I thought I'd start this thread since, digital signals are becoming available for Western Colorado, mainly Grand Junction. The local ABC(KJCT) went live with a digital signal, not up to HD, yet a couple of months ago. I get a 100% signal lock via a Mitsu SR-HD5 receiver. Supposedly the local NBC(KKCO) went live to, but have yet to pick them up. There is no direct email to their engineering dept. and you get a general we are live on DT-12 if you ask for them. Feel free to give any input.

According to TITAN TV, CBS(KREX-DT) goes HD today at 11:00 with the Colts game. Also FOX latter on. I called and there is no engineer there today so I'd be amazed if they actually go HD today. The right channel has been out since they started broadcasting their digital signal about a month ago.

No HDTV in western Colorado. Titan will fix their site.

1. Channel 2, KREX-DT, the CBS affiliate, went live at the end of September with a horribly digitized 480i signal, and get this- NO RIGHT CHANNEL FOR OVER A MONTH! The picture has improved slightly recently, but I guess they're still not ready to leap into the stereo age.

2. Channel 7, KJCT-DT, the ABC affiliate, went live way back in March, has a very clean 480i picture and clean audio.

3. Channel 12, KKCO-DT, the NBC affiliate, the second channel to go live sometime last summer, has great sound, strong signal and great 480i video. Rumour has it that this will be the first Grand Junction OTA HDTV broadcaster, possibly before the end of the year, but don't bet on it. Also broadcasting an incredibly funny subchannel of people running around killing anything that moves in the woods, called "hunting -2".

4. Channel 15, KFQX, the Fox affiliate, went live September 29th, the same day the co-owned CBS affiliate came up. The sound is downright nasty, very distorted, just about unlistenable. Broadcasting in good old 480i 4:3. The engineer said they might start broadcasting in glorious Fox-vision by the end of the year. We'll see.

Rocky Mountain PBS has filed yet another delay with the FCC- they were due to go live Nov 1, 2003. Their staff tells me their DTV roll-out is right on schedule! I can't believe I just spent 15 minutes writing a post that nobody will ever read.

Don't worry audiomagnate, I'll read it, even though I new the info already. It's a shame I live in the Redlands area and cannot get KKCO or KFQX signal with it just flying over the top of me from the monument. I always get a great picture out of KJCT and KREX is improving the last week or so for me. Hopefully they'll keep pushing for an HD rollout.

Grand Junction, Colorado DT stations:

L 2 CBS KREX-DT 00.8kW (live)
E 7 ABC KJCT-DT 09.7kW (live)
W 12 NBC KKCO-DT 10.8kW (live)
W 15 FOX KFQX-DT 71.5kW (live)
E 17 PBS KRMJ-DT 50.0kW
E 43 UPN KGJT-DT ??????

Transmitters: L=local, E=Grand Mesa, W=Black Ridge (above Redlands)

I live near Eastgate Shopping Center, where the directions of Grand Mesa and Black Ridge are fairly close to 180º apart. The KREX tower is a few miles to the west. Due to the design & structure of the townhome buildings here, my best choice for locating an antenna is in the attic. Since all the DT transmitters lie in two general directions, I'm ruling out an antenna rotor, and considering either one bidirectional antenna, or two highly directional antennas. A bidirectional antenna would be one like the Channel Master CM-2001 which receives VHF signals from the front and rear, and UHF signals from the front only. Another bidirectional possibility is the Winegard GS-2000 Sensar RV antenna. TitanTV's antenna selector recommends the Antennacraft AC-9 for my location, but this antenna is bidirectional only for VHF lowband (channels 2-6).

What about two antennas? I saw an interesting statement on the KFMB website that says:

"...mix the signals from the two antennas. Put balun transformers at each antenna, then run short pieces of RG-6/U coaxial cable to a splitter that you will be using now as a combiner. Run coax down to your receiver, and you should get a good signal on all local DTV stations. The very idea of doing this is new and would have been considered bad practice with analog signals"

Why is it not also bad practice with digital signals? Digital transmissions still use an analog carrier signal, so could I really get away with combining two directional VHF+UHF antennas in my attic, pointed in opposite directions, and not get any interference ghosting while watching the DT stations? What about signals bouncing off of the opposite mountain and getting picked up by the other antenna? Would I have to use channel traps or filters? If I did go with combining two antennas, then I would want two highly directional ones; one candidate is the Winegard "Ghost Killer".

I live near the intersection of 1st and Patterson, and a roof-mounted AC-9 works perfectly. I'm using a Fusion HDTV card. It works best with the end with the short crossmembers oriented towards the monument (west).

Sonywaist or Audiomagnate,
I have a nephew living in Grand Junction and he recently purchased a new HDTV. Can you tell me if KREX broadcast the playoff game this past Sunday in high definition? According to antennaweb.org he is only 6 miles from the transmitter so unless there is a mountain or large building in the path he should be able to receive the Superbowl via OTA if KREX broadcasts it.
Thanks for any help that you can give me on this one.

No,and they ignore my emails asking when they plan to go HDTV.

Welcome, guys, to the wonderful frustration that is HDTV OTA!

Audiomagnate,
Thanks for your reply. That's a real bummer! I'm assuming that you don't have a cable company that might provide the local CBS in HD? So it sounds like he's out of luck unless he drives to a sportsbar in another city.
Man, thanks again and I feel your pain !

http://www.rmpbs.org/aboutus/krmj.html

Looks like they are building new facilities, that's what's the hold up, but if you notice the new towers in the background, they are working on it..

Well, its 5 months later nothing has changed. Still nothing from PBS, even though they have been adverising their digital station on the station ID for the analog station for two months. I'm getting Directv HD.

I'm Googled out trying to find some estimate for KRMJ-DT 17 going live.
Are they going to be broadcasting from Black Ridge (west of city)?

Still lousy audio from KFQX-DT 15-1.

I found KREX-DT on 15-2 but don't know how long it has been there, or its transmitter power.

Are all the local DT still never more than 480i?

I went with a Channel Master 4228 8-bay antenna in the attic pointed west. Screen removed to make it bi-directional. The receiver is a LG LST-4200A. This combination does not bring in KREX 2-1.

Go to KJCT's website, click on "What's on TV" click on the KJCT-DT button and low an behold, HDTV OTA has arrived in Grand Junction. Just kidding. The link is Titan based, and wrong, of course.

When I called to notify the station of the problem, a shrew in "engineering" kept saying, "That's not our web page" and "I don't have anything to do with that" and "we have DTV not HDTV" etc. This valley doesn't DESERVE OTA HDTV!!

To back this up, I've done some casual statistical research, and found that one out of every 5 cars on the road in Grand Junction is a 1979 silver blue Buick Century driven by a woman with matching hair color. Shocking but true.

BTW, I've had the DirecTV HD package for months now and couldn't be happier, especially now that BravoHD appeared. US Open in HD.

Are there any DXers from around here able to get real OTA HD from another market?

Hi, I'm getting ready to buy my 1st HDTV but am concerned about programing. From your comments I gather that there will be no HDTV in GJT for at least a year and probably more. I don't have cable access so guess satellite is the only option for me? Any other suggestions? Thanks,
David

I have switched from D* to our local cable company Bresnan and picked up their HD package. The reasons being it makes my cable internet cheaper and since I had no phone land line, I could only have one receiver.

The low down on the service is they supplied a Motorola DCT6200 cable box. The HD channels available are ESPN-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Discovery-HD and HBO-HD. Hopefully that will increase. My installer said he's been adding about one new unit per day, so the demand is there.

So far the HD PQ has been very good, and the SD isn't nearly as good as D*.

HDTV OTA in Grand Junction? We'll see:

I talked to the engineer at KKCO today, he said there are no plans for HDTV at KKCO (NBC), and that HDTV is pretty much the same as 480i anyway, just widescreen.

This just in from from Trisha Bentz Kendall
Viewer Services Coordinator, Rocky Mountain PBS:

"Hello Kevin,
KRMJ-DT, digital channel 17, is due to go online soon. This signal will be broadcast from the Black Ridge site, west of town. The projected date for KRMJ-DT to go on air is February 2005. As you know, the transition to digital is a highly complex and expensive process. We are doing are (sic) best to meet the extended FCC deadlines.
Thank you,"

From Trisha back in April, 2004:

"Hello Kevin,
I spoke with our engineering director and learned that we will start digital
TV broadcasting in Grand Junction sometime this summer. We are having a new building and tower built at a new site known as Black Ridge, west of town. We are also going to move our analog TV transmitter to Black Ridge at that time. High Definition TV (HDTV) broadcasting over the DTV channel should start at about the same time, but it is contingent on finishing buildout of a digital microwave system to get the HDTV signal to Grand Junction.
Depending on where you live, reception from Black Ridge may be better than
the current site at Land's End on Grand Mesa.

Thank you,
Trisha Bentz Kendall
Viewer Services Coordinator"

Note that there is no longer any reference to HDTV in the new message.

KKCO was just purchased by Gray Television. I emailed them as asked when we might get HD programing. I received the following response:

KKCO currently does broadcast a High Definition Television Signal that contains NBC’s HD programming. Please contact the station to learn how you can receive that signal.



Jim Ryan

CFO

I also called the station and was told that they are broadcasting HD programing. Is this true? I am in the process of purchasing a HD set and am interested in what HD programing is available.

To answer your question, there is still NO OTA HDTV available in Grand Junction. You can get a few channels from Bresnan, the D*TV HD package w/o networks, and whatever dish is offering. There are only two ways to receive HD networks in Grand Junction:

1. You would have had to have obtained waivers from the local network affiliates (difficult, at best) before the law changed Jan 1 2005 and then subscribed to Distant Network Services from D*. Then you are then "grandfathered" in and can get east and west coast HD stations, or

2. You could have "moved" to a "white" area (no watchable OTA reception of any kind) before the law change and subscribed to DNS.

That's why all those expensive HD sets at the Ale House will be showing the Super Bowl in stretched SD on Sunday.

Those statements from the folks at KKCO just prove how unbelievably ignorant some people in this valley are about HDTV. Even the CFO of the station doesn't know the difference between 480i DTV and HD. At least their engineer, knows there is a difference, he just doesn't think it's very important.

I wonder if the sales people at CC are telling the people buying HD sets for the big game this weekend that it's going to look like crapola on their brand new sets.

I called KKCO again and talked to the station engineer. You are correct, not a clue. Thanks for the above information - pretty much what I knew. Bresnan has told me they will be "hopefully" adding HD content "soon". I have sent the following email to Grey Television CFO, Jim Ryan, we'll see what kind of response I get:

I hope you knew what you were buying in Grand Junction. While KKCO is broadcasting a digital signal, they are not broadcasting any HD programing. I just talked to the engineer who said that they "might" start in a year, but that cost were high, NBC didn't have much HD content and who could tell.

I would encourage you to make the broadcast of HD a priority here in Grand Junction. A lot of people are buying sets capable of displaying HD content and for you to be first would be a major coup.

