Whodart, just to give my two cents, I am able to get KETS-DT fairly well in Benton with a cheap UHF/VHF Radio Shack yagi pointed at Shinall.

RockyF, how are you about to get it when you are pointing the antenna the opposite way of Redfield?

To clarify, we are talking about KETS the AETN/PBS station on VHF 5, right?

What do you consider fairly well? If you are saying you are getting it from Benton pointing at Shinall, that tells me that they may have actually moved the transmitter at some point either that or you just just really lucky and getting it off a side lobe of your antennas reception range.

I am beginning to think that we need to check with some more people about where this transmitter really is. While I am not surprised I cannot get KETS with my crappy indoor antennas, your report of getting it from a cheap yagi pointed at Shinall DOES surprise me. If its up on Shinall, I should be getting more than a 3% signal with my antennas which is all I am getting now.

I think I have just gotten lucky. Yes, I am talking about the digital station, as in I get 2.1 thru 2.4 and I get HD when they send it. I have always understood that the transmitter is at Redfield, I get KASN-DT and did recieve KATV-DT before the tower fell. When I say fairly well, I mean it's a good enough for a lock, I think it jumps around from about 66% up into the 70's or even low 80s, but I do have more dropouts from them then I do 4, 11 16 and 38. They are stronger than KWBF-DT. It is pretty sensitive though, last weekend I got up on the roof and did some adjustments, and I lost it turning just a little bit, but I got it back (as well as KWBF-DT) by raising the antenna about 6 to 8 inches.

Hey RockyF. KETS channel 2 (RF). I installed a channel 2-6 yagi today, through a low pass filter and my regular UHF/VHF antenna through the high side of the filter, then through a preamp. I have the regular vhf uhf antenna pointed at Shinall which is 264°
from me, and have the lo-band antenna pointed 184° toward Redfield. I am still getting good signals, 65-75% on 4 7 11 16 38 etc, and no signal at all on channel 2.
If you have your antenna pointed at shinall, that's about 70° fom you, and Redfield is about 120° from you. I am really confused now as to where KETS digital is transmitting from? Thanks.

Dave E
NLR

I don't know, like I said earlier, I had always heard it was at Redfield, and I've had no reason to question it. I can't really explain why I've had good success with this set up, I've just been lucky.

I'm in Maumelle on the Arkansas River. I have almost direct line of sight with all of the towers on Cantrell.

What's funny, though, is I struggled for months with a Philips indoor/outdoor antenna. One day, I accidentally left the coax unplugged from the Antenna (still plugged into my TV) and it was resting against my metal speaker stand.

Guess what? The metal speaker stand is a MUCH BETTER antenna than the Philips. Hilarious, if I do say so.

Finely tuned, the antenna was better -- but I had to constantly adjust it and I've NEVER been able to pick up ABC (Redfield?) so nothing gained and nothing lost but hassle.

Looks like the launch of D*'s D11 is going to be delayed . . .


http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=92610&page=47

They are back to OAR and NOT STRETCHING !!! Checked during the 5:30pm newscast.

Whodart...there is NO rf channel 2, its off the air. Scan RF channel 5 for PBS digital.

Whoever at KLRT turned off the God awful stretch... THANK YOU!!

KLRT probably rebooted their equipment recently, causing it to default to 16:9 stretchovision. I guess somebody finally took a look at the actual broadcast image and fixed it.

2 analog is dead. Look for KETS-DT on channel 5.

http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1034571.gif

[Whoever came up with remapping DTV channels should be shot.]

Or their ears were burning from the string of posts on here. Haven't seen so many people agree on a forum for a long time.

Whodart, If you still can't get it on a channel 5 scan, send me a PM.

sure didnt do anything for my area. So my question is, where is aetn's coverage of the River valley? Little rock dont claim us, NWA dont claim us, where the hell is our damn signals.....WTF:mad:

Your signal is on AMC3 at 87 degrees west. All 8 of em :)

... where is aetn's coverage of the River valley? Little rock dont claim us, NWA dont claim us, where the hell is our damn signals.....WTF
http://www.aetn.org/__data/assets/image/0015/3363/transmitterpic.jpg
Theoretical coverage. Real-world reception is another story...

2 analog is dead. Look for KETS-DT on channel 5.

http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1034571.gif

[Whoever came up with remapping DTV channels should be shot.]

I still think that map is fricken HILARIOUS!! According to that map, I am WELL inside their coverage area and should have NO problems what-so-ever getting the signal even with an indoor antenna. LOL

And for the guy that says he has line of site to Shinall, I live basically UNDER the towers (well, not literally. more like less than 2 miles as the crow flies from them), and I STILL struggle getting stuff. I think most my problems are due to multipath and the sort. (Plus the fact I have POS antenna's in the house. LOL)

I agree. Map is a joke. With the antenna I am using, I should get 100% according to the map, and the best I can do is 80%. Map does show that Benton, off the rear right lobe of an antenna pointed at Shinall would have a good chance at picking it up between the 90 degree null and the 170 degree null. Most antennas have 3 small peaks toward the rear, with the strongest null at 90 degrees.

Dave,

I think in the urban/suburban areas with all the electrical noise, etc low-band VHF digital televison even "in range" is limited. And add the low power to the mix and despite KETS-DT's decent tower height its crippled out of the gate. In a fairly RF quiet area here (where my northern "neighbors" are literally livestock) I get KETS-DT okay on an outdoor antenna---but let the washing machine cycle or the heat pump switch off and on, or even flipping on a light switch will cause breakups even on a 96-100% "signal". Much worse than KTHV-DT even though KTHV is 30miles farther away.

That said, I think the only people able to get KETS-DT with rabbit ears would live in.....Redfield perhaps.

Thanks, Davenlr. I been chasing my tail 'round the antenna mast, apparently.
I have been trying like heck to pull in channel 2(RF), now I understand it a
little better. They are going to 7(RF) after the switch I see after the changeover,
but all the charts show them as RF channel 2 digital that I have seen. Will try again.
Regards

Dave E, NLR,

Thanks, Davenlr. I been chasing my tail 'round the antenna mast, apparently.
I have been trying like heck to pull in channel 2(RF), now I understand it a
little better. They are going to 7(RF) after the switch I see after the changeover,
but all the charts show them as RF channel 2 digital that I have seen. Will try again.
Regards

Dave E, NLR,

Not sure which charts you've been looking at but they are on a STA using RF 5 for digital right now until KATV gives up 7 in February. It remaps to 2.1-.4.

Heres what pisses me off.

If I want to watch AETN, I have to point my Ant toward Fort Smith

I cant get NBC from FS so I have to point to LR

I can get CBS and ABC from either direction

I can get Fox Analog from FS but not digital, I can get both from LR

I get KASN from LR , there is no KASN in FS or NWA

My tv plays musical chairs with ch 42, receiving it is like fixing the same old tire that will get you 20 miles down the road then go flat again.



Yet according to maps, if my area is claimed by market, its barely claimed or we hear the excuse....you are in a fringe area..you are in a gray area...Well I say the hell with that crap. The FCC or whoever needs to get off their butts and make either LR or FS RESPONSIBLE FOR MY AREA! I dont care which one but this being unable to lock strong constant signals in my area is BS, its ridiculous and the engineers of these stations need to read my post and do something for the folks in the River Valley who have supported their asses for over 50 years. If you have received a stations analog signal for years, they should be FORCED to continue providing you with a strong digital signal. What these stations are doing instead of just swapping from analog to digital is using this changeover as a chance to drop certain areas that they have covered for years becasue they deem the population to be too low, thats Bull and they shouldnt be allowed to get away with it!

Heres what pisses me off.

If I want to watch AETN, I have to point my Ant toward Fort Smith

I cant get NBC from FS so I have to point to LR

I can get CBS and ABC from either direction

I can get Fox Analog from FS but not digital, I can get both from LR

I get KASN from LR , there is no KASN in FS or NWA

My tv plays musical chairs with ch 42, receiving it is like fixing the same old tire that will get you 20 miles down the road then go flat again.

My guess would be that once KETS moves to channel 7, you'll be able to stick with Little Rock. If you can see KASN-DT from Little Rock, then I can't imagine you having too much trouble with KETS-DT on 7, which will get around terrain even better than KASN does.

- Trip

My guess would be that once KETS moves to channel 7, you'll be able to stick with Little Rock. If you can see KASN-DT from Little Rock, then I can't imagine you having too much trouble with KETS-DT on 7, which will get around terrain even better than KASN does.

- Trip

I sure hope so, its been frustrating

Here is a question for the board. Is there a way to use a Quam cable tuner in your tv to watch "UHF" digitals on a second antenna? My sony has the atsc/ntsc tuner and a seperate quam tuner input on the back. I tried this the other night with my Fort Smith aimed antennas. It found channel 9 which re-maps to 13.1-.4 and locked and stored it on my tv. But I had forgotten about 14-69 OTA not being used when in cable mode in which case the Quam tuner is. As a result, I locked the hi-vhf channels, but channels 5 kfsm uhf 18 and 40 khbs uhf 21 were not found because of the cable nature of the tuner. Any ideas, I was hoping this would work and I could ditch my samsung STB, so far its not working out. It also seemed to me like the Quam tuner in the sony was weaker than the Samsung SIRT165 on signal strenght. So whos gonna figure this out for me:D

BTW, when I used to use my VCR, in CATV mode, you could find channels like 16 KLRT on channels 67 all the way up to like 125. This will probably sound dumb, but if the analogs could be re located to a higher frequency like that, is there a possibility that a channel from 70-125 could be broadcasting 18.1 or 21.1 ?

...What these stations are doing... is using this changeover as a chance to drop certain areas that they have covered for years becasue they deem the population to be too low, ...Populations change in different regions over time. Some areas grow faster than others and some (like SE Ark.) are losing pouplation.

Stations that had to put their digital transmitter in a different location than the analog may have looked at where a new tower could reach the most viewers, and where the population is growing fastest.

Your loss is someone else's gain. People in Carroll, Madison & Benton counties can now watch KFSM-DT in HD, but before, the only KFSM we could watch was a very snowy analog translator station from NWA. katv-DT in LR may move to Shinall Mtn. permanently, too. They know a tower on Shinall would reach more viewers and areas where the population is growing, not shrinking. A move to Shinall should give you a more reliable katv-DT signal than before, and allow many River Valley people to receive katv-DT that never could before.

After analog shuts down, many stations will likely build digital translator stations to serve parts of their coverage areas that are weak.

Is there a way to use a Quam cable tuner in your tv to watch a second antenna?No.

QAM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM) the cable modulation standard, is a different modulation standard than 8VSB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8VSB), used for OTA. The two methods are incompatible.

steveken,

Did you ever get PBS-HD listings working in GB-PVR? I posted in the HTPC forum a while back and, amazingly, there was virtually no response.

On an unrelated note, my experience thus far with the torrents has not been great :confused:

Hopefully I won't go away from AVS for a week and a half again anytime soon.

The only way I get PBS-HD listings for me is to look on the Nebraska NET Television listings and go into GB-PVR and set up the recordings myself. For instance, for NOVA I just set a recurring recording up for every Tuesday at 7. If I find it strikes my fancy, I will look at the NET-HD listings and see if there is anything I like. Other than that, I have NO idea how to get it working.

About your torrents, the only reason your experience hasn't been good so far is, quite frankly and no offense intended, because you don't know where to look. There are sooooooo many torrent tracker sites out there that you can get this crap from.

For instance, a 30 minute show like "How I Met Your Mother" will run you 175MB for a widescreen, pretty damn good quality download. All 30 minute shows are around the same size. Its encoded with XviD and looks fantastic. It looks just as much HD do me as OTA does with the exception that sometimes you can see how the encoding process took its toll. Other than that, its WAY better than anything you get get OTA around here.

A 1 hour, HD widescreen torrent of a show will run you a measly 350MB. Again, looks way better than you will get around here (especially for LOST), and quite honestly I can NOT tell the difference in quality except in rare occasions. I have been VERY happy with torrents for quite some time. Not only does it free up my dvr's, but it takes out commercials and it looks pretty damn nice all at the same time.

You just have to keep searching for trackers that will do the job for you and be of the basic mindset that the bigger the file size of the final product, the better it will look (generally speaking).

Hope that helps.

No.

QAM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM) the cable modulation standard, is a different modulation standard than 8VSB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8VSB), used for OTA. The two methods are incompatible.

