This is just ridiculous. I'm done with AETN and PBS. They had plenty of time to get things resolved and didn't do it. Screw 'em! :o I'll watch better content elsewhere.I don't understand. Is it AETN's fault the DTV isn't carrying them in HD? BTW, the AETN SD picture looks a lot better than the national they were mapping into that slot. It's what I have to settle for.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always assumed it was DTV being unwilling to assign the bandwidth on a satellite that kept us from getting AETN in HD.

I don't understand. Is it AETN's fault the DTV isn't carrying them in HD? BTW, the AETN SD picture looks a lot better than the national they were mapping into that slot. It's what I have to settle for.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always assumed it was DTV being unwilling to assign the bandwidth on a satellite that kept us from getting AETN in HD.
Until now, there was NO HD AETN for them to carry. Now, they have to go about getting it up on the satellite. That is probably going to mean redoing something in their setup to get it up there. Just give it time and they will probably get it up there.

I don't understand. Is it AETN's fault the DTV isn't carrying them in HD?


That is a good question. DirecTv did not start rolling out local HD PBS's until about 6 or 8 months ago. I am assuming due to contract negotiations and all that. They put it on the Fayetteville spot beam for NWA, however, were unwilling to also put Fayettevilles AETN on OUR spot beam when KETS was down. Now that KETS is up (sorta), and its obviously getting to DirecTv, I would say a call to AETN would be in order to see if they have a carriage agreement in place with DirecTv for their HD signal. If so, we will just have to wait for DirecTv to add it to their HD lineup. If not, then we can press the powers that be at AETN for some answers, to determine if they are holding out for more money, If Directv is refusing to negotiate, or if they have invoked any "Must Carry" laws (which may no longer be in effect for HD as it was for SD).

Forget calling DirecTv, they will never give you any answers regarding new channels, other than "SOON". AETN knows DirecTvs plan (or lack thereof), if you can find the right person at AETN to give you the information. Personally, I dont care, since I get it OTA in 720p, and direct at 1080i. It wont be of much use to me anyway, until they get their HD timeshift gear, and aspect ratio stuff, as I archive all the Nature and Nova episodes in HD on my server, and AETN usually timeshifts Nova from 7pm to 8pm, and it loses the HD content. Ill see tomorrow night if anything has changed since they were on ch5. In the mean time, Im still going to record those two shows off PBS HD East.

I tend to concur a little bit with CorpITguy, they did have plenty of time to get their ducks in a row, and did choose this drawn out scenario to stay on VHF, when they could have been up on UHF several years ago when the rest of the Little Rock stations turned on digital. Then they (IMHO), wasted LOTS of money to buy new analog channel 2 equipment for 6 months, that could have been used for digital equipment.

Its a sad mess right now, and hopefully, in the long run, they wont have lost to many viewers. Fortunantly, there is no competition, OTA, for their content.

In the mean time, Im still going to record those two shows off PBS HD East.How are you receiving HD East? DTV?

How are you receiving HD East? DTV?

A little 1.2m ground mounted satellite dish pointed at AMC21 at 125w (think thats correct), and a Pansat 9200HD ATSC/FTA receiver. It comes in great 99% of the time. There is PBS HD East, West, and a HD feed channel, 7 SD feeds like PBS World, and Create, and the Montana PBS network.

Dont know how long Ill continue getting it, as I understand they are converting to a different distribution method, but hopefully they would leave at least one feed up for backup and cable systems carrying it.

Until now, there was NO HD AETN for them to carry.

Not really true, they have had AETN digital/HD signal all along at DirecTv. Its on the Fayetteville DMA spot beam. They refused (claiming technical reasons) to put it on LR's HD (or SD) spot. Its that in itself (and the fact KARZ isnt on the HD bird either) that they may not give us any additional locals in HD. The lack of subchannels, and storm dropouts are two really good reasons to have a OTA tuner with your Directv service. For the one time $50 charge, Im surprised everyone doesnt have one on their DVR.

This is just ridiculous. I'm done with AETN and PBS. They had plenty of time to get things resolved and didn't do it. Screw 'em! :o I'll watch better content elsewhere.heheh, the latest AETN format SNAFU I saw while channel hopping, was a new one. It looked like what may have supposed to have been a 4:3 program, but it was squished to maybe 3:3. Half of the AETN logo was to the right of the right side of the video, over in the right pillar bar and people looked slightly squished tall 'n skinny.

It's beyond me why they can't manually correct programming to the proper format like everyone else does.

Dxers...logged Alexandria LA, and several Ms and N LA stations this morning. Good conditions...Gotta go to work...darn it.

Not really true, they have had AETN digital/HD signal all along at DirecTv. Its on the Fayetteville DMA spot beam. They refused (claiming technical reasons) to put it on LR's HD (or SD) spot. Its that in itself (and the fact KARZ isnt on the HD bird either) that they may not give us any additional locals in HD. The lack of subchannels, and storm dropouts are two really good reasons to have a OTA tuner with your Directv service. For the one time $50 charge, Im surprised everyone doesnt have one on their DVR.
He was directly commenting on the lack of KETS without actually saying it, but calling it AETN instead. I merely continued calling it what he had called it and explained why it wasn't up there. I realize the NWA one was up, just didn't comment on it because its impossible for us to get down here (without a lot of extra work anyway).

Do I need to be more specific next time and correct the statements when I comment on them (like you do)? :) Just kidding. I guess I should have corrected him without correcting him in my reply. Anyway.

Oh, btw, its not a one time $50 charge for everyone. For me, its free cause I didn't get my DVR upgraded. :)

It's beyond me why they can't manually correct programming to the proper format like everyone else does.
Probably because they can't afford to pay someone to sit at the controls full time? Or, even if they did, they wouldn't be able to do it consistently because a person sitting there would be so insanely bored they would screw SOMETHING up eventually.

Dxers...logged Alexandria LA, and several Ms and N LA stations this morning. Good conditions...Gotta go to work...darn it.
My TV is picking up a lot of channels it just can't decode this morning. I only know they are there because it is taking a really really long time to get past certain percentages on the scan. That usually indicates something is there its working at trying to get.

WNTZ-TV 49-1, KATC-HD 3-1, WVLA-HD 33-1, and WVLA-WX 33-2 all scanned here. Trouble getting them though.

Some church channel on 45.

2 new Nightlights in from Dallas (KDFW 4, KXAS 5), plus a LPTV analog from Dallas and a unid Mexican channel 6 (Cinco Canal) with a carton (Smurfs) at 8:02am via tropo ducting! KPRC 2 in most of this morning before fading away a half-hour ago. KTBS 3 just now dropping out and catching some E's interference.

Several Jackson MS DTV's in or trying to decode. WMPN 20 (29-n), WMAO 25 (23-n) in so far as tropo shifts east. Analog 16 from Jackson (WAPT) in strong with Nightlight Loop.

(i think i have a compelation cd somewhere with Wall Of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio"----"...I feel a hot wind on my shoulder, Dialin' in South of the border...")

I saw analog KDFW 4 for the first time this morning. I assume the 5 was KXAS but I never saw a logo

Matt, you guys ever figure out what was wrong with the main KETS transmitter?

The transmitter is fine, it appears the problem is in the antenna system somewhere. More extensive testing will be done tomorrow. At least we have the lower power transmitter to keep us on the air. After putting up a different antenna I have been receiving it pretty well tonight up here in Greenbrier. Not bad for almost 60 miles away.

Yea, Its coming in good on both my ampped up ch 7-13 yagi as well as my unampped Channel Master Quantum, but they need to be pointed right at it. My compomise direction halfway betwwen Redfield and Shinall caused it to drop out...Luckily, I can get all the rest on Directv, so Im just leaving them pointed South.

Just logged KADN-DT ch 16 Lafayette, LA... Good Ms and La skip this morning.

The transmitter is fine, it appears the problem is in the antenna system somewhere. More extensive testing will be done tomorrow. At least we have the lower power transmitter to keep us on the air. After putting up a different antenna I have been receiving it pretty well tonight up here in Greenbrier. Not bad for almost 60 miles away.Only about 45 miles away but have 2 edge (at least) reception so no KETS-DT here. Sure wish analog (KEMV) was still available.

Waiting with bated breath,

dmatch

Only about 45 miles away but have 2 edge (at least) reception so no KETS-DT here. Sure wish analog (KEMV) was still available.

Waiting with bated breath,

dmatch

I logged it here in yell county on friday June 12th. 2.1 looked good, 2.2 was blocking really badly and the other two subs were just black screens. I think my signal was in the 80's range. It was on a few times Saturday and then it was gone. Had not been able to log it again until today. Signal on my Sony diagonostics screen shows 56-59% right now at 3:28 pm. 2.1 and 2.2 are on. IF this is still the low power transmitter, then I should be in good shape here when they get all the kinks ironed out.

Thanks for the heads-up Arkyman. I am getting it (KETS-DT) now. Strange thing though, whatever they are doing right now seems to not play well with older tuners. When KETS-DT first came on (6/12) I was getting it really well in the mid 80's signal quality on my HD USB stick on computer as well as 2 other newer devices (HDTV and CECB). Now I can get KETS-DT on the 2 newer devices with solid signal but barely have any signal quality (~15%) at all on the HD USB stick. Normally, if I can get a signal on the newer devices solid like that I can get it on the computer as well, but not with what they are doing right now.

dmatch

Its definantly not on low power. I was getting 95-100% on low power but had to point right at it. Now pointing 1/2 way between Redfield and Shinall, and its still at 100%, while KTHV is only 90%... Maybe running at 50%?? seemed a littlestronger when they first came on, but definantly a big improvement.

Its definantly not on low power. I was getting 95-100% on low power but had to point right at it. Now pointing 1/2 way between Redfield and Shinall, and its still at 100%, while KTHV is only 90%... Maybe running at 50%?? seemed a littlestronger when they first came on, but definantly a big improvement.

Oh no...that sounds bad for my area:(

Matt will probably update us when he gets home. I'm just guessing at 50%, because that would keep the transmitter from tripping off if they have a swr problem with the feedline and/or antenna, until they could get a tower crew in to fix it. If they indeed fixed the problem and are running 100%, you should get it as strong as you did last Friday.

Sorry guys no info from me at the moment. Others are working on the KETS issue as I have many other things on my plate. Today I was down at KETZ. When I have more info I can pass along on KETS I will.

Matt will probably update us when he gets home. I'm just guessing at 50%, because that would keep the transmitter from tripping off if they have a swr problem with the feedline and/or antenna, until they could get a tower crew in to fix it. If they indeed fixed the problem and are running 100%, you should get it as strong as you did last Friday.

Sounds good to me. Hope they get it fixed soon

...I can get KETS-DT on the 2 newer devices with solid signal but barely have any signal quality (~15%) at all on the HD USB stick.If KETS is still at low power, it may not be enough to overcome interference from your motherboard or other devices in the computer. A common occurence with VHF channels.

I have a converter box sitting on top of my computer tower. The converter box has a 15pin output and I can switch between TV & computer on the monitor, using the converter box remote.

It works great for UHF DTV, but if I want to watch VHF, I have to power down the 'puter. If the computer is still on, the picture on VHF is either frozen or full of glitches & unwatchable. :(

Thats weird...I never had that happen to my USB tuner, even on channel 5. Does it get any better if you ground the converter to the computer case screw? I would think they would ground through the power plug, unless your converter uses a power cube...then a separate ground from the coax ground to the computer case should improve it.

If KETS is still at low power, it may not be enough to overcome interference from your motherboard or other devices in the computer. A common occurence with VHF channels.

I have a converter box sitting on top of my computer tower. The converter box has a 15pin output and I can switch between TV & computer on the monitor, using the converter box remote.

