[QUOTE]Originally posted by JimP
[B]I just found out today that Voom satellite sold its Rainbow 1 satellite to Echostar. Don't know what's going to happen with my satellite service with them, but did want to check into other alternatives.

Well, looks like Voom has new life with the purchase by Tom Dolan and others.

Hey Stan,

Just saw that over at satellite guy. Good new for sure.

Hope they figured out a way to keep it going.

Hi Jim, Hopefully, Voom will be around to give some competition to D* and E*. If D* continues their "HD lite" policy and Voom does appear viable and comes out with a goood HD DVR, I might be tempted to put my HD Tivo on E-bay and make the switch. (Now that CBS HD is on the horizon, I am thinking about taking down my parabolic eye-sore and putting up a much less obtrusive antenna--I've tried to swing my parabolic around to face Montgomery but it's a real pain--you need a stepladder to get to the top antenna mount, and I am not going to get on a stepladder on my roof peak. Right now, I get everything but Fox with an indoor antenna--silver sensor.)

Stan:

With any luck at all, you'll be able to get CBS with the silver sensor.

A step ladder on top of the roof peak, no way. Hope its not as dangerous getting it down.

Don't know if it would do you any good, but you're welcome to my 20' extension ladder.

A while back, Voom announced that their DVR was due out in March. Don't know if with all the changes with Voom, that its still on track. I hope to get one as soon as its available. The published specs stated that you would be able to record 2 streams while watching a third. I'm running across more and more instances of multiple shows I'd like to record at the same time. One stream to play back at a later date because I'm watching another show and the second stream to record because I fall asleep during commercials and awake 2 hours later having slept through it all. A multiple stream HD DVR is just the ticket. lol

Jim, Thanks for the offer. I have a good ladder so getting on the roof is not a problem. To take it down I think I'll just disconnect the guy wires and pre-amp and then disconnet the mast from the roof mount and let mast and antenna come down togather. I thought I might be able to loosen the bottom two antenna mounts and be able to move it around enough to get the locals, I can't get it quite far enough around. Interestingly, I can get a pretty good signal from WNCF where I moved the antenna , but not the other channels. I think I may try the square shooter. I e-mailed Solid Signal and
they recommended I try it.

Well, I got my new antenna up (I went with the Wingard 8 bay double bow tie). I'm using the pre amp that I used with my old antenna (blonder tongue). Interestingly, I can get great signals for WSFA and WNCF but, if I get a stable signal on PBS I have problems with the other two stations. Was hoping I might get WCOV but no luck. I might need to try a new pre amp. The blonder tongue is UHF/VHF. I might need to try a UHF only.
I'll experiment later on. I've had enough going up and down a ladder for a while. The main thing I wanted to do was get a stable signal on WNCF as I was getting a lot of dropouts and total drop offs with my silver sensor
and with my parabolic in the position it was in. I accomplished that.

Any news on WAKA??? I was interested in hearing if a more firm date might be available on when the HD will be rolling out.

The WAKA-DT transmitter has been delivered and is being installed.
The encoding gear has been delivered and is being configured and racked
up here in Charlotte. No On-Air date yet, as there is still a tremendous amount of work to do, and WAKA isn't my/our only project on the plate.
We'll keep you posted.

Originally posted by SD4934
Was hoping I might get WCOV but no luck.

WCOV has been off the air since early this morning (2/21) due to a power surge that damaged their transmitter. Could be back on sometime 2/22-23 depending on when parts are received.

Thanks for the info. I thought that they might be down since I wasn't getting anything on my receiver's signal strength meter.

What's the status of WCOV going full strength with their signal, or are we folks that are 40-50 miles away just poop out of luck?

Looks like WCOV is back, maybe. My receiver can lock on to the signal
but I get no picture or sound. I probably need to put a little more heigth on my antenna (and I ordered a new pre amp).

Stan,

Any problems with PBS coming and going?

Its on now, but last week I couldn't get it.

Originally posted by JimP
Stan,

Any problems with PBS coming and going?

Its on now, but last week I couldn't get it.

Jim,

When I got home from work this afternoon, I could get no signal strength at all on PBS. About 30 minutes later it was back on. But I have been
getting drop outs on PBS (both with my new antenna and the silver sensor). I haven't watched PBS too much lately, though.

Yeh. I could'nt get Fox Monday and yesterday there was a drop in signal strenth from what I nomaly get from them (pretty low to begen with) on my HTPC card. I still cannot get them on my Directv receiver but I think it's busted on channel 16.

Originally posted by SD4934
Well, I got my new antenna up (I went with the Wingard 8 bay double bow tie). I'm using the pre amp that I used with my old antenna (blonder tongue). Interestingly, I can get great signals for WSFA and WNCF but, if I get a stable signal on PBS I have problems with the other two stations. Was hoping I might get WCOV but no luck. I might need to try a new pre amp. The blonder tongue is UHF/VHF. I might need to try a UHF only.
I'll experiment later on. I've had enough going up and down a ladder for a while. The main thing I wanted to do was get a stable signal on WNCF as I was getting a lot of dropouts and total drop offs with my silver sensor
and with my parabolic in the position it was in. I accomplished that.

Sometimes if the weather is right you might can get channel 4 (31 i think) out of Dothan for CBS. Point it a little more SE. I think you have a good receiver. I use to pick them up when I had the Samsung T-something something.

Originally posted by Nnamd
Sometimes if the weather is right you might can get channel 4 (31 i think) out of Dothan for CBS. Point it a little more SE. I think you have a good receiver. I use to pick them up when I had the Samsung T-something something.

I'll have to try it. I'm from Ozark so I grew up watching that channel. It'd be cool to get it up here. I'm not getting any signal for WCOV tonight but
I'm now getting a very strong and stable signal from WAIQ (from some reason it seemed to take my antenna longer to gather in that signal). I
have a new pre amp (Channel Master 775) coming tomorrow. Not sure when I will get a chance to try it. I'm planning to add another extension to my mast to put my antenna up about 5 more feet,

Originally posted by SD4934
I'll have to try it. I'm from Ozark so I grew up watching that channel. It'd be cool to get it up here. I'm not getting any signal for WCOV tonight but
I'm now getting a very strong and stable signal from WAIQ (from some reason it seemed to take my antenna longer to gather in that signal). I
have a new pre amp (Channel Master 775) coming tomorrow. Not sure when I will get a chance to try it. I'm planning to add another extension to my mast to put my antenna up about 5 more feet,

Check those cable to. I have had to replace cables and connectors around my Pre amp two times. I think I did'nt tie them down right and the wind wore them out.

Originally posted by Nnamd
Check those cable to. I have had to replace cables and connectors around my Pre amp two times. I think I did'nt tie them down right and the wind wore them out.

I'll be replacing the cable between the pre amp and the antenna since my new pre amp has a 75 ohm impendence and my old pre amp uses twin lead cable and accepts the 300 ohms impedence of the antenna(and then to 75 ohms for my antenna lead into the house). My old pre amp (blonder tongue) has been baking in the Alabama sun for about 3 years on my parabolic antenna (that antenna is thankfully coming down).

