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


Yes, it should certainly help those that are having drop-outs or which are just on the edge of a usable signal.


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.

Yes, I think it will, although the WSD coalition is trying to get their devices into the band first and they don't like the idea of stations filling in their gaps in coverage. I find this to be absurd. We need to get a stable post-transition environment before we can even consider letting these White Space Devices infiltrate the remaining spectrum. Google should stick to software...

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!


WWAY analog had a horrible picture quality, so not many out of market would be interested in watching that when there are three other ABC stations in surrounding markets that look much better.

The WWAY digital signal however, looks good, and has a very long range. I am 60 miles from their tower, and I get them at 92% all the time.

WWAY isn't getting as many complaints as far as I can see, and it (is/was) on analog 3!

I expected more complaints directed at WWAY as well. Perhaps UHF antennas are common enough to alleviate some of the potential problems. WWAY-DT is also broadcasting from the same location as 3, at full power (1000kW) and 25m higher than analog 3, so that probably helps cut down the complaints. I would expect to see some issues around the fringes and the antenna patterns are a bit different as well. This might be a good sign, but hopefully we can review a full report eventually.

WWAY analog had a horrible picture quality, so not many out of market would be interested in watching that when there are three other ABC stations in surrounding markets that look much better.


How did WECT/6 compare with WWAY/3? I'm assuming it was quite a bit better? In LA, 2 & 4 seem to suffer from more noise than 5, but 6 has problems with FM radio, though it is low power.

6 was a lot better years back. They had stereo sound where as 3 did not, and the color was not washed out like it was on 3 for a long time. Something happened at 6 and they lost the stereo generator I guess some years back... and color deteriorated. For a while they didn't look too good either, but then about a year or so ago they fixed the analog color. The digital color looks better really than any other station I get, except one from New Bern. In fact both WSFX and WECT have outstanding pic. quality, and they both have Dolby 5.1 sound systems.

But still, in Wilmington, WWAY isn't getting as many complaints as far as I can see, and it (is/was) on analog 3!

WWAY's analog and digital are very close together southwest of Wilmington at Winnabow. WECT's antenna is northwest of Wilmington between Fayetteville and Wilmington at White Lake. Two completely different coverage areas. Having grown up in Fayetteville, I know that part of North Carolina like the back of my hand and watched both stations growing up. WWAY has always had trouble getting to Fayetteville due to WBTV in Charlotte who is also on channel 3. WECT's closest co-channel is WTVR Richmond and therefore had more coverage to the north and west than WWAY, coverage WWAY never has had, even though both analogs are on 2000 ft sticks roughly 50 miles apart.

Attached are coverage maps I generated for WWAY/3 and WWAY/46. Though these assume non-directional patterns (when they are not - but most of the restrictions are to the South and SW), the difference isn't as much as I would have thought. The extra ~80' of height helps 46 somewhat.

WWAY analog had a horrible picture quality, so not many out of market would be interested in watching that when there are three other ABC stations in surrounding markets that look much better.

Low VHF-analog, of course, is much more susceptible to "sparklies" and other electrical interference. The camera shot of WWAY's analog 3 digital advisory slide, on that Internet video I watched, showed a really, really bad picture marred by enough sparklies to obscure the wording. No wonder that person was thrilled to go to digital!

We have analog 3 here (WKYC/NBC), and it's plagued with similar problems, though the other technical end of it is probably better than WWAY from what you guys are saying. I'm just guessing here - I haven't watched analog OTA 3 in *years*. The cable system (TWC/Cleveland) picks them up off of fiber.

Am I correct in believing that WECT's new DT site is co-located with WWAY, both analog and digital? I can see where the "change" part alone would throw some off, who were closer to analog 6 even just in physical proximity to the tower vs. the DT stick.

Thank you ALL for your help in making this clearer for an outsider!

Am I correct in believing that WECT's new DT site is co-located with WWAY, both analog and digital?

Someone there can correct me since changes have happened since the last time I was there, but WWAY-DT and WECT-DT share the same antenna now and PBS UNC is also on the same tower. It was my understanding that WWAY-TV and WWAY-DT are NOT on the same tower (the DT tower is owned by UNC), but both towers are very close to each other and so would appear to be the same tower. Can a local confirm that?

WUNJ analog is on the WWAY tower. WWAY DT, WSFX DT, WECT DT, and WWAY analog WSFX analog are ALL on the same tower. The digitals use a batwing antenna. WSFX and WUNJ analog are side mounts. WUNJ digital and WILM DT are on the Delco tower just west of Wilmington.

(I think I got it all right) ;)

(I think I got it all right) ;)

Thanks. :)

Wayne the former engineer at WECT told me that WECT ch 6 analog antenna was a omni directional with 3 db gain toward Wilmington. When WWAY went on the air in 1964 over a 1200 foot tower in Boiling springs. It was more east than the current tower. From what I understood from them back then they had a bidirectional antenna back then. First off because the location & direction required by the FCC. They wanted to avoid any of WWAY's signal interfering with WBTV. Also to avoid signal going into the ocean. You could really see the effect of it too. In Conway even when WWAY was on the 1200' tower 3 WWAY was the strongest in Conway aprox -9 db on a average fringe VHF antenna at 25 feet above the ground. The 1200' tower fell when a jet clipped one of the guy wires in 1981. When WWAY built the current tower I was shocked the FCC let them go up to 2000' but, I would assume they were allowed only the same type gain direction antenna. FCC later let the fringe area of the stations on the same channel come closer to each other.

WECT's analog 2000 tower was a great location as far as coverage on land but it left the city of Wilmington with out a A city grade of signal. WECT fringe area about touched the Columbia WIS fringe.

Also WPDE went on the air in 1980 carring ABC. Then when WWAY's tower went down folks went out & got UHF antennas [if they did not have them aready] started watching WPDE for ABC.

Thus those in the western area who depend WECT's analog for NBC were not watching WWAY for ABC but were watching WPDE instead. My guess if they had tried to watch WWAY ch 3 in that area they would have seen WBTV & WWAY both on channel 3 & would looked very bad.

I am sure Raycom thought that WMBF would fill in the gap between WIS & WECT. I have aready put my 2 cents in about that.

NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C. 20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS MEDIA CONTACT
September 10, 2008 Robert Kenny: 202-418-2668
Email: Robert.Kenny@fcc.gov
Clyde Ensslin: 202-418-0506
Email: Clyde.Ensslin@fcc.gov
VAST MAJORITY OF WILMINGTON, NC RESIDENTS WERE AWARE OF THE
EARLY DIGITAL TELEVISION TRANSITION IN THEIR VIEWING AREA
Washington, D.C. – Based on consumer calls received by the Federal Communications
Commission on the first day after the digital television (DTV) transition in the five-county
Wilmington television market, the vast majority of the 400,000 television viewers impacted by the
change were aware of the transition and seemed to be prepared for it.
FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said, “The results of the digital television switch in
Wilmington shows that the collective efforts of the Commission, the community and industry to
inform viewers of the early transition in this local market were effective.” Chairman Martin noted,
“The vast majority of Wilmington-area viewers were aware of the transition and more than 28,000
converter box coupons were redeemed.”
“While we believe that the transition in Wilmington is going smoothly, the measure of
success in Wilmington is what is going to happen next February, and what we are able to learn from
this experience and how we apply those lessons as we move this effort across the country,”
Chairman Martin said.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its local partners are providing
assistance to Wilmington-area residents who call the Commission’s toll-free DTV Transition
helpline - 1-877-388-0908. In addition to the call center, Chairman Martin has assembled teams of
Commission engineers and outreach staff to assist Wilmington-area callers with their individual
questions and needs.
The 400,000 viewers in the Wilmington area represent an estimated 180,000 households, of
which nearly 14,000 receive free over-the-air television programming with roof-top antennas or
“rabbit-ears.” During the first day of the transition, approximately 800 (797) area residents or less
than one-half of one percent of area homes called the FCC helpline asking questions and seeking
help with the switch-over to digital television. On September 9, the second day of the transition, the
number of calls decreased by almost 50 percent from the first day to 424.
Based on calls to the FCC helpline through the first day, most consumers were aware of and
ready for the transition. The Commission’s helpline received just 23 calls from consumers who said
they were not aware of the switch to digital television and/or did not know the date of the transition.
Chairman Martin directed his team of engineers and outreach staff to identify and
understand the problems viewers were facing and work to resolve them to the extent possible.
These FCC teams are already working to assist residents in resolving their problems. A significant
number of consumers who called the helpline with converter box, reception or other technical issues
have already had their issues resolved.
Specifically, more than 160 calls were from viewers who had initial difficulty in setting up
their converter boxes properly. For example, consumers had difficulty understanding the
instructions for setting up the converter box and scanning for channels. Seventy-five of these
consumers were successfully guided through the installation process by call-takers and were able to
view channels after re-scanning their televisions.
Of the total number of calls to the helpline, 178 were by viewers who were experiencing
problems with their television reception or had other technical issues. We were able to resolve
reception and other technical issues for 22 of the 178 consumers by explaining where the
broadcasters’ new digital channels are located, helping them re-scan channels, and/or by assisting
them with re-positioning or adjusting their antennas. We are continuing to work with these viewers
to understand and resolve their issues.
A significant number of calls (232) were related to the viewer’s inability to locate the
Wilmington NBC affiliate. Prior to the digital switch, the Wilmington NBC affiliate signal was
available to viewers outside the television market as far south as Myrtle Beach, SC and as far north
as Raleigh, NC. The Wilmington NBC affiliate’s new coverage area does not include these out of
market communities. Some of these complaints were from these viewers who will continue to
receive their local NBC affiliates in Myrtle Beach and Raleigh. The Commission is continuing to
work with those residents who have unresolved reception problems.
The early switch to digital in Wilmington is helping the Commission to identify, understand
and resolve problems such as those experienced by consumers calling the FCC helpline and will
ultimately better prepare us for the national DTV transition in February 2009.
The following is an overview and analysis of the consumer calls received by the FCC on the
first day of the DTV Transition in Wilmington, NC. A breakdown of the second day will be
provided shortly.
Category Count
CONSUMERS WHO WERE NOT AWARE OF THE TRANSITION
They were not aware of the switch to DTV 9
They were unaware of the correct transition date 5
They did not think the stations they watch would switch to digital 9
Subtotal: 23
CONSUMERS WHO WERE AWARE BUT DID NOT ACT
They forgot to upgrade 24
They were unable to attain assistance to upgrade 4
They relied on another member of their household to upgrade 3
They waited too long to buy or set up a digital set or a converter box 31
They were out of town or too busy or knew they could do it later 5
Subtotal: 67
CONSUMERS WHO HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE CONVERTER BOX COUPON PROGRAM
A coupon did not arrive in time 27
Wanted coupon or had not received coupon from NTIA 59
The retail store was out of boxes 1
Subtotal: 87
CONSUMERS WHO HAD INITIAL DIFFICULTY WITH THEIR CONVERTER BOXES
Setting up converter boxes was too hard 27
They didn't understand the instructions for the digital set or the converter box 34
Their converter box "didn't work" 100
Subtotal: 161
CONSUMERS WHO HAD RECEPTION AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Their antenna didn't work or they have no antenna or their antenna wasn't connected 33
Problem with channel or call sign 85
Weak or spotty signal 60
Subtotal: 178
CONSUMERS COMPLAINING ABOUT NOT RECEIVING WILMINGTON SIGNALS
Problem with channel or call sign 232
Subtotal: 232
OTHER PROBLEMS
Satellite subscribers to Dish Network or Direct TV – did not subscribe to local package 22
They thought all their sets were hooked up to cable or satellite 14
They were waiting for cable or satellite installation 6
Wanted DTV consumer information sent to them 7
Subtotal: 49
Total 797
-FCC-
News and information about the Federal Communications Commission is available at www.fcc.gov

CONSUMERS WHO HAD INITIAL DIFFICULTY WITH THEIR CONVERTER BOXES
Setting up converter boxes was too hard 27
They didn't understand the instructions for the digital set or the converter box 34
Their converter box "didn't work" 100
Subtotal: 161

Are the above Consumers those who:

1) still have VCR's
2) have VCR's with blinking clocks.......

:rolleyes: :)

But in fairness, we can't all be technically proficient I guess...

WWAY-TV analog antenna pattern

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=119456&stc=1&d=1221082841

CONSUMERS WHO HAD INITIAL DIFFICULTY WITH THEIR CONVERTER BOXES
Setting up converter boxes was too hard 27
They didn't understand the instructions for the digital set or the converter box 34
Their converter box "didn't work" 100
Subtotal: 161

Are the above Consumers those who:

1) still have VCR's
2) have VCR's with blinking clocks.......

