I purchased an indoor antenna to see if I could easily get signal here in Smithfield, no such luck. I was able to lock onto several HDTV stations, but they weren't the major network stations. So, today I purchased a ChannelMaster 4221 antenna online. I'll let everyone know how it works out. I expect delivery sometime next week.


Well, in a word, BAD. I'm not sure what's happening. I cannot get 2, 6, 10. I can pick up 36, 12 and 64 for a bit. The biggest issue seems to be my signal strength. One moment it's 60-70 (best I can get) then it drops to 41. Then it disappears. The signal never stays locked. The db nuber ranges from 10 -18. Here's what I have, CM 4221 on a 5 ft mast. Mounted on the end of my garage, so it's probably about 15 -18 ft in the air. I have a radio shack amplifier (10 db)...don't know if that's good or bad, but I do have 100 ft of cable running from end to end. If I unplus I lose the signal completely. I live right behind Bryant University and I'm wondering if I'm getting interference from thier buildings and their FM station. If I thought going to a different antenna would work, I would try it but it just seems odd that EVERY DTV channel I get (15 or so), they all get the same signal strength and they all drop every 4-5 seconds. Anyone have any idea?

Pretty bummed out here....

Well, in a word, BAD. I'm not sure what's happening. I cannot get 2, 6, 10. I can pick up 36, 12 and 64 for a bit. The biggest issue seems to be my signal strength. One moment it's 60-70 (best I can get) then it drops to 41. Then it disappears. The signal never stays locked. The db nuber ranges from 10 -18. Here's what I have, CM 4221 on a 5 ft mast. Mounted on the end of my garage, so it's probably about 15 -18 ft in the air. I have a radio shack amplifier (10 db)...don't know if that's good or bad, but I do have 100 ft of cable running from end to end. If I unplus I lose the signal completely. I live right behind Bryant University and I'm wondering if I'm getting interference from thier buildings and their FM station. If I thought going to a different antenna would work, I would try it but it just seems odd that EVERY DTV channel I get (15 or so), they all get the same signal strength and they all drop every 4-5 seconds. Anyone have any idea?

Pretty bummed out here....

The RatShack amplifier might be doing more harm than good. Did you try bypassing it altogether? What kind of cable are you using for that 100' run?

It seemd to help a bit when I plugged it in but didn't make a huge difference, true. I have 100 ft of the new CATV cable (RG6??).

It seemd to help a bit when I plugged it in but didn't make a huge difference, true. I have 100 ft of the new CATV cable (RG6??).

When I said bypass I meant just plug antenna straight into tuner, not passing through the amp. Just curious. Also, did you do the whole antennaweb thing and get correct compass bearings?

Hi guys,

I'm new to this group and I am trying to fight my way to some clear information about what is involved to get HDTV reception (either cable or OTA) on a new TV that I am about to buy.

I live in Providence on the East Side, am currently a subscriber to Cox (non-digital) Expanded Service, and, after looking for a while, I am considering the new Sharp AQUOS LC-42D62U with integrated tuners for ATSC/QAM/NTSC and 1080p resolution.

But it has been frustrating to get any definite information from a) the salespeople at stores (online or on-site), b) Cox customer service reps, c) online forums, d) user manuals.

Here are my questions:
1. Since my future new TV has an integrated QAM tuner, can I get ANY of the local broadcast HD channels WITHOUT having to get a set-top box from Cox?

In other words, does Cox include UNENCRYPTED local HD channels that my TV QAM tuner can pick up when I hook up the cable directly to the TV?
Do I have to upgrade to digital cable service?

I don't want any "premium" channels, just whatever Cox is carrying in their basic HD lineup of local channels (not DiscoverHD, ESPNHD, etc.). Cox says the HD service is "free" but of course they charge you annoying monthly fees for renting the STB and remote. Not having to pay those rental fees for cable equipment is the whole point of having integrated tuners... once regular TVs started to have the appropriate tuners built-in, hooking up those cable boxes for reception was no longer necessary.

To add to the confusion, here's what Cox says on their website about this topic (I tried to paste in the URL but since I am new I was not allowed to include it... it is on the Cox website under digitalcable and then HDTV):

Quote 1:
"Make the most of your HDTV by upgrading your cable or digital cable service to include HD!"

Quote 2:
"Cox Basic service required for local HD channels and Cox Digital Cable required for expanded and premium HD channels. An HDTV-ready set with YPbPr inputs that supports 1080i."

Does this mean that I can "upgrade my Cox Basic cable service to include HD" and receive the local HD channels without renting the STB from Cox, if my TV has an integrated QAM tuner?

2. If Cox is forcing me to rent their HD receivers, remotes, etc., what do I have to do to get the local channels in HD over-the-air?

Any help/advice from the forum members would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks!

It seemd to help a bit when I plugged it in but didn't make a huge difference, true. I have 100 ft of the new CATV cable (RG6??).

Absolutely pull that Radio Shack amp out of your line. I would say that the radio station over at Bryant could be a large part of the problem. I know in the past the students have been known to run well over their licensed ERP of 225 watts. They don’t meter their signal or maintain their transmitter as commercial stations due so things like signal drift and harmonic interference go unnoticed until they cause a problem with another licensed facility that complains. These things can cause massive problems for ATSC reception. I would find out when the school turns it off, probably nightly, set the alarm clock and do a test. If your reception improves try a good quality variable FM trap for when it’s on air.

You need about 14db for a picture with 8VSB and you want to shoot for the mid twenties for good reliable reception. Don’t focus too much on getting the highest % only.

If it’s not the FM station, try going with the 8 bay instead.

1. Since my future new TV has an integrated QAM tuner, can I get ANY of the local broadcast HD channels WITHOUT having to get a set-top box from Cox?

Yes, your QAM tuner will pick up WJAR, WLNE, and WGBH HD'S. The rest of the HD's would require a CC and subscription to a digital tier.


2. If Cox is forcing me to rent their HD receivers, remotes, etc., what do I have to do to get the local channels in HD over-the-air?

Any help/advice from the forum members would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks!

In EP the simplest of antenna should work great, indoor or out. Just plug it into the VHF/UHF and do a scan. That should be it. Then you would just switch from Off Air to Cable on the remote for the different feeds. I would do both so you can make sure you have FOX and CBS in HD too. Only available OTA right now.

Absolutely pull that Radio Shack amp out of your line. I would say that the radio station over at Bryant could be a large part of the problem. I know in the past the students have been known to run well over their licensed ERP of 225 watts. They don’t meter their signal or maintain their transmitter as commercial stations due so things like signal drift and harmonic interference go unnoticed until they cause a problem with another licensed facility that complains. These things can cause massive problems for ATSC reception. I would find out when the school turns it off, probably nightly, set the alarm clock and do a test. If your reception improves try a good quality variable FM trap for when it’s on air.

You need about 14db for a picture with 8VSB and you want to shoot for the mid twenties for good reliable reception. Don’t focus too much on getting the highest % only.

If it’s not the FM station, try going with the 8 bay instead.

I did confirm it was Bryant this morning. I checked at 7AM and I was no longer losing signal. I just checked now and I'm losing it again, and the radio station is transmitting. Thanks for your help. I'll look into the FM trap. I'm getting to the point, though, where I don't want to invest too much more money into this project.
I'll check online today. Thanks

I did confirm it was Bryant this morning. I checked at 7AM and I was no longer losing signal. I just checked now and I'm losing it again, and the radio station is transmitting. Thanks for your help. I'll look into the FM trap. I'm getting to the point, though, where I don't want to invest too much more money into this project.
I'll check online today. Thanks

Now that you identified the school as the issue, I would call over there and speak with their engineering contact. Ask them to provide you with or reimburse you for any extra equipment (traps,filters) you must purchase due to the the interference. Most broadcasters usually agree to this to avoid any inquiries from the FCC should you complain and also to be good neighbors.

Because WPRI-DT 12 is on VHF, by nature it will not penetrate into the house as well as all the other's which are UHF as you mentioned. Try getting it closer to a window or try an antenna with greater VHF gain. Also, look out for EMI by moving the antenna as far as possible from any large current or high voltage appliances. VHF is a sucker for EMI. Best option would be to put an antenna outdoors.


Ahhh I may have to move my MythTV box, it could be the source of interfernce for me. Thanks.

Thanks for the info, Steve!

Here's an update after posting an official complaint against Cox and LIN TV a week ago at the FCC website:

Today, I received a personalized letter from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Here is the text...

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This letter is in response to your complaint filed against Cox Communications and LIN TV in West Warwick, RI.

With this type of complaint you should contact Cox Communications and try and address your concerns. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the cable company you should then contact the local franchising authority. Your local franchising authority (LFA) information should be listed on your cable bill. The LFA would be the local city, county, or other governmental organization authorized by your state to regulate cable television service within the Rhode Island area.

If you have any further questions, please contact our Consumer Information Center at 1-888-CALL-FCC. Information can be accessed via the Internet at www.fcc.gov.

Sincerely,
Stephen E Ebner, Acting Chief
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division

Here's an update after posting an official complaint against Cox and LIN TV a week ago at the FCC website:

Today, I received a personalized letter from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Here is the text...

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This letter is in response to your complaint filed against Cox Communications and LIN TV in West Warwick, RI.

With this type of complaint you should contact Cox Communications and try and address your concerns. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the cable company you should then contact the local franchising authority. Your local franchising authority (LFA) information should be listed on your cable bill. The LFA would be the local city, county, or other governmental organization authorized by your state to regulate cable television service within the Rhode Island area.

If you have any further questions, please contact our Consumer Information Center at 1-888-CALL-FCC. Information can be accessed via the Internet at www.fcc.gov.

Sincerely,
Stephen E Ebner, Acting Chief
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division

That’s your federal tax dollars at work for you. I wish I could get paid to pass the buck. Ask them if the local LFA gave any "expert" testimony that led to the ridiculous moronic legislation that created this issue. The FCC & Congress created the mess and point now to the LFA's to answer for the results. This letter is insulting even to read if you know anything about this subject. I can see why he is only "Acting Chief".

All right, so I have this Sony KDF-E42A10 42" LCD HDTV. Living, in Mass, I've got Comcast. When I watch an HD broadcast (for instance right now, I'm watching the Pats), should there be letterboxes, or should the picture take up the whole screen? I know I can zoom in with the Sony remote, but it stretches the whole picture, so when I turn to a regular channel, you otta know what happens. Is the zoom the only way to eliminate the letterboxes?

Another question; I'm kinda in dilemma with antennas. I live in a housing project, which prohibits me from using an outdoor antenna. So, I've had my eyes on a Terk. Should I buy it or not. Once again, I have no other choice but to have an indoor antenna.

All right, so I have this Sony KDF-E42A10 42" LCD HDTV. Living, in Mass, I've got Comcast. When I watch an HD broadcast (for instance right now, I'm watching the Pats), should there be letterboxes, or should the picture take up the whole screen? I know I can zoom in with the Sony remote, but it stretches the whole picture, so when I turn to a regular channel, you otta know what happens. Is the zoom the only way to eliminate the letterboxes?

Another question; I'm kinda in dilemma with antennas. I live in a housing project, which prohibits me from using an outdoor antenna. So, I've had my eyes on a Terk. Should I buy it or not. Once again, I have no other choice but to have an indoor antenna.

Ethan, How do you have your comcast box connected to the TV?

On your antenna issue, no local ordinance or private associations rules can prohibit you from placing a conventional rooftop antenna on top of any portion of the dwelling that you own for television reception. It's a federal regulation that permits it. Not saying they can't/won't fight you, however you could print down plenty of case law from the web that demonstrates how they would be wasting their money.

I have it connected by composite, or component (whichever one it is) video cables; the red, blue, and green cables.

Whatever the case is on who prohibits me from installing a rooftop antenna, I'm not allowed to do it in my housing project. I don't know who makes the laws, but the housing authority just won't let me do it. Cable is the only choice.

Steve125 is correct, federal law is clear. No association or housing authority can restrict you from mounting an outdoor antenna. These housing associations count on the lack of knowledge about the laws by their tennants to restrict antennas and satellite dishes. They are breaking federal laws when they restrict you, but they almost never get called on it. Let WPRI know if you are interested in a story being done about this.

That would be great if a local TV news station did a report on condo/apartment associations restricting tenants' legal rights to have an OTA antenna outside. I live in a condo and my association forbids anything to be affixed outside of the building.

Watching a HD picture, like you did yesterday with the Pats, the picture should fill the screen without having to zoom anything. First, make sure your cable box is an HD cable box. My father has Comcast in Florida, and they swore to him, and he swore to me, that the box he had was HD. It wasn't. They finally came back and gave him the correct box. Next, check to see what the cable box is outputting, and make sure it is 720p or 1080i. This will give you an HD signal for the channels broadcasting in HD. Your TV should then automatically show the correct signal with no letterboxing (unless it's a widescreen movie which may have small black bars top and bottom).

I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like Ethan owns his apartment or the house he lives in. If he rents, there's nothing he can do. Also, if you have Comcast and are getting HD from Comcast, why does he need a separate antenna? AFAIK, Comcast, unlike Cox, shows all the locals in HD.

SMK

Steve125 is correct, federal law is clear. No association or housing authority can restrict you from mounting an outdoor antenna. These housing associations count on the lack of knowledge about the laws by their tennants to restrict antennas and satellite dishes. They are breaking federal laws when they restrict you, but they almost never get called on it. Let WPRI know if you are interested in a story being done about this.

The law is one thing - getting the condo association, housing authority, or other group to follow it is yet another. Sometimes it just isn't worth the battle even if you're right. In the end you ~might~ end up with an antenna on the roof but you might also have a bunch of neighbors who hate your guts or condo association who will never give you the slightest break on anything and will be out to get you on every little infraction of the rules.

If you move into a neighborhood and agree to a neighborhood covenant that bars antennas on the roof of your house, do you legally have the right to break that agreement because there's a federal law that says you can have an antenna on the roof? I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm not sure it's one I'd want to spend money on hiring a lawyer as I don't like wasting money.

The law is one thing - getting the condo association, housing authority, or other group to follow it is yet another. Sometimes it just isn't worth the battle even if you're right. In the end you ~might~ end up with an antenna on the roof but you might also have a bunch of neighbors who hate your guts or condo association who will never give you the slightest break on anything and will be out to get you on every little infraction of the rules.

If you move into a neighborhood and agree to a neighborhood covenant that bars antennas on the roof of your house, do you legally have the right to break that agreement because there's a federal law that says you can have an antenna on the roof? I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm not sure it's one I'd want to spend money on hiring a lawyer as I don't like wasting money.

Much agreed. It's the difference between knowing your rights and exercising them. As for the lawyer, unless you plan to hire one to respond to the letters I can't see why you would need one.