I took off this afternoon to install my new pre amp. UPS was scheduled to deliver today (they were scheduled yesterday but left a sticky note on the door for me to sign so that they would drop off). When I got home another sticky note was on my door with the same thing checked. Apparently, the driver meant to check the box that a person was required to be home to sign for it. Not sure why, I've had more expensive items just left at the door. But anyway, I called and I'm going to pick it up tonight. I turned on the TV. The one station I was having problems getting
(WCOV) is coming in strong this afternoon. If that continues, I'll probably just leave well enough alone for now. (Apparently, APT is off the air--I'm getting no signal on them this afternoon.)

Hehe. I was going to say the same thing. I hope they dont change anything. I can now get WCOV on my Directv receiver at 100%. Before I got 0%. I sent them a letter of thanks and asked not to change anything. We all need to send the a E-mail. Their contact web page has a place you can send a note without E-mail. Their contact web page (http://www.wcov.com/contact/index.cfm)

The rain has apparently cut down the signal I'm getting from WCOV. I'm getting a very weak signal--my receiver can't lock on it. I guess I'll go ahead and put on the new pre amp and put some more heigth on my antenna (be a week or so before I will have a chance to do that). (Just received a reply to my e-mail to Phil Whit, chief engineer WCOV. He said that due to the very low power of their transmitter, weather could be a factor. I asked him when WCOV would increase their power. He said possibly by the end of 2006 they would be full power from Grady, but that was just a guess. Things on the power front don't sound too promising.
I quess one possibility as to why we were getting such a good signal Friday and Saturday is that atmospheric conditions were just right.

I could receive them Sunday. Did'nt check the signal lvl tho. What I think is that something was'nt right with their old transmiter that blew up. Because I went from 0% for almost a year to 100% as soon as they replaced it.

I think I may have a moisture problem. Everything was fine until it rained.
I'm going to put on the new pre amp and I'll have to put a new cable between the antenna and preamp. I'm making cables with weather.
boots to cover the connections. I'll make sure everything is water tight. I'll
also put it up 5 more feet (Lowe's in Montgomery and Prattville were out of the 5 ft sections. I'm in Louisiana right now (work) and I will check with some of the Lowe's on the way back to see if any of them have it--otherwise I'll go with a 10 ft addition-Prattville has them- and just take one of my 5 ft extensions out).

Sounds like you are having a problem I had. Could not figure out what the problem was. Everything looked ok. One time it was a bad short cable between my preamp and Balun. The other time it was my Balun that went bad. All must have been on the inside because they looked fine on the outside.

Got back today and had time to install the new pre amp. When I got back,
WCOV was coming in fine (and my HD Tivo had recorded some episodes of a season pass I set up on WCOV--so I guess it came back after things dried out--if that was the problem). I started to just leave it alone but since I already had the pre amp I went ahead and put it on (after a couple of trips to Lowes). Even though I found the 5 ft extension I needed in Lafayette, LA, all the channels were coming in so I didn't bother with that.
I didn't see much difference in signal strength from my Blonder Tongue but
I put a new RG6 cable with weathertight connections (radial) between my pre amp and antenna balun (new-the BT used a 300 ohm connection). I need to fine tune the position on my antenna a little (it got dark before I had it just right). I'll do that tomorrow afternoon and then wait for a hard rain to see if my problem is solved,

Usually if there is a good storm or a large amount of rain coming down the WCOV signal drops significantly. I haven't had too many problems w/ them lately, but from time to time the signal gets iffy during bad weather.

Originally posted by Tigerman73
Usually if there is a good storm or a large amount of rain coming down the WCOV signal drops significantly. I haven't had too many problems w/ them lately, but from time to time the signal gets iffy during bad weather.

The channel I'm having a problem with now is WNCF. It is fine, for the most part, in early to mid evening. As the evening goes on, it begins to
break up and drop out--the mornings it is bad. Looking at a comparison of antennas, my antenna (Wingard 8 bay) got very good reviews with one caveat--it is a dog on channels over 50. WNCF is 51 and WAKA is coming on line on 55. I may have to try a yagi or yagi type antenna.

In Wetumpka, you should not have a problem with WAKA, as we'll be running 1 megawatt ERP..

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
In Wetumpka, you should not have a problem with WAKA, as we'll be running 1 megawatt ERP..

You're right, there shouldn't be a problem. Is the time frame still "early spring?"

Has anybody had problems with the signal from WSFA? In the last few days, the signal from WSFA has been having alot of dropouts. Before that, the signal was solid.

Originally posted by tomtb2
Has anybody had problems with the signal from WSFA? In the last few days, the signal from WSFA has been having alot of dropouts. Before that, the signal was solid.

This morning I am having a lot of drop outs on WSFA. I was getting ready to put my antenna up a little higher, but if I am not the only one having the problem I will wait (WCOV and WNCF are both still coming in strong--I'm having some problems with PBS but that is par for the course).

Originally posted by SD4934
This morning I am having a lot of drop outs on WSFA. I was getting ready to put my antenna up a little higher, but if I am not the only one having the problem I will wait (WCOV and WNCF are both still coming in strong--I'm having some problems with PBS but that is par for the course).

A slight readjustment of my antenna orientation solved the problem.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
In Wetumpka, you should not have a problem with WAKA, as we'll be running 1 megawatt ERP..

Any further estimate as to the time when we might see a signal on the air?

60-90 days at this point..

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
60-90 days at this point..


We're all looking forward to it.

We'll bring doughnuts, if that'll help. :)

If you could help with weather that would be good..there is a lot of electrical work that has to be done to go on-air. We're finishing up the studio & encoding end here now.

Sure.

Where do you need it dry?? Montgomery or Charlotte??

Well. If it was in the Everquest world I could cast a spell to stop the rain.
My friend in my office is suppost to get HDTV cable set top box today. I wrote him a note "Welcome to HDTV. Hope it's not HDLite". He reads this thread so lets all welcome him. Maybe talk him in to setting up a account.

Originally posted by Nnamd
My friend in my office is suppost to get HDTV cable set top box today.
That would be me. I've actually had an account on here for a while, but have been a lurker mainly.

I'm getting Knology's HDTV box, with the DVR option. Supposedly 20hrs of HD recording and/or 80-90hrs of standard-def. Does anyone know if they are using the SA8300HD yet, or still just the 8000HD?

Geminix

Welcome to the thread.

Don't know much about Knowlogy's DVR other than my brother had lots of problems with his and returned it. He's not much of a geek, so its possible that he wasn't tilting his head just right while programming it.

I have Voom satellite with something like 30 HD channels not counting the OTA HD. Only problem is that Voom is on rocky ground and may not be around for much long. Their DVR has repeatedly been postphoned, so I've all but given up hope on seeing a DVR from Voom.

We do have a tradition on this thread that all new participants have to host a HD party for the rest of us. ;-)

JimP I'll see what I can do about that party :)

They got it all set up, so far works great and looks great. I do have two Tivos, so if the DVR isn't too hot, I'll just use it for HD programming and my tivo for everything else..

One thing I noticed, Knology now carries NBC in HD, so they have all available locals, finally.. they must have just added it in the past few days. The installer was surprised to see it too.

I still have an 8000HD from Knology, but considering they have this available...
http://www.knology.com/support/manuals/Explorer_8300HD_Users_Guide.pdf

It's probably worth calling to ask about. The 8000HD has worked fine for me.

