...I haven't seen any comment here yet of KSPR's news story last night of groundbreaking yesterday for their new studios on Sunshine.I'm still disappointed that Schurz is dumping the CW on KSPR and changing it to 720p format. This will rob ABC-HD of sufficient bandwidth to destroy its current pristine HD picture quality.

They should leave the CW @ 480i when they move it to KSPR, which would let ABC-HD have enough bandwidth to continue high quality HD.

Mediacom user will be getting IONTV soon.

Mediacom user will be getting IONTV soon.

Anyone know if ION TV will be available in the Joplin
MO. area?

Antenna Web showed it in the channels I'll be able to
receive come the change, but I've heard nothing about
it in any local publications or advertising.

I'd love to have another channel. Providing I could get
it of course. ;)

Anyone know if ION TV will be available in the Joplin
MO. area?

Antenna Web showed it in the channels I'll be able to
receive come the change, but I've heard nothing about
it in any local publications or advertising.

I'd love to have another channel. Providing I could get
it of course. ;)
I seldom watch it, but I think you're referring to KJPX, Ch. 47, in the analog channels, advertised in the Joplin Globe's Sunday supplement, Tune In. Call letters were assigned when the network was called PAX TV.

I seldom watch it, but I think you're referring to KJPX, Ch. 47, in the analog channels, advertised in the Joplin Globe's Sunday supplement, Tune In. Call letters were assigned when the network was called PAX TV.

Thanks for the reply. :)

It's listed as a digital channel after the change,
and won't be religious in nature, as I think Pax
was, altho' I didn't watch it due to it's being
nearly impossible to receive over here.

One can hope it will be an option, since I can't
afford to spring for an outdoor antenna in the
foreseeable future. I'd like to pick up something
else besides the three PBS, and CBS, ABC, FOX,
and NBC. If KSNF doesn't have a strong signal
in February, it and even KODE are going to be
hard for me to receive.

I hope people who are trying out the boxes for
the first time about now, don't give up and
take them back, what with KOAM being down
until the tower work is done. Weak signals on
others, plus the tower work will make folks think
it isn't even worth the trouble to mess with
digital. I miss the FOX channel too, and can't
wait till they get it going again. I watch in analog,
but I'm antsy to see the new stuff work. ;)

Me, I'm hoping things will be good in February,
and if not, I'll have to take what I get, and watch
the rest on the internet.

Anyone know if ION TV will be available in the Joplin
MO. area?

Antenna Web showed it in the channels I'll be able to
receive come the change, but I've heard nothing about
it in any local publications or advertising.

I'd love to have another channel. Providing I could get
it of course. ;)

You're not missing much with ION. Mostly infomercials with some reruns. I don't think ION airs much of any original programming. E* carries them, but I seldom watch. MNTV would be an improvement, and that isn't saying much.

I'm still disappointed that Schurz is dumping the CW on KSPR and changing it to 720p format. This will rob ABC-HD of sufficient bandwidth to destroy its current pristine HD picture quality.

They should leave the CW @ 480i when they move it to KSPR, which would let ABC-HD have enough bandwidth to continue high quality HD.

I'm for more HD, but the train wreck called KWBF-DT in Little Rock should be a cautionary tale for any broadcaster considering two "HD" subchannels.
I'd rather have a quality HD and single SD subchannel rather than two macroblocked "HD" ones.

They should leave the CW @ 480i when they move it to KSPR, which would let ABC-HD have enough bandwidth to continue high quality HD.

Does CW have that much HD programming? Who watches it?!
I can't believe someone decided this was a good idea. Why ruin a great HD ABC feed with some crummy shows no one watches? If the CW HD feed is so important, generates revenue, and has proven ratings, why not give it it's own channel and start broadcasting it full power instead of going on the cheap?

(Hope I didn't offend any of the 3 people who watch 90210)

... If the CW HD feed is so important, generates revenue, and has proven ratings, why not give it it's own channel and start broadcasting it full power instead of going on the cheap?... They're doing it on the cheap because that's the KY3 way.

Send complaints to KY3's GM:
Mike Scott
mscott@ky3.com

If the CW HD feed is so important, generates revenue, and has proven ratings, why not give it it's own channel and start broadcasting it full power instead of going on the cheap?

Why? How about: "Because the FCC table of allocations doesn't provide a channel for another full power station in this market." No tickee, no washee!

http://www.transmitter.com/FCC98315/MOatwch.html

More likely because FCC ownership rules wouldn't allow for KYTV to control a third full-service station in the market.

There are plenty of vacant spots for stations to be added in Springfield, just needs someone to file a document requesting one be added.

- Trip

Thanks, Trip. I thought surely there were channels available in this area.

So, they can't do another TV station, but they can slap another network on a sub channel. Seems like a loophole the FCC needs to close.

It's been discussed all over AVSForum that attempting two HD channels on one station ruins the picture quality. Just ask the folks down in the Little Rock thread, dealing with this same issue on ABC right now.

Then they should leave the damned CW channel at 480i for the sake of ABC-HD.

It's been discussed all over AVSForum that attempting two HD channels on one station ruins the picture quality. Just ask the folks down in the Little Rock thread, dealing with this same issue with ABC right now.
Is there a way to dynamically allocate bandwidth, on the fly? If one channel has a scene not requiring a lot of bits/sec, can another subchannel grab, say, 90% of what's available?

I have a Dish DTV Pal converter box on my kitchen TV. While scrolling through the digital channels early this morning, I found KSPR on its actual digital channel 019-01 instead of its previously listed analog location 033-01. Anyone else with a converter box notice the change? Also, on my living room TV with Dish 211 receiver, channel 028-01 has recently been added to KSFX's 027-01 channel listing, with programming only on 027-01.

Looks like the 4228 is being updated for the digital age.

http://www.channelmasterintl.com/documentation/datasheets/Channel%20Master%20New%204200%20Series%20HDTV%20UHF%20Antenn as_200807.pdf

Is there a way to dynamically allocate bandwidth, on the fly? If one channel has a scene not requiring a lot of bits/sec, can another subchannel grab, say, 90% of what's available?Yes. Until both sub channels require too many bits. Then, the picture quality goes in the toilet.


21hawk,
Thanks for the info on the new 422x series antennas. Existing 4228s work fine for most high VHFs, but they specifically mention channels 7 thru 69 on the .pdf of the new model. Highband VHF was never mentioned on the old literature.

Also, the balun has been replaced with a built in 75 ohm coax connector. The balun is the only thing I didn't like about the existing 4228 model.

EDIT: The channel master company has recently been sold (again), and sadly, the US factory has been closed. All future channel master antennas will be made in china. Channel master is now just another US name like RCA, Zenith, Philco, Magnavox, etc. that's slapped onto cheap chinese imports. Lotsa plastic on the new 4228.

HDTVprimer will test the "new" 4228 soon. Hopefully, the gain will be as good or better than the old 4228. Time will tell.

Today the fiber optic installers are at KOLR / KSFX putting in the equipment to pick up the HD television signals. The installers are from Joplin and didn't even know what it was going to be used for, but you and I do.

I ordered 2 TR40 converter boxes from solidsignal.com and they arrived very quick. I got both boxes here for less than $13.00 ( with coupons). The TR40 is the same as the DTVPAL I believe. I hooked one up and it got a very good picture and nice guide on all local channels.

I ordered 2 TR40 converter boxes from solidsignal.com and they arrived very quick. I got both boxes here for less than $13.00 ( with coupons). The TR40 is the same as the DTVPAL I believe. I hooked one up and it got a very good picture and nice guide on all local channels.Yes, the TR40 is now known as the DTVPal. Where did you order yours?

The DTVPal OTA HD DVR will be released around Thanksgiving and will have dual tuners designed to optimize weak signal OTA reception.

I believe the TR50 coming out in November will do HD also and should be nice for someone just wanting OTA channels and no monthly fee.

I ordered from SOLIDSIGNAL.COM and they also had the dtvpal for 8.00 more, but I'm sure their is no difference in them, except the logo.

I believe the TR50 coming out in November will do HD also and should be nice for someone just wanting OTA channels and no monthly fee.

I ordered from SOLIDSIGNAL.COM and they also had the dtvpal for 8.00 more, but I'm sure their is no difference in them, except the logo.Does yours have analog pass thru (not that it's important around here)?

Can anyone give me some much needed info? I live in Miami, Ok. We have dish network & get our local channels from Joplin & Pittsburg. When we watch sports on these channels the color is not very bright & the picture tends to be a little fuzzy. I have a tv that has a built-in HDTV tuner. I was thinking about getting an HDTV antenna to try and improve the picture on these channels. Do you think this would help?

Can anyone give me some much needed info? I live in Miami, Ok. We have dish network & get our local channels from Joplin & Pittsburg. When we watch sports on these channels the color is not very bright & the picture tends to be a little fuzzy. I have a tv that has a built-in HDTV tuner. I was thinking about getting an HDTV antenna to try and improve the picture on these channels.Even though some local broadcast channels are not yet broadcasting in HD, just the digital OTA picture quality alone will be better than what Dish offers on satellite.

There is no such thing as an "hdtv" antenna. That is marketing hype added to the label, much like "color" antenna was added years ago. All you need is a good outdoor VHF+UHF antenna.

For more info, enter your address at:
http://www.antennaweb.org
Copy & paste the digital channel results back here, along with antenna "colors" shown on the results screen.

Okay, I checked attenaweb & found that 3 of the Joplin & Pittsburg stations, which are only about 30-40 mi. away, are all broadcasting in HD so after a lot (and I mean a lot) of reading I have come to the conclusion that if I buy a UHF antenna I should be able to receive those channels & receive a much better channel. With the stations being that close do you think I could get by with an indoor antenna? If I can, would I hook it up directly to the back of the tv or would it connect to my dishnetwork box? Thanks

Okay, I checked attenaweb & found that 3 of the Joplin & Pittsburg stations, which are only about 30-40 mi. away, are all broadcasting in HD so after a lot (and I mean a lot) of reading I have come to the conclusion that if I buy a UHF antenna I should be able to receive those channels & receive a much better channel. With the stations being that close do you think I could get by with an indoor antenna? If I can, would I hook it up directly to the back of the tv or would it connect to my dishnetwork box? ThanksAt 30-40 miles, an outdoor antenna usually works more reliably, with less dropouts and freezing. But you can always try an indoor antenna. It needs to be VHF+ UHF, since you have both VHF & UHF stations. Try some of the ones sold at Walmart or some place else that allows easy returns. Do not buy any TERK brand antennas. Many don't work well, and most of them are way overpriced. Find something that looks like a conventional antenna.

Where you connect the antenna coax depends on what type of Dish Network box is being used. If it's an HD box, connect it directly to the box's Off Air Ant. jack. If it's only a Standard Definition box, connect the antenna's coax directly to the TV's ANT-IN jack.

In either case, you'll need to go into either the Dish or TV's menu and run a channel scan for digital channels after connecting and roughly aiming the antenna. Aim the antenna roughly in the compass direction of the towers, per your results on antennaweb.org. The VHF dipoles should be extended about half way, and aimed perpendicular to the towers. The UHF round or square "loop" should also be perpendicular to the direction of the towers.

In your results for "Antenna Type," what color(s) did antennaweb.org (http://www.antennaweb.org) show for your specific address?

Example:
http://i37.tinypic.com/2njbprp.png

Over here in Parsons,KS. (50-60 miles west of Joplin)I've installed a channel master 4228 antenna in attic to go along with a vhf antenna that was in the attic when we purchased the house. They run through a channelmaster amp 7777. I can with a digital scan get the three PBS staions that are 26.1,26.2,26.3. The koam and fox feed will be up later this week . On occasion I can get 3.1 out of Springfield,ION 44.1,44.2,44.3& 10.1 cbs out of Springfield 11.1 OETA and a few others usually in the morning or late evening. I do have a question. 25.9 and 25.10 come up on my scan everytime but the tv says it SIGNAL CANNOT BE DECODED. Is this due to antenna direction ? Quality of cable to my amp? Signal to far away? Any answers would be appreciated. Zip 67357

25.9 and 25.10 are most likely related to a service called "UpdateTV." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpdateTV

This service allows digital receivers to be upgraded remotely. On a TV which properly handles PSIP, these blank subchannels should not even show up, but many TVs do show them.

- Trip

I do have a question. 25.9 and 25.10 come up on my scan everytime but the tv says it SIGNAL CANNOT BE DECODED. Is this due to antenna direction ? Quality of cable to my amp? Signal to far away? Any answers would be appreciated. Zip 67357
Your TV is seeing the PIDs associated with the Digital Emergency Alert System (http://www.apts.org/news/deas.cfm) (DEAS) transmitted from KOZJ-DT and is treating them as subchannels. There is no audio or video stream there.

I had one TV at home do the same thing (with KOZK-DT), but other receivers correctly ignore it. Depending on your TV/receiver, you can delete 25.9 and 25.10 (may show up as 26.9 and 26.10) from your channel lineup and not worry about it.

Thanks for the quick replies guys, anyone else near the Parsons area on this board?

KOLR seems to be having issues. (I'm getting KSFX just fine)

if I go to 10.1 on my TV, it gives me no signal, however, 52.3 gets me KOLR and it continiously breaks up.

Thoughts?

Your TV is seeing the PIDs associated with the Digital Emergency Alert System (http://www.apts.org/news/deas.cfm) (DEAS) transmitted from KOZJ-DT and is treating them as subchannels.

