A channel master 4221 ; 4228 or a Radio Shack U-75 will do just as good as the antennas direct and they are cheaper.

Online is the only place I was able to find the DB4. I'm sure those others are just as good or better. I think the CM antennas are quite a bit larger, may be wrong.

Anyone know when the WILM antenna will be in place and operational?

Anyone know when the WILM antenna will be in place and operational?

It seems I read somewhere that they will ready by mid-August... and there is a "test" day coming up, where the stations will briefly either cut off analog, or they are going to display a message to the effect that analog is going to be cut off, with an 800 number for people to call...

Speaking of NBC in this area, how long until we know what impact the new NBC station for the Myrtle Beach/Florence market will have (if any) on WECT-DT?

What is this news channel 14? A 24 hour local news channel?

Is it OTA? oR is it the one they have on cable? In Raleigh and Fayetteville they've had a News 14 Carolina channel for years now. It is useless to me from what I've seen on it.

It seems I read somewhere that they will ready by mid-August... and there is a "test" day coming up, where the stations will briefly either cut off analog, or they are going to display a message to the effect that analog is going to be cut off, with an 800 number for people to call...

The test date is August 19th for 1 minute.

Did all the posts from 8/2-8/10 get deleted?

from broadcastnewsroom.com (i can't post the URL yet):

Four broadcasters in Wilmington, N.C. will turn off their analog signals for one minute Tuesday, Aug. 19 as a “soft test” of that community's move to all digital broadcasting on Sept. 8.


Wilmington was selected by the Federal Communications Commission to test the analog switch-out that the rest of the country will undergo next February.


The stations, the ABC affiliate WWAY, Ch. 3; NBC affiliate WECT, Ch. 6; CBS affiliate WILM, Ch.10 and Fox affiliate WSFX, Ch. 26, will turn off their analog signal next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Consumers who have taken no action to upgrade to digital will see a message on their screens that says, “If you can see this message, this TV set needs to be upgraded to digital before Sept. 8 at noon ..to continue receiving television signals, upgrade to digital now with a converter box; a new television set with a digital tuner or by subscribing to a pay service like cable or satellite.”

According to Nielsen research, 8.8% of the Wilmington marketplace, or 15,450 homes, currently receive their television over the air.

Did all the posts from 8/2-8/10 get deleted?

Yep.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/announcement.php?f=92&a=123

... CBS affiliate WILM, Ch.10 ... will turn off their analog signal next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

If they don't have their digital signal on 40 up by then, that's a pretty stupid move. Telling people they aren't ready when it is your own station that isn't ready is kinda wrong, no?

- Trip

In Raleigh and Fayetteville they've had a News 14 Carolina channel for years now. It is useless to me from what I've seen on it.

It is useless to everyone else too. TWC's News Channel 14 is suppose to be a "CNN Local." They started it first in Charlotte and then Raleigh and then Greensboro. It looks mostly from Charlotte and they do bring their "news bureaus" from the other 2 cities in along the way. It garners no ratings in any of the three markets, and no one I know, who has cable, has every watched it and few know of its existence, even though they run the crap out of commercials on all the cable news channels. The OTA stations that do news just ignore them.

Checking on the Olympics after watching a late night movie, I had lost all signals last night except for PBS-(39.1), some where around 1:30am ish. Not sure how long they were off. No storms noted on radar anywhere. Had to program the analog channels in and boy did they look horrible, worse I've ever seen. Channels came back a few minutes later. How did all three channels go out at once?

Incus

I was doing a ce update with directv dvrs and saw this as well.

All channels were out ...and about 30% on unc 39.1-5. wouldnt sustain signal though. everything fine this morning.

Checking on the Olympics after watching a late night movie, I had lost all signals last night except for PBS-(39.1), some where around 1:30am ish. Not sure how long they were off. No storms noted on radar anywhere. Had to program the analog channels in and boy did they look horrible, worse I've ever seen. Channels came back a few minutes later. How did all three channels go out at once?

Incus


WECT managed to have Phelp's historic 7th gold medal win in SD. About 25 minutes of SD and then back to HD for the evening

All three are on the same tower/antenna, maybe they had to do some kind of maintenance and turned them all off?

- Trip

I've been losing WWAY for the last day or so off and on. I think they are having problems. I haven't had a problem with 6 or 26 though...

For me last night, I noticed WSFX was coming in stronger than either WECT or WWAY, and WECT was stronger than WWAY, which is the reverse of normal.

Also caught the SD for Olympics... and WWAY disappeared from my channel scan yesterday evening...

If they weren't already broadcasting digital, I'd be a bit worried about the early cutoff date... :)

Just tuned in UHF channel 40... WILM is live!!!!!!!!!!!

It's alive!!!!!!!

:D

Signal strength upper 70s, about the same I get for WECT.

Nice! I'm getting it up in Hampstead.

Got it here too, Thanks.:)
Coming in at 60%. I'm south of Monkey Junction, by Veterans Park/Ashley High School.

Incus

is it in hD?

It's digital;).
I have a 4x3 image, reading 1080i on my TV, but doesn't appear to be HD. Is any of WILM in HD? TitanTV doesn't list WILM yet.

Incus

Small issue for us Directv Subs. ***Just minor, I promise***

Directv MP4 recievers do not, I repeat do not do the basic OTA channel scan. We can and will not be able to get WILM 40.1 or any other sub channel until WILM (Capitol Broadcasting) updated directv with PSIP data for those stations, So if this is beta testing we are in fact screwed as directv subs.


This goes for the H20, H21, H22, HR20, HR21, HR22, and all mp4 variants of these irds.

Directv design doesn't let you scan for OTA, so you have to rely on the PSIP data Tribune Media provides to Directv in the guide data.


Its times like these I wish i still had my HD-Homerun, MyHD Tuner cards.... I knew there is a reason my HR10-250 tivo is still commissioned.

Getting 40.1 at 86% OTA on HR10-250 HDTivo - 8:45pm.

I can tell it's on the air, but the signal doesn't quite reach Jacksonville. I'll keep trying as I would like to see what WILM is all about. I'll probably be able to view it in the right conditions.

I may need a re-scan. I keep getting WUVC!:rolleyes:

OK getting WILM 40 at 6% :D

10.1DT showed up on the HDtivo after reset and scan. No guide data yet but i think that populates over night with tivo.

Sharp WILM10 logo at the bottomleft. Looks better than the peacock

I getting guide data on my samsung SIR-T151 stand alone receiver for WILM. My Panny plasma doesn't have any guides available at all.

Incus

Anyone able to run TSReader to analyze WILM-LD? I'd love to see what the signal looks like...

- Trip

Earlier, when I first tuned WILM, it was indeed HD. Some programming isn't shot in HD, like Big Brother, and whatever show is on now with Regis...

It's so nice to see a logo that doesn't make your eyes immediately track to it... nice and transparent...

Million Dollar Password isn't in HD. Cold Case will be HD which is coming up next.

I got a signal for about 10 seconds but it didn't revert over to 10.1

I just had it again, and saw the WILM 10 logo over on the left. WRAL doesn't do that.

Small issue for us Directv Subs. ***Just minor, I promise***

Directv MP4 recievers do not, I repeat do not do the basic OTA channel scan. We can and will not be able to get WILM 40.1 or any other sub channel until WILM (Capitol Broadcasting) updated directv with PSIP data for those stations, So if this is beta testing we are in fact screwed as directv subs.
...

That's just not right... :mad: Do you get locals via Directv also? For Dish, I don't get any program guide info (i.e., it won't read the PSIP) on OTA's unless I also subscribe to locals (in which case the programming info is provided by Dish, not PSIP). No mandate that a receiver has to read PSIP...

On my Dish 722 I can manually add an OTA channel, don't even have to do a scan...

BTW, I still have an MDP-120 and 130... in case you might be tempted... :)

But I still need a solution to record two simultaneous OTA programs, and the Dish 722 only has one OTA receiver, so the computer will still need the MDP-130...

WILM is in HD, YEA!!!:D:D:D

Incus

Is it in Dolby Digital?

I just heard it isn't, but I'm sure they will probably work on that.

My receiver lets me pick a mode, so it must not be DolbyD...

Here's TSreader data on a minute or two snippet of OTA WILM, and for comparison, WILM via Timewarner cable...

OTA
Elementary Stream PID 49 (0x0031) MPEG-2 Video
MPEG Video: Bitrate 65.000 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i
MPEG Video: Framerate 29.97 fps Aspect Ratio 16:9 Chroma Format 4:2:0


Cable

Elementary Stream PID 51 (0x0033) MPEG-2 Video
MPEG Video: Bitrate 36.811 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i
MPEG Video: Framerate 29.97 fps Aspect Ratio 16:9 Chroma Format 4:2:0

(is that what you wanted Trip? I only have TSreader lite... and haven't played with it much, but that seems to be the relevant data...)

MPEG Video: Bitrate 65.000 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i

Cable
MPEG Video: Bitrate 36.811 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i


Wow, the OTA bitrate almost doubles cable. I'm guessing this is good for us OTA people. I noticed WILM doesn't have the over scan issue on my plasma and it maps pixel for pixel. Picture looks great. Marc, since your having fun with TSreader, what is the bit rate for WECT's Olympic coverage?

Incus

The stream may be encoded for 65 Mbps, but it's getting compressed down a lot more...

Can I get you to do an HTML Export (from the Export menu) and check all the boxes except for "Thumbnail" and "EIT"? You can post it up here as an attachment if it'll let you; I can analyze it and give an actual bitrate number and let you know if I see anything interesting...

- Trip

Not sure if that prior data is really meaningful?

Here's more detailed info... (I did a copy/paste directly from the same screen in TSreader, but the WILM data sure looks less detailed, plus I don't think you can have more than about 18Mbps video, can you?)

WECT OTA:
Elementary Stream PID 49 (0x0031) MPEG-2 Video
MPEG Video: Bitrate 17.523 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i
MPEG Video: Framerate 29.97 fps Aspect Ratio 16:9 Chroma Format 4:2:0
Descriptor: STD Descriptor
Leak Valid Flag: 1
Descriptor: Smoothing Buffer Descriptor
SB Leak Rate: 48482 SB Size: 2048
Descriptor: Data Stream Alignment Descriptor
Alignment type: video access unit
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x86
e1 65 6e 67 c1 3f ff .eng.?.

WECT TW cable:
Elementary Stream PID 33 (0x0021) MPEG-2 Video
MPEG Video: Bitrate 36.811 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i
MPEG Video: Framerate 29.97 fps Aspect Ratio 16:9 Chroma Format 4:2:0
Descriptor: STD Descriptor
Leak Valid Flag: 1
Descriptor: Smoothing Buffer Descriptor
SB Leak Rate: 48482 SB Size: 2048
Descriptor: Data Stream Alignment Descriptor
Alignment type: video access unit
Descriptor: User Private Descriptor: 0x86
e1 65 6e 67 c1 3f ff .eng.?.

WILM OTA:
Elementary Stream PID 49 (0x0031) MPEG-2 Video
MPEG Video: Bitrate 65.000 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i
MPEG Video: Framerate 29.97 fps Aspect Ratio 16:9 Chroma Format 4:2:0


WILM TW cable:
Elementary Stream PID 51 (0x0033) MPEG-2 Video
MPEG Video: Bitrate 36.811 Mbps Resolution 1920 x 1080i
MPEG Video: Framerate 29.97 fps Aspect Ratio 16:9 Chroma Format 4:2:0

The stream may be encoded for 65 Mbps, but it's getting compressed down a lot more...

