also a matter of trying for the fun of it as well.

Charles

Ok, I live at the foot of Bays Mountain, in Ridgefields. I get 28 and 58 at about 70-90%. I get about 13% for 27 and according to this thread, the tower is just 1-2 miles away. What's wrong? Am I just under the signal?

I live in Bristol and get all stations very well except for PBS out of Marion, VA. Is this forum still living?

SDC,
I'm in Corbin, KY. I can get WCYB consistently and WJHL intermittently. It seems lately WJHL has been better but it's probably just the warm weather and intermittent tropo. I've never gotten WKPT digital but can get the analog pretty well. I'm 110 mi. from the Bristol towers (Holston Mt. isnt' it?)

For PBS you should try WETP-DT from Sneedville uhf ch. 41. I can get it consistently here (65 mi away). It's only 5kw but it's omnidirectional and the tower is up there around 3500 ft if I remember correctly.

Also, does anyone in Bristol get the Fox from Greenville? I've gotten it sporadically during tropo (ch. 38 WEMT). They don't seem to be ready for HD as the signal is read by my tuner as SD.

Charles

CpCat,

I have been getting my DTV for a couple of years now trying severralll antennas. I live approx. 9 miles from the transmitters on Holston and 31 mi from WEMT's transmitter on Viking Mtn. I have looked into getting Sneedville, but have not been successful. I am now using a CM 4221 antenna and getting CYB,KPT,and JHL around 85-90% signal and EMT at 60-65%. In the winter I lose EMT and the others come in at 70-75%. The other day I ordered a Winegard PR-8800 (8 bowtie antenna). I am looking to use a Joinantenna by Channel Master and pull in PBS in addtion to CYB,JHL and KPT.

Also, if you have any problems with Ch. 28 CYB I can pass along questions for you. I work for the station as an account Executive.

What antenna do you use. Corbin is certainly farther than most antennas are rated.

Sean

SDC,
I've been through several setups but currently am using Televes DAT 75's horizontally stacked for UHF. My VHF is an Antennacraft Y10 7-13. Here's a pic. The rest of my equipment is listed in my profile. Interestingly, I was able to get WCYB even when I used a CM4228.

Charles

cpcat,

Thanks for the pics...looks like you have some $$ invested. I tried going outdoors but had problems getting signals after it rained good. So I went to the attic. I have not had a problem since. Just now I want PBS, so I will be trying to combine antennas when my new one arrives.

I read some of your previous posts on your old setup. My hats off to ya. I will try to get sneedville when my wingard Pr-8800 arrives. I will need to research its compass reading.

Sean

Sean,
Go to http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp
and put in your coordinates for exact bearings and distances to your stations. Good luck.

Charles

thanks man...I did this the other day and it is going to be difficult to get any other stations other than Tri-Cities. I am to far from everything else. I would just love to get WDBJ out of Roanoke or BIR out of Knox. How did you stack your previous setup of CMs. I have a CM 4 Bay and am waiting for a 8 Bay that I ordered last week. I could use any help you can give on joining antennas, then to pre-amp, out to downlead, into amp, out to ATSC receiver.

I didn't stack the CM 4228, only used one. It's hard to stack because of it's weight. In fact, one 4228 was more stress on my rotor than my current Yagi stack. If you're interested in stacking, I'd go with a Yagi of some type.
Candidates include Televes DAT 75, Triax Unix 100, Antennasdirect XG91 as well as Winegard PR9032, CM 4248.

Horizontal is the way to go if you want to narrow the horizontal beamwidth . Vertical stacking narrows it vertically. The problem with vertical for me was the long lever arm required above the rotor. It just won't hold up over time unless you have a heavy ham rotor or a thrust bearing.

Combining the antennas is easy. You need exactly the same length coax into a wideband combiner(splitter). Zenith actually makes a pretty good one that is sold at Lowe's. I use a stripline combiner from Lindsay Electronics but honestly the performance is only a little better than with the Zenith (about 7 bucks if I remember). Your spacing (horizontally) with Yagis should be b/w 46-58 in. or so. Spacing with vertical stacking is around 40 inches. You play around with the spacing some to see what works best for you. The antennas need to be aimed in exactly the same direction in both horizontal and vertical planes.

What takes some creativity is making the mount. Vertical stacking is easier because you simply mount to a mast. Horizontal involves figuring out a mount that is sturdy and any supports perpendicular to the signal in the horizontal plane need to be non-conductive (i.e. wood or fiberglass). Fiberglass tubing/rods are available from Max Gain Systems in various sizes/lengths.

You probably don't want to hear this, but the first thing I'd do if I were you is go back outside. I'd recc. try a single high gain Yagi first then you can upgrade gradually if you get the itch. If you really want to go with an 8-bay, the CM4228 has better gain across the uhf band than the Winegard 8bay. The Antennasdirect DB8 is supposed to be the best 8 bay out there, but it is at least twice as expensive as the 4228.

Some comparison gain charts on various antennas you might be interested in can be found at

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

Charles
P.S. Commercially made mounts for horizontal stacking are available if you don't want to DIY. One source is http://www.atechfabrication.com/reception_solutions.htm

thanks for the links. I will only be pulling one channel with the 8bay. Channel 42 out of Marion,VA. On the chart ch.42 looks good for the Winegard. The reason I picked this model over the CM is the fact that the Winegard is unassembled when it is shipped. This way I can get into the attic before I snap into place the antenna's arms. I also ordered a filter to only let me get ch.42 before I put it into the combiner with the 4 bay pointed in the other direction. I will post my results. That is if I ever get it. My 5 yr old likes to watch a show called Tracks Ahead on PBSHD. Otherwise I would not bother. I am happy getting NBC,CBS,FOX,and ABC.

Are you able to get any WB affliates in HD. They are few and far between. My wife likes a few of their shows and my clients ask me about the shows, so I sometimes I watch the chic flicks they have. WCYB just got bought, so I hope the new owners put money in to our sister station WB4 and buy the HD equipment. The closing is next week. Our on air look for WCYB news should change as well as syndicated programming.

Thanks for the info...
Sean

I get WB out of Crossville but there's no HD yet. Their CE told me via email that they are looking into it. I'll be interested to see how WCYB does their WB HD if they are multicasting as the bandwidth won't provide for two channels of HD at once.

The CBS in Knoxville is supposed to start multicasting with UPN soon and I think they'll have the same issue.

Charles

We actually have 28-1&2 for WCYB HD and 28-3 is WB SD 28-4 use to be a doppler radar channel from our weather center at the station, but now it is not being used at all. So that channel we be used along with 28-3 in order to give us the bandwidth. It is all in line, they just need the $$$. Maybe I should sell tons and tons of ads on WB4, then they could afford it. LOL.

SDC,
It will be interesting how the picture quality is affected (hopefully it will still look good). As you know I'm sure, one HD channel without compression takes up the entire bandwitdth at 1080i. It's around 19 mb/s. One HD channel plus one SD channel still looks good because around 17 mb/s is taken up by HD and only about 2mb/s needed for the SD channel. Two HD channels at once would only mean about 9.5 mb/s each and I'm afraid that wouldn't look very good.

KET here in KY multicasts with one HD and two SD channels which would leave about 14mb/s for HD. The drop in PQ is easily noticeable when you compare it to the Tennessee PBS which only multicasts one other channel.

Supposedly, better compression schemes are in the works which will help to free up more bandwidth without sacrificing PQ which should be welcome news to broadcasters and end-users alike.

Charles

I heard that we would multicast another ch. in order to do NBCHD and WBHD. Sort of like the PBS station out of Marion. They have 5 sub channels under ch. 42. Is this possible. I don't understand it all. I am not an engineer, I just sell the advertising that pays for the equipment.

I'm no engineer, either. This stuff has just got me hooked so I've read alot and also learned alot here. AFAIK, there is around 19mb/s bandwidth per channel with the current system. You can divide it up however you want but that's it. Adding more subchannels just makes the pieces of the pie smaller so-to-speak. My local PBS actually has 6 subchannels but they don't often run them all simultaneously.

Charles

Anybody notice that WJHL is now multicasting with a weather radar channel? Maybe it's been there and I hadn't noticed. I get it only intermittently.

I bought my first digital tv and tuner three weeks ago, and have noticed that WJHL has had the weather radar channel on since I first got it set up...I have noticed tonight, though, that WKPT has now started airing ABC News Now on 27-3, instead of their SD version of their ABC network channel.

So WKPT has 3 subchannels? I've never seen a picture from WKPT-DT since they're at such low power and directional away from me. I can get their analog signal pretty well, though. WCYB-DT is consistent for me, while WJHL is only intermittent. I think when they all go to full power I'll have no problem.

WKPT is multicasting ABC, UPN and now the ABC News service...27-3 has terrible audio...don't know if it is my set or the station. I can pick them up ok in Kingsport most of the time, but with their "micropower" transmitter, I have more trouble keeping the station locked in, no matter where I point my antenna. From where I am, I can get WCYB, WJHL, WEMT and WLFG all better than WKPT. Only wish I could pick up one of the PBS stations, but no luck so far.

I can get WETP PBS from Sneedville fairly consistently. With some effort, I'm sure you could get it from there. WEMT is only occasional for me and requires some tropo enhancement. WJHL has come in strong for me the last hour so I'd say there's some tropo going on between you and me as we speak.

Also, I'm sure you've tried WSBN ch. 32 as a PBS? It's north of you from Norton, VA.

The problem I've run into is that my subdivision lies on the slope of a pretty large hill, with my house about halfway up. I have a great shot at Holston Mountain and also at Viking Mountain, so getting the four commercial tv stations isn't too difficult (esxcept for WKPT DT, due to their power). WSBN and WETP both lie on the other side of that hill, which blocks their signals. I have actually had better luck aiming for Asheville; my analog reception of WUNF is better than either WSBN or WETP. My receiver can "see" something on WUNF DT's channel, but it just can't lock on, and thats better than I can say with the other two PBS stations...

WUNF-DT is fairly consistent for me. It's only 135kw or so if I remember but the transmitter is at b/w 4-5000 ft ASL so it carries a long way (135 mi for me). I bet you could get it from there if you tried assuming you have good exposure to that direction. What antenna are you using?

I am using a Channelmaster 3018 vhf/uhf, mounted in my attic....I have given thought to moving it outside and either up on the roof or on a tower, but haven't done so yet, mainly because I don't do heights very well! :) Seriously, I probably will do just that this fall, at the same time as I get up on the roof to blow away the leaves...sort of kill two birds with one stone, so to speak....

Outside you'll see a major difference, I'll bet. I guess you need vhf for analog reception but if you forego that you could go with a nice uhf only antenna like a CM 4228 or even a Yagi. OTOH, once all the stations are at full power you might just need indoor rabbit ears, but who knows how long that will be?

cpcat, you asked on the Knoxville thread about WKPT...where did you see that they had gotten a full power DT license? Reason I ask is that I used to work for Holston Valley Broadcasting on the radio side, and knowing George DeVault like I do, I would think he would want to stay on channel 19 when the digital transition occurs...in fact, there is a CP on file with the FCC for 3000 kilowatts for channel 19, which indicates that their intention is to move to 19 from 27. Check out this link, which backs up that thinking: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516214824

Oops, sorry. I meant WKOP which is the PBS in Knoxville. I guess I have too many letters in my head:D I edited my post in the Knoxville thread.

I did get WKPT the other day with some major tropo, though. Didn't last long. It's interesting that the main channel remaps to 19-1 but the subchannels stay 27-2 and 27-3.