I sent him an even nastier one:

Jim,

I understand you are telling people that KKCO broadcasts in HDTV. That is not correct. KKCO broadcasts DTV, not HDTV. There is a HUGE difference. The minimum standard for HDTV is 720p, NBC's standard is 1080i, and you are broadcasting 480i (same as 55 year old NTSC) over KKCO-DT, channel 12. The misinformation being spread by you and your customer service staff is leading people to purchase very expensive HDTV ready sets, and then finding out later that they have to purchase expensive HD satellite receivers and HD packages or Bresnan HD cable service to receive any HD at all, and that no network HDTV is available in the valley. I know this because I am one your misinformed staff's "victims." Maybe you guys could hold a meeting where the difference between Digital TeleVision (DTV) and HDTV (High Definition TeleVision) is explained.

Regards

schaffer970, you have PM

KREX is the worst. I talked with their manager this past week and he told me that we were "silly to buy HDTV sets" since it was way in the future. They're just after the most money they can milk from the current technology and since they're are relatively few of us who have HDTV's now what would be their motivation? Federal law or the FCC? Yes, but who has the political clout (money) to influence Congress. Not me - just enough to buy my HDTV.

Unless I'm wrong we're probably going to get network HD over Direct TV first. Once their new satellites are up and running (1st 2 by year end) Denver will have all HD locals. Of course one would need to 'move' to somewhere out of the GJ-Montrose DMA. Given the attitude of the local stations that seems like a viable option.

audiomagnate, you have PM.

Well guys, the Super Bowl was FANTASTC in HD and 5.1, especially Paul's "Live and Let Die". I switched back to 389 a few times to see what the other 99,999 people in the valley were watching (yech!) and everybody in the room screamed "STOP DOING THAT!!! We get it."

Hello Mr. Sweeney,

I spoke with our chief engineer and he said we aren't going to be able to get KRMJ digital on air in February due to delays in getting contractors out there to complete the work. However, we're very hopeful we can complete the installation in March. We are doing our best to get this up and running as soon as we can.

Thank you for your interest in Rocky Mountain PBS,

Trisha Bentz Kendall
Viewer Services Coordinator

I got this today from Trisha at KRMJ:

Hello Kevin,
The crew is on site this week to complete installation of KRMJ-DT. There will be an official turning on ceremony in May, but viewers will be able to watch Channel 17 after this week.
Thank you,
Trisha

Wow...I really feel for you guys over there. And I thought we had it bad with our ecoterrorist...err...homeowners on the mountain over here in Denver...

Alas, no OTA HD in the Grand Valley until later this summer, maybe. I'll keep using my HDTV rooftop antenna to feed my FM tuner addiction instead.


Quote:

According to our engineers, all programs on the KRMJ digital signal will be standard definition until we get the microwave upgraded later this summer. At that time, we will have true HD programming from 3pm until midnight.
Thank you,
Trisha

Can it be true? Could it be possible that we will have HD in the valley?

Thanks audiomagnate, best news we have had in a long time. :D

My receiver picks up SD KRMJ-DT 17-3.
I don't know why it's there instead of 17-1 or 18-1 where I was looking for it to appear. Signal strength is the same or slightly better than the others.

The only DTV station here with full program information is KJCT-DT 8-1.

Sometimes the Sportsman Channel (11-2) has the wrong aspect ratio.
It remains that way, even for days, until I send an e-mail to KKCO. Within minutes after I send the e-mail, I see a setup menu on 11-2 and then the aspect ratio is corrected. I've done this about 3-4 times in several months.

Emailed RMPBS a couple of weeks ago. Got this reply today.

Tom-

The official date of broadcasting in digital is May 12th. This will be a clone of our analog programming in the initial startup but when we get the upgrade done of the microwave system, we will start to broadcast High Def programming. The "Standard Def" signal will look wonderful compared to the
analog and we are all very excited to get it on the air.

The upgrade to the microwave system has started but some sites are very difficult to get to in the winter months.

Thanks for you interest.

Regards,
Joe McGee
Rocky Mountain PBS
2520 Blichmann Ave
Grand Junction, CO 81505

Today, 4/29 Bresnan added Altitude HD Sports channel to the lineup on channel 701. Hopefully more to come.

5/11/05

PBS to launch new GJ station

By Sentinel Staff

Rocky Mountain PBS plans to launch a new digital television station in Grand Junction this week.

The new station is KRMJ-DT Channel 17, which station officials say will complement their existing Western Slope station, KRMJ-TV Channel 18, which broadcasts an analog signal.

Digital broadcasts allow stations to transmit high-definition television programing.

KRMJ-DT will be the fourth station in the Rocky Mountain PBS network to broadcast digitally, station officials said in a statement. Others are KRMA-DT in Denver, which began transmitting in 1999, KTSC-DT in Pubelo and KRMU-DT in Durango, which began operation in 2004.


I don't know if they have begun transmitting yet. My new set should be here in a few weeks.

Originally posted by schaffer970
5/11/05


I don't know if they have begun transmitting yet. My new set should be here in a few weeks.

schaffer970, it's been up for well over a month now, as mentioned in several previous posts.

It looks like CBS and FOX are both on digital channel 5 now (5-1 and 5-2). I guess this proves they have no intention of ever going HD, since you can't fit two HD feeds on one channel.

Okay, how does this work? Currently 11-1 is SD as always, and 11-2, which used to be the Sportsman Channel (gone) is now testing NBC DTV HD with a different program than 11-1 (East coast time zone, two hours ahead).

What is the first HD program to come on in Prime Time? (TitanTV is not telling me this) When there is an HD program on in the evening, doesn't DTV channel 12 need all the bandwidth for it? So then what happens to SD on 11-1?

Now I have to read the manual to see if the receiver can show widescreen HD automatically instead of me having to press the "Ratio" button on the remote.

How are you doing with the HD signal on your system?

Thanks for the heads up Sonywaist! KKCO is indeed broadcasting a 1080i widescreen signal on the old sportsman channel. It's not HD right now because the network feed is just an SD soap opera, but it l'll check it tonight during primetime (Joey).

The signal is fine right now, but to do the best quality HD they'll have to turn off 11-1, but I really doubt that they'll do that.

11-2 is re-broadcasting the raw NBC east coast digital feed, so "Joey" should come on at 6PM in HD, then "Will and Grace" at 6:30, then an hour of SD Scrubs, then "ER" in HD at 8, then black screen during east coast news, then HD Leno and Conan at 9:35 and 10:35 respectively. If you haven't seen Conan in HD, you're in for a real treat, the PQ is just awesome! Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Even the SD picture uprezed to 1080i looks good (when it's on; it just goes black or to a peacock screensaver during the time affiliates are supposed to insert their own commercials or programs). Switching from D11-2 to any other local digital channel (or Directv SD) is shocking, the other channels just look horrible. I can't wait to see what HD looks like over this feed tonight. We could see some of the most pristine SD and HD available anywhere during this test period.

It's official. There's HD in GJ. Joey is in 1080i DD2.0. A little compressed, but not too bad. I haven't seen it on my front PJ yet, (watching US Open on UHD) I'll get the antenna to the theater before Conan.

7:30 Joey in SD, just after an add for "11HD" (new logo) and an HDTV give away promo. I've got my 80 in Front PJ set up with the OTA antenna so I'll be ready to give a quality report if they have another HD broadcast. They replaced HD Will and Grace with SD Wheel of Fortune.

1/2 hour of HD tonight, nobody in "the Master Control Room".

Official start date for KKCO HD (even though they are already using the 11 HD logo) is September 19th. Just testing now.

Titan TV shows HD on KKCO tonight, Tuesday Sep 13th starting with Law and Order at 9:00. Here's an excerpt from a recent email:

"Till the 19th we are only testing the equipment. also we are waiting for several more parts to delay the NBC signal one hour for our time zone. The 1080i is only the transport stream, except for the HDTV shows provided by NBC, most of the programing will be 480i upconverted to 1080i. As far as turning off the SD stream, there are issues with closed captioning, feeds to cable and Dish that need to be resolved."

I guess they have the "parts to delay the NBC signal one hour" now. I hope those parts don't degarde the signal we were getting "live" last week.

You've probably noticed that we are only getting a test pattern now. I talked to KKCO this morning and was told that we wouldn't see anything until Monday. Possibly we could see some more testing, but I wouldn't count on it. Hopefully this is the valleys first crack in the HD dam.

On another subject, does anyone know what is happening with PBS? I talked to them some time ago and they were supposed to be working on the microwave towers. I sent an email to the engineer several weeks ago but no reply.

KKCO is broadcasting the Notre Dame/Michigan football game in HD. Apparently everything is working and we should see HD on Monday!

Looks about as soft as UHD, but without the motion artifacts. The sound is not good. I'm guessing the s/n ratio is about 50 dB (major hum) and not even Pro-Logic. That was fun seeing the engineering screen for a few minutes, followed by the "channel dead" display. But at least it's a start, and for me it was exiting to watch the first "official" HD in the valley. Now they have to turn off the SD simocast to up the bandwidth and get some DD 5.1 equipment.

audiomagnate, I'm with you. I saw artifacts a number of times - your right, upping the bandwidth would help. I haven't set up sound from my set the receiver so just listened using the TV speakers. Hopefully we will get better sound. It was exciting to finally watch HD over the air. Now if the other stations will join in - we can at least hope. :D

Bresnan has put KKCO on 702 and was rebroadcasting HD last night. Apparently Bresnan is/was ready to go. I was rather suprised that they are keeping up. Maybe good things are happening. :D

I can understand not passing DD 5.1 through until the equipment is in place, but the right/left channel balance is WAY off, at least 6dB. What does that take to fix, and why hasn't anyone at the studio noticed it? I'll send an email and see what happens. Shrek looked good tonight.

Edit: They finally fixed it.

Called Bresnan today regarding a couple of things. I was trying to find out if they will be getting the DCT6400 Phase III STB anytime. And for the second time I asked if they can clear up the channels that come up when you do just the HD channel listing. Currently 550 (HBO-W) is listed as a HD channel (which it isn't) and 701 (Altitude) and 702 (NBC local), which are, are not listed. They are supposed to get back to me on these items.

I also asked if we would be getting any additional HD channels and was told that we would be gettig Universal HD very soon (before the end of the year) and a second channel the CSR couldn't remember what was, soon. Hopefully this will really happen. When I have asked before, all I got was a "were working on it" or some other equally unclear response. This time at least I got something tangible. :D

Was over at Bresnan today to get a 6412 Phase III HD box. They actually have them but you have to ask. This STB is the one with a HDMI port rather than the DVI port. It also has a SATA port which according to other AVS threads isn't enabled.

Spent some time chatting with a manager type and he said that their penciled in date for additional HD channels is Dec. 12th. That date is tentative as they are waiting for additional equipment. As I stated above Universal HD is one of the channels and the other looks like it will be TNT or TBS (it was late in the day and he couldn't remember which although he said TNT first so I think that is the one).

Anyway, it looks like we will be getting two more HD channels before the end of the year! :D

On my Bresnan bill today, it says they are renumbering Altitude HD to 763 and NFL HD to 779, also adding Universal HD to 785 and TNT HD to 786. All around 12/12, very exciting.

Who is regularly watching KKCO HD *OTA* besides me? Audio okay for you?