It works great for UHF DTV, but if I want to watch VHF, I have to power down the 'puter. If the computer is still on, the picture on VHF is either frozen or full of glitches & unwatchable. :(
Put some aluminum foil between it. :) I have NO idea if that would work or not, probably make it worse, but I just had to say it. LOL

Just a quick update...KETS is on the main transmitter at somewhat lower power. It's solid up here in Greenbrier.

Just a quick update...KETS is on the main transmitter at somewhat lower power. It's solid up here in Greenbrier.

What are you using for an antenna up there? You on one of the hills, or in the valley in town?

Thats weird...I never had that happen to my USB tuner, even on channel 5. Does it get any better if you ground the converter to the computer case screw? I would think they would ground through the power plug, unless your converter uses a power cube...then a separate ground from the coax ground to the computer case should improve it.No power cube on the USB device. I suppose this is just something to do with this particular KETS-DT weak signal. Just hope they get back to their previous configuration (before the first SNAFU).

If KETS is still at low power, it may not be enough to overcome interference from your motherboard or other devices in the computer. A common occurence with VHF channels.

I have a converter box sitting on top of my computer tower. The converter box has a 15pin output and I can switch between TV & computer on the monitor, using the converter box remote.

It works great for UHF DTV, but if I want to watch VHF, I have to power down the 'puter. If the computer is still on, the picture on VHF is either frozen or full of glitches & unwatchable. :(

Never had this sort of discrepancy between the computer and the other devices before, until this KETS-DT situation, even when they were on RF5. Normally, when the computer falls below 60% signal quality I get problems. The other devices follow suit at about 5% lower at 55% on the computer. To see the computer reading 15% and the other devices getting a picture is just very unusual. All other channels on the computer appear normal. The USB stick is the oldest device that I have so this may have something to do with multipath on a very weak signal since I am given to understand that the newer devices handle multipath better.

BTW, signal is gone again here on all devices.

Once again waiting with bated breath.

dmatch

Yea, the ground/power cude thing was for ARXAW, referring to his converter box. USB stiff is usually really well sheilded and grounded.

I cant check their signal now, cuz Im watching two tie baseball games at once, and cant change channels. I doubt its your setup tho. I did check my portable with indoor 4220, and get all the LR stations, even low power 58, but not even a blip from KETS.

I can't get Windows 7 Media Center to show me a signal strength meter on the 2's because of the fix I had to do to get it to look at RF7, but at least its coming in. I turned it on to "Great Performances" earlier and saw a 16x9 picture and it looked pretty darned good.

For now I'm using an old Radio Shack VU190. The UHF section is junk but the VHF side is OK. I've got an old Channel Master yagi for UHF that works very well with no amp.

As far as location, I'm on the south side of the last hill going north out of Greenbrier, The only problem with my location is the fact that I'm totally shadowed from the north so no KEMV here.

Another new DX log: KTXH Houston...Love this psip...used to have to watch for hours hoping o catch a station Id...

Thanks Matt...well, there is no KEMV for any of us down here, with that low power. Bet it kicks butt once you guys put the antenna on top of that tower and raise the power. I used to get analog 6 great, except for the impulse noise which would have killed digital.

Edit: If you need to log Houston,tx, now is the time. Every station there thats not on a cochannel with a local is coming in here with 65-100% signal quality.

Another new DX log: KTXH Houston...Love this psip...used to have to watch for hours hoping o catch a station Id...

...unless the station doesn't put their call in the PSIP, which I've seen happen.

2 new DTV logs over here: WRBJ-DT 34 (34-1) Jackson MS, and KXLN-DT 45 (45-1) Rosenberg (Houston metro) TX.

Also, a relog of an East Coast low-DTV: WBRA-DT 3 (15-n) Roanoke VA had four differnent video decodes, 2 about 4 seconds, one 26 seconds, and one lasting 1:10. This was about the same time that WRC ch4 had their nightlight coming in.

(note: the photo was a bit of a closeup and did not show the entire screen area. WBRA runs proper aspect ratio on its main and other subchannels.)

Also, a relog of an East Coast low-DTV: WBRA-DT 3 (15-n) Roanoke VA had four differnent video decodes, 2 about 4 seconds, one 26 seconds, and one lasting 1:10. This was about the same time that WRC ch4 had their nightlight coming in.

Looks like you got better signal than I do.

- Trip

Haley, just got my first VHF-hi log, ch 8-1 PBS KUHT Houston. Cant do 2-6 yet. CM7777 Enroute via FedEx for the quantum, and have a rotor ready, will assemble the low band dx rig on a 15' ground mount tripod this weekend.

Edit: I lied.... KPRC ch 2 analog (nightlight) on unamped Quantum 1162.

[QUOTE=Davenlr;16673233]
I cant check their signal now, cuz Im watching two tie baseball games at once, and cant change channels.

Arkansas vs Virginia....College World Series? Great game...dont know how we won but we did:D


BTW, I'm currently a solid 41% and in Unlock status on 2.1

Arkansas game and Milwaukee Brewers game, both in extra innings. Both my teams won :) And they better get their crap together or LSU is gonna kick their butt. Might try to take off early friday to watch it live.

Might be skip interferring with ch 7. Its kicking tonight.

Here http://i42.tinypic.com/akec5k.jpg is my last new log of the night, KBTV Beumont,Tx... Happy Dx'ing.

I saw the Smurfs in Spanish this morning on analog 2. The logo was a 5 and a dash in a circle on the upper right corner. Anyone know what that was?

Arkansas vs Virginia....College World Series? Great game...dont know how we won but we did:D

You beat my school! :(

- Trip

Arkansas game and Milwaukee Brewers game, both in extra innings. Both my teams won :) And they better get their crap together or LSU is gonna kick their butt. Might try to take off early friday to watch it live.

Yeah, LSU is hot right now and they look scary....not looking forward to playing them again.

Here http://i42.tinypic.com/akec5k.jpg is my last new log of the night, KBTV Beumont,Tx... Happy Dx'ing.

You beat my school! :(

- Trip

Sorry Trip, but dont feel bad. It was a great 12 inning game and could have gone either way. Final Ark 4 UVA 3. Virginia has a great baseball team and they are very young, they'll be back. I did not know much about them until we played them last night, I really like their coach and players, seemed like a great group of men as is Arkansas's:)

Hey Dave, when did you switch to Dish?

Hey Dave, when did you switch to Dish?

I didnt. Thats a TR40 converter box I got free with that coupon. I have it plugged into my hard drive DVD recorder. Its just made by Dish.

Well, it doesn't look like Dish is any better than DirecTV in regards to AETN. I'm watching Newshour in rather blurry SD with a nice little AETN HD logo in the corner!

-Mark

Is anyone else having problems getting KETS-DT with their DirecTV receiver? I can receive it on my DTVPal here in Maumelle with a signal strength in the high 80's but not a peep from the HR20. I have reset my off-air settings twice with no change. Anyone with a fix?

Thanks,
fly

Sorry Trip, but dont feel bad.

I don't. I'm just doing my duty as a Wahoo. :D

I actually don't even watch or pay any attention to sports. Unless you count NASCAR as a sport.

- Trip

Is anyone else having problems getting KETS-DT with their DirecTV receiver? I can receive it on my DTVPal here in Maumelle with a signal strength in the high 80's but not a peep from the HR20. I have reset my off-air settings twice with no change. Anyone with a fix?

Thanks,
fly

HR20's are a crap shoot. Any multipath at all, and it wont show anything. I turned my antenna in 10 degree increments, and the HR20 locked the signal down until my TR40 read 74-80...then it just reported 771 searching for signal, while the TR40 kept picking it up.

Is yours the DVR DTVPal or the converter box like I have? The HR20 has a -4db splitter to each tuner built in, which might account for the difference.

I actually don't even watch or pay any attention to sports. Unless you count NASCAR as a sport.

- Trip

Of course NASCAR is a sport. One of my favorites. I love watching guys running out of gas, so our states Old Man Martin can win :)

Station Engineers: This is a screenshot of the KTVE -2 channel. Static realtime radar. Im guessing it doesnt require much bandwidth. All the major players in LR have high dollar radars. Only KTWN had one on live 24/7, and they are off air now. Are any of you planning on putting up a weather radar channel (without news,commercials, webcams, and all that)??

KTVE-DT2: http://i39.tinypic.com/2r5tiyt.jpg

Station Engineers: This is a screenshot of the KTVE -2 channel. Static realtime radar. Im guessing it doesnt require much bandwidth. All the major players in LR have high dollar radars. Only KTWN had one on live 24/7, and they are off air now. Are any of you planning on putting up a weather radar channel (without news,commercials, webcams, and all that)??

KTVE-DT2: http://i39.tinypic.com/2r5tiyt.jpg

Hey, I was working at KTVE when that radar was purchased and installed! We had a huge launch party for it with a Steadicam operator live during the News and everything. We thought that was the neatest thing ever.

To answer your question, we are not planning on it currently.

E

Amusingly, though the radar should be taking up very little bandwidth, they're actually using a whole 3.1 Mbps on it.

- Trip

HR20's are a crap shoot. Any multipath at all, and it wont show anything. I turned my antenna in 10 degree increments, and the HR20 locked the signal down until my TR40 read 74-80...then it just reported 771 searching for signal, while the TR40 kept picking it up.

Is yours the DVR DTVPal or the converter box like I have? The HR20 has a -4db splitter to each tuner built in, which might account for the difference.

I'm using the converter box, not the DVR. I might try tweaking the antenna out a little to see if it helps. Thanks!

Hey, I was working at KTVE when that radar was purchased and installed!

Cool. they are doing something right. Im not getting any skip in at all except KTVE, and its running over 80%. Nothing from any of the other Monroe stations at all, and KTVE hasnt dropped out once in a half hour. That is just weird.

Cool. they are doing something right. Im not getting any skip in at all except KTVE, and its running over 80%. Nothing from any of the other Monroe stations at all, and KTVE hasnt dropped out once in a half hour. That is just weird.

Probably because KTVE's transmitter is in Union county, which is about 60 miles further north than all the other stations in the market. I hated it when I was trying to get reception from the Monroe stations in El Dorado....KTVE's tower is only a few miles from town, so they come in at 100% there... the other stations in the market have their transmitters 20 miles south of Monroe which puts El Dorado out of reception range. Monroe is just 55-60 air miles from El Dorado...if only the transmitters were actually in Monroe, reception would be no problem from my hometown.... but when you tack on the extra 20 miles...that puts distance at 75-80 miles...to this day, I have no idea why all the stations decided to put their transmitters so far south! Haha... that's just my soapbox for the night :)

I'm currently getting 2.1, .2 & .3 at a steady 65%. Those 3 are showing programming. 2.4 is just a black screen.

KCEB-DT (low power CW) ch 51 from Tyler Tx logged this morning at 6:30am... Yall have a good Friday.

Probably because KTVE's transmitter is in Union county, which is about 60 miles further north than all the other stations in the market. I hated it when I was trying to get reception from the Monroe stations in El Dorado....KTVE's tower is only a few miles from town, so they come in at 100% there... the other stations in the market have their transmitters 20 miles south of Monroe which puts El Dorado out of reception range. Monroe is just 55-60 air miles from El Dorado...if only the transmitters were actually in Monroe, reception would be no problem from my hometown.... but when you tack on the extra 20 miles...that puts distance at 75-80 miles...to this day, I have no idea why all the stations decided to put their transmitters so far south! Haha... that's just my soapbox for the night :)

Ha, I know exactly what you mean, I grew up in, and my parents still live a little west of Hamburg. It's was pretty desolate for OTA, except for KTVE of course! Well, back in the day we could also get KATV, but those days are gone, and with a little antenna finangling, we could get the CBS affiliate from Monroe and and a couple of Greenville stations, but KTVE was the only perfectly clear station around.

KCEB-DT (low power CW) ch 51 from Tyler Tx logged this morning at 6:30am... Yall have a good Friday.