:rolleyes: :)

But in fairness, we can't all be technically proficient I guess...

For the "un-technically un-proficient" do not fear as there is help:
I saw on the local news last night that the Wilmington Fire Dept is making house calls to help people with their converter boxes.:eek:

Incus

I've been following the comments on both WECT and WWAY websites. It seems there are quite a few having issues with low signals. If any of the folks from these stations put up a link to this forum, I'm sure all of us here are willing to try and guide the people in the right direction.

I think in MANY cases, that the problems are from poor cabling, connectors, and using sorry RG-59 cabling. They are in all likely hood going to have to replace splitters, and run new cables from their antennas to their homes to get a steady signal with RG-6 cabling. Water and salt has in many cases I'm sure gotten into the wiring, and is probably rotted the conductors. Living in the area, they really shouldn't need amps, unless they live out of market or are going for WILM.
They are going to HAVE to spend some money whether they want to or not! That's just the way it is. No need to rub their bellies with the idea they won't need to attend to their antenna and transmission lines. A good thing to say though is that once they do it right, then that will be it, no monthly bill.

There is just no other reasoning. I live out of the viewing areas, and I get over 80% on WECT, 75% on WSFX.

I think in MANY cases, that the problems are from poor cabling, connectors, and using sorry RG-59 cabling. They are in all likely hood going to have to replace splitters, and run new cables from their antennas to their homes to get a steady signal with RG-6 cabling. Water and salt has in many cases I'm sure gotten into the wiring, and is probably rotted the conductors. Living in the area, they really shouldn't need amps, unless they live out of market or are going for WILM.


I think you're onto something, especially with the RG-59 vs. RG-6. I don't have an outside antenna...I get all the locals out my loft window 20 miles from the local antenna farm with an indoor antenna. But I'm sure most, if not all, of my cabling (cable TV/etc.) is RG-59.


They are going to HAVE to spend some money whether they want to or not! That's just the way it is. No need to rub their bellies with the idea they won't need to attend to their antenna and transmission lines.

This probably applies to 95% of the people in those outlying areas complaining about receiving stations in digital they once had in analog. The TV stations and local media really are not making this clear, at least from what I've seen online from up here.

I presume the in-city folks in Wilmington proper aren't having these issues, but folks in some of the aforementioned outer counties complaining about losing WECT are. I hope all these lessons are learned by the FCC, the folks watching the transition, and the NAB folks.

A significant number of calls (232) were related to the viewer’s inability to locate the Wilmington NBC affiliate. Prior to the digital switch, the Wilmington NBC affiliate signal was available to viewers outside the television market as far south as Myrtle Beach, SC and as far north as Raleigh, NC. The Wilmington NBC affiliate’s new coverage area does not include these out of
market communities. That's annoying. That basically means these viewers lost a station, and therefore fewer choices to watch. (The long-distance station often shows non-NBC programming that is not available on the home station.) I'd love to see how this is going to affect the advertising revenue for each of the commercial stations involved. Local ad rates are not set until November Sweeps, so this september switch shouldn't have too much effect.

The nationwide switch happens on February 18, right in the middle of the sweeps period, and that definitely will reduce ratings & therefore advertising revenue.

February 2009 Ratings have been moved to March 2009.

Is Daryl still with us? I was curious if he was able to get WECT since it moved, and since their engineer said that their signals would not reach Robenson county... Hopefully when they turn on about 800kW he will see them if he isn't already.

The details that were posted on B&C from the FCC already have been shown to be incorrect, because people in Myrtle Beach have already said they are getting WECT DT.

That's even worse. In the 1.5 weeks between February 19 and March 2 there will not be enough time for people to adjust to their lost NTSC analog signals. (On the other hand if only 10% watch television over-the-air, the ratings might drop by just 0.1 HH% so perhaps the networks won't care.)

Just curious - Do you have a link to the announcement about Sweeps moving from February to March? " 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. HD DVD used 30 Megabit/second and produced basically flawless video.

Showing 2 HD videos over-the-air leaves room for only ~10 Megabit/second per video, so there will definitely be macroblocking and mosquitos floating around the picture.

In theory I believe, if a stat mux is used for 2 HD sub-channels, the quality might be ok--but it's still so wrong on so many levels... ;)

foxeng--comments on a stat mux?

I believe WUNJ is using one--based on communications I had with their engineer a few years back... actually, I think they are using it because they have 5 sub-channels, one of them being HD... but I don't think they have all 5 with programming when the HD OTA is active (they send full time HD via TW cable)?

Sorry for being a butt-insky (I suspect you have a lot of furreigners watching this topic), but here in the LA market, we have a couple PBS stations (KCET and KOCE) running 1 HD and 3 SDs simultaneously. The HD streams are around 9 to 10 Mbps.

Yes, it's pretty ugly. Definitely quantity over quality.

UNC turns off the HD during the daytime. They only run HD OTA from 8-11PM. When they run HD at that time, they shut down UNC NC, and UNC ED, the .4 and .5 channels.

In theory I believe, if a stat mux is used for 2 HD sub-channels, the quality might be ok--but it's still so wrong on so many levels... ;)

There are several stations doing it, but stat-muxing is no magic elixir that makes two HDs work in a feed. I know of five stations doing two HDs, and I've heard nothing but complaints about the quality on all of them.

WKYT-DT (CBS and CW in 720p, plus a 480i radar)
KXII-DT (CBS 1080i, Fox 720p, MyNet 480i)
KWTX-DT (CBS 1080i, CW 720p)
KWBF-DT (MyNet 720p, RTN 480i, ABC 720p)
KALB-DT (NBC 1080i, CBS 720p)

I've heard of two that plan to start, though one was supposed to and never materialized, and the other has yet to try. (WNOL-DT in New Orleans and KSPR-DT in Springfield MO)

- Trip

UNC turns off the HD during the daytime. They only run HD OTA from 8-11PM. When they run HD at that time, they shut down UNC NC, and UNC ED, the .4 and .5 channels.

Right, but they have an HD feed 24/7 via TW Cable, but not OTA.

I remember some correspondence with the former chief engineer on video quality as they tweaked their mux...

So they have 2 SD and 1 HD simultaneous OTA...

Many times I see problems in their HD signal at night, but obviously it also depends on the source and the content...

Are the Wilmington stations providing the satellite and cable providers with full bit rate feeds of their primary channel?

How do their over-the-air vs cable/sat picture qualities compare?

--- CHAS

Just curious - Do you have a link to the announcement about Sweeps moving from February to March?

Ken H posted it in the programming section a few months back.

In theory I believe, if a stat mux is used for 2 HD sub-channels, the quality might be ok--but it's still so wrong on so many levels... ;)

foxeng--comments on a stat mux?


Stat Mux isn't a panacea. It helps, but you still will not have great PQ with 2 MPEG2 HD subchannels. You are still limited due to pipe size. In a MPEG4 world, then yes, I believe you could get good PQ with two HD subchannels in an ATSC channel bandwidth, but we don't have that option.

I believe WUNJ is using one--based on communications I had with their engineer a few years back... actually, I think they are using it because they have 5 sub-channels, one of them being HD... but I don't think they have all 5 with programming when the HD OTA is active (they send full time HD via TW cable)?

UNC did use the Harmonic stat mux system for their 5 subchannels and it is probably the best in the business at this time but even then, when they had only the 2 SD and 1 HD channel up, the HD suffered somewhat. By them dropping the SD simulcast -1 channel and combining with the HD channel as their primary channel, that will help things because I think they had too much bandwidth allocated to the -1 channel and that hurt the other 4 channels. I also hope they reallocated down the bandwidth on the other SD channels as well. I don't know if they will still run 3 SD channels all the time when they reconfigure the stream. I somehow think the Kids channel will stay, but they may be able to combine the ED and NC channels into one. Lots of repeats on both.

For those interested, here's the e-mail reply I received from Wayne Estabrooks (Engineering Specialist) at UNC-TV concerning their new DT subchannel setup beginning on Sept. 25th:


Mr. *****,

If you are referring to over-the-air (OTA) digital reception with an
antenna, we are expecting to go to full time HD on the 25th of
September. This will result in 2 less subchannels overall.
The subchannel lineup for OTA will only have three subchannels. They
will be UNC-TV -1, UNC-KD -2 and UNC-NC -3.

Cable carriage will be mostly unchanged.

The UNC-TV -1 subchannel will be primarily HD 24/7 and the KD and NC
channels will be SD. The UNC-TV -1 channel will be in the HD format
full time but there will be some SD programs or widescreen SD programs
in the schedule. I hope this answers your questions but if not, please
feel free to e-mail me at westabrooks(*at*)unctv(*dot*)org or call me. Please also let us know where you are located and which UNC-TV station(s) you receive.

Wayne Estabrooks - Engineering Specialist
UNC Center for Public Television

From Dan Ullmer:



Our Dolby encoder failed the morning of September 8th creating major audio issues when the center channel was no longer mapping to left/right almost completely eliminating the Today Show anchor audio. It was a big problem and we had to bypass 5.1 encoding for now until we can get the issue resolved.



Dan Ullmer

WECT/WSFX Chief Engineer

Wayne's still kicking around after retirement... :D

I hope they devote a lot of bandwidth to the HD channel...

Anyone notice video quality problems again with WILM HD? It seems awfully green lately...

Are the Wilmington stations providing the satellite and cable providers with full bit rate feeds of their primary channel?

How do their over-the-air vs cable/sat picture qualities compare?

--- CHAS

Can't necessarily answer that question, but a few pages back (in this forum), I provided some data on cable vs. OTA data rates, using TSreader, that one of our member analyzed a bit... sorry, don't have that post number handy...

I think it's pretty comparable though... (page 44, I looked it up...)

Stat Mux isn't a panacea. It helps, but you still will not have great PQ with 2 MPEG2 HD What's a "stat mux"?

What's a "stat mux"?

The short definition is that statistical multiplexing is allocating more bits the more they're needed. So if an HD image is relatively static, it can take some bits from that and give it to the SD feed. Then when there's motion or other things in the HD that need the bits, it takes them back from the SD feed so the HD's picture quality doesn't degrade as badly.

- Trip

The short definition is that statistical multiplexing is allocating more bits the more they're needed. So if an HD image is relatively static, it can take some bits from that and give it to the SD feed. Then when there's motion or other things in the HD that need the bits, it takes them back from the SD feed so the HD's picture quality doesn't degrade as badly.

- Trip


I remember when I first saw a demo of this in Japan at Mitsubisihi. It was impressive until the soccer match really started to move and then the pixealtion was fierce!

i am hoping i can get some good advice from you guys here. i live off 17th st. extension in an apartment and was hoping i could get a recommendation on a good antenna to get to hook up to my converter box. I currently have a really old pair of rabbit ears and a really old bow tie (both are twin lead) connected to a dual adapter which is connected to my converter box. I can pick up wway, wect, wsfx, wunj, and tbn with excellent quality, as long as both the uhf and vhf antenna are in (I tried uhf only and the signal strength dropped tremendously. I was hoping to get wilm and the ion/my network station out of jacksonville. Any recommendations for an indoor antenna? Also, would it be possible to get any distant markets with an indoor antenna? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have been impressed with the Philips omni flat panel array from Walmart. It's about 35 bucks with a built in preamp. I live in the Holden Beach area and can get the CHS stations with the antenna in my 2nd story attic with 20 feet of RG 59. I would go with RG6. The 59 comes with the antenna.

On occasion we have picked up Jacksonville Stations with pre-amped rabbit ears from our studios on Front Street.

Ray
WWAY TV

What was WWAY doing to the tower with the radar dome this past week? Saw a couple of guys up at the top, I think it was Thurs...?

What was WWAY doing to the tower with the radar dome this past week? Saw a couple of guys up at the top, I think it was Thurs...?

Cool! I hope they are planning on using that radar again. I enjoyed being able to watch a live radar that would actually be updating with every sweep. Right now they are using the Noaa radar at all stations I can get. It is over 6 minutes old at times.

I have been impressed with the Philips omni flat panel array from Walmart. It's about 35 bucks with a built in preamp. I live in the Holden Beach area and can get the CHS stations with the antenna in my 2nd story attic with 20 feet of RG 59. I would go with RG6. The 59 comes with the antenna.

On occasion we have picked up Jacksonville Stations with pre-amped rabbit ears from our studios on Front Street.

