Guys, I am kinda new to the whole OTA HD thing. I live in town on the NE side. Will I be able to get the digital local channels with an indoor amplified antenna? Or will I need to get crazy with an outdoor one and possibly putting it on a tower of some sort. Also from what I have been reading the whole HD thing is kind of dead in the Fort? Did I read that correctly? If so I guess my OTA voom receiver I bought was just a wast then.

Anyone that can shed some light on this for me would be greatly appreciated.

Will I be able to get the digital local channels with an indoor amplified antenna? Or will I need to get crazy with an outdoor one and possibly putting it on a tower of some sort.

If you have an ATSC tuner (either in your TV or an STB) then you're good to go. I'd start out getting my hands on a Silver Sensor antenna (BTW-hard to find in the Fort... you may have to order online) and try that before going amped/tower, often the simplest solution is the best.

I think it's fair to say your Voom receiver is a doorstop, sorry.

Also, don't forget to call WFFT-Fox and tell them they are cheap-bastard weasels for not getting HD up for the 2006 NFL Football season !!!

Good luck and have fun

Kib, thanks for the reply.

Isn't the voom receiver with its OTA module an ATSC tuner?

Isn't the voom receiver with its OTA module an ATSC tuner?

Frankly, I don't know. You might check some other threads here on AVS Forums. If there's a way to hack/use a Voom box to pick up OTA, some wizard around here has figured it out.

I hope I'm wrong, and you can use the receiver.

BTW - Since all the broadcasters around here are UHF, if you can get the regular signal, you have a reasonable shot at getting the DTV signal (except those that are running less power than a bathroom nightlight off thier tower..... you know who you are)

Again, good luck !!!!

Will do some research on the silver sensor and the voom box. I believe it is capable of OTA since it was active when voom went off of the air and has the OTA module installed. If I remember correctly the guy I got it from was able to pull OTA with it.

Thanks again for the replies......

Will do some research on the silver sensor and the voom box. I believe it is capable of OTA since it was active when voom went off of the air and has the OTA module installed. If I remember correctly the guy I got it from was able to pull OTA with it. So long as no one's done a master reset, your Voom box should be good to go! Guy at my work has one in place up in Butler and he's pulling all the ATSC channels fine (save for FOX, of course.)
As for the Antenna, I've used an outdoor Radio Shack $45.00 UHF/VHF/FM one and my current one is a outdoor Winegard HD9095P. Both worked great and I'm hoping the Winegard will get me FOX, but I've got a stupid tree surrounding it that I have yet to cut down.
I did actually manage to get vague reception with an old school double bow-tie UHF antenna. Mind you, I live in Leo, so I'm roughly 12 miles away. But it worked!! Check out Radio Shack's site as I can't post URL's until the 5th post. PM me if you can't find it.

After waiting with insane frustration for years I finally researched and bought a 91XG with amp and am pulling in Ft. Wayne HD stations beautifully, didn't think it possible living in Ft Jennings, OH about 50 miles away from the towers. Can't thank this forum enough for great info. Now I can get on with the rest of my life. No Fox HD though, COME ON.

After waiting with insane frustration for years I finally researched and bought a 91XG with amp and am pulling in Ft. Wayne HD stations beautifully, didn't think it possible living in Ft Jennings, OH about 50 miles away from the towers. Can't thank this forum enough for great info. Now I can get on with the rest of my life. No Fox HD though, COME ON.

From your location, have you tried receiving WUPW-DT 46 (36.1), Toledo (40 degrees) with your 91XG? As of last week, a DTV viewer north of Terre Haute has been receiving one of the Indy area stations at over 70 miles.

Some quick calculations show you are approximately 68 miles from their tower, with their DTV antenna @1160 ft. (HAAT) with approximately 104 kW (directional antenna) of power headed your direction. At 1160 ft. the line of sight signal is just under 50 miles, more than the Ft. Wayne stations. It's worth a try to receive a Fox affiliate that offers HD. BTW, WUPW is a sister station to WANE (LIN TV Corp).

Steve

WFFT - I haven't been on the forum in awhile but happened to notice the comments about our wonderful WFFT and their failure to get in line. Another year of seeing the "broadcast in HDTV" for NFL games. I sent an e-mail to the Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin asking if anything could be done to Nexstar or if we could get waivers for another market's Fox affiliate via satellite. http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/martin/mail.html I doubt anything will come of it, but it's the least i can do.

Come to think of it, maybe we start complaining about obscenities to the FCC on WFFT programming - wait do they originate any?

Come to think of it, maybe we start complaining about obscenities to the FCC on WFFT programming - wait do they originate any?
Not out of their studio at least. Does the Maury show count as an obscenity? :rolleyes:

Come to think of it, maybe we start complaining about obscenities to the FCC on WFFT programming - wait do they originate any?They don't have to originate the obscenity - they just have to broadcast it in order to "get in trouble". Technically when Janet bared her breast she put EVERY local affiliate at risk of an individual FCC fine for airing that moment of the network feed.

If you do report something, make sure that it is a true report and not a frivolus complaint. The more complaints the FCC gets that cannot be backed up the less time they have for real problems. (But you were not encouraging false reports, were you?)

So long as no one's done a master reset, your Voom box should be good to go! Guy at my work has one in place up in Butler and he's pulling all the ATSC channels fine (save for FOX, of course.)
As for the Antenna, I've used an outdoor Radio Shack $45.00 UHF/VHF/FM one and my current one is a outdoor Winegard HD9095P. Both worked great and I'm hoping the Winegard will get me FOX, but I've got a stupid tree surrounding it that I have yet to cut down.
I did actually manage to get vague reception with an old school double bow-tie UHF antenna. Mind you, I live in Leo, so I'm roughly 12 miles away. But it worked!! Check out Radio Shack's site as I can't post URL's until the 5th post. PM me if you can't find it.

thanks entourage for the reply. The voom box I have has not had a master reset done so it should be ready to go provided I get the right indoor or outdoor antenna. From the antenna web site I am only 5-6 miles from the antennas of the stations in Fort Wayne. I am crossing my fingers though until I see it for myself. Thanks to all for posting info for me as I tread into this new area.

From your location, have you tried receiving WUPW-DT 46 (36.1), Toledo (40 degrees) with your 91XG? As of last week, a DTV viewer north of Terre Haute has been receiving one of the Indy area stations at over 70 miles.

Some quick calculations show you are approximately 68 miles from their tower, with their DTV antenna @1160 ft. (HAAT) with approximately 104 kW (directional antenna) of power headed your direction. At 1160 ft. the line of sight signal is just under 50 miles, more than the Ft. Wayne stations. It's worth a try to receive a Fox affiliate that offers HD. BTW, WUPW is a sister station to WANE (LIN TV Corp).

Steve
After tinkering I am pulling in CBS out of Toledo crystal clear, I am getting WUPW's analog signal although it is weak. I have some limbs to cut and i'll play with it more, but thanks a lot for the info.

Both WPTA and WISE digital will be off the air today starting around 8am. Should be up later in the day. This is to allow some encoder work to be done.

ENGjas -

Thanks for the heads-up. Always nice to have us kept in the loop...

Does this mean we'll lose those occasional dropouts we've seen?

Most of you most likely will need to do a rescan after the changes are done.

What kind of dropouts are you having? WPTA or WISE?

WISE will be brought up to full power in about two or three weeks depending on how long the transmitter work will take.

What kind of dropouts are you having? WPTA or WISE?

WISE. Pix/Audio just goes to black for a second or two. Whole thing just drops and goes away. VIA Comcast. VERY intermittant. Noticed a few time during Leno.

If I get a chance I'll look in OTA.

Once again, thanks for keeping us posted. BTW - You guys looked fine on SNF. As you know lots of affiliates having probs with encoder settings that did a "fuzzy" after replays, but you guys looked good, and was noted to SNFMixer (Wendel, the audio guy for the broadcast) over on the HDTV Programming forum.

Later....

Things are a little goofy tonight.
Law and Order is coming through on 21-1 and I'm getting no signal on 33-1.
Is that because of all the switching going on? Not that I need ABC in HD tonight, but I'm wondering if it's something that's going to go on for an extended time.

Most of you will most likely need to do a rescan to get the propper channel mapping on WISE-DT and WPTA-DT.

Please let me know if you have any issues.

Most of you will most likely need to do a rescan to get the propper channel mapping on WISE-DT and WPTA-DT.

Please let me know if you have any issues.

I've done a channel scan, but it seems to be very flaky. After the scan, 19.1 showed up as I channel up'ed, but disappeared after that. 19.2 didn't show up at all. Then 24.1 and 24.2 showed up with the radar on 2 but the tag was WPTA-CW. Those then remapped to 21.1 and 2, but then disappeared from my listing, as channel up and down go right past where they should be. If I punch in 19.1, i get 19.2 only, and 24.1 or 21.1 manually punched in don't show anything. Everything worked just fine previously. Are you doing work on the PSIP stuff as well?

Edit: I can punch in 19.1, and i can even manually add it, but if I do, it will disapper from my listing after changeing away from that channel. I am able to watch 21.1 but first I need to punch in 24.2 then my tv will show 21.2 and I can use my channel down button to get to 21.1. I am unable to manually add 24.1. fwiw, my tv is a Philips 26" LCD with built in atsc tuner. I've also noticed that on wise during jay leno, there are small audio hickups every couple minutes.

ENGjas -

Dropout WISE 10:08pm "Law & Order"
- as mentioned prior, pix/audio drops/goes to black. BTW - Not noticed it anywhere else but WISE

I'm getting all channels as normal. Haven't watched enough to check for dropouts.

ENGjas, how much bandwidth is 21-2 getting now? The radar seems a bit more compressed.

On another note, does anybody know what's happening to WANE 15-2 when UPN kicks the bucket? (CBS football could use the bits.)

On another note, does anybody know what's happening to WANE 15-2 when UPN kicks the bucket?

Won't "The CW" take over that spot?

The CW will be on WPTA

Yeah, WPTA and WISE scooped up both of the new networks (which IMO goes way too far); the probable options for WANE are to either shut down -2 and reallocate the bandwidth or go indie. (WSBT in South Bend is doing the latter with their UPN; that's why I'm curious.)

I vote for Krazy Kat cartoons 24/7

(it's at least as good as anything else they're likely to offer)

Actually, in my other home town Portland,OR they've lit up "The Tube Music Videos" network for our viewing enjoyment on one of the subs. The CE mentioned they also installed a statistical multiplexer that "harvest's" null bytes out of the main data streams so the HD is not starved, it can also reclaim bandwidth if the HD needs it.