I got three new logs this morning: KMCT-DT 38 (39-2, hosed PSIP) from West Monroe LA, KADN-DT 16 (15-1) Lafayette LA, and KTXA-DT 19 (21-1) Fort Worth....KTXA is on KTVT's old DTV channel, KTVT moved back to ch11. Hoping I would have locked WFAA on channel 9. KTBS's nightlight snow free and skip starting to move in again. Even managed to null out KATV-DT and relog KETK-DT the NBC station in Jacksonville TX.

KETZ and KETS were programmed on the Dish receiver last night and showing up in the guide. I took locals again last month even though I hate paying extra for what amounts to the program guide. All the locals (except for KKAP which is intermittant) locking here 24/7 under normal conditions.

Finally got to see KEJB 43 El Dorado for a short time this morning, and I'm not missing much. One stream in stretchovision. Looks like a play out of Equity's old KWBF playbook.

Hmm, Sesame Street isn't in HD on KETS. Oh well, can't win em all I guess.

Haley: Have the CM7777 hooked up to the quantum on a 15' tripod with a temporary ARMSTRONG ROTOR pointed at 220 degrees. Hollar at me if you see any Eskip.

Fskip is scary. I had the tv on ch 2, nothing going on. Was reading mail on my cell, and looked up and there was a station that looked like it was across the street. By the time I hit the camera button on the phone and snapped this http://i42.tinypic.com/2qw3rdl.jpg it was gone. Looked like a Mexican soap with a white logo "500" on the top right. Lasted like 90 seconds and was gone.

K34FH analog low power is BACK on the air, transmitting TBN.

I'm using the converter box, not the DVR. I might try tweaking the antenna out a little to see if it helps. Thanks!

Tweaking didn't help, but after my third reset and restart I now have 2-1. The signal meter says I have signal on 2-2 through 2-4 but when I go to the channel I get a "searching for signal" error. I wonder if it is having trouble flushing out the old OTA settings. Trying another restart now.

fly

Tweaking didn't help, but after my third reset and restart I now have 2-1. The signal meter says I have signal on 2-2 through 2-4 but when I go to the channel I get a "searching for signal" error. I wonder if it is having trouble flushing out the old OTA settings. Trying another restart now.

fly

***** ITS OK ***** 2-1 is the only one on right now.
Im getting 2-2 and 2-3 on my Converter box, but both Directv tuners report 771 on the subchannels.
I dont have a digital signal analyzer, but that dead 2-4 locks up the tuner in my Samsung TV in the bedroom if I accidentally tune it, and it causes all sorts of weird errors on my AM21, so after you do get a reset and reinitialize done, go to edit and uncheck 2-4 before you try watching 2-1.

Look at what came in this morning (http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com/2009/06/watchin-big-boys-in-big-d-in-hd.html) from Dallas

...Im getting 2-2 and 2-3 on my Converter box, but both Directv tuners report 771 on the subchannels.Contact AETN and have them call Eamon Foster with Tribune: 518 792-9914 x2281
He will change the metadata Tribune provides to DirecTV.

Look at what came in this morning (http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com/2009/06/watchin-big-boys-in-big-d-in-hd.html) from Dallas

damn....Shinall mountain is in my way :p

Ch2 and ch4 analog are coming in and out, and its not a nightlight, but wont stay long enough to ID. Did snap a pic: http://i42.tinypic.com/99f49w.jpg

Contact AETN and have them call Eamon Foster with Tribune: 518 792-9914 x2281
He will change the metadata Tribune provides to DirecTV.

I dont think its Tribunes fault...All three were coming in fine Thursday. Im gonna check further, but will keep that number for reference. Thanks.

Matt: Just noticed something. My AQUOS tv tuner, will NOT scan in ch 7 when you have that dummy 2.4 channel enabled. It did scan in fine when you just had the 2-1 thru 2-3 channels. Might be an issue with my tV, but the directv boxes, and my samsung tuner have problems with it (Samsung locks up, directv shows no signal on 2-2 thru 2-4). Maybe you guys could put a test pattern on it, or disable it?

My Samsung TV has no problem and neither does my E* receiver. For that matter, we have numerous converter boxes of different brands at the studio and I have not heard of problems with our stream on any of those either . Anyway, the -4 stream should be back soon as the Radio Reading service so there will be content there. Hopefully that'll straighten out the problem.

Im sure its a tuner thing. When 3ABN was up, their .4 subchannel was audio only, and it hung my Samsung too (this is an OLD 26" 16:9 CRT Samsung with a first gen atsc tuner). The Aquos not scanning is still perplexing me.

A test pattern with a "radio reading service" label on it would be a nice placeholder for the dash-4 sub channel. Then, people would know what that channel is, even when PSIP program info is missing.

A test pattern with a "radio reading service" label on it would be a nice placeholder for the dash-4 sub channel. Then, people would know what that channel is, even when PSIP program info is missing.

Speaking of x-4, I'm back home and noticed 2-4 (KETS) broadcasting the Radio Reading again, and there isn't any video placeholder and there isn't any PSIP program information displayed.

An observation, its odd that AETN is still using the same basic logo that was introduced a quarter century ago during the Raymond Ho era.

AND my Aquos scanned it in this time. Sure sorry I missed that East coast opening.

Speaking of x-4, I'm back home and noticed 2-4 (KETS) broadcasting the Radio Reading again, and there isn't any video placeholder and there isn't any PSIP program information displayed.If they're not going to maintain PSIP, they should at least put a static placeholder info image on that channel. Then, people will know it's supposed to be audio only and not think there's something wrong with that channel or their TV.

I thought the FCC required PSIP program info...(?)

I have posted the KETG 9 (AETN) Arkadelphia final analog sign-off and the KLRT 16 Little Rock final analog sign-off on my new YouTube page "Arkansas Analog TV- A Salute to Snow"

http://www.youtube.com/ArkansasAnalogTV

Thanks for posting that. I coudnt get it here in Little Rock that morning.

Another VHF, WLOX-DT, reverts to UHF. From their application:

"WLOX LICENSE SUBSIDIARY, LLC ('WLOX'), LICENSEE OF WLOX(TV), BILOX, MISSISSIPPI, RECENTLY COMPLETED CONSTRUCTION OF WLOX(TV)'S FINAL POST-TRANSITION FACILITY. SEE FILE NO. BMPCDT-20080620AMU. ON JUNE 12, 2009, WLOX SWITCHED FROM ITS PRE-TRANSITION DTV SERVICE ON CHANNEL 39 TO POST-TRANSITION SERVICE ON CHANNEL 13. LIKE THE VIEWERS OF MANY STATIONS THAT SWITCHED TO HIGH-VHF CHANNELS ON JUNE 12, WLOX'S VIEWERS ARE EXPERIENCING SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTIES IN RECEIVING THE WLOX(TV) DIGITAL SIGNAL, PARTICULARLY THROUGH ANTENNAS THAT ARE LOCATED INDOORS. WLOX HAS DETERMINED THAT THESE RECEPTION DIFFICULTIES COULD MOST EFFECTIVELY BE ADDRESSED BY REVERTING TO THE STATION'S PRE-TRANSITION DTV OPERATION ON CHANNEL 39. WLOX'S EXPERIENCE IS THAT ITS VIEWERS DID NOT COMMONLY EXPERIENCE THE SAME TYPE OF DIFFICULTIES RECEIVING ITS CHANNEL 39 BROADCASTS.

ACCORDINGLY, WLOX RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY TO DISCONTINUE CHANNEL 13 OPERATIONS AND BEGIN OPERATING USING ITS PRE-TRANSITION DTV FACILITY ON CHANNEL 39. IF WLOX'S CHANGE TO CHANNEL 39 IS SUCCESSFUL, WLOX INTENDS TO SUBMIT A PETITION FOR RULEMAKING TO SUBSTITUTE CHANNEL 39 FOR ITS CHANNEL 13 ALLOTMENT. BECAUSE MANY OF WLOX'S EXISTING VIEWERS ARE UNABLE TO RECEIVE THE STATION'S POST-TRANSITION SIGNAL AND THE PROPOSED CHANGE WOULD RESOLVE THAT ISSUE, THE PUBLIC INTEREST WOULD BE WELL SERVED BY GRANT OF THIS APPLICATION.

AS THE ACCOMPANYING ENGINEERING ANALYSIS REFLECTS, THE PROPOSED OPERATION WOULD NOT CAUSE IMPERMISSIBLE INTERFERENCE TO ANY OTHER STATION IN THE POST-TRANSITION ENVIRONMENT. MOREOVER, THE CHANNEL 39 FACILITY IS PREDICTED TO SERVE APPROXIMATELY 1,030,000 VIEWERS, 108 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION SERVED BY WLOX'S ANALOG FACILITY."

More at Trip's "VHF Nightmares (http://rabbitears.info/vhf.php)" site.

They're gone.
I'm catching up on this thread, but this is awesome news! Thanks!

Another VHF, WLOX-DT, reverts to UHF. From their application:

"WLOX LICENSE SUBSIDIARY, LLC ('WLOX'), LICENSEE OF WLOX(TV), BILOX, MISSISSIPPI, RECENTLY COMPLETED CONSTRUCTION OF WLOX(TV)'S FINAL POST-TRANSITION FACILITY. SEE FILE NO. BMPCDT-20080620AMU. ON JUNE 12, 2009, WLOX SWITCHED FROM ITS PRE-TRANSITION DTV SERVICE ON CHANNEL 39 TO POST-TRANSITION SERVICE ON CHANNEL 13. LIKE THE VIEWERS OF MANY STATIONS THAT SWITCHED TO HIGH-VHF CHANNELS ON JUNE 12, WLOX'S VIEWERS ARE EXPERIENCING SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTIES IN RECEIVING THE WLOX(TV) DIGITAL SIGNAL, PARTICULARLY THROUGH ANTENNAS THAT ARE LOCATED INDOORS. WLOX HAS DETERMINED THAT THESE RECEPTION DIFFICULTIES COULD MOST EFFECTIVELY BE ADDRESSED BY REVERTING TO THE STATION'S PRE-TRANSITION DTV OPERATION ON CHANNEL 39. WLOX'S EXPERIENCE IS THAT ITS VIEWERS DID NOT COMMONLY EXPERIENCE THE SAME TYPE OF DIFFICULTIES RECEIVING ITS CHANNEL 39 BROADCASTS.

ACCORDINGLY, WLOX RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY TO DISCONTINUE CHANNEL 13 OPERATIONS AND BEGIN OPERATING USING ITS PRE-TRANSITION DTV FACILITY ON CHANNEL 39. IF WLOX'S CHANGE TO CHANNEL 39 IS SUCCESSFUL, WLOX INTENDS TO SUBMIT A PETITION FOR RULEMAKING TO SUBSTITUTE CHANNEL 39 FOR ITS CHANNEL 13 ALLOTMENT. BECAUSE MANY OF WLOX'S EXISTING VIEWERS ARE UNABLE TO RECEIVE THE STATION'S POST-TRANSITION SIGNAL AND THE PROPOSED CHANGE WOULD RESOLVE THAT ISSUE, THE PUBLIC INTEREST WOULD BE WELL SERVED BY GRANT OF THIS APPLICATION.

AS THE ACCOMPANYING ENGINEERING ANALYSIS REFLECTS, THE PROPOSED OPERATION WOULD NOT CAUSE IMPERMISSIBLE INTERFERENCE TO ANY OTHER STATION IN THE POST-TRANSITION ENVIRONMENT. MOREOVER, THE CHANNEL 39 FACILITY IS PREDICTED TO SERVE APPROXIMATELY 1,030,000 VIEWERS, 108 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION SERVED BY WLOX'S ANALOG FACILITY."

More at Trip's "VHF Nightmares (http://rabbitears.info/vhf.php)" site.
Wow, imagine that, a station admitting that going down to 13 was a bonehead move!