I posted a little earlier that I was having problems with the reception of WNCF (51). I was using a Winegard 8 bay and had read in a comparision of antennas that it was a dog above 50. Since WAKA was coming on line at 55 I decided I would try a different antenna. I installed an AntennasDirect 43XG (corner reflector yagi) this morning. I had checked the signal strength from my Winegard prior to replacing it with the new antenna (WNCF was very erratic with not enough signal to lock on to most of the time/PBS was the same way). After putting up the XG43 both WNCF and WAIQ were rock solid. In my situation, the MX43 made a big difference.
The weather is good today, a little cloudy. We'll see how it does during bad weather. If anybody needs an almost new Winegard PR 8800 (8 bay)
I've got one you can have cheap.

Stan

Congrats on the find. I may be replacing my 8 bay channelmaster if I have problems with WAKA. Still having problems receiving WAIQ.

Originally posted by JimP
Stan

Congrats on the find. I may be replacing my 8 bay channelmaster if I have problems with WAKA. Still having problems receiving WAIQ.

Jim, So far I'm very happy with the antenna. When I checked the signal strength with the Winegard this morning the reception for WAIQ was very spotty (fluctuated from around 70% to 0--never enough for a consistent signal). After I got the 43XG up I was getting a solid signal with little fluctuation on WAIQ as well as on WNCF. WSFA stayed about the same but
the strength on WCOV came up a little. For me (I know with the variables that can affect antenna performance I can't extrapolate too much and someone's else's mileage could be very different) the 43XG outperforms the Winegard PR 8800 across the board. Of course its early and I've yet to see its' performance in bad weather but the antenna appears very well desgined (and, it was only $59--$72 with shipping). I'm ready for WAKA now. If you've never been to their site (http://www.antennasdirect.com) check it out. Stan

Stan

Was that "43XG" or "XG42"?

Originally posted by JimP
Stan

Was that "43XG" or "XG42"?

43XG. They have two long range corner reflector yagis. The 91XG (boom is almost 8 ft long--91 elements) and the 43XG (43 elements). I didn't think I would need the 91XG and didn't want to fool with an 8 ft antenna--the medium range corner reflector yagi (XG42) would probably have worked but the price was the same as the XG43 so I decided to go with the antenna with the highter gain. They also have a 90 day return policy--try the antenna and if you don't like it for any reason you can return it for a full refund. Speaking of big antennas, I finally took down my 7 ft parabolic today. I had been putting it off but it wasn't as bad a job as I was afraid it might be. So today, I took down two antennas and put up one. I'm not a very good "do-it yourselfer" so I am a little proud of myself.

Anybody pick up WTVY out of Dothan this morning. I had them coming in at a decent signal early but it had dropped out some later. I thought if someone had an outside antenna they might be able to pick them up.

Could someone please list all the Montgomery TV Stations that now Broadcast HD signals? Many thanks.

In Montgomery, I get WSFA 12, WCOV 20, PBS 26, WNCF 32. Also, there is a Christian station but I cannot receive a signal. WAKA 8 is suppose to be HD in the next month or so. Titantv.com has this info also.

Originally posted by Tigerman73
Anybody pick up WTVY out of Dothan this morning. I had them coming in at a decent signal early but it had dropped out some later. I thought if someone had an outside antenna they might be able to pick them up.

I use to could with my other receiver. Not with the one I have now.

Originally posted by gaz
Could someone please list all the Montgomery TV Stations that now Broadcast HD signals? Many thanks.

WSFA 12 is channel 14 (12-1 thru 12-3)
WCOV 20 is channel 16 (20-1)
WAIQ 26 is channel 27(26-1 thru 26-2)
WNCF 32 is channel 51 (32-1)
All are live. If you trying to get them in Auburn you might get channel 12's. I think most the antenna's are south of montgomery if you want to point your antenna that way.


Does anyone else get blasted back in their seat from the speakers when WCOV switches over to HD in primtime? hehe.

Fox HD has been out for a few days on Knology. Is the off-air still there?

I took my antenna down and can't answer the question for myself.

Channel 20 off air is still there. However, I am still having some problems with Channel 12 from time to time.

Same here. 20 is fine OTA but I am getting sparodic audio drop outs on WSFA--the signal is strong and doesn't drop out on my ss meter. Glad it's
not just me.

Newbie here! I am in Prattville and I need your advice. My tv is on the way and Dtv is coming for hd setup. I need to know what is the best antenna to use to get the digital feeds from Montgomery to Prattville and can I possibly pick up stations from Bham? Thanks.
Kev

thekevman

Welcome to the party. ;-)

Stan seems to be doing well with his new antenna. See his post 5 from the top of this page. His screen name is SD4934. When I get a little spare time, I'll be trying it out.

As to your question about reaching Birmingham, Stan just took down a giant parabolic antenna that he used to get some of the more powerful Birmingham stations. Once WAKA goes digital, there really wouldn't be much of a need to get Birmingham. ...and there is something to be said about "not" having a giant lightning rod on top of the house.

So what kind of TV are you getting??

I can not wait. I am getting the Sony 60XS955. Moving to a new house and the wife made the deal she gets a new house and I get my TV. I think she got the short end of that stick! ;-)
Kev

thekevman

Nice set for sure. Enjoy.

If you're interested in calibrating it, I have a Accupel HD signal generator. You furnish the pizza ... ;-)

Looks like WSFA just went down. I just got home from work and had the evening news on. Was still getting drop outs when it totally dropped out and I am getting no signal on my signal strength meter.

Kev, I am having excellent results with the XG43 long range corner reflector yagi from http://antennasdirect.com They also have a medium range corner reflector yagi that would probably work but the price is the same ($59 + $14 dollars shipping). They also have a really big long range yagi that would probably pull in the B'ham channels (if you can get it heigh enough), but with WAKA coming on the air soon, as Jim said, there is really no need to worry about B'ham unless you just want B'ham stations. But, OTA, I get excellent signals for WCOV, WAIQ, WSFA and WNCF.
(I live in Elmore between Millbrook and Wetumpka.)

(One caveat--since there are so many variables that afftect antenna performance, your results may not match mine--the only way to know for sure is to try--antennasdirect does have a 90 day return policy--you can try the antenna and if you are not satisified you can return it for a full refund.
I tried a Winegard 8 bay before I got my present antenna and was did not have the best results. YMMV.)

8:10 P.M--WSFA is back up.

Originally posted by thekevman
Newbie here! I am in Prattville and I need your advice. My tv is on the way and Dtv is coming for hd setup. I need to know what is the best antenna to use to get the digital feeds from Montgomery to Prattville and can I possibly pick up stations from Bham? Thanks.
Kev

You might stand the best chance of getting Bham than anybody. You might also want to checkout www.antennaweb.org

I think you will have no problem getting Mont. even with rabbit ears.

Last year I was trying (in Montgomery) to get SEC games on CBS from B'ham. Bought an antenna similar to the XG43 from Radio Shack. Tried and tried to get it to work from outside a second floor window area with no luck.

Almost giving up, I tried something from down stairs and found that I could pick up B'ham pretty well, with the antenna lying on the ground. So every Saturday I'd turn on the projector and receiver, throw the antenna in the back yard and enjoy. Eventually just applied for an RV exemption with E* and got it off satellite.

Glad I'll be able to cancel that. Save a few dollars and take down the extra dish.

Originally posted by metooalso
Last year I was trying (in Montgomery) to get SEC games on CBS from B'ham. Bought an antenna similar to the XG43 from Radio Shack. Tried and tried to get it to work from outside a second floor window area with no luck.

