We would also like to know if FOX 55 is going to be granted an extension if they miss the deadline or are we going to be without a feed come the date. Why is it that ALL of the other stations can put up the new feeds in plenty of time for the deadline but 55 cannot? If the owners down south do not have the funds why don't they sell it to someone that does.

Steve
So far, WANE (http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/FCC_Chairman_Visits_Fort_Wayne)'s been the only media outlet I can find that actually addressed low power, although very vaguely:
At Monday's public-session at the Downtown Allen County Public Library, the FCC chairman spent about an hour and a half fielding questions from the public; however, questions weren't the only order of business.

Several local residents expressed a frustration with digital signals, and the ease of obtaining a converter box coupon.

People in some areas are experiencing a lack of digital signal on some broadcast station. The reason is primarily because some stations haven't fully powered up their digital signal.

WANE-TV, however, currently operates at around 300,000 watts. In February, that will boost to one million watts.. one of the strongest signals around.
(Sic) on "some broadcast station," by the way, even though that's just what WFFT is.

So far, WANE (http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/FCC_Chairman_Visits_Fort_Wayne)'s been the only media outlet I can find that actually addressed low power, although very vaguely:

(Sic) on "some broadcast station," by the way, even though that's just what WFFT is.

Our reporter that has been covering the transition for over a year now has tried to make it a point lately that we will be jumping in power in Feb, and it has also been listed on the DTV page of wane.com for quite a while. When people in the outlying counties call in and ask about power levels, I've always made it a point to say we were jumping in power. The transmitter is ready for that matter: one button press and off we go.

The problem in me saying that however is 2 fold: the first being is people that should be able to receive the signal now hear that fact and 9 times out of ten they say they then will wait until February. I'd be willing to bet a lot of those people will still need antenna adjustments, which means they will be without service in February.

The second issue that the power jump will cause is folks near the station that get a rock solid high signal now will be overloaded with signal. It'll help those outlying, no doubt, but it opens another can of worms for those in Fort Wayne.

The good news is the vast majority of the people I talked with at the presentation yesterday are working on the setups now and trying to be prepared for the 17th. But you would be shocked with the amount of times I hear in a day: "I'm waiting until Feb. to do the switch."

Yes, there is a good reason why some people are waiting to install there converter box's. There is only one place around Huntington selling the box's that have the analog pass thru option and they were out of them the last we heard. Since channel 55 still does not have there act together most converter box's do not have the pass thru so as soon as the person installs them they find out the hard way that can no longer see channel 55 as it is gone. I tell people when they call me if you have that model box you have to decide if channel 55 is worth watching. Some could care less about 55 like we do anymore.

Steve



Our reporter that has been covering the transition for over a year now has tried to make it a point lately that we will be jumping in power in Feb, and it has also been listed on the DTV page of wane.com for quite a while. When people in the outlying counties call in and ask about power levels, I've always made it a point to say we were jumping in power. The transmitter is ready for that matter: one button press and off we go.

The problem in me saying that however is 2 fold: the first being is people that should be able to receive the signal now hear that fact and 9 times out of ten they say they then will wait until February. I'd be willing to bet a lot of those people will still need antenna adjustments, which means they will be without service in February.

The second issue that the power jump will cause is folks near the station that get a rock solid high signal now will be overloaded with signal. It'll help those outlying, no doubt, but it opens another can of worms for those in Fort Wayne.

The good news is the vast majority of the people I talked with at the presentation yesterday are working on the setups now and trying to be prepared for the 17th. But you would be shocked with the amount of times I hear in a day: "I'm waiting until Feb. to do the switch."

Just got my latest Dish Network facts blast e-mail about changes coming in the next month or so. As expected no Fort Wayne locals in HD. As not expected fairly large price increases across the board effective February 1st to most all packages. If you have a high tier SD or Hd package you might want to sit down for the next bill you get.

Steve

Yeah, and someone fed it after midnight. I take it you are referring to the big audio problem we just had?

Ha! It just seems like when you guys fix one piece of equipment, another breaks.

Remember: no water, and NEVER feed it after midnight!

Hello all.

Just wanted to thank everyone who posts here for all the information and discussion. I found this thread a some months ago while looking up info on dtv. This thread has been a real help when once I got a digit tuner. It's been great here in Huntington to finally see some new channels since we only have ota. My family definately likes Create on 39-3.

I was just wandering what everyone thinks about other ota channels coming to the fort wayne area in the next year or so. Looking up on the internet there are some neat channels lik thisTV, retro television network, .2 starting or have started. With WANE have a extra subchannel slot and Fox (whenever they get going), maybe we'll see them afflilate with some of those channels. I'd definately like to see RTN, especially since mytv and cw haven't been showing movies like they were a couple of months ago.

Did you have to put in a zip code when you installed that TV, or did the guide data appear all by itself with no intervention? I've tried putting my zip (46777) and an alternate zip that was in the DVR's manual (00102), BUT no go! I have no clue what the alternate zip is from.

When I installed the TV I had to give it my zip (46835). I also told it that I was going purely OTA, and it tried to guess which channels I might be able to receive. I then went through the list and disabled the channels that I couldn't get (it included some stations from Indy and South Bend, which I can't get). After I entered the zip code, things seemed to work without any real effort.

One interesting comment, though. I don't know if it's true with all TV Guide On Screen equipment, but my set will only update its guide data overnight if the TV is turned OFF. If it is on, it will NOT update itself. Also, it took several days before it finally got the entire two weeks worth of listings.

Ha! It just seems like when you guys fix one piece of equipment, another breaks.

Remember: no water, and NEVER feed it after midnight!

A lot of it is growing pains with the new front end HD feed from our control room. When you combine those pains with the encoder failure that caused our sync issues AND the loss of 5.1, its a lot. But we're finally gaining some ground on it.

I was just wandering what everyone thinks about other ota channels coming to the fort wayne area in the next year or so. Looking up on the internet there are some neat channels lik thisTV, retro television network, .2 starting or have started. With WANE have a extra subchannel slot and Fox (whenever they get going), maybe we'll see them afflilate with some of those channels. I'd definately like to see RTN, especially since mytv and cw haven't been showing movies like they were a couple of months ago.
Fox processes their HD content at network level and leaves enough bandwidth for affiliates to add a good quality sub, so WFFT can do that. The fact that they haven't yet, even with their limited coverage, is very surprising. WANE... umm, better not to go down that road again. The UPN subchannel they used to have looked awful, and CBS HD sure didn't benefit either.

Where did you find info about the Retro tv network coming to the Fort Wayne area if I may ask?

Thanks, Steve



Hello all.

Just wanted to thank everyone who posts here for all the information and discussion. I found this thread a some months ago while looking up info on dtv. This thread has been a real help when once I got a digit tuner. It's been great here in Huntington to finally see some new channels since we only have ota. My family definately likes Create on 39-3.

I was just wandering what everyone thinks about other ota channels coming to the fort wayne area in the next year or so. Looking up on the internet there are some neat channels lik thisTV, retro television network, .2 starting or have started. With WANE have a extra subchannel slot and Fox (whenever they get going), maybe we'll see them afflilate with some of those channels. I'd definately like to see RTN, especially since mytv and cw haven't been showing movies like they were a couple of months ago.

Sorry if I made it sound like RTN was coming to fort wayne. It's not. I was just asking people about the possibilities of some of the new ota channels coming to the area, sometime down the road.

Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/obama-recommends-delay-in-digital-tv-switch/

Thanks,
Ben

Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/obama-recommends-delay-in-digital-tv-switch/

Thanks,
Ben

Interesting read.

I agree with some of the comments on the piece. I think the vast majority of those that have not yet tried to transition won't until the analog goes dark. I base this on conversations I've had with some viewers upset that there is a change coming (maybe.....)

Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/obama-recommends-delay-in-digital-tv-switch/

Thanks,
Ben

As long as it doesn't interfere with Obama making my mortgage payments and filling my gas tank after January 20th, fine with me.

Sorry if something similar has already been posted to this forum but I don't remember reading about it.

How to Make a TV Antenna for HDTV

http://www.tvantennaplans.com

Just on the news, the HD master control at WPTA is going online Saturday at 1:35AM, looks nice. I also overheard something about a hub for Granite stations?

Just saw jckrac on tv. Thanks for all of the updates you give!

On a sidenote, there is no reason to extend the digital deadline. All that will do is give FOX 55 more time to procrastinate.

Just saw jckrac on tv. Thanks for all of the updates you give!

On a sidenote, there is no reason to extend the digital deadline. All that will do is give FOX 55 more time to procrastinate.
As well as their viewers.

+1 to the first comment/thanks, I caught the story too, WANE's going above and beyond with their efforts, but it looks like it's falling on a lot of deaf ears. (Did anyone see anything extra on the master control on 21 at 6, I think I may have missed something because I was watching the DTV story on 15, and there was nothing on the rest of the newscast. )

ETA: Nevermind, I just saw it on the 10PM news. If you see this before the 11PM showing on 33, you will love the sight but probably feel underwhelmed by the explanations. And now they've posted the outage on their website, so you can check for those crisp-looking weather warnings around half past 8 in the morning at the earliest. (OTA, they told the reporter it'd be ready for primetime, talk about breathing room. Seriously though, good luck, guys.)

I know that this has been talked about before, but WHY do the graphics have to take up 1/4 of the screen for the weather delays? You have 1/4 of the bottom of the screen and the map at the top? NO OTHER Fort Wayne station is doing this tonight in the prime time HD shows except 15.1.


This sucks.

Someone needs to write CBS and tell them this is ridiculous that there local station does this all of the time.

My 2 cents.

Sadly the only reason the other stations aren't doing it is because their equipment isn't good enough to do it. I'm sure they will start plastering that crap all over their screens as soon as they can :(

What cracks me up is every few minutes they give us the audio beep to let us know the crawl starts again across the bottom of the screen which kills the audio on the screen.


Sad, sad, sad.


Sadly the only reason the other stations aren't doing it is because their equipment isn't good enough to do it. I'm sure they will start plastering that crap all over their screens as soon as they can :(

What cracks me up is every few minutes they give us the audio beep to let us know the crawl starts again across the bottom of the screen which kills the audio on the screen.


Sad, sad, sad.
And that crawl was obscured by closings, so it made it sound like the news anchor was bleeped out for obscenity. :rolleyes:

And that crawl was obscured by closings, so it made it sound like the news anchor was bleeped out for obscenity. :rolleyes:

No so fast!!! :)

The weather warning system is downstream of the school delays, meaning the crawl will always be on top. What probably happened is this: the weather person is supposed to change modes in the system so it does not air crawls during the newscasts. She probably did, but the system still receives updates. Every time it receives an update, BEEP BEEP BEEP. Yes, its annoying as all get out, but we have a tendency at WANE to try and follow the intent of some FCC rules to a T. Having an audio alert is one of 'em.

Steve: I've covered the size debate a page or 2 back. I don't know how 21/33 will run the system and how it will look, but we simply don't have a choice until analog services (Comcast, etc.) goes away. I'm trying my best to stave off another change (the map needs pulled farther right as its getting chopped off on analog sets) which would put the map and situation pretty much smack dab middle of the digital.

I'll repeat my personal stance (which is my personal opinion only and has nothing to do with my employer or the policies of my employer) that I stated a page or 2 back: I'd prefer to keep it as clean as possible on both SD and HD.

Observation:

You can please Some of the viewers all the time,
You can please All the viewers some of the time,
You can't please All the viewers all of the time.


Re:Engineering & Station Management

Never try to teach a pig to sing.
It wastes your time,
and annoys the pig.

The transmitter is ready for that matter: one button press and off we go.

Why wait until Feb 17 to step up to full-power if it's all ready to go now? Wouldn't doing so eliminate at least the excuse of waiting for full-power to get a converter box? And for those too close, it would give them a chance to recognize it and fix it while they still have an analog backup.

Why wait until Feb 17 to step up to full-power if it's all ready to go now? Wouldn't doing so eliminate at least the excuse of waiting for full-power to get a converter box? And for those too close, it would give them a chance to recognize it and fix it while they still have an analog backup.

There's an analog signal, WPXD-31 in Ann Arbor MI, which must be protected until they go digital-only.

- Trip

I don't care that Angola Kids League Bingo is cancelled .... I do care that 1/3 of my screen is gone due to stupid weather closings. :(

Why wait until Feb 17 to step up to full-power if it's all ready to go now? Wouldn't doing so eliminate at least the excuse of waiting for full-power to get a converter box? And for those too close, it would give them a chance to recognize it and fix it while they still have an analog backup.

While Trip answered the question perfectly (FCC won't let us let it rip until the 31 in Michigan goes down), you actually bring up a worry of mine that I've asked to be brought up in future reports about signal overload for those in close once the power jump is made.

As far as Bingo, Pokemon City Championships go: uh, yeah.....

I don't care that Angola Kids League Bingo is cancelled .... I do care that 1/3 of my screen is gone due to stupid weather closings. :(

I logged on to comment on the same thing.. why..WHY do we need this huge box squishing the picture?

I logged on to comment on the same thing.. why..WHY do we need this huge box squishing the picture?

I had the phone in my hand ready to call WANE to leave a general "For the love of God...please remove the (insert super huge weather map or 1/3 screen bingo closing banner)" like I have in the past. However, as I was looking up the number to call they disappeared.

So pass along my thanks to WANE management that common sense has actually prevailed for a change and some of us appreciate it.

I had the phone in my hand ready to call WANE to leave a general "For the love of God...please remove the (insert super huge weather map or 1/3 screen bingo closing banner)" like I have in the past. However, as I was looking up the number to call they disappeared.

So pass along my thanks to WANE management that common sense has actually prevailed for a change and some of us appreciate it.

I've noticed that it disappears during the newscast. Apparently, the closings are only important during other TV shows.

I've noticed that it disappears during the newscast. Apparently, the closings are only important during other TV shows.

They cleared it all for the NFL playoff game today.

Anyone else tonight have no audio on channel 33 analog or 33-1?

Steve

Correction. Music is fine. No dialog. Called the station the girl says yes they have a problem as they are doing some digital switching tonight???

I am thinking in the middle of primetime programming?????

Who is the idiot that scheduled this?


Steve



Anyone else tonight have no audio on channel 33 analog or 33-1?

Steve

Someone at 15 forgot to feed the Audio Gremlin, so it went over to 33-1. The Video gremlin is at 33-2.

A. Gremlin has shown up on 33-3 too (it miraculously disappeared as soon as station ID appeared after break, FWIW).

Hey to everyone on this forum. New here also. Just like to add that watchin all the BCS college bowls and NFL playoffs on Fox is ridiculous. I'm down in Berne ( 35 miles from tower) 55.1 is blatchy at best with high powered antenna and amp.

Hey to everyone on this forum. New here also. Just like to add that watchin all the BCS college bowls and NFL playoffs on Fox is ridiculous. I'm down in Berne ( 35 miles from tower) 55.1 is blatchy at best with high powered antenna and amp.

It's a miracle you can see 55.1 at all. Their tower is putting out less power than my toaster over and I think my oven might be at a higher altitude...

Until WFFT turns up the power to their transmitter only those of us who can see the tower out our windows will have reliable reception.

Someone at 15 forgot to feed the Audio Gremlin, so it went over to 33-1. The Video gremlin is at 33-2.
WISE's NBC HD audio should be ok now.

When we went online with the new Master Control, one of our new control panels go down minutes before we were to go online, this delayed us along with having to work through many issues. WISE NBC programs are now in 5.1. We will be tweeking as needed to get the best sound and picture that we can. We are still using dated encoders, so the improvement in picture will not be as much as we would like, but will allow us to advance forward with new encoders in the coming years.

