I put one of our (radioshack) U75 UHF-Only antennas up with an Amp and I picked up 27 and 10 from Bolivar Perfectly. I had the Antenna running into my dish HD 211 and it was making KSFX and KOLR skip audio and video (like what I've been reading) and I was wondering if anyone came up with a fix yet. For the time being I'm running the antenna into my TV and picking up Everything but KY3 perfect. It's just a pain to have to switch back and forth between DTV and HDMI.

Any help would be great. Thanks!

Yes Titan is off on their listings. They didn't say Idol was in HD and it was.

For HD contect check out.

NBC: Heroes on Monday nights, Show that comes on right after it

CBS: So far I've only seen football but I'm looking forward to seeing Jericho

Fox: The OC on Thur nights, Idol, Prison Break on Monday Nights

And of course all your sporting events:)

Prison Break looked really good on Fox Monday.


UPS says my Silver Sensor is to be delivered today. I have bowling tonight but will hook it up and see what I get once I get home and will post results.


Ever heard of 24? The best show on TV is in HD on Monday nights after Prison Break.

I'm waiting patiently to hear from rhoops when the PSIP's are properly functioning on 10 and 27 and also when 10 is back at full power. Have I missed something?

I'm waiting patiently to hear from rhoops when the PSIP's are properly functioning on 10 and 27 and also when 10 is back at full power. Have I missed something?

Looks like my signal strength is getting better on 10. It's 70% on 10 and 76% on 27 on my 622vip. It was running about 15% difference.

I'm waiting patiently to hear from rhoops when the PSIP's are properly functioning on 10 and 27...
Me too.

I'm waiting patiently to hear from rhoops when the PSIP's are properly functioning on 10 and 27 and also when 10 is back at full power. Have I missed something?

Nothing to report, despite valiant attempt to get thing working right. Playing with KOLR's PSIP made us show up as 52-1 instead of 10-1, and "No Data" instead of "Tandberg Event".

KOLR-DT still at partial power.

TitanTV sucks, IMO. The listings are completely wrong. I use zap2it.

KY is showing HD shows in SD again, like they seem to be every time that I try to watch something on NBC.

rhoops...thanks for all the good info about 10/27....10 has been vexing me all week...I like you will be glad when all is settled and 10 is up at full power...Thanks for all that you do

Got my Silver Sensor today and I'm dinking around with it now...trying it directly to my Sony SXRD, trying it through my HR 10 250...nothing really earth shattering yet over the Philips MANT10 I bought from Wal Mart, but I'm still working with it.

Weird--they sent me an RGB cable with silver colored ends (nickel?) along with the gold ended cable that comes with the antenna. Is one significantly better than the other?

Why would they send an RGB cable with an antenna?

I put one of our (radioshack) U75 UHF-Only antennas up with an Amp and I picked up 27 and 10 from Bolivar Perfectly. I had the Antenna running into my dish HD 211 and it was making KSFX and KOLR skip audio and video (like what I've been reading) and I was wondering if anyone came up with a fix yet. For the time being I'm running the antenna into my TV and picking up Everything but KY3 perfect. It's just a pain to have to switch back and forth between DTV and HDMI.The Dish receiver compatibility problems will have to be sorted out by KOLR/KSFX. The sucky KYTV-DT reception can probably be solved with a better antenna and a lower noise preamp. It will not fix their mushy HD due to multicating.

The CM 4228 (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4228.htm) or 91XG (http://www.antennasdirect.com/91XG_assembly.html) antennas are very good. The CM 7777 preamp (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm) is better than anything from radio shack or big box stores. Radio shack over rates their mileage ratings for antennas. They overrate usable gain on their amps and underrate noise levels.

Well I got my Sensor in yesterday. I noticed they sent a nickel coaxial cable along with it but it came with gold plated coaxial...I used the gold...I've always heard gold=better.

The results:
When hooking the sensor up to my TV I get much better signal strength on 10 and 27...around 88 to 90%. Both as far as I can tell come in really nice. Not perfect but maybe with a little tweaking I get get the pic quality a little better.

As always when switching to Dish though it goes downhill. 3 still works on dish but 27 and 10 won't even come in at all on the dish. Through some tweaking on the antenna I was able to get 27 to come in somewhat but it goes in and out. It's for sure these receivers so I guess we wait.

In the meantime I guess we'll watch it live with no DVR functions. But I miss it:) I guess if we're home ( we get HD ) otherwise we watch an SD recording:)

I did notice 10 now comes up as 52-1...was all confused:)

Why would they send an RGB cable with an antenna?


