I'm looking at install an OTA and I was hoping maybe I could get some advice from other HD Rhody's :)

First off, I live in Westerly, so if anyone has OTA experience that relates to being this far out of any major market I'd love to hear it. Which size antenna would suffice, and at what point would one be too large? I've got information online suggesting the correct size, but I was hoping for an opinion from someone local who has one installed and thus could help pinpoint a more accurate selection.

Secondly, I'm trying to figure out if I should attempt a self install (no prior experience, ...but willing and able) or should I just opt to have it installed? Is it large undertaking that I should defer to experts? And that leads me to ask, does anyone have contact information for a good local install Co. ?

JTello,
The four major Providence networks (UPN and PBS are not on the air yet) are probably in reach as long as there isn't a hill nearby blocking them and also PBS and PAX from CT . Three out of four of the Providence channels are UHF. WPRI-DT is on channel 13. No antenna is too big but you only really need a large UHF anrtenna and a VHF high band antenna, for UHF. I like a CM4248. A rotator will be needed to pick up CT stations and will make finding the Providence stations much easier. FOX is on the edge here in Mystic but the others come in well. John

Thank you ct!

I in fact do have a slight hill in the direction of Providence ( I think it's the only real hill in town :mad: ). I have no clue how this will affect the reception, but I'm hinging on the idea that I'll need to expect more from Hartford if I'm going to be lucky at all. And from what I've been reading of RI HD, that wouldn't be such a bad compromise. Either way, I just hope I can get the Pats games in HD, that'll make me happy, everything else will be gravy.

So, I'm still wondering about installing an antenna, ... do it myself? or, Pay someone to install it? And where to find a local installer. I know how much it'll cost for self-install, but I haven't had success yet in finding a local installer, and I have no clue of what an installation would cost.
:confused:

I am not sure about installers in the area. You might call Ocean State Electronics in Westerly or JAN in New London for ideas. You can get antennas from JAN not sure about Ocean State. Or you can find a large variety of antennas ans antenna stuff for mail order here: http://www.starkelectronic.com/index.htm
I put up my own antennas. If you can bolt things together and are not too afraid of heights self install is possible. John

Thank you again John, you've been very helpful!

I'd learned of Starkelectronics through this forum, and that is the only reference for an OTA antenna dealer I've had. If that ends up being the best option I won't mind visiting them. Even though I've done plenty of homework, I'd like to at least talk with someone who deals with this type of equipment on a daily basis and confirm everything I've taken in, ya know.

I'll call that Westerly business first and see what they are all about.
Thanks again!

Originally posted by bcushman
Anyone have any update on when Channel 36 DT (PBS) will be operational?

I wrote to WSBE (36) and inquired about when they will be going digital.

Received a nice response, was thanked for my interest - and believe they hope to begin digital operations sometime in 2005.

I am in Southern R.I. and my digital viewing is limited to Over The Air via an older existing UHF-VHF pre-amped rooftop antenna - and a Samsung SIR T351 tuner.

No complaints so far - but reception does seem to be better when we turn the lights on in the bathroom......

Able to receive: PBS - 2.1,2.2 , 44.1,44.2,44.3,44.4 and 4.1,5.1,6.1,7.1 with dropouts, 10.1 and 12.1 with last two also providing what appear to be weather subchannels. 64.1 is in and out. Was able to watch a few of the ballgames in HD but did experience some artifacts and freezing leading at times to Not Available logo. The PBS 2.2 station appears to broadcast a beautiful HD signal. Wondering if any further amping is possible for a set-up such as mine (short of 'amping' to a pay service). Note Circuit City has some sort of plug in amplifier which claims to bring in distant stations

Barry

Barry,
A preamp would probably help. Don't use one with more than 20 dB of gain it is likely to do you more harm than good. A large UHF antenna (probably smaller than your present antenna) installed above your present antenna is also likely to improve things also. The two antennas could easily be combined in a Winegard AP-2870 preamp. John

I use to be able to pull in WB digital channel off my antenna, but I havn't seen it on in a long time...I'm in RI ....I'm assuming the digital channel is broadcast from Mass.Anyone know anything about WB..Have they lowered their signal strength?
Thanks,
Rick

Rick
Boston WLVI DT is on channel 41. Depending on where you are in RI Hartford WB is on channel 12. There is no Providence WB channel. John

I have a Sony XBR960 (34" wide HDTV). The TV has an integrated HD tuner. When I first ran through the channel auto program on the cable input, I was able to pick up NBC, PBS, ABC, and CBS over the air, with no antenna, and not using the Cox HD connection. This was the case for the first month or so. Recently, I am no longer able to pick up CBS or NBC over the air (but can still receive the other channels mentioned over the air, again, with no antenna). Losing the NBC channel over the air isnt a big deal, because I can pick it up when switching to the Cox HD input, but CBS was nice on Sunday's when watching the Pats games or whatever game was on the CBS HD channel. Anyone know why this might have changed after it had worked for the first month? Maybe I should just break down and buy an antenna.

Thanks in advance for any input. -Kevin

Hi Kevin, and welcome!

Also, props on the XBR960, as I just recently purchased the same set, and I love it! :) (I'm also looking into setting up an OTA antenna)

As far as your issue goes, from what I've read OTA HD is the best quality signal to work with. I assume that since you recieved an OTA signal without an antenna, you are fairly close to the signal originations, and thus a simple indoor antenna would probably be an easy solution.

Originally posted by JTello
As far as your issue goes, from what I've read OTA HD is the best quality signal to work with. I assume that since you recieved an OTA signal without an antenna, you are fairly close to the signal originations, and thus a simple indoor antenna would probably be an easy solution. Hi guys ... having done some research in this area ... I've found that most cable operators that provide local ATSC stations on their cable plants are actually just receiving the local broadcaster's signal, selecting the audio and video PID's for the 16:9 sub-channel and putting that up on their plants. In that case - the quality of what you receive would be identical off the air or via the cable system. (And if your OTA reception was marginal, as in weak signal and/or multipath issues, the cable version if available would be better!) HTH!

Does anyone out there know when WLWC DT-22 a WB affiliate out of New Bedford/RI will be up and running? Or if they are currently running at a temporary low power?

They are now listed on NAB's site of stations gone digital. On the FCC site, it says they are in the construction permit stage.

Any info. would be appreciated.

Thanks

This is old data, but the last I had heard was that the base equipment is installed (they're viacom owned) And managed by WBZ/WSBK. They were waiting on the tower permit in order to be able to do the antenna/emmiter construction. I live less than 5 miles from their site in Lakeville. I beleive that they only needed to install the cable runs to the emitter and the new emitter array. The tower itself was sound, however I dould be wrong :)

The Head engineer for them (and WBZ WSBK) lives in New Bedford :)

You could ry asking in the Boston OTA thread as well. You're likey to get an answer from the source.

Tim

Tcable,

Thanks for the info. Maybe you can answer this question, They are listed on the NAB site as being channel 29 digital. Did they change there allocation or is this just a typo. The FCC site has them at 22.

I would guess it's a typo, though WUNI out of Worcester transmitts at 29.

Thanks

Originally posted by tcable
This is old data, but the last I had heard was that the base equipment is installed (they're viacom owned) And managed by WBZ/WSBK. They were waiting on the tower permit in order to be able to do the antenna/emmiter construction. I live less than 5 miles from their site in Lakeville. I beleive that they only needed to install the cable runs to the emitter and the new emitter array. The tower itself was sound, however I dould be wrong :)

The Head engineer for them (and WBZ WSBK) lives in New Bedford :)

You could ry asking in the Boston OTA thread as well. You're likey to get an answer from the source.

Tim
Tim,

You are correct on most counts (except for calling the antenna an emitter [one of the three electrodes on a transistor]).

Correct:
I do live in New Bedford...
We have completed installation of the transmitter in the building at the base of the tower...
We are awaiting a building permit. We have a hearing before the Freetown Zoning Board of Appeals next week...

Incorrect:
While the tower is sound, it cannot hold the new antenna without additional structural reinforcement, so there is significant tower work to be done...
We do not need to put new transmission line up (we will share the existing line between the analog and digital signals)...

Assuming the hearing goes well and we are granted the permit, the appeals waiting period and the New England winter weather will likely make the earliest on-air date sometime in February or March.

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Tcable,

Thanks for the info. Maybe you can answer this question, They are listed on the NAB site as being channel 29 digital. Did they change there allocation or is this just a typo. The FCC site has them at 22.

I would guess it's a typo, though WUNI out of Worcester transmitts at 29.

Thanks
Must be a typo on their part. WLWC-DT will be on channel 22.

Robert..thanks for the update. I appreciate the information.


Paul

So last night my wife and I sit down to watch Desperate Housewives on 6-1 and notice that the show started in 4:3. After about 10 minutes and several comments from my wife regarding her lack of interest in HD, I decided to call the station. After listening to an auto attendant I finally chose the option to get to the "emergency newsroom" and the phone was answered by a young sounding woman who had no clue as to what I was talking about. Finally, I asked to speak to an engineer so I could tell him that the broadcast was in 4:3 format. While on hold, the picture popped into wide screen HD.

The episode caused my wife to laugh about how all this high tech struff was controled manually which prompted me to wonder why is this not controled by a computer? It seems to happen fairly often on other channels as well.

It seems a common issue for stations not 'flipping the switch' on time. I'd figure that it would be computerizesas well, but I'm not a TV engineer. I just do computer networking....

Originally posted by tcable
It seems a common issue for stations not 'flipping the switch' on time. I'd figure that it would be computerizesas well, but I'm not a TV engineer. I just do computer networking.... Of course, each station's setup and infrastructure is unique ... but in general, the switching is automated (e.g., controlled by computer automation).

For the majority of the time, ATSC transmissions are usually comprised of taking the standard NTSC 4:3 signal and upconverting it. And indeed there's a switch, usually called a router, that can select between a network HD feed and the upconverted NTSC feed. From my experience, what usually happens is the automation system is not properly programmed to indicate the show comes from the network in HD format ... hence you get the SD version on the ATSC transmission.

One additional thing to think about: this same switch usually takes care of switching back to the upconverted SD content when the station inserts local advertising into a network program. Once the ads are over, the router has to switch back to the HD network feed.

Hope this makes sense!

Originally posted by RPMcCormick
Of course, each station's setup and infrastructure is unique ... but in general, the switching is automated (e.g., controlled by computer automation).

For the majority of the time, ATSC transmissions are usually comprised of taking the standard NTSC 4:3 signal and upconverting it. And indeed there's a switch, usually called a router, that can select between a network HD feed and the upconverted NTSC feed. From my experience, what usually happens is the automation system is not properly programmed to indicate the show comes from the network in HD format ... hence you get the SD version on the ATSC transmission.

One additional thing to think about: this same switch usually takes care of switching back to the upconverted SD content when the station inserts local advertising into a network program. Once the ads are over, the router has to switch back to the HD network feed.

Hope this makes sense! Translation...the switch didn't get flipped!

I recorded "Arrested Development" last night on 64-1. Checked half way through and no picture and no sound being transmitted - just a black screen, but great signal strength at 94 !! Talk about not throwing the switch!!

Originally posted by bcushman
I recorded "Arrested Development" last night on 64-1. Checked half way through and no picture and no sound being transmitted - just a black screen, but great signal strength at 94 !! Talk about not throwing the switch!! Must have been blacked out in Providence!

Originally posted by Benji
Must have been blacked out in Providence!


:D And to change the subject Benji - is your 110 signal still dropping at nite? No change here - normally in the 70s during the day and into the LOW 60s at night. Last nite with a bit of rain major breakups on all 3 TPs making the channels impossible to watch.

Does anyone know of an antenna installer in southern RI?
I've only found one thus far, Brandy's Antenna of Warwick, and after leaving a few messages without a call back I'm looking for someone else.

Originally posted by bcushman
:D And to change the subject Benji - is your 110 signal still dropping at nite? No change here - normally in the 70s during the day and into the LOW 60s at night. Last nite with a bit of rain major breakups on all 3 TPs making the channels impossible to watch. Like clockwork. Everyday at sundown, it drops from a high of 55% to the high 30's and makes 110 unviewable. It always recovers shortly after 11PM. By midnight, I can watch anything on 110.

I know this was the subject in an earlier thread where people were encouraged to call DirecTV. Wonder if it would do any good for me to call them again. This is really an unacceptable situation, especially when I am paying for HBO for their HD content and will be paying for the HD package again in a few months.


Edit: Just got off the telephone with the 2nd tier tech rep (800-695-9251) and if I can believe him, he indicated DirecTV is aware of the problem in the northeast and is "working to correct it". So......

Just wondering what could cause this problem? I know the satellites use solar power. Maybe the power level goes down at sunset then when the sun re-appears on the other side, it re-powers the sats even though to us it is still night. One thing I am certain of, it has nothing to do with my dish or its connections, as has been intimated in another thread.

Is anyone out there recieving DT22 WLWC UPN out of New Bedford yet? even at a low signal level?


Thanks in Advance

Paul

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Is anyone out there recieving DT22 WLWC UPN out of New Bedford yet? even at a low signal level?I'd be interested in that one as well ...

Paul: do you get anything on 22 from WWLP (analogue)? Should only be about 40 miles to your west ... may cause difficulties in attempting to receive the UPN's ATSC. In fact - WWLP may be closer to you than WLWC?!