Almost giving up, I tried something from down stairs and found that I could pick up B'ham pretty well, with the antenna lying on the ground. So every Saturday I'd turn on the projector and receiver, throw the antenna in the back yard and enjoy. Eventually just applied for an RV exemption with E* and got it off satellite.

Glad I'll be able to cancel that. Save a few dollars and take down the extra dish.

Sounds like you had better luck with an antenna lying in the yard than I did with a 7 ft parabolic on my roof. I never got reception for the SEC games in the day time (and night was very hit or miss). Looks like we'll have the local CBS station for SEC football in the fall. After watching football in HD on ESPN and ABC it's hard to watch a SD broadcast (of course I do if that's all I can get).

Speaking of CBS HD, have we gotten an update lately?? I think the last was they were looking at next month. I'm really looking forward to having HD fired up on CBS, especially for the Fall. It shouldn't be too much longer if we can keep the storms to a minimum.

We don't have any firm timetable on WAKA-DT at this point. We're still in the process of configuring the studio gear here, and have a bit more transmitter work to do. But I don't expect it to be next month. Most likely
June...at least that is the current plan..

Big aaarrrggh.

My satellite provider, Voom is shutting down at the end of April. Sure would be nice to get CBS in HD to make up for the 30 HD channels I won't be getting with Voom. (sad face)

June's cool, I was basing my timetable off a post from way back. I was just interested in figuring out where ya'll were at. Just as long as its up and going by September!!!

Yea, I think we'll make September for sure..finishing up the configuration of the studio encoding gear as I type..

Anybody having problems with WSFA and WCOV. Last night I didn't get a signal for WCOV and WSFA's signal fluctuated a good bit. Tonight I am getting no signal for either WCOV or WSFA. WSFA's signal used to be my stongest and most consistent but since they had problems a couple of weeks ago the signal hasn't been nearly as reliable. WAIQ is now my strongest signal.

Threads merged.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SD4934
[B]Anybody having problems with WSFA and WCOV.

WCOV is off air following a lightning hit on some equipment yesterday. Possibly back on tomorrow (Saturday). WSFA is off Friday evening due to a power failure in Grady. WCOV analog is off for the same reason.

Thanks.

They are coming to the house tomorrow and I was wondering if we can get the national feeds.
Thanks
Kevman

My gut feeling is "no."

The FCC hasn't even come up with a method for determining who can't legitimately receive digital signals from local affiliates yet -- though they're scheduled to meet this week to discuss that issue, according to this link: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-258262A1.pdf

Also, keep in mind: D* is considered to be the abbreviation for DirecTV on this forum. DTV (or DT) is used for any kind of digital television, including over-the-air reception.

Threads merged.

No WCOV for me since storm. I had no problem with WSFA this past weekend. Too bad to with the showing of STARWARS all weekend.

WCOV is back on the air, WSFA for those who can't find it was popping up at 14-3, 4 and 5 this morning.

Originally posted by Tigerman73
WSFA for those who can't find it was popping up at 14-3, 4 and 5 this morning.

My appropriately named HDTV Wonder card can't detect but one stream from WSFA right now, and it is only numbered (14-1). Their PSIP generator must have taken a hit.

Originally posted by W4IMM
My appropriately named HDTV Wonder card can't detect but one stream from WSFA right now, and it is only numbered (14-1). Their PSIP generator must have taken a hit.

Maybe it will stay that way and they will pump full HD thru it...hehe...

It was a dream I had......(Excaliber)

Has anyone gotten a straight answer on why they are still running 12-2 duplicating the programming from 12-1 beside the ability in the future to run infomercials. I asked the gm why when they first came on since anyone who could pick up the digital channel was going to probably have a HD set and isn't going to want to watch the same program in SD mode and bitrate starved at that. I don't mind the weather channel, but the 2nd channel of duplicate programming hurts the picture quality on the HD channel. What a waste for us.

Originally posted by Tigerman73
Has anyone gotten a straight answer on why they are still running 12-2 duplicating the programming from 12-1 beside the ability in the future to run infomercials. I asked the gm why when they first came on since anyone who could pick up the digital channel was going to probably have a HD set and isn't going to want to watch the same program in SD mode and bitrate starved at that. I don't mind the weather channel, but the 2nd channel of duplicate programming hurts the picture quality on the HD channel. What a waste for us.

Agree.

I would guess they dont understand or just dont care.

Originally posted by Tigerman73
Has anyone gotten a straight answer on why they are still running 12-2

My guess is that their corporate made the decision based on what they percieve to be a future need for set-top boxes with 4x3 displays. Wonder what WAKA is going to do in that regard......

WAKA will have Wx radar on the 2nd channel..no plans for an additional SD
channel at this time.

Most stations that feed SD video do so for the cable companies to have a better SD feed for digital cable boxes. We have had several requests for
Sd feeds to be added from cable companies.

Bob,

Is that due to lower bandwidth requirements??

Not sure I fully understand your question..But the cable guys want an SD feed from us due to the crappy analog tuners (as well as analog cable!) as they are getting a lot of viewer complaints on why the channels below 100 look so bad on their big screens..

Originally posted by bdfox18doe

Most stations that feed SD video do so for the cable companies to have a better SD feed for digital cable boxes. We have had several requests for
Sd feeds to be added from cable companies.

As far as I can determine that isn't the case here. It certainly could be useful where a cable company is unable to receive a decent analog OTA signal.

I have heard of an instance where one cable company attempted this but was unable to make it work due to closed captioning issues. I don't know the particulars, though.

The limited bandwidth SD signals that I have seen don't look all that hot to me.

That's done here quite a bit, especially for the Ch3 CBS due to electrical interference..
And you're right, they don't look very good.

Now to something totally unrelated. I know leaves can block signals but can leaves act as a reflector? The reason I am asking this is that this morning I was getting a strong signal from the B'ham CBS station. My antenna is designed to reject signals from the backside. There is a tree near and in front of my antenna (maple with very large leaves). The only thing I can figure is that the leaves reflected the B'ham signal back to my antenna (yagi corner reflector--long range). Of course that has happened only one time (although I have gotten a little signal strength on my signal strength meter from time to time--but not enough for the reciever to lock onto the signal). Either the leaves or some type of atmospheric condition.
(Although I can aim my antenna around the tree for the Montgomery stations I may eventually have to cut the thing down.)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SD4934
[B]Now to something totally unrelated. I know leaves can block signals but can leaves act as a reflector?

Anything can act as a reflector , more or less, including trees, although they make a poor substitute for metal. Getting good reception on Birmingham stations would probably be some sort of trospheric effect - ducting, scatter, temperature inversion, etc. Intervening fog can enhance short range propogation, too. Digital will probably breathe a little more life into the TV DX crowd. For short periods under the right conditions, stations can be received from hundreds and/or thousands of miles.

Originally posted by W4IMM
[QUOTE]Originally posted by SD4934
[B]Now to something totally unrelated. I know leaves can block signals but can leaves act as a reflector?

Anything can act as a reflector , more or less, including trees, although they make a poor substitute for metal. Getting good reception on Birmingham stations would probably be some sort of trospheric effect - ducting, scatter, temperature inversion, etc. Intervening fog can enhance short range propogation, too. Digital will probably breathe a little more life into the TV DX crowd. For short periods under the right conditions, stations can be received from hundreds and/or thousands of miles. Thanks. I'm familiar with tropospheric ducting, etc. I thought it might be the leaves since the antenna is pointed toward Montgomery almost directly opposite from the B'ham stations. Before the Montgomery stations were on the air I had a large parabolic on my roof peak to try to get the B'ham signals. It was very atmospheric dependant.