Watching a HD picture, like you did yesterday with the Pats, the picture should fill the screen without having to zoom anything. First, make sure your cable box is an HD cable box. My father has Comcast in Florida, and they swore to him, and he swore to me, that the box he had was HD. It wasn't. They finally came back and gave him the correct box. Next, check to see what the cable box is outputting, and make sure it is 720p or 1080i. This will give you an HD signal for the channels broadcasting in HD. Your TV should then automatically show the correct signal with no letterboxing (unless it's a widescreen movie which may have small black bars top and bottom).

I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like Ethan owns his apartment or the house he lives in. If he rents, there's nothing he can do. Also, if you have Comcast and are getting HD from Comcast, why does he need a separate antenna? AFAIK, Comcast, unlike Cox, shows all the locals in HD.

SMK

Oh yes, it's HD. I have the 5100, and I am seeing HD, just with the letterboxing. How would I check what the box is outputting? Yes, I do rent. I do need the antenna because I don't have 6, 7, 12, or 38 in HD. I do want my Wheel in HD.

Oh yes, it's HD. I have the 5100, and I am seeing HD, just with the letterboxing. How would I check what the box is outputting? Yes, I do rent. I do need the antenna because I don't have 6, 7, 12, or 38 in HD. I do want my Wheel in HD.

Make sure your TV is set to use the correct inputs. You said you're using component, so the TV should be set to component.

Does anyone have any idea how long FiOS' application for a cable television franchise in Rhode Island is going to take?

I just checked out pricing and channel availability from nearby North Shore in Mass. If I converted my services over to FiOS from Cox, I'd have a $93 monthly bill (5Mb/2Mb internet, digital TV, sports package, HD DVR, and one digital converter box) before taxes. Compare that to Cox where I'm paying $110 before taxes.

So apart from the lower monthly payment, I get every channel out there, from the obscure to the standard-issue. I also get every OTA HD network and all major HD networks like TNT, MTV, ESPN, ESPN2, NFLNetHD, etc. I still get on-demand programming from all the major networks just like Cox.

When you see a channel lineup like FiOS, you really do realize just how damn stingy Cox is when it comes to adding channels. Cox always has excuses when you call asking for something like ESPN2HD or NFLNetHD, etc. FiOS seems to have a policy of adding whatever's out there to the appropriate package. I would be more ready to assume that FiOS will be quick to add new networks as become available compared to Cox' long track record of being the last provider to add such networks like ESPN2 (the regular standard def version), NFL Network, etc.

As far as the way FiOS uses tiers for specific channel packages, I can't find any issues with the channel groups where they charge $6 extra. For example, all the ESPN networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, etc) are all included by default in the standard TV package for $40/mo. If you need specialty networks like NFL, Tennis, Horse Racing, etc, they're in the sports package along with some regional sports networks. Sounds reasonable.

When will they light up the FiOS cable in West Warwick/Warwick/Broad Street Area (Cranston/Prov)? It can't be soon enough.

According to the hearing schedule on http://www.ripuc.org/utilityinfo/cabletv.html the PUC has 3 more public hearings scheduled for Oct 11, 12, and 13. These dates are not far behind the original schedule. That schedule has December as the target date for the final Report and Order.

I hope Verizon starts TV service soon after that. I have held off on upgrading my Dish HD service to a DVR (I am still using a 6 year old model 6000) so I can see exactly what will be offered in Warwick on FIOS. The FIOS lineups in other states looks very nice.

I currently have FIOS Internet and phone service. So far both phone and internet service have been perfect.

Howard

Much agreed. It's the difference between knowing your rights and exercising them. As for the lawyer, unless you plan to hire one to respond to the letters I can't see why you would need one.

Regarding the need for a lawyer, I suspect that in most cases things would get to the point where one would need a lawyer to actually get anywhere. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I doubt many condo associations / etc. would cave in to seeing something printed out from the internet :). In fairness to them, if they give up too easily on something, then everyone is going to try challenging the various rules and regulations they've put in place.

And it's not just the difference in knowing your rights and exercising them. Sometimes it's the difference in realizing that some battles just aren't worth it and I'm not sure if this is a battle I would pursue or not. This is one reason why I'm not too likely to ever get myself into such a situation - it's much easier when you own the entire property (not just the inside of the structure) and don't have any agreement you've signed saying you can't have a clothesline, antenna, dog, cat, flowers on the front porch, a grill on the deck, or whatever.

Regarding the need for a lawyer, I suspect that in most cases things would get to the point where one would need a lawyer to actually get anywhere. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I doubt many condo associations / etc. would cave in to seeing something printed out from the internet :). In fairness to them, if they give up too easily on something, then everyone is going to try challenging the various rules and regulations they've put in place.

And it's not just the difference in knowing your rights and exercising them. Sometimes it's the difference in realizing that some battles just aren't worth it and I'm not sure if this is a battle I would pursue or not. This is one reason why I'm not too likely to ever get myself into such a situation - it's much easier when you own the entire property (not just the inside of the structure) and don't have any agreement you've signed saying you can't have a clothesline, antenna, dog, cat, flowers on the front porch, a grill on the deck, or whatever.

I have no doubt that you would be sent a few nasty-grams from their attorney at first. What I was referring to from the internet was the ability for you to demonstrate that you are familiar with the case-law history. You could respond with a kind letter explaining why you need the antenna and how the federal government has regulated the issue. A private association’s rules if non-compliant with state and federal regulations are unenforceable, singed for or not. That’s how the courts have ruled on this issue in the past. If they still decided to bring action against you with all the previous failed cases without a new miracle strategy they would just annoy the judge :mad: . I doubt they would vote to risk 50k+ in discovery looking for that new strategy if the antenna was installed as discretely as possible ;) . Just my take.

Oh yes, it's HD. I have the 5100, and I am seeing HD, just with the letterboxing. How would I check what the box is outputting? Yes, I do rent. I do need the antenna because I don't have 6, 7, 12, or 38 in HD. I do want my Wheel in HD.

Press menu and then select advanced/more settings. Scroll down to output format. Make sure it's set to either 1080i or 720p, 4:3 preserve or stretch. If your still seeing letter boxes verify all your component cables are connected to the correct outputs/inputs by color.

Does anyone else constantly lose sound while watching Lost on ABC in HD? It also seems to happen with monday night football... well it used to when it was still on ABC. Is there anyway that I can fix this or is Cox/networks fault?

I do not have Cox, instead I have DirecTV but I receive my local channels through an OTA and I occasionlly lose sound during HD shows. I always assumed it was because of my rabbit ear antenna.

I do not have Cox, instead I have DirecTV but I receive my local channels through an OTA and I occasionlly lose sound during HD shows. I always assumed it was because of my rabbit ear antenna.

It's not. Channel 6 has issues that show up on Cox as well with sound drop outs.

Also, Channel 64 has been a mess the last couple of nights during baseball coverage -- Sunday they had major problems late in the game and last night they went off altogether in the 9th inning. I thought it was my signal, but when it came back on in standard definition on 64.1 I knew it was their problem and not mine.

Seems like there have been issues lately the last few nights -- Sunday night I had reception issues for a time on several different local stations, and I haven't had any since I had my antenna and HDTV installed in late July.

I'm thinking about getting a Terk TV44 to clamp onto a satellite dish to pick up the Providence signals from Jamestown (less than 30 miles with no real obstructions).

Does anyone use this kind of solution? What are my chances of getting a solid signal?

Whew - I'm sort of glad to hear others are having OTA reception problems, no offence. Last Tuesday night I updated the tuner firmware on my Panny to 1.04 and ever since then I've noticed the poor reception especially for CBS 4 (4.1) and Fox 64 (64.1) and was thinking it was caused by this update. Apparently not. Now the question is...what is??

Does anyone else constantly lose sound while watching Lost on ABC in HD? It also seems to happen with monday night football... well it used to when it was still on ABC. Is there anyway that I can fix this or is Cox/networks fault?

Same issue with Desparate Houswives on Sunday nights. Like clockwork audio will drop for 1-2 second chunks spaced a few minutes apart. Entirely annoying. I get this with Cox and OTA.

Whew - I'm sort of glad to hear others are having OTA reception problems, no offence. Last Tuesday night I updated the tuner firmware on my Panny to 1.04 and ever since then I've noticed the poor reception especially for CBS 4 (4.1) and Fox 64 (64.1) and was thinking it was caused by this update. Apparently not. Now the question is...what is??

Jim, I first noticed the issues Sunday night. Really thought it was a cabling issue in the house, but found it strange only some channels were affected -- especially 64. Watching the baseball last night though confirmed to me it's a transmission problem (at least with 64), since the screen froze, went black, then returned in standard-def. Sunday night it went off altogether and I went nuts thinking it had something to do with my antenna.

I'd be interested in knowing if it was a transmission problem at a certain tower or what not locally...I am no tech expert and have no idea about the ins-and-outs of the broadcasting element, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was that. I've noticed scattered instances of drop-outs on some other local channels, but only infrequently and exclusively to the last few days.

That being all said...last night was a good night for strong signals. According to my strength meter, I was getting a 92% from channel 5.1, 79% channel 25.1 and 84% channel 64.1, without any glitches (however, I didn't stay up to see the end of the game). I wonder if this OTA reception issue is caused by atmospheric conditions, which phase the moon is in, the TV stations themselves, or a combination. As long as I keep getting a strong OTA signal from CBS 4.1 on Sundays, I'm happy. For the rest of the week, I just use cable.

According to the hearing schedule on http://www.ripuc.org/utilityinfo/cabletv.html the PUC has 3 more public hearings scheduled for Oct 11, 12, and 13. These dates are not far behind the original schedule. That schedule has December as the target date for the final Report and Order.

Howard

According to an article in the Providence Journal, of October 5th, there will be no further hearings as all matters were settled at the first hearing. The article went on to say that FIOS TV should be available to the effected areas sometime in early 2007.

That being all said...last night was a good night for strong signals. According to my strength meter, I was getting a 92% from channel 5.1, 79% channel 25.1 and 84% channel 64.1, without any glitches (however, I didn't stay up to see the end of the game). I wonder if this OTA reception issue is caused by atmospheric conditions, which phase the moon is in, the TV stations themselves, or a combination. As long as I keep getting a strong OTA signal from CBS 4.1 on Sundays, I'm happy. For the rest of the week, I just use cable.

The moon WAS full last weekend, was it not? Just something to think about.

I'm with you, though, I had similarly strong signals on the stations I can get down here last night. Looks like the craziness from a few days ago is done for now.

Anyone notice the volume on WLWC (28.1) is always much lower then the other local DT's for SD programming? I've tried all the dynamic options but can't get it close to the other's.

Anyone notice the volume on WLWC (28.1) is always much lower then the other local DT's for SD programming? I've tried all the dynamic options but can't get it close to the other's.
Well I certainly have.

When we made a significant change to our distribution system before the fall season began last month (in order to transmit HD programming) an unintended side affect was to reduce the volume. We'll try to get that fixed next week.

Stop messing with your TV - it's not your fault.

Well I certainly have.

When we made a significant change to our distribution system before the fall season began last month (in order to transmit HD programming) an unintended side affect was to reduce the volume. We'll try to get that fixed next week..

As always, Thank you for the info.

Stop messing with your TV - it's not your fault.

Unfortunately, that would leave me with nothing left to do besides watching it. :confused:

[QUOTE=RYankowitz]Well I certainly have.

When we made a significant change to our distribution system before the fall season began last month (in order to transmit HD programming) an unintended side affect was to reduce the volume. We'll try to get that fixed next week./QUOTE]

Thanks Bob. I wrote to Cox asking about them carrying the HD channel. They indicated they would add it to the list of requested channels. Do you have any info on the procedure for adding the channel. Evidently bandwith is not a problem.

[QUOTE=RYankowitz]Well I certainly have.

When we made a significant change to our distribution system before the fall season began last month (in order to transmit HD programming) an unintended side affect was to reduce the volume. We'll try to get that fixed next week./QUOTE]

Thanks Bob. I wrote to Cox asking about them carrying the HD channel. They indicated they would add it to the list of requested channels. Do you have any info on the procedure for adding the channel. Evidently bandwith is not a problem.
As you've seen, there's always a negotiation process between the two companies, the TV station and the cable company, over carriage rights. I'm not sure what stage we are at in the process, but I'll see what I can find out.

Bear in mind until this season there was no reason for Cox to carry the HD channel, as we did not have any significant HD programming.

Saw something a bit strange this moning. Tuned in to either 5.1 or 6.1 (don't recall which) ABC affiliate OTA and they were running some kind of test loop for at least a half hour. I was in the other room and kept hearing a 1khz test tone so I went in to see what it was. They were showing footage of a shuttle launch very similar to beginning of DVE, but the audio was missing. Instead you'd hear a test tone, then a voice say "This is the stereo right channel, this is the stereo left channel" over and over again while the audio would switch back and forth between the two channels. Then footage of a man with one of those director/editor chalk boards (not sure what they're called but they snap them when it's time to roll tape when filming) would snap down the top repeatedly at about 5 second intervals. Top of the board read "ABC engineering" or words to that effect and made reference to lip sync. Board was dated Sept of 1999. I could not for the life of me figure out why this was broadcast over the air. Seems like it would have been used in house to help make sure things were running correctly but made out to the general public somehow.

You were watching the ABC feed to the stations. This is put up for a while before HD programing starts. The local station must have switched too soon. If you had the audio set up properly for 5.1 channels you would have heard " this is the left channel, right channel, center, left surround, right surround" and low frequency boobup sound, from the correct speakers. John

Is WJAR-DT off air for some reason tonight?

Is WJAR-DT off air for some reason tonight?

I've got nada also :(

I've got nada also :(

I confirmed they are off air. Problem with their video encoder. No ETA.

Saw something a bit strange this moning. Tuned in to either 5.1 or 6.1 (don't recall which) ABC affiliate OTA and they were running some kind of test loop for at least a half hour. I was in the other room and kept hearing a 1khz test tone so I went in to see what it was. They were showing footage of a shuttle launch very similar to beginning of DVE, but the audio was missing. Instead you'd hear a test tone, then a voice say "This is the stereo right channel, this is the stereo left channel" over and over again while the audio would switch back and forth between the two channels. Then footage of a man with one of those director/editor chalk boards (not sure what they're called but they snap them when it's time to roll tape when filming) would snap down the top repeatedly at about 5 second intervals. Top of the board read "ABC engineering" or words to that effect and made reference to lip sync. Board was dated Sept of 1999. I could not for the life of me figure out why this was broadcast over the air. Seems like it would have been used in house to help make sure things were running correctly but made out to the general public somehow.
I work in master control at WLNE. We have an actual switch that we have to flip in order to pass through the HD from network. ABC sends this test loop many times throughout the day. If an operator has the switch flipped to HD when network is airing a non-HD program (such as World News Now) but they are sending the test loop on the HD channel, the test loop will go out over 6.1. We have some operators here that never air any HD programming during their regular shifts (this is becoming less common as ABC adds more HD) and so sometimes forget to switch back to bypass for non-HD network programming. This only affects network programming. If we are airing non-network programming, it is not an issue.