I got a source in the area to check, and I confirmed that the data is from UpdateTV and not from this DEAS. I hadn't heard of DEAS; it looks interesting and now that I think about it, I think I remember the engineer at my local PBS discussing something about EAS once, maybe this is it. I don't think it shows up at all unless it's needed.

Here's the output:

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/mo-spr/51102-0_0.htm#pmt_10

Note that Program 10 has the ID "ULI0", ULI standing for UpdateLogic, Inc. The BDC in "BDC0" (Program 9) is Broadcast Data Corp., which is the name ULI used to use some time ago.

- Trip

Does yours have analog pass thru (not that it's important around here)?

Yes it says it does have analog pass thru it says anyway, I haven't tried it.

...
Here's the output:

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/mo-spr/51102-0_0.htm#pmt_10

0x0041 (46.42% - 9.00 Mbps)

I assume the above is for the PBS-"HD" channel?

Sadly, yes. My local PBS is no better.

- Trip

Did anyone watch the chiefs yesterday in HD on KOLR and was it the worst picture you've ever seen in your life? Any slight movement and it would become more pixelated than i've ever seen before.

Did anyone watch the chiefs yesterday in HD on KOLR and was it the worst picture you've ever seen in your life? Any slight movement and it would become more pixelated than i've ever seen before.

I agree. It was the worst HD picture I have ever seen. Even my wife noticed it.

Sadly, yes. My local PBS is no better.Sadly, it's better than PBS in Arkansas now.

Until recently, they would turn off all sub channels in the evening whenever they showed 1080i HD programming. For some insane reason, they recently started taking 4:3 or 14:9 SD programming, stretching/upconverting it to 14:9 or 16:9 rescaling it to 720p and broadcasting it along with 2 sub channels. And calling it HD. Why do they even bother?

The unzoomed SD 480i looked better.

I agree. It was the worst HD picture I have ever seen. Even my wife noticed it.

It was bad, I switched between D* and TV tuner and there was no difference, I wondered if CBS hadn't sent it down that way. IIRC they are pinched for bandwith on Sundays.

Did anyone watch the chiefs yesterday in HD on KOLR and was it the worst picture you've ever seen in your life? Any slight movement and it would become more pixelated than i've ever seen before.
The problem here was the Tandberg encoder in the HD rack at KOLR. It took a power off/on reset to make it right.

The problem here was the Tandberg encoder in the HD rack at KOLR. It took a power off/on reset to make it right.

So can you schedule a nightly reboot for that? :D

Hello. :)

I've been receiving KOAM and KFJX DT since yesterday.

They may have been on before that, I hadn't been
checking since I thought they'd say something on the
web site. Yesterday they said they were finishing
things up, but they haven't announced being back on
air, and I figured they would. Could be still messing
with it, I suppose, but it's working well enough for
me.

Anyone else seeing/having problems with them? I
do get drop out on occasion, and the signal (Digital
Stream) is in the 60's for me. I'm just happy to
see it back. I receive PBS nearly full strength, so
either they have full signal, or something is blocking
some of my others. Most of them come from the
same spot, except for KOAM and KFJX. KODE is
very weak, and I'm hoping it will be stronger in
Feb. KSNF is in the violet spot, and I may never
get that one but I guess I can live with it. I don't
know why it's so weak for me. Multipath maybe??
The analog channel is very ghosty at times.

Oh, I do get a channel (22.1) from MSSU. It's
just showed up of late. Not much on it, but it's
making me hopeful that others will follow. :)

Looks like the 4228 is being updated for the digital age.

http://www.channelmasterintl.com/documentation/datasheets/Channel%20Master%20New%204200%20Series%20HDTV%20UHF%20Antenn as_200807.pdf

Interesting. Looks like Warren handily beats Solid Signal on the price, I wonder what will happen to the remaining "old-style" 4228s?

Interesting. Looks like Warren handily beats Solid Signal on the price, I wonder what will happen to the remaining "old-style" 4228s?AFAIK, everyone's sold out of the US-made 4228. If you come across anyone that still has 'em in stock, please send me a PM.

Thanks.

( w a r r e n nearly always has better prices than s o l i d s i g n a l )

Hello. :)

I've been receiving KOAM and KFJX DT since yesterday.

They may have been on before that, I hadn't been
checking since I thought they'd say something on the
web site. Yesterday they said they were finishing
things up, but they haven't announced being back on
air, and I figured they would. Could be still messing
with it, I suppose, but it's working well enough for
me.

Anyone else seeing/having problems with them? I
do get drop out on occasion, and the signal (Digital
Stream) is in the 60's for me. I'm just happy to
see it back. I receive PBS nearly full strength, so
either they have full signal, or something is blocking
some of my others. Most of them come from the
same spot, except for KOAM and KFJX. KODE is
very weak, and I'm hoping it will be stronger in
Feb. KSNF is in the violet spot, and I may never
get that one but I guess I can live with it. I don't
know why it's so weak for me. Multipath maybe??
The analog channel is very ghosty at times.

Oh, I do get a channel (22.1) from MSSU. It's
just showed up of late. Not much on it, but it's
making me hopeful that others will follow. :)

Per rabbitears.info digital transition report (http://rabbitears.info/dtr.php) (Joplin - market #145)
KODE-DT 43 is supposedly at full power (1,000kW).
KSNF-DT 46 may be at reduced power right now (or it may be your antenna & location).
KOZJ-DT 25 is at full power, but they've only been allotted 55kW.

On 2/17/09:
KOAM-DT will move from DT 13 to DT 7 (when analog 7 shuts off).
KFJX-DT will start broadcasting on DT 13 (KOAM's old DT channel).
All Joplin OTA viewers will need to rescan for channels on 2/17/09.

All or some of the stations may begin displaying the actual channel numbers they are using, or continue to map to their old analog #s. It would be better if they would bite the bullet and go ahead and start using their new channel numbers to reduce future confusion.

KOAM-DT is the only Joplin channel that will be back on their old analog channel # on 2/17/09. In Springfield, KOLR-DT will also move from channel 52, back to their old analog ch 10.

KODE-DT is not at 1000 kW yet, just a bit over a week ago they filed for an extension request, they want more time to build out that signal. Remember, that list is supposed to note what the final power levels will be when all is said and done.

- Trip

Just purchased a converter box from wally world about a month ago. To recieve different channels I have to turn my antenna. direction has to be very close or no reception. I started researching about the same time and found this forum. Finally risistered today. What I would like to ask is, has anyone tried or considered the DTX-5000 smart antenna offered by Summit Source and Solid Signal both. The reason I ask is that I live south of Branson across the Ar. line and would like to get all the SPG stations as well as some of the AR stations without going outside to turn the ant each time. Any and all responces greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Robert

Has anyone else had sound problems with fox lately? Watching House & Bones the last couple of weeks, and my stereo seems to be having trouble decoding the sound. Turning it WAY up seems to help. No other channels are having this issue.

Thanks

Just purchased a converter box from wally world about a month ago. To recieve different channels I have to turn my antenna. direction has to be very close or no reception. I started researching about the same time and found this forum. Finally risistered today. What I would like to ask is, has anyone tried or considered the DTX-5000 smart antenna offered by Summit Source and Solid Signal both. The reason I ask is that I live south of Branson across the Ar. line and would like to get all the SPG stations as well as some of the AR stations without going outside to turn the ant each time. Any and all responces greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Robert
Smart Antennas are relatively new, so no one has much experience with them. The manufactuer's information is that they are for 20-30 miles range.

This link has a fairly good description of how they work

http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/smart_antennas/

With that said, antenna height can compensate for a number of problems.

At your distance, you might do better with two different antennas pointing at the two cities, combining them with a reversed splitter.

KODE-DT is not at 1000 kW yet, just a bit over a week ago they filed for an extension request, they want more time to build out that signal. Remember, that list is supposed to note what the final power levels will be when all is said and done.

- TripOops, sorry 'bout that.

Just purchased a converter box from wally world about a month ago. To recieve different channels I have to turn my antenna. direction has to be very close or no reception. I started researching about the same time and found this forum. Finally risistered today. What I would like to ask is, has anyone tried or considered the DTX-5000 smart antenna offered by Summit Source and Solid Signal both. The reason I ask is that I live south of Branson across the Ar. line and would like to get all the SPG stations as well as some of the AR stations without going outside to turn the ant each time. Any and all responces greatly appreciated. Welcome to the forum.

I don't think your location would be a candidate for a smart antenna. It's more for suburban locations where stations' transmitter antennas are located across town in different directions. Like Little Rock, Ark.

Please list the channels in each market you can receive after you re-aim the antenna.

I recieve chs 3, 10, 21, 27, 33 Springfield and ch 51 Rogers Ar w/ the ant pointing NNE or slighty more north. When I turn the ant SSE I get ch 6 pbs out of mt view Ar, also our small ch 6 harrison. I can also get the fayetteville Ar stations turning the ant SW.
Let me ask anothe question. My ant is probably 30 years old, do you think some kind of amp would help beings I'm 50 miles from springfield
Robert

http://mgsportsworld.yuku.com/directory Has a Forum to Talk about Springfield/Joplin Local Stations in terms of People who work their and so on because theirs no Website out their to talk about it.

KODE-DT is not at 1000 kW yet, just a bit over a week ago they filed for an extension request, they want more time to build out that signal. Remember, that list is supposed to note what the final power levels will be when all is said and done.

- Trip


Thank goodness! I was hoping their signal would be stronger later on. I've been working on this for months, finding the
best place for my indoor antenna, and things are looking up.

The KOAM web site stated tonight that the DT is now at
50%. I'm getting it fairly strong, and they say it will be
at 100% perhaps by next week.

I don't think I understand the numbers on that List, at
least not what they mean in terms of power. For them
to say that KODE will be at 1000, and KSNF at 175, is
confusing to me. It sounds like that would be very low,
for KSN. And KFJX to be 4.50? What is it now, I
wonder, as I'm getting it so well and it's going 50%
higher than this?

PBS is nearly perfect, so if it goes to 55, what is it
now and am I going to lose it? Doesn't make sense to
me, but I may be reading it wrong.

I shouldn't think about this stuff at bedtime. ;)

I don't think I understand the numbers on that List, at least not what they mean in terms of power. For them to say that KODE will be at 1000, and KSNF at 175, is confusing to me. It sounds like that would be very low, for KSN. And KFJX to be 4.50? What is it now, I
wonder, as I'm getting it so well and it's going 50% higher than this?

The thing to remember about power is that it's logarithmic. That is, going from 1 watt to 2 watt gains you 3 dB, and going from 100 kW to 200 kW also gains you 3 dB (same improvement). So KSNF-DT will be about 7 dB lower than KODE-DT when it's all done.

The other thing to remember is that VHF (2-13) will cover the same area with much less power. So 4.5 kW on channel 13 is what they'll be operating when they're at 100% power, and that signal that is currently KOAM-DT will become KFJX-DT next year. KOAM-DT will move to 7 at 14.8 kW, so it'll be even stronger. A station at 1000 kW on UHF is considered to have less coverage than a VHF station at 30 kW, just to give you some idea. How that pans out in the real world is another story.

PBS is nearly perfect, so if it goes to 55, what is it
now and am I going to lose it? Doesn't make sense to
me, but I may be reading it wrong.

I shouldn't think about this stuff at bedtime. ;)

KOZJ-DT is currently at 55 kW. Nothing's changing, so if you receive it fine now...

I hope that helps. If it doesn't, let me know what I can do to clear it up.

- Trip

Okay WTF is going on with KOLR? I'm getting REAL sick of this choppy and nonexistant signal over the air. Can someone fix their damn equipment so I can halfway watch CBS?

Oh I forgot this is typical nexstar, no regard for the viewer.

I recieve chs 3, 10, 21, 27, 33 Springfield and ch 51 Rogers Ar w/ the ant pointing NNE or slighty more north. When I turn the ant SSE I get ch 6 pbs out of mt view Ar, also our small ch 6 harrison. I can also get the fayetteville Ar stations turning the ant SW.
Let me ask another question. My ant is probably 30 years old, do you think some kind of amp would help beings I'm 50 miles from springfield
RobertIf you can get PBS 9 (displays as 13-n) from Fayetteville, you can eliminate aiming at Mtn. View, which is a duplicate channel. I'm not familiar with the Ch "6" you mention in Harrison. Do you know the call letters?

If you want to get the stations from Springfield, NW Ark. & Harrison, you need a rotor to turn the antenna from indoors.

If your antenna is 30 years old, I would definitely replace it and the coax connected to it. Use RG6 (not RG59) coax. Many satellite dealers will sell you RG6 cut to the length you need. The coax connectors they put on the ends are typically better and more water tight than what the average person can install.

At your distance from the towers, I would also install a low noise VHF+UHF preamp, like the CM 7777 (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm). Do not buy an amp from walmart, radio shack or other big box stores. Most of them aren't very good.

The thing to remember about power is that it's logarithmic. That is, going from 1 watt to 2 watt gains you 3 dB, and going from 100 kW to 200 kW also gains you 3 dB (same improvement). So KSNF-DT will be about 7 dB lower than KODE-DT when it's all done.

The other thing to remember is that VHF (2-13) will cover the same area with much less power. So 4.5 kW on channel 13 is what they'll be operating when they're at 100% power, and that signal that is currently KOAM-DT will become KFJX-DT next year. KOAM-DT will move to 7 at 14.8 kW, so it'll be even stronger. A station at 1000 kW on UHF is considered to have less coverage than a VHF station at 30 kW, just to give you some idea. How that pans out in the real world is another story.