I am assuming that is the answer to channels 14-69 but what about the vhf band? When I scanned the other night after hooking my ant to the Qam, It did find 13.1-.4 and did lock them in. It just didnt find 18 and 21 which are in the uhf band. I'm sure this wont happen but lets say 2 years down the road that KFSM were to use ch8 KAFT ch9 and KHBs ch 10, if that were to happen, would you not then be able to use the Qam to tune those OTA signals?

byrdnest, thanks for info. I have my lo-band antenna pointed 187° toward Redfield
digital KETS antenna, thru amp and into the OTA port of my Dish 411 HD receiver.
I still don't get a signal from them when the receiver makes the local scan to detect
any digital stations. It sees all the rest and identifies them by their RF channel number and sub channels. It should pick up rf 5 and map it as 2-1 2-2 etc. Not strong enough to see it. Only alternative now is to put a preamp on my lo-band (channel 2-6 rf) antenna
and see if I can get it at all. I wouldn't even mess with this at all except mamma wants
watch a couple programs that are only on PBS digital channels. I may just tell her she will have to wait until next February and scrap the 2-6 rf antenna project altogether.
Hmmmm! Thanks again

Dave E
NLR

Your loss is someone else's gain.

After analog shuts down, many stations will likely build digital translator stations to serve parts of their coverage areas that are weak.

Well, the way I see it, you guys should gain, but we shouldnt have to lose, especially when these are channels that have been available to the public in my area for over 50 years in a few cases.

As for the last part, I do hope that happens because its probably the only way some folks will be able to receive a signal. However, IMO, the broadcasters are way too laid back in getting things done when it comes to digital and assuring viewers a smooth transition, that part is disrespectful to the viewers who have made these broadcasters what they are today, especially when you consider they've had 10 years to get'r'done:(

byrdnest, thanks for info. I have my lo-band antenna pointed 187° toward Redfield
digital KETS antenna, thru amp and into the OTA port of my Dish 411 HD receiver.
I still don't get a signal from them when the receiver makes the local scan to detect
any digital stations. It sees all the rest and identifies them by their RF channel number and sub channels. It should pick up rf 5 and map it as 2-1 2-2 etc. Not strong enough to see it. Only alternative now is to put a preamp on my lo-band (channel 2-6 rf) antenna
and see if I can get it at all. I wouldn't even mess with this at all except mamma wants
watch a couple programs that are only on PBS digital channels. I may just tell her she will have to wait until next February and scrap the 2-6 rf antenna project altogether.
Hmmmm! Thanks again

Dave E
NLR

Since you are going ahead with the low band vhf ant., I'd definitely try a pre amp before I gave up. Of course you must remember I am in a very fringe location, but, when I unplug my Cm7777 I get nothing, even alot of the analog channels just become snow, sometimes a pre amp can be the difference in watching all the channels or watching none of them. I'm anxious to see the results of the added preamp, you'll have a heckuva lot better chance to lock in on it with the preamp, good luck:)

The only way I get PBS-HD listings for me is to look on the Nebraska NET Television listings and go into GB-PVR and set up the recordings myself. For instance, for NOVA I just set a recurring recording up for every Tuesday at 7. If I find it strikes my fancy, I will look at the NET-HD listings and see if there is anything I like. Other than that, I have NO idea how to get it working.

About your torrents, the only reason your experience hasn't been good so far is, quite frankly and no offense intended, because you don't know where to look. There are sooooooo many torrent tracker sites out there that you can get this crap from.

For instance, a 30 minute show like "How I Met Your Mother" will run you 175MB for a widescreen, pretty damn good quality download. All 30 minute shows are around the same size. Its encoded with XviD and looks fantastic. It looks just as much HD do me as OTA does with the exception that sometimes you can see how the encoding process took its toll. Other than that, its WAY better than anything you get get OTA around here.

A 1 hour, HD widescreen torrent of a show will run you a measly 350MB. Again, looks way better than you will get around here (especially for LOST), and quite honestly I can NOT tell the difference in quality except in rare occasions. I have been VERY happy with torrents for quite some time. Not only does it free up my dvr's, but it takes out commercials and it looks pretty damn nice all at the same time.

You just have to keep searching for trackers that will do the job for you and be of the basic mindset that the bigger the file size of the final product, the better it will look (generally speaking).

Hope that helps.

Well, I actually have always found what I wanted...it just isn't always prompt or in HD. I suspect that's a patience thing though. Really, the only time I even use the torrents at all is if my DVR misses Lost or American Idol, and my wife wants me to obtain it pronto. I knew you had mentioned in the past downloading these things within an hour of broadcast, which certainly hasn't been my experience, but, judging from the work that it sounds like it involves, I'll just continue to go with the current setup.

Thanks.

Hey Arkyman. I have a Spartan 3 from channel master on my regular vhf/uhf
antenna and get great signals, with exception of KETS. I took the new lo-band
antenna and put it thru a splitter/combiner on the lo side and put the regular antenna
on the hi side, thru the amp, down to a splitter and into my Dish 411 and a regular
TV in other room. The addition of the lo-band antenna and splitter/combiner has
degraded the signal by quite a bit, 3db per termination I guess. I'm gonna try the
lo-band direct to the regular TV, and if that still does not pull KETS in, I will get another
amp from solidsignal or ratshack and see WTF happens then. You have to do a lot to
keep the squaw happy, you know!!

Thanks

Dave E
NLR

Well, the way I see it, you guys should gain, but we shouldnt have to lose, especially when these are channels that have been available to the public in my area for over 50 years in a few cases.People down SE of Pine Bluff probably feel the same way about katv-DT if they end up permanently moving to Shinall. But as long as the station can cover their cities of license, they can probably put their towers wherever they choose.

Lots of stations are moving their digital towers. Equity station KRBF-CA/LD (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=52424) is another example. Their city of license and analog transmitter is in Hindsville. They are installing their digital transmitter right across Beaver Lake from me, to reach more people.

After feb. '09, if you lose some channels, the best thing to do is get as many people as possible to complain to the stations. They may install translators.

I am assuming that is the answer to channels 14-69 but what about the vhf band?...It's not the bands, although they are partially different. It's the modulation scheme; QAM & 8VSB are incompatible. It's like trying to pick up an AM radio station with an FM tuner.

Not sure which charts you've been looking at but they are on a STA using RF 5 for digital right now until KATV gives up 7 in February. It remaps to 2.1-.4.KETS-DT 5 is no longer on their STA of 1.05kW ERP. They are LIC @ 2.1kW ERP. The FCC won't allow them to increase power due to interference protection for nearby analog stations WMC-TV 5 in Memphis and KFSM 5 in Ft. Smith.

If KETS-DT had kept their original channel assignment of UHF 47, they would already be at full power and reception would be much easier. [Unless, of course, they had put 47's antenna on katv's tower LOL ]

... I get KETS-DT okay on an outdoor antenna---but let the washing machine cycle or the heat pump switch off and on, or even flipping on a light switch will cause breakups even on a 96-100% "signal".I get the same damned interference here on KAFT-DT 9, 45 mi away & 100 signal strength. It's happening today with all the lightning in the area. It was bad when I lived in LR and tried to watch KETS-DT 5. Some of the people at AETN are complete idiots for insisting on using VHF for DTV :(

...I think the only people able to get KETS-DT with rabbit ears would live in.....Redfield perhaps.I used to get KETS-DT with a homemade antenna consisting of a block of wood and two coat hanger wires of optimum length, screwed to a balun on a block of wood. It was installed in the attic and connected to the VHF side of a CM 7777 VHF/UHF preamp (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm).

Looks like the launch of D*'s D11 is going to be delayed . . .


http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=92610&page=47

Launch rescheduled for tomorrow, March 19, 5:48 CDT.

http://www.sea-launch.com/mission_directv-11/mission_album/page8/images/DSC3435.jpg
(http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=92610&page=69)

arxaw , Do You have a UPS Power back up on Your Tuner & pre amp ? This may filter some of the Electrical interference...

LOL, by combining all of your posts alone, arxaw, we could decrease the number of posts on this thread dramatically. :) You post every 30 seconds when you are online. I just think its really funny. :)

arxaw , Do You have a UPS Power back up on Your Tuner & pre amp ? This may filter some of the Electrical interference...I do on the TV and D* DVR. I'm not buying another one to put on the preamp in the attic. And the average consumer shouldn't have to purchase a UPS, just to watch OTA DTV without glitches. If AETN was on UHF, impulse noise wouldn't be a problem.

Radio Shack used to have AC line filters to ...

It's not the bands, although they are partially different. It's the modulation scheme; QAM & 8VSB are incompatible. It's like trying to pick up an AM radio station with an FM tuner.

Just a question cause I'm a little lost. I understand they are different modulation, but thats what has me so puzzled, on my Cable Qam tuner with FS ant. system run right into it on the back of the tv, I scanned for digitals. On qam side it found like 15 analogs and 4 digitals. The digitals it found, locked and stored to thru the qam was channel 9 Kaft that remaps to 13.1-.4. Are you saying that the qam should not have locked this channel from an antenna?

More like its tuner is capable 8vsb on low channels, and switches to qam on the "cable" channels would be my guess.

They're stretching again :mad: (@ 5:45pm today---"FOX 16 News")

Looks good on Simpsons now.

Looks good on Simpsons now.

I went over there for a minute to verify. Must be vacation time, or someone isn't minding the store.

KWBF is 10 points down on my meter tonight, Just FWIW:
5 - 80%
12 - 90% (on UHF antenna)
24 - 82% (off back of antenna)
30 - 100%
32 - 100%
39 - 64% (off side of antenna)
44 - 69%

No way can they running full power... It was about 85% over the weekend.

Steveken: Is there a program to edit commercials out of the .mpg hd files the hauppage writes? It crashes all the editors I normally use, although it plays fine in media player and powerdvd.

I don't know what the hauppauge writes. I have never used it. I am assuming, of course, you mean WinTV. The only thing I have ever used is GB-PVR to record from clearQAM sources. I have it set to output dvr-ms files. I hit the skip button over commercials. Every other time I have tried removing commercials, it has usually not worked very well because it cuts off parts of the show because it thought it was in a commercial or it didn't clip out the commercials fully like it should have.

Steveken: Is there a program to edit commercials out of the .mpg hd files the hauppage writes? It crashes all the editors I normally use, although it plays fine in media player and powerdvd.
Dave, as far as I know, HDTV files are usually written by the software and not the hardware. This is usually done as dvr-ms or ts files, but GP-PVR does use mpg as its default. I'm therefore guessing that this is what you're using, and if so, there is a setting that lets you determine which type of file to output (mpg/ts/dvr-ms are the options). I have had LOTS of problems with the mpg output, so I switched to ts and have been fine since. For editing dvr-ms files, the DVRMSToolbox is popular, and for ts files, HDTVtoMPEG2 is popular.

Like steveken, I too zap commercials instead of removing them, but that's mainly because I just haven't had the time to fiddle with the removal. It's supposed to not be that hard.

I was wanting to archive the shows to dvd-video format, hence edit and reencode to 720x480, Ill try those two programs. Haven't downloaded the recording software yet, still using winTV v 5.xx

DirecTv 11 launched. 5 minutes away from Geosync Transfer orbit. LR locals coming soon to a HD receiver near you... Channel 573 live.

Dave, you are getting WinTV 5.xx to record stuff from clearQAM? Or are you just doing it OTA?

And for anyone else who might know, my dad brought up the fact that he was thinking he might wanna record some stuff with a tv capture card. I told him that if he wants the local stuff in HD from cable, he needed to get either a HVR-1600 (74021 or 74041) or an HDHomeRun external tuner to do it. Does anyone else know any other cards that do clearQAM? Those two are the only ones I know. I know its hard as hell to order the specific HVR-1600 that will do it...its kind of a toss up when you order it unless you get it from someone that specifically says its the 74041 or 74021.

I'm using OTA. There is a new DVR from Echostar coming out that records two OTA HD channels at once, expandable, netable for VOD, gets guide data from stations. Checkout the MyHD card also, not sure if it does QAM or not... I like the idea of the echostar box, for recording OTA which is about 70% of my viewing, which frees up the Directv DVR for other stuff...

DirecTv D11 Launch Successful
http://www.sea-launch.com/mission_directv-11/gallery/images/dtv11-wide-t.jpg
Once it's handed over to D* many new channels will be added to D11 and to several spare backup xpndrs on D10.

If all goes well, expect LR HD LIL in a couple of months.

Dave, you are getting WinTV 5.xx to record stuff from clearQAM? Or are you just doing it OTA?