Yeah, that's what I was wondering. Sounds like Rlu929s got one too.

Oh well...into the box with the other 473 extra cables I have...;)

Not seeing 10-1 or 52-1 this morning - is KOLR-DT off the air? Anyone else able to see it?

(edit: signal strength meter still at 97 on 10-1, but no pic or sound.)

Here is a reply from David Smith of KOLR10 regarding my inquiry on tuning 10-1:

We may have been working on that when you were trying to tune in the Panasonic LCD so you may want to try again later. We'll be working on it some more this morning. Thanks for your inquiry.

10-1 appears to be back on. No audio glitches so far (crosses fingers...) Thanks to the good folks at KOLR!

I have a question for the others who use 33-1 KSPR-DT. Lately, the sound for this channel (which appears to be dolby-encoded 2-channel stereo) mostly just comes out of the left front speaker. Especially voices which usually come from the center channel. Anyone else experiencing this?

Mediacom basic cable channel 8 does not appear to have this problem.

I'm not able to get KSPR at all in Nixa. ( I didn't think KSPR was HD yet?)

I'm not able to get KSPR at all in Nixa. ( I didn't think KSPR was HD yet?)

KSPR-DT is low power standard definition from their studio on St Louis street.

I barely pick them up 7 blocks away.

@arxaw


I can't speak for radioshack but I am using a $24.99 UHF Radioshack Antenna with a Radioshack Pre Amp and I'm pulling in 98 - 99% Signal on KSFX and KOLR (100% on 21) from Bolivar (about 40 miles north of Fordland). My DISH 211 is hacking the signal to bits so I'm running it into my TV and it works perfect. As far as our ratings, we usually put a disclaimer that our ratings are "estimated for flat land and no obstructions."

And I will be the first to say that there are much better antennas and amps out there for the money. No need to dog on the shack ;-)

I'm over by MSU and I get KSPR-DT just fine, which makes me I guess one of the 10 viewers their DT has.

As for KOLR, I still get dropouts, but I do get video/audio on my HR20 and HR10.

Only slow incremental progress to report. They have traced the KOLR-DT's IOT cabinet problem to a transformer. That's probably something that the manfacturer will have to replace.

We updated the firmware in the Tandberg encoder on KOLR, which may or may not help with the audio skipping.

We still don't have the external PSIP and electronic program guide working, but we are IDing correctly as KOLR-DT on 10-1 and KSFX-DT on 27-1.

Only slow incremental progress to report. They have traced the KOLR-DT's IOT cabinet problem to a transformer. That's probably something that the manfacturer will have to replace.

We updated the firmware in the Tandberg encoder on KOLR, which may or may not help with the audio skipping.

We still don't have the external PSIP and electronic program guide working, but we are IDing correctly as KOLR-DT on 10-1 and KSFX-DT on 27-1.

Thanks again, rhoops, for keeping us all in the loop. Audio skips seem better this afternoon than they have been, but are still happening every few minutes.

On KOLR I am also getting drop outs But all the other channels seem to be fine today. I just hope they get all the kinks worked out and are at almost full power by Super Bowl Sunday!!

10-1 appears to be back on. No audio glitches so far (crosses fingers...) Thanks to the good folks at KOLR!

I have a question for the others who use 33-1 KSPR-DT. Lately, the sound for this channel (which appears to be dolby-encoded 2-channel stereo) mostly just comes out of the left front speaker. Especially voices which usually come from the center channel. Anyone else experiencing this?

Mediacom basic cable channel 8 does not appear to have this problem.
I didn't notice until you asked and I flipped on the receiver with 33-1 on. Yes, all the sound is coming from the right front speaker, with nothing from the center. All sound comes from the TV's right speaker too.

I'm in Nixa MO, over by Century Elementary.

I currently have DishHD on my zenith plasma in the basement, but this doesn't have any local channels: NBC, etc.... in HD.

I also have a Sony TV Upstairs, also with DishHD.

What do I need to do in order to receive local channels in HD on both TVs? What Equipment, etc...?

Also, anyone in this area, can you tell me what channels I should be able to pickup?

Thanks,

Josh

Only slow incremental progress to report. They have traced the KOLR-DT's IOT cabinet problem to a transformer. That's probably something that the manfacturer will have to replace.

We updated the firmware in the Tandberg encoder on KOLR, which may or may not help with the audio skipping.

We still don't have the external PSIP and electronic program guide working, but we are IDing correctly as KOLR-DT on 10-1 and KSFX-DT on 27-1.