KOZJ-DT is currently at 55 kW. Nothing's changing, so if you receive it fine now...

I hope that helps. If it doesn't, let me know what I can do to clear it up.

- Trip
Thank you so much for that reply....it seems
to have calmed me down for the moment. ;)

I just refuse to pay for cable when all I
need is what is free to me OTA. Knowing
that it may be okay once February arrives,
is just one more load off my mind.

I use my computer for anything I really
want to watch that isn't available on my TV.
So my DSL isn't going anywhere, since I
do so much with it, banking included. I am
low income, and a cable bill will never be
part of my budget again. :)

Good Lord, the lack of competency in Springfield is staggering. No HD again for the NFL on Mediacom CBS. It switched, briefly, for the Chiefs game, but there was no audio so it went back to standard def. Now the Cowboys are on, still no HD.

Good Lord, the lack of competency in Springfield is staggering. No HD again for the NFL on Mediacom CBS. It switched, briefly, for the Chiefs game, but there was no audio so it went back to standard def. Now the Cowboys are on, still no HD.
The Dolby Encoder failed. The operator did the right thing. You can't get replacement parts for a Dolby Encoder at Radio Shack. You won't get any HD tomorrow either.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=108886.54928.121009

Article says they paid cash for Equity's flagship station KWBF. I thought the reason Nexstar was dragging their feet upgrading all their stations to DTV/HD was due to lack of money?

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

It was a good idea, but KY3 never ran it right. They often showed yesterday's weather, or the local forecast was totally missing.

Surely, KY3 Inc. will find something to replace it with, to continue sucking bandwidth from 3-1 NBC-HD.

The Dolby Encoder failed. The operator did the right thing. You can't get replacement parts for a Dolby Encoder at Radio Shack. You won't get any HD tomorrow either.

Well, Radio Shack should have a better inventory :):)

Some Columbia MO HD channels should start showing up on DirecTV today. See:
http://members.cox.net/oknewshawk/DTV_HDLIL_DATE.html
(scroll to the bottom of that page)

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=108886.54928.121009

Article says they paid cash for Equity's flagship station KWBF. I thought the reason Nexstar was dragging their feet upgrading all their stations to DTV/HD was due to lack of money?
This should slow things down even more. Perry Sook talks about "liquidating non-strategic assets" by which he means selling TV stations, but he never seems to do that. Equity Broadcasting was one group that had even less cash than Nexstar. Just today Nexstar stock was fluctuating between $ 1.29 and $ 2.58 / share.

The price for KWBF was less than 6 times annual cash flow. 10 "turns" is a typical valuation. KWBF's HD buildout has already happened and the crew at KARK can operate this baby in their spare time for next to nothing.

This should slow things down even more. Perry Sook talks about "liquidating non-strategic assets" by which he means selling TV stations, but he never seems to do that. Equity Broadcasting was one group that had even less cash than Nexstar. Just today Nexstar stock was fluctuating between $ 1.29 and $ 2.58 / share.

The price for KWBF was less than 6 times annual cash flow. 10 "turns" is a typical valuation. KWBF's HD buildout has already happened and the crew at KARK can operate this baby in their spare time for next to nothing.

What KWBF build out?

I live in Southeastern Arkansas, and KWBF's digital signal is very weak and cannot be received reliably here. I checked recently their records via the FCC (prior to the sale) and KWBF was operating very low power and needed a new antenna, transmitter, etc to bring KWBF up to parity to the other Little Rock stations.

What KWBF build out?

I live in Southeastern Arkansas, and KWBF's digital signal is very weak and cannot be received reliably here. I checked recently their records via the FCC (prior to the sale) and KWBF was operating very low power and needed a new antenna, transmitter, etc to bring KWBF up to parity to the other Little Rock stations.
My Bad. I saw 1000 KW and 485 Meters HAAT, but that's evidently just the construction permit. That makes it much less of a bargain. I should have known, because the expense of DTV buildout is what drove Equity Broadcasting into financial ruin.

At least Nexstar has the cookie-cutter formula for building an HDTV facility, and contract with the equipment suppliers.

Nexstar should finish DT upgrades at the stations they already own, instead of shopping for stations to flip.

Nexstar should finish DT upgrades at the stations they already own, instead of shopping for stations to flip.
Agreed. I'll pass that along to Perry Sook and Matt Devine. I don't think flipping TV stations is in the cards. Very few Nexstar stations get sold. Nexstar always has a few "Non-Strategic Assets" they are willing to unload for the right price, but there are very few takers.

I don't think the KWBF deal will require any substantial cash until after the February transition. For the past year I've said that Nexstar stock will eventually be worth either nothing or $ 15 / share. There is substantial cash flow, particularly from the larger markets of Springfield and Little Rock, but it all goes to pay debt service.

KOAM's website says they have the digital signal at full power, although if there is lightning in the area they have to shut it down due to it currently using a copper line vs. fiber optic. Updated 10/10 in the afternoon!

i'm not familiar with the ch "6" you mention in harrison. Do you know the call letters?

ktko-lp

ktko-lp

KTKO-LP (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=130918) is channel *eight*. I've logged them a couple of times in southeastern Arkansas, and KTKO is the only analog LPTV I've ever logged on VHF. Usually tropo enhancement brings in KAIT, KTUL, or KNOE on 8 and occasionally WFAA and WVUE--much more in the past year since KATV analog is low power and 30 miles farther away.

With that said, I'm not missing US analogs after the shutdown (less QRM for DTV stations and having a wide open VHF low band for Caribbean, and Canadian/Mexican skip during the E's season). :D

KOAM's website says they have the digital signal at full power...But the maximum allowed power on ch 13 is still fairly low (~6kW), due to interference protection for KAFT analog 13 in Fayetteville, until it shuts down in Feb. KOAM-DT won't actually go to maximum power until they move their DT station to channel 7 on 2/17/09. Also, KFJX will take over channel 13 at that time.

ktko-lp
KTKO-LP (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=130918) is channel *eight*.
Thanks, Arkie & Haley-SEA.

Two questions for you, Arkie,
1. How many NWA stations do you get with antenna?

2. Is that religious station on channel 23 still blocking Harrison's reception of KOZK-DT 23?

Thanks, Arkie & Haley-SEA.

Two questions for you, Arkie,
1. How many NWA stations do you get with antenna?

2. Is that religious station on channel 23 still blocking Harrison's reception of KOZK-DT 23?

1. I get KNWA 100%, KFSM 100%, & KHOG 60%. I could get the PBS at 100%, but I have a UHF only antenna. If I turn the antenna to point to the East oddly enough, I can actually pick it up at about 50% signal.

2. Yes. KOZK is still blocked. Unbelievable.

1. I get KNWA 100%, KFSM 100%, & KHOG 60%. I could get the PBS at 100%, but I have a UHF only antenna. If I turn the antenna to point to the East oddly enough, I can actually pick it up at about 50% signal.Your UHF antenna is probably picking up KAFT from its reflector. A more suitable Highband VHF + UHF antenna, like the new ones made for chs 7 thru 69 would work much better for you.

2. Yes. KOZK is still blocked. Unbelievable.Yes, it is unbelievable. He has no right to be on that channel. [WWJD?]

K23DU (map (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX203774.html)) is definintely trespassing on KOZK's protected full power coverage area (map (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT680542.html)). LPTV stations are supposed to vacate a channel immediately, whenever they are interfering with a full power station.

You should file an interference complaint with the FCC, electronically (choose the last option at bottom of this page (http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm)), and by snail mail, if possible. Also send a written complaint and copies of the maps above, to both KOZK (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=51102) and K23DU (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=11133).

Your UHF antenna is probably picking up KAFT from its reflector. A more suitable Highband VHF + UHF antenna, like the new ones made for chs 7 thru 69 would work much better for you.

Yes, it is unbelievable. He has no right to be on that channel. [WWJD?]

K23DU (map (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX203774.html)) is definintely trespassing on KOZK's protected full power coverage area (map (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT680542.html)). LPTV stations are supposed to vacate a channel immediately, whenever they are interfering with a full power station.

You should file an interference complaint with the FCC, electronically (choose the last option at bottom of this page (http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm)), and by snail mail, if possible. Also send a written complaint and copies of the maps above, to both KOZK (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=51102) and K23DU (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=11133).

That gospel huxter is definitely QRMing with KOZK-DT and should be taken off the air. Don't be surprised that the operator/owner of that translator claims that his transmitter location is outside the blue line of KOZK-DT when called on the carpet, K23DU is interfering

...Don't be surprised that the operator/owner of that translator claims that his transmitter location is outside the blue line of KOZK-DT.Regardless, according to the FCC, they may not cause interference to a full power station.

From: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/lptv.html
"LPTV stations have "secondary spectrum priority" to full-service stations. This means LPTV stations must not cause interference to the reception of existing or future full-service television stations, must accept interference from full-service stations, and must yield to new full-service stations, where interference occurs."

Looks like Joplin will get its locals in HD on Dish Network the 22nd of Oct. It will take an eastern arc dish and the new smart cards in your receiver. Still no word when Springfield locals will be on dish in HD. I figure after the launch of the next satellite in early December, and they will probably remain on the western arc so no dishes would need to be replaced. This Joplin info comes from satelliteguys forums.

I'm setting up my folks new HDTV and DVD recorder.
Confused slightly on recording.
Would this be the proper way to hook up the antenna?

Antenna in on DVD recorder (w/tuner), then antenna out on DVD recorder to antenna in on the Sammy?
Thus bypassing the Sammy's internal tuner?

HDMI out on DVD recorder to HDMI on the Sammy?

I'm sure there may be a better place to pose the question, but thought I would get some answers here.

Thanks in advance.
Skid

I'm setting up my folks new HDTV and DVD recorder.
Confused slightly on recording.
Would this be the proper way to hook up the antenna?

Antenna in on DVD recorder (w/tuner), then antenna out on DVD recorder to antenna in on the Sammy?
Thus bypassing the Sammy's internal tuner?

HDMI out on DVD recorder to HDMI on the Sammy?

I'm sure there may be a better place to pose the question, but thought I would get some answers here.

Thanks in advance.
Skid

Antenna to splitter
Splitter to DVD
Splitter to TV antenna in
DVD to HDMI on TV

Check out monoprice.com if you need an HDMI cable.
I have had good luck with several of them

Now we know what KYTV will probably replace NBC WeatherPlus with:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadgethd.com/media/2008/10/md_unisportslogo.jpg (http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/10/14/nbc-replaces-weather-plus-with-universal-sports/)

I have been lurking on this forum for some time. I receive Joplin local HD stations (NBC, FOX, CBS, PBS, but not ABC) with an old UHF loop antenna connected to the back of the TV... but that's not my question.

On the PBS OTA HD 720p channel KOZJ (26-2?) the audio is noticeably behind the video. This has been an issue for months, so it's not a one-time thing. It made the presidential debate last night unwatchable. And no other HD channel exhibits this behavior. Has anyone else noticed this? And if so, who would I tell?

As an aside, I have Mediacom cable and when I accidentally did a rescan on the cable (I meant to rescan the antenna signal) I found that they are carrying KSNF NBC HD 1080i on channel 16-1 and KOZJ 720p on channel 26-1.

No its own Weather Channe so Springfied will still have on them.

I have been lurking on this forum for some time. I receive Joplin local HD stations (NBC, FOX, CBS, PBS, but not ABC) with an old UHF loop antenna connected to the back of the TV... but that's not my question.

On the PBS OTA HD 720p channel KOZJ (26-2?) the audio is noticeably behind the video. This has been an issue for months, so it's not a one-time thing. It made the presidential debate last night unwatchable. And no other HD channel exhibits this behavior. Has anyone else noticed this? And if so, who would I tell?

Yes I noticed this OTA on 21.2

Tell Don White, the Senior TV Broadcast Engineer

DonWhite@MissouriState.edu

No its own Weather Channe so Springfied will still have on them.Huh?

The good:

Strong signal here last night. (Watched Ugly Betty, and Life On Mars) Combined with the 5.1 audio, it made for a great viewing experience OTA (a few propagation-related dropouts mainly during LOM). Also, Nightline was HD--our local ABC station has never carried it in pattern and no HD from them.

The Bad:

KSPR didn't switch to HD until after first local weather cut-in on Good Morning America, this morning.

The Ugly?

Please if KSPR/KYTV Mgmt is reading this, please NO ADDITIONAL SUBCHANNELS FOR CW ESPECIALLY ANOTHER 720P/1080I ONE!!! (just stick The CW in SD in place of WX plus on KYTV "KY3" and dump that third sub and don't think about adding "Universal Sports").

Actually, now that you bring up CW, I forgot to mention that K15CZ and K17DL have filed to flash-cut to digital at some point in the future. The two applications showed up on the FCC site at different times.

Both want to use the same antenna and equipment from what I can tell.

- Trip

... K15CZ and K17DL have filed to flash-cut to digital at some point in the future. The two applications showed up on the FCC site at different times.

Both want to use the same antenna and equipment from what I can tell.Do you mean reuse the existing antennas at their current separate locations? I really don't see the point if they're going to multicast on another Schurz managed channel. I would prefer it though, if they would leave NBC-HD & ABC-HD alone and abandon multicasting.