Can I get you to do an HTML Export (from the Export menu) and check all the boxes except for "Thumbnail" and "EIT"? You can post it up here as an attachment if it'll let you; I can analyze it and give an actual bitrate number and let you know if I see anything interesting...

- Trip

I did do that already, but didn't check all those boxes... let me open them all again, and I'll do the exports...

Yeah I would say that bitrate is awesome. I just buffered back on the tivo ...its nice looking in HD.

Congrats WRAL - About time you came to the party with WILM-DT


We have been waiting for your play for a very long time now.

Please update the guide data for the mpg4 directv recievers now, so that we too can get 10.1DT. Thanks.

Congrats again,

I've seen some stations list 65 Mbps and even 90 Mbps as the video feed's bitrates, but I know for a fact it cannot be that high. ATSC is capped at 19.393 Mbps, so it has to be a number smaller than that. My guess is that they encode it uncompressed at the studio, and then compress it at a later time, though I really have no idea, I'm just trying to make sense of it.

- Trip

As far as WECT is concerned, here's a capture I got one time when I received WECT-DT via DX from right here at home.

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/nc-ilm/48666-0_0.htm

If you scroll down to the bottom, you find that the video feed was actually only using 13.2 Mbps, though granted at the time, there was an upconverted commercial with black bars on.

- Trip

OK, here are the WILM and WECT exports... the only way I could quickly figure out to attach HTML type files was to change the extension to "txt"... I assume once you download the file you can change the extension back, or open in directly into a browser as a .txt file...

WILM-LD is using a full 17 Mbps on the CBS-HD feed. It should look very sharp and clear. =)

I don't know what's wrong with those captures, maybe it's the way you're running the transport stream back through TSReader rather than directly interfacing the receiver with it, but neither of those captures shows any PSIP data, and I know for a fact that WECT-DT has full PSIP data. It's also stripped out the WeatherPlus subchannel, which is why 6-1 is only using 14.9 Mbps.

- Trip

I've only got the lite version, if that makes a diff...

Captured the video through an MDP-130 card, which I have found can be sensitive to the quality of the PSIP stream...

I've had no issues getting people to use the Lite version before. Many of the captures I use for my website have PSIP. However, none capture the TS and then feed it back through TSReader as a file. Are you capturing the whole raw feed, or just the one stream of video?

- Trip

You know what, I think the latest version of software/firmware for the MDP-130 allowed capture of only the substream--it's been so long since I've used it, but I do recall a selection for substream only. It helps cut down on file size...

I can uncheck that option and record it again... if useful... (tomorrow...)

Also, when I open TSreader lite, it immediately opens a dialog box to open a file... is there a way for it to read a stream directly?
[edit] I can see now how to change source for it... but I didn't see an option for the MyHD card...

Yes, grab a new piece of video without just the substream. That might show us the PSIP and give me a better idea of what's going on.

I don't know that a driver for TSReader exists for the MyHD. I've been looking around on Google in the hopes of finding information on it, but I've had no success. To get it to offer you other driver options, hold Ctrl as you launch TSReader.

But first, go ahead and try to get the full stream with the MyHD software and feed that through as a file, see if you get any better results out of TSReader's export.

- Trip

Ok... WECT full stream...

Can you get one for WILM-LD?

- Trip

It looks like WECT-DT is doing stat muxing, right at the time you took the capture, the main HD feed had 14 Mbps, and the Weather subchannel had 3 Mbps. That's different from the numbers from your earlier capture, and from the numbers in my DXed capture a while back.

- Trip

Can you get one for WILM-LD?

- Trip
Don't think it has sub-channels... but it might make the analysis look different...

Definitely tomorrow for that one... I have to keep detaching the antenna coax form my Dish receiver and hooking it up to the computer...

Time for beauty rest to face work tomorrow... ;)

Sleep sounds good to me! :D

- Trip

Good morning all, here are a few FAQ's for you
1) no sub channels, full bandwidth 1080i (when avaialble)
2) Currenlty we are only 2/0, we have purchased the equipment for 5.1 and will be installing it soon.
3)We broadcast from Delco NC at 842ft. We are using a full circular antenna with 15kW in each plane.
4)over the next few days we will be in test mode, so the power will be shut off from time to time (it is right now).
5) I don't know why TS reader is reporting such high rates, but Cable and OTA are getting the same data rate.

My turn, I would love to hear back from anyone who is recieveing us as to where you live and the set up you are using.

Thanks all!!

Pete

Pete,

I live in Jacksonville, NC and was getting a signal at one point last night of 30% briefly. I use a Radio Shack U-75R directional yagi style antenna positioned at about 28 ft up, with a dual band pre-amp of about 24 db of gain on UHF. Last night however I was also receiving the Florence ABC and CBS stations, so there was some help from the atmosphere in regard to pushing the signal in my direction.

Just about every evening/morning I can view WRAL if I want to.

... I don't know that a driver for TSReader exists for the MyHD. I've been looking around on Google in the hopes of finding information on it, but I've had no success...
- Trip

Probably because the MyHD card is the only one that uses a hardware solution for signal processing, so I'm assuming that the incoming and outgoing data never crosses over a buss into the computer...

Pete,

I've got an antenna I bought at Radio Shack, but I think it's a brand name (I'll have to dig up the manual when I get home). It is a combo VHF/UHF up in my attic, hooked up to a Dish ViP722 receiver--no amp on the signal.

I'm about 1/2 mile north of the Monkey Junction intersection of 421 (Carolina Beach Rd.) and College Rd.

Looking forward to 5.1...

Ah, the simple pleasures, looking forward to ending my dependence on cable to get CBS in HD... Back to the future with antennas! :)

Yeah I would say that bitrate is awesome. I just buffered back on the tivo ...its nice looking in HD.

Congrats WRAL - About time you came to the party with WILM-DT


We have been waiting for your play for a very long time now.

Please update the guide data for the mpg4 directv recievers now, so that we too can get 10.1DT. Thanks.

Congrats again,
Ditto the call for WILM|WRAL\CBC to get with Directv to update the guide info on the HD receivers. Did disconnent the directv receiver just to pickup the WILM signal and I must say I had goosebumps. WOW.

When you say we.....Pete do you work at WRAL in raliegh with Capitol Broadcasting.

If so,

Please call Directv and let them know you are online even if in beta stages so that we may run guide data updates. MPG4 receivers do not have true OTA scan as you may already know. It only locks what directv says is available for your zip code. Thank you again for your assistance. I dont even care about the show descriptions at this point. Just put No guide / or WILM Test or something in there till you applicable for PSIP thanks a lot.

WILM TSreader file attached... (save and rename .txt to .htm)

When you say we.....Pete do you work at WRAL in raliegh with Capitol Broadcasting.


I believe he's chief engineer...

Does this mean they got rid of Chuck ;) Not a big fan of the Chuck....but if he will call directv and tell them to enter 40.1 in the guide he will gain respect points sooner than later.

WILM TSreader file attached... (save and rename .txt to .htm)

Looks nice!

Could I ask one last favor from you? The only station (other than WILM-LD, for obvious reasons) I haven't been able to DX here from Wilmington is WSFX-DT, because it's on the same channel as my local NBC. Could I get a TSReader capture just like the other ones for WSFX? If it's too much trouble, don't worry about it, but if you can, I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks. :D

- Trip

Hello Everyone...hoping you can help me figure out what my problem is. I live just about 5 miles west of the Delco tower. I have a roof mounted AntennaCraft HDX1000 VHF UHF HD Antenna (HDX1000). Since all the changes going on lately, I decided to move my antenna up a little higher on my roof. It was just at the gutter level and last week I was pulling in WECT/WWAY and FOX ok although a little weakly. So I bought about 200' RG-6 quad and moved the antenna up about 20' higher on the roof. I pointed it roughly in the same direction as the Delco tower. Thinking I would be pulling in at least 90%, I got down off the ladder and checked my reception and have zilch on these channels. Funny thing is WUNJ-PBS digitals are all hitting upper 90's fine. I am stumped at the moment. I tried it with the little amp and without and it has no effect. I even got my wife to watch the tv's signal meter while I moved the antenna around and it seems to stay locked (unlocked actually) on 41%....in fact all three (3.1, 6.1 and 26.1) stay at this level. Do you think I have jarred something loose internally in my antenna?

You might actually be too close to the towers... I seem to remember a discussion about this many posts ago... the signal doesn't radiate downward that close to the antenna...

Trip, no more of this fame and glory stuff... I might have to open up a PayPal account for donations! :D:D

Right now Fox is showing SD material, and they seem to be generating their own gray sidebars, otherwise I normally see black sidebars for SD material...

Could mean the attached file is useless, in which case... I guess I'd have to record a snippet of HD material?

[edit] I see that the null packet stream is at about 8Mbps--must be those gray bars... added to the main stream makes it about 17Mbps?

Don't know why they even give 2Mbps to Tube, they aren't broadcasting any material...

Thanks!

That is odd... I've seen some newer encoders get really low on the bitrate like that, so it's entirely possible that something's up, but who knows?

- Trip

Hello Everyone...hoping you can help me figure out what my problem is. I live just about 5 miles west of the Delco tower. I have a roof mounted AntennaCraft HDX1000 VHF UHF HD Antenna (HDX1000). Since all the changes going on lately, I decided to move my antenna up a little higher on my roof. It was just at the gutter level and last week I was pulling in WECT/WWAY and FOX ok although a little weakly. So I bought about 200' RG-6 quad and moved the antenna up about 20' higher on the roof. I pointed it roughly in the same direction as the Delco tower. Thinking I would be pulling in at least 90%, I got down off the ladder and checked my reception and have zilch on these channels. Funny thing is WUNJ-PBS digitals are all hitting upper 90's fine. I am stumped at the moment. I tried it with the little amp and without and it has no effect. I even got my wife to watch the tv's signal meter while I moved the antenna around and it seems to stay locked (unlocked actually) on 41%....in fact all three (3.1, 6.1 and 26.1) stay at this level. Do you think I have jarred something loose internally in my antenna?

That is one of those flying saucer antennas. You need an antenna that looks like an antenna. Go to Radio Shack and get a UHF corner reflector, or order a channel master 4228.

Ugh! I need advice. College/Oleander/Hugh McRae area here and am not getting WILM at all, not even a little tease. Currently using a RadioShack 15-1868 indoor non amped antenna picking up WWAY at 100% and WECT/WSFX at 80% to 85%.

I am wondering if it would matter if I invested in the DB2 and use that indoors? I am not able to go outside with it. That antenna design seems to be the highest rated. I just don't know it it will be worth it since I wasn't at all able to get WECT when they were at the Delco location. I hate TWC and really don't want to go back to them.

Ugh! I need advice. College/Oleander/Hugh McRae area here and am not getting WILM at all, not even a little tease. Currently using a RadioShack 15-1868 indoor non amped antenna picking up WWAY at 100% and WECT/WSFX at 80% to 85%.

I am wondering if it would matter if I invested in the DB2 and use that indoors? I am not able to go outside with it. That antenna design seems to be the highest rated. I just don't know it it will be worth it since I wasn't at all able to get WECT when they were at the Delco location. I hate TWC and really don't want to go back to them.