If you work for WLNE, please explain to me why there are audio drops on all of your HD shows. Whether OTA or on Cox there are repeated drops throughout the show. Please advise...

For the life of me I can't understand why the audio drops haven't been corrected, it's been over a year at the very least. We make posts voicing our concerns and frustrations over the fact that we don't have CBS or FOX in HD through COX yet truth be told we don't have ABC either. With the audio drops the ABC6 HD feed is unwatchable. Seeing people post that this also occurs OTA made me send an email directly to ABC6 below is the response I received from the VP/GM, Roland Adeszko...

Cox is sending their top engineer to the station today to access the
situation. They are taking partial responsibility for this. Thank you for
emailing us.

Sincerely yours,

Roland T. Adeszko
VP/GM
WLNE-TV ABC6
401.453.8000

...While I was happy that he actually took the time to reply I find it hard to believe that this was the first they'd heard of it. The line about "Cox sending over their top engineer" seemed odd, shouldn't that have been done a year ago?! And how is Cox responsible if people are experiencing this OTA as well?!

Roland's email address is radeszko (couldn't post the rest of the ABC6 URL because the board won't allow me to post URLs until I've made five posts...lol). Perhaps if more complaints came in this problem would finally be resolved. Having no FOX and no CBS is bad enough, but claiming to carry a network when the feed is unwatchable is even worse. Something has to be done, on whoever's end.

First, let me say that I am an operator, not an engineer and I am not in management. That said, I have been frustrated with the audio issues myself. It's very annoying to be watching Lost and have the audio drop out for a few seconds at a key moment. The engineers are aware of this problem and have been for a long time. I don't know what steps have been taken to solve the problem.

To be honest with you, I thought the problem had been corrected. I haven't noticed an audio dropout in quite sometime. I'm not just being a flak for the station. I really don't remember the last time I heard a dropout. I also didn't realize that it happened over the air either. I get my WLNE-DT through Cox. From the few conversations I've had with the engineers about this, I gather they thought it was an issue with Cox alone. Granted, I haven't talked about this with them for a long time. As far as I know, we haven't gotten any complaints from Comcast customers about this.

I'm not sure where you live in the state, but I'm in the central part and I don't even bother with the Providence stations anymore. The Boston stations come in strong and are superior to the Prov. stations. PBS - ch. 2.2 vs. 36; CBS - ch. 4.1(uhf) vs. 12.1 (vhf); ABC - ch. 5.1 (no audio drops) vs. 6.1...and so on. So if you live in an area where the Boston stations are a viable option, go there. It seems that LIN, WLNE and Cox, for that matter, aren't really that concerned about the quality (or lack of) they pass along to the customer.

I noticed audio dropouts last Wednesday while I was watching Lost and I bet the same thing happens tonight. When it's really bad I just throw on the subtitles so I don't miss anything important.

First, let me say that I am an operator, not an engineer and I am not in management. That said, I have been frustrated with the audio issues myself. It's very annoying to be watching Lost and have the audio drop out for a few seconds at a key moment. The engineers are aware of this problem and have been for a long time. I don't know what steps have been taken to solve the problem....

Thanks for posting. I'll simply add another confirmation that this is also an OTA issue, and has been for quite some time. Please pass along our concerns to your internal contacts, and/or ask them to read at least the last few pages in this thread. Perhaps we can get further action if more employees realize that it is still an OTA issue (and not specific to COX), and that they may be losing viewers to the Boston OTA affiliate because of it.
[those LOST-watchers are very dialog-intensive...myself included]

Thank you,
Keith Giuliani
East Greenwich, RI

Since the new seasons have begun the audio has dropped repeatedly during Lost, The Nine and Grey's. Trust me, there's nothing worse than watching Grey's with your wife (through the DVR so there's no way to change to the SD channel at that point) and she's constantly huffing because of the audio drop out. I had to switch the DVR to record all ABC shows in SD.

A friend who has Comcast in Attleboro uses the ABC feed from Boston and has no problems. Much like the previous poster he doesn't bother with the RI stations.

First, let me say that I am an operator, not an engineer and I am not in management. That said, I have been frustrated with the audio issues myself. It's very annoying to be watching Lost and have the audio drop out for a few seconds at a key moment. The engineers are aware of this problem and have been for a long time. I don't know what steps have been taken to solve the problem.

To be honest with you, I thought the problem had been corrected. I haven't noticed an audio dropout in quite sometime. I'm not just being a flak for the station. I really don't remember the last time I heard a dropout. I also didn't realize that it happened over the air either. I get my WLNE-DT through Cox. From the few conversations I've had with the engineers about this, I gather they thought it was an issue with Cox alone. Granted, I haven't talked about this with them for a long time. As far as I know, we haven't gotten any complaints from Comcast customers about this.
The problem IS noticable over the air. I have seen it pretty much since WLNE-DT went on the air. Some nights it's much worse than others. I have several different receivers and the length of the dropout varies on each one. MY Mits TV makes a noise instead of just dropping the audio which is very annoying. Maybe COX is using a receiver with a longer drop out.
Let the engineers know of the reports here maybe it will be helpful in solving the problem. John

Just another post in agreement with everyone else. Constant dropouts on WLNE. I record all channel 12 shows in SD because the channel is too unreliable. I have contacted Cox on numerous occasions about this problem. Believe me, if I could get Boston channels, I would watch them over the local affiliates.

I'm not sure where you live in the state, but I'm in the central part and I don't even bother with the Providence stations anymore. The Boston stations come in strong and are superior to the Prov. stations. PBS - ch. 2.2 vs. 36; CBS - ch. 4.1(uhf) vs. 12.1 (vhf); ABC - ch. 5.1 (no audio drops) vs. 6.1...and so on. So if you live in an area where the Boston stations are a viable option, go there. It seems that LIN, WLNE and Cox, for that matter, aren't really that concerned about the quality (or lack of) they pass along to the customer.

Just stay away from WHDH-DT 7.1 (NBC). They belong in the providence market when it comes to HD reliability.

Outside of that, the PQ from the Boston stations is stunningly better than Providence for both SD & HD.

Also, has anyone else noticed dim vertical lines during WJAR-DT (10.1) SD network shows?

The problem IS noticable over the air. I have seen it pretty much since WLNE-DT went on the air. Some nights it's much worse than others. I have several different receivers and the length of the dropout varies on each one. MY Mits TV makes a noise instead of just dropping the audio which is very annoying. Maybe COX is using a receiver with a longer drop out.
Let the engineers know of the reports here maybe it will be helpful in solving the problem. John

FWIW I didn't hear one dropout during LOST last night on 6.1 -- someone make an adjustment over there? (I have an OTA antenna, btw).

While watching Lost on Wednesday (10/18) I only noticed a few audio drop outs. The major one that disappointed me the most was right in the middle of Locke's speech. I am interested to know if the drop outs happen to everyone at the same time. Did everyone else's happen during his speech as well?

OK guys. I seem to have opened a can of worms that I didn't really intend to but let's see if we can get to the bottom of it. My wife reported no dropouts last night during 'Grey's Anatomy'. She was watching on a 960XBR with a CableCard via Cox. If you heard any dropouts last night leave a post. I'll pass it along to the engineers. Let me know if you get WLNE-DT via Cox or Comcast, cable box or CableCard, OTA, D* (are they online yet?)

I had a ton of dropouts during Grey's Anatomy last night. Frequency (and length, I think) increased as the show went on. With about 10 mins left had to switch to SD channel as it (once again) became unwatchable. WIFE NOT HAPPY!!! And when wife not happy, ain't nobody happy.

I watch via Cox HD Cable Box (Motorola) on a Pioneer 5070HD using HDMI cable.

At this point I've set the DVR to record all ABC shows in SD. As the previous posted pointed out, with the Motorola box through Cox the drop outs on the HD feed are pretty much constant.

Has anyone else noticed that it always seems to drop twice after the show resumes from a commercial break? Alos, I lost the audio during Locke's speech as well.

Does anybody else out there use a CableCard from Cox? I stated in an earlier post that I couldn't remember the last time I heard an audio dropout on WLNE-DT. Like many of you, I used to be plagued with constant dropouts. I don't know when the dropouts stopped but over the summer, I switched from the DVR box to the CableCard. Also, can I get confirmation from the OTA viewers that you are currently experiencing audio dropouts? These few posts over the last couple days are the first time I've heard that it affects OTA as well as Cox cable. Thank you.

Has anyone else noticed that it always seems to drop twice after the show resumes from a commercial break? Alos, I lost the audio during Locke's speech as well.

I am unable to duplicate this issue OTA. What brand(s) of dolby decoders are noticing audio breaks?

I use the Cox Motorola DVR box. For me, this problem occurs whether I have the sound going through the TV or the reciever. Is this the same for everyone else, as well?

Has anyone else noticed that it always seems to drop twice after the show resumes from a commercial break? Alos, I lost the audio during Locke's speech as well.

No problem the other night for me and I'm OTA like Steve is.

The only time I've encountered this is on Channel 12's football broadcasts when they switch from 5.1 to 2.0.

The audio drop outs happen whether or not I'm plugged in through my receiver or straight to the tv. I am still using Cox with the Moto 6421 III for my HD programming because I haven't found an antenna that gets any decent reception yet. Seeing as it is saturday and I don't have anything else to do, I mine as well give radio shack and try and see what they have. I am too inpatient to order anything over the internet.

I've got another question for you guys. Which output format do you have your boxes set at for std def programming? I was going through them last night and wasn't satisfied with any of them really. I have an LCD projector style tv and I am connected through component cables. 1080i - 4:3 looked the most normal but it wasn't stretched and I hate the sidebars. 1080i - stretch was streched like the name implies, which I could live with but it still wasn't as sharp. 1080i - preserve 480i is what I leave it set at but i've noticed it looks like your looking through a bottle. The picture is fine in the middle but warps outward at the sides. I'm assuming that all this is because obviously if you change the format of the original source it is going to lose some quality when stretching to fit the screen. Never the less I am interested to see what everyone else uses. Also, does the output format affect the HD programing at all? It seems to look the same no matter what I have it set at.... 1080i or 720p with any of the additional options.

I've got another question for you guys. Which output format do you have your boxes set at for std def programming?

It really depends on what you watch the most of. If you watch mostly 4:3 digital channels then 480p should present the sharpest PQ. If you are in an area with mostly basic analogs then select 480i.


My concern with WLNE-DT's PQ is the SD simulcast subchannel of their main program(6.2). The subchannel is always calling for extra bandwidth at the exact moment the HD main program needs it for demanding frames. Has anyone ever put them on TSreader? I don't see any value in eating bandwidth like this and I don't know of any other station that uses a sub channel for this.

On a positive note, 12.1 is looking great for HD now since they dropped the WX on 12.2 and WLWC-DT 28.1 is sounding great again.

Well I went ahead and bought an antenna from Radio Shack today. I'm going to put it up tomorrow hopefully before the Pats game. The guy told me that I need a grounding wire which makes since seeing how its a gigantic lightning rod. Where would I find a grounding wire and ground block? Also, the instructions for the antenna says to use a 300 ohm static discharge or a 75ohm grounding block on the coaxial where it enters the house. Is this step really necessary and should I connect the coxail through my Monster surge protector before directly connecting it to my TV?

Well I went ahead and bought an antenna from Radio Shack today. I'm going to put it up tomorrow hopefully before the Pats game. The guy told me that I need a grounding wire which makes since seeing how its a gigantic lightning rod. Where would I find a grounding wire and ground block? Also, the instructions for the antenna says to use a 300 ohm static discharge or a 75ohm grounding block on the coaxial where it enters the house. Is this step really necessary and should I connect the coxail through my Monster surge protector before directly connecting it to my TV?

Yes, Yes, no

You want the antenna system grounded and you really should provide a static ground before your tv in the coax line. Don't pass thru your surge protector as most will just introduce EMI into your line. Not a good thing for 8vsb.
GOOD LUCK! (Also make sure try pointing slowly in all directions before you give up on reception. Sometimes you can catch a strong reliable echo in an unlikely direction.

Also make sure try pointing slowly in all directions before you give up on reception. Sometimes you can catch a strong reliable echo in an unlikely direction.
You guys may be interested in the following reviews of a couple of new set-top boxes that use the latest 5th generation 8VSB chipsets in their front ends. They get amazing reception results (by current standards) and seem to deliver on the promise of easy OTA reception.

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/h260f.html
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/onair.html

Does anybody else out there use a CableCard from Cox? I stated in an earlier post that I couldn't remember the last time I heard an audio dropout on WLNE-DT. Like many of you, I used to be plagued with constant dropouts. I don't know when the dropouts stopped but over the summer, I switched from the DVR box to the CableCard. Also, can I get confirmation from the OTA viewers that you are currently experiencing audio dropouts? These few posts over the last couple days are the first time I've heard that it affects OTA as well as Cox cable. Thank you.
I record OTA with a Dish 922. Sunday's Desperate Housewives was atrocious with dropouts almost 1 every few minutes. Tuesday's Boston Legal didn't have many at all (1 or 2 total), Wednesday's Lost had a bunch - more than half-dozen. Thursday's Grey's Anatomy had very few - less than 5. A lot of times I'll skip back to see if the dropout disappears when replaying, but it never does (on other dish PVRs, when this happens, sometimes this corrects it.) The other thing I don't think has been mentioned is that you can usually SEE the dropout coming - there's almost always a video glitch just before the dropout.

The other thing I don't think has been mentioned is that you can usually SEE the dropout coming - there's almost always a video glitch just before the dropout.

That's interesting, maybe there is something going on in their switch that's not playing nice with their frame synch unit.