The transition on the WPTA side went very well with very small issues. Unfortuantly at this time we do not have 5.1 for ABC programs. This will hopefully also happen in the future.

We are aware on the audio noise durring the newscast. This should be resolved sometime on Sunday.

Please let me know of any other issues that you may notice.

Thanks again for the input.

Looks likes WISE's 5.1 still is not right. We will continue to work on it.

It seems that the audio on SNL tonight is cutting in an out. There are no clicks or anything, it's like someone is muting and unmuting the audio. The analog signal is showing digital artifacts OTA and over dish. Currently the analog signal is split with the bottom on top and the top on the bottom.

WISE's NBC HD audio should be ok now.

When we went online with the new Master Control, he one of our new control panels go down minutes before we were tp go online, this delayed us along with having to work through many issues. WISE NBC programs are now in 5.1. We will be tweeking as needed to get the best sound and picture that we can. We are still using dated encoders, so the improvement in picture will not be as much as we would like, but will allow to advance forward with new encoders in the coming years.

The transition on the WPTA side went very well with very small issues. Unfortuantly at this time we do not have 5.1 for ABC programs. This will hopefully also happen in the future.

We are aware on the audio noise durring the newscast. This should be resolved sometime on Sunday.

Please let me know of any other issues that you may notice.

Thanks again for the input.


Thanks for the heads up. 5.1 is a good thing.

WISE NBC programs are now in 5.1.

At least the audio gremlins leave behind presents!

5.1 is sounding good, except for some cracks and pops

Looks like there are lip-sync issues during some commercials...

Glad to see (hear!) the 5.1 on NBC. To provide another data point, I did notice that same thing others talked about - lip sync off in commercials (who cares), but during the show there are some pops and digital warbles. As far as my source, watching it OTA. Getting close, though!

Jeff

See that all five stations are running there analog test/demo at 7:00 PM again tonight. One is also running a live viewer call in question session. Hope that they don't have to censor any of the callers. :):)

Steve

See that FOX 55 is still pumping the analog feed to the Dish network customers. No wonder the Dish subscribers are confused.


Steve

Was a very good one hour special tonight on the conversion. Lots of good questions. If I recall correctly FOX 55's manager said they are ready to go once the digital antenna is up and 800 foot of cable ran when they have good weather. Was that you Jckrac on the phones?

Steve

Was a very good one hour special tonight on the conversion. Lots of good questions. If I recall correctly FOX 55's manager said they are ready to go once the digital antenna is up and 800 foot of cable ran when they have good weather. Was that you Jckrac on the phones?

Steve

Yep, I was there answering phones with one of our techs. 39's CE was there, along with a couple of engineers from 21 and 39. The phones didn't stop ringing until close to 10 last night! Most of the questions were coupon related (at least at my station.)

I was relieved to hear that Dish has converted WANE over to digital as during the last test, we weren't. That'll save me a long day today. Now if a couple of outlying cable companies would get it in gear, we'd be in good shape.

Off topic for a moment: we are eliminating the audio beeps before the weather crawl runs. It has to be eliminated on a event basis, and I tried to catch all the events last night. If you hear a beep before a crawl, let me know and I'll check the database.

Yes, the beeps were gone last night. Thank you.

Steve

P.S. FOX 55 was the only station that Dish network ran the analog feed on last night and they ran a banner once in a while during the show saying that there were technical difficulties.



Yep, I was there answering phones with one of our techs. 39's CE was there, along with a couple of engineers from 21 and 39. The phones didn't stop ringing until close to 10 last night! Most of the questions were coupon related (at least at my station.)

I was relieved to hear that Dish has converted WANE over to digital as during the last test, we weren't. That'll save me a long day today. Now if a couple of outlying cable companies would get it in gear, we'd be in good shape.

Off topic for a moment: we are eliminating the audio beeps before the weather crawl runs. It has to be eliminated on a event basis, and I tried to catch all the events last night. If you hear a beep before a crawl, let me know and I'll check the database.

See that FOX 55 is still pumping the analog feed to the Dish network customers. No wonder the Dish subscribers are confused.Yeah a guy at my work who has Dish describes watching it as 'a YouTube video stretched to fullscreen.' :D

Yes, and the sad part is that Dish network has no plans at this time to put the Fort Wayne locals up in HD.

Steve

Yeah a guy at my work who has Dish describes watching it as 'a YouTube video stretched to fullscreen.' :D

What gives? 55 isn't broadcasting American Idol in high def?

What gives? 55 isn't broadcasting American Idol in high def?

And lip sync is way off. I swear.. Every week it's SOMETHING on one of our local channels

Sorry, I'm just frustrated.. It could be the national feed at fault

Sorry, I'm just frustrated.. It could be the national feed at fault

For the season premiere of the highest-rated show on television???

And lip sync is way off.
In other words, it's business as usual at Fox Fort Wayne.

Engjas,
Last night (monday) on leno, I noticed a huge lipsync issue (digital ota) with network provided content (the show and national commercials). Locally generated content was fine wrt lip sync. I'm not sure if it coincided with the new weather crawl you started last night. The audio was also off on the analog OTA feed.

WRT the new weather crawl, even though I very much dislike them (see above conversation with jckrac), I did like the lime green on black (my inner nerd showing). My one comment, make the text scroll faster, and show each alert only twice. The crawl was very slow and show the blizzard, winter watch, and winter warning like 4 or 5 times for a total of like 10 minutes. But, I do appreciate that it was only 10 min, and not constant.

In other words, it's business as usual at Fox Fort Wayne.

*sigh*

Just a few comments about the weather & closing tickers... I like the new INC HD weather scroller, but the speed should be a lot faster and scroll just twice. Is an area county map ever going to appear? So far ive just seen the ticker. on ABC World News last night, i kept seeing the INC news ticker popping up then down??? (btw, the new news ticker reminds me off the one on BBC News on 39.4, with "headlines" or "stock" headers :)

On WANE, i heard some weather beeps, just a heads up ;)

And on both networks, why are we sometimes squishing text on delay/closing graphics? Its kinda hard to read with it really skinny. This never seemed to happen much before we got new HD graphics... will this be changed once analog is gone, when we might be able to fill the whole bottom of the screen?

Just a few comments about the weather & closing tickers... I like the new INC HD weather scroller, but the speed should be a lot faster and scroll just twice. Is an area county map ever going to appear? So far ive just seen the ticker. on ABC World News last night, i kept seeing the INC news ticker popping up then down??? (btw, the new news ticker reminds me off the one on BBC News on 39.4, with "headlines" or "stock" headers :)

On WANE, i heard some weather beeps, just a heads up ;)

And on both networks, why are we sometimes squishing text on delay/closing graphics? Its kinda hard to read with it really skinny. This never seemed to happen much before we got new HD graphics... will this be changed once analog is gone, when we might be able to fill the whole bottom of the screen?
Regarding INC.

The bugs are still being worked out with the new weather crawl. We are waiting for a update from the manufacturer. The news ticker us up and down due to some automation issues.

We are still "tweeking" the Dolby 5.1 encoder. I think the problem has now been corrected. Please let me know how it sounds tonight.

We are working on getting the weather crawl to only display twice along ith speeding it up. Thanks for the input.

Just a few comments about the weather & closing tickers... I like the new INC HD weather scroller, but the speed should be a lot faster and scroll just twice. Is an area county map ever going to appear? So far ive just seen the ticker. on ABC World News last night, i kept seeing the INC news ticker popping up then down??? (btw, the new news ticker reminds me off the one on BBC News on 39.4, with "headlines" or "stock" headers :)

On WANE, i heard some weather beeps, just a heads up ;)

And on both networks, why are we sometimes squishing text on delay/closing graphics? Its kinda hard to read with it really skinny. This never seemed to happen much before we got new HD graphics... will this be changed once analog is gone, when we might be able to fill the whole bottom of the screen?


I heard the beeps as well. Forgot to add wind chill events as events that need no beep. Should be good now.

No HD for American Idol. Again.

:mad:Yeah, why can't AI be in HD? Down in Berne tonight I'm picking up 36.1 somehow at 58%-60%. Lip Sync is off also. Picture looks terrible.

No HD for American Idol. Again.

I'm not watching AI, but I did switch over to it here in Indy and found it in HD via WXIN-DT. It must be a local issue with WFFT-DT.

Steve

:mad:Yeah, why can't AI be in HD? Down in Berne tonight I'm picking up 36.1 somehow at 58%-60%. Lip Sync is off also. Picture looks terrible.

Yep. Déjà vu from last night.

Whenever the weather clears up, I'm gonna try pointing the antenna towards Lima and see what WOHL-CA (class a/low power) which is the Fox over there and see what they are made of. I've tried Dayton, just comes and goes, to far away.

Just a few comments about the weather & closing tickers... I like the new INC HD weather scroller, but the speed should be a lot faster and scroll just twice. Is an area county map ever going to appear? So far ive just seen the ticker. on ABC World News last night, i kept seeing the INC news ticker popping up then down??? (btw, the new news ticker reminds me off the one on BBC News on 39.4, with "headlines" or "stock" headers :)

On WANE, i heard some weather beeps, just a heads up ;)

And on both networks, why are we sometimes squishing text on delay/closing graphics? Its kinda hard to read with it really skinny. This never seemed to happen much before we got new HD graphics... will this be changed once analog is gone, when we might be able to fill the whole bottom of the screen?


Re: closing/weather tickers

I wish they would simply overlay the bottom of the picture (the squished hd picture really bugs me) and only come on a few times an hour..

I received a response from the WFFT engineer (Thanks, Craig!):


"We have lost the HD portion of our digital rack. We will have HD up as soon as possible."

Whenever the weather clears up, I'm gonna try pointing the antenna towards Lima and see what WOHL-CA (class a/low power) which is the Fox over there and see what they are made of. I've tried Dayton, just comes and goes, to far away.

Have you tried South Bend?

Yes I've tried South Bend...can sometimes bring in 16.1 and 22.1.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3ib74aaf21b073f8c71db0bdd837179f54

Some people just won't do anything until you jolt them with a cattle prod. If the digital switch is delayed and the analog signal remains "business as usual" it won't accomplish anything.

Some people just aren't going to do anything until they are inconvenienced enough to force them too. Let's face it, TV is still a luxury, people can live without it (no, really you can...) It's not like we are shutting off peoples water or yanking away the roof from over the head.

You could possibly make the argument that people will lose access to important news, weather, and safety information (canceled Pokemon tournaments...) If that is truly the concern then perhaps they should keep analog alive for an additional month but only allow broadcast of DTV transition information, news, weather, and general safety information over analog. That way analog doesn't just "go dark" but yet the procrastinators no longer have access to their favorite shows, prompting (cattle prod) them into action while still being alerted that their son or daughters Pokemon tournament is canceled...

my $.02

Martian21

You could possibly make the argument that people will lose access to important news, weather, and safety information (canceled Pokemon tournaments...) If that is truly the concern then perhaps they should keep analog alive for an additional month but only allow broadcast of DTV transition information, news, weather, and general safety information over analog. That way analog doesn't just "go dark" but yet the procrastinators no longer have access to their favorite shows, prompting (cattle prod) them into action while still being alerted that their son or daughters Pokemon tournament is canceled...
Excellent idea...24/7 weather radar on all 5 (sometimes 6) analog channels and they'll switch pretty quick!

Just thought this link would be an interesting read concerning the above comments about some analog stations staying on past feb 17. See link below...

http://www.current.org/2009/01/broadcasters-ask-fcc-for-more.html

says they'll make a decision today...

I received a response from the WFFT engineer (Thanks, Craig!):


"We have lost the HD portion of our digital rack. We will have HD up as soon as possible."

Does all of this HD equipment come from Kowloon or something? It just seems the support from the manufacturers of this stuff is lacking given their turnaround times.

http://www.current.org/2009/01/broadcasters-ask-fcc-for-more.html

says they'll make a decision today...

Why delay the deadline? Just start broadcasting one of the DTV information shows on a 24 hour loop over the analog OTA right now. That way people who aren't ready will get the info and still receive their weather alerts and cancellations until 2/17.

Why delay the deadline? Just start broadcasting one of the DTV information shows on a 24 hour loop over the analog OTA right now. That way people who aren't ready will get the info and still receive their weather alerts and cancellations until 2/17.

This "analog night light" seems like the best idea around. However, it still does not allow the stations to go full power. That is unless the digital were to go full power and the analog would drop to low power.

This "analog night light" seems like the best idea around. However, it still does not allow the stations to go full power. That is unless the digital were to go full power and the analog would drop to low power.
Which would theoretically put the rurals (one of the victim groups the delay camp like to cite) in the dark. (Chances are the ones with the towers have switched, or they may still get the signal.) All the full-power stations in Hawaii have actually done the night-light approach just for an endangered bird (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480255,00.html).

Does all of this HD equipment come from Kowloon or something? It just seems the support from the manufacturers of this stuff is lacking given their turnaround times.

When digital is their only signal, we'll see some changes on how the equipment is maintained as far as crititical spares on hand and so on.

When digital is their only signal, we'll see some changes on how the equipment is maintained as far as crititical spares on hand and so on.
Either that or we won't see much at all for a few days.... :rolleyes:

Does all of this HD equipment come from Kowloon or something? It just seems the support from the manufacturers of this stuff is lacking given their turnaround times.

Back in the day, one of the reasons you bought equipment from the manufacturers 'broadcast' division (and paid a premium for it) was tighter component specs and a replacement/loaner policy measured in hours, not days.

That said, we're talking about WFFT... They probably lost the keys to the company Studebaker for the trip to Fry's in Indy.

Kib is right.

When you bought a TT-25 from RCA, a phone call to their emergency number got a spare anything on its way the next morning. We also had a spare Eimac water cooled PA tube at the transmitter site.

But like the nickel popsicle . . .

Does all of this HD equipment come from Kowloon or something? It just seems the support from the manufacturers of this stuff is lacking given their turnaround times.

It looks like they got it fixed in time for the NFC Championship Game today as Fox News Sunday is in HD right now.

Kib is right.

When you bought a TT-25 from RCA, a phone call to their emergency number got a spare anything on its way the next morning. We also had a spare Eimac water cooled PA tube at the transmitter site.

But like the nickel popsicle . . .

And where is RCA now? :D

In all seriousness, its not the transmitter folks that have problems. We have had 2 failures in 3 days (one on our analog plant Friday, one on the digital Sunday that knocked us off the air for 2 hours) and both times, had excellent service. Actually got a call back on the digital plant in ten minutes.

The problem we've seen is with some other vendors. When our encoder failed a couple months ago, we got caught a debate between 2 vendors on who would work on the repairs. If it wasn't for a spare in the company, we'd have been off the air HD for 2 weeks, instead of 2 days.

I agree with JohnW in the fact that critical spares should quickly become a main priority, but I know there are groups in the world that won't spend the money as it is very expensive to have a true end to end redundant spare. Murphy's law states that the one piece of gear you don't look at will be the piece that fails! (That is what happened to us today at WANE.)

I was just looking at some of the dtv subchannel options, and saw quite a few. RTN, variety network, .2 Network, AccuWeather, thisTV. Itll be interesting to see if WFFT picks up one of these, once they get everything full power etc... (if they ever do...)

I was just looking at some of the dtv subchannel options, and saw quite a few. RTN, variety network, .2 Network, AccuWeather, thisTV. Itll be interesting to see if WFFT picks up one of these, once they get everything full power etc... (if they ever do...)
I'd say this will happen when you know where freezes over but it's been pretty cold in Ft. Wayne the last few days so I guess it's possible...

Anyone know if Fox 55 did anything to boost their signal. I am actually pulling something in (Wallen and Coldwater) area.