Benji : Are you getting any guide data on your hr10-250 for ch 64.1 ? I continue to recieve regular program schedule in the guide 24/7 but if I search for a program it will come up - this seems odd to me -

ps: I also lose lots of strength on 110 at night and hope this gets fixed soon. My hr10-250 handles the loss alot better than hd-100

Regarding the Sat 110 signal - my son and I adjusted my dish yesterday, and got the signal on all 3 TPs up to 85 from a high of mid 70s - amazing what some tweaking can do. The signal still dropped last night but only into the 70s whereas before it would fall into the 60s. Tonight with the rain I am still receiving a solid picture eventhough the signal was down to 58 at one point. That would never have happened in the past. So adjusting the dish does help, but there is still an obvious weakening of the signal at night.

Regarding the program data for 64-1 (and 6-1) on the HR10-250. If I key in the channel number it shows program data (title, etc in the bar). But as soon as I hit the guide key, it shows "regular programming" and no data. If I manually set up a recording on either channel it will show the program title in the "To Do" list. Can't figure out why the data won't show in the guide If I do a channel up/down it does not show the title either.

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Is anyone out there recieving DT22 WLWC UPN out of New Bedford yet? even at a low signal level?


Thanks in Advance

Paul
WLWC-DT is not yet broadcasting.

The Zoning Board of Appeals in Freetown, MA (the tower's location) held a hearing last week, to determine whether to grant a permit to erect the DTV antenna and reinforce the tower. The board requested an independent structural engineer's opinion, so that has set us back one month. With the various appeals and application periods required, we will not be able to begin construction until mid- to late-January, at the earliest. Add in typical New England winters and the on-air date looks to be sometime around the first of April. No fools jokes, please.

Originally posted by jalferes
Benji : Are you getting any guide data on your hr10-250 for ch 64.1 ? I continue to recieve regular program schedule in the guide 24/7 but if I search for a program it will come up - this seems odd to me -

ps: I also lose lots of strength on 110 at night and hope this gets fixed soon. My hr10-250 handles the loss alot better than hd-100 I currently have my OTA antenna set for Boston and do not want to mess it up by trying to hit 64-1. Since I get a very strong signal on 25-1, I have not been too concerned about 64. The only time I attempt to get 64 is on Sundays when it is showing a different Fox NFL game from 25. As for Sat.C., since I have an indoor dish, no ammount of tweaking will increase the signal strength any higher than mid-50's at best, so I always lose the signal for about 7-8 hours every evening from sundown until about 11:30PM. It drops into the 30's and is unuseable. It always miracuously comes back after 11PM. The dish is right along side my bed in my bedroom so believe me I have tried to re-aim it as best I can without messing up A and B sats. I get 80's-90's on those and only lose the signal during significant weather events.

Benji: you can setup your hr10-250 to recieve guide data in 2 different markets - this will not mess up your Boston guide data - check your user manual - I am getting guide data on 6-1 with no problem - have been for a very long time. 84-1 is the only station I am not getting guide data from.

I meant 64-1

Originally posted by jalferes
Benji: you can setup your hr10-250 to recieve guide data in 2 different markets - this will not mess up your Boston guide data - check your user manual - I am getting guide data on 6-1 with no problem - have been for a very long time. 84-1 is the only station I am not getting guide data from. I have it setup with Providence as my primary and Boston my secondary market. I get guide data for 12-1 but not 64-1 (just checked it). I can not receive 6 or 10 at my location. Fortunately I don't have to rely on the Providence channels. Obviously some neanderthal at WPRI either forgot to flip the HD switch on the Colts-Lions game or chose not to for whatever reason. Thank God for the Boston channels!

FWIW, I have an Sony HD-300 and I have had programming information on 64.1 for about a month now. There have been occasions where it was wrong (it generally mirrors the analog 64 channel but a few weeks back on Sunday 64.1 was showing a different game than 64 yet the program guide did not reflect that).

RPMcCormick,

I can get some analog out of 22 springfield mostly snow...however, I doubt it will interfere as 22 ATSC is basically SE. I plan on adding a AntennaCraft 7-13 antenna very soon to my setup hoping to grab WWLP 11 DT. I am hoping that there low kw allocation is enough.

Regarding ATSC 22...If I look at the FCC antenna map is a bit out of the transmitter range relative to Oxford, but my setup is pretty good...so Iam hoping to get some signal I do get all the rest of RI stations. I guess I was just wondering if WLWC was transmitting yet so I could decide whether or not it is a lost cause.

RPM, when all this is said and done, I am hoping to be able to choose between Bos/RI/Hartfd/Springfd DMA markets. I am somewhat centrally located.

Paul

R Yankowitz,

Can you tell me if there are any plans to extend the Service Contour outwards more with the antenna setup the station plans to use.

Paul

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
R Yankowitz,

Can you tell me if there are any plans to extend the Service Contour outwards more with the antenna setup the station plans to use.

Paul
Paul,

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking here. Are you asking whether we plan to cover more territory with our DTV signal than with our analog? If so, the answer is no.

I can get some analog out of 22 springfield mostly snow... however, I doubt it will interfere as 22 ATSC is basically SE.It will be interesting. You may be able to orientate an antenna satisfactorily such that it gets enough of WLWC-DT whilst not receiving any interference from WWLP's analog signal.[QUOTE]I plan on adding a AntennaCraft 7-13 antenna very soon to my setup hoping to grab WWLP 11 DT. I am hoping that there low kw allocation is enough.Should be up at 10 kW ERP shortly. That will be the final FCC authorised setup. The FCC 36 dBu contour map for WWLP-DT can be found here (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT752695.html). I'd guess you may be on the hairy edge - looks like there is a bit of a notch in the pattern towards your location. But if you've got elevation and a preamp you may be able to maintain a lock. Be interested to hear if it works out!When all this is said and done, I am hoping to be able to choose between Bos/RI/Hartfd/Springfd DMA markets. I am somewhat centrally located.This area of the country is interesting in the fact that there is so much overlap in the DMA's. You're lucky to be in such a location!

Anyone getting glitching on 64.1 and 12.1? It has been doing this for the last 2 days with a signal of 77-81%.

Jim

Jim...I've got that problem as well. Solution...watch the Boston stations.

Channel 64 seems OK here in Mystic, CT. WPRI-DT is strong but breaking up badly. Must be something wrong at the station. John

Originally posted by Benji
Jim...I've got that problem as well. Solution...watch the Boston stations.

I usually do, but I am not the ONLY viewer in my house :)

RPMcCormick.

Regarding WWLP..yes I noticed the notch in the pattern....don't know how thats going to play out. It's a wierd pattern.... Though I seem to have a nice horizon shot to my west. My folks recieve it (DT) 2 towns over...Right now I am working on a final mounting setup for my rig..with permanant mounts to the house etc. All said and done, I hope to getup 45-50' will have preamp, effiecient connections/cable runs. Tried to everything right.

Yes this is definetly an interesting part of the country for the DMAs. One that would be willing to go the extra mile with a setup could be rewarded well.

regarding multiple DMAs...I like the fact that for example watching fox, I can watch dual games during sundays. Multiple PSB location choices are also nice.

BY the way..anyone out there know where RG11U cables w/connectors terminated can be purchased?

Paul

Paul,
Do you get interference between Boston and Hartford on channels like 20 and 30? John

CTDish..please be more specific. DT20 out of Boston? 30? what stations/networks/NTSC-ATSC are you referring to?

The only channels I have a shot at recieving out of Hartford from where Iam are DT 45,32,33 34,35 channel wvit 31..fox is transmitting on the same channel as fox 25 out of Boston..so I would not expect this to work when my attenna points south fox 25 still comes in solid. So far, In general. have been able to lock on to (somewhat unreliabily for now) 45 pbs,33 nbc,34 pax .

I have not done anything with trying VHF yet (theres ch 10 & 12) still working on getting my VHF antenna up. Other issues that Ihave is that my S/SW horizen is surrounded by tall tree line including tall pines. I am working to get more height on my setup unfortunately I am not on a hill .

Paul

Hartford/Waterburry use channels 20 and 30 for analog TV and Boston uses 20 and 30 for digital. John

Anyone out there know where RG11U cables w/connectors terminated can be purchased?I've utilized CableX-Perts for quite a few projects. You can get just about any cable made, your choice of connectors and coax.

http://www.cablexperts.com/

Originally posted by krob111
I have a Sony XBR960 (34" wide HDTV). The TV has an integrated HD tuner. When I first ran through the channel auto program on the cable input, I was able to pick up NBC, PBS, ABC, and CBS over the air, with no antenna, and not using the Cox HD connection. This was the case for the first month or so. Recently, I am no longer able to pick up CBS or NBC over the air (but can still receive the other channels mentioned over the air, again, with no antenna). Losing the NBC channel over the air isnt a big deal, because I can pick it up when switching to the Cox HD input, but CBS was nice on Sunday's when watching the Pats games or whatever game was on the CBS HD channel. Anyone know why this might have changed after it had worked for the first month? Maybe I should just break down and buy an antenna.

Thanks in advance for any input. -Kevin

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I live in West Greenwich. Does anyone know if I would be able to pick up any OTA channels with an amplified indoor antenna from where I am? If so, can anyone recommend one to try? I tried a $30 indoor antenna from Radio Shack that was 'HD Ready' (it was a while ago, don't recall the brand/model), but it was pretty much useless. Not sure if I am at the mercy of where I am located, or if there is an amplified indoor antenna on the market that would provide me with a solution. Thanks again for any help/input.

-Kevin

Kevin,
I can recommend the Winegard indoor/outdoor GS-2200 amplified antenna:

http://www.starkelectronic.com/wgs2000.htm

I have been using this indoors, in a 3rd floor apartment in Warwick, for a few years with excellent results. I receive all Providence and Boston channels and very rarely have to slightly move the antenna by a few inches. It's about 3 feet long, but thin enough to hide away. Hopefully, you won't have too many obstructions at your location. Can't hurt to try.

Keith

Is anyone having problems with 64-1 on a DTC-100? I have been unable to get the Fox football games with my DTC-100 for the past few weeks while not having a problem with my Samsung 360 or the HD TiVo. Now, it may be that the problem exists all the time, but I really only watch Fox for the football games, and that's usually when I use the DTDC-100. Anyone with any problems?

SMK

hi krob111

I also live in West Greenwich. I use a RCA ant200 indoor antenna. I get abc, nbc ,cbs & fox from providence, I also get cbs & abc out of boston.I tried the Radio Shack 15-1880 but didn't have any luck.

SMK, You might try rescanning or disableing remapping by turning the guide off. Then tune to channel 54. I think WNAC changed the PSIP info. John

Originally posted by ctdish
SMK, You might try rescanning or disableing remapping by turning the guide off. Then tune to channel 54. I think WNAC changed the PSIP info. John

Thanks, but I don't use PSIP. I have guides turned off. But it still may be worth rescanning or doing something of that sort.

Thanks again.

SMK

I rent a house which I do not want to put a full size external antenna. Bur I just thought of something this weekend. There is a satelite dish which is not used but is still on the house. Are there antennas which can be connected to the sat dish to get local HD channels?

Originally posted by jforget1
I rent a house which I do not want to put a full size external antenna. Bur I just thought of something this weekend. There is a satelite dish which is not used but is still on the house. Are there antennas which can be connected to the sat dish to get local HD channels?


Good news, bad news.

There are such antennas (good news), but they generally suck (bad news).
Biggest problem is that the dish may not be pointed in the right direction for your situation.

Originally posted by jforget1
I rent a house which I do not want to put a full size external antenna. Bur I just thought of something this weekend. There is a satelite dish which is not used but is still on the house. Are there antennas which can be connected to the sat dish to get local HD channels?

The Winegard Square Shooter looks like a dish and worked farily well for me at 35 mi from the antenna..I also use a Winegard Distribution amp that boost all signals by 5. I ditched the square shooter for an antennas direct db4 which has more gain and isn't much bigger than the square shooter. The DB4 costs less and also mounts to a satellite j-pole. Check out the site www.antennasdirect.com. Also make sure you have a clear line of sight to your antenna towers. Go to www.antennaweb.org to see how far and in which direction you will need to aim your antenna.

GOOD LUCK!!:)

Does anyone know when RIPTV in DT will come online?

Thanks in Advance

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Does anyone know when RIPTV in DT will come online?

Thanks in Advance


??????? what is that?

Originally posted by vfrjim
??????? what is that?

RI Public TV (Channel 36). I heard it would be sometime after the first of the year and heard somewhere else it could be in the spring.

ahhh, that channel, never missed it since I have 6 PBS stations from boston.

"RIPTV" is Rhode Island Public Television DT Channel 21/Analog 36

VFRJIM,

I get all of those Boston ones also...but when you have little kids it's nice that the different PBS DMAs will run different programming especially in the early AM.

Guys,

I could use some help trying to get the OTA HDTV stations. PLEASE.

I just got a Sony 34SX955 set for Christmas and have it hooked up to an antenna in the attic. The set has a built in HDTV tuner

The antenna is a Radio Shack 80" Boom Length, 32 Element Antenna dual UHV / VHF antenna. No amplifier.

I live in Narragansett RI, northern part of town.

I get standard channels 6, 10 and 12 pretty well, with channel 36 comming in fair - poor and thats about it.

I get channels 12.1 and channel 12.2 pretty well with a signal strength SNR of 23 dB according to the TV.

The problem I have is that I can't get any other HDTV OTA channels. I don't understand how I can get channel 12.1 and 12.2 and not get channel 10 HDTV signal. I thought channel 10 was a stronger signal.

