hi allisonf,

i'm glad i don't have to deal with KaTV's incompetence any more. i can get CBS, ABC & NBC in HD OTA, up here in the hills. and stations here rarely forget to flip the [ HD ] switch... :)

I think they must have been having various technical problems that night. Because later on during halftime when I switched over to watch analog, they through up a trouble slide during a local station break.

I think they must have been having various technical problems that night. Because later on during halftime when I switched over to watch analog, they through up a trouble slide during a local station break.

The ABC Affiliate in SC had issues as well. They weren't even on the air. So it could be worse.
Hey Alison.......

Hey Dan! Was it because of the weather? I hear there is flooding in SC. Are you guys about to float away?

No. We had rain for the first time in a while. It has been very dry here. Beautiful sunny skies and 60 degrees here today. Today is Evan's second birthday so I am leaving early to play with him a little while.

It sounds like you have your priorities straight! Have fun at the birthday party. Remember to pace yourself....don't eat to much cake!

I flipped KATV-DT on about 10:30 and the game was finally in HD, but I don't know what time they actually flipped the switch. I just watched a few minutes before I switched over to 11-1 to watch a little HD Letterman.

Well, TitanTV, zap2it and other sources showed the Ark/LSU game to be in HD today, but I just flipped it on and it's not at least on Ch. 11. Www.hdsportsguide.com had originally showed it as HD but they took it off, so I guess they are the most reliable. I was really hoping that it would be in HD.

This is one game CBS has never said would be in HD. Yesterday's football and football for the weekend is in HD, but not this LSU game. it is probably either due to the fact that this Friday game is sandwiched between two days of more important football games that they definitely wanted in HD and they have limited HD resources.

With the record the Hogs have, we are happy CBS decided to carry the game period.

It must be Tribune Media's mistake. DirecTV's guide also shows it as HD on KFSM-DT (ft smith) and WCBS-DT (NYC).

Hello, new member and like the forum. Is anyone having problems picking up KTHV over the air tonight? Mine has worked fine for a couple of weeks (just installed), but tonight it is acting up. The signal strength meter still shows that it is the same as it has always been, however it indicates it is "not locked" on for some reason. I still get Fox and others just fine. I am using Dish Network with the 942 receiver and I have a Jensen off air antenna that has been working great.

thx for your help.

Welcome CMatt. I cant really help you, because my rotor control box is not working. I have two antennas, but the VHF/UHF combo is pointed south at PBS ch 5. The UHF one is pointed west, I am getting a 25 out of 100 signal from KTHV with Signal Lock, however, that receiver needs at least 35 on the signal strength before it will unmute the video and audio, so I cant test it right now. If you still have problems, and someone else should be able to help you out.

If not, let me know and Ill hook up a pair of rabbit ears and see what happens.

If your signal strength hasn't changed, (always) try rebooting the receiver by unplugging it for a few minutes. Then, do a re-scan for local OTA channels.

Sometimes data changes at the station will require this to be done, at least on some OTA tuners.

I was picking KTHV-DT up fine last night, however, it was showing up as 12-1 and 12-2 instead of 11. I don't know if that could cause any problems, I didn't check my signal strength either. Changing topics just a little, but has KTHV-DT ever had their PSIP info up? I noticed that of the channels I can get, they were the only one without info, but I rarely look at the guide, and couldn't remember if it has been there in the past. Like arxaw said, it looks like they may have recently made some changes that are causing some issues.

We were having some PSIP problems which would explain why some of you were seeing channel 12 instead of 11 and why some weren't seeing us at all! We think we managed to get everything going back to normal again this afternoon.

I know how you guys were looking forward to watching Rudolf in HD tonight and I sure don't want to spoil the fun.

Just kidding....

My 7 year old is enjoying Rudolf!! It is not 16:9 though? Is that something on my end? Will check the shows that are coming up next.

Thanks again Alison (and all) for your help!!

My 7 year old is enjoying Rudolf!! It is not 16:9 though? Is that something on my end? Will check the shows that are coming up next.

Thanks again Alison (and all) for your help!!
All is well...other shows look great and in 16:9.

Thanks again.

Rudolph was recently digitally re-mastered in HD. But back in '64 made for TV movies (or animations) were obviously all made in 4 X 3. So last night's show was an example of a HD 4X3 production. Don't feel bad, it had my guys in the control room a little confused as well.


It goes to show you that not everything that is wide screen is HD and not everything that is 4X3 is just upconverted analog material. Go figure!

Thanks for the update Alison. I figured that it was something you'd have fixed in no time. PSIP info was fine last night, and I enjoyed Rudolf in HD as well.

I could receive FOX, CBS, NBC, UPN (FOX and CBS the best) in digital in North LR up until two days ago. Now I get only FOX and NBC on my DELL plasma TV. CBS just disappeared. I did automatic search, manual serch, unplugged/plugged the power cord. Nothing helped. I wonder if it is because of some changes to CBS broadcast, or is it my TV?

I could receive FOX, CBS, NBC, UPN (FOX and CBS the best) in digital in North LR up until two days ago. Now I get only FOX and NBC on my DELL plasma TV. CBS just disappeared. I did automatic search, manual serch, unplugged/plugged the power cord. Nothing helped. I wonder if it is because of some changes to CBS broadcast, or is it my TV?


As far as I know everything is fine with KTHV-DT; we are at full power with psip working. I suggest you unplug (and wait a minute), reset and re-scan everything again and see what happens. We had psip problems earlier in the week that could have caused a problem for you.

If you still have no luck you can call on Monday (376-1111) and ask for me. Either I or one of the highly intelligent technician elves at THV will try to help figure out what is going on with your reception.

Who decides which football games are on TV in Arkansas?

CBS is showing a meaningless game between the Colts and Titans. The Titans have a losing record and the game is not in HD.

Meanwhile - the Bengals and Steelers are playing for the division lead.

I know Tennessee is one state over, but come on, there are not any Titan fans here.

Who decides which football games are on TV in Arkansas?

CBS is showing a meaningless game between the Colts and Titans. The Titans have a losing record and the game is not in HD.

Meanwhile - the Bengals and Steelers are playing for the division lead.

I know Tennessee is one state over, but come on, there are not any Titan fans here.

Yeah - they finally put the good game on! All due to my post, I am sure.

Same issue up in NW Arkansas. Here we get "blessed" with the Jacksonville games because of Matt Jones. Now once or twice that was fine, but having to endure the Jags. vs the Texans a few weeks back was a horrible choice. Also, the NFL Today pre-game show isn't aired here, as a local church broadcast is on instead. Alison can you provide any info in regards to what is choosen to air and the thought process behind it? I understand if it is "confidential"...

Same issue up in NW Arkansas. Here we get "blessed" with the Jacksonville games because of Matt Jones. Now once or twice that was fine, but having to endure the Jags. vs the Texans a few weeks back was a horrible choice. Also, the NFL Today pre-game show isn't aired here, as a local church broadcast is on instead. Alison can you provide any info in regards to what is choosen to air and the thought process behind it? I understand if it is "confidential"...

We do get to pick some of the time. But you can imagine it is a loose-loose situation. Since we can only air one game, it is sure to disappoint some folks. We do air the NFL Today show here. You can imagine your CBS station picked the Jags to satisfy the Hog fans. But there are many KC fans too! So you can see the problems making the decision causes.

If there are 2 games available simultaneously and they are both SD, can you run them both (on sub channels)? Or are there restrictions that prevent that?

If there are 2 games available simultaneously and they are both SD, can you run them both (on sub channels)? Or are there restrictions that prevent that?

So far the only time when multi-casting is permitted is during March Madness and Masters Golf. I am sure the contract between the NFL and CBS prevents multi-casting. I recommend the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV to those folks who like to pick particular games they want to watch.

Thanks Alison. I'm sure the NFL's contract w/ DirecTV has a lot to do with it.

Having DNS-HD helps add some game choices for people with DirecTV who qualify (http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressEntry.asp).

KTHV DT appears to be down (or very reduced power) here in West Lincoln county. Also the analogs from KTHV and KARK are very snowy here. Could the possible installation of an antenna for a full power KARK-DT/HD? be the reason.

BTW, KLRT is fine here (except for some of the gawd-awful daytime programming).

KTHV DT appears to be down (or very reduced power) here in West Lincoln county. Also the analogs from KTHV and KARK are very snowy here. Could the possible installation of an antenna for a full power KARK-DT/HD? be the reason.

BTW, KLRT is fine here (except for some of the gawd-awful daytime programming).


Wishful thinking on your part! No, the reason is the top beacon on the main TV tower is out and we are using the auxiliary antenna for the analog while the poor tower guy is on top changing the lamp. We are back to full power on all transmitters now. We didn't want to fry the poor tower guy while he was working!

However, KARK is working with Entergy to bring more power to their facilities this weekend. Now that is a good sign! That means a full power "U" is in the near future!

Looks like some great info in here....
I only have a "Terk" indoor antenna, and all i can pick up OTA is KTHV. Good news is that is the channel i watch the most, but bad news is i sure would like to get the other big 3. I have a buddy in Benton that only gets KTHV & FOX. Not sure what antenna he has, but I think it's the Terk TV55 powered version. I live in sort of a hole, but KTHV comes in strong. Any ideas what antenna I need, w/o having to mount something in the attic or outside????? I'm not sure if it's a UHF/VHF thing or what.
Thanks a TON for any advice.
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike - Litte Rock

Looks like some great info in here....
I only have a "Terk" indoor antenna, and all i can pick up OTA is KTHV. Good news is that is the channel i watch the most, but bad news is i sure would like to get the other big 3. I have a buddy in Benton that only gets KTHV & FOX. Not sure what antenna he has, but I think it's the Terk TV55 powered version. I live in sort of a hole, but KTHV comes in strong. Any ideas what antenna I need, w/o having to mount something in the attic or outside????? I'm not sure if it's a UHF/VHF thing or what.
Thanks a TON for any advice.
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike - Litte Rock
Mike, I can only speak to the indoor Jensen antenna I have. It is a low profile, powered antenna that works great where I live in Maumelle. When I "scan locals," I get KTHV, Fox, KARK (although they don't broadcast anything in HD yet), and KASN (38). Channel 7 (KATV) is too far away from me I think.

The others on this forum have much more knowledge than I do, so I bet there will be some better info coming!!

Hope that helps!

Mike, I can only speak to the indoor Jensen antenna I have. It is a low profile, powered antenna that works great where I live in Maumelle. When I "scan locals," I get KTHV, Fox, KARK (although they don't broadcast anything in HD yet), and KASN (38). Channel 7 (KATV) is too far away from me I think.

The others on this forum have much more knowledge than I do, so I bet there will be some better info coming!!

Hope that helps!

Also, here is a website you can view to get some additional info. If you put your address in, it will tell you the type of antenna to get for each station. (takes 5 posts to be able to put a URL on here).

http://www.checkhd.com/buyersguide/antennas/installationguide.aspx

Thanks

Mike,

I would seriously consider the Channel Master 4228 for the best overall performance for the dollar. It will receive channels 7-13 okay (won't do anything for low-band channels 2-6) and shines on UHF 14-69. Its very directional though and will pull in the current area DTVs (save for KETS which is on ch 5) provided you get a rotor. Right now, I'm receiving WXVT analog (ch15) from Greenville, MS with it (a little trop enhancement doesn't hurt though :p )

I'm also using a small log periodic for AETN (KETS 2 & 5), and KARK analog, and a homebrew phasing harness using twin lead for both antennas into a CM 3041 preamp. Not perfect but works.

Mike,
A cheap set top VHF/UHF antenna (rabbit ears) will likely work better than any TERK antenna. They are promoted in stores because of the high profit margin, not good performance. I have seen posts on AVSForum where users reported gettin more channels with a piece of lead in wire than when using a TERK antenna.

See this antenna comparison (http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html) for some better choices (terk isn't even mentioned). A good choice may be a CM 4221 UHF antenna, which should get channels 7-69. For AETN (KETS-DT), you'll need a VHF lowband antenna.

Mike,
A cheap set top VHF/UHF antenna (rabbit ears) will likely work better than any TERK antenna. They are promoted in stores because of the high profit margin, not good performance. I have seen posts on AVSForum where users reported gettin more channels with a piece of lead in wire than when using a TERK antenna.

See this antenna comparison (http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html) for some better choices (terk isn't even mentioned). A good choice may be a CM 4221 UHF antenna, which should get channels 7-69. For AETN (KETS-DT), you'll need a VHF lowband antenna.


I am going to have to agree with Sam here on the Terk. There may be some folks out there that are satisfied with it, however I think for you money you can find a better deal.