And for anyone else who might know, my dad brought up the fact that he was thinking he might wanna record some stuff with a tv capture card. I told him that if he wants the local stuff in HD from cable, he needed to get either a HVR-1600 (74021 or 74041) or an HDHomeRun external tuner to do it. Does anyone else know any other cards that do clearQAM? Those two are the only ones I know. I know its hard as hell to order the specific HVR-1600 that will do it...its kind of a toss up when you order it unless you get it from someone that specifically says its the 74041 or 74021.
Ummmm, my sig just might list some others :)

As for getting the right HVR1600, my suggestion would be to use a local retailer that will allow return, just in case. Apparently the version of the HVR1600 that I got there (1178) is no longer carried, but the current version (1199) should be even more likely to have the QAM capabilities. Better yet, when I picked mine up, the photo on the box actually showed a card with the 74021 label on it, so that instilled even more confidence (and gave me a solid case if I did indeed need to return it opened). Sure enough, mine was the right one.

The local KTHV schedule (http://www.todaysthv.com/sports/quadcast.asp), for those interested.

There is a new DVR from Echostar coming out that records two OTA HD channels at once, expandable, netable for VOD, gets guide data from stations.

Umm, yeah, not going with anything from Echostar. They can't even get their satellites up. Just kidding. Well, kinda kidding. :) They are just now getting to record two OTA's at once? I would have thought it could do that the whole time on the VIP's like the HR20 does. Maybe not. Maybe they really are behind D* when it comes to VOD and expandability and such.

Checkout the MyHD card also, not sure if it does QAM or not... I like the idea of the echostar box, for recording OTA which is about 70% of my viewing, which frees up the Directv DVR for other stuff...

Yeah, I am going to look around for more cards just in case he is serious. I don't think it would be a good idea for him though. He had an 80GB hard drive for the longest time and thought it was huge. It failed, so I put in a 160GB hard drive for him and he talks about how he will never fill it up. I tried explaining that once he started recording tv onto his computer that it would fill up insanely quickly.

I am also beginning to think that his Celeron 2.4GHz machine won't be able to handle HD very well at all. It started bogging down yesterday with just a few IE windows open and Skype going with video, so I don't think it can do HD stuff. I think the scaled back parts to make it a Celeron are what helps it do the grunt work for HD.

Umm, yeah, not going with anything from Echostar. They can't even get their satellites up. Just kidding. Well, kinda kidding. :) They are just now getting to record two OTA's at once? I would have thought it could do that the whole time on the VIP's like the HR20 does. Maybe not. Maybe they really are behind D* when it comes to VOD and expandability and such.


The Echostar TR-50 that Davenlr is referring to here is not a Dish Network product, but a standalone OTA DVR. Many people are really looking forward to it, because it can basically do everything the TivoHD can do (well not really but close enough), without the monthly fees. I have a Sony DHG-HDD250, but I've been looking at the TR-50 as well. It seems to be similar to the Dish VIP722, but for OTA only.

Hmm, interesting. Hooks up to a computer? And what's the price point going to be on it?

I don't know if you can hook it up to a computer or not, but it is supposed to have a USB in order to add additional storage. Nobody knows the price point yet, that's one of the big topics on its thread. I meant to include this link earlier:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=972197

The MyHD card has its own encoder/decoder... System requirements are Pentium 2 or higher, and I think cpu speed of 200 MHz or higher... Basically made for slow ass computers. Cost for the new version is >$200 but I've seen the old version without HDMI support for cheap on ebay.

On qam [ANT input] side it found like 15 analogs and 4 digitals. The digitals it found, locked and stored to thru the qam was channel 9 Kaft that remaps to 13.1-.4. Are you saying that the qam should not have locked this channel from an antenna?QAM will not lock KAFT-DT OTA.

Although the ANT-input may say "QAM" on it, the tuner found KAFT using 8VSB. And the analogs were found using the NTSC part of the tuner. The QAM part of the tuner found nothing.

Hmm, interesting. Hooks up to a computer? And what's the price point going to be on it?You dont' need a computer. It connects to your TV like a VCR.

It's OTA, not satellite.
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-1_1-9840910-67.html

Echostar is separate from Dish Network now.

Was just looking through the OTA settings for my Vista Media Center tuner and its no wonder this isn't getting KETS's digital signal. It has physical="7" major="2". I guess they are going off the original assigned frequency.

Hi steveken. Can you confirm that KETS is actually broadcasting their digital
signal on RF 5 at present time? THanks

Dave E
nlr

Just checked and all 4 KETS channels are on, using rf channel 5.

Whodart, please understand that I am not trying to be rude or anything, but it has been said many many times here already that it is being broadcast on VHF 5. It has also been discussed with you at length as well in the attempt to help you in your attempts to receive any of the digital channels. If you are unable to receive it (just like the at least 75% of the rest of us), I don't think there is anything you can do about it. I am sorry, but if you want to get it, you will have to get comcast digital cable or another cable system that carries the other digital channels. I just don't know any other way to put it. It is just NOT receivable by most conventional means.



Something that was just brought to my attention, maybe you have a bad coax run or maybe a shorted connector on that lead from that antenna.

Whodart, keep asking questions. That's what this board is for.

I'm watching my first episode of NOVA on PBS-HD. Yea. Now, if I could find a schedule...You Comcast guys with PBSHD, is Nova on at 9pm tonight? Might have to get the Sunday Demozet to get the tv guide if it is.

arxaw, I wasn't intending it to mean no questions, just meant that the specific question at hand had been answered a few times previously. Just thought that the horse was already dead and had been beaten enough already. Sorry if it was out of line.

Dave, if you go to http://www.netnebraska.org/television/sched/?display_date=2008-02-11&display_time=16:30:00&feeds=1026,10520,12778,12784& you can see when its on. I know its not the same as a program guide on the sat, but I think its the best you are gonna get. I am not real sure if the demozette has that particular channel in it. I suppose they should.

Was just watching the CBS comedies from Monday night and noticed something. Well, I noticed it before, but didn't ask here. I was just wondering, why do they have to have 2 of the blue lines for the text part of the weather alerts when only the bottom one is being used? I know they are blue to get attention, and it works, but I just don't understand why we need even more of our screen taken up by the 2nd line on top that isn't doing anything at all. Is it for future information like maybe in Spanish or something? If not, is there a way to get rid of it?

arxaw, I wasn't intending it to mean no questions, just meant that the specific question at hand had been answered a few times previously. Just thought that the horse was already dead and had been beaten enough already. No problem.

I think Whodart wanted someone to do a live channel check, to verify that KETS-DT was, in fact, on the air at the time he posted.

"steveken 10:50 PM Yesterday
Was just watching the CBS comedies from Monday night and noticed something. Well, I noticed it before, but didn't ask here. I was just wondering, why do they have to have 2 of the blue lines for the text part of the weather alerts when only the bottom one is being used? I know they are blue to get attention, and it works, but I just don't understand why we need even more of our screen taken up by the 2nd line on top that isn't doing anything at all. Is it for future information like maybe in Spanish or something? If not, is there a way to get rid of it?" [Reply]

IMHO, it's probably for ads. So, when their Sales department sells the time, you will be able to see commercials during the weather warning crawls. What better time to reach more viewers. Just a guess.

Hey Steveken, appreciate all the input I can get. I realize it is RF channel 5, but what you don't seem to understand is that the Dish receiver maps it to channel 2-1 2-2 etc. I have a new RG6 cable on the loband antenna direct to the OTA input connecter and no signal - I guess it's just too weak. I am installing a 30db gain amp on it today and if it does not pull in KETS I will just forget about it. I get KETS SD transmission on Dish OK, but the programs I want are on the digital channels. I won't bother you guys any more with this "dead horse"

Dave E
NLR

Hi arxaw. I got my amp installed on the lo band VHF antenna and now I can get all four of the digital channels from redfield, on RF 5 maps to2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4. COming in about 66% on the dish 411 receiver. Will get back on roof and tweak the antenna direction and see if can come up a little on it. COmes in clear, slight pixillation, but think tuning the loband antenna direction will bring it in clear. Thanks for the assists from all you guys on the forum. I only started getting in on forums last year or so, and found you can get more information from the people that actually work with hardware, etc.

Dave E
NLRock

You will get a little pixellation on KETS normally. It is affected by impulse noise from cars going by, light switches being turned on and off, A/C units, power lines... Even with a > 80% signal, mine cuts out occasionally. Glad you got it up and running. I'm actually surprised a preamp would affect low band enough to bring them in, but never really tried to pick up any marginal ground wave signals with one. Channel 16 analog is so strong here it overloaded the amp I tried. Will try another one in Feb 2008 when they shut it off.

arxaw, I wasn't intending it to mean no questions, just meant that the specific question at hand had been answered a few times previously. Just thought that the horse was already dead and had been beaten enough already. Sorry if it was out of line.

Dave, if you go to http://www.netnebraska.org/television/sched/?display_date=2008-02-11&display_time=16:30:00&feeds=1026,10520,12778,12784& you can see when its on. I know its not the same as a program guide on the sat, but I think its the best you are gonna get. I am not real sure if the demozette has that particular channel in it. I suppose they should.

AETN's website (www.aetn.org) also has the local listings. If you want to jump straight to the listings you can use this one instead (http://www.aetn.org/production/schedule).

Thanks...problem is, I'm not looking for local listings, I'm trying to find the schedule for PBS-HD1 and PBS-HD2 (channels DT2A and DT3A) on AMC3 satellite. I found a magazine that lists that channel, but have to wait until Monday to ask how to access it. Was hoping someone that got the non-AETN PBS channel would know a link to a schedule.

Davenlr, I didn't know there was a PBS-HD2. The site I gave in my previous post actually gives the PBS-HD listings for the HD channel that is carried by Comcrap. I figure its HD1 that is on AMC3. It is far easier than keeping on buying magazines with the listings in it. I would give that a shot.

Whodart, I too am very surprised you were able to get it. I don't think I would have gone out and spent the money on a pre-amp, but to each his own. How much was it? You know, its only a matter of time before Dish gets it as well as DirecTV (DirecTV will probably be within the next 6 months fwiw). And, for the record, I am well aware of the way the channels remap. EVERY receiver remaps the channel numbers just like that. Its for ease of the consumer to know what channel he is watching. I am inclined to think that all your troubles up to this point had a little to do with the sensitivity of the 411. It may not have a real good ATSC chipset in it to pickup weaker stations. With the pre-amp, it might have made up for what the 411 lacks.

For DirecTV customers, I can see now how good the compression is really on HD channels. I was watching Superman Returns on MaxHD tonight and at the point after he pushes the island into space and falls back to Earth there is really bad color banding. Its where they show a side shot of him falling through the atmosphere. It should have been more of a gradient blending of the colors all the way down, but instead you saw several distinctive bands where the colors changed. Shows that their compression technology still is very lacking in some cases.

I've seen that on my lcd monitor, but not my tube monitor. LCD's seem to have problems with fine gradients of the same primary color (like a blue sky). I hooked my antenna to my Panarex atsc tuner today, and PBS (82% on HR20 and 85% on H20) pegged out at 100 on the Panarex. Don't know what chipset it has, but it locks all the way down to 30%...
It also let's you manually change channels, and gives the ATSC strength AND quality for every channel, even let's to manually enter a frequency i.e. 79000 KHz for ch 5, with 1 KHz steps....Things gonna get the Quantum U/V on the rotor... DX'ers dream.

Steveken: Don't know where Comcrap is getting PBSHD, but its not either of the two I get, if the schedule link you gave me is accurate. Its showing a totally different program than the one on now. I'm watching Sacramento: River of Life. Netnebraska shows Tornado Glory.
HDTV Mag emailed me and said they are planning on adding the two channels I get to their online schedule in two weeks.

BTW PBSHD DT3A isn't 24 hrs like DT2A...its used for feeds of News Hour, and live events, and feeds. If there is a DT1A, I haven't found it.

Was just looking through the OTA settings for my Vista Media Center tuner and its no wonder this isn't getting KETS's digital signal. It has physical="7" major="2". I guess they are going off the original assigned frequency.The original assigned frequency was "47."

"7" is what they'll be using after analog shuts down and katv abandons VHF (like every other OTA DTV station should do).

...I got my amp installed on the lo band VHF antenna and now I can get all four of the digital channels from redfield, on RF 5 maps to2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4. COming in about 66% on the dish 411 receiver. Some of your problem might have been the OTA tuner in the Dish receiver. They're not nearly as good as the tuners inside most newer TVs.

Hey arxaw, Re the DISH 411. I figure by next Feb they will come out with a better version. I have the 411 in our main evening room with HD programming and the local OTA channels in there with a good HDTV so we can watch DVD's, etc. Probably go to new receivers about then, upgrade so can have HDTV on both receivers. Second receiver now not for HD, 301 or something like that. THe only reason I am even screwing with KETS is so wife can watch one of her favorite programs on 2-1 occasionally. I spent about $60 for a lo-band antenna and 30db gain preamp. I have been retired for 8 years now and enjoy messing with computers and electronics, etc. Still leaves plenty of time for grandchildren , fishing, hunting and gardening. And, yeah, the 411 is probably a poor excuse as a substitute for a good tuner. Maybe after the conversion next Feb., Dish will program all the channels I am trying to pull in OTA now, then I can let the antennas be a backup and a good bird roost. Ha. Regards

Dave E
NLRock

Just for the heck of it, did you try connecting the antenna directly to the TV's tuner?