I pointed the antenna at the channel 12 and 10 towers in Rehobeth MA. According to antennaweb.org

Here is the antenna web info

* red - uhf WPXQ-DT 17 PAX BLOCK ISLAND RI 314° 11.3 17
red - uhf WSBE 36 PBS PROVIDENCE RI 10° 21.6 36
* red - uhf WSBE-DT 21 PBS PROVIDENCE RI TBD 11° 25.7 21
red - vhf WLNE 6 ABC NEW BEDFORD MA 76° 14.8 6
* red - uhf WLNE-DT 49.1 ABC NEW BEDFORD MA 32° 26.9 49
red - uhf WLWC 28 UPN NEW BEDFORD MA 68° 33.0 28
red - uhf WNAC 64 FOX PROVIDENCE RI 31° 27.2 64
* red - uhf WNAC-DT 64.1 FOX PROVIDENCE RI 31° 27.2 54
red - vhf WJAR 10 NBC PROVIDENCE RI 32° 26.9 10
* red - uhf WJAR-DT 10.1 NBC PROVIDENCE RI 32° 26.9 51
red - vhf WPRI 12 CBS PROVIDENCE RI 32° 27.7 12
* red - vhf WPRI-DT 12.1 CBS PROVIDENCE RI 32° 27.7 13
blue - uhf WPXQ 69 PAX BLOCK ISLAND RI 285° 17.8 69
* blue - uhf WLWC-DT 22 UPN NEW BEDFORD MA 68° 33.0 22
blue - uhf WWDP 46 SAH NORWELL MA 41° 40.1 46

I get no signal for any of the other HDTV stations

The second thing I need some help with is understanding the channel numbers I am supposed to set the tuner too. I tried the autoscan mode on the TV and it grabbed 12.1 and 12.2.

One place I read said that WJAR-DT was 10.1 , the other source said it was channel 51. What number am I supposed to enter into the TV for WJAR-DT?

Thanks for any help you can provide,

- Ken

Generally you would aim the antenna at the Television towers. Then do a scan for digital channels after that you might be able to select digital channels 6, 10, 12, and 64. These digital stations actually transmit on 49, 51, 13, and 54 respectively. There is also usually a way to add individual channels either by selecting the transmit channel number or by using add new digital channel somewhere in your set of menues. John

Originally posted by Ken27
I could use some help trying to get the OTA HDTV stations. PLEASE. ... I get channels 12.1 and channel 12.2 pretty well with a signal strength SNR of 23 dB according to the TV. ...

WNAC 64 FOX PROVIDENCE RI
WNAC-DT 64.1 FOX PROVIDENCE RI
WPRI 12 CBS PROVIDENCE RI
WPRI-DT 12.1 CBS PROVIDENCE RI

The second thing I need some help with is understanding the channel numbers I am supposed to set the tuner too. I tried the autoscan mode on the TV and it grabbed 12.1 and 12.2.

One place I read said that WJAR-DT was 10.1 , the other source said it was channel 51. What number am I supposed to enter into the TV for WJAR-DT?The FCC assigned every (full power) station a second channel to build an ATSC (digital) transmission facility on. For example, WPRI transmits its analog NTSC signal on the frequencies assigned to channel 12 and its digital ATSC signal on the frequencies assigned to channel 13. (The callsign of these digital ATSC transmissions is the station's call with the -DT suffix.)

But you won't find WPRI calling itself channel 13 - that would be confusing! It is helpful to know that WPRI-DT is on channel 13 ... as that will affect what kind of antenna you'll need for off-air reception. (And it may be helpful in manually adding a channel to your tunder; see below.)

Embedded in ATSC digital transmissions is information about the station ... typically its callsign as well as what each sub-channel should be numbered. Some stations transmit only one program, others (like PBS) at some hours of the day may actually transmit four or five programs. As you've noted, WPRI-DT displays channels 12.1 and 12.2. Both of those programs (sub-channels) actually come from computer data being transmitted by WPRI-DT on channel 13's frequencies. But you'll always see them as 12.1 and 12.2. (Stations can also transmit program guide information as well, similar to what you may get on a cable system.)

As for manually adding channels - that is a more difficult one to address ... but should be answered in your tuner's documentation. From my experience, most manual channel add features want you to add the actual RF (radio frequency) channel number. The tuner will then attempt to tune in whatever may be on that channel, analog or digital.

But I also recently purchased the latest LG tuner ... and it has a dash (-) on the keypad ... and I can direct enter a channel number like 12-2.

When stepping through memorised channels - some tuners put the channels in order ... so you would see WPRI 12, followed by WPRI-DT 12.1 and WPRI-DT 12.2. Other tuners may put all the analog channels together followed by the digital channels.

As for receiving WPRI-DT but not WJAR-DT ... I'm not familiar with what the situation is with WJAR's digital operation - but they are on channel 51, one of the highest UHF channels - where WPRI-DT is a high-band VHF station. You're probably around 50 km from Rehoboth and mostly across water ... maybe just an issue with propagation?

When you are scanning channels ... watch the scan process carefully. On many boxes, including the latest generation LG tuner, you will notice a pause on channel numbers that have digital transmissions. This pause is usually very short when you have a strong digital signal ... and much longer when the signal is weak and/or the error rates are high. What happens when you're seeing it scan channel 51?

When we get done with the migration from NTSC (analog) to ATSC (digital) each station will again have just one channel. Of course - that physical channel may no longer reflect the branding of the station today ... but your tuner will display something akin to the 12.1, 12.2, etc. This really isn't any different to WPRI channel 12 showing up someplace else on your cable system's lineup ... also note: the FCC will also be reclaiming channels 52 through 69 ... so any station that's operating above channel 51 will have to (yet again) move. This will include WPRI's sister station WNAC, which currently is on analog channel 64 and digital channel 54.

HTH & Happy Holidays

Just noticed that on my HD Tivo, Channel 6-1 is searching for signal, 6-2 is still ABC Now - To get WLNE-DT I need to enter 49-3 (49-4 is another feed of ABC Now. I would not have seen the 49-3 if I hadn't done a channel serarch and it brought up 49-3 and -4 as new channels available.

My son Jeff, noticed the same thing on his LST-4200A altho on his receiver it remapped automatically to 49-3

Probably just a temporary problem. I saw the same on my Zenith1080 yesterday, but haven't checked it today. When they fix the problem, and you rescan, 49-3 will disappear and you will be back to using 6-1.

Originally posted by Ken27
Guys,

I could use some help trying to get the OTA HDTV stations. PLEASE.

I just got a Sony 34SX955 set for Christmas and have it hooked up to an antenna in the attic. The set has a built in HDTV tuner

The antenna is a Radio Shack 80" Boom Length, 32 Element Antenna dual UHV / VHF antenna. No amplifier.

I live in Narragansett RI, northern part of town.


- Ken

Two issues that can affect your situation:

- Attic installation will reduce signal strength by 40-60%. If your antenna
is rated for 50 miles, in the attic, it will be reduced to 20-25 miles.

- Multipath. Depending on your roof material, it can reck havok with
the direction of the signal.

I also started with the same antenna in my attic. After all kinds of experiments, I currently have my antenna on my roof with a pre amp and a rotator. I also changed the antenna to a CM 4228 ( I only need UHF). I now get both Boston & Providence channels.

Wondering if anyone out there is getting Cox digital cable with HD using a Sony DIRECTV receiver? Specifically using the SAT-HD200.

I know it sounds like a strange question perhaps, but I'm considering making the switch from DIRECTV to Cox and while I haven't used the receiver for cable, it does have coax inputs as well as cable-TV tuning capabilities when I run a channel search.

If I switch, I'd still want my OTA channels on top of the Cox ones without having to buy a new receiver or pay Cox for theirs (which I doubt would even have the OTA capabilty).

Thanks!

Originally posted by jcurci
Wondering if anyone out there is getting Cox digital cable with HD using a Sony DIRECTV receiver? Specifically using the SAT-HD200.

I know it sounds like a strange question perhaps, but I'm considering making the switch from DIRECTV to Cox and while I haven't used the receiver for cable, it does have coax inputs as well as cable-TV tuning capabilities when I run a channel search.

If I switch, I'd still want my OTA channels on top of the Cox ones without having to buy a new receiver or pay Cox for theirs (which I doubt would even have the OTA capabilty).Got access to a Sony HD200 box but not Cox ... I looked through the documentation - I don't think the HD200 (which is a few years old now) has the capability to decode unscrambled 256QAM digital signals on the cable. It can receive regular analog NTSC signals though ...

I'm in Burlington, MA and have had small successes (with lots of dropouts) picking up WNAC on an HDTV wonder PC Card. Realistically, is it possible with a good outside antenna to pickup all the Providence HDTV stations?
If so, what antenna would be recommended?

Originally posted by robertq
I'm in Burlington, MA and have had small successes (with lots of dropouts) picking up WNAC on an HDTV wonder PC Card. Realistically, is it possible with a good outside antenna to pickup all the Providence HDTV stations?
If so, what antenna would be recommended? I would think you'd be better off concentrating on picking up the Boston stations. The towers are in Needham, not that far from Burlington. The Providence towers are in Rehoboth.

FYI I found this at NAB

Providence-New Bedford
Station, tuneto, RF channel
WLWC UPN 28.n 29
WDPX PAX 58.n 40
WJAR NBC 10.n 51
WPRI-TV CBS 12.n 13
WLNE ABC 6.n 49

Boston is not a problem. I'm interested in the DX possibilities.

Originally posted by robertq
Boston is not a problem. I'm interested in the DX possibilities.

I'm in Billerica, so not far from Burlington. My antenna is mounted in the 3rd story attic and pointed toward the towers in Needham, without a rotor. Once in a while, I get a very weak signal with picture and sound for one or more of the Providence stations with my accessDTV cards, but nothing anywhere near good enough to make it worth bothering with. Perhaps with a rotor, signal booster, and the antenna mounted outside there'd be a chance, but I doubt it would make enough difference to be worth the effort.

Anyone notice that every minute or two the sound on WLNE-DT burps? This has been going on for al least two weeks. Jihn

Just noticed this morning that there is a low signal on DT Channel 21 on my HR10-250. It shows "Frequency 21 - Channel 80-2 - PBS1DTV." Signal strenghts vary from 40 to 0 on Tuner 1 and 30 to 0 on Tuner 2.

Wonder if this is WSBE-DT, and if so, why such a low signal.

Regarding DT21...I am also interested

Does anyone know if the station has been approved a STA. Back in this post a month or so...there was a response from the Station engineer that there was red tape going on with the town regarding a tower work permit and that probably due to NE weather etc. we they were looking at the spring time for being online.

It would be nice to know thought if anyone else in has been able to lock in 21 (ch36 RIPBS)..maybe someone located closer to the tower can chime in?

I get a good analog signal and are looking forward for the digital feed.

Bcushman...channel 80.2 sounds like the local HD cable channel. Is your HR10-250 scanning QAM cable or OTA or both?

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Regarding DT21...I am also interested

Does anyone know if the station has been approved a STA. Back in this post a month or so...there was a response from the Station engineer that there was red tape going on with the town regarding a tower work permit and that probably due to NE weather etc. we they were looking at the spring time for being online.
You're one channel off. That earlier message was from me, regarding WLWC-DT (channel 22). The early spring ETA still holds for us.

I did a channel search on the HD TIVO and the only new channel it brought up was 56-2 (which is a duplicate of 56-1 minus the audio). I am only about 5 miles line of sight from the WSBE tower (which they share with Channel 10) which confuses me about the low signal strength assuming it is Channelo 36-DT. Am also interested in knowing if anyone else has checked channel 21 for a signal.

Robert you are correct...as I posted the orginal question about ch22.

Bruce...I get a very good analog ch 36 signal, but see no blip whatso every from DT21 yet...though I am much further from the towers. I would think if you are only 5mi away you would have the best shot at locking in.

Yes, that is what is confusing me - the signal is so low that I question what station it is. And the description I gave before makes it even more confusing. But its there!

Bruce..maybe they are starting to do something. Or it could be just noise due to the weather/atmosphere conditions.

Well I made some improvements for my OTA reception.
I live down in Narragansett. I have a 18 year old Radio Shack 80" UHF/VHF Antenna in the attic.

Last time I checked I my TV I only recieved 12.1 and 12.2 with an antenna level of 78 and an SNR of 23 dB.

I replaced the flat antenna cable with RG-6 and added a Channel Master 7777 amplifier at the antenna.

Channel 12.1 and 12.2 now come in at an antenna level of 89 and SNR of 27 dB and no drop outs.

I also now get the following new channels OTA

2.1 WGBH-SD
2.2 PBS-HD
4.1 WBZ-DT
5.1 WCVB-DT ABC
5.2 WCVB-DT ABC News Now

My VHF stations come in much better now and I got a bunch of new ones.

My Channel master UHF antenna is on its way. I hope the UHF stations improve as well as the VHF ones did.

There seems to be hope for those with attic antennas

- Ken

Originally posted by Ken27
I also now get the following new channels OTA

2.1 WGBH-SD
2.2 PBS-HD
4.1 WBZ-DT
5.1 WCVB-DT ABC
5.2 WCVB-DT ABC News Now

My Channel master UHF antenna is on its way. I hope the UHF stations improve as well as the VHF ones did.
Ken,

You may not realize that all the stations above are actually UHF...