Watching ch2 right now is like trying to pick one voice out of CB ch19 when the skip is in...lots of analog stations out there fighting to lock.

"VHF: Now Everything You Know Is Wrong"
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/06/26/daily.4/

If the new FCc chairman is worth his salt, he would require all full power commercial and public stations to use UHF, and furthermore, require all low power, (sat duplicated) religious (3abn, tbn, etc) and translator stations to move to low and high VHf assignments where they wouldnt interfere with full power stations in neighboring markets on UHF.

ch 9 and 28 both show the same program (sat fed) and are just taking up space. I can no longer receive Monroe dur to 28 coming back on.

LPTV should be Locally Produced TeleVision only. That was the original purpose of LPTV, not ground repeaters for satellite preacherbeggers and shopping channels.

LPTV Licenses should be yanked if no programming is locally originated.

Skip is weird this morning. Getting KALB in Alexandria, LA but nothing from Monroe or Shreveport, then KTAL from Texarkana. First tropo Ive seen in several days here.

Arxaw: Im with you on the local programming. What are the rules for LPTV? If they are screwing up, maybe Ill start reporting them (transmitters going on and off, dead carriers for days, no IDs, obviously no one monitoring the transmitters...)

Class A stations are required to meet certain local and kids programming obligations.

I'm not sure of any similar regulations for LPTV stations.

- Trip

Well, except for ch 9, 20, 28, 34, and 58 low powers, Little Rock is now analog free. KTHV 11 is history. RIP.

Silver Point Finance LLC plans to pay $41 mil for full power KPBI (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1251268.html) (aka TV34). If approved, they will probably convert KPBI's 1200kW analog transmitter to DTV and bring it back from the analog graveyard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPBI_(TV)

FCC application (see attachment #11):
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101316268&formid=314&fac_num=81593

Equity Media is calling for a character issue with the purchaser? Thats like the burned pot calling the kettle black.

These FCC forms crack me up.

A full power digital would be great for Eureka springs and campers in the area. Wonder what kind of programming they would carry?

Does anyone know why on AETN 1 hardly shows none of their programs in the 16:9 ratio anymore?

Because they arent showing programming directly from PBS, so they can break in and beg for money...which I wont send them until they get their aspect ratio fixed, and quit time shifting Nova and then showing it in upconverted SD.

Anybody watching KATV tonight? I started my recording of Eli Stone, only to find the Buddy Holly story, followed by an Oldies but Goodies Time Life infomercial! Dale Nicholson can't retire fast enough! I'm heading over to their website right now to complain.

Anybody watching KATV tonight?

Bet you dont get any positive reply. :)

SciFi and MLBEI on my two sets...

Matt: Sun at 12:00am. Nova is on. KETS 2.1 is showing it in 4:3 and blurry. PBS-East is showing it in 1080i HD. Why isnt KETS passing through the HD feed?

...A full power digital would be great for Eureka springs and campers in the area. Wonder what kind of programming they would carry?Probably the usual minor network suspects. I'm sure they'll multicast to the max. KPBI's COL is Eureka Springs, but the transmitter, about 9 miles away at Garfield, is intended for larger population areas like the I-540 corridor and SW MO. If it gets back on the air, most people around here will probably be able to pick it up like they do KNWA (nbc/fox), using only a simple indoor antenna. Even down in the White River valley and downtown Eureka, KNWA 50 is an easy catch. You have to try hard to not be able to pick it up.

Matt: Sun at 12:00am. Nova is on. KETS 2.1 is showing it in 4:3 and blurry. PBS-East is showing it in 1080i HD. Why isnt KETS passing through the HD feed?Uh, maybe lights are on but nobody's home.

Even when there's no lightning or other VHF pests around and AETN is actually receivable, the picture is often formatted wrong and not watchable. And they wonder why donations are down.

This may have been stated before, but, is there any way possible for AETN to make the video any smaller? I will never send them any money until they correct their video. On my 34-inch Sony widescreen it is appears postage-stamp size. What genius thought of that?

All they would need to do, is pass through PBS-East, and switch out for local shows, like every other station in the market has for years now. Its no wonder Directv still carries their SD feed. Imagine the calls they would get about peoples receivers not working right.

Just noticed in passing during the 5:30pm local newscast on KTHV, an ad in 16x9 (true aspect ratio-- not stretched) for Corky's BBQ.

I was reading on the Memphis forum...their biggest complaint is WREG is the only local withOUT HD news.

We should be so lucky :)

Just noticed in passing during the 5:30pm local newscast on KTHV, an ad in 16x9 (true aspect ratio-- not stretched) for Corky's BBQ.

They ran high-def ads for their new 6:30 pm newscast for a while before it started. They have some HD playback capabilities, obviously, but I guess commercial insertion must be it. At least some of our stations are starting to ease into HD beyond the networks, KARK can play ET and the Insider, and KATV now plays their delayed Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel in HD, but I've still gotta wonder why they stop there. If nothing else, I'd love to see KARZ's Lost reruns in HD.

Oh, and I think I found at least part of the answer to my complaint from last night, about KATV's preemption of ABC's network schedule, including Eli Stone. It must come from higher up the chain, Albritton owned WJLA in Washington, DC pulled the same stunt last weekend.

I used to live 30mi SW of Milwaukee, and could choose from 4 DMA's, sometimes 6 if tropo was good. Now, I rarely bother with network shows. to many commercials, and you never know if its going to get shown, or if its going to be on time. Just to much arrgrevation. Bring on RTN reruns. Between that and time shifted sports, Ill be good to go.

Just noticed in passing during the 5:30pm local newscast on KTHV, an ad in 16x9 (true aspect ratio-- not stretched) for Corky's BBQ.
They have had other ads in the past that were 16x9. I think they were only for KTHV stuff though. Still cool none-the-less that a station around here can actually do locally produced 16x9 content and not make it look like crap.

Because they arent showing programming directly from PBS, so they can break in and beg for money...which I wont send them until they get their aspect ratio fixed, and quit time shifting Nova and then showing it in upconverted SD.Strangely enough the beg-athon appeared to be done in HD. If it wasn't HD at least it was proper 16x9 aspect ratio. I didn't look at it very close, but it appears they can do in-house HD. So in some respects AETN is ahead of the local curve but in others....

dmatch

hi guys, I'm new here, but I've been reading this thread for a while now. I was just wondering if anyone noticed the programming chaos on aetn tonight. At 8:00 they showed masterpiece mystery in full HD, when actually they were supposed to show a different program at that time. Suddenly around 8:35 or so (can't remember the exact time), they cut to the program they were originally going to air. At 9:00, they play mystery again FROM THE BEGINNING, but this time it's in 4:3 SD. What were they thinking?

raceagainsttime,
Welcome to the forum.

What was AETN, thinking? Evidently, nothing.

Strangely enough the beg-athon appeared to be done in HD. If it wasn't HD at least it was proper 16x9 aspect ratio. I didn't look at it very close, but it appears they can do in-house HD. So in some respects AETN is ahead of the local curve but in others....

dmatch

I think they were taking a 4x3 SDTV image and cropping the top and bottom and inserting on the main X-1 channel. I doubt that AETN even has 16x9 capable cameras.

Ahead of the curve??? AETN is one of those broadcasters still clinging to 1950's VHF "superiority".

AETN, the network that encourages you to use your brain obviously doesn't use theirs. That is ironic. And sad.

Conway Corporation cable has said they will remove AETN HD from their HD tier if AETN does not plan on adding more HD programming soon.

They used to air the national PBS HD feed. I wish they would just go back to that.

Has anyone heard if KATV is still on track for a July 1 start date for the RTN/RTV subchannel?

Other than the one post where Nicholson announced a 7-3 subchannel, I havent heard a thing. Must be an undercover operation, since even their Chief Engineer hasnt responded to questions about it.

KETS would get so many donations if they would just rebroadcast PBS East in HD, and carry their Arkansas stuff on -2 and the kids stuff on -3.

apparently they dont realize their core audience are the folks who spent $2K on a widescreen HDTV, not the folks who used a govt coupon to buy a converter box for their color console (well, except the Lawrence Welk crowd).

If they dont have the equipment to show HD properly, pass the network feed through and use their old analog switchers to do the subchannels.

Directv wont carry them either (in HD), and most new installs are moving to a 3 sat setup (and KETS is on the 5th sat).

Course, Beebe is always saying the state has a surplus... Maybe they should give some of it to AETN. Lord knows there are enough highway department trucks wasting time out there.

Other than the one post where Nicholson announced a 7-3 subchannel, I havent heard a thing. Must be an undercover operation, since even their Chief Engineer hasnt responded to questions about it.

I did a rescan just an hour ago....nothing showing up. Of course KATV is like the old Soviet Union as information to its own empire is concerned.


KETS would get so many donations if they would just rebroadcast PBS East in HD, and carry their Arkansas stuff on -2 and the kids stuff on -3.

apparently they dont realize their core audience are the folks who spent $2K on a widescreen HDTV, not the folks who used a govt coupon to buy a converter box for their color console (well, except the Lawrence Welk crowd).

If they dont have the equipment to show HD properly, pass the network feed through and use their old analog switchers to do the subchannels.

Directv wont carry them either (in HD), and most new installs are moving to a 3 sat setup (and KETS is on the 5th sat).

Course, Beebe is always saying the state has a surplus... Maybe they should give some of it to AETN. Lord knows there are enough highway department trucks wasting time out there.

Oh, I did have a thought today. and I'll throw this question out to the rest of the posters here. Do y'all think that if AETN/Arkansas Educational Television Commission wasn't the public broadcaster statewide and instead UALR operated a public TV station (much like they do KUAR radio), and KUAF in Fayetteville and KASU Jonesboro had separate public TV stations (and have KEMV as a KASU-TV satellite transmitter) would the quality of PBS/Public Television in Arkansas be...



Improved?
The same?
Or Worse?


The floor is open...

Has anyone heard if KATV is still on track for a July 1 start date for the RTN/RTV subchannel?

This doesn't really answer the question, but a 7/1/09 date is shown here on the RTV affiliates page: http://www.myretrotv.com/affiliates.html. I'm gonna just do a rescan Wednesday morning or afternoon, and see if it's there.

...I'll throw this question out to the rest of the posters here. Do y'all think that if AETN/Arkansas Educational Television Commission wasn't the public broadcaster statewide and instead UALR operated a public TV station (much like they do KUAR radio), and KUAF in Fayetteville and KASU Jonesboro had separate public TV stations (and have KEMV as a KASU-TV satellite transmitter) would the quality of PBS/Public Television in Arkansas be...



Improved?
The same?
Or Worse?


Improved
It couldn't get any worse.

Id say it would be close to perfect, since it would be run by students who are being graded on its operation.

There are several cities with dual PBS affiliates. I think having the Univerity run one (even a single channel HD digital low power) would be something I would watch...especially if they carried their local school sports.

Does anyone know, or has anyone heard, what the status of KTWN is?

A brief status report on KTWN Channel 18 is available at beebe-dot-info

I'd post the URL for an active link, but the vBulletin software is blocking it.

Thanks.

Thanks dsward2,

I'll try a link to it and see what happens:

http://beebe.info/Beebe.info/News/Entries/2009/6/28_AETN_returns_to_the_airwaves%3B_KTWN_expected_back_soon.h tml

dmatch

Here's the link (http://www.beebe.info/Beebe.info/News/Entries/2009/6/28_AETN_returns_to_the_airwaves%3B_KTWN_expected_back_soon.h tml) about KTWN

dsward2, welcome to AVS Forum.

New members are blocked from posting clickable URLs until they've made a certain number of posts. It's an anti-spam thang.

Id say it would be close to perfect, since it would be run by students who are being graded on its operation.

There are several cities with dual PBS affiliates. I think having the Univerity run one (even a single channel HD digital low power) would be something I would watch...especially if they carried their local school sports.