I've seen that on my lcd monitor, but not my tube monitor. LCD's seem to have problems with fine gradients of the same primary color (like a blue sky).

This wasn't on an LCD, it was on my Plasma where I saw it. Happened on Ice Age 2 as well. Its just because the HD that MaxHD has from DirecTV isn't completely enough bandwidth to do every last thing like that. Its not too bad, but noticeable.

Steveken: Don't know where Comcrap is getting PBSHD, but its not either of the two I get, if the schedule link you gave me is accurate. Its showing a totally different program than the one on now. I'm watching Sacramento: River of Life. Netnebraska shows Tornado Glory.

Just to make sure, you are looking at the 4th entry on the page I sent you to, right? The one that says NET-HD? That is PBS-HD, at least as far as I have been able to see from watching the channel. It shows NOVA on Tuesdays at 7pm and everything else PBS-HD says they are going to show.

EDIT: I just looked at NetNebraskas listings for last night at midnight. I see where NET-HD says "Sacramento: River of Life" like you said you were watching. I looked all around at the other information up there and I don't see anywhere that says "Tornado Glory", so I am not sure where you were seeing it. But, if you really were watching the Sacramento thing, then there you have it, you are seeing the right TV listings for that one PBS-HD of yours.

Just for the heck of it, did you try connecting the antenna directly to the TV's tuner?


arxaw

No, didn't. The HDTV only has an analog tuner. The other analog TV
does not have a digital tuner. SO, had to use the 411 to pick up the OTA KETS. I'm still playing with. Going to relocate the antenna on another mast see if can get a clearer LOS towards Redfield. I'm just experimenting,
now:). Regards

Dave E
NLRock

Go higher. 10' higher will make a big difference... if you can.

Steveken: I didn't see what you saw. Ill try again. Might be my pda. If so, Ill print off a schedule from your link at work.

Steveken: My dumb a**... The link brought up the page but I just passed over the part where it said Sunday Mar 16...duh...Changed it to Sunday Mar 23 and its matching what I'm seeing now. Great. Thanks.

LOL!!!!! You said it, I didn't! :) No, to be honest, I did the same exact thing. Don't take it personal. It might have just been the way I saved the link that it goes back to the earliest date. If so, then I apologize as its completely my fault. At least you know whats going on now and can fix my screw up. I think that will help you out a lot.

Edit: Yup, completely my fault. I noticed all the extra crap after the /sched/ part and saw that it says 2008-03-11 or something like that in it. If you use http://www.netnebraska.org/television/sched/ it will take you to todays date with todays time I think.

Yep, that link does it perfect. Thanks again.

steveken - yeah, my buddy has a spare antenna mast bringing it in from the
lake tomorrow. I am gonna go higher with the loband ant and a different angle around the elm tree next door. If it was my tree, I'd cut it down. WIll see..

Dave E
NLR

"steveken 10:50 PM Yesterday
Was just watching the CBS comedies from Monday night and noticed something. Well, I noticed it before, but didn't ask here. I was just wondering, why do they have to have 2 of the blue lines for the text part of the weather alerts when only the bottom one is being used? I know they are blue to get attention, and it works, but I just don't understand why we need even more of our screen taken up by the 2nd line on top that isn't doing anything at all. Is it for future information like maybe in Spanish or something? If not, is there a way to get rid of it?" [Reply]

IMHO, it's probably for ads. So, when their Sales department sells the time, you will be able to see commercials during the weather warning crawls. What better time to reach more viewers. Just a guess.

After further thought, I now think that it may be for "crawling" weather warnings in a secondary language such as Spanish.

Well, that just seems silly. I mean, we don't have that now, noone does. I just don't think its worth the screen real estate to put up another language even if the population is growing faster than weeds for that group. Oh well, I don't guess it matters what I think, never has. :)

It may be silly but they are the only station that I know of in this market that does a Spanish translation of some or all of their newscasts.

Again, someone asked the question; just my guess.

Wow, got awful quiet here. Can everyone possibly have nothing to say about HD around here? :)

I just watched "Bush's War part 1" on PBS, and its scary...Amazing how much power Chaney has, and how he and his crony Rumsfeld lied to everyone and got us in this mess. Its in HD, my guide shows KETS will show it Tues 8p-10p which is odd since the original I watched tonight was 7p-10:30p...Great show tho. Moved my H20 to the bedroom, and set the Pansat up with HDMI and Dolby Digital. Retrojams is great, like MTV used to be when they first started out.

RE: Frontline...(part 1)

I had setup the DVD-R to record it but halfway though it balked on my DL disc. Was tired last night and planned on watching this later (as in during the week on my off days). So much for the Panny DMR-EZ37V support of DL discs during *timed* recordings. :mad:

Part 2 is on tonight 8-10pm on AETN (2-1). Part 1 repeats in its entirety tonight @ 11pm-1:30am on AETN -DT 2-2 (pbs world). It also repeats @ 6pm on 2-2 except for the last 30 min , since HDTV kicks in on 2-1 for Part 2.

It is for sure a must see. Ill watch part 2 live, and watch Idol later.

My dvd recorder won't do DL discs either...For that matter, ones I burn with the computer sometimes freeze up halfway when playing back on a standalone player, so I just stopped using them. Setting the compression up to get 2.5 hrs on a disc doesn't look that much worse, and still beats SD from satellite.

Also, you can watch the whole series and more anytime at a pretty good PC full screen resolution at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

I just thought I would give a heads up to anyone currently using them that CT TV Listings will apparently be going dark April 1. Given that this is posted now, I would assume the date is a coincidence and not April Fool's related.

Off to the GBPVR Wiki to investigate alternatives...

I will believe that when I see it. Given they were pretty much the main game around, I don't think they will do that, but they might.

Well, let me say this, if you happen to find another place that gives it out for free, PLEASE let me know. :) I say that because I just went and looked at their site. The jerks sold out it looks like. Just as well I guess considering they don't know the proper usage of effect and affect. (sorry, just a tick I have hehe)

Quick question...to install gb-pvr I click on the microsoft net thing I downloaded, and then the gb-pvr installer with the weird file extension? Won't screw up my current drivers or codecs will it?

Quick question...to install gb-pvr I click on the microsoft net thing I downloaded, and then the gb-pvr installer with the weird file extension? Won't screw up my current drivers or codecs will it?
Gb-pvr doesn't come with any codecs or drivers. It does install it's recording service as a service, but it is fairly trivial to set it to disabled ( or uninstall it ) if you needed to for some reason.

As far as listing go, I use schedules direct. It's not free, but I feel it is more then worth what they charge.

Squidi

Great, thanks. Any schedulers use the psip program guide the stations send out?

Squidi, I would rather not pay for listings myself as I feel its not really worth it entirely. I could make do with manually setting it for recurring recordings, but I would rather have a free listing service. I know, I know, I am cheap. :) Say, maybe you could share your schedules direct listings with us? Maybe zip it up or something? I am sure we could find a way to get it going. hehehehehe

From Broadcasting and Cable--
Satellite companies gained a victory Thursday when the Federal Communications Commission voted to allow them to phase in a requirement that they carry all HD signals in any market where they carry any after the Feb. 17, 2009, switch to digital TV by all full-power TV stations.

The commission also ruled that DirecTV’s and Dish Network's requirement to carry all TV stations in a market where they carry any extends to DTV signals just as it applies to analog TV stations.

Satellite broadcasters will have four years to phase in delivery of local stations' HD signals, the FCC said, explaining that it recognized the "unique" capacity constraints of satellite and accepted their argument that an immediate mandate would slow the rollout of HD service.

Wonder if the FCC mandated the bitrate...If I was directv and HAD to carry any DTV station in a market, I would do the same thing equity does...Cram all the extra non-network stations at the lowest bitrate that gives a picture, and tell em to pay if they want more bandwidth. Subchannels don't have that much bandwidth anyway. If Directv were to shut OFF analogs as well, it would free up tremendous amounts of bandwidth to cover these extra non-hd digitals...And if the customer wants their locals, upgrade to a mpeg4 receiver and pay Directv the $9.95 a month for hd service. Directv can blame the whole thing on the DTV transition and the government. Its stupid to carry all the stations in a DMA in both HD and SD at the same time. If the govt allowed people to use the Converter Coupons for a HD upgrade to their Directv equipment, it wouldn't even cost the customer much, if any, cash.

.NET 2.0 not found, GB-PVR cannot install. Aborting Installation.

WTF is Net 2.0? I installed the Microsoft file on their website it said I needed first.

.NET 2.0 is a Microsoft library. You can get it through Windows updates. I'm also pretty sure that getting .NET 3.0 does not cover what you need. You also probably need a reboot (in case you haven't tried that yet).

I got EPG data back into GBPVR, and while it has some disadvantages, it has some advantages as well.

First, here is the page (http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utility/YApi2XML) that explains the process. It basically scrapes Yahoo's TV listings to generate an XML file which GBPVR can then import. When first reading it, I thought there was the potential for it to be really complicated, but it wasn't at all. In fact, the only real difficulty I encountered was re-configuring GBPVR to work with it.

Disadvantages:
-Requires a separate app
-It appears this separate app needs to be run manually (I could be wrong though)
-If Yahoo changes its listing format, it could break the functionality (at least until a fix is developed)

Advantages:
-14 days of listings for free :D (this provides a nice buffer in case the app does need to be run separately as well).
-Maybe we can convince Yahoo to get accurate listings for Channel 440 (what should be the PBS HD listings instead of a duplicate of the KETS-DT listings)

Hope this helps. GBPVR also released a new version recently, although I don't think I'm going to bother with it for now.

On KETSDT this weekend I was getting:

1. Weird resolutions
2. Picture with No sound.
3. Picture with sound from a different sub-channel.

This was all on the first sub-channel.

Anybody else with a OTA setup notice this? The only show I was actually planning on watching was "Ask this old house". It had the audio from one of the other subchannels.

I am wondering if it is something I'm doing wrong or something else.

Thanks

All is ok now, 3:45am except for lightning knocking out the signal every 15 seconds...but all 4 channels audio match what's on them OTA.

Their encoder probably went south and was rebooted.

The lightning problem, unfortunately, can't be fixed unless they get out of the VHF band, which we all know won't happen.

I got EPG data back into GBPVR, and while it has some disadvantages, it has some advantages as well.

Disadvantages:
-It appears this separate app needs to be run manually (I could be wrong though)


Automatic Running

Included in the zip file is an UpdateEPG.bat file. By putting this file in your base gbpvr directory the program will be run before an EPG update occurs. There is only one line you need for this program to be run before an epg update:

“c:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\yapi2xml\yapi2xml.exe” update

Change the folder name if necessary, just make sure the entire thing is in quotation marks.

Note: Make sure that yapi2xml is closed before it autoruns via updateEPG.bat. Also, if you get errors with corrupt files try changing when the EPG is updated.




Which "Channel Format" did you use? I wasn't sure what to choose, so I chose 2: # Short so it shows it as "66 TWC". I don't know if this is right or not.

For anyone having trouble receiving KWBF-DT, 42-n, per this DTV status report filed with the FCC (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231957&formid=387&fac_num=37005), KWBF-DT is still at low power, ~6kW ERP.

Not much power for a mid-upper UHF channel.

Not real sure HOW that automatic running works, I did what it says and I can't see any evidence of it. I guess I would just have to set up something to remind me or something just to make sure.

Interesting...Digital tower site owner? They rent tower space? Analog antenna on top, but tower might not support digital when analog removed? Almost sounds like they are working with KATV to share a new tower, you think?
Anyways, its sure easier to pickup low power UHF than it is low band :)

Got to credit their engineer with one thing...Running full 720hd on 42-3 and full 720hd on 42-1 at the same time, and the pq isn't all that bad, even with 42-2 taking up a little of it.

...Got to credit their engineer with one thing...Running full 720hd on 42-3 and full 720hd on 42-1 at the same time, and the pq isn't all that bad, even with 42-2 taking up a little of it.720p helps.

More info on stations plans between now & D-Day at:
http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php

On that page, hit CTRL+F and type: Tulsa
Six stations in the Tulsa market are flash cutting to different channels on 2/17/09.
Talk about confused viewers...

For anyone having trouble receiving KWBF-DT, 42-n, per this DTV status report filed with the FCC (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231957&formid=387&fac_num=37005), KWBF-DT is still at low power, ~6kW ERP.