2.x is transmitted on channel 19
5.x is transmitted on channel 20
4.x is transmitted on channel 30

Whos brillant idea was channel remapping, I have seen confusing people over and over. I understand remapping but the first station digital station I received several years ago was WCBS from New York during a band opening. I had no idea which channel it was on, the receiver said channel 2, but untill I went to the internet to look it up I wondered how I could receive a station from the west with my VHF antenna pointed northeast. John

Hi.
So, I went and ordered an ATi HDTV WONDER card.
I live in Providence, on the third floor, close to sea level out by Fox Point.
I'm wondering about what I can realistically expect with an antenna pointing out the 3rd floor window, or inside, up in the eaves of the peaked roof.

What I really wonder about is the "line of site" requirement. What does that really mean? Like, I can look in out my window, right down I195 iin the direction of Rehoboth and New Bedford, but I can't "see" New bedford or Rehoboth (please be gentile, I am aware that this may sound a little stupid...), even with a big telescope and no atmosphere. Does that count as line of sight?

Then, there's all the HD fun from Needham, and Boston. From my window, College Hill Rises about 50ft above my horizon after about 1/4 of a mile. It's crammed with buildings and houses and is about 1.5 miles thick. Beyond that, there may be some hills around the Blackstone Valley. So, Do I have any chance at those stations about 30 miles away in that direction?

The main thing I really want to see is Star Trek on UPN in HD. (I only regret I had not been able to see it BEFORE T'pal became anorexic.... I hate L.A.)

Has anyone got a good UPN signal around Providence?

Thanks.

Welcome, Mike.
I am a few miles down from you, in Pawtuxet Village in Warwick, 100 yards from the waterfront. I have an indoor Winegard antenna (with amp) in a 3rd floor apartment and receive all Boston and Providence OTA stations very well, including UPN Boston. [with only occasional airport flyover interference and minor antenna adjustments]


Keith

Originally posted by ctdish
Whos brillant idea was channel remapping, I have seen confusing people over and over. I understand remapping but the first station digital station I received several years ago was WCBS from New York during a band opening. I had no idea which channel it was on, the receiver said channel 2, but untill I went to the internet to look it up I wondered how I could receive a station from the west with my VHF antenna pointed northeast.The terrestrial digital television standard is called ATSC and is maintained by the Advanced Television Systems Committee. You can find all the details at their web site http://www.atsc.org/

ATSC transmissions contain what we call a transport stream and is defined by ATSC Standard A/65B (http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_65b.pdf) - last revision was 18 Mar 2003. Annex B of that standard specifies how the channel numbers should be encoded in the transmissions:

For broadcasters with existing NTSC licenses, the major channel number for the existing NSTC channels, as well as the digital virtual channels, controlled by the broadcaster, shall be set to the current NTSC RF channel number.

In English, this means that WPRI-DT, which is transmitting its digital signal on RF channel 13, must program its digital equipment to identify the channel number as 12 - which is where its current NTSC analog signal is broadcast. And likewise WNAC-DT digital is on channel 54 - but their ATSC stream is programmed such that it will display 64 on your digital tuner. These are the channel numbers you know the stations by!

Since the ATSC standard allows broadcasters to transmit multiple video and audio streams (along with other computer information, like program guides, etc.) we need a way to describe for consumers what those are ... and that is what is commonly known as sub-channels. So if your PBS affiliate is transmitting multiple standard definition channels on their ATSC stream, you'd see them in your display something like 57-1, 57-2, 57-3, etc. (Those would be for WGBY-DT in Springfield MA.) Those user friendly numbers internally in your tuner are decoded to pick one of the video PID's (Packed IDentifiers) and one or more audio PID's.

As for WCBS-DT ... that's actually pretty interesting. I think their digital is on 56 ... which is the same as WLVI's analog signal. Did it just decode the channel information in your tuner - or was it actually something watchable?

Originally posted by Ken27

I also now get the following new channels OTA

2.1 WGBH-SD
2.2 PBS-HD
4.1 WBZ-DT
5.1 WCVB-DT ABC
5.2 WCVB-DT ABC News Now

My VHF stations come in much better now and I got a bunch of new ones.

My Channel master UHF antenna is on its way. I hope the UHF stations improve as well as the VHF ones did.

- Ken

Well I put up a Channel master 4248 UHF Antenna in the Attic. I added it as the UHF only antenna to the Pre-Amp and the left the radio shack antenna on as the VHF antenna. In addition to what I already got, I now get

6.1 WLNE-DT
6.2 WLNE-DT
10.1 WJAR-DT
44.1 WGBX-DT
44.1 WGBX-DT

Well 44 kinda goes in and out. And to be honest 10.1 signal strength is not too high, its only around 56, with a 15 dB SNR.

Kinda funny how the Boston stations come in better than the Providence onces even though Boston is twice as far away.

Oh, one note of mention, that Channel Master 4248 antena is a one big antenna. It barely fit in the attic.

All and all not a bad channel line up without too much effort. I suppose I could improve things a bit with a mast on the roof. But we all know the "issue" with doing that. : )


- Ken

Can you rotate the UHF antenna? It is very directional. Especially with digital signals, if the antenna is not aimed at the station it most likely will not receive it. John

I have the attenna pointed towards the towers as best as I can tell. I don't have a good compass but did do a little math to figure out the angles. I used antennaweb to find the stations.

I may play with it a bit if I get some time this weekend.

I am not sure why I spend so much time with this DT thing. From what I can see there are really not all that many shows that I watch that I dont get on cable already. DT is really only worth it to me for the widescreen HD signals.

I guess its just too much fun to play with.

What can I say I have a big 34" wide screen CRT and now I want all my TV in HDTV widescreen format.
: - )


Of course now all I need is a HDTV recorder.

Pointing the antenna towards the towers while in the attic may well not produce optimum results. Roofing materials can cause multipath issues causing the signal to bounce around. Trial and error may well be your best bet.

I live on College Hill in Providence, basically right at Prospect Park, if you know where that is. I have a beautiful view of the State House and downtown Providence, but am not yet sure of my HDTV reception capabilities. I am looking to hire a local installer to put a big antenna on my roof. I already have a DirecTV dish up there. I recently purchased a large DB-8 UHF antenna from Antennas Direct, but I am not sure I want to crawl around on my roof as I am not a professional and it seems like a high risk operation if you don't know what you are doing. When I had the dish installed up there, I had the installer run an extra line of coax for a future OTA antenna installation, so the cable run is done. There is a deck off the back of the house so the ladder to the roof need not be enormous. Does anyone have a recommendation for installers in the Providence area with good experience in this sort of thing (HDTV television antennas)? Thanks,
in advance.
-Angus

PBS channel 36 going high-def is going high-def March 1st.05

I work at the Best Buy in Seekonk, MA and i talked with a guy that works at the station and this is the date he told me that 36 is going HD.

Great, another PBS station. Does anyone know when Cox is going to have the RI Fox and CBS HD channels as part of their HD Service? And what about ESPN HD2 or any of the Turner networks? And if there is no plan to pick up the Providence stations, why don't they pick up the Boston Stations. Heck, we already have channel 2. Why not pick up the CBS and Fox feeds from our neighbors to the North? This really makes no sense to me. ANy clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

As I reported over a week ago, on my HR10-250, I am getting a signal on DT Channel 21 (which will be the channel WSBE-36-1 will be on). What it shows is
"Channel 21-Channel 80-3-PBS-1-DTV" and the signal strength is all over the place from a high of 40 to a low of 0. It isn't on all the time, mainly during the day although there have been days when it hasn't bee there. Since I am only about 5 miles line of sight from the WJAR tower in Rehoboth (which 36-1 will share) I can't imagine this is the RI PBS channel, but if not, what is it?

Originally posted by local643
Great, another PBS station. Does anyone know when Cox is going to have the RI Fox and CBS HD channels as part of their HD Service? And what about ESPN HD2 or any of the Turner networks? And if there is no plan to pick up the Providence stations, why don't they pick up the Boston Stations. Heck, we already have channel 2. Why not pick up the CBS and Fox feeds from our neighbors to the North? This really makes no sense to me. ANy clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

HEAR HEAR! WTF is up, if they don't get Fox no Super Bowl in HD, what a TRAVESTY!
Tom

I have OTA and DirecTV so can't speak about Cox - altho from what I have been told Cox & Channel 12 are in a p****ng contest about carrying the subchannels altho Channel 12 has only the WX info channel 12-2 and duplicate broadcasting on channel 12-3 - the WX info channel is already on Cox digital. And of course since Fox is run by Channel 12 they will be in the same position (they also carry the WX info channel on 64-2). But like I said, that is what I was told by an inside source months ago.

We change the PID's on WJAR-DT today if you cannot receive us you may have to re-scan your receiver.


Mark

Thanks WJAR for being there for us.

Is there anyone on this forum receiving HDTV OTA in Newport, RI?

Almost all of our stations are in the Providence market, but they are a good enough distance away that checkhd.com says we need a "blue" or "violet" class antenna to receive them well.

I'd like to know what success people have had with what types & sizes of antenna from Newport.

I'd also like to know if anybody has tried the "SquareShooter" here, and whether, and if so, how much, amplification it needed. Houses are small in newport, and long distance antennae are big. I'm hoping the SquareShooter will do a good job of not making me make my street ugly...

I'm also wondering if Newport needs its own thread, since our issues are going to be more about the long distance nature of using the Providence market.

Originally posted by avramd
Is there anyone on this forum receiving HDTV OTA in Newport, RI?

Almost all of our stations are in the Providence market, but they are a good enough distance away that checkhd.com says we need a "blue" or "violet" class antenna to receive them well.

I 'm in South Kingstown and got the same reccomendation from AntennaWeb. My house had a very old VHF/UHF combo antenna with about a 7' length on the house when I moved in 10 years ago. I was all set to go out and get a new antenna when I said to myself: "wait a minute. Before spending money on a new antenna that I have no way knowing what kind of results I'll get lets try this one." I plugged it in and by eyeball aimed it slighty east of Needham where the Boston towers are located. To my pleasant surprise, my tuner acquired all the Boston and Providence HD stations.

The moral of the story is that your results from checkhd and antennaweb are approximations and your actual needs can vary significantly from these reccomendations. In Newport you should have a good unobstructed line of sight to both Needham and Rehobeth.

WJAR Engineer,

The Weather Plus will be on 10.2 on 1/17 right? or will it only be on digital cable?

Originally posted by eye_candy
PBS channel 36 going high-def is going high-def March 1st.05

I work at the Best Buy in Seekonk, MA and i talked with a guy that works at the station and this is the date he told me that 36 is going HD.

I'd love to see that happen, they have been saying that for almost a year now. and it keeps getting pushed back.

The Weather Plus will be on 10.2 on 1/17 right? or will it only be on digital cable?

NBC Weather Plus will be on 10.2 OTA only starting 1/18, it will not be available on Cox it will be on Comcast in February.

Mark

Does anyone know when Cox is going to have the RI Fox and CBS HD channels as part of their HD Service?

Well take this with whatever grains of salt you may have nearby, but several days ago I had my regular HD cable box swapped out with the DVR model and the installer said we can expect Fox and CBS by the end of February. He actually said end of January, February, but I'll stretch that to the end of February to avoid pitching a personal fit if I don't see it by end of January/early February.

Hopefully this guy knew what he was talking about. It's been too long waiting for these stations.

Originally posted by WJAR Engineer
The Weather Plus will be on 10.2 on 1/17 right? or will it only be on digital cable?

NBC Weather Plus will be on 10.2 OTA only starting 1/18, it will not be available on Cox it will be on Comcast in February.

Mark

I am suprised they have not run any promos yet. Its less than a week away....

Tell Clare ;)


Tim

HD Problems for week of 1/2-8/05

Thursday 1/6/05 Committed 8:30p Entire Show in SD
Friday 1/7/05 Third Watch 9:00p Started with HD, then 9:20-9:43 loss of HD at break. At second break, all that was shown was the NBC Peacock Loader. Went back after Second break.


-

Originally posted by avramd
Is there anyone on this forum receiving HDTV OTA in Newport, RI?

Almost all of our stations are in the Providence market, but they are a good enough distance away that checkhd.com says we need a "blue" or "violet" class antenna to receive them well.

I'd like to know what success people have had with what types & sizes of antenna from Newport.

I'd also like to know if anybody has tried the "SquareShooter" here, and whether, and if so, how much, amplification it needed. Houses are small in newport, and long distance antennae are big. I'm hoping the SquareShooter will do a good job of not making me make my street ugly...

I'm also wondering if Newport needs its own thread, since our issues are going to be more about the long distance nature of using the Providence market.

I am in Newport and just set up my antenna this week. I got an 80" boom roof antenna from Radio Shack. I am able to pull in all of the Providence and Boston stations without much of a problem. The only problem is that you can't mount it in the attic, it needs to be high up on the roof.
HTH

That's great. Are you able to receive Boston stations in HD? With no trouble? In particular, can you get WB or UPN in HD?

How clear is your antenna's view? If I chiminey mount, there will be a big tree in the path of 18 to 20 degrees, about 100 feet away. I'm actually thinking of mounting off the corner of my house b/c it looks like that's far enough to the side that that tree won't be in the way. I'll lose some height, but it will still just clear the house across the street.

I don't have a problem pulling in the Boston stations, but I haven't tried WB or UPN yet. I still have to finish mounting my antenna, which will be on the side of the house. It is a pretty clear view without many trees. If you can, I would suggest trying to test mount the antenna on the side of the house and also on the chimney and see which one works better for you.

The antenna will be on the roof, just not attached to the roof, and not in the center. It will be wall mounted from below the eave, close to the edge of the roof, to get me around a particular tree.

Not that you need to know any of this.