If you have an attic, use that. Get the channel master 4221. I don't know that a 2 bay would be enough... The difference with WILM is that the signal is pointed at Wilmington instead of away like WECT was, so your chances are better with WILM

Get the channel master 4221.

It is only available online correct?

If I remember correctly, someone said at one time that there is an electronics store on Market St. that carries the 4221. I can't remember the name. Look in the directory for a store in that area.

Or try the Radio shack corner reflector U-75R. If it doesn't work you should be able to reture it.

It is only available online correct?

Or you can drive up the road to the factory... ;) (or at least they used to have a manufacturing facility in NC--Smithfield) The 4221 I used to have was cheaper to order on the web and have it shipped than to buy local, go figure... but that was years ago...

beazster--have you tried other times for reception? WILM will be off the air once in a while (see Pete Sockett post...)

If I remember correctly, someone said at one time that there is an electronics store on Market St. that carries the 4221. I can't remember the name. Look in the directory for a store in that area.

Or try the Radio shack corner reflector U-75R. If it doesn't work you should be able to reture it.

I want to think it was Soundtronics, but not sure... back when I bought mine, it was still cheaper to go via web and have it shipped... could be different now...

When I was looking for a antenna I remember seeing some CM antennas at Lowes. I think those were some of the larger outdoor types. I agree you don't want to go too small, 4 bay or larger just to make sure. To those out there with directv receivers tell me why this wouldn't work on "tricking" the receiver in to pulling in the setting needed to pickup the 40.1 signal of WILM at least for the time being. In menu for the OTA setup it gives you the option of setting up a secondary viewing local. Say in this area after using Wilmington as primary area you enter Orlanda(zip 34748) as the second. Of course this will pull in mostly worthless stations there is a station there transmitting at 40.1 (WACX-DT). Shouldn't that allow you to pickup the WILM signal since it transmitting at the same. I'm not at home so I have not tryed it. Does this make any sense?

Lowes carries Phillips antennas now. They discontinued the Channel Masters a while back. I don't know how good the Phillips antennas are? Anyone?

I want to think it was Soundtronics, but not sure... back when I bought mine, it was still cheaper to go via web and have it shipped... could be different now...

That's the store. I use the 4221, great antenna. I found it cheaper to by online too....unless a fellow board member has one in his garage to sell you;)

Incus

That's the store. I use the 4221, great antenna. I found it cheaper to by online too....unless a fellow board member has one in his garage to sell you;)

Incus

I'll bet it was one darn good price too!!! :D

Secondary report on WILM reception...

Slapped a discontinued Radio Shack indoor amped antenna that I was no longer using (15-1880, which actually proved to be a very good antenna head to head against a bunch tested at http://www.hdtvexpert.com/ if I recall...) onto my "other" tv... a Vizio 32XL...

The antenna is between tv and the wall, pointed at approx. 320 degrees, ground level, aiming through the wall... scanned and picked up all locals. No signal strength indication on the tv though...

Getting a lot closer to cutting off my lifeline cable subscription--although I'd miss out on channel 13. I actually do watch some of the city and county council meetings--man, talk about reality comedy! :D:D

Thanks for your advice guys. I made a trip to Soundtronics and picked up an antenna. They dont have the channel master 4-bay in stock but they had a bunch of the big 3'x3' 8-bay ones for about 80 bucks. I got it installed in the attic and am now getting WILM at around 63%. Kind of was hoping for a stronger signal but beggars cant be choosers. I had to sacrafice the signal on the other stations to get WILM at its strongest. WWAY is now down to 65%. We will see how this works out in the next couple weeks.

As long as you get a solid signal with no pixelation, the strength doesn't matter all that much. The 8 bay is very directional is why your signal dropped when you aimed away from the ABC tower.

Hmmmmm I might have to go down there and get one of those 8 bays! We have several channels up here going back to VHF and the Channel master 8 bays are supposed to be really good with VHF.

I'm looking forward to reading reports from ILM when "D" Day hits in less than three weeks. ;)

I was watching wect news last night and they had a crawl on showing whether your setup was good for digital or not and at the end just before it cutting off, it said Thanks for watching wsf...

WWAY has had a couple of equipment issues over the past few weeks. As you probably know, our digital signal has been on air since 2003 and while we have had a good run of luck, we are now seeing the age start to take its toll on our digital transmitter. We had our exciter go bad last week, and after placing a loaner exciter in we are now back up to normal. We have sent our original back to the factory for repairs and will have it installed prior to Sept 8th. We are also in the process of getting a backup transmitter but I don't expect it to be installed before that time. Scheduling is a nightmare right now for any kind of tower crew and/or transmission line manufacturers (as you can probably imagine with the national shut off date around the corner)... .but we are working on getting a backup in place as soon as possible.

WWAY has had a couple of equipment issues over the past few weeks. As you probably know, our digital signal has been on air since 2003 and while we have had a good run of luck, we are now seeing the age start to take its toll on our digital transmitter. We had our exciter go bad last week, and after placing a loaner exciter in we are now back up to normal. We have sent our original back to the factory for repairs and will have it installed prior to Sept 8th. We are also in the process of getting a backup transmitter but I don't expect it to be installed before that time. Scheduling is a nightmare right now for any kind of tower crew and/or transmission line manufacturers (as you can probably imagine with the national shut off date around the corner)... .but we are working on getting a backup in place as soon as possible.



Billy,

Thanks for the update.

Offtopic Guys:

If you have to pick between two authorized service centers in wilmington for Mitsubishi would you pick A or B.

A. New-Tronics

B. E-Tech Electronics.


These were the only two give by Mitsubishi Tech Support.

Thank you in advance.

Billy, the loaner exciter needs some viagra... :D

I'm getting all kinds of wild swings in signal strength tonight, from total dropout to 100%, and actually, the same for WECT. WRAL is rock solid... calm wind, trees steady, hard to imagine the flaky signal strength is related to any weather conditions, unless there's some kind of reverse ducting going on? Can that happen, inversions, pre-fog conditions, etc??

Pete, what are the chances of getting that WILM logo a bit smaller? It measures 4x5.5" on my tv......... :eek: And I know it can go dimmer, because on network shows it is almost completely transparent, then on local stuff like news, it becomes completely opaque, good for screen burn-in... ;) Last conversation I had I was told the logo is hardcoded into the equipment--still true?

And I know all the rage lately is for networks to "protect" their logo by putting it in a 4x3 framing area, but d*mn, for network programming there's the WILM logo on the left, and the CBS eye on the right, and they really intrude on the screen...

Oh well, slowly I feel I'm being driven away from network stuff anyway... USA and SciFI have some really good shows... but I digress...

I guess we have to get through the digital transition first...

Billy, the loaner exciter needs some viagra...


We had an analyzer on our signal Wednesday morning after putting in the loaner exciter and we did see some errors, but nothing alarming. I'm not sure why you were seeing the power swings you mentioned, but we'll look into it. We also currently have some loaner microwave gear from about 6 weeks ago when we found ours was causing lots of PCR jitter errors. With the Sprint/Nextel 2Ghz BAS project in full swing, some manufacturers are behind the gun on getting repairs done. We hope to have our microwave gear back installed within a week, and our exciter within a couple of weeks. Hopefully all will again be well with our signal.

Rest assured that all of the local affiliates are doing everything we can to get our equipment *right* for the Sept 8th shutoff. It may look a little sloppy at times leading up to then, but there is reason behind our madness!

Some of you might recall me mentioning that I work just down the street from the WWAY studio building...

On my last visit, using my super top secret spy camera, I took this photo in the control room, which might help explain some of the signal issues...

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot6/images/wway.jpg

We had an analyzer on our signal Wednesday morning after putting in the loaner exciter and we did see some errors, but nothing alarming. I'm not sure why you were seeing the power swings you mentioned, but we'll look into it. We also currently have some loaner microwave gear from about 6 weeks ago when we found ours was causing lots of PCR jitter errors. With the Sprint/Nextel 2Ghz BAS project in full swing, some manufacturers are behind the gun on getting repairs done. We hope to have our microwave gear back installed within a week, and our exciter within a couple of weeks. Hopefully all will again be well with our signal.

Rest assured that all of the local affiliates are doing everything we can to get our equipment *right* for the Sept 8th shutoff. It may look a little sloppy at times leading up to then, but there is reason behind our madness!

I think you all are really trying to do a good job for us.
Thank you

Some of you might recall me mentioning that I work just down the street from the WWAY studio building...

On my last visit, using my super top secret spy camera, I took this photo in the control room, which might help explain some of the signal issues...

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot6/images/wway.jpg

:eek::eek:

That must be what produces the analog signal.;)

We had an analyzer on our signal Wednesday morning after putting in the loaner exciter and we did see some errors, but nothing alarming. I'm not sure why you were seeing the power swings you mentioned, but we'll look into it. We also currently have some loaner microwave gear from about 6 weeks ago when we found ours was causing lots of PCR jitter errors. With the Sprint/Nextel 2Ghz BAS project in full swing, some manufacturers are behind the gun on getting repairs done. We hope to have our microwave gear back installed within a week, and our exciter within a couple of weeks. Hopefully all will again be well with our signal.

Rest assured that all of the local affiliates are doing everything we can to get our equipment *right* for the Sept 8th shutoff. It may look a little sloppy at times leading up to then, but there is reason behind our madness!

I checked my signal last night and I was getting the usual 92%. I didn't watch for long though. Football and the Olympics were my picks last night.

So my WILM signal was just unbearable so I decided to mess around with it a little bit. I do not know much about coax cable but found out that maybe it would help to replace the RG59 with RG6 cable. The 4 stations all jumped up almost 10%! I must have had some bad electrical interference that was messing with my signal.

I did have some trouble with WECT last night. The signal was all over the place. Sometimes 100% then cut out below 60%. It was at a steady 85%-90% this morning.

As for WILMs' abnormally large logo.. I am pretty sure they get a lot of grief for that. I believe it was for the Super Bowl last year that they greyed it out and had it about half the size. Which was very nice, but after they blew it back up.

And that's why I bought a 500' spool of RG6 quad shield to do my wiring... along with my 1,000' spool of Cat5e...... :D

My splurge was finally buying the tool for compression fittings... it's just so much nicer than the crimp ones.....

i recently added compression tool to my toolbox as well for rg6 :)

Picked it up at lowes for like 15-20 bucks. It seems to do well i think.

RG-6 has much less loss than RG-59. That is why most installers as RG-6 for sat installs. It also works wonders with OTA as well.

Some of you might recall me mentioning that I work just down the street from the WWAY studio building...

On my last visit, using my super top secret spy camera, I took this photo in the control room, which might help explain some of the signal issues...

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot6/images/wway.jpg

LMAO, thx for that MarC. Brilliant, I'm still laughing. :D:D:D

I hope Billy is laughing... :)

I hope Billy is laughing... :)

Just as long as you don't give out too many secrets to the competition. Stay away from the doppler radar. When you start talking those, it gets cut throat!:D

Seriously I miss the doppler wars. WECT and WWAY had a good one going there several years back. I remember WECT measuring the dome of WWAY's or something like that...

The only one I know of that is still going is between WRAL and WTVD with their tilting radar and million watt doppler.:rolleyes:

There is some thing I do not understand, I used to get WSFX 26 digital almost as soild as WWAY. But now I do not get it al all. I do not know what has changed. I do get WECT solid now in Myrtle Beach. I still watch the weather plus on 6-2.