Can anyone out there confirm that WJHL offers DD 5.1? I can only get them sporadically and all I remember is DD 2.0. Also, is WEMT offering any HD yet? According to the FOX splicer thread they should be but I can only get an SD signal (when I can get them).

cpcat,
38.1 hd when availiable 38-2 sd real bad SD. wjhl dd when availiable but signal set continously.

eclipse,
I live in Morristown and I get all the channels you are trying to get very well. The lowest signal level here is 69 to 72 range from WKPT 19.1 27.2 27.3. I get Norton in the high 80's. Bristol wcyb in the 90's. wjhl in the mid 70's. I am using a Winegard hd 7084 uhf/vhf combo with about 50 feet RG6 no preamp setting on my roof. If you get your antenna on the roof I think you be suprised and happy with the difference. You loose a lot of DB plus multipath a big problem in the attic.

I got an email from WKPT here's what they said.
We currently operate WKPT-DT at 5.38 kilowatts. Full
power
for this station is 200 kilowatts and we plan to be at that power level
by
7/1/05.

jimc705

I did get my antenna outside and up above the roofline....I am now using a Channel Master 4228 with pre amp, and WCYB, WJHL, WKPT, WEMT and WLFG all come in rock solid. Still can't get WSBN or WETP, since there is a huge hill right behind my house, running southwest to northeast...I am able to pick up WUNF out of Asheville about half the time now, though, and, on occasion, get WLOS. It appears that, as far as any other out of market stations, I am pretty much in a hole here and out of luck...

Eclipse,

That's great at least you got your networks rock solid. You may try to get WBIR dt31 and WVLT dt26 if that hill doesn't kill you. I have heard some up your way do get those. You know if anyone gets the new DT 7 from Knoxville up your way?

To be honest, I would be thrilled to be able to get WBIR just for their newscasts; thats the one I always watched when I lived in Knoxville several years ago...however, I am blocked in that direction, and the transmitters are over 100 miles from where I live, so no luck, although I was able to catch channels 6 and 8 analog whenever there were good weather conditions, when I had my vhf/uhf combo antenna up...I am really in good shape, except I would like to be able to receive a PBS station in HD. Perhaps when WETP goes full power, if they indeed do so...

Well the good news is you may have a shot at channel 12 DT Hazard KY when they go full power in July. Vhf will bend a little easier and may get over the mountain.
Do you get any digital signal from DT56 analog 13 from Ashville?
I'm in their coverage area and WUNF coverage area. I get a signal for DT 25 WUNF but can't get a lock. WLOS I get an occasional blip off DT 56 but not even close to locking. I do get analog 13 very well better then Knoxville's analog. I've written to them to see if they are at full power on the digital side but no answer yet. I think they are at reduced power also.

Originally posted by jimc705
Well the good news is you may have a shot at channel 12 DT Hazard KY when they go full power in July. Vhf will bend a little easier and may get over the mountain.
Do you get any digital signal from DT56 analog 13 from Ashville?
I'm in their coverage area and WUNF coverage area. I get a signal for DT 25 WUNF but can't get a lock. WLOS I get an occasional blip off DT 56 but not even close to locking. I do get analog 13 very well better then Knoxville's analog. I've written to them to see if they are at full power on the digital side but no answer yet. I think they are at reduced power also.

WLOS is a Sinclair station like WEMT. Low-power.

- Trip

Originally posted by jimc705

Do you get any digital signal from DT56 analog 13 from Ashville?


Occasionally I am able to get WLOS DT, and have it mapped on my receiver as 13-1 and 13-2, but they are only running 14.9 kw right now...in fact, they were coming in this morning, and I was able to watch Good Morning America for a little while...WUNF DT comes in about 40-50% of the time, depending on the weather. On the analog side, I can get channel 33 very well, and could get 13 before I replaced my vhf antenna. I have been thinking about upgrading my amp (Spartan, bought at Lowes, with 23 db of gain) to a CM 7775 with 26 db of gain, but I don't know if the extra 3 db gain would make any difference, especially since it is in an amp and not in an antenna...

Well the good news is you may have a shot at channel 12 DT Hazard KY when they go full power in July.

WYMT is currently at full power (50kw) and has been for the past several mos. I'm not really sure why they still have the STA for low power with the FCC unless it's just to leave them the option of decreasing power at any time.

Well that's not good. I can't get a lock here. In fact their signal level is at a poor 0 to 49. I'm just barely in their coverage area but given the fact they are VHF I'd hope I could get their signal. I guess I have to write them off.

For channel 12 you could try this: http://antennacraft-tdp.com/Yagi.htm


Or even this: http://community-2.webtv.net/GregBarker/UltraHighGain/

No guarantees in this business though. I get a strong signal from here with an Antennacraft Y10 7-13 but I'm only 50 miles away.

CPCAT,
Thanks for the info but I have a Winegard hd6084p and my gain on channel 12 is almost 11 DB now. I think the clinch mountains to the north pretty much wipes out Kentucky except for Harlan.

CPCAT, I like your setup. I was thinking about maybe stacking 2 CM 4228's, would that produce similar results to what you have? If not what do you recommend?

Right now I just have a silver sensor with a little amp that I hafta set outside on the window sill.:rolleyes: And I'm tired of doing that!!

Banghead11,
See a prior post of mine answering that question at the link below:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3905984#post3905984

Depending on your location, you may not need to go to the lengths I have.
A single 4228 may be all you need. Where are you?

I read that post shortly after posting my question, I'm in Surgoinsville, TN.

I would like to play around with a new antenna, just to see what I could pick up. But mainly I just want the major networks. I can get Knoxvilles wate,wbir, wtnz, and most of the time wvlt (couldn't yesterday) I want to get wjhl, wkpt, & wcyb. I can get wcyb but not very well. I also can get wemt.

I am on a small ridge, so I think with a better outside antenna, I shouldn't have much problem.

Thanks for the help!:D

Your location should be excellent in that you are in range of many stations in all directions. One option would be a 4228 or DB8 on a rotor with a high-band vhf like the Antennacraft Y10 7-13 mounted about 50-60 inches below combined into a CM 7777 preamp. You should have a good shot at VHF 12 from Hazard Ky (WYMT CBS) and also could rotate it manually for WMAK 7 in Knoxville if you want. You'll also want to have the high vhf band available as I'll bet WJHL will eventually go to 11 digital and WLOS in Asheville will go to 13.

The disadvantage of the 4228 (or any 8-bay for that matter) is wind load and difficulty stacking. It will also be hard on your rotor. The advantage is it has a little better gain on the low uhf, say 40 and below. If you really think you might be interested in stacking eventually, go with a single Yagi/corner reflector initially, then you can upgrade later if you want. Of those I mentioned in my earlier post, the XG91 seems to be equivalent to the Televes and Triax (I don't have personal experience with it) and has the advantage of being readily available through Antennasdirect and even has a 30 day return policy.

You could also go with a combo vhf/uhf like the Winegard 8200p or CM 3671, but IMO a combo will not be able to provide "state of the art" reception for either band. It also means a huge antenna because of inclusion of the low vhf as part of the deal.

I'm curious, can you get WKOP from there? I've never had any luck with it on a consistent basis which makes me believe they're not at full power. You should be able to get WETP 41 from Sneedville I'd think even with your current setup.

WCYB should be a piece of cake once you're outside. I got it consistently even when I used a 4228 from here (110 mi). WKPT and WJHL are both at low power but you're rel. close and in the direction of their directional tranmitters, so I'd say you'd have an exellent chance at those as well.

WKOP is channel 15? Its no problem at all, but I don't really watch it. it figures the one I don't really want I have no trouble getting:rolleyes: also get 41 WETP sneedville (actually its in mooresburg)

I just moved my tv over about 2 or 3 ft (cleaned carpet) now I cant get WVLT or WTNZ is this normal? Like I said earlier, I put the antenna on the window ledge outside.

Channel 12 WYMT is 54 miles away and channel 7 WMAK is 66miles, can you get those easy with your setup?


I think I will order the XG91 and the Y10 7-13 . What else would I need, a CM 7777, a rotor, and some sort of combiner?

One pointing question, in pointing toward the Knoxville towers, if I go up very high I will be shooting through power/phone lines. Will this effect it very much?

THANKS AGAIN

I live in Morristown just of 25e North before you cross the lake. You will have no problem with WJHL WKPT and WCYB. I get all them here very well the weakest being WKPT signal in the low 70s. WCYB on the other end in low 90's. I'm using the smaller hd6084p winegard combo on my roof with no amp. I get WLOS analog but their digital is at reduced power till July.

As for Sneedville, Norton, Grundy I get all those very well also in the 80's signal level. You should get those fairly easy also.

I got a small hill I have to get over to get Knoxvilles and I use a 91XG antanns direct for them. The 91 XG does have a little bit more gain the the 7084 on the roof for UHF. It's highly directional and handles multipath extremely well. I do not get WVLT DT30 except when it rains for some reason. All the other Knoxville digitals I get fairly well. WMAK is the strongest here around 80 Signal then WATE in the high 70's. I do not get pax digital either. (who cares)

Channel 12 Hazard I also do not get but I am on the extreme edge of the coverage area. You should be in their coverage area as long as you have a clean shot to the north.

If you are getting Knoxville's digitals now of the silver sensor then for sure you will not need to stack any antennas. I'd go with the CM 4228 or the 91XG they seem to be fairly close in gain for UHF. Then you may want a Winegard YA7-13 for VHF DT-7 from Knoxville DT 12 Hazard and analog 13. I do get channel 12 from winston salem analog at times. You may be in a better position then me for them also. I stay away from the combo in your area for my combo has problems with channel 2 Sneedville when I point towards Norton. It may give you a problem trying to get Knoxvilles. Channel 2 actually knocks out the digital signal from Norton so I have to move a little of to the east to get Norton. After 1 AM when 2 goes off air I have no problem at all. The 91 XG has no problem for it doesn't see channel 2 very well.

You may also get WUNF Asheville DT 25 in your area and DT56 for sure when they go full power. I hear some in Kingsport get it now even at low power.

The 91 xg does have the best warranty in the business . You could get it and see how it works for you and return it if your not happy. The CM 4228 will do just a wee bit better on 17 then the 91xg if that station is important to you. With either I do not think you'll need an amp. If you find you do Then the CM 7777 ( CPCAT recommended) is one of the best. I find Sneedville runs the exact same programming as 17 Knoxville. Norton as for PBS is by far the best and runs some different programming on their SD feeds.

Good Luck hope you enjoy your HDTV.

Power lines should not effect the UHF digitals but may effect VHF DT-7. You will need a rotor the CM 9521a can be had for about $80 on the web. The amp I would hold off on till you see what you have. Unless you just want to be sure. You can find a CM7777 also for around $60 on the web.

I tried an amp here and it had little or no effect on digitals but did help the analogs so I returned it for I have little interest in the analog channels.

Thanks for the help, I think I'll go with the 91XG & the Y10 7-13. My dad said he has a rotor I can use for now, and I think I'll wait on the amp.

Now I need a mast, what do you recommend? I was looking at lowes has a telescoping 30' for $45. What do you think about that?

Thanks again!

What else would I need, a CM 7777, a rotor, and some sort of combiner?

You won't need a combiner, the 7777 will combine the uhf and vhf antennas for you. Just make sure the internal switches are set properly on the amp (instructions are provided).