Ray
WWAY TV

We have a MyNetwork TV station, and a PBS licensed to Jacksonville, and the nearest major network is ABC from New Bern. If you don't get the ABC down there now, you should when they flash cut to channel 12 for digital. They run an independent station with a lot of different shows called ENC TV too.

The short definition is that statistical multiplexing is allocating more bits the more they're needed. So if an HD image is relatively static, it can take some bits from that and give it to the SD feed. Then when there's motion or other things in the HD that need the bits, it takes them back from the SD feed so the HD's picture quality doesn't degrade as badly. Oh. Well that's nothing new. It's just VBR (variable bitrate) instead of CBR (constant bit rate), where the VBR of each channel moves up-and-down as needed.

I thought ALL stations were doing VBR.

Oh. Well that's nothing new. It's just VBR (variable bitrate) instead of CBR (constant bit rate), where the VBR of each channel moves up-and-down as needed.

I thought ALL stations were doing VBR.

But does VBR share bandwidth between simultaneously broadcasting channels?

But does VBR share bandwidth between simultaneously broadcasting channels?

No. VBR is one piece of the puzzle of stat muxing. You can have VBR and no subchannels or stat muxing. FOX network uses VBR. That is why you have people who don't understand how it works complain that FOX only does 10 mbs when in reality, the bit rate varies from 10 to 16 mbs depending on the payload demand of the scene, but to some of these people they will not believe it since they don't understand the difference between VBR and CBR.

What was WWAY doing to the tower with the radar dome this past week? Saw a couple of guys up at the top, I think it was Thurs...?

Marc,

We were putting up an antenna and pre-amp for our new 2 Ghz. Digital ENG system. Not only are the stations transmitting to the public in DTV, but our truck microwave units are going digital. Nextel wants some our 2 Ghz band so they are equipping all US broadcasters with DENG as part of the deal.

We were not working on the Wx radar as it OK (this minute!)

Ray

We were putting up an antenna and pre-amp for our new 2 Ghz. Digital ENG system.

You guys are going to LOVE it! We switched to the BAS bandplan in June and what an upgrade it has been! We had our doubts at first, but seeing is believing. Get get shots from places we had problems with before and the interference issues we had are all but gone now.

But does VBR share bandwidth between simultaneously broadcasting channels? Yes. If for example the HD channel's bitrate drops from 10 megabit/s downto 5 megabit/s, that allow the secondary HD channel to use the extra bits for itself.

The process is a little more complicated because the computer has to divide the 19 megabit/s bandwidth between two separate HD videos, but it's still basically just VBR..... a very-old and well-understood technology.

OK, this is a question I can't find the answer to, anywhere...

Can someone actually in the Wilmington market confirm or dispel that the Trinity LPTVer, W51CW, is now in digital?

It was on the list of stations participating in the early transition, but I find no evidence it actually went along on September 8th...

Both WECT and WWAY (Jeopardy and The Insider) are showing logos for HD programming, i.e. each show is saying they are in HD, yet both are actually being broadcast here as SD...

??

Still manual switching to HD at 9PM???

Both WECT and WWAY (Jeopardy and The Insider) are showing logos for HD programming, i.e. each show is saying they are in HD, yet both are actually being broadcast here as SD...

??


More than likely, they don't have the equipment that's necessary to record Syndicated HD.

Hey Ray, Billy,

Do you have plans to air syndicated in HD soon, or haven't heard? That Bonnie Hunt is in HD, Ofrah is in HD too I think I read...

Hey Ray, Billy,

Do you have plans to air syndicated in HD soon, or haven't heard? That Bonnie Hunt is in HD, Ofrah is in HD too I think I read...

Oprah is available for airing in HD, but Bonnie Hunt isn't.

Oprah is available for airing in HD, but Bonnie Hunt isn't.

I must a confused Bonnie with Ellen DeGenerate. How I don't know!:rolleyes::D

Both WECT and WWAY (Jeopardy and The Insider) are showing logos for HD programming, i.e. each show is saying they are in HD, yet both are actually being broadcast here as SD...

??

Still manual switching to HD at 9PM???
By wife also was complaining about "The Insider" not being in HD but having the HD logo. Not something I watch so didn't really care but would be nice to know when that going to happen to keep her from asking.

OK, this is a question I can't find the answer to, anywhere...

Can someone actually in the Wilmington market confirm or dispel that the Trinity LPTVer, W51CW, is now in digital?

It was on the list of stations participating in the early transition, but I find no evidence it actually went along on September 8th...

Bump!

Anyone? Anyone?

i believe it is...i can pick it up on my coverter box, which if it was not digital, i would not be able to.

thanks for the antenna recommendation! it is working great! i can't get the jacksonville my network tv station but i can get wilm and the other wilmington stations no problem.

does anyone know what the deal is the with wmyw station from shallote? how do they stay in business when virtually no one can watch them?

Is W51CW multicasting? Most TBN stations I've seen do, just wondering if they are...

- Trip

No, we are not broadcasting ET/Insider in HD at this time. We have no means currently to record an HD program. We do have very near plans to retrieve the show via SD widescreen and shoot that out. It is not the same I know, but its all we can do at the time.

So... to expand on that a bit, you are saying that the only HD you can broadcast is a network feed? Which I assume is "prime time" stuff starting at either 8 or 9 PM?

If/when local broadcast (like news) goes HD, does that imply you'll have the equipment to record HD?

There are still quite a few I guess not getting DTV out of Wilmington.

http://www.wect.com/global/story.asp?s=9052279

I have not seen any explanation for the dramatic reduction in coverage WECT had. If they did not alert their viewers in advance of September 8th, then it's no wonder they got a lot of calls. Just look at the difference in coverage:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-285403A4.pdf

Is W51CW multicasting? Most TBN stations I've seen do, just wondering if they are...

- Trip

W51CW was just issed a Digital License to Cover for channel 51 today so yes, I would say they did make the switch.

I know they're on the air, but I'm trying to find out if they're multicasting the 5 services that the full-service stations all air.

- Trip

Do you other guys with satellite have the program guide information for WILM? I have Dish Network and still am not getting the program guide for this channel. Not sure if this is a Dish issue or WILM issue.

WILM program guide is all good on Directv.

WILM program guide is all good on Directv.
all good with directv guide must be dish

UNC-TV's digital services changed this morning. Click here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14737849#post14737849) for more details.

It's weird to see WWAY news on WILM. Anyone else watch it yet?

I know they're on the air, but I'm trying to find out if they're multicasting the 5 services that the full-service stations all air.


I haven't seen anyone in the market who can say they see them (digital W51CW) on the air... though a license to cover the CP is indeed a decent sign. Can't someone in Wilmington fire up the DTV converter box and answer?

BTW, the UNC change to the mixed HD/regular/upconvert channel is apparently nationwide via PBS, eventually. Our secondary PBS affiliate has announced it is making the switch on November 1st.

BTW, the UNC change to the mixed HD/regular/upconvert channel is apparently nationwide via PBS, eventually. Our secondary PBS affiliate has announced it is making the switch on November 1st.

The 24/7 PBS-HD feed goes away on 02/17/09, and is replaced by the alternate PBS-X HD schedule. That's why so many stations are moving away from the 24/7 HD.

Technically speaking they could pick up PBS-X HD, but it would be out of pattern.

- Trip

I haven't seen anyone in the market who can say they see them (digital W51CW) on the air... though a license to cover the CP is indeed a decent sign. Can't someone in Wilmington fire up the DTV converter box and answer?

At my end something is weird with this channel. When I scan with my Dish Network box it picks up W51CW with a strong 90% signal but will not tune to the channel when I go to it in the program guide. My digital tv will not pick up the channel at all.

At my end something is weird with this channel. When I scan with my Dish Network box it picks up W51CW with a strong 90% signal but will not tune to the channel when I go to it in the program guide. My digital tv will not pick up the channel at all.

That is odd.

The Dish Network stuff I can understand, because the satellite providers key off the program guide even if the signal does not exist...and it's quite likely W51CW is not in the Dish program guide.

Is that 90% signal digital or analog? W51CW was supposed to flash cut on 51, so it could be either. If the digital TV isn't picking it up, it could still be in analog.

We still have no evidence the station actually did as it said it would, and go digital.

Well, yesterday WSFX-DT applied to boost power too. They want to go up to 190 kW from the same antenna.

- Trip

Well, yesterday WSFX-DT applied to boost power too. They want to go up to 190 kW from the same antenna.

- Trip

They will get my viewing. The Myrtle Beach stations do not have a week end news at 10:00 & also I like to keep up with news in NC. So I used to watch them for the 10:00pm news on the weekends. I could receive the analog 26 all the time. I could receive WSFX-DT also when they first went on the air. But in the past 5 months or so their signal is lower. I now receive WECT fine since they moved the WWAY tower. WECT & WSFX are almost at the same power. So I do not understand why unless the WSFX DT transmitter has a weak power amp output tube. I still receive ch 26 analog with the digital warning on the screen. Maybe when the analog is shut down they can take the tube from the analog transmitter & put it in the digital transmitter to get the power back up.

David,

I have noticed as well that WSFX isn't what it once was. I never had signal problems with them until the last few months. I still get the signal, but it will get weak and go blank at times. When I lowered my antenna for Hanna, the signal was much higher though, but unfortunately I couldn't keep it low without sawing off mast... If you can, try lowering the antenna around 4 feet and see what it does.

Can someone else confirm for me that Dolby Digital 5.1 has vanished from WECT. The DD light still fires, but produces only two channels (DD 2.0). My last two SNF games have been stereo only. I called NBC master control tonight during the Nightly News and confirmed it was a 6-channel show with dialog on channel 3. But it's stereo here at the house.

I was watching SNF games in 5.1 until 2 games ago. I confirmed it's not the DVR. The Olympics leftovers are still DD 5.1.

Just wondering if anyone else noticed. PM me if you noticed when 5.1 vanished. I'll call WECT tomorrow and see what happened.

However, it's nice to see WECT newscasts in HD.

Thanks.

Wendel

Can someone else confirm for me that Dolby Digital 5.1 has vanished from WECT. The DD light still fires, but produces only two channels (DD 2.0). My last two SNF games have been stereo only. I called NBC master control tonight during the Nightly News and confirmed it was a 6-channel show with dialog on channel 3. But it's stereo here at the house.

I was watching SNF games in 5.1 until 2 games ago. I confirmed it's not the DVR. The Olympics leftovers are still DD 5.1.

Just wondering if anyone else noticed. PM me if you noticed when 5.1 vanished. I'll call WECT tomorrow and see what happened.

However, it's nice to see WECT newscasts in HD.

Thanks.

Wendel


WECT Chief Engineer Dan Ullmer confirmed DD encoder went down for the count, at least, 2 weeks ago. No ETA on repair.
It would be good if somebody else E_Mailed Dan for an update as, I think, he may be tired of seeing mine!
dullmer@wect.com

I miss dolby on 6.1 too, but they may have had to send off for parts or something... Also the analogs are off now, so they are probably more concerned with getting power boosted for WECT

WECT Chief Engineer Dan Ullmer confirmed DD encoder went down for the count, at least, 2 weeks ago. No ETA on repair.
It would be good if somebody else E_Mailed Dan for an update as, I think, he may be tired of seeing mine!
dullmer@wect.com

Thanks. I emailed. Waiting to hear back.

I was watching SNF games in 5.1 until 2 games ago. I confirmed it's not the DVR.


Whew, Wendell...you threw me for a loop for a second, until that second part. I was trying to figure out why you'd be watching SNF games on WECT, hearing audio that you were mixing yourself at the game site.

:D

Whew, Wendell...you threw me for a loop for a second, until that second part. I was trying to figure out why you'd be watching SNF games on WECT, hearing audio that you were mixing yourself at the game site.

:D

It's home, and I can shift time.

WS

6.2 the NBC weather plus is soon to be ending.

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/10/nbc_shutting_down_weather_plus.php

I have also been noticing very weak signals coming in from WECT the last several days. I assume this is due to them working on equipment possibly and turning the pwr down?

Interesting... wonder what if any programming they'll put on their .2 channel?

I posted on WWAY's digital transition forum today, confirming what others seem to be noticing, that the digital signals have been much more flaky since the transition. And like most of us I assume, I've been watching OTA digital for a few years now it seems, and I've got the TW Cable locals--and I've noticed much more signal breakup from both sources, and I'm getting more audio dropouts while the video still looks fine...

CW would be nice, Is anyone listening?

Thanks. I emailed. Waiting to hear back.

Anything on WECT and DD?

CW would be nice, Is anyone listening?