I don't know that I have ever seen anyone actually reporting good reception from a Terk. I would definitely get something else.

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I really don't know where else to post this. I live at the base of Shinall, which means that I get KTHV, KLRT, and KARK well. But it also means I cannot get KASN, KETS, or KATV with antenna because of the big hill in my way. So, I have been considering a change to Comcast. Now, I know that installation experiences have been rough over the years, and their prices are much higher (that's why I switched to satellite years ago), but can anybody tell me what Comcast's HD picture quality is like?

For any DirecTV subscribers: If you get your local HD channels OTA with a DirecTV/OTA receiver, you may have noticed that AETN's program listings have been incorrect for some time. The 2nd & 3rd sub channels were wrong in the guide supplied by D*.

Anyway, I contacted Tribune Media Services that supplies the guide to D* and this should be fixed by this weekend.

Hello fellow Arkansans. I just orderd my hp 65" tv. I am in Russellville and i guess i have a few questions. Can i pick up OTA HD Channels? Do i need to pick up OTA channels if i use dish or direct tv? I am using Cox right now, but i don't know if they offer HD Channels. Thanks for the help.

You may be able go pick up LR and/or Ft Smith with a good outdoor antenna.
Enter your address at http://www.antennaweb.org to find out

Call your cableco and ask if they have HDTV. If they do and your TV is digital cablecard ready, you may not need a cablebox, but you will need a cablecard (provided by the cableco) that inserts into the TV.

You can't get the HD networks on Dishnetwork (except CBS in certain cases). But you can get the HD networks on DirecTV if you qualify. To see if you do, enter your address here:
http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com
If your address doesn't qualify, currently all you can get are the standard definition locals on DirecTV. The local HD channels will likely be added to DirecTV next year.

Enter your address at antennaweb to find out

Already been here and it shows i can only get 11.1

You can't get the HD networks on Dishnetwork

You can't they show an HD Pack for $9.99 that includes ESPN HD, Discovery HD TheaterTM, TNT HD, HDNet and HDNet Movies. They also show a VOOM package for $5 more.... So you really got me confused here.

Cox is my wonderful cable company... and they do not offer HD channels.

So would it be worth trying to pick up one ota hd channel or just going with dish or directtv

By "networks", I meant the big 4; abc, cbs, fox, nbc.
So if you can't get the networks in HD OTA with an antenna or from cable, don't look to Dish to get the networks, except maybe CBS.

But you are correct about Dish having an HD pack, as does DirecTV. And DirecTV is in the process of launching several new satellites this year and next, which will have the capacity to carry literally hundreds of HD channels. The new satellites require DirecTV's latest MPEG4 HD receiver, which new & existing customers can get free, after rebate.

Does your tv have a built in ATSC tuner? If so, it certainly wouldn't hurt to get an antenna and try it out, because that looks like your best bet to get the networks in HD. Also Dish will be expanding their HD pack soon as well, but they may take longer to get HD locals than Direct.

I am getting the new HP Pavilion MD6580n 65-inch 1080p Microdisplay TV. It has integrated CableCARD/ATSC/QAM/NTSC. So basicly if i want local chanels in HD i will have to go OTA. Neither Directv or Dish have local chanels in hd?

OTA is the only way you can get your local channels in HD.

If your address qualifies at:
http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressForm.aspx
you can get one or more of the Big 4 networks out of New York in HD from DirecTV.

The url directly above does not work

You can't they show an HD Pack for $9.99 that includes ESPN HD, Discovery HD TheaterTM, TNT HD, HDNet and HDNet Movies. They also show a VOOM package for $5 more.... So you really got me confused here.

Cox is my wonderful cable company... and they do not offer HD channels.

So would it be worth trying to pick up one ota hd channel or just going with dish or directtv

I have the Dish HD pack plus Voom and really like it. A lot of the Voom programming repeats itself, but it only costs $5 a month. There is a bit of a war going on right now between Dish HD subscribers and Dish over the down-rezzing of the Voom channels, but it looks like we got their attention and they are working on improving it. Still, for $15 a month I would pick up the Dish HD pack and Voom. We have one of the Samsung HL-R6178W 1080p sets and had folks over for the Taylor / Hopkins 2 rematch in HD on Dish (at no extra charge from Dish for HD) and they were amazed at the additional programming from Dish. Rave is a good music channel, but you will need a receiver with audio delay because that channel is almost always out of sync. HDNet and HDNet Movies are great and have some neat events in HD you won't see anywhere else. We watched the Race of Champions from Paris after the fight and it looked great.

Try for any OTA channels you can get, it is the purest HD signal you will receive.

The url directly above does not work

Sorry about the error. I edited the above URL to add the part that got cutoff. Here it is again:

http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressForm.aspx

I have a friend who has charter cable, he says they do not have an HD package option. Anybody know of any future plans for them to offer HD?

DirecTV plans to offer local HD channels to all markets in 2007.
Article at:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/freehdtv090605.html

I have a friend who has charter cable, he says they do not have an HD package option. Anybody know of any future plans for them to offer HD?

I had Charter in Maumelle and dropped them for Dish because of the lack of HD content. Everytime I asked them about it, they did not know when it would be available.

E

AFAIK, there are no plans for HD on Charter in Benton either.

DirecTV plans to offer local HD channels to all markets in 2007.
Article at:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/freehdtv090605.html
Unfortunately, DirecTV offers HD at about half the resolution it should. That's why OTA is soooo much more desirable. Or cable should locals be offered on it.

Hello fellow Arkansans. I just orderd my hp 65" tv. I am in Russellville and i guess i have a few questions. Can i pick up OTA HD Channels? Do i need to pick up OTA channels if i use dish or direct tv? I am using Cox right now, but i don't know if they offer HD Channels. Thanks for the help.
Russellville is sort of the cut off point for Little Rock stations. The best thing to do would be find a neighbor who has a rooftop antenna pointed toward Little Rock, and go see how his picture is. If its not to snowy on channel 16, you should be able to pick up CBS and FOX digital. Check channel 38. If its not snowy, you should be able to get UPN digital. Up there, it all depends on where you are, whats around you, and how high your antenna is. You might even be able to pick up Ft Smith, although Im not familiar with their channel assignments or power levels. You should qualify for national HD channels from DirecTv though, if the outside antenna doesnt work out for you.

Hey guys and gals! I live in Hot Springs and am (FINALLY!) getting some HD sources next week. I'm getting Dish installed Friday w/ HD and the Voom pack. I'm pretty excited.

I have talked to various dealers and people who have tried to get HD OTA from the LR channels w/ zero success. Is there ANY way I can get CBS and/or Fox in HD via Dish Network? (The link to the D* site shows that my address should receive them, but I KNOW it's impossible due to terrain and distance.)

Our local cable (whom I'll nominate for "Worst Company on the Plantet") finally decided to offer HD channels (six including 3 premium channels, yippee) and NO LOCALS. Therefore, I have NO way of picking up network HD broadcasts.

I could REALLY make my wife happy if she could watch CSI (all of them), The Amazing Race, Survivor, etc. in HD. (Hint-hint Allison)

Merry Christmas,
John

John,
Please send me an email at technicalservices@todaysthv.com and we can visit about your little situation!

yromj, I know that Dish offers CBS if you're qualified, but considering that technically you are in the LR DMA, I don't think you would qualify. Also, if your cable company offers any HD, they can't be the worst on the planet, because Charter in Benton, AFAIK offers none. Of course, it's been two and a half years since I got rid of Charter and have no intentions of ever going back, so there could be developments I don't know about. Lastly, Amazing Race and Survivor are not broadcast in HD at this time.

Wow, I hate making such a negative post. I really hope your able to get some good stuff. I am getting more and more tempted to upgrade my Dish service to HD myself.

Edit: I see Alison posted at the same time I did, hope she can help!

Allsion,

You have mail.

John

Rocky,

I wasn't aware that Amazing Race and Survivor weren't in HD. (Had no way of getting it, so I never checked...just assumed.) Thanks for the heads up on that. (I wonder if the new seasons will be.)

Yea, my mom and sister have Charter and they are pretty bad, too. However, they serve probably less than 40% the number of customers that Resort serves so they probably don't have as much operating capitol as Resort either.

John

Like most "reality" shows, Amazing Race and Survivor are not in HD.

To see if you can get HDTV Big 4 networks (abc, cbs, fox, nbc) from New York via DirecTV, enter your address here (http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressForm.aspx).

If it says you're eligible for "Digital (HD) Distant Network Service", D* will add the eligible channels at no charge if you have the HD pack and subscribe to the standard def locals on D*. But you have to ask to have them added.

Like most "reality" shows, Amazing Race and Survivor are not in HD.

To see if you can get HDTV Big 4 networks (abc, cbs, fox, nbc) from New York via DirecTV, enter your address Digital (HD) Distant Network Service", D* will add the eligible channels at no charge if you have the HD pack and subscribe to the standard def locals on D*. But you have to ask to have them added.

arxaw,

Thanks for the info. I'm not going to be using D*, but Dish. Incidentally, I checked the D* site just to say what they would say (even though I knew what they would say). Their site says that I am in the LR DMA. However, it is impossible for anyone on the west side of HS to receive HD OTA.

I've also heard that it's impossible to get it in Malvern also. If it's not possible there, there is no way it's possible in Hot Springs. Now, if the stations would build a tower on Mt. Riante, that would be a different story. (They could serve ~100k people w/ that tower.)

John

John,
Just curious, at the link above (http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressForm.aspx), were you eligible for any HD networks via D*?

-- Sam

Decided to retire my old tv and replace it with an HD monitor (since I already had a digital OTA box, the internal tuner requirement wasn't that important). In my location near Star City (not typical of the area, many others will not get some of these due to pine trees, etc) I can get the following channels

KETS (yet to see HD programming so far)
KTHV
KATV (very weak, some dropouts during marginal conditions)
KLRT
KASN

For those with the sat boxes, how is the OTA tuners doing in those, as I may consider getting either D* or E* in the future. And do those come with HDMI output.

Thanks.

Decided to retire my old tv and replace it with an HD monitor (since I already had a digital OTA box, the internal tuner requirement wasn't that important). In my location near Star City (not typical of the area, many others will not get some of these due to pine trees, etc) I can get the following channels

KETS (yet to see HD programming so far)
KTHV
KATV (very weak, some dropouts during marginal conditions)
KLRT
KASN

For those with the sat boxes, how is the OTA tuners doing in those, as I may consider getting either D* or E* in the future. And do those come with HDMI output.

Thanks.

I have the 811 from Dish, but have yet to try the ATSC tuner in it. I may try it this weekend just for the heck of it. I have a big 4 bay UHF antenna in my attic (Maumelle) and can get a great signal from KATV, but I had to screw the antenna down because any movement will make the signal completely go away. My 811 is connected out the DVI converting to HDMI to connect to the TV.

I will let you know how the tuner works.

E

For those with the sat boxes, how is the OTA tuners doing in those, as I may consider getting either D* or E* in the future. And do those come with HDMI output.

I recently got a D* HD model H20 receiver to replace a Samsung that I kept having to reboot to keep it going. (Currently, the H20 is free after rebate, for existing & new D* customers). The H20 is not perfect and lacks a few features of previous boxes, but for free, I really can't complain.

Picture quality and tuner sensitivity are the best I've seen on any D* receiver. The H20 has the LG 5th generation ATSC chipset which works well with weak signals and practically ignores multipath. It receives channels rock solid that were plagued with A/V dropouts on my Samsung receiver.

The H20 is also MPEG4 capable, which will be required for HD local channels via D* in the near future.

I have the 811 from Dish, but have yet to try the ATSC tuner in it. I may try it this weekend just for the heck of it. I have a big 4 bay UHF antenna in my attic (Maumelle) and can get a great signal from KATV, but I had to screw the antenna down because any movement will make the signal completely go away. My 811 is connected out the DVI converting to HDMI to connect to the TV.

I will let you know how the tuner works.

E

Errett,
My experience is that the tuner on my Sony HDTV is far superior to the ATSC tuner on my Dish 921. I switched last night between TV tuner and the Dish rx and my TV looked much sharper. It could be the DVR that is built into the satellite rx that is causing the loss in resolution. I don't know. I am curious on your 811 if you can notice a difference.

Errett,
My experience is that the tuner on my Sony HDTV is far superior to the ATSC tuner on my Dish 921. I switched last night between TV tuner and the Dish rx and my TV looked much sharper. It could be the DVR that is built into the satellite rx that is causing the loss in resolution. I don't know. I am curious on your 811 if you can notice a difference.