Haven't noticed any audio problems while watching college football or the TONIGHT show

sonywaist, I called KKCO the other day about audio on the HD channel. I keep getting some "static" for lack of other words. I explained this to the engineer and he said he didn't know what I was talking about. From what I can gather, they are recording the audio stream on some analog equipment and then rebroadcasting it as digital. This may be where the problem is coming from. Also from talking to the engineer they have no way of hearing what they are broadcasting. It sounds like they have a car speaker plugged in somewhere and if they can hear something coming out then everything is ok :rolleyes: .

In other news, Bresnan is scheduled to begin broadcasting the additional HD channels today. Talked to someone there today and the new channels weren't up yet this morning but he thought they would be up later today. Also spoke to him about the listing of HD channels using the TV Guide quick menu and then HD. He is going to check with TV Guide to make sure that the HD channels are listed properly (apparently that part of the guide is separate from the rest of the TV Guide).

Who is regularly watching KKCO HD *OTA* besides me? Audio okay for you?

I watch it sometimes, and the audio is really bad. Bandwidth limited stereo with a gross channel balance problem most of the time. They are still multicasting the SD version which is just plain stupid.

The new HD channels are up on Bresnan as of yesterday. The following is a listing of channel numbers and station. A bit of good news for Christmas! :D


709 KKCO
711 DHDTV
763 ALT
779 NFLHD
785 UHD
786 TNTHD
787 ESPHD
788 HDNET
789 HDNMV
790 HBODW

Who is regularly watching KKCO HD *OTA* besides me? Audio okay for you?


The sound was so bad on the Elton John special that I had to turn it off. Right channel way louder than the left, bandwidth and dynamic range limited, but the kicker is the crackling in the right channel at anything above mid level. Whatever they're using to screw up the sound is clipping like crazy.

If you think one man can't make a difference in this crazy, fast paced, mixed up world we live in, you're wrong. I've been complaining to Roger at KKCO about the crappy sound on their digital and HD broadcast for months, but to no avail. I got so fed up with the sound during the Elton John special that I called Gray Communications in Atlanta to complain. They told me to call Rich Adams in Waco Texas. Rich told me he'd have it fixed in a week. Rich is a man of his word. Dana McDonald, VP/GM of KKCO, emailed me today to ask me what I thought of KKCO HD. I told her the channel imbalance/clipping problem was fixed. She said it was fixed because of my complainiing to the bigshots at Gray.

I asked her about DD 5.1 and she said the equipment to do that is $12,000, so it's not going to happen any time soon. I also told her that they should stop multicasting the SD version of the broadcast because it's redundant and hurts the HD PQ. She's looking into it.

KJCT began broadcasting over-the-air 720p HD on 8-1
8-2 is KJCT SD moved from 8-1
(8-0 is analog)

I'm still getting 'static' noises and dropouts on KKCO 11-1 and 11-2, there has been no change; these noises might be due to a PSIP problem that my STB decoder doesn't like. Those of you who have perfect audio on KKCO DTV have different hardware than I do.

Is KJCT doing 5.1? Can you say Superbowl?

Just talked to Roger at KJCT. They got the equipment yesterday and he got it installed and is working to get things up for Sunday. He is doing everything he can to have the Superbowl in HD. 8-1 will be HD 8-2 is SD. :D

There's a "Roger" at KJCT and KKCO? Is it the same guy?

Went home at lunch and spun my antenna 180 and picked up KJCT 8-1 & 8-2. They are broadcasting SD material on 8-1 today so we will see what things look like tonight. There is a little bit of white at the top of the screen that needs to be fixed.

Looks like we do have two Rogers. KJCT's is Chief Engineer Roger Hightower. When I talked to him today, he seemed excited and knowledgeable about HD, so I have hope!

He told me that they can't legally pass through the east coast feed, and they don't have the equipment to delay HD, so we won't be seeing ABC's nighttime shows or GMA in HD, just the Superbowl and the show that comes on right afterwards. He's not concerned about multicasting hurting the HD picture; he'll be multicasting the SD signal during the Superbowl. Also, no DD5.1 for the foreseeable future.

KJCT is planning to put up a small bit of HD at 10:00 am. If you have a chance to see it, let Roger at the station know what you think.

Managed to catch the broadcast at 10. It was a clip of GMA touting the fact that they were going to HD. It looked good and audio seemed to be synced well. Roger is meeting with management next week to ask for equipment to delay east coast feed to be broadcast at the correct time here. Hopefully he will be sucessful! :D

It has also been addded to Bresnan Cable on channel 710, haven't got to see any HD content yet though. Good news for Sunday though.

I am somewhat amazed by Bresnan. I have a contact over there that I left a voice message with, saying that KJCT was begining HD broadcasting. Two days later it's up. Now if KJCT can just get the equipment to do the delay so that they can do actual broadcasting rather than just live stuff. Someone might want to ask Roger about any "lobbying" efforts that we could do.

Finally, I gave Roger a link to this forum so hopefully he will be checking-in in the near future.

They need fundraising, not lobbying, just like KKCO for their 5.1 equipment.

For funds, KJCT and KKCO need to sell more ads to local HDTV vendors like US Tech.

KKCO has a deal with US Tech, but Circuit City should advertise more.

Where do you buy your gear?

Greeting everyone -

Moving to Grand Junction in April and would appreciate as much practical information as possible. I have reviewed the thread but wanted to confirm the current OTA HDTV status.

I didn't realize I was spoiled in Colorado Springs. We have ABC KRDO at full power with SD (KRDO and KJCT are owned by same company and seem to be operating on the same "live" HDTV only policy), CBS KKTV in beautiful 1080i, FOX KXRM is outstanding with 720p and SD for PBS. No NBC yet, delay after delay but it's coming. Additionally, the broadcast towers are all located in the same place, so only need to point the HDTV antenna at one location.

Here are my burning questions - any information would be greatly appreciated -

1. Which of the network affiliates broadcast HDTV in primetime every night in GJ?
2. Are any of the affiliates broadcasting at full power?
3. A timeline for when Fox affiliate will start broadcasting.
4. Where do you point OTA antenna for best reception? Do you have to move it to receive different HDTV channels?
5. Is there anyway to receive HDTV from other markets?

Again - thanks for any answers - take care everyone.

1. KKCO (NBC).
2. KKCO has a strong signal. PBS(SD)is a little weak, as is ABC.
3. FOX is SD and will remain so indefinately, as far as I know.
4. West for NBC, East for ABC. ABC is HD "Live": only.
5. No.

PBS has been promising HD for years, but is still SD.

Thanks for such a quick reply - it is appreciated. No CBS? It surprises me Fox is making no effort at all - they offer some great network programing in HD. The equipment KJCT must buy to record HDTV is the same KRDO has to purchase, their owner Pikes Peak Broadcasting has been dragging there feet for a long time now.

I thought all OTA stations had to offer HD by 2006. Are they under pressure to make HDTV happen?

Any advice on how to handle the towers in different directions? I have a 12db signal booster, but I'm not sure that's really going to be enough to make any difference.

How is the cable company (Just one)? Are there outages or other issues?

Again thank you for the information...

No CBS. CBS and Fox have the same owner/studio/. I haven't heard of any plans for either to go HD. The 2006 requirement is for DTV, not HDTV. A rotor for a directional, or an omni should work fine. The local cable company (Bresnan) carries the local digital/HD channels.

When only NBC was digital I had my ota antenna pointing to the west. The ABC channel signal was very bad but I didn't really care as I also have Bresnan. When ABC went to HD last week, I rotated by antenna 180 (pointing E). This worked out very well as I am now picking up all of the digital signals with no reception problems. I have a ChannelMaster antenna (3018 I think, ~$50 from Lowes).

Bresnan has been very good. No outages that I know of, for TV. I think they had an internet outage a while ago that lasted some time, but don't know much about it. They are supposed to be going to 5 or 8 Mbps in the next few months for internet service.

I rotated my highly directional antenna 180 degrees in anticipation of the Oscars yesterday afternoon, and noticed the Mavericks/Suns game was being shown in 480i uprezzed to 720p instead of true HD. I called KJCT and asked the engineer why they were uprezzing 480i instead of passing through the HD signal. He said (it wasn't Roger) "we are showing HD". I said, "no, you're not" and told him he had to flip the switch. He insisted they were showing HD, so I gave up and hung up. Twenty seconds later the game went to HD. BTW, the Oscars looked fantastic.

If it's live, and it's HD, and it's on ABC, KJCT should be showing HD. If they're not, call 245-8888 and tell them to flip the friggin switch!!!

Yes the Oscars looked great! Did have to call them in the middle and tell them to switch back to HD. It took about 20 minutes but finally went back to HD. If it's off hours you have to call 245-8888 to get someone to answer the phone.

Why do they have to switch to upres of SD during the HD broadcast? Does it have something to do with showing local commercials? Both KKCO and KJCT do it and it must be a chore for someone there to be ready to switch back because they forget a lot.

Sent an email earlier today to Roger at KJCT expressing my pleasure at the quality of the Oscars and asking about prime time HD. I received back the following reply:

Tom,
Thanks on your comments on the awards last night. Input is always helpful. I have been meaning to get back with you on our HD status, but I have been so very busy. Just to let you know, I have a demo set up within the next two weeks on some new digital HD server equipment that is supposed to be able to cope with our "mountain minute" and time zone issues. If it works as claimed, I don't think I will have any problem getting the ok to order. Our ownership does want to do prime time delay programming. Delivery of this type of hardware is probably 30 to 60 days and a week of install and training of operators....so maybe very soon? I am excited about this and I feel good that it will happen soon.

Thanks, Roger Hightower

We'll see what happens but it's encouraging. :D

Sent an email to Roger at KJCT today inquiring about how things were going and got the following reply:

Drat, don't look now, but all you will see is a test pattern. A major and
very expensive piece of HD equipment died on us yesterday. I have a loaner
on its way we can use while ours is returned to the factory for repairs. In
the meantime while waiting on the loaner, we have nothing but the test
pattern. Sorry.

On a much better note, the demo of the HD delay server system went very
well. It looks like early June might be the earliest we could get a system
from the factory, however. But, this doesn't surprise me since our HD
transmission encoder took over two months to get one. None of these
companies have these expensive and limited use pieces of hardware on the
shelves..they build them when the orders come in. I have not made the order
yet, waiting on an ok from above, but I don't believe it will be a problem.

Thanks, Roger.


Hopefully some changes in the works!

I decided to watch Leno and Conan in HD tonight. When Conan started the audio went dead, so I called the station. When no one answered in "Master Control" I left a message telling them about the problem. Five minutes later they went to SD, but with sound. As of 12:07 it looks like that's their "fix."

Just received the following email from Roger at KJCT. Looks like we will have additional Prime Time HD in the near future!

Hey Tom,

Just FYI, and you can pass this on to your forum group......KJCT did in fact
order the Digital Server and Integrated Receiver Decoder that will delay the
ABC HD primetime satellite feeds by one hour. This will allow KJ to air the
ABC primetime HD feeds in real HD instead of upconverted analog or standard
definition. Bear in mind that not all of ABC programming is produced in HD,
so occasionally you will still see some upconverted fare. It will still be
awhile before KJCT will produce local programming in HD such as newscasts,
commercials, promos, psa's etc, and none of the syndicated shows are produced
and delivered to us in HD yet. But we will get there at some point in time.