But for those of you who do not receive WTBW 13 & are depenedent on WILM for CBS; On the same uhf channel WILM is running on ch 40, is also WTAT out of Charelston SC. WTAT is puttiing out 1000000 watts over a 2000 foot tower 25 miles north of Charleston. I am sure that will have some affect on WILM in the south of Wilmington in the weaker areas of WILM. From what I have read WTAT is gong to put DT over their current analog channel 24 when the analog is shut down on 2-9-09 & at that time & vacate ch 40.

The only one I know of that is still going is between WRAL and WTVD with their tilting radar and million watt doppler.:rolleyes:

Tell you what, I wouldn't think anyone could compete with Greg's, I mean WRAL's weather budget... he's created a dynasty there over the decades (how I cringe to use that time frame... :)).

Of the 25+ years I've lived in NC, at least 15 of those were in Durham (we're going back to the late 70s here), and I remember Greg from way back then...

I'll still watch his weather down here for the clear and simple explanations he gives, and admissions of forecasts gone awry--and that's from my perspective as a pilot and weather enthusiast with my own weather station in the back yard...

Again, I'm digressing! Anyway, you brought up doppler radar... :)

I hope Billy is laughing... :)

Marc, I have to laugh because that pic DOES look like some equipment we have "modified" over the years! :D

Tell you what, I wouldn't think anyone could compete with Greg's, I mean WRAL's weather budget... he's created a dynasty there over the decades (how I cringe to use that time frame... :)).

Of the 25+ years I've lived in NC, at least 15 of those were in Durham (we're going back to the late 70s here), and I remember Greg from way back then...

I'll still watch his weather down here for the clear and simple explanations he gives, and admissions of forecasts gone awry--and that's from my perspective as a pilot and weather enthusiast with my own weather station in the back yard...

Again, I'm digressing! Anyway, you brought up doppler radar... :)

Ha Ha! :p

I watch Greg also when I can. I've been watching him for over 20 years.

Yep, I admit no one else can quite give the weather like him. He is one of the best. I just wish someone more local would build the king of all dopplers... Gregs got two dopplers now, one on the top of a water tower in Moore county that I saw used this weekend while I was in Fayetteville.

Still can not get channel 10.1 up around Gordon road area. Using Rabbit ears. Any suggestions?

Still can not get channel 10.1 up around Gordon road area. Using Rabbit ears. Any suggestions?

I'd recommend a true UHF antenna. Rabbit ears are made for VHF signals (2-13) whereas the local stations are:

46 (3-1)
44 (6-1)
40 (10-1)
30 (26-1)
29 (39-1)

You might try buying a Silver Sensor from a store you can return it to if it doesn't work out. See if that antenna helps with your reception issue.

- Trip

I am wondering if WILM DT is up and running. I am on cable but have a small USB HDTV plugin for my computer, and want to see if I can receive WILM DT.

Thanks!

Anyone think there is a chance WECT will go local HD on September 8th? Only reason I ask is that I was watching the beach volleyball today and it was in HD, so all of a sudden it goes to SD with bars on the side and the bars were WECT themed and at the bottom said WECT HD. I thought it was interesting.

Isn't that a temporary set they are using on WSFX and WECT right now? I think they are going HD too.

They're in HD now!

Heed warning with WILM-DT though, you cannot get it on Directv mp4 recievers because the info has not added to directvs channel database. I even tried to put in a CBS station in TAMPA that was on 10.1 and the reciever knows better. Perhaps if it was in the same spot beam it would work but i couldnt find a 10.1 in the southeast spotbeam shadowing NC.

*** On that note if you have an legacy MP2 HD directv reciever you can do a channel scan....Directv felt a channel scan was overrated on their closed system equipment though ;)

Wow. It looks really good. So far now I have seen WRAL, WTVD, and WECT newscasts in HD. Hopefully more will soon make the move...

jsp, you think WITN will be next? Sorry for the out of market post.

jsp, you think WITN will be next? Sorry for the out of market post.

Don't know. Can you view them?

I have heard they are in the process of moving from Washington to Greenville, with a brand new building that is supposed to be HD when completed. No one has mentioned it for a while in the Greenville topic, so I don't know how it is progressing.

Moved my antenna a bit (attic "mounted" UHF/VHF combo) more towards the SW, and now get all stations at 100% except WILM which is in the low 70s.

My attic is really the "2nd" floor...

Yeah, I can view most of the Greenville, Wilmington, and Raleigh stations. Seems like WCTI is harder to get lately, but now that WECT has changed their position it seems to come in all the time. It used to have days that it would never lock on. WITN moving to Greenville was why I was wondering if they might be next. Did they say it would be ready next year?

I was down at New Hanover Medical Center Hospital today, and as I came out the front door just after noon, there was a WWAY reporter interviewing a tall blonde lady. I think the reporter was Margo, but not postive... I could have walked right in front of the camera, but I didn't want to ruin the shot. LOL

I have to watch and see what that was all about. :D

Hi all,

For those with DirecTV waiting for them to support WILM, here's an email I got from WILM as they are working to get this figured out.

Good morning,



Both of you have written in with problems viewing WILM’s over-the-air digital signal using DirecTV’s equipment. I spoke with 8 people at DirecTV yesterday from 10A-8:30P about the situation. I have also spoken with Tribune Media’s people. I believe the two parties are close to coming up with the fix for this situation. From the information I have been given, Tribune Media provides DirecTV with guide data about which digital signals are available to the customer. Tribune Media had not yet updated WILM’s information about our digital signal being broadcast. They are now aware of the problem and are working to adjust their records. Unfortunately, there are several steps that Tribune Media and DirecTV need to take before this information makes it to your home’s equipment. Tribune Media’s people estimate that all the steps on their end could be completed by Monday. DirecTV will also have to process this information. Each party will let me know when they have finished processing all of WILM’s data and I will pass this information along as soon as I receive it. Once the process is completed, you may have to re-scan the box to find our new information presented in your equipment.

Better late than never. Would have been nice for football this weekend but maybe next week by the sound of it.

Is there any talk about deferring the great DTV transition experiment due to your area being targeted by Hurricane Hanna?

--- CHAS

They've said that they would switch back in the case of emergency's like the hurricanes coming our way.

Better late than never. Would have been nice for football this weekend but maybe next week by the sound of it.

If you're DirecTV, good news is there is a free SuperFan preview this weekend (if you have Sunday Ticket to begin with). My game is tonight, and I can watch HD thanks to WECT.

No one has mentioned it for a while in the Greenville topic, so I don't know how it is progressing.They (WITN) have not yet broken ground on the new site. It's still just a parking lot.

Is there any talk about deferring the great DTV transition experiment due to your area being targeted by Hurricane Hanna?

--- CHAS

UNC public tv will keep analog until next year (WUNJ in Wilmington) because of hurricane season... so there's always that station for emergency info...

UNC public tv will keep analog until next year (WUNJ in Wilmington) because of hurricane season... so there's always that station for emergency info...

I wish we wouldn't lose the OTA radio transmission of WECT on 87.7 after the switch, especially with these storms approaching.

Incus

If you're DirecTV, good news is there is a free SuperFan preview this weekend (if you have Sunday Ticket to begin with). My game is tonight, and I can watch HD thanks to WECT.
I'm a Ohio transplant so NFLST w\SF was the main reason I went with Directv when I got here, but I was thinking there were college games on CBS this week. Checked the guide and found nope, only women's tennis, guess I can wait.

I wish we wouldn't lose the OTA radio transmission of WECT on 87.7 after the switch, especially with these storms approaching.

Incus

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?s=8431158

WILMINGTON -- On September 8, WECT loses the ability to broadcast its audio signal on 87.7. It is one of the unfortunate side effects of the switch to digital television.

But, residents of southeastern North Carolina don't need to worry about staying informed, even if the power goes out or the cable stops working during storm season.

WECT is forming a partnership with Cumulus Broadcasting to make sure critical news and weather bulletins go out to the widest possible audience in any urgent situation.

WECT's News and weather coverage in emergency situations will be carried live on WGNI-FM, 102.7, one of the Cumulus stations in Wilmington.

FCC to Host Digital Television Transition Event in Wilmington:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-285177A1.pdf

...unless it is postponed. It doesn't look like the best time with so much activity over the ocean. Best of luck to Wilmington and the SE coast. Stay safe.

They are supposed to make any postponement announcement, if necessary, on FCC.gov before 2 PM Sunday.

Here's hoping (for people's sake, not DTV sake) that Hanna has minimal impact and scoots away quickly. The projected path has it long gone out of Wilmington by Sunday afternoon.

TS Hanna has been mostly a bust for the Carolina coast. Not much worse than a winter northeaster. Lots of rain with some wind. It could have been a lot worse than what it was. Mostly a rain soaker and we do need the rain. The state has been in a fairly bad drought for the last couple of years and with the rain we got from Fay last week and Hanna this week, the eastern half of the state should be back to normal yearly levels of rain. Overnight, in my own yard 175 miles NW inland from Wilmington, we have had over an inch of rain with winds calm with gusts to 30 mph in heavy rain bands. Even Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel at Atlantic Beach just off Morehead City, commented early this morning that the winds were not bad for a storm like this and not much rain. Atlantic Beach is a southern facing beach on the dreaded eastern side of the storm.

If Ike continues on its westerly track, I see no reason to slip in the Wilmington launch on Monday. The usual flooding in Raleigh from heavy rain storms like this will cause more damage than has been done in the Wilmington area so far. Like I said, Hanna has been a bust for NC.

I never lost power, but some have. Not as bad as it could have been. Only three Tornado Warnings issued last night, and none today is really good. I only had about 1.75 inches of rain. Lots of leaves out back to go get up this afternoon.

I got a laugh out of watching WECT's weather man out at Wrightsville Beach last night when those guys were jumping around behind him, and he said that lots of "kool-aid" was being drunk there. :D

Oh and to add. DTV reception was outstanding even with 50 MPH winds, and my antenna at half the height.

For those with Directv just noticed that 10.1 is now appearing in the guide. Watching HD tennis on WILM as I type. Didn't need to screw with the antenna setup afterall.

So, as it looks like the Wilmington early transition is a go for Monday...

I'm sure just about everyone here is "ready", due to the very nature of this forum.

But...do you know of friends, co-workers, relatives, etc. who are scrambling to get digital OTA on Monday? Is ANYONE in the market? Are the various places offering help next week going to be overrun with people?

That is why the FCC is there to see if that happens. My guess from what I have heard is that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Sales of boxes have been brisk since it was first announced. Monday will be an interesting day indeed.

They've been pushing the get ready for DTV stuff like you wouldn't believe on channels, 3, 6, and 26, so there shouldn't be anyone who hasn't heard about it, unless they don't watch those channels to start with... I've heard that when they cut those VHF stations off, that the DTV signals (UHF) will come in better too, but they aren't going to turn the transmitters off I don't believe, just put up a static screen type of thing to start with, so that the EAS alerts can get to certain areas.

For those with Directv just noticed that 10.1 is now appearing in the guide. Watching HD tennis on WILM as I type. Didn't need to screw with the antenna setup afterall.

Does DirecTV show program guide information for WILM? I have Dish Network and WILM doesnt show any guide info. The WILM satellite channel and other OTA networks have the guide info. Im not sure if this is a WILM issue or Dish Network issue.