I doubt Fox 55 raised their signal. Down here in Berne I'll pick it up around 58% alot of the time, usually at night, just comes and goes whenever. Does anyone know if Lima TV stations are in digital? I pointed my antenna that way today, and I'm getting nothing. But according to tvfool.com I should be able to pick them up????

Anyone know if Fox 55 did anything to boost their signal. I am actually pulling something in (Wallen and Coldwater) area.

I've done a bit better in Huntington when I've tried the last couple weeks.

Anyone hear if they are going to extend the deadline? The last we heard congress was going to try and vote on an extension again this week?

Steve

No news yet. Watch this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1105820) for updates.

I doubt Fox 55 raised their signal. Down here in Berne I'll pick it up around 58% alot of the time, usually at night, just comes and goes whenever. Does anyone know if Lima TV stations are in digital? I pointed my antenna that way today, and I'm getting nothing. But according to tvfool.com I should be able to pick them up????

Copied from another thread...

WLIO-DT 8 is at full power and operational.

WTLW-DT 44 flash-cut a month or two ago.

The others are low-powered and unaffected by the digital transition...

Anybody know if CBS has plans to send out Digital TV Guide? From what I've gathered, PBS had a deal to do the analog, but now CBS has the digital. I called in and spoke with somebody in the engineering dept., but he didn't know anything about TVGOS.

For the DIY in all of us
Sorry if something similar has already been posted to this forum but I don't remember reading about it.

How to Make a TV Antenna for HDTV

tvantennaplans-com

Regarding the above post from a couple of weeks ago.

Does anyone know if its possible, or practical to build several of these & somehow hook them together? One of the videos mentioned doing two side by side to get a DB8, but I didn't see how to connect it.

Or maybe multiply the dimensions, using 28" or ??? instead of 14" pieces so those of us in deep fringe areas can get more gain?

Does anyone know if its possible, or practical to build several of these & somehow hook them together? One of the videos mentioned doing two side by side to get a DB8, but I didn't see how to connect it.


welcome Jimmy, I recall some very detailed web pages dealing with the specifics of connecting any two antennas together, but as I recall (from personal experience) it can add more hassles than benefit if the antennas, cables, etc are not 'perfectly' identical. google 'antenna stacking' and see if you think it'll work for your situation.
there may be others on this thread who can provide you with more detailed info if you wanna try to tackle it.

Looks like the Senate approved the delay of the digital transition.

*sigh*

Looks like the Senate approved the delay of the digital transition.

*sigh*
Doesn't mean much if they don't regulate nightlighting (which I wish INC and WANE would do, for all the work they've done in upgrading to full digital). WFFT, on the other hand, won't have to be liable for tower crews working in this weather (though the FCC would have let them slide for a bit longer, I'm sure).

As goldrich stated in this post:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15659642#post15659642

It looks like WFWA is planning on switching on 2/17. It seems like it would be in the best interest of the other stations to continue to air their 2/17 deadline ads and not report this story. That way they could save on 4 months of enormus electric bills. They were all ready for it now (well... WFFT hangs head) and it has to happen sometime.

WFFT.... well what can you say. I don't watch them anymore anyways. I'm almost to the point where I don't care anymore. I have so many other HD options now than I did in 2003 when I got my first HD set.

As goldrich stated in this post:
It looks like WFWA is planning on switching on 2/17. It seems like it would be in the best interest of the other stations to continue to air their 2/17 deadline ads and not report this story. That way they could save on 4 months of enormus electric bills. They were all ready for it now (well... WFFT hangs head) and it has to happen sometime.
The station arguably most in the "public interest" goes first. So much for that argument. INC might as well, they've had voiceovers for every single day, and somebody's gotta get paid.

Don't think that I have seen this website shown here. Has good info for the people in the fringe reception areas.

Steve

http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report1/Ft_Wayne_IN.pdf

Per this report......."But Rockefeller managed to ease some of these concerns by allowing broadcast stations to make the switch from analog to digital signals sooner than the June deadline if they choose and by permitting public safety agencies to take over vacant spectrum that has been promised to them as soon as it becomes available."

New FCC filings indicate that some analog stations still plan to cease broadcasting as of 2/17/09, regardless of what Congress decides this week. WTVF-5, Nashville (CBS) plans to end their analog transmission and switch their DTV from ch. 56 to ch. 5.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101291297&formid=910&fac_num=36504

Also, WFWA-39, Fort Wayne, IN (PBS) plans to cease analog broadcasts as of 2/17/09. One reason listed is due to additional costs associated with operating the analog transmitter....."SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT IN 2005 OF FEBRUARY 17, 2009 AS THE DEADLINE FOR ALL TELEVISION STATIONS TO TERMINATE ANALOG BROADCAST SERVICE, THE STATION HAS PLANNED AND BUDGETED TO TRANSITION AS OF FEBRUARY 17, 2009. CONTINUED ANALOG OPERATION BEYOND THE EXISTING DTV TRANSITION DEADLINE PLACES THE STATION IN FINANCIAL HARDSHIP, INCLUDING UNBUDGETED COSTS FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE ANALOG FACILITY AND ELECTRICAL POWER CONSUMPTION."
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101291377&formid=910&fac_num=22108

IMO, we're likely to read more comments like this one from WFWA in the coming days.

Steve

Found this from another post, interesting to see what the other stations here in Fort wayne are planning on doing? From a bussiness stanpoint this would make alot of sense.

Also the delay won't make any sense if the government don't have a plan because the same people who have been putting this off will do the same in July.

diehard

After some looking I found a couple of interesting things.

WNIT (34-1,2 PBS) out of South Bend has turned off their Analog signal since last year. They had transmitter failure so they just shut it down.

WSJV (28-1 FOX) out of South Bend filed the same report as 39 did in Fort Wayne. This is more fascinating if you compare WFFT who hasn't embraced the DTV conversion, but FOX's affiliate's station in South Bend has made the choice to convert.

diehard

WSJV (28-1 FOX) out of South Bend filed the same report as 39 did in Fort Wayne. This is more fascinating if you compare WFFT who hasn't embraced the DTV conversion, but it's sister station in South Bend has made the choice to convert.

diehard

???

WSJV is owned by Quincy Newspapers, WFFT is owned by Nexstar.

- Trip

???

WSJV is owned by Quincy Newspapers, WFFT is owned by Nexstar.

- Trip

But they are both FOX affiliates.

This is exactly why, WFFT has a crappy company owning them which is too cheap to increase their power to a decent level so even neighbors living 2 miles can get there station whereas WSJV has a good company owning them that allows people 50 miles away get their strong signal.

My point was that WFFT isn't doing anything, yet their FOX sister station is and has done alot to further their adventure into the digital market.

diehard

But they are both FOX affiliates.

This is exactly why, WFFT has a crappy company owning them which is too cheap to increase their power to a decent level so even neighbors living 2 miles can get there station whereas WSJV has a good company owning them that allows people 50 miles away get their strong signal.

My point was that WFFT isn't doing anything, yet their FOX sister station is and has done alot to further their adventure into the digital market.

diehard

I agree with your point 100% but generally in the industry when one speaks of "sisters" they're referring to stations with the same parent/owning company. (Get it? :D) That's what threw me.

- Trip

But they are both FOX affiliates.

This is exactly why, WFFT has a crappy company owning them which is too cheap to increase their power to a decent level so even neighbors living 2 miles can get there station whereas WSJV has a good company owning them that allows people 50 miles away get their strong signal.

My point was that WFFT isn't doing anything, yet their FOX sister station is and has done alot to further their adventure into the digital market.

diehard

Granted the owners of WFFT delayed spending the $ for DTV as long as possible, however I know for a fact that Nexstar popped a big pile of green to update 55 to 1 million watts of DTV power. I have been in the new addition to the building and stood next to the brand new high power DTV transmitter. It is currently operating wasting electricity=$ into a dummy load.

WFFT is waiting for a tower crew to arrive and install the new feed line and hang the new antenna. Nexstar may be guilty of being slow and even cheap, but the bottom line is but they are doing what is needed and building the maximum facility allowed. They got caught by tower crew delays likely caused by the bone headed decision to schedule major changes to transmission towers all across the country during the winter season.

When you slander some one you should know what you are talking about, instead of spouting off. Unless it is an O & O, Network affiliation has nothing what so ever to do with how the owners operate broadcast stations.

BTW I live more than 2 miles from WFFT and get a perfect signal at my house.

Lots of things about the DTV transition are messy and confusing on both sides of the situation. I have been in the TV broadcast world for better than 25 years so I have a pretty good idea what I'm talking about.

MK

When you slander some one you should know what you are talking about, instead of spouting off. Unless it is an O & O, Network affiliation has nothing what so ever to do with how the owners operate broadcast stations.

MK

slander

–noun
1. defamation; calumny: rumors full of slander.
2. a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report: a slander against his good name.


Slander is a big word coming from a one post wonder. If you are going to use these harsh words I would highly recommend you take some time before you post to read the earlier posts and then you would have a more than a dozen people to accuse of slander that has complained about the very poor management and direction that WFFT has done in the past.

If the direction of managment has improved to supply the public with higher power signals then that is great and this conversation is mute, but I still find that the South Bend and Fort Wayne markets is more advanced than what WFFT has put forth. And with the proposed delay I'm sure WFFT will take full advantage.

It's great to have people like ENGjas and jckrac that are in this thread and respond to our concerns, unlike WFFT that has totally ignored our e-mails and requests for any kind of status. My kodoos to ENGjas and jckrac, thanks for all your help.

diehard

pbsmatt-How is it 55 is the only Fort Wayne station that got "caught by tower crew delays likely caused by the bone headed decision to schedule major changes to transmission towers all across the country during the winter season."?
Becuase they were the only cheap asses in Fort Wayne to wait until they did to try and schedule the tower crew-no slander, just fact.
Obama needs a better press secretary, you should apply.

RE: pbsmatt's comment

It appears Nexstar just discovered AVS Forum... Welcome, I guess when your stock is worth seventy-five cents a share it's time to start working on that Public Relations effort, huh

Where have you been while we've been talking and asking questions about you for years?

House defeats bill to delay digital TV transition

WASHINGTON - Bucking the Obama administration, House Republicans on Wednesday defeated a bill to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving the current Feb. 17 deadline intact for now.

The 258-168 vote failed to clear the two-thirds threshold needed for passage. It's a victory for the GOP members, who warn that postponing the transition would confuse consumers.

The rest of the article:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TEC_DIGITAL_TV_TRANSITION?SITE=IADES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

diehard

I should have listened to the little voice in my head that told me to “Just let it go, never post in public forums when you are mad”, but I did it anyways. Since I have planted my foot in mouth and invited great walls of flame rolling my way I might as well get it all out.


I do not work for or have any connection to Nexstar or WFFT. I have worked in Fort Wayne Television for better than 25 years. I have been reading this board for quite a few years and have participated in the past under another user name when I worked for WKJG/WISE. I took a new user name so as not to be associated with them. I currently work for WFWA.

So I'm not really a one post wonder as someone said. That type of statement and treatment is the prime reason that I rarely offer anything on forums.


”The little voice said just let it be”, but I'm tired of reading the pure speculation, half truths and just plain wrong statements I see in this and other forums. Some people here are genuinely helpful in many ways, other just whine and bitch or belittle others without any clue as to what might be happening behind the scenes or why.

I have had the pleasure of working with ENGjas and jckrac as well as many other talented dedicated engineers, operators newspeople, photogs, etc at the Fort Wayne stations. It's great that they participate and offer up inside glimpses of what goes on under the tower. Just remember we/they do the best we can under the framework set by management.

TV is vastly different from when I started way back when. Broadcasting was a noble profession and business. Serving the public need was priority one, making a profit was second. In the current world of private equity ownership and funding things are very different. They expect a certain % of return and it is provided one way or another, every penny is accounted for and every piece of gear or person has an ROI statement attached to it. Broadcasting to them is simply a way to make money!

Some pure broadcast groups still exist. Of course they want to make a profit (they always did) but it is not the only reason they are broadcasters. And other groups are some combination of the two.


Now then on to Nexstar; No denying they are dragging this out and if the government pushes back the transition date they will be very happy indeed. If the date does not change they will pay the price for being slow to move. I have it on good authority that the tower crew was originally scheduled for late fall/early winter and the arrival date has been postponed three times so far due to delays on other broadcasters projects. Someone asked why no other Fort Wayne station got caught by this I would have to say that the others perhaps were a little more forward thinking and maybe better able to shoulder the financial burden of the DTV conversion. I really don’t know why Nexstar waited so long, do you?

As for WFFT flying under the information radar; did it ever occur to anybody that perhaps the suits at corporate HQ don't want information exchange in these types of forums or anywhere else it seems? I think they have done themselves and all the viewers a great disservice by not being upfront and forthcoming with information as to what they are doing at WFFT. A little information can go a long way. Without solid information all the rumors half truths and speculations go wild.

The puny little WFFT DTV signal meets the letter of the law for an FCC approved STA license that supposedly covers the city of Fort Wayne. With not much more money or effort they could have provided something far better but for some reason they chose not to. I don't know why do you?

I am NOTdefending Nexstar or WFFT it is simply that the “FOX” bashing was the straw that broke my silence. For better or worse I have added my thoughts and some facts as I know them.




So there you have it. I’m not trolling, baiting or looking for a flame war. I don’t even own a flame suit. If you must; flame away. Or better yet maybe we can have a nice civil discussion about things DTV related. I am not an expert on everything DTV related but I am quite knowledgeable on that subject and anything related to TV operations and engineering. I think under my previous user name I said a few years ago that this whole world of DTV broadcasting and reception equipment is new to everybody and maybe we can all learn something as we go along.

Unless it is for something constructive I’m going back into lurk mode. Rant OFF
Statements made here are strictly my own are not related to WFWA in any way.

Regards to all

Matt Kyle
Formerly of WPTA a long time ago
Formerly of WKJG/WISE for a long time
And currently
Engineering Manager
WFWA-TV/DT

”The little voice said just let it be”, but I'm tired of reading the pure speculation, half truths and just plain wrong statements I see in this and other forums. Some people here are genuinely helpful in many ways, other just whine and bitch or belittle others without any clue as to what might be happening behind the scenes or why.

...

As for WFFT flying under the information radar; did it ever occur to anybody that perhaps the suits at corporate HQ don't want information exchange in these types of forums or anywhere else it seems? I think they have done themselves and all the viewers a great disservice by not being upfront and forthcoming with information as to what they are doing at WFFT. A little information can go a long way. Without solid information all the rumors half truths and speculations go wild.


I boils down to this. A company cannot expect to have a good public image in today's market by hiding behind a shroud of secrecy. How hard would it have been for the manager of WFFT to tell one of his engineers to spend 5 min a day to read this forum and defend/explain what they are doing? Like you said, that would go a long ways.

As for their conversion "plans", this date has been known for a very long time. It will be interesting to see if people outside of a 2mile radius will receive WFFT on 2/18.

Matt - Sorry you had to bear the brunt of WFFT/Nexstar's chosen business practices. Now that you've explained your affiliation, it's clear you didn't deserve the blowback.

I offer my apologies to you and the other members of the broadcast/engineering community for the harsh treatment. It's always been pretty clear who 'the good guys' are around here, as is our appreciation for their efforts.

That said, other than 'professional courtesy' (and perhaps then need to mooch parts once in awhile) the I can't imagine why anyone would put themselves in a postion to defend the actions of WFFT/Nexstar. If rumor, half-truths and speculation prevail they have nobody but themselves to accept responsibility. It's clear whether by calculated corporate decree or simple tone-deafness that they care little about the market they serve except perhaps to extract revenue.