You can try it without the preamp first, if you want. In that case, you will need a uhf/vhf diplexer. CM makes a good one, I think it's designated 0549 or maybe 0547. If your cable run is >50 ft. though I think you'll benefit from the preamp esp. for the uhf channels.

There's a dealer for Antennacraft in Johnson City FYI (that's where I got mine).

I wouldn't worry about the power lines, just stay away from them while you're installing everything! You'll probably have to experiment some to find the optimum height. In general, higher is better, but not always.

The CM9521 rotor is available at Lowe's. Good luck

Sorry, I didn't see your new post before I responded. The CM Telescoping mast is exactly what I use, so my biased opinion would be to get it and install it thusly:

jimc705 & CPCAT, thanks for the help:D I've ordered the antennas, and there on the way.

cpcat,

Where did you get what looks like 24 inch wall mounts? I'd like to get some for my set up here. Rat Shack only has 12 inch and my house has a 24 inch over hang.

Another question: Someone gave my DAD an 8 bay antenna, he said it is an "old style" antenna and it needs a converter of some sort to hook up. Anyone knows what he's refering to?

Another question: Someone gave my DAD an 8 bay antenna, he said it is an "old style" antenna and it needs a converter of some sort to hook up. Anyone knows what he's refering to?

It's probably a CM 4228. It's been around for some time. My grandparent's house still has a tower up with two on it. They must be at least 25 years old. The "converter" is likely a 300/75 ohm balun which converts the signal for attaching to a 75 ohm downlead and is still part of the package if you buy one today.

Where did you get what looks like 24 inch wall mounts? I'd like to get some for my set up here. Rat Shack only has 12 inch and my house has a 24 inch over hang

Jimc705,
Mine is a CM 9036 18 inch wall mount. Larger ones are available but not through CM. Here's one that's 24 inch:http://www.tvantenna.com/products/tvreception/mounting/wallbrackets.html

Thanks cpcat !

Are you talking about an outdoor balun kit, if so where can I get one? Radio shack?

CM 0089 : http://www.starkelectronic.com/cmjoiner.htm


L&S Electronics in Johnson City would have something equivalent, I'm sure.
http://www.lselectronics.com

You could also go with the version at Lowe's or RS as well.

Thanks I got one and tried it out, it worked ok. Does it matter what kind of shape the antenna is in? The one that was given to my dad, is kinda bowed, does this effect it any?

Also I received my XG91, I got one that had been returned:rolleyes: it was slightly bent in some places, nothing major, seems to work ok. I haven't got an amp yet, but will soon. I also have not settled on a permanent mounting place yet.

Now I can get all Knox stations except Channel 7, now I can get channel 11 easy, channel 19 so-so, channel 5 no problem. Also get WUNF asheville but only so-so.

Thanks again guys

The 4228 should be slightly bowed on the left and right of the screen. If the bowties are out of alignment you can gently bend them back (carefully). If they're not grossly off it probably isn't a big deal, but I'd get them back as straight as possible.

Are you still getting the Y10 7-13? You should be able to get WMAK 7 with it and likely WYMT 12 from Hazard, but obviously in two different directions.

I'd be interested in your comparison of the 4228 to the xg91. Once you settle on the mounting location maybe you can perform some testing.

I will get the Y10 7-13 sometime, maybe this week, I had already called L&S that you mentioned and they have it in stock, good price too I thought.

I already did some rough comparisons of the 4228 & XG91. The XG91 was on a longer mast about 10 ft, but it without a doubt did better. I actually have an old BIG satellite pole that I just put my antenna & mast in for now. But if I mount it on the otherside of the house it will be higher & out of the way.

banghead,

That sounds great. I know the xg91 has a little more DB gain and I'm also curious how well it performs to the 4228. What kind of signal levels are you getting? I have a real hard time with WVLT DT31 and WKOP DT17 for some odd reason. I do get them but at a very low but steady signal of 60 to 62. My receiver will start dropping out at 59. As for WKOP I get WETP anyway with just a paperclip for an antenna.

The XG 91 was the only UHF antenna that I could get all of the Knoxvilles without dropouts. I never tried the 4228 but was considering in hopes of bumping the signal level a little. If you say the xg91 does a better job then maybe I'll be happy with what I got. Let me know if the preamp helps. I didn't have much luck here with one but it was the CM from Lowes. Maybe a better one like the 7777 or 7776 may help.

Anyway glad to hear you are getting a good strong signal. The XG 91 is all but worthless on the VHF band. I get channel 7 off the combo on my roof at a signal level in the high 70's. My dish 811 counts bytes and not true RF signal level though. You'll also get channel 13 WLOS very good analog and may get WXII 12 analog Winston Salem with the VHF.

Any luck at WLOS digital 56? They are at low power but heard a few guys up your way are getting it. No luck here yet.

Jimc705,

I don't have a signal number, but only a bar meter. But I would say that I got a 10 to 15% improvement with the XG91 over the Silver sensor I have. But the Silver sensor has a little Zenith amp on it and a very short, maybe 8 ft cable. I tried the same amp on the 4228, it pushed performance past what I had on the XG, but I didn't use the amp on the XG. I'm also using exactly 100 ft of RG6 cable from walmart (hanging out the window for now:rolleyes: ), would I be better off getting some other cable?


I would say that the XG with no amp, for me is about 5% better than the 4228 with no amp. And the 4228 was about 5 to 10% better with the amp, so I think the 7777 will prolly make a BIG difference!

Also my tuner is built in the TV(32 inch Sanyo), I have nothing to compare it to but I think it does ok.

I did lock in WUNF 33 asheville with the 4228 and amp, but not with the XG. Can't quite get WLOS 13, but I think its real close.

What finally got me to get another outside antenna was that I started not being able to get WVLT consistently, and was starting to have problems with WTNZ.

BANGHEAD11

I, too, am curious to see how your XG 91 compares to your CM4228...I decided to go with the 4228 over the XG mainly because it was a bit smaller, but if I could get WUNF more consistently, or if I could pick up WSBN DT in Norton, I would invest in another antenna.

Sounds like you might have the same tv/tuner I have, which I got at Walmart...from where I am, WUNF gives me between around ten percent up to forty percent signal, and I need about thirty percent to lock on, which I can do about half the time, depending on the weather.

On another note, has anybody else noticed the audio on WKPT 27-3? It seems to be higher pitched, with a "skip" every 5 seconds or so. I believe that they are not devoting a lot of spectrum for ABC News Now, so maybe that is the reason why...but it is distracting...

I noticed the PQ is not all that great and the sound is louder but haven't noticed any skipping or drop outs.

Here's a copy from a post I put up on another forum.

Just had to try a head to head comparison with the USDTV receiver.
My dish 811 receiver did a much better job of holding the signal. 3 HD channels I presently get very well with the 811 the USDTV receiver would not lock on. I also noticed the signals it did pick up (unless very strong) did seem to fade in and out on their signal bar. The dish 811 was showing a steady signal 67 to 70 while the USDTV was from almost 90 % to a low of about 15%. Hard to guess with that little bar they put on the screen.

I used the same UHF antenna, with no amp, mounted with no rotor, at same time of day. I also used a second antenna on the roof,with a rotor, tried fine tuning a bit for a second test and results where the same.

Conclusion if you are in a strong signal area the USDTV will probably do very well. If not you may want to check out another receiver. At no time did the USDTV receiver do better then the dish 811 receiver. It seem to do poorly on multipath is my beleif thus the wide variance in signal strength. This test was FYI only and not a recommendation of any product over another. You must decide if it's right for your situtaion.

Thanks Jim. I think it will be interesting to see how their implementation of the 5th gen. chip does (USDTV). Supposedly, it was to be out 4Q '04 but it's been pushed back to at least April now, some have said June.

Interesting how the new chip will end up being introduced at about the same time of the Jul'05 full power deadline for the top 100 DMA's. I wonder if this is coincidental. It certainly will tend to confound the comparisons to previous chips.

cpcat,

I do not know if I have a unique situtation or not. As you probably know I get the tri cities digital here of my HD 7084p on the roof. I get them extremely well with no drop outs of any kind. However last night when it was very foggy and raining the signal on all tri cities drop to a point I could only lock channel 5 Bristol. Do you have any problem with this?
Could this be caused by the extreme distance these stations are from me?I'm about 60 to 70 miles from their towers and according to their coverage maps I'mout of their coverage area.

The weird part is Knoxvilles digital which I use the xg91 for reception. Their signals get stronger at night and with bad weather. Normally I just switch to Knoxville or Tri- cities if one or the other has problems. This doesn't work for some sporting events for Knoxville doesn't carry the same games and some not at all. Last night I was lucky. It was MNF and knoxville carried that game. Knoxvilles gain about 2 to 5 signal level while tri-cities decreased a good 10 to 15 signal. I can understand the gain with the air be heavier and holding the signal closer to the ground. The other is puzzling. I could turn the 7084 with the rotor toward Knoxville but for some odd reason it's too high for Knoxville digitals. I need the height however for 13 from ashville.

I may have to try to spin the xg91 towards the tri cities next time it happens just to see what happens. It's mounted low and off my deck and easy to get to. I didn't think fog or rain would effect UHF. However with heavy fog like yesterday I guess that's a lot of water in the air at that distance. Thanks in adavance for your reply.

Jim,
Probably you're just on the edge of reception for WKPT and WJHL which are still at reduced power. Likely the only reason you can get them at that distance now is their elevation (around 4000ft ASL). When you're on the verge with reception any little change can cause a dropout. What it was exactly would only be conjecture. Sometimes tropo from other directions can knock out channels I normally get. Also, with weather like we had last night, you don't get the normal tropo enhancement from evening cooling and formation of an inversion layer. See http://home.cogeco.ca/~vem3ont22/propagation/tr-modes.htm for a rundown of tropo.

I can receive WCYB here and it never or rarely drops out, but WJHL requires moderate tropo and WKPT I only rarely can tune. What you need to decrease dropouts is more built-in "cushion" so you're effectively over-receiving the station on most days. When the bad days come along, you're still o.k. Likely that cushion will be provided for you when WKPT and WJHL go full power in July. If you can't wait, you'll have to upgrade your antenna. Have you tried the xg91 up on your roof? If it works for all your desired uhf's it'd be easy to add a 10 element high band underneath it like the Antennacraft y10 7-13. That'd be similar to my setup:
(I've recently upgraded to Triax Unix 100 band A's on top)

cpcat,
Yep had it on the roof and it did a little better on tri cities but could not get all the Knoxvilles. I moved it down to the deck and now I get all Knoxville's with no drops except PAX.
I built a small dipole with PVC and twin lead cut for DT 7 and put it on top of the XG so all my knoxvilles come off the xg run now. I may move the rotor down to the XG91 now and use the 7084 for channel 13 only. I can't get 13 down low. I played with the xg91 today and spun it towards tri cities and it is doing about 5 to 8 signal level better then the 7084 on the roof. I do have a cm 7777 on the xg now.
Thanks for the help cp. may try stacking the xg91 later on. I'm waiting to see what happens when Asheville, and Spartanburg go full power. I can almost get a lock on their digitals now but not quit.

It will be interesting what happens to WLOS as well as the majority of the GSP channels as they are all in the 51-59 range which is due for reassignment this coming year. This will also effect WJHL. I'm sure they'd go back to their analog channels but they won't be able to as they'll still be using them. I'm hoping they will all get A-band reassignments.;)

I'm also wondering if they will bother to go full power before the reassignment. That wouldnt' seem to make much sense.