Please do post when you know whether or not you can get digital from Boston.

By the way, do you know of *anywhere* in Newport that has Fox on HD yet? Public I mean, like a sports bar, etc. I'm wondering if I can accurately advertise to all my friends that I'll be the only HD superbowl available to them ;-)

This just in!

Grrrrrrrr:mad:

"Dear Cox High Definition Customer:

With the NFL playoffs underway, we wanted to provide you with some information
concerning carriage of WPRI (CBS) and WNAC (Fox) programming in high definition (HD).

As you know, Cox Rhode Island currently carries the high definition (HD) programming
of local broadcasters WLNE (ABC), WJAR (NBC), WGBH (PBS), as well as ESPN, Discovery,
INHD1&2, HBO, and Showtime. We are currently negotiating with the owners of WPRI (CBS)
and WNAC (FOX) to carry their high definition programming, but do not have their permission
at this time. As a result, we will not be allowed to offer the NFL Playoffs or Superbowl
in high definition during the upcoming weeks unless permission is granted by the stations'
ownership. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and assure you that we are
making every effort to resolve this problem. Ultimately, however, it is up to the local
broadcaster - WPRI and WNAC - to grant permission for their signals to be carried by Cox in HD.

Cox has otherwise successfully negotiated sports programming of both Red Sox baseball and
the NBA in high definition format on INHD2. In the near future, we are planning to add
more channels to your high definition lineup from Cox, and look forward to communicating
those additions in the upcoming months.

Thank you for being a Cox High Definition Customer!"

This just in!

COX Sux!

Cox free video and PROUD of it!

Cox does suck...does anybody have lines and hissing through there video (ingest). They have said they would fix it and never have. I can barely watch channel 10. Cox SUCKS

avramd,
I mounted the antenna yesterday on the chimney. I am now able to pull in all of the boston channels, including WB and UPN with no problems. Good luck with your mounting!
As far as I know, there are no places in Newport that have Fox in HD yet, so tell all your friends that you'll be the only one!

the boston stations (wb & upn) are in HD?

That's great, congrats... Thanks for the info, hopefully my hardware will be here in the next few days.

Originally posted by vfrjim
Cox free video and PROUD of it!

I went with Dish network nearly 5 years ago after I asked Cox about their HD plans and they said "HDTV is not available in RI". I said OK and dropped them, put up an OTA antenna, installed a Dish 6000 and have not looked back.

Some people do not like rooftop antennas, but I think my VHF and 4228 UHF look great along with a pair of DBS dishes!

Howard

Originally posted by pezdoctor
Welcome, Mike.
I am a few miles down from you, in Pawtuxet Village in Warwick, 100 yards from the waterfront. I have an indoor Winegard antenna (with amp) in a 3rd floor apartment and receive all Boston and Providence OTA stations very well, including UPN Boston. [with only occasional airport flyover interference and minor antenna adjustments]


Keith

Hi Keith.
Thanks for the welcom and response.

I ended up needing to purchase an ATI graphics card to make the HD card work (surprise!), but it finally did work. I am now into the antenna/waiting-for-services game.

I have been able to get a number of local stations with the little passive antenna out the window on the sill. I got to watch the Patriots in HD which was pretty cool. I point the thing roughly east by northeast. (re-directing it a little loses me some signal and gets an unwatchable non-HD signal from New Bedford I think)

I have no PBS or UPN yet. My best, closest local options are yet to begin transmission:
WSBE-DT 21 PBS PROVIDENCE
WLWC-DT 22 UPN NEW BEDFORD

I do occaisionaly lock in channel 21, just as others have reported. I can no longer find the RIPBS document on-line which used to be on thier site about how much of a burdon it was going to be to comply with the FCC regulation for DT rollout schedules. I think they're probably working on it, maybe in a little trouble with the government?

I did try a low end Turk antenna with a 40db amp and it was pointless -- worse than my little passive antenna. I am considering the tube-shaped Turk TV55. Getyting a little queasy about spending money for a not-so-sure thing.

Keith: What model Winegard* do you have, and in what direction do you point it?
It looks to me like I have a lot of sky out my window in the direction of Needham, which is about 30 miles away. I'm holding out hope that I can pick up those Boston stations with the right amplified antenna (in time to see Ken Burns' Jack Johnson biography on PBS ... ha ha).

Thanks again.

*oops, just read earlier post "Winegard indoor/outdoor GS-220 "

I got the following reply to an inquiry at RIPBS (Rhode Island Public Television)

Dear Mr. Benway:
We sure do intend to broadcast HDTV - later this year! According to our engineering and operations folks, we should be broadcasting our digital signal by March, with high-definition arriving later. Our Web site will have the information.
Please feel free to stay in touch with any additional questions. Thank you for writing, and for watching Rhode Island PBS.




~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ms. Lucie M. Houle
Public Information Manager
Rhode Island PBS
50 Park Lane
Providence, RI 02907
T: 401-222-3636, ext. 216
F: 401-222-3407
E: lhoule@RIpbs.org

Any update on when the NBC Weather Plus channel will be on 10-2? I know Mark from WJAR had said today was the start-up.

Mike,
My antenna is basically on the floor up against a North-facing wall---sometimes I have to move/tilt it a few inches, and I consider myself lucky getting everything I do. The antenna/amp/receiver combo just happened to work perfectly for me.
[If I move soon, I hope my luck holds out in my new place further South.]

Keith

Originally posted by bcushman
Any update on when the NBC Weather Plus channel will be on 10-2? I know Mark from WJAR had said today was the start-up.

NBCU WeatherPLUS is on the air as of 11AM, it will be on and off a few times over the next few days as we have to upgrade some software. We will be adding other features as we receive more equipment for the service over the next month or so.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Its good to have an Owner Opperated affiliate (WJAR) who's is helpling us out here in the community.


However, I feel I have to address an earilier issue in regard to the highjacking of the NFL in HD and who's the real bad guy.

The highest top ten paid CEO’s in Rhode Island include the CEO’s that run CBS affiliate WPRI 12 and Fox affiliate WNAC 64. They realize that the majority of televisions in the State of Rhode Island are hooked up to Cox Cable. These two greedy slugs want to get paid cold cash from COX to carry their Stations. No other Television licensee in the State of RI has ever made such a request using what are Public Air Ways. Like last years playoffs and Superbowl, they are using the NFL as leverage against Cox. Its not COX cable who is the bad guy and would have to pass the cost to their customers, but the slugs who run those stations.

Both affiliate WPRI 12 and affiliate WNAC 64 are not owned by Fox and CBS.

Their interest is purely to make as much money as they can. The Stations move from investor to investor over the years. They represent the Typhoid Mary’s of the Broadcasting Profession and also led the way to defeat the Fairness Doctrine in 1993. Just like slumlords, they go into a property and hang on to it only to sell it for a profit and move up to another station somewhere and up the money ladder they go. Their greediness only prevents the public they sever from experiencing a broadcast quality standard they deserve.

Cox in this case is doing the State of RI and its customers a big favor.

Originally posted by WJAR Engineer
NBCU WeatherPLUS is on the air as of 11AM, it will be on and off a few times over the next few days as we have to upgrade some software. We will be adding other features as we receive more equipment for the service over the next month or so.
Mark

Thanks Mark. Had to do a rescan of the digital channels on my HD TiVo but receiving 10-2 fine now.

A question for Mark from WJAR. (or anyone else that can answer it)

Mark,
I live in the north end of Narragansett RI and I have 2 antennas in the attic with a preamp. Of all the digital stations I get, including 4 and 5 out of Boston, WJAR , channel 10 is about the weakest of all and I get a good bit of drop out. Do you have any idea why this might be. Is channel 10 at low power ?


thanks

Ken

Just keeping everyone informed.

I asked the following question of WPRI:

Is there any reason as to why you have not allowed Cox to pick up and carry your HD feed? I have spoken with the Cox representatives and I have been told that the problem is a result of WPRI management not wanting to cooperate.

This was the response I got:

LIN Television has been unable to come to an agreement with Cox to
allow them to put WPRI-DT and WNAC-DT on Cox. I am hopeful that we will be able to come to an agreement soon, but I cannot honestly say that progress has been made in negotiations. I do hope that you realize that both stations are broadcast over the air free of charge throughout the market and that many viewers are enjoying FOX and CBS HD programming, including the football playoffs and the upcoming Super Bowl. Please let me know if you need any assistance in determining what you would need to do to receive FREE over the air HDTV.

I turned my TV on today and COX was carrying 12.1 WPRI-DI today.

TV actualy says WPRI DI as appossed to DT

- Ken

Originally posted by Ken27
I turned my TV on today and COX was carrying 12.1 WPRI-DI today.

TV actualy says WPRI DI as appossed to DT

- Ken

I just checked my TV and I do not have a CBS HD channel. What channel was it listed as? Was this the RI Cox feed?

Originally posted by Ken27
A question for Mark from WJAR. (or anyone else that can answer it)

Mark,
I live in the north end of Narragansett RI and I have 2 antennas in the attic with a preamp. Of all the digital stations I get, including 4 and 5 out of Boston, WJAR , channel 10 is about the weakest of all and I get a good bit of drop out. Do you have any idea why this might be. Is channel 10 at low power ?


thanks

Ken


I would suggest try turning the antenna to see if that improves the signal it sounds like you are getting a bit of multipath. We will be going up to our full licensed power this spring.

Mark

Originally posted by Ken27
I turned my TV on today and COX was carrying 12.1 WPRI-DI today.

TV actualy says WPRI DI as appossed to DT

- Ken


Are you getting this signal from Cox through a cable input (with an HD tuner)? What I mean, is you are not getting it through the Cox HD receiver?

Originally posted by Ken27
I turned my TV on today and COX was carrying 12.1 WPRI-DI today.

TV actualy says WPRI DI as appossed to DT

- Ken


Are you getting this signal from Cox through a cable input (with an HD tuner)? What I mean, is you are not getting it through the Cox HD receiver?

Originally posted by Ken27
I turned my TV on today and COX was carrying 12.1 WPRI-DI today.

TV actualy says WPRI DI as appossed to DT

- Ken


Are you getting this signal from Cox through a cable input (with an HD tuner)? What I mean, is you are not getting it through the Cox HD receiver?

Hello Everyone,

Ok, I got my antenna up today, and I'm thrilled with the results. I'm receiving 22 digital stations with a single UHF Yagi medium range antenna, and a 12.5 db signal amplifier. The amp is nothing special, it is whatever Wal-Mart had.

My antenna is an XG42 from antennasdirect.com. They rate it at 14.5 db gain I believe. it's very small and light - 39" by 17". My house is 1.5 stories. It is mounted from the rear corner of my house, an exterior wall mounted mast on 18" stand-offs, with two 4.5' mast sections. It's only about 5.5' above the roof, and because it's mounted from the corner of the house, it's well below the peak of the roof. It just barely clears the roof of the house across the street. I put it on the corner because that gives it a straight shot to all the Providence and Boston stations w/out interference from a tree across the street. I could have gone to the peak or chimney, but the tree would have been in the way.

I haven't tried it without the preamp, I don't know if it's necessary or not. However, with a couple of the stations I want being 57 miles away, I'm fairly sure that it is.

Here is the list of stations I get - "x" means I'm not blocking it out (sorry I can't format it any better here, I don't know how):

ch station type network dist
12.1 wpri-hd high cbs 27 x
12.2 wpri-wx weather cbs 27
64.1 wnac-hd high fox 27 x
64.2 wnac-wx weather fox 27
46.1 wwdp-dt digital shopping 38
6.1 wlne-dt digital abc 49 x
6.2 wlne-nw weather 49
10.1 wjar-dt digital nbc 51 x
2.1 wgbh-sd digital pbs 57
2.2 pbs-hd high pbs 57 x
4.1 wbz-dt digital cbs 57
5.1 wcvb-dt digital abc 57
5.2 wcvb-dt digital abc 57
7.1 whdh-hd high nbc 57
10.2 wjar-we weather nbc 57
25.1 wfxt-dt digital fox 57
38.1 wsbk-dt digital upn 57 x
44.2 wgbx-hd high pbs 57 x
56.1 wlvi-d1 digital wb 57 x
66.1 wutf-dt digital spanish 63

For anybody who's interested, before I mounted my antenna, I tested it in the living room. With it pointed out the window just over the houses across the street, and towards Providence, I could only get ABC, Fox, and NBC (two sub channels each, primary, and weather/news). I could not get CBS at all. Fox cut in and out a fair bit. Then I added the 12.5 db pre-amp, and started picking up CBS - but with a ton of cut-out. Fox improved, but still cout out a little.

This, as I said in my last post, is an antennasdirect.com xg-42. It's an outdoor only UHF antenna. It has pretty good gain (14.5 db). I have no idea how well an indoor or attic mounted antenna would have done - since my goal was to get WB and UPN from Boston, I didn't even consider those routes.

Mark,
I'll try moving the antenna next time I go up in the attic. Thanks.

jforget1,
Its Cox Cable in RI, its just 12.1 on my tv.

krob111,
I have standard cox cable. I plugged that into my tv. My TV has a built in tuner and it can read the digital signal off the COX cable on 6.1, 10.1, 12.1 and PBS-HD and a whole bunch of other spanish channels. I am not able to view things like Discovery HD or INHD channels.


When watching channel 12 news today they even mentioned that they are now broadcast on Cox Cable, so I guess its here to stay.

- Ken

I still don't have WPRI or WNAC on Cox, so I'm not sure where you are getting that from. I'm not to worried since I have an OTA tuner, but having trouble picking up 64.1 WNAC. I'll have to figure it out in the next couple weeks before SuperBowl hits.