Thanks for the info rhoops, and for the hard work going on at your station. I have a question though. When 10-1 and 27-1 first powered up, the Panasonics could get 10-1 but not 27-1. What happended to make them switch?

I'm in Nixa MO, over by Century Elementary.

I currently have DishHD on my zenith plasma in the basement, but this doesn't have any local channels: NBC, etc.... in HD.

I also have a Sony TV Upstairs, also with DishHD.

What do I need to do in order to receive local channels in HD on both TVs? What Equipment, etc...?

Also, anyone in this area, can you tell me what channels I should be able to pickup?

Thanks,

Josh

I am by Century as well, and get ky3, Kolr and Fox. I also Get PBS and some of the other non-network channels. I am using a Phillips ant that I bought at Wal-Mart. I also have Dish Network, and am in the process of getting a 942 DVR so i can include the locals OTA in the lineup.

Thanks for the update! I know we all appreciate the information!!

I am by Century as well, and get ky3, Kolr and Fox. I also Get PBS and some of the other non-network channels. I am using a Phillips ant that I bought at Wal-Mart. I also have Dish Network, and am in the process of getting a 942 DVR so i can include the locals OTA in the lineup.

Thanks for the info, it's appreciated!

So what antenna(s) do I need? Do I need an indoor on my tv, an outdoor on the roof or in attic? or both indoor and outdoor?

Thanks,

...So what antenna(s) do I need? Do I need an indoor on my tv, an outdoor on the roof or in attic? or both indoor and outdoor?If pastorjay is getting all the full power stations with an indoor antenna, you *may* be able to get them as well, and you should start with a simple indoor antenna on each TV.

BUT, it also depends on what your house is constructed of. Stucco-on-screen exterior wall covering, foil-backed insulation in the walls, foil-faced roof decking, metal roofs, metal siding will all degrade indoor antenna reception significantly. If you have any of these, you may need an outdoor antenna for reliable reception.

Just to concur with the others I'm in Nixa over by Matthews Elementry and I am using an indoor Antenna I payed about $20 for and it works great pulling in all the HD locals.

I can see 3,10,21,27 just fine. Most signal above 90%. And this is on the bottom level of my two story house since that's where my HDTV is. I'm sure I could get even better on the top floor.

Now the issue you may run into and the same for you Pastor is the problem we are all having with dish receiver and locals. I get them all perfect when connected directly to my HDTV which has a built in tuner.

But when going though my dish system 10 and 27 don't work at all. Many of us have tried several things but it seems to be a dish receiver issue in the way it reads the signal. Read some above for more info as we've been discussing this.

I have a dish 622 but I've heard it effects all dish HD receivers.

Well, let's hope they get the dish receiver issue fixed soon. I am trying to pick up a 942 for my system so I can pull in the HD channels and record them. I would hate to think that I would get it for nothing! I was hoping to get it in time for the superbowl so i can record it in HD while I am at church for the first half!

You and me both! Here's hoping...I'm missing the DVR for HD:)

I'm 72 miles from transmiter and I receive 27 ok but the guide does not populate, I cannot get 10 at all now, I had it at first and I'm told by rhoops that 10 is on reduced power. I am waiting until they say they have it all fixed before I make a judgement or try anything to improve my signal, hopefully that will be soon.

They are not providing EGP info yet, only channel call sign and remapping for now.

I get guide info, but it's downloaded from the DirecTV satellite. Not sure how Dish works WRT the guide.

I believe once they start providing the EGP info the dish will populate as well.

They are not providing EGP info yet, only channel call sign and remapping for now.

I get guide info, but it's downloaded from the DirecTV satellite. Not sure how Dish works WRT the guide.

I thought E* used the guide info from the sd locals for ota digital channels and not psip. If so they are behind on there work entering them in for us.

For the lucky ones like me that got to pay 1000.00 for the 921 E* receiver and still has it around, 10 and 27 works fine with it. They are unwatchable on the 622vip, 27 is worse. Still no EPG info on either channel.

We flashed KOLR's Tandberg encoder with new firmware on Monday between 2:45 and 3 PM. Do any of you notice any changes for better or worse?

I will check as soon as I get home in an hour and will let you know.

The transmitter guy found the problem with the IOT cabinet that caused us to be at reduced power.

Replacement parts from the manufacturer will arrrive Wedneday.

Rhoops, any word on a fix for the audio dropouts on KOLR, bad last night during Cold Case. Switched back and forth from the TV tuner and Directv HR20 tuner and they both had audio dropouts. Signal strength is 90-100.