Not much power for a mid-upper UHF channel.
From the document that you posted a link to:

(ii)Licensee/Permittee is operating its post-transition facility pursuant to special temporary authority (STA) or at a reduced facility. If checked, indicate power level and percentage of analog population covered by reduced facility.

Power Level
587 kW
Population:
92 %

I believe the "~6 kW" that you mention is their first STA power level. They have since increased to an STA with power level as indicated in the report (at least on paper).

dmatch

thanks for the info.

If they're at 587, I wonder why so many people within their coverage area have so much trouble receiving them...

Tower is 700' lower than rest I think.. I can't find it, but bet KWBF's HAAT is much lower than the other 3 stations up there..

Tower is 700' lower than rest I think.. I can't find it, but bet KWBF's HAAT is much lower than the other 3 stations up there..
Roughly 462' lower to the ground than KARK-DT 32's antenna is. In hilly terrain, that can make or break reception.

[This is assuming the fcc site is correct and kwbf actually put the thing where it says in their records. Could be lower.... after all, it is an equity station.]

That YApi2XML doesn't work anymore. I keep getting errors when trying to do it.

720p helps.

More info on stations plans between now & D-Day at:
http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php

On that page, hit CTRL+F and type: Tulsa
Six stations in the Tulsa market are flash cutting to different channels on 2/17/09.
Talk about confused viewers...

I saw that, "Rabbit Ears" also listed "KKAP-DT" which will likely be the next "KWBF" (as power, coverage goes). Not many will be on here looking to improve reception of that usless channel when they flash cut.

Also, I checked out the Memphis listings (this will effect folks living east of Crowley's Ridge). The 7.3KW ND signal @ 1014' isn't going to help things much for WMC-DT when they go to low band VHF, channel 5. WHBQ (FOX O&O btw) moves its DT to its analog channel 13, but it will be on the temp facitity until its built out. Also, WKNO's licensee is putting a second PBS station on using WKNO's old analog channel (10), WKNO-DT is staying put on 29. Currently, no Memphis stations run DT on VHF, so either old antennas or new VHF ones would be added to existing homes using digital OTA.

Only 10 more months of low-band VHF local tv of *any* mode here :D

I'd expect to see both WMC and the new WKNO station to boost power and/or move before all is said and done.

The WKNO station is asking for really low power mainly to get something on the air (and get the protection) and I should hope they'll be boosting power later on. The FCC may also have limited the amount of power they can use at the moment as a new station. I'd watch for a power boost application after the FCC lifts their facilities freeze in August. Nothing guaranteed, of course, but 1 kW is quite low.

WMC will likely figure out very quickly how useless channel 5 is, and may try to get moved to a different channel. My first guess is channel 9 (though that may have problems with KAIT on 8), but failing that there are a number of UHF channels available that they can jump on.

- Trip

for Comcasters out there:

I know the Cardinals' games are on analog 96 but according to this article (http://arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?lID=71&sID=72&ms=73&cID=e&aID=98637.15873.110762), it can be viewed with a digital box with clarity. Since I'm just using Comcast for the QAM, does anyone know if the Cardinals' games are on a "clear QAM" channel only turned on for games? I'm at work during the evenings so I can't check until a day game...

for Comcasters out there:

I know the Cardinals' games are on analog 96 but according to this article (http://arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?lID=71&sID=72&ms=73&cID=e&aID=98637.15873.110762), it can be viewed with a digital box with clarity. Since I'm just using Comcast for the QAM, does anyone know if the Cardinals' games are on a "clear QAM" channel only turned on for games? I'm at work during the evenings so I can't check until a day game...

Nothing in that article gave me any indication that they were talking about HD..just "crystal clear" SD. I guess the picture was worse than that previously? (I wouldn't know since I generally only watch baseball when trying to fall asleep.)

found it. it's on RF channel 117 which maps to 117-1. the channel wasn't active when I scanned the other day. my program lists the resolution as 528x480 so definitely not HD but lots better than the analog 96 (a lot of snow).

Its on Comcrap. Hell no it won't be in HD. Especially if its on one of their channels like 96. The reason why they said "it can be viewed with a digital box with clarity" is because if you are using an analog tv tuner to get it, it has SEVERE snow on it. Remember me bitching about this very thing last year? Its high up in the band for their analog and it looks like complete garbage. If, however, you get a digital converter box from them, it will, of course, be clear because its being sent digitally.

You want to know your best bet for watching a Cardinals game this year? Get DirecTV, subscribe to the SPORTS PACK, and watch away on FSN MW in HD! :) Midwest will be carrying 130 games this year, 88 of which will be in glorious HD. I have DirecTV (as everyone probably knows), so when I saw that yesterday's game (no matter how short) would be in HD, I immediately went to their site and ponied up the $12 extra a month to watch it. I get every single FSN channel on DirecTV, so I do get quite a bang for my buck. There is almost always something interesting on if I wanna watch something sports related. Like last night, I had the opportunity to watch the Best Damn Hooters International Pageant SEVERAL times. Well, I didn't want to watch it over and over again, but if I missed a part and didn't want to DVR it, I could just wait till it rolled around again on one of the other FSN's. It was as if it was going every 30 minutes across the networks. :)

Anyway, if you wanna watch, do like I did. Its great!

I believe all the MLB games are on this week for free on Directv sports pack. I was able to watch a few games and I don't subscribe to those channels. I'm sure after that most games will be blacked out and only available via the MLB pack. Not sure about the Cardinal games since we are in their "area".

The only thing free this week as far as MLB goes is the Extra Innings package. That includes the Strike Zone channel and the Mix channel all the stuff from channel 720 and up. The Sports Pack isn't free. Those are the channels in the 600's. I tried watching FSN MW yesterday for the game before I activated the Sports Pack, but got the channel not purchased message, but it was there in the MLBEI area. So.....there ya go I guess. :)

I get "Blacked Out" on several MLBEI channels (I subscribe), then the DVR asks me if I want to search for the game on another channel (stupid question). I hit "OK" and it switches to a (usually) SD version of the same game in the 600's, and I DONT subscribe to sports pack. I don't understand how Directv does their subscription thing, but the first time the DVR fails to record a game I'm paying for, because its blacked out, they are gonna catch hell.

Did the cards play today at 2pm? My recording is blank...Menu shows game at 8:15p now?

Found this: Explains how Directv does their blackouts and why you can get Cards games with Sports pak only...
www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=124606

The game JUST came on, it wasn't at 2 like the stupid guide says. Its in HD on 647-1. I only get blacked out on certain channels like the one for the Rockies people and the Seattle side for the Rangers Vs. Mariners game. If you get blacked out on one, just look in your guide for an alternate showing of it (usually real close to it) and you will be able to get it. I do NOT subscribe to EI, but I have this figured out pretty well. Mine never asks if I want it to search for alternate channels, it does it automatically.

Well, MLB got me. Can't watch Cards home games (on FSN Midwest) with Extra Innings. Period. Blacked out, SD and HD. Soooooo... I had to get the sports pak too. D* rep felt my pain, and gave it to me for 1/2 price for three months. Damn rules. How can we be considered "home" for St Louis? Its a flippin 300+ miles from here. I'm actually a Brewers fan, but hate being told "you can't watch this hahaha". Ill make it up in the $300 I save when I cancel NFL Sunday ticket this fall :) Problem is recording... Need a rocket science degree to know what channel its gonna appear on while I'm at work. Maybe it will automatically search on its own if its a recording.

Thats very interesting. It didn't occur to me that you would be outta luck on both counts with EI only. Guess I got so used to watching all the Rangers games last year on SW that it never crossed my mind. I did want to watch Cardinals games, just never did anything to find out how last year.

It really doesn't seem that fair because we are technically closer to St. Louis than Arlington (I think). Like its 5, maybe 5 1/2 to Busch and its more like 6 or 6 1/2 to The Ballpark at Arlington. So, if anything, we should get both as our home package. If St. Louis is considered our "home" like the rep said, then MW should be on all the time IMHO. Guess that "home" is in reference to what you get shown to you when you put in your zip for sports eligibility.

I guess that kinda does make sense though as I couldn't watch any Cardinals games until I got the Sports Pack, but that extra pack gives me a lot of extra channels. Wonder how those will work once the EI free preview is over. Bet I lose all those games that come on, but I am not sure as if I were to lose them then, I would see blacked out now. Kinda curious to see how that pans out. I will post what happens next week.

I honestly could care less about any other teams, but it would be nice to get my fix if the Cards or Rangers aren't on. Occasionally I like to watch the Cubbies just to laugh at em. (evil)

Its on Comcrap. Hell no it won't be in HD. Especially if its on one of their channels like 96. The reason why they said "it can be viewed with a digital box with clarity" is because if you are using an analog tv tuner to get it, it has SEVERE snow on it. Remember me bitching about this very thing last year? Its high up in the band for their analog and it looks like complete garbage. If, however, you get a digital converter box from them, it will, of course, be clear because its being sent digitally.

You want to know your best bet for watching a Cardinals game this year? Get DirecTV, subscribe to the SPORTS PACK, and watch away on FSN MW in HD! :) Midwest will be carrying 130 games this year, 88 of which will be in glorious HD. I have DirecTV (as everyone probably knows), so when I saw that yesterday's game (no matter how short) would be in HD, I immediately went to their site and ponied up the $12 extra a month to watch it. I get every single FSN channel on DirecTV, so I do get quite a bang for my buck. There is almost always something interesting on if I wanna watch something sports related. Like last night, I had the opportunity to watch the Best Damn Hooters International Pageant SEVERAL times. Well, I didn't want to watch it over and over again, but if I missed a part and didn't want to DVR it, I could just wait till it rolled around again on one of the other FSN's. It was as if it was going every 30 minutes across the networks. :)

Anyway, if you wanna watch, do like I did. Its great!

I have DISH and the Sports Pack (E* only charges $5.99 a month). And I love having all the FSNs + more Cardinals games in HD. But I share the DVR with the fam so I won't get to record all the games on the DVR but I have my TV tuner for my PC which can record clear QAM which is why I asked.

And the digital version of 96 is way clearer...might actually be watchable...and better than the SD version on E*

Wait, you get FSNMW through the sports package on Dish? My dad told me that even if he got that, they wouldn't let him have it for some reason. Got any links to pages that show what you get if you buy it at a certain zip?

Oh, btw, found it. Its at 117.49 in GB-PVR.

Well, after the free preview for EI is over, you should get the MSN's showing "our teams"...i.e. Kansas City, Texas teams, and St. Louis, with the sports pak. All the other teams should be blacked out. Further, If, say St Louis is playing San Diago, and its in SD on FSMW, and HD on San Diago's RSN, you won't be able to watch the HD feed, nor will I, even with EI, cuz we are forced to watch our "home" teams on their RSN's. Only thing EI gets me, is out of "home" teams, like the Brewers...which I should be able to watch on any RSN unless they are playing a "home" team. Lucky for you, more than one team claims us as home. Unlucky for you, Directv chose to provide Texas RSN's instead of Missouri for us :)

Wait, you get FSNMW through the sports package on Dish? My dad told me that even if he got that, they wouldn't let him have it for some reason. Got any links to pages that show what you get if you buy it at a certain zip?

Oh, btw, found it. Its at 117.49 in GB-PVR.

I just used the DIRECTV page for zip codes. But one of my friends had done it in seasons past and told me about it so I tried it and it works for the Cardinals. That's about the only team not on FSN SW we can watch without blackouts (maybe the Memphis Grizzlies on FSN South, I don't care about the Grizzlies though). It was nice during the college basketball conference tournaments when some FSNs were showing different tournaments as well as the nationally covered Pac-10.

I post this in hopes that representatives of the respective stations who may frequent here will read this and perhaps arrange to have these problems corrected.

It is my understanding (hard to do with some FCC documents) that the FCC has given TV stations broadcasting digital signals thru April of this year to get their PSIP (includes EPG) straightened out (FCC-07-228). This includes "actual" program listings for at least 12 hours and the station time set accurately as described in http://www.atsc.org/standards/a65.html

I have looked at several local digital TV transport streams using TSReader. Here are some observations I have made regarding the EPGs:

2.1-2.4 KETS-DT

TSReader EPG reports that programs come on 1 hour later than they really do. They need to turn on DST. TSReader reports DS Status: 0 . Time setting in the Transport stream appears to be a UTC time chosen in order to correct for the lack of a DST flag so that time appears correct on TV (?I think - just speculating?). TSReader shows programs come on 1 hour later than they really do. My Tv shows them coming on at the correct time but they showed as coming on an hour too early until recently.

They are also not showing accurate programming on sub-channels 2-4 when they are running in HD on primary channel (nothing on 2-4).