Originally posted by Ken27
Mark,
I'll try moving the antenna next time I go up in the attic. Thanks.

jforget1,
Its Cox Cable in RI, its just 12.1 on my tv.

krob111,
I have standard cox cable. I plugged that into my tv. My TV has a built in tuner and it can read the digital signal off the COX cable on 6.1, 10.1, 12.1 and PBS-HD and a whole bunch of other spanish channels. I am not able to view things like Discovery HD or INHD channels.


When watching channel 12 news today they even mentioned that they are now broadcast on Cox Cable, so I guess its here to stay.

- Ken

Ken,

Thanks for the info. I was also able to pick up 12.1 using the same method (cable directly to the TV using my TV's HD tuner) back in August. Shortly thereafter I lost the signal and have been unable to get it back since. I will try to run thru the channel programming again on the TV to see if I can pick it up again. I have since picked up an indoor antenna from Best Buy and now get the CBS HD from channel 4 in Boston, in addition to several others.

Thanks,

Kevin

Anyone getting a strong signal from 10.1 WJAR-DT NBC, but getting audio only?

Originally posted by mikebenway
Anyone getting a strong signal from 10.1 WJAR-DT NBC, but getting audio only?

Nope, working fine here, both 10-1 and 10-2, audio+video

Originally posted by vfrjim
Nope, working fine here, both 10-1 and 10-2, audio+video

How about FOX WNAC 64-1, 64-2? I live in Coventry on the Hope/West Warwick Line and I'm having trouble picking up those stations. I'm obviously desperate to get them for the Superbowl.

ReAp,

If you look at my post earlier, I'm getting Fox just fine in Newport.

The obvious things for you to check are the direction of your antenna, whether or not it has any obstacles in that direction, and possibly try adding a signal amplifier. You shouldn't need an amp from coventry though - I was able to get Fox w/out amp from newport, and with the antenna in my living room.

You are using an outdoor antenna, right?

I used antennaweb.org to determine the best direction for my antenna, and I have a compass to verify it.

Originally posted by ReAp
How about FOX WNAC 64-1, 64-2? I live in Coventry on the Hope/West Warwick Line and I'm having trouble picking up those stations. I'm obviously desperate to get them for the Superbowl.

I live on the Coventry/West Greenwich line and I just started using a DB4 antenna because Cox is dragging their feet on CBS & FOX. I have been able to pickup both stations consistently. Took a little tweaking to get them both in. Note: I did not need to put the antenna on the roof. I just mounted it to an old chair in my back yard.

Is ur fox station WNAC Fox broadcasting in HD? If it is please tell Cpanther95 so that he can add it to the list.

Originally posted by houselog442
Is ur fox station WNAC Fox broadcasting in HD? If it is please tell Cpanther95 so that he can add it to the list.

Just notified him. Thanks for the reminder.

Originally posted by ReAp
How about FOX WNAC 64-1, 64-2? I live in Coventry on the Hope/West Warwick Line and I'm having trouble picking up those stations. I'm obviously desperate to get them for the Superbowl.

I get ALL channels from Providence and Boston with no problems using a Channel Master 4248 with no preamp. Unless your pointing at a mountain and your in a deep valley, you should be able to get all Providence and most Boston without any problems.

Jim

Quite psyched now.

I bought this cheap Radio Shack UHF antenna:

Outdoor Antennas for UHF-Only (Channels 14-69)
$23.99
Catalog #: 15-2160
(I had a URL but it got stripped)

I have been pretty good getting local stuff with the small antenna included
with my HD Wonder card from ATI, siting out the window on the sill. But I wanted to see what I could do. (I actually got the idea fromm a guy on ebay selling a document for 5 bucks, who had unremarkable information, but has made an industry out of selling this document, and I was impressed with his chutspa).

After experimenting without a compass, but just a sense of direction, I began experimenting up in the exposed beams (sort of like an attic that you can see). In just the right, not too obtrusive spot, I am getting passable signal from WGBH, WGBX, WBZ, WHDH from Boston area, in addition to the usual lineup from Rehoboth.

I live at eye-level with I-195, and the only issue I have now, is that I get cut-outs when a truck drives by. (It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that the matrerial being transported has an impact on how much disruptin I experience --- gasoline trucks are the worst??) This happens a bit less with the local channels as well. Will an amplifier help that?

By the way, it occurs to me that despite plenty of math/science training, I don't have a good understanding of what I supose you'd call "antenna theory". Anyone got a good reference for the lazy?

I will experiment with different pointing approaches.

In general, I'm pretty pleased that I can get all this from indoors with no amplifier!



Originally posted by mikebenway
Hi.
So, I went and ordered an ATi HDTV WONDER card.
I live in Providence, on the third floor, close to sea level out by Fox Point.
I'm wondering about what I can realistically expect with an antenna pointing out the 3rd floor window, or inside, up in the eaves of the peaked roof.

What I really wonder about is the "line of site" requirement. What does that really mean? Like, I can look in out my window, right down I195 iin the direction of Rehoboth and New Bedford, but I can't "see" New bedford or Rehoboth (please be gentile, I am aware that this may sound a little stupid...), even with a big telescope and no atmosphere. Does that count as line of sight?

Then, there's all the HD fun from Needham, and Boston. From my window, College Hill Rises about 50ft above my horizon after about 1/4 of a mile. It's crammed with buildings and houses and is about 1.5 miles thick. Beyond that, there may be some hills around the Blackstone Valley. So, Do I have any chance at those stations about 30 miles away in that direction?

The main thing I really want to see is Star Trek on UPN in HD. (I only regret I had not been able to see it BEFORE T'pal became anorexic.... I hate L.A.)

Has anyone got a good UPN signal around Providence?

Thanks.

Last I heard about WSBE going digital was "early 2005." Does anyone have any further information? It is the last channel that I have any interest in watching that I still get crappy (analog) reception on.

TIA

SMK

RoyGBiv...there was a post back not too far.... from someone stating March 1-05. The date came from word of mouth. Not too sure if it's reliable though.

I am also looking forward to the transition.

Is this broadcasting currently?
WGBH DT2.2

I'm now getting just about everything out toward boston including WGBH 44.1, 44.2, 44.3 and WGBH DT (forgot channel), but I see no HD content and do not lock WGBH DT2.2.

I expect that these are all coming from the same location, and with comparable power, right?

Originally posted by mikebenway
Is this broadcasting currently?
WGBH DT2.2

I'm now getting just about everything out toward boston including WGBH 44.1, 44.2, 44.3 and WGBH DT (forgot channel), but I see no HD content and do not lock WGBH DT2.2.

I expect that these are all coming from the same location, and with comparable power, right?

Yes it's broadcasting, also WGBH has 4 channel 44.1, 44.2, 44.3,44.4(WGBH,WORLD,CREATE,KIDS)

Take it with a grain of salt, I'm pasting it here because it mentions Providence in the article....

Swanni Rant
Local network affiliates in several cities are refusing to let cable operators provide
their High-Definition TV feeds to their subscribers. The stations are insisting that
cable operators carry not only their regular digital feed, but their extra digital
channels as well. For instance, some local stations have launched an all-weather or
all-news digital channel in addition to its feed of local and network programming.
(In some cases, the local stations are also demanding that cable operators pay an
extra fee for the right to carry the main high-def feed.)

The cable operators are balking at carrying the extra digital feeds because they take
up precious space that could be used for channels and services that might be more
interesting to consumers. However, because of the dispute, many viewers around
the country did not get to see the HDTV broadcasts of the NFL playoffs and will
likely miss the high-def version of the Super Bowl as well.

The local stations believe the extra digital channels may eventually help generate
new advertising and viewers. So they are trying to blackmail the cable operators to
carry them by withholding the HDTV feeds of popular programming, such as the
National Football League. The Fox station in Providence, Rhode Island, is refusing
to permit Cox Cable to show the Super Bowl in high-def because the cable operator
won't carry a Fox digital channel that displays the station's weather radar!

These local station executives should be ashamed of themselves. They are
putting their future profits ahead of the interests of their communities and viewers.

Look, I understand that cable operators are required to carry the analog feeds of
local channels, as part of their local franchise agreements. And there's a good
reason for that. You want to ensure that viewers are kept informed of local issues
and news, as presented by the local channels.

But the digital channels are another matter. First, with digital technology, each local
affiliate could add several digital channels, which would require the cable operator to
add perhaps as many as 20-30 channels. Second, the extra digital channels may
not add any significant benefit to the community. The information found on the local
digital weather channel can be obtained on a variety of other channels already airing,
including The Weather Channel.

The FCC is expected next month to rule that cable operators are not required to
carry digital feeds other than the station's main feed. Hopefully, once that ruling
comes down, the local stations will stop trying to play hardball with cable operators
and their viewers.

Mitchman

I can't speak for Fox 64, but the weather feed they mention in the article is already carried on Cox via Channel 12-2 so the reason given doesn't make much sense to me.

Yes, I've had the Pinpoint weather channel for a while now, so I'm confused also.

I blame WPRI, but I'll bet Cox is equaly guilty.

Bastages. :mad:

Also, if I understand things correctly, the bandwidth used for the "main" channel and "sub" combined take up no more space than a normal analog channel would use.

Regardless of the above statements validity, these cable operators are not the angles they would have you believe they are. From what I have read the major issues if the fees being requested and not the bandwidth. The broadcasters have had to pony up considerable about of money to perform the digital upgrades and are looking to see some ROI on their investment, just as any MSO would for any major capital project they deployed. Broadcasters are also well within their right to request fees from MSO's for carriage of their signals. Remember too that broacasters provide these same digital channels free OTA so its not like they are holding their viewing audience hostage. Now the MSO (in this case Cox) would have you believe that this is some how wrong and refuse to pay it and have launched a PR campaign (quite successfully I might add) at convincing the general public that it is the broadcasters who are the true villains. But I guess the cable providers are the first to blame the content providers whenever the give their semi-annual/annual rate increases, so I guess why should this be any. different.

Ultimately, it will be up to the FCC to make a ruling and I guess we'll see then who has the most $$ and better lobbyists. :rolleyes:

Just a WAG, but I'll bet it's going something like this:

The owners of Ch 6, 10 & 12 have lunch and one says "how about you two give the public a taste of free HD, and I'll hold the Superbowl as ransom, again. That way Cox has to agree to pay more for the HD feeds and the consumer picks up the tab for all of us."

"Agreed? Next rounds on me."

The cable guys have their lunch and say "Look, the only edge we have against the SAT guys is to advertise free HD. let's make the locals look like the heavies on this. The consumers are used to taking it up the aZZ, we'll just hit them again with another raise as soon as Zoom goes under"

"Agreed? Next rounds on me."

Bob, the senario you gave is probably a lot closer to reality then we might imagine.

Cox's reason for not carrying WPRI/WNAC is that they do not want to commit to carry thier "data" channel in addition to thier main channels, I cannot blame cox that much. I think Lin communcations is basically at fault. But IMO, screw them, go buy yourself an antenna and save money each month.

Originally posted by sonofjay
Also, if I understand things correctly, the bandwidth used for the "main" channel and "sub" combined take up no more space than a normal analog channel would use.An ATSC channel consumes 6 MHz of bandwidth using the 8VSB modulation scheme. It presents a constant 19.39 megabits per second data stream. Two ATSC channels can fit in the cable company's 256QAM channel.

Cable operators typically receive the broadcaster's digital channel and cherry pick the PID's (data packets) that represent the desired local sub channel. Other information, including the ATSC packet overhead, program guide, other sub channels are typically discarded.

Someone from a cable operation could probably better confirm this - but if they wanted to or were required to carry a local broadcaster's other sub channels all they'd have to do is pick out the associated video and audio packets and put those up on their system - essentially as additional data streams. And those could be put anywhere on their system where there's bandwidth available - including possibly in the same 256QAM carrier with the primary HD sub channel. Your cable company provided STB takes care of the translation between cable channel number and what RF channel and sub channel data stream is tuned in.

For example, in the Springfield MA market, Comcast is carrying WGBY-DT including all of its sub channels. (WGBY channel 57 is the PBS affiliate here.) Comcast 857 carries 57-1 whilst other high numbered Comcast channels are used for 57-2, 57-3, 57-4, etc.

I found this FAQ from WGBH interesting in light of the current conversation.
My spin is that there is no physical cost to the provider, at least, to offer a feed to a cable company.

Q. Is WGBH making money on these digital channels?

A. No. WGBH is not receiving any income from any company, including Comcast, as a result of these new channels. Rather, we are making the most use of our program library to offer increased choice and convenience for viewers across New England. In fact, because of the technological upgrade required by our FCC-mandated conversion to digital broadcasting, we're able to provide all these television channels for about what it used to cost to present only 2 and 44.

Cany anyone help me understand why I am gtting all WHBH(X) 44-x signals very well, and still can not see 2.1 or 2.2 (which are the HD equvialents of the normal WGBH and WGBX analog programming)?

If they are from the same towers at the same energy?
Could the efficiency of my antenna or the impact of terrestrial obstructions cause a difference at this frequency? (44 is at frequency channel 19 whereas 2 is at channel 43) Is there anything I could do?

(PS got to see star trek in HD 5.1 surround last night... Success!)

Originally posted by mikebenway
Cany anyone help me understand why I am gtting all WHBH(X) 44-x signals very well, and still can not see 2.1 or 2.2 (which are the HD equvialents of the normal WGBH and WGBX analog programming)?