I have a feeling that the tuner in my Samsung is going to be better than the 811 also. If for no other reason than the Samsung has the latest generation ATSC tuner (the TV was just released in August). I will give it a try and report back. Now I am curious.

E

Just curious, at the link [were you eligible for any HD networks via D*?

-- Sam

No, I was not. According to D*'s site, I am w/in the LR DMA.

John

Decided to retire my old tv and replace it with an HD monitor (since I already had a digital OTA box, the internal tuner requirement wasn't that important). In my location near Star City (not typical of the area, many others will not get some of these due to pine trees, etc) I can get the following channels

KETS (yet to see HD programming so far)
KTHV
KATV (very weak, some dropouts during marginal conditions)
KLRT
KASN

For those with the sat boxes, how is the OTA tuners doing in those, as I may consider getting either D* or E* in the future. And do those come with HDMI output.

Thanks.
hale-SEA, I don't have much of a frame of reference, but I just signed up with E* and got the 942 HD receiver. The OTA seems to work well. I don't have an antenna in the attic, but I can pick up KARK (doesn't broadcast HD yet), KTHV, KLRT, & KASN. The 942 does have an HDMI output, and I've been happy so far.

Hope that helps!

No, I was not. According to D*'s site, I am w/in the LR DMA.

John


From an address of a friend on Lake Hamilton, it shows that the ABC Digital (HD) Distant Network Service is available, other networks show grade A (KTHV) and grade B signals

An address in a valley (with a hill between it and the transmitters) will be more likely to return eligible channels.

Ok got some info that might be usefull to all. I had decided on signing up for Dish as a new customer and was going to purchase the 942 and when i called in to do it today i got to talking to the guy and the Dish rep said that in March a new HD-DVR unit will be comming out that will support Mpeg4 as well as more HD channels that i would not be able to get with the 942(2nd part seemed a little fishy) He also said they will be getting local channels in select markets next year as well.

So i call my local Dish store and they comfirm that there is a new HD-DVR reciever comming out in March. I have never had anything but cable, but i was told that with DISH if i got their service now i would not be able to upgrade to the new reciever in March and that even if i could i would not get it for anywhere near the $250 price on the 942. I was told that the 942 is still not available to existing Dish customers. Can anyone verify this?

Anyone got any input on this information? So should I hold off till March? I will be getting our first HDTV next week, not going to make it for Christmas... Darn the bad luck.

hevnbnd,

Check your private messages.

Also see Satelliteguys.us for Dish HD forums (http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=43).

Just another intermittent check to see if anyone knows of someone who specializes in OTA antenna installs; send me a pm if you know someone. Surely, someone has picked up on this market by now, since i imagine a ton of HDTVs were sold this christmas.

Again, i'm aware of the Broadway Satellite option, but I didn't get a very good impression of them when they did my Direct TV and one really gets the feeling that they have little experience with OTA antennas (other than maybe batwings that hook onto their DTV dishes).

My indoor antenna is doing the job pretty well, but the wife keeps complaining about the eyesore on top of my TV.

Azanon

Ok got some info that might be usefull to all. I had decided on signing up for Dish as a new customer and was going to purchase the 942 and when i called in to do it today i got to talking to the guy and the Dish rep said that in March a new HD-DVR unit will be comming out that will support Mpeg4 as well as more HD channels that i would not be able to get with the 942(2nd part seemed a little fishy) He also said they will be getting local channels in select markets next year as well.

So i call my local Dish store and they comfirm that there is a new HD-DVR reciever comming out in March. I have never had anything but cable, but i was told that with DISH if i got their service now i would not be able to upgrade to the new reciever in March and that even if i could i would not get it for anywhere near the $250 price on the 942. I was told that the 942 is still not available to existing Dish customers. Can anyone verify this?

Anyone got any input on this information? So should I hold off till March? I will be getting our first HDTV next week, not going to make it for Christmas... Darn the bad luck.

I can confirm that the 942 is not available to existing members for $250. You would need to purchase it for around $600 or $700. The rumor is that the new VOOM channels and ESPN 2 HD will be in MPEG-4, but a lot of folks are doubting this. Should be interesting to see if this is true or if they mis-spoke during the last Charlie Chat. The next Charlie Chat is supposed to be dedicated to HD and occurs on 1/9/2006.

Hopefully we will get some info so we know what direction we need to go in with receivers. I want a 942 also, but I am not buying it until I know it will not be immediately out of date.

E

An update:

New tv is working fine. Got to finally see an HD program from PBS/AETN this evening-- Window To The Sea . Actually was beginning to wonder if AETN would air any HD programs. Still looked great and shows the potential for HD.

Checked RF channel 32 this evening for activity and noticed a higher than normal signal reading. Since it was lower than the Little Rock channels I normally get, determined that it was probally from the east and after a rescan found WABG-DT Greenwood, MS (remaps to 6-1, 6-2). Caught the 10pm newscast and the start of Nightline which WABG airs live. The two channels 6-1 and 6-2 simulcast but unsure if any HD programming is passed at this time. About 10:45pm, the signal dropped out and is not strong enough to keep a lock. Peak reading was about 60 during the newscast.

Response to my inquiry regarding HD at KARK from Mr. Rogala:

From Rick Rogala, Gen Mgr KARK

The work on our full power digital transmitter will begin in the next few weeks. I just got word today that the company that supplies the digital RF equipment may be slightly delayed in delivery, which will push the launch of HD programming to January.

All the best,

Rick


Anybody heard if KARK is still ontrack to begin HD this month? Would really be nice to have it up and running before the Olympics start.

Dennis,

I won't be holding my breath. Hopefully, they'll get online before Feburary sweeps, although most of the NBC Olympic coverage will likely be figure skating :( . Also NBC has their final year of NASCAR (second half of season) starting in July.

H.

FYI..
In case someone does what I did I was originally hooking my antenna up through my Directv receiver and then into my TV. I was able to receive 11-1 & 16-1 fine but no ABC (7-1 & 7-2). After plugging the antenna directly into my tv all the channels are working fine now.

Fox News Sunday via KLRT is in HDTV this morning. Main studio cam showing HD, and segments with remote interviews have colorful pillarboxes with moving background.

I have the 811 from Dish, but have yet to try the ATSC tuner in it. I may try it this weekend just for the heck of it. I have a big 4 bay UHF antenna in my attic (Maumelle) and can get a great signal from KATV, but I had to screw the antenna down because any movement will make the signal completely go away. My 811 is connected out the DVI converting to HDMI to connect to the TV.

I will let you know how the tuner works.

E

Finally got around to testing the tuner in my 811 from Dish and have one word for it, awful. I immediately disconnected it and went back to the tuner built into my Samsung set.

Fox News Sunday via KLRT is in HDTV this morning. Main studio cam showing HD, and segments with remote interviews have colorful pillarboxes with moving background.

FOX News Sunday has been in HD for quite sometime.

FOX News Sunday has been in HD for quite sometime.

Hey Errett,
I've been a FNS fan for years but don't think they've sprung for the big bucks studio cameras yet. It is coming on an HD stream but is really widescreen image that's upconverted. It's much better than the analog picture but is still too fuzzy to be true HD originated. Take a close look and let me know if I'm right or wrong.

Fox used to feed a lot of stuff in that widescreen format but all the the primetime stuff is now using new cameras. (at least the programs I'm watching)

Do your studio cams have widescreen? If so, have you considered feeding your news upconverted wide--your local shows have the best picture of any of the news feeds so a widescreen feed would look real close to HD. The stations in the Dallas market have spent $$$ on their convertors and your digital feed looks as good as theirs.

I live off Chenal Parkway on a decent size hill. I receive the digital signals from channel 4, 11, and 16, but cannot get 7-22.1?KATV. antennaweb says the tower is 22 miles away. I bought a DB4 antenna from antennas direct.

It is multidirectional and has no problem picking up those 3. Any suggestions on how to get KATV on the digital signal? I have dish network -- any truth to the fact that they are getting all the local channels in HD in March of this year? Thanks for any suggestions.

Dont misconstrue multidirectional as bi-directional. If you are not aiming your db4 at Redfield, you are probably not going to get 22.1 or 39.1. If you are on Chenal I assume your antenna is pointed west or northwest? You would have the reflector back toward Redfield, and you would be getting more than -20db rejectioon of the signal you want. Try turning it around, hopefully the signals from Chenal will be strong enough to pick up pointed toward Redfield. Can you pick up analog channel 38 well? It in the same location.

Dave

Aim the antenna in the direction shown on antennaweb.org for your complete address. If you can get 39-1 (aka 38-1, aka KASN-DT/UPN), the problem is KATV's not yours. According to the FCC, they're still only broadcasting at a low power of ~10kw.

wxguy,
I can't speak for errett, at least not to the specifications of the studio cams, but as I am an editor and also do playout, and I can say that there would be a whole lot more work than just changing a setting on the camera in order to do Fox 16 News in widescreen. All the graphics would have to be redone, and a major upgrade, if not replacement for the editing systems. I'm not sure if ENG cameras have a widescreen mode or not, but they are DVCPro, so they are not HD. Now, I really wish that the guys putting this stuff together 2+ years ago had considered all this, and we could have gone HD from the start, but unfortunately, I don't see it happening now.

Anyway, having said all that, E is the engineer, and he may know some stuff I don't.

Dont misconstrue multidirectional as bi-directional. If you are not aiming your db4 at Redfield, you are probably not going to get 22.1 or 39.1. If you are on Chenal I assume your antenna is pointed west or northwest? You would have the reflector back toward Redfield, and you would be getting more than -20db rejectioon of the signal you want. Try turning it around, hopefully the signals from Chenal will be strong enough to pick up pointed toward Redfield. Can you pick up analog channel 38 well? It in the same location.

Dave

Dave- thanks for the reply. I did try pointing the antenna towards redfield, but to no avail for 22.1. I don't get 39.1/38 either. when I pointed it towards redfield, i lost my signal to 4, 11, and 16. maybe the db4 is not strong enough? i do have some trees to the south and and east of my house, but they are at roof top level and are about 50 feet from the roof line.

is there any truth to the matter that dish network is working on launching the local channels in digital this march 06? thanks.

You may need a better antenna.
Does your TV have a built in tuner or are you using a set top box?

Hey Errett,
I've been a FNS fan for years but don't think they've sprung for the big bucks studio cameras yet. It is coming on an HD stream but is really widescreen image that's upconverted. It's much better than the analog picture but is still too fuzzy to be true HD originated. Take a close look and let me know if I'm right or wrong.

Fox used to feed a lot of stuff in that widescreen format but all the the primetime stuff is now using new cameras. (at least the programs I'm watching)

Do your studio cams have widescreen? If so, have you considered feeding your news upconverted wide--your local shows have the best picture of any of the news feeds so a widescreen feed would look real close to HD. The stations in the Dallas market have spent $$$ on their convertors and your digital feed looks as good as theirs.

You may be right about FNS. I usually just check in and make sure I see it in widescreen and then flip away. I will linger next week and check it out. As for our studio cameras, they are capable of widescreen. The next step is one all of the stations are having to consider due to the immense cost commitment involved.

Thanks for the compliment about the news, we are very proud and very critical of the signals we put out.

E

jimbart3, all the info I have seen points to Dish rolling out HD locals in 5 markets per month through '06, meaning the top 50 markets will be up by the end of the year. We are at #57, so I don't see it happening before early '07. Where did you hear the March rumor? If you currently have Dish, watch tonights Charlie Chat, it is supposed to focus on Dish's new HD plans, so there could be some updated info.

Oh yeah, I will also officially ask this weeks "Any news on Ch. 4?" question.

Rocky F-
the rumor re: Dish network and local HD channels for LR was something a saleman at radio shack told me this weekend. he said his dish network rep was excited to have "time off" b/c they were ahead of schedule for getting the local channels in digital, and this would all happen by March '06. of course, this is hearsay so take it with a grain of salt.

You may need a better antenna.
Does your TV have a built in tuner or are you using a set top box?


I have a Sony WEGA with the built-in tuner. i am willing to hold off since i just purchased this antenna and if the dish network rumor is true about getting the locals in HD by March, no sense in dropping more money on this problem of KATV-HD. thanks.

jimbart3,

I have the Sony KDFE-42A10 with the internal tuner and the HR10-250 DirecTiVo. The tuner on the Sony is much better than the D* receiver for local ATSC stations. That said, I have been able to get all of the digitals (except KETS and KARK) using a ChannelMaster 4221 and a ChannelMaster 7777 pre-amp on both the Sony and D* tuners.