For those with Directv just noticed that 10.1 is now appearing in the guide. Watching HD tennis on WILM as I type. Didn't need to screw with the antenna setup afterall.

jagmonster, did you have to reset anything with your HR20? Reset the device or redo the OTA setup? I see the data in the guide, but getting 0 signal strength. I'll try a reset and see what happens.

jagmonster, did you have to reset anything with your HR20? Reset the device or redo the OTA setup? I see the data in the guide, but getting 0 signal strength. I'll try a reset and see what happens.Also try "Refresh Services" HERE (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/mydirectv/mysystem/mySystemResendAuthorization.jsp), and/or unplugging your receiver (instead of hitting the red reset button).

jagmonster, did you have to reset anything with your HR20? Reset the device or redo the OTA setup? I see the data in the guide, but getting 0 signal strength. I'll try a reset and see what happens.
Did not have to do anything, just appeared in the guide. I'm getting guide info for 10.1 which mirrows the ch10 info. WILM is a lot harder to bring in than the other channels. Had to do some adjustment with the attic antenna to get about 80% power verus 25% before I started.

Did not have to do anything, just appeared in the guide. I'm getting guide info for 10.1 which mirrors the ch10 info. WILM is a lot harder to bring in than the other channels. WILM-LD (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=167819) is Low power.

For those with Directv just noticed that 10.1 is now appearing in the guide. Watching HD tennis on WILM as I type. Didn't need to screw with the antenna setup afterall.

Still can't get WILM up here off of Gordon road, even after Directv has updated the channel. Rest of the locals come in from 70% to 100%.

Still can't get WILM up here off of Gordon road, even after Directv has updated the channel. Rest of the locals come in from 70% to 100%.

I have 2 hr20 boxes which i'm getting 55-60% signal but on my hr21 box with the AM21 OTA add I'm almost 90% power on Wilm. May have better insides I guess.

WECT must be having microwave aim problems. I've had static on there since the storm. Any climbers out there?

So, after powering down the HR20 (unpluggin from behind as suggested, thanks) I now get WILM at about 40%. Pictures ok, with some signal loss here and there. I get all other locals at 100% (WWAY, WECT, WSFX), so not sure what's up. I know the HR20 tuner is not the greatest, but if all the others are strong, must be something with the WILM signal. I have an attic antenna, not the easiest to get to, so I'm not planning on tweaking right now.

Thanks for the help, here's hoping they boost something up notch.

WILM-LD is already at the maximum power the FCC will allow them to use. As a low-powered station, they are capped at 15 kW versus the power the other stations are running:

WWAY-DT 1000 kW
WECT-DT 98 kW (to boost to 710 kW next year)
WSFX-DT 80 kW

And from a different, shorter tower:
WILM-LD 15 kW
WUNJ-DT 700 kW (to boost to 1000 kW soon, if it hasn't already)

So I'd say to try and work with WILM-LD as it is because there may not be any relief in sight. There's always the possibility that they'll try to get a full-power license in the future, but at the moment, the FCC is not accepting applications for those, and it could be a few years out.

- Trip

WILM is in a unique position. The new LD signal is a major improvement from the LP analog signal on 10, for a large part of the market...but they're still low-power.

It sounds like they eventually hope to go full-power, but that's easier said than done. For one, they'd likely have to wait out the transition and see how everything lands. I'm not even sure the FCC is allowing new full-power station applications at this time.

Trip:
WECT-DT 98 kW (to boost to 710 kW next year)

Where did you see that? I thought they were boosting as fast as they could get the analog cabinets out of the building after the switch?

WECT must be having microwave aim problems. I've had static on there since the storm. Any climbers out there?

Same here, can't even put on the station as I'm afraid of damaging my speakers.
Good thing football is on cbs and fox today.

Incus

Trip:


Where did you see that? I thought they were boosting as fast as they could get the analog cabinets out of the building after the switch?

You're right. I went and rechecked the filing.

- Trip

It's official, courtesy of the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/)...the early transition is a go for tomorrow:


9/7/08
Wilmington North Carolina DTV Transition Set for 12 Noon Monday September 8
Following a Sunday morning telephone conference call with Wilmington North Carolina broadcasters the FCC has confirmed that the digital television transition in that TV market will take place as scheduled on Monday September 8 at 12 noon.

It's official, courtesy of the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/)...the early transition is a go for tomorrow:

Let's see, I'm watching the Panthers on analog because of digital signal problems, WECT has some crazy static on their digital station (not 6-2 though), WILM had my Jets (J-E-T-S, JETS JETS JETS) switching from hdtv to sdtv and some image problems. That leaves local ABC and PBS, hey 2 out of 5 with a roll out tomorrow isn't too bad:rolleyes:

Incus

LOL

WNCT CBS was crazy too. WSFX has microwave fade also, so I'm on WFXI HD, and they are perfect where it used to be they were the one who always had problems...

Maybe some of these stations should just give up on digital and leave the analog on!!!! At least you can watch the analog!

Maybe some of these stations should just give up on digital and leave the analog on!!!! At least you can watch the analog!

Except that "giving up on digital" is not happening. Even if Wilmington wasn't doing the "early switch" tomorrow, analog goes away by federal law on 2/17/09.

No, the correct solution is to fix the aforementioned digital problems...and since next weekend, the digital side will be the ONLY signal for WWAY/WECT/WILM/WSFX, it'll get a lot more attention if something goes wrong!

Except that "giving up on digital" is not happening. Even if Wilmington wasn't doing the "early switch" tomorrow, analog goes away by federal law on 2/17/09.
I understand that, it was just a joke!

Looks like WECT (6-1) fixed their static problem.

Anyone know when, if ever, we will see a digital broadcast of the CW in Wilmington?

With all the information and local education in the Wilmington market, has any attention been given to the transition from Low-VHF to UHF for WWAY and WECT? Are people still putting up VHF antennas locally, even though it is not needed (unless trying to get out of market stations). WECT's analog 6 service area was quite extensive and quite a bit of that area will no longer be served by WECT. I'm not suggesting that DTV should run on Low-VHF, but at least the public should be made aware of changing antenna requirements.

Is this issue being ignored by all the stations?

With all the information and local education in the Wilmington market, has any attention been given to the transition from Low-VHF to UHF for WWAY and WECT? Are people still putting up VHF antennas locally, even though it is not needed (unless trying to get out of market stations). WECT's analog 6 service area was quite extensive and quite a bit of that area will no longer be served by WECT. I'm not suggesting that DTV should run on Low-VHF, but at least the public should be made aware of changing antenna requirements.

Is this issue being ignored by all the stations?

In simplest terms, Yes. I have NOT seen anything on TV about putting up UHF antenna's vs. those huge VHF ones. The only literature I saw that mentioned anything about UHF was in a piece the WECT engineer wrote that is on their website.
I doubt the general public has any idea not to buy or keep using those huge antennas.

The old WECT signal covered areas way out of it's market, that isn't necessary anymore, since the Wilmington market is a lot smaller than it used to be back 30 yrs ago.

I understand that, it was just a joke!

Sorry 'bout that. I'm just used to folks on Internet forums screaming "if they'd only do it the way I want, things would be fixed!"...even if that's impossible to do.

Looks like WECT (6-1) fixed their static problem.

Anyone know when, if ever, we will see a digital broadcast of the CW in Wilmington?

Isn't the CW outlet there run by WWAY? I'm surprised they don't have it on a subchannel. It wouldn't be HD, of course.

In simplest terms, Yes. I have NOT seen anything on TV about putting up UHF antenna's vs. those huge VHF ones. The only literature I saw that mentioned anything about UHF was in a piece the WECT engineer wrote that is on their website.
I doubt the general public has any idea not to buy or keep using those huge antennas.

Perhaps stations just don't want to open up the virtual vs. real channel can of worms, but people with VHF only antennas are going to be scratching their heads next year. Some markets are UHF only for analog, but have VHF stations for DTV. However, I don't know if UHF only antennas were the majority in such markets.

I will be curious to see if any mention of it is made once the post transition Wilmington test is analyzed.

In simplest terms, Yes. I have NOT seen anything on TV about putting up UHF antenna's vs. those huge VHF ones. The only literature I saw that mentioned anything about UHF was in a piece the WECT engineer wrote that is on their website.
I doubt the general public has any idea not to buy or keep using those huge antennas.

The old WECT signal covered areas way out of it's market, that isn't necessary anymore, since the Wilmington market is a lot smaller than it used to be back 30 yrs ago.

It seems there is going to be a NBC void when WECT turns off their analog. Their current analog 2000 foot tower covers an area in the Laurinburg, Bennettsville, Dillon area. But none of the other NBC stations reach that area. I understand why WECT is not going to use the analog site. The current analog location left the city of Wilmington with b grade of signal. I remember in 1969 when they left the tower at Delco. My Aunt in Wilmington had watched 6 on rabbit ears clearly until then. But after they moved to the 2000 foot tower at Lake Singletery 6 was snowy. WECT started advertising a out door antenna kit. Now WECT dt is now strong in Willmington, but they are leaving that area for another station.

Maybe WMBF is going to raise the tower height later after the 2-19-09 cut off & maybe they will get some more range that they can not have now. Then there should be a lot of channels freed up & an a lot of used UHF broadcast antennas availiable.

WFXB & WHMC made a good choice as where the located their tower. Not too much signal is wasted into the ocean & not much goes into the Charelston WTAT FOX station's coverage area. WFXB goes west into Florence & goes north into an area that signals not reached by the Chareston, Columbia, Charlotte, Raleigh & Wilmington FOX stations.

I ran a combined plot on Radio Mobile to see which areas will lose NBC with WECT turning off its analog signal. The area has plenty of other NBC stations to handle a good part (WITN, WNCN, WMBF, WIS & WCNC). As you can see by the plot, the holes are few, but there are some. However, even WECT/6 doesn't reach some of the areas to the NW.

One area that seems to be adequately served, by WECT/6, but won't be able to receive another NBC station is Laurinburg (unless there is a translator there?). Attached are TV Fool plots for this area. WECT/44's eventual power increase would not seem to be enough to make up the difference.

Note that the diamond area can be ignored, but probably has adequate service. SRTM did not have data for that area. The unit labels do not save to the image (perhaps there is a way), but the center of the map is just above WECT (DTV site). The amount of signal overlap is quite surprising. Some of these NBC stations are under 70 miles apart.

It seems there is going to be a NBC void when WECT turns off their analog. Their current analog 2000 foot tower covers an area in the Laurinburg, Bennettsville, Dillon area. But none of the other NBC stations reach that area.

The DMA has greatly changed since the 60's when WECT built the White Lake tower. Laurinburg is now in the Raleigh Market and Bennettsville, Dillion in the new Florence-Myrle Beach Market.

This isn't the only example around the country were certain networks will suffer from the digital transition and others will benefit.

3 hrs. 59 minutes to go!

I wish this market the best of luck! Please make sure you all report to us, OK? (I've never been to Wilmingtion, NC, but am curious as to how this will pan out.)

There will be coverage on www.wral.com on this event.

Isn't the CW outlet there run by WWAY? I'm surprised they don't have it on a subchannel. It wouldn't be HD, of course.One of our ABC affiliates, KSPR-DT, just went full power, and soon they will attempt two HD sub channels, ABC & the CW. I don't expect it to go well.

Our other ABC affiliate, KHOG-DT, is also doing the CW on a subchannel. Fortunately, it's only SD, and hasn't noticeably hurt the PQ of their ABC-HD sub channel.