Being an 'old school' type myself, I share your disappointment in the state the industry finds itself in, but in Nexstar's case it's self-inflicted and doesn't deserve our sympathies or defense.

Don't stay in lurk mode too long... light from any source should be welcome!

A company cannot expect to have a good public image in today's market by hiding behind a shroud of secrecy. How hard would it have been for the manager of WFFT to tell one of his engineers to spend 5 min a day to read this forum and defend/explain what they are doing?Are you serious?

Defending station actions in public on an open internet forum is not a good idea - especially if your answers will not satisfy those individuals. Answering the phone or via postal or email would be a better way to respond. No station is under ANY obligation to answer to you on this forum or any other. The only requirement is that if you do send them a letter or comment directly they need to put it in their public file. They can send you a "thank you for your comments" email or postcard with no real answer if they like. The station doesn't answer to you!

It isn't a shroud of secrecy ... it is just a privately operating business doing business on it's own terms.

Are you serious?

Defending station actions in public on an open internet forum is not a good idea - especially if your answers will not satisfy those individuals. Answering the phone or via postal or email would be a better way to respond. No station is under ANY obligation to answer to you on this forum or any other. The only requirement is that if you do send them a letter or comment directly they need to put it in their public file. They can send you a "thank you for your comments" email or postcard with no real answer if they like. The station doesn't answer to you!

It isn't a shroud of secrecy ... it is just a privately operating business doing business on it's own terms.

Yes

Are you serious?

Defending station actions in public on an open internet forum is not a good idea - especially if your answers will not satisfy those individuals. Answering the phone or via postal or email would be a better way to respond. No station is under ANY obligation to answer to you on this forum or any other. The only requirement is that if you do send them a letter or comment directly they need to put it in their public file. They can send you a "thank you for your comments" email or postcard with no real answer if they like. The station doesn't answer to you!

It isn't a shroud of secrecy ... it is just a privately operating business doing business on it's own terms.

I thought I'd chime in my own personal opinions here (my opinions, not of my employer!)

I've had the chance to work along side Matt a couple times recently and he is a class act through and through. Trust me when I say he has the best interests of his viewers.

I think justalurker hits a good point. No matter what stations do, we will do something that isn't liked. If someone is upset with something that is being done, coming on a forum to defend it is often a fruitless exercise. I've always made it a point to not to try and defend anything we do, but rather give you insight on how the process works.

Keep in mind we as engineers are constantly getting flamed over the phone. Half of my day (and that isn't an inflated number) is spent on the phone with people that can't tune my station in on digital. And as I try to explain or talk them through, it turns into them flaming me, even though the 20 year old rabbit ears they use to pull in my analog from 50 miles out snowy is a major part of the blame.

I personally come on here because I want to get an informed opinion from a group of people that care about the signal. When we have staff meetings, I often refer to this place as another line of defense. When I go home after being at the station all day, the last thing I want to do is turn on the TV usually.

I can't speak for the engineers at 55 or any other station, but I can speak of my first hand dealings with him. He has helped WANE out a couple of seperate times and I would do the same for him if asked. This is pure speculation, but the engineer is an engineer at heart: I'd be willing to bet he'd love to be blasting out at full power right now.

In closing, there are several companies in the world that outright ban the engineers or any other station personnel from posting on public forums. I can't say that Nexstar has this policy, but even if they didn't, what could they say at this point?

The point I'm trying to make is this: the engineers I've met at all the locals here in FW really bust it hard and do a lot behind the scenes to keep these rigs running. (We've flopped recievers from Indy 7 times the last couple of days, anybody notice?) I think its safe to say that if we had our way, we'd all be blasting out a million watts digital with our analog slowly rusting away.

Thank you for allowing me time to speak a bit.

Jeff Kracium
WANE Engineering Supervisor

Are you serious?

In all seriousness, I do appreciate the time the Jeff and engjas (and now hopefully pbsmatt) spend keeping us informed. My goal is as Jeff states, to help them have the best operation possible. While I don't agree with some of the practices of what the stations do in regards to screen clutter, I do appreciate having someone from the station to talk here on the matter.

As far as WFFT goes, I have had email correspondence with the CEO of Nexstar going back to Jan of 2005. I've also had the station manager personally call me because of a hand written letter to Nexstar. And just recently, I've had email correspondence with an engineer from WFFT. I don't post my emails because I deem them to have been a private conversation. But there are many others who read the forum that may not go to the lengths I have to understand their position. Even though I understand their position, that doesn't mean that they will stop being the target of a joke here on the board. I know that a company is under no obligation to come here to talk, but that certainly would help public image. Their responses may not be satisfying to everyone, but at least they would let the public know what is going on. In the absence of an engineer here, it is nice that they have a letter posted on their website explaining what they are currently doing. With any hope, they will be up with full power by the 18th.

http://fortwaynehomepage.net/content/dtvletter

I know it problem usually doesn't affect those on this board, but a heads up: we took our HD down for a bit this morning trying to corner a problem with our PSIP generator.

Had a few phone calls about loosing us, so if you have, you should rescan.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but in case someone just happens upon this place, I'll know my bases are covered!

I thought I'd chime in my own personal opinions here (my opinions, not of my employer!)

I've had the chance to work along side Matt a couple times recently and he is a class act through and through. Trust me when I say he has the best interests of his viewers.

I think justalurker hits a good point. No matter what stations do, we will do something that isn't liked. If someone is upset with something that is being done, coming on a forum to defend it is often a fruitless exercise. I've always made it a point to not to try and defend anything we do, but rather give you insight on how the process works.

Keep in mind we as engineers are constantly getting flamed over the phone. Half of my day (and that isn't an inflated number) is spent on the phone with people that can't tune my station in on digital. And as I try to explain or talk them through, it turns into them flaming me, even though the 20 year old rabbit ears they use to pull in my analog from 50 miles out snowy is a major part of the blame.

I personally come on here because I want to get an informed opinion from a group of people that care about the signal. When we have staff meetings, I often refer to this place as another line of defense. When I go home after being at the station all day, the last thing I want to do is turn on the TV usually.

I can't speak for the engineers at 55 or any other station, but I can speak of my first hand dealings with him. He has helped WANE out a couple of seperate times and I would do the same for him if asked. This is pure speculation, but the engineer is an engineer at heart: I'd be willing to bet he'd love to be blasting out at full power right now.

In closing, there are several companies in the world that outright ban the engineers or any other station personnel from posting on public forums. I can't say that Nexstar has this policy, but even if they didn't, what could they say at this point?

The point I'm trying to make is this: the engineers I've met at all the locals here in FW really bust it hard and do a lot behind the scenes to keep these rigs running. (We've flopped recievers from Indy 7 times the last couple of days, anybody notice?) I think its safe to say that if we had our way, we'd all be blasting out a million watts digital with our analog slowly rusting away.

Thank you for allowing me time to speak a bit.

Jeff Kracium
WANE Engineering Supervisor
Jeff and Matt, you are exactly right. I too use this forum to see if there are any problems and try advise if there are any know issues that I may not be seeing.

Thanks again to both of you for your inputs!

The station doesn't answer to you!



I would debate that as our government licenses them on our behalf. But, more importantly, Nexstar is answering to me in that I put up a tower and get any FOX programming I want out of South Bend and will never, ever see another commercial-or anything else for that matter- broadcast by channel 55.
Not a good business practice to disdain the customer by saying you don't answer to them.

I would debate that as our government licenses them on our behalf. But, more importantly, Nexstar is answering to me in that I put up a tower and get any FOX programming I want out of South Bend and will never, ever see another commercial-or anything else for that matter- broadcast by channel 55.
Not a good business practice to disdain the customer by saying you don't answer to them.It is an honest statement. BTW: I don't work for Nexstar so don't foolishly attribute what I say to them (or anyone else).

The government license makes no reference to requiring participating in internet forums. There are many requirements of broadcasters, participation here is not one of them.

More info -
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html

I don't work for Nexstar so don't foolishly attribute what I say to them (or anyone else).

I was just indicating that if they have the same piss-poor attitude you do, they will reap what they sew. As will you.

Thanks for a prime example of why NOT to post here as a station.
Kooks on the internet like to threaten people. It is best not to provoke kooks.

Catch a better attitude and you'll have better results. :D

I think we could use some cold ones around here. Especially the engineers.

What'll it be?

I was just indicating that if they have the same piss-poor attitude you do, they will reap what they sew. As will you.

PBSMatt,
glad to have your input, and in the future we look forward to any helpful information you can provide.

Some of the anger is because of a very long-standing battle on this thread between WFFT/Nexstar (with their repeated excuses) and those of us who think that a TV station should have some pride in it's art form and provide the best experience to the customer as possible.
I'm sure the current engineering staff at WFFT would like to have a respectable broadcast like everyone else in town... but you have to remember how much doo-doo they have spewed out over the last 5 years.
For a little taste of it check out this post a long while back.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4832219#post4832219

So please don't take it personal if we flip out a little bit when someone suddenly appears and begins vehemently taking up for WFFT when as far as we know (from multiple years of conversations with them) their company seems pretty pathetic. I'm sure we will be just as happy as they are when they get their antenna up and running, but we can't just forget years worth of irritation just because they are delayed by weather right now.

PBSMatt,

Lately, I cannot seem to get any guide data for PBS. I've have done a rescan, but that didn't bring in the guide data. Has anything changed lately there?

I would debate that as our government licenses them on our behalf. But, more importantly, Nexstar is answering to me in that I put up a tower and get any FOX programming I want out of South Bend and will never, ever see another commercial-or anything else for that matter- broadcast by channel 55.
Not a good business practice to disdain the customer by saying you don't answer to them.

Count me in on getting the FOX station 28 from South Bend. Even if WFFT gets up and running I still won't have them on my channel list, to be deleted forever.

One thing that comes to mind is that I first got my HDTV in 2001 and was getting some stations out of South Bend before any stations broadcast from Fort Wayne. It was 2003 that WFWA PBS was the first in Fort Wayne to broadcast in HDTV. I was impressed that WFWA PBS was so far ahead of the Fort Wayne market even tho they kept repeating the same HD content at that time. Here it is 5 years latter and WFFT is still not up to speed and within less that 20 days to the actual shutoff (which will probably be delayed anyways). I'm glad they finally are getting up to speed, but they sure lost alot of viewers in the mean time. Does WFFT answer to me?, no, but their market share does. I'm glad that you get WFFT PBSMatt, but not everyone is as lucky as you to live so close to the tower.

Also about WFWA, do I agree with them switching from a full HDTV signal down to 4 seperate non HDTV signals?, no, but that was their call and anyways, I get WNIT full HDTV signal from South Bend and never watch WFWA.

Am I angry with WFFT? no. I just tune into South Bend channel 28 anytime I want to watch FOX with full HDTV and 5.1 surround. Like you PBSMatt, not everyone is as lucky as me to be between both South Bend and Fort Wayne markets.

The way the Fort Wayne stations embraced the conversion at first stumps me. Here I am 28 miles from Fort Wayne and 45 miles from South Bend, but I get the South Bend stations in stronger and before Fort Wayne. To me it seams like the South Bend stations are more in tune with their market than the Fort Wayne stations are.

diehard

PBSMatt, because local WHMB-40 signed off Jan. 16 and due to a little tropospheric enhancement toward Fort Wayne this afternoon, I've been watching WFWA-DT off and on for almost the past 2 hours. It's been quite strong at times. I'm located 94 miles SSW of the Fort Wayne towers.

Also, just over an hour ago, WISE-DT got strong enough to blast through one of my local analog LPs that recently moved from ch. 65 to ch. 19. With a horizontally stacked UHF array @ 40 ft. I was able to null WDNI-19's 150 kW signal from 10 miles south of my location enough to completely decode WISE-DT.

It appears that WANE-DT will be able to crank up to 1000 kW effective Feb. 18, regardles of what Congress and the President do this week regarding the DTV delay. WPXD-31, Ann Arbor, MI has filed to sign off on Feb. 17. jckrac, isn't this correct?
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=724103

Also, regarding the comments about watching WSJV-DT due to WFFT-DT's weak signal, I see that WSJV-28 has filed to sign off Feb. 17 and to switch WSJV-DT 58 to channel 28. This should provide even more signal toward Fort Wayne.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101290398&formid=910&fac_num=74007
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=74007

Steve

Here I am 28 miles from Fort Wayne and 45 miles from South Bend, but I get the South Bend stations in stronger and before Fort Wayne. To me it seams like the South Bend stations are more in tune with their market than the Fort Wayne stations are.The success of South Bend should not be seen as a failure of Fort Wayne. The stations in South Bend did very well at getting decent signals approved by the FCC and getting those signals built. There are still more South Bend improvements to come:
WSJV has a decent 250kW @ 335m waiting for construction after the analog is shut down. (They will run 48kW @ 335m for a month while the 28 transmitter is modified. They currently run 42m @ 315m out of band.)
WNIT wants 85kW instead of 50kW, expanding to the maximum power that can be fed into their existing antenna without interfering with other stations treating their existing "omnidirectional" antenna as a directional array.
WHME wants to move to channel 46 where more interference free power will be available. They have also requested moving from 300kW to 640kW.
WNDU wants to increase antenna height AND power level (560 kW @ 282m to
800 kW @ 309.7m).
WSBT will be replicating coverage when they move to channel 22 (280 kW @ 239m to 266 kW @ 332.6m).
South Bend LP stations are also all digital. The only exception being TBN 18 out of Elkhart.

It would be hard to find a market that is doing as well as South Bend.

Fort Wayne will have two 1 million watt stations as soon as the owners can get them built. I can get WPTA NW of Goshen and look forward to getting the other stations online (and interfering analog stations off line) so I'll have the choice of watching all the Fort Wayne stations. The future is shaping up pretty good.

It appears that WANE-DT will be able to crank up to 1000 kW effective Feb. 18, regardles of what Congress and the President do this week regarding the DTV delay. WPXD-31, Ann Arbor, MI has filed to sign off on Feb. 17. jckrac, isn't this correct?
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=724103That is excellent news. I agree with your reading of this situation.
Also, regarding the comments about watching WSJV-DT due to WFFT-DT's weak signal, I see that WSJV-28 has filed to sign off Feb. 17 and to switch WSJV-DT 58 to channel 28. This should provide even more signal toward Fort Wayne.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101290398&formid=910&fac_num=74007
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=74007Initially the power will be about the same on 28 as they have on 58 (48kW instead of 42kW) but they have a CP for 250kW that will be built by March. (They are upgrading their analog transmitter for the final digital transmitter.)

It appears that WANE-DT will be able to crank up to 1000 kW effective Feb. 18, regardles of what Congress and the President do this week regarding the DTV delay. WPXD-31, Ann Arbor, MI has filed to sign off on Feb. 17. jckrac, isn't this correct?
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=724103

Steve

Steve:

I can't represent what we will do as corporate is still sorting everything out. Once I get a plan of action I'd be happy to share it with you guys. As I've said a few times, we are ready to go whenever this all does get sorted out.

I was watching 21 last night and saw an infomercial that said they intended to shut off analog on 2/18. So by my count, at this point, only 15 and 55 will still be on with analog on 2/18.

The success of South Bend should not be seen as a failure of Fort Wayne. The stations in South Bend did very well at getting decent signals approved by the FCC and getting those signals built. There are still more South Bend improvements to come:
WSJV has a decent 250kW @ 335m waiting for construction after the analog is shut down. (They will run 48kW @ 335m for a month while the 28 transmitter is modified. They currently run 42m @ 315m out of band.)
WNIT wants 85kW instead of 50kW, expanding to the maximum power that can be fed into their existing antenna without interfering with other stations treating their existing "omnidirectional" antenna as a directional array.
WHME wants to move to channel 46 where more interference free power will be available. They have also requested moving from 300kW to 640kW.
WNDU wants to increase antenna height AND power level (560 kW @ 282m to
800 kW @ 309.7m).
WSBT will be replicating coverage when they move to channel 22 (280 kW @ 239m to 266 kW @ 332.6m).
South Bend LP stations are also all digital. The only exception being TBN 18 out of Elkhart.