That's one idea, since down there you can't get a CW. Up here in the Greenville / New Bern market, WNCT has already said about a month ago that we would get an HD version toward the end of next year. It isn't clear whether or not they are going to build a whole new channel, or use new technology to offer two HD sources on the same channel... Right now we get a CW plus on 9.2 - Some area viewers down here as far south as Wilmington have been posting that they are receiving channel 9 and not the locals, probably because they are using those huge VHF antennas that they needed for the analogs.

I really don't think two different weather channels are needed in this small market anyway, so I don't consider wx plus ending any big loss.

Irony: One Tree Hill is filmed in Wilmington, yet you can't get CW OTA, or on Dish--don't know about DirecTV. You can get CW on TW cable...

But please don't suggest a CW in HD on the .2 channel--picture quality would suffer greatly...

Irony: One Tree Hill is filmed in Wilmington, yet you can't get CW OTA, or on Dish--don't know about DirecTV. You can get CW on TW cable...

But please don't suggest a CW in HD on the .2 channel--picture quality would suffer greatly...

Up here, if you subscribe to the locals package with DIrectv, you can get CW on 385 as well as on the local CW.

I agree about suggesting HD on a .2, but there is technology to do it, and there is no idea just how we will be getting it when the time does come. I hope it isn't on a .2

Interesting... wonder what if any programming they'll put on their .2 channel?

My parents way up in MN get The Weather Channel OTA w/local on the 8s. Since NBC now owns The Weather Channel I wouldn't be surprised to see NBC allowing local affiliates to broadcast it OTA. Pure speculation

What a nice line-up this would be.

WWAY replacing their weather channel with The CW
WECT replacing WeatherPlus with The Weather Channel
WSFX brings back The Tube. I know not gonna happen but I miss it.
WILM I suppose could broadcast the WRAL news substation

No CW here in wilmington on directv.

Hi there folks,

My name is Steve and I work at WILM, the CBS affiliate. I have been reading some threads and was hoping I could get help from any Dish subscribers. Seems you have been unable to recieve WILM's EPG info on your Dish box? Hopefully that will be corrected at some point tomorrow (Friday). Please let me know if you do not have it corrected by Monday and I will continue to pursue solutions.

The problem, from what I'm told, has been that Dish never received our digital TSID # from the FCC. Now that they have this info, I'm told the problem will be solved.

On another note, I will not be checking this forum often, so if you need assistance, please call the station or email me: sklem at wilm-tv.com. (Replaced "@" with "at" to reduce spam)

Thanks!

we used to get it when it was ...whats the name before CW

Then they took it away and never gave it back.

CBS is broadcasting very nice signal here in ILM. I just cant get it most of the time , not sure if i need to tweak the antenna direction again, but in my opinion they have the BW to offer CW on the .2 and not take much of a hit. It would still be great HD quality. Just thoughts.

Nice to see we have a CBS contact here now.

Seems you have been unable to recieve WILM's EPG info on your Dish box? Hopefully that will be corrected at some point tomorrow (Friday). Please let me know if you do not have it corrected by Monday and I will continue to pursue solutions.

Thanks for the help getting this solved. EPG was up when I got home today. I called dish twice about this and they had no idea what I was talking about. Go figure. Thanks again.

I'd call Directv about not getting the CW, because customers in the Greenville market are still getting channel 385. I don't see why if they can give it to us that they can't give it to Wilmington? It is the CW out of Washington DC. We get that one and the CW+ from WNCT

I called DTV last night and you have to submit a waiver in order to receive CW. The CSR did that for me and said customers in Wilmington were eligible
for CW New York.

WHo do you submit the waiver to? There is no affiliate in Wilmington is there? When you get it, it will be the WNUV out of DC, I think instead of NY

I didn't understand that either but the CSR said they needed to submit one and they are doing it. I'll wait and see what happens. It should take 4 to 6 weeks.

Will that be an HD CW out of NY, DC?

I didnt know they could do a waiver req for CW.?

I had a waiver submitted by Directv to CW and within 24 hours I had CW out of DC

AFAIK, you can still submit your own waiver(s) online, here (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageIFnorail.jsp?assetId=P4880022).

There is no affiliate in Wilmington is there? When you get it, it will be the WNUV out of DC, I think instead of NYWNUV is out of Baltimore; WDCW is out of DC.

WNUV is out of Baltimore; WDCW is out of DC.

It is wrong on my D* receiver then. Not surprising...:rolleyes:

I just checked and I have the CW. Not hd and I don't know where it's form but I have it.

isnt there a distant network CW Feed in HD available?

Just curious without heading over to the dbstalk forums. thanks

No there isn't. There is a SD Superstations CW station available.

No there isn't. There is a SD Superstations CW station available.

WWMB in Florence Myrtle Beach has CW in hd. You would need a the strongest UHF antenna with a preamp to recieve it in Wilmington. I could receive WBTW 13 at Fort Caswell on a portable TV with rabbit ears. I am not sure if that was the normal condition thou. From what I read here it must not be the norm with so much intrest in getting WILM. WSFX could carry it on 26-2. But it would be sd.

I saw the green screen freeze just a couple of minutes ago that people have been talking about on the website of WWAY. This is during Dancing w/ the stars. It might be a microwave issue. I am able to view WTVD HD tonight, and the sound is horrible compared to WWAY. It sounds really hollow and you would expect a big market channel to be top notch, but it isn't.

I submitted a comment to wwaytv3.com

I saw the green screen freeze just a couple of minutes ago that people have been talking about on the website of WWAY. This is during Dancing w/ the stars. It might be a microwave issue. I am able to view WTVD HD tonight, and the sound is horrible compared to WWAY. It sounds really hollow and you would expect a big market channel to be top notch, but it isn't.

I submitted a comment to wwaytv3.comGreen freeze was a backhaul issue to the network. Problem was not a local one.

Does anyone have information about WECT increasing power yet? I can't tell much of a difference up here. Right now I am getting them at 85%, but at night signal goes up anyway usually... Some of my family to the west was wondering if they were still working on it.

LOL - I did my own searching and found the answers at WECT dot com's big switch ques. page. The week of Oct 27, WECT will increase power by 7 times what they have now. Their head engineer also stated that earlier they had some malfunctions, but I never noticed them thankfully. :) People in Duplin county did though.

Does anyone have information about WECT increasing power yet? I can't tell much of a difference up here. Right now I am getting them at 85%, but at night signal goes up anyway usually... Some of my family to the west was wondering if they were still working on it.

LOL - I did my own searching and found the answers at WECT dot com's big switch ques. page. The week of Oct 27, WECT will increase power by 7 times what they have now. Their head engineer also stated that earlier they had some malfunctions, but I never noticed them thankfully. :) People in Duplin county did though.

I wonder if they will get back to DD 5.1. Don Ulmer doesn't seem to be replying any more.

For some strange reason Directv now has WRDE-DT 59.1 out of Rehoboth Beach, DE in their guide for local OTA . I'm assuming they just screwed up something with the last software update a couple of days ago.

I do not claim to be the sharpest knife in the kitchen. I am just trying to figure things out. I assume that when you are stacking antennes to increase gain on one channel the antennas need to be exactly a full wave length apart or the boom of the top antenna should be a wave length higher that the antenna below. So if I was trying to receive ch 30 from a station & I have single channel 30 antennas I would mount the the top one aprox 20 " higher on the mast above the boom of the lower one. If I am correct the goal is the received signals will be in phase with each other. Of cource the lead in must be the same exact length to the point where the two leads are combined.

Now to my question. If that is lets say instead of a single channel antenna I use two UHF antennas. I would still use the same spacing rule for the channel that I want to receive, maybe still ch 30. If I mount these UHF yagi antennas 20" ; Then what will be the result of lets say ch 44 received through those antennas. What will happen to ch 44 since it is a higher freq & a shorter wave length thus requiring a differnet spacing between the stacked antennas. Will the ch 44 signals be out of phase from the antennas because the are seperated for ch30 & not 44. Then if the antennas were spaced for ch44 then what would be the result for receive signals fo ch 30.

Dave,

I haven't forgot you, just been too busy for my own good. Check out this URL for some ideas on antenna stacking.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html

Big upgrade for TWC-HD subscribers

20+ HD channels will be added over the next few months.

Oct 29th
Speed HD - Channel 952
ESPNU HD - Channel 955
Discovery HD - Channel 969
Bio HD - Channel 977

Coming soon:
Planet Green, CNN, Disney Channel, History, Animal Planet, ABC Family, Lifetime, ESPNews, The Learning Channel, FSNS HD, Cinemax E, Cinemax W, Starz!, TMC, The Weather Channel HD, FX HD and Hallmark HD

Link (http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?database=001news.db&command=viewone&id=2999&op=t)

I believe WECT has turned up the power now. Last night and this morning I was getting them at 91% right along with WWAY at 92%, WSFX was only around 60%. Check out your signal meters.

I can tell WECT turned up the power. I've hardly ever got them in Pembroke. Was picking them up lastnight. Also to my suprise :eek: getting a brokeup signal now (mid-afternoon).

Take a look at the news on WWAY. :)

Did they go HD? I wasn't home to look.

Almost. 16X9 though with some new graphics.

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=9266108&nav=menu157_2
proves what has already been discussed here.

Last night and this morning I am noticing about 35-40% less signal strength than I had before on 6.1 WECT. I'm down to around 50-55%. There must be some problem.

Noticed a problem last night during the nightly news, came back some this morning but now I'm getting a big fat 0%.

Since I am now able to incorporate directional antenna patterns using the FCC polar plot data and since WECT has (had) increased its ERP, I decided to re-do the coverage maps (attached). A comparison showing the old analog 6 coverage area is included as well as the 98kW facility.

Hopefully, WECT will return to normal operations soon.

Anybody heard anything more on WECT 5.1? Dan Ullmer doesn't seem to respond to E_Mails any more?

Also I wish WWAY hadn't gone to 16/9 until they got some HD cameras!

Don't know about 5.1, but at least when they are supposed to show an HD program they do it, WITN half the time is in SD when WECT is in HD...

I hope WECT gets it's signal back up soon. I'm afraid they are going to loose a lot of OTA viewers with this weak signal.

I have an AM21 Tuner from Directv that only works with a Directv HD receiver.

I have a small UHF antenna pointed toward Grifton. This is strange to me how I pickup Wilmington stations in that orientation.

Here are my signal levels.
Wilmington
3-1,2,3 94
6-1,2 58
26-1 51
39-1-5 95

Greenville,New Bern,Washington
7-1,2 94
8-1 0
14-1 0
9-1,2 48
12-1,2 93
35-1-4 65

I do not have any drop outs with 6,26 and 9. That sames strange

If I do not continue receiving 6 and 26 as reliably as usual I will put my antenna on the rotor that I already have.

I have an AM21 Tuner from Directv that only works with a Directv HD receiver.

I have a small UHF antenna pointed toward Grifton. This is strange to me how I pickup Wilmington stations in that orientation.

Here are my signal levels.
Wilmington
3-1,2,3 94
6-1,2 58
26-1 51
39-1-5 95

Greenville,New Bern,Washington
7-1,2 94
8-1 0
14-1 0
9-1,2 48
12-1,2 93
35-1-4 65

I do not have any drop outs with 6,26 and 9. That sames strange



Your numbers aren't too far off of mine, except I can get 8-1 when I turn my rotator. I keep my UHF turned toward Brunswick county and get Grifton off the back of the antenna. It seems as if you are either in Onslow or Pender county. It's nice to be able to get two markets, especially since Wilmington's weather coverage is better often times...

Pender County just WSW of Wallace

Anyone know whats up with WECT the last week or so? I was getting them at 100% but ever since they claimed to have increased their power they are coming in the low 70s and cutting out.

I'm considering dumping cable and going OTA. I have tested a few indoor antennas and they do a decent job of receiving the local Fox, NBC, ABC and PBS affiliates, but I'd like to receive the WILM signal too. I'm assuming that I will need either a exterior mounted or attic mounted antenna to get CBS.

I live near Monkey Junction, and I would prefer to have an attic mounted antenna for aesthetics and HOA reasons. Any antenna recommendations? Thank you for your thoughts

-RobW

WECT signal seems to be back at the 98kW power level. I am assuming something blew on the transmitter. I was getting them at 91% when the crawl ran saying they had reached full power. It would have been nice if they had crawled that they were having problems, but if they did I haven't seen it.

On the antenna, I would say go to Radio Shack and try their U-75R UHF only yagi style. That is what I use and it does very well. If it doesn't work, you should be able to return it.