All in all, I'd still prefer them to cut a deal with the WFFT yo-yo's and get me some HD Fox NFL football..... (I know it doesn't work that way, but seemed like another opportunity to take a potshot at WFFT)

I'm also going to get ahold of my cable company, but WPTA-DT on cable is showing the radar instead of ABC.

engjas, I know you probably have nothing to do with this, but what would be required for my cable company to carry WISE-DT? We have WPTA-DT and now that Granite bought WISE, it seems that it would be possible to get WISE as well.

ENGjas, how much bandwidth is 21-2 getting now? The radar seems a bit more compressed.

On another note, does anybody know what's happening to WANE 15-2 when UPN kicks the bucket? (CBS football could use the bits.)

Emailed the station and received this reply:

On September 18th, WANE-DT 15.2 will become the Local Weather Station. 15.3
will be turned off for the moment.

Hope this answers your questions.

[QUOTE=Kib]..........................
Actually, in my other home town Portland,OR they've lit up "The Tube Music Videos" network for our viewing enjoyment on one of the subs. The CE mentioned they also installed a statistical multiplexer that "harvest's" null bytes out of the main data streams so the HD is not starved, it can also reclaim bandwidth if the HD needs it. [QUOTE]

It was pointed out during a tour of WANE in April, 2005, that WANE-DT was using the Terayon Cherry Picker to "harvest" CBS, UPN and the weather subchannel.

Steve

Thanks to Goldrich in the Indy thread, here is a very interesting letter from Nexstar to the FCC. If granted the extensions, WFFT will not be going full power digital or HD until October 2008.

ohh my gawsh WFFT and Nexstar are SO full of crap! From my first encounter with WFFT way back in 2004 I should have known that we'd never get a full power HD signal from FOX:
WFFT's 'RESPONSE' in 2004 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4832219#post4832219)
I just wish that my 30' rigged tower hadn't blown down in a massive wind gust earlier this spring, because seeing FOX in HD from South Bend has really made me despise WFFT's pathetic picture. Maybe I'll have to just bite the bullet and get a Rohn tower or something. Geesh that's pathetic... :confused: :( :eek:

Well if anyone is still wanting to complain to Nexstar here is an earlier post that may still be useful:
NEXSTAR CONTACT INFO (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4927397#post4927397)
Who knows, maybe it'll do some good and bump us up <insert boisterous laughter here> Maybe someone can think of a good way to 'encourage ' them to sell or upgrade WFFT---all I can think is to quit watching WFFT and email them to tell them why... but it will take a lot of people to get the point across.
Any other ideas?

Anyone else no picture on 21-1 this evening?

Anyone else no picture on 21-1 this evening?

I tried to watch 21.1 at 9:00pm last night and got a good picture but the sound was cutting out.

Any ND fans out there?How's that 21.1 looking?

21-1 has a signal, but the stream's screwed up.

WISE-HD is terrible tonight, all sorts of blurring and macroblocking going on.

I am so pi__ed off right now i did every thing i needed to do and wpta drops the ball first ND game and you look like a bunch of fools thanks. Not to far off from wfft=wpta

I am so pi__ed off right now i did every thing i needed to do and wpta drops the ball first ND game and you look like a bunch of fools thanks. Not to far off from wfft=wpta

I think the rough start was from the network... Over on the HDTV programming thread there were similar yelps.

BTW - If it were WFFT, we would even have a chance to gripe about HD, let alone bad HD...

I spoke with the news room and it is on their end but they dont think it will be fixed tonight.

I spoke with the news room and it is on their end but they dont think it will be fixed tonight.

What's not working? Looks good OTA.

i am watching ota and it is choppy and no audio and wpta said it is also not working in the news room hdtvs

Very odd... rock solid OTA on a cheap ass indoor antenna near I-96 & SR-24

are you getting audio

Yeah, audio fine. Just after I posted it got a little funky, but seems like a tropo problem more than anything.

I spoke with the news room and it is on their end but they dont think it will be fixed tonight.

Why be sorry.It was funky yesterday and they knew it.The only time these people will keep this thing up properly is once its all they have.

Some tuners are working fine, while others are not.

The manufacture of the encoding gear needed to do a firmware update. This was done Friday late afternoon. All tuners and monitoring gear at WPTA did not show a problem until later at night. The manufacturer will not be able to see what went wrong until Tuesday. I was on the phone with them on Saturday and had no luck in getting it corrected.

Unfortunately this has been out of WPTA's control. We do pride ourselves in making the equipment that we do have work as well as possible. A lot of times we are at the mercy of the manufacturer.

Some tuners are working fine, while others are not.

The manufacture of the encoding gear needed to do a firmware update. This was done Friday late afternoon. All tuners and monitoring gear at WPTA did not show a problem until later at night. The manufacturer will not be able to see what went wrong until Tuesday. I was on the phone with them on Saturday and had no luck in getting it corrected.

Unfortunately this has been out of WPTA's control. We do pride ourselves in making the equipment that we do have work as well as possible. A lot of times we are at the mercy of the manufacturer.

Thanks for the explanation.You're the customer and I'm sure whatever you bought from the manufacturer was a hefty investment.Never let them do an update on Friday afternoon of a three-day holiday weekend-or any weekend for that matter.

Some tuners are working fine, while others are not.

Thanks for the explanation - That's why my Directv Tivo was working just fine on 21-1, but my built in tuner on my Tv set show the signal was there, but No Video.
That was alittle wierd - At least, I still watch the game in High Def and ND Won!

We finaly got the nd game in hd ota video only I am useing a voom box it has been very reliable to this point works 10 times better than my hitachi built in tuner. Had to listen to the audio from dishnet sat. You must understand with a 106" hd projector 9 guys and the first nd game of the year we were upset at first. You all should try to watch a football game with a 10 sec audo delay some time. It is really wierd.

The reason that the update was done so late was due to the manufaturer getting the new software to us late. We needed this update to be ready for the new MyTV channel (33.2) that starts on Tuesday at 7:00am This was to be done earlier in the week in order to have a few days before the Holiday weekend to work out any issues.

Thanks for the patience and the input!!!!!!!!

The reason that the update was done so late was due to the manufaturer getting the new software to us late. We needed this update to be ready for the new MyTV channel (33.2) that starts on Tuesday at 7:00am This was to be done earlier in the week in order to have a few days before the Holiday weekend to work out any issues.

Thanks for the patience and the input!!!!!!!!

How is the 33 power increase project going?

The WISE digital power upgrade should be done in 7-14 days.

The encoder problem with WPTA 21.1 and 21.2 is now corrected. Should be receiving both channels OK now. A rescan may be needed on some receivers.

Has anyone heard about the re-mastered Star Trek original series that will have all-new CGI effects replacing the original special effects? All the details are here (http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24344). The article says all 72 episodes are being redone in high definition and they start airing on Saturday the 16th. The local listings show WANE is broadcasting the first re-mastered episode (Balance of Terror) on their UPN station on cable at 5:00 on Saturday. Does anyone know if WANE will be showing the hi-def version at a different time?

1 episode of TOS will be airing on the UPN channel before moving over to WANE. We will not be carrying the HD version of the show at this time.

It's a real shame that WANE will not be carrying the hi-def Star Trek. Any reason why? I guess we will have to wait for the HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

ENGjas,
I noticed that duing conan there were certain time that the screen would get really pixelated or would be very soft, as if looking through a filter of some sort. It seemed to happen the most after a camera change. It almost reminds me of the time ABC stations had trouble with MNF and the picture getting soft everytime the scene changed or changed cameras. Could this be a side effect of the firmware problem you had?

Hi all- I am very new to HDTV- I have an HD Ready tv and just hooked up a Samsung settop box to it- It scans and all i get are the channel 15, 21 and 39 channels- 33 is almost coming in but just a little low on power so i cant get any of them and channel 55 fox doesnt come in at all- why is this? shouldnt i at least get the basic analog 33 and 55 to come in or does it not work that way with a settop box? and i saw something about 33 doing a power upgrade that should be done very soon- is that why i cannot get it today but should very soon? I live a little ways past the georgetown area close to new haven and use an antanae up on my roof- any information that would help a newbie that doesnt know much about any of this would help- i was hoping to watch the nfl kickoff tonight in hd but i guess that is out>:

I made a change at the encoder. See if that helps.

Are there any plans for WISE (and WPTA for that matter) to start broadcasting in 5.1 surround sound?

im sorry what exactly do you mean by making a change at the encoder? that may be a dumb question but im just not sure what you mean- i do not see any more options besides scanning for channels on the set top box menu- again im pretty green at all this so forgive me :(

im sorry what exactly do you mean by making a change at the encoder? that may be a dumb question but im just not sure what you mean- i do not see any more options besides scanning for channels on the set top box menu- again im pretty green at all this so forgive me :(

Believe he was answering the guy who posted ahead of you.I would study the set top box instructions very closely and try again.

Yes, There are plans in the very near future to broadcast 5.1 on WISE.

That is good news ENGjas. I was dissapointed during Football last night when they advertised 5.1 and my receiver said 2.0.

I too noticed the pixelization during camera changes last night during football.

I too noticed some minor pixelization during camera switches but on the whole the game looked awesome last night!

I thought last nights game was the worst HD game I have seen in a while.
I hope they get things working better for the Colts game on Sunday night

It seemed that after switching from 4:3 aspect ratio commercials then coming back to the HD feed for the game it took a while for the picture to come into sharp focus. Picture looked really soft then would gradually (2-3 secs.) sharpen up. Even noticed this at other times during the game as well, not sure if it was a national or local thing.

I called Samsung about my issue i posted earlier and they said it can only be a low signal issue and that 33 and 55 use the same tower so probably why I am not getting those two but I get all the rest- but I have a big antennae i had installed up on my roof a couple years ago and I live in fort wayne so can this really be the issue- he said i could try moving my antannae up on my roof around????? is the signal really that weak for someone that lives in fort wayne and has a roof antennae with nothing obstructing it? this is just my luck with about everything- it never just works- i feel like i wasted money on this set top box now to only get 3 of the 5 local channels in town......>:

I called Samsung about my issue i posted earlier and they said it can only be a low signal issue and that 33 and 55 use the same tower so probably why I am not getting those two but I get all the rest- but I have a big antennae i had installed up on my roof a couple years ago and I live in fort wayne so can this really be the issue- he said i could try moving my antannae up on my roof around????? is the signal really that weak for someone that lives in fort wayne and has a roof antennae with nothing obstructing it? this is just my luck with about everything- it never just works- i feel like i wasted money on this set top box now to only get 3 of the 5 local channels in town......>:

They don't use the same tower.55 is worthless.Do a search on this forum for their problem.I get 33 digital in Huntington with an indoor antenna sitting on top of my tv.It isn't perfect all the time, but, I get it and lock on.