I am located in central LR and shinall is at 285 degrees and Redfield is at 160. I have the 4221 pointed at about 225 degrees (eyeballed), essentially splitting the difference between the two tower locations. I have strong signals from all of the stations and have only noticed a few dropouts from KATV during extremely high winds.

Thanks jparry -- i will look into buying the channelmaster 4221 and 7777 pre-amp. the pre-amp is probably my best bet b/c i am not dealing with a long coax wire (only 50 ft) and there are no splitters. i currently have my db4 antenna pointing to about 300 degrees, which is shinall. KATV-7 is my only station out of 4, 11, and 16 that i cannot get in digital.

jimbart3,

I have the Sony KDFE-42A10 with the internal tuner and the HR10-250 DirecTiVo. The tuner on the Sony is much better than the D* receiver for local ATSC stations. That said, I have been able to get all of the digitals (except KETS and KARK) using a ChannelMaster 4221 and a ChannelMaster 7777 pre-amp on both the Sony and D* tuners.

I am located in central LR and shinall is at 285 degrees and Redfield is at 160. I have the 4221 pointed at about 225 degrees (eyeballed), essentially splitting the difference between the two tower locations. I have strong signals from all of the stations and have only noticed a few dropouts from KATV during extremely high winds.
jparry-
any recommendations on where to buy the channel master 7777? does the pre-amp work as a signal boost?

Well guys, it's that time of year again. Starting Wednesday, Ch. 7 will begin pre-empting ABC programming with JP's SEC basketball games. I complained about this last year, and I will do so again. Like I said then, I can understand for Razorback games, but not for other games. Anyway, I went back and looked at the posts from last year, and saw one which stated the 7's GM had come on and made a statement about possibly using their multicasting ability this year to allow us digital viewers to see "Lost" at the right time. I have e-mailed them to find out if that was going to happen, but I thought if anyone else cares, you might want to do the same.

RockyF,
Isn't KATV-DT still low power? If so, a lot of people now qualify for WABC-DT on DirecTV, due to recent law changes.

Send me a Private Msg for the URL to check your home address to see if it qualifies.

i think KATV is still low power, but i have dish network.

jparry-
any recommendations on where to buy the channel master 7777? does the pre-amp work as a signal boost?
This is where I got mine

CM 7777 V/U preamp:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm
CM 4221 UHF antenna:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4221.htm

I did try pointing the antenna towards redfield, but to no avail for 22.1. I don't get 39.1/38 either. when I pointed it towards redfield, i lost my signal to 4, 11, and 16. maybe the db4 is not strong enough? i do have some trees to the south and and east of my house, but they are at roof top level and are about 50 feet from the roof line.

You are on a hill, and with your antenna pointed (roughly south, southeast) you cannot even get channel 38 analog? How high is the hill you are on compared to other hills south of you? Where are you mounting your antenna, what type of connection are you running from the antenna to the coax (300 to 75 ohm, or does the antenna have a built in 75 ohm feed?)? How long is your antenna run? To be honest, it sounds like your antenna or coax has a short, you should be able to receive 38 analog and 39.1 pointed at redfield unless you were being blocked by some really large hills within 10 miles or so. Just one caution on preamps, they can easily overload on strong signals (channel 16.1 for example) and cause havoc with reception on other channels, so if you try one, get it from somewhere with a return policy in case it doesnt work. Even in North Little Rock, I have not been able to use one with any success. If you have acces to a map of your area, with elevations, you can draw a line from your house to redfield, and check the hill heights over the entire path, to see if you have a hill blocking you that you are not aware of.

Cannot answer any Dish questions, I use Directv.

Well guys, it's that time of year again. Starting Wednesday, Ch. 7 will begin pre-empting ABC programming with JP's SEC basketball games. I complained about this last year, and I will do so again. Like I said then, I can understand for Razorback games, but not for other games. Anyway, I went back and looked at the posts from last year, and saw one which stated the 7's GM had come on and made a statement about possibly using their multicasting ability this year to allow us digital viewers to see "Lost" at the right time. I have e-mailed them to find out if that was going to happen, but I thought if anyone else cares, you might want to do the same.

Oh great. Having just offically entered the HDTV world less than a month ago, I've noticed KATV bump Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to a 11:30pm local timeslot (and NO HD) so the station could make an extra buck or two off of EBLR reruns. I'm glad that KATV does HD, but it should also be noted that premptions for second-tier SEC games (especially non-Hog ones) won't cut it, outside of hardcore CBB fans.
Also note this interesting information from JP Sports (http://jpsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=8&url_article_id=150&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2). Not all stations carring JP games carry all the Wednsday night ones.

I will pointing the CM 4228 to the east-southeast on Wed night and hoping that WABG-DT's signal (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1042525.html) , makes it to this part of Lincoln County.

BTW, KATV-DT (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS988996.html) is still low power (signal is most subject to dropouts of current LR HD stations) but watchable only due to clear line of sight to my north-northwest.

H.

Just one caution on preamps, .... I have not been able to use one with any success...A preamp might overload a DAT75, but probably not a DB4. I used a CM 7777 preamp when I lived in central LR. It didn't overload any channels using a CM 4221, which is similar to the DB4, according to actual antenna tests I've seen online.

For me, the CM 7777 made an improvement in reception of low power station KATV-DT.

While channel surfing last night, planned on catching Antiques Roadshow on the PBS National (west coast) feed on 2-2 at 10pm, but instead found a program called Create . Seems the entire 2-2 schedule has changed to How-to programing.

H.

haley-SEA,
thanks for that link to JP sports, hopefully we'll get a few HD Lost's in the next few months. They will not be multicasting, and even when they start, ABC programming will be pushed back to 7-2, meaning no HD. Here is the response I got from Ch. 7:

Thank you for contacting KATV about our plans for “Lost” on Wednesday
nights during SEC Basketball season. KATV's current contract with JP
Sports calls for their games to be carried on the station's primary
signal. We don't anticipate the multiple program streams will become a
reality for another two years when the FCC has mandated the analog signal
will be turned off. Once multicasting becomes a reality, we expect to be
able to carry both ABC’s programming as well as the SEC games live.

KATV is in a unique situation. Our job is to bring our viewers the
very best in entertainment and sports programming and we do our best to do
just that. Over the years we have learned when we have two popular
programs scheduled for the same time period there is no way to make
everyone happy. We understand there are legitimate differing opinions for
every decision we make, but I want you to know that we make every
judgment in good faith. I trust you will continue to share your views with
us.

Thank you for contacting KATV and for watching Channel 7.

Richard Farrester
Program Director

haley-SEA,
thanks for that link to JP sports, hopefully we'll get a few HD Lost's in the next few months. They will not be multicasting, and even when they start, ABC programming will be pushed back to 7-2, meaning no HD.

They could do the JP sports at a very low bitrate 480i (since JP Sports is poor SD quality anyway), and do ABC-HD on 7-2. That's assuming the KATV could figure out how to do that. They used to carry the defunct abc news now on a sub channel, so they do have multicasting capability.

You are on a hill, and with your antenna pointed (roughly south, southeast) you cannot even get channel 38 analog? How high is the hill you are on compared to other hills south of you? Where are you mounting your antenna, what type of connection are you running from the antenna to the coax (300 to 75 ohm, or does the antenna have a built in 75 ohm feed?)? How long is your antenna run? To be honest, it sounds like your antenna or coax has a short, you should be able to receive 38 analog and 39.1 pointed at redfield unless you were being blocked by some really large hills within 10 miles or so. Just one caution on preamps, they can easily overload on strong signals (channel 16.1 for example) and cause havoc with reception on other channels, so if you try one, get it from somewhere with a return policy in case it doesnt work. Even in North Little Rock, I have not been able to use one with any success. If you have acces to a map of your area, with elevations, you can draw a line from your house to redfield, and check the hill heights over the entire path, to see if you have a hill blocking you that you are not aware of.

Cannot answer any Dish questions, I use Directv.

Thanks for the info. No, I cannot even get 38 analog. I live on Summit Ridge, off Chenal parkway, which appears to the tallest hill around, but i would have to look at a map. i am looking at buying a winegard HD-9095P antenna. I'm afraid a preamp would choke out 4, 11, and 16. I emailed the tech at KATV and he said they are still on 10KW until probably July 06 at the earliest.

This is where I got mine

CM 7777 V/U preamp:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm
CM 4221 UHF antenna:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4221.htm

thanks, i think i will avoid the preamp idea and get a bigger antenna -- winegard HD 9095P.

A preamp might overload a DAT75, but probably not a DB4. I used a CM 7777 preamp when I lived in central LR. It didn't overload any channels using a CM 4221, which is similar to the DB4, according to actual antenna tests I've seen online.

For me, the CM 7777 made an improvement in reception of low power station KATV-DT.


Thanks, thats good to know. I kinda figured him being right under the transmitters on Chenal, he might have the same problem I did. I never tried the preamp on a low(er) gain antenna, just a quantum and Dat75, both of which are pretty high gain.

Thanks for the info. No, I cannot even get 38 analog. I live on Summit Ridge, off Chenal parkway, which appears to the tallest hill around, but i would have to look at a map. i am looking at buying a winegard HD-9095P antenna. I'm afraid a preamp would choke out 4, 11, and 16. I emailed the tech at KATV and he said they are still on 10KW until probably July 06 at the earliest.

If thats the Summit Ridge if the Kanis/Kirby rd area of west LR, you are about 1/2 mile NW of a location I just did a site survey at to help him install an OTA antenna, and his signal strength on Redfield (all channels including 7.1) were outstanding, with the antenna in the living room, so the signal is in that area, unless you have something really high SE of you (and he was on a pretty high hill). Just for grins, try hooking a piece of wire about 6" long into the end of a RF patch cable and plug the patch cable into your antenna jack, and see if you get ANY signal from redfield. If you do, check your antennas coax. The highest gain antenna in the world wont help you if you dont have any signal. If you cannot get any signal at all on a DB4, a higher gain antenna probably wont help either, only elevation of the antenna to clear the blockage. Also, can you get VHF from Redfield there ok?

Regarding the scheduling of Dish network and Little Rock HD Locals, I found the following on satelliteguys.us:

Translated to DMAs:

Dish Network HD LiL List

(#1) New York, NY
(#2) Los Angeles, CA
(#3) Chicago, IL
(#4) Philadelphia, PA
(#5) Boston, MA
(#6) San Francisco, CA
(#7) Dallas, TX
(#8) Washington, D.C.
(#9) Atlanta, GA
(#10) Houston, TX
(#11) Detroit, MI
(#13) Seattle, WA
(#14) Phoenix, AZ
(#15) Minneapolis, MN
(#16) Cleveland, OH
(#17) Miami, FL
(#18) Denver, CO
(#19) Sacremento, CA
(#20) Orlando, FL
(#21) St. Louis, MO
(#22) Pittsburgh, PA
(#23) Portland, OR
(#24) Baltimore, MD
(#25) Indianapolis, IN
(#26) San Diego, CA
(#27) Charlotte, NC
(#29) Raleigh, NC
(#30) Nashville, TN
(#31) Kansas City, MO
(#33) Milwaukee, WI
(#35) Greenville, SC
(#36) Salt Lake City, UT
(#37) San Antonio, TX
(#42) Norfolk, VA
(#43) New Orleans, LA
(#44) Memphis, TN
(#45) Oklahoma City, OK
(#46) Albuquerque, NM
(#49) Buffalo, NY
(#50) Louisville, KY
(#51) Providence, RI
(#52) Jacksonville, FL
(#53) Austin, TX

The WTF section :P
(#61) Tulsa, OK
(#77) Springfield, MO
(#78) Spokane
(#90) Burlington, VT

NOT PLANNED (Top 60 DMAs)
(#12) Tampa, FL
(#28) Hartford, CT
(#32) Columbus, OH
(#34) Cincinnati, OH
(#38) West Palm Beach, FL
(#39) Grand Rapids, MI
(#40) Birmingham, AL
(#41) Harrisburg, PA
(#47) Greensboro, NC
(#48) Las Vegas, NV
(#54) Wilkes Barre, PA
(#55) Albany, NY
(#56) Fresno, CA
(#57) Little Rock, AR
(#58) Knoxville, TN
(#59) Dayton, OH
(#60) Richmond, VA

Notice that LR is in the "Not planned" category.