It would be hard to find a market that is doing as well as South Bend.

Fort Wayne will have two 1 million watt stations as soon as the owners can get them built. I can get WPTA NW of Goshen and look forward to getting the other stations online (and interfering analog stations off line) so I'll have the choice of watching all the Fort Wayne stations. The future is shaping up pretty good.

Lurker,

One thing I think you overlooked is that even though SB as a city is smaller than FW from the TV market perspective they are much larger. The Chicagoland population and advertiser base plays a very big role in why the SB stations were built out the way they are. This includes the analog past and the current digital situation. Heck SB is now almost a suburb of Chicago.

Fort Wayne is a large population base centered in Allen County and then a whole lot of much smaller towns all around it that contribute very little to the total numbers of households and advertisers.

Now I'm not saying these small towns and rural viewers are not important or should be ignored; but the reality is they are just along for the ride.

If you plopped the SB market into the same type of population geography as FW I suspect that things would have developed in a different way.

As always these are just my opinions and not those of my employer.

Matt

PBSMatt,

Lately, I cannot seem to get any guide data for PBS. I've have done a rescan, but that didn't bring in the guide data. Has anything changed lately there?

Seems our PSIP computer stopped talking to the digital multiplexer. :mad:
Guide data was present but the IP connection had stopped. We currently don't have a full time way to monitor the data, and we don't have any alarm capability to notify the operator. So, until we can update our test and monitoring equipment guide confirmation requires a manual check by a human.

Thanks for the heads up!

Matt

Count me in on getting the FOX station 28 from South Bend. Even if WFFT gets up and running I still won't have them on my channel list, to be deleted forever.

One thing that comes to mind is that I first got my HDTV in 2001 and was getting some stations out of South Bend before any stations broadcast from Fort Wayne. It was 2003 that WFWA PBS was the first in Fort Wayne to broadcast in HDTV. I was impressed that WFWA PBS was so far ahead of the Fort Wayne market even tho they kept repeating the same HD content at that time. (snip)

Also about WFWA, do I agree with them switching from a full HDTV signal down to 4 seperate non HDTV signals?, no, but that was their call and anyways, I get WNIT full HDTV signal from South Bend and never watch WFWA.
diehard

The decision to multicast goes back quite a ways and could make for a long post. It was something that was actually built into the new digital facility from the start. The equipment was not utilized to its full extent until later. That was one of the first things that I implemented when I came over here. (but don't shoot the messenger)

As you said the HD content was very repetitive. It was once a free addition to the PBS license fees that WFWA paid. Then PBS national decided to charge a fair sum of money for it and would not guarantee that the content would be fresh and more importantly include such popular PBS fair as the Antiques Roadshow etc. So WFWA dropped the service and implemented the multicast.

The PBS national distribution center had a small island of HD equipment that provided that early HD service. They did not have the infrastructure to implement full blown HD distribution. Currently PBS national is preparing to roll out an all HD program service starting very shortly, this month in fact.

PBS is not at all like the other networks that provide ONE program feed. (except for time zone shifts) PBS feeds far more content daily than we can broadcast even with four digital subs. They do have a complete 24 hour program stream that stations can air live if they choose. But that is even different than the other networks who provide limited daytime and early evening shows.

For PBS stations who want to schedule programs & broadcast times that they feel fit the needs of the viewer requires them to record a much larger quantity of feeds than our friends at other network stations. This in turn requires a large amount of video tape or a large volume of disc storage space on a video server. Now multiply those storage needs by a factor of 10 or so for HD content and it requires a large $ outlay to update a facility to provide HD service. That said we are in the process of raising the money to add local HD record and playback capability to our facility here. Exactly when that will happen is not yet clear, and with the economic conditions being what they are grant money will be harder to come by.



The way the Fort Wayne stations embraced the conversion at first stumps me. Here I am 28 miles from Fort Wayne and 45 miles from South Bend, but I get the South Bend stations in stronger and before Fort Wayne. To me it seams like the South Bend stations are more in tune with their market than the Fort Wayne stations are.

diehard

Diehard see my response to justalurker concerning my thoughts on SB.
Response (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15716685#post15716685)

What's the deal with WISE "fuzzy for 10 seconds after returning to live action" thing? And can we maybe get the volume level of local commercials dialed down a bit? Both are very annoying and have been happening for quite some time.

edit:

This isn't OTA, comcast HD feed ....

The decision to multicast goes back quite a ways and could make for a long post. It was something that was actually built into the new digital facility from the start. The equipment was not utilized to its full extent until later. That was one of the first things that I implemented when I came over here. (but don't shoot the messenger)

As you said the HD content was very repetitive. It was once a free addition to the PBS license fees that WFWA paid. Then PBS national decided to charge a fair sum of money for it and would not guarantee that the content would be fresh and more importantly include such popular PBS fair as the Antiques Roadshow etc. So WFWA dropped the service and implemented the multicast.

The PBS national distribution center had a small island of HD equipment that provided that early HD service. They did not have the infrastructure to implement full blown HD distribution. Currently PBS national is preparing to roll out an all HD program service starting very shortly, this month in fact.

PBS is not at all like the other networks that provide ONE program feed. (except for time zone shifts) PBS feeds far more content daily than we can broadcast even with four digital subs. They do have a complete 24 hour program stream that stations can air live if they choose. But that is even different than the other networks who provide limited daytime and early evening shows.

For PBS stations who want to schedule programs & broadcast times that they feel fit the needs of the viewer requires them to record a much larger quantity of feeds than our friends at other network stations. This in turn requires a large amount of video tape or a large volume of disc storage space on a video server. Now multiply those storage needs by a factor of 10 or so for HD content and it requires a large $ outlay to update a facility to provide HD service. That said we are in the process of raising the money to add local HD record and playback capability to our facility here. Exactly when that will happen is not yet clear, and with the economic conditions being what they are grant money will be harder to come by.




Diehard see my response to justalurker concerning my thoughts on SB.
Response (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15716685#post15716685)

Thats sounds promising. How would you guys work out having an HD channel with the subchannels? Would you have an HD main, and two subs?

Also, I really only ever watch 39.1 or 39.4. It seems like there are a fair number of digital artifacts on the .4 that I don't see on the .1 channel. Do all 4 channels have the same allocated bandwidth?

jckrac,
I noticed that Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are now in HD here locally. What did you need to do to enable these in HD? They had been advertised for some time that they were HD, but were not here locally.

Seems our PSIP computer stopped talking to the digital multiplexer. :mad:
Guide data was present but the IP connection had stopped. We currently don't have a full time way to monitor the data, and we don't have any alarm capability to notify the operator. So, until we can update our test and monitoring equipment guide confirmation requires a manual check by a human.

Thanks for the heads up!

Matt

Can anyone tell me which station in Ft. Wayne transmits the TV Guide On Screen data? I am no longer able to see the Ft. Wayne data on my TV Guide. I did not change my system settings and am using 45822 as my zip code.
If anyone can help please send me a PM. Thanks!

One thing I think you overlooked is that even though SB as a city is smaller than FW from the TV market perspective they are much larger.I didn't say that SB wasn't a bigger market than FW ... only that they got their act together and are doing better than most markets (including some markets larger than SB, I might add).

The Chicagoland population and advertiser base plays a very big role in why the SB stations were built out the way they are. This includes the analog past and the current digital situation. Heck SB is now almost a suburb of Chicago.The only people HERE that consider it a "Chicago suburb" are the losers that wanted to be on Central time. The market line (between LaPorte and South Bend) is the time line and is a good division of markets. Fort Wayne is an "Indianapolis suburb" on the same level (although there seems to be more cross ownership in Fort Wayne/Indianapolis).

If you plopped the SB market into the same type of population geography as FW I suspect that things would have developed in a different way.Can I say "duh" without it being an insult? The point of my post was that FW isn't SB --- SB is a remarkable market that would be hard to match or beat. You seem to agree. Or am I "overlooking" something?

I didn't say that SB wasn't a bigger market than FW ... only that they got their act together and are doing better than most markets (including some markets larger than SB, I might add).

I can't agree or disagree since I have not been in or around other markets across the country. You seem to be gauging the "act together" based on a narrow gear head view; HD status and transmit power level.

For a long time when WNDU was owned by the university they were not really required to return a profit to the mother ship. So they plowed the profit back into the station. Sat trucks, helicopters, multiple live trucks, HD gear, etc. To be competitive the other stations had to try and keep up or die. Add in being in the shadow of a top 5 market and the locals really had to be at a level above what is typical.


The only people HERE that consider it a "Chicago suburb" are the losers that wanted to be on Central time. The market line (between LaPorte and South Bend) is the time line and is a good division of markets. Fort Wayne is an "Indianapolis suburb" on the same level (although there seems to be more cross ownership in Fort Wayne/Indianapolis).

In the sense I'm speaking of Fort Wayne has nothing to do with Indianapolis. We don't have any heavy population density anywhere near us.

SB is the 89th TV market with a city population of around 100,000 +
FW is the 107th TV market with a city population of 250,000 +

Our TV signals don't overlap at all. While SB does not really cover the city proper of Chicago they certainly cover a lot of the population in the Chicago area going NW around the lake. And that population is what gives them a TV market size above what they would have if you removed the Chicago influence.


Can I say "duh" without it being an insult? The point of my post was that FW isn't SB --- SB is a remarkable market that would be hard to match or beat. You seem to agree. Or am I "overlooking" something?

No Insult, we basically agree. I am just pointing out some of the other reasons why I think the SB market is very different than FW. And perhaps why they developed a larger market mentality and infrastructure in a smaller town.

Matt

Can anyone tell me which station in Ft. Wayne transmits the TV Guide On Screen data? I am no longer able to see the Ft. Wayne data on my TV Guide. I did not change my system settings and am using 45822 as my zip code.
If anyone can help please send me a PM. Thanks!

That question has two possible answers. Are you asking for Analog or Digital?

WFWA broadcasts the Analog Gemstar/TV Guide data. To the best of my knowledge the Digital version of the guide is not currently being broadcast in Ft. Wayne. PBS had the Analog contract with TVG and from what I know CBS stations have the rights to broadcast the Digital version. Maybe jckrac can chime in on whether of not WANE/LIN will have the TV Guide service on digital.

Are you an Antenna user or a Cable user?

Matt

That question has two possible answers. Are you asking for Analog or Digital?

WFWA broadcasts the Analog Gemstar/TV Guide data. To the best of my knowledge the Digital version of the guide is not currently being broadcast in Ft. Wayne. PBS had the Analog contract with TVG and from what I know CBS stations have the rights to broadcast the Digital version. Maybe jckrac can chime in on whether of not WANE/LIN will have the TV Guide service on digital.

Are you an Antenna user or a Cable user?

Matt

I've been told that LIN corporate policy is to not carry TVGOS, though I'm not certain on that. Macrovision has offered the digital TVGOS to alternate stations in such markets, including several PBS stations. I've confirmed WFYI-DT in Indianapolis has it.

- Trip

What's the deal with WISE "fuzzy for 10 seconds after returning to live action" thing? And can we maybe get the volume level of local commercials dialed down a bit? Both are very annoying and have been happening for quite some time.

edit:

This isn't OTA, comcast HD feed ....

Both happen on OTA as well. The going fuzzy has been around for quite some time (on the scale of years, but it didn't always used to be like that). The local commercial volume seems to have started when they upgraded to 5.1 sound. I agree, it is very annoying. Engjas, could you look into that?

Thats sounds promising. How would you guys work out having an HD channel with the subchannels? Would you have an HD main, and two subs?

Also, I really only ever watch 39.1 or 39.4. It seems like there are a fair number of digital artifacts on the .4 that I don't see on the .1 channel. Do all 4 channels have the same allocated bandwidth?

jckrac,
I noticed that Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are now in HD here locally. What did you need to do to enable these in HD? They had been advertised for some time that they were HD, but were not here locally.

Oryan:

Remember, our master control is out of Indy. They are in the process of converting all the "spokes" in the hub to full time HD. Once we were upgraded in November to full time HD , we had to work out some close caption issues. Got the kinks out and have been running them since January.

I can't agree or disagree since I have not been in or around other markets across the country. You seem to be gauging the "act together" based on a narrow gear head view; HD status and transmit power level.You're misunderstanding the posts and completely missed the point.

To be competitive the other stations had to try and keep up or die. Add in being in the shadow of a top 5 market and the locals really had to be at a level above what is typical.Incorrect.

In the sense I'm speaking of Fort Wayne has nothing to do with Indianapolis. We don't have any heavy population density anywhere near us.So you're counting on proximity? South Bend is 75 miles from Chicago so they MUST be tied together but Fort Wayne is 100 miles from Indianapolis so it cannot be tied to Indianapolis? If you live next to the zoo does that make you a monkey?

Look at the ties between the markets. How many full power stations in South Bend are operated out of Chicago? Three LPs are but those are being sold to a Mishawaka (South Bend) operation. Look at what in Fort Wayne is operated out of Indianapolis. Read back in this thread to see explainations where some guy in Indianapolis made a switching error that affected a Fort Wayne signal. (Or where a station is limited because of the Indianapolis connection.)

You state this big tie between Chicago and South Bend that doesn't exist and state no tie between Indy and Fort Wayne when they are obvious.

Our TV signals don't overlap at all. While SB does not really cover the city proper of Chicago they certainly cover a lot of the population in the Chicago area going NW around the lake. And that population is what gives them a TV market size above what they would have if you removed the Chicago influence.You need to spend some time with the coverage maps. Do you think anyone west of LaPorte/Michigan City cares about South Bend? The in-state ties to Indy are much stronger. You obviously don't see the coverage on the stations. South Bend stations are much more likely to send a live crew to Indy than into Chicago.

Where this began ... comparing South Bend to Fort Wayne ... the two markets have a lot of overlap area. People have a choice of looking NW/W or SE/E. Having a choice is good and Fort Wayne is a good choice. The market is just having some growing pains.

Lurker,

Let us just agree to disagree. You are talking apples and I'm talking oranges.

I've seen plenty of coverage maps and stand by my statements. I don't know what those people west of LaPorte/Michigan City care about TV wise, how can you?

I do know that if they have an appropriate antenna they could choose to watch
SB. Choice is good and some of us are fortunate to have more than one option.

My choice is to end this particular debate with you.

Matt

Thats sounds promising. How would you guys work out having an HD channel with the subchannels? Would you have an HD main, and two subs?

Also, I really only ever watch 39.1 or 39.4. It seems like there are a fair number of digital artifacts on the .4 that I don't see on the .1 channel. Do all 4 channels have the same allocated bandwidth?

39.1, 39,3 & 39.4 pretty much get the same bitrates, around 4.9Mbps.
39.2 gets a little less since the animation stuff compresses real nice.

Most shows on 39.4 are pre-recorded, some shows air live on 39.1 and then are played back from the locally recorded version on 39.4 You may be seeing some artifacts from the local MPEG 2 record process.

If the show airs form the local server on 39.1 it is the same as the 39.4 version since the playback channels have a common pool of storage. Some of the content that is exclusive to 39.4 is of suspect quality from the source. I have seen a few of the shows that are pretty marginal coming right off the satellite feed.

The picture quality of Create seems to be all over the map as well, but you have to temper that with the fact that some of the shows on create are rather dated and were analog in origin so the picture quality is may be lower.