The factory quoted us a 45 day delivery on the new hardware, and give us a few
days of installation time, operational training etc.....so maybe the middle of
June?

KJCT is still on track to install our new FULL POWER digital transmitter on
the Grand Mesa just as soon as the snow melts. Installation, and "proof of
performance" will take awhile, so I am hoping, if all goes well, we will be on
the air with 10,000 watts of signal by the middle of August.

Roger.

Has there been any update on this?

As of today, Good Morning America is still uprezzed 480i.

A great day for HD in GJ! KJCT has the World Cup, KKCO has The US Open, both in HD! Way to go Rogers!

Hi, I've been away from local broadcast TV for a while. When KKCO or KJCT is showing HD at their best (1080i or 720p) what are your impressions of the signal (picture) quality? Are they competitive with Dish HD for example? I'm planning some remodeling and wanted to plan for OTA if it is going to be competitive. Thanks,

Hi, I've been away from local broadcast TV for a while. When KKCO or KJCT is showing HD at their best (1080i or 720p) what are your impressions of the signal (picture) quality? Are they competitive with Dish HD for example? I'm planning some remodeling and wanted to plan for OTA if it is going to be competitive. Thanks,

They both look great. I would have to give the nod to KJCT, because 720p is less affected by multicasting. Both compare favorably with Dish's best HD channels. BTW, KJCT has big plans in the works:

Hi Kevin,
Sorry for being so late in replying, but I have been so busy working long days on the Grand Mesa installing our new full power digital transmitter. It should be on the air in the next two weeks or less if all continues to go ok and as planned.
On another subject, I am also working nights with the installation of our new
HD one hour delay server and integrated receiver/decoder. It is going very good as well and should have it on the air maybe next week if all goes well with this also. This will allow us to put prime time on the air in HD.
Whew, I'm tired.\
As far as the World Cup airing in SD and not HD, I checked into this and the word from traffic did not inform operations that we should air it as HD vs. SD.
Our operators cannot make these decisions on their own. I think I have this straightened out and the next games should be in HD. I know that the NBA games have been airing in live HD.
I hope this works, keep in touch........Roger.

I sent the following message to Dennis Adkins, General Manager at KREX:

Does KREX have any plans to broadcast high definition programing in the near future? I would only expect prime time programing to be broadcast in HD. As I am sure you are aware, KKCO does currently broadcast in HD and KJCT broadcasts live programing (soon to include all prime time programing in HD). I look forward to also having KREX as a HD choice.

...and received the following reply this morning:

Answer is yes but we can not pin-point a date..Reason we are behind is that we have 4 stations that must be converted....

Hopefully the timeline is not too far out there :)

I sent an email to Roger at KJCT a couple of days ago regarding status of things and got this reply this morning:

Yes all projects are going great! I am about finished installing our new full power digital transmitter atop the Grand Mesa (10,000 watts radiated power)and our new primetime HD net delay server and associated gear are nearly on the air. I hope the new full power transmitter will be fully operational either late this week or early next week if all continues to go well. The primetime HD delay system should be on the air tomorrow night or the next, if this continues to go well also.
Keep in touch,
Roger.

Sounds like more HD for us soon!!! :D

It looks like KJCT is up and running with primetime HD. I thought I saw something on Wed. night and there wasn't any shows in HD on Thurs. But tonight "Faith & Hope" is on in HD (now if we can just get something worthwhile to watch). Anyway, it looks like KJCT is ready to go! Two locals in HD and hope for the future.

Well, KJCT lasted about 20 minutes with picture and sound. Then we went to just picture, no sound and finally back to SD and sound. They are aware of the problem and master control apparently has informed Roger. Hopefully he'll get thing back up and running soon.

Good Morning America Weekend Edition is in HD right now on KJCT-HD. Looks fantastic!

Update from Roger at KJCT this morning:

Just an update...late last week I finished the installation of our new full power digital transmitter (10,000 watts radiated power vs. the old 750 watts). It should be easier to pick up depending on what type of antenna the viewer is using and its direction. I have also been working on the installation of the new HD time delay server to air GMA and network primetime in HD, but I have had nothing but audio problems with the integrated receiver/decoder. I have been working with the factory about these issues, and they are building another decoder for us. I hope to have it soon and put these audio problems to rest.
The problem with HD is that it is still new technology, designs and manufacture
of needed top end gear are both very expensive and not all the bugs are worked out yet. But we are working on it. Hang in there....Roger.

Re: KREX (Houk Media LLC)

They now have SD DTV on 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5 labled as KFQX, KREG, KREY, KREX and KGJT (UPN).

Is anybody else complaining to KKCO about how they broadcast HD shows in SD almost all the time lately? Call 243-1111, then press nine and leave a message that will be ignored.

Hi, I've been away from local broadcast TV for a while. When KKCO or KJCT is showing HD at their best (1080i or 720p) what are your impressions of the signal (picture) quality? Are they competitive with Dish HD for example? I'm planning some remodeling and wanted to plan for OTA if it is going to be competitive. Thanks,

They look fine. I have the Dish Silver package. Niether station does Dolby 5.1 and they both multicast. I occaisionally see macroblocking on KKCO, but Conan looks damn good (when they remember to flip the switch, that is).

Didn't call last night when Law and Order went from HD to SD. The show started off in HD and they had some problems and tried to get things back to HD but failed. I will email Roger and see what I can find out what is going on.

For those of you with Bresnan, they apparently started broadcasting Stars HD on 791 yesterday or the day before. I had asked several times if additional HD was coming but nobody knew anything about additional HD. I guess we just wait and see what happens. Let's hope they keep adding channels!

Is it my imagination or is everything not quite right in HDTV land? I ask because I receive OTA not cable...

KJCT falls in and out of HD on almost every commercial (I wish I was exaggerating) for several minutes or just never returns. I am the only person who finds this extremely irritating? I've called on many occasions only to be directed to leave a message and nothing happens. Why is it so difficult to remember to flip the switch? Who can we contact that will make HDTV a priority?

When the KJCT HD is up and running, the audio drops out for large chucks of the time. Encoder problems or another "switch" issue? This happens from time to time on KKCO as well.

Is KKCO even broadcasting a digital signal anymore? I have not been able to get any OTA SD or HD signal from them in over a week...

FYI: I called CBS and FOX about HDTV (I have an email from February from the station manager saying they would be up and running with HDTV in July 2006) now they say it may be October but most likely summer 2007 because the equipment is on back order.

In case you're interested:

Denver, CO - Satellite

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=709744

Hope to see you there!
-Tim

I used to live in the western slope. Would they allow you to receive the Denver locals by DBS in GJ? If not, how far outside of the city would you have to live?

Thanks!
-Tim

I used to live in the western slope. Would they allow you to receive the Denver locals by DBS in GJ? If not, how far outside of the city would you have to live?

Thanks!
-Tim

The only legal way to get HD nets in Grand Junction is with an OTA antenna. Denver locals are only available in SD via D*, and E* gives you SD GJ stations. Every time I try to watch OTA HD in GJ, I put the breaking news number for the KJCT or KKCO on speed dial and call after every commercial. After a while they stop answering and flip the switch when they hear the phone ring. The engineers at both stations are named Roger, but I've complained so many times to both that neither responds anymore.

If you lived in a "white" area (Ouray, for example) for a long time, you would still be entitled to all four nets in HD from D*, but that could change any day.

Is it my imagination or is everything not quite right in HDTV land? I ask because I receive OTA not cable...

KJCT falls in and out of HD on almost every commercial (I wish I was exaggerating) for several minutes or just never returns. I am the only person who finds this extremely irritating? I've called on many occasions only to be directed to leave a message and nothing happens. Why is it so difficult to remember to flip the switch? Who can we contact that will make HDTV a priority?

When the KJCT HD is up and running, the audio drops out for large chucks of the time. Encoder problems or another "switch" issue? This happens from time to time on KKCO as well.

Is KKCO even broadcasting a digital signal anymore? I have not been able to get any OTA SD or HD signal from them in over a week...

FYI: I called CBS and FOX about HDTV (I have an email from February from the station manager saying they would be up and running with HDTV in July 2006)
now they say it may be October but most likely summer 2007 because the equipment is on back order.


KKCO is up in both HD and SD with a strong signal. I get no audio dropouts on KJCT-HD. Maybe you have low signal or multipath problems. I get 7 digital channels OTA; the four majors, pplus PBS and UPN.

Look for KKCO on 12-1 and 12-2 instead of 11-1 and 11-2 designations they were using.
Maybe some ATSC tuners can lose track of a change like that?

I heard an ad on the radio last night that said "The CW" is coming to "digital channel 12" soon. Roger tells me that the SD digital KKCO feed is going away, and will be replaced by the CW. That leaves 13.9 mb/s for KKCO HD.

So 12.1 is the CW, 12.2 is KKCO HD.

Look for KKCO on 12-1 and 12-2 instead of 11-1 and 11-2 designations they were using.
Maybe some ATSC tuners can lose track of a change like that?

I scanned for new signals and 12-1 is HD KKCO - thanks for the heads up.

So if CW replaces WB and UPN what will the GJ channel landscape look like?

Actually 12-1 is KKCO SD and 11-2 is KKCO HD. We will have the same six channels we have now, except UPN will go away and CW(SD) will appear on 12-1.

BTW, Leno was SD again tonight. Why do these stations spend hundreds of thousands to convert to HD and forget to "flip the switch" nearly every night. It really is so lame.

KGJT DTV SD 4-5/analog 27 will be MNTV (network for English speaking Hispanic demographic).

Telemundo is on KKHD analog channel 20 (edit: now on DTV SD 8-2)

The CW will also be on analog 39/47 (KWGN Denver).

The only legal way to get HD nets in Grand Junction is with an OTA antenna. Denver locals are only available in SD via D*, and E* gives you SD GJ stations. Every time I try to watch OTA HD in GJ, I put the breaking news number for the KJCT or KKCO on speed dial and call after every commercial. After a while they stop answering and flip the switch when they hear the phone ring. The engineers at both stations are named Roger, but I've complained so many times to both that neither responds anymore.

If you lived in a "white" area (Ouray, for example) for a long time, you would still be entitled to all four nets in HD from D*, but that could change any day.


So D* does give Denver locals in SD? On the locals page, a GJ zip code says there are no locals.
If they give SD, why not HD??
And I take it you guys aren't having any luck getting waivers??
I ask because I'm thinking about moving to GJ.

I had HD DNS from D* in Ouray, which is a white area, but you can't get them here in GJ. Period. You can get NBC and ABC OTA in HD that's it. You can't get waivers where they have a digital signal up even though it's SD. The whole thing sucks.

I had HD DNS from D* in Ouray, which is a white area, but you can't get them here in GJ. Period. You can get NBC and ABC OTA in HD that's it. You can't get waivers where they have a digital signal up even though it's SD. The whole thing sucks.