John

If thats the Summit Ridge if the Kanis/Kirby rd area of west LR, you are about 1/2 mile NW of a location I just did a site survey at to help him install an OTA antenna, and his signal strength on Redfield (all channels including 7.1) were outstanding, with the antenna in the living room, so the signal is in that area, unless you have something really high SE of you (and he was on a pretty high hill). Just for grins, try hooking a piece of wire about 6" long into the end of a RF patch cable and plug the patch cable into your antenna jack, and see if you get ANY signal from redfield. If you do, check your antennas coax. The highest gain antenna in the world wont help you if you dont have any signal. If you cannot get any signal at all on a DB4, a higher gain antenna probably wont help either, only elevation of the antenna to clear the blockage. Also, can you get VHF from Redfield there ok?

Yes, Summit Ridge backs up Kanis. I am on the highest point of that hill, but do have some trees SE of me. I do get a decent analog signal/VHF from KATV, but do not get UPN 38 at all. I will try your idea - what is an "RF" patch cable? Also, if I do hook up a winegard 9096P as a 2d antenna facing towards Redfield, how far from the DB4 does it need to be so that it doesn't cause inteference with it? thanks.

Yes, Summit Ridge backs up Kanis. I am on the highest point of that hill, but do have some trees SE of me. I do get a decent analog signal/VHF from KATV, but do not get UPN 38 at all. I will try your idea - what is an "RF" patch cable? Also, if I do hook up a winegard 9096P as a 2d antenna facing towards Redfield, how far from the DB4 does it need to be so that it doesn't cause inteference with it? thanks.

RF patch cable, one of those little cables that come with a vcr or dvd player that no one uses because they hook em up with a/v cables.

The two antennas should be one wavelength apart at the lowest frequency, or more, so I would say Keep the top of the reflectors at least two feet apart. That doesnt always work because mine are 5 ft apart and interact a little if I rotate the top one while watching the bottom one which is below the rotor. Just have to play a little, thats half the fun (yea right).

If you already have the big antenna, dont worry about the test, just slap the monster up there and see what happens. If you dont get anything, PM me, and maybe I can help you out.

I just found out that Comcast has put up PBS-HD on channel 240 in advance of their February realignment of channels. Looks like a pretty good libary of HD. Has all the NOVA programs that DiscoveryHD doesn't get. Don'tcha just love them penguins?

The regular AETN signal on channel 190 has never worked in HD. Whenever I've watched it breaks up or freezes. The audio comes through. Maybe a bandwidth problem or just a weak signal. I can't pull them off air due to the "25-watt" transmitted power and the fact I don't have a VHF antenna hooked up. I heard that AETN said they would work with Comcast to rectify the problem. I hate to miss the quarterly beg-a-thons. (Oh, nevermind-they do those in SD which is fine)

wxguy, this may or may not be related to the cable problems, but I've noticed similar issues with AETN-DT OTA. I seems to only happen when they switch the multicasting back on after showing something in HD. The picture will freeze and start flashing, like it's jumping between two frames, but the audio will continue. Last night the top left corner of the screen had the 2-1 picture, but the other 3/4 of the screen was flashing. It's pretty weird, but like I said, everytime I have seen it, it happened as they were coming out of HD and going back to SD.

Rocky,

Last night after *attempting* to pull in Lost from a neighboring market w/o success, decided to catch Walking The Bible on AETN. The image when first tuned in resembled the "squeseed" old Cinemascope movies shown on TV in my childhood. Then remembered to change the channel again, and after that the "normal" aspect ratio matched my TV. However when the regular AETN feed resumed, the picture was "stretched" until changing the channel and returning. Good to see actual HD programming on AETN, despite the network's poor choice of channel (frequency) for HD/DTV.

H.

They seem pretty intent on not letting us get rid of those big antennas. FCC should have just done away with both VHF bands for digital.

I think that was the original plan, but lobbying from the local stations and the NAB fearing "lack" of coverage caused VHF to be reinstated.

Actually, considering their output power and distance, I am quite surprised at how well I receive PBS on digital channel 5, considering both 2 and 4 have quite a bit of noise in their picture. The only time I ever experience any breakup in their picture or sound is during a thunderstorm, or when I turn on the bathroom light switch. Otherwise, their signal comes in about ~85 during the day, and 100 at night when the tropo conditions improve.. Still, given the same location, channel 22 stays pegged at 100, and doesnt glitch during storms.

KETS is dumping lowband VHF in the second round of channel selections. If approved, it appears they will end up on channel 7 or channel 10. Info here (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101092755&formid=384&fac_num=2770).

Dave,

KETS-DT is the third strongest signal (behind KASN, and KTHV) locally (for me) of the digitals. I've noticed that during low humidity levels when the 2, and 4 analogs have severe sparklies that KETS has audio/video dropouts and pixelization. This also occurs when switching lights on and off, etc.

KETS is dumping lowband VHF in the second round of channel selections. If approved, it appears they will end up on channel 7 or channel 10. Info here (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101092755&formid=384&fac_num=2770).
That selection makes sense when you consider all they have to do is run their digital encoder output across the way to the current Channel 7 transmitter. KATV donates the transmitter to them for a big tax writeoff and everybody wins except the viewers who have to watch a substandard digital picture.

Actually the picture off VHF CH12 is pretty decent when I pull it offair. And that's using a UHF antenna. I don't know if I could pull it off a channel 7 frequency with the same arrangement, but if they get the Comcast problem fixed I wouldn't have to worry. Maybe a tornado will take out their antenna and transmitter building soon and everyone will move to Shinall Mtn to solve a lot of offair viewing problems.

I'm not seeing the PBS-HD channel 24/7 on the AETN ota channels. This must be something Comcast has set up in cooperation with AETN on a temporary basis. The HD programming is taken from the PBS HD feed, but about only one show per week is showing up.

Any word on KWBF's plans or is it just vaporware.

H.

Now that the NFL for '06 and PGA tour '07 are going to be on NBC (KARK), what's the word when they will go HD? I didn't really think I was missing out on much not having them in HD, but now I'm starting to get a little ticked.

Well, the latest I've heard, and has been reported here, is that they should up their power and add HD sometime this month. Of course, even as optimistic as I try to be, I really have an "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude toward KARK. Hopefully, they'll at least be going by the Olympics. Keep an eye on this thread, I'm sure it will be the first place to report any changes.

They are beginnning their installation now. It takes more than a month to do the work that they need to get done. The weather may determine how quickly the work moves forward.

I'm not seeing the PBS-HD channel 24/7 on the AETN ota channels. This must be something Comcast has set up in cooperation with AETN on a temporary basis.
H.
The PBS-HD on Comcast is a permanent full time channel. Might be on one of the dish feeds as well. AETN only carries select HD programs and infrequently they coinicide with the PBS-HD feed. You'll never see a 24/7 HD feed ota from AETN. They are committed to keeping 4 separate program streams in SD going probably 90% of the time. BTW, Comcast is carrying all 4 ota channels--Three of them go black when AETN goes to HD. (That was a national agreement Comcast signed with PBS some few months ago-I saw it online or in the Dem-Gaz)

This Sunday while trying to record the football game on Fox I was having issues getting a lock on a signal through my HR10-250 DirecTV TiVo receiver. I was able to switch over to my TV's tuner and get a good lock (in real-time with all of the commercials - yuck). This is the first time since I had gotten my antenna up a few months back that I have had a problem with Fox.

Was there any problems on the broadcast side due to all of the rain/storms in the area?

Is rain fade like I experience sometimes with satellite reception a similar occurance for ATSC broadcasts? It has been so dry lately, this might be the first time I have tried to watch something OTA since I went digital.

JParry,

I've found that heavy rain between the transmitter and my location tends to attenuate DTV signals. Had several dropouts during CBS's coverage and FOX's. However, attempted to watch the NBA game on ABC (KATV-DT), and was unable to keep a lock, and this was occuring at 8pm when i tried to watch Despirate Housewives in HD. Had to switch to the SD sat feed. :(

H.

near Star City

Huge TV news today, WB and UPN are merging! This is being discussed over in the Programming section, and here's a link to the story: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20060124cw01

Anyway, I just thought I would mention this here. The story talks about CBS and Tribune owned stations will be carrying the CW, but it would be on stations that were either one or the other in the rest of the country. I know this will all play out in time, but I'm just scared of the idea of it going to Equity instead of ClearChannel (as far as HD goes.)

Been lurking for a while learning and want to get this groups opinion on a topic. With the Super Bowl being on ABC, is there any chance Channel 7 would up their transmitter power so that we could watch the game in "good" HD? Would they be swayed by a email writing campaign?

Thoughts? Do we have another option to watch a HD SB? PPV?

BR

Huge TV news today, WB and UPN are merging! This is being discussed over in the Programming section, and here's a link to the story: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20060124cw01

Anyway, I just thought I would mention this here. The story talks about CBS and Tribune owned stations will be carrying the CW, but it would be on stations that were either one or the other in the rest of the country. I know this will all play out in time, but I'm just scared of the idea of it going to Equity instead of ClearChannel (as far as HD goes.)

Rocky,

Found out a few minutes ago while reading some listserv posts from the Worldwide TV FM DX Association (http://www.anarc.org/wtfda).

I hope the affliations go by the best station of the two. It would be no brainer here: KASN because of the already existing full power digital and HD in place. Until a couple of weeks ago, I was 100% OTA and KWBF's analog signal here is borderline DX. A world of difference between the 2 stations.

H.

... With the Super Bowl being on ABC, is there any chance Channel 7 would up their transmitter power so that we could watch the game in "good" HD?

Ain't gonna happen.

KATV-DT can't do full power until their (yet to be installed) full power 750kW transmitter is on the air. They do have the construction permit (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=33543#10002) though :)

I just read on another site that UPN and WB are merging to form the "CW" network. If this is true, does anyone know if channel 38.1 will be picking up the WB HD feed or will we be stuck with 42 analog? What will the other station not merging carry for programming after the split?

Davenlr, unfortunately it's too early to know the answer to that question, but as I posted yesterday, I certainly hope the new network goes to 38. Not only are they obviously the better station in town with regards to HD, but there is also the fact that Clear Channel has deeper pockets than Equity, so maybe that will tip the balance in their favor. Basically, one of the reasons this merger happened when it did, is because the original affiliate liscence agreements for both WB and UPN are ending at the end of this season, so folks were going to have to renegotiate anyway. I don't know if anybody at Clear Channel, like Errett knows anything definate yet or not, but I will ask around when I go to work tomorrow.

Quick update, I just checked my e-mail, and I had a note from Chuck Spohn, the GM of UPN38. He said that at this point they don't know what will happen, however this quote shows that he's thinking exactly like I am:

"Rest assured that KASN's performance as one of the Top10 UPN's in the country will come into play, as will the significant national leverage of Clear Channel."

Hopefully we'll know something soon.

You might ask him for an email address we could write to proclaiming our *viewers* opinion on the subject. Might help sway the decision makers when the time comes, if they have lots of emails requesting one company over the other.

As a side note, while DXing this morning, I came across a fairly strong, consistant analog station on channel 9, broadcasting a sat feed of the UATV (Urban American TV network), and looking through the registry, I find a low power station licensed to a transmitter which appears to be in North Little Rock, downtown. That coincides with the direction my antenna was pointed. Has anyone else picked this up? It did not ID with any call letters on the hour.

Dave, I didn't know there was a second station carrying UATV in Little Rock area. I knew that last time I caught it, KJLR-28 carried UATV 24/7. Also KEJB-43 in El Dorado, a UPN station carries UATV programming in the morning (mainly the old public-domain movies).

Speaking of little transmitters, is KWBF-DT actually on the air?

H.

Speaking of little transmitters, is KWBF-DT actually on the air?

H.

I am 4.3 miles from the "transmitter" and get a signal strength of 3 to 6 out of 100 on my E86 with my high gain antenna, and no signal at all on my samsung tuner with the Quantum (which just happens to be pointed that direction). They might as well save the electricity.

Now that the NFL for '06 and PGA tour '07 are going to be on NBC (KARK), what's the word when they will go HD? I didn't really think I was missing out on much not having them in HD, but now I'm starting to get a little ticked.

I received an email from the chief engineer at KARK this morning. He says they are upping their power in March and they hope to have HD Feb. 10. I presume they are trying to have HD for the Olympics, but at only 4kw, who will see it? I live 15 miles from the tower and can barely get it with an outdoor antenna.

Well, that's better than nothing. I figured the increase in power and HD would go together. Not that I was really planning on watching a lot of the Olympics, but it would be nice for them to have the power up by then too, so a few people could actually recieve it.

If KARK starts pushing HD Feb 10, does that mean Comcast will carry their HD signal?

sirpablo,

Yes.

Right now, comscat only carries local digitals if they're hd. That's probably the main reason Nexstar is doing KARK's HD upgrade first, instead of full power.