I live in Pawcatuck in the south east corner of Connecticut (borders with Westerly). I am looking to receive the Providence networks as I am within 45 miles or so from transmitters. I bought a CM 4228 with a 7775 preamp. With the antenna on the ground, picked up WLNE and WJAR at about 50-60%. Looked promising. Mounted antenna over garage with very minimal change in reception. Maybe 60-70% on the stations I already received and not a blip more on the ones that weren't coming in before. I am surround by trees but seem to be clearing the bulk of them. LOS is not ideal. Also some of my coax connectors are a little dubious (I'm trying run the line into the house from an old Comast cable that hasn't been used in maybe 10 years). Should I be expecting more? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I live in Pawcatuck in the south east corner of Connecticut (borders with Westerly). I am looking to receive the Providence networks as I am within 45 miles or so from transmitters. I bought a CM 4228 with a 7775 preamp. With the antenna on the ground, picked up WLNE and WJAR at about 50-60%. Looked promising. Mounted antenna over garage with very minimal change in reception. Maybe 60-70% on the stations I already received and not a blip more on the ones that weren't coming in before. I am surround by trees but seem to be clearing the bulk of them. LOS is not ideal. Also some of my coax connectors are a little dubious (I'm trying run the line into the house from an old Comast cable that hasn't been used in maybe 10 years). Should I be expecting more? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

WLNE makes perfect sense due to it's relationship to your location. WJAR sits in a lot with most of the other Providence stations further north and west of WLNE. If in doubt about your feedline replace it. Any defects in the line that allows noise in or effects the impedance will kill any chance at locking a weak signal.

Do you know what your homes elevation is?

WLNE-DT is on the same tower as WJAR. CBS and FOX are on a tower nearby. Those four digital stations are have the same distance and direction from SE CT. The CW network"s (former UPN) pointing angle is a bit South of the others. Also FOX is considerably weaker. When aiming your antenna get the best picture possible from WNAC analog on channel 64 and it will be pointed in the right direction.
John

WLNE-DT is on the same tower as WJAR. CBS and FOX are on a tower nearby. Those four digital stations are have the same distance and direction from SE CT. The CW network"s (former UPN) pointing angle is a bit South of the others. Also FOX is considerably weaker. When aiming your antenna get the best picture possible from WNAC analog on channel 64 and it will be pointed in the right direction.
John

That's correct, I was unaware that WLNE-DT used a seperate tower for DT. As for the ERP of WNAC-DT they are licensed for the max allowed. Are they not running at it?

I think WNAC-DT must be using a directional antenna with the max lobes not pointed to SE CT.
John

I think WNAC-DT must be using a directional antenna with the max lobes not pointed to SE CT.
John

That appears to be exactly the case. Take a look:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/imgsetup/40205.gif

That appears to be exactly the case. Take a look:


[Disclaimer: I have no connection with WNAC, and no direct knowledge of their operation.]

I believe the data that generated that graph is in error. There is no antenna that can generate such a radiation pattern, and there would be no reason for a Rhode Island television station to transmit a signal that suppresses all signal into Rhode Island.

Edit: The first time I looked at the graph it looked considerably different than it does now. It had a bizarre shape to the west and southwest. So...

Nevermind.

[Disclaimer: I have no connection with WNAC, and no direct knowledge of their operation.]

I believe the data that generated that graph is in error. There is no antenna that can generate such a radiation pattern, and there would be no reason for a Rhode Island television station to transmit a signal that suppresses all signal into Rhode Island.
This is from the FCC's web site.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?temp=40205&rotate=0.00&p0=0.987&p10=1.000&p20=0.982&p30=0.951&p40=0.922&p50=0.904&p60=0.896&p70=0.906&p80=0.918&p90=0.937&p100=0.967&p110=0.993&p120=0.990&p130=0.952&p140=0.882&p150=0.794&p160=0.702&p170=0.611&p180=0.517&p190=0.414&p200=0.302&p210=0.209&p220=0.180&p230=0.216&p240=0.255&p250=0.236&p260=0.190&p270=0.185&p280=0.257&p290=0.369&p300=0.481&p310=0.580&p320=0.671&p330=0.760&p340=0.854&p350=0.938&p360=0.987&
They don't appear to favor RI. Are the ratios in the plot power or voltage field strength?
John

Good info on the WNAC directional antenna bias!!

IMy concern with WLNE-DT's PQ is the SD simulcast subchannel of their main program(6.2). The subchannel is always calling for extra bandwidth at the exact moment the HD main program needs it for demanding frames. Has anyone ever put them on TSreader? I don't see any value in eating bandwidth like this and I don't know of any other station that uses a sub channel for this.


Better get used to it. Once NTSC dies, they'll all be that way.

And the WNAC antenna being directional in the wrong direction...man, that sucks. That really sucks.

The sound on WLNE-DT is sort of warbling tonight at about 8:15 PM. It sounds the same on two different receivers. This is not the how it ususally sounds.
John

The sound on WLNE-DT is sort of warbling tonight at about 8:15 PM. It sounds the same on two different receivers. This is not the how it ususally sounds.
John
It was really bad for me as well. This was through cox. I had this last night too during the evening news.

I currently have Cox basic analog cable in Charlestown which allows me to receive channels 2 thru 24 (frequencies 54 mhz thru 228 mhz). Channels 25 thru 69 (frequecies 228 mhz thru 498 mhz ) are blocked by a filter on the pole leading to my house. I do receive channels 96 (654 mhz ), 99 (672 mhz) and 117(780 mhz). Does anyone know what the upper frequency limit is on the filter and what the frequencies are for cox channels 700,702 and 703 ?

I currently have Cox basic analog cable in Charlestown which allows me to receive channels 2 thru 24 (frequencies 54 mhz thru 228 mhz). Channels 25 thru 69 (frequecies 228 mhz thru 498 mhz ) are blocked by a filter on the pole leading to my house. I do receive channels 96 (654 mhz ), 99 (672 mhz) and 117(780 mhz). Does anyone know what the upper frequency limit is on the filter and what the frequencies are for cox channels 700,702 and 703 ?

From a technical only prospective, with QAM tuner you would be able to tune them. You do however want to call them to ensure this is a legitimate use of the signals based on your subscription tier.

I get all of the cox expanded basic channels from the dishnetwork plus many more so I only have cable for the local channels. I don't want to try getting the local channels from dishnetwork because have enough trouble getting the channels from the satelite at 119 degrees longitude ( over the Pacific ocean ) without trying to get a weaker signal from the satelite at 121 degrees. I think my satelite problems are because I'm surounded by large oak trees. If dishnetwork would promise to leave the Providence locals on the satelite at 61.5 and put the HD locals there also I would drop the cable subscription.

WFXTDT 25-1 is now 69 percent on the signal strength meter (H10 DTV box) and working beautifully. I'm in the 02790 area, and the FXT signal has been junk for 6+ months. Anyone else notice the improvement in Fox 25's signal? This is the first time in a long time that I've been able to watch this channel, and it has been rock solid all night long.

WFXTDT 25-1 is now 69 percent on the signal strength meter (H10 DTV box) and working beautifully. I'm in the 02790 area, and the FXT signal has been junk for 6+ months. Anyone else notice the improvement in Fox 25's signal? This is the first time in a long time that I've been able to watch this channel, and it has been rock solid all night long.

Might have something to do with all those leaves falling off the trees :).

Might have something to do with all those leaves falling off the trees .

??????

My off air channels are captured via UHF antenna in my attic. No trees or anything else could be responsible.

??????

My off air channels are captured via UHF antenna in my attic. No trees or anything else could be responsible.

Sorry, but you're wrong. Leaves and trees actually have a lot to do with reception regardless of where your antenna is. That's one of the reasons why reception problems change with the seasons.

http://wpri.conversent.net/wnac-dt.gif

The coverage is very interesting. Not much dark gray except over water, so the signal falls off fast at the edges. They do seem to have a much better signal in Boston than in the SW section of RI. Now it would be nice to see the other RI stations coverage. The black contour lines don't agree with the Longley-Rice predictions which seem much more pessimistic. John

Sorry, but you're wrong. Leaves and trees actually have a lot to do with reception regardless of where your antenna is. That's one of the reasons why reception problems change with the seasons.

Huh? I didn't know that. How is it that the broadcast signal travels 40+ miles and goes through my attic shingles and plywood, yet leaves on trees knock it out? I'm honestly curious about that. Can you send me a link that explains that?

Huh? I didn't know that. How is it that the broadcast signal travels 40+ miles and goes through my attic shingles and plywood, yet leaves on trees knock it out? I'm honestly curious about that. Can you send me a link that explains that?

Dave, there are so many variables when it comes to the way UHF radio waves travel through the atmosphere and across the local terrain. The added complexity of 8vsb makes it even more unpredictable sometimes.

Remember that it's not the strength of the DTV signal it's how clean it is. Leaves contain moisture and can reflect and deflect signals. This can cause portions of the signal to arrive at your antenna in the attic at different intervals (nano seconds apart). This can confuse the receiver so both are discarded. It does get a little more complex than this but you get the picture.(pun). You probably had a signal all along put it was ever changing making it unusable.

The change in season also presents more changes to the atmosphere then the missing leaves such as average humidity, temp and average wind direction all which impact RF travel.

Dave, there are so many variables when it comes to the way UHF radio waves travel through the atmosphere and across the local terrain. The added complexity of 8vsb makes it even more unpredictable sometimes.

Remember that it's not the strength of the DTV signal it's how clean it is. Leaves contain moisture and can reflect and deflect signals. This can cause portions of the signal to arrive at your antenna in the attic at different intervals (nano seconds apart). This can confuse the receiver so both are discarded. It does get a little more complex than this but you get the picture.(pun). You probably had a signal all along put it was ever changing making it unusable.

The change in season also presents more changes to the atmosphere then the missing leaves such as average humidity, temp and average wind direction all which impact RF travel.

Steve,
Thanks for replying. I can understand how some of what you write can have an impact (humidity, temp, and wind). But, as I posted earlier, and will clarify here, my signal strength, now 63 to 69% as I write this, is 40 points higher on average than it has been. Before, it used to fluctuate wildly between 0 and 60%, mostly around 20%. So, while the remaining leaves are more soggy, the lack of leaves is causing less reflections, causing less receiver confusion, causing higher signal strength, and that higher signal strength is resulting in rock solid reception of Fox 25, correct?

Steve,
Thanks for replying. I can understand how some of what you write can have an impact (humidity, temp, and wind). But, as I posted earlier, and will clarify here, my signal strength, now 63 to 69% as I write this, is 40 points higher on average than it has been. Before, it used to fluctuate wildly between 0 and 60%, mostly around 20%. So, while the remaining leaves are more soggy, the lack of leaves is causing less reflections, causing less receiver confusion, causing higher signal strength, and that higher signal strength is resulting in rock solid reception of Fox 25, correct?

Wild signal strength fluctuations are a classic sign of multi-path, which is something things like leaves on trees contribute to.

Wild signal strength fluctuations are a classic sign of multi-path, which is something things like leaves on trees contribute to.

OK, Everything you say sounds logical. Thanks for the info. I must say I think that channel 25-1 has the best picture quality when it comes to Seinfeld at 7 pm compared to channel 64-1. Now I've got a new OTA problem - Digital Channel 28-1, WLWCDT, is wildly fluctuating between 0 and 99%, with picture and sound freeze ups every 15 seconds or so. I've never had a problem with reception of this channel. Could this be a totally new and different problem or do you think it is related? (I realize this could be a problem with the station, something that occurs in the industry every so often, and gets corrected in short order, so I'm not yet concerned)

OK, Everything you say sounds logical. Thanks for the info. I must say I think that channel 25-1 has the best picture quality when it comes to Seinfeld at 7 pm compared to channel 64-1. Now I've got a new OTA problem - Digital Channel 28-1, WLWCDT, is wildly fluctuating between 0 and 99%, with picture and sound freeze ups every 15 seconds or so. I've never had a problem with reception of this channel. Could this be a totally new and different problem or do you think it is related? (I realize this could be a problem with the station, something that occurs in the industry every so often, and gets corrected in short order, so I'm not yet concerned)
We haven't been having any transmitter problems for quite a while.

. I must say I think that channel 25-1 has the best picture quality when it comes to Seinfeld at 7 pm compared to channel 64-1.

Much agreed. It amazes me that they still have not improved the sharpness of their SD sources yet. WPRI-DT and WNAC-DT have the dullest SD PQ hands down. They must be using very old video processing units because even the live news shots are dull. WJAR-DT depends on the video source. Live shots are okay, but some syndicated show like Access Hollywood have dull PQ. Probably just a bad source.

All of the Boston station's have brilliant SD PQ, especially 56.1 and 25.1. SD on 28.1 and 6.1 in prov are great too.

I'm trying to help a family member who lives in East Greenwich, RI and has Cox cable (non-digital) and a new HDTV with a QAM tuner.

Does Cox RI broadcast the network channels in the clear?

If so, can you tell me the channel numbers that she should tune to watch them? (A search of this forum was inconclusive about this.)

TIA.

The WNAC DT antenna burned up last night. We have crews coming in from out of state to install a stand by antenna. We hope to be back on the air for the football game on Sunday. We will be at a reduced power and height until the main antenna is repaired. I will keep updating as I get new information.

Bill

The WNAC DT antenna burned up last night. We have crews coming in from out of state to install a stand by antenna. We hope to be back on the air for the football game on Sunday. We will be at a reduced power and height until the main antenna is repaired. I will keep updating as I get new information.

Bill


Thanks for the info. 25 days until the big game with Chicago is scheduled on FOX. This game maybe pushed to Sunday night on NBC though.

Yeah... it may be. All depends on whether FOX has "protected" that game from NBC's Sunday Night Football. I hope they haven't. I'd much rather watch NBC's football coverage than FOX's... FOX is obnoxious in countless ways.

Yeah... it may be. All depends on whether FOX has "protected" that game from NBC's Sunday Night Football. I hope they haven't. I'd much rather watch NBC's football coverage than FOX's... FOX is obnoxious in countless ways.

Not to get to far off topic but, NBC has to get rid of the Football Night In America pre-game show. Every week it seems like at any moment Bob Costas is going to whip out a smoking pipe and read us a book. It's pretty sad. They need to move more toward CBS's NFL Sunday pregame show. An NFL pregame show should not include expensive couches and dim lighting.

No audio dropouts watching Lost last night! Woo hooo!!!

Although I can't believe they killed off ****! (Don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet)

What were they thinking?!?

No audio dropouts watching Lost last night! Woo hooo!!!

Although I can't believe they killed off ****! (Don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet)

What were they thinking?!?

I have to see it tonight on my DVR... THANKS for NOT telling me WHO got killed.

I'm trying to help a family member who lives in East Greenwich, RI and has Cox cable (non-digital) and a new HDTV with a QAM tuner.

Does Cox RI broadcast the network channels in the clear?

If so, can you tell me the channel numbers that she should tune to watch them? (A search of this forum was inconclusive about this.)

TIA.

bboy,
Before I dumped COX I tried this out, and I did pickup local NBC and ABC and PBS---sorry, don't remember the channel numbers. Plug the standard cable line into the tuner and go into your monitor's menu and run a scan (e.g. for 'off-air/digital' channels). The tuner should save any channels it can detect [typically with a dash (-) or period (.) in the channel number].