We flashed KOLR's Tandberg encoder with new firmware on Monday between 2:45 and 3 PM. Do any of you notice any changes for better or worse?
You owe me now, rhoops. I just suffered through 5 minutes of "How I met your mother" to be able to report that there was one audio dropout. That's way better than last night, which was horrible, like 21hawk said. It was so bad, I watched Cold Case in analog.
Is this what the new firmware was supposed to fix?

10-1 still won't appear on the Panny.

I still can't get either station through my Dish 622 but last night we watched Prison Break on Fox and it was great. Had a few hiccups here and there but overall a good viewing.

I'm not sure if this means anything but I did notice something. When I run the directional Silver Sensor to my Dish I get nothing but a screen saying it can't pick up the signal....Sometimes it'll come on and shimmer then I'll get the error message.

But if I hook up my RCA HDTV amplified antenna to the dish I get both 27 and 10 and no error message. I still have the audio drop outs and shimmering though but it seems to work a little better.

Note: I get 3 fine through both..so they both are picking up the signals.

Don't know if they means anything other than the amplification helps but thought I'd mention it.

We flashed KOLR's Tandberg encoder with new firmware on Monday between 2:45 and 3 PM. Do any of you notice any changes for better or worse?Still getting audio droputs as of 7am today.

I have been watching OTA digital all summer,
I have noticed since KLOR has went full power that the volume is allot higher than the other channels? Could the output just be peaking causing the cut outs?

rhoops can you tell us if work is going on to get our dish tuners working? Is dish helping, and may it possibly be fixed before Sunday? Also can you tell us about guide info on our dish receivers or is this all up to dish. Thanks

rhoops can you tell us if work is going on to get our dish tuners working? Is dish helping, and may it possibly be fixed before Sunday? Also can you tell us about guide info on our dish receivers or is this all up to dish. Thanks

rhoops can you tell us if work is going on to get our dish tuners working? Is dish helping, and may it possibly be fixed before Sunday? Also can you tell us about guide info on our dish receivers or is this all up to dish. Thanks

Our transmitter manufacturer is working with Dish.

I can't imagine Dish network finding the problem, fixing the software and downloading an upgrade in time for the Superbowl. If you have a way to connect the antenna directly to your receiver or another STB I'd recommend that.

Below is what our transmitter manufacturer e-mailed us on Jan 24th.
--
This has been brought to our attention at only one other site.
At this point, every receiver except the Dish 622 works OK.
We, and Dish, are looking into why this happens.
I don’t yet know of a solution. If the Dish viewers can bear with this for a little while, we should have an answer soon.

I will keep you informed.
Thanks,
Bill

--

Wow a lot has changed since Ive been gone. Reading this latest page looks like 10 and 27 FINALLY went HD? Ive been in Iraq for the last 4 months so I'm way behind. Does anyone know if I can pick up CBS and FOX in HD with a Directv KAKU yet? (From the dish not OTA antenna) If not whats the best indoor HD antenna? My nice outdoor went down with the icestorm and I really dont feel like setting another up.

Our transmitter manufacturer is working with Dish.

I can't imagine Dish network finding the problem, fixing the software and downloading an upgrade in time for the Superbowl. If you have a way to connect the antenna directly to your receiver or another STB I'd recommend that.

Below is what our transmitter manufacturer e-mailed us on Jan 24th.
--
This has been brought to our attention at only one other site.
At this point, every receiver except the Dish 622 works OK.
We, and Dish, are looking into why this happens.
I don’t yet know of a solution. If the Dish viewers can bear with this for a little while, we should have an answer soon.

I will keep you informed.
Thanks,
Bill

--

I am suprised the transmitter rep only thinks the issue affects the Dish 622 receiver. I will have to echo what has already been reported by others. I have observed the picture and audio drops out about every couple minutes or so on the ViP211 receiver that I am using. Something that might be of interest, is the frequency of drop-outs was much much less when the KOLR-10 signal was broadcast at a lower power (see my previous post several of weeks ago 1/9/2007).

I'm in Nixa, right across the road from Century Elementary. I purchased a Phillips antenna for $29 from WalMart tonight.
Hooked it up to my Dish 211 upstairs and it worked great, receiving 3,10,21,27.
To my surprise the signal downstairs on the Dish 211 was almost exactly the same as upstairs on each channel (about 75%), which seems to be good enough. It drops out every once in awhile, but nothing bad enough to make me want to get an antenna on the roof.