Does anyone know what DTV stations are being received in Auburn?

Thanks.

w41mm

Have you tried www.antennaweb.org

Originally posted by JimP


Have you tried www.antennaweb.org

Thanks, Jim. I guess I should have been clearer. Stations that are actually being received by OTA DTV viewers in Auburn as opposed to predicted contours.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
Not sure I fully understand your question..But the cable guys want an SD feed from us due to the crappy analog tuners (as well as analog cable!) as they are getting a lot of viewer complaints on why the channels below 100 look so bad on their big screens..

Well. I know of receivers that can take a high def signal and down convert to standard def. Why cant they just use something like that? And you get a better picture on standard TV when down converted.
The old Samsung SIR I use to have did it very well.

Originally posted by Nnamd
Well. I know of receivers that can take a high def signal and down convert to standard def. Why cant they just use something like that.

Because CBS HD is shot in true 16x9..graphics and sports scores would be truncated, and most analog viewers would not accept a 16x9 picture.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
Because CBS HD is shot in true 16x9..graphics and sports scores would be truncated, and most analog viewers would not accept a 16x9 picture.

Ok. Seem like it had different output options for different screen formats as well. But I'm not into all that engineer stuff.

Is there a target date for WAKA's digital signal to be on (or in) the air? I think I remember June being mentioned as a possibility. Is this realistic?

No, we are a bit behind with the transmitter completion due to weather and busy contractors..there is a lot of work going on in the Montgomery area overall. I'll let you know as soon as we do. The HD equipment is complete and working here, ready for transport and installation in Montgomery.

Originally posted by bdfox18doe
No, we are a bit behind with the transmitter completion due to weather and busy contractors..there is a lot of work going on in the Montgomery area overall. I'll let you know as soon as we do. The HD equipment is complete and working here, ready for transport and installation in Montgomery.

Thanks. As long as WAKA digital will be on the air for college football, I'm ok.

Is anyone getting HD through Brighthouse in Wetumpka??

If you do, are you getting breakups with the HD channels and weird intermittent horizontal lines on the SD channels?

Any time frame on the HD equipment being moved to Montgomery?? Just curious what we are looking at, football season is creeping closer and closer....ha ha ha

Yes, very soon, however the transmitter work isn't complete, including the small minor
issue that the new electric service from the power company hasn't been installed..
I don't think there will be any issue with football.

Good deal

Not much activity here lately. WSFA appears off the air. I'm not getting any signal strength. For about a week now I have been getting WSFA at 14-3,4,5 instead of at 12. I assume it must be a PSIP issue. Not sure why the signal is now off the air (at least I'm not getting anything--all my other channels are fine). That's about all there is to talk about for the time being (at least until WAKA gets on the air).

Hi Stan,

Must be something else up. I just reconnected my Voom receiver that's still works as a ATSC tuner for OTA and WSFA is looking pretty good. I've not changed anything on the Voom receiver like rescanning or any thing.

I am getting WSFA in the 14's also.

Apparently, if WSFA was down, it wasn't down for long as I am now getting a good signal, still in the 14s though. I e-mailed WSFA to make them aware of this.
It's a minor issue but my Tivo still has the guide info on 12-1,2,3 so I have to set
manual recordings for NBC.

Tomb2 is getting NBC in the 14s. Is anybody else? I wonder if this is across the board or is it receiver specific. I have the HD Tivo. I haven't gotten a reply back on my e-mail to WSFA.

It was this weekend, but its back on the 12s now on my LG 4200A.

When I got home from work this afternoon it was back in the 12s.

On a totally new topic--Bright House now has on-line bill pay and I signed up today. I have life-line cable and Road Runner. For HD and other programming I have DirecTv and an OTA. I noticed that Bright House's HD line-up is now comprable to DirecTv (D* has UHD and Bright House has INhd and Turner HD so
they actually have more HD channels than D*). Overall, my cable bill would still be
less than a comparable cable package but, unless D* can go ahead and get some
more programming on the air cable will be a formidable adversary. I've always
had excellent service from Bright House so It would be hard for me to recomment to someone to switch to satellite from cable (I did notice that FOX was absent from the HD lineup on line but I think Bright House has it). If cable had had a good HD lineup when I switched from cable to SAT I would never have switched (at the time I was with E* and they only had HBO HD and a demo channel--we've come a long way). Not asking anything--just an observation. (And I saw where B House now has an HD DVR available for this area.)

Stan,
I've got the HD DVR with Brighthouse. Unfortunately, the HD signals are breaking up to the point that they don't record well. Much better signal with OTA from my Voom HD receiver.

I'm still having problems with Brighthouse's analog having intermittant horizontal lines appearing. Thought they finally had it fixed yesterday as the programming looked pretty good last night. Then tonight they're back. Are you having any problems with intermittant horizontal lines on the analog channels on Brighthouse??

Stan,
I've got the HD DVR with Brighthouse. Unfortunately, the HD signals are breaking up to the point that they don't record well. Much better signal with OTA from my Voom HD receiver.

I'm still having problems with Brighthouse's analog having intermittant horizontal lines appearing. Thought they finally had it fixed yesterday as the programming looked pretty good last night. Then tonight they're back. Are you having any problems with intermittant horizontal lines on the analog channels on Brighthouse??


Hi Jim, Sorry to hear about the problems with the HD signals from Bright House.
I don't watch the analog channels that often (WAKA for the most part) but I haven't noticed any problems with them. I did watch "For The Record" tonight
on the Bright House analog channel as I was getting some audio dropouts on
the OTA 26-2 and I didn't see any problems. (I just flipped through the analog channels and they all looked fine-relatively speaking.) Are you sticking with cable
or are you planning to go with D* or E?* E* seems to have the upper hand right now both with number of HD channels and with HD picture quality (full bandwidth and
good bit rate--don't know how long it will last though so I'm sticking with D*-6 mths to a year from know the situation could be reversed).

Stan,

Not sure what I'm going to do. I'm having line of sight problems hitting any of the satellite other than at 61.5 without installing the dish out in my side yard. Living on a corner lot would make the dish visible from the street unless I can do some creative landscaping. Then the cable run would be getting close to the max before signal degredation. To add to this, E* bought the Voom satellite at 61.5 and with the MPEG 4 conversion, whose to say what programming will be on 61.5. Unfortunately, no announcements have been made by E*. As to HD programming, the ball in currently in E*'s court. In six months, it could be D*s. Also with the switch to MPEG4 in a few months, I'll have to go through either company's debugging period. oh joy.

The one thing that has become evident is that I'm better off dealing with a satellite company with tens of millions of subscribers than a local small time cable company that has had this signal problem for over 3 months and still hasn't fixed it.

On a positive note, I received a final statement from Voom satellite today where they stated that they were going to send a refund check for $413.00. I guess that's for buying the receiver when I first subscribed with them. I still have their receiver in my component cabinet (works great as a OTA receiver) and would occassionally wonder if I'd ever hear anything else from them.