Maybe a COX subscriber will chime in with more details.

Keith

NBC (channel 10) is 700, ABC (channel 6) is 702, and Providence PBS (channel 36) is 703.

Lately, I've also been getting ESPNHD (channel 711) even though I just have the standard digital package (not the HDTV package). I don't even have an HDTV yet, but it's sometimes nice to watch PBSHD and other HD programs in widescreen on my 4:3 TV.

bboy,
Before I dumped COX I tried this out, and I did pickup local NBC and ABC and PBS---sorry, don't remember the channel numbers. Plug the standard cable line into the tuner and go into your monitor's menu and run a scan (e.g. for 'off-air/digital' channels). The tuner should save any channels it can detect [typically with a dash (-) or period (.) in the channel number].

Maybe a COX subscriber will chime in with more details.

Keith

Your correct. The channel number you see is typically just mapped. So going to the CH directly will usually not work. You need to do a scan and allow your receiver to detect the signals and map it to a channel #. 700 and 702 will actually map to 10.1 & 6.1. GBH should map to something like 106.3 .

bboy,
Before I dumped COX I tried this out, and I did pickup local NBC and ABC and PBS---sorry, don't remember the channel numbers. Plug the standard cable line into the tuner and go into your monitor's menu and run a scan (e.g. for 'off-air/digital' channels). The tuner should save any channels it can detect [typically with a dash (-) or period (.) in the channel number].

Maybe a COX subscriber will chime in with more details.

Keith

When I try this with cable straight into the TV it tells me that the channels are encrypted (all above about 100 or so). I do have Cox Digital with HD etc and receive all of them fine through their box. I had wanted to compare PQ between with STB and without. Cable Card is the only other option for me.

The WNAC DT antenna burned up last night. We have crews coming in from out of state to install a stand by antenna. We hope to be back on the air for the football game on Sunday. We will be at a reduced power and height until the main antenna is repaired. I will keep updating as I get new information.

Bill
Glad you posted this information. I just got a HD recorder today and was wondering why I got nothing when I scaned for 64.1

No audio dropouts watching Lost last night! Woo hooo!!!

Although I can't believe they killed off ****! (Don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet)

What were they thinking?!?

No dropouts for me either over the past few days! Dare to dream.....

The WNAC DT antenna burned up last night. We have crews coming in from out of state to install a stand by antenna.

Bill
Bill:
What's the make and Model of your antenna?
Marc

WNAC-DT is on the air now.

Here's proof that Cox is cheap and purposely holding back on adding new channels (especially sports networks that every other carrier provides). This is an excerpt from today's article by Kevin McNamara in the Providence Sunday Journal:

Cox is always under pressure to add channels to its lineup, but the cost of sports programming is prohibitive, and the demand for a network such as CSTV is currently not very strong.

"We don't have any plans to launch CSTV," said John Wolfe, Cox's vice president of government and public affairs. "I'd say that on a given Saturday right now, our lineup is replete with college sports with Cox Sports Television, ESPN, ESPN2, NESN and other channels."

This is just another reason why I can't wait until Verizon goes live with FiOS TV in Rhode Island. When Cox sees all their top-revenue subscribers switching over to FiOS, maybe they'll stop being so cheap and/or find a way to cut back on fat profits to provide a comparable channel lineup.

I do not have Fox 64 OTA as of 1210pm. Their website also states that the problem is not fixed as of a few minutes ago.

I don't see WNAC-DT now either. Not sure if off air or propagation is not too good. It was on last night and propagation was very good on all the Providence channels. John

looks like I can stop messy around with the antenna. 64.1 isn't broadcasting right now.

From their website:
We have experienced an outage at the Fox Providence digital broadcast antenna. Heavy rains have caused the antenna to malfunction, and it needs to be repaired.

We have workers on the scene, and we will continue to work around the clock to get it operational.

High Definition service will be down until the antenna is fixed.

Bill:
What's the make and Model of your antenna?
Marc

Don't know if he PM'd the answer but it was a DIE TFU-24DSB-M (C)

ritvman or Steve125,
I am getting the WNAC-DT signal now but it is somewhat weaker than befor the Xmit antenna failure. What is the antenna height and power for the temporary setup. Do you have any idea when a full power replacement will be installed?
John

Back on the air saturday at 6:45pm. Went off again on Sunday am to complete install of stand-by antenna. Back on air at 12:30pm Sunday. We are at 40% power at 550 feet above the ground. We are using a Dielteric TUA-04-2/8-S antenna. The old antenna just arrived at dieltric for repairs. Unit will be back tuesday night. We will put the antenna back up on the the tower on Wednesday and hope to be back at full power Wednesday night or Thursday morning. When the new antenna is put back on the tower we will be off the air for about 3 to 4 hours to connect and test it. Sorry for not updating sooner, was at the site all weekend working on getting back on the air and finding the problem.
bill

Thanks for the info. If I am reading the FCC web info correctly the height is about 336 feet lower than your other antenna. Is the temporary antenna directional? I would guess not as much as the permanent one or the signal would be weaker in SE CT. I wouldn't mind if the permanent antenna had less of a null to the SW.
John

This is just another reason why I can't wait until Verizon goes live with FiOS TV in Rhode Island. When Cox sees all their top-revenue subscribers switching over to FiOS, maybe they'll stop being so cheap and/or find a way to cut back on fat profits to provide a comparable channel lineup.

That Cox rep comment is beyond insane. Sports fans will be able to judge when they have enough channels to choose from on a Saturday night, thanks very much :) Limited HD pickings aside, that's one reason I've gladly had Directv for over a decade. Their sports line up and selection of regional networks are second to none, and I doubt even Fios will have the whole range of local RSN affiliates you can pick up with D*TV.

I wonder what the Cox rep will say when the only way you can see the Notre Dame football game on Saturday is if you have CSTV....or maybe he thinks whatever lame Big East match up Cox will televise is actually a better game! :p

That Cox rep comment is beyond insane. Sports fans will be able to judge when they have enough channels to choose from on a Saturday night, thanks very much :) Limited HD pickings aside, that's one reason I've gladly had Directv for over a decade. Their sports line up and selection of regional networks are second to none, and I doubt even Fios will have the whole range of local RSN affiliates you can pick up with D*TV.

I wonder what the Cox rep will say when the only way you can see the Notre Dame football game on Saturday is if you have CSTV....or maybe he thinks whatever lame Big East match up Cox will televise is actually a better game! :p


Exactly! If they're so worried about "costs", at least provide customers with an option to pay extra for a special Sports Tier with all these "extra" channels. Heck! Charge me an extra dollar so that we can at least have FOX and CBS in HD!

I would gladly pay $5 for all the "missing" sports networks that are too cost prohibitive for poor Cox to carry. Just give me the damn choice!

.............

The drops outs during Lost on Wed (11/08) were really really bad. It got to the point where it became fun to try and guess what they were saying.

Back on the main antenna last night. We stayed at 25% power last night and bumped it up to 100% this morning. We will be working on the tower saturday morning to remove all of the stanby gear, during that time we will be off the air. I should be back at full power by 2pm.

bill

In Mystic,CT, WNAC-DT had been comming in with lots of breaks ups from the temp antenna. Last night it was solid as it is now. The signal level was about 6 dB stronger last night than it is now. So I guess that means propagation loss down to here has gotten 12 db worse sonce last night.
John

The drops outs during Lost on Wed (11/08) were really really bad. It got to the point where it became fun to try and guess what they were saying.

I really believe this has something to do with Cox and/or what equipment you have. I watched the whole show OTA on 6.1 and can't remember one drop out at any point.

Just to follow-up in case anyone was wondering:

With Cox in East Greenwich and a QAM tuner, you can receive Channel 6 (ABC) (mapped to 6-1), Channel 10 (NBC) (mapped to 10-1), WGBH-HD (PBS) (found it at 106-3), and ESPN-HD (found it at 107-1).

quick question, is it me of does channel 10 out of Providence have a low digitasl audio singal. I find that Ihave to put my volume up ahigher on my reciever during the NASCAR races. If I change the channel during a commercial (which is quite often :rolleyes: ) I have to quicly lower the volume becuase it so loud. I really only notice this on the ND channel. I remember never having to go about volume 30 or so to watch the race which was pretty loud for my house. Now, Im at 50 just to hear it..

PS. I just realized that this may be in the wrong area. I am running Comcast cable not OTA. Not sure if it matters in this situation though

Just to follow-up in case anyone was wondering:

With Cox in East Greenwich and a QAM tuner, you can receive Channel 6 (ABC) (mapped to 6-1), Channel 10 (NBC) (mapped to 10-1), WGBH-HD (PBS) (found it at 106-3), and ESPN-HD (found it at 107-1).

Do you have the schedule for WGBH-HD as well? I can't find it OTA on my Sony DVR and don't know where to map it to.

quick question, is it me of does channel 10 out of Providence have a low digitasl audio singal. I find that Ihave to put my volume up ahigher on my reciever during the NASCAR races. If I change the channel during a commercial (which is quite often :rolleyes: ) I have to quicly lower the volume becuase it so loud. I really only notice this on the ND channel. I remember never having to go about volume 30 or so to watch the race which was pretty loud for my house. Now, Im at 50 just to hear it..

PS. I just realized that this may be in the wrong area. I am running Comcast cable not OTA. Not sure if it matters in this situation though

Happens OTA as well. I toggle between the race and a football game every weekend. Local NBC is down -10dB to both Fox and CBS. PITA

It it means Oregon.

:D I have to admit, that was kind of funny.

:confused: It it means Oregon.

Thank you. Guess I should not post before the first cup of coffee

Do you have the schedule for WGBH-HD as well? I can't find it OTA on my Sony DVR and don't know where to map it to.

It's a Boston channel, if that helps...

Happens OTA as well. I toggle between the race and a football game every weekend. Local NBC is down -10dB to both Fox and CBS. PITA

It is the same on channel 7.1 as well. So, maybe it's the NASCAR feed that's down so low. And, yes, it is extremely annoying when switching between the Patriots and the race. One reason may be that the sound on the football game is a little juiced, exacerbating the problem. I wish they had a channel by channel equalizer built into the TV set or D*TV box, but, I've never heard of such a thing. I listen to DD5.1 through my Home Theater receiver and it takes a while to crank the sound down or up. It's very annoying.

..............

Well, I just got off the phone with my uncle and he told me that the meeting went well with LIN-TV the past couple of weeks and it should look better. They are upgrading the lines and equipment on the poles in RI now (you all should have got the notice in the mail, they are in the Smithfield Area now) to add more capacity to the network, so after this is done, we maybe getting FOX and CBS in HD this year, if not, they are hoping to get the feed again this year for the Superbowl. My uncle is suppost to call me back later on with a update from the techs there about it.

Bandwidth should not be an issue. It has never been an issue with the Cox/LIN fiasco. They have HDTV bandwidth to spare and can easily get FOX and CBS online as soon as the lawyers make it possible.

I have been in contact in the past with Paul Cronin at Cox but he does not even return my messages anymore. It is a real disappointment that Cox can carry channels in other markets around the nation and have no explanation as to why they cannot be carried here. If they do not add the locals and the other available channels by the time Fios reaches me I am gone. I will take my $200+ a month and give it to Verizon for cable, phone & internet.

................

Just to follow-up in case anyone was wondering:

With Cox in East Greenwich and a QAM tuner, you can receive Channel 6 (ABC) (mapped to 6-1), Channel 10 (NBC) (mapped to 10-1), WGBH-HD (PBS) (found it at 106-3), and ESPN-HD (found it at 107-1).

Last night i npticed ESPN-HD and Discovery HD are now gone from my QAM tuner, say's SCRAMBLED!

Anyone else notice this?, i'm in the hartford cox market thou.

Anyone hear any concrete timeline for Verizon going live with FiOS in Area 6 of Rhode Island? Is it still January?

...............

I'll ask my friend that works at Verizon to see if he can get a concrete timeline for FIOS TV going Live in Area 6. It is still prob in January, but I will check, they are prob going to be doing testing soon with a few customers.You folks who post frequently here know more about all of this stuff than I do. That said, I spoke at length with a Verizon repairman yesterday who was doing some phone line work on my street in my area - North Kingstown, RI - which is supposed to be one of the first areas to come on line (I don't know what Area 6 is). In fact, he verified that the FIOS line is all set to go, installed on telephone poles just down the street from where I live. And that's the second Verizon person to tell me that.

According to him, there is still one big hurdle for Verizon to get over - and that's the Rhode Island Public Utility Commission's approval or green light for Verizon to go ahead and start to actually market and install/connect in homes the FIOS service. He says the PUC is actually against Verizon's plan to compete with Cox for cable/FIOS TV service. However, according to the fellow with whom I spoke (who's obviously knowledgeable), he says there is too much political pressure on the PUC and they will likely have to approve it. So, hopefully something happens soon. You may argue that I don't have the story right. If that's the case, don't kill the messenger here. Like many of you, I am waiting for Verizon to make that service available too.

I hope you're paying attention, Cox. The excrement may soon hit the air circulator. :rolleyes:

Hello All,

I am new to these forums. I have been searching the net as I live on the East Greenwich/West Warwick line and I am going to install an HD over the air antenna. There is not a lot of info out there for people who do this as most people are taking down their antenna if they even have one as they get cable or a dish. I have been thinking about this for a long time and I just want to see if i can get Boston stations and maybe take a stab at even furthur ones away like NYC. There is not a lot of selection in antenna's out there. Locally the best ones I can find are at Radio Shack. I found an 80 inch VU-90 XR for 59.95 their and it seems good. I have grounding rod in and ran the grounding wire. It has 32 elements and seems decent.
Questions:
1. If I split the signal how much signal loss will i get?
2. With a 70-100 foot run of RG-6 will i loose alot of signal?

Hello All,

I am new to these forums. I have been searching the net as I live on the East Greenwich/West Warwick line and I am going to install an HD over the air antenna. There is not a lot of info out there for people who do this as most people are taking down their antenna if they even have one as they get cable or a dish. I have been thinking about this for a long time and I just want to see if i can get Boston stations and maybe take a stab at even furthur ones away like NYC. There is not a lot of selection in antenna's out there. Locally the best ones I can find are at Radio Shack. I found an 80 inch VU-90 XR for 59.95 their and it seems good. I have grounding rod in and ran the grounding wire. It has 32 elements and seems decent.
Questions:
1. If I split the signal how much signal loss will i get?

I believe quality splitter will give -3db

2. With a 70-100 foot run of RG-6 will i loose alot of signal?

Use RG-6 quad shield and add an amp if needed



Boston stations are pretty strong, I use CM 2448 in Cranston with great results

Do you think I have any chance of cracking Hartford or NYC stations?