Scooper, thanks for the heads up on wral.com (http://www.wral.com)

WECT starts coverage at 11 AM. I believe WWAY starts coverage at near noon.

One of our ABC affiliates, KSPR-DT, just went full power, and soon they will attempt two HD sub channels, ABC & the CW. I don't expect it to go well.

Our other ABC affiliate, KHOG-DT, is also doing the CW on a subchannel. Fortunately, it's only SD, and hasn't noticeably hurt the PQ of their ABC-HD sub channel.

ABC (the network in all three cases) is 720p, and you can run one SD subchannel on a 720p station with basically no impact on the main HD feed.

I haven't been able to confirm that WWAY runs the CW Wilmington.

The WRAL.com live video is showing the FCC event in Wilmington right now.

On the podium, there's a live digital "Big Switch countdown clock", right down to the tenth of a second.

In front of the podium, there are four tube TVs, presumably to represent the four broadcast network affiliates making the switch. What, no TV for TBN? ;)

Just from the video, it looks like one of the four stations is carrying the event live...WILM?

There is also a webcast that I'm watching now. A link to which can be found here:

http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#sep8

There is also a webcast that I'm watching now. A link to which can be found here:

http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#sep8

The link ends up going to the government cable access channel there, "GTV8".

Both feeds are of pretty good quality.

BTW, if anyone in the market can provide screen shots or recordings of what's on the analog channels after noon, that'd be great.

Ugh... the guy talking right now is talking about how they can run 6 sub channels.

Before The Big Switch, the government-mandated hour and a half of back patting!

:D

Oh, wonderful, the speaker now just said "stakeholders".

BTW, a side effect - if you go to Zap2It.com and pull up a Wilmington cable lineup, all of the analog-soon-to-be-downconverted signals on TWC there show the DT calls of the digital station (i.e. 7 - WECTDT, 12 - WILMDT, etc.).

I hope you all have your converter boxes. You wouldn't want your TV to end up like this one.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/Dana.Beasley/SMVE3CwyKiI/AAAAAAAAACs/74cWiRl4Yek/s288/tv.jpg

Good luck to the Wilmington, NC OTA viewers today.

TitanTV still has listing for analog after 12pm. Doesn't show WILM for digital yet.
I'm going to go and watch the last 18 minutes of analog here in Wilmington.

Incus

The four TVs at the FCC event are actually set up differently: one each for analog without converter box, analog with converter box, cable/satellite and built-in ATSC tuner.

They're taking a break for a few minutes...I switched to WECT's live feed, which has their news guy interviewing the mayor.

They also mentioned that this is being aired on sister/LMA FOX affiliate WSFX/26.

[QUOTE=Inundated;14615963]Before The Big Switch, the government-mandated hour and a half of back patting!

I wish I would have gotten to go to the meeting. I could have gotten in the line & receive a back pat. I might felt better LoL

The WECT.com feed looks fine, but the audio sounds crunchy/distorted to me.

They also just showed a live feed of the actual equipment at WECT that will be switched.

The four TVs at the FCC event are actually set up differently: one each for analog without converter box, analog with converter box, cable/satellite and built-in ATSC tuner.

It would be nice if they had an HDTV with an ATSC tuner so they could show the audience an OTA HDTV broadcast, though they mentioned some TV's downstairs will be doing this. Hopefully, some HD content can be aired locally at the same time.

I was disappointed that no one asked any questions about WECT and WWAY's move from Low-VHF to UHF. I think it is a good thing in general, but not everyone is ready for that, I'm sure. That and the different coverage area for WECT as we discussed above.

Mostly back-patting indeed.

It's done. At WECT, they moved patch cables to put the new on-screen card on the analog side.

I haven't seen that message, yet. The news guy seemed to want to show it, but there were too many other cameras and people blocking the TV from his perch above the room.

Now, the company back-patting, as he's interviewing the head of Raycom (station owner).

Well, they flipped the switch. The analog set was dark for a few seconds from what I could see, then went to the informational screen about the switch. That will last for 30 days, right?

I was disappointed that no one asked any questions about WECT and WWAY's move from Low-VHF to UHF. I think it is a good thing in general, but not everyone is ready for that, I'm sure. That and the different coverage area for WECT as we discussed above.

There were no such technical questions even from the TV trade reporters there, or the AP reporter. Silly questions like "is that switch on the stage actually connected to anything?".

WECT.com has dumped out and isn't showing their noon newscast online. I still haven't seen a sample of the text graphics running on the analog side.

I am still seeing via the web. They are overdriving the audio into the stream. 4:3 AR on the web for their HD newscast! :D

Congrats to the broadcasters in Wilmington. The rest of us are not that far behind.

ABC (the network in all three cases) is 720p, and you can run one SD subchannel on a 720p station with basically no impact on the main HD feed. I realize that.

"soon they [KSPR-DT] will attempt two HD sub channels, ABC[-HD] & the CW[-HD]."

I have never seen two HD sub channels work well.

I am still seeing via the web. They are overdriving the audio into the stream. 4:3 AR on the web for their HD newscast! :D

The WECT.com video was buffering heavy right around noon, then dropped out entirely for me. I'll go check it again.

WRAL.com runs its newscast live, and had a live shot from Wilmington that I saw.

There's still a lot of misinformation being spread out there, like not mentioning the fact that the UNC/PBS outlet is still analog, or implying that the analog signals of the commercial stations will actually be shut off (they won't, they'll have the info screens)...but maybe I'm just being picky.

I realize that.

"soon they [KSPR-DT] will attempt two HD sub channels, ABC[-HD] & the CW[-HD]."

I have never seen two HD sub channels work well.

Yeah, I saw that in your message, and basically put it out of my head because running two HD signals is nothing short of insane.

;)

The interest in this seems incredible, and they had the FCC chairman on WWAY and he said he just vacationed in North Topsail Beach. Onslow county USA!

...but maybe I'm just being picky.

I don't think you are.

--- CHAS

The interest in this seems incredible, and they had the FCC chairman on WWAY and he said he just vacationed in North Topsail Beach. Onslow county USA!

He probably owns property there. He is from Charlotte you know.

I prefer Oak Island, myself. :) (Live outside of Dayton, Ohio)

He probably owns property there. He is from Charlotte you know.


More specifically, WaxHaw..:)

I don't think you are.


Maybe the issues I mentioned above are picky, because they're basically a part of this "dog and pony show" going on down there today...

But the analog transmitters still technically being on the air - that's significant, because the stations can and will send the programming back to them if there's a major hurricane the rest of this season. I sense they're downplaying that, because they're trying to get everyone to switch that hasn't already done so.

What about that battery powered digital converter? It got mentioned three times that I saw, but no one mentioned that it's a single unit with the optional battery pack, and that it's not available in stores - only from Winegard's website. (Winegard's name was mentioned just once, which is the only way I found out what it was!)

The Winegard battery pack ONLY works with their converter, not with any of the others. So, if you've already used your government DTV coupon on another converter, and really want/need this sort of setup, you pay full price.

Why aren't the TV stations offering this detailed information? Why don't they have a link to that site, or further information on any future battery powered units?

No, they'd rather show a big, fake switch...as I mentioned elsewhere on AVS Forum, a Digital TV version of a supermarket ribbon cutting.

More specifically, WaxHaw..:)

I don't think THAT many people know EXACTLY where Waxhaw is outside of the Metrolina area, much less have even heard of it! Charlotte, you have a better chance. :)

Maybe the issues I mentioned above are picky, because they're basically a part of this "dog and pony show" going on down there today...

But the analog transmitters still technically being on the air - that's significant, because the stations can and will send the programming back to them if there's a major hurricane the rest of this season. I sense they're downplaying that, because they're trying to get everyone to switch that hasn't already done so.


Its a shame the entire transition couldn't be done this way. It would have been great if there was a few weeks of a slate on the analog channel explaining what happened.

It would be nice if they had an HDTV with an ATSC tuner so they could show the audience an OTA HDTV broadcast, though they mentioned some TV's downstairs will be doing this. Hopefully, some HD content can be aired locally at the same time.

I was disappointed that no one asked any questions about WECT and WWAY's move from Low-VHF to UHF. I think it is a good thing in general, but not everyone is ready for that, I'm sure. That and the different coverage area for WECT as we discussed above.

Mostly back-patting indeed.

I agree.

If the person has a VHF only antenna they will need to get a UHF antenna.

If they have rabbit ears they will need to get a bow tie.

If they have 300 ohm antenna wire it will need to have about 4 twist per foot now as it leave the antenna connection. The twist may not have been needed for 3 & 6 analog but at UHF the signal you will pick up from the side of the wire will ruin the good signal you receive from the antenna.

If they have coax like rg59 the UHF will have a lot greater loss the VHF low that 3 & 6 had . Thus digital UHF signal may be too low but was fine for 3 & 6 analog. In some areas a preamp may be needed.

Maybe the FCC will next work on the AM radio & replace the lower 5kc side band with digital but leave the upper side band as analog. But that chat is for a differnet location on this web site.

Its a shame the entire transition couldn't be done this way. It would have been great if there was a few weeks of a slate on the analog channel explaining what happened.

I actually agree, but there's no way they could implement that nationally, say, on January 17th. Way too many other issues involved, and the law says the signal must go away after 2/17, so they couldn't do it afterwards without amending/changing that law...not to mention all the DT changes that can only take place after the analog signals go away.

I think they explained a little bit about antennas on WWAY's coverage. I'll have to go back and watch it again... I saw the control room, Billy and another engineer, and the transmitter site tower but didn't catch all of what they were saying...

Yeah, I saw that in your message, and basically put it out of my head because running two HD signals is nothing short of insane.

;)

And yet my local GreyTV CBS/CW affiliate has been doing it for over a year now .... plus a SD radar sweep. Yes it looks awful. It makes D*'s old HD-Lite MPEG2 look pristine by comparison.


... So has anyone in NC actually burst into flames yet? ;) :D

I actually agree, but there's no way they could implement that nationally, say, on January 17th. Way too many other issues involved, and the law says the signal must go away after 2/17, so they couldn't do it afterwards without amending/changing that law...not to mention all the DT changes that can only take place after the analog signals go away.

So true. Impossible in most markets with channel changes. At the end of the day, was this a really good test? What lessons will be learned for getting the word out nationwide?
What kind of bothers me is that viewers expect a change when they wake up 2/17 and won't really see a difference until 2/18. Even those who already have boxes don't know about the channel changing. They will wonder what happened to their channels and why they are experiencing problems the box is suppose to help them avoid.

I think they explained a little bit about antennas on WWAY's coverage. I'll have to go back and watch it again... I saw the control room, Billy and another engineer, and the transmitter site tower but didn't catch all of what they were saying...

Oh my I am sorry I missed that. I was watching WECT since they had the hour leading up to the switch.

Do the stations have authority to completely shut down their analog transmitters?

--- CHAS

Yes. WECT and WSFX filed on Friday for silent STAs starting on 09/30/08, and I think WWAY filed for one a month ago or so.

- Trip

Its a shame the entire transition couldn't be done this way. It would have been great if there was a few weeks of a slate on the analog channel explaining what happened.

Maybe if more markets volunteer to switch early or at least some stations in other markets. If stations can't broadcast the helpful message saying to "get a box," etc. on the former analog signal, how will users know what to do? I don't expect 10% of the Wilmington educational efforts to be available to the rest of the country and that might be a stretch. Don't tell me that the generic PSA's (get a box and you're done) or a link to DTVAnswers are keeping people "informed." Each station needs to make it very clear what they are doing, especially those changing to another band.