I thought I read earlier that in the next week or so 33 is doing a power upgrade on their signal- is that accurate and if so will that maybe fix my channel 33 problem soon? Im just confused that I cannot get their signal with a good rooftop antenna if someone in huntington is getting it with an indoor antenna.

It should be noted that all this pixelization/loss of focus on 33 came when 33-2 was turned on; the NBC fall preview last weekend was awful. WSBT in South Bend had the same problem a while ago with their CBS HD/UPN SD/Weather SD setup; don't know if they still do. I remember watching Letterman on 22-1 (when the one-hour delay was still going on in the Fort) and any camera change just muddied up the picture. WANE was great by comparison. Statmuxing?

I live just past the georgetown area right next to new haven- i believe my antenna is tied to the base of my directv dish- they installed it with the dish a couple years ago- im not sure how i could turn it- its just like a big mesh looking antenna from what i can tell

ENGjas Do you forsee any issues on wise for my ND game this sat. You didnt do any upgrades today did you.

Really stupid, condescending comment that's not needed around here.

Listen, the cat has been posting, letting us know what's going on at his station, asking for our help in getting the signal right, and generally being available (unlike WFFT).

So ease up... if your hell-bent on seeing the Irish play fire up the F150, open your wallet to the tune of $800 for a scalper ticket and go to South Bend.

Anyone know how to get the HR10-250 from DirecTV to recognize the new subchannel setups on WISE? I reran the set-up for satellite and antenna and it's still only giving me 33-1.

Isn't ND supposed to be in HD?

Isn't ND supposed to be in HD?

Finally!

im having problems with the 33 signal here in huntington. i can pick it up, but doesnt seem to want to lock in. plus, seems to me that 33 turns down its signal late at nights and on weekends. am i the only one seeing that? i can pick up 15, 21, and 39 clear as a bell all day long, but 33 seems to come in and out. any thoughts? am running directv hd dvr with a simple terk indoor digital antenna, nothing real fancy but seems to do the job with the other channels fairly well, just 33. thanks for any feedback!

i just reran my setup the other night during the thursday night game. the other 33 digital channels came in, but i think they only come in if you have a signal lock on 33. they just dont appear out of thin air like the sattelite channels do. hope this helps!

Hmmm. I'm getting 33 at a very steady 90-92 signal strength but rerunning the setup did not bring me 33-2 or 33-3. I ran it Saturday morning, maybe they weren't broadcasting on those channels at the time? I doubt that's true.... I don't know, it's strange. Maybe I'll try running it again.

Another thing, no big deal, but it still bothers me... In DirecTVs guide, 21-1 and 21-2 are listed as having the same programming when in actuality 21-2 is running a weather radar. Who controls that information and how does it get corrected?

WTVG-DT in Toledo, which broadcasts on digital 19 just like WISE, comes in nicely at night when my antenna's pointed towards Ohio, so maybe interference is the reason for difficulties in receiving WISE at night?

WISE analog off the air just before half of Colts-Giants.Thank God for this Dish HD receiver and my little old indoor antenna.

Recording something else with my HD tuner tonight (so I can't check it) and watching the Colt's game in SD. It's been gone since 9:40pm or so. Nuthin' but static. Did the Digital signal drop as well?

Hope not!!

I've been watching it OTA in HD all night with no issues.

Recording something else with my HD tuner tonight (so I can't check it) and watching the Colt's game in SD. It's been gone since 9:40pm or so. Nuthin' but static. Did the Digital signal drop as well?

Hope not!!

Nope, digital stayed on.

FWIW, 33 analog was off-the-air for some time this afternoon as well.

33 has boosted its power as of right now.Excellent.

WISE Digital is now at full power!!!!!

Except for one notable exception, it's very commendable that our local broadcasters have made a real commitment in terms of investing time, efforts and funds to serving our community. They should be thanked and supported.
Thanks folks !!!

BTW - There's some interesting reading on NEXSTAR's web site, specifically in thier "About Us" section:

"Lastly, we believe that the stations we operate or provide services to are better managed than many of our competitors' stations. By providing equity incentives, we have been able to attract and retain station general managers with experience in larger markets who employ marketing and sales techniques that are not typically utilized in our markets."

[my italics]

So in other words, General Manager Bob Blancher has a direct financial incentive to contain costs, presumably that would include CapEx expenses as well. It would appear it's money in his pocket not to provide HD services to our community.

If I'm wrong about this, I would invite a response from Mr. Blancher. I think we all would be interested in hearing his side of the story.

WISE Digital is now at full power!!!!!

Great, I just cked and it is 93%. I'm up by the Tri-Lakes area.

I have noticed that 21 took a dive the last couple of weeks. The signal just goes haywire. Has anyone heard if WPTA is doing any work on their system?

diehard

I too noticed 21 took a complete nosedive this week after being real strong. Anyone know what is going on?

yes, im now getting 33 digital channels loud and clear! very strong 70-80's signal strength on my directv reciever. now i can watch purdue kick notre dame all over south bend in 3 weeks in HD....

Thanks for the heads up on the WPTA-DT signal. There was a problem found at the transmitter that is causing the erratic signal. This should be corrected overnight tonight.

Let me know how it looks on Friday.

WISE Digital is now at full power!!!!!

Thanks to some help from tropospheric enhancement in the area earlier this morning, WISE-DT was coming in nicely just south of Carmel (Indy area) @ 94 miles. I usually get WTVG-DT 19, Toledo, from this direction, but it appears that from now on it will most likely be WISE-DT.

Steve

Thanks for the heads up on the WPTA-DT signal. There was a problem found at the transmitter that is causing the erratic signal. This should be corrected overnight tonight.

Let me know how it looks on Friday.

Will check when I get home and report back. Thanks Engjas for all the feedback and guidance you have doled out on HD in Fort Wayne. Much appreciated!

Thanks for the heads up on the WPTA-DT signal. There was a problem found at the transmitter that is causing the erratic signal. This should be corrected overnight tonight.

Let me know how it looks on Friday.

WOW, thanks for the great response. You get A+ in my book.

Right now(9/15/06 4:24pm) I'm getting 58% and peaks to 64% on 21-1. That's better than the 30% I was getting previously and it is stable, not dropping off to 0%

As a comparison I'm getting 93 - 100% on 33-1.


diehard

Don't know where you're at, but, in Huntington with an indoor antenna I'm in the 80s-as usual-for 21-1 and the 70s for 33-1.

yeaaaaa I get all the channel 33 stations now- yeeeaaaaaa

So now that WB and UPN merged and are being broadcast on 21.2 (the CW), and the new network "MyNetworkTV" is being broadcast on 33.2, what's 15 carrying on 15.2? Could that bandwidth be better used on main channel when an HD program is airing? How much bandwidth is the .2 channel using anyway? Maybe it's so small it doesn't really matter..... Just curious.

Don't know where you're at, but, in Huntington with an indoor antenna I'm in the 80s-as usual-for 21-1 and the 70s for 33-1.

im over on rangeline road. i do know that if you live closer to downtown the signal strength goes to nothing due to the river valley. my in-laws live on the north end out near kmart and the signal is almost perfect, but, they arent in the valley. when i lived downtown a couple of years ago, i was told by my directv repair guy that id need about a 50ft antenna to pick the locals up. i didnt have enough land to do that at the time, but i moved since then. now, they all come in pretty strong so now im happy. :)

So now that WB and UPN merged and are being broadcast on 21.2 (the CW), and the new network "MyNetworkTV" is being broadcast on 33.2, what's 15 carrying on 15.2? Could that bandwidth be better used on main channel when an HD program is airing? How much bandwidth is the .2 channel using anyway? Maybe it's so small it doesn't really matter..... Just curious.
Look up post #1279. As for bandwidth, I don't know, but I'm guessing about 3 mbps, give or take a little bit. It's low enough that the picture occasionally suffers (WANE-DT is stat-muxed, so the bits are supposed to be distributed among subchannels as efficiently as possible.)

im over on rangeline road. i do know that if you live closer to downtown the signal strength goes to nothing due to the river valley. my in-laws live on the north end out near kmart and the signal is almost perfect, but, they arent in the valley. when i lived downtown a couple of years ago, i was told by my directv repair guy that id need about a 50ft antenna to pick the locals up. i didnt have enough land to do that at the time, but i moved since then. now, they all come in pretty strong so now im happy. :)

We are east of downtown, however, just a couple blocks north of the river.

OK, now that 33 is full power digital and the lone actual stubborn holdout is 55-what is the real story on 15 not being at full power?Anyone?

Anyone know why the Colts game is not HD?


/dissappointed

CBS only does 3 games each week in HD and they usually pick the bigger/better games to be one of those that get the HD coverage. Colts/Texans don't fall in that category. FOX has the capability of doing up to 6 games each week in HD, not that it matters to us here in Fort Wayne.....

CBS only does 3 games each week in HD and they usually pick the bigger/better games to be one of those that get the HD coverage. Colts/Texans don't fall in that category. FOX has the capability of doing up to 6 games each week in HD, not that it matters to us here in Fort Wayne.....


OK, thanks.

Over on the programming thread, there's a post that lists next weeks game 9/24/06 v. Jacksonville as being in HD.... win a few, lose a few, at least we DO get a few...

And for some completely different...

Just a quick note to ENGjas. The extra subbie is starting to affect SNF. You were looking very solid up until tonight, but I'm seeing it looking bit-starved. I know there's not much you can do about station policy, but I did note this on the programming thread where the 30 Rock boys are allegedly looking in... Perhaps someday they will give everyone the green light to go dark on the weather during high-bandwidth programming such as football.

Take care.

Over on the programming thread, there's a post that lists next weeks game 9/24/06 v. Jacksonville as being in HD.... win a few, lose a few, at least we DO get a few...

CBS also just released the 10/1 HD schedule; Colts Vs. Jets will also be in HD. Patriots-Bengals is the late game (assuming that is what WANE is assigned) will also be in HD.

And for some completely different...

Just a quick note to ENGjas. The extra subbie is starting to affect SNF. You were looking very solid up until tonight, but I'm seeing it looking bit-starved. I know there's not much you can do about station policy, but I did note this on the programming thread where the 30 Rock boys are allegedly looking in... Perhaps someday they will give everyone the green light to go dark on the weather during high-bandwidth programming such as football.