I would like to know why RI HDTV stations do not send a decent signal to southwest RI. I live in Charlestown and only WLNE-DT (6.1) transmits a signal which is watchable 24/7 and it’s technically a New Bedford station. All the station towers are in Rehobeth at a 44 degree azimuth, roughly the same height and WJAR-DT (10.1) & WNAC-DT (64.1) have three times the power of 6.1. The broadcast pattern of WNAC-DT shown on entree #1346 shows a better signal north of Boston than SW RI.. Do the engineers really think the people north of Boston would rather watch a Providence channel than a Boston channel? I hope when 64.1 moves to whatever channel it has to move to, it does a better job of covering RI.

Do you think I have any chance of cracking Hartford or NYC stations?

I would say this is very unlikely. The Hartford HD's are really not worth any effort. As for the NYC stations I'm pretty sure most moved back to the Armstrong tower in Jersey after 9/11 and some went atop the Empire state building. The only chance for those from RI soil would be Block Island with a decent sized tower and a stacked antenna system.

..............

if they are on CBS no becuase of no contract with LIN broadcasting. They need a national agreement before they can role it out.

Well,

The whole reason I even started writing on here was to get advise on setting up my over the air HD antenna. I installed everything yesterday. I went with a radioshack model, the VU-90 XR . It is cosidered a mid range model, it is 80 inches long and had 32 elements. I constructed the antenna in 30 minutes, very easy to make the connections. I then mounted the brackets i used, 2 l shapped. I then used a pole i bought at radio shack to give some clearence to the antenna. I live on the east greenwich/west warwick line, there is no obstructions and very little trees at the plat i love in was only build 15 years ago. I installed my grounding rod and ran the thickest grounding wire I could find in home depot. I then ran a 50 foot length of RG-6 quad shielded cable to the tv in my living room. It is a 30 inch samsung slm line flat tube. I crimped the ends of the rg6 and bam! I get 58 stations all together. I get all local RI stations plus all Boston stations. I get 2 out of Conn. All have at least 75 percent signal strength, the 2 in Conn are about 40 but they do come in. I shocked at the amount of HD that is out there for FREE. I knew this always existed, but not to this extent. Now i know for sure I will have the Pats in HD and the superbowl! I want to thank everyone here who gave me the advise to go with this project. For about 180.00 total, I have free HD . NOT BAD!

TMGComp

I am glad things are working out for you. I've been telling friends for years that all they need to do to get HD on their new TV is even use an indoor antenna. For Providence channels, that is probably all they'd need. I have a good friend who bought his HDTV in 2000 at almost the same time I got my first, and he didn't watch a single HD broadcast until a few months ago!

Anyway, I have the same antenna you do. It is in my attic, so I didn't have to go through everything you did with mouting it. I am able to pull in all the stations you describe. The one thing I tried and failed was to get the Hartford stations. Being a Jets fan, watching Hartford would allow me to get all the Jets games. Unfortunately, I was unable to.

SMK

Hello,

You may want to try mounting the antenna outside. I was thinking of going the attic route but if I make a wrong move I am going to go through the ceiling. My wife would not be the happiest.

You would need though a rotor to point it west to try and shoot for hartford. I get 2 stations but they don't come in very well. If i got the bigger model antenna the 160 inch model and a rotor and pointed west I know I would have a shot. But that is a little to big for me...

"The Empire Strikes Back !" (Well sort of....)

To all you college football and hoop fans, the word on the street is that ESPN2-HD and ESPNU-SD will be available on Cox by the end of this month (Nov). Yeah!

To all you NFL fans..... Are you ready for some ... no no it's not CBS-HD or FOX-HD, but NFL Network-HD will also be offed by end of Nov. At least we can watch NFL-Replay in HD. Bronco's-Chiefs in HD on Turkey-Day evening on NFL Network-HD? Let's all hope so !

At least this is progress. Keep writing LIN and Cox to break the ridiculous log-jam on CBS and FOX here in RI. Also mention that ABC-HD intermittent audio out issue is still not fixed (although it made for a highly entertaining RI US Senate debate a few weeks ago.)

"The Empire Stikes Back !" (Well sort of....)

To all you college football and hoop fans, the word on the street is that ESPN2-HD and ESPNU-SD will be available on Cox by the end of this month (Nov). Yeah!

To all you NFL fans..... Are you ready for some ... no no it's not CBS-HD or FOX-HD, but NFL Network-HD will also be offed by end of Nov. At least we can watch NFL-Replay in HD. Bronco's-Chiefs in HD on Turkey-Day evening on NFL Network-HD? Let's all hope so !

At least this is progress. Keep writing LIN and Cox to break the ridiculous log-jam on CBS and FOX here in RI. Also mention that ABC-HD intermittent audio out issue is still not fixed (although it made for a highly entertaining RI US Senate debate a few weeks ago.)

Can I assume you have a pretty reliable source to be posting such bold claims? If what you say is true, it is indeed a step in the right direction. And yes, the audio drops on ABC are far from over. AFV last night was a disaster in this regard.

The info on ESPN2 HD is correct. I heard this as well. YES!

Well, a pretty good source I'd say!

Both NFL HD and ESPN2 HD showed up on Cox this morning.

Its about time. ESPN2 HD comes in great, But I only get a blank screen from NFLHD ch 701. Hope I get it in time for the Thanksgiving Night Game.

Its about time. ESPN2 HD comes in great, But I only get a blank screen from NFLHD ch 701. Hope I get it in time for the Thanksgiving Night Game.

NFL HD coming in fine here. I would imagine they will realign the channel numbers "IF" we ever get CBS & Fox.

I think in time they will. Its a money issue. It would be easy for Cox to just add the channels and raise all our rates. I think Cox is taking the smart approach. Besides, it motivated me to install my HD antenna :-)

Talked with Paul Cronin today again about locals. States they are working with their corporate offices in Atlanta to broker a LIN deal across the board. Today's additions are great. They still need a handful more (CBS, Fox, CW, Cinemax, Starz) but I am thankful with College Hoops kicking into high gear and the Thursday Night NFL games that they were able to get ESPN2 7 NFL. Some progress is better than nothing at all!

Hey...we still have more HD then Direct. Not as much as Dish Network but we still have quite a bit. KEEP IT COMING! I do have one question out there to the forum...anyone in here get channel 18 or 61 out of CONN?

The word on the street is Thursday nights game on the NFL Network won't be in Hi-Def. The reason being, out of the 114 million households that have cable only 40 million households can get the NFL Network. Hope this rumor is wrong, because it might be a while before we're able to watch any game in HD on the NFL Network. We shall see. Besides that, adding two more sports channels is a plus. The wife's real happy about that.....

No....the games will be on in HD. Why add an NFL Network in HD then? I don't think that is correct.

As a follow-up. Just got on to Cox's lineup for tomorrow night:

701
NFLHD NFL Football: Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs (Sport - Events) (Live)HDTV


Looks like it will be in HD.

Rumors.... Sorry about that.

I do have one question out there to the forum...anyone in here get channel 18 or 61 out of CONN?

Not at home but at work. What's the question?

DirecTV lit the Providence HD locals, minus CBS & FOX of course. GO LIN! You hold out. Keeping your HD signal off as many systems as possible will really drive ad sales. The local co's that buy ad time should not be concerned about your HD market penetration right?

After all, thanks to you I got a great deal at Jordans Furniture after seeing an ad on WBZ-DT during an NFL game last week. Wonder if Cardis had any deals?

Thank god for WFXT-DT and WBZ-DT. Plus when you fix on these stations you don't have to worry about them being off for 4 days due to a rain and wind storm.

Good Comments Steve. Greed is a terrible thing. I do blaime Lin for the whole fiasco. Why has every other local come on so easily. That tells you something right there.

Wow, that's awesome news!! I just signed up for Directv on Sunday, getting it installed on Saturday. I believe a certain member of this forum owes me 5 bucks... :D

We're having some technical issues on WLNE-DT and will not have ABC in HD until at least Friday afternoon.

DirecTV lit the Providence HD locals, minus CBS & FOX of course. GO LIN! You hold out. Keeping your HD signal off as many systems as possible will really drive ad sales. The local co's that buy ad time should not be concerned about your HD market penetration right? .

Is NESN HD part of the deal? I actually don't have the locals (get them OTA) but obviously I will subscribe asap if I need to have them in order to get NESN.

On Cox I get Nesn in HD. And I don't pay extra for it like Direct they make you pay 10.00 for the channels and money for the box....ummm no thanks

We're having some technical issues on WLNE-DT and will not have ABC in HD until at least Friday afternoon.

Have not had a chance to check yet, but will this be up and running by Sat pm USC/Notre Dame game?

my abc 6 hd is back up both cox and hd antenna.

On Cox I get Nesn in HD. And I don't pay extra for it like Direct they make you pay 10.00 for the channels and money for the box....ummm no thanks

Huh? To access all of Cox's HD channels like NESN HD (which is encrypted) I need to pay for their digital tier which is, um, let's see, substantially more over what I pay for basic cable, no?

So thanks a lot for the insight there. :rolleyes:

that is not necessarily so. For HD you need to get a HD box or have a cable card. You can't just use a Qam tuner becuase it is encrypted. If you have a cable card its 1.99 a month more and 4.95 for the digital service. If you need the box the box is 10.95 and 4.95 for digital service. The HD channels are free.

On Cox I get Nesn in HD. And I don't pay extra for it like Direct they make you pay 10.00 for the channels and money for the box....ummm no thanks

HD Channels r not free on Cox cuz then explain y I do not get NFL HD I will tell U y cuz I do not subscribe 2 the sports digital tier that is y

So Steve -- any news on NESN HD on DTV?

Well yes jaq you need to have the regular NFL network before they give you the HD one. Just like Espn HD. If you don't have regular espn you won't get the HD version.

So Steve -- any news on NESN HD on DTV?

No NESN-HD for Providence yet. I'm really at a loss trying to understand the delay on this. It's carried on the Boston Spot Beam, so technically speaking we could all receive it just fine in RI/SE MA. It's just a matter of authorizing our boxes. The only thing I can think of is their license is paid for by market and there are not enough HD subscribers in RI/SE MA yet to justify the added cost.

that is not necessarily so. For HD you need to get a HD box or have a cable card. You can't just use a Qam tuner becuase it is encrypted. If you have a cable card its 1.99 a month more and 4.95 for the digital service. If you need the box the box is 10.95 and 4.95 for digital service. The HD channels are free.

Don't be fooled by the way Cox markets HD service. Your paying for it. Directv simply chooses to line item the service because lower monthly base packages has always been Directv's market appeal. If you break it down, Directv costs less monthly for HD.

DirecTV: Total Choice Plus 45.99 (185 Digital channels) + HD Package 9.99 = $55.98

COX: Required Services to get All HD> Limited Basic $12 + Expanded basic $42 + Digital variety $12.95 = $66.95

Steve,

I would consider switching to Cox or if Dishnet has it maybe go that way. Nesn in HD is amazing, its like being at Fenway for Red Sox home games. I would never go without it considering how much you pay.

Don't be fooled by the way Cox markets HD service. Your paying for it. Directv simply chooses to line item the service because lower monthly base packages has always been Directv's market appeal. If you break it down, Directv costs less monthly for HD.

DirecTV: Total Choice Plus 45.99 (185 Digital channels) + HD Package 9.99 = $55.98

COX: Required Services to get All HD> Limited Basic $12 + Expanded basic $42 + Digital variety $12.95 = $66.95

Exactly Steve, that's exactly what I was getting at. They're "Free" if you pay for everything else. Yes Cox does have a few more HD channels (though not that many more -- not enough that I'd consider switching, too) but for standard-definition DirecTV's line up beats the stuffing out of Cox in quality and quantity. Not to mention for sports of all kinds there's nothing better. I've been a loyal dish subscriber for over a decade and have never missed not having Cox (which I do keep for locals, Cox 3 sports, and just for sustaining the high speed internet service).

At this point, I can hold out for NESN in HD -- I inquired about it before but it's not worth switching to Cox and paying more $$ just for NESN in HD alone. I'm hoping DTV gets it going for Sox season (at this point I really don't care about missing the Bruins in HD :).

I'll drop a note to NESN and see what happens...

Steve,

I would consider switching to Cox or if Dishnet has it maybe go that way. Nesn in HD is amazing, its like being at Fenway for Red Sox home games. I would never go without it considering how much you pay.

I hear you . I did have Cox with NESN-HD and it was great. I switched to Directv because they advertised NESN-HD as now being available to my zip code on their site.

Once I was installed I noticed that it was not available. I spoke with a supervisor who verified that it's not available to my zip code yet. I was given a ton of freebies and sent on my way. I could not let it go so I suspended the service weeks later. I later got a retention call with some very interesting information. All of my concerns about the service were resolved and I was given a great deal to return. Check out the link below for whats ahead with DirecTV. Beats COX big time.

http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/12/127160/FINALSlidesInvestorDay2-22-06.pdf

my abc 6 hd is back up both cox and hd antenna.
I'm trying to watch the USC / ND game, and its not in HD for me (OTA).

I'm trying to watch the USC / ND game, and its not in HD for me (OTA).

ABC6 once again has failed to "flip the switch". They're not broadcasting the HD feed from ABC.

I have Cox, btw.

ABC6 once again has failed to "flip the switch". They're not broadcasting the HD feed from ABC.

I have Cox, btw.

Also on Cox with no USC/ND in HD. Absolutely ridiculous. One of the biggest games of the year. Get your act together guys. This is really so disappointing.

Steve: thanks for the info, I hope the coming months are indeed as exciting as it sounds.

Yeah what happened to ABC6 with the USC-ND game, more technical problems? Thank goodness for WCVB, even down here in Wakefield they come in crystal clear :)

Nothing on ABC6 was in HD since mid-week. Someone posted that it was up and running but I had no games on Saturday afternoon in HD so I figured it was still down as posted earlier in the weekend. It never fails that some station has a problem when there is something decent on to watch. Perhaps the WLNE guy who posted the initial issue can update us.

You must also consider this Steve...

How much did you pay for your HD box? With Cox I paid zippo. Plus I get more HD channels then you. Actually I don't pay what you quoted. I pay 62.00 becuase I have digital sports, I don't have choice. Plus for extra rooms I play zippo becuase I have no recievers on those and I have 5 other tv's. Plus Direct TV has no EOD or on demand. I was not going to pay direct 5.00 a room. I had direct, every time it snowed, no picture. I am not downing it, it just was not for me I guess.

You must also consider this Steve...

How much did you pay for your HD box? With Cox I paid zippo..

The HD Box and the install were free. Just had to pay $6 in state sales tax. Cox does charge for HD installs and they will even charge for a HD self-install. Plus, I don't pay monthly for the HD box like Cox, thats $9.99 right there.