SOme states have to go with awide network for financial reasons. In my home state of IA, we have a statewide network and they seem to be in a strong financial position. Over in Illinois, each community has their own locally operated PBS station. In the last couple of years the stations in Moilne and Peoria have been in major financial trouble. The Peoria station was about to be foreclosed on until restructuring their debt with the bank and holding a special fundraiser. The Moline station is owned by the local community college, but budget cuts at the college led to the decsion to transfer the license to a non profit board.

If each PBS in Arkansas was locally owned, outside of KETS, you could see similar problems like in Moline and Peoria. Colleges, especially state supported ones, have to cut, cut, cut right now.

And with the availablilty of cable and satellite, I always thought that the main audience for PBS stations were those that didn't have a pay serivce.

If my Pay service carried PBS National in HD, I would never bother with local. Tonight is another example. AETN is going to timeshift the premier of Nova Science Now by an hour, hence, it wont be in HD (although my Directv guide SAYS it will be).

If they would quit that one hour timeshift, and move Wild! from 7 to 9pm, they could show Primetime in HD as its fed. But they havent, So Im sending my next contribution to WGBH.

...And with the availablilty of cable and satellite, I always thought that the main audience for PBS stations were those that didn't have a pay serivce.So....?

If they would quit that one hour timeshift, and move Wild! from 7 to 9pm, they could show Primetime in HD as its fed. But they havent, So Im sending my next contribution to WGBH.

I can find NOTHING on the main PBS website about Wild!. Now there was a limited run series produced by WNET back in 2002 that PBS distributed called Wild TV (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wildtv/about.html), but its not the Wild! series that AETN purchases and drops in the timeslot occupied nationally by NOVA which is broadcast nationally (except in Arkansas) in HDTV.

Hopefully I can swing the antennas E-SE tonight and pull in MPB (http://www.mpbonline.org/television/tv_schedules/index.htm#) (via WMAO-DT)

Tropo and skip rolling in this morning. WMC-DT Memphis on native channel 5 decoding very well. I give WMC credit for at least putting some decent power into their signal...lowband needs all the power it can stand.

I have my amped Quantum fix pointed at Memphis, and wasnt getting anything this morning. Matter of fact, other than that first day (when they were all probably running way over legal power before adjustments, I havent seen WMC or KETZ. WMAO and WXVT are almost daily grabs tho.

Dave,
Looks like for the most part, VHF is not a good place to be any more. For DTV, it sure doesn't "get out there" any better than UHF does, at least not reliably.

People in our area are having a helluva time picking up KOLR 10.

Yea, we just had a big old storm, and even with 16db gain and line of site, KtHV was a pixellated mess. KLRT was solid as was KARK.

Im inclined to agree...VHf needs to be the home of low power stations. Full power needs to be on UHf.

PBS is transmitting a 1080i Telarity (Mpeg4 H.264) channel now, mirroring the PBS East Mpeg2 transponder. Its quite a bit softer, and there is some noticable scene transition pixellation, but its using a SR of 4340 vs the Mpeg2 transponder which used 30000, for two, or 15000 each. Quite a bandwidth savings.

Im having to use it tonight to record Nova, as the PBS East feed is weak due to the rain and heavy cloud cover and the mpeg4 transponder is kicking in at 97% quality.

Wonder if they plan to use H.264 as a transmission method to the stations in the future, maybe via fiber or internet. I know some change is in works.

I'm west on the bad side of a ridge (2 miles away) that blocks out the Greenville-Greenwood stations. WMAO-DT was locking with a weak signal (tropo enhanced) but has since dropped below the threshold. 23-2 (the MPB-HD channel) had NOVA scienceNOW in HDTV.

Meanwhile, KETS/KETZ are airing NOVA on 1 hour delay in letterboxed 4x3 SDTV. Pointed at KETZ its breaking up-- signal level swings wildly from 20-55%.

I might wait until the replay on MPB/WMAO, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

You all have to watch the premier of Nova Science Now (should be on AETN at 9). Especially the last segment. Its amazing.

PBS is transmitting a 1080i Telarity (Mpeg4 H.264) channel now, mirroring the PBS East Mpeg2 transponder. Its quite a bit softer, and there is some noticable scene transition pixellation, but its using a SR of 4340 vs the Mpeg2 transponder which used 30000, for two, or 15000 each. Quite a bandwidth savings.

Im having to use it tonight to record Nova, as the PBS East feed is weak due to the rain and heavy cloud cover and the mpeg4 transponder is kicking in at 97% quality.

Wonder if they plan to use H.264 as a transmission method to the stations in the future, maybe via fiber or internet. I know some change is in works.

Dave,

What transponder is the H.264 feed on?

Thanks,
fly

Dave,

What transponder is the H.264 feed on?

Thanks,
fly

AMC21 12095 Vertical Sr4340 Vpid 32 Apid 33 PCR 256

No 7.3 or RTV as of 6:20 am on KATV-DT.

WTWV from Memphis is a new one for me tho. And no there Memphis stations either. Weird. VTN 48 from Jonesboro blasting in, no sign of KAIT 8. VHf sucks :)

Yea, we just had a big old storm, and even with 16db gain and line of site, KtHV [12] was a pixellated mess. KLRT [30] was solid as was KARK [32].

...VHf needs to be the home of low power stations. Full power needs to be on UHf.Dave, I agree. There's just too much VHF interference.

What's your approx. distance to the KTHV ch 12 transmitter?

Home for a late lunch and KATV has RTV (ex RTN) live on 7-2. Newsnow is gone for the time being. A logo on the lower left corner with the KATV logo and location seems to hang around forever. The RTV logo is lower right hand corner.

Most of the ads seen in the past 20 minutes have been "refiance" companies or scooters/life alert products targeting seniors.

Thanks for the information. Looking forward to some classic tv alternatives in the future.

You know, I don't know why this site has a subscribe to thread feature. I NEVER get emails about new posts until AFTER I have seen them. I haven't reloaded this page for 2 days now and never got an email about the new posts, but I come here and see that I missed a LOT. What the hell!??!?!?!?

Anyway, yeah, I was coming in here to post that I was bored and flipped past 7-2 to see "Dragnet" on and a RTV symbol in the bottom right corner. Dave, you should be happy for a while now. :)

Yep...and if you dont follow the mail link to the thread, it wont send you anymore until you do. I get 20 a day.

Thanks for the information. Looking forward to some classic tv alternatives in the future.

Great. Finally. Now if Allenf would be so kind as to shrink the KATV logo :) Video quality is better than I expected. Good job, and it comes in great on my portable tv too. WooHoo.

Anyone know where a schedule could be found other than the other stations .pdf's on the myretrotv site? They dont load on my PDA.

Great. Finally. Now if Allenf would be so kind as to shrink the KATV logo :) Video quality is better than I expected. Good job, and it comes in great on my portable tv too. WooHoo.

Anyone know where a schedule could be found other than the other stations .pdf's on the myretrotv site? They dont load on my PDA.

The logo is there as a legal ID and temporary. Some equipment didn't arrive in time and we had to punt on the technical side of things to make today. We're sitting on the east coast feed for now. Hopefully- next week RTV will start feeding us a program stream containing our local spots, promos, and legal IDs and I can drop the bug. PSIP data should start coming down from TMS for guide data in the next few days.

Yep...and if you dont follow the mail link to the thread, it wont send you anymore until you do. I get 20 a day.
Oh, ok. I never do that. I just keep the window open and hit refresh. Hmm, ok then.

Fantastic. So TMS should contact DirecTv to get their program guide going?

Good Job. Really happy you guys picked it up.

Thats pretty cool. You send them the IDs and upload the spots, and they put em together and do the Master Control using a program master? Thats about what Equity was TRYING to do. Great concept.

Fantastic. So TMS should contact DirecTv to get their program guide going?

Good Job. Really happy you guys picked it up.

Thats pretty cool. You send them the IDs and upload the spots, and they put em together and do the Master Control using a program master? Thats about what Equity was TRYING to do. Great concept.

Not sure about Direct. There are several guide data providers out there. I'd guess that it will take a week or so to get all the guide sources caught up. Maybe a bit more since a holiday weekend is coming up.

You have the basic idea of how this will work. We will send anything that is local to RTV and they air everything out of their servers and send us our feed. The idea is to keep the work load for the local affiliate as low as possible.

A

American Masters on AETN appears to be in one of their odd aspect ratios. It's letterboxed but stretched to the full width of the widescreen picture.

You know, I don't know why this site has a subscribe to thread feature. I NEVER get emails about new posts until AFTER I have seen them. I haven't reloaded this page for 2 days now and never got an email about the new posts, but I come here and see that I missed a LOT. What the hell!??!?!?!?


I know this is just different strokes for different folks, and all that, but I check AVS (and this thread) a whole lot more than I check my e-mail. If I had any threads subscribed, I'd just get tired of deleting e-mails everytime I checked it. :)

Some equipment didn't arrive in time and we had to punt on the technical side of things to make today......SnipMaybe the analog interference I've been seeing is due to "punting on the technical side." It's not terribly noticeable but it is somewhat similar to a not quite seated analog connection of some sort. The original RTN East signal on AMC 9 does not exhibit this.

dmatch

Maybe the analog interference I've been seeing is due to "punting on the technical side." It's not terribly noticeable but it is somewhat similar to a not quite seated analog connection of some sort. The original RTN East signal on AMC 9 does not exhibit this.

dmatch

What size dish do you have? Ive never even gotten a inkling of a signal from RTN on AMC9? It 8psk or dvbs or S2? i havent gotten my S2 board in yet.

I have a 7 1/2 foot dish and can usually barely get the signal (RTV). Most times it is steady but occasionally I get minor glitches and of course I lose it in a T'Storm. It is normal DVB-S MPEG2.

dmatch

I have a 7 1/2 foot dish and can usually barely get the signal (RTV). Most times it is steady but occasionally I get minor glitches and of course I lose it in a T'Storm. It is normal DVB-S MPEG2.

dmatch

Im getting the signal at 11735 H 4444 with Vpid 32 and Apid 33, but dont know the PCR and my receiver is getting overloaded by the "video1" signal on the same transponder, and wont lock, and I need the PCR to manual enter.

Also, WMAO HD is kiicking in here tonight. Actually got a new Memphis station this morning, but couldnt get any of the regular ones. Gonna watch for ch2 Washington DC this weekend. Have Fri-Sun off.

Maybe the analog interference I've been seeing is due to "punting on the technical side." It's not terribly noticeable but it is somewhat similar to a not quite seated analog connection of some sort. The original RTN East signal on AMC 9 does not exhibit this.

dmatch

Not sure what you are referring to. The signal comes straight off the IRD as serial digital goes into a downstream keyer for the logo/ID and then into the encoder. Never leaves the digital world in the plant. We are passing along exactly what we're receiving. I did notice some artifacts when looking at the output of the IRD today. The signal is only 1.8mbs. I'm giving it 3mbs. KATV (7-1) is getting 15mbs. Look at AMC3 C band for the Equity mux.

A

He is talking about a wavy bunch of horizontal bands that flicker on the screen. Most noticable on non-moving frames. I cant get the feed, so cant compare, but it does look the same as an old analog patch with a bad connector did. It doesnt crawl, like hum bars. Mostly noticable on commercials with static text screens and a light background.

Not annoying during watching actual programming, Ive been watching all night... but its there.

He is talking about a wavy bunch of horizontal bands that flicker on the screen. Most noticable on non-moving frames. I cant get the feed, so cant compare, but it does look the same as an old analog patch with a bad connector did. It doesnt crawl, like hum bars. Mostly noticable on commercials with static text screens and a light background.

Not annoying during watching actual programming, Ive been watching all night... but its there.

yep- I see them. Interesting. Hard to call- but do you see them going across the circle 7 logo? If so- then it is my probably my end. If not- the logo is a key on top of incoming video , so probably RTV's end.

yep- I see them. Interesting. Hard to call- but do you see them going across the circle 7 logo? If so- then it is my probably my end. If not- the logo is a key on top of incoming video , so probably RTV's end.