As for our HD plans I'm not sure what the final lineup will be. It depends on how the new generation of encoders handles the content. Since PBS content is nothing like sports the HD encoder may not need as much bandwidth. Add in the animated stuff that can be squeezed pretty hard and we might be able to provide HD & 3 subs without a major quality loss.

If I tried that with my current Flexicoder it would all look like 4th generation VHS video recorded at 8 hour super extended play mode. Like desktop computers the processing power in MPEG encoders keeps getting better and better.

Matt

What's the deal with WISE "fuzzy for 10 seconds after returning to live action" thing? And can we maybe get the volume level of local commercials dialed down a bit? Both are very annoying and have been happening for quite some time.

edit:

This isn't OTA, comcast HD feed ....
This is caused by our "Flexicoder" encoder. Other NBC stations with the Flexicoder have the same issues... Some more or less. As far as the audio levels, we are having problems getting a good level from NBC when they are in 5.1 mode. I have moved it as high as I can. We are waiting on NBC to see what needs to be done.

What's the deal with WISE "fuzzy for 10 seconds after returning to live action" thing? And can we maybe get the volume level of local commercials dialed down a bit? Both are very annoying and have been happening for quite some time.

edit:

This isn't OTA, comcast HD feed ....

Pens,

Just an FYI. Unless WISE/WPTA has a special deal with Comcast, it is my understanding that all of the Local Broadcast DTV channels are picked up by Comcast OTA. The Analogs are carried as baseband video and audio on a direct fiber feed to the Taylor Street headend.

I don't know how much if any Comcast manipulates the bit rates from the locals. Now that I think of it I would like to know myself so I'll try and remember and ask the next time I talk with them.

Matt

What's the deal with WISE "fuzzy for 10 seconds after returning to live action" thing? And can we maybe get the volume level of local commercials dialed down a bit? Both are very annoying and have been happening for quite some time.

edit:

This isn't OTA, comcast HD feed ....

RE:Fuzzy

I thought there was a tech bulletin that went out some time ago about some odd little setting in the Harris equipment that would correct it.

There was a thread over on the programming side that went on for pages, folks were noticing it on football, in and out of replays and it turned out to be a local encoder settings problem.

I would have thought after the network recently went MPEG-4 it would be a non-issue, but who knows?

There is a message on another thread that says how to correct the problem:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10099186#post10099186

Let me be clear that I know NOTHING about broadcast equipment. I was just hoping to help find a solution as I see this problem all the time with football on 33-1 OTA and it would be nice to see it corrected.

Lurker,

My choice is to end this particular debate with you.

Matt

Please don't do that, this is what makes this a great country with these kinds of debates. How will we get better when we stop and don't challenge ourselves to make ourselves and others better.



No Insult, we basically agree. I am just pointing out some of the other reasons why I think the SB market is very different than FW. And perhaps why they developed a larger market mentality and infrastructure in a smaller town.

Matt

Interesting, tonight I heard WSBT newscaster make the comment that they and other stations have agreed in South Bend to make the transition either way what the government does (which I'm sure they will extend it). He made the comment that WNIT has been off the air since last summer and that didn't cause any freeking out (my comments) from the people. Will this make South Bend stand out more than Fort Wayne? We will wait and see.

So far WFWA is the only one in the Fort Wayne market that is taking this initiative. (good move on your companies part pbsmatt :)

I would think aging equipment and the cost associated with the delay would make a big cost to the local stations alot.

Do I have any more from the other stations here in Fort Wayne?

diehard

PS,

pbsmatt,

I'm glad your here and helping us with understanding what is going on with the local staitions. I know you could have said screw this and leave. Thanks again for all your feedback and comments. They are welcome and I look forward to them.

So far WFWA is the only one in the Fort Wayne market that is taking this initiative. (good move on your companies part pbsmatt :)

I think that WPTA and WISE also plan to stop analog on the 18th. I've seen a PSA on both stations with vertical scrolling text stating this. Also, this list here lists WFWA, WPTA, and WISE with notifications to the FCC of their plans to shutdown.

http://rabbitears.info/termlist.php

I think that WPTA and WISE also plan to stop analog on the 18th. I've seen a PSA on both stations with vertical scrolling text stating this. Also, this list here lists WFWA, WPTA, and WISE with notifications to the FCC of their plans to shutdown.

http://rabbitears.info/termlist.php

That sounds great but, So far the only one I see that has filed with FCC is WFWA unless I am looking in the wrong place:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15662318#post15662318

diehard

That sounds great but, So far the only one I see that has filed with FCC is WFWA unless I am looking in the wrong place:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15662318#post15662318

diehard

Maybe Engjas can chime in on this?

I don't know what those people west of LaPorte/Michigan City care about TV wise, how can you?Perhaps because I live a lot closer to them and occasionally drive through their towns?

It is amazing how it seems your lack of knowledge means no one else can have any. :rolleyes:

Anyways, back to TV.

That sounds great but, So far the only one I see that has filed with FCC is WFWA unless I am looking in the wrong place:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15662318#post15662318

diehard

WPTA:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1290974&Service=TV&Form_id=911&Facility_id=73905

WISE:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1290995&Service=TV&Form_id=911&Facility_id=13960

- Trip

I think that WPTA and WISE also plan to stop analog on the 18th.That sounds great but, So far the only one I see that has filed with FCC is WFWA unless I am looking in the wrong place:
WPTA BLSTA-20090123ATG (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1290974&Service=TV&Form_id=911&Facility_id=73905) Legal STA (Accepted 1/26/2009)
WISE BLSTA-20090121AJD (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1290995&Service=TV&Form_id=911&Facility_id=13960) Legal STA (Accepted 1/22/2009)

Both have also updated their DTV Transition Reports in the past two days.
(And it only took me two minutes longer than Trip to copy/paste from my notes.:))

(And it only took me two minutes longer than Trip to copy/paste from my notes.:))

:D

- Trip

39.1, 39,3 & 39.4 pretty much get the same bitrates, around 4.9Mbps.
39.2 gets a little less since the animation stuff compresses real nice
snip
As for our HD plans I'm not sure what the final lineup will be. It depends on how the new generation of encoders handles the content. Since PBS content is nothing like sports the HD encoder may not need as much bandwidth. Add in the animated stuff that can be squeezed pretty hard and we might be able to provide HD & 3 subs without a major quality loss.
snip
Matt

I've always wondered if it would be possible for PBS to stop broadcasting on 39.2 after 10 or 11PM (when little kids should be in bed anyway) and thereby allow a higher quality broadcast on 39.1 for grownup shows. Even if the best HQ HD programs were on late at night at least we might be able to record them and watch them later instead of wasting (my opinion) bandwidth on all-night cartoons.
I'm sure this is a lot more difficult than it sounds, but I'd bet there is some way to accomplish this and allow great shows like Nature, Soundstage, etc. to be broadcast in full HD glory and 5.1 sound at night.

I've always wondered if it would be possible for PBS to stop broadcasting on 39.2 after 10 or 11PM (when little kids should be in bed anyway) and thereby allow a higher quality broadcast on 39.1 for grownup shows. Even if the best HQ HD programs were on late at night at least we might be able to record them and watch them later instead of wasting (my opinion) bandwidth on all-night cartoons.
I'm sure this is a lot more difficult than it sounds, but I'd bet there is some way to accomplish this and allow great shows like Nature, Soundstage, etc. to be broadcast in full HD glory and 5.1 sound at night.

It is possible, and with the newer generation of encoding equipment something that is fairly easy to do. We had that same discussion here at the station a while back. I even experimented with it on our Flexicoder; it was not a pretty or successful outcome. More often than not the system would lock up or create tremendous glitches in all of the output channels that lasted several minutes.

RE:Fuzzy

I thought there was a tech bulletin that went out some time ago about some odd little setting in the Harris equipment that would correct it.

There was a thread over on the programming side that went on for pages, folks were noticing it on football, in and out of replays and it turned out to be a local encoder settings problem.

I would have thought after the network recently went MPEG-4 it would be a non-issue, but who knows?
There was a tech bulletin a couple years back. We made those changes, but it only somewhat minimized the problem. I had worked with Harris and NBC on this and neither side could find anything more to do. I still mess around with the Flexicoder when time allows and try different things, but no luck yet. The reason you now see it on analog is because we now take the feed off the Flexicoder and convert it for analog due to the new Master Control being completely HD. This was the most economical way to go due to analog's days being numbered.

Channel 55 to add news this spring

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090204/LOCAL/902049922/-1/LOCAL11

Perhaps because I live a lot closer to them and occasionally drive through their towns?

It is amazing how it seems your lack of knowledge means no one else can have any. :rolleyes:

Anyways, back to TV.
Wow so just by driving through a town you can ascertain peoples TV viewing preferences? I bow before the all knowing master. (Sarcasm absolutely intended)

How come you can't carry on a civil conversation without being an *ss?

Not once did I say you have no knowledge, not once. And not once did I say that my view and opinions are the only ones that count. And not once did I belittle you or anybody else, so go piss up a rope.

Can I say that here?

Matt

Can I say that here? Matt

Yep.

Channel 55 to add news this spring

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090204/LOCAL/902049922/-1/LOCAL11

Wow, I wonder if Steve Shine will make a return.

I really shouldn't jinx it, but it would be neat if they started of this local news cast in HD.

Wow, I wonder if Steve Shine will make a return.

Nope. 55's new anchor---

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gy_M6I9pOfM/RvWVZRLHl1I/AAAAAAAAAtw/vV18zYUMt4g/s400/happy%2Bthe%2Bhobo.jpg

How come you can't carry on a civil conversation without being an *ss?If you want to talk about me or post insults please refrain. This is a discussion forum for talking about TELEVISION ... preferably OTA TV in the Fort Wayne market.
... so go piss up a rope.Very mature. :rolleyes:
I'm make sure I remember that you're not representing any station when you post here. For your sake, hope that any employeers and future employers will do the same.

Can we talk TV ... Fort Wayne OTA TV ... and leave Jr high name calling off this excellent forum?

Anybody else having tropo issues lately? I lost 33 over the weekend. Finally got around to moving my antenna today as I had a sick day today, and when I picked up 33, I'd lose 15. My antenna had to be moved to a totally different position.

The House of Representatives, by a 264-to-158 vote, today ended the debate over whether the country is ready for the digital TV transition with a clear “no.”

It sent to President Obama legislation for a “one-time-only delay” that would postpone the digital transition from Feb. 17 until June 12.

President Obama had asked for the legislation and is expected to sign the legislation later this week.

The House action came amidst warnings today from Democrats about the number of households that could fully or partially lose TV if the transition went forward as scheduled.

Anybody else having tropo issues lately? I lost 33 over the weekend. Finally got around to moving my antenna today as I had a sick day today, and when I picked up 33, I'd lose 15. My antenna had to be moved to a totally different position.

Looking at this:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html (Eastern North America)

It doesn't look like there is really all that much going on right now.

With that said, a friend of mine that lives on the north side had been complaining of issue with 33 recently. He had previously said that 33 was coming in very strong.

Looking at this:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html (Eastern North America)

It doesn't look like there is really all that much going on right now.

With that said, a friend of mine that lives on the north side had been complaining of issue with 33 recently. He had previously said that 33 was coming in very strong.

Interesting. Normally when I have to tweak my home antenna, its a couple inches. I'm having to make couple foot adjustments right now. Still not quite there as I've got 15 back, but heavy macroblocking on 33. The fight shall continue!

Makes me miss the Dish on days like this....

If you want to talk about me or post insults please refrain. This is a discussion forum for talking about TELEVISION ... preferably OTA TV in the Fort Wayne market.
Very mature. :rolleyes:I'm make sure I remember that you're not representing any station when you post here. For your sake, hope that any employeers and future employers will do the same. Can we talk TV ... Fort Wayne OTA TV ... and leave Jr high name calling off this excellent forum?
It is amazing how it seems your lack of knowledge means no one else can have any

Yep my insults are right up front, while the ones you spout are much more subtle, but they are insults just the same. I'm not hiding behind some made up name. I posted who I am and where I work. I'm not terribly worried about my current employer seeing this, in fact feel free to contact them if you like. And I'm not worried about potential future employers either.

My apologies to other forum members for wasting bandwidth I'm done now
So let’s talk TV.

The House of Representatives, by a 264-to-158 vote, today ended the debate over whether the country is ready for the digital TV transition with a clear “no.”

It sent to President Obama legislation for a “one-time-only delay” that would postpone the digital transition from Feb. 17 until June 12.

President Obama had asked for the legislation and is expected to sign the legislation later this week.

The House action came amidst warnings today from Democrats about the number of households that could fully or partially lose TV if the transition went forward as scheduled.


<sigh>

Glad they have nothing better to do in Washington. I try to stay out of political debates mostly, but they are botching this so bad it isn't even funny.

This will turn out to be a bigger train wreck than the 17th was shaping up to be.

<sigh>

Glad they have nothing better to do in Washington. I try to stay out of political debates mostly, but they are botching this so bad it isn't even funny.

This will turn out to be a bigger train wreck than the 17th was shaping up to be.

Amen! This bill will likely haunt Congress in the VERY near future.

Steve

Channel 55 to add news this spring

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090204/LOCAL/902049922/-1/LOCAL11

I think that's great.

Our local news is.........lacking.

Now that the date is pushed back to June 12th by the um folks in DC, does anyone have a current list of which Fort Wayne stations will still terminate there analog on Feb 17th?

Sorry if I missed the post answering my question.

Thanks, Steve

Amen! This bill will likely haunt Congress in the VERY near future.

Steve

http://www.rabbitears.info/termlist.php

WPTA DT ABC 21 24 24 387 02/17/09
WISE DT NBC 33 19 19 STA 02/17/09
WFWA DT PBS 39 40 40 NSO 02/17/09

The audio on Lost seemed a bit muffled tonight... Anyone else notice?

yes Lost did sound muffled.

Cant believe they delayed the switch. If you aren't prepared STILL, you have about 2 weeks left!! If people really did not know about the conversion, they probably dont watch enough TV to even care. On June 11 (or Feb 16) analog stations should have a marathon of DTV promo shows. :)

http://www.rabbitears.info/termlist.php

WPTA DT ABC 21 24 24 387 02/17/09
WISE DT NBC 33 19 19 STA 02/17/09
WFWA DT PBS 39 40 40 NSO 02/17/09

Just to add some more from South Bend:

South Bend
WNDU DT NBC 16 42 42 NSO 02/16/09 Gray
WSBT DT CBS 22 30 22 STA 02/17/09 Schurz
WSJV DT FOX 28 58 28 NSO 02/17/09 Quincy

Also WNIT and WHME has been all digital since last summer

diehard

yes Lost did sound muffled.

Cant believe they delayed the switch. If you aren't prepared STILL, you have about 2 weeks left!! If people really did not know about the conversion, they probably dont watch enough TV to even care. On June 11 (or Feb 16) analog stations should have a marathon of DTV promo shows. :)

This is purely passing the ball by Congress, and the folks that are going to pay and pay hard are the local broadcasters.

Congressman: "We tried to pull it back to give it more time, but to get the bill through, we had to put in language that allows the locals to shut off in Feb."

Irate TV Viewer then hangs up phone and immediately starts blasting away at the local stations (station X is still analog, why aren't you?), even though they were following the intent and spirit of the law for YEARS.

This is where my opinion really starts to come in strong, and I'd like to point out its my opinion only, not of my employer (I don't think I'll need my flame suit when I say this though):

One of the things I am most proud of in my 10 years in working in Fort Wayne is when all the stations banded together and provided a united front when we did the last analog soft test. It was a sight to see, everyone working together with a united effort to prepare those that weren't ready. 300 phone calls in 3 hours, lots of questions and confusion answered.