Do you mean reuse the existing antennas at their current separate locations? I really don't see the point if they're going to multicast on another Schurz managed channel. I would prefer it though, if they would leave NBC-HD & ABC-HD alone and abandon multicasting.

Yes, sorry. I had just woken up when I posted that.

They want to use the existing equipment where it is, just with digital transmitters in place of analog ones (or converting the analog to digital, if they're new enough for that).

Map of K15CZ-D: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=LD1165613.html

Map of K17DL-D: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=LD1165646.html

- Trip

What's up with KSPR playing the Michigan State/Ohio State game tomorrow instead of the OU/Kansas game? Not only are both OU and KU closer to us than either Ohio State or Michigan State, but OU and KU are in the Big 12 just like Mizzou. I don't understand why KSPR would think people around here would care more about a Big 10 game than a Big 12 game.

Anyways, I have family visiting from Oklahoma, and they're going to be none too pleased to find out we can't watch the OU game. Does anyone have any ideas on how to watch it?

Edit: DirecTV's guide shows the MSU/OSU game, TVguide shows the OU/KU game, and KSPR shows college football - teams TBA. I guess it's possible that DirecTV's guide is wrong. I'm really hoping that it is. Still if you guys know some magic way to watch a game that's not being played on our local network, please let me know.

Edit2: Nevermind, it looks like we'll get the OU/KU game on ABC and the MSU/OSU game on ESPN2. I went to ESPN.com and TV listings and found this coverage map (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=coveragemaps2008), which clearly shows all of Missouri will get the OU/KU game on ABC. I don't know why DirecTV's guide is wrong, but I'm certainly thankful that it is.

but will it be HD and still suck bandwidth?

Is anyone having trouble tuning in KOAM-DT (Ch. 13) now that they're at full power? Prior to their upgrade I was able to watch their low power signal in HD, but now my Samsung tv won't tune in their signal. I can still tune in other HD signals (PBS). I am able to receive the KOAM digital signal using an RCA dtv converter box on another tv.

Just curious if anyone else was having problems too.

Is anyone having trouble tuning in KOAM-DT (Ch. 13) now that they're at full power? Prior to their upgrade I was able to watch their low power signal in HD, but now my Samsung tv won't tune in their signal. I can still tune in other HD signals (PBS). I am able to receive the KOAM digital signal using an RCA dtv converter box on another tv.Did you try forcing the samsung to rescan for new DTV channels?

I did a rescan originally, but it didn't find the HD signal. I just performed another rescan to confirm and it found the signal. This is weird since I can't just tune to channel 13 and the tv find it. I guess I'll have to perform a scan each time another channel is upgraded. Odd.

Thanks for the advice.

... I can't just tune to channel 13 and the tv find it.That's because when you enter "13" the TV looks for something on analog 13. DTV converter boxes may find that it that way, because they only look for digital channels - not analog.

To manually tune to the physical channel number on an analog/digital TV, you need to enter 13-1 (or possibly 13-3, for some strange reason).

To manually tune to the physical channel number on an analog/digital TV, you need to enter 13-1 (or possibly 13-3, for some strange reason).

That "strange reason" is how the MPEG-2 stream is set up. Station streams are broken up into PIDs, each PID representing one piece of a stream. For example, most stations use 0x0031 for the first video feed, and 0x0034 for their first audio. The FCC required that stations reserve at least 0x0011 and 0x0021 a few years ago. Each "Program" consists of multiple PIDs, and a lot of stations like to keep the PIDs and the Program numbers consistent. So if their PIDs are 0x0031 and 0x0034, they'll call it "Program 3," thus, 13-3.

Here's a nice example of this in action. A capture from KSPR-DT 19, which I assume almost everyone who does any DXing in the area has seen:

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/mo-spr/35630-0_0.htm

Some stations, like all CBS O&O stations, use Program 1 with PIDs 0x0031 and 0x0034. There's no benefit one way or another.

- Trip

Hi all, another longtime lurker here. Apologies if this isn't quite the right place for this, but I've got what basically amounts to another KOAM question. I'm located sort of between Joplin and Seneca (Iris/Stateline Rd. area for those familiar), and have always had trouble with this (and KJFX), though KODE/KSN/KOZJ are always attainable (KOZJ seems strongest of all, which strikes me as odd since their analog signal was always hard to get). I'm in a trailer currently, which is equipped with some variety of Winegard rooftop antenna, but I seem to have better luck with the cheap set of RCA rabbit ears I'm currently hooked up to.

I've tried two different tuner boxes, the first a Magnavox TB100MG9, and the Apex DT250 I'm using now (which seems to get a stronger signal than the Magnavox on most channels, and picks up ch.22, which never appeared in scans with the Magnavox). What's throwing me now is this - auto-scanning with the Apex has never managed to pick up KOAM/KJFX so far. When I manually tune to 7.1 or 7.2, I get "no signal" and 0 activity on the signal meter... however, if I manually tune to 13.1/13.2, I get no picture, but I don't get the No Signal error, and the antenna signal meter shows activity in the 40-90 range. Anybody know what's up with this?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Okay, so what's the deal again on why KY3HD can't send their signal to DirecTV? Why were other other locals able to send the signal no problem, but KY3 can't?

Any idea on a timeframe when KY3 HD will be available through DirecTV?

Okay, so what's the deal again on why KY3HD can't send their signal to DirecTV?Money. Their station's owner hasn't reached on a carriage agreement. In the mean time, just watch them with an antenna.

Contact:
http://www.schurz.com/
and
mscott@ky3.com

Hi all, another longtime lurker here. Apologies if this isn't quite the right place for this, but I've got what basically amounts to another KOAM question. I'm located sort of between Joplin and Seneca (Iris/Stateline Rd. area for those familiar), and have always had trouble with this (and KJFX), though KODE/KSN/KOZJ are always attainable (KOZJ seems strongest of all, which strikes me as odd since their analog signal was always hard to get). I'm in a trailer currently, which is equipped with some variety of Winegard rooftop antenna, but I seem to have better luck with the cheap set of RCA rabbit ears I'm currently hooked up to.

I've tried two different tuner boxes, the first a Magnavox TB100MG9, and the Apex DT250 I'm using now (which seems to get a stronger signal than the Magnavox on most channels, and picks up ch.22, which never appeared in scans with the Magnavox). What's throwing me now is this - auto-scanning with the Apex has never managed to pick up KOAM/KJFX so far. When I manually tune to 7.1 or 7.2, I get "no signal" and 0 activity on the signal meter... however, if I manually tune to 13.1/13.2, I get no picture, but I don't get the No Signal error, and the antenna signal meter shows activity in the 40-90 range. Anybody know what's up with this?

Thanks in advance for any help!Sounds like you have a weak signal.

KOAM is currently broadcasting digitally on channel 13. The power level is low, and capped to protect analog KAFT 13 in Arkansas. When KOAM switches their digital signal to channel 7, after analog is shut down, KOAM-DT reception should improve significantly.

In the mean time, all you can do is get a better VHF antenna (and probably a preamp) as high as possible, and aim it at KOAM. Also, one of the best tuners for weak signals is the Zenith (http://reviews.cnet.com/tv-hdtv-tuners-receivers/zenith-dtt901/4864-6487_7-33178359.html?messageID=10004338), sold at Circuit City and some K-Marts & Radio Shacks. It is also sold under the Insignia Brand at Best Buy. Same box and remote - just a different label on the box. You might want to get one in your situation.

Hi all, another longtime lurker here. Apologies if this isn't quite the right place for this, but I've got what basically amounts to another KOAM question. I'm located sort of between Joplin and Seneca (Iris/Stateline Rd. area for those familiar), and have always had trouble with this (and KJFX), though KODE/KSN/KOZJ are always attainable (KOZJ seems strongest of all, which strikes me as odd since their analog signal was always hard to get). I'm in a trailer currently, which is equipped with some variety of Winegard rooftop antenna, but I seem to have better luck with the cheap set of RCA rabbit ears I'm currently hooked up to.

I've tried two different tuner boxes, the first a Magnavox TB100MG9, and the Apex DT250 I'm using now (which seems to get a stronger signal than the Magnavox on most channels, and picks up ch.22, which never appeared in scans with the Magnavox). What's throwing me now is this - auto-scanning with the Apex has never managed to pick up KOAM/KJFX so far. When I manually tune to 7.1 or 7.2, I get "no signal" and 0 activity on the signal meter... however, if I manually tune to 13.1/13.2, I get no picture, but I don't get the No Signal error, and the antenna signal meter shows activity in the 40-90 range. Anybody know what's up with this?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Something else to consider. KOAM-DT is frequently off the air, perhaps during one of those times you are attempting to tune it in. I've noticed this particularly when inclement weather is in the area. Case in point, yesterday when lightning bolts were noising it up!

... I've noticed this particularly when inclement weather is in the area. Case in point, yesterday when lightning bolts were noising it up!They said something on their web site about having to take the station off the air during lightning storms, to protect equipment, at least until after analog is shut down.

The bad part is, area lightning events will always wreak interference havoc with VHF DTV reception. The audio dropouts are very annoying.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I'm still confused on something, though - why is it that my signal strength shows, on average, in the 40-90ish range on 13.1/.2 when I manually tune to the station, but I never get a picture and it's never detected by autoscan? It seems like that even on the low end it should be high enough to get *some* kind of picture, as I've been able to still pick up other channels with equally low or lower signal strength. One thing about it is that it fluctuates wildly and never seems to quite settle in one particular area - however, I can move the antenna around and cause the signal to go to the 0-5 range, so it does seem to be registering *some* kind of signal when it's varying wildly across a range of numbers. Could this be some kind of interference problem?

I just read on the KOAM site, that they have
replaced the copper wire with fiber optic, and
the lightning is no longer an issue.

At least, they will not be unplugging it in bad
situations now. It may still get interference
from storms, you'll have to ask someone who
knows more about it that I. ;)

I only hope that KSN and KODE are going to
be easier for me to get (DT) when the analog
is shut down. I've pretty will gotten used to
the idea that I'll be losing them, just in case.

They aren't watchable at all in DT, if even
receivable. I get them very well analog, so
I'm hopeful. KSN does have a lot of ghosts
in analog though. But not always.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I'm still confused on something, though - why is it that my signal strength shows, on average, in the 40-90ish range on 13.1/.2 when I manually tune to the station, but I never get a picture and it's never detected by autoscan? It seems like that even on the low end it should be high enough to get *some* kind of picture, as I've been able to still pick up other channels with equally low or lower signal strength. One thing about it is that it fluctuates wildly and never seems to quite settle in one particular area - however, I can move the antenna around and cause the signal to go to the 0-5 range, so it does seem to be registering *some* kind of signal when it's varying wildly across a range of numbers. Could this be some kind of interference problem?If it's bouncing around wildly, that's most likely multipath interference (very likely on VHF chs if you're using an indoor antenna in a metal building or trailer). Or something electrical (computer, etc.) interfering with the VHF signal.

Something else to try: Instead of entering 13-1 or 13-2, try entering 13-3 or 13-4. Or just "13"

...It [KOAM-DT] may still get interference from storms...Do you get audio dropouts during lightning on KOAM-DT?

Do you get audio dropouts during lightning on KOAM-DT?

Usually I have things totally unplugged if lightning is
anywhere in the area. Can't afford to replace my
equipment, and I used to lose tv's and stereos so
now the computer and all of that is unplugged if
not safe.

As far as audio drop outs go, I get plenty of that due
to an electrical problem(?) in my house. Any time an
appliance comes on and runs, like the fridge, or the
space heaters(electric oil filled radiators w/thermostats)
I get both audio and video problems. Since the signal
has been 'improved' (cbs and fox) it seems worse
than before.

I've tried plugging in the converter box and the
antenna on different circuits and I try not to put any
of those on a circuit with a heater on it. The AC also
interfered during the summer. But I can flip light
switches and notice it on the digital tv reception. At
least with the improved signals the video problem
is shorter in length. Unless of course, there is a
lot of traffic on the north to south road the antenna
is pointed toward. *eyeroll*

It's practically become a hobby to figure this out by
the cut off date. I'm still crossing my fingers for
KODE and KSN. Right now, not holding my breath.

Is anyone having problems with KNWA's digital signal? As of last night and this morning, the digital signal is gone, but I can still see the analog signal.

Michael

Is anyone having problems with KNWA's digital signal? Yes. KNWA-DT is off the air again.

Comments questions to:
Mike Cleveland
mcleveland@knwa.com

Yes. KNWA-DT is off the air again.
]

Ah, just as I suspected....I had noticed they were off the air, um, I'm guessing a week ago, in the morning, but were back later that day. I didn't give it much thought, thinking it might just be atmospheric trickery from the cool morning temps. I noticed last night because my DVR started struggling trying to record something last night off KNWA, and couldn't find a signal. (I record NBC shows off of KNWA, as it's a much more reliable signal here than KYTV out of Springfield) Thanks for the info.

Michael

... (I record NBC shows off of KNWA, as it's a much more reliable signal here than KYTV out of Springfield)KNWA-DT isn't too reliable, LOL. But when they're on the air, their HD picture quality is a lot better than KYTV's.

KNWA-DT isn't too reliable, LOL. But when they're on the air, their HD picture quality is a lot better than KYTV's.

That's what I'm seeing here, too. Trouble is, when KNWA goes to local commercials during network primetime, the audio makes my head spin on my neck. All kinds of phase problems, all 5 speakers lit up, etc. DialNorm my ass. When I watch DVR stuff off of KNWA, my finger never EVER leaves the remote button! :-) And my surround rig is properly calibrated, no more than .25 db between all 5 speakers.