So with D* there are locals through the dish or not? One post here says Denver SD locals but when I called they said no locals.
Anyone live in GJ and 'move' to Ouray?

Directv has no locals, Dish Network has the SD's. Bresnan Cable has the local NBC & ABC in HD, which are of course available OTA also. You have to live well outside of GJ to get the Denver locals on D*, someone correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

So with D* there are locals through the dish or not? One post here says Denver SD locals but when I called they said no locals.
Anyone live in GJ and 'move' to Ouray?

YGPM

Is anybody getting 17.1 anymore? Zero per cent on all three of my receivers for at least a week.

Well it's back.

Great News! I called KREX to find out what happenned to KFQX (5.2) and the engineer told me it's back on 4.1, and that both KREX and KFQX are going HD next week!Each will have 1 sub channel, but hey 4 HD channels in little old GJ, not bad.

Awesome news! I didn't expect it to happen this soon. I will see if I can get Bresnan in the loop to add these HD channels to cable also. :D

Just talked to CBS/FOX front desk and HD is supposed to be up "for sure by Monday" (11/13) and maybe sooner. I also did talk to Bresnan and they are aware that these channels will be added soon. Hopefully they will add them to their HD lineup.

KFQX 4-1 is now 720p

I was able to find 5-1 last night (not in HD) but never found 4-1. May have to move the antenna around a bit to see what happens. It looks like things are happening though. :)

4-1 is there all right. I tuned in after their HD shows were over but the uprezzed picture looked very good. I'll watch the OC tonight and report back.

KREX is broadcasting in HD on 5.1. That makes four. Ironically, KRMJ was supposed to be first, and they're still stuck in SD land.

Finally got the antenna moved around and am receiving all the channels. For anyone who hadn't noticed yet, Bresnan has also added 703 (KREX) and 707 (KFQX) to their HD lineup and are sending out the HD programing. Now if we can just get PBS online we will be set! :D

What does your signal strength gauge show for 5-1 compared to the others, if it's reasonably accurate? I hope they boost the power a little more soon. I've been getting by until now without an amplifier on the attic antenna but 5.1 is too weak to lock in. I'm only a couple of miles east of the KREX tower.

I get about 85 on KREX (5.1), 95 to 100 on everything else except 8.1, high 70s low 80's. My Dish receiver cant lock on PBS at all. I've never had problem locking into it until I tried to watch some HD the other day. The problem went away as soon as they went back to SD, so the problem is on their end. BTW, the HD picture is horrible OTA. They're sending out 1080i with three sub channels!!!! I didn't even think that was possible. I used to get CBS east and west coast via D*, and it looked 100 times better. I'll check it again this evening.

Numb3rs was SD, Letterman was SD, and with 4 sub channels - two running identical CBS feeds and two running identical My Network feeds - even the SD looks horrible. I guess they figured out they can't do HD in addition to three sub channels. Duh.

BTW, 8.2 is now a Spanish language station, Univision, I think.

Football is in HD right now. Haven't looked to see what is on the subchannels. I noticed last night that nothing was in HD and wondered what was going on.

All three subs are up. It looks great until somebody moves, then MASSIVE macroblocking. I can't watch it.

Yea, so I noticed. Hopefully things will get better. I plan to give them a call on Monday and let them know that what they have up is unacceptable! :(

Greetings, I'm new to this OTA HD but bought an antenna and I'm wondering what I should be able to get and where. I did a scan with my Dish network receiver and it found some stations, I want to manually put them in then try and get a signal. I am getting CBS right now at about 85-90 signal .... just a $13.95 indoor antenna..

Thanks

The best place to see where you should point your antenna is www.antennaweb.org click on Choose an antenna, put in address info etc., check location - Continue, and it will come back with all of the stations in the area with their compass orientation. Click on the View Street Level Map and you can see what direction to point your antenna. I am not sure that what they have for CBS and FOX is completely correct. Maybe audiomagnate knows more about that. Unfortunately, we have signals coming from various directions, so you will need to either have an omni-directional antenna or point it in different directions depending on what channel you want to receive. Good luck!

Is there a big differance in which antenna to use.. Is there a reccomendation for which works best (are they all driectional)

I'm not sure there is a "best" antenna. You might want to look at this area on AVS - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=25 There is lots of information regarding antennas and how to set them up.

The Steelers/Saints game on KFQX (4.1) looked great AND IT WAS in DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1!!!!! A first for GJ, hooray!!! Thanks KFQX! 720P with just one sub channel works fine for football. NO MACROBLOCKING! The Bears game on KKCO 11.1 looked fine as long as nobody moved, but still not as bad as the disaster that is KREX HD 5.1, 1080i with three sub channels blechh!

Tgarius, the four HD channels are: KFQX 4.1, KREX 5.1, KJCT 8.1 and KKCO 11.1. If you live near me you can get all four with a roof mounted Antennacraft AC9 w/o a rotor. There's gobs of SD sub channels out there too (unfortunately) if you're interested.

I get no signal at all for KREX (5,1), I am getting the others but (8) went away so I ended up with 4 and 11 but they came in relatively well. I am on the Redlands. It appears that the Bronco game was not aired in HD.

I am new to this forum, thank you Schaffer970 for letting me know about this site. As for the poor signal on KREX, it is running at low power and should be back to full power within a month.

The CBS football game on Sunday afternoon looked good in HD. It is my understanding that we are not getting Prime time HD on CBS yet due to the fact that they do not have recording equipment to do the time delay. So for the time being only CBS HD when the programing is live. :(

And "The Young and the Restless". BTW, I get a strong signal on all the 5's.

here are some data rates for our digital channels:

FOX HD KFQX-DT 4.1 12.6 Mbps 720P
CBS HD KREX-DT 5.1 13.5 Mbps 1080i
ABC HD KJCT-HD 8.1 15.5 Mbps 720P
NBC HD KKCO-HD 11.1 14.6 Mbps 1080i

KGJT SD 5.3 2.7Mbps 480i
KREG SD 5.4 3.0Mbps 480i
KREY SD 4.2 3.2Mbps 480i
Univision 8.2 3.2Mbps 480i
The CW 11.2 3.9Mbps 480i
PBS SD 17.1 9.3Mbps 480i

This explains why NBC and CBS look so bad and ABC looks so good. Maybe KKCO can steel a little bandwidth from the CW during Sunday Night Football and reduce the macroblocking. PBS should look like DVD quality at that bit rate for SD, but it doesn't, and the sound is horrible. Maybe they'll get some funding with the new congress and get on board. I have no idea why they have an SD multicast of KREX on the Fox subchannel.

Fox carries SD multicast for Montrose CBS. KREX is adjusting Muxing of signals to better facilitate the HD sharing.

Fox carries SD multicast for Montrose CBS. KREX is adjusting Muxing of signals to better facilitate the HD sharing.

It sure would be great if you could figure out a way to mux KGJT at around 3Mpbs with KFQX-HD, leaving enough bandwidth for super high quality 720p HD, and get KREY and KREG off the local transmitters, leaving KREX-HD the full 19Mbps that 1080i requires.

Just a quick question for the locals since I am out here visiting the parents who just moved out here and just got HD. I have been getting hd for years in the detroit area.

They are using bresnan for the HD feed. my dad says the only thing ever on CBS that looks good is football.... now that I have been here for a few days it looks like what they are doing is just sending us the SD feed. Everything is 4X3 and low quality.....

everything else looks good

any idea what is going on?

For CBS, if it live and actually being broadcast in HD (only about half of the football games on CBS are in HD) then Bresnan will have it in HD. The local station is supposed to be getting the equipment to do the time delay for prime time HD broadcast.

SoccerNut, any idea of when CBS will begin broadcasting primetime HD? The live stuff has been looking good, but we would like more!

What are you watching on? The live stuff looks like dried dog S***.

SoccerNut, any update on the tower work or the equipment to delay the HD signal?

For anyone who has Bresnan, you might want to know that they are changing from the Moto box to a box made by Pace. The most significant difference is that the eSATA port is active on the Pace box (ability to add an external hard drive for more storage). I have both boxes right now and will be comparing the two. For more information on the Pace box go to this thread: TDC775 Tahoe Pace 700 Series - High Definition DVR (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=659367&page=1&pp=30) We have one of the software developers participating on the thread, so we should have some help in solving problems with the Pace box should they arise.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

I live in Palisade and want to pick up Grand Junction's local channels but cant pick up a good enought signal with a standard HD Tv-top antenati. Anyone else have this problem or any advice?

To know what direction to point your antenna for the various channels, go to www.antennaweb.org. Put in your address and you will at least know how to point the antenna. I know several people in GJ proper that have no problem picking up the HD signal using an outdoor antenna. It sounds like you are trying to use a small indoor antenna, I don't know how well these work, but if you point it in the correct direction that might help.

I live in Palisade and want to pick up Grand Junction's local channels but cant pick up a good enought signal with a standard HD Tv-top antenati. Anyone else have this problem or any advice?

Get a better antenna, and point it at the towers.

Hey Mates -

Where's KREX? Noticed it was missing Monday. Now let me be clear, I'm referring to OTA digital, the Bresnan channel is normal. Called KREX Wednesday, engineer said he had received a few other calls. Evidently, the "blackout" is not universal (which I find odd but I know exactly nothing about broadcasting).

Never had any problems with KREX before and receive all the other channels with a very strong signal (including FOX). I've rescanned with no result. Anyone else have this issue, know what is going on or have a solution?


P.S - Does anyone know a direct number to KJCT engineering? They fail to return to HDTV after commercials on a regular basis. After 5pm all you can do is leave a message which often accomplishes nothing.

Thanks -

If you mean 5.1, I'm getting it.

Hey Audiomagnate! and anyone else, please let me know if you are receiving 5.1, we have had some reports that it is "gone" ota. We can not corrolate to any particular area and cannot find any problems.
Thanks

Tower crew just arrived, hopefully CBS will be at full power for SuperBowl. Cross your fingers.

Why didn't KREX pass through the State of the Union address in HD? I understand that the station doesn't have the ability to delay HD, but this was obviously a live event. It was also a great way to compare HDNET (Dish) to KJCT-HD, KFQX-HD, and KKCO-HD. KKCO won, IMHO, which surprised the hell out of me, because HDNET usually looks much better than the local OTA stations.

Hey Audiomagnate! and anyone else, please let me know if you are receiving 5.1, we have had some reports that it is "gone" ota. We can not corrolate to any particular area and cannot find any problems.
Thanks

Yes I get 5.1 and 5.4 at full strength and have never noticed an interuption. 5.3 (KREG-DT) is gone, THANK YOU!!! That was a real waste of bandwidth. How about turning off 5.4 (KGJT-DT) during the Superbowl and giving us full bandwidth (19 .4 mb/s) HD for a few hours? I bet nobody would complain. Or maybe you could pinch it down to 2.0 mb/s if turning it off would get you in trouble. It's time to show NBC what HD football is supposed to look like. BTW, your new boss, Rich Adams knows all about how bad less than full bandwidth 1080i football can look. I took the time to show him.

BTW, looked what I captured last night from KFQX, HD King of the Hill!:

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6531/snapshotj20071280006bv0.jpg

I don't know why we didn't pass State of the Union through in HD, I will check. I will check out the 5.4 feed. We are in the process of ordering a delay box for CBS HD primetime.