4 KARK-DT

All's well except clock is 2 minutes slow (I believe FCC allows 1 minute off).

7 KATV-DT

(see 42 - KWBF-DT)

11 KTHV-DT

We have a weiner .... All's well in TSReader. For some reason on my HDTV this station is not re-mapped from 12 to virtual 11 and I get no EPG.

16 KLRT-DT

Time is only off by 3 minutes (fast). All else looks good in TSReader.

18.1-18.4 KTWN-DT (Searcy)

We have a loser. Time is 4 minutes slow and they have only "Regular Programming" listed in their EPG for all channels. This is not allowed under new FCC guidelines (ATSC PSIP Standard A/65C).

25 KVTN-DT

Seems to be Okay. Time is correct but I can't get channel reliably enough to verify actual program content agrees with EPG.

38.1-38.2 KASN-DT

Time is 2 minutes fast. Can't get channels reliably enough to verify EPG agrees with actual program contents.

42.1-42.3 KWBF-DT (42.3 is temporarily KATV-DT)

Time is off when displayed on my TV by 1 hour and 11 minutes (slow). The time in the transport stream (TSReader) is actually 11 minutes slow but the DST flag is not set. TSReader shows DS Status: 0 . TSReader shows that programs in the EPG agree with what is actually on (except for 11 minute error).

If your results vary, please advise.

dmatch

I have looked at several local digital TV transport streams using TSReader.

I'd have PMed you, but it appears you have PMs disabled.

Could I get you to send me an e-mail or something? I'm working on a project and need someone in your area with TSReader and an OTA tuner to help me out. If you're not too busy, of course.

My address is listed on RabbitEars, as linked in my signature, under the "Contact" menu link. I'll e-mail you with more details if you choose to e-mail me.

Thanks. =)

- Trip

Wonder if your problem getting your tv to map 12-1 to 11-1 has anything to do with my Hauppage totally skipping 11-1 as a valid channel and leaving it off the channel list, while mapping 12-2 to 11-2 just fine. I've suspected there was a abnormality in KTHV's PSIP, but have no way to tell (or watch/record) 11-1 on the HTPC.

dmatch,

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html

Evidently, FCC complaints work, at least in some cases. Residents here in Carroll County complained about a LPTV station in Eureka Springs that was squatting on the same channel as (CBS-HD) KFSM-DT, and within their coverage area. The LPTV station ended up having to move to another channel.

If you email complaints to the FCC, "Cc:" a copy to the stations' General Managers. You can look up station contact info by entering the station's four call letters at:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html

Another good station lookup source for contact info is:
http://msi.tvjobs.com/quick.html

@Arxaw:

Eventually, the complaint route may be necessary for the worst cases. Apparently, the stations get thru the end of this month to work on their setups (unless there has been another extension I don't know about).

This digital stuff is really a mixed bag. Good picture if you can get one but it really sucks in foul weather when even a bad snowy analog keeps on going.

On balance though I am spoiled on HD (and some SD digital extra channels) and want to see the stations do it right. If the dependibilty of the old analog format is going to be sacrificed we at least should get the benefit of an accurate EPG that the new technology can bring us.

dmatch

This digital stuff is really a mixed bag. Good picture if you can get one but it really sucks in foul weather when even a bad snowy analog keeps on going.



Currently watching tonight's storm coverage in the hamshack (while monitoring Skywarn 2m Repeater), KTHV-DT plagued with audio/video dropouts, meanwhile KARK-DT is rock solid (and for comparison a quick check of KARK analog OTA shows a static filled picture and audio).

The problem isn't digital, its VHF for digital.

Certain stations North and East of the Little Rock market will be effected post transition with their decision to use VHF.

Well, I can tell you that with a tornado hitting 12 blocks west of me, KLRT never dropped a bit or a byte. Sat was down, I'm close enough that KTHV was mostly solid. I didn't even bother checking KETS. Was a cool looking tornado tho. Was awesome. Second one I've seen, but this one was a little to close.

heh, from what I could tell my satellite didn't go down once. of course, I didn't check any of the HD stuff on the newer channels. I was recording other stuff off comedy central and another channel, so I didnt' get a chance to flip around. I guess I could have gone into the living room I realize now, but I didn't think about it at the time.

Even with my crappy antennas that I got I didn't have much problems receiving any of the local OTA digital channels. The only glitches I had were because of the antennas I am using. I don't think that post transition many people will be AFFECTED (sorry haley-SEA, not trying to be nit picky or anything, its just the editor in me wanting to use the right word hehe call it a peeve the way effect and affect are interchanged) by their use of VHF because its so high up in the VHF band. Plus, I am willing to bet they will be allowed to get more power output, so it might compensate for the use of VHF.

:)You will get a little pixellation on KETS normally. It is affected by impulse noise from cars going by, light switches being turned on and off, A/C units, power lines... Even with a > 80% signal, mine cuts out occasionally. Glad you got it up and running. I'm actually surprised a preamp would affect low band enough to bring them in, but never really tried to pick up any marginal ground wave signals with one. Channel 16 analog is so strong here it overloaded the amp I tried. Will try another one in Feb 2008 when they shut it off.

Hi. Further on the KETS deal. I got my loband VHF antenna moved and mounted on its own pole, using an ANtenna Craft 30db preamp, running in OTA through a Dish VIP612 receiver and scan picks up all the HD subchannels of KETS with a 68-72 signal strength and no pixillation. ( I always thought back from my old Navy radio days that a ground wave was broadcast down around 16khz in the XLF band - and was for slow speed morse code radio messages intended for submarines...) Regards

What's the noise factor on the antennacraft? You noticing any interference on any of the analog channels (herringbones, noise, etc)? The Channelmaster is 2.6db nf on VHF and 2.0 on UHF. Was hoping to find one a little lower on vhf. Also, does it have separate VHF and UHF inputs, or just one input for both?

Steveken: I hate MLB. Seems ALL the games I want to watch are blacked out in HD and I have to watch the sucked up SD version from Texas, which apparently hasn't discovered HD yet. Cards was in SD too. Milwaukee was SD. Cubs didn't record, so must have been in SD. I'm regretting paying for this. Should have just got the sports pak and watched the cards.

That makes NO sense what so ever. This week was a free EI week, so nothing should have given you problems in seeing it cause they wanna show all the people who don't have it what its like, so they open it up (I would think).

I too had an issue finding the cards game in HD. The FSNMW channel had the sub-channel in HD, but it was all black for some reason. Not even a message saying it was blacked out. This is, of course, during the ninth inning as I had been watching a movie prior, so I don't know if it was ever on. Texas is hardly ever in HD from what I have been able to gather. Maybe as the technology matures they will get more and more in HD.

From what I saw, at least on every game I wanted to see, there were always 2 HD versions on MLB EI. One for home, one for away, so you should never run into an instance where the HD is blacked out for you (in theory) unless its on a crappier team that less people care about and its not worth the investment, yet, to put them in HD. Oh wait, yeah, you said the Brewers. LOL Just joking around.

All in all, if you are really that unhappy with it, NOW is the time to cancel it and get most of your $180 back and just pay the $12 a month for SPORTS PACK. :)

the Cardinals weren't in HD last night. during the broadcast they mentioned that they had problems and the game wouldn't be in HD but they would add a HD game later in the season to make up for it...

Well, the main problem is FSNSW. They have an HD channel. They showed the Rangers game in SD on the SD channel, and had some BS best sports show on the HD channel. The Astro's were in SD also. Both games were in HD on EI, but were the non-texas Sportsnets, so we were blacked out and forced to watch it on the Texas channels.

Today should be interesting, and FOX has rights to some games, so even more will be blacked out, even if the local FOX station is showing another game. This is all so money grubbing stupid on the part of MLB. Its no wonder people spend hundreds of dollars to buy pirate satellite systems, and "move" to non-existant addresses to bypass all this ignorant crap.

[QUOTE=Davenlr;13563871]What's the noise factor on the antennacraft? You noticing any interference on any of the analog channels (herringbones, noise, etc)? The Channelmaster is 2.6db nf on VHF and 2.0 on UHF. Was hoping to find one a little lower on vhf. Also, does it have separate VHF and UHF inputs, or just one input for both?

Hi. The AntennaCraft 10G212 figures from SolidSignal are:
Avg.Gain: 30dB UHF/VHF
Adjustable Gain Control: up to 15dB
Mast mounted with indoor power supply
Noise Figure: <4.0dB VHF,<3.5dB UHF
Remote Switchable FM trap
Surface Mount design
One combined VHF/UHF 75 ohm input/output . I just use this for KETS on
RF 5, on the loband antenna.
I have it put into the VIP612 Dish DVR and only using it for KETS, so am not
seeing any interference on analog channels.

My regular VHF/UHF OTA is run into the Dish 411, and also split off to an analogue TV in other room, not seeing any interference there but that is through the Spartan 3 preamp, I use this one for RF channels 7-69.

I know it looks like overkill, and if it was just for me, I wouldn't even bother with KETS, but wife wants to watch some shows on KETS DT2, DT2, DT4,
and this is one way to get it, since most of my stations are at 263° and KETS is at 184°, and was too low on the regular UHF/VHF antenna.

Dave E

Oh, don't apologize for overkill. I get KETS but was ticked off at their refusal to show PBS network HD shows in HD, instead time shifting it to SD for whatever reason, so I bought a $400 satellite receiver, and a 1.2 Meter KU dish, and watch PBS HD on two channels directly from PBS, and get 7 additional PBS SD stations to boot. Now that's overkill.

Steveken: Enjoying Extra Innings? Hahahah. NO GAMES at all. SportsPak has ALL out of region games BLACKED OUT. Guess we can only watch Cards, Rangers, and Astros on weekends. Directv refused to remove EI from my subscription, as I suspected. I cancelled NFL and HD package, and will cancel everything else when I'm "allowed" to. This is bullcrap, being told what team you have to support.

KETS-DT has finally set (or has automatically set) their DST flag. This is the old date that DST was to have been implemented. Now the EPG and time is off 1 hour.

I think Kelly still frequents here (AETN employee) so maybe this will be seen and corrected.

dmatch

DST is a joke. Any software should be written to use GMT. My atomic watch and clock are always correct. My GPS has been an hour off since the time change. What would make more sense is just keeping DST all year.

Davenlr, I guess I am really not understanding either what you are having problems with or what you mean or something. I wasn't at home at all yesterday, but every other time I have turned it onto a game that is completely out of our "market" it has showed up for me. I turned it on a few others today and was able to see them just fine. I haven't had any issue this past week where I couldn't see a game. I am beginning to think its something with your account or something. Maybe because you have EI applied to your account is making the sports pack stuff blacked out, but I doubt thats it.

As far as not letting you shut off the EI, I would tell them to transfer you to cancellations and tell them unless they take it off, you will dispute the charges with your cc company and cancel. I would think that would be enough to get it off. I mean, its different if its midway through the season, but its not, so they have no reason not to take it off. They have to expect people will change their minds.

Its countrywide. Fox Broadcasting has rights to ALL games before 7pm on Saturdays. There is no extra innings on Saturday before 7pm, and ALL games on the sports pak are blacked out. I was able to bypass being forced to watch the Braves game by tuning in the Fox station in Marquette Mi tho. Everything came in fine today. I didn't try to watch the Cards, they were on KKYK, so might have been blacked out. I watched Nascar and the Brewers game.

Oh.

Cardinals games are NEVER on FSN on Sundays and thus never in HD on FSN. Channel 5 in St. Louis evidently has locked all those Sunday games in. If we could get a decent feed for Channel 5 from St. Louis down here, we could get it in HD again. Wish I knew why they weren't carrying it on 42-1 like they did last year. The HD I was seeing for the games from that channel looked damn good. But anyway, if you look at the schedule (calendar view) for them or any other MLB team, it will say whether or not its on TV by having FSN or whatever on it. If its in HD, it will say FSN-HD for instance.

Speaking of KKYK, to whomever from that station is reading this board to look at viewer reactions and opinions, I would like to say one thing to them. GREAT JOB TODAY WITH THE AUDIO! There was so much buzzing and general garbage on the audio portion it was damn near impossible to listen to it. And if you TRIED to watch it OTA, there was so much damn pixelation that it was very hard to watch. I ended up turning on 49 on the satellite to see it and deal with the crappy audio. It wasn't till after the game that I thought about turning on my XM and listening to Mike Shannon and company do the play by play. Guess I will do that from now on since KKYK's people can't seem to get it right. Or, I would hope, this audio trouble was a one time incident. I will check back every sunday to see what its going to be like.