That's what I'm seeing here, too. Trouble is, when KNWA goes to local commercials during network primetime, the audio makes my head spin on my neck. All kinds of phase problems, all 5 speakers lit up, etc. DialNorm my ass. When I watch DVR stuff off of KNWA, my finger never EVER leaves the remote button! :-) And my surround rig is properly calibrated, no more than .25 db between all 5 speakers.Exactly.

I never watch local news, etc. on KNWA-DT. And I keep my finger on the mute button, just like you. Their local audio is unbearable and gives me a headache, too. It has been FUBAR'd for well over a year now. Just like you said, DialNorm, my ass. The audio bounces around like it's coming out of a well or cavern - all speakers at once, except the center channel. No direction whatsoever. It's probably some encoder/decoder default setting nobody knows how to set correctly. The network audio is fine though :)

The amount of incompetence (not including rhoops) at the local stations in this region boggles the mind.

It's probably some encoder/decoder default setting nobody knows how to set correctly. The network audio is fine though :)

(Shakes fist) Damn You Tandberg!!!!

[/QUOTE]The amount of incompetence (not including rhoops) at the local stations in this region boggles the mind.[/QUOTE]

+1 on rhoops. Always enjoy his posts. Now if we could just get him and others like him a proper budget and some authority to go along with the responsibility.

The Springfield area TV Chief Engineers have a monthly luncheon meeting. Tom McKelroy (Sp) was not there this week.

A call to the KYTV switchboard revealed he was no longer working there. I hear the job opening is on their website. That's pretty strange occurance, since a chief engineer is seldom, if ever, booted out on short notice. Usually they leave to "pursue other interests" or "spend more time with their family".

Tom was evidently unceremoniously fired.

Do any of you have any background information on this?

The Springfield area TV Chief Engineers have a monthly luncheon meeting. Tom McKelroy (Sp) was not there this week.Haven't heard a word about it...

Don't know if they will turn them on, but the Springfield Locals showed up in the Dish Uplink Report today on Satellite Guys. :)

Don't know if they will turn them on, but the Springfield Locals showed up in the Dish Uplink Report today on Satellite Guys. :)

It is showing them as MPEG 4 SD, can't figure why they would put them up in SD when it will take an MPEG4 HD receiver to pick them up. Maybe rhoops can give us some inside info on this. It's also going to take an eastern arc dish install to pick them up.

is anyone noticing audio dropouts on 33-1? I had a lot during the election coverage, and a few tonight during "life on mars".

It was reported at satelliteguys Springfield locals will be in HD Nov. 19 on dishnetwork. We will just have to see if it holds true when the time comes.

It will be interesting to see if KY3 is included on DISH.

It is showing them as MPEG 4 SD, can't figure why they would put them up in SD when it will take an MPEG4 HD receiver to pick them up. Maybe rhoops can give us some inside info on this. It's also going to take an eastern arc dish install to pick them up.
I don't know much about Dish HD, except the retrans agreements are signed and in effect. I got a phone call from Direct TV last night asking if our ( KOLR's ) on-air HD signal was having any problems, which we weren't. I did confirm that their receivers in Springfield were remotely controllable. They said they had an alarm with our receiver. I think they have at least one spare receiver in the rack.

If dish adds Springfield HD, including KYTV, that will definitely put pressure on D* to reach an agreement with the greedy folks at Schurz. But Springfield HD hasn't gone live yet on dish, so all this is speculation. Time will tell.

BTW, D* just added these Ft. Smith/Fayetteville chs in MPEG4 Thursday:
KFSM 5 cbs - 1080i
KFTA 24 fox - 720p
KHOG 29 abc - 720p
KPBI 34 myNetwork - currently 480i
KNWA 51 nbc - 1080i

I don't know much about Dish HD, except the retrans agreements are signed and in effect...According to: http://mstv.org/docs/satschedalpha.pdf
The Dish local receive facility supposedly completed converting the locals from NTSC to ATSC on 11/3/08. This is in preparation for the 2/17/09 analog shutoff.

Although AT & T has a retransmission agreement with Nexstar for KOLR and KSFX, and his installed a fiber connection at our studios, they have not completed the installation.

Technicians from the Joplin area came in a few weeks ago and installed the fiber connection and demarc panel, but nothing else. They professed to not know anything about what it was for.

My suggestion that AT & T U-Verse service was imminent for Springfield was in error. They have fiber to the node in most of Springfield, so I don't know what is holding things up.

Anyone notice KODE-DT is now broadcasting in HD? I don't know when it switched because it's very unreliable, but it is now in HD. However, I haven't seen any actual HD content yet.

On another note, is anyone having trouble getting KOAM's signal now that they have increased their power. I know they are still limited due to potential interference with another CH 13 station. However, it seems they have dropped the power in the last couple of weeks. Were there interference complaints? Or are they still getting the bugs out? Either way, the power is about half the strength it was earlier in October.

On another note, is anyone having trouble getting KOAM's signal now that they have increased their power. I know they are still limited due to potential interference with another CH 13 station. However, it seems they have dropped the power in the last couple of weeks. Were there interference complaints? Or are they still getting the bugs out? Either way, the power is about half the strength it was earlier in October.

Yes, I'm having the same thing here. It was wonderful and
showed higher, stable signal, and then just lately it's lower
and not steady. It's not dropping out too badly, but just
enough to annoy me. It could be like you say, interference
complaints or just conserving power. Either way it's not
what I was expecting after the time they spent on it.

Hopefully this will all iron out in February. :confused:

...is anyone having trouble getting KOAM's signal now that they have increased their power. I know they are still limited due to potential interference with another CH 13 station. However, it seems they have dropped the power in the last couple of weeks...They have a Special Temporary Authority to broadcast at low power. Maybe after they got the ch 13 transmitter working at a higher power (in preparation for KFJX to use after 2/17/09), they went back to the STA power level to save electricity. Just guessing, here....

Regardless, KOAM-DT reception should improve significantly after 2/17/09, when they move back to channel 7. They'll have an antenna that's around 100' higher than the existing ch 13 tower, and more than double the power approved for current ch 13.

Regardless, KOAM-DT reception should improve significantly after 2/17/09, when they move back to channel 7. They'll have an antenna that's around 100' higher than the existing ch 13 tower, and more than double the power approved for current ch 13.

I like the sound of that.

Except for wondering if channel 13 will broadcast The Fox
channel at a lesser power, and it will have the same
trouble that we're seeing now?

Just something that I can't help thinking about. :)

I like the sound of that.

Except for wondering if channel 13 will broadcast The Fox
channel at a lesser power, and it will have the same
trouble that we're seeing now?

Just something that I can't help thinking about. :)Good question.

It doesn't look too good for KFJX-DT. According to the FCC site (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=kfjx&arn=&city=&chan=&cha2=69&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=1&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9), KFJX-DT will only be allowed 4.5kW on ch 13, vs 6kW KOAM was allowed to use on ch 13. That doesn't make any sense, especially since KAFT analog 13 in NW Arkansas will go dark in feb 09.

But WIBW-DT in Topeka will move back to 13. That's probably where the power reduction comes from.

- Trip

damned VHF.

Well, that sure sucks.

That's what I get for being negative, I suppose. ;)

I'll hope for the best and maybe it will all iron out. I
can watch things on the puter, but my 36 inch tv will
be very disappointed.

Well, that sure sucksYes, it does.

They should've applied for a better (UHF) channel number that wouldn't be so prone to interference. The FCC assigned way too many VHF channel 13s for DTV.

rhoops, that post you replied to was over 4 years old.

???

This was Mike's response to my e-mail;

Thanks for your inquiry. Tom McKleroy is not employed at KY3 any longer. His replacement is Kirk Lemons. We are still planning on moving the CW to 33-2 around the first of the year and we are replacing the WeatherPlus with our own product. This too should happen at the same time.

We’ll continue to look at the PSIP problem.

Own product maybe 24/7 Local News Channel or it's own Weather Channel?

KY3 24/7 is sorta live. They've dropped the wx+ branding

Still says Weather + on the maps.

Just an FYI, on the Dish Networker Retailer Chat today they announced Springfield will be an Eastern Arc MPEG-4 Standard Definition market, not HD. This blows my mind and ticks me off.

Just an FYI, on the Dish Networker Retailer Chat today they announced Springfield will be an Eastern Arc MPEG-4 Standard Definition market, not HD. This blows my mind and ticks me off.

I'll 2nd that. Maybe this way they can go ahead and start installing EA dishes for new customers.

I'll 2nd that. Maybe this way they can go ahead and start installing EA dishes for new customers.

I'm afraid this means they've scrapped HD plans for Springfield anytime soon, otherwise they would have gone ahead and done it.

I'm afraid this means they've scrapped HD plans for Springfield anytime soon, otherwise they would have gone ahead and done it.We have a winner.

For those of you in the Springfield market who can get AETN (http://www.aetn.org) on KAFT or KEMV:
KAFT-DT Fayetteville and KEMV-DT Mountain View are currently off the air, while AETN moves equipment in Central Ark.

rhoops, that post you replied to was over 4 years old.

???

I waited a LONG time for a reply...........It was definitely worth the wait.

rhoops-

Hopefully it wasn't you in the control room for the first part of 24:Redemption on Sunday. Whoever it was mangled the first 8 minutes or so: first in standard def, then high def, then back to standard def for the idiotic DTV countdown across the top half of the screen. Is the countdown really necessary, especially so large and distracting across the top of the screen? I know you have some pull. Can we get rid of the countdown from KSFX and KOLR, at least on the HD side?

The FCC requires analog & digital stations to run the analog shutoff warning notices.
You will see more of them with increasing frequently until analog TV shuts down.

Like tax day, some people will wait until the last minute to do anything about the analog shutoff. Others will just quit watching OTA TV.

rhoops-

Hopefully it wasn't you in the control room for the first part of 24:Redemption on Sunday. Whoever it was mangled the first 8 minutes or so: first in standard def, then high def, then back to standard def for the idiotic DTV countdown across the top half of the screen. Is the countdown really necessary, especially so large and distracting across the top of the screen? I know you have some pull. Can we get rid of the countdown from KSFX and KOLR, at least on the HD side?
I work M-F. And no, we can't get rid of the DTV countown, even on the HD side. Between the FCC and corporate overseers we have no leeway at all. The size and look were handed down to us like Moses' tablets. Like life itself, this is temporary.

KOLR has the ability to super crawls and weather bug over HD, but Fox has just recently announced they will be rolling out a solution for supering that stuff. Unfortunately it will take a few months before it reaches us. Currently the only thing KSFX can super is a .jpg logo that is loaded into the Fox network equipment.

Anyone know what is going on with KY3, the NBC news did not show up in HD tonight and I believe it had the same problem at least part of last night.

Anyone know what is going on with KY3, the NBC news did not show up in HD tonight and I believe it had the same problem at least part of last night.

Must be some sort of a control problem, changed over about half way through the newscast tonight

Must be some sort of a control problem...Or lack of.

KYTV has no regard for the viewer, plain and simple. I'm sick of their jerking us around about getting HD syndicated fare. Their news is going downhill (get rid of Ethan!) and they seem to think SD is good enough. C'mon, if other Schurz stations can get that equipment in to do HD and working why not KY which I thought was the crown jewel of Schurz's empire. No. Corporate greed.

If KOLR's owners would get off their cheap asses and put some money into actually competing instead of trying to run a TV station on a Wal-Mart budget, we might get better product from BOTH stations!

KY has been so used to not having to compete that they've gotten lazy and forgetful of why they exist. Just because your competiton is cheap doesn't mean you have to be.

I'm sorry but I'm sick and tired of TV stations thinking their monopolies over various networks give them the right to stick us with second rate product and execution.

I'm sorry but I'm sick and tired of TV stations thinking their monopolies over various networks give them the right to stick us with second rate product and execution.
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better. Doing local news once made a lot of money, but it's very expensive to do and the returns are diminishing in today's economy.

It's not unheard of for a TV station to just close the news department and put on some more syndicated programming, or even cartoons or infomercials.

TV stations seldom go totally dark, but they can certainly drop local news and still survive.

Remember a few years ago we had 4 TV stations with a news department. Now we have two TV news departments in town

It would be very easy to instantly improve the bottom line by sending 1/3 of the newsroom home. That's happening right now in both print and broadcast newsrooms. It might be short-sighted, and amount to what the pioneers called "eating the seed corn", but it is being done all across the country as I write this.

The News-Leader is cutting back too.

Things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better...Mainly due to local TV's big revenue makers (like car dealerships) drastically cutting back on advertising.

I know one thing, ad dollars would be much more effective if they bought time during a DALLAS/PITTSBURG game with heavy playoff implications, than during a meaningless game between Arizona and St Louis. Let's see, 2-10 Rams or the 2-10 Chiefs in meaningless games, hmmm? The Chiefs I get, long time, regionally entrenched organization, that was consistently good for a long time, but the Rams, the 2-10 Rams? Absolutely ridiculous KSFX, waste of electricity, may was well power down the the transmitter, nobody that receives at least one other channel is watching the Rams game, no not even with Kurt Warner playing for the Cardinals. No excuse, the absolute worst programming decision ever.

You can blame the NFL for the decisions as to what teams are televised where. Stupid rules, blackouts, and garbage like that. Revenue sharing makes sure everyone in the NFL is getting paid regardless.