Hey Audiomagnate! and anyone else, please let me know if you are receiving 5.1, we have had some reports that it is "gone" ota. We can not corrolate to any particular area and cannot find any problems.
Thanks

Unfortunately, I'm one of those going without. It brings me some comfort to know others are having the same issue (I thought it had to be on my end).

I have always received digital CBS with a strong signal until 1-22-2007 when it just disappeared. I have no problems with (and get an exceptionally strong signal from) ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS, and the CW.

I plead complete ignorance on the engineering end, so please forgive me in advance - but did run across information about stations in other markets with the same problem. Here a few possibilities to consider (if you haven't already):

622 OTA signal loss

"Exciter" used at the transmitter

Software version

Condition may be caused by another station's signal, either adjacent channel, co-channel, or some harmonic of a channel that falls into the problem channel's frequency and it might be poor selectivity of the 622's front end that's causing the problem.


Looking forward to watching digital CBS again - Thanks

G1273:

It must be a location/distance thing. I'm less than 1/4 mile west of the tower. I get 100% signal strength after splitting the signal three ways. I do have a rooftop mounted directional antenna, Antennacraft AC9. But I get all the other channels pretty strong, except PBS, which is borderline.

Hey Audiomagnate! and anyone else, please let me know if you are receiving 5.1, we have had some reports that it is "gone" ota. We can not corrolate to any particular area and cannot find any problems.
Thanks
I can't receive 5.1 with either my Directv OTA or tv rcvr. I get very strong signal from all the others. I'm at 31 and D roads.

I can't receive 5.1 with either my Directv OTA or tv rcvr. I get very strong signal from all the others. I'm at 31 and D roads.


Bellyboater -

Same situation my friend....

I called KREX last week to let them know, the engineer was polite and very interested in fixing the issue. He asked me about my set-up, location, etc. I'm sure they'd appreciate a call or an email if you get the opportunity.

Thanks for the help -

Are you guys using indoor or rooftop antemmas?

Are you guys using indoor or rooftop antemmas?

Outdoor- with signal amplifier (works great if anyone is having trouble with weaker signals).

As I said, Up till the Monday the 22nd - my signal was very strong on all the channels, including CBS. There is something else going on - just don't know what exactly. My neighbor isn't receiving 5.1 (no picture just audio) so either its an amazing coincidence or something is up...the question is what.

No Super Bowl for me in HD I suppose... Any ideas?

Are you guys using indoor or rooftop antemmas?

Indoor...good enough for 96-100 sig levels on all channels but 5.1

I e-mailed Phillip at KREX last night and received his reply this AM. He says they are working on the tower this week, will also be installing a new antenna this week, allowing them to transmit at full power. Didn't say when to expect full power.

Friday afternoon, Antenna is up and barring any difficulties with transmission line, it will be placed on air Saturday afternoon / evening.

Just in the nick of time for you guys out in boonies!

Hey guys I'm new to HDTV, but need some quick advice. I'll be getting a unit with a QAM tuner. Will this allow me to get more HD channels with a basic cable package?

AND I'm wanting to get an antenna, but I can only get an indoor one. I live near 29 and Patterson. Any suggestions on a good antenna.

What stations should I be picking up without purchasing the HD package form bresnan and with just having an indoor or no antenna at that.

Thanks for all the help, I've read through a lot of the postings and it's helped out quite a bit!

Mike

Hey guys I'm new to HDTV, but need some quick advice. I'll be getting a unit with a QAM tuner. Will this allow me to get more HD channels with a basic cable package?

AND I'm wanting to get an antenna, but I can only get an indoor one. I live near 29 and Patterson. Any suggestions on a good antenna.

What stations should I be picking up without purchasing the HD package form bresnan and with just having an indoor or no antenna at that.

Thanks for all the help, I've read through a lot of the postings and it's helped out quite a bit!

Mike

Hey there Mike - Welcome...

My setup may be slightly different than most here as I watch and record everything on my PC, so take my comments with a grain of salt. All QAM tuners are not created equal but necessary to receive HD through a cable box (recording may or may not be possible). I doubt you'll be able to receive any HD channels through Bresnan without dropping the extra $10 a month - if so, please let me know.

As for antennas - if you can't have a roof mounted setup - I'd strongly recommend the small indoor "christmas tree shaped" antennas - mine worked surprising well.

Local NBC is probably the best in terms of reliability, followed closely by FOX. KJCT falls into SD after going to commercial on a regular basis and at 9:55 pm every night (for reasons unknown) so you'll watch the last five minutes of your HD program in SD. KJCT is aware but seemingly unable or unwilling to address the issue. PBS, CW and Telemundo are all SD as far as I know. CBS disappeared for some us two weeks ago (myself included) but hopefully will return in time for the game Sunday in HD (CBS currently only offers HD during live events - but they have the equipment for delayed content on order).

Hope that helps -

As for antennas - if you can't have a roof mounted setup - I'd strongly recommend the small indoor "christmas tree shaped" antennas - mine worked surprising well.

Hope that helps -


Thanks for the quick response! One follow up...Can I have the Christmas tree like antenna AND my coax cable coming out of the wall plugged into the tv at the same time? It seems there is only one "plug" on the back of the tv. Would I need an adapter? How can I have them both plugged in and both working at the same time!

Thanks again for your help.

I try to stay quiet and just absorb all the info...but I wanna get my setup started!

Mike

Thanks for the quick response! One follow up...Can I have the Christmas tree like antenna AND my coax cable coming out of the wall plugged into the tv at the same time? It seems there is only one "plug" on the back of the tv. Would I need an adapter? How can I have them both plugged in and both working at the same time!

Thanks again for your help.

I try to stay quiet and just absorb all the info...but I wanna get my setup started!

Mike

As I mentioned - my PC setup may not be typical - so one of the others will likely have a better suggestion for a more traditional home theater. Having said that, you have a couple options - but I think the simplest is an A/B switch. Any Radio Shack should have them on hand for a few dollars. You'll have to manually switch from cable to antenna but it should work fine. Depending on the hardware you have, you may also be able to use a digital connection or even the RCA connections - but the A/B switch is probably the most strait forward (and inexpensive) solution.

- Cheers

Hey there Mike - Welcome...

My setup may be slightly different than most here as I watch and record everything on my PC, so take my comments with a grain of salt. All QAM tuners are not created equal but necessary to receive HD through a cable box (recording may or may not be possible). I doubt you'll be able to receive any HD channels through Bresnan without dropping the extra $10 a month - if so, please let me know.

As for antennas - if you can't have a roof mounted setup - I'd strongly recommend the small indoor "christmas tree shaped" antennas - mine worked surprising well.

Local NBC is probably the best in terms of reliability, followed closely by FOX. KJCT falls into SD after going to commercial on a regular basis and at 9:55 pm every night (for reasons unknown) so you'll watch the last five minutes of your HD program in SD. KJCT is aware but seemingly unable or unwilling to address the issue. PBS, CW and Telemundo are all SD as far as I know. CBS disappeared for some us two weeks ago (myself included) but hopefully will return in time for the game Sunday in HD (CBS currently only offers HD during live events - but they have the equipment for delayed content on order).

Hope that helps -

Your setup isn't that atypical. I've had a Fusion HD capture card in my PC for years, long before there was any HD in the valley. I also have a Dish HD package and use an old Directv receiver for OTA HD in yet another setup.

What channels are you guys able to get in Grand Junction using an active Bresnan coax cable line (standard digital service) and ONLY using a QAM tuner and/or the atsc input. Anyone havnig any luck using just an QAM tuner and/or atsc input with NO antenna?

Any local channels in HD...any HD and/or premium channels by chance? I probably won't use antenna and just curious what I'll be able to get b just plugging it in and auto tuning with QAM.

Anyone havnig any luck using just the QAM tuner and NO antenna?

I doubt you'll like this answer but - I'd be very surprised if you received any HD content...even with a cable box. As far as I know the only way to get HD channels is OTA with an antenna, satellite service or to give Bresnan the extra $10 a month.

Your setup isn't that atypical. I've had a Fusion HD capture card in my PC for years, long before there was any HD in the valley. I also have a Dish HD package and use an old Directv receiver for OTA HD in yet another setup.

I have ATI HDTV and Hauppauge cards - both have worked well for years but I'm looking for something better (and the ATI card isn't compatible with Vista apparently). ATI HD has an amazing picture - but the software is second rate and far from reliable.

I record a number of shows and encode most down to mpeg or avi (and take the occasional screenshot) - and want the same ability in a new card. I've been looking at the MyHD 130 - it doesn't rely on the processor and accepts QAM and OTA which is a step up from the ATI HD.

I'd appreciate your opinion, is the Fusion card you mentioned the better buy or the MyHD 130?
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/mdp130.asp

- Thanks for the help

I have a first gen, and I like it fine, but its recording function screws up. I got something from "the CW" when I programmed it to record "Idol" last Wednesday. The newer versions are Vista compatible.

www.dvico.com

It looks like the Superbowl will be up on KREX in 1080i DD2.0 at around 13.9 mb/second. KREG has the 480i simocast at at 2.5 mb/s and KGJT is soaking up 2.0 mb/sec of precious bandwidth. The HD looks decent so far, no macroblocking but definitely on the soft side.

It looks like the Superbowl will be up on KREX in 1080i DD2.0 at around 13.9 mb/second. KREG has the 480i simocast at at 2.5 mb/s and KGJT is soaking up 2.0 mb/sec of precious bandwidth. The HD looks decent so far, no macroblocking but definitely on the soft side.

Well, still nothing. Called KREX and from what I could gather they were receiving a number of calls about signal loss. I think they are just as puzzled as the rest of us. My guess is that the new equipment isn't compatible with all tuners - I think it has more to do with individual hardware receivers...but then again who knows.

I hope they figure it out soon. I'd be more upset but they are clearly working hard on the issue and treating viewers with respect.

I doubt that, since I use three different tuners. It must be a coverage thing.

Good morning all, hope the weekend was well. If you don't mind please give me your location (cross streets) and whether or not you have 5.1 and strength of signal. The new antenna is at 100% power and I need to know if we still have coverage issues and how extensive it is. Thanks.

If you don't mind please give me your location (cross streets) and whether or not you have 5.1 and strength of signal. The new antenna is at 100% power and I need to know if we still have coverage issues and how extensive it is. Thanks.

Been scanning every few hours since yesterday afternoon and no signal as of yet. I've been able to locate three others who live close that couldn't get the Super Bowl in HD yesterday.

D and 30 is probably close to dead center of the people I know who are not receiving a signal...how far it extends beyond that I don't know. Bellyboater posted earlier that he is at D and 31 roads.

I do want to mention that I did have a very strong signal up until 1-22-2007 - nothing in my setup has changed. I'd be curious to know what happened, is it simply signal strength, software, or certain problem receivers? I've searched a number of forums and I was amazed to learn of so many potential causes (a few I mentioned in a post earlier on this page).

I wish you men luck - I miss KREX and don't want to miss out when you start running CBS primetime. Thanks for keeping us updated - I appreciate that you don't have to take the time to do that...