Hard to tell, looking close up at the logo shows some mpeg mosquito noise around the text, but the other anomoly is much wider than the logo is tall, so I really cant tell. Guess we will find out when RTN starts doing the logo. No biggie right now. Its not like this is a high def channel. Looks great to me. I love the retro shows. Thank whomever decided to affiliate with em.

PS... Its really only noticable on blue backgrounds if that helps.

Allen,

Are the schedules for RTN the same for all stations or are there variations for each market? Personally, I would rather see the programming thats on there now instead of the talk programming at night that the Equity RTN station carried.

I recall reading where the guy that does the talk/call in show was a egomaniac and had a contract or was part owner or something, just to get on TV. Might not be an option :p

Allen,

Are the schedules for RTN the same for all stations or are there variations for each market? Personally, I would rather see the programming thats on there now instead of the talk programming at night that the Equity RTN station carried.

I'm having a weird issue with the forum tonight. For the 2nd time, I've typed a response, previewed it, then posted and it doesn't show up.

Dave- I'll take a look tomorrow, can route various dishes into different receivers easily. The equipment I mentioned earlier is a 3.8m dish, encoder, and misc monitoring gear. We're using an old 2m+ dish that needed an lnb, a swift kick, and muttering to get working, we're using new now's encoder, and the monitoring gear is so I don't tie up my test gear.

Haley- We should be in pattern with the east coast feed with the exception of some paid programming occasionally(I hope).

A

So....do any of the local stations even have plans in the works to move their news broadcasts to HD?

More than likely, no. We aren't a big enough market for the corporations that own them to cough up the money for HD cameras. At least thats my opinion. YMMV.

CNN and Fox havent even gone to HD news (except the in studio talking heads part). I would think one of them might go to widescreen, but HD.... In not going to hold my breath.

Hard to tell, looking close up at the logo shows some mpeg mosquito noise around the text, but the other anomoly is much wider than the logo is tall, so I really cant tell. Guess we will find out when RTN starts doing the logo. No biggie right now. Its not like this is a high def channel. Looks great to me. I love the retro shows. Thank whomever decided to affiliate with em.

PS... Its really only noticable on blue backgrounds if that helps.

We proved to our satisfaction today that it is the encoder. It will be a few weeks before I can do anything about it. In the midst of moving from our original flexicoder to the new NetVX for encoding. That has my flexibility to swap stuff around limited while trying to bring new system online while keeping the old one up.

A

Thats good. Glad you found it. Hopefully, you will leave RTV on 7-2 if you all decide to bring 7 news now back, since moving RTN to 7-3 would cause all the DirecTv subs to lose it, and we all know how fast Directv is at fixing things like that :) I was thrilled to see it show up on 7-2 where I could set the DVR to do manual recordings.

I found a RTV Eastern feed schedule on their site (its listed as WREX-DT in Rockford Ill), so now I can prepare some recurring manual recordings until the schedule gets up.

Wonder if they will ever purchase the rights to Lost In Space, Gilligans Island, The Flying Nun... I could go on and on...

So....do any of the local stations even have plans in the works to move their news broadcasts to HD?

The recession moved most broadcast groups in mid-markets back. Most would have gone this year or next to HD News. I'd plan on about a year after the recession is called over before seeing most groups doing anything. But then there's always the wild card which in this market is KARK. Biggest operation in their group and the central cast hub for this area of the country. When one goes, the rest tend to follow quickly.

A

KTWN Channel 18 is back with test programming and color bars

Locked at 81% in Levy...with the Dat75 and 7777 at 35', and also locked at 50% (Stingy meter) on a Channel Master Quantum 1162 with 7777 amp sitting 20' off the ground (360' ASL).

Is that 100W to the antenna, or 1000W I am seeing?

Here is a quick screen grab: http://i40.tinypic.com/2n709jr.jpg

What exactly is KTWN again?

EDIT: 1 more till 1500! :)

What exactly is KTWN again?


Its the only LD (low power digital) station around. Had 4 subchannels (all 480i). Located in Searcy (Office) and transmitter is a few miles west of 67/167 between Cabot and Beebe.

Dont know what this reincarnation will end up with, but before they went off the air, they were showing White County district court and traffic court proceedings, local sports, etc, on -1, PBS rebroadcast on -2, Live radar on -3, and some Sat Fed news channel and dirt track Nascar races on -4.

Its the only LD (low power digital) station around. Had 4 subchannels (all 480i). Located in Searcy (Office) and transmitter is a few miles west of 67/167 between Cabot and Beebe.

Dont know what this reincarnation will end up with, but before they went off the air, they were showing White County district court and traffic court proceedings, local sports, etc, on -1, PBS rebroadcast on -2, Live radar on -3, and some Sat Fed news channel and dirt track Nascar races on -4.
Well, its probably pretty low power then. I looked and couldn't get my TV to scan it and I don't know the assigned frequency without doing a lookup (too late for that right now), so, meh, whatever. :)


Oh, and 1500!!! Woo Hoo! Thats a lot of crap spilling out of my fingers! LOL

Its 15KW, and its on physical channel 18. Dont bother trying to get it. I couldnt even pick it up with my DAT75 until I added the 7777 preamp. The river is about as far as the signal goes. Those hills Cantrell Rd run across just about kill it for anyone south of Cantrell.

HaleySEA can probably get it when the bands open. There arent any hills at all between Cabot and Star City.

Its 15KW, and its on physical channel 18. Dont bother trying to get it. I couldnt even pick it up with my DAT75 until I added the 7777 preamp. The river is about as far as the signal goes. Those hills Cantrell Rd run across just about kill it for anyone south of Cantrell.

HaleySEA can probably get it when the bands open. There arent any hills at all between Cabot and Star City.

I was seeing something ping the Zenith's meter on ch18 this morning, also 19 was pinging. No decodes though.

I've noticed that RTV is running some original programming---there is a in-house produced morning show (Daytime) including a national weather segment (with the RTV bug). Advertisers seem to be mostly mail order OTA drugs/supplements, and other "PI" type ads. At least it isn't endless wall to wall PSA's that characterized the late "Variety Television" subchannel network.

Sure does have lots of Shyster lawyer ads tho. As if there arent enough lawsuits already. I liked it much better when they werent allowed to advertise.

Comcast is showing KATV News/Weather on digital channel 203 and not the new RTN. I wonder why? It is also showing the same old KATV News/Weather and not RTN on the QAM band as well in he 8.2 slot (Cable number).

dmatch:

When you get some free moments, could you capture me new TSReader data for whatever stations you can see? Now that the dust seems to have settled, I'm going to try to replace the old data with new data. Remember no EIT or Thumbnails. :)

Thanks!

- Trip

...now in HD via KTHV-DT. I noticed it being promoted earlier today, I just took a quick look. Nothing to see there.

(yawn)

Kinda wondering what is up with the AETN aspect ratio thing. Was just watching stuff on it with my son and noticed that it was still cropped. Said BSKIDSGO.com or something like that. P was obviously chopped off cause the ratio wasn't right. Hope they fix it at some point.

Has KETS-DT transmitting at lower power? I was getting it in the high 80's on my HR-20 until yesterday. Now I just get an occasional hit in the 30's. KASN-DT levels are in the high 80's and haven't changed.

fly

...now in HD via KTHV-DT. I noticed it being promoted earlier today, I just took a quick look. Nothing to see there.It, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and a few other syndicated shows have been in HD for quite some time up here.

Has KETS-DT transmitting at lower power? I was getting it in the high 80's on my HR-20 until yesterday. Now I just get an occasional hit in the 30's. KASN-DT levels are in the high 80's and haven't changed.

fly

Still 95 (converter box) and 100% (Directv AM21) here. Same as always except those few days they were running on the backup transmitter.

Kinda wondering what is up with the AETN aspect ratio thing. Was just watching stuff on it with my son and noticed that it was still cropped. Said BSKIDSGO.com or something like that. P was obviously chopped off cause the ratio wasn't right. Hope they fix it at some point.

They're still playing Aspect Ratio Potluck over there. The show Chuck Dovish does on Mondays 6:30-7pm was 4x3 and squeezed (should have been 16x9 SD). I didn't watch Antiques Roadshow---was out mowing. Checked History Detectives and it was running correctly, but I'm too busy chasing Mexican/Caribbean skip* at the moment. Perhaps on the late night feed.

*Oh, btw XHRIO ch 2 analog across the Rio Grande is in...one of two .mx stations broadcasting to a mainly US audience (the other is XETV Tijuana) and a FOX affiliate. XHRIO makes one of a handful of stations I've logged via E's and tropo.

"Make 'Em Laugh" is in HD. Looks pretty decent.


EDIT: Just wondering, does anyone hear some kinda ticking on the audio for "Make 'Em Laugh"?? I am hearing it quite often, but I pause it and I don't.

At Palmyra, near Star City AR July 7, 2009 @ 12:45am

KTVE 27 (10-n) 97%
KETZ 10 (12-n) 72%
KEJB 43 (43-n) 37%

...Just wondering, does anyone hear some kinda ticking on the audio for "Make 'Em Laugh"?? I am hearing it quite often, but I pause it and I don't.I heard that, too, on KAFT-DT 9 (13-1). At least they got the aspect ratio right.

It's really beyond me why they are having such a continuing problem with aspect ratios. I get 25 DTV channels OTA and AETN is the only station that can't get it right. If DTV were something new, it might be understandable, but it's not.

Its new to them :) That popping noise was on the Directv grab as well, but wasnt on PBS-HD direct.

Haley: Does your converter box decode a DTV signal if you just leave it on a channel (like channel 6), and if/when some skip rolls in, and it locks, it stores the decode, or do you have to be sitting there constantly hitting the scan button?

My box will sit there and show a signal level, but when it gets into range, I have to hit the scan channel button. I want one I can plug into the quantum when I leave for work in the morning, and check to see if I logged anything when I get home :)

BTW, I finally got pissed off enough tonight when AETN timeshifted NOVA AND NOVA Science Now and then shrunk NSN into a postage stamp, and wrote a LONG email to membership@aetn.org and told them to stop sending me mail and Emails requesting more money, as I wouldnt give them another dime until they at least quit time shifting HD shows and showing them in SD. Doubt they care about my little donation, but I feel better.

Haley: Does your converter box decode a DTV signal if you just leave it on a channel (like channel 6), and if/when some skip rolls in, and it locks, it stores the decode, or do you have to be sitting there constantly hitting the scan button?

My box will sit there and show a signal level, but when it gets into range, I have to hit the scan channel button. I want one I can plug into the quantum when I leave for work in the morning, and check to see if I logged anything when I get home :)

The Zenith will decode DTV on the fly and automatically show the PSIP in the menu. I was moving the antenna and took the dog out for his walk--during that time WPVI decoded the first time. I had several other decodes some lasting 10-15 min at a time. They show Jeapardy and Wheel in HD.

I also logged WBRA-DT 3 in Virginia again. WBRA was showing NOVA in HD and 16x9 aspect (although I could not see it in HD because the skip antenna was connected to the Zenith box and not directly to the TV's tuner) I was able to see much of the show's first half tonight with only a few dropouts.



BTW, I finally got pissed off enough tonight when AETN timeshifted NOVA AND NOVA Science Now and then shrunk NSN into a postage stamp, and wrote a LONG email to membership@aetn.org and told them to stop sending me mail and Emails requesting more money, as I wouldnt give them another dime until they at least quit time shifting HD shows and showing them in SD. Doubt they care about my little donation, but I feel better.

Every other damn PBS station shows NOVA in pattern, why not AETN??? I was hoping to catch the PBS overnight feed last night (actually 12:00am this morning), but AETN was rerunning the "Delta Dreams" Doc, and instructional prgrms afterwards.