Now that the SB is on weak signaled KATV-DT this year, what is everyone doing (whom is interested in the SB) doing to get the SB in HD. Better antennas, D* customers "moving", or crossing fingers and toes and hoping for decent conditions.

It better not rain Sunday afternoon....... :(

H.

haley-SEA,
If you have D* a "move" of your service address to any Mena address will qualify you for NY HD stations: WABC-DT, WCBS-DT, WNBC-DT & WNYW-DT (FOX). No extra charge if you have the HD package.

haley-SEA,
If you have D* a "move" of your service address to any Mena address will qualify you for NY HD stations: WABC-DT, WCBS-DT, WNBC-DT & WNYW-DT (FOX). No extra charge if you have the HD package.

Sorry, but i currently have E*. Getting KATV isn't a problem for me most of the time, its the endless "timeshifting" of Lost and other ABC programming for meaningless SEC games.

Had D* several years ago and had WCBS/KCBS (with a waiver) and WNYW/KTTV. Still remember watching those cheesy LA ads :D But that was before moving to apartment h*ll and overpriced comcast upstate (Little Rock).

H.

I live in NW AR, and the ABC affiliate up here does a *lot* of preemption of networks shows. That's when having the "big-4" from NY comes in handy. Another time is during weather alerts or elections, when locals do the stupid screen-shrink crap or crawls & radar bugs that take up a big chunk of the screen.

haley-SEA


E* just announced they are carrying NYC HD, haven't looked to see the equipment needed, but if you have it, you could still move the service address there!

Hey Guys, I just wanted to let those of you that subscribe to Resort TV Cable in Hot Springs know that they are now offering 5 of their 8 HD channels. It's not much but it's a very good start!!!

I believe the NY HD channels from E* requires the new MPEG 4 boxes. There is a big thread about it in the HDTV Programming section.

Just Jumped In Here To Post > Kark Hd Buildout Is On Time ,Olympics Hd Should Be Ready To Go ,Comcast Has Been Given A Test Feed,all Ok. Looks Like Will Only Be Low Power ,but The Little Harris Ranger Transmitter Is Impressive To Grade A.

Tower Work Is The Hold Up On The High Power Install. Transmitter Has Been Commissioned And Looks Good. Just Don't Have An Antenna To Put It In. (will Be Delivered Thursday, But The Beef-Up On The Tower Will Take Some Time., 3 to 4 weeks, weather permitting )

Most Probably Don't Realize That Nexstar Operates 3 Stations From Kark (Kark,Knwa,Kfta). The Monies Spent On The Centralcasting Project (including HD) Is Off The Spreadsheet.

RF Monkey, thanks for the update, are you a KARK employee? If so, it's always great to have another insider here with real info. I didn't know they operated all of Nextar's Ark. stations from there. Does that include newscasts and Master Control?

I live in Benton, and cannot get comcast, so I am still going to be in the dark until the power is upped, but I am glad it's coming. Of course, all this doesn't absolve Nextar of their bad business, this stuff should have been done 3 or 4 years ago.

... Most Probably Don't Realize That Nexstar Operates 3 Stations From Kark (Kark,Knwa,Kfta). The Monies Spent On The Centralcasting Project (including HD) Is Off The Spreadsheet.Thanks for joining and for the KARK update, RF Monkey!

No reflection on you at all, but HD viewers in LR, NW AR and SW MO are disgusted with Nexstar (http://nexstar.tv/), and hate the fact that they control so many stations in the region. Search this thread or the Ft Smith/Fayetteville AR & Springfield MO (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=272222&page=1&pp=20) threads for "Nexstar".

If you have any info on when KNWA/KFTA will actually get a digital signal on the air, HD or even SD, please post it in the Ft Smith Fayetteville thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=463765&page=1&pp=20). Thanks.

Just Jumped In Here To Post > ,Comcast Has Been Given A Test Feed,all Ok.

Thanks for the info.
Just curious-this the signal going to Comcast OTA, or are they getting a feed off a fiber optic or satellite downlink?

As of yesterday I was still employed ,(Pilots usually don't mess with their mechanics).Feed to Comcast is required to be picked up off-air, As is DT and Estar. A direct feed is always a good plan "B" for backup though.<grin> Nexstar is not as bad as previous owners ,If it broke you had to go to Rat Shack to get parts. ....... TV business, this day, is like Mcdonald's. They're not in business to make burgers,they are in business to make money. Network programing will be straight pass-thru (5.1 sound included) ,the rest will be upconverted to 1080i (5.1 sound included)

Just received a call from a friend at KARK. He said they are transmitting HD tonight. The Engineer there said it was low power, and you might have to do a channel rescan to see it. I guess I'll have to stick the MyHD card back in the PC to try it out. If anyone sees this tonight and has any luck, make comments and I'll send this link by to my friend. Thanks.

Just checked ...Las Vegas is in Hd with 5.1 audio in Conway.

Jeff

... at KARK. He said they are transmitting HD tonight.

I looked at the master NBC program listing and the first HD program Tue night is "Law and Order" starting at 9PM. Late night programming is in HD also. I've got a good solid digital OTA signal now, so will be looking to see if they actually flip the HD switch. Thanks for the heads up.

I've been lurking here for awhile, this is my first post.

I just wanted to confirm that KARK was broadcasting HD as of Monday evening. Surface, Las Vegas, and Medium were all in HD. I don't have 5.1 sound so I can't confirm that part of it.

I actually saw the call sign change when I tuned to Channel 4-1 about 7:30 pm last night...from "KARK-DT" to "KARK-HD." :) Pretty cool- I guess the old call sign was saved in my TV tuner memory, then the new PSIP info caused it to change.

Thanks for all the great stuff on this thread, and thanks for the heads-up that this was going to happen before the Olympics start on Friday. Cant wait to watch My Name is Earl and The Office in HD this week!

By the way, I am OTA in Cammack Village (central LR). My signal strength on KARK-HD is about 80, and didn't change with the HD switch. Ill be curious to see what full power does to the signal strength.

I'm new to the forum and saw that KARK is now broadcasting in HD...anyone know when Comcast will be picking up the feed?

Thanks

I looked at the HD offering on KARK Tue night. It was sending widescreen but it wasn't HD. Too soft and fuzzy. Maybe they restricted the bandwidth due to low power? Growing pains with this for everyone-should get better with time.

I don't much care for the linear stretch of 4:3 programs. Although it does make the normally anorexic TV types look normal.

Low power would have nothing to do with not being able to broadcast HD. KATV-DT and KETS-DT do HD on low power. Maybe they just forgot to throw the network HD switch.

The 4:3 stretch is likely the default setup for their encoder and they probably haven't figured out how to change it yet.

I saw on another post here where the first show from the network in HD on Tues. night was Law and Order (not sure what time). It could be that you saw widescreen/no HD because there was no network HD programming coming through at that time.

I didn't have a chance to check last night. I think Jay Leno is supposed to be in HD though, so that would probably be the best way to check.

I had Law and Order in HD last night from KARK. I was locked at about 63% from Bryant. Although, I would agree that the programming does not look as crisp as the HD programming from CBS & FOX.

I saw on another post here where the first show from the network in HD on Tues. night was Law and Order (not sure what time). It could be that you saw widescreen/no HD because there was no network HD programming coming through at that time.

I didn't have a chance to check last night. I think Jay Leno is supposed to be in HD though, so that would probably be the best way to check.
I checked out KARK last night (Law & Order for about 20 minute), and while perhaps a bit soft, it certainly looked like HD and not some SD that has been spread for 16x9. Granted, I've seen HD that looked more crisp, but for all I know that could be related to the original recording of the episode. In any event, it was better than anything I've previously seen on KARK. Good to see and just in time.

It could be that you saw widescreen/no HD because there was no network HD programming coming through at that time.

I didn't have a chance to check last night. I think Jay Leno is supposed to be in HD though, so that would probably be the best way to check.

Nope, it was Law and Order (HD), and I checked Leno as well. It will likely get better. When I checked the L&O show, there were some commercials on and they were really in strange formats. I suspect it's just growing pains.

Personally, if they haven't figured out how to switch between SD 4:3 and HD 16:9 then leave it HD 16:9. I have no problem with the commercials looking stretched as long as the programming is correct.

KATV on the other hand will switch to 4:3 for commercials and never switch back to HD when the program resumes.

Extremely annoying.

FYI - for those with Comcast, they started carrying KARK's HD feed today...channel 232.

I know that Invasion started a little late due to the basketball game running over, but does that preclued KATV from broadcasting it in HD? I was really looking forward to it. :(

Conan last night looked great here, except in the middle of the show, they switched to 4:3 for a commercial, and never switched back, the rest of conan was letterboxed AND 16:9. I know Conan isnt done in Cinemascope. Nice to see Ch 4 doing HD finally. Now if Equity would spend a couple dollars upping the power on their 5 watt transmitter downtown, instead of installing low power translators all over the state for for WB, and let the cable companies handle it... Sure hope Clear Channel gets the WB here.

Wow, we're getting a lot of new guys these past few days! Welcome to the board!
twd3lr, have you been watching Invasion over the last several weeks? I don't watch it, but I have switched over a few times to see if they had the HD on or not, and it hasn't been the times I've checked. They choose to tape delay it instead of joining in progress, which is good, except for the fact that they can't tape delay HD. The funny thing is though, that Invasion is one of the shows that ABC actually starts a little late due to long episodes of Lost, so you'd think if the game was just a minute or two over, they could still air the HD. Oh well, it's not as if KATV is really on top of the HD game anyway.
On a related note, I totally forgot to set up Lost to record overnight. iTunes, here I come.
I am so ready for basketball season to be over with.

I know that Invasion started a little late due to the basketball game running over, but does that preclued KATV from broadcasting it in HD?

KATV does not have HD time shifting capability. They can barely do HD live network feeds.

Invasion looked great on WABC-DT (NYC ch 86 on DirecTV).

Thanks for the info about KATV and tape delay; makes sense now.

I just recently bought an HDTV, OTA tuner, and indoor powered antenna. I live in Benton and am able to get really good signals for 7, 11, and 38; I also get a good signal for 16, but for some reason it freezes up any time a car drives by on Market Street, which is quite a busy street. I just added an adjustable attenuator to the line last night, and it seems to have helped just a little bit, but I'm just about convinced that I will have to install an external antenna. I can't wait for my DISH VIP-622 to be installed in just over 2 weeks, though!

I live near the high school, and can get 7, 11, 16 and 38 very well with an un-amplified external antenna pointed toward Shinall. I can also get 2 although it drops out a lot. If I turn the antenna toward Redfield, it helps with 2, but since I watch 11 & 16 more, I leave it pointed toward LR. So an external antenna might be just right for your situation. What OTA tuner do you have? The one that Radio Shack had a while back is bad at locking up on 16, but that doesn't sound like the exact problem your having.

Let us know how you like the 622, I would love to get one too, but it will be awhile for me.

I bought the ProBrand 3150 Plus at Circuit City last week. Here's the link to it. Well, maybe not, since I haven't posted 5 times yet. Just go to Circuit City and search for it.

The antenna I am using is a discontinued Radio Shack powered antenna; search for 15-1880 on radioshack's website (grr, link blocking).

I had to do all of this very quickly in order to host a Super Bowl party, so I guess I lucked out, especially after learning how limited the availability of OTA tuners is locally! :D I was very pleased with the broadcast quality, but something I notice occasionally are some horizontal ghosting lines that randomly appear on the screen.

Oh, and the 622 comes with an OTA tuner, so I will be selling off the one I bought at Circuit City. :)

My friend in White Hall has that reciever I believe, he bought it after having problems with 16 on the RS one. He is quite happy with it. You might want to experiment a bit before getting rid of the reciever, I've heard that previous Dish recievers were weaker for OTA than standalone recievers. Errett has the 811 and he posted previously in here that the internal reciever in his Samsung TV was better. The 622 may not have that problem though, you might want to look into threads about it in the hardware or HD recording sections. I really haven't researched it that much myself.

I agree w/ RockyF.

With Dish's past record of "weak" OTA tuners, you might want to wait until you know the Dish OTA tuner is good enough, before selling off the ProBrand receiver.

I am hopeful about the OTA capabilities of the 622 since the DVR is able to record OTA programming as well as E* programming. From what I can see no one posting on the boards has a 622 up and running yet.

My 622's on order, supposed to be installed Mar.11. :D Ill let you know if its better than my integrated tuner.