I wish we could keep that united front on the 17th.

End of personal rant; I return you to your discussion.

The House of Representatives, by a 264-to-158 vote, today ended the debate over whether the country is ready for the digital TV transition with a clear “no.”

It sent to President Obama legislation for a “one-time-only delay” that would postpone the digital transition from Feb. 17 until June 12.

President Obama had asked for the legislation and is expected to sign the legislation later this week.

The House action came amidst warnings today from Democrats about the number of households that could fully or partially lose TV if the transition went forward as scheduled.
Great...now I'll never get WFFT. :(

I can just see the powers-that-be now..."Don't worry about getting that done today, we just got 6 more months!"

This is purely passing the ball by Congress, and the folks that are going to pay and pay hard are the local broadcasters.
So for the record, WPTA and WFWA are for sure terminating analog on Feb 17th? Anyone else in town? I would just like to send them a note of gratitude!

Great...now I'll never get WFFT. :(

I can just see the powers-that-be now..."Don't worry about getting that done today, we just got 6 more months!"

That was my first thought. :(

Nothing on FOX anyway.

4G war, conflicts of interest loom behind possible DTV delay

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/01/4g-war-conflict-of-interests-loom-behind-possible-dtv-delay.ars

As a side note, when we remembered a couple weeks ago that the garage TV needed a box we filed online for a coupon. The online site replied, you're in line, but, right now we aren't sending any out. The no money issue I presumed. Monday the 2nd we received our coupon in the mail.

Short snapshot: you'll know Monday for sure who all is shutting down and the steps they must take to do so:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-6A1.doc (http://http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-6A1.doc)

We are not able to get the below link to work?

Thanks, Steve

Short snapshot: you'll know Monday for sure who all is shutting down and the steps they must take to do so:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-6A1.doc (http://http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-6A1.doc)

We are not able to get the below link to work?

Thanks, Steve
Steve;
Won't work for me either anymore. It stated startions must apply by Monday if they want to cease analog. It also states that if the application is accepted, the station must air 5 minutes of crawls or PSA's per broadcast hour analog (increasing to ten minutes per hour the last few days.). They don't make it easy for any last minute changes for sure. If you go to fcc.gov it was the top item earlier.

Just got this one to work. Is this the same one?

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-6A1.pdf


Steve;
Won't work for me either anymore. It stated startions must apply by Monday if they want to cease analog. It also states that if the application is accepted, the station must air 5 minutes of crawls or PSA's per broadcast hour analog (increasing to ten minutes per hour the last few days.). They don't make it easy for any last minute changes for sure. If you go to fcc.gov it was the top item earlier.

Acting Chairman Michael Copps said the commission could prohibit stations from making the switch if doing so is not in the public interest. For instance, if all stations in a market want to turn off early, that would draw FCC scrutiny, he said at a commission meeting.




Try this link, Copps also talks about not letting stations shut down if all decide to do it in one market, which sounds like both Fort Wayne and South Bend (all but one in both markets).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29041421/

On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission ordered stations that still plan to turn off analog signals on Feb. 17 to notify the FCC by Monday.


Sounds like we all will know by Monday who will be making the shutoff. for sure.

I could hear WFFT all the way up here dancing the streets, LOL

Not to be to political, but the Republicans got us in this and the Democrats sure are adding logs to the fire. Don't you just love politicians?

I couldn't have seen anything more to screw the public up more than this. I can just see my grandma now being confused and bewildered. I just hope the local stations do what is right and less confusing for the public, even tho the politicians don't.

diehard

Channel 33-3 just showed a clip talking to the station manager and he said that they have not decided yet when to shut down the analog but that they would be making a decision very soon.

I thought that the decision was done??????????????????


Try this link, Copps also talks about not letting stations shut down if all decide to do it in one market, which sounds like both Fort Wayne and South Bend (all but one in both markets).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29041421/



Sounds like we all will know by Monday who will be making the shutoff. for sure.

I could hear WFFT all the way up here dancing the streets, LOL

Not to be to political, but the Republicans got us in this and the Democrats sure are adding logs to the fire. Don't you just love politicians?

I couldn't have seen anything more to screw the public up more than this. I can just see my grandma now being confused and bewildered. I just hope the local stations do what is right and less confusing for the public, even tho the politicians don't.

diehard

Channel 33-3 just showed a clip talking to the station manager and he said that they have not decided yet when to shut down the analog but that they would be making a decision very soon.

I thought that the decision was done??????????????????
They really must have let INCnow slip, usually it's only yesterday's news. :rolleyes:

I check on 55 digital every so often from Huntington. Since the Colts were eliminated from the playoffs, the checks have been steady at a good enough signal to stay locked in. 65-70 through the Dish receiver. Wasn't that way on weekends at least when the Colts were still playing. Not sure of a connection there, the Colts are on 55 very rarely.
Today, back down 10 points and won't stay locked.
Now, what I know about digital transmission, and specifically their current set, up you could put in a thimble, so, I'm just asking.
Tonight starts the Nascar season with the Budweiser Shootout.
Is there anything they could be doing to make this signal better available to, oh say, the station gms location while degrading it in our direction in Huntington?

John W, I'd say you are quite lucky to receive this weak signal with any kind of consistancy at your distance. WFFT-DT's current setup has not one, but two strikes against it: low power and low antenna height. 970 watts @ 211 ft. is prone to virtually any kind of interference at your distance, especially propagation variables due to atmospheric changes.

A quick general calculation indicates you are approx. 23 miles from their tower. Line-of-sight reception from their antenna at 211 ft. is just slightly over 20 miles. Factor in their very weak power and you are likely to see signal variables all the time at 23 miles. Also, after checking their directional antenna pattern, at least you live in the right direction for the best possible signal. Viewers to the north and east of their tower are receiving even less than 970 watts.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?frame=Y&temp=46339&rotate=0.00&p0=0.571&p10=0.586&p20=0.607&p30=0.627&p40=0.640&p50=0.645&p60=0.641&p70=0.631&p80=0.613&p90=0.592&p100=0.579&p110=0.570&p120=0.579&p130=0.610&p140=0.650&p150=0.699&p160=0.759&p170=0.817&p180=0.869&p190=0.914&p200=0.951&p210=0.975&p220=0.993&p230=1.000&p240=0.996&p250=0.981&p260=0.955&p270=0.920&p280=0.876&p290=0.826&p300=0.771&p310=0.714&p320=0.661&p330=0.615&p340=0.583&p350=0.569&p360=0.571&

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=25040

In comparison, I live on the north side of Indy, just south of Carmel. I am located 29 miles south of the tower for WTTK-DT 54, Kokomo, which is currently operating with 3.3 kW @ 499 ft. I'm not familiar with your home antenna setup, but with my new setup, including two yagi-style UHF antennas horizontally stacked @ about 43 ft. along with a preamp on the line, I still cannot get this station on a consistant basis.

Meanwhile, when its sister station, WTTV-DT, with its tower south of Indy in Trafalgar and 37 miles south of my location was at low power (4 kW @ 960 ft.) I could receive this station all the time with a very high signal level. Then about two years ago WTTV-DT went to 870 kW @ 1043 ft. and my signal level barely changed. The line-of-sight signal from the station's tower is very important from my experiences.

Once WFFT-DT finishes their full power project, their signal will blast into Huntington. But in the meantime, it's going to be a tough go at over 20+ miles.

Steve

John W, I'd say you are quite lucky to receive this weak signal with any kind of consistancy at your distance. WFFT-DT's current setup has not one, but two strikes against it: low power and low antenna height. 970 watts @ 211 ft. is prone to virtually any kind of interference at your distance, especially propagation variables due to atmospheric changes.

A quick general calculation indicates you are approx. 23 miles from their tower. Line-of-sight reception from their antenna at 211 ft. is just slightly over 20 miles. Factor in their very weak power and you are likely to see signal variables all the time at 23 miles. Also, after checking their directional antenna pattern, at least you live in the right direction for the best possible signal. Viewers to the north and east of their tower are receiving even less than 970 watts.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?frame=Y&temp=46339&rotate=0.00&p0=0.571&p10=0.586&p20=0.607&p30=0.627&p40=0.640&p50=0.645&p60=0.641&p70=0.631&p80=0.613&p90=0.592&p100=0.579&p110=0.570&p120=0.579&p130=0.610&p140=0.650&p150=0.699&p160=0.759&p170=0.817&p180=0.869&p190=0.914&p200=0.951&p210=0.975&p220=0.993&p230=1.000&p240=0.996&p250=0.981&p260=0.955&p270=0.920&p280=0.876&p290=0.826&p300=0.771&p310=0.714&p320=0.661&p330=0.615&p340=0.583&p350=0.569&p360=0.571&

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=25040

In comparison, I live on the north side of Indy, just south of Carmel. I am located 29 miles south of the tower for WTTK-DT 54, Kokomo, which is currently operating with 3.3 kW @ 499 ft. I'm not familiar with your home antenna setup, but with my new setup, including two yagi-style UHF antennas horizontally stacked @ about 43 ft. along with a preamp on the line, I still cannot get this station on a consistant basis.

Meanwhile, when its sister station, WTTV-DT, with its tower south of Indy in Trafalgar and 37 miles south of my location was at low power (4 kW @ 960 ft.) I could receive this station all the time with a very high signal level. Then about two years ago WTTV-DT went to 870 kW @ 1043 ft. and my signal level barely changed. The line-of-sight signal from the station's tower is very important from my experiences.

Once WFFT-DT finishes their full power project, their signal will blast into Huntington. But in the meantime, it's going to be a tough go at over 20+ miles.

Steve

I understand all that. For purposes of checking 55 I just use a regular old antenna with a pre-amp mounted on the peak of my roof, the top probably at about 25 feet.
But, all this doesn't answer my original question. Any thoughts?

I understand all that. For purposes of checking 55 I just use a regular old antenna with a pre-amp mounted on the peak of my roof, the top probably at about 25 feet.
But, all this doesn't answer my original question. Any thoughts?
I am sure the station is not degrading their signal, as Goldrich said, you are far enough out, that weather conditions and other various conditions will cause the signal to be eratic.

I think I remember reading that DirecTV gets all their local HD feeds via OTA for the Fort Wayne market. Are there plans to change that any time in the future? Lots of glitches on the WANE feed during the Purdue game today... Although, as I type this the announcer says they are having technical difficulties, so maybe this is coming from the source. Regardless, it would be nice to know if there are plans to go to a hardwire delivery system to DirecTV.

I think I remember reading that DirecTV gets all their local HD feeds via OTA for the Fort Wayne market. Are there plans to change that any time in the future? Lots of glitches on the WANE feed during the Purdue game today... Although, as I type this the announcer says they are having technical difficulties, so maybe this is coming from the source. Regardless, it would be nice to know if there are plans to go to a hardwire delivery system to DirecTV.

Yes, the DirecTv feeds are OTA for DirecTv, but WANE's signal is a direct feed.

I haven't been called by anyone (yet), so based what I'm reading here, its an uplink problem. None the less, I'll go watch some of it OTA to see what is up.

I think I remember reading that DirecTV gets all their local HD feeds via OTA for the Fort Wayne market. Are there plans to change that any time in the future? Lots of glitches on the WANE feed during the Purdue game today... Although, as I type this the announcer says they are having technical difficulties, so maybe this is coming from the source. Regardless, it would be nice to know if there are plans to go to a hardwire delivery system to DirecTV.I saw the Purdue breakup problem on both WSBT analog and digital in South Bend and also heard the game announcer apologize for their technical difficulties so you can consider WANE and DIRECTV "not guilty" for those breakups.

I've noticed that the EPG for 33-2 OTA has read "DTV Program" for several weeks now. It used to list the program that would be on. Any plans to get the EPG up and running again?

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/163749-satelliteguys-live-recap-dish-retailer-chat-2-4-09-a.html

Dish Network to have Fort Wayne locals in HD

Anyone else observing sound problems with the Grammy broadcast?

Yes, they said after March 2009, which um could mean well anytime this or next year sorry to say.


Steve


http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/163749-satelliteguys-live-recap-dish-retailer-chat-2-4-09-a.html

Dish Network to have Fort Wayne locals in HD

Yes, they said after March 2009, which um could mean well anytime this or next year sorry to say.


Steve
Echostar/Dish has the local into local gear here at our studios. The equipment racks are scheduled to arrive here very soon. They need a new electrical service installed which is in process. I would guess that they could be ready to go in a 30-90 day window.

Matt

Yes, the DirecTv feeds are OTA for DirecTv, but WANE's signal is a direct feed.

I haven't been called by anyone (yet), so based what I'm reading here, its an uplink problem. None the less, I'll go watch some of it OTA to see what is up.

Jckrac-Audi drops continue tonight in prime time after happening all through the Grammy awards and is being discussed elsewhere on the net so I'm assuming a CBS issue. Hopefully they know they have problem.

Jckrac-Audi drops continue tonight in prime time after happening all through the Grammy awards and is being discussed elsewhere on the net so I'm assuming a CBS issue. Hopefully they know they have problem.


CBS has made some changes with regards to 5.1, and I think that might be affecting our stereo feed. I researched your complaint on the Grammy's last night and came across some folks who know quite a bit more about audio than I. They were saying the 5.1 downmix to 2.0 was messed up.

This presents us with a problem as we need 2.0 for our analog customers (we actually went back up live on 5.1 last Friday evening until a configuration proved to not be reliable.)

I'll take a look at our air check tomorrow and take a listen and run it up the totem pole here. It concerns me however that they are having trouble with the stereo feed.

Over looking at the shutoff list for next Tuesday at the rabbit ears website.
So NO Fort Wayne stations will be shutting off next week?


Steve

Over looking at the shutoff list for next Tuesday at the rabbit ears website.
So NO Fort Wayne stations will be shutting off next week?


Steve

There are stations on the list, the list just isn't fully updated yet. School is keeping me really busy this week, sorry.

Go look in the DTV Allotments thread, a few pages back on it I posted a list of states I checked and stations that filed. I know WFWA and WPTA/WISE (one or the other or both) were on it.

- Trip

Jckrac-Audi drops continue tonight in prime time after happening all through the Grammy awards and is being discussed elsewhere on the net so I'm assuming a CBS issue. Hopefully they know they have problem.

Have spent the better part of the day so far on this; here is what I know: the problem manifests itself only when we are in CBS HD. CBS SD, syndicated SD, and local news are not exhibiting this problem (at least that I've been able to hear: people walking by my office have to think I'm not doing squat today as I've been monitoring this problem.)

I put our local receiver on the air at 1:00 and the problem went away. But that was such a limited test I'd like to repeat it again tomorrow.

There is a very limited amount of time to track this due to the lack of HD during the day, so hang with us. I think I know where the problem may lie but I have to proof everything else first.

Stay tuned....

Over looking at the shutoff list for next Tuesday at the rabbit ears website.
So NO Fort Wayne stations will be shutting off next week?


Steve


Steve.

WFWA filed to cease analog programming on 2/17, probably at midnight. We will nightlight for at least two weeks after.
March third is the earliest that the analog TX will be laid to rest. This of course assumes the FCC allows us to go. They can on a market by market basis deny these requests, or require additional information from each station as to why they need to go off early.

They indicated that they will contact the stations quickly if they are going to deny or request extra information. You will notice starting tonight on WFWA a large amount of extra notices concerning the turn off date. This will include lots of crawls over programming. The amount of notices will ramp up the closer we get to the 17th.

I have it on good authority that WISE and WPTA will also go off on the 17th. One of them will nightlight as well. I'm sure ENGjas can pipe in here. They did file the required update to the DTV TRANSITION STATUS REPORT FCC 387 as required.