Still nothing at 31 and D roads. Checked numerous times yesterday and again this AM.

I'm near Elm and 28 1/4 Rd. with a UHF antenna in the 2nd story attic aimed west at Black Mesa. The KREX tower is slighly off line to the right. I have been wondering if I need to connect an amplifier for only one station, and if the power is at 100% then the answer is yes. Usually I don't have any TV connected to the composite video monitor output of the STB. If I connect a small analog LCD TV for testing, and leave the Plasma monitor off, then I can receive 5-1, 5-2, and 5-4 on this small LCD, all downconverted to 480i. If I then turn on the Plasma then the LCD immediately loses all three channels. So without an external amplifier, the STB just doesn't get enough signal to drive the Plasma through the DVI connection.

Good morning all, hope the weekend was well. If you don't mind please give me your location (cross streets) and whether or not you have 5.1 and strength of signal. The new antenna is at 100% power and I need to know if we still have coverage issues and how extensive it is. Thanks.

I'm at First and Wellington, with a rooftop mounted Antennacraft AC-9 pointed west. I get 95% to 99%(13.8 to 14.6 dB) after running through a splitter.

Sonywaist,
What is a STB?

A few things to suggest trying,

KREX is a VHF Channel 2 signal
KFQX is a UHF Channel 15 signal

You need a VHF/UHF combination antenna for our signals. We have had some cases where viewers that could not scan and find 5.1 were able to manually enter it and it worked fine, and we have found one case where removing a power amp actually brought the signal in.
Don't know if this will help anyone, but please let me know how signal looks.
Thank you.

A few things to suggest trying,

KREX is a VHF Channel 2 signal
KFQX is a UHF Channel 15 signal

You need a VHF/UHF combination antenna for our signals. We have had some cases where viewers that could not scan and find 5.1 were able to manually enter it and it worked fine, and we have found one case where removing a power amp actually brought the signal in.
Don't know if this will help anyone, but please let me know how signal looks.
Thank you.

A ray of hope - but nothing, I tried removing my amplifier (lost almost all my channels) and manually entering channel didn't yield anything.

Have to ask...I receive KFQX (looks great) with a strong signal. Is it possible to configure KREX to broadcast in the same manner as KFQX?

G1273, How many others close to you do NOT get 5.1? Let me know.

Sadly, No.

G1273, How many others close to you do NOT get 5.1? Let me know.

I'll make a few calls tonight - and get back to you ASAP.

Sadly, No.

Just out of curiosity - what changed from the previous transmission (that came in strong) to the current problems? Any idea how widespread the "blackout" is - just along D road?

STB = Set top box i.e. cable company decoder box.

I'm getting 5.1, .2 & .4 no problem. Two story roof-top antenna. 8th and Ouray downtown.

G1273 - that's just it, nothing changed- we increased our signal 20db on the 4th thats all.
Thanks Schaffer970 (brain fart I knew what he meant but could not think of the acronym)

I have never been able to receive chan 5.1. I don't have a rooftop antenna. Just a Terk TV5 w/amp on the 2nd floor that I bought for an old Directv rcvr a few years back. With their latest rcvrs, I get the other locals fine with old rabbit ears on the first floor. I'm not going to put up a rooftop on my townhouse. I still subscribe to basic cable, which I now need for KREX only.

Belly Boater, can you tell me if you get 4.1, 4.3, 4.5. 5.2, 5.4?

Right now, I get 4.1, 4.3 with my Sony TV rcvr showing the following:
Sig 92
RF Ch 15
Errors 0
SNR 29db
AGC 31%

It shows the RF channel for 5.1 as chan 5 with no signal. When I punch in 2.1, it shows chan 2, but still no signal

My Directv tuner shows signal level at 96-100 for 4.1 and 4.3

Don't get the 5.1-2-4 channels with either rcvr

SoccerNut - it's back my friend. No 5-1, but 4-3 comes in at 100% signal. Thanks for all the hard work.

If you find the time please keep us updated on CBS primetime in HD...another three or four weeks till the equipment arrives?

4-3 will be in HD?

Again thanks for listening - unless you object I'll send off an email to the KREX station manager letting him know how much we appreciate all the effort in resolving the issue and keeping us informed every step of the way.

- Cheers

For those of you who have Bresnan, I have it on good authority that we will getting more HD this year. The following additional HD channels are in the works:

In the second quarter 2007
ESPN 2
A&E
Showtime
National geographic
Golf and versus (combo channel)

Third or forth quarter 2007
ABC Family
Disney
And maybe Pay-Per-View channels

Hopefully things will happen sooner rather than later. I can't wait for the second quarter! :D

I have Dish and an antenna, that equals 34 HD channels.

EDIT: 35, they just added A&E HD.

For those of you who have Bresnan, I have it on good authority that we will getting more HD this year. The following additional HD channels are in the works:

In the second quarter 2007
ESPN 2
A&E
Showtime
National geographic
Golf and versus (combo channel)

Third or forth quarter 2007
ABC Family
Disney
And maybe Pay-Per-View channels

Hopefully things will happen sooner rather than later. I can't wait for the second quarter! :D

Thanks for the heads up - I hope the price stays at $10 a month...

Is it possible to record HD cable channels? I've been under the impression that cable companies encrypt the signal...

4-3 is a Montrose feed and will not be in HD anytime soon. We are still looking at the problems with 5-1. If anyone is interested and has the time, if you want to bring your STB to the studio we could hook up to our system and see if it works here. Thoughts are that it could have something to do with tables in the STB itself, we have hooked up a phillips here and it picks up all signals. If so contact studio at 242-5000 and let me know. K.O.

This is my first post, but I've been watching this thread for a while. I'm very happy there's someone on the inside at KREX watching this thread and responding.

Soccernut, I run Directv with an around the dish type amplified antenna (Terk TV44). The dish is on the top of the roof on my 2 story house, so its pretty high up without many obstructions. I live in the 31 & E 1/2 area. I have no problems picking up every available digital channel in the valley except for 5-1. Until superbowl Sunday, I have never been able to get a signal on 5-1, and the strength has been in the 0-5% area. I got 5-1 for the first time last Sunday, but the signal bounced randomly between 63 % and 0%. I would get about 5 minutes of good signal, followed by 1 minute of massive macroblocking and signal loss. This cycle continues today. Looks like 5-2 is doing the same thing.

I have several different digital tuners in the house, including a Hughs and Samsung brand Directv HD tuners, one built into a Toshiba TV, and a HP Express card digital tuner, all of which acted the same.

I tried repositioning the antenna in every conceivable position on the dish to squeeze any extra signal out, but to no avail. The best signal I can get is 63%, but it still bounces to between that and 0%

I hope that helps!

I have Dish and an antenna, that equals 34 HD channels.

EDIT: 35, they just added A&E HD.
Go ahead and rub it in. :D Now that Dish has eliminated the upfront costs for the VIP622 I may jump back to them. If they would just change National Geographic HD from only being available with the 250 package I would jump right now.

Go ahead and rub it in. :D Now that Dish has eliminated the upfront costs for the VIP622 I may jump back to them. If they would just change National Geographic HD from only being available with the 250 package I would jump right now.

That p***** me off too, but I won't knuckle under. A&EHD isn't a very good HD channel yet, but I love FilmFest and World Cinema.

This is my first post, but I've been watching this thread for a while. I'm very happy there's someone on the inside at KREX watching this thread and responding.

Soccernut, I run Directv with an around the dish type amplified antenna (Terk TV44). The dish is on the top of the roof on my 2 story house, so its pretty high up without many obstructions. I live in the 31 & E 1/2 area. I have no problems picking up every available digital channel in the valley except for 5-1. Until superbowl Sunday, I have never been able to get a signal on 5-1, and the strength has been in the 0-5% area. I got 5-1 for the first time last Sunday, but the signal bounced randomly between 63 % and 0%. I would get about 5 minutes of good signal, followed by 1 minute of massive macroblocking and signal loss. This cycle continues today. Looks like 5-2 is doing the same thing.

I have several different digital tuners in the house, including a Hughs and Samsung brand Directv HD tuners, one built into a Toshiba TV, and a HP Express card digital tuner, all of which acted the same.

I tried repositioning the antenna in every conceivable position on the dish to squeeze any extra signal out, but to no avail. The best signal I can get is 63%, but it still bounces to between that and 0%

I hope that helps!

It should help in that it shows various tuners can handle the signal but the signal is too weak in this area. I too am impressed with the KREX effort on this problem but wonder if they have considered using a Field Intensity Meter or Spectrum Analyzer to check their coverage in the area. Not sure that they work for DTV signals (I'm real old school, BSEE '64), but think so. Your post also shows that taking our STBs in is probably not necessary. My Directv units won't work for that as they must see the sat before the OTA tuner will work.

KREX is a VHF Channel 2 signal
You need a VHF/UHF combination antenna for our signals.
...we have found one case where removing a power amp actually brought the signal in.My plasma TV monitor makes a lot of radio frequency noise on the lower VHF frequencies and my STB is sitting right under it. The interference is visible on 4.0 analog reception, and also a little noise is showing on 5.0 analog. I assume it's worse on the part of the spectrum for VHF channel 2. So that's apparently why my STB's locked-in reception of 5.1, .2, .4 ceases when the flat panel is turned on.

So far I don't know of anyone who's watching OTA 5.1 HDTV using an indoor antenna.

We are compiling this information for that reason. We need more people (who don't get the 5.1) to determine locations where we need to go and evaluate signal strength.

KJCT 8-1 and 8-2 are gone. Called - evidently one receiver they have picks up picture, the other doesn't. They are looking into it. I'm getting a strong signal on both channels just no picture.

UPDATE: Turns out one of their computers went down. Both channels are back up. They did a nice job fixing the issue - less than a hour.

I have a friend at 30 & F 1/2 Rd that is having the exact same problems with the 5-X channels, weak signals, macroblocking, etc... The rest of the digital channels come in fine there.

I've noticed everyone is using an antenna. Do you all also use Bresnan cable? If so what kind of setup? Do you have a switcher? And will your tv remember your cable channels when you switch over to "air".

Thanks!

The locations that we need to test at so far are, 30 - 31 and D rd, 29 and Patterson, 30 F1/2, 31 E1/2. Any others?

The locations that we need to test at so far are, 30 - 31 and D rd, 29 and Patterson, 30 F1/2, 31 E1/2. Any others?
As for the people I'm personally aware of (in this forum and out) D and 30 - 31 seem to be the heart of it. I'm curious as to how far the blackout area extends.

Will KREX be testing this week?

Any firm date for (delayed) HDTV in primetime?


Thanks for all the hard work - it is appreciated.

For those of you who care about what Bresnan is up to, I have the following information from them.

We are waiting for approval and equipment so this is not official but our goal is to launch the following services on or about June 1, 2007: Showtime HD, National Geographic HD, A&E HD, and Versus/Golf HD


ESPN2 will be launched on or about April 1st 2007 Channel 734

If you are paying attention, you will notice that ESPN2 is already up! :) (...and yes audiomagnate I know you still have more HD :eek: :D )

We now have all 4 channels in GJ broadcasting their evening shows in HD! I don't know exactly when KREX (CBS) started broadcasting their evenings shows in HD (in the last couple of days) but Jericho is being broadcast in HD tonight. Congratulations to KREX for joining the crowd!