I also logged WBRA-DT 3 in Virginia again. WBRA was showing NOVA in HD and 16x9 aspect (although I could not see it in HD because the skip antenna was connected to the Zenith box and not directly to the TV's tuner) I was able to see much of the show's first half tonight with only a few dropouts.

More luck than I generally have! :(

- Trip

Haley, what would the zenith box do in this scenario...

8am - leave box on ch 2 and go to work
10am - decode WXXX
12pm - decode WYYY
3pm - decode KZZZ
5pm - arrive home.

Would all three stations be in memory, or only the first or last one?

Haley, what would the zenith box do in this scenario...

8am - leave box on ch 2 and go to work
10am - decode WXXX
12pm - decode WYYY
3pm - decode KZZZ
5pm - arrive home.

Would all three stations be in memory, or only the first or last one?

the last one, because it would replace the previous ones on the same RF channel. I acutally saw the thing switch virtual channels once during a tropo opening when I turned the antenna.

To get the Zenith-Insignia converter in "DX mode"...

from the remote--press "Menu"
from "setup" select "Manual Tuning" with right arrow
move right arrow and highlight the actual RF channel. You can move channel surf the actual RF channels in the menu with the up and down arrows of the remote (not the ch up /down)

When arriving home DO NOT change the channel, a randomly caught station won't be stored permanently in memory without pressing the "add channel", Press menu, and press the right arrow button once, that will display the menu and indicate whether a DTV station was caught.

Ok, thanks. That would probably be good if I was home. Need to find a better solution for being gone.

I was thinking of programming my old sony remote with timer macros to perform a full channel scan every 10 minutes, but that still leaves lots of gaps.

Do you know of any box that adds any channel it decodes to memory, and doesnt require you to manually hit the scan button?

My Aquos is even worse, it erases EVERYTHING when performing a scan, and has no way to add a single new channel, which means if you have to turn the antenna to get all the stations, you can never get them all in memory at once.

The Pansat stores every channel it ever decoded in memory, along with frequency, so, for example, its has two WMC entries, one for UHF and another for ch 5, its the best for DXing, but it also requires you to hit the "scan channel" button, even on single channels. It wont decode a channel its tuned to, even it the signal pops up to 100%.

Guess Ill buy a Zenith and give it a try. Does the insignia have the same software?

...I finally got pissed off enough tonight when AETN timeshifted NOVA AND NOVA Science Now and then shrunk NSN into a postage stamp, and wrote a LONG email to membership@aetn.org and told them to stop sending me mail and Emails requesting more money, as I wouldnt give them another dime until they at least quit time shifting HD shows and showing them in SD.Dave, I did that a long time ago. My PBS donations now go to Ozarks Public Television. If AETN doesn't straighten up and fix a few things, their donations will likely continue on a downward spiral. People do watch HD and they do watch OTA. There are a lot of folks up here whose TV watching consists solely of Netflix & OTA, with most of their OTA viewing being PBS.

...I was thinking of programming my old sony remote with timer macros to perform a full channel scan every 10 minutes, but that still leaves lots of gaps.The Zenith/Insignia boxes have a feature called "EZ-Add" that will add newly scanned channels to the list of channels found in previous scans or manual adds. You could program a timed macro for that.

The Zenith/Insignia software & menus are identical. K-mart in Springfield, MO still has Zeniths, so check around in your travels, or look online. Best Buy no longer stocks the Insignia, but you can find 'em on fleabay.

My Aquos is even worse, it erases EVERYTHING when performing a scan, and has no way to add a single new channel, which means if you have to turn the antenna to get all the stations, you can never get them all in memory at once.To me, that's a deal killer and something I always check before buying or recommending a TV or converter box. The FCC should require a "channel add" feature in all TV tuners.

It, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and a few other syndicated shows have been in HD for quite some time up here.
Those shows are on the ABC affiliate KATV down here. I don't know about "Wheel," but "Jeopardy!" is not in HD yet.

Jeopardy is in HD on KFSM-DT, Fort Smith.

Those shows are on the ABC affiliate KATV down here. I don't know about "Wheel," but "Jeopardy!" is not in HD yet.

Both Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy are HD, in fact, I saw both last night when I had WPVI-DT 6 (6-1) in the first time from Philly via E skip (Wheel follows Jeopardy in that market). Very strong and stable conditions. Tonight, I caught WRGB-DT 6 (6-1) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRGB) in Schenectady NY the first time just a few seconds via skip. I wonder if their puny 4.6kw is working out for their local viewers besides skipping out?

I noticed yesterday that KTHV was showing Ellen in HD (they've been in HD this past season, but KTHV just got around to getting them and "Dr" Phil out of 480i/4x3 mode.

Im watching "Primiro Impacto" right now on channel 5. Cant be good for those on the WMC digital fringes.

Im pointed due south. Ive been pointed NW for three days and failed to get any of Haley's New England stations, so gave up and am going for central America and Mexico now :)

All channels from 2 thru 5 are hopping now with overlapping signals in the analog realm. Tropo has sucked for days here.

The Zenith/Insignia software & menus are identical. K-mart in Springfield, MO still has Zeniths, so check around in your travels, or look online. Best Buy no longer stocks the Insignia, but you can find 'em on fleabay.


Its no wonder the economy sucks. Zenith web site shows its available at Kmart, Sears, Best Buy, Circuit City (!). Their link to buy one on Amazon comes up with a "Sold Out" page. Apparently, they arent making them anymore, so I guess Ill just forget it, and kludge along with my Dishnetwork converter box. I was gonna buy one if I could run by a local store, but Im not going to go on a hunt for one.

Im watching "Primiro Impacto" right now on channel 5. Cant be good for those on the WMC digital fringes.

Im pointed due south. Ive been pointed NW for three days and failed to get any of Haley's New England stations, so gave up and am going for central America and Mexico now :)

All channels from 2 thru 5 are hopping now with overlapping signals in the analog realm. Tropo has sucked for days here.


I was getting Canada and Mexico in earlier...but yesterday's opening was much better, as signals were stronger and more stable.

Gotta have some excitement, the pace of progress of LR HDTV is glacial.

dave, there are tons of Zenith DTT901s on eBay. Some with free shipping (and no sales tax).

Both Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy are HD, in fact
Oh, I know they're offered in HD; I was just pointing out (maybe needlessly) that they are not passed on in HD on KATV. That is probably another economic impact that will have to wait until some improvement.

A little off topic, but I just watched the International Space Station fly over for 5 minutes. Dont know if I could have gotten any DX bounce off it, but it sure was a spectacular site. First time Ive ever seen it.

Haley: Those 30+ minute openings to New York, etc, that are fairly stable...wouldnt those be F layer skip?

I thought E skip was real short lived and sporatically jumped around?

Woke up in the middle of the night, and checked DX. What a grab. KLTS PBS-HD from Shreveport on ch 24 popped in when VTN shut off their transmitter for some maintainance.

So, since all the PBS stations were showing the same program:
PBSHD (amc21) 16:9 HD
KETS (2-1) 4:3 shrunk
KETG (9-1) 4:3 shrunk
LPBHD (24-1) 16:9 HD

So now AETN isnt even passing through real time in HD. What a joke.

Woke up in the middle of the night, and checked DX. What a grab. KLTS PBS-HD from Shreveport on ch 24 popped in when VTN shut off their transmitter for some maintainance.

So, since all the PBS stations were showing the same program:
PBSHD (amc21) 16:9 HD
KETS (2-1) 4:3 shrunk
KETG (9-1) 4:3 shrunk
LPBHD (24-1) 16:9 HD

So now AETN isnt even passing through real time in HD. What a joke.

AETN even bothered to show the PBS overnight feed? I checked Tuesday (after midnight early AM) and they were showing that Helena documentry, then instructional shows on 2-1.

A little off topic, but I just watched the International Space Station fly over for 5 minutes. Dont know if I could have gotten any DX bounce off it, but it sure was a spectacular site. First time Ive ever seen it.

Haley: Those 30+ minute openings to New York, etc, that are fairly stable...wouldnt those be F layer skip?

I thought E skip was real short lived and sporatically jumped around?

Not necessarily. E's can get intense and there is "double hop" e's. F2 skip on higher HF/VHF frequencies requires a MAJOR increase in sunspots which ain't happened yet. When on starts hearing Europe on 10m ham radio, then that's a sign of F2 getting cranked up. When 6m (50mhz, just below channel 2) opens up to Europe consistently, that's another big sign.

The predictions are that Cycle 25 is going to be dog compared to the last two (Cycles 23, and 24).

AETN is a joke. A bunch of high school kids could run it better.

I was flipping by the KAFT channels this morning and saw a show on old Arkansas Bridges. It was 16:9 shrunk down to 4:3. Maybe the monitors in Conway are set on s-t-r-e-t-c-h - o - vision? Or maybe they just never look at the monitors to see what kind of garbage they're broadcasting.

AETN is a joke. A bunch of high school kids could run it better.

I was flipping by the KAFT channels this morning and saw a show on old Arkansas Bridges.

Sounds like a neat show. Wonder if they mentioned the old Carpenter Dam bridge near Hot Springs that was washed out in the flood in 1990. The Rockport bridge near Malvern also met its doom during the same storm. They had one lane & the metal trusses overhead that you don't see much anymore.

I recorded it on my DvR, bu dont recall those bridges. Ill check next time I watch it.

Haley: Got me a Zenith ... When you are on the manual add screen, how can you keep it from going to screen saver or get it back to see if you have captured anything?

The main problem with AETN as a whole is the lack of regard for the public. The way a STATE RUN operation like that should be is to have an active contact you can get a hold of to give good or bad reports. Maybe the next time Matt (wasn't that his name?) comes on, he can give us a phone number so that we might be able to contact them to discuss the problems we are seeing. There should be enough knowledge on this thread alone to be able to call up and carry on a somewhat intelligent conversation and be able to discern what is or is not the problem. Its just obvious that no amount of talking about it on here will do any good. There needs to be some kind of communication going on with them to give the public any type of good service.

If they are unwilling to communicate at all, maybe we should start slamming the FCC with complaint after complaint until they get fed up with it and contact the people in charge at AETN to get something done.

http://www.aetn.org/about/contact

It won't do any good, though.

http://www.aetn.org/about/contact

It won't do any good, though.
Well, I was meaning something more of a direct, one specific person that might be able to do something about stuff, but I guess that list might be good enough. Just figured the people on there can't and won't do jack crap about anything and could care less if their phones rang or not. I could be wrong though.

In any case, every time something happens that isn't right or is screwed up, you guys should light up their phones and fill the voicemail boxes (cause that is likely all you will get) until they can't hold any more messages. Maybe then they might do something about the issues.

Its so much less stressful to watch via satellite and watch their donations drop.

Skip is strange tonight. Im watching KETZ with no dropouts at all on the TR40 converter, but wont scan at all on my Pansat. I have no signal from any other N La or Ms stations, and cant even keep a lock on Gurdon. And VTN 48 from Jonesboro trying to come in from the back, but even pointed at Jonesboro, no sign of KAIT.

Earlier, I scanned in WMAO, and their HD channel is -2 (-1 is SD and -3 is Create). I could get sound on all three, but could only get a picture on the SD subs, the HD channel showed "scrambled channel" on the Pansat. Something weird in their setup.

New Zenith box shows lots of weak signals in the "bad" block, but doesnt want to lock onto any of them. Ive got it connected to the quantum/7777

...Haley: Got me a Zenith...Dave, did you get it at a store or online?

Its so much less stressful to watch via satellite and watch their donations drop.Or watch (& donate to) a decently run PBS OTA affiliate like Ozarks Public Television, KOZK/KOZJ.

Another VHF station has seen the light (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=7019808615).

Or watch (& donate to) a decently run PBS OTA affiliate like Ozarks Public Television, KOZK/KOZJ.