Take care.
When the encoders are upgraded sometime early in 2007, this will not be as much of a problem. The more efficient encoding, stat-mux and automation control of bandwidth will fix the problem of, “bit starvation”. I know this is not in time to help much with this football season, but help is on the way.

A quick note to ENGjas:

Last night (in Aboite township) I had great signal from 33-x but the 21 signals were all gone. This was between 8:45PM and about 11PM. Was there a problew with the transmitter? I was able to see analog 21 and CW via DirecTV but antenna pickup was nill?

Overall, HD in Ft Wayne is improving. Full power for WANE would be nice, and of course 55.......

A quick note to ENGjas:

Last night (in Aboite township) I had great signal from 33-x but the 21 signals were all gone. This was between 8:45PM and about 11PM. Was there a problew with the transmitter? I was able to see analog 21 and CW via DirecTV but antenna pickup was nill?

Overall, HD in Ft Wayne is improving. Full power for WANE would be nice, and of course 55.......
No, there were no problems with the transmitter last night. I was getting them at home all night with no drop outs at all.

A quick note to ENGjas:

Last night (in Aboite township) I had great signal from 33-x but the 21 signals were all gone. This was between 8:45PM and about 11PM. Was there a problew with the transmitter? I was able to see analog 21 and CW via DirecTV but antenna pickup was nill?

Overall, HD in Ft Wayne is improving. Full power for WANE would be nice, and of course 55.......

Had a glitch getting 21-s in Huntington during that same time frame.

Whats up with WANE and full power?

From the Gazette:

Verizon puts launch date for TV in ’07
City 1st in Indiana to get service

By Jenni Glenn
The Journal Gazette

Verizon Communications Inc. will add digital television to its local lineup of fiber-optic services next year, the company announced Tuesday.

The telecommunications giant already offers high-speed Internet and digital telephone service on its fiber-optic network in Fort Wayne and New Haven. The network, which cost more than $75 million, also is capable of supplying television service.

Verizon plans to build a multimillion-dollar complex to house equipment to receive and transmit TV signals on the fiber-optic network, spokeswoman Jane Howard said. She declined to disclose the exact cost of the equipment. Verizon did not specify exactly when it will roll out TV service next year.

Fort Wayne and New Haven will be the first market in the state to receive Verizon’s fiber-optic television service. Verizon is offering FiOS TV in about 80 cities in seven states, Howard said.

Verizon’s decision to launch its TV service in the local market will heighten the battle between the company and Comcast Corp. for television, phone and Internet customers. Both companies offer packages with all three services on a single bill, but Verizon’s contains DirecTV satellite television service. FiOS TV will give customers another service option in the marketplace, Howard said.

“Competition is always good for the consumer,” she said. “It means that they have a choice.”

Comcast has a head start in developing a triple play package with TV, phone and Internet service, spokesman Mark Apple said. The cable company introduced digital phone service in the market in December. About 75 percent of customers subscribing to Comcast services choose the package with all three services, he said.

“We feel like we’re in a great position to compete,” he said. “Verizon’s going to have to catch up with us.”

Verizon is billing FiOS as a success, although it has not disclosed how many local customers have subscribed to the Internet and phone service. The fiber-optic network is available to nearly every area of Fort Wayne, and many customers have been clamoring to know when the TV service would be available, Howard said. Verizon started building the network in March 2005 and hired nearly 900 workers, including 200 permanent employees, to develop the infrastructure.

The company expects to hire additional technicians to install fiber-optic TV service. Howard said the number of jobs has not been determined.

Verizon decided to introduce TV in Fort Wayne because the fiber-optic infrastructure already is in place here, Howard said. The community promotes innovation, and Verizon has a strong presence in Fort Wayne, she said.

FiOS TV provides more than 180 digital video and music channels in the markets where it is now offered, Howard said. The service includes more than 20 high-definition channels and 2,800 On Demand programs customers can watch when they choose. Verizon charges $39.95 a month for its fiber-optic television package called FiOS TV Premier, according to the company Web site.

Customers who receive FiOS TV, Internet and local phone service in Keller, Texas, pay $89.85 a month plus taxes and fees, Howard said. FiOS TV customers also need set-top boxes, which cost between $3.95 and $19.95 a month.

Comcast charges $99 a month plus taxes and fees for the first year of its bundled package of Internet, phone and cable TV service, Apple said. That includes more than 70 TV channels, about 15 high-definition channels and more than 3,000 On Demand programs.

Verizon’s television service is unlikely to force a reduction in the prices of other TV services, Apple said. Consumers already can choose between cable and satellite TV. He does not expect the local introduction of FiOS TV to start a price war.

“It’s not like this is the first time there’s going to be a competition,” he said.

I am moving to Knoxville, TN. I am sure going to miss my FIOS and now that there is at least a idea of the TV lunch date I really wish I could stay. It may be years before the service is available down there, let alone TV.

At the very least I will finally be able to get FOX in HD. ;)

Once again, if any old hand on here or expert as the case may be knows-what are the circumstances that have WANE-TV not yet at full digital power?Thanks.

A quick search at the FCC: they haven't been approved for 1Mw transmission yet:
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=987967 Notice that:
Status: ACCEPTED FOR FILING ... not GRANTED

The Engineering Data (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/eng_tv.pl?Application_id=987967) confirms this is the 1000kw ERP application.

A quick search at the FCC: they haven't been approved for 1Mw transmission yet:
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=987967 Notice that:
Status: ACCEPTED FOR FILING ... not GRANTED

The Engineering Data (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/eng_tv.pl?Application_id=987967) confirms this is the 1000kw ERP application.

Why?Obviously 21,33 and 39 have what they need.Whats the hold up with 15?

I saw that WPTA's signal was sort of erratic a couple of weeks ago. Is anyone having that problem today? It's usually pegged at 95 on my signal meter but today it's been erratically dropping down into the 70s (causing drops and skips in the audio/video). I've tried moving my antenna (it's a Channelmaster 4221 in my attic) and haven't had much luck. I'm hoping it gets better, or I find a way to make it better, before the ND-MSU game tonight!

Why?Obviously 21,33 and 39 have what they need.Whats the hold up with 15?

Coordination with Canada would be my guess. There's an analog on 31 near London, Ont..

The other three stations are using the channels originally assigned to them - channels that were cleared for use by the original allocation process. WANE is *not* using their originally-assigned channel, the process of getting the channel changed is going to take a bit of legal work.

(they originally drew channel 4, so you should be grateful they chose to change it!)

Over on the programming thread, there's a post that lists next weeks game 9/24/06 v. Jacksonville as being in HD.... win a few, lose a few, at least we DO get a few...


Colts/Jax is NOT HD...WTF!!!?? Steelers/Bengals are.


This sucks. Why tout having HD on a network when it's pick and choose like this.


EDIT: It is indeed scheduled to be HD!
http://www.wane.com/Global/link.asp?L=88331&nav=menu32_23

Called station.... "we're working on it..."

Just spitballin' here, but I'd guess the game is blacked-out in Indy, and with MC being done in Indy they just didn't set it up to do HD....

Thanks for regional hub switching folks....

Called station.... "we're working on it..."


Good, I was about to ..heh. What could the problem be?


Looks like they switched the Colts feed to 15-1, but still not HD

What is this mess! They better fix this soon! Is the contact number on their webpage the one to call?

(260)424-1515

I always call the newsroom... at this point it probably won't do any good...

YAY they flipped the switch..or something..

...and we lost 5.1 *sigh*

What, bonzy? You want video AND audio????

What, bonzy? You want video AND audio????


I hate to be picky.... :p


5.1 has been switching on and off all game.

Here's what happened folks:

There was a problem with the receiver here not switching to the correct transponder. This is a new set up this year (designed to allievate CBS pulling a last second transponder change, causing us to be on the wrong channel.) CBS is VERY aware of the problem at this point, I assure you.

As far as the 5.1, I don't know what the problem is yet. It is sporadic at the decoder here as well.

Calling the newsroom was the right thing to do. That is how the problem got to the maintenance staff here.

Thanks for the play-by-play jckrac...

I can't wait until the leaves are off of the trees and I can turn the antenna to WSBT in South Bend. They never had the problems last winter with the football games that channel 15 seems to have. Always had the right game and none of the audio cutouts that were experienced Sunday afternoon during the Colts game.

Does anyone here know of an installer who services the Peru, Miami County area? I have a 40' tower and need an experienced installer.

Thanks in advance.

According to WANE, Indy/NY are in HD at 1. Let's hope without incident!

According to WANE, Indy/NY are in HD at 1. Let's hope without incident!

Well, since The NFL Today on CBS is as well-every Sunday-and it isn't as of right now, don't hold your breath.

Well, since The NFL Today on CBS is as well-every Sunday-and it isn't as of right now, don't hold your breath.

Geez, you guys are a tough crowd!

For the record, we tracked down the issue that caused the issue last week and the system for the first time since its inception is able to control itself for the most part. Thats not to say there won't be a failure of something in the chain in the future.

But getting the part that had been the most pain running finally is a huge step in the right direction, and hopefully you guys will be happy with it.

Geez, you guys are a tough crowd!
hopefully you guys will be happy with it.
Well just for kicks I'll try a post with a positive message---as opposed to my usual rant about FOX 55...
I for one am very impressed with the amount and quality of OTA HD programming that is available in this area! Aside from the occasional glitch my only gripe with the big 3 is CBS's 'random' choice for which NFL game gets the HD treatment and which market gets the poopy SD picture... Sure wish they were all in HD --- EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME :D
Now if only we could get WFWA and WFFT into the 21st century with some HD.... :confused: oops did it again!
But anyway thanks to all the station members who participate in this forum and are always striving to improve our viewing experience. please keep up the good work!

Geez, you guys are a tough crowd!

The important item there is we are a crowd.We're watching!!!Thats a good thing.

Just some more positive info that I received in an email communication from PBS39 regarding lack of HD shows. It's nothing really new but it seems encouraging nonetheless:
from programming dept at www.wfwa.org :
However, when a program is sent down in HD by PBS and we are carrying it live off the satellite feed on 39-1, we broadcast it in High Def along with 2 standard def channels. However, because we independently schedule our programming locally we may not always carry feeds live when they come from PBS. The reason we cannot air recorded material in HD at this time is because we do not currently have the equipment to do so. However, in the near future we hope to make those purchases to ensure every program that is produced in high definition will be broadcast in high definition. We made the decision to delay the purchase of that equipment because the number of viewers who are equipped locally to receive HD programming was very low. Those numbers are increasing rapidly and luckily for us the cost of the recording equipment is decreasing rapidly!
So I guess it wouldn't hurt to give them a little feedback to let them know that we are out here waiting for more HD!!! ...oh and maybe pledge some $$$ if we get what we want ;)

laggytoad -

Good post, good news !!! Hope they get the gear in soon, I'd love to see them pick up "Soundstage" and run it in HD. Really fine music program.