Just wondering if anyone has noticed that WCYB WB 5-2 isn't on this morning? It still is on Charter cable channel 4, but not on the air...

eclipse ,
5-2 is on here at 10 am. might have to reprogram.

Thanks jimc705...tried reprogramming this morning, but it didn't work, so it must have been a temporary problem, and unusual because WCYB never seems to have any problems.

yep WCYB is probably the most reliable of all.

Hi , I have just found this fourm and man is it great. I am using a 60 in yagi clone mounted about 35' above the ground. Have winegard preamp and recieve 5-1, 5-2, 11-1, 11-2, 19-1, 27-2 , 27-3, 52-1, 52-2, 52-5, 68-1,. I have rotor on order and plan to raise antenna 10 more feet. I hope to get fox form greenville in high def. I wish they would have put their transmitter on holston like everyone else.

What station is 52-1?

Welcome dkb1...not too many folks from the tri cities here, so its good to see someone new. 'There are a lot of people here who can help answer any questions you have, or help with any troubleshooting.

I assume that 52-1, 52-2 and 52-5 is WMSY out of Marion? I was thinking that they mapped to 15-1, 15-2 and 15-5, but I'm not 100% positive that they do, since I only caught them by tropo once, many months ago...

welcome dkb1,

You should also get uhf 32 DT 47.1 47.2 and 47.5 WSBN from Norton VA and Grundy Va WLFG DT 68.1 UHF 49 . You mgiht also try for 13.1 and 13.2 UHF 56 and WUNF UHF 25 DT33.1 from Ashville NC. Some from your area report getting those also. May have to do a manual scan if your receiver has that option.

I get all those plus Greenville very well here in Morristown except for the Ashville stations which will go full power on July 1. I hope to get at least 13 digital then. I also can get an occasional lock on UHF 53 DT 7.1 WSPA from Spartanburg SC you may have a better chance up there. They are full power. Welcome aboard hdtv IS GREAT!

Yes 52-1 thru 52-5 is pbs out of marion ,va. I live almost behind bufflo mountain, so fox might be a problem. I did get it on analog when i pointed at it last sunday. I hope with a rotor and 10 more feet that it will come in. I am very glad that i found this site. I have two antenna craft 40 inch uhf that i would like to combine, how far apart should i start with? How do i hook the preamp up to this setup? Thanks .

You might want to check out the antenna thread pinned to the top of the Local Reception forums. I believe that cpcat has also posted pictures of several incarnations of his rigs, which have been combined antennas, so he has a lot of experience with setting those up. BTW, it appears that there is some major tropo going on this morning, if you have time to play with your antenna setup. I have been receiving WLOS solid as a rock all morning, and, when I scan for additional channels, my set "sees" (but can't lock onto) WSOC and WCCB in Charlotte, and WOLO in Columbia, South Carolina!

I just thought I would drop a quick note to let you guys know that there are others out there monitoring this thread, and appreciating its existence. I also wanted to share one of my learnings w/ you.

Standard disclaimer applies that each site is different, and the guy right next door to you may not be able to duplicate your results.

I live in north Johnson City on top of a small hill. I live in a subdivision that has restrictive covenants against outdoor antennas, though they do allow 18" satellite dishes. (Yes, I am aware of the FCC regs and laws that say property owners cannot be prevented from errecting antennas of property they own or control; I don't want to create an issue w/ HOA unless its a last resort.)

My goal in this was to be able to get HDTV signals from all stations w/o having rotator b/c I eventually want to get HD Tivo.

I purchased the Panasonic PT-50LCX63 (fantastic cousin of the PT-50LC13) which included the internal HD tuner. I was convinced that I would need a very good amplified indoor antenna if I was going to be able to receive HD indoors. I know that indoor was a long shot, but thought I would try before heading outside and into confrontation w/ HOA and neighbors.

I did lots of research and purchased the RadioShack 15-1880 amplified table-top antenna. I was encouraged that I was able to receive 5-1, 5-2, 11-1, and 11-2 without much effort; 19-1 was reachable w/ a lot of fine tuning which caused me to loose 5-1; was once able to tune 15-x PBS channels out of Marion, VA, but I think this was w/ tropo aid; could NEVER pickup Fox out of Greenville, TN w/ the RS 15-1880.

Went back to the research mode to try and find a better solution. Figured that I would need two different antennas to be able to pickup Fox w/ one, and ABC/NBC/CBS with the other (140 degrees opposite coordinates).

Decided to buy the DB-4 from antennas direct since it has a wide angle of reception. I plugged the DB-4 up indoors just to see what I would get. I got an immediate boost in 5-1, 5-2, 11-1, & 11-2 and got 19-1 w/o much trouble (all of these are in the same vector). I decided to rotate 140 degrees and see if I could pickup Fox for the 1st time. I was able to get Fox, but lost all the others.

This lead me to decide I needed 2 seperate antennas & a way to join them. For kicks, I decided to see if the simplest antenna ($1.99 rabit ears w/ UHF bow tie) could pickup Fox out of Greenville.

To my surprise, I was able to pickup Fox w/ the bow tie.

To my utter and complete dismay, I was able to spend 10 minutes positioning the bow tie to pickup Fox/ABC/NBC/CBS all at the same time w/o reorienting the bow-tie antenna!

The only stations that I don't get currently are the 52-x channels out of Marion, VA (used to be 15-x). I could probably get these by repositioning the bow-tie, but I don't want to loose the others. I may splurge and get a second bow-tie to dedicate to 52-x channels.

Lesson learned & shared, don't assume you need the $50-100 or more antenna solution, before you try the cheap simple one.

HD Tivo, I'm coming to get you!

Its great that you are able to pick up all the commercial networks with a set of rabbit ears without having to change its position all the time. I started out trying that, and managed to find a spot where I could get NBC, CBS, Fox and the religious station out of Grundy about 75% of the time, but never could get a suitable signal for ABC. After trying an attic mount and still not being able to find a spot where I could just leave my antenna alone and pick up everything, I moved outside, bought a CM4228 and pre amp, and was able to find a spot where I could leave it alone and get ABC/UPN, NBC/WB, CBS, Fox and WLFG without moving anything. I would like to get PBS-HD, though, so I am still experimenting.

I will say, though, that all this becomes very addictive if you let it....newer antennas, higher towers, more and better amps, etc. :)

And an HD Tivo would be VERY nice!!

I live in southeast johnson city, almost behind bufflo mnt. I did try an indoor amp antenna from circuit city , but after most of one day no luck. I could only get 5-1, Tried a 4 bow tie out side could get 5-1 19-1 27-2 27-3 , no 11-1. Then i switched to antenna craft 40 inch got 11-1 sometimes , upgrade to 60 inch . I will repost after my rotor gets here. The best i can tell is that i need about 48 to 57 inches spacing.

It sounds like you're in the right range. You can calculate spacing via a formula found here: http://www.astronwireless.com/stacking.html

You'll hear all sorts of recommendations, but this formula seems to make the most sense to me and it actually works in practice as well as theory. Use the lowest channel you want to receive in the calculation.
Here's my current setup:

Anybody know if WJHL and WKPT increased their power? They are booming in here today at almost 90 % in Morristown the same as WCYB has always been. I was getting a signal level of 68 to 72 WKPT and 72 to 75 WJHL. They both have come up big time to a low 85 high 92 but WCYB is still the same. Wondering if anybody else has the same experience.

I don't know if they have boosted power, but that would explain the good results I'm having w/ just rabit ears and loop (see my post earlier today).

I have been able to receive WKPT with 60% signal even though I have been aimed roughly 90 degrees away from Holston Mountain, towards WLOS and WUNF, all day...I had forgotten to turn it back, in fact, because there had been no drop outs....

Right now, without turning back toward Holston, I am showing 95% signal on WCYB (normal...I can turn to just about any direction or even just leave a short length of coax hanging out the back of the tv and get them), 90-95% signal on WJHL (a bit unusual when the antenna is turned this far away from them), and 60% for WKPT (very unusual)...

It was my understanding that WKPT was going to up their power early this year, but I have heard nothing about a specific date, but it could be that they decided to do the work this weekend, what with the good weather and all.

Just checked direct tv ird and i have fox in high def on channels 88 and 89. But i still am going to try to get it off the air.

Originally posted by jimc705
Anybody know if WJHL and WKPT increased their power? They are booming in here today at almost 90 % in Morristown the same as WCYB has always been. I was getting a signal level of 68 to 72 WKPT and 72 to 75 WJHL. They both have come up big time to a low 85 high 92 but WCYB is still the same. Wondering if anybody else has the same experience.

Lots of tropo afoot today. It's like a drug, sort of: It tittilates and fools us into hoping for better things, yet, ....the next day ..... it's all gone.

Hope it's real this time. Really, I do. :)

CPCAT; how do you determine how long of a wall mount is required? I think I'm gonna get the telescoping pole and put mine up like yours.
Thanks!:D

Originally posted by BANGHEAD11
CPCAT; how do you determine how long of a wall mount is required? I think I'm gonna get the telescoping pole and put mine up like yours.
Thanks!:D

You just measure the clearance necessary to get out past the edge of the eave. Add about an inch to be safe and be sure you take into account that little bit of shingle overhang, too. I used part of my initial eave mount, then just worked from the top down. I had to cut the "ledge" off of the bottom strap of the eave mount (took it to my local vocational school) to allow the mast to pass on down.

As you're putting up the wall mounts, there's maybe a half inch or so of play built in by spreading or narrowing the bipod part of it. You just can't spread or narrow them too much or you'll not be flush to the wall. Here's a pic of the top part of my mount (the old eave mount).

Anybody know if WJHL is at full power? I sent them an email but never got a response. Their signal has increased greatly here. Running close to the 90's for the last 2 weeks.

Mine is also staying around 88 .

It appears that Charter is now passing WKPT DT and WCYB DT unscrambled, and available to tuners that receive QAM. I just noticed this today, when I hooked up the cable to my digital tuner and did a cable channel scan, and this is a change from a couple of months ago, when all they passed were a couple of music channels and the pay per view preview channel....

What channel did they come in on?

It maps on my set as 102-1 (WKPT) and 102-2 (WCYB). If your tuner can pick up QAM signals, and you have Charter, then all you have to do is hook up your cable coax to the receiver and do a scan...it will take a few minutes to go through all the cable channels, but you should see them, along with those few music choice channels and ppv previews...you won't get anything like HDNet or ESPNHD, because those are scrambled....btw, I only have the basic cable service now, since I went back to a satellite service, so you apparently don't have to have any kind of special package from Charter.

I also have basic , I am in the process of scanning now.I just found them too!!! Thanks a bunch.

For anyone interested, according to the FCC website, WCYB, WEMT and WKPT have made their channel elections, although WJHL hasn't, as of 3:50 this afternoon. Seems that WCYB has elected to return to channel 5, WKPT will return to 19, and WEMT will stay on channel 38...since WJHL's dt channel is outside the core, I would assume they will return to 11.

Guess it would be a good idea to invest in a decent all band vhf antenna in the foreseeable future...

I would guess that we have a long wait untill the analog stream is shut down. But I have been wrong before.( well if you listen to my wife alot!!!)

Interesting note, it seems WETP-2/41 did not make an election...

WCYB-5
WJHL-11
WKPT-19
WSBN-32
WEMT-38
WMSY-42
WLFG-49

That's the final election chart for the Tri-Cities stations. WETP will get assigned a frequency by the FCC, based on what I've been told about stations that do not elect...