Plus I get more HD channels then you.

Yes you do for now, however, with exception to NESN-HD, Direct's HD channels such as HD-Net and HD-movies are much better then Cox's IN-HD1 & 2. As for the NFL Network, whenever there is anything of value in HD Direct does provide the HD channel.


Actually I don't pay what you quoted. I pay 62.00 becuase I have digital sports, I don't have choice...

So you have even less basic channels then I thought and are still paying more money monthly right?


Plus for extra rooms I play zippo becuase I have no recievers on those and I have 5 other tv's. Plus Direct TV has no EOD or on demand. I was not going to pay direct 5.00 a room....

Apples to Apples, if you wanted all the channels you are paying for with Cox with a program guide you would have to pay at least $4.99 a month for a box for each set. EOD is set for release with DirecTV sometime next year.


I had direct, every time it snowed, no picture. I am not downing it, it just was not for me I guess.

If that happened every time it snowed it was not installed properly. It's certainly not for everyone. If your looking for the most programming choices and lowest cost they are the best choice in RI currently.

I had direct, every time it snowed, no picture.

That's positively ludicrous. In the 10+ years I've had satelitte I can recall the amount of times the dish needed to be cleaned off because of snow. You must have had a bad install, period.

I won't even go into the lousy Cox PQ on stations we had on extended basic over the years, or how few Cox channels were carried in stereo when they were broadcast in them...give me a break. Trying to rate the quality of Cox and DirecTV is a fight you'll lose every time.

Plus I get more HD channels then you.

Wow, yeah, like...3 more stations? Steve is right -- DTV adds NFL Network when they actually broadcast something in HD, so that doesn't count. I went through my uncle's Cox service on Thanksgiving and found a few more channels but nothing at all that would make me envious of Cox's service. All of that will be moot, anyway, once Direct adds more HD in 2007.

Also on Cox with no USC/ND in HD. Absolutely ridiculous. One of the biggest games of the year. Get your act together guys. This is really so disappointing.

I got burned once like this for a big game. Since then I threw an antenna up on the roof and between the Boston stations and Providence I always get at least one that's working. It's Boston most of the time. Though Thursday WBZ did miss the switch on the first half of the NFL Today, and WPRI did not. Holiday help I guess.

Well,

I never entended to start a Cable vs. Dish debate. I appologize if it seemed that way but I don't intend to fight any battles on it. To each his own I guess. Everyone has there own expierences and I respect all your opinions. Keep in mind, I have also have an off air antenna, so I am not just someone with a closed prospective. Just for me, Direct TV was more money then Cox. I have 5 tv's and I was not going to pay 5.00 a month for tv's I barely watch. Plus with Direct after some digging the prices they gave me were for 1 year. After that it went up becuase it was just a one year deal. I had HBO at one time and i took it off and i got locked into another year, why are they so afraid I am going to leave? Plus I had to buy the HD box or HD/DVR box. If you bought an older HD box a few years back, it was based on MPEG 2 and Direct is going to MPEG 4 and now that box is out of date. For someone who has multiple TV's, if price is your thing, Cox wins this battle no matter how you want to disect it. In the beginning they were free, then the bill magically went up. No thanks. I had some issues with Cox service, they always came and fixed it, no charge. Direct, $50-$100 everytime becuase they have all contractors. I don't mind paying, but every snow storm it went out. No offense guys, I am not going on my roof to clean it off. As for the quality arguement, in my area Cox is all digital now. No more analog on tv's that have a cable card/reciever. So if you live in all digital area, there is no difference. I think this is an issue we can all argue until we are Blue in the face, its a preference issue. Plus, Cox has internet and phone and you can put it all togeather. Just someone ones opinion.

Can anyone explain why I can get WJAR-DT (10.1), WPRI-DT (12.1), and WLNE-DT (6.1) using an OTA Radio Shack indoor antenna (Model 150-1866), but I can not get WNAC-DT (64.1)

I live in Rumford (02916) and AntennaWeb website shows all four (DT) station's transmitters are less than 5 miles away? Acutally, the page shows WNAC-DT (64.1) being the closest at 3.8 miles and yet it is the only station I can't get OTA?

Can anyone explain why I can get WJAR-DT (10.1), WPRI-DT (12.1), and WLNE-DT (6.1) using an OTA Radio Shack indoor antenna (Model 150-1866), but I can not get WNAC-DT (64.1)

I live in Rumford (02916) and AntennaWeb website shows all four (DT) station's transmitters are less than 5 miles away? Acutally, the page shows WNAC-DT (64.1) being the closest at 3.8 miles and yet it is the only station I can't get OTA?

It's too strong. If you pickup a variable attenuator from Radio Shack you should be able to solve this problem.

Thanks for the reply, but I guess 'variable attenuators' are not a big item at Radio Shack. I called two local Radio Shack stores and it seems they do not carry them anymore...

I never entended to start a Cable vs. Dish debate. I appologize if it seemed that way but I don't intend to fight any battles on it.

You may not have intended to start a debate, but some of your statements just beg for responses to bring some honesty to the discussion.

Just for me, Direct TV was more money then Cox. I have 5 tv's and I was not going to pay 5.00 a month for tv's I barely watch.

Then hook your OTA antenna up to those other sets. Like others have said, if you want to watch all your cable TV channels on those other sets, you would need to rent a box for each set from Cox - it's not free from them either.

Plus I had to buy the HD box or HD/DVR box.

Without too much effort, you can get an HD receiver from DirecTV for free or a HD DVR for very little money. They do realize that it's to their advantage to get you to add these boxes to your account, so long as they can keep you as a customer long enough to pay for the box.

If you bought an older HD box a few years back, it was based on MPEG 2 and Direct is going to MPEG 4 and now that box is out of date.

And in most cases DirecTV will replace the MPEG-2 only boxes with MPEG-4 boxes at no cost as the need actually exists for it. Not too many markets have the MPEG-4 channels yet (which are mostly the local networks, and NESN at this point). It's obviously not in DirecTV's best interest to lose customers because they didn't want to pay to buy new equipment because DirecTV decided to change their compression format.

For someone who has multiple TV's, if price is your thing, Cox wins this battle no matter how you want to disect it. In the beginning they were free, then the bill magically went up. No thanks.

If you want access to all channels that you subscribe to on all TV's (which means a box for each TV whether it be for Cox or DirecTV), I don't think there's a significant difference in price either way. If you're happy with only non-digital channels on all but your main TV, cable TV offers a slight advantage over satellite as you can get some stations on your other TV's without a box, but since you have an OTA antenna, it would make sense to just hook that up to each TV.

I don't mind paying, but every snow storm it went out. No offense guys, I am not going on my roof to clean it off.

As others have said, your snow issues if they were as bad as you describe point to a really bad install. In the 4 years I've had DirecTV service, I've had to clean my dish off maybe half a dozen times at most. Counter that with when a tree comes down and takes out your cable TV line and it takes the cable company a day or more to get to it. When I had cable TV service, this sort of thing happened to us multiple times. With DirecTV, I don't believe we've had any outages that have lasted more than a few minutes and have been resolved by cleaning snow off the dish (which in our case is easy to reach out a window) or waiting for torrential rain to let up.

As for the quality arguement, in my area Cox is all digital now. No more analog on tv's that have a cable card/reciever. So if you live in all digital area, there is no difference.

Just because it's dDigital does not mean that there is no difference. There are tons of factors involved in the digital feed including the quality of the source they are getting their feed from and the bitrate they encode their source at before sending it to you.

I think this is an issue we can all argue until we are Blue in the face, its a preference issue. Plus, Cox has internet and phone and you can put it all togeather.

Certainly no argument on this last point.

I just liked the last point lol.... But on one another thing. The only reason I don't hook up the OTA antenna to all tv's is that I have not experimented with the signal loss it would bring. Plus they don't all have atsc tuner's. But for shi* and giggles, lets say i did split the signal just with a two way splitter and ran RG6 to another tv 50 feet away...making this run 75 feet total...how much signal loss would we be talking and would an amp correct or help this? Keep in mind I get all Providence and Boston stations with 75 percent or better signal quality as of now.

Anyone have any word on WLNE HD status? They are not broadcasting Desperate Housewives in HDTV tonight. Not sure of it's a "flip the switch" issue or a mechanical one...

I just liked the last point lol.... But on one another thing. The only reason I don't hook up the OTA antenna to all tv's is that I have not experimented with the signal loss it would bring. Plus they don't all have atsc tuner's. But for shi* and giggles, lets say i did split the signal just with a two way splitter and ran RG6 to another tv 50 feet away...making this run 75 feet total...how much signal loss would we be talking and would an amp correct or help this? Keep in mind I get all Providence and Boston stations with 75 percent or better signal quality as of now.

IIRC, a 2 way splitter usually results in about a 30% loss to each receiver, on paper. What that actually means to your reception will vary from situation to situation. An amp should usually only be installed if the signal loss results in reception problems and then the amp should be chosen to give only enough gain to make up for the loss and should be high quality (Radio Shack amps are usually a bad choice, while Winegard amps work well). Basically, you won't know if your antenna / cable / splitter combination can handle the added load until you try it. In my case, my antenna is driving nearly a dozen tuners. The antenna goes to a Spaun 5x12 multiswitch, which sends antenna + DirecTV to each location (6 go to my home theater, 2 to each of 3 other rooms). I have a signal amp in 1 room (the office where I do most of my HD recording on PC's). Reception is very good on all receivers. As usual, YMMV.

The TV's not all having ATSC tuners seems irrelevant as you'll have the same issue with Cox without a box.

Before I Run the line. I think I am going to just install the spliter right on tv one before i run lines and see what is what. Thanks for all the help again.

Any news on ABC6 HD (702 Cox) and their audio drops? Tried to watch AFV last night and found drops on the order of 2 to 4 each minute for about a 10 minute stretch, each drop lasting 1-3 seconds. Absolutely rediculous. I thought there was some progress being made in this regard :confused:

D*TV has 6 and 10 in HD now, as of this weekend. It seems the problems with 12 and 64 on local cable aren't Cox's fault afterall.

Tell you what, when licensing comes up for 12 and 64 we should organize and fight it. They aren't acting in the public's best interest, imho.

If 6 and 10 are now available from D*, can anyone with an MPEG 4 receiver confirm if they are now getting NESN? It was my understanding that when D* turned on the locals in HD NESN would be among them.

The only reason for me to change to the AT-9 dish and upgrade to the HR20-700 DVR would be to get NESN.

TIA

SMK

If 6 and 10 are now available from D*, can anyone with an MPEG 4 receiver confirm if they are now getting NESN? It was my understanding that when D* turned on the locals in HD NESN would be among them.


I live in Hopkinton and have the at9/h20. When I didn't see the nesn-hd I called up and d* told me it they don't have a licensing agreement outside of Boston. I cant say that I have seen FSN-NE yet (working evenings). I ended up getting a decent antenna and preamp to get locals. I can pickup some of boston, all of providence, and some CT.

What did you get for an antenna?

What did you get for an antenna?

I've seen a good one at W*Mart... it's the same exact one I got on e*y for less than $20 tho... $**.** to be exact, including shipping! :p

What did you get for an antenna?

I got a Antenna Direct XG91 uhf antenna - Channel Master 7777 titan 2 preamp - channel master rotor.

It is very directional, for me I needed a rotor to choose ct, ri, mass. I have picked up some ny stations, new hampshire, maine stations on occasion.

I was choosing between this antenna and the channel master 4228 (which I have heard good things about). I am stuck in tree hell on my single story ranch. This setup has been working good for me.

Chris

D*TV has 6 and 10 in HD now, as of this weekend. It seems the problems with 12 and 64 on local cable aren't Cox's fault afterall.

Tell you what, when licensing comes up for 12 and 64 we should organize and fight it. They aren't acting in the public's best interest, imho.

The way LIN has positioned itself in Providence should be of great concern to the community. The fact that they took steps to work around FCC regulations pertaining to same market ownership by selling WNAC (64) to a 3rd party WNAC-LLC (pretty sure it was someone's brother in-law) so they could continue to control it legally. Whats really irritating is that they have openly engaged in almost all the activities that the FCC intended to avoid with the regulations. Do you find any diversity between the news on 12 then on 64? No because it's the same program, that means that there is now one less other voice in the community. The FCC will always accept public comment on a license, and it will be considered at the time renewal comes around.

Keep in mind that they will have to be granted a new License soon because both 64 and 54 are being re-allocated away from TV use. I understand that they plan on moving WNAC-DT to 12 and leaving WPRI-DT on 13. You have to send letters now if you want anything to be done on this.

Key things to place in a letter to the FCC would be.

1) LIN owning WPRI and operating WNAC has resulted in limited access to DTV in the community for both CBS and FOX. They have refused re-transmission rights to ALL cable and satelite providers that have requested it. WNAC-DT employs a directional antenna transmission system that limits access by antenna to Rhode Island.

2) WNAC-DT has been knocked off-air serveral times due to transmission system failures for durations exceeding 48-72 hours at least twice in the last 12 calender months.

3) The operating agreement has limited access to diverse news and informtion in the community, Providence is already staturated with same market ownership issues.


Also put......

I am writing to express my strong disapproval of any relaxation or elimination of the public interest limits on media ownership. Localism and diversity are the cornerstones of a democratic media system, and we cannot afford to compromise them in any way.

Limits on media consolidation have been a bulwark against the concentration of economic power in the marketplace of ideas -- a critical part of balancing the public service mission of the media with their private profit motive. Our democracy requires the free flow of information from a broad range of diverse voices.

Any public policy seeking to protect diversity in the media must recognize the simple fact that ownership matters. Media consolidation has already led to declines in local and minority ownership as well as the homogenization of content in radio and television. Permitting cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations, or allowing further concentration in local television markets, will only worsen the problems we already have.

When the FCC attempted to weaken and remove media ownership limits in 2003, millions of Americans rose up in protest. Congress and the courts ultimately intervened to turn back that misguided regulatory process.

Now that these same rules are being reconsidered, the FCC should stand firm with the public against further concentration of media ownership in the hands of the few. A vote against media consolidation is a vote for democracy.

Mail it to:
FCC
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau,
445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C., 20554

Wow Beakor you get friggin Maine. I am VERY impressed. Do you live way above the free line? You must have no interference what so ever. Amazing.

The way LIN has positioned itself in Providence should be of great concern to the community. The fact that they took steps to work around FCC regulations pertaining to same market ownership by selling WNAC (64) to a 3rd party WNAC-LLC (pretty sure it was someone's brother in-law) so they could continue to control it legally. Whats really irritating is that they have openly engaged in almost all the activities that the FCC intended to avoid with the regulations. Do you find any diversity between the news on 12 then on 64? No because it's the same program, that means that there is now one less other voice in the community. The FCC will always accept public comment on a license, and it will be considered at the time renewal comes around.