We now have all 4 channels in GJ broadcasting their evening shows in HD! I don't know exactly when KREX (CBS) started broadcasting their evenings shows in HD (in the last couple of days) but Jericho is being broadcast in HD tonight. Congratulations to KREX for joining the crowd!


If I could get more than a 75% connection to KREX it might actually work :rolleyes:

Small steps though...

This is HUGE! How bad did it look? They multicast out the yinyang.

Well, it's a whole lot better than SD but it's not pristine HD either! At least we have another channel. :)

Dish just added Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain Region in HD. Channel 364.

Okay mates - I and my neighbor went out and bought two different amplified outdoor antennas’s this weekend just to receive 5.1 (we receive 4.3 and all other channels very clear). We tried just about everything and...

NOTHING. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. No 5.1 signal at all.

Yes we are in the D road dead zone. Any ideas?

Okay mates - I and my neighbor went out and bought two different amplified outdoor antennas’s this weekend just to receive 5.1 (we receive 4.3 and all other channels very clear). We tried just about everything and...

NOTHING. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. No 5.1 signal at all.

Yes we are in the D road dead zone. Any ideas?

What model antennas? Can you see the tower from your roof?

We are doing testing in the D and 30/31 rd area today. If you have a specific address or intersection please call the station to let us know. 242-5000. We have tested at "Westland Estates" 30 and D Rd, 31 and D Rd, 31 and D 1/2 Rd. Signal strength is good and we have not found any dead spots. We need to have a specific (address) location to come out and test so please let us know either through this forum or call the studio and ask for engineering.
Thank you

I am in Fruitvale, and am rarely am able to pick up KREX in HD OTA. I do get Fox without any problems.

I think you would find the KREX 5.1 signal strength good at my location at 28 1/4 Rd. and Elm.

The three reasons I don't pick it up are:

Indoor antenna (attic).
UHF antenna, not VHF.
Plasma TV radiates noise interference on the VHF channel 2 frequency.

I am now picking up KREX on 004-02 from the E* 622 OTA tuner. PQ is nice but the news is in SD; waiting to try it in primetime later tonight.

Anyone know what the deal is with all of the sub-channels. On E*, I pick up the following:

004-01 listed as KFQX - FOX
004-02 KREX -- but this channel has no reception
004-03 KREY -- this appears to be KREX
004-04 KREG -- also appears to be FOX
005-05 KGJT -- also appears to be KREX

Is E* screwed up in what it is picking up OTA?

Why two feeds for both? Different programming?

You're never going to get HD out of 4-2. It's a subchannel of 4-1, which is HD. 5-1 is the KREX HD channel. As to all those sub channels, ask Soccernut.

4-1 Fox HD
5-1 CBS HD
8-1 ABC HD
11-1 NBC HD

Soccernut, check E 1/4 Rd and Sunburst Ct. Still very weak signal from all the 5-X channels, not enough for the receiver to give me a picture.

Here is what we are putting OTA.
Please note that if you are able to get any 5. signal you should be able to get 5.1 as that is the main transport stream.
4.1 KFQX (FOX HD) Broadcast from Blackridge
4.2 We are not putting out a 4.2 signal.
4.3 KREY (CBS for Montrose SD) Broadcast from Blackridge
4.4 We are not putting out a 4.4 signal.

5.1 KREX (CBS Grand Junction HD) Broadcast from KREX studio at 1st and patterson.
5.2 KREG (CBS for Glenwood SD) Broadcast from KREX studio at 1st and patterson.
5.4 KGJT (MY Network SD) Broadcast from KREX studio at 1st and patterson.
5.5 We are not putting out a 5.5 signal.

Miah, We have tested at Sun Valley and E 1/2. Signal looks good, do you have line of sight to the Studio Tower?

I don't understand the OTA subchannel multicasting of 5.2 KREG (CBS for Glenwood SD) broadcast from 1st and Patterson.

It must be there as an OTA subchannel to meet some requirement, not because anyone in the Glenwood Springs area is actually receiving it OTA, as that obviously isn't a realistic idea. Can you explain why you are putting that one out?

I don't understand the OTA subchannel multicasting of 5.2 KREG (CBS for Glenwood SD) broadcast from 1st and Patterson.

It must be there as an OTA subchannel to meet some requirement, not because anyone in the Glenwood Springs area is actually receiving it OTA, as that obviously isn't a realistic idea. Can you explain why you are putting that one out?

Same question re: 4.3 KREY Montrose CBS. Not that Fox 720p can't handle one sub w/o degrading the HD picture, I think it can. But I think 5.1 CBS HD looks "pinched" (bit starved) to me with its two subs. I used to get CBS HD via sat at around 17 mb/sec and it looked fantastic, especially Letterman. Now it looks softer. The Young and the Restless looks REALLY soft (I DVR it with my Fusion HD card for my wife. Really! I do.)

5.2 is received on Grand Mesa and Microwaved to Sunlight. 4.3 is sent via Blackridge to Flattop in Montrose. The signal has to get there somehow.

We are doing testing in the D and 30/31 rd area today. If you have a specific address or intersection please call the station to let us know. 242-5000. We have tested at "Westland Estates" 30 and D Rd, 31 and D Rd, 31 and D 1/2 Rd. Signal strength is good and we have not found any dead spots. We need to have a specific (address) location to come out and test so please let us know either through this forum or call the studio and ask for engineering.
Thank you

SoccerNut; Would you give us some test antenna info (height and gain) that provided "good" signal strength in the D and 30/31 rd area?

The antenna is an off the shelf UHF/VHF from Radio Shack, antenna was mounted in the back of a pick up truck (about 9 feet high) and signal strength was.....
Corner of 30 and D.. -8 dbmv
Westland estates... -9 dbmv
31 and D -7 dbmv
Digital locked right in.

Soccernut,

When I got up on my roof where my antenna is, I couldn’t directly see the KREX broadcast tower because of the tree canopy in the way.

Despite everything I’ve done, short of spending a lot of money on a new antenna, I can’t get enough signal strength to lock in a digital signal from any of the 5-x channels. I’ve tried a couple indoor antennas I’ve borrowed just to make sure its not something funky going on with the roof antenna, but I couldn’t get any 5-x signals on any of the indoors antennas as well. I could get every other digital signal with the indoors antenna from here.

The antenna is an off the shelf UHF/VHF from Radio Shack, antenna was mounted in the back of a pick up truck (about 9 feet high) and signal strength was.....
Corner of 30 and D.. -8 dbmv
Westland estates... -9 dbmv
31 and D -7 dbmv
Digital locked right in.

Thanks for the info. It at least tells us that we probably don't need to go higher, just bigger. After reading it, I again tried rigging an FM dipole outside a second story window. If I were 40 or 50 years younger, I would have been on the roof. I had tried this before, but think it was before you went to high power. This time, I actually got one of my Directv tuners to lock in. Signal strength ~60. Good picture on 5.1 and subchannels and did not drop out. All other locals at 100 with antenna aimed at KREX tower. My one year old Sony still would not lock in on this. Bottom line is----there is a signal in the D and 31 roads area. Thanks again. Looking forward to the Broncos in hidef. I'll have a longer antenna by then.

SoccerNut, what broke at the station, your HD server? Letterman in SD is not fun.

Yes we did have a glitch in the HD server, it should be back now.

Pulling my hair out...

After trying three different outdoor antennas I finally found one that worked (the most expensive one of course) - 5.1 came in around 60% but that was good enough for a decent, stable picture. Have been enjoying CBS HD for two weeks but two days ago no more 5.1 AGAIN. Been fighting with my setup since then with nothing over 10 to 20%. I'm almost 100% sure it's not weather related - what am I missing? Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

G1273---
Don't pull your hair out or fight your setup. I just read your post, then checked and I'm not getting anything either. I've been out of town so don't know when I lost it, but have noticed that I lose it at times. I just assume they are back on low power again.

G1273---
Don't pull your hair out or fight your setup. I just read your post, then checked and I'm not getting anything either. I've been out of town so don't know when I lost it, but have noticed that I lose it at times. I just assume they are back on low power again.


Thanks Bellyboater -

I spent the weekend trying anything and everything - with no success. I did call KREX on Saturday afternoon, master control (no engineers on the clock) was not aware of any changes.

Hopefully they will resolve this quickly - I'm embarrassed how much time, effort and money I've spent trying to get this one HD channel...all the other local HD channels come through perfectly with a simple indoor antenna.

My apologies, Tower crew is here to finish work on tower and we had to reduce power, should be back now.

I was in for a shock when I turned on the TV this Monday evening. Either KREX boosted the power, or the tower crew has pointed the signal in my direction, because 5.1 is locked in for the first time. I'm waiting for it to drop in and out or pixelate like it always has, and I'm still waiting... good show, tower crew!

My signal strength increased from around 62 to the low 90's.
Oops, just lost everything at 9:10 AM Tues

Good morning, Tower crew is finished with the antenna and signal should be stable now. Could I get some feedback as to how this looks now?.
Thank you

Good morning, Tower crew is finished with the antenna and signal should be stable now. Could I get some feedback as to how this looks now?.
Thank you

On a par with other digital channels at 31 and D roads. Sony TV diagnostics shows sig level 89, S/N 28db, zero errors. Using only dipole (rabbit ears) on 6' fence with 10db (advertised) amp and 100' RG-6 diplexed with sat dish.

I don't know what you guys did at KREX, but it worked. I get a good signal with no macroblocking. Keep up the good work!

Tuned in at 9pm for CSI: Miami and no 5-1 or 2-1. Not a weak signal, simply no signal at at all...

UPDATE: 7am Tuesday - still nothing on 5-1 or 2-1.

Main antenna problems at 4pm May 21st. We are working on it right now.

Main antenna problems at 4pm May 21st. We are working on it right now.

Thanks for the update Soccernut - do you know if it's something minor or will it be a few days?

Parts are ordered and on the way, sorry I don't have an ETA for now.

Just checking in as I consider my move. Directv gives no local stations, right? Are the local networks granting waivers for the HD customers? And will the Broncos be blacked out on Sunday Ticket?

Just checking in as I consider my move. Directv gives no local stations, right? Are the local networks granting waivers for the HD customers? And will the Broncos be blacked out on Sunday Ticket?

Your questions are really no longer pertinent as the four major networks and PBS are now available locally OTA and look better than D*. But, since you asked...

Directv provides no locals and has no plans to do so. Market is too small, something like 184 out of 212. Ballpark figure as I don't remember exactly.

The Broncos are blacked out on ST, as are the other games broadcasted locally, generally games in the AFC West. This shouldn't be a problem if the CBS affiliate gets it's antenna problems corrected. I cancelled ST last year after three or four years, as I was always watching the AFC West games on local broadcasts, HD or not. This year it shouldn't matter, as we will get them all in OTA HD.

Thanks Bellybloater!
How big of an antenna do you need and does it need to be directional if you're in the Redlands?