BTW - Feel free to thump WFFT all you wish... Do you want to see the MLB playoffs in HD? Sorry, you're SOL...

Besides, I haven't seen any evidence that know about AVS forums, the internet, or even have the ability to read for that matter. It's for darn sure they don't give a rat's about our town.

I don't think the PBS39 response is accurate against the historical facts. PBS39 was the first station to go live with DTV/HDTV programming. In the beginning they would always show the national PBS HD feed along with the local analog feed on subchannel 2. As was reported here a while back, PBS39 felt there was not enough HD material on the national loop to warrant the replays so they decided to switch back to the analog programming material. Since this switch, I don't think I have ever seen HD material on PBS39 but someone can correct me. If you're able to pull in national HD feeds from other sources you will see the east/west coast feeds show the same programming at the same time. That is, the west coast channels are not time delaying (via recording equipment) the east coast feed. PBS39 could do the same if they wish.

Since the HD shutdown I have not watched PBS39. Currently on PBS39: The Red Green Show, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Paint Paper and Crafts, The Missing Link.

Currently playing on the national HD feed: HD Nova: Asteroid Series followed by HD Frontline: Return of the Taliban.

Personally I think it was a poor decision to remove the HD programming because it does nothing to promote their HD capabilities and potential donor revenue.

I don't think the PBS39 response is accurate against the historical facts. PBS39 was the first station to go live with DTV/HDTV programming. In the beginning they would always show the national PBS HD feed along with the local analog feed on subchannel 2. As was reported here a while back, PBS39 felt there was not enough HD material on the national loop to warrant the replays so they decided to switch back to the analog programming material. Since this switch, I don't think I have ever seen HD material on PBS39 but someone can correct me. If you're able to pull in national HD feeds from other sources you will see the east/west coast feeds show the same programming at the same time. That is, the west coast channels are not time delaying (via recording equipment) the east coast feed. PBS39 could do the same if they wish.

Since the HD shutdown I have not watched PBS39. Currently on PBS39: The Red Green Show, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Paint Paper and Crafts, The Missing Link.

Currently playing on the national HD feed: HD Nova: Asteroid Series followed by HD Frontline: Return of the Taliban.

Personally I think it was a poor decision to remove the HD programming because it does nothing to promote their HD capabilities and potential donor revenue.

Yep. Lets hope though that they realize that HD is important. Like you, I've not watched PBS39 since the loss of HD.

Haven't watched PBS at all anymore either. I used to watch it when it was HD, would watch nearly all of the HD programs. Would use the channel occasionally too to show off how good HD can look. A lot of the programs looked pretty good.

I have relatives that live between Wabash and Huntington in the Lagro area. They are looking into getting an HDTV. I was wondering if anyone has been able to pick up programming that area. Thanks! Great information on this forum. I have visited it frequently since buying my Sharp LCD HDTV.

Yep. Lets hope though that they realize that HD is important. Like you, I've not watched PBS39 since the loss of HD.

Neither have I, but they won't know that unless we write to tell them. :)
All they have to go on is Nielsen research and budget constraints to decide. At least if we all mention our viewpoint they will have a more complete picture of their possible HD viewer base. Drop them a line! For every one of us that emails them, you can bet that there are 10 more who feel the same way but haven't yet made their voice known.

Anyone catch the spot our old friend WFFT GM Bob Blacher ran before NYY-DET game four?

He was crying about "fighting for thier life" regarding some pending legislation. He swears up and down about how much good they do in the community "100's of hours" of work (that staff of seven people must be busy), showed a clip of some charity walk, of which I'm sure they strong-armed thier clients for hot dogs, balloons and folks to run the event.

I'm guessin' it was about either having to go digital (sorry Bob, everyone else in town seems to have figured it out), cable re-transmission fees (sorry Bob, everyone else in town seems to have figured it out), or maybe the Coupon Program for Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes... I'd love to tell you which, but of course he's not smart enough to put a link on the WFFT website to whatever website he telling everyone to check out on-air.

Anyway, if you're having that much trouble making things work Bob, perhaps you should just let the adults take over and you can go back to working at Radio Shack, or what ever else you were doing that made you think you were qualified to run a TV station. In the mean time, save your teary-eyed pleas for help and quit trying to scare people into thinking NASCAR is going away because you can't run your business right...

As always, you're welcome to leave a post, we'd be happy to hear your side of the story.

Anyone catch the spot our old friend WFFT GM Bob Blacher ran before NYY-DET game four?

He was crying about "fighting for thier life" regarding some pending legislation. He swears up and down about how much good they do in the community "100's of hours" of work (that staff of seven people must be busy), showed a clip of some charity walk, of which I'm sure they strong-armed thier clients for hot dogs, balloons and folks to run the event.

I'm guessin' it was about either having to go digital (sorry Bob, everyone else in town seems to have figured it out), cable re-transmission fees (sorry Bob, everyone else in town seems to have figured it out), or maybe the Coupon Program for Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes... I'd love to tell you which, but of course he's not smart enough to put a link on the WFFT website to whatever website he telling everyone to check out on-air.

Anyway, if you're having that much trouble making things work Bob, perhaps you should just let the adults take over and you can go back to working at Radio Shack, or what ever else you were doing that made you think you were qualified to run a TV station. In the mean time, save your teary-eyed pleas for help and quit trying to scare people into thinking NASCAR is going away because you can't run your business right...

As always, you're welcome to leave a post, we'd be happy to hear your side of the story.

I'm beginning to wonder about WPTA on the weekends as well. Why are they showing infomercials in the afternoon when other cities are showing Big Ten football? I guess that's why I don't watch Fort Wayne locals.

And we're getting a primetime game with no local interest (ISU v. Nebraska) instead of a matchup between to top 20 teams (and two of the top 3 in the PAC-10). Oh well, that's why I have the Game Plan. Although this does mean I don't get to see it in HD. :(

I have relatives that live between Wabash and Huntington in the Lagro area. They are looking into getting an HDTV. I was wondering if anyone has been able to pick up programming that area. Thanks! Great information on this forum. I have visited it frequently since buying my Sharp LCD HDTV.

i live between huntington and andrews and BEFORE MY HR10-250 DECIDED TO TAKE A HUGE CRAP!! i was able to get all the ft wayne channels with an indoor terk antenna pretty clearly. now that i have the all new piece of junk hr20 from directv that for some godforsaken reason has the antenna options turned off (GRRRR!!!). i had directv send me 3, yes 3 hr10's and all of them were screwed up at arrival. of course, they were all refurbished, but i digress.....yes, i was able to get the locals at my locale...

Anybody know why CBS is not broadcasting the Colts in HD this week?

Anybody know why CBS is not broadcasting the Colts in HD this week?

Colts never were scheduled in HD this week. They weren't one of the 3 selected this week.

And I have it on pretty good authority that the Colts won't be next week either :D

CBS only does three (?) HD games per week... No Colt Conspiracy, just luck of the draw, availability of HD trucks, and perhaps not enough marquee value.

And remember, at least WANE & WISE will provide NFL in HD if it's available.

Our next chance for Indy in HD will be Halloween weekend when they travel to Denver. Next week they're off and the week after that they're on FOX.

Anyone catch the spot our old friend WFFT GM Bob Blacher ran before NYY-DET game four?

He was crying about "fighting for thier life" regarding some pending legislation. He swears up and down about how much good they do in the community "100's of hours" of work (that staff of seven people must be busy), showed a clip of some charity walk, of which I'm sure they strong-armed thier clients for hot dogs, balloons and folks to run the event.

I'm guessin' it was about either having to go digital (sorry Bob, everyone else in town seems to have figured it out), cable re-transmission fees (sorry Bob, everyone else in town seems to have figured it out), or maybe the Coupon Program for Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes... I'd love to tell you which, but of course he's not smart enough to put a link on the WFFT website to whatever website he telling everyone to check out on-air.

Anyway, if you're having that much trouble making things work Bob, perhaps you should just let the adults take over and you can go back to working at Radio Shack, or what ever else you were doing that made you think you were qualified to run a TV station. In the mean time, save your teary-eyed pleas for help and quit trying to scare people into thinking NASCAR is going away because you can't run your business right...

As always, you're welcome to leave a post, we'd be happy to hear your side of the story.


I'd love to see this. Hopefully it will be replayed. WFFT can close the doors if they like then us satellite folks will be eligible for east/west coast locals in of course HD. If they are only employing 7 people it's not a real big loss, closing down a McDonalds would result in more lost jobs/dollars.

I was looking through the On Demand menu last night and noticed that the CSI show replays are now available in HD. It was under the Network shows listings.

Well, I managed to catch the Bob Blacher(sp) message on Fox tonight. He basically states the FCC is trying to shut down local stations that serve the community (ha). He gives the website www.preservelocaltv.com (which upon close scrutiny is run by Nexstar) (ha again). Go there for a good laugh; you can even view the spot and lots of other stations sob stories. It looks like Nexstar is using its station managers as pawns in its attempt to get the public behind its inability to upgrade to a full digital operation (not mentioned, but implied). Free advice for Nexstar: don't pay your CEOs so g** d*** much.

Edit: special intrest groups...I personally cannot wait for the end of analog as that will open the way for other services much more relavent today, such as wimax internet for those in the boonies. I have a friend that just got wimax here close to auburn. He lives about 500 yards from the main cable trunk line that feeds others in the country, but the cable company wouldn't drop a line for him. Currently, the wimax is being operated off the channel 7 tower across from Lakewood Park.

Maybe I'm dense this morning, but what bandwagon does Nexstar want us to jump on?
"Preserve local TV" sounds good ... but how do you promote localism by increasing national ownership? TV should be local except Nexstar stations?

Personally I find their website to be arrogant -- a list of their stations as if no other market mattered yet worded as if they were speaking for all local stations. (BTW: It doesn't take close scrutiny to read the Nexstar copyright on every page.)

The "petition" wording doesn't suggest any changes in the digital TV rules - even though it seems that they are using the 'fact' that the big bad government is forcing conversion to DT as a threat against their viewers.

Hopefully many will see the site for the scam that it is. I'm sure the FCC and others can spot a form letter when they see one. Perhaps we should fill out a few "keep up the good work" letters on their site and sue them if comments that Nexstar doesn't agree with are not published and forwarded. After all, if they censor local comment they can't be for local content.