Keep in mind that they will have to be granted a new License soon because both 64 and 54 are being re-allocated away from TV use. I understand that they plan on moving WNAC-DT to 12 and leaving WPRI-DT on 13. You have to send letters now if you want anything to be done on this.

Key things to place in a letter to the FCC would be.

1) LIN owning WPRI and operating WNAC has resulted in limited access to DTV in the community for both CBS and FOX. They have refused re-transmission rights to ALL cable and satelite providers that have requested it. WNAC-DT employs a directional antenna transmission system that limits access by antenna to Rhode Island.

2) WNAC-DT has been knocked off-air serveral times due to transmission system failures for durations exceeding 48-72 hours at least twice in the last 12 calender months.

3) The operating agreement has limited access to diverse news and informtion in the community, Providence is already staturated with same market ownership issues.


Also put......

I am writing to express my strong disapproval of any relaxation or elimination of the public interest limits on media ownership. Localism and diversity are the cornerstones of a democratic media system, and we cannot afford to compromise them in any way.

Limits on media consolidation have been a bulwark against the concentration of economic power in the marketplace of ideas -- a critical part of balancing the public service mission of the media with their private profit motive. Our democracy requires the free flow of information from a broad range of diverse voices.

Any public policy seeking to protect diversity in the media must recognize the simple fact that ownership matters. Media consolidation has already led to declines in local and minority ownership as well as the homogenization of content in radio and television. Permitting cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations, or allowing further concentration in local television markets, will only worsen the problems we already have.

When the FCC attempted to weaken and remove media ownership limits in 2003, millions of Americans rose up in protest. Congress and the courts ultimately intervened to turn back that misguided regulatory process.

Now that these same rules are being reconsidered, the FCC should stand firm with the public against further concentration of media ownership in the hands of the few. A vote against media consolidation is a vote for democracy.

Mail it to:
FCC
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau,
445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C., 20554


Do you have a name to go with that address and is there any RI federal rep who is on top of this that we can cc. to?

Now that we know that LIN is holding out on both Cox AND Direct TV that leads me to ask this question.

Does anyone know if there is a precedent for this in other markets? Have other local stations held out for a high price on receiving the HD signal? Is this commonplace or is LIN truly being greedy.

If LIN is being greedy we really need to start a negative PR campaign against them and get the story out to the media or something. We need to let the National folks for CBS & Fox know that they are loosing viewership in RI. I hate to watch (and rarely do) the non-HD versions of CBS and Fox and I know many others feel the same way. And perhaps the message needs to get out to their advertisers that not as many folks in RI are getting their ads as they think. The more folks that buy HD TV's the greater this problem will become. All the folks plunking down their hard earned money for their new Flat Panels this Christmas have a mean surprise in store.

This monopoly blows. They wouldn't get away with all this if they only owned one station. We need to get the message out! Does anyone have any good contacts beyond the folks we have already corresponded with to no avail?

Below are the FCC Email Contacts.

Not sure if folks have gone this route in the past but it can't hurt.

The LIN CBS/FOX monopoly situation is unacceptable in RI and we should assure that at least people are aware of it.

How to Contact the FCC

To Contact the Commissioners via E-mail

Chairman Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate: dtaylortateweb@fcc.gov
Commissioner Robert McDowell: Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov

I thought it was a lack of flipping a switch or something simple like that, but after months of the same I highly doubt it.

Why does NBC not broadcast in HD for 8pm shows? Both CBS and ABC do. This pertains to both Providence and Boston channels which I get over-the-air.

The ladies on Deal or no Deal would, I'm sure, look even more splendid if NBC ever gets their act together.

Thanks for listening :)

I thought it was a lack of flipping a switch or something simple like that, but after months of the same I highly doubt it.

Why does NBC not broadcast in HD for 8pm shows? Both CBS and ABC do. This pertains to both Providence and Boston channels which I get over-the-air.

The ladies on Deal or no Deal would, I'm sure, look even more splendid if NBC ever gets their act together.

Thanks for listening :)

This is not a broadcast issue. It's a production issue. The company that owns the show wants to keep costs down until they know what kind of bid they may get from the network on a second season. This depends on us watching it. Deal or no Deal will prob tape in HD either next season or the one after if it maintains ratings.

Thank you for the clarification, Steve.

Well,

I split the signal of new antenna yesterday. The loss to the tv's in terms of signal was not to bad. Channel 64 is tiles once in a blue moon but not to bad overall. Intsead of 75% signal pull I have like 60%. Not bad overall. So now I have OTA cbs and FOX for my new VIZIO 50 Inch Plasma. Why I never went OTA before is a mystery. If I can help anyone else with setting up an antenna, please pm as I would like to return the favor to all that helped me.


Instead of a plain splitter, you might try a "distribution amplifier." These can provide minimal signal loss when splitting the antenna cable. I use one to distribute my antenna signal to 3 TVs, 3 D* receivers which receive OTA signals, and 1 DVD recorder.

SMK

Hey Roy,

Where Can i get a dstribution amp? What brand make do you use?

Hey Roy,

Where Can i get a dstribution amp? What brand make do you use?
Stark Electronic (http://www.starkelectronic.com/) is a pretty good reasonably local source for antenna related stuff. A google search or 2 will find you all sorts of sources for this stuff. Channelmaster and Winegard both make excellent stuff, so they're good starting points.

Hi,
I`m looking for some info from anyone in southern R.I. (02808) regarding OTA hdtv. I`ve had good sucess in the past with analog (big antenna, pre-amp and rotor). Now I`ve moved to hdtv (Sony KDF-E42A10) using DishNet`s HD package\with locals. The package is ok but the locals and network are all SD. I used AntennaWeb and the Providence market is in the 40+ mile range. I also looked into equipment. Antennas direct DB8,Winegard pre-amp ap4800 and Chanel master rotor looks like it will be in the range. I just need some info from someone out this way who is getting HDTV via OTA. Any and all comments will be appreciated.
Thanks

Just wondering if others are also getting no digital signals for PBS, NBC and ABC on basic cable. Has Cox pulled the plug on supplying the OTA channels in their basic line-up (always thought that there is an FCC regulation that guarantees that...)

I am in Newport. Using stock Radio Shack stuff, Vu-90 antenna mounted to roof with a 10db amp at the set end. Get 2,4,5,6.7,10,12,26,28,36,56,64, and 69 OTA with good results. 64 is a little spotty depending on weather and such. No rotor. Antenna Web has me 25-30 miles from towers. I had looked at the DB8 as well, but it is strictly UHF. 12 is VHF. If you stepped up to the RS VU120 you would probably be fine.

Just wondering if others are also getting no digital signals for PBS, NBC and ABC on basic cable. Has Cox pulled the plug on supplying the OTA channels in their basic line-up (always thought that there is an FCC regulation that guarantees that...)


After a call to Cox (speaking to a dumb, rude "customer service" rep who actually hung up on me, claiming she didn't know what I was talking about since I didn't have their digital cable box...), I rescanned the channels and they are back on.

eurovision,

Expand on your comments. I am curious what you mean?

When I turned on my TV this morning, the HDTV channels I could usually get with my normal (non-digital) Cox cable service and the QAM tuner of my HDTV didn't show. Actually, PBS was available as HDTV but the ABC and NBC Providence stations would not show (the TV displayed a message saying "Digital signal is low").
Since it was happening on both the local TV stations that are part of Cox's offerings I thought there was something wrong with their service, so I called Cox Customer service and told them what was happening. The woman said she couldn't answer my question since for customers with regular cable they don't have information about the 700+ channels of the digital HDTV tier. With regular cable and a TV with QAM tuner you can pick up the unencrypted HDTV channels from your normal cable service but Cox customer reps either don't know that this is the case (FCC rules say that cable companies have to provide the over-the-air stations' HDTV signals for their regular, non-digital customers) or they play dumb and act as if this didn't exist. So this woman then told me she didn't know what I was takling about, since I didn't have their cable box and hung up on me.
I then thought it couldn't hurt to simply rescan the auto-setup channel serach function and after that was done, the HDTV locals (ABC and NBC) showed up again fine.
Maybe the connection had been interrrupted at some point during the night because they are upgrading the system in Cumberland and there were outages in other parts of Rhode Island (although I live on the East Side in Providence)... so I guess this happens here and there.
It is just annoying to find utter stupidity and rudeness coming from Cox customer service reps, after giving them years and years of my money every month.

I feel your fustration Euro. I don't think the average customer service rep is going to know what a Qam tuner is my friend. They are great at knowing the products and services, but they don't know so much about what else is out there. As long as it works I would not get to upset.

No longer upset :)
I had to learn all of this stuff too when I decided it was time to buy a new TV.
As long as I don't have to pay extra to get at least some HD stuff I'm happy :))

I would get an ota antenna Euro. I get so many more HD stations. Its well worth the investment.

Anyone have any idea why WJAR has been even worse than normal in flipping the switch for HD programs?

Last night all NBC shows were in HD from 8-10. Each of the 4 shows were in SD for the first half of the show and then HD for the second half. All new episodes of the Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, and Earl. I'm watching on Comcast, but it shouldn't make a difference.

They were good for awhile, but have really been bad lately. I've never seen them mess up multiple shows in the same night, usually it's just the first HD show of the night that they "forget" to flip the switch.

Anyone have any idea why WJAR has been even worse than normal in flipping the switch for HD programs?

Last night all NBC shows were in HD from 8-10. Each of the 4 shows were in SD for the first half of the show and then HD for the second half. All new episodes of the Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, and Earl. I'm watching on Comcast, but it shouldn't make a difference.

They were good for awhile, but have really been bad lately. I've never seen them mess up multiple shows in the same night, usually it's just the first HD show of the night that they "forget" to flip the switch.

It's because none of the local affiliates in RI give a $h!t about providing the customer with HD when it's supposed to be HD. Absolutely rediculous. I use Mass affilaites OTA whenever I can.

I agree completely, Toenail. I see no reason to watch any of the Providence stations. It's one reason I couldn't care less about Cox. Who cares if they're carrying 12 or 64. I'm watching 4 and 25.

SMK

I agree completely, Toenail. I see no reason to watch any of the Providence stations. It's one reason I couldn't care less about Cox. Who cares if they're carrying 12 or 64. I'm watching 4 and 25.

SMK

Count me in as another OTA user tuning to the Boston stations. A lot less aggravation. I haven't watched a Prov. OTA station in months. Sounds like not much has changed since I switched...

Count me in as another OTA user tuning to the Boston stations. A lot less aggravation. I haven't watched a Prov. OTA station in months. Sounds like not much has changed since I switched...


Much Agreed! Due to the improved picture quality of DTV all the old reasons for not watching Boston stations with an antenna have been eliminated. I have helped many folks, cable and satellite install antennas because they wanted to watch Sunday football in HD. When they channel scan, 4.1 and 25.1 appear first and they find themselves watching whatever appears first in the channel order.

Hopefully this will begin to reflect in the Neilsons. Then a push can be made to consolidate Providence into the Boston/Manchester DMA. That would move Boston into the 4th largest television market slot. This would answer LINS call for more competition in the market to resolve the issue, ohh wait they meant more competition for the cable company not them. :rolleyes:

I agree completely with the replies regarding the Boston OTA channels. The only drawback (and it is a big one with me) is not having the capability of recording the HD programming on CBS & Fox. With two Cox DVRs, it really upsets me when I have to watch commercials because they don't offer those two networks. But I do get the satisfaction of knowing I am not watching channels 12 and 64!!

I am confused about this whole "flip the switch" problem with HD tv. My understanding is that there is actually something that needs human interaction to switch the signal from SD to HD when the HD signal is sent from the networks. This seems rather ridiculous that it can not be automated. How hard could it be? I mean if my A/V receiver can automatically switch to Dolby Digital when a digital audio signal is present, why wouldn't this be the same for TV. Am I missing something and this really has nothing to do with flipping a switch?

I am confused about this whole "flip the switch" problem with HD tv. My understanding is that there is actually something that needs human interaction to switch the signal from SD to HD when the HD signal is sent from the networks. This seems rather ridiculous that it can not be automated. How hard could it be? I mean if my A/V receiver can automatically switch to Dolby Digital when a digital audio signal is present, why wouldn't this be the same for TV. Am I missing something and this really has nothing to do with flipping a switch?

The local affiliates have a master control room where all the different video sources of media come into (i.e Sd network feeds, newsroom) and go out as one to the RF systems. The current control room equipment is SD only and cannot process or pass-thru the HD network feed. So essentially yes, a manual switch has to be flipped to route the HD network feed directly to the ATSC RF systems. Sometimes you will notice the reverse of this problem and you'll see a test pattern or miss a local commercial spot because they leave the ATSC system on the HD network feed and forget to switch it back. Don't think anyone is developing a automation process because the expectation is that the affiliates are building out HD production facilities for the required conversion. As a side note I think it's pretty sad that Boston being the 5th largest television market still does not have one HD newscast yet.

Just a quick thought....I was wondering if we will be able to watch the shuttle launch in HD this Thursday night. I think HDNet is showing it, but will we be offered it? I know, sadly, watching launches have become a thing of the past, but watching one in HD, at night, with 5.1 would be pretty cool.

Checked HDNET's web schedule (http://www.hd.net/schedule_sevenday.html), and they are planning coverage on Thursday:

6:00 PM ET
3:00 PM PT
NASA on HDNet - LIVE!
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-116 Launch - STS-116 will be the twentieth U.S. mission to the International Space Station. The flight will deliver and attach the third port truss segment to the station -- the Integrated Truss Structure P5. HDNet, as one aspect of its partnership with NASA, will present the live launch of STS 116, as well as other significant events of launch day.

I receive HDNET on Dish - don't know if Cox will carry the launch

Oooops, I failed to mention I one of those that still has Cox...I guess I'm SOL, huh?

Checked HDNET's web schedule (http://www.hd.net/schedule_sevenday.html), and they are planning coverage on Thursday:

6:00 PM ET
3:00 PM PT
NASA on HDNet - LIVE!
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-116 Launch - STS-116 will be the twentieth U.S. mission to the International Space Station. The flight will deliver and attach the third port truss segment to the station -- the Integrated Truss Structure P5. HDNet, as one aspect of its partnership with NASA, will present the live launch of STS 116, as well as other significant events of launch day.

I receive HDNET on Dish - don't know if Cox will carry the launch


Thanks! Haven't seen a night launch in HD. Just set the DVR to record it. (DirecTV)

It's Thursday night and 30 Rock is in SD again on WJAR-HD. Will they EVER learn?