Things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better. Doing local news once made a lot of money, but it's very expensive to do and the returns are diminishing in today's economy.

It's not unheard of for a TV station to just close the news department and put on some more syndicated programming, or even cartoons or infomercials.

TV stations seldom go totally dark, but they can certainly drop local news and still survive.

Remember a few years ago we had 4 TV stations with a news department. Now we have two TV news departments in town

It would be very easy to instantly improve the bottom line by sending 1/3 of the newsroom home. That's happening right now in both print and broadcast newsrooms. It might be short-sighted, and amount to what the pioneers called "eating the seed corn", but it is being done all across the country as I write this.

The News-Leader is cutting back too.

We've never had 4 TV newsrooms in town. KSFX/KDEB never ran news until they got into the current arrangement with KOLR.

We've never had 4 TV newsrooms in town. KSFX/KDEB never ran news until they got into the current arrangement with KOLR.
Au contraire... In 1979 I distinctly remember a fellow student, Chris Bailey, needing to be excused from a public speaking class at Drury because he had to get ready to do the 5 PM news. Chuck Hessington (formerly at KYTV) and Ray Meyer were well know KMTC news readers. It wasn't unheard of for the news anchor to be seen in the field wielding a camera and mic as a "one man band".

Three years after KSPR came on the air they grabbed the ABC affiliation away from KMTC and I think the KMTC newscasts stopped around that time. I can't say whether there were ever 4 concurrent newsrooms. I suspect there was some overlap. Wikipedia says KDEB gave their news staff 60 days notice of their termination.

We've had some pretty respectable radio newsrooms in this town too, three of them are still doing fairly good work.

For financial reasons I'm getting rid of DirecTV and going strictly with OTA channels. I own a CM4228 antenna and a 5-foot mast for it. Hopefully with this installed on the roof, I'll get excellent reception. I'm not sure if I'll install it myself or pay someone to do it. I'm leaning toward doing it myself.

The back of my house faces pretty much due east right toward the towers 13.5 miles away (according to antennaweb). I have a tree right up against the house and another ~100-foot-tall tree about 125 feet from the house. The DirecTV installers put the antennas on the side blocked by the tree, which could possibly be why we lose signal almost every time it rains. I'm thinking that it will be best to be on the opposite side of the house, but this will require pretty long (~70-foot) cable runs. I will have a splitter at the end of the cable splitting it into three signals, probably one to the TV and two to my computer (they're about 30 feet from each other). So my first few questions are:

Where should I install the antenna?
Will this likely provide very good reception?
Do I need an amplifier?
If I install it myself, how should I run the cable from one side of the house to the other?

If you have any other comments to add, they'd definitely be appreciated. I've included some pictures of my house and my back yard to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with.

Here's the back of the house with a notation for where the TV, computer, and DirecTV antennas are. The computer is all the way at the front of the house with the TV toward the back of the house, so that's why they're 30 feet from each other even though it doesn't look like it in the picture. The area to the left of the large deck is the garage.
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/182/Back_of_house.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=Back_of_house.jpg)

Here's a picture from the small deck over by where the DirecTV antennas are:

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/6057/From_small_deck.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=From_small_deck.jpg)

Here's a picture from the left side of the large deck:

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/5454/Left_side_of_large_deck.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=Left_side_of_large_deck.jpg)

Here's a picture from the right side of the large deck:

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8889/Right_side_of_large_deck.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=Right_side_of_large_deck.jpg)

Here's a picture from the garage door:

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8687/From_garage_door.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=From_garage_door.jpg)

Sorry for all the pictures. Hopefully they'll be helpful to you. I can take some roof shots this weekend if necessary. I just didn't feel like climbing on the roof if it's not necessary.

Thanks!

For financial reasons I'm getting rid of DirecTV and going strictly with OTA channels. I own a CM4228 antenna and a 5-foot mast for it. Hopefully with this installed on the roof, I'll get excellent reception. I'm not sure if I'll install it myself or pay someone to do it. I'm leaning toward doing it myself.
It looks like you have a fairly high location and a good "take off angle" before the ridge on the horizon. My bet is that you will have good results wherever you install the antenna... Even on the dog house or porch swing.
A pre-amp at the antenna would help with a long coax run, but I think you will have plenty of signal even split 3 ways.

You can see the TV towers from the overpasses on Schoolcraft freeway ( US 65 ). KYTV, KSPR and KOZK's digital transmitters are aligned with Sunshine street. KOLR and KSFX's transmitters are aligned with Division Street.

Au contraire... In 1979 I distinctly remember a fellow student, Chris Bailey, needing to be excused from a public speaking class at Drury because he had to get ready to do the 5 PM news. Chuck Hessington (formerly at KYTV) and Ray Meyer were well know KMTC news readers. It wasn't unheard of for the news anchor to be seen in the field wielding a camera and mic as a "one man band".

Three years after KSPR came on the air they grabbed the ABC affiliation away from KMTC and I think the KMTC newscasts stopped around that time. I can't say whether there were ever 4 concurrent newsrooms. I suspect there was some overlap. Wikipedia says KDEB gave their news staff 60 days notice of their termination.

We've had some pretty respectable radio newsrooms in this town too, three of them are still doing fairly good work.


I do recall KMTC having news, but that ended the day they lost ABC.

I don't trust wikipedia any further than I can throw it.

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/35824709.html

Also:
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aid=110700.54928.122829

The back of my house faces pretty much due east right toward the towers 13.5 miles away (according to antennaweb)...

So my first few questions are:

Where should I install the antenna?
Will this likely provide very good reception?
Do I need an amplifier?
If I install it myself, how should I run the cable from one side of the house to the other?
What rhoops said, +1

At only 13 miles from the towers, you shouldn't need much antenna, or much elevation. You could probably hang the 4228 from underneath the deck (in the area back & above the riding lawn mower). Or to the left of the peak of the roof in the picture, using a long J-mount sat dish mount.
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Satellite/ds3000.jpg
Long J-mounts are available here> (see "DS-3000 (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Satellite/dish_mts.htm)") or from many local satellite TV dealer/installers.

You probably won't need a preamp either, even for 3 TVs. In fact, a preamp, may overload the signal, especially when KOLR-DT moves to VHF ch 10 in a couple of months.

rhoops: Is Randy Selvidge still in the area.? I met him several years ago at NAB.

rhoops: Is Randy Selvidge still in the area.? I met him several years ago at NAB.
Yep, he works here. He's our main transmitter man for KOLR / KSFX. His email is randys@kolr10.com .

KPBI 34, Eureka Springs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBBL-TV), has gone off the air already.
Is KWBM 31 Harrison/Springfield (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPBI-CA) still on?

KPBI 34, Eureka Springs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBBL-TV), has gone off the air already.
Is KWBM 31 Harrison/Springfield (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPBI-CA) still on?
I'm getting it on Mediacom Cable 11.

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/35824709.html
For several weeks at KOLR / KSFX we've had an area adjacent to master control marked off as reserved for KWBM master control. It's really a joke but some folks believe it. I'd like to open the bidding at $10,000.

I'm getting it on Mediacom Cable 11.Not cable, OTA. Equity's sat feed from LR is still up.

Update: Equity Media Holding in liquidation.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=110735.54928.122873&cID=e&view=all

I do. I'll give 'em $100 for something. :D

- Trip

Silly me didn't realize that 33-1 was live so I ran and search my locals again on my dish receiver. Odd thing is it's not finding 10-1 now but see's 33-1 just fine. Any suggestions? Anyone else had this issue?

Silly me didn't realize that 33-1 was live so I ran and search my locals again on my dish receiver. Odd thing is it's not finding 10-1 now but see's 33-1 just fine. Any suggestions? Anyone else had this issue?KSPR-DT's been on the air for a while now. If KOLR-DT's missing, try another rescan.

KOLR-DT can be difficult for far fringe viewers due to the high channel number.
How's your signal strength on the OTA locals you do get?
How far from the towers are you?
Antenna type (indoor, outdoor)?

Equity filed to take all of its stations dark on 2/18 if they don't have digital already on the air.

Less rubbish on Springfield TV come 2/18 as I see it.

Equity filed to take all of its stations dark on 2/18 if they don't have digital already on the air.

Less rubbish on Springfield TV come 2/18 as I see it.

Can't count on it. I heard on an East Coast chat line that the Nexstar Broadcasting folks are considering picking up some of those Equity stations..

Can't count on it. I heard on an East Coast chat line that the Nexstar Broadcasting folks are considering picking up some of those Equity stations..I hope they do. And they max out the sub channels with all the worthless sub channel crap not yet airing in this market. That might keep sub channels off the real HD stations (e.g. KOLR-DT, etc.) and keep their picture quality higher.

Nexstar already picked up a Little Rock Equity station and has filed an application to upgrade the transmitter. It's already DTV, though. A ton of Equity junk stations have not been upgraded to digital at all.

Regardless, KWBM 31 is a full power analog, so it must go dark 2/17/09. Just like KPBI 34 in Eureka Spgs.

I hope they do. And they max out the sub channels with all the worthless sub channel crap not yet airing in this market. That might keep sub channels off the real HD stations (e.g. KOLR-DT, etc.) and keep their picture quality higher.

Nexstar already picked up a Little Rock Equity station and has filed an application to upgrade the transmitter. It's already DTV, though. A ton of Equity junk stations have not been upgraded to digital at all.

Regardless, KWBM 31 is a full power analog, so it must go dark 2/17/09. Just like KPBI 34 in Eureka Spgs.
I think Nexstar might be able to find an extra digital transmitter somewhere in the attic. I know one Channel 52 digital transmitter that could be re-tuned. Some of the filter hardware would need to be replaced to move it to a different channel.

There will be lots of digital transmitters available after February.

The biggest problem would be programming another station. When the Equity Little Rock facility closes there probably won't be any more "My Network".

Like ARXAW says, I think it might make a good repository for the various "junk"" sub channels. It would take a pretty clever businessman to find a way to make that profitable, but I hear there are some folks who do that.

Full power TV stations very seldom go dark. The value of KWBM must be pretty low. More than the $ 10 K, I've offered, but certainly not Millions.

Nexstar paid $4 million for KWBF (http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/10/07/daily.3/) in LR.

Since they already run two stations in Springfield, would they be allowed to buy and operate another station in this DMA?

Nexstar paid $4 million for KWBF (http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/10/07/daily.3/) in LR.

Since they already run two stations in Springfield, would they be allowed to buy and operate another station in this DMA?
It might require participation of a third party, and the usual shared services and joint sales agreements, but I think it could be made to work.

After all KYTV controls the NBC, ABC and CW stations.

If you cross the palm of an FCC lawyer with enough silver a great number of things become possible.

Anyone see the new HD's up in the 700's?

They also own their own product that replacing Weather Plus but hopping it was going to be an Accuweather Channel but if it's like Show Me Weather or maybe 24/7 Local News Channel that would be good.
RTN Affliate is going to be a Sub Channel of KWBM.
Kolr10 own has KSFX at the moment and one of the companies here has got This TV and the other DOT2 Network.

RTN Affliate is going to be a Sub Channel of KWBM.

RTN originates from the Equity Broadcasting facility in Little Rock, and they have neither cash or credit at the moment. I wouldn't bet on either RTN or KWBM being in business much longer.

There will probably have to be some "creative destruction" before any of the Equity Broadcasting components rise again.

It might require participation of a third party, and the usual shared services and joint sales agreements, but I think it could be made to work. After all KYTV controls the NBC, ABC and CW stations.
.

Perhaps we can get 'Rhoops Broadcasting' to pick up the Equity station and contract it out to Nexstar.... :)

...I wouldn't bet on either RTN or KWBM being in business much longer...Especially since they've filed with the FCC to go dark on 2/17/09.

Equity's KPBI 34 (MyN), city of license Eureka Springs, is off the air again. It also is supposed to go dark on 2/17, but looks like it has already shut down.

Does anyone know when the Springfield stations will be HD on Dish Network?

It was reported at satelliteguys Springfield locals will be in HD Nov. 19 on dishnetwork. We will just have to see if it holds true when the time comes.Hope you're not holding your breath :)

Okay, so what's the deal again on why KY3HD can't send their signal to DirecTV? Why were other other locals able to send the signal no problem, but KY3 can't?

Any idea on a timeframe when KY3 HD will be available through DirecTV?
I recently e-mailed Mike Scott with KY3 about this. His response (dated 12/22/08) is below (right after my initial question to him):

(12/17/08) Greetings, Mr. Scott.. Back in early September, your competition (KSPR, KOLR, and KSGF) all went digital through DirecTV. KY3 didn't and still hasn't yet. I was wondering if you could tell me when KY3 will negotiate a contract (if ever) with DirecTV to carry your programming in high definition? I receive KY3 on my DirecTV satellite dish, and have for the past few years as I can't receive you by antenna in my town and I have applied for a waiver from KY3 which has been denied. I am VERY interested in receiving KY3 in HD through DirecTV. I would appreciate a rapid response to this issue. Regards, M. Hayslip.

(12/22/08) Dear Mr. Hayslip,

I was hoping to tell you it was done but I have not heard that yet. I was told last week that a deal was close. The issue started for us when DirecTV launched local HD channels in our market with four days notice. They already had group deals on the digital channel with everyone else in the market. With our station, they only wanted to do a group deal with our parent company. Since we own multiple stations in six different states, it became more complicated and time-consuming. However, we understand the importance of this issue and we want it resolved as soon as possible.