If you want to spend lots of money and get the very best out there, go for a channel master 4228 or the antenna's direct 91XG.

I'm considering dumping cable and going OTA. I have tested a few indoor antennas and they do a decent job of receiving the local Fox, NBC, ABC and PBS affiliates, but I'd like to receive the WILM signal too. I'm assuming that I will need either a exterior mounted or attic mounted antenna to get CBS.

I live near Monkey Junction, and I would prefer to have an attic mounted antenna for aesthetics and HOA reasons. Any antenna recommendations? Thank you for your thoughts

-RobW

I agree with jspENC about the U-75R. It is small enough so that if you move it to your roof of your house it will hard to notice. seeing it on the roof. If they have dish-network & direct tv dish mounted on houses in your neighbor hood this antenna on the roof should be fine. It is harder to notice that the satalight dish. The 4228 is big and will stand out on the roof. Also it about 4 feet vertical square. So it will require a lot of space to mount it in the attic.

If you use the 300 ohm lead the Radio shack suggest, make sure you have 3 twist per foot. 300 ohm wire does not have as much loss as coax. But it need more care when being installed. Coax does not need the extra care when being installed. But it has a lot more loss. Depending on the length of the coax you may lose the weak stations. Thus a amp will be required.

Last night and this morning I am noticing about 35-40% less signal strength than I had before on 6.1 WECT. I'm down to around 50-55%. There must be some problem.

Hello all,
The transition to digital television has been very difficult for us and we have been working many long hours. I apologize for not keeping up with all the email and DTV forms. Here is the latest on what is going on at WECT:

Transmitter power – we are now maximized on power from the Winnabow tower in the center or Brunswick County at 720,000 watts ERP. We moved our transmitter from Delco in less then 30 days, a job that usually takes three months or more. Unfortunately, we are breaking it in on the air so we have had some outages but none in the last 7 days and full power is holding.

You cannot determine television power levels by the signal strength reading on your DTV or converter box. These readings, often shown in percent or 1 to 100 scale, use an algorithm that looks at signal to noise, power, and reliability of the data. If you have reflections arriving at the antenna, or an interfering signal, you will get a much lower reading. For example, I was replacing our yagi antenna at the station with a panel antenna that had a broader pattern so it could pick up signals from both Delco and Winnabow without turning. I peaked the antenna with my spectrum analyzer looking at all the signals in the band at once, the very best way to set up an antenna. According to the spectrum analyzer, I had more signal then before. When connected to my HD sets, the reading was lower then when I started. I put an RF booster amp on and the signal strength dropped even more. Upon more careful inspection of the spectrum analyzer display, I could see a very faint signal behind our HD carrier. Apparently, the panel antenna was picking up an unwanted interfering signal on our frequency that the yagi was successfully tuning out.

Another thing. I'm sure many of you have noticed the signal going to black from time to time. It drives me nuts tracking these problems down because it can come from so many places. Because the signal is digital now, it is generally perfect or nothing. If you were watching analog and someone turned on a shaver, you might see sparkles on the screen. With digital, it will go to black. You never know what is going on like you could figure out before with analog. If the digital signal becomes corrupt at the point of origination, satellite uplink, downlink, in the station processing, on the digital microwave to the transmitter, in the transmitter, at the cable company, or interference in your home, it will go to black on your screen. We have to eliminate what is not, before we can figure out what it is.

Audio is another thing with many similar frustrations. We have lip sync, popping, and drop outs when it becomes corrupt or mismatched to video. We have had so many issues from many sources including NBC network that I have had to temporary bypass the 5.1 surround sound to stabilize the audio for the 98% or our viewers that are not using it. This has drastically reduced many of the issues. We will introduce surround sound after NBC completes the conversion to all new satellite receive equipment and we have had a chance to stabilize our transmitter site and new local HD news control room.

Please be patient with us. The digital transition has set us back 20 or more years in equipment stability and reliability. I have only scratched the surface on the vast number of issues and problems we are working through right now. We still don't have much of the test equipment or expertise to fix every problem quickly but I can assure you we will improve over time just like when color television was introduced or when TV first came on the air.

Dan Ullmer
WECT/WSFX Chief Engineer

I also live near monkey junction and I use the TERK HDTVa antenna available from Best Buy for around $80. This is by far the best indoor amplified antenna I have tested and have recieved line of site DTV signals 60 miles or more from the transmitter. There are several other amplified antennas like the Philips for about $30 dollars that will also work well in the Wilmington area. Just make sure you don't have metal siding, roof, or aluminum faced insulation or your indoor reception results will be disappointing. Also be ready to experment with location and position while vieweing the signal stength indicator on your DTV or converter box. Outdoor antennas will always offer the very best performance but many people have good luck with the right indoor antenna properly setup.

Thanks for all the information Ulltron. For many days during that week when you advertised by crawl that you had gone full power, I was getting indication by Digital Stream converter that WECT was coming in at 91%. Then after a week and a half approximately, I dropped down to the 50% to 60% range and holding there. This must have been when you turned up the power all the way, and it could be I am getting more signal and it is leaning toward overload and it made the meter drop down. I have absolutely no pixelation or interference showing up however, which is all that is needed anyway. I'm glad that there is no issues as it looked like maybe a tube had blown or something going by the convertor box. I still get WWAY at 92% and tonight WSFX at 75%.


Looking forward to Dolby again, as your configuration sounded really good before you had to take it down. Your station wins hands down on sound and picture quality compared to WITN out of Washington, so you aren't doing as bad as you might think! :)

WECT signal increased from 60 back to 90 here in Sunset Beach this afternoon. I had been receiving them at 60 since that famed Friday that everyone talks about when they dropped 30 points.

Check that again...dropped back to 60...can't imagine what's going on

Maybe Ulltron did find something? It pays to post it when you notice a change. :)

Maybe Ulltron did find something? It pays to post it when you notice a change. :)

My hat is off to this form and the good people posting here.

After checking on this form the other night, we have been digging deeper into the complaints of reduced signal strength. We found yesterday, that our power is good but the quality of the 8-VSB signal data was poor on the high power transmitter we just installed last month. This results in lower signal readings on your DTVs and converter boxes and makes our signal a bit harder to pickup. This morning, we switched exciters and made some adjustments with help from the manufacture. Our signal is now far improved and I think you will all fine a major increase in your readings.

The readings I get on my Toshiba HD set in my Wilmington office are as follows:

WECT - 99
WSFX - 92
WWAY - 93
WUNJ - 95
ION - 78

My roof top WineGard panel antenna is not capturing WILM DT.

Thanks again for your valuable input.

Dan Ullmer
WECT/WSFX Chief Engineer

Check that again...dropped back to 60...can't imagine what's going on
We switched to our backup Harris transmitter (2.5kw TPO) after going off the air for 10 mintues around 11:30am and stayed on it for several hours. Our full power Thales transmitter (17.5Kw TPO) logic failed. We went back to the Thales mid afternoon after making repairs.

I confirmed 8-VSB modulation problems during this outage which I explain more fully in my other posting today. Because of this 8-VSB problem, many viewers actually saw a better signal from our backup transmitter then our main. You guys are quick to see and log the changes - wow!

Thanks to Dan and Billy for reading and trusting that the members of this forum can provide some valuable feedback...

A while back WILM (WRAL) I think finally listened to a few of the more vocal viewers that the color quality of their digital-HD broadcast was really bad. They found at least one equipment problem, and when fixed, the image quality went way back up and was comparable to the other locals...

I know I've been watching HD programming for about 8 years now, and when OTA digital went live, I was tuning that in also... probably like a lot of us, I've been through (i.e. used) about 3-4 generations of different OTA digital tuners.

There is a depth of user experience in this forum that is very willing to provide feedback... :)

I too have been noticing the signal issues, but figured it was mentioned enough in the forum, plus I'll just switch to my cable feed for network HD if needed... got to the point where I tried to re-orient the antenna in my attic, and added a preamp, all to no avail.

So it's good to hear things seem to be fixed...

To those with Directv, I normally try to get waivers from the local stations(ABC,CBS,FOX,NBC) every 90 days or so hoping to be granted permission to receive New York HD feeds. For the last 2 years or so the waviers were always denied. Just today I received the postcard from Directv that all have been granted except ABC. Now I don't know if the locals (except ABC) have changed their policies lately or this just slipped by somehow? Anyway I called Directv and added the NY feeds for $1.99 month each. I know since I can get all the locals OTA now in HD this is not that big of a deal as when CBS was not in town but to those interested you might give it a retry. Just checked my signals and all the locals are at 100% including WECT. Good Job Ulltron!!

You need to give us a report now on the difference between DirecTv and OTA quality... (and you're probably right, it slipped through)

Just checked my signal reading on 6 and it is peaking again at 91%! Not bad for over 60 miles away. Great work Ulltron, and glad we could be of help.

You need to give us a report now on the difference between DirecTv and OTA quality... (and you're probably right, it slipped through)
Spend some time last night going back and forth between the locals and the NY feeds. Was driving my wife crazy during the process but they look the same to me with my old eyes and my wife said the same.

Spend some time last night going back and forth between the locals and the NY feeds. Was driving my wife crazy during the process but they look the same to me with my old eyes and my wife said the same.

What size/type screen/tv?

What size/type screen/tv?
65 Big inches - Panny 65pz850u plasma, had it a couple of months now. Great set if I say so myself.

Plasma? That's why my lights dim, when you turn that beast on! LOL...

Seriously, did your electric bill go up?

I've got what's now an ancient tv and technology, Pioneer 58" RPTV, about 8 years old I think... calibrated by Gregg Loewen... still kicking... biggest downer is no HDMI input, only component. Thought about picking up the Samsung LED DLP, but just can't justify it when the Pioneer is still going strong... sigh...

This set replaced a 5yr old 50in sony RPTV which drew about 175 watt when it was on. The plasma will jump about quite a bit in wattage use depending whats showing on the panel. Have a Cyberpower UPS which gives all kinds on readings about power in and usage. The plasma's average usage runs 375-475 watts so I guessing maybe $6-7 bucks more a month based on my 2 month history. The set has a max from the manual if I remember of 750 wts but that would be with a all white screen and the settings maxed out. I have a 2 yr old 46in sony LCD XBR bravia which is nice but this plasma is much nicer.

Did any one see The Sound of music in HD?

I watched it in 16:9 from WWAY & it looked just like it did at the movies. Why any one would pay for digital cable when they can get something this great for free is beyond me. It would seem that with so many out of work or short of money that TV cable would be the first bill to get rid of. I am still trying to get my head above water since the gas spike last summer thus, TV cable of any kind is out of the question. I look at it as a waste of money.

WWAY must be in surround sound. It also sounded great, just like the movie. WWAY sounded better than WPDE 15 so I watched WWAY.

Great job WWAY. God bless WWAY

I watched sound of music on my antenna too, and on WWAY. :)

Cable is going up from $8 to $11 just for the few broadcast stations they have here in Jacksonville. I will not have cable, it's crazy what they charge for what you get...

TW cable in Wilm is also raising prices, what I don't understand is why I'm paying more for the basic lifeline service if all the other new additions are in other packages??? But what it provided was CBS HD when WILM was not yet OTA HD nor higher power.

However, I am also slowly beginning to conclude that I may no longer need cable, and may jettison my Dish HD only package, although I do like the USA programming like Psych and Burn Notice...

WSFX was granted construction permit to raise power to 190kW. So far I can't tell that they raised power any.

On the cable prices, I have never seen such an increase as this one. I believe they are doing it because of the digital transition, thinking people will stick with them because they don't think they can get the signal with antennas, and these new generations have never used antennas and know nothing about them, or think it's beneath them to use one. Some also think a dish is not good enough for them. I have heard so many mis-informed on satellite it's unreal. They believe all that stuff they are fed about the dishes from Warner cable.:eek::rolleyes:

WSFX was granted construction permit to raise power to 190kW. So far I can't tell that they raised power any.

On the cable prices, I have never seen such an increase as this one. I believe they are doing it because of the digital transition, thinking people will stick with them because they don't think they can get the signal with antennas, and these new generations have never used antennas and know nothing about them, or think it's beneath them to use one. Some also think a dish is not good enough for them. I have heard so many mis-informed on satellite it's unreal. They believe all that stuff they are fed about the dishes from Warner cable.:eek::rolleyes:

I agree with you 100 percent.

When we have a drought folks cut out any thing not required for life. Like for example watering the lawns & washing cars. But yet when money is in short supply the refuse to cut off the TV cable & use an antenna.
What is even more foolish is that they will pay for the cable TV with credit cards. Thus borowing money to pay the cable TV & lossing the house.