I'll check KKYK via KU band next Sunday and see how that compares audio wise. PQ wise, its much better than OTA, even though they cram 16 480p stations on ONE transponder. I'm not sure how wide the transponders are, but I believe they are 27 MHz each.

I'm wondering if Equity and KATV are going to build a 1000' tower up on Shinall and share it. Would allow KATV/ABC News Now, then Equity could run KWBF/KKYK/Retrojams and maybe add KKAP-36 and ch 58 Univision on a third antenna up there. Would be a lot cheaper for both of them...especially splitting the insurance costs.

I really enjoy retrojams. Almost commercial free, and Dolby Digital. PQ sucks, but so did the PQ on the original videos, so its just like watching in the 80's on MTV :)

From STEVEKEN, "Speaking of KKYK, to whomever from that station is reading this board to look at viewer reactions and opinions, I would like to say one thing to them. GREAT JOB TODAY WITH THE AUDIO! There was so much buzzing and general garbage on the audio portion it was damn near impossible to listen to it. And if you TRIED to watch it OTA, there was so much damn pixelation that it was very hard to watch. I ended up turning on 49 on the satellite to see it and deal with the crappy audio. It wasn't till after the game that I thought about turning on my XM and listening to Mike Shannon and company do the play by play. Guess I will do that from now on since KKYK's people can't seem to get it right. Or, I would hope, this audio trouble was a one time incident. I will check back every sunday to see what its going to be like."

Kinda makes one wonder why the FCC would permit a broadcast TV station to operate with so much crosstalk in their signals, both AM and FM, from one TV station for so long. The FCC has allowed quality in broadcasting to go downhill for the past twenty years and it continues in that direction with lax restrictions. There are high school, broadcast stations in this state that do a better job than this station has ever done.

One way to clean these stations up would be to let Amateur Radio operators (HAMS)police them.

Disney Channel and Toon Disney are now in HD on DirecTV. I am looking at Toon right now and apparently its having the same troubles as some of the other HD channels. Every now and then you hear a little audio stutter reminiscent of Max Headroom. Its just real brief, but obvious. Kinda got annoying the other day when I was watching a baseball game in HD.

Disney Channel and Toon Disney are now in HD on DirecTV. I am looking at Toon right now and apparently its having the same troubles as some of the other HD channels. Every now and then you hear a little audio stutter reminiscent of Max Headroom...steve, which model D* receiver/DVR are you noticing that on?

I'm seeing doubles now from channel 80-90ish for the locals (both E and W). Are locals live now? Was asking here before I rescanned to see if I can pick them up. (for D*)

Those are DNS networks, they are simulcasting mpeg4 and Mpeg2, in anticipation of turning off the mpeg2. No locals in HD yet that I know of. They woud show up as duplicates of the current sd locals with perhaps a -1 after them.

arxaw, I am not Dave, but I am the one that said the remarks about the slight stuttering every once in a while that I am hearing. :) It is on a HR20-700 and an H20-600. I first noticed it on the HD FSN channels, but have since heard it infrequently on quite a few other HD channels. Its not very regular or predictable, but sometimes can happen fairly often. It is just a momentary audio glitch where its like the first letter or so has been said. Its just a quick d-d-d-d-down when it happens. Like fluttering of the tongue at the tip very quickly. :)

Saturday morning ( 4/5 ) on KETSDT I was getting audio that didn't match the show just like last weekend. It was during "Ask This Old House". Last time I posted someone mentioned that they were also having problems. I also noticed that something else I recorded had some additional audio for the blind. Which was weird. Here is my tuning string from KETSDT, does it look right?

T:5,2,1~P:3~V:49~A:53~PMT:48~PCR:49~N:>2.1 KETS-1 (000(AC3))

Thanks

... I am the one that said the remarks about the slight stuttering every once in a while that I am hearing. It is on a HR20-700 and an H20-600... steve, I used to hear that frequently on the HR20-700, mainly on 720p channels like WABC-DT and ESPN. But I haven't heard it in a while.

It may or may not help, but you could try a hard reboot of your boxes (unplug for a few minutes).

Those are DNS networks, they are simulcasting mpeg4 and Mpeg2, in anticipation of turning off the mpeg2...The West Coast CBS-HD, NBC-HD, etc. moved from the 80s to the "390s" channel range when they went MPEG4. But aren't the NY HD locals still in MPEG2 only?

Saturday morning ( 4/5 ) on KETSDT I was getting audio that didn't match the show just like last weekend. It was during "Ask This Old House". Last time I posted someone mentioned that they were also having problems. I also noticed that something else I recorded had some additional audio for the blind. Which was weird. Here is my tuning string from KETSDT, does it look right?

T:5,2,1~P:3~V:49~A:53~PMT:48~PCR:49~N:>2.1 KETS-1 (000(AC3))

Thanks

Your problem there is you are using the AC3 stream. It has the blind services reading the newspaper so the blind can know the news. Use the non-AC3 stream and you will be fine.

steve, I used to hear that frequently on the HR20-700, mainly on 720p channels like WABC-DT and ESPN. But I haven't heard it in a while.

It may or may not help, but you could try a hard reboot of your boxes (unplug for a few minutes).

Yeah, I don't think its something that will help. I have done a CE since hearing that on the HR20 and its still there. I don't know how it would help with the H20 since it doesn't have any kind of buffer or whatever. Maybe its just that its got a glitch in it or something. I may end up trying it if it gets on my nerves too much. Good suggestions though.

steveken,

I was able to update my GBPVR EPG without incident last night. Are you still having problems? If so, are you trying to perform the update using the GU approach or the batch file?

Your problem there is you are using the AC3 stream. It has the blind services reading the newspaper so the blind can know the news. Use the non-AC3 stream and you will be fine.
This may solve a problem for me too. Thanks.

From what I have been able to figure out, every now and then the schedule info from Yahoo! gets screwed up sometimes and it can take quite a while to get a good schedule again. From the looks of it, I haven't had a complete schedule in a while as everything says no details or something like that.

Finally, after about 15 tries, it looks like it might be working.

Edit: Hmm, no info for 431 or 440. Tried d/l'ing three times now.

Been in Nashville... I get the audio studdering on fox ch 88, and the other DNS's. Haven't noticed it on any mpeg4 channels, but its usually caused by the encoders audio buffer getting full waiting on the video to encode at the headend. Perhaps Directv has their statmux settings a little off, or its trying to do more channels than its designed for.

Your problem there is you are using the AC3 stream. It has the blind services reading the newspaper so the blind can know the news. Use the non-AC3 stream and you will be fine.
Thanks!

Can someone give me some feedback? I live in Benton and am able to get a very strong signal for NBC, ABC, and FOX. CBS is very weak and looses signal often. I have a UHF/VHF antenna on roof pointed in the right direction. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

ORPhD, are you able to get the YApi2XML program to give listings for KATV either analog or digital? I ask because I have been having nothing listed for that channel for a while now. Also, how about anything for 440 (the PBS-HD channel)? Anything for that?

Edit: I went to schedulesdirect.org and set up an account and it gives it to me. I am thinking it was something wrong with the YApi application that wasn't doing it. I know YApi is free, but schedules direct is built in and gave me a free 7 day trial. They are only $5 for 2 months or $20 for a year if you wanna pay, so I may just do that. I can prolly get away with that one with the wife. :)

Blue: What kind of antenna? How many UHF elements, how many VHF elements? When you check your signal meter on channel 12 (Digital 11-x) does the meter bounce around from high to low, or is it consistantly low. The former would indicate multipath interference, and latter would indicate you don't have enough VHF elements, or have a problem with your receiver. It sounds like you have a VHF/UHF splitter inline instead of a broadband splitter. Are you running the coax to the tv direct or through a amp or passive device?

Another post about my previous post......

I went to the zap2it.com website and submitted feedback about the incorrect program data for channel 440 on comcast digital cable. I informed them that this channel carries the national PBS-HD network and gave them the url to go to for the NET-HD listings from nebraska. I hope they find the source for that data and use it instead. I know it would help all of us out.

Goes straight to TV. Tried CM amp but it seemed to be too strong b/c it would cancel out other stations. Antennaweb says I am only 14 miles from antenna. Do not know how many elements. The antenna is from RS. Not familiar with inline vs broadband splitter.

Try removing the coax and plugging a short piece of wire about 15" long into your center coax connector on the receiver/tv. If it comes in then, your problem is multipath interference, and you will need to turn your antenna to try to eliminate it or switch to a channelmaster 4221 antenna.

thebluetomatoe,
Check your private messages.

Hey Dave. I finally have KETS in through my lo-band antenna with 30db preamp and split into two inputs, one to DISH VIP612 and one to Magnavox 32"LCD. I get all five of the channels with approx 70 signal strength. Looks better using the Magnavox tuner instead of the Dish. Are any of these transmitted in HD? They map out as 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4, good strong signal on all of them, good color and fairly good PQ, but I don't think any of them are HD, are they?

Regards

Dave E

whodart,
KETS-DT does occasional evening HD on 2-1.

Believe me, when they do HD, you'll know it. Excluding VHF dropouts, it's the best HD available because they turn off all the other bandwidth sucking sub-channels and do it right. Only 2-1 will be on during HD - the other channels will be black. And 2-1 will be 1080i.

"Occasional" is the key word. Don't expect much from KETS. Easiest was to tell if they are actually planning to send HD is look in the guide from 7-10pm and if the same show is scheduled on all 4 channels, its probably going to be in HD on 2-1. Unless they change their mind. NATURE on Sunday night is usually HD. Nova is never in HD. Antiques Roadshow is about 50/50. Just have to hope and pray.

Click HERE (http://www.aetn.org/production/whatson2) for the AETN "what's on HD" guide.

Pretty short list if it wasn't for the "Carrier" special series. Was hoping my new component HD recorder/editor would be here but they delayed its release until May 1st. Maybe Ill buy one for AETN to use :)

Whodart, Hope you got to see Nature in HD tonight. I don't get KETS now, so couldn't check, but their satellite feed was spectacular, and several of the shots took my breath away. I love PBS HD.

I'll have to keep a closer watch on KETS now that I have a reliable dependable signal input. Will see what need to do when the DTV conversion is in effect, but I think I have them covered now. Thanks for assistance to you guys on forum.

Dave E

I'll have to keep a closer watch on KETS now that I have a reliable dependable signal input. Will see what need to do when the DTV conversion is in effect, but I think I have them covered now.Probably won't have to do anything when they move to channel 7 in a few months, assuming they increase their power to a decent level.

Anyone ever notice the crawler that goes across the screen on Channel 7? Not sure what time, I know it goes during "According to Jim" at 10:30. Anyway, it says the usual spiel about the Feb 17, 2009 switchover, but it says some things that are vague and open to interpretation.

For instance, it says they will stop "full-power analog broadcasting" on the switchover date. Now, does that mean they will still be on reduced power in analog in some way? Also, it says "Analog-only television sets using an antenna for reception MAY lose KATV and other broadcast signals......".

Now to me, both of these statements say that just because they switch over to digital, they will still have analog transmissions going out. I was just wondering if anyone else had seen that and had thought the same things I have.

Ok, the audio problems on 49 aren't just with Cardinal games, there is a low hum and a buzz on it all the time apparently. Was just trying to watch Roseanne and noticed a deep hum under the audio and as soon as I changed channels it went away. This was through the satellite, but not OTA on 42-2. Not sure why its there. Might be something wrong with their uplink.

Just checked comcast's feed. Its got the buzz on it too, though not as prominent. Very very low in fact. Had to listen REAL close to hear it. Thats on the analog comcast feed anyway.

Wow, Texas Rangers actually in HD right now.

Low power analogs don't have to shut down Feb 09. KATV analog isn't a LP license, so they would have to shut down, or get a new channel and new LP license. KETS already has dibs on channel 7.
Channel 9 will probably hang around with their LP. Don't know about 58.

Yeah, I know, its just the wording of it that left me feeling like there was some hidden message under there somewhere. Just too open ended.

Oh, and KKYK had a commercial on today during Roseanne that said something about how they are going to be putting KKYK on digital 49 by February and they plan on having the digital conversion done by that point. Said something about how they are going to do the switch where there will be no loss of signal strength or picture quality, so I hope they get some more power pumping out of that transmitter soon.

Well, ch49 is full power, so I'm guessing they will just switch the exciter from analog to digital on the same transmitter. What they don't say, is what, if anything, they plan to do with the translator on ch 20. I can't get KKYK ch 49, from Camden, up here, but can get the ch20 translator.

Thought you were in North Little Rock?

I am. Camden is to far away for me to pick up channel 49. I can get it on 42-2 and on FTA, and OTA on its ch20 translator, but I can't pick up the actual Ch49 full power transmitter.