Really the only problem I have now is some multipath with my strongest signals (11 and 16.) 90% of the time, its golden, but sometimes (especially when its windy) I get bad multipath on those two stations.

Multipath in West Little Rock is bad. We had to install a channel 12 join-tenna trap, and run it with a 0 db gain dipole antenna, in order to get KTHV-DT. Ch 12 would not come in on a 4 bay, regardless of the direction it was pointed.

For those that havent checked recently, there is a "new" channel on the air. KTHV-2 "THV2" on digital 12-2 (maps 11.2), showing news clips, business news, current weather, etc. Looks like it might be a good channel to leave the tv tuned to when you arent watching something else.

Saw the THV2 channel this evening. Is the bottom scroll cut off on your TV?

By the way, details about the channel can be found at thv2 d0t com.

Even more channel scanning fun. Comcast has added UHD to their lineup. Universal HD? Now we can watch several channels of really old TV shows with our cutting edge equipment.

New kid on the block, KARK, is still playing around with presenting 4:3 on their digital signal. Now they've managed to stretch it to widescreen then squeeze it on all 4 sides. Like magic it takes your nice new 60" and makes it a 40". Well, they are swtiching to HD output with the network after commercials...sometimes. Hope they get this all figured out by 2009 when the analog goes black.

Nope, not cutting off the scroll on my set unless I have it on Zoom.

Multipath in West Little Rock is bad. We had to install a channel 12 join-tenna trap, and run it with a 0 db gain dipole antenna, in order to get KTHV-DT.
Dave,
Have you seen the new DirecTV H20 OTA tuner in action? That tuner will happily lock onto multipath-plagued channels that most OTA tuners just can't receive. The only difference is, a channel w/ multipath interference takes a bit longer to tune to (sometimes 2 or 3 seconds longer). But once it gets a lock, it won't let go.

The H20 is free after rebate, until 2/28. D* will begin leasing receivers, instead of selling them, on March 1, 06.

I am using the Dish 811 for OTA HDTV. From Bryant, I get the following when pointing toward LR:
KTHV ~80%
KATV (less than 50% on average)
KARK (65-70%)
KLRT (~90%)

So other than the ABC affl., the Dish goes an OK job. I am looking to upgrade from my 811 to the new 622. Hopefully the OTA reception will improve with the newer equipment.

I noticed THV2 last night, and watched a few minutes this morning. A little repititive maybe, but it looks great if you just want a quick check of the weather. The scroll was cut off on my set, but I adjusted the picture position on my STB and got most of it. I have horrible overscan on my set though. I ought to get it calibrated, but that's an expense I could never justify to my wife.

Anyone else notice the poor job of switching on HD last night on KARK?

1/2 way through my name is Earl, they switched (to 4:3 I guess) for a commercial and never switched back until The Office came on at 8:30.

Then, during The Office, they did the same thing during a commercial, but managed to get it fixed after the show came back on.

They Olympics are looking fantastic. Noticed a little pixellation on some of the fast moving ski shots, but the scenery shots of Torino are breathtaking. Gotta get to work on hooking up my rear speakers.

Found this little thread over here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=643608) . Should be good news for E* subscribers living too far away from KARK-HD. Albeit, its daytime coverage.

Looks like NBC is doing like FOX and using SD 16:9 cameras in the pits on NASCAR. Track shots look pretty good though. Olympics looked VERY good with all the scenics. Now if 4 can just remember to flip the correct switches in Late Night . . .

Hello All,

I am looking for some advice. I have a HR10-250 DirecTV HDTivo with a Channel Master 4228 antenna mounted in my attic. I am located in Maumelle (72113). I am having what I assume to be multipath problems with KARK-DT and to a lesser degree KLRT-DT. I have adjusted my antenna to achieve maximum signal strength from KATV-DT which turns out to be between 60 and 70 on the strength meter. In that position I get a signal strength of about 90 on KLRT-DT and 85 on KARK-DT. However, the KARK-DT signal will suddenly drop-out then come back. I can reaim my antenna to stop the drop-outs, but I have to move it so much I lose a steady lock on KATV-DT. I can switch to a loop antenna setting on the floor under my TV and get good signal on KLRT-DT and KARK-DT (~80-90) with no drop-outs, but that antenna has no signal strength on KATV-DT. Right now I have connected an A/B switch which is tolerable but not my preferred solution. Has anyone experimented with Channel Master's jointenna traps in a similar situation? I was thinking of knocking out KARK-DT(32) from my 4228 feed with a jointenna and recombining with the loop antenna. Any opinions? Thanks!

... Now if 4 can just remember to flip the correct switches in Late Night . . .Best way to make 'em remember is to contact the station GM + Chief Eng (http://www.kark.com/station.asp). and let them know someone's asleep at the switch.

Hello All,

I am looking for some advice. I have a HR10-250 DirecTV HDTivo with a Channel Master 4228 antenna mounted in my attic. I am located in Maumelle (72113). I am having what I assume to be multipath problems with KARK-DT and to a lesser degree KLRT-DT. I have adjusted my antenna to achieve maximum signal strength from KATV-DT which turns out to be between 60 and 70 on the strength meter. In that position I get a signal strength of about 90 on KLRT-DT and 85 on KARK-DT. However, the KARK-DT signal will suddenly drop-out then come back. I can reaim my antenna to stop the drop-outs, but I have to move it so much I lose a steady lock on KATV-DT. I can switch to a loop antenna setting on the floor under my TV and get good signal on KLRT-DT and KARK-DT (~80-90) with no drop-outs, but that antenna has no signal strength on KATV-DT. Right now I have connected an A/B switch which is tolerable but not my preferred solution. Has anyone experimented with Channel Master's jointenna traps in a similar situation? I was thinking of knocking out KARK-DT(32) from my 4228 feed with a jointenna and recombining with the loop antenna. Any opinions? Thanks!The 4228 is very very directional. When you optimize the 4228 for Redfield, you're probably putting the antenna in a null for Shinall.

A CM Jointenna model 0585-2 (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/joiners.htm) might work. It blocks chs 30-49, so it will block both ch 30(kark) & 32(klrt). Aim the 4228 at Redfield and connect it to the "block 30-49" coax connector. You would connect the UHF loop to the "pass 30-49" coax connector. A single coax connects from the jointenna to the HR10-250. Only problem with this is you'll probably block out KASN-DT(39). If you don't watch UPN, no problemo.

The 4228 is very very directional. When you optimize the 4228 for Redfield, you're probably putting the antenna in a null for Shinall.

A CM Jointenna model 0585-2 might work. It blocks chs 30-49, so it will block both ch 30(kark) & 32(klrt). Aim the 4228 at Redfield and connect it to the "block 30-49" coax connector. You would connect the UHF loop to the "pass 30-49" coax connector. A single coax connects from the jointenna to the HR10-250. Only problem with this is you'll probably block out KASN-DT(39). If you don't watch UPN, no problemo.

Thank for the help arxaw. I thought you could specify a particular channel with the 0585-2. According to the Channel Master site it only has a +/-5 channel dead zone. So if I selected the 32 model it would block from 27 to 37. Am I reading the spec wrong?

Can you rotate the antenna to any position that will null out Chenal while still getting redfield? If you can find a spot where 22 and 39 come in and you get 0 from 30 and 32, you can just use two antennas and a reversed splitter. You could use a 585-1 for channel 22, on your antenna pointed at redfield which should block out 30 and 32, then use a second antenna for them couldnt you? I think 39 is strong enough out there to receive on a small uhf antenna pointed at Chenal. Ive only used the vhf channel 12 jointenna, and it worked, however, -20 db on channel 11 didnt block channel 11, but did eliminate the multipath problem on channel 12. I cant understand why these stations cannot use one location. This digital transition would have been the perfect time to join forces and build a supertower site like Birmingham did.

Thank for the help arxaw. I thought you could specify a particular channel with the 0585-2. According to the Channel Master site it only has a +/-5 channel dead zone. So if I selected the 32 model it would block from 27 to 37. Am I reading the spec wrong?
The jointenna combiners that block/pass a specific channel are VHF only. For UHF, you can only choose a certain range of channels to block/pass.

...If you can find a spot where 22 and 39 come in (with the 4228) and you get 0 from chs 30 and 32, you can just use two antennas and a reversed splitter.

fly_daddy,
That's the simplest thing to try.

A hybrid splitter/combiner for splitting or combining antennas, like this one (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062050&cp=&kw=hybrid+splitter&parentPage=search) or the CM 0538 (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/joiners.htm) might be all you need.

I cant understand why these stations cannot use one location. This digital transition would have been the perfect time to join forces and build a supertower site like Birmingham did.

Yes that would make sense in the real world. Problem is that KASN, KVTN, and originally KATV were licensed as Pine Bluff stations and per their COL, the towers have to be nearby their "city of license" (In fact the original KATV tower --which now is used by KIPR 92.3-- is located closer to Pine Bluff at Jefferson).

Things could be worse actually. The Monroe/El Dorado market consists of KTVE (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS1049549.html) ch 10 El Dorado, AR (which I get a grade B analog signal), and KAQY (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV279254.html) ch 11 Columbia, LA (which grade B analog signal barely reaches the Arkansas-Louisiana line but occationally causes QRM/CCI with KTHV analog here during tropo). {Side note, the KTVE ch 27 digital signal (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=35692) is a STA and barely covers outside of El Dorado--and not Monroe, LA which is the main area in that market-- under normal conditions--again due to its COL}

H.

That "city of license" crap has caused TV reception headaches for LR and similar markets since the 50s...

I was scanning the digital bands with my TV in anticipation that I could lose cable if the ice storm was real. I have my antenna pointed west toward Shinall but KATV (ch7) came through real solid, and normally I don't see them when I point west.

Has anyone with a signal strength meter noticed a stronger signal from them in the last day or so? I thought maybe they went to full (or higher) power since I got the picture real nice. I don't get Ch38/39 when I'm set up this way and I think they are both in the same direction and UPN is at a higher power.

Maybe KATV secretly put up a tower on Shinall :)

Wxguy, your getting tropo scatter. Sometimes I'll check the analog channels 42 and 20 for increased signal strength, and occationally have gotten snowy pictures from Little Rock area LPTV chs 28, 34, 55, and 58.

KATV is getting left behind very quickly even when lowly Nexstar/KARK finally gets full power digital/HD (too late for the Olympics and Daytona 500 for us in the outback). If its not the razorbacks or news programming, KATV could care less.

There has been a lot of talk about KARK's poor digital signal, but AETN is just as bad in from my home in Lakewood (NLR). Any word on AETN upgrades?

I was scanning the digital bands with my TV in anticipation that I could lose cable if the ice storm was real. I have my antenna pointed west toward Shinall but KATV (ch7) came through real solid, and normally I don't see them when I point west.

Has anyone with a signal strength meter noticed a stronger signal from them in the last day or so? I thought maybe they went to full (or higher) power since I got the picture real nice. I don't get Ch38/39 when I'm set up this way and I think they are both in the same direction and UPN is at a higher power.

Maybe KATV secretly put up a tower on Shinall :)


I noticed the same thing, wxguy. I have two antennas and use an A/B switch to go between them. I have NEVER gotten a usable KATV signal on my Antenna B (Shinall). Last night, it came in great. I have to admit, I had the same thought as you "did they secretly up their power" but I think haley's got it right.

OBU,

AETN did have ch 47 for central Arkansas assigned but instead opted to swap for a low vhf channel (5) in a cost cutting measure. Besides being shoehorned by WMC Memphis and KFSM Fort Smith (which limits coverage east and west of Redfield), the combination of low power and being on the low vhf bands requires physically larger receiving antennas and issues of pulse noise, static, and possible E-skip interference. If your living on a hill and have a very good ouside antenna system, you might want to try for KEMV-DT (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS991410.html) ch 13 the AETN transmitter for North Central Arkansas, although its outside of the coverage area for Little Rock metro.

As for programming, there is very little broadcast in HD on AETN (about one program about every week or two) as its focus is on multicasting. AETN recently dropped the PBS-X (west coast national feed) on 2-2 for a channel called "Create" (how-to shows). Needless to say, my viewing of AETN fell sharply after that move as it was one of the few good things of the multicasting.

One good thing about AETN though, when there is an HD program broadcast, the mulitcasting gets shut off .

Can you rotate the antenna to any position that will null out Chenal while still getting redfield? If you can find a spot where 22 and 39 come in and you get 0 from 30 and 32, you can just use two antennas and a reversed splitter. You could use a 585-1 for channel 22, on your antenna pointed at redfield which should block out 30 and 32, then use a second antenna for them couldnt you? I think 39 is strong enough out there to receive on a small uhf antenna pointed at Chenal. Ive only used the vhf channel 12 jointenna, and it worked, however, -20 db on channel 11 didnt block channel 11, but did eliminate the multipath problem on channel 12. I cant understand why these stations cannot use one location. This digital transition would have been the perfect time to join forces and build a supertower site like Birmingham did.