I also failed to see their logic in saving local TV by having more than one owner in a market.

Honestly, I think the best thing for WFFT and all of nexstar stations, given the situation they are in, is to flash cut to full power digital in 09. Maybe they could just hook their channel 55 tranmitter to their digital output. Granted, thats not what I want, wouldn't provide HD, nor do I know if it is even an option for a station of the big four.

I honestly do not know what they are trying to accomplish with this website. Maybe they should provide a section for those that are not led around by the bit and show the actual FCC rulings in question and what they demand. If they don't, maybe some enterprising individual here on the board could post a link to the ruling?

Well, instead of doing my computer science project due today, I did a little looking on the fcc site and came up with these:

Here is the main page about the rules in question:
http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/

And the rules specifically:
http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/rules.html

And quoting from this link
Local Television Ownership Limit - Under the current rule, a single entity may own two television stations in the same local market if (1) the so-called “Grade B” contours of the stations do not overlap; or (2) at least one of the stations in the combination is not ranked among the top four stations in terms of audience share and at least eight independently owned and operating commercial or non-commercial full-power broadcast television stations would remain in the market after the combination. The Commission in 2003 voted to revise the local TV ownership rule to permit an entity to own up to two television stations in markets with 17 or fewer television stations, and up to three television stations in markets with 18 or more television stations. The rule revision was challenged in Prometheus and has not taken effect. The Further Notice seeks comment on whether the Commission should revise the number of stations that can be commonly owned or whether additional evidence or analysis exists that would further justify the limits adopted in 2003.

And:
Dual Network Ban - The current rule permits common ownership of multiple broadcast networks but prohibits a merger between or among the “top four” networks, i.e., ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. The restraint was not an issue in Prometheus. The Further Notice calls for comment on whether the restriction should be retained.


It looks like it doesn't directly affect the Fort Wayne market, but does for most of nexstar stations since they own two of the big four in many small markets. This rule would in effect break up nexstar (hurrah!!). Maybe someone else more competent could run this fox station. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard since lately fox has some good programming as well as the world series, NFL, and (i think) the super bowl this year.

I don't think these rules would apply to WISE/WPTA since the ownership is not the same, although I think it is aimed at situations like WISE/WPTA, but doesn't address multiple stations managed by one entity.

I don't think the PBS39 response is accurate against the historical facts. PBS39 was the first station to go live with DTV/HDTV programming. In the beginning they would always show the national PBS HD feed along with the local analog feed on subchannel 2. As was reported here a while back, PBS39 felt there was not enough HD material on the national loop to warrant the replays so they decided to switch back to the analog programming material. Since this switch, I don't think I have ever seen HD material on PBS39 but someone can correct me. If you're able to pull in national HD feeds from other sources you will see the east/west coast feeds show the same programming at the same time. That is, the west coast channels are not time delaying (via recording equipment) the east coast feed. PBS39 could do the same if they wish.

Since the HD shutdown I have not watched PBS39. Currently on PBS39: The Red Green Show, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Paint Paper and Crafts, The Missing Link.

Currently playing on the national HD feed: HD Nova: Asteroid Series followed by HD Frontline: Return of the Taliban.

Personally I think it was a poor decision to remove the HD programming because it does nothing to promote their HD capabilities and potential donor revenue.

I Pickup the National PBS HD Feed on Channel 49 out of Muncie - Fantastic Video

Edit: special intrest groups...I personally cannot wait for the end of analog as that will open the way for other services much more relavent today, such as wimax internet for those in the boonies. I have a friend that just got wimax here close to auburn. He lives about 500 yards from the main cable trunk line that feeds others in the country, but the cable company wouldn't drop a line for him. Currently, the wimax is being operated off the channel 7 tower across from Lakewood Park.
OK, now I'm hooked, cause dialup is killing me here in rural Waterloo. Who runs the Wimax and what's the range?

(Oh, and about Nexstar: anytime I hear about "the community" from them and the other stations in Fort Wayne, all it seems to be comprised of are high school sports and charity walks. Surely there has to be more to Fort Wayne... even if it IS Fort Wayne.)

The wimax is run by lightningnet. http://www.lightningnet.net The speed isn't as good as cable, but comparable to dsl and definitly much, much better than dialup. So, yes the shutdown of analog will be benifical even to those in rural areas.

Ryan,

I find it hilarious that Nexstar used the same map for their "preservelocalTV" and Nexstar sites...


Also, they sure are wordy. Hire a creative writer!

Hey long time no see, did you get my email i submitted via your bonzy.net site?

Hey long time no see, did you get my email i submitted via your bonzy.net site?


Ha, I was wondering who that was!

Hire a creative writer!

What, and cut into that million dollar payroll they say they have????

Ya' know, the most frustrating part of this whole WFFT thing is the feeling of being helpless to do anything about it.

The FCC is worthless ever since they gave up on the idea that broadcasters should operate for the public interest, convenience and necessity.

One could buy a boatload of NXST stock, but then you're operating under the principle of "If you lie with dogs, you're going to get fleas"

God knows we've tried to call them out in this forum. I've even left a post on one of the forums where the FOX brass check in to let them know these guys arn't doing them any favors.

The only other avenue would be to approach thier sponsors but from what I've seen, the caliber of businesses airing spots on WFFT don't strike me as folks that are interested in anything other than moving that cherry(?) 1972 Nova with 145,000 miles and leopard print seat covers off the lot. Not the Crème da la Creme of the Fort Wayne business community. (See "get fleas" above)

Any ideas short of tweaking the power grid?

So for those of us with DirecTV, how do we go about getting a waiver to get the national FOX feed?

So for those of us with DirecTV, how do we go about getting a waiver to get the national FOX feed?

Unless things have changed, you have to get a waiver via the local affiliate, based on your location. If "THE MAP" says you are able to receive OTA (Doesn't matter if you actually can or can't get a signal) then you're SOL.

Only time I was able to get a waiver was years ago in another city, and that was because I worked with one of the engineers who kinda let it get through.... in other words, don't hold your breath.

Sorry...

The wimax is run by lightningnet. http://www.lightningnet.net The speed isn't as good as cable, but comparable to dsl and definitly much, much better than dialup. So, yes the shutdown of analog will be benifical even to those in rural areas.
Thanks a lot for the info, Ryan; these guys need to advertise! After some googling, I assume their maximum range is over 10 miles, so I might have a shot. Hopefully the prices are reasonable.

Wow, WISE HD is having some major problems, at least on my Comcast HD feed.. stuttering and pixels everywhere...

I just hooked up my silver sensor..it's definitely the Comcast HD feed..

Our next chance for Indy in HD will be Halloween weekend when they travel to Denver. Next week they're off and the week after that they're on FOX.

Just released from CBS:
THE FOLLOWING LISTS THE NFL GAMES TO BE BROADCAST IN HIGH DEFINITION FOR THE UPCOMING WEEKS OF THE SCHEDULE.

SUN, OCTOBER 22
1:00-5:00PM CNYT/10:00AM-2:00PM CPT
PITTSBURGH @ ATLANTA
NEW ENGLAND @ BUFFALO

4:00-7:00PM CNYT/1:00-4:00PM CPT
DENVER @ CLEVELAND


*SUN, OCTOBER 29
1:00-4:00PM CNYT/10:00AM-1:00PM CPT
JACKSONVILLE @ PHILADELPHIA
BALTIMORE @ NEW ORLEANS

4:00-7:00PM CNYT/1:00-4:00PM CPT
INDIANAPOLIS @ DENVER


And just so nobody runs us up the pole, a pre-emptive strike for this coming weekend: The Colts will be over on 55. As much as the newsroom folks love discussing HD with you all, they wanted to make sure as many people are aware as possible.

As much as the newsroom folks love discussing HD with you all

Yeah, I bet they're tickled pink !!!

Thanks for the heads-up...

ATTN: ENGjas

Are you guys running your DTV over glass to Comcast?

Nasty, nasty breakups Monday night on WISE, bad weather I know, understandable on OTA, not so understandable on cable. At first I thought it was the famous NBC Ku "raining @ 30 Rock" deal, but when you went to local for news same thing.

Thanks !

Comcast receives all of the local digital signals over the air. Only the analog is sent via fiber. We are working with comcast to try and resolve the problem.

I'll say again...

Thanks very much, both ENGjas and jckrac for being exceptional professionals by being willing to respond to the concerns of your viewers. You're building up some serious good Karma for your employers and yourselves.

Much appreciated !!!

I was getting drop-outs during Heroes when I was watching OTA through my HR10-250. About halfway through I switched to watching it OTA straight through the TV and the drop outs went away. I assumed the issue was the flaky tuners they have in those machines, but maybe I just got lucky between 9:30 and 10.

ENGjas - Any idea when the problem with WISE HD will be resolved?

Just FYI,
I have the same issue with my DirecTV tuner also. My LG TV receives OTA much better. The LG has the Generation 5 tuner (the latest) and I believe the DirecTV box is only the 3rd or possibly the 4th generation tuner.
The built in tuner also is much cleaner when it comes to the sub channels.

ENGjas - Any idea when the problem with WISE HD will be resolved?
No, The problem appears to be at Comcast. They are going to try some things in the morning to see if it will correct the problem. Everything has checked out at the WISE end so far.

No, The problem appears to be at Comcast. They are going to try some things in the morning to see if it will correct the problem. Everything has checked out at the WISE end so far.

Thanks, ENGjas. When I talked with Comcast this afternoon, they said it was a network problem, so they obviously didn't know. So do you know what happened to screw things up so bad? Everything seemed to be working perfectly until this weekend.

This really sucks. I've already missed Heroes for the week!

so they obviously didn't know.

or don't care.

Thanks, ENGjas. When I talked with Comcast this afternoon, they said it was a network problem, so they obviously didn't know. So do you know what happened to screw things up so bad? Everything seemed to be working perfectly until this weekend.

This really sucks. I've already missed Heroes for the week!
I have no idea what happened. Nothing has changed at my end.

The Comcast problem has been resolved. I took a station receiver down to Comcast and this resolved the problem. To their credit, they did try three different tuners, but they were all the same model.
There was some kind of incompatibility problem that model.

Anyone that is receiving Comcast's WISE digital feeds on a non Comcast tuner, the channel has changed.
On the LG tuner it is now on 78-13 (WISE), 78-14 (WeatherPlus), 78-15 (MyTV).

Hope Comcast gives you a month of free HBO for your trouble !!!

Thanks...

Hope Comcast gives you a month of free HBO for your trouble !!!