Hi Jim, Ever thought about moving :D. Seriously, if Birght House would get their act together it appears that they would have a very competative HD lineup. But who knows what the future holds. Once the telecoms get into the act-I thinkk Verizon is planning to roll out or maybe already has in some areas- things should get interesting.

You folks aren't making me feel very comfortable. I was about to call Brighthouse:)

I'm about 70% moved to my new place in Wetumpka. I really got used to an "at least functional" HD PVR from Knology.

I could probably clear a view for a D* or E* dish, but my local HD reception is looking bad on test runs with the HD tuner in this PC and an indoor antenna. I need to try one of my outside antennas from the old house.

I also need 6 outlets for TVs in the house, which complicates things with satellite.

NeedMoreToys

6 outlets, where do you have all of them? Any in the john? lol

In the last few days, Brighthouse has done some clearing up of the signal, but there is still more that needs to be done. Haven't tried to record HD yet. I'll give that a try and let you know later. Do have to say that the Motorola HD/SD DVR that Brighthouse is using is very user friendly. Picture on SD channels look better than with the previous SD receiver I had with them.

One thing to watch for if you get your locals through satellite, they'll be in standard def, not high def. I still would go with Dish, OTA for the locals in HD and lease their 942.

P.S. After I originally wrote this message I turned on the TV and Brighthouse. Everything looked great, for a while. Then those intermittant horizontal lines came back. aaaarrrgh

As to getting your HD locals, you're more than likely are going to need one of the outdoor antennas with an amplifier. Pain to install, but once done worth the extra effort.

I noticed Titan TV lists the live date for WAKA as 11-01. Titan TV is not particularly
known for reliaility so, hopefully, we'll still get WAKA in time for SEC football.

I was at WAKA last week installing the studio encoding gear, and Terry is back down there this week doing transmitter work, so it will be way before then..

I'm not sure where they got that date..I'll have to rag Eric @ Decisionmark over that one..

I was at WAKA last week installing the studio encoding gear, and Terry is back down there this week doing transmitter work, so it will be way before then..

I'm not sure where they got that date..I'll have to rag Eric @ Decisionmark over that one..
Thanks Bob. That's good to hear.

I thought WSFA HD was available from Knology. However, I called them today and was told it was not in HD.

Knology added WSFA to their HD lineup several months ago, but for some reason they still have not listed it on their website.

Here is the Knology HD lineup:

901 WNCF (ABC)
903 WSFA (NBC)
904 APT (PBS)
905 WCOV (FOX)
911 ESPN
913 Discovery HD Theater
921 HBO
926 STARZ

Thanks for the info. I called them twice and they told me 903 was the tennis channel.

And for people with QAM tuners, Knology scrambles the locals along with the other HD channels.

Look's like the WSFA engineers were asleep at the switch tonight. No HD for the 4th of July special (it was broadcast in HD). The special on PBS HD did look very good, though.

They must have had a temp running things last night, I noticed that the picture wasn't in HD...I switched over to D* and watched it, the picture was really good, I was expecting some pixelation but I didn't notice any.

:confused:
I wouldn't blame WSFA's failure to broadcast the 4th of July special in high definition on temporary staff. I can recall four earlier occasions during prime time when the digital channel was clearly broadcasting SD, or like last night, it was displayed letter-boxed.

Out of frustration I have begun calling the WSFA news line (the only number they appear to answer after 5:00 p.m.) and complaining. Each time the problem was fixed after 20-25 minutes.

The screw-up last night was particularly irritating since I had gathered out-of-town family members to demonstrate the glories of HD. I recorded the program so we could watch it after returning from Montgomery's fireworks display at the riverfront. Since the program had ended two hours before we sat down to watch it, I couldn't even call and complain. I suspect someone else did complain since I noted that the HD signal was switched on for the last 15 minutes or so.

I have never experienced this problem with the other local broadcasters. With the others, the HD channel is either operating correctly or not operating at all.

Larry

Tigerman, how did you did get a waiver to see NBC HD on Directv?

I still have a residence in Birmingham....so I'm able to get the locals off the sat. I was just kidding w/ the post about the temps...I figure somebody forgot to flip the switch, I didn't waste my time calling I just flipped the channel.

I receive FOX OTA and am having some audio problems. The network feeds are fine but I get no sound on some commercials (as if I really care) and no sound on syndicated programming. I have a season pass for Seinfeld on WCOV and the last couple of nights there has been no sound. Anybody else notice this?

I also noticed that on WSFA14-2 (12-2) that tonight there is weather coverage. Is this a permanent thing or just temporary? Could be interesting but it is replete with static images (LCD and DLP no problems but could be problems for CRT RPTVs and Plasmas if wathhed good length of time).

I haven't looked at WSFA since since this weekend, are they doing away w/ the 2nd channel and moving the weather channel to 12-2??? If so that's would be wonderful....increase the picture quality on 12-1. I've noticed no audio during the commercials on FOX also, then Seinfeld had no audio after the ballgame last night.

Apparently, there is no audio on local programming on FOX 20-1 (including syndicated programming). I miss my Seinfeld. I don't know if this is OTA only or effects the cable digital signal (the analog signal is fine). I have sent an e-mail to the chief engineer at WCOV.

Apparently, there is no audio on local programming on FOX 20-1 (including syndicated programming). I miss my Seinfeld. I don't know if this is OTA only or effects the cable digital signal (the analog signal is fine). I have sent an e-mail to the chief engineer at WCOV.

Just got an e-mail back from Phil Whitt. They were not aware of the problem until I sent my e-mail but the problem has been fixed.

Just saw the new channel on 12-2...what a waste of bandwidth if you ask me, I'm already getting the weather channel I don't need to see that stuff on the screen...so now we have 3 channels running programming, anyone care to take a guess on how bad the picture is going to look when they have the Sunday Night Football game on after this next season...there will be so much pixelation we'll be lucky if it'll be watchable.

Just saw the new channel on 12-2...what a waste of bandwidth if you ask me, I'm already getting the weather channel I don't need to see that stuff on the screen...so now we have 3 channels running programming, anyone care to take a guess on how bad the picture is going to look when they have the Sunday Night Football game on after this next season...there will be so much pixelation we'll be lucky if it'll be watchable.

Welcome to the bandwagon

Good thing the race is on TNT today...WSFA may have to tell us it is raining.

They just keep telling us the same stuff over and over again!!!!!!!!

:) Anyone know the latest on WAKA going HDTV? What is the progress, there WEB site says nothing.

WCOV-DT is currently off the air due to a lightning strike on Friday afternoon, July 22. Parts have been ordered but the time for return to air is unknown at this time.

Bet their ears are ringing.

Bet their ears are ringing.

Guess I'll have to get my Seinfeld fix by recording the analog channel with my Replay.

WCOV-DT is back on as of 10:20AM Saturday morning.

Since we haven't heard yet, has anyone heard anything on WAKA's timetable for going HD....they are quickly running out of time before football starts and I'm beginning to believe it ain't gonna happen anytime soon, anything to get our hopes up again will be appreciated!!

Where are you bdfox18doe? How about an update on WAKA progress?

How about an update on WAKA progress?

We've had some installation delays that are beyond our control, so the latest
seems to be mid-August, unfortunately.. :(

Thanks for the update and keeping us informed. And on a happier note I noticed NBC is now showing the late night reruns of Leno and Conan in HD.