- Trip

I can live with that except for 5. I can get 11 on my UHF very well pointing the wrong direction but 5 is low band VHF and intereference problems abound. I get 5 analog but have interefernce during the day. I hope this doesn't tear up the bit stream. Right now they are my strongest digital at 90+. 2008 I hear as the cut off of analog so I guess I 'll worry about that when it gets here.

I think its odd that WCYB picked to go back to 5 in light of the fact that they built out their facilities on 28 at full power to start with, obviously at a great cost.

Trip: Thanks for the update on WETP...I missed checking them yesterday. At least they didn't go back to 2, but I was hoping that they would go full power soon since they are the only shot I have for getting a reliable PBS digital station.

Cpcat, I measured for my antenna mast, its gonna take 14" to clear the shingle overhang. Which wall mounts do I use? I only found a 18" or 12".

FYI anyone lingering around. WEMT Greenville DT 38 will be going full power 1000KW mid May. Talked with the engineer yesterday via phone.

That is good to hear, I might be able to get them.

CBS/WJHL DT is now being carried on Charter, and is being passed clear on channel 104-1...that now gives us ABC, NBC and CBS on cable. All we need now are WEMT and WETP. :)

Thanks, I just added it .

WJHL DT has been off the air for the last couple of days....if anyone is still here, I was just wondering if anybody knows whether or not this means they are getting ready to raise power??

well this is good to know, I thought something was wrong with my equipment. I can see the tower from my front yard straight in front of me. So, I knew something was wrong with ch. 58.

Thanks for the info, I have heard they are raising power, but did not know when. This may be it...

Don't know but they must be at full power by July 1. WB20 DT 50 in Knoxville has been off air for about 3 weeks. When they came back on their signal seems to be much better. WB however is not one of the 4 networks which has to be at full power.

WJHL is back on the air as of 7:25 p.m. There doesn't seem to be any change in their signal, so I guess they probably weren't upgrading. Can't wait until July, though, so WJHL, WKPT and WEMT are on full power...I can get WCYB with a six foot length of coax hooked to my tuner, it sure would be nice if the other ones came in that well.

I agree . I get WCYB at 100 % signal at times. WKPT is the hardest here around the 75%. Right now I have to move the antenna a little to get WEMT. Hopefully when they go full power (mid June according to their engineer) I won't have to move the antenna.

what is interesting is that I work for WCYB in Sales. Monday an announcement was made that our parent company (Blue Stone Television) has now bought WEMT. It will be an interesting future for them.

SDC , why don't you find out if wemt might put up a repeter station so people like me that live in the south east part of johnson city might be able to recieve its signal. I am also sure that a lot of folks in carter county would be able to watch too. Holson mnt. would be the best place for a repeter, with bufflo mnt second.

SDC, that is great news....if your company can do as good a job with EMT as it does with CYB and CYB-WB, then it will be a dynamite station! If you can, please update us as to whether or not Charter will be carrying WEMT-DT at some point, hopefully sooner than later...

Any one here have experience with the DirecTv OTA antenna they provide?

Ed

I think they may have gone full power. I've had a stable signal for 2 days now.
Could be tropo but I've never seen it this good and consistent before.
Anybody else notice a difference?

yeah my signal at the begining of the week would not lock, but now it is locking at 60%.

I work for WCYB. Our parent company just bought WEMT 3 weeks ago. I heard rumors that we would microwave WEMT's signal to Holston Mtn. and rebroadcast it from our transmitter. But the our GM told me this morning that this was just a rumor, since that would be against FCC regulations.

I have not heard about going full strength. We will have to see if it is just tropo.

okay so I worked with my antenna for the last few hours and now CYB,JHL,KPT, and EMT are all coming in between 85-98%. That is pretty good for the heat a sunny afternoon. It will be interesting tonight.

I am getting the best signal I have ever gotten, around 90-95%, from WEMT today, which is what I usually get with WCYB and WLFG....usually I get around 65-70%. Nothing else has changed, though, on the other stations, so maybe WEMT has increased power. However, I still have to point directly at Viking Mountain to get that, and don't get enough signal to lock whenever I am pointed at Holston, so I still need to rotate that antenna, at least until WJHL and WKPT go full power and I can find a spot in between to leave the antenna pointing.

Anyone know why WKPT is on the air, but not transmitting any picture/sound? They have been like that since yesterday, and show a good signal, but no programming...perhaps they are working on the transmitter, in preparation for going full power???

We can only hope. They technically don't have to go full power, though. Only those stations in the top 100 DMA's that are keeping their present digital assignment have to go full power. WKPT *could* get away with power necessary for "80 percent coverage" since they elected to go back to 19. That would still be a big improvement, though.

WEMT is still there for me, so I'm thinking they really have turned up the juice.

Ed , if you can see holston mnt you might get the ota antenna that fits on the dish to work. I would try it if it is free. A good yagi clone would be a better choice. It all depends on where you live.

SDC , I think your general manager needs to do a little checking about retransmitting the fox signal. You'all could retransmit it on a different feq. Just ask channel 19 how they do it.

Anyone know why WKPT is on the air, but not transmitting any picture/sound? They have been like that since yesterday, and show a good signal, but no programming...perhaps they are working on the transmitter, in preparation for going full power???

I had the same problem a couple of days ago but they seem OK now. There subchannel isn't working though. 19-2 is unwatchable. I guess they know this.

jimc705

Have you recently changed receivers? I recently got a lg 3510 tuner/dvd player and noticed a difference in sensitivity (it senses a lot of new channels, but, unfortunately, can't lock on to any of them) and in reception of the stations I got before. With my tv's receiver, 19-2 had a band at the top of the screen with lots of pixilation, and 19-3 had what I would call a "stutter" in the audio. With the 3510, I get a perfect picture on 19-2, and no audio whatsoever on 19-3.

I had the same problem a couple of days ago but they seem OK now. There subchannel isn't working though. 19-2 is unwatchable. I guess they know this.



WKPT-DT is putting new antenna and transmitter to go full power. May be at full power today. 200kw versus old 5 kw

That explains why WKPT DT is off the air...also noticed that WKPT TV 19, WAPK 36, WOPI 9 and WKPT-LP 25 are also off the air this afternoon, probably so that the new transmitter can be have power wired to it.

Eclipse
You are correct. I got a new receiver and it doesn't pick up the sub channels for WKPT for some odd reason. It receives the signal and displays an unusable macro blocking pix on 19-2. On 19-3 the same thing but the sound breaks up. My old receiver which I still use downstairs displays all three DT 19 perfectly. These are both Dish Net receivers the old is an 811 the new one is the 942. They have a software update coming June 30th for the 942 via sat. Hopefully this will have the fix for this included.
I get all other stations sub channels just fine. Strange it's only WKPT.

jimc705

Maybe it's something to do with the bandwidth that WKPT sets aside for 19-2 and 19-3, and the way the receiver decodes the signal?? I haven't noticed any changes for any other station but WKPT either, but your experience concerns me because I have Dish (SD only) and have been thinking of upgrading to HD and the 942. Other than the issues with ABC, how do you like your dvr?

FYI from WKPT
WEMT went to full power (1 million Watts) a couple of weeks ago. WJHL-DT has not gone to full power (also 1 million Watts) yet but will be doing so this week. They have installed their high power transmitter and antenna so they did increase signal by about 10 units on my receiver about a month ago.
All they have to do is raise the power .

We installed the high power transmitter for WKPT-DT two weeks ago and still using the low power transmitting antenna we went from 5,300 Watts to over 14,000 Watts. Sunday afternoon (the 26th) we took all of our stations off the air so that the tower crew could mount the new high power digital transmitting antenna. They got it up successfully but have not finished installing it. We are still transmitting on the low power antenna until tonight when the job will be finished. We will then be transmitting 200,000 Watts and should be stronger than WCYB-DT which runs about 189,000 Watts. It is my understanding that WCYB will stay at that power level and not go to their authorized 1 million Watts. Their final digital channel will be ch. 5 at the end of the transition Dec. 31, 2008 so they did not want to go the expense.
We do have an encoding problem on our DT 2 that causes dark reds especially to pulsate. Our encoder at the studios has been acting up. We hope to fix that problem soon. The DT 3 is using very little of the bit stream and some receivers do not make good audio on it. We may discontinue DT 3 before long.

Eclipse,

So far I love this 942. I've had it about 2 months now. The only problem I have uncovered with it is this WKPT problem. Unit works flawlessly very few bugs. The HDDVR is awesome and the HD pix in pix function is also cool. I have recorded up to 2 HD channels at the same time while watching a 3rd live. 2 satellite HD channels and the third was OTAHD. OTA digital sensitivity and multipath have been greatly improved. Features way to many to explain here. HD PQ is excellent. I do subscribe to the old VOOM HD channels for $5 /mo extra.

Now for the bad as far as I'm concerned.
The unit uses HDMI and component Video for the HD out feeds. Both are live all the time. I use HDMI for my projector home theatre downstairs and the component to my HD set up stairs. Some odd reason when the unit is shutdown and then turned backed on after more then a few minutes the HDMI quits working to the PJ and the unit must be reset to get the HDMI active again. I called Dish and they weren't aware of this problem. I'm hoping the new software update June 30 will solve this. Since I also have an 811 I just use it for the PJ and the 942 for HD set.
This will be of no problem to most people but since I had the 942 downstairs and HD set upstairs. I had to use the UHF remote upstairs to control the receiver downstairs. The UHF remote doesn't control all the functions as the IR one does. In order to use all the features you must have the IR remote in the same room as the 942.
Lastly the 942 at present won't allow you to add analog channels. This I'm almost 100% sure will be in the software update for the menu is already set up and dish net said some time after their intial offering this feature will be active.
The 2nd TV output doesn't pass the OTA stations to the SD composite output (no S vid out. I wouldn't threat about no S vid though whtever they did to this composite out the PQ from composite is better then S vid from other devices.) So at your second location unless you subscribe to the dish net locals you have to have an antenna feed for locals. This was no big deal for me I just use the 811 for OTA to my SD sets.
These are the only negatives I have discovered and may be of no concern to some. As for satisfaction with this unit you'll have to pry it out of my hands when I die. I think it's an awesome unit and beats paying that outrageous price direct TV wants for there HDDVR. The Dishpass is a neat feature also where it will only record new episodes of a program.

It appears they're at full power. Stable signal here, slightly less than that of WCYB.

CPCAT
Fred says they are at full power as of yeaterday. The only change here was about 2 point increase on the dish net meter. I can now get all tri cities and Greenville without having to move the antenna. I used to have to move it for WJHL and WEMT but now they all coming in with about 30 degrees to play with. My rotor can have a rest.

The WKPT signal is very disappointing, barely above low power WJHL. WCYB is almost as strong as WEMT here in Greene County. WKPT did a "Modification of Construction Permit" which seemed to be an even more directional antenna shooting the signal strongly in a narrow NW direction toward VA and KY. This modification resulted in the WKPT service contour ending at the Greene/Cocke County line rather than in Newport where the original construction permit allowed. WJHL and WCYB have contours that end in Newport.
If WKPT does not make a change, many will simply watch WATE in Knoxville. They are clearly going to need some on-channel boosters.
Maybe they could get FCC permission to eventually use WCYB's non-directional antenna when they move back to Ch. 5.

I am about 25 miles NW of Holston Mountain, and even here, WKPT is now just a little stronger than WJHL, but not as strong as WCYB....I would assume that they will eventually do a flash transition on their translator stations, including channel 14 in Greeneville, once analog tv is shut down, but that is a long time away.