If they are from the same towers at the same energy?
Could the efficiency of my antenna or the impact of terrestrial obstructions cause a difference at this frequency? (44 is at frequency channel 19 whereas 2 is at channel 43) Is there anything I could do?

I believe they're on the same tower, but they (obviously) can't be in precisely the same position. Given that you're in Providence, you're far enough away and may have just the right obstacles in the way that you just can't quite see the transmitter for channel 2.

BTW, 2 is at frequency 19 and 44 is at frequency 43.

Not sure about your dilemma, Mike. I am currently getting 44 at about 75% and 2 at about 80%. It must be a sweet spot somewhere, because I haven't had to adjust my antenna in a few weeks.

Keith

How is it, I can pick up all local digital channels (12, 10, 6) and even some Boston channels (4, 5, 38) and not be able to pick up WNAC channel 64? If I goto antennaweb.org it is the closest tower to my location. 16.9 miles

I'm using a Terk 55 HDTV antenna. I now have 1 week to figure this out before the Superbowl. Either way this WPRI, WNAC hold out is really starting to irk me. I've had High Definition before the local stations even had the ability to broadcast it and they still say they are in negotiations almost 2 years later. Who is in charge of the negotiations the NHL? You can bet I'll be harrassing some execs at both stations if I can't get this figured out soon though.

Reap,

There is an antenna primer out there somewhere that explains this better than I can, sorry i don't have a link to it handy.

1) The biggest thing you need to worry about is direction; if you're close enough to all the stations that Fox happens to be in a somewhat different direction than the others, then you might have to comprimise, or re-aim it.

2) The second thing you have to tune is the altitude of your antenna. Overall height is obviously fine since you get the Boston stations. But here's the deal: signals reflect off of everything, mostly the ground or your roof. The reflected signal in certain spots happens be exactly 100% out of phase with the true signal, and creates a dead spot. Raising/lowering your antenna even 6" or a foot can make the difference in getting you out of a dead spot.

3) The physical location of your antenna - there could be a nearby obstacle that is only a problem for that station. Moving your antenna a few feet in some horizontal direction can fix that.

4) I'm not an expert, but everyone here says to stay away from Terk antennas.

Thanks for the suggestions.

It looks as though the WNAC tower is pretty much inline with the WPRI tower, so it is still a bit confusing.

I hear you on the Terk antennas, but I purchased almost 2 years ago. If the two holdout stations would finally get on board I would have no need for this antenna or tuner. But such is life.

This is a training document for some wireless companys employees.
It was a good introduction, with nice explanation of multipath.

Thanks for the nice explanationn avramd.

What you say makes sense in the light of this multipath idea.

http://www.compendium.pl/proxim/RFandRadioTechnologyFundamentals.pdf

ReAp, one of the things I forgot to mention, w/rt antenna height is that the issue of being in a dead spot is actually a function of *wavelength*. Two stations could be broadcasting from side-by-side towers, but at different frequencies, and they will have different dead spots. The issues it that the precise location where the ground-reflected waves intersecting the air-waves happens to be precisely out of phase, varies with wavelength.

Just letting everyone know I just got an e-mail from Cox RI letting me know that they will be carrying the game in HD on channel 704. Finally, a little headway is made.

Originally posted by trinigen
Just letting everyone know I just got an e-mail from Cox RI letting me know that they will be carrying the game in HD on channel 704. Finally, a little headway is made.

That is good to hear, figures I will be at a Super Bowl party with No HD. Hopefully they add both channels soon.

It looks like this is temporary just for the Superbowl as I do not show channel 704 in my listing. EIther way I'm prepared to get it anyway.

About freakin time !!!!

Cox cable also sent me an e-mail stating that they would provide Fox HD for the game. The new channel is 704 but when I turn it on, all I get is a stay tuned for the game message, so the peeing contest is still going on for CBS HD and Fox HD full time. :mad:

At least, Bob's Super Bowl party will be an HD event!!!!!! :D :D :D


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/Bob_R_Sox_Fan/Email_SUPERBOWL.bmp

An article in today's Prov Journal says that the channel will be turned on tomorrow at 2PM for the pre-game show and will remain on until after the game. They seem to be getting closer to reaching an agreement to carry the channels full time

Thanks for the Pro-Jo comment, bcushman.

Interesting article here High (def) anxiety: Sunday won't be Super for HDTV - 2/3/05 (http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/projo_20050203_hdtv.1d6f2f1.html)

"Karpowicz said LIN's two Rhode Island stations have spent between $3 million and $4 million to provide a high-definition signal.

High-definition programming from CBS and Fox, he said, helps make Cox's cable high-definition service more attractive to consumers.

"We feel that if they are going to get something of value from us, we should get something of value in return," he said.

So LIN is now asking Cox to pay 2 cents a day -- one cent for Channel 12, one for Fox -- for each high-definition customer."



I got my 2 cents right here, anybody else want to anty up?

I've completely lost all audio for 64-1 OTA using my Zenith SAT520. Anyone else having trouble?

See my comments in the Boston thread. 25 seems to be out completely, and now I find no sound on 64 (with either my HR10-250 TiVo or my Samsung 360). We better be back in business by tomorrow!

SMK

Saw your comment there Roy. I've got people coming over to see the Super Bowl in HD tomorrow. I hope this isn't going to turn into a disaster.

Have audio and video now on 64-1 (3:30 PM)

Nothing here now. Had video a few hours ago but no audio. Both gone now.

Yup - same here at 7:25 PM. Strong signal but no audio or video

My Fox HD was out too, and now it's just some kind of test signal.

But don't forget that there's a Fox affiliate in Boston. Channel 25.1. I forget their call letters, WFXT or something like that. I am in Newport, w/ a high gain UHF antenna and a 25 db amp, and I get this signal wonderfully.

I'm lucky that Providence and Boston are the same direction from me though, you might need to re-aim your antenna to something like 18-20 degrees.

Well Boston was out today also, but that was because there HD processer died, It's up and running now.

I noticed 6.1,12.1 are also going crazy today.

I was delighted that the Super Bowl was available in HD via Cox yesterday but thought it was ironic that there were some many ads for Cox on the local feed, given the warfare between LIN and Cox in Rhode Island.

At 10 PM (towards end of 4th quarter), I also lost the HD signal which I presume was the end of the negotiated truce between LIN and Cox. Although it came back on about 5 minutes later, standard def projected at 100" without surround sound is always shockingly disappointing after you get a taste of the real thing!

It was nice to get a taste of Fox in HD. Now that I see there is such a wide offering of HD material on Fox and (I am assuming) CBS I am more for Cox and LIN to get there act together and give us what we deserve. I am more than willing to pay the extra 2 cents a day. It was almost like a tease from both sides. I just want them to quit their squabbling and get these last 2 channels. I signed up for HD in October of last year and was told that we would have them "soon." I wouldn't call 5 months and counting soon.

End of Rant

No cash, No channel is the only rant that has to end!

Guys, don't forget that Providence does not have an HD UPN affiliate yet, and does not have a WB affiliate at all. I don't know what shows you watch, but IMHO, that's 1/3 of the relevant broadcast programming. You can receive the HD WB and UPN as well as FOX and CBS with a decent roof-mounted over-the-air antenna, for free (I am doing it in Newport, so unless you're on Block Island, I submit that you can too).

And 2 cents per customer per channel on the business end probably translates to $5/person to the end customer. Of course I'd pay that too for all 6 broadcast networks in HD, but as I said, in RI, that doesn't even exist yet, there's nothing Cox can do about that.

Just a quick question. My wife and I are watching Will and Grace on WJAR and it is supposed to be offered in HD (according to the banner in the beginning of the show). Tonight is not in HD and last week the show kept switching between HD and SD. Anyone know what the deal is? Is there really someone who has to physically flip a switch?

Just realize that what I forgot to metion in my last post is that with the antenna, I am getting all 6 networks in HD from Boston.

Originally posted by trinigen
Just a quick question. My wife and I are watching Will and Grace on WJAR and it is supposed to be offered in HD (according to the banner in the beginning of the show). Tonight is not in HD and last week the show kept switching between HD and SD. Anyone know what the deal is? Is there really someone who has to physically flip a switch?

I found out our automation did not switch over to the HD feed for Will and Grace last night. I will pass this on to the people who program the switching to make sure this will not happen again.

Mark

WJAR Engineer
Thanks!

Originally posted by WJAR Engineer
I found out our automation did not switch over to the HD feed for Will and Grace last night. I will pass this on to the people who program the switching to make sure this will not happen again.

Mark

Mark- I hope you know how much we appreciate you monitoring this forum, and acting on our concerns. Thanks

hello all , this is my first post-- please forgive me if i am going about this incorrectly. I am a dish sub who is tired of waiting for hd locals.. My question is.. I live on the vineyard, and was wondering if there is any possibility of getting the providence hd channels. I have the dish 811 receiver, and am open to any advice regarding antennas- boosters, etc.. My house is under 50 miles from providence. ( as the crow flies). thanks...... great forum guys!

Considering there should not be much in the way between your house and Providence, you should be able to. The antenna most people recommend is the Channel Master 4228. All the stations are UHF, and this is purely a UHF antenna. I have tried it vs a Radio Shack ( I don't remember the model number, but it is their second largest) VHF/UHF antenna and find little difference. I am about 40 miles from the Boston towers and get great reception without an amplifier. You may not need one either. Try it first without and see what happens. My antenna is in my attic which attenuates the signal somewhat. If you can put yours outside, you should get good reception. For more info go to www.antennaweb.org where they have lots of info about direction and distance for any stations you could receive.

SMK

thanks RoyGBiv... I'll look into the Channel Master 4228. I will try to set it up inside my roof first. (30' up)... thanks again for the info--- mc

Does anyone have an update as to the negotiations between LIN (the owner/operator of CBS and Fox in RI) and Cox for HD service in RI? Are they still quibbling over pennies?

Originally posted by local643
Does anyone have an update as to the negotiations between LIN (the owner/operator of CBS and Fox in RI) and Cox for HD service in RI? Are they still quibbling over pennies? Although this doesn't directly answer your question below is a posting from the Hartford & Springfield forums that is related:

FCC Resolves Dual and Multicast Carriage Issues

The FCC resolved two significant issues related to digital cable carriage. The Order:

1) affirms the Commission's tentative conclusion to not impose a "dual carriage" requirement on cable operators (which would have required them to simultaneously carry broadcasters' analog and digital signals), and

2) affirms the Commission's prior determination that cable operators are not required to carry more than a single digital programming stream from any particular broadcaster.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publ...OC-256701A1.pdf

---

In summary: cable operators are not required to carry a broadcaster's ATSC channel in addition to their NTSC channel - thus local HD's being on a cable system are at the pleasure of the cable operator. And cable operators are not required to carry multiple sub-channels of a broadcaster's DTV signal.

WLWC-22 WB affiliate (Ch 28 analog)

Has anyone out towards New Bedford/Prov/CapeCod locked on to any digital signal yet?

Thanks in Advance

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
WLWC-22 WB affiliate (Ch 28 analog)

Has anyone out towards New Bedford/Prov/CapeCod locked on to any digital signal yet?

Thanks in Advance
We are not on-air yet. We are still attempting to obtain our building permit from the town of Freetown. Darn close, but it looks like it'll still be a couple of weeks to a month. Once we receive it we'll begin construction, which should take a month to a month and a half (after we round up the crew and materials - a few weeks, perhaps).

With luck (and we've had plenty so far, unfortunately all bad) we might make it by late spring...

(We've had the HDTV transmitter installed and rarin' to go for over a year, so the only work to be done involves beefing up the tower and mounting the digital antenna.)

Robert...thanks for the update.

Originally posted by WJAR Engineer
I found out our automation did not switch over to the HD feed for Will and Grace last night. I will pass this on to the people who program the switching to make sure this will not happen again.

Mark

Well, we were watching again last night (2/24/05) and the HD episode (as noted on NBCs Website) was shown in SD again. It's bad enough we don't get Fox or CBS in HD but now we are having trouble getting HD shows on HD channels that we do get. Sorry for the rant.

Originally posted by trinigen
Well, we were watching again last night (2/24/05) and the HD episode (as noted on NBCs Website) was shown in SD again. It's bad enough we don't get Fox or CBS in HD but now we are having trouble getting HD shows on HD channels that we do get. Sorry for the rant.

I passed your rant to the department that caused your rant I hope this will solve the problem.

Mark

Mark,

I can't thank you enough. You are a tremendous help to all of us on this forum.

Now that I think of it, I have never seen Will & Grace in HD. I thought it was an SD program because It was never in HD...

WSBE - Channel 36-1 (DT channel 21) is on the air. No program info yet in the guide, but a good strong signal (but then again I am only about 10 miles from the tower!).

WSBE-DT seems to be as strong or stronger than WLNE or WJAR inMystic, CT. The lower channel No. must make up for the lower power. John

I've seen signal from WSBE 21 for a while, but no content.
Are they now transmitting?

Is WSBE-DT multicasting with the HD feed like WGBH in Boston? And what power are they operating at.

WSBE-DT has a single subchannel that is the same as the analog chanel .John

Originally posted by mikebenway
I've seen signal from WSBE 21 for a while, but no content.
Are they now transmitting?

Until today, what I've been seeing for some time when checking the DT
signal strength on my HR10-250 has been a very low signal on DT Channel 21, with the identification: "Freq21-Channel 80-3 PBS1DTV". I could never find what this was.