But yet will not even try even an $4.75 bow tie from Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062017


But you said it well & I am sure you are right about why they do it.

Been living here without cable of satellite since DirecTV took the networks, say about 10 years now. Especially now that they are in pristine HDTV, the 5 networks and what I get on my computer is fine with me. There are so many p2p so that I get any sports game and news channels too. If I was paying $70 for cable (as I hear many are) that's $8,400 I've saved. With 4 kids, that money can always be used, and has, somewhere else.
Now you know why I was so thrilled when WILM went live!
Incus

Anyone know what happened to all the weather guys at channel 6? I haven't seen two of them on lately, and they are no longer on the website about us section.

I was wondering the same thing about the weather guys. Odd to have 2 leave at the same time.

Darn! Google is amazing... looked up "George Elliott WECT" and found this...

http://forums.starnewsonline.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1661088265/m/4941017328/r/4661019428

Wow. George had been there a long time too. I thought he was comical, and not a clown like what that Gotobozo said. I don't care for the others all that much. Craig was good, but is gone too it looks like. WWAY will get my viewing more often now.

Ahh George was the only reason I ever watched local news.

Can anyone confirmed WSFX power boost or is it still just on paper? It's the one station that cuts out on me when I tweak for WILM.

Hi all,
I just joined this group. I just got a new TV as a Christmas, and had a great time watching it over the weekend, even though the Carolina Panthers let me down.
I subscribe to Time Warner Cable. Over the weekend I stumbled across a notice that said it would be adding Sci-Fi HD and USA HD to the channel lineup on Feb. 13.
Can't find that now. Does anyone know if Time Warner plans to add Sci-Fi to its high-definition lineup?

Hi all,
I just joined this group. I just got a new TV as a Christmas, and had a great time watching it over the weekend, even though the Carolina Panthers let me down.
I subscribe to Time Warner Cable. Over the weekend I stumbled across a notice that said it would be adding Sci-Fi HD and USA HD to the channel lineup on Feb. 13.
Can't find that now. Does anyone know if Time Warner plans to add Sci-Fi to its high-definition lineup?

Still happening.... look here...

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/programming/channelChangeUpdate.html

Still happening.... look here...



That's great news, tarheelone. Thanks!

Looks like WECT is cleaning house, either voluntarily or otherwise...

That's great news, tarheelone. Thanks!

The one and same Si from the Star News?

Lots of people apparently fled Dish to DirecTv to get USA and SciFi in HD... some good programming, but probably a lot cheaper to go with satellite rather than cable...

Check out the slide on WSFX 26.2 - thistv will come on the air on the 2nd of February.

I cant wait to catch up on Mister ED :rolleyes:
ThisTV (http://www.thistvnetwork.net)

I wish the CW would be available

The one and same Si from the Star News?



Yes, it's me. My wife got me a new TV for Christmas.

I was disappointed to see WSFX hi-def freezing and pixellating during much of the Arizona-Philadelphia NFL game on Sunday. Wasn't happening on their regular channel, but I remember a Panthers game earlier this year that was almost unwatchable for the same reason.
I don't know whether it's cable, the station or the network. Didn't seem to happen during the commercials.

New to the board. I've got Direct TV and obviously couldn't get locals in HD. I bought & installed an "over the air" antenna. So far it has been great but I can't get WWAY-10.
Any help on this?

New to the board. I've got Direct TV and obviously couldn't get locals in HD. I bought & installed an "over the air" antenna. So far it has been great but I can't get WWAY-10.
Any help on this?


Try on channel 46. This is the real channel assigned to them by the FCC in the frequency band 662 mhz - 668 mhz that WWAY is really using.

Is WSFX up to 190 k power yet?

I am looking forward to watching 26-2 of the reruns.

Does anyone have the new DTV Pal DVR box from dish network?

I am thinking about ditching pay tv and going with just OTA but I really want DVR and onscreen program guide information.

Do any of you guys know if all 5 local stations broadcast the 7-day program guide?

I'm pretty sure they are required to have a program guide. That being said, I've seen older generation digital tuners that are so sensitive to the PSIP data stream, that they will choke on the slightest data error...

I use Titan TV for scheduling info, along with the paper, so I don't normally look at any station provided guide--couldn't say how well they are working.

That Dish box looks interesting. The closest you'll come to that is buying a digital tuner card or USB stick, and using a computer to record and play back programming. The Dish box, at $250, is quite a bit less than if you rolled your own system, unless you've got a computer sitting around doing nothing...

Check the AVS topics on that Dish box. It's getting some bad buzz.

New to the board. I've got Direct TV and obviously couldn't get locals in HD. I bought & installed an "over the air" antenna. So far it has been great but I can't get WWAY-10.
Any help on this?

Did you mean WILM -10? They are on digital channel 40 coming off a tower due west of Wilmington. If you are trying to get a channel 10 digital, the nearest is WNCT Greenville.

Is WSFX up to 190 k power yet?

I am looking forward to watching 26-2 of the reruns.

I don't know, but my signal meter has been reading higher on that channel for the last few weeks. I see that 26.2 will have some horror movies on it at least.:D lol

I did not change anything in my neck of the woods, and for the first time since WILM-DT was broadcasting in HD, i now get it. Im in Lords Creek, maybe a 1/4mile past the intersection of ashley highschool and that private airfield.

I think they did something to increase the radius of their signal because I have not really dont anything with my antenna in months. Its still at the same angle from the roof.

This is something else...

http://www.w4cl.net/fox/funny-pictures-your-rabbit-ears-no-longer-work.jpg

Shows how uninformed some people really are I guess.

I watched sound of music on my antenna too, and on WWAY. :)

Cable is going up from $8 to $11 just for the few broadcast stations they have here in Jacksonville. I will not have cable, it's crazy what they charge for what you get...A friend who lives in Jacksonville told me this morning he is suddenly getting HD channels via QAM he hasn't been getting before. He said he is now getting network affiliated HD channels he would normally get with an antenna such as WNCT, WITN, WCTI and WFXI. And there's digital info included to remap channels to 9.1, 7.1, etc. But it seems the Wilmington feeds may have been stopped.

That's good to hear. I have enjoyed a couple of movies already on "ThisTV" now playing on 26.2
They seem to be leaving the station legal ID up all the time down in the bottom right corner. Maybe it's just temporary until everyone realizes what they are watching.

That's good to hear. I have enjoyed a couple of movies already on "ThisTV" now playing on 26.2
They seem to be leaving the station legal ID up all the time down in the bottom right corner. Maybe it's just temporary until everyone realizes what they are watching.

They probably don't have the equipment set up to turn it on and off at the top of the hour for their FCC-mandated legal ID, and thus have to leave it up all the time until that gets sorted.

(I know you know why it's there, the explanation is for others who may not. :D)

- Trip

I'm thinking about getting the Channel Master 4221 for the Monkey Junction area. Does anyone have experience with using it? Will I need a separate antenna to pick up VHF?

I'll be mounting it in an attic with no more than 12' of cable.

I live in the area and the 4221 will not disappoint. Signal strength from 85 - 100
on everything except WILM and its about 70.

Maybe it's time to ask again. Seems like a long time since te last information.

I'm thinking about getting the Channel Master 4221 for the Monkey Junction area. Does anyone have experience with using it? Will I need a separate antenna to pick up VHF?

I'll be mounting it in an attic with no more than 12' of cable.

Interested in building one yourself? You may even have enough spare parts sitting around your house to do it for free. This thread (http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613&st=1200&p=278925&#entry278925)has tons of info on building different antennas, but you'll need to register. That link goes straight to a drawing for a 4221/DB4 clone.

I built one for my parents' attic over in Whiteville. Using bits and pieces learned in that Lumenlab thread, I tuned it for a center frequency of channel 37. With no reflector, they get all Wilmington stations except WILM using the tuner in a Dish VIP722. Not to worry though, they also get Fox and CBS out of M-B/Florence from the backside. Bonus points for Florence CBS (WBTW?) broadcasting in 5.1 while WILM/WECT are 2.0!

The whiskers are just stripped 14/2 Nomex I had laying around from another project. 2"x4", some wide brass washer from Lowes, wood screws, and a balun...good to go. Any conductor that will hold its shape can be used for the whiskers...some have used metal clothes hangers, just gotta make sure you strip off any protective coating at the contact points.

-Brent

Interested in building one yourself? You may even have enough spare parts sitting around your house to do it for free. This thread (http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613&st=1200&p=278925&#entry278925)has tons of info on building different antennas, but you'll need to register. That link goes straight to a drawing for a 4221/DB4 clone.

I built one for my parents' attic over in Whiteville. Using bits and pieces learned in that Lumenlab thread, I tuned it for a center frequency of channel 37. With no reflector, they get all Wilmington stations except WILM using the tuner in a Dish VIP722. Not to worry though, they also get Fox and CBS out of M-B/Florence from the backside. Bonus points for Florence CBS (WBTW?) broadcasting in 5.1 while WILM/WECT are 2.0!

The whiskers are just stripped 14/2 Nomex I had laying around from another project. 2"x4", some wide brass washer from Lowes, wood screws, and a balun...good to go. Any conductor that will hold its shape can be used for the whiskers...some have used metal clothes hangers, just gotta make sure you strip off any protective coating at the contact points.

-Brent

Thanks! Now that looks like a nice little weekend project. I may not even need the sonic screwdriver for this one.

Forgive my ignorance about the Wilmington, NC market as a whole...when Wilmington became the first so-called test market for digital TV, didn't the local PBS station remain on the air? If so, did anything change in the market now that February 17th is finally here?

WUNJ is scheduled to kill analog today.

- Trip

Thanks! Now that looks like a nice little weekend project. I may not even need the sonic screwdriver for this one.

Meant to ask in my original reply. What VHF channels are you worried about? According to tvfool.com, even after the transition, all of our locals will be UHF, the lowest frequency being WUNJ on channel 29. The closest VHF channel to my Pine Valley address is 72 miles away...WCTI, channel 12 in New Bern.

BTW, to save you time finding all of the math in the Lumenlab, these are my numbers if you want to use them. I optimized for channel 37's wavelength as the center channel for our locals (29-46). The 4221/DB4s are centered somewhere around 50+, IIRC, mostly to reduce size for packaging and aesthetics...higher wavelength = shorter elements/vertical spacing. Based on channel 37 being 609.25 Mhz, my elements are supposed to be ~16.66" long with ~15.79" vertical spacing. Even .25" tolerance probably won't matter at our distance to the transmitters. I had the Nomex laying around, but Lowes has 20' rolls of 10 or 12g copper ground wire for $20ish if you're feeling spendy.

-Brent

Meant to ask in my original reply. What VHF channels are you worried about? According to tvfool.com, even after the transition, all of our locals will be UHF, the lowest frequency being WUNJ on channel 29. The closest VHF channel to my Pine Valley address is 72 miles away...WCTI, channel 12 in New Bern.

BTW, to save you time finding all of the math in the Lumenlab, these are my numbers if you want to use them. I optimized for channel 37's wavelength as the center channel for our locals (29-46). The 4221/DB4s are centered somewhere around 50+, IIRC, mostly to reduce size for packaging and aesthetics...higher wavelength = shorter elements/vertical spacing. Based on channel 37 being 609.25 Mhz, my elements are supposed to be ~16.66" long with ~15.79" vertical spacing. Even .25" tolerance probably won't matter at our distance to the transmitters. I had the Nomex laying around, but Lowes has 20' rolls of 10 or 12g copper ground wire for $20ish if you're feeling spendy.

-Brent

I guess my understanding was that VHF is the lower number channels, and UHF were the higher channels. So channels 3.1 and 6.1 would need a VHF antenna to pick them up.

I have a small powered indoor antenna that picks up 3.1, 6.1, 26.1 and some PBS channels. It has both the rabbit ears and a large mesh-y disc for picking up UHF. I guess that's why I assumed I'd need both. I also can't pick up any CBS stations with it, so that's why I'm considering going with a bigger attic-mounted antenna.

In an unrelated question, is there a wilmington OTA channel that broadcasts the city/county council meetings? I seem to have lost that one.

I guess my understanding was that VHF is the lower number channels, and UHF were the higher channels. So channels 3.1 and 6.1 would need a VHF antenna to pick them up.

3.1 and 6.1 are the virtual channels. The actual channels for WWAY and WECT are 46 and 44, respectively.

This is why I don't like virtual channels. It confuses viewers as to where they are actually receiving the stations. Eventually, viewers need to learn that virtual channels are just that and that 2.1 is no different than 69.1. TV's should make it easier to show the real channel, however.