BTW, has anyone heard anything about when WJHL will be ramping up power?

BTW, has anyone heard anything about when WJHL will be ramping up power?

I think they may have already. My signal here went from the mid 80's to mid 90's. They are now my strongest from the tri cities only beaten out by WETP sneedville 98 and WEMT Greenville 96. Knoxville still hoovering in the 70's.

OK I correct my own post. WJHL now has to be at full power. My signal is 100% now. My only 100% signal.

WJHL went full power this afternoon with a very strong signal that will please many people, unlike WKPT's horrendous signal. The WJHL signal exceeds WCYB as well here in Greene County.

Are they still at full power? I put my DAT 75's up and I can barely get a picture. WKPT is better even with the DAT 75's (compared to the Band A's). This doesn't jive with what I've heard here.

Are they still at full power? I put my DAT 75's up and I can barely get a picture. WKPT is better even with the DAT 75's (compared to the Band A's). This doesn't jive with what I've heard here.


WJHL was off the air most of Saturday and part of Friday with some problem. WKPT is using very, very directional antenna which sends the signal in the direction of Jenkins, KY. Given this some KY viewers may have better signal strength than TN residents.

Well that is what i would do, make sure that the people in KY has a better signal that the folks in the home market does.

Part of WKPT's problem is that they are short spaced to other analog stations on channel 27, meaning that they have no choice but to use a directional antenna, and only run 200 kw instead of 1000 kw. I am sure that they have no desire to short change their Tennessee viewers, but are forced to do so. They are aware of this, according to correspondence they have made with the FCC:

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516214824

As far as WJHL, all I can say is that from my location it is by far now the strongest station I am picking up, coming in fine no matter in which direction I point my antenna.

WJHL has been much better since sometime mid-yesterday. It's still not quite as strong for me as WCYB and now maybe a little more stable than WKPT.

Terrain and elevation factors (as always) I'm sure has a great effect on reception in our area depending on your bearing to the transmitter.

I'm way out of the coverage area for any of the Tri-City stations (110 mi.) but due to favorable topography (and a little work) can receive them.

Here's the latest rig with the Dat 75's back up.

cpcat

That is a monster! No wonder you are picking up the stations you do. How in the world do you get that up on your mast??

I get up on my roof to do it all. Actually, the Dat 75's are significantly smaller/lighter and less wind load than the Triax Unix 100 Band A's (ch. 14-38) which I've had up for the past several mos. With most everyone at full power, I can go back to a wide-band uhf antenna and still pull things in.

Here's what it looked like with the Band A's:

It's seems from here that WJHL is back at low power (or off entirely), WKPT has been on and off, WEMT has been on/off, and WETP is currently off the air.
Anyone know anything?

I haven't noticed any changes with WJHL. but WEMT's hd signal has been screwy for the last few days, with audio only...and the channels were mapping as 38-3 and 38-4 until last night when everything came back up again. I hadn't noticed WKPT and I can't get WETP's miniscule signal from here.

Hey Eclipse,
I live in Bristol and get the pbs feed out of Marion, VA. I wonder if you can do the same.

WSMY ch. 42 on top of Clinch Mtn. instead of Wetp ch. 32. Look into it...

Hey Eclipse,
I live in Bristol and get the pbs feed out of Marion, VA. I wonder if you can do the same.

WSMY ch. 42 on top of Clinch Mtn. instead of Wetp ch. 32. Look into it...

WETP is digital 41, analog 2 and broadcasts outside of Sneedville, TN. You might be thinking of WSBN digital 32 , analog 47 from Norton, VA.

SDC
I've tried to pick up WMSY DT and only get a blip on 42, but no lock, no matter where I point...as for WSBN, even though it's only 28 miles from me, there is a rather large hill between me and the transmitter, not to mention Clinch Mountain, so no go. I have, though, moved my antenna to a different location on my property and now get WUNF out of Asheville pretty well, at 55%, with just a few dropouts at night (daytime reception is awful, but I only really care to watch PBS HD in the evenings anyway) using a CM 4228 antenna. Not bad for 75+ miles over the Smokies!

Got an email response from WETP and they said they had decreased power this past week or so while working on their full-power tower/transmitter. They are back at the usual (low) power now and expect to be full power around Labor Day.
I'd say most in the Tri-Cities should be able to receive the signal when it goes to full power. The nice thing about EPTV is they broadcast the PBS-HD feed continuously and only broadcast one other subchannel.

For whatever reason, WKPT and WJHL seem to be back at low power and have been for several days now. I guess I'll put some emails in. WJHL seems even weaker now than before the July 1st deadline as I can barely register a signal.

Let us know what you find out. FWIW, while my signal from WKPT is doing fine, I can no longer pick up WJHL unless I am pointing my antenna straight at Holston, whereas before I could receive it no matter how my antenna was oriented.

The engineer at WJHL said they're at full power. I went and re-scanned for it and now it's back so it must have been a problem on my end.

WKPT hasn't responded yet and I still can't even lock where earlier this week I had a consistent signal (over a few days, not just hours).

WCYB (as always) and WEMT both with consistent signals here.

Got the following email today:

"You are correct. WKPT-DT is currently at an interim power level.... more
than originally, but not at full power. A problem developed with the new
higher power transmitter. It has been repaired and is now being tested off
the air into a "dummy antenna load." We hope to be back to full power
again on the air with WKPT-DT sometime next week. Please e-mail me when
you receive signal again, and let mer know how it looks!

Regards,

George DeVault"

Finally, I found WEMT last night. signal around 65. channel 38-01. What is strange is that channel 39 is very weak.

Trying to pick up Fox 39.1. I am using two different antennas. One point towards greenville and the other towards Holston mtn. When I connect the two together with a signal combiner I lose Fox 39.1 but I still receive all the other hdtv channels. Does anyone have any idea how I can solve this problem

Trying to pick up Fox 39.1. I am using two different antennas. One point towards greenville and the other towards Holston mtn. When I connect the two together with a signal combiner I lose Fox 39.1 but I still receive all the other hdtv channels. Does anyone have any idea how I can solve this problem


You're losing it due to mulitpath generated from the other antenna. The Holston mt. channels are probably strong enough for you so they're not as affected.

The best solution would be a rotator.
Also you could run two separate downleads into an indoor A/B switch.
Finally, it's possible to use the Channelmaster Jointenna to combine the two but this willl likely attenuate 2 channels above and below 38.

Thanks for the info. I went out and bought Channel Master Rotator. Hope to be up and running tomorrow. thanks again cp

No problem. Post back how everything went when you get a chance.

Installed the rotator today. Everything works great. Thanks again.

Is anyone here combining two UHF antennas together w/ a JoinTenna? Since WEMT 39.1 is in the oposite direction as the other towers (from JC location), I was thinking about adding a second antenna dedicated to WEMT. A rotator is not desired as this is feeding a HD Tivo. Any thoughts? :confused:

Is anyone here combining two UHF antennas together w/ a JoinTenna? Since WEMT 39.1 is in the oposite direction as the other towers (from JC location), I was thinking about adding a second antenna dedicated to WEMT. A rotator is not desired as this is feeding a HD Tivo. Any thoughts? :confused:


If you'll read about 4 posts back this was *just* covered.

:)

I would get an programmable rotor,And you can buy a programmable remote control that has a timer built in to it. So all you would have to do is program the remote to move the antenna at the same time that your tivo is set to record.

Does any one know when charter is going to add fox hd to their line up?

Thought I would report back on my use of the JoinTenna to pickup up WEMT Fox 39 (UHF 38). I'm using the DB4 from antennas direct to point toward Holston and am getting good signal strenght >75 for ABC, NBC, CBS, & PBS.

The second antenna that I'm using is a single UHF bow tie that is mounted indoor on top of my entertainment cabinet. By itself the bowtie can get WEMT at about 75.

I ordered the JoinTenna for UHF 38, and used it to combine the signals of the 2 antennas. The results (for me) are workable. Signal strenght on CBS, NBC, & ABC are essentially unchanged. The signal strength on WEMT is around 55, but this is strong enough.

This may not work for everyone, but it solved my problem and I now have an antenna system that is fixed and doesn't need adjustments. Working well w/ HD Tivo.

New question. Is anyone having a problem w/ WEMT being mis-identified by your receiver as 38.1 or 38.3 instead of the alias 39.1?

For some reason, I'm having this issue now on both HD Tivo and MyHD receivers. I can get the channel fine, but the guide info from DirecTV and TitanTV is on 39.1 not 38.x.

Any suggestions welcomed.

It's a PSIP issue at the station. The bugs are still being worked out for these kinds of things. It seems to vary among digital receivers as well. It wouldn't hurt to email the station and let them know in case they aren't aware.

I am having the same problem on my lg 3510, with WEMT being displayed as 38.3 and 38.4. Since I only have a sd Tivo attached to the Dish Network, it doesn't present a problem in tivoing programs for me. As cpcat says, email the station and let them know that it is messing up your guide data on your HD Tivo (and maybe costing them a viewer) and they might be persuaded to fix it sooner.

Where did you order the jointenna from? BTW glad to here that you got it to work.

I bought the JoinTenna from www.warrenelectronics.com. You must specify the UHF frequency that you want to isolate (in this case 38 for WEMT). The cost was $30 plus shipping, and I was quoted a leadtime of 2-3 weeks (it was actually delivered next day). Good service and helpful people.

Thanks!!

Anyone having a problem with Fox 39.1. I am getting audio but no video.

It's coming in fine here...video and audio; however, 39-1 has been on and off the last day or two, while 39-2 appears to be stable.

Spoke too soon...the video is out, although the local Fox 39 bug is on...looks like a Fox network HD feed problem, since 39-2 is sd and okay

WETP (PBS) DT-41 is at full power if any one wants to give it a shot.

No luck on WETP from where I am....although the meter now shows something on 41, it seems that the same hill blocking WSBN is blocking WETP.

Hmm... interesting. The Tri-Cities are well within the full power contour. See
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1013157.html

You must really be blocked. I'll be curious to see how others here do.

It's my strongest uhf signal now (at least with my wide band uhf antenna) and I'm at 65 mi.

I think my problem is multipath, not lack of signal...same as with Norton. I will go out tomorrow and unhook my pre amp and see if I have any better luck with picking up WETP.

I'm no help!! I could already get that with rabbit ears :D

CPCAT, can you get WYFF Greenville,SC? I have tried but no luck.

I'm no help!! I could already get that with rabbit ears :D

CPCAT, can you get WYFF Greenville,SC? I have tried but no luck.

Nope. I can get WSPA 7 analog intermittently (don't have a low band antenna for 4 right now). Those mountains are a pretty big obstacle. WLOS and WUNF have been fairly consistent (WUNF more so). They are both high enough to have a better chance of "getting over". WHNS is pretty high, too, you might have a shot at that.

Local H S Football in HD

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

Watch this Friday at 11:00pm the replay of the Anderson County vs Webb HS Football game on WMAK ch 7-1 in HD.

WUNF and WLOS are suppose to be on the same tower I believe. Can't prove it by me WLOS booms in and WUNF barely a signal. WHNS at times. WSPA analog and digital late night only. WYFF not a peep.

Jimc705,

How's your WETP signal now?

It's now one of my strongest.

Jimc705

Just curious, have you always had problems with WUNF, or did this crop up in the last few days? It came in fine for me until about a week ago, when it suddenly crapped out and barely gives a reading on the meter, but WLOS comes in almost as well as the Tri Cities stations..