This bears on an update to my earlier flurry of posts.
I have 2 cheap, directional UHF antennas from radio shack inside, sitting up on the exposed beams of my condo at the end of South main street in providence. These things just barely peek above I-195 in the direction of needham which is right outside. I get all the GBH content beautifully, with minor skippage if a large tanker goes by slowly (I've come to the naiive theory that the oval shape creates a high probability of destructive multipath interference).

I guess at this stage, a local duplication of analog PBS content get's a shrug. Local content would be interesting via DT though. And once the HD content starts, if it's not identical to PBS-HD feed from GBH, then that would be cool also.

By the way, NBC failed to "flip the switch" last night on Law and Order. Is there a way we can cause a bell to ring -or apply an electric shock- at these stations' consoles when someone falls asleep?




http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1&catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2160

Originally posted by mikebenway
This bears on an update to my earlier flurry of posts.
I have 2 cheap, directional UHF antennas from radio shack inside, sitting up on the exposed beams of my condo at the end of South main street in providence. These things just barely peek above I-195 in the direction of needham which is right outside. I get all the GBH content beautifully, with minor skippage if a large tanker goes by slowly (I've come to the naiive theory that the oval shape creates a high probability of destructive multipath interference).

I guess at this stage, a local duplication of analog PBS content get's a shrug. Local content would be interesting via DT though. And once the HD content starts, if it's not identical to PBS-HD feed from GBH, then that would be cool also.

By the way, NBC failed to "flip the switch" last night on Law and Order. Is there a way we can cause a bell to ring -or apply an electric shock- at these stations' consoles when someone falls asleep?


NBC Network did not feed Law and Order CI in HD last night.

Mark





http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1&catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2160

Thanks again Mark.

I hope I don't seem unappreciative with my wizecracks.

If there's a way for us to direct our comments (or electrical pulses :) ) up to the network effectively let us know.

I suppose at this stage, the HD consumer is a small group, and worse, the free OTA consumers probably have miniscule commercial importance so far.

But this might ultimately usher in a return of the good old pre-cable days when network TV was all, and everybody was watching the same stuff. One big happy TV family, nation wide. I'm excited about it! Eventually everything-over-IP will change things back, but perhaps for a little while...

Is anyone getting program data on their guides for Channel 36-1? Nothing yet on my HR10-250. I know, not a big thing, but would make it much easier when setting up a recording

WSBE-DT

Does anyone know if the WSBE signals are just starting out at a low, 1/2 or just out of the gate full power strength?

I am in south central mass and cannot lock the signal..though the signal is there, yet I can grab 6,10,12 and 64 digitals.

thanks in advance.

We do not cringe when anybody brings up an error we will look into it and try to prevent it from happening again.

Will and Grace will not be in HD tonight, they started filming it in HD this season but the previous seasons were not.

We have started the installation of a new higher power transmitter this month this will get us up to full power. We hope to be on with it by the end of the month. Interruptions will be kept to a minimum we will try to be off the air during the day and up by prime time.

WSBE only transmits with 50 Kw ERP so they will not have as large coverage area as the other Providence DTV's there antenna is located below our DTV antenna so some may have problems receiving them.

Hi,
Using that rig I descrbed earlier, I just re-scanned and found WSBE very strong here in providence. Antennaweb has me only about 5 miles away in Providence. BUT, recall that those highly directional radioshack antennas are both pointed in the completely opposite direction (30 degrees for WSBE vs about 330 for WGBH). I am actually quite surprised and pleased at this.
What kind of antenna are u using?

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
WSBE-DT

Does anyone know if the WSBE signals are just starting out at a low, 1/2 or just out of the gate full power strength?

I am in south central mass and cannot lock the signal..though the signal is there, yet I can grab 6,10,12 and 64 digitals.

thanks in advance.

Originally posted by WJAR Engineer
We do not cringe when anybody brings up an error we will look into it and try to prevent it from happening again.

Will and Grace will not be in HD tonight, they started filming it in HD this season but the previous seasons were not.

We have started the installation of a new higher power transmitter this month this will get us up to full power. We hope to be on with it by the end of the month. Interruptions will be kept to a minimum we will try to be off the air during the day and up by prime time.

WSBE only transmits with 50 Kw ERP so they will not have as large coverage area as the other Providence DTV's there antenna is located below our DTV antenna so some may have problems receiving them.

When you say go to "Full Power", that means that you will be officially On-The-Air with the FCC right? On the status page in the FCC it says "WJAR- Approved for construction and testing".So now it will go to On-The-Air right?

Originally posted by timmyc123
When you say go to "Full Power", that means that you will be officially On-The-Air with the FCC right? On the status page in the FCC it says "WJAR- Approved for construction and testing".So now it will go to On-The-Air right?

We are currently operating under an "Special Temporary Authority" License with a effective radiated power of 526 kW. The FCC is requiring DT stations to be operating at full licensed power which for us is 974 kW ERP by 7/1/05. This is to get the transition from analog to digital moving along, most of the stations in this area are currently running there full licensed power that I know of. Nationwide only about half of stations are running full power DT's, it has been a great time to be a transmitter manufacturer.

Mark

Just a thought :)

to pass these two articles along. They have some interesting information however brief about our dear State of Rhode Island.

1. For example, cable/DBS penetration exceeded 85 percent in Rhode Island

2. Cox., system has about 38,000 customers capable of receiving HD service in Rhode Island


I only pass this along because I have given up the language (because of religious dedication) I would need to describe what TVL Broadcasting, (WPRI(12) & WNAC(11)) owned by LIN Television is doing continuously to 38,000 families in the Providence area alone in regard to HD service from cable.


http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=2795

http://www.cableworld.com/cgi/cw/show_mag.cgi?pub=cw&mon=030705&file=coxsetsthe.htm


:)

We will be off the air starting around 7:30 AM Friday and should be back by mid to late afternoon if everything goes right.

Mark

Is WJAR-DT at full power now?

Originally posted by timmyc123
Is WJAR-DT at full power now?

No, we hope to be up to full power by the end of the March or early April.

Mark

Mark...Do you know what the story is with WSBE DT21, when they plan to go to full power. I saw a post where you mentioned that their antennas was below Wjar's.

Thanks in advance.

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Mark...Do you know what the story is with WSBE DT21, when they plan to go to full power. I saw a post where you mentioned that their antennas was below Wjar's.

Thanks in advance.

I believe they are running at there full power, they only got 50 kW ERP. I see no filing with the FCC to increase there power further.

Mark

Has WSBE (36 on my set top box) been running digital long? Just noticed it last few days. Any one else experiencing strangeness in audio? Appears to be a judder or cut out of sound which only lasts fractions of seconds - but long enough for receiver to go through re-acquisition of signal. Picture is sharp - but sound is annoying. Especially - when you want to hear every word of the request for money. Reaching my quota for the rock and roll groups. If they had been this accessible in the 50.s/ 60's we would have gotten to rap - that much quicker (and I shudder to think of that...)
Regards to all - Over the Air digital in the Providence, South County - and we'll take the Boston stations too.....
Barry

Hi bardot861, if you go back a few pages in this thread you'll see that they came on line on the March 1st. I've noticed some audio problems, but not as you describe. The issues I have noticed we sync issues with the audio being about 1 second behind the video. Seems to have gotten much better over the past week and I have not noticed it in a while.

Hi All WPRI/WNAC DT will be airing all of the NCAA games on 12-1 hd game, 12-2 sd game, 12-3 sd game and 64-2 sd game. You will be able to see every region. I made all the changes this morning. The Pinpoint weather channel will be back on Monday. You my need to re-scan to find the new channel 12-3.
thanks bill

Thanks Bill for the "heads up". And welcome to the Local Providence HDTV thread. Good to see DT Channels 12 & 64 represented. Now get ready for those who subscribe to the Cox HD package to start asking you when the 2 HD channels will be on Cox :o

Originally posted by ritvman
Hi All WPRI/WNAC DT will be airing all of the NCAA games on 12-1 hd game, 12-2 sd game, 12-3 sd game and 64-2 sd game. You will be able to see every region. I made all the changes this morning. The Pinpoint weather channel will be back on Monday. You my need to re-scan to find the new channel 12-3.
thanks bill

Ok. I will bite. When are these channels going to be available of COX HD? And do not give me any of this crap about negotiations. You guys and Cox have been negotiating for so long now that you should have a plan for World Peace.

all thats on 12-2 is a CBS New York Test Feed

The sub channels will have test feeds and other cbs programing until Noon on thursday.

bill

Starting Noon on Thursday 12-1 will have the Cleveland games in HD.
12-2 will have the Indianapolis games in sd.
12-3 will have the Tucson games in sd.
64-2 will have the Boise games in sd.
When the games end you may see a slide until the next games starts.

Friday
12-1 Worcester games in HD.
12-2 Nashville games in sd.
12-3 Oklahoma games in sd.
64-2 Charlotte games in sd.

Saturday
12-1 Cleveland games in HD.
12-2 Indianapolis games in sd.
12-3 Tucson games in sd.
64-2 Boise games in sd.

Sunday
12-1 Worcester games in HD.
12-2 Nashville games in sd.
12-3 Oklahoma City games in sd.
64-1 Charlotte games in sd.

bill

No one wants to a fair deal with Cox more than WPRI/WNAC DT. Remember you send your money to Cox every month while broadcasters have spent millions to deliver the highest quality signal to you free of charge. I hope that all Cox customers are complaining to Cox as loudly as they due to us.

bill

Welcome ritvman, thanks for put up the multiple game feeds.

Thanks for putting all the games on OTA. Maybe someday the networks will all send different shows this way and take advantage of multicasting.

Originally posted by ritvman
No one wants to a fair deal with Cox more than WPRI/WNAC DT. Remember you send your money to Cox every month while broadcasters have spent millions to deliver the highest quality signal to you free of charge. I hope that all Cox customers are complaining to Cox as loudly as they due to us.

bill

Trust me, I am complaining to everyone. But if LIN wants a deal with Cox so badly, why aren't they providing Cox with their HD signal free of charge as they do over the air. Why is LIN more concerned with what Cox is going to pay them to rebroadcast their feed? I am also sure that the only reason the OTA feed is free is because the federal government mandates it to be free.

Do not get me wrong, as unhappy as I am with LIN, I am equally unhappy with Cox. I have written to them weekly in the past asking about additions to their local and national HD lineup and got the same canned automated response back each time. Does not matter what channels I ask about, same response.

I will say this however, I have stopped writing to Cox and LIN about this. I am now writing to my local government reps asking them to investigate the TV and Cable industry in RI.

Mike - any idea when WPRI-DT will have 5.1 audio?

Originally posted by local643
Trust me, I am complaining to everyone. But if LIN wants a deal with Cox so badly, why aren't they providing Cox with their HD signal free of charge as they do over the air. Why is LIN more concerned with what Cox is going to pay them to rebroadcast their feed? I am also sure that the only reason the OTA feed is free is because the federal government mandates it to be free.

Disclaimer: I am just an HT enthusiast who gets his HD OTA and from DirecTV and has no need for Cox.

Why shouldn't LIN try to recoup some of their costs for mandated changes/services? Your cell phone company does it, and your utility companies do it. I think Bill's point is that you are paying Cox to get your channels, and Cox will probably ask more from you to provide all HD locals in their package (or just get more from you without spelling it out), so why shouldn't some of that go back to the station that provides the content? Why is this different from somebody like NESN, who provides sports to you via cable or sat----you don't think you are getting that for free, do you? If you want a feed from the West coast, and you can't pick it up with your antenna, it's not free any more. You're probably going to pay extra for it.


Keith

Most of the equipment has arrived for CBS in 5.1, I hope to have it on the air in 3 or 4 weeks when the rest of the equipment comes in.

bill

Great news Bill. Thanks for the update

Had a satellite problem, all sub channels have the correct games on.

bill

Originally posted by pezdoctor
Why shouldn't LIN try to recoup some of their costs for mandated changes/services?

Why should Lin's WPRI/WNAC be treated differently at our $$ expense?

Why should Lin's WPRI/WNAC be treated differently than Rhode Island's other locals who are not in our pockets?

Because Lin's top CEO's in Rhode Island are among the top ten highest paid CEO's in Rhode Island and want to keep that way.

Wipe the soap out of your ears, kid.

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums and new to HDTV. My uncle recently got a bigscreen HDTV and I got quite envious within minutes of watching it. But, since I don't have that kind of money as of yet, I sprung for an HDTV Wonder tuner card for my PC. Came with quite an amazing little bugger of an antenna, it seems. Can pick up HDTV signals from stations that I can't even see on regular TV (Boston's WBZ-4, for example).

Anyway, I came here to find out what was up with WPRI-DT. I live in Seekonk, within a mile or so from the local transmitters for WJAR, WPRI (former transmitter, at least), and WNAC. Now, why is WPRI so weak compared to the other local stations? The signal is just as weak as WBZ's is, and that's from all the way up near Boston! I've noticed a good bit of ghosting on the regular tv too, where again WJAR and WNAC come in crystal-clear. What the heck is going on? Has the transmitter moved recently? Is this temporary?!?

PS. Oh, and will WSBE PBS be adding true HDTV anytime soon? And will it mirror the PBS-HD that my uncle gets on COX Digital Cable? Speaking of COX, does anyone know when they'll be adding ABC, CBS, and FOX HDTV?

To answer one of your questions, WPRI-DT is broadcast on VHF channel 13-1 whereas all the other Boston/Providence digitals are on the UHF spectrum. That is

probably the reason you are getting a weaker signal.