Thanks...

Speaking of free HBO on Comcast, during the past couple of months, Comcast has had free previews of Showtime and Starz. In the past, when they have done free previews of HBO, we got HBO HD as part of the preview. Did anyone receive the Showtime or Starz HD channels during their recent previews? I received the SD channels, but not HD.

By the way, a big thanks to ENGjas for resolving Comcast's problem with WISE HD!!

The Comcast problem has been resolved. I took a station receiver down to Comcast and this resolved the problem. To their credit, they did try three different tuners, but they were all the same model.
There was some kind of incompatibility problem that model.

Just in time for The Office tonight.

Is there anyone else here with an HR10-250 who's had their 21-1 season passes get screwed up? I have several season passes for 21-1, some current some not, and every one of them now shows channel 14, which is the CW on my DirecTV locals. Looking at the guide data for 14, it is identical to 21 (DirecTV local) as well as 21-1 (OTA). Fine, whatever, the guide data is screwed up. But why would season passes that I set up and had been showing 21-1 in the past suddenly change to 14? Luckily I found out about it before I missed a show due to this. Anyone have any ideas?

Speaking of free HBO on Comcast, during the past couple of months, Comcast has had free previews of Showtime and Starz. In the past, when they have done free previews of HBO, we got HBO HD as part of the preview. Did anyone receive the Showtime or Starz HD channels during their recent previews? I received the SD channels, but not HD.

By the way, a big thanks to ENGjas for resolving Comcast's problem with WISE HD!!

I too could only get the SD channels during the free previews. The corresponding HD channel had the usual "not-authorized" screen.

Is there anyone else here with an HR10-250 who's had their 21-1 season passes get screwed up? I have several season passes for 21-1, some current some not, and every one of them now shows channel 14, which is the CW on my DirecTV locals. Looking at the guide data for 14, it is identical to 21 (DirecTV local) as well as 21-1 (OTA). Fine, whatever, the guide data is screwed up. But why would season passes that I set up and had been showing 21-1 in the past suddenly change to 14? Luckily I found out about it before I missed a show due to this. Anyone have any ideas?

Same Setup Here, I Did Not Catch It In Time and Got some Channel 14 CW Recording - Had to remove Channel 14 from my recieve channel list - Seem like the problem started when directv did a software upgrade on the HR10-250 in the middle of the night. I knew it was coming from the Messages I've been getting.

Hmm... I haven't been connected via phone line since my initial set-up over a year ago. So whatever it was, it wasn't due to anything over the phone line. Must have been something that came down over the satellite?

Anyone else experiencing some weirdness out of Fort Wayne at this time.Sunday November 5th 4:50 PM?

Yes, me too. I show strong signal strength when I test, but yet the picture is either pixelated or not there at all. Same thing with channel 21. Do they (33 & 21) share broadcast equipment nowadays?

Yes, me too. I show strong signal strength when I test, but yet the picture is either pixelated or not there at all. Same thing with channel 21. Do they (33 & 21) share broadcast equipment nowadays?


Same here, signal is fine but no picture on either 21 or 33! Anyone try calling the station yet? I sure hope it works by kickoff at 8:15 tonight!!! =)

I tried calling the number on their web site, but couldn't reach a human.

I tried calling the number on their web site, but couldn't reach a human.


Before I've gotten a human at Newsroom: 260-483-8111

I just talked to their newsroom. They said they have a problem with their digital feed. They had no ETA on a fix. Analog still works, so I guess I'll watch on that.

I tried calling the number on their web site, but couldn't reach a human.

Got a human.The board that feeds all digital channels for both stations fried today.Doesn't sound like theres any way the game will be on digital 33 tonight.

Well, its working right now.

Maybe they put a penny in the fuse socket or a matchstick in the control relay.

We had a equipment failure, It has been temporally fixed, should hold until a new part arrives.

We had a equipment failure, It has been temporally fixed, should hold until a new part arrives.

Thanks, Enjas.

WPTA is having some SERIOUS ghosting issues on DirecTV. I don't know if anyone else is having that.

My OTA signal is fine, and other locals on the satellite are OK, so it must be 21.


Also, anyone watching Law and Order Tuesday night got seriously screwed. The talking heads cut in the final 10 minutes of the show for election coverage, so no one got to find out the solution to the murder.

Anyone out there know who the murderer was?

Did WISE-HD get remapped yet again on Comcast?

Answering own question: Yes, back to 77-3/4/5... Thanks for nothin' Comcast

During last nights football game the digital signal kept dropping and finally they just gave up?

Seems like this has been happening for on and off for the last few weeks... Is WISE going to get this under control? What is going on?

I didn't have any issues on my end. I was watching over-the-air. Were you watching through Comcast?

I did have issues with the signal pixelating/freezing during Heroes tonight (been having the issue on and off across all channels) but it appears it's my satellite receiver because when I switch to watching it through my TV everything is fine. Unfortunately for me, I can't Tivo the signal that's going through the TV tuner so I have to hope the machine isn't flaky when I'm out and recording something. :(

I noticed the pixelation tonight as well. Must've been some tropo or something screwing with the signal.

It is heavy over our area.

WISE is prempting Las Vegas tonight to show I.U. basketball. Does anyone know whether they are going to show it at another time on a delayed basis?

I left two phone messages with their programming dept. this week asking this question and also sent an e-mail to the manager but received no response to any of these inquiries.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/16036865.htm

Interesting article. Did I infer correctly that the WISE digital transmission is coming (or will in the future) from a different location (such as WPTA's tower)?

I wonder who would even buy it. Maybe it's the right time for WFFT to move crosstown and start a news operation... under a new owner, anyway. If the facility is to be used again, I'm guessing it'll be WANE.

(I'm guessing the digital signal's still coming from State Street. There'd have to be some major construction work on WPTA's tower to facilitate two antennas. Can WPTA's tower even hold a second antenna, like WXIN Indy does with WTTK?)

Does anyone know the QAM equivalent for the Comcast Universal HD channel? Thanks!!

I wonder who would even buy it. Maybe it's the right time for WFFT to move crosstown and start a news operation... under a new owner, anyway. If the facility is to be used again, I'm guessing it'll be WANE.

(I'm guessing the digital signal's still coming from State Street. There'd have to be some major construction work on WPTA's tower to facilitate two antennas. Can WPTA's tower even hold a second antenna, like WXIN Indy does with WTTK?)

Remember the problems a couple Sundays ago, one power module board affected both 21 and 33's digital signals.

What I thought was interesting is they are selling the property that housed the station they own and all thats left is the station they run under contract.
What if someone else gets that contract someday?

Does anyone know the QAM equivalent for the Comcast Universal HD channel? Thanks!!

Is that even available in The Fort?

Yup...At least that is what my friends tell me (They have Comcast Digital Cable). I just have a Samsung QAM Tuner. I get all the other HD channels from Comcast except Universal HD. I would love to watch that with my Tuner...Just need the QAM channel.

Is there something up with digital 21 today? My Satellite receiver (HR10-250 from DirecTV) is not locking in at all (signal strength bounces between 0 and 60) and even through the TV tuner there's an occasional glitch (but it holds pretty steady in the upper 80's low 90's signal strength). Typically I get a rock solid 98 through the TV and around 90 through the satellite receiver. I watched Grey's Anatomy last night through the satellite receiver with no glitches and have not touched the antenna. (I have a Channel Master 4221 in my attic.) Why would it suddenly be a bad signal?

Speaking of bad signals, I've been having problems across the board in the last month or two. When I first switched from the silver sensor on top of my TV to the Channel Master in my attic I thought I had solved my problems of flaky signal strength. I positioned the antenna such that my signal readings through the satellite receiver were:
15: 88 to 90
21: 92 to 95
33: 92 to 95
39: 71 to 80
55: 65 to 71

All signals were pretty much rock solid so glitches and pixelation was a vey rare event. In the last month or two I've found myself having to adjust the antenna constantly because one channel will be coming in nicely but another one is constantly freezing and pixelating. And I haven't been able to get 21 or 33 back to that 95 level no matter how much I've tried. It's gotten to the point where I can't trust my Tivo to record without me being home to make sure the antenna is adjusted properly.

I do have a line of trees between me and the TV towers. Would the bare trees vs. full trees be causing this? I would think reception should get better once the leaves come down. That's the only thing that I can think of that has changed since I first set up my attic antenna.

Any thoughts/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated!

PS - I live about 5 miles from the towers, just north of Illinois Road and a couple miles west of I-69.

Is there something up with digital 21 today? My Satellite receiver (HR10-250 from DirecTV) is not locking in at all (signal strength bounces between 0 and 60) and even through the TV tuner there's an occasional glitch (but it holds pretty steady in the upper 80's low 90's signal strength). Typically I get a rock solid 98 through the TV and around 90 through the satellite receiver. I watched Grey's Anatomy last night through the satellite receiver with no glitches and have not touched the antenna. (I have a Channel Master 4221 in my attic.) Why would it suddenly be a bad signal?

Speaking of bad signals, I've been having problems across the board in the last month or two. When I first switched from the silver sensor on top of my TV to the Channel Master in my attic I thought I had solved my problems of flaky signal strength. I positioned the antenna such that my signal readings through the satellite receiver were:
15: 88 to 90
21: 92 to 95
33: 92 to 95
39: 71 to 80
55: 65 to 71

All signals were pretty much rock solid so glitches and pixelation was a vey rare event. In the last month or two I've found myself having to adjust the antenna constantly because one channel will be coming in nicely but another one is constantly freezing and pixelating. And I haven't been able to get 21 or 33 back to that 95 level no matter how much I've tried. It's gotten to the point where I can't trust my Tivo to record without me being home to make sure the antenna is adjusted properly.

I do have a line of trees between me and the TV towers. Would the bare trees vs. full trees be causing this? I would think reception should get better once the leaves come down. That's the only thing that I can think of that has changed since I first set up my attic antenna.

Any thoughts/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated!

PS - I live about 5 miles from the towers, just north of Illinois Road and a couple miles west of I-69.

I have the same setup that you have except that my antenna is on the roof. I live 35 miles west of Ft. Wayne and on Thanksgiving day, I couldn't receive any Ft. Wayne stations reliably. I then rotated the antenna to South Bend as I can always get those stations, and I couldn't get those either. I assumed that I had antenna issues.

I called a friend of mine who does antenna service, and he told be that he couldn't get his ota signals, and that I was the 6th person to call him that morning wanting antenna work done due to reception problems. The only thing he could figure out was that there was some sort of atmospheric anomaly that was causing problems with reception. He said that he could get stations from Van Wert and Detroit, but he couldn't pull in anything from Ft. Wayne.