I doubt that's an option in Little Rock, unfortunately.

It's hard for me to understand why AETN is having so much trouble keeping their aspect ratios right. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do if every other PBS station I can think of has it right.

- Trip

Trip, the gist of my post was there are other well-run PBS OTA options for many around the edges of Arkansas. And for those in the central part, Dave's option is viable for many. This poorly run state-wide network deserves no donations. None.

What's crazy is there seems to be no rhyme or reason to AETN's screw ups. This morning I saw a 4:3 in tiny postage stamp mode that was normal 4:3 w/16:9 pillar bars the other day. I didn't watch it, just noticed it flipping past. I never watch AETN because it only raises my blood pressure.

Trip, the gist of my post was there are other well-run PBS OTA options for many around the edges of Arkansas. And for those in the central part, Dave's option is viable for many. This poorly run state-wide network deserves no donations. None.

Agreed, it's the same reason I don't donate to my local PBS either. But the FTA satellite option won't be around forever, as I recall those feeds are supposed to go away when NGIS is installed and ready for all affiliates.

What's crazy is there seems to be no rhyme or reason to AETN's screw ups. This morning I saw a 4:3 in tiny postage stamp mode that was normal 4:3 w/16:9 pillar bars the other day. I didn't watch it, just noticed it flipping past. I never watch AETN because it only raises my blood pressure.

Maybe there's a "random" feature on the aspect ratio control? :D

- Trip

Random...yea thats it. They hooked up an ipod when they should have hooked up an Iphone, because with aspect ratios and the Iphone, theres and app for that...:)

Sam, we had a zenith on an old 19" at work, and I had a cheap Sanyo 19" lcd in the guest room that had a ATSC tuner in it (tuner needed lots of signal to lock), so I swapped out. Boss is happy with Mini-HD, and Im happy with Zenith box.

hehehehe, I think I found the answer for the ads that slow this site from refreshing or coming up. I found this page http://www.floppymoose.com/ and it appears to work pretty well. Got rid of the flash ad for AVSforum and all the other ads up at the top.now there is only those blocks that are for the linked sites. We'll see how it goes.

I keep mine set to "mobile" mode, there are no ads or anything in mobile mode. Its instantaneous.

I'd rather keep them from coming through at all. On a computer, there is no such thing as mobile mode. Thats only for people that use pda's all the time. How longs it been since you have had a computer online? :) You have suffered enough with that pda by now, haven't you? :)

You can select mobile mode from a computer. Thats what I typed the message with.

Hmm, don't think my last post went thru. I guess I never did too much looking around. On my iPhone now and saw a iPhone(beta) setting to try out. Guess that will change th setiing on my computer too so I will have to see if I like it.

hehehehe, I think I found the answer for the ads that slow this site from refreshing or coming up. I found this page http://www.floppymoose.com/ and it appears to work pretty well. Got rid of the flash ad for AVSforum and all the other ads up at the top.now there is only those blocks that are for the linked sites. We'll see how it goes.steveken,
Thanks for the link! I already had some custom stuff in my userContent.css file, so I edited mine and added the info at that site. It slashed page load time for this site to a fraction of the time it was taking to load. At least most of the time. Now, if it hangs, F5 will usually reload it fast.

lol, well, I finally did something to help arxaw out! wow! I never thought I would see the day!

hehehehe, I think I found the answer for the ads that slow this site from refreshing or coming up. I found this page http://www.floppymoose.com/ and it appears to work pretty well. Got rid of the flash ad for AVSforum and all the other ads up at the top.now there is only those blocks that are for the linked sites. We'll see how it goes.

Ok, I copied that file from that web site into every "Chrome" directory on my drive, and Im still getting ads when I launch AVSforum with Firefox. So what am I doing wrong?

Nevermind, I downloaded the AdBlockPlus addon for Firefox, and it works great.

Hmm, not real sure the aspect problems are AETN. I think I have seen this before, but I am looking at the DirecTV feed on 379 and am seeing basically a postage stamp picture. It has the normal letterbox pillar bars on the side like it should for a 4x3, but in the 4x3 area, there is black pillar bars on the sides as well as a black bar across the top and bottom. Its "Clifford", so I know it should be 4x3 anyway, so this is definitely wrong.

I wonder where they are getting this feed from? The Channel 2 feed is blocked by rain and clouds or else I would check that. Anyway, just thought I would throw this info out there.

Yes, it's AETN. They do the tiny 4:3 postage stamp format quite often and without rhyme or reason on the OTA broadcasts. It's fixable on some TVs, however, some don't allow format changes on a 720p/1080i channel. Regardless, the viewer shouldn't have to put up with show after show with the wrong image size on AETN.

AETN's lights are on - but definitely nobody home.

If its AETN only, why did I see it on the DirecTV PBS feed on 379? I don't think they would have our PBS feed up on the national channel. So, is it a coincidence that I saw it on there when I flipped by it? Just really wondering about that.

PBS national was pillarboxing the show, and AETN pillarboxed it again. PBS national occasionally has the wrong aspect ratio on the SD feed too. Must be contageous.

Ok, I copied that file from that web site into every "Chrome" directory on my drive, and Im still getting ads when I launch AVSforum with Firefox. So what am I doing wrong?Was Firefox still running? Gotta close it first before mucking with its config files.

PBS national was pillarboxing the show, and AETN pillarboxed it again...Which they should correct locally. But don't.

I receive AETN HD via cable and see the same issues everyone else does. In fact, I don't recall a time where I've seen actual 16:9 HD content since Conway Corporation switched from the PBS HD feed to AETN HD. PBS HD was one of the clearest channels I received, too.

AllenF, Any updates on when guide information will start showing up for RTV? Thanks again for adding RTV.

AllenF, Any updates on when guide information will start showing up for RTV? Thanks again for adding RTV.

We need to update the server hardware that does psip. I have a new server ordered and on the way. After it arrives- probably a few days to work it in and install OS, Guidebuilder (psip app) and squish any bugs that crop up. I'm covering vacation this week and then I'm out for a couple- so that may slow it down some. You may have also noticed that RTV has no closed captioning. That is an issue on their end they are aware of and working on. I'm told it affects all their affiliates, so hopefully- that turns up the priority dial for getting it fixed.

A

KTHV: You have a bad hum that rattles subwoofers during your newscasts, but not during the taped remotes part of it.
Not when newscaster is standing by the monitor in the newsroom. Seems to be on Liz Masseys microphone.

Logging a lot of channels that are out of market tonight.:)

more

YEA, ive been trying to log 5, 10, and 13 from Memphis all night. Got all the UHF's. Just cant get any of them to lock here. 200' higher hill just east of me is killing me. Nice grabs. Which antenna you getting those on?

more

YEA, ive been trying to log 5, 10, and 13 from Memphis all night. Got all the UHF's. Just cant get any of them to lock here. 200' higher hill just east of me is killing me. Nice grabs. Which antenna you getting those on?

Winegard HD8200. WKNO the Memphis PBS is running Travis Smiley in Full Blown High Def....interviewing Daryl Strawberry about his MLB career and all his problems, his turn around and where it has brought him today in his life.

I got all the Memphis UHF's, all the Shreveport UHF's, but no VHF. KETG is to strong, even off the back, to lock Memphis 13. Looks like the front/rain really working good on the east-west route tonight. Just logged KETZ, so something is getting out on VHF.

Here is KWNO 10.1 Memphis running the Tavis Smiley show featuring Daryl Strawberry

KTHV: You have a bad hum that rattles subwoofers during your newscasts, but not during the taped remotes part of it.
Not when newscaster is standing by the monitor in the newsroom. Seems to be on Liz Masseys microphone.
They don't care. I've been talking about the buzz for a long time now. They just don't care if people get good newscasts around here. No one does. (well, maybe allen does)

Anyone ever hear of a DiVinci IDF-50 home theater system? There is someone on LRGarageSale group on yahoo trying to sell it for $150. Listed the specs as being very unbelievable. Look at this page http://www.divincisound.com/surr2.htm and you will see it second from bottom. I mean, speakers that small putting out 300W each?? The whole thing doesn't seem like it can do what it is promising without a lot of noise.

I've done some looking around and from what I have read it looks to be a scam. Maybe like the people who usually sell it out of a van have realized the Internet is a little easier. What do you guys think? Not that I am wanting it or anything, just that my BS meter is pegged on it. These people say they think its just "too loud". I have NEVER heard of anyone thinking a home theater system was too loud. I am just wondering if this is a scam or not. Just seems like a "too good to be true" kinda deal for $150 even if it is 2 years old and has only been "plugged in maybe 4 times".

Anyone ever hear of a DiVinci IDF-50 home theater system? There is someone on LRGarageSale group on yahoo trying to sell it for $150. Listed the specs as being very unbelievable. Look at this page http://www.divincisound.com/surr2.htm and you will see it second from bottom. I mean, speakers that small putting out 300W each?? The whole thing doesn't seem like it can do what it is promising without a lot of noise.

I've done some looking around and from what I have read it looks to be a scam. Maybe like the people who usually sell it out of a van have realized the Internet is a little easier. What do you guys think? Not that I am wanting it or anything, just that my BS meter is pegged on it. These people say they think its just "too loud". I have NEVER heard of anyone thinking a home theater system was too loud. I am just wondering if this is a scam or not. Just seems like a "too good to be true" kinda deal for $150 even if it is 2 years old and has only been "plugged in maybe 4 times".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speaker_scam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speaker_scam
Yeah, I know about the scams, but just wanted to know in general of first hand experience. If you will note, I think I said that I thought it might be an Internet version of the scam cause its easier. Just want some overall opinions on this whole thing. I think my wife should pull that posting off the board as its probably a scam, but she won't.

We need to update the server hardware that does psip. I have a new server ordered and on the way. After it arrives- probably a few days to work it in and install OS, Guidebuilder (psip app) and squish any bugs that crop up. I'm covering vacation this week and then I'm out for a couple- so that may slow it down some. You may have also noticed that RTV has no closed captioning. That is an issue on their end they are aware of and working on. I'm told it affects all their affiliates, so hopefully- that turns up the priority dial for getting it fixed.

AThe main channel (KATV-DT1) is only showing "DTV Program" in the guide currently. Upgrade under way?

dmatch

Another pretty good grab to the west tonight. OETA from Eufalla Oklahoma. I've grabbed it before but its been a while. Using the Winegard again, I turned it to the west.

Arkyman, I get OETA occasionally, but rarely aim my 'tenna over that way any more.

Are you still using your CM4228?

Has anyone on this thread used an AntennaCraft U8000 8bay (http://www.electotronics.com/antennacraftu8000uhfhdtvantennaforextremedeepfringeareas-35boom405width36vhght.aspx)?

Arkyman, I get OETA occasionally, but rarely aim my 'tenna over that way any more.

Are you still using your CM4228?

Has anyone on this thread used an AntennaCraft U8000 8bay (http://www.electotronics.com/antennacraftu8000uhfhdtvantennaforextremedeepfringeareas-35boom405width36vhght.aspx)?

I picked OETA up on my Winegard 8200. For some reason the little 4228 setup just doesnt pull in channels like the Big Combination Antennas at my location. I still use the CM4228/PR9032 to run channels 5.1, 13.1 and 40.1 to my directv's atsc tuner.


I used a couple of Antennacrafts in the past, the single bay which didnt work at all here. Then there was the rivervalley special which was a setup that recieves all the LR stations and the FS stations in one fixed location. It was good for analog and worked pretty well. It was what most folks in this area had on top of their houses for years. Trouble was, it was a VHF only and you missed out on UHF channels like LR 16,20,38,42 and FS 24, 40. KLRT 16 apparently has always been strong at my location. One of my best friends who grew up 1 mile from my current location could always pick up 16 clear as a bell on rabbit ears. Their house sits up on a pretty good hill, I dont know if that was why they got it so well or not.