Here, I can detect WYFF and WHNS, but can't get a lock on either one of them....nothing on WSPA...

Nobody at WJHL, CBS, can switch the Steelers vs. Titans game over to HD. Apparently, there are no "engineers" there... Can anyone help??????

It wasn't in HD on WVLT either if I recall correctly. Are you sure it was broadcast in HD to begin with because I'm not sure.

My wifes sister and her husband has recently moved to Kingsport and live just off of I-81 at exit 59. They have Charter cable, but no WEMT in HD. I see that Sinclair controls WEMT so obviously no WEMT digital on Charter. Can someone tell me what they should be able to receive off air with a RS UHF yagi antenna on a 2 story house? They really want FOX for the races next season and some of the primetime programming. It looks like WEMT is licensed to Greenville, TN, but since I am not from around there, I am not of much help.

The group that ownes wcyb also ownes fox, I am like you I wish charter would pass fox in hd. Yes you should be able to get fox from that location. I would sugest a antenna rotor to aid in your quest to find their signal. Remeber the larger the yagi the tighter the beam , but also more signal gain. You can buy a antenna rotor with a programmable control for about $75 to $90 range. You might also need a antenna pre amp( I would try it with out this first).At that location you might also get some of the knoxville stations.

Try this link: http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp

It is usually VERY accurate.

foxeng

Among various antennae I experimented with, at one time I had a Radio Shack uhf mounted in the attic of my one story house, and received WEMT just fine at 38 miles, as long as I pointed at Viking Mountain, and that was when the station was running at low power. As long as there is no hill or mountain between your sister in law's house and Greeneville, she should have no problem picking up FOX, especially now that it is at full power.

foxeng

Among various antennae I experimented with, at one time I had a Radio Shack uhf mounted in the attic of my one story house, and received WEMT just fine at 38 miles, as long as I pointed at Viking Mountain, and that was when the station was running at low power. As long as there is no hill or mountain between your sister in law's house and Greeneville, she should have no problem picking up FOX, especially now that it is at full power.


Thanks for all of the info. After looking at the FCC data on WEMT-DT, it looked like they should be able to but I was not sure how far Greenville was to Kingsport and such. I will pass that along to them. They will be happy to know that.

It appears that Charter has added the national PBS HD feed, which means they now provide ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS in HD...

I have been having problems with WSBN DT in Norton reverting back and forth between 47-1 and 32-1 after I tune to another station and then go back to WSBN DT. Every other time it identifies as 47-1 and then 32-1 every other time. I have contacted the station about it and they have yet to figure it out. This problem exists on WSBN only, all others are fine.
I have a Zenith SAT 520 tuner. WSBN's engineer says they do not have a Zenith to test with and the units they do have are not having the problem. Has anyone else noticed this problem?

I have been having problems with WSBN DT in Norton reverting back and forth between 47-1 and 32-1 after I tune to another station and then go back to WSBN DT. Every other time it identifies as 47-1 and then 32-1 every other time. I have contacted the station about it and they have yet to figure it out. This problem exists on WSBN only, all others are fine.
I have a Zenith SAT 520 tuner. WSBN's engineer says they do not have a Zenith to test with and the units they do have are not having the problem. Has anyone else noticed this problem?

Hmm... I have the HDV420, which is the non-satellite version of the SAT520, and do not see this problem on WBRA over here where I am on the few occasions I try to watch, though I watch it so little I might just not be noticing.

I DO have it on WJPR-DT, my local Fox and WB station.

- Trip

In my contacts with WBRA, it seems that the problem is at the Norton transmitter and not Roanoke.

BANGHEAD11,

I noticed that you mentioned WYMT DT 12 in Hazard in the forum a few months ago. Were you ever able to lock on WYMT? I have not been able to due to co-channel interference from WDEF 12 in Chattanooga. I have always been able to get at least a weak from of a signal from the Chattanooga stations(3,9,12) at certain times of the day. I no longer get WDEF since WYMT DT 12 went full power. I have noticed some horizontal lines on Ch. 11 which I think is some adjacent channel interference from WYMT. I think WJHL is also interfering with WYMT DT. I hope that the FCC will require WDEF to use a directional antenna that will not radiate the signal northeast up the river valley of east Tennessee.

BANGHEAD11,

I no longer get WDEF since WYMT DT 12 went full power.

FYI WYMT has been at full power (other than the occasional glitch) since at least Nov '03.

In my contacts with WBRA, it seems that the problem is at the Norton transmitter and not Roanoke.

Well, I was under the impression they were part of the same network and used the same equipment. Sorry.

- Trip

WJHL has been much better since sometime mid-yesterday. It's still not quite as strong for me as WCYB and now maybe a little more stable than WKPT.

Terrain and elevation factors (as always) I'm sure has a great effect on reception in our area depending on your bearing to the transmitter.

I'm way out of the coverage area for any of the Tri-City stations (110 mi.) but due to favorable topography (and a little work) can receive them.

Here's the latest rig with the Dat 75's back up.

Charles,
The photo of your antenna array reminds me of one I saw from a guy in Paducah who was somehow watching WDBJ from Roanoke. Amazing.
Bob Lee

Thanks. It's actually been spurred by my need for stable reception just for my local markets believe it or not. I had to put the Band A (ch. 14-38) antennas back up as the DAT 75's (wide band uhf) just didn't give me drop free reception for Knoxville digitals 30 and 34. I therefore no longer have a chance at WJHL but I can still get WCYB consistently and WKPT fairly consistently. The high band (7-13) stack was the result of my quest for digital 13 from Lexington which I can get most of the time now.

Does anyone know the reason why Charter wont broadcast Fox in HD? I mean, if BVU Optinet can, why not Charter? It just strikes me as strange.

WEMT DT/Fox is/was owned by Sinclair, which has been adamant in wanting payment for the carriage of their digital signals, which most cable companies have refused to do, apparently including Charter. The station is now under the control of WCYB, but I'm not sure if it has been sold to them or if Sinclair still retains ownership...if so, then don't look for Fox HD on Charter anytime soon...if not, then WCYB might negotiate carriage on Charter at some point.

For more info, check out: http://www.wemt39.com/home/cable_resale_local_tv.pdf

BANGHEAD11,

I noticed that you mentioned WYMT DT 12 in Hazard in the forum a few months ago. Were you ever able to lock on WYMT? I have not been able to due to co-channel interference from WDEF 12 in Chattanooga. I have always been able to get at least a weak from of a signal from the Chattanooga stations(3,9,12) at certain times of the day. I no longer get WDEF since WYMT DT 12 went full power. I have noticed some horizontal lines on Ch. 11 which I think is some adjacent channel interference from WYMT. I think WJHL is also interfering with WYMT DT. I hope that the FCC will require WDEF to use a directional antenna that will not radiate the signal northeast up the river valley of east Tennessee.

No, I never got anything from WYMT. I got the antenna like CPCAT has, for the 7 to 13 channels, don't remember the model # for it. But I didn't get anything, not even sure if it was working. I meant to ask Cpcat about it but I never did. I have a long ridgeline that I must go over in that direction, so I think that may be my problem.

Cpcat does that high band stack work just like the DAT 75's you have, point them in the direction of the tower? If so which end :confused: do you point? I tried everything but now its no longer hooked up, hasn't been for a while. Did your new stack help you out that much?

Cpcat does that high band stack work just like the DAT 75's you have, point them in the direction of the tower? If so which end :confused: do you point? I tried everything but now its no longer hooked up, hasn't been for a while. Did your new stack help you out that much?

It works very similarly. You aim both just as you would one. The spacing needs to be greater for the longer wavelength vhf 7-13. I'm currently spaced at 83 inches for the high band stack. It works pretty well as long as you can space at least 70 inches. The stack narrows the horizontal beamwidth considerably and most likely increases gain as well. It's significantly better performance than a single Y10 7-13. Whether it would be enough for you to bring in WYMT I don't know. If you can't get it *at all* right now I'd doubt that a stack would give you stable reception.

I can get WKYT DT 13 from Lexington without drops on most evenings now. With the single antenna I could only occasionally get even a lock. WJHL analog I get mostly a ghost free picture with minimal snow, probably a "Grade B" signal.

I also use a low loss vhf combiner from Lindsay Electronics as well as a low noise PHEMT preamp from Research Communications. I'm in this "to the max" partly out of necessity and partly out of obsession. The PHEMT preamp is slightly better than the CM 7777, but not by much.

The DAT 75's are down now and I'm using the Triax Unix 100 Band A antennas for UHF (two antennas on top in the pic). They are spaced at 56 inches.

I guess that it will be impossible for anyone to get WYMT in NE TN until the analog Ch. 11 and WDEF 12 in Chattanooga are turned off. There is definitely some adjacent channel and co-channel interference going on. The Chattanooga VHF stations make their presence known occasionally and since WYMT DT went on air I notice horizontal lines across the screen on WJHL 11.

Has anyone in this area tried watching WUNF DT 25 in Asheville? I get it part of the time and I can get a weak signal from the WKPT LP 25 translator in Kingsport at the same time. Clearly, there is some co-channel interference if I can get both stations. I wonder why WKPT was not asked to turn their translator off. Apparently, WKPT wants to keep this translator after the DTV transition. WUNF's service contour reaches to the edge of Kingsport.

What kind of equipment are you using. I don't understand how your getting co-channel interference when one channel is DT and the other is analog.

I am using a Zenith SAT520 in combination with a conventional tube TV. My tuner gets analog and digital stations. I can sometimes get WKPT LP 25 hooked up to a VHF antenna alone without even trying. When analog and digital signals are present on the same channels (25), both signals are going to be inhibited. That is what I mean by co-channel interference. I use a multibay bowtie antenna to get WUNF.

I can get WUNF pretty well from Colonial Heights, depending on the time of the year it is. During the summer and the winter, both WUNF and WLOS come in very steady at night, almost as if they were local, but during the fall and spring, its pretty iffy...I am using a CM4228 antenna with a LG3510 digital box. I will say, though, that there is a rather large hill/ridge running northeast to southwest right behind me that blocks off reception from WKPT LP 25, so it doesn't cause interference to WUNF DT for me.

What kind of equipment are you using. I don't understand how your getting co-channel interference when one channel is DT and the other is analog.
Banghead11, I'm technologically deficient, but I can tell you that for whatever reason there seems to be more co-channel and adjacent-channel interference when an NTSC and an ATSC signal are involved. Up the road here in the Roanoke market, there are digital signals on both 17 and 18 that never seem to bump into each other, but the NTSC 7 and the ATSC 8 signals mess with each other.

By the way, do any of you guys in the east side of the Tri-Cities market receive any Bluefield/Beckley digitals? The forum for that market is quiet as a church.

No luck here...the best I can do to the east is a religious station out of Grundy, Virginia (with the transmitter northwest of Abingdon). I can't even get any of the West Virginia analog stations from here, although I can get channel 7 analog out of Roanoke on occasion, buried in a blizzard of static. :)

No luck here...the best I can do to the east is a religious station out of Grundy, Virginia (with the transmitter northwest of Abingdon). I can't even get any of the West Virginia analog stations from here, although I can get channel 7 analog out of Roanoke on occasion, buried in a blizzard of static. :)
Try our WDBJ-DT 18(or 7.1) sometime. I'd be surprised if you can pick it up in Kingsport, but then I'm surprised when people get it in eastern Kentucky.