I did not see an updated filing for WANE so It appears that they will stay on, for how long remains to be seen.

And of course WFFT is doing cartwheels down the hall because of the delay.

It will be interesting to see how the ratings are handled in a "split" market.

Will Nielson only count digital viewing as planned or will the analog count as well? Could be a little + bump for WANE and WFFT if analog still counts. If not WFFT will probably have a very poor book.

Matt

Channel 15 news tonight mentioned that they were not shutting off the analog on the 17th.

On another note DIsh has officially announced that the Fort Wayne HD locals will be up summer of 2009. Also that they will be located at the existing 129 degree slot same as the existing SD locals are at now. That is good news as that means that existing customers with HD Dish service will not have to have a new dish installed like Directv forced customers to do.

Steve


Steve.

WFWA filed to cease analog programming on 2/17, probably at midnight. We will nightlight for at least two weeks after.
March third is the earliest that the analog TX will be laid to rest. This of course assumes the FCC allows us to go. They can on a market by market basis deny these requests, or require additional information from each station as to why they need to go off early.

They indicated that they will contact the stations quickly if they are going to deny or request extra information. You will notice starting tonight on WFWA a large amount of extra notices concerning the turn off date. This will include lots of crawls over programming. The amount of notices will ramp up the closer we get to the 17th.

I have it on good authority that WISE and WPTA will also go off on the 17th. One of them will nightlight as well. I'm sure ENGjas can pipe in here. They did file the required update to the DTV TRANSITION STATUS REPORT FCC 387 as required.

I did not see an updated filing for WANE so It appears that they will stay on, for how long remains to be seen.

And of course WFFT is doing cartwheels down the hall because of the delay.

It will be interesting to see how the ratings are handled in a "split" market.

Will Nielson only count digital viewing as planned or will the analog count as well? Could be a little + bump for WANE and WFFT if analog still counts. If not WFFT will probably have a very poor book.

Matt

According to this article the following locals are shutting down on the 17th:

Fort Wayne: WFWA (PBS), WISE-TV (NBC), WPTA (ABC)

That will leave WANE and WFFT by them selves on analog.

and for South Bend:

South Bend: WSJV (Fox), WNDU-TV (NBC), WSBT-TV (CBS)

Remember WNIT has been off a while.


See the following article for more:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29129027/page/2/

What I was surprised was Chicago had no listings?

diehard

My opinion is this has turned into a chicken little and the sky is falling routine. What I have seen is there has been some stations shut down including the state of Hawaii and the world hasn't come to an end yet.

There are stations on the list, the list just isn't fully updated yet. School is keeping me really busy this week, sorry.

Go look in the DTV Allotments thread, a few pages back on it I posted a list of states I checked and stations that filed. I know WFWA and WPTA/WISE (one or the other or both) were on it.

- Trip
As of today, WPTA and WISE are planning on shutting down the analogs on the 17th. WPTA will "nightlite" for a few weeks. As pbsmatt said, the FCC can always deny us shutting down. This will allow us to get WISE DTV back up to full power.

"TVNEWSDAY, Feb 10 2009, 6:26 PM ET

The FCC released a list of the 681 TV stations that have already shut down their analog service or that intend to shut it down on or before Feb. 17. The 681 represent 38 percent of the 1,785 full-power stations.

However, in unveiling the list, the FCC said that it may deny some of the 491 stations that plan to make the switch on Feb. 17 permission to do so if it concludes that it would not be in the public interest.

"The commission may consider such action if, for example, it finds that all or most of the stations in a market will terminate their analog service on Feb. 17, and that the market is one in which many viewers are unprepared for the transition or at risk if the transition proceeds," it said.

The FCC promised to "promptly notify" any station that it decides should not go early.

To get a handle on how many stations are opting for the early switch, the FCC last week asked that such stations notify it of their intentions by Monday Feb 9th.

According to the FCC count, 190 stations have already cease analog service or plan to do so prior to Feb. 17. The other 491 are planning to do it on Feb. 17.

For the full list click here: List Link (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-221A5.pdf)

The stations in bold and red are the 681 that hope to be digital only after Feb. 17."

Wonder how "prompt" is prompt. Considering the day is under a week. I think the general public has a right to know by now. The train wreck gets worse and worse.

I was just looking around online, and found PBS changed some of its satellite services. I noticed whenever WFWA's schedule is the same as the national (I think) PBS schedule, the screen is 'windowboxed'. I noticed it on a lot of kid shows. Speaking of which, the blue DTV ticker during kids programs made me chuckle. A 5 yr old probably doesnt care much about DTV :) I understand you probably need to do this anyway, but... maybe a mention of the 24-7 kids channel would be nice (another chuckle) i don't know...

And on INC, what's with the teeny tiny ticker above the Weather Watch map? I got up and had to squint to read it! What about the color codes for the counties beside the map? just wondering...

I was just looking around online, and found PBS changed some of its satellite services. I noticed whenever WFWA's schedule is the same as the national (I think) PBS schedule, the screen is 'windowboxed'. I noticed it on a lot of kid shows. Speaking of which, the blue DTV ticker during kids programs made me chuckle. A 5 yr old probably doesnt care much about DTV :) I understand you probably need to do this anyway, but... maybe a mention of the 24-7 kids channel would be nice (another chuckle) i don't know...


Get used to the crawl. It is part of the additional FCC notification requirements for the Feb 17th shutoff. You will see it for 5 minutes every hour and then 10 minutes every hour.

PBS is changing the satellite distribution service to what will be primarily high definition. Even older shows will be up-converted for distribution via the HD services. They have two primary full service HD feeds (one is a Pacific delay) and two secondary ones. Most of the regional uplinks have been converted to add HD capability so stations can feed HD content to the system.

The extra pre-packaged channels like Create and World will remain SD for now.

Since we currently don't have an HD capable server we are down-converting all HD to SD at the receiver. Until PBS activates AFD you might see some "postage stamp" content from time to time. The receiver is set to letterbox the 16x9 content into the 4x3 SD window. Once PBS controls the conversion via AFD the odd-ball stuff will go away. At least that is the plan.

As the new 16x9 shows flow into the system the older 4x3 content will slowly fade away, it may be a while for a lot of the kid’s shows. To program the kids channel we keep 2-5 seasons worth of each show on our local server.

Matt

I was just looking around online, and found PBS changed some of its satellite services. I noticed whenever WFWA's schedule is the same as the national (I think) PBS schedule, the screen is 'windowboxed'. I noticed it on a lot of kid shows. Speaking of which, the blue DTV ticker during kids programs made me chuckle. A 5 yr old probably doesnt care much about DTV :) I understand you probably need to do this anyway, but... maybe a mention of the 24-7 kids channel would be nice (another chuckle) i don't know...


When Digital is the norm and most people have access to all of our digital offerings we have been kicking around the idea of eliminating the kids shows from what is 39-1 since we have 24 hour kids on 39-2. This would allow us to program that channel with content aimed at an older audience.

Good, Bad or Mediocre idea?

From another thread:

The White House wants your opinion on The DTV Delay ACT Bill
President Obama wants to hear what the public has to say, you can comment here

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/dtv_delay_act/

As if they would really listen. :)

diehard

On another note DIsh has officially announced that the Fort Wayne HD locals will be up summer of 2009. Also that they will be located at the existing 129 degree slot same as the existing SD locals are at now.
Steve

I don't know about anyone else, but, I see 15,21,33 & 55 on 110 and 39 on 119. And, my other dish looks at 61.5 which typically, although not 100%, mirrors 129.

From another thread:



As if they would really listen. :)

diehard

I'd like to see them post all the comments they received so we know if they really took them into consideration.

When Digital is the norm and most people have access to all of our digital offerings we have been kicking around the idea of eliminating the kids shows from what is 39-1 since we have 24 hour kids on 39-2. This would allow us to program that channel with content aimed at an older audience.

Good, Bad or Mediocre idea?Even if the FCC allows you to remove the children's programming from the main feed I'd say bad idea. 39.2 would have to be available everywhere that 39.1 is available or you're not serving the need for children's programming. Think beyond OTA ... do all of your 39.1 digital viewers also get 39.2?

Interesting point as both Dish Network and Directv do not offer channels 39.2, 39.3, and 39.4 and have no plans to in the near future.

Steve


Even if the FCC allows you to remove the children's programming from the main feed I'd say bad idea. 39.2 would have to be available everywhere that 39.1 is available or you're not serving the need for children's programming. Think beyond OTA ... do all of your 39.1 digital viewers also get 39.2?

Even if the FCC allows you to remove the children's programming from the main feed I'd say bad idea. 39.2 would have to be available everywhere that 39.1 is available or you're not serving the need for children's programming. Think beyond OTA ... do all of your 39.1 digital viewers also get 39.2?
.2 is on Comcast and FiOS, don't know about the sats or Mediacom. Sounds like a plan, Matt.

ETA: Strike out the sats, I guess.

Even if the FCC allows you to remove the children's programming from the main feed I'd say bad idea. 39.2 would have to be available everywhere that 39.1 is available or you're not serving the need for children's programming. Think beyond OTA ... do all of your 39.1 digital viewers also get 39.2?

WFWA could do what some other PBS stations (like Iowa and Louisiana PBS) are doing and program 39-2 with kids programming from 5p-10p or so, then air other material during other times. For example, Iowa PBS has Kids 5-10, then Create the rest of the time. This might be a good move for WFWA if they should decide to go HD again and need to drop a subchannel.

- Trip

I was referring to pulling the programming off of 39.1 being a bad idea.
I like the idea of dayparting programming on the subchannels - especially with content not available on other channels at that time of day.

I was referring to pulling the programming off of 39.1 being a bad idea.
I like the idea of dayparting programming on the subchannels - especially with content not available on other channels at that time of day.

And I was agreeing and providing an alternative idea that compromises the two positions. :)

- Trip

[QUOTE=And on INC, what's with the teeny tiny ticker above the Weather Watch map? I got up and had to squint to read it! What about the color codes for the counties beside the map? just wondering...[/QUOTE]


We are still working on the map. The counties are supposed to be color coded with the weather event, but it is not working properly. We are working with the manufaturer to get it working properly.

Even if the FCC allows you to remove the children's programming from the main feed I'd say bad idea. 39.2 would have to be available everywhere that 39.1 is available or you're not serving the need for children's programming. Think beyond OTA ... do all of your 39.1 digital viewers also get 39.2?

Very good point. Not something we typically think about here since we have so much children’s programming we very easily exceed the requirements.

.2 is on Comcast and FiOS, don't know about the sats or Mediacom. Sounds like a plan, Matt.

ETA: Strike out the sats, I guess.

Comcast Ft. Wayne and FIOS carry all of our multicast channels.

FIOS 470,471,472,473
Comcast 240,241,242,243

Comcast and FIOS carry all of our multicast channels.

FIOS 470,471,472,473
Comcast 240,241,242,243

I believe that Mediacom in Auburn does as well.

Comcast in Huntington only carries the -1.






Comcast and FIOS carry all of our multicast channels.

FIOS 470,471,472,473
Comcast 240,241,242,243

Interesting article regarding various PBS kids subchannels and cancelling kids programs on the main channel
http://www.current.org/kids/kids0901multicast.shtml

Will someone at WPTA please fix the flood watch notice? it says...

"AREAL FLOOD WATCH"

My daughter came upstairs to tell me that an Aerial Flood Watch was all over the TV. I told her that we normally called an Aerial Flood Watch "rain".

Sorry if we have missed the post but can anyone advise as to if "the new look" on 15-2 is here to stay? We really hope not.

Steve

Just heard on the news tonight that the FCC has rejected approx 1/4 of the stations requests to shutoff there analogs next Tuesday. If I was a station owner I would send my power bill the next four months to the idiots in D.C..
My 2 cents.

Anyone find a list of these stations?

Steve

Anyone find a list of these stations?It is on the FCC's website and being discussed in a couple of threads on the delay.

If I was a station owner I would send my power bill the next four months to the idiots in D.C.

or maybe the FCC could just give the license to a company more grateful to be earning income from the public airwaves...

Sorry if we have missed the post but can anyone advise as to if "the new look" on 15-2 is here to stay? We really hope not.

Steve

Normally, when I get a phone call on this, to try and lighten the mood, I tell said caller that this is a major upgrade for the radar, and we think the 1980's look of it is rather retro and we plan on running with this look. Some people get rather ticked about it, so I stopped with that story before they show up at the station! (Not that I'm not dead serious on getting it fixed, I am: but some folks out there (not pointing at you Steve) watch that channel constantly and are very unhappy about it.)

Steve: the radar has been down for quite some time now sadly (long, long, LONG story behind this) and is currently being evaluated at the manufacturer. To get something up on 15.2, we've taken an inbound feed from our provider of national weather information and put it up on the air.

Once the repairs are made (I hope by the end of next week) we'll get a crew in to take it back up the radar tower.

Wpta and Wise announced earlier this week that analog 21 and 33 will go off the air on the 17th. Wane said they will stay on analog to 6-12. The digital signals for Wpta and Wise - tv will be transmitted from the Wpta tower. What will happen to the old 33 tower on State St.?

It is on the FCC's website and being discussed in a couple of threads on the delay.

Interesting, South Bend fox 28 and CBS 22 is on the list but I couldn't find any Fort Wayne stations.

diehard

The stations in Fort Wayne that requested Feb 17th analog shutoff were not challenged (WFWA, WISE, WPTA).
WANE and WFFT remaining on the air in analog will be enough to serve the public. :D

WNDU was removed from the challenged list in South Bend making South Bend an all digital market as of Wednesday.

The stations in Fort Wayne that requested Feb 17th analog shutoff were not challenged (WFWA, WISE, WPTA).
WANE and WFFT remaining on the air in analog will be enough to serve the public. :D

WNDU was removed from the challenged list in South Bend making South Bend an all digital market as of Wednesday.

Hopefully, this will be the ONLY comparision between WANE and WFFT (not shutting off analog.) :mad: :)

FWIW, you won't believe the number of phone calls I'm getting about all of this. Its skyrocketed. There is a part of me thinking this "phased" shutdown might wake some people up. Lot of people saying they have to choose between loosing 55 or loosing 21/33. I hope this will kickstart some of these late comers to the game, but I'm still hearing a lot of "I'm not gonna buy that stupid box until I have to."

Using a Winegard HD 1080 antenna DT-12 comes in from the rear of the antenna but has some issues. Installed a Winegard Highband-VHF aerial at the Edgerton,OH. tower for a solid signal. It works good strong signal levels.D.T.-12 has the sd on 63-1 and the hd 0n 63-2. Also plans for a 63-3 is in the works. I have installed Televes xg-43 antennas for fox DT-36 and had good results. State road 101 just south of Antwerp rd. xg-43 mounted 13 feet above the garage roof no pre-amp and a combined h-band VHF below fox D.T. consistant signal . Running rg-11 from aerial to inside basement. Fox Ft. Wayne is a dissapointment to the broadcast community the could have used that tempoary antenna on a tall building downtown for a aux. signal untill the tower work could be finished. Or how about the temp. antenna mounted at 600 ft. level?

Wpta and Wise announced earlier this week that analog 21 and 33 will go off the air on the 17th. Wane said they will stay on analog to 6-12. The digital signals for Wpta and Wise - tv will be transmitted from the Wpta tower. What will happen to the old 33 tower on State St.?


Emergency Radio Service bought the old WISE site a couple of years ago, though nothing on their site suggests they've moved over there, probably because WISE-TV is still on the air. They would own the tower and continue to use it.

(for reference: http://www.jg.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070628/BIZ/706280371&SearchID=73287421006079)

(edited: That's the last time I'm using Quick Reply.)