Did analog WUNJ change over to a nightlight?

WUNJ is airing information on digital TV, antennas, convertor boxes, etc. Still a strong analog broadcast signal. I think it is a NAB infomercial type PSA.

I guess my understanding was that VHF is the lower number channels, and UHF were the higher channels. So channels 3.1 and 6.1 would need a VHF antenna to pick them up.

I have a small powered indoor antenna that picks up 3.1, 6.1, 26.1 and some PBS channels. It has both the rabbit ears and a large mesh-y disc for picking up UHF. I guess that's why I assumed I'd need both. I also can't pick up any CBS stations with it, so that's why I'm considering going with a bigger attic-mounted antenna.

In an unrelated question, is there a wilmington OTA channel that broadcasts the city/county council meetings? I seem to have lost that one.

There are NO VHF signals in the Wilmington DMA. If you would like to get WBTW 13 out of Florence or WCTI 12 out of New Bern, you will need a VHF such as an antennacraft Y-10 on June 12th.

I would get it, because I like to get as many channels as possible!:D

WUNJ is airing information on digital TV, antennas, convertor boxes, etc. Still a strong analog broadcast signal. I think it is a NAB infomercial type PSA.

That is the one all night light stations appear to be running.

Maybe it's time to ask again. Seems like a long time since te last information.


I meant to post on this subject myself, and kept forgetting it... :rolleyes:

I also was getting irritating little snaps and pops in the audio on both 6.1 and 26.1, but haven't noticed it lately as much. It seemed to be happening when shows were not in HD.

I hope the engineer hasn't forgotten us! I haven't been able to watch a lot of TV lately due to going down there to Wilmington all the time right down there on 17th street!!!:) What beautiful weather too.

Was it just my eyes, or was that TV 3 newscast in HD?

Was it just my eyes, or was that TV 3 newscast in HD?

You are probably correct... a little birdie told me a few weeks back that new equipment had been installed (HD production switcher) and that the studio would be HD soon...

As a slight aside, a while back, WWAY's Hailey Winslow had a segment on using your computer to view tv/HD... possibly by mistake ;) my name was given to her as a reference source... :eek:

We talked for a fair while, but she only had about 90 seconds for her piece--tough to go into a lot of detail. I think she did a good job given those time restrictions...

Lucky you! :D

I saw something on Good Morning America a few weeks ago about using the internet to watch any cable/Sat channel you wanted for free and in HD, but I didn't catch but like the last 30 seconds. I don't even know what site they were talking about... It sounded interesting though.

I wish I had seen that piece on WWAY too.

You can always go to our website and pull up the old clips from past stories. The GMA show was talking about Hulu.com and of course ABC.com for getting tv from. Thanks to Marc for giving Hailey some input on that... he was a big help!

I've been doing this for a long time, and I am still amazed at how much difference there is in an HD newscast versus non-HD.

Thanks Billy. I'll check it out.

All the Wilmington HD newscasts makes me wish my county was in your market!

Here's the link to that story on our website.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/watching_tv_your_computer/01/2009

And the video....

http://www.wwaytv3.com/node/13442

:D

I've been doing this for a long time, and I am still amazed at how much difference there is in an HD newscast versus non-HD.

Billy,

Is the studio now doing HD or is it an SD upconversion?

I don't get the sense that it is full HD.

The studio shots are full 720P HD. We are currently still shooting field video (reporters stories) and live shots in SD widescreen and upconverting that, but we have plans on changing over to all HD in the very near future.

Maybe I am a bit more excited than others because I have more invested into getting from 80's model Sony studio cameras through an Ampex switcher that was probably older than most of the members on this forum... to full HD. I think the difference is night and day.

On a side note: I bought a CRT Phillips 36" HD tv back about 5 years ago when we first went on the air with HD. The picture was absolutely beautiful! I thought I had grown de-senstized to it over the years because things were not looking as good (at least to me), and even thought it might be the cable company using more and more bandwidth to add other channels and taking it away from others. About 3 weeks ago the wife unit and I went to the store and bought a new LCD for the bedroom. Both have HD cable boxes, and there is a huge difference in the picture quality between them. I guess over the years my old CRT has gone gassy and has lost it's wonderful clarity. The picture is still fantastic, but the HD quality is not what it used to be. I looks more like super good SD now compared to the new tv. I hope the LCD has a better shelf life, but then again in 5 more years I can likely buy a 40"er for $99. :o

The studio shots are full 720P HD. We are currently still shooting field video (reporters stories) and live shots in SD widescreen and upconverting that, but we have plans on changing over to all HD in the very near future.

Maybe I am a bit more excited than others because I have more invested into getting from 80's model Sony studio cameras through an Ampex switcher that was probably older than most of the members on this forum... to full HD. I think the difference is night and day.

o

Billy,

Great news! I will put he news on the larger TV tomorrow night. We usually watch in the kitchen and it's a very small Westinghuse with a poor field of vision.

Thanks for the info.

I wanted to thank FOX 26 for providing the ACC tournament in HD to it's viewers. FOX East Carolina is not in HD for the viewers of WFXI and WYDO neither by Directv, Dish or OTA. Thank you for providing a good strong signal for the southern viewers of the Greenville, New Bern TV area.

[QUOTE=bstratton;16020999]The studio shots are full 720P HD. We are currently still shooting field video (reporters stories) and live shots in SD widescreen and upconverting that, but we have plans on changing over to all HD in the very near future.

Maybe I am a bit more excited than others because I have more invested into getting from 80's model Sony studio cameras through an Ampex switcher that was probably older than most of the members on this forum... to full HD. I think the difference is night and day.


I agree!

The studio shots are full 720P HD. We are currently still shooting field video (reporters stories) and live shots in SD widescreen and upconverting that, but we have plans on changing over to all HD in the very near future.




Billy,

I did tune in on a larger TV. The studio video looks great.
Also, it doesn't hurt to have the best young group of reporters in Wilmington. I met Meghan Packer a few months ago. She was covering a school board meeting and I helped her carry some of the equipment in. A very hard working, smart young lady. I mentioned you and she said you were a real sweetheart!

I have a 50 inch 1080P plasma that receives OTA HD channels, but I couldn't pick up CBS to save my life. I have Direct TV HD package, but as you know they don't offer local HD channels. With March Madness starting tomorrow I was getting pretty upset about not being able to watch CBS HD in Wilmington. So I called Direct TV and told them the only way I could get CBS HD was to stick a huge tower on top of my roof. So they approved a waiver for CBSE HD and in five minutes I had it working. Along with a flat OTA antenna stuck behind my Plasma and the AM21 added to my HR-21 receiver, I now get all the local HD stations integrated in to my DVR.

Last night I was getting CBS out of Florence 13.1 and 5.1 WCSC plus the wrongly identified NBC WCBD 2.1 which was labeled WBCD-HD ! I tried to receive WILM, but couldn't. Too much interference from channel 40 out of Charleston. I got all the Raleigh channels really strong, except for WRAL because of their temporary installation.

Billy,

I did tune in on a larger TV. The studio video looks great.
Also, it doesn't hurt to have the best young group of reporters in Wilmington. I met Meghan Packer a few months ago. She was covering a school board meeting and I helped her carry some of the equipment in. A very hard working, smart young lady. I mentioned you and she said you were a real sweetheart!

Oh boy... there goes my reputation.:rolleyes:

Last fall, I had a few conversations with Dan Ullmer at WECT. I went as far as to offer my personal help. I had NBC's network audio guru, Jim Starzynski, email Dan and offer his assistance. Dan replied to Jim that the station had many issues and it would only be a short time until the issues were resolved. Dan grew tired of talking with me. That was six months ago.

I mixed a Super Bowl in 5.1 and got home to enjoy it in stereo - very disappointing.

I am firing off a new round of emails to some connections I have at Raycom. Raycom owns WECT and operates WSFX. WSFX has no problem passing along a 5.1 signal. I don't see how WECT can't get their signal online. I know that the NBC signal chain is perfect. WECT should be able to pass it along.

I hope to know more in the next few weeks.

Wendel

Last fall, I had a few conversations with Dan Ullmer at WECT. I went as far as to offer my personal help. I had NBC's network audio guru, Jim Starzynski, email Dan and offer his assistance. Dan replied to Jim that the station had many issues and it would only be a short time until the issues were resolved. Dan grew tired of talking with me. That was six months ago.

I mixed a Super Bowl in 5.1 and got home to enjoy it in stereo - very disappointing.

I am firing off a new round of emails to some connections I have at Raycom. Raycom owns WECT and operates WSFX. WSFX has no problem passing along a 5.1 signal. I don't see how WECT can't get their signal online. I know that the NBC signal chain is perfect. WECT should be able to pass it along.

I hope to know more in the next few weeks.

Wendel

Agreed!

Somewhere way back in this thread, it was mentioned that their DD encoder "died" and they had to fall back to 2.0. September '08, maybe? I was talking to Jim H. back in November and teased him a bit about the audio. He said they were still trying to get their HD color right at that point...probably means sound is a very low priority.

While you're at it, do you know anyone at CBS or Capital? Most of my network viewing is CBS, which is also only retransmitting a 2 channel mix. Rumor has it, 'The Unit' has quite a decent 5.1 mix.

-Brent

Last fall, I had a few conversations with Dan Ullmer at WECT. I went as far as to offer my personal help. I had NBC's network audio guru, Jim Starzynski, email Dan and offer his assistance. Dan replied to Jim that the station had many issues and it would only be a short time until the issues were resolved. Dan grew tired of talking with me. That was six months ago.

I mixed a Super Bowl in 5.1 and got home to enjoy it in stereo - very disappointing.

I am firing off a new round of emails to some connections I have at Raycom. Raycom owns WECT and operates WSFX. WSFX has no problem passing along a 5.1 signal. I don't see how WECT can't get their signal online. I know that the NBC signal chain is perfect. WECT should be able to pass it along.

I hope to know more in the next few weeks.

Wendel

If you go back in this thread, it is mentioned that Dan took down the Dolby digital encoder because he couldn't get it set up right, and it was causing too many problems for people that don't have a Dolby Digital sound system?? I didn't understand that...

I know that this was around the very same time that they started overlaying HD weather crawls during HD shows so that they wouldn't have to go back to SD

There was nothing wrong with the Dolby Digital sound. It really sounded awesome on my system.

I still am getting popping sounds faintly on WSFX.

Experiencing low signal strength (WECT DT) up in Jacksonville. No break-ups picture and sound wise though... ABC and FOX are normal.

Last fall, I had a few conversations with Dan Ullmer at WECT. I went as far as to offer my personal help. I had NBC's network audio guru, Jim Starzynski, email Dan and offer his assistance. Dan replied to Jim that the station had many issues and it would only be a short time until the issues were resolved. Dan grew tired of talking with me. That was six months ago.

I mixed a Super Bowl in 5.1 and got home to enjoy it in stereo - very disappointing.

I am firing off a new round of emails to some connections I have at Raycom. Raycom owns WECT and operates WSFX. WSFX has no problem passing along a 5.1 signal. I don't see how WECT can't get their signal online. I know that the NBC signal chain is perfect. WECT should be able to pass it along.

I hope to know more in the next few weeks.

Wendel


I have wondered why this is taking so long. Does Dan seem to be over his head? Or did we annoy him to the point he has dropped it as a priority? I have E_Mailed him several times without reply. Maybe I am over simplfiy but aren't these encoders, somewhat, plug and play if you have a good audio stream?

I have wondered why this is taking so long. Does Dan seem to be over his head? Or did we annoy him to the point he has dropped it as a priority? I have E_Mailed him several times without reply. Maybe I am over simplfiy but aren't these encoders, somewhat, plug and play if you have a good audio stream?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably a budget issue. You don't think Hanchett, Eliott, and Carnissi left at the same time because they wanted new/no jobs, do you?

I can't find the email I exchanged with WILM about their 5.1 upgrade, but they were supposedly working on it, too. It's probably been close to 2 years since I had that conversation....still waiting.

I'm starting to wonder if WECT didn't give up their encoder to some other Raycom station? It's been almost a half a year since I got 5.1 Dolby out of them. I can't imagine they would let somethiing that expensive sit around for as long as they have.

I'm curious like river about the departure of the best people WECT had. I bet the company wanted them to take a cut, and they turned them down.

In the Greenville stations, they let some of their people go, because of hard times.

Are any of you other OTA folks getting a low signal on 6.1?