Thanks for letting me explain.

Michael A. Scott
President/General Manager
KY3, Inc.

12-22-2008
Dear Mr. Braymer,



Hopefully, soon. It is my understanding that Dish is going to launch local HD channels in the near future. If they have already then I am not aware of it. However, our current contract with Dish does not include the digital channel so we’ll have to negotiate a new deal. I would hope this would go quickly but if it becomes a corporate deal involving all of our stations in other markets it become more time-consuming. We recognize the importance on this issue and I will try to get it done as soon as possible.



Thanks for your interest. !



Michael A. Scott

President/General Manager

KY3, Inc.

999 W. Sunshine

Springfield, MO 65807

Phone: (417) 268-3000

Fax: (417) 268-3360

...The issue started for us when DirecTV launched local HD channels in our market with four days notice....KYTV almost had to know DirecTV was working on this.
The local DirecTV receive facility (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P1400108) is located at 999 W. Sunshine (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=kytv+springfield+mo).

KYTV almost had to know DirecTV was working on this.
The local DirecTV receive facility (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P1400108) is located at 999 W. Sunshine (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=kytv+springfield+mo).
Both of the DBS companies have remotely controlled terrestial receivers at the KY3 studio. A few months back, (august I think) we had some problems with KOLR's analog audio. DirecTV called me on the phone and requested to use the digital OTA feed. I shot them an e-mail giving them temporary authorization and they were on the digital feed within 10 minutes.

rhoops,
How come there's nothing on the KOLR web site (ozarksfirst.com) about KOLR analog reducing power?

Would like to know more about there own product that's going to be 24/7 and so on Digital Channels coming soon here.

huh?

KWBM appears to be toast. DISH isn't getting a feed, and the off air feed is, well, the static is more watchable than their 'regular' programming.

All the Equity analogs are shut down, including full power KPBI 34 in Eureka.


[edit] Equity's KWBF-DT (MyN) and KKYK-DT (RTN), in the Little Rock DMA are still up on D*. Nexstar is buying KWBF-DT. Not sure who's running KKYK-DT

rhoops,
How come there's nothing on the KOLR web site (ozarksfirst.com) about KOLR analog reducing power?
Good Question.... I'll ask. I suspect the on air announcement is required by the FCC. In practice a 3 db reduction in power for the last two days of analog transmission won't affect many viewers.

Now turning off analog and switching from 52 to 10..... That will cause problems. Lots of folks have been receiving KOLR on 52 and think they don't have to do anything in February will learn they need to re-scan channels.

It's going to be a train-wreck!

Now turning off analog and switching from 52 to 10..... That will cause problems. Lots of folks have been receiving KOLR on 52 and think they don't have to do anything in February will learn they need to re-scan channels.

It's going to be a train-wreck!KOLR needs to get this info out and get it out repeatedly. Put it on the crawls you have to run. There's a generic DTV PSA that mentions it - start running that. Maybe get other stations to mention that a rescan is needed on 2/17.

KFSM in Ft Smith is telling viewers about rescanning, in some of their PSAs. Not sure why, though, since none of that DMA's channels are changing frequency on 2/17.

Also make sure it's visible on KOLR's main web site page, not buried on some sub page where it won't be seen.

Good Question.... I'll ask. I suspect the on air announcement is required by the FCC. In practice a 3 db reduction in power for the last two days of analog transmission won't affect many viewers.

Now turning off analog and switching from 52 to 10..... That will cause problems. Lots of folks have been receiving KOLR on 52 and think they don't have to do anything in February will learn they need to re-scan channels.

It's going to be a train-wreck!
At least you will have KSFX to run crawls and provide the info after the switch is made.
But yes, a lot of publicity is needed shortly before the change.

Rescans will be necessary in some cases, broadcasters are adding multicast channels.

I can see this being a pain when they add channels 'rescan to find them'

What Channels are they adding?

CW is supposed to move from KYTV-DT 44 to KSPR-DT 19. That will require a rescan. But isn't that move supposed to happen before 2/17?

Other possible junk subchannels that may be added:
RTN
Ion
VarietyTV

If local stations can take away bandwidth from the HD channel, they will. Just like cablecos; quantity over quality.

Will the program Lineup change then?
Some of these could be added to the area to
.2 Network · AccuWX · Bohemia · Create · CW Plus · FUNimation · ION Life · LATV · MeTV · PBS World · qubo · RTN · This TV · ThinkBright· VTV · V-me

It's on some Comcast and is available to all Cable Systems like most of these are.

Variety TV is a service of Newport TV which I've only seen on Newport-owned stations. They may not be making it available to other companies.

- Trip

The bandwidth-robbing possibilities are endless.

How many of the SD locals are still on 72.5 via D*?

How many of the SD locals are still on 72.5 via D*?All of 'em should be. Some are duplicated on the 99. Eventually all of them will be on 99. D* plans to changeout all receivers in this DMA to MPEG4 and then vacate 72.5, which is leased space.

All of 'em should be. Some are duplicated on the 99. Eventually all of them will be on 99. D* plans to changeout all receivers in this DMA to MPEG4 and then vacate 72.5, which is leased space.

I have 2 HD recievers and 1 SD receiver. I was just curious if I could take down the 72.5 dish yet.

On your MPEG4 HD receivers, hit the yellow button and edit a favorites list. All of the locals that are duplicated in MPEG4 on the 99 sat have an "A3" at the beginning of the channel description. Locals not tagged A3 are on the 72.5 sat.

Is your SD receiver MPEG4? If not, you will lose all the locals on it if you take down the 72.5 dish. MPEG2 receivers can't decode programming on the 99 sat.

In Columbia they ended up ditching Weather Plus and replaced it with Universal Sports for the time being, as of 1/1/09. What did Springfield end up doing? I still don't have my setup to pick up both Columbia and Springfield yet.

KY3 "24/7"
http://i39.tinypic.com/j7vwa9.jpg

Interesting. Looks the same! KMIZ ABC Columbia has Stormtrack 24/7 on 17-4 and it is pretty decent. I guess they didn't think two similar weather stations were necessary. Does Springfield have another weather channel besides the KY3? I can't remember.

Interesting. Looks the same! KMIZ ABC Columbia has Stormtrack 24/7 on 17-4 and it is pretty decent. I guess they didn't think two similar weather stations were necessary. Does Springfield have another weather channel besides the KY3? I can't remember.

No.

- Trip

...Does Springfield have another weather channel besides the KY3?No, not that I'm aware of. Like you said, one is enough.

Uh oh, now look what they are up to:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA6627445.html

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/7/2009 7:59:00 PM


The DTV hard date appears to be softening.

Consumers Union (CU) late Wednesday asked the heads of the congressional committees with telecommunications oversight, as well as the current and future administrations, to consider delaying the Feb. 17, 2009 transition date.

And at least one of those key Congressional players, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, says the date may have to move.

In a letter to Rep. Markey, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committe, and others, the CU requested that Congress consider a delay "until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals, particularly by fixing the flaws in the federal coupon program created to offset the cost of this transition."

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration this week announced that it had hit the funding ceiling for its program to distribute government subsidies for DTV-to-analog converter boxes and that new applications would have to be put on a waiting list unless the cap were raised or the Antideficiency Act (ADA) rule preventing it from spending money it expected to be freed up by expired coupons was waived.

“Congressman Markey is working on an exemption to the ADA to deal with the immediate waiting list issue," said Daniel Reilly, a spokesman for Markey. "But with the date looming, moving the date back certainly warrants further discussion and may be a wise choice.”

According to several sources, the Obama FCC transition team has been "very busy" on the issue and has been floating the possibility of moving the date. The transition press office had not returned an e-mail request for comment at press time.

Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst for Consumers Union and one of the two signatories on the letter, said CU had met with the transition team about the issue, and that they are "rightly concerned that this is a mess that they are now going to have to clean up in a very short time frame."

He would not comment on whether they favored moving the date beyond only saying that the transition team has been "extremely active on the DTV transition issue." He said the Obama transition team had not asked Consumers Union to send the letter.

Consumers Union has suggested a move of four months or so, according to a CNBC interview with CU senior counsel Chris Murray, the other signature on the CU letter. Murray told CNBC that he thought there was a "reasonably good chance" that Congress would push the date back four months or so. "We're not ready to say there will be a delay yet," he said. "We believe that Congress should consider a delay [but] I don't think I can talk about this as something that is readily going to happen," he said.

Perhaps, but the Washington lobbying community was buzzing Wednesday with talk that it was a real possibility.

In an e-mail alert from communications law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer obtained by B&C, the Murray CNBC intervew was cited prominently, with lawyers there saying they were hearing that "serious consideration" was being given to moving the date to June 1 (Memorial Day weekend) and suggesting more trial balloons would be floated in the coming days.

According to the lobbyist, the new administration is not looking forward to inheriting a transition with major issues about viewers not receiving their subsidies in time. That would include target populations like senior citizens, minorities and the disabled.

It would be tough to make the move at this late date. The broadcasting and cable industries and the government have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and donated airtime on hammering home that Feb. 17 date, putting it on Web sites, billboards, and even a race car. Some broadcasters have already made the switch early (Wilmington, N.C.), or are about to (Hawaii on Jan. 15), and some of the spectrum has already been auctioned for advanced services.

If they change the date, it will piss off the public and the broadcasters, both of whom are ready to get this over with.

In a lot of markets, stations are patiently waiting for particular analog chs to go dark, so they can move their digital broadcast to those channels. Many DTV stations waiting to move are currently at low power and reception is difficult or impossible for many. For example, KETS-DT in Little Rock, wants to move from low power channel 5 to full power on channel 7. But they can't until KATV analog 7 shuts down and vacates that channel.

Stoooopid congress will screw this up yet.

Plus you don't want to piss off the cellular providers, who paid big bucks to get these frequencies. They probably have more "power" than some of the others concerned!

Exactly.

I never watch local news, etc. on KNWA-DT. And I keep my finger on the mute button, just like you. Their local audio is unbearable and gives me a headache, too. It has been FUBAR'd for well over a year now. Just like you said, DialNorm, my ass. The audio bounces around like it's coming out of a well or cavern - all speakers at once, except the center channel. No direction whatsoever. It's probably some encoder/decoder default setting nobody knows how to set correctly. The network audio is fine though :)

The amount of incompetence (not including rhoops) at the local stations in this region boggles the mind.

OK, to revive an old thread, I sampled KNWA's audio from their noon newscast today, and came up with these screen shots using the Waves Audio Analyzer and Pro Tools Phase Scope plugins:



I am including a sample of CNN's audio as a reference:


I don't think there is to much of a mystery as to why KNWA's audio is all over the place, blaring out of every speaker in a surround system :-)

(I'm seemingly unable to get the pics to go with the text, but you can at least see what I'm seeing)

Yep. Really bad.

You might want to also post this in the NWA thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=463765&page=122).

[To post pics embedded in your post, use tinypic (http://www.tinypic.com/). It's free, no registration required and they provide the code to copy&paste in your post.]

If they change the date, it will piss off the public and the broadcasters, both of whom are ready to get this over with.

In a lot of markets, stations are patiently waiting for particular analog chs to go dark, so they can move their digital broadcast to those channels. Many DTV stations waiting to move are currently at low power and reception is difficult or impossible for many. For example, KETS-DT in Little Rock, wants to move from low power channel 5 to full power on channel 7. But they can't until KATV analog 7 shuts down and vacates that channel.

Stoooopid congress will screw this up yet.
At KOLR / KSFX we are looking forward to paying Webster Electric a lot less when we turn off two transmitters. It not only takes a lot of electricity to power the transmitters, but they generate a lot of heat which has to be dealt with. We're ready to shut them down.

When you look at the corporate picture of a company like Nexstar that has never operated in the black, the end of DTV transition can't come too soon.

At KOLR / KSFX we are looking forward to paying Webster Electric a lot less when we turn off two transmitters. It not only takes a lot of electricity to power the transmitters, but they generate a lot of heat which has to be dealt with. We're ready to shut them down.

You can't be forced to keep running analog, can you?

You can't be forced to keep running analog, can you?Not if your transmitter uh, "bites the dust" like Nexstar's KFTA 24 recently did in Ft Smith. ;)

If you want to call it that, they seem to.
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/37372529.html

http://news-leader.com/article/20090109/BREAKING03/90109024

If you want to call it that, they seem to.
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/37372529.html

http://news-leader.com/article/20090109/BREAKING03/90109024

Can Branson support two such channels?. They already have The Vacation Channel:

http://www.tvcbranson.com/

Can Branson support two such channels?. They already have The Vacation Channel:

http://www.tvcbranson.com/Vacation Channel 38 & K17DL are both still analog only, OTA. Being LPTV stations, they don't have to shut off on 2/17 (if anyone does), but they will go digital at some point.

Maybe they're going to combine the two stations and run both as separate sub channels off of one DTV transmitter to save money.

On good another Channel for Charter Osage Beach and so on to try and add.

Last night we split the channel 10 analog transmitter in half and are busy converting the un-used half to DTV.

On Feb 17th, or whenever the end of analog comes, we will shut down the analog half, fire up the DTV half and start the conversion process on the rest of the transmitter.

Although the DTV signal has a higher duty cycle than analog, less power is required. I'm not sure exactly where we will be percentage wise on power when we fire up the DTV, but it will be a lot more than 50%.

When the conversion is complete there will be plenty of reserve power.

Last night we split the channel 10 analog transmitter in half and are busy converting the un-used half to DTV.