I have tried moving off of Redfield in both directions. By the time I move far enough to eliminate the multipath I have lost KATV-DT. KASN-DT still comes in fine. I can never get to a perfect null where KARK-DT or KLRT-DT go to zero. I am apparently way too close to the transmitters. I will probably use the jointenna to block 30 and 32 like you suggest, but I will wait until KARK-DT gets to full power before I buy anything in case something else changes. Thanks for the help!

...I will wait until KARK-DT gets to full power before I buy anything in case something else changes.

Good idea.

...One good thing about AETN though, when there is an HD program broadcast, the mulitcasting gets shut off .
Very true. I live in NWA and can get PBS from both Fayetteville, AR and Springfield, MO. Springfield multicasts TWO sub channels of crap while attempting to also broadcast an HD sub channel. AETN does not. The HD picture quality on the MO PBS station varies from somewhere around DVD quality, to "looks like pixelly crap", whencompared to the uncompressed HD from AETN.

WRT full power KETS-DT, I don't think it will happen until feb 2009, when analog goes dark. I heard they've applied to the FCC for either VHF ch 7 or ch 10. Obviously, neither of those channels will be available until post-analog. And they can't up the power on 5 because other nearby cities use it and it's protected from interference.

I'm getting much better reception from KARK using my Terk HDTVs in Lakewood (NLR). The meter on my Dish 942 OTA tuner is reading 65-69 with no dropouts. 2 days before I was getting 55-62 witih frequent dropouts. Has KARK finished their power upgrades?

I don't think they have finished them, but they certainly have done something. I am now able to pull a signal in at about 65%, but still get some dropouts and a lot of pixelization.

Oh, and one more thing I noticed--KARK-HD is broadcasting in Dolby Digital--wish KATV and KTHV would follow suit.

I still can't get KARK-DT in Benton, so they may have bumped up the power a little, but I hope they're not finished.

I still can't get KARK-DT in Benton, so they may have bumped up the power a little, but I hope they're not finished.

Really? I'm actually getting it well enough to watch for a few minutes at a time before the signal is interrupted by passing traffic. :(

Well, I didn't do a full rescan, I'll try that tonight and see if it helps. Of course, better weather might help too.

I'm getting much better reception from KARK using my Terk HDTVs in Lakewood (NLR). The meter on my Dish 942 OTA tuner is reading 65-69 with no dropouts. 2 days before I was getting 55-62 witih frequent dropouts. Has KARK finished their power upgrades?


My signal strength has actually gone down here in Maumelle. It used to be in the high 80's but has now dropped to the high 60's.

Only speculation, but maybe they're using a different transmitting antenna but still at low (STA) power. That might explain improved reception for some but worse for others.

Or it could just be the weather.

Just guessing here......

Well, either way, it's been pretty neat being able to watch some of the Olympics in HD. Oh, and I got my 622 on Friday--it will be installed on Saturday and I'll report on how well the OTA tuner works.

Kark is still running at low power. Nothing has changed power wise. I have received calls from as far as Pine Bluff with viewers reporting good signal quality. I have had calls from Hot Springs Village reporting issues. (Mostly in the valleys). Mainly viewers who do not have outside antennas or they have the "coat hanger" antennas that attach to their DSS dishes. To the north , Morrilton is reporting spotty reception. The RF pattern is Omnidirectional.

As far as the High power build out, The weather has the tower crew on the ground.

I am receiving a constant signal with no dropouts from KARK in McRae.

KATV reception is spotty.

KLRT, KTHV, KASN are also constant signal with no dropouts .

I can get KEMV 6.1,6.2,6.3, and 6.4 by turning my antenna. However, this was causing spotty pixelation on KTHV so I decided to drop PBS for better KTHV.

I have a Radio Shack outdoor antenna I bought about five years ago ran into the VHF side of a CM7777 and a CM4248 ran into the UHF side. Each antenna is mounted on its own pole about 15 feet apart and about 20 foot tall. The CM7777 is mounted about 5 foot below the CM4248 and I used RG-11 between the two antennas and the CM7777. I also used RG-11 as my downlead to the CM7777 power supply which is mounted in a weather proof electrical box on the outside of my house.

I was just checking TitanTV for today's HD listings and came across this:

KARK 4 @ 6
(New) 6:00 PM, 30 min
Mon 02/20/2006
KARK-DT 32.1 (32)
Other/News
English
Local news, sports and weather.
HDTV - presented in 720p

I'll check it out for myself this evening, but does anyone have any info on this?

Thanks for the update, RF Monkey.

Weather changes may have changed reception of LP stations like KARK-DT for some people.

No mention of KARK news going HD in this article: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/news/article.asp?u=%7B17A7153D%2D5D05%2D456D%2D8FAE%2D90C4B3101DE 6%7D%7B17A7153D%2D5D05%2D456D%2D8FAE%2D90C4B3101DE6%7D&cid=12&aid=43290

Also, why would the news be 720p, if Ch. 4 is 1080i.
Probably a mistake, but who knows, they could suprise us.

RFMonkey, is this weekend's weather gonna push that March 1st date back any?

KTHV-DT update:

I recently contacted KTHV-DT re DD 5.1. They said they have received the DD 5.1 equipment and hope to be testing it in March. So y'all should be getting CBS HD with DD 5.1 sound soon.

I was just checking TitanTV for today's HD listings and came across this:

KARK 4 @ 6
(New) 6:00 PM, 30 min
Mon 02/20/2006
KARK-DT 32.1 (32)
Other/News
English
Local news, sports and weather.
HDTV - presented in 720p

I'll check it out for myself this evening, but does anyone have any info on this?

I watched KARK news the other evening and it was 4x3. No 720p.

What's interesting about the KARK news thing is that only the 6:00 news is listed as a 720p program. I will see for myself this evening.

Definitely not an HD newscast. :)

Kark's local programming is upconverted to 1080i,(with a user defined aspect ratio).Network is pass-through(unless bad wx in NY NOC).

obuengineer,
titantv occasionally list programs as being in HD when they're not.
you really can't rely on what they show in their listings.

As well it should. Its to damn cold to be climbing around on a tower, or even standing under one (ouch that ice falling off hurts). KARK is looking great for the olympics. Give a big congrats and thanks to the crew there, especially the switchers who have been doing an outstanding job.

Glad KARK got up and running with their high def before the olympics. Looks like the switchers at KARK are catching on and those at KTHV are improving.

Residing in West Pulaski County, I am sitting in a valley between two 600 foot ridgelines at an elevation of 520 feet, I have an attic mounted Yagi pointed toward Redfield and a Log Periodic in the direction of Shinall. I am receiving all channels on Shinall at or above 90% and the Redfield stations at 70% on my HR10-250.

I have had solid reception with up to six inches of snow on my composition roof and even during thunderstorms that knock my satellite signal off.

Anyone out there had their set calibrated?

I see these comments and discussions in other threads about ISF calibrations, but apparently there is no one in the central AR area that provides this service. I wonder how much this type of calibration can improve a display's appearance and a viewer's appreciation of his display?

Any comments?

It's my understanding that calibration makes a big difference, but I can't say for sure because my TV set isn't lucky enough to have been calibrated. I hear that it can cost a few hundred dollars or more depending on what equipment you have and how many signals you want calibrated. I would also be interested to know who does it in central AR and how much it costs.

...I would also be interested to know who does it in central AR and how much it costs.

Find out here (http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm):
http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm

Well things could get interesting with Fox's announcment of "My Network TV" set to launch later this year. There is a possiblity of Fox "forcing" current UPN stations co owned by Fox affilates (such as the case in Little Rock) of taking MNT instead of The CW. At least on paper, The CW looks to be a legitimate 5th network, while MNT could turn into another UPN, WB (good case senario) or into another PAX/I (worse case).

haley-SEA, I agree with what you said. In the interest of full disclosure, I am employed at Fox 16, however I don't have anything to do with what happens in this situation, so my comments are only as a viewer. I think, looking at the likely schedules of the CW and My Network TV, that CW will certainly have the stronger lineup, and as I've said before, I think that for the good of the market KASN 38 needs to be the CW affiliate (I want Smallville in HD!) However, I think that the financial side of the My Network deal, and the fact that it is could attract a similar minority market as UPN, is going to be more appealing to the management. I just feel that the My Network programming announced so far just looks weak. I mean, two hours a night, Monday through Friday of recycled Mexican soap operas does not sound like a great idea. I just hope we find something out soon, the suspense is killing me! (Okay, not really, but I do want to know soon.)

Hoping not to sound racial here, but...UPN shows the same programs over and over and over as long as they are black oriented... If thats what they want to do, I have no problem with that. Mexican Soaps are fine also, but for crying out loud, its 2006, and I STILL cant watch Smallville in HD except on HDNET (old reruns). Whats up with that? I wouldnt care if UPN was Mexican from 6am to 4pm, Black from 4pm to Midnight... just show Smallville in HD on the weekends. Put all the WB shows back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Just get Equity out of the picture. For all that matters, why cant channel 38 multicast? Mexican soaps arent likely to be HD, and Ill take a little bandwidth loss on the WB side (Im used to DIrecTv doing it anyway). I wouldnt even mind if Fox 16 did like the station in memphis, its IPN till 10pm, then at 10pm, they show a 3 hr taped delay of WBs primetime, which puts Smallville on at 10pm. Problem is, I cant get it here, to far away from me. Maybe DirecTv will pick up the CW national feed for those of us left out in the cold.

UPN and WB pretty much started with the same programming. Around 1997 or so, WB started to find its niche with teen (and female) oriented programming. WB did well until WGN was forced to drop the network programming from the superstation feed. Many areas lost access to the WB for some time after that. That and the introduction of Smack Down! on UPN caused the flip in ratings (UPN was way behind WB prior to this).

I was never a big viewer of either network, although WB's programming has gotten better in recent years. I didnt' see the WB from 2000 to 2003 until moving to Little Rock and encountering KWBF on cable.

Yes, I have received a few times (via friendly tropo openings) WLMT "UPN 30" digital signal (Memphis ch 31). And never at times worth watching. Always some informercial or Springer :(

Well, tomorrow is the day KARK is supposed to bump up their power, but I was wondering if anyone knew how badly the weather a couple of weeks ago slowed the process down. Honestly, I'm not trying to be rude at this point, as Davenlr state before, safety is more important than getting it up, so I'm not complaining about any weather related slow downs. I'm just curious at this point if we know an updated timeframe. I'll be working evenings all week, so I won't get to watch anything anyway, but if nothing else, I'd like to watch SNL in HD this weekend.

Probably going to be set back a bit.Yesterday and today ,the gusty March winds has the tower crew working low to the ground. They were able to get the 1700 lb. antenna hung Friday.

Thanks for the update.

Has anyone noticed KARK's audio being about a half-second ahead of the video in tonight's 6 p.m. newscast? The problem seemed to get worse the longer the newscast went on, sometimes being as long as a one-second delay. What is going on with that? Other stations were fine.

I wasn't getting a signal from KTHV last night. KTHN is normally very strong for me in Lakewood. Does anyone know anything about it?

I watched CSI on KTHV-HD last night without any problems. I am in Benton.

We didn't have any technical problems with the digital transmitter last night. Everything seems to be running fine....for now!

As far as I know we are not supposed to have to reduce power with KARK's installation. We will do so if needed. However, their new antenna is a side-mount and below the tower top. So as long as the tower workers stay below the 900 foot line or so of the tower they should be okay. Believe me, they know not to stray up too high!

Does anyone here know of a forum where one can get answers to technical questions about digital television transmission?

As far as I know we are not supposed to have to reduce power with KARK's installation. We will do so if needed. However, their new antenna is a side-mount and below the tower top. So as long as the tower workers stay below the 900 foot line or so of the tower they should be okay. Believe me, they know not to stray up too high!
Alison, has KTHV increased their power? I live in Maumelle, and I am getting about 85 on my signal meter where I used to get ~74. Glad to have it! Thanks

Maybe you're getting a weird "boost" from the addition of KARK's new antenna on the same tower as KTHV's.

No power increase from KTHV...that would be illegal. 100% is all we can do. The new KARK antenna should have no effect on the transmission from our antenna. Channel 32 and channel 12 have little in common. Our broadcasts have independant shielded transmission lines from each other.