Thanks for the update Bob, hopefully there won't be any further delays, everybody brags on CBS's college football coverage about how beautiful the HD is and I'm interested in seeing for the 1st time this fall. Hopefully we'll get it and not miss too many games as I don't think they really get the coverage going until mid to late September when the conference games get going hot and heavy.

Just a heads up for anybody with Knology HD service in Montgomery area - I just noticed they now have NBC/Universal HD(channel 917), HDNet(channel 918), and HDNet Movies(channel 919). No guide data yet, but the channels are there and working.

Looks like I'm going to have to break down and order their HD service. I already have the digital preferred which is costing me 81 dollars a month. Last time I checked it will be at least 10 more bucks. I guess my 4200 OTA will go to the bedroom.

Just a heads up for anybody with Knology HD service in Montgomery area - I just noticed they now have NBC/Universal HD(channel 917), HDNet(channel 918), and HDNet Movies(channel 919). No guide data yet, but the channels are there and working.
And his lazy butt did'nt get a receiver with firewire. Blah!

Guess we will miss some SEC games this year. :mad:

Hopefully we'll get something this month, what's the latest, is it looking good for later this month or is it going to be pushed back into the Fall??

Looking good for later this month. Will know more for sure next week..

Looking good for later this month. Will know more for sure next week..

Great News !!!!

Good let's keep our fingers crossed, hope everything falls into place and the stars align properly

Can anyone guess what if any problems will be picking up signal once WAKA goes HD? Have no problems picking up WSFA :) /NBC, WCOV/FOX,WNCF/ABC,PBS, live by Gunter.

Grandpa,

Good question.

When checking with the map on www.antennaweb.org it appears that WAKA is in the same direction as WNCF. So if you're getting WNCF without any problems, I'd think you should be able to get WAKA without any once they come up to full power. I would not be surprised if they're at partial power for a short time . :)

What type of antenna are you using?

Question that I've got for anyone in the know is how soon are the cable companies, specifically Brighthouse in Wetumpka, likely to add WAKA digital to their programming. I have a digital OTA system, but sure would like to use my Brighthouse PVR.

I have a DB4 Multi-directional High Gain...outside Antenna...

I have a DB4 Multi-directional High Gain...outside Antenna...

Should be fine.

Anything new going on w/ WAKA going HD???

Hopefully..by this Friday.. but NO GUARANTEES! :eek:

Have 3 guys from here that are the best in the business working on it. :)

Good deal, we'll all keep are fingers crossed. Hopefully things will fall into place and you can get it finished up.

Just for the fun of it I checked Channel 55...to by surprise Channel 55 HDTV is on the air . At present getting between 62 and 65 percent. :) :) :)

Grandpa, and other Montgomery Viewers:

please pm me your address / coords, as well as receiver and antenna config.. if
you will..as well as any Audio/Video comments

Forgive me I am a little dense..What does pm mean? :(

private message..click on my screen name in the upper left..

Looking good over here behind Maxwell-Gunter Annex.
Getting a drop out now and then. I pm'ed you.

Just noticed 8.2 duplicate but no sound and 8.3 weather that looks a little blurry.

What's the RF channel?? 55??

Yes, 55.1 but have lost the signal now. Guess they are doing tests and such.

Thanks blp.

I was trying to tune 55 at 2:05 p.m. and wasn't getting anything.

Native RF is 55.
You should see a re-map to 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3.
We do not have audio connected to 8.2 yet as we have an a/d to install for it.
Should have NWS audio on 8-3, and yes it is low-bandwidth..

Only getting a weak 24 on a scale of 100 (not enough to lock onto) . Location is half way between Wetumpka and Montgomery, next to Jasmine Hills Gardens. Using a large channel master antenna with amplifier.

Looks like WSFA is down. Lightning strike maybe??

No signal for awhile..must be working hard :)

Yes, having a few issues, which is not unexpected when putting a new transmitter on.
Appreciate the patience and feedback..

It won't be as long as it has been..

Crap. Another multi channel. I'll check every now and then this week when I get home from work. I live about 40 miles north of Montgomery. In west top corner of Elmore Co. I have a Toshiba DTS-3100 using a antenna kinda like the Channel Master 4228 8-Bay with a rotor. I mostly point it South-Southeast.

Looks like WSFA is down. Lightning strike maybe??

Very big storm came thru East Montgomery today I know. So with all the trouble 12 had last week with the afternoon storms you are right. I was on vacation last week and they went off the air Sunday night I know. They droped a few time Saterday night. (only times I was watching 12 last week.) But what was weird was I had 100% signal.

no signal here but I'll see what I can pull when it's back up and running

Not getting anything right now--just got home from work so I haven't tried it earlier. I get a strong signal for WNCF, so, hopefully, I will not have any problems with WAKA (the tower is near the WNCF tower, right?).

We developed an issue today with the transmission system, which is not unexpected with a new installation. At Channel 55 and 1 megawatt, it is very easy to burn up components that will cost a fortune to repair and result in significant delay to replace.So, we decided to err on the side of caution and shut down for further inspection. I'll keep you posted as we know more.
Thanks to all for the feedback and continued patience.

Better to be safe than sorry, keep us up to date on what's going on.

Wonder how the cable companies get these signals.

The other day when HD WSFA OTA was out, I was still able to get it over Brighthouse cable here in Wetumpka. So there must have been some other method of transmission, like cables or microwaves (or magic)

That being the case, even when WAKA OTA goes HD, would that likely mean that the cable companies may take some time to make the connections??

CATv's will get WAKA-DT via OTA.

Its back up. I'm getting a strong "good" signal on 8.1 8.2 no audio. 8.3 is weather audio.

Thanks..
We'll temporarily "hide" 8.2 tomorrow..till we get the audio completed..

Signal weak over here at Dalraida...59-60%

I'm getting a consistent signal of 67-68%. I am getting a few "breakups" in the picture (video and audio). Looks like this will be a good HD football season (hopefully the play on the field will live up to the HD picture).

Great day for OTA in Montgomery. Thanks!

Great day for OTA in Montgomery. Thanks!

The picture on CSI looks great. There was some audio problems but things seem OK now.

8:14..no sound on 008-1

I spoke too soon. The audio problems are still there. I'm very optimistic that things will be worked out soon. I realize there are always some problems when first going on the air.

I'm watching "Without a Trace" now and the audio is fine now and the picture looks great.

9AM Friday Ch 8-3, 31 miles, south Montgomery, bearing 66 degs from transmitter. Weak sigs but looks good on simple yagi 15' above ground, Sencor IRD3384. Not receivable on el junko indoor antenna near same location.

Finishing up a few things today, appreciate all the reports,please keep them coming!

Are you off the air again..no signal by Dalraida?

11:57 am.

Half way between Montgomery and Wetumpka, next to Jasmine Hills Gardens, using a Channel Master amplified antenna (4228?), the signal is floating between 78 and 79 which isn't enough to lock on to. By comparison, all the other channels come in between 94 and 99.

Hmm... should be able to lock that, even though Jasmine Hills Gardens is about 42 miles from WAKA-DT.

All,Make sure you are pointed towards our tower, located off Hwy 12 near Gordonsville. NOT in Montgomery. Coords: 32.08.57.44 86.46.51.01

AFAIK, WNCF is still transmitting low-power from their studio location, not out near us in Gordonsville..

At 12:30, the signal level went from 77-79 to 91. By the time I could rescan, it had dropped back to 77.

Maybe I'm reading antennaweb.org wrong.