On Feb 17th, or whenever the end of analog comes, we will shut down the analog half, fire up the DTV half and start the conversion process on the rest of the transmitter.

Although the DTV signal has a higher duty cycle than analog, less power is required. I'm not sure exactly where we will be percentage wise on power when we fire up the DTV, but it will be a lot more than 50%.

When the conversion is complete there will be plenty of reserve power.

I'm a little confused about what you are saying. Have you been running DTV at less than full power? My power meter has you at 88% already.

Or does this have something to do with you moving from channel 52 back to 10?

I'm a little confused about what you are saying. Have you been running DTV at less than full power? My power meter has you at 88% already.

Or does this have something to do with you moving from channel 52 back to 10?
I'm talking about the channel 10 transmitter. We've begun the conversion of that transmitter to DTV. We're at half power on analog now.

The channel 52 DTV transmitter will stay at full power until we shut it down.

So on cutover day, when you turn on DT 10, will it be oprating at the fully allotted 20kW ERP?

And why did KOLR only get allotted 20kW? A lot of VHFs got more than twice that. Example, KTHV-DT 12 in Little Rock is 55kW and KAFT-DT 9 in Fayetteville is upping to ~40kW. I'm just worried about impulse noise causing dropouts for fringe viewers, like it currently does on KAFT-DT 9 at their current ERP of ~20kW. That's one reason they plan to double theirs to ~40kW.

I'm talking about the channel 10 transmitter. We've begun the conversion of that transmitter to DTV. We're at half power on analog now.


NNnooooooo!! I was planning on getting my VHF antenna up later this week in anticipation of the cutover to Channel 10. I hope there is enough analog signal there so I'll have something to aim at. I actually have to aim my UHF antenna SSW to get a reflection off of a ridge, as opposed to aiming NNE at the Fordland towers. I can receive all of the Springfield stations at between 70-92%. Odd, but it works except for windy days when the multipath overwhelms the tuners.

NNnooooooo!! I was planning on getting my VHF antenna up later this week in anticipation of the cutover to Channel 10. I hope there is enough analog signal there so I'll have something to aim at.I'm 70 miles from the transmitter and can tell no difference in the analog PQ on channel 10 today. Unless you live farther away than I do, you should still have plenty of analog signal to tweak your VHF antenna with.

How does analog 10 look with your current UHF antenna? And what kind is it?

So on cutover day, when you turn on DT 10, will it be oprating at the fully allotted 20kW ERP?

And why did KOLR only get allotted 20kW? A lot of VHFs got more than twice that. Example, KTHV-DT 12 in Little Rock is 55kW and KAFT-DT 9 in Fayetteville is upping to ~40kW. I'm just worried about impulse noise causing dropouts for fringe viewers, like it currently does on KAFT-DT 9 at their current ERP of ~20kW. That's one reason they plan to double theirs to ~40kW.

Sounds like DT10 will be "something over 50%" power on changeover day, with full power later, when the other half of the current analog transmitter goes to digital.

So on cutover day, when you turn on DT 10, will it be oprating at the fully allotted 20kW ERP?

And why did KOLR only get allotted 20kW? A lot of VHFs got more than twice that. Example, KTHV-DT 12 in Little Rock is 55kW and KAFT-DT 9 in Fayetteville is upping to ~40kW. I'm just worried about impulse noise causing dropouts for fringe viewers, like it currently does on KAFT-DT 9 at their current ERP of ~20kW. That's one reason they plan to double theirs to ~40kW.
I haven't done the math, but it will be close to the allotted power. On the analog transmitter 16 KW average visual power out of the tranmitter gave us the 316 KW ERP.

In analog peak power is 1.4 times average power. I think in digital, peak is equal to average power. Half the transmitter would give 8 KW average, but would probably have to be de-rated in digital service.

With the antenna gain we have it shouldn't be hard to get to 20 KW ERP.

I have no idea why the licensed power is so low.

If you are really bored read this: http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/12264

Having lived in two markets where I've had to deal with annoying VHF DTV reception problems since DTV began, I don't have high expectations at that anemic power level, come summer. We shall see.

Should work OK in the metro area.

I'm 70 miles from the transmitter and can tell no difference in the analog PQ on channel 10 today. Unless you live farther away than I do, you should still have plenty of analog signal to tweak your VHF antenna with.

How does analog 10 look with your current UHF antenna? And what kind is it?

I checked the PQ on analog 10 and it is marginal, and somewhat weaker than previous. It never was a really usable signal.

The antenna is the Jaycar LT3192:
http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=LT3182&CATID=&keywords=LT3182&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

It's mostly useless for VHF, so having VHF 10 working at all bodes well for getting 10 with the VHF (A Radio Shack antenna that was their biggest model in 2003 when purchased. It's no longer in the catalog) antenna. I'm also using the Channel Master CM7777, with RG6 Belden to the rack in the closet. Considering that I'm at lake level and sitting at the bottom of a bowl, I'm lucky to get anything at all..:-)

It would probably work better if you got it out of the attic, especially on VHF.

It would probably work better if you got it out of the attic, especially on VHF.

I experimented with that initially, when setting up for UHF, but multipath seems to be my enemy, and not lack of signal strength. The attenuation from being in the attic seems to actually help in this instance. (I also have an inline attenuator in the rack. It's set at zero attenuation, but the insertion loss seems to help, so I leave it inline) Bouncing a signal off of a ridge makes for a very interesting analog picture, full of shifting colors and ghosts on breezy days. Makes the ATSC tuners crazy. You might be right about VHF, though. If VHF 10 proves to be problematic, I'll give the roof another go. My original post concerning the install is here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13322487#post13322487

If you want to call it that, they seem to.
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/37372529.html

http://news-leader.com/article/20090109/BREAKING03/90109024

Its S*** like this that just proves how little regard Mike Scott & Schurz have for their core viewer.

Putting junk like this on instead of spending that money to upgrade KY and KSPR to run syndicated HD, not to mention CW-HD, REALLY shows who they care about most.

I for one have had enough of KY's lack of regard for the viewer and am taking all of my viewing of their programming to any other channel. The fact I can watch most of NBC's & ABC's shows online as well as the fact I have access to outlets to watch the syndie fare KY/KSPR offers means I have NO use for them.

Frankly Mike Scott can go **** himself. I have had enough of his disregard for the viewer. And I get the feeling I'm not the only one.

... Bouncing a signal off of a ridge makes for a very interesting analog picture, full of shifting colors and ghosts on breezy days...I've done that before and you're right, the NTSC picture constantly shifts and changes colors in strong wind. On some channels, the picture would completely go away or lose sync, and then return.

What ATSC tuner(s) are you using?



...Putting junk like this on instead of spending that money to upgrade KY and KSPR to run syndicated HD, not to mention CW-HD, REALLY shows who they care about most...I was told they plan to attempt CW-HD on KSPR-DT as -dash 2 sub channel, in tandem with ABC-HD on the -dash 1. There's just not enough bandwidth in a 6mhz channel to do that and make it look good. Like you said though, they obviously don't care about quality.

As for HD timeshifting of syndicated programming like Wheel of Fortune or pre-empted/delayed network HD programming, other markets have that capability, even smaller ones like Ft Smith/Fayetteville.

Last night we split the channel 10 analog transmitter in half and are busy converting the un-used half to DTV.

Why did the signal reduction come a week early ?

Why did the signal reduction come a week early ?Most likely due to availability of people to do the work.

Most likely due to availability of people to do the work.
What He said! The Larcan transmitter field rep is here. He's got a lot to do in the next month.

So on cutover day, when you turn on DT 10, will it be oprating at the fully allotted 20kW ERP?
I just checked with the transmitter supervisor. 1.78 KW average out of the transmitter will yield the full licensed ERP power. After the hardware filter there is only a little more than 1 KW going to the transmission line.

The analog transmitter had the two halves combined to push 16 KW Visual out of the combiner and 1/10 of that for the Aural.

When we go to DTV, we won't combine the PA's but have a spare to switch in if needed.

We will be at full rated power from day one.

I've done that before and you're right, the NTSC picture constantly shifts and changes colors in strong wind. On some channels, the picture would completely go away or lose sync, and then return.

What ATSC tuner(s) are you using?

In order of multipath immunity:

Polaroid TLA-04011C 40" LCD
Pioneer 8g Kuro PDP-5080HD 50" Plasma
Dish VIP 622 HD DVR
Dish VIP 211 HD Tuner

That's not a typo, the Polaroid has a superior tuner. When the Polaroid is suffering from macro-blocking and brief freezes, the Dish tuners are throwing up the dreaded yellow error dialogue boxes and hanging for several seconds or more. (Sometimes ALOT more) The Pioneer is better than the Dish tuners, but not as forgiving as the Polaroid. Of course, every time the Polaroid successfully powers up we consider it a miracle. Great looking TV for the money, but boy, these things were budget engineered. Our current 40" is a factory replacement for the 37" that fried 11 months into the 1 year warranty. I'll be getting a pair of the Zenith DTV converter boxes in a few days, and I'll be curious how they hold up compared to the stuff I have. I've heard good things about their tuner sections, so we'll see......

I just checked with the transmitter supervisor. 1.78 KW average out of the transmitter will yield the full licensed ERP power. After the hardware filter there is only a little more than 1 KW going to the transmission line.

The analog transmitter had the two halves combined to push 16 KW Visual out of the combiner and 1/10 of that for the Aural.

When we go to DTV, we won't combine the PA's but have a spare to switch in if needed.

We will be at full rated power from day one.

Thanks for the updates, rhoops. What are you going to do with the channel 52 transmitter?

In order of multipath immunity:

Polaroid TLA-04011C 40" LCD
Pioneer 8g Kuro PDP-5080HD 50" Plasma
Dish VIP 622 HD DVR
Dish VIP 211 HD Tuner

I'll be getting a pair of the Zenith DTV converter boxes in a few days, and I'll be curious how they hold up compared to the stuff I have. I've heard good things about their tuner sections, so we'll see......I doubt you'll be disappointed in the Zeniths with the 6th-generation tuner chipsets. They are probably the best OTA tuners currently available. Microtune also makes excellent tuners. That might be what's inside the Polaroid.

The dish tuners are all pure crap, compared to what's currently available.

Thanks for the updates, rhoops. What are you going to do with the channel 52 transmitter?
Good Question. We still have the low power DTV transmitters for 28 and 52.
I'm sure there is a market for these, although there is some massive filter hardware that wouldn't be re-usable on a lower channel.

With at moderate investment in parts and labor the Channel 52 transmtter might be converted for a channel 28 backup.

Where it goes, if anywhere, will be a Nexstar corporate decision. If I were them, I'd try to find a station that needed to flash cut to DTV in February.

Of course there is the question of analog transmitters on 3, 21, 27 and 33. Some are convertable to DTV. There will be a lot of very expensive transmission line and antennas that will have to come down.

We hope to eventually move the channel 28 (KSFX-DT) antenna higher on the tower.

...We hope to eventually move the channel 28 (KSFX-DT) antenna higher on the tower.That's good to know. Maybe my KSFX reception will improve on the Zenith converter box & TV in my spare bedroom that's not connected to the 4228 on my tower. It's only connected to an un-amp'd ratshack rabbit ear/loop antenna (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103077). Amazingly, it picks up all the Springfield & Fayetteville stations without moving the antenna around. And I'm ~70+ miles SE of Springfield transmitters. See green dot on map:
http://i40.tinypic.com/651f92.png

For some reason, the only station I occasionally have trouble getting reliably on that converter box is KSFX.

Looks like DishNetwork lit up KOLR & KSFX HD yesterday on satellite. If anyone has a dish pointed at 77w, let us know if they look very good off satellite. I don't have a dish pointed that way yet.

probably not the right forum but i thought maybe you guys could point me in the right direction.

right now im just feeding mediacom to my tv, springfield basic which is like channels 1-20ish combined with internet. well i can drop tv and even with the package deal going away i'll save 10$ a month, so im thinking of dropping tv and just going with a over the air set up. I have coaxial going to the 2 tvs in the house from wall jacks up into the attic to a splitter, so i can just remove the mediacom feed and plug up a ota. (my brother and i have done all the tv/ethernet cabling in the house)

Now the advice i need part, Is a attic antennea ok? or should i get something to mount on the house? I really dont want to mess with pointing in directions or tweaking alot, kinda hoping for a set up, plug in and go. What or where is a good place to research some antenneas and what do i really need to know?

i live in the middle of town southwest of st johns about 6 streets nearish the park at sunset and national. the 2 tvs are a 42" lcd and a 36 tube, both have digital tuners already in them. thanks.

...Now the advice i need part, Is a attic antennea ok? or should i get something to mount on the house? I really dont want to mess with pointing in directions or tweaking alot, kinda hoping for a set up, plug in and go. An attic install should be OK, assuming you don't have:
Metal siding
Foil backed wall insulation
Foil backed radiant barrier roof decking

A good metro high vhf+uhf antenna like this is all you should need:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/2016.htm

You can hang it down from the roof rafters in the attic, using a metal pole or even a broom handle.
Connect it to your TVs with RG6 coax. Attic antennas do not have to be grounded, unlike outdoor antennas.

A good starting point to aim your antenna will probably be just slightly to the right of due East. If necessary, to tweak antenna aim, bring up your TV tuner's signal strength meter and check signal strength on several channels. Tweak the antenna aim for the weakest channel, then recheck the other channels. That's all there is to it.