Is it too much to ask of TV stations to stop regular analog programming early (e.g. a week before 2/18) to clearly inform viewers as to what needs to be done?

Well, maybe cable and satellite providers will be helpful to transition the users to sub.... err digital TV for the balance of the country too. :rolleyes:

I found a guide on WECT's website, written by the chief engineer for WECT/WSFX. At least he makes note of the different actual RF channels and antenna requirements.

http://www.wect.com/Global/Link.asp?L=319884

All DTV (HD) television broadcasts in the Wilmington, NC area are UHF (ultra high frequency) so you should not expect good reception with rabbit ears or your old attic/rooftop antenna if it is designed only for the old VHF (very high frequency) analog stations and the antenna may also be pointing in the wrong direction at the old analog tower sites. A good feature of UHF antennas is they are smaller then VHF antennas. UHF is also more immune to electrical interference. This is an advantage near the coast due to our salt spray and resulting electrical arcing of power line insulators.

WWAY in their piece said that they have just gotten new equipment, and will be delivering HD newscasts very shortly. I expect this will also allow them to air EAS alerts while in HD too, just like WECT.

An early report from TV Week:
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/09/digital_tv_switch_goes_live_in.php

Just goes to show you it doesn't matter how much you tell people. Some just will not listen. You just can't save people from themselves.

And a report from Broadcasting and Cable: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6593847.html
Note that the article has a link to a blog.

Each station needs to make it very clear what they are doing, especially those changing to another band.

Is it too much to ask of TV stations to stop regular analog programming early (e.g. a week before 2/18) to clearly inform viewers as to what needs to be done?
Will be interesting to see if any discussions of the low VHF -> UHF band issues show up in the press coverage of the shutdown or in the reports.

Too much to expect to ask the stations to shut down the live analog feed a week early and go entirely to a static screen informing the analog viewers what to do. Can't cut into that advertising revenue after all. But I think as the shutdown date draws near, maybe within the last week cutting into the analog broadcasts only for 1 to 3 minutes at a time with a warning screen or short video clip that if you are seeing this, you are not ready for the impending shutdown. Stations should do this right smack in the middle of Oprah, daytime shows, primetime shows, whatever, multiple times a day. It will make some people angry, but it will get their attention. The stations doing early shutdowns should do this as well in the week before. A lot of people will ignore the scrolling warning message at the bottom of the screen (not everyone will be able to read the messages).

WWAY now has video online from its transition coverage show earlier today.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/vp/10080/the_digital_switch_watch_as_the_flip_took_place

Like WECT's live video feed, the audio for all of Part 1 and much of Part 2 is incredibly distorted, until it's finally fixed. What, do the stations in Wilmington use Radio Shack audio stuff to feed their streaming computers?

The ceremonial "switch flip" is just under two minutes into part 1. Most of it is just the usual fill and restating of the facts, and interviews with various officials and such.

2:45 into part 2, they have one of their reporters talking to a station engineer, who confirms (duh!!) that the "switch" was actually moving a patch cable to feed the "you don't have digital TV" electronic slide to the analog transmitter.

The live shot shows WWAY's analog slide, though the camera is too far away and the print is too small to make out what it is. (Not a good idea, WWAY...you expect senior citizens with fading eyesight to make out small print???)

BTW, the newspaper there says the analog TV at the event was tuned to WSFX/26, the FOX affiliate run by WECT.

WWAY has video of a "look, we were at someone's house with a converter box when the stations switched, and no problem!" story. (Sigh.)

http://www.wwaytv3.com/video/a_local_family_makes_the_digital_switch/09

This story allowed me to copy grainy, Internet video (of a bad analog signal) of the WWAY analog signal's post-transition message:


At 12 noon on Sept. 8, 2008, commercial television stations in Wilmington, North Carolina began to broadcast programming exclusively in a digital format.

If you are viewing this message, this television set has not yet been upgraded to digital.

To receive your television signals, upgrade to digital now with a converter box, a new TV set with a digital (ATSC) tuner or by subscribing to a pay service like cable or satellite.

For more information call: 1-877-DTV-0908 or TTY: 1-866-644-0908 or visit www.DTVWilmington.com


There's a WWAY NewsChannel 3 logo at the bottom. Those phone numbers are smudged on the Internet video, and may not be exactly right. :D

Here's an example of the silent STAs filed by the Wilmington stations, this one filed with the FCC Friday by WWAY:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101264137&formid=910&fac_num=12033


WWAY(TV) HEREBY SEEKS AUTHORITY TO TERMINATE ANALOG BROADCASTS OF PROGRAMMING AS OF SEPTEMBER 8, 2008, AT 12:00 NOON IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COMMISSION AND STATIONS IN THE WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA TELEVISION MARKET WITH REGARD TO AN EARLY DTV TRANSITION.

WWAY(TV) IS LICENSED TO WILMINGTON AND AGREED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE EARLY TRANSITION. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS SEEKING AUTHORITY TO TERMINATE REGULAR ANALOG BROADCASTS OF PROGRAMMING AT NOON ON SEPTEMBER 8. THE STATION INTENDS TO CONTINUE BROADCASTING A SLATE CONTAINING DTV TRANSITION INFORMATION FOR A PERIOD OF 30 DAYS THEREAFTER, AND WOULD ALSO BROADCAST EMERGENCY INFORMATION SHOULD EVENTS WARRANT, AND IT SEEKS AUTHORIZATION FOR THIS LIMITED OPERATION AS WELL.

WECT's STA request:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101264637&formid=911&fac_num=48666


WECT LICENSE SUBSIDIARY, LLC ('WECT') HEREBY REQUESTS AUTHORITY TO TERMINATE ANALOG SERVICE NO EARLIER THAN SEPTEMBER 30, 2008 IN CONNECTION WITH THE SEPTEMBER 8, 2008 EARLY DTV TRANSITION OF THE WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA DMA. THIS TERMINATION OF SERVICE IS NECESSARY TO COMPLETE THE EARLY TRANSITION IN THE WILMINGTON DMA, AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST WOULD THEREFORE BE SERVED BY A GRANT OF THIS REQUEST.

IF THIS REQUEST IS GRANTED, WECT INTENDS TO BROADCAST ITS REGULAR PROGRAMMING ON ITS ANALOG CHANNEL ONLY UNTIL THE SEPTEMBER 8, 2008 TRANSITION DATE. BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 8 AND SEPTEMBER 30, 2008, WECT INTENDS TO BROADCAST ON ITS ANALOG CHANNEL A CONSUMER EDUCATIONAL SLATE THAT (1) ADVISES VIEWERS OF THE EARLY TRANSITION, (2) PROVIDES INFORMATION ON WHAT STEPS VIEWERS CAN TAKE TO ACCESS THE STATIONS DIGITAL SIGNAL, AND (3) PROVIDES A TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE NUMBER AND INTERNET WEBSITE THAT VIEWERS CAN USE TO GET ASSISTANCE OR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRANSITION.

WECT INTENDS TO DISCONTINUE THIS CONSUMER EDUCATION SLATE WHEN IT TERMINATES ANALOG SERVICE, AS REQUESTED BY THIS APPLICATION. (WECT PLANS TO DISCONTINUE SERVICE ON SEPTEMBER 30, BUT MAY DELAY ITS TERMINATION OF ANALOG SERVICE IN ORDER TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC IN THE EVENT OF SEVERE WEATHER OR OTHER LATE-BREAKING SITUATIONS.)


Co-operated WSFX's STA request is nearly identical:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101264626&formid=910&fac_num=72871

This reporter isn't exactly the brightest bulb on the planet.

I think she was just trying to make ease of the situation by a little humor in there.

Wasn't very kind. I've seen quite a few "drivers" (or motorists as I like to call them) from Ohio, and they have the worst skills behind the wheel I've ever encountered.

There is no silent STA filed for WILM-LP, which is FCC-wise a different facility from WILM-LD. They may handle that differently.

W51CW (Trinity) I'm assuming doesn't need to file one, since their conversion today was a flash cut on channel 51.

I think she was just trying to make ease of the situation by a little humor in there.

Wasn't very kind. I've seen quite a few "drivers" (or motorists as I like to call them) from Ohio, and they have the worst skills behind the wheel I've ever encountered.

I was probably too harsh on her...it's hard to get a sense of things watching a small screen of bad Internet video.

And she's young...the nature of the business in small market TV. If she happens to read this board, I apologize for being too harsh in my assessment of her. I've now removed the comment from the original message.

I'm not sure what Ohioans' driving skills have anything to do with anything. You could have gotten your point across with the first line quoted above, and not "gone personal" against me...and reading that first line by itself, I'd have probably agreed, and said what I've said here.

And for all I know, if you thought I was taking a potshot at her because she's from there, I have no idea where she's from, or nor do I care. Being a young TV reporter, she could well be from Montana or even Cleveland. You know, us stupid Ohioans who can't drive. All of us.

If you folks don't want me posting this information, that's fine...but insulting my state is a bit much. I wasn't insulting North Carolina or the fine folks who live there...it's one of my favorite states, and I have a half-dozen friends in both the Triangle and Triad. And Wilmington is a lovely city, where the people were quite nice to me when I visited a few years ago.

WWAY now has video online from its transition coverage show earlier today.

Watch for the random guy walking right behind the anchors at about the 4 minute mark of Part 1.

Is W51CW doing the full TBN multicast of 5 SD services like the full-service TBN stations are doing?

- Trip

Just goes to show you it doesn't matter how much you tell people. Some just will not listen. You just can't save people from themselves.

No Kidding! It's a shame that all these poeple will lose Maury Povich and never know who the baby's daddy is..:rolleyes:

I was probably too harsh on her...it's hard to get a sense of things watching a small screen of bad Internet video.

And she's young...the nature of the business in small market TV. If she happens to read this board, I apologize for being too harsh in my assessment of her. I've now removed the comment from the original message.

I'm not sure what Ohioans' driving skills have anything to do with anything. You could have gotten your point across with the first line quoted above, and not "gone personal" against me...and reading that first line by itself, I'd have probably agreed, and said what I've said here.

And for all I know, if you thought I was taking a potshot at her because she's from there, I have no idea where she's from, or nor do I care. Being a young TV reporter, she could well be from Montana or even Cleveland. You know, us stupid Ohioans who can't drive. All of us.

If you folks don't want me posting this information, that's fine...but insulting my state is a bit much. I wasn't insulting North Carolina or the fine folks who live there...it's one of my favorite states, and I have a half-dozen friends in both the Triangle and Triad. And Wilmington is a lovely city, where the people were quite nice to me when I visited a few years ago.

Point taken. After all two wrongs don't make a right!:)

No Kidding! It's a shame that all these poeple will lose Maury Povich and never know who the baby's daddy is..:rolleyes:

Or watch Steve Wilkos tell another deadbeat AIDS dad how much of an a-hole he is.

Point taken. After all two wrongs don't make a right!:)

Let's shake and come out friends. Deal?

And let's get back to the topic at hand...the DTV transition in Wilmington. Are the stations showing any freaked out analog viewers yet? Is anyone's hair on fire?

;)

Or watch Steve Wilkos tell another deadbeat AIDS dad how much of an a-hole he is.