My signal strength returned by Saturday, but I had to reprogram my rotor settings to get the best signal strength. Very weird stuff.

FYI:

Saw this on another website:

Granite Broadcasting Problems? (http://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15548&sid=1001cb0f0f16b6b7e1e498cb98c7ea02)

Hope things work out... and ENGjas, keep your head up and your sneakers laced tight, huh???

on Thanksgiving day, I couldn't receive any Ft. Wayne stations reliably. I then rotated the antenna to South Bend as I can always get those stations, and I couldn't get those either. I assumed that I had antenna issues.

Very weird stuff.

I found the same problem when I started watching Thanksgiving evening just north of Warsaw. My antennas are up on a 100' tower. I was still able to get the So. Bend stations. I had noticed earlier in the day, while driving, that FM reception was weaker than normal. Since I have separate antennas and was still able to get the SB stations, I figured something was wrong with the one antenna or downlead after checking all the rest of the connections.

Like you, everything went back to normal by Saturday and then I remembered the FM weakness and decided it was some kind of atmospheric. Very strange!

I live in new haven and have directv. Do i recieve any hd programming without the hd package? should i install an antenna for local channels? Any insight would be appreciated by this newbie. thanks

I live in new haven and have directv. Do i recieve any hd programming without the hd package? should i install an antenna for local channels? Any insight would be appreciated by this newbie. thanks
If you want the best picture quality and can do it, install an antenna for your locals!

I assume you have an HR10-250? If so, the only way you can get HD channels without subscribing to their HD package is to install an antenna and set-up the HR10-250 to receive satellite and off-air channels. You'll get CBS, NBC, and ABC in high definition using this method (plus the subchannels on 15, 21, 33, and 39).

If you have an H20-700 (the new DirecTV HD receiver) you can do the same, but the off-air tuners won't be activated until the beginning of December. Since that's only a few days away, you should be safe in getting an antenna and then getting it set up over the next couple of weeks.

If you want anything other than CBS, NBC, or ABC in HD, you'll need to subscribe to the HD package.

BTW - Of all the talk of DirecTV's picture quality being subpar, I find the HD channels to be pretty high quality. SD looks like crap on my HDTV but the satellite HD channels look as good or better (in the case of football action) than the OTA HD channels.

If you have an H20-700 (the new DirecTV HD receiver) you can do the same, but the off-air tuners won't be activated until the beginning of December. Since that's only a few days away, you should be safe in getting an antenna and then getting it set up over the next couple of weeks.

May have more than a couple weeks----


http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=71409&highlight=HR20+delay

Why does that not surprise me.

I have an H-20, and thanks to all have posted to help me out. Im not sure what this OTA is? I guess i will run coax cable into the ditectv reciever and somehow tell it to switch to an antenna feed? I have two coax outputs on my wall, and as of now both are being used. I assume one is for cable and the other is being used for local channels i receive through directv. I currently have two dishes on my house that will be replaced shortly with one dish with 5 LNBs. Will this new dish only use up one of the coax lines? Freeing up the other to install an antenna and connect it to the multiplexer which would run the line into my house? where should i buy an antenna? looks like i need a vhf-yellow and i need to have it pointed to 293* for best reception according to a website i ran into.

OTA stands for over-the-air, meaning you get the signal via antenna rather than cable or satellite. I don't have an H-20 or a 5 LNB satellite so I don't know the details of how they run their lines. Maybe someone else here has some experience with it, if not you may want to try a different subforum on this website. They may have your answers in this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=598538 or in a different thread in that subforum.

As far as antennas are concerned, a lot of people rave about the Channel Master 4228. I got the smaller version 4221, and for the most part it works pretty well for me mounted in my attic. I really believe what reception issues I have are more due to my receiver than the antenna. At any rate, I got it for $35 or $40 from www.warrenelectronics.com.

Good luck in getting your system set up, and feel free to ask questions. Someone around here usually can provide an answer or some help in finding an answer. We (or I, anyway) look forward to hearing about your experiences with the H20.

Pardon my ignorance but I'm new here, I've tried to read through this 50 page post and find answers but I still have a question or two, and would appreciate any help.

a) does Comcast still broadcast their hdtv in clear-qam?

b) do I need to know the channel numbers to receive them all and what channels would I receive?

c)what qam type are they? 64? 256?

Again TIA
CaseyC

As far as I can tell, only the locals are in clear-qam. All the others are now encrypted. My Sony has 33 tuned in at 77.3, 21 is on 3.1, and 15 is on 4.1. Since 39 and 55 don't broadcast HD signals, I don't know if they are offered outside of the standard channel mapping (channel 3 and channel 12). I haven't gone looking for them. As for your last question, I have no clue. :cool:

That's a shame.. is there a specific date for fiostv yet? There's no way I'm giving comcast that much money.

Verizon just applied for their TV permit this week..... http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/16121184.htm. I had the internet installed this weekend and was told TV would be available in the first quarter of next year. Talking with several friends of mine, the date given out by Verizon seems to be in the February to April timeframe. Not too far away!

Sweet, thanks!

I found the same problem when I started watching Thanksgiving evening just north of Warsaw. My antennas are up on a 100' tower. I was still able to get the So. Bend stations. I had noticed earlier in the day, while driving, that FM reception was weaker than normal. Since I have separate antennas and was still able to get the SB stations, I figured something was wrong with the one antenna or downlead after checking all the rest of the connections.

Like you, everything went back to normal by Saturday and then I remembered the FM weakness and decided it was some kind of atmospheric. Very strange!

WOW, I thought my system went down. I was out of town for 3 weeks and come home on Thanksgiving day and turned on the TV and nothing come in worth squat. After moving my antennas around I finally got some week signals, but they were pretty bad.

Now they are back to where they were before. Better know that there was atmospheric problems than my system.

diehard

Anyone with an HR10-250 not receiving OTA guide info for digital 15?

All of my other channels are showing the guides, but 15-1 has not had any guide info on my system for some time. It makes it impossible to set recording times and season passes.

Pilot

From the Journal-Gazette:

Granite Broadcasting files for bankruptcy
By Rebecca S. Green
The Journal Gazette
Granite Broadcasting Corp., which owns WISE-TV, Channel 33, and operates WPTA, Channel 21, as well as WISE-TV, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The filing included a plan of reorganization that has been pre-negotiated with the company’s secured debt holders and is designed to protect Granite Broadcasting’s operations, allow for an orderly reorganization and restore financial health to the company’s balance sheet, according to a release from Granite Broadcasting’s investor relations.

Under the reorganization process, Granite Broadcasting will continue to operate its businesses, and stations will continue to broadcast in local communities.

Granite Broadcasting recently put WISE-TV’s West State Boulevard studio up for sale, asking $570,000.

In 2005, Granite Broadcasting purchased WISE-TV and eliminated 57 jobs at the station. It then sold WPTA to Malara Broadcasting.

POSTED: 6 P.M. MONDAY, DEC. 11, 2006

---And tonight Keith Edwards did the story on 21 Alive without ever mentioning Granite operates that station.And, he helpfully pointed out "no employees of WISE-TV will lose their jobs".

Is that just about the most disingenuous statement you've heard in a while?

Anyone with an HR10-250 not receiving OTA guide info for digital 15?

All of my other channels are showing the guides, but 15-1 has not had any guide info on my system for some time. It makes it impossible to set recording times and season passes.

PilotI'm receiving guide data. Must be something wrong with your unit.

From the Journal-Gazette:
---And tonight Keith Edwards did the story on 21 Alive without ever mentioning Granite operates that station.And, he helpfully pointed out "no employees of WISE-TV will lose their jobs".

Is that just about the most disingenuous statement you've heard in a while?
I felt really sorry for Keith, having to read that with a straight face....

But really, besides Linda Jackson, how many employees does WISE have now?

Pretty soon we may have no OTA stations left. WFFT makes it very clear they are broke too.

Comcast has picked up two more HD channels. National Geographic HD and A&E HD are on the two channels just below ESPN-HD. Content doesn't look too exciting, though. Also, there are several recent movies (the Aviator, Hitch, among others) being offered in HD free thru OnDemand, but they are buried in the poor menu structure, so you have to hunt for them. It would be nice if you could go to one place to see all of the free HD content.

According to CBS, Bengals at Denver is in HD, not on 15 so far at 4:30 PM.

I did take pictures when the new 21 antenna was on the ground ready to be lifted to the tower. You can see the multiple inputs on the base of the antenna. I was told at that time it was for multiple inputs. This WISE buy out must have been planned for a long time. I will dig up the pictures and post them later.

I did take pictures when the new 21 antenna was on the ground ready to be lifted to the tower. You can see the multiple inputs on the base of the antenna. I was told at that time it was for multiple inputs. This WISE buy out must have been planned for a long time. I will dig up the pictures and post them later.

What I wonder about is, they OWN 33 and RUN 21.Is it assumed this situation will continue into perpetuity?

Great Fiesta Bowl.Would have looked even better in HD.

Great Fiesta Bowl.Would have looked even better in HD.

Yeah, that was a hellava game !!! The HD threads said it was the best FOX HD presentation ever.

FOX must be pretty pleased they spent the extra money producing in HD only to have a two-bit affiliate piss it away. Extra special that all the BCS games will be similar circumstances.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/BUSINESS07/612280332/1020/BUSINESS

Granite Math:

$443.5M - $644.1M + $13.4M = We're still broke.

Bad Sugar Bowl. Thanks 55, would have been even more painful with a decent picture.

Watching ND getting pasted in a bowl the didn't deserve to be in made the night worthwhile personally.

All opinion aside (and to stay on topic in an HD sense): CBS has announced that all NCAA basketball games for the remainder of the year is scheduled to be in HD....

Watching ND getting pasted in a bowl the didn't deserve to be in made the night worthwhile personally.

All opinion aside (and to stay on topic in an HD sense): CBS has announced that all NCAA basketball games for the remainder of the year is scheduled to be in HD....

A little Irish envy??? Hopefully CBS can keep up that good work and do all NFL games next year in HD.

While watching the Fiesta Bowl I wrote a note to Nexstar (and then copied WFFT on it)..... I'm sure my tone wasn't the nicest and they just filed my plea for HD in the trash. I've given up all hope on them. I was in Duluth, MN for the last two days on business and saw part of the Sugar Bowl in HD in the Sports Bar in the hotel. How in the hell does Duluth, MN get all their stations in HD and Fort Wayne doesn't? Stupid Nexstar.