Just saw this article on Arkansas Business... didn't see the news posted here, so I just wanted to post the link in case nobody has seen the news....

KATV Plans New Tower In West Little Rock (http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=104392.50399.116530&cID=e)

Interesting, thanks Keith

Dave, where is 42-2 coming from exactly? Thats 44 digital I know, but wasn't sure where its from. So, that station has how many translators for it again? I guess I will have to go look up their license for the power and such on 49 to see how far it supposedly reaches.

Full power KKYK ch 49 (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=kkyk&arn=&city=&chan=&cha2=69&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=2&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9) in Camden will NOT reach LR.

Keith, thanks for the heads up.

KKYK 42-2 is from Shinall. The actual full power station is in Camden, Ar on ch 49. It has a translator on ch 20 in Little Rock in the height, I believe, at the same location as ch 58.

Just saw this article on Arkansas Business... didn't see the news posted here, so I just wanted to post the link in case nobody has seen the news....

KATV Plans New Tower In West Little Rock (http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=104392.50399.116530&cID=e)

Gee hope they aren't rushing things :cool: - it's been over 3 months of the rubber bands & duct tape transmitter.

Was wondering what they were going to do as they've been silent about the matter - so thanks for the info Keith.

It's not easy building a tower these days. All sorts of permits, environmental impact studies, interference studies, zoning issues, etc. that were unheard when katv built their big honkin' tower in Redfield in the 60s. They probably didn't want to make an announcement, only to have to retract it later.

It's not easy building a tower these days. All sorts of permits, environmental impact studies, interference studies, zoning issues, etc. that were unheard when katv built their big honkin' tower in Redfield in the 60s. They probably didn't want to make an announcement, only to have to retract it later.

This is very true... Even if You build a bigger one at the old location You have to get it approved by F.A.A. You can rebuild one the same size & Height no problem because it was already approved...

The CP for KETS-DT on channel 7 is for 26.73kw non directional.

No contingency plan caught them with their pants down. I kind of expect to see them go black & white, and have the indian test pattern after hours. Would probably make their signal look better than it does these days.

"Superseven - still the one."
Without a decent transmitter, that is.

mattm1001,
Thanks.

Kinda weak, compared to some DT stations on ch7.

Most are a lot weaker than that. That's a pretty decent amount of power really.

According to FCC regulations, they couldn't go any higher than 36.1 kW at that height anyway. Plus the FCC limits stations based on current coverage, at least until they lift the filing freeze in August. Who knows; in August they may apply to go all the way up to 36.1 kW.

- Trip

No contingency plan caught them with their pants down. I kind of expect to see them go black & white, and have the indian test pattern after hours. Would probably make their signal look better than it does these days.

"Superseven - still the one."
Without a decent transmitter, that is.

mattm1001 is talking about KETS-DT channel 7 (AETN/PBS).

So you get the same coverage with 36KW using a DT transmitter as 316KW with an analog transmitter? Almost 1/10th the power? That mean UHF ( 5 MW analog) is limited to 500KW Digital? I thought 1000KW was the UHF limit? I'm confused.

According to my calculations, a station on UHF at KETS-DT's height would be capped at roughly 400 kW.

The FCC has established a power curve such that the more height a station has, the less power they're allowed to have.

The actual cap on upper VHF signals is 160 kW, up to 1000 feet. KETS is at 1794 feet, and so it has to be a lot lower. My calculations say 36.1 kW but I'm rechecking regulations, that number might be closer to 40 kW... it's confusing to read.

A similar story exists for UHF. Signals can go up to 1000 kW up to heights of 1200 feet.

The FCC has made a ton of exceptions to these rules, however, with regard to UHF especially. In the case where a low-VHF signal ends up on a UHF, the FCC has essentially said they can go up to 1000 kW regardless of height, in order to try and help alleviate the coverage disparity.

I hope that helps somewhat. I know it's kind of confusing.

- Trip

... the more height a station has, the less power they're allowed to have.

... KETS is at 1794 feet...Is that above sea level, ground level... ?

Is that above sea level, ground level... ?

It's "height above average terrain." For those who don't know, this is how the FCC records a station's height.

HAAT is calculated by finding the height above sea level of a number of points a certain distance from the tower site, along the 8 cardinal directions. These heights are then averaged, and then the height of the transmitting antenna is subtracted from that average number.

They cannot use height above ground level because if a station's on top of a mountain, their tower may only be 100 feet tall.

They can't use height above sea level because, for example, in the midwest, the terrain is relatively flat at about 3,000 feet above sea level.

So they use this semi-artificial number which is pretty good at showing a station's height and coverage, though of course not perfect.

Hope that helps.

- Trip

Thanks. I just wasn't sure which height you were referring to.

A similar story exists for UHF. Signals can go up to 1000 kW up to heights of 1200 feet.

The FCC has made a ton of exceptions to these rules, however, with regard to UHF especially. In the case where a low-VHF signal ends up on a UHF, the FCC has essentially said they can go up to 1000 kW regardless of height, in order to try and help alleviate the coverage disparity.
The exceptions explain why Sprinfield MO's stations are so powerful. Some of them are at or over ~2000' HAAT.

I think this good news, and what most on this forum have been waiting for from KATV . . .

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=104392.50399.116530&cID=e

Bel, you are about a page late on that. :)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13642603#post13642603

Got my GB-PVR setup working with my HVR-1800 for the OTA ATSC stuff. It detected 2 42-1's. One is the normal video with normal audio, the other is normal video but is one of those AC3 channels and has RTN radio music running on it. Sounds pretty good. Is that on a normal radio station around here?

I reported the RTN listings issue for KWBFDT2 to Schedules Direct. They have to submit problems like that to TMS (Tribune Media Services I think) who does the master list of stations, lineups, etc. I am trying to get them to fix it and the guy who is submitting it to them replied to me:

"Yes, I can see that TMS must have typo'ed "RTN" (Retro Television
Network) because they've got "RTV" (Russian Television).

I've submitted it to TMS."

I think that is pretty funny, personally. :) Hopefully, they can fix 440 AND 42-2 for us. You can all thank me now. Just kidding!

Good Luck. I've reported it three times now. Even KWBF doesn't seem to give a shOOt. Doesn't matter to me. I don't watch anything on it anyway. Just can't believe they have been doing it wrong for over a year.

Bel, you are about a page late on that. :)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13642603#post13642603

Wasn't trying to be first, just re-enforcing. Guess I should have quoted.

I'm trying to lock ch18 from Searcy. Can only get 12% with peaks to 30% right now. Can anyone tell me the compass heading from NLR downtown to Searcy? I'm gonna try the Televes antenna, but its not on a rotor.

I'm trying to lock ch18 from Searcy. Can only get 12% with peaks to 30% right now. Can anyone tell me the compass heading from NLR downtown to Searcy? I'm gonna try the Televes antenna, but its not on a rotor.
Pretty much you draw a line from Conway to Redfield (or wherever that hill is where they have the antennas) and then to Pine Bluff, or something like that. Don't bother calling the stations, they haven't a clue where they are compared to you, much less how to find a topo. I guess I'll have to hit the County surveyor's office if nothing pops up online. I'm using a mixture of things now just for fun -- a dual square 11.25" that looks like two one-pair of driven bow-ties (v's rabbit ears, etc.) when tilted the right way. Best so far has been the old 4.25 x 7.25 loop, but made of copper gas piping that was beaten flat to a pulp and then cleaned until it said 'uncle'. Problem for us is we're in about a 45' little dip from the LOS horizon to most channels, and can't get 2.x (or 5.1 or whatever the heck they are these days) unless I run a separate UHF/FM-like line out.

It's funny, no one has an antenna or tells you what to do when you have no LOS to the antennal. We get a diffracted front wave and then the reflection behind us as it comes back. Probably not too hard to use both if I could tickle the phase finely.

A low-db line driver and impedance matching amp would do wonders, I'm sure, but only at the pole, or even better at the antenna feeds. I do think that a phased array of anything would do well enough though. We've even tried an AM antenna (the 50cent kind you get with your receiver) and it didn't do badly. I think I'm going to actually try the rhomboid (full one) next and then finally make a small array of the conical ones. I just think those are too cool. My problem is I've forgotten completely how to calculate the characteristic impedance of these guys at given frequencies, so balun-passive or active impedance matching is a big issue.

Remember --- 2.0 to 2.5 cm aluminum is great for drivers and reflectors, especially when it's very thin. But use real copper (not type "N" or "L" or whatever) for your driver element. Also the "J" still seems popular with a lot of Yagis.

Oh, a question: My TV gives me S/N ratio in dB (if I believe it) and something called AGC%. What is ACG%?

Rock on, tune on! (Sounded good in my head).

Shawn / sparkinark@yahoo.com

I'm trying to lock ch18 from Searcy. Can only get 12% with peaks to 30% right now. Can anyone tell me the compass heading from NLR downtown to Searcy? I'm gonna try the Televes antenna, but its not on a rotor.
I would guess about 35-40 degrees from NLR to the KTWN-LD transmitter. Here is a service area map.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=LD1141878.html

dmatch

AGC is automatic gain control, probably a signal strength meter. I have both that and quality (bit rate error in reverse).

If you want to phase some power yagi's for a sharp front peak and good f/b, try building 4 phased quad loops. I believe the inherent impedance is already 75 ohms, so the swr should be close to 1:1 with RG6.

dmatch, that shows the transmitter just north of Cabot with Searcy on the edge. I thought it was located in Searcy??
If its just north of Cabot, I should be getting a lot more than 12% on groundwave, I'm at 450' and Cabot is ~250'... This isn't making sense.

I'm trying to lock ch18 from Searcy. Can only get 12% with peaks to 30% right now. Can anyone tell me the compass heading from NLR downtown to Searcy? I'm gonna try the Televes antenna, but its not on a rotor.

Dave, I've posted KTWN-LD's coverage map (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=LD1141878.html). As indicated, the transmitter site is closer to Cabot.

I've logged this station a few times, to their credit there is some local programming (on weekday mornings) instead of 24/7 off the bird.

Ok. I can scan it in at work (out in Rose City in the swamp) with a 2adio Shack 3 element V/10 ele U el cheapo yagi, but at my house, with Indian Hills at 500+ ' in my LOS, I'm only getting 12% with a high gain antenna. Guess with 15kw, one hill is all it takes. Thanks for the map links guys.

Good Luck. I've reported it three times now. Even KWBF doesn't seem to give a shOOt. Doesn't matter to me. I don't watch anything on it anyway. Just can't believe they have been doing it wrong for over a year.

You see, Dave, the problem is that it isn't KWBF's fault at all. It is Tribunes fault entirely as they are the ones that maintain the master list of stations and their programming. It is someone up there that inputted RTV instead of RTN. Now that it has been brought to the attention of the right people, it should be fixed.

We will see I guess. KWBF said they have reported the error multiple times. Hope you are right, only so I can schedule Cards games and Southpark reruns :) Assuming the Cards are on KWBF and not block-o-vision KKYK :P

Every game I have seen on their crappy channels so far this season has been on KKYK 42-2 with very bad audio.

And I doubt very seriously anyone that works at any tv station around here would have enough desire or knowledge to know where to report an error like that to. I would think about the only people who would know are the engineers (and thats a stretch as its outside of their job descriptions) and maybe the general managers of the station. I would doubt they would even give a crap though. Most of the people that watch their channels are NOT OTA people. I would be willing to bet a vast majority of them are Comcast or Dish subscribers.

About the only interesting thing I have noticed coming from those stations is the RTN radio feed on the AC3 feed of 42-1 that I mentioned earlier.

Never noticed that before. Doesn't sound much worse than XM

Was just thinking...if the FCC had their stuff together, they would have made mpeg4 the atsc spec, and Equity could have gotten away with running two 720p's, a 480i, and some radio stations on one transmitter with a few bits to spare. BTW, you getting stereo on RTN? It turns on dolby prologic II on my receiver, but all the audio comes out of the center channel.

Was just thinking...if the FCC had their stuff together, they would have made mpeg4 the atsc spec,

I'm sure if MPEG-4 had existed in 1996, I'm sure they would have.

- Trip

I thought they were still testing atsc vs codefm (?) well after mpeg4 and divx hit the streets. You saying they had the specs carved in stone in 1996?

ATSC was already going in 1996 and 1997. The FCC had already decided on ATSC by that time, as I recall, but Sinclair complained (since they'd just bought a manufacturer of COFDM transmitters) and asked the FCC to reconsider. I don't know any specifics beyond that.

- Trip

Never noticed that before. Doesn't sound much worse than XM

XM's audio is from AM radio stations 99% of the time. The really bad audio I am talking about was from a couple weeks ago when there was buzzing or cracking kind of noise all through the game. It was horrible to watch.