I managed to avoid Mr. Wilkos in my life entirely...until late last night, when I had to get up in the middle of the night, and his show was on whatever station the tuner was on. (WGN America, I think, since my TiVo picks up "Corner Gas" at midnight on that channel.)

I was already a little queasy, but I nearly became fully ill, and quickly flipped off the TV.

Or watch Steve Wilkos tell another deadbeat AIDS dad how much of an a-hole he is.

Maury used to have a decent program in the early days of his talk shows, then he went right into the gutter with that babies daddy crap.

I'll take Wilkos over Povich, at least he doesn't exploit teenagers like Povich does. He has 12 and 13 yr. olds on there that are just nasty mouthed little brats that need some discipline their parents haven't given, just for his ratings... To think his wife was Connie Chung.:rolleyes:

Some real experiences can be found here... http://bigswitchquestions.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/welcome-to-the-big-switch-s/#comments

One person in Pender county is only getting VHF WNCT DT signals, some in Duplin county aren't having much luck, and one comment from out near Whiteville isn't getting Fox 26.

I can tell you that I am further away than all of those, and they should be able to get DTV there if they install their antennas outside, and are using a UHF style.

A quick search of websites that allow comments concerning the transition showed virtually no credible negative responses. Maybe it's still too soon to say but apparently all is going well.

--- CHAS

The Broadcasting and Cable trade magazine suggests a lot of calls are complaining about the loss of WECT, which itself had over 80 calls through 5:30 this evening:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6594050.html

WECT was also the subject of most of the calls at other call centers that B&C talked to.

That would make sense, given that WECT's analog transmitter is located much further inland than its digital is. Lots of areas are losing WECT's analog service.

To repeat, does anyone know what W51CW-D is doing?

- Trip

The WILM folks don't seem to be getting a lot of calls. I'm guessing that many watch them via cable instead of OTA (LPTV) anyway, so their current viewer base isn't as impacted.

Most people watch CBS from Greenville NC's channel 9, WRAL Raleigh's CBS channel 5 or WBTW's CBS 13 out of Florence South Carolina. All of those signals leak into the Wilmington DMA good enough to give a satisfactory signal OTA, at least analog and to some degree digital too.

OK, as it turns out, WECT does have a valid, granted STA for the 98KW DS/temporary facility at Winnabow:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101245041&formid=911&fac_num=48666

It just doesn't show up on the other page as granted.

98KW out there would explain everything in regards to those calls.

Most people watch CBS from Greenville NC's channel 9, WRAL Raleigh's CBS channel 5 or WBTW's CBS 13 out of Florence South Carolina. All of those signals leak into the Wilmington DMA good enough to give a satisfactory signal OTA, at least analog and to some degree digital too.

I imagine WILM has managed to establish itself enough as the "in-town" affiliate, though, no? It does sound like its outer flanks are covered OTA, and anyone seeking out WILM and not watching the out of market stations are getting it on cable/satellite.

This brings up a good point - how many analog viewers OTA who didn't get a converter box are just not complaining, in general, because they're happily watching the nearby analog OTAs? And in the case of WRAL and CBS, it owns WILM, and simulcasts its newscasts there (in addition to the WWAY-produced 7 PM show).

I'm guessing this is a number that the Wilmington local stations aren't really interested in publicizing, but hope to reduce.

They're running the 98 kW STA. Their July 21 Form 387 says the STA was approved, regardless of what the STA application says. It's quite possible that it's a verbal STA or some such nonsense.

- Trip

This brings up a good point - how many analog viewers OTA who didn't get a converter box just not complaining, in general, because they're happily watching the nearby analog OTAs? And in the case of WRAL and CBS, it owns WILM, and simulcasts its newscasts there (in addition to the WWAY-produced 7 PM show).

Probably more than is realized!

WSFX-DT runs 80 kW from the same antenna as WECT-DT. Look here, compare the analog coverage and tower location (first link) to the digital coverage and tower location. The STA map doesn't take into account HAAT, so I linked to the CP for 710 kW.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV32560.html

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1235792.html

I'm willing to bet that at least some of those calls were from people losing service due to the mismatch in coverage areas.

- Trip

Trip is probably right. Viewers in Fayetteville, Hoke and Sampson county next door are not getting nearly the signal they got on analog. I'm thinking that is where the calls are from, and even over towards the Dillon SC area.

Trip is probably right. Viewers in Fayetteville, Hoke and Sampson county next door are not getting nearly the signal they got on analog. I'm thinking that is where the calls are from, and even over towards the Dillon SC area.

The B&C mentions calls from Columbus County and Bladen County.

A quick look at a map shows me that is indeed in the western part of the DMA.

BTW, I've sent a lot of the information I posted here via E-Mail to the Wilmington newspaper's TV columnist...we'll see if he bites.

WWAY showed on the 11:00 news of some family that had problems. The family had a converter box but they were trying to use the rabbit ears that they used to use for analog 3.

I would have thought that since channel 26 has been on the air along with channel 39 that folks would have been more aware of needing to use a bow tie for an indoor for UHF. My experience with rabbit ears on UHF was so bad I did better with a clothes hanger or short wire. Some one at WWAY needs step up to the cammera & show them what a bow tie looks like & explan that that is what is needed. I do not think rabbit ears will be needed with all the channels at UHF. They might be good for only a FM radio. A bow tie at my house in Myrtle Beach would pick up channel 26 analog better than the rabbit ears did channel 3 analog. But part of that was not because of the antenna to match the wave length but more because that UHF will go through walls of a house on the ground level then VHF low band.

Also it was good to the history of WWAY tonight. I remember the local news back then was called news scope. I sure do wish I could see some of the shows they had back then. My 3 sons, the fugetive & voyge to the bottom of the sea from ABC. But also the reruns of Amos & Andy, The little rascals & etc.

God Bless to all

The band is open a little tonight and here in Greensboro I am seeing WECT's channel 6 DTV loop. Local WFMY channel 2 is drowning out WWAY's channel 3 analog.

I'm willing to bet that at least some of those calls were from people losing service due to the mismatch in coverage areas.


Definitely. As per the analysis that I posted last night, WECT has lost a good portion of its analog service area. I can only imagine the frustration in such areas that are receiving WECT/6 instructions for going digital when they effectively have no hope of getting WECT-DT (even after they power up).

Raycom Media’s WECT had 82 calls by 5:30 p.m. General manager Gary McNair, who told B&C a few weeks back that he’d be “completely surprised” if the shutdown wasn’t a slam-dunk, said the bulk of them were probably viewers who lived close to the station’s analog transmitter, which is no longer functioning.

Did WECT warn viewers in such areas that they will be out of luck?

Attached are a couple updated maps. The first shows WECT, analog 6's contour. I have added city labels to these maps as well and was able to fill in the diamond shaped hole with lower resolution Topo30 data.

Note that the scales are intentionally shifted by +13dB going from digital to analog to match the typical difference in receiving power requirements between the two formats. Also, WMBF's plot is overstated to the North (towards Dillon) as I don't know how to assign custom antenna patterns to Radio Mobile as yet. WXII (about 30 miles NW of Greensboro) is not rendered on the 2nd contour map.

More than one station in Arkansas has put their DTV tower in a different location than their analog tower. They did this to better serve areas of greater population density, which have changed since the analog stations went on the air years ago.

Definitely. As per the analysis that I posted last night, WECT has lost a good portion of its analog service area. I can only imagine the frustration in such areas that are receiving WECT/6 instructions for going digital when they effectively have no hope of getting WECT-DT (even after they power up).

It looks like you and I are tripping over each other on this, though you have much better tools. :)

Are you sure about that statement I bolded? Even after the station goes to 710KW? I can't really make out what your maps actually mean in regards to the actual signal conditions.

It looks like you and I are tripping over each other on this, though you have much better tools. :)

Are you sure about that statement I bolded? Even after the station goes to 710KW? I can't really make out what your maps actually mean in regards to the actual signal conditions.

Their analog tower is both taller than the tower the digital's on, and 34 miles away from it. All the power in the world won't make up for a 34 mile transmitter move.

- Trip

Their analog tower is both taller than the tower the digital's on, and 34 miles away from it. All the power in the world won't make up for a 34 mile transmitter move.

- Trip

It was also on Low-VHF, which has longer analog range, thought it would not be nearly as effective for DTV.

Going from 98 to 710, while it sounds like a lot, only represents an 8.6dB increase. That won't help people who now find themselves in the -120dBm range and lower. I think more translators will be needed for DTV, if stations have the desire to build them. We may also need SFN's/DTS's, if those can ever be viable in the US.

Edit: The WECT DTV antenna is also directional, whereas the analog 6 antenna was non-directional.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?temp=86404&rotate=0.00&p0=0.764&p10=0.805&p20=0.973&p22=0.983&p30=0.906&p40=0.740&p50=0.877&p60=0.993&p64=1.000&p70=0.985&p80=0.915&p90=0.775&p100=0.768&p110=0.884&p112=0.891&p120=0.810&p130=0.551&p140=0.548&p150=0.654&p156=0.670&p160=0.661&p170=0.587&p180=0.504&p190=0.559&p200=0.607&p210=0.584&p220=0.446&p230=0.416&p240=0.437&p250=0.439&p260=0.405&p270=0.290&p280=0.434&p290=0.680&p300=0.801&p310=0.851&p320=0.940&p330=0.969&p340=0.979&p350=0.934&p360=0.764&

Any more news since the switch-off? It got quiet all of a sudden. Is the FCC planning to submit a formal report of the results after 30-60 days or so? Only Commissioner Copps seemed to think the work was not already done:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-285228A1.pdf

Which leads me to make a last request. I know you may be sick of the DTV transition at this point. Maybe after today you’d just as soon never think about it again. Perhaps you’ve seen enough of the FCC to last you a lifetime. That’s completely understandable. But let me ask you one last favor. We need to really learn from what you’ve just experienced. I know that the NAB and others will be here doing follow-up and I thank them for those efforts. But—very, very importantly—the FCC has some serious responsibilities to gather and distill and analyze and disseminate far-and-wide the lessons we learn here. So the Commission will be on the ground here after today and I look forward to everyone working together to learn everything we possibly can from this experience.

Was the date of Monday, September 8th chosen for a reason? It seems that this was the day that most local TV stations make their changes and additions for their fall lineups. I'd love to see how this is going to affect the advertising revenue for each of the commercial stations involved.

It was also on Low-VHF, which has longer analog range, thought it would not be nearly as effective for DTV.

Ah, yes, of course...the problem all those low-VHF analogs moving to ANY digital are going to have. But still, in Wilmington, WWAY isn't getting as many complaints as far as I can see, and it (is/was) on analog 3!

Going from 98 to 710, while it sounds like a lot, only represents an 8.6dB increase. That won't help people who now find themselves in the -120dBm range and lower.

Still, I figured a power increase would at least help those closer to the heart of the market, no?

Assuming you're talking about stuff like digital boosters and distributed transmitters, I suspect you're quite right...and this is gonna get a lot of play after February.

It was also on Low-VHF, which has longer analog range, thought it would not be nearly as effective for DTV.

... I think more translators will be needed for DTV, if stations have the desire to build them...We have a similar situation here. An analog station on lowband VHF 5 built their UHF digital transmitter tower to the North of their analog transmitter, in a different county, to reach more viewers where the population grew faster. They have plans to build translator(s) to fill the void left by this move and channel change. Hopefully, other stations will do the same, as soon as permitted.