According to them WNCF is at 237degrees, WAIQ is at 229 degrees and I get them fine.

WAKA-DT is at 239 degrees and show it located in Selma. In Gordensville near Selma?

WNCF transmits from their studio in Montgomery.Their ANALOG transmitter is nextdoor to WAKA's

WAKA-DT transmitter is 25 miles SE of Selma..

Weak signal here behind Gunter Annex. Cannot lock in but I have a lot of trees too. Are you at
full power?

Antenna's aimed at 204 degrees (approximately). According to this map, I should be fairly close. Besides, when it spiked to 91 at 12:30, something must have been going on.

Below is a map showing Gordonsville and Wetumpka. Looks like 220 degrees. Should be close enough?? :o

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&address=&city=Gordonsville+&state=AL&zipcode=

Try now Jim, should be more better now..had to change the multiplex config slightly...

(PSIP generation and encoder control for WAKA comes from here..)

And yes, that map is close enough for aiming.. :)

All o a sudden I can't get the signal anymore....it was at 69 this morning now it's 49 and can not get locked.

Getting a picture now. Signal strength is about half way on my LG 4200 using a indoor Silver Sensor antenna pointed SW. But it does drop off and comes back.

try a re-scan and let me know..

BLP, Indoor with SS, which has a lower gain on the high end towards Ch55, probably won't be solid at that distance..we're out a ways.

Did one..it now comes in at around 64 but fades in and out. 2:16PM

Hmmm.
What receiver?

Looks fine on the Sony 200 I'm looking at from here.

Dish 811 ...

Signal floating between 78 and 81 with periodic jumps to 91. Still can't
lock on.

Using the Voom satellite receiver which is generally pretty sensitive.

Seems steady. Got to go to work now, will check at midnight.

Had to tweek my antenna a little bit, I had it pointing the SSE for the previous HD channels around town...I moved it more SSW and am now picking up 8-1 very strong and steady. I'm still able to pick up 12-1 strong and steady, PBS seems to be hanging in there for the time being nice and strong and 32-1 is coming in about the same as it was previously. 20-1 dropped in signal strength a little but it seems to be holding steady...I'll have to keep my eye on it for a little while and see if is stays steady in the sun and rain. So far everything looks good, thanks for you hard work bdfox.....how much more ya'll got to do to it...do ya'll hang around for a little while troubleshooting or are ya'll on to the next job?

Oh, there's always another job..The guys left today to come back, now we must go a bit
further down the road to do WABG-DT in Mississippi.. Thanks for all the feedback, please keep me posted. As we do still have to do some more tweaking, appreciate the patience.
I'm not 100% sure it's all correct yet.

Let me know how the game looks tonite.

The football game looks great tonight (even though I am much more a college fan than pro fan). I'm getting a DD 5.1 signal. Tonight the picture is perfect with no audio or video dropouts (althouht I haven't watched long). It's taken a while but finally we have NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and FOX HD in central AL. Thanks to Bob and the others involved in getting WAKA on the air. What are we going to discuss now?

Is anyone else getting some picture freezing from time to time?? Then the screen will go green for a minute?? The picture is looking very good, I'm just seeing a little bit of bugs here and there on my end

I am having the same problem. The picture is great then, the green screen. I live off Dalraida and am only getting 60 to 61 %

Time to break out the antenna and rotator, I guess. Funny to think about going back to those. Wish the '96 tornado had left my backyard tower standing.......would make it easier.

I wrote without watching enough. I am seeing the picture freeze and green screen--not that often-- and a while ago I had switched over and watched something else and switched back and there were some audio problems but they seem to have been resolved. Overall though, the picture and sound have been very good.

Seems to be off air right now.

I have been following this forum for a little while and was wondering if WAKA is at full power now. I live North of Elba and my tuner will occationally lock in on it. My antenna is up 50' and I have a antenna mounted booster but WSFA is the only digital Montgomery station I get 24/7. Thanks

Dead as a Door Nail. I didn't want to watch shopping anyway.

7:00AM no signal at all :( :(

Uh-Oh...not good.

The green screen on CBS sounds like there is an HD feed reception issue, most likely a signal problem with the long feedlines. Probably will have to get CBS to send a crew to do some antenna tweaking.

Time to break out the antenna and rotator.

I've been thinking the same thing, but then I went to Lowe's and found that they want $100 for one. I know it's been about 25 years or so since I sold them, seems
they were $50 then.. :(

Wonder why Web site has nothing about efforts to go HDTV. Probably one of the most uniformative local web site . WCOV, Fox, always has updates about upcoming changes and problems with signal.

Not getting enough info here?

Is CBS up right now. I have no signal this morning. I had 10 to 12 percent last night and wanted to try to adjust the antenna this morning.

I am just saying before I found this site, I would go to thier WEB site and would find nothing about them even trying to go HD let alone when.

yea..understand...websites take a tremendous amount of time and energy while providing little return on investment, and haven't been a priority in our company.

Looking into our problem now..

Still no signal..WGC on in 2 hours. :(

I guess will are out of luck for HD on CBS this weekend, but over at NBC they are showing Action Sports in HD now.

Is anyone else having trouble locking in NBC, Channel 12, HD, this morning?

12 is working fine for me

I am not having any problems with 12. Anybody know what's going on with WAKA?

No problem with 12 either.

Hello Bob, Whats the latest on channel 8? Thanks in advance.

Good question,Haven't heard anything from them.

This is a good nite for DX'ing. Turned my indoor SS antenna NNW and locked in on Birminghams 42.1 and 13.1. WB21 and ABC 33/40 looks good also on the analog side. Some nites I can also pick up Columbus 38 and 54. Anybody else?

I see 8 is back up although the signal is bouncing around probaly due to the thunderstorm. I hope it will stay up.

Oh boy, I think I'll run up my aluminum ladder and tweak my antenna in this lightning/thunder storm. ;)

WAKA signal strength is jumping around. Its goes from 81-82 (won't lock on) to 92-93. Today, the 90s are staying on longer than they did Friday. No trees blowing around to account for difference in readings. Could somebody be adjusting something. ;)

Maybe I won't have to go up the ladder after all.

Making progress. Signal stayed in the 90s long enough for the receiver to add it to the program guide. I can now tune in 8-1, 8-2, 8-3. Signal still fluctuates quite a bit and the picture often freezes. Hey, at least I'm making progress. :)

Locking on about 45 now with few drops. 8.2 is showing DD 5.0 on my HK 225 receiver but the sound is alot lower than 8.1

Still working on the problem..

Signal bouncing around a good bit but my receiver stays locked onto the signal most of the time (as long as it stays above 60% I get a solid lock with little or no dropouts--although what is 60% on my receiver (HD Tivo) might equate to 90% on another receiver--on my previous receiver (Samsung T160) any thing above 45% was a lock. Wonder when we will get program guide data?

Hate to tell ya old buddy..we're sending full EPG..that receiver won't read it, it requires
the APG from DirecTv..now as to when we can get tribune to add that in so that duhwreckedtv sends it..who knows..I'll put that in the mix..since we weren't on, they didn;t have us in the stream..

Thanks Stan!! :)

Just getting a black screen with the CBS logo. Flipped over to 42 and getting a good picture in HD.

I'm just getting the black screen. Although, it appears that the sound and picture come back for the local commercials but then go back to the black screen for broadcast from the network.