I am bit closer than you. In Pender county 3 miles southeast of Wallace. The only problem I have had is my antenna mount moving with constant 20 mph winds it seems. To cold and windy to go up on the roof. MY signal is solid at 100% Fox26 is more problematic. I have the antenna pointed directly at it at 92-94%. My OTA receiver is an AIM21 from Directv.

Thanks brice.

I am getting solid pictures and sound, even with all the wind. WECT signal just went from 91 down to 60 apparently sometime after the last round of storms came through the area. I'm getting Fox 26 at 75% (No change)

It could be my box just doesn't like the data being sent out on 6 for some reason...

I'm not getting on the roof again until I add a high band VHF for the stations changing frequency on June 12. If you wish to get WCTI or WTVD, you may want to think about that. If you are getting WNCT, you probably don't need to do anything. WYDO FOX 14 will move to a tower much closer out of Jones county, and you will at that time get two FOX's OTA.

I have wondered why this is taking so long. Does Dan seem to be over his head? Or did we annoy him to the point he has dropped it as a priority? I have E_Mailed him several times without reply. Maybe I am over simplfiy but aren't these encoders, somewhat, plug and play if you have a good audio stream?

Well I guess we aren't going to hear anything.
Another major part of HDTV thwarted by a local station.
I guess we should be greatful to WSFX and WWAY for 5.1.

Wow, no bitching and moaning about WWAY being mostly SD last night? Must've been the network feed? Since the studio shots were in HD...

Oh well...

Only watched FOX last night at 9PM-10:30. :)

LOL... I guess I can't say I was watching, since I was really recording for later viewing, but in surfing, saw that it was mostly in SD...

We had a closed captioning problem from the HD feed so we had to go over to the SD feed from ABC. That was fixed the next morning and all is good again. Sorry about that.

Thanks for the update Billy...

BTW, jspENC, you are missing "Better Off Ted" if you're only watching Fox on that night...

Great comedy, which of course means it will be canceled... :rolleyes:

Marc,

I haven't checked that show out yet. I'll look into it.

I see WWAY now has an HD storm alert unit, but they don't mention Onslow county on it. Did you forget some counties Billy when you installed it? It's nice not to lose HD like what was done last season a few times.

Onslow County is not in the Wilmington DMA. We have 5 counties that we cover for weather alerts and such... New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Columbus and Bladen is our coverage area. We have taken so much heat from viewers over the past year or two for interrupting programming to report severe weather, that we have had to trim back on when, where and how we cut in, while keeping within specs for the FCC requirements. Its a pretty touchy subject around here right now, trust me.

Billy, don't feel too bad about getting complaints. It isn't just your station that the whiners are contacting. I know that this is going on in my own DMA, and it has gotten to the point that it is going both ways now. Some are upset that they aren't getting warned while the others are mad that their view is getting blocked by crawls and maps. One county at night north of me was in a Tornado Warning last year, and some woman wrote in and complained about missing 15 minutes of a re-run by some "babling weatherman", and the next thing you know, the guy is let go by the station. It was unbelievable.

No matter what you do, people are never satisfied. I think your station has always done right by keeping it's viewers aware, and that is one reason why I watched your weather center over many years.

2010 or 5.1 on WECT? WILM?

:)

Question on cable TV

A friend of mine recently got a new HDTV with tuner built in, hooked it to cable here in Jacksonville and didn't find ANY Wilmington channels. At one time, you could get WWAY HD and WECT HD with their weather channels on cable here. The analogs are still on channels 6 and 11, but no digitals could be located. In market channels show up as 7.1 / 8.1 / 9.1 / 12.1 etc... all except PBS which shows up on 93x's

Thought the engineers might know why or want to know that the Wilmington stations aren't being passed any longer? My friend would really like to get them, and the only way she can is with an antenna, and it would require an A/B switch with another coax run the way things are now.

Question on cable TV

A friend of mine recently got a new HDTV with tuner built in, hooked it to cable here in Jacksonville and didn't find ANY Wilmington channels. At one time, you could get WWAY HD and WECT HD with their weather channels on cable here. The analogs are still on channels 6 and 11, but no digitals could be located. In market channels show up as 7.1 / 8.1 / 9.1 / 12.1 etc... all except PBS which shows up on 93x's

Thought the engineers might know why or want to know that the Wilmington stations aren't being passed any longer? My friend would really like to get them, and the only way she can is with an antenna, and it would require an A/B switch with another coax run the way things are now.

If your friend is not using an HD convertor box and the TV DOES NOT tune QAM (Clear digital on cable) he is not going to see any of the digital channels on cable. Unfortunately even some of the newest TVs only tune NTSC and ATSC. To receive digital on cable you have to have QAM capability also.

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

Thanks Rich,

Yea it has a QAM tuner. It is the new 32" Samsung found at Sears and Best Buy. 30000:1 Contrast Ratio.

Thanks Rich,

Yea it has a QAM tuner. It is the new 32" Samsung found at Sears and Best Buy. 30000:1 Contrast Ratio.


It's funny you mention that. I was just talikng to a Guy at Sam's and he has never been able to find a definitive statement on what Samsung models tune. I was just on their website and couldn't find a mention of QAM anywhere.

I too have found that some published specs on new tv's don't include whether they have QAM tuners--when in fact most of them do...

This one definitely does, because it found several digital versions of cable channels, and all of the major Greenville/New Bern/ Morehad City HD channels. I went into the menu system and saw where you can manually delete all the weird frequencies, such as 79.1 .2 .3 etc all the way up to near 120.5 as far as I went when I quit. There are tiers of different frequencies, just like the Sony TV's that have QAM. I've never hooked my Samsung to a cable system, but I know it's got QAM also as it states it in the manual. Mines only been hooked to my antenna and Directv box.

I know that WECT HD is not on the Fayetteville cable system either, or at least I couldn't find it on my families TV while there searching. I did find the much deluted digital version on 118.4 I think or something in the 118's.

I know Time Warner has done something similar here in Wilson. All the Triangle stations are in HD, but WNCT AND WITN are not, just the SD signals. WNCT and WITN should complain. I'm glad I don't have cable.

Question on cable TV

A friend of mine recently got a new HDTV with tuner built in, hooked it to cable here in Jacksonville and didn't find ANY Wilmington channels. At one time, you could get WWAY HD and WECT HD with their weather channels on cable here. The analogs are still on channels 6 and 11, but no digitals could be located. In market channels show up as 7.1 / 8.1 / 9.1 / 12.1 etc... all except PBS which shows up on 93x's

Thought the engineers might know why or want to know that the Wilmington stations aren't being passed any longer? My friend would really like to get them, and the only way she can is with an antenna, and it would require an A/B switch with another coax run the way things are now.

Checking the channel lineupt for J'ville at twceastnc.com shows no listing for WWAY or WECT in the HD lineup, only in basic cable. WCTI and WITN appear to be your in market ABC and NBC affiliates and are available in HD. I'm kinda surprised to see you even have SD WWAY/WECT since only the in market is a "must carry". I can't imagine WCTI/WITN are real happy with TWC for carrying competing out of market affiliates. Market politics aside, the WECT/WWAY HD feeds were probably dropped to free up bandwidth.

-Brent

Checking the channel lineupt for J'ville at twceastnc.com shows no listing for WWAY or WECT in the HD lineup, only in basic cable. WCTI and WITN appear to be your in market ABC and NBC affiliates and are available in HD. I'm kinda surprised to see you even have SD WWAY/WECT since only the in market is a "must carry". I can't imagine WCTI/WITN are real happy with TWC for carrying competing out of market affiliates. Market politics aside, the WECT/WWAY HD feeds were probably dropped to free up bandwidth.

-Brent

I don't usually go into tangents like this on the forum, but today, I think I will. LOL

I could care less where the boundaries are drawn as far as markets go. WWAY and WECT have been substantially viewed stations in this area for as long as they have been on the air. That is the only reason they are on cable to start with. If WITN or WCTI don't like that, then they should work harder to fix it and cover the county with more news coming out of here. We often have gotten better storm coverage off of Wilmington stations than off of the Greenville ones. Come here and ask anyone in town that has been in this area over the years and they will tell you the same thing. Hurricanes are a number one example. We had a Tornado right in the middle of town on 17 during Bertha or Fran, (can't remember which one exactly) and WWAY was the only station that had a Live doppler radar,and was the first station on the air. It was Jerry Jackson and he was zoomed right into the storm showing it was moving away. The other stations came on late, and showed the Tornado was miles behind where it really was. WWAY and WECT are the only receivable channels in Duplin and Onslow counties that are doing a newscast in High Def. The Greenville, New Bern channels cover 17 counties plus Wayne, Wilson, and Edgecombe for news and often don't get everything on the air that happens in this area of the southern counties. Wilmington only has 5 counties in their market, so they have more chances to talk about what is going on here vs. the others.

Cable TV has ruined (in my opinion) many different options to choose from in local TV viewing. They tell you what you have to watch vs. what is available out there to pick from.

HBO and Cinemax on Directv are available this weekend. Thought I'd post in case you might not have known it.

I have wondered why this is taking so long. Does Dan seem to be over his head? Or did we annoy him to the point he has dropped it as a priority? I have E_Mailed him several times without reply. Maybe I am over simplfiy but aren't these encoders, somewhat, plug and play if you have a good audio stream?

There are several reasons why we have not re-instated 5.1 audio at WECT and the main one is NBC audio encoding issues since they rolled out MPEG-4 network distribution equipment early this year. Many NBC stations are dealing with significant problems, which we completely avoided by staying with the stereo feed. You have to remember that a majority of our viewers are still analog and only a minority of DTV viewers care about 5.1. NBC Network operations is working with their satellite IRD manufacturer for a software solution to correct their issues. I will be holding off on 5.1 until I'm satisfied that they have the issues corrected. In the mean time, we are working hard on several other priorities that benefits the majority of our viewers far more then 5.1 audio so please be patent.
Dan Ullmer
WECT Chief Engineer

ulltron,

Should we be excited about what you are working on? Jeopardy in HD maybe? :) Vanna White HD?

Thank you, WWAY, for ditching that large, distracting logo during programming. It was such an annoyance that I didn't bother watching new shows, and with the exception of Lost, I chose to watch all other ABC shows online.

I know the logo has been gone for about a month, but I didn't want to say anything to jinx it.

On WWAY, I have noticed quite a drop in signal over the last week or so. I guess it is from the leaves and pine trees filling out...

WWAY - 67% before 92%
WECT - 90% (for a while it was down to the 60's, but now is back to normal)
WSFX - 56 - 60% down a little, before was in the 70's
WUNJ - 58 - 66% down from 70's

No loss of pic and sound though.

I wonder what happened to DWTS tonight?
90% was in SD. And very bad SD!

I wonder what happened to DWTS tonight?
90% was in SD. And very bad SD!

I wondered too, but I just turned on channel 12.1 and they had HD. 3.1 kept trying to get HD, but it flipped out every time.

I wondered too, but I just turned on channel 12.1 and they had HD. 3.1 kept trying to get HD, but it flipped out every time.

It must have been a WWAY thing and not the network as my kids told me it was fine in Chicago.

I wonder if Billy is reading the thread?

It must have been a WWAY thing and not the network as my kids told me it was fine in Chicago.

I wonder if Billy is reading the thread?


Yes, I'm still lurking around here from time to time. We were having a problem last night with our closed captioning on the HD channel. I asked the guys at the station to check on the HD feed every now and then to see if the CC had returned, but it never did. So I had them stay on the SD feeds all night long. I know it didn't look as good, but at least we were legal! We were able to find out what was wrong with the captioning and it should be back in the HD feeds tonight.

Yes, I'm still lurking around here from time to time. We were having a problem last night with our closed captioning on the HD channel. I asked the guys at the station to check on the HD feed every now and then to see if the CC had returned, but it never did. So I had them stay on the SD feeds all night long. I know it didn't look as good, but at least we were legal! We were able to find out what was wrong with the captioning and it should be back in the HD feeds tonight.

Billy,

Thanks!

It's a much happier place around here with HD for DWTS. It's amazing to see how seroius my wife is about getting here favorite votes in.

Billy,
I turned on the closed caption just to see if it worked, and it was on, but it was bouncing up and down about two inches from where it would start. I tried the WCTI signal and it wasn't bouncing like that.

Hope that may be of some help. I normally never turn on CC

BTW, it was good to see the PSIP showing up last night. I can't remember when the last time I saw it on 3 was...

Anyone know whats up with Earth 2100 on WWAY? Its like the voices are being blocked out and the backgrond soundtrack is clear.