Try our WDBJ-DT 18(or 7.1) sometime. I'd be surprised if you can pick it up in Kingsport, but then I'm surprised when people get it in eastern Kentucky.


I will give it a try sometime, but don't think I would have any luck, since WCCB (analog) in Charlotte is also on 18, and would probably block your signal down here...

What kind of equipment are you using. I don't understand how your getting co-channel interference when one channel is DT and the other is analog.


This can certainly be a problem. If you can see any picture at all on the analog equivalent it's likely interfering. A good digital signal on the analog equivalent channel will always look like pure snow.

I commonly get analog co-channel interference from WB 34 in Campbellsville, KY which will completely knock out WTNZ DT 34 from Knoxville at times. Usually it's only when there's significant tropo from my northwest. However, the less directional your antenna is, the more vulnerable you'll be to this.

Things should improve significantly after the analog shutoff but that's obviously going to be awhile.

So the co-channel interference comes when your viewing analog only? I have never to my knowledge(with this TV) gotten any interference, but I only view the DT channels only.

I can't get Fox 43 like I once did, is this the interference?

On another note, on the broadcast TV station search, it know longer shows that I'm able to get Knoxville stations except WKOP. Any ideas why its changed?

On one more note tropo forecast looks pretty good for today and tommorrow. :D

So the co-channel interference comes when your viewing analog only? I have never to my knowledge(with this TV) gotten any interference, but I only view the DT channels only.

I can't get Fox 43 like I once did, is this the interference?

On another note, on the broadcast TV station search, it know longer shows that I'm able to get Knoxville stations except WKOP. Any ideas why its changed?

On one more note tropo forecast looks pretty good for today and tommorrow. :D

On the digital channel, the result will be breakups or no signal at all. Viewing the analog is simply a way to get an idea of what's going on.

If you are having consistent problems with digital 34, it is likely something other than co-channel interference. Even for me, it's intermittent . I don't know of any other relatively close analog 34's which would be a potential problem.

I'm assuming you are referring to your antennaweb.org results. I don't know why they would have changed. You can go to http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp
and put in any radius you want for a list of stations, bearings, distances.

No, not antennaweb. I'm talking about the same site that you gave a link to, its changed for me and I don't know why.

On viewing digital channels thats what I thought, I guess it threw me about analog channels because I never use them.

Anyone having signal problems with Wemt (fox). Thanks Kyle

Hello I am new to this message board. Seems like there are several from my area. I have a question on a OTA Antenna. I live in Piney Flats and I have the Charter basic cable which is analog but I also have Dish Network. I have the top 120 along with Voom and the HDnet package. I would love to be able to get Johnson City, Bristol and Kingsport in HD, Just curious if the Silver Sensor. Or would I need a better outside antenna. Oh yeah I will just be using 1 antenna. Thanks for helping this newbie.

Steve

Can you see holston mnt? If yes then any yagi clone will do. L&S electroncs in johnson city has a good yagi clone.It will set you back about $40.00. Just point it at holston , do a scan , and off to the races you will go. Keep in mind that fox is in greenville ,tn. allmost 160* away from holston. You could buy an antenna rotor, or 2 antenna's with an antenna combiner that only lets fox channel 39 pass. Does your dish reciever have an antenna input? Most hd ird have an antenna input and Built-in ATSC Tuner . if it has this then try to hook your cable to it and do a scan. You might get lucky and have all the locals except fox. good luck and let us know how it turns out.

I live on the dowside of a hill. The end of my neighbors house blocks my view from holston. My wife would rather me not mount an antenna on the roof but she may let me do a smaller on off of the front porch which would be pointing at the corner of my neighbors house. I will take a better look tommorow for a view of holston.

I did the test with my dish and I did not get a signal of course my dish is 180 degrees opposite of holston.

I did a scan at check HD with my zip code and I got all 4 stations as yellow. Then I put my street address and I got 1 yellow wemb 1 red and 2 blues, Of course they are a lot closer (around 13 miles) but I guess the terain makes it more difficult

Thanks

Steve

Results from my street address

Yellow - UHF 39.1, 39.1 WEMT-DT FOX GREENEVILLE 222° 34.8 38
Red - UHF 11.1 WJHL-DT CBS JOHNSON CITY 95° 11.6 58
Blue - UHF 5.1, 5.2 WCYB-DT NBC BRISTOL 90° 13.2 28
Blue - UHF 19.1, 19.2, 19.3 WKPT-DT ABC KINGSPORT 95° 11.6 27

I started to go today and by an OTR antenna. However I read some of the previous post and read were people who had the charter basic were able to recieve the HD Locals. I have not tried to get them untill this AM. I did get wjhl and PBS 781,782 it was trange I was able to get 308 Fox Soccer. I did not get the other locals but I will try later today perhaps they were not broadcasting in HD. I have lots to learn.

Thanks for any other info.

Steve

Charter is carrying all the digital locals except for WEMT (FOX) and WLFG (religious), and passing them through unencrypted, along with Fine Living, Fox Soccer Channel, Fuse, CNN International and some music channels. If you didn't get them when you scanned, its possible that you don't have enough signal on your cable for your tuner to lock on to them...you might try to run your cable into your tuner without splitting it to see, or run it through an amplifier.

Thanks I just checked again and still not getting a signal for wcyb HD and wkpt HD. PBS looks preety good. Just for curosity I checked the signal strength on my HDTV and WJHL HD had a 90. I did get a few music channels, Fox soccer and a CNN. Just curious is the OTA antenna have a better picture on the locals than Charter locals in HD.

Thanks

Steve

Anything you can get over the air will look a bit better, if for no reason other than there is one less step involved (not being retransmitted on a cable channel), but I honestly can't say that there is that much of a difference. I have a Channel Master 4228 with a preamp, but if Charter had had the locals on in hd when I got my tv, I probably wouldn't have gone to the trouble or the expense.

I have the Dish Top 180, with Charter internet service, but not the Dish hd pack (waiting to see what Charlie does about mpeg4), with a Sony DHG HDD250 dvr hooked up to my antenna and to the cable for my hd programs, and it works very well in picking up all my nets, and a Tivo connected to Dish for sd programs, but I do have to run a distribution amp on my cable, before I send it out to my dvr and the analog tuner in the tv...without it, I doubt I would get anything from the cable.

You might try putting an antenna with a pre amp in your attic....I have done that in the past with pretty good results, and it is a whole lot less noticable (and more wife-friendly!).

I called 2 times to Charter and I got 2 different answers about recieving local HD. One said without a cable box there was no way I could recieve it thru them. Said they probably were not in HD since I dont have a box and they give me the HD service.

The other person said that the 2 channels I was recieving was the only 2 I was allowed to recieve since the other 2 was not in my area. I told him I just lived a few miles from Kingsport and Bristol. (dont know if I really believe that)

Anyway I may try to go OTA tommorow.

I really like HD from the satellite. I also have the Voom Package they were brodcasting 1980x1280 (something like that, higher than the regular Dish HD) they have cut back but the word is they suppose to be more channels on voom added and their resolution suppose to go back up.

You are right there maybe some changes coming very soon to Dish HD

Thanks

Steve

This is why I am a Dish sub now, instead of with Charter...

Under FCC regulations, a cable system can't downgrade a station's signal without that station's permission, i.e., if the station broadcasts in hd, then the cable company must send out the signal in hd. Also, while a cable system doesn't have to carry any local digital station, if they do so, then it has to be provided in the system's basic service tier, without the need for a cable box. See http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/digital.html for more details.

The Tri Cities is considered one system by Charter, not three, with the same channels and programming market wide, so you SHOULD get the same hd networks in Piney Flats that another sub gets in Johnson City or in Bristol...so the csr you talked to told you wrong. In any event, good luck on the antenna. Let us know how it goes!

Last night I called my HI-Tech Uncle in Kingsport and he gave me this AM a
Radio Shack 15-2160. Its the one that they advertise as a 40 inch boom. Somwhat of a Yagi design.

Anyway I can get wcyb,wb,wkpt,wapk and another wkpt.

I was suprised I could not get WJHL. Before I put it on a pole I had set it on my deck just to see if I could get a signal and I got WLFG and he sure seemed in HD.

I have not aimed the antenna at any other location to try to get WEMT. It was dark by the time I got things together. Looks like I need a Rotor.

Thanks for all the info.

Steve

About 6 months ago set up my parents w/ an HD OTA receiver (LG 4xxx) and was able to pull in the local digital signals of NBC, CBS, ABC, UPN, FOX, WB w/o adjusting the 40 yr old outdoor UHF/VHF antenna. Ashville (13), Charlotte (3), and Greeneville, SC (4) analog signals come in but are snowy as well as the two PBS stations 2 and 52. I remember as a young lad that the Carolina stations came in as clear as the local stations but we never got the knoxville stations. We did not have a rotor to fine tune any of the stations. Was a big ACC basketball fan for that reason. Could get 3 different ACC basketball games and one SEC game. Their house sits on a hill near the airport w/ a clear view of Holston Mtn. I think the Knoxville stations are blocked by the hills to the west of the house.

Will be coming up this wkend for Christmas and was thinking of getting them a new outdoor antenna. I think that the existing antenna has around 12 elements. Does anyone have an opinion whether or not a Radio Shack 37- or 57-element antenna would clear up the reception of the Carolina and PBS stations and possibly pull in the digital signals? Or am I just whistling Dixie?

They do not have an HDTV but the digital signals are a vast improvement over the analog signals.

thanks, Brett

Late last night around 2 AM I was experementing with the Antenna andmy biggest suprise was WMSY. I think they were 5 of them. I can get WCYB, WB,WKPT 19-01,02,03. WEMT, WJHL 01,02. WLFG. WMSY was there early this AM but I cannot pick it up this afternoon.

Are there any other channels that I may be able to get. Thanks for the help. Looks like my next perchase will be a rotor.

Thanks

Steve

WMSY:

52-1 PBS (analog)
52-2 PBS You
52-3 Blank
52-4 Blank
52-5 PBS-HD

So the 5 subchannel thing is somewhat misleading for them to do, but they don't seem interested in shutting off the other two. Just a friendly FYI.

- Trip

[QUOTE]Does anyone have an opinion whether or not a Radio Shack 37- or 57-element antenna would clear up the reception of the Carolina and PBS stations and possibly pull in the digital signals? Or am I just whistling Dixie?

I am not sure about the Radio Shack antennae, but the Channel Master 3020 combo vhf/uhf antenna is pretty good, and you can get it locally at Lowes...I have used that one in the past and got all the local stations plus WLOS (13), WYFF (4), WBTV (3) in analog. Didn't have much luck with digital with that one. With a CM4228, I can get WLOS and WUNF out of Asheville regularly, and WHNS (Fox) and WYFF occasionally, in digital (channels 56, 25, 57 and 59). Good luck!

thanks Eclipse, will check out the CM's when I get up there.

The 4228 is is on sale from Warren Electronics for $39.50 great deal! shipping UPS to Morristown was $17.75. I did get a 7777 amp so may be a few pennies less without amp.

Her in Morristown I get the following digitals 100% of the time no drops.

Knoxville WBXX WVLT WBIR WATE WETP WTNZ

Tri cities WJHL WEMT (both at 100 % signal level) WCYB WKPT

Norton and Grundy VA WBSN WFLG

About 95% of the time I get WMAK DT7 Knoxville off the 4228.

Occasional WSPA (S. Carolina) and WLOS WUNF Ashville (N Carolina).

That should give you a pretty good idea of the range of the 4228.