If I do decide to get a roof antenna, anyone know of someone who installs those? I have an ICD implanted (internal defib), so getting on the roof with a big antenna just won't happen. The doc told me to stay at least 6 inches away from the indoor antenna, but that's not a problem.

I'm guessing these dropouts are from the signal not being stronger, but from the post above, perhaps it is because of the 211???

The 942 is just as bad as the 622, so when they get it fixed for the 622 it will probably fix all the dish receivers.

My parents have an 811 hooked s-video only and I didn't see any problems on their tv.

chaotic646,
Welcome back.

No HD Springfield locals on D* yet, so you still need an antenna. What kind of antenna depends on how far you live from the transmitters and the elevation where you live. What your home is constructed of may also determine if you can use an indoor antenna. You can almost forget reliable reception if your house has foil-backed insulation in the walls, or a stucco-on-screen exterior.

Which D* receiver or DVR do you have? The H20-100, H20-600 or HR20-700? The H20-600 is the most likely to work the best in poor reception conditions.

I am suprised the transmitter rep only thinks the issue affects the Dish 622 receiver. I will have to echo what has already been reported by others. I have observed the picture and audio drops out about every couple minutes or so on the ViP211 receiver that I am using. Something that might be of interest, is the frequency of drop-outs was much much less when the KOLR-10 signal was broadcast at a lower power (see my previous post several of weeks ago 1/9/2007).

I am a little confused here, too. I think we need a summary of the types of problems and equipment that people have. If I'm following the threads here correctly, there are two main problems - someone *please* correct me if I'm getting this fouled up.

1) Some folks with Dish receivers seem to be having a problem with either getting reception at all, or having the channels mapped to the correct numbers, which can cause them not to get guide info, etc.

2) Virtually everyone bothering to post here, regardless of their equipment, are having audio and occasional video dropouts (is anyone reading who is no longer experiencing these at all?), which appear to be almost exclusively confined to the KOLR-DT channel. For my own amusement, I used my nephew's Mediacom HDR to tune to the cable broadcast of KOLR's HD channel (700-something - I forget now which channel) and noted the very same audio dropouts we OTA folks are getting. The audio dropouts appear to *not* be related to the type of receiving equipment in use - they are apparently contained in the source bit stream, and are being transmitted even to Mediacom's headend and then re-transmitted to cable subscribers.

Rhoops is trying his best to keep us informed, and I greatly appreciate it BTW, but he is using some terminology that I suspect many of us (including me) don't understand, so I'm having a hard time following some of the info (specifically, I don't know what an IOT cabinet is or does, or what PSIP stands for or does), and trying to figure out which people's problems are related to which explanations. I am not sure whether KOLR is even aware that there may be entirely separate problems being reported here or not, but I suspect they are.

For my part, and I apologize for those who've already read the description of my own problems, I have a new TiVo series 3, currently used for digital OTA reception (waiting for Mediacom to catch up to new installs in Feb. and bring me some cable cards). The audio dropouts (occasionally video, but mostly audio) are still coming and going, but only on KOLR-DT. Sometimes they are infrequent enough to make watching KOLR-DT watchable, sometimes they are not (the "Late, Late Show" on Monday night was on the threshold of being unwatchable, for example).

I have no problems tuning either KOLR-DT or KSFX-DT, and they are correctly mapped to 10-1 and 27-1. I am getting TiVo's guide data correctly for both channels, and recording them works perfectly well.

Answers to your "what is PSIP" here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSIP

Answers to your "what is PSIP" here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSIP

Thanks arxaw - I had kind of picked up from the context of the thread that it must have something to do with channel mapping. This article appears to confirm that (I assume the "Virtual Channels" portion of the article is describing the feature that Rhoops was mostly referring to). Apparently, the PSIP protocol is what allows your DTV tuner to map the broadcast frequency to an appropriate channel number.

Just to clarify the issues we Dish users are having.......on both KOLR and KSFX I see frequent (every 5-10 seconds) of video degradation that appears as boxes on the screen and then every minute or so a complete loss of signal. The Dish 622 will display a Signal Lost screen for a few seconds and then the video will resume. The audio is also going in and out. This sounds like poor reception but I get KY3 at close to 100% and can even pick up KSPR-DT at 60% so I know it's not a reception issue.

Four it's for sure not reception. I have my OTA split going to TV and Dish...TV works great and Dish does exactly what you describe.

According to Rhoops they are working with DISH on the issue and hopefully it'll be resolved. But probably not by Superbowl:(

Oh well no DVR...but go directly to your TV and you should be able to watch it.

I'm having a hard time following some of the info (specifically, I don't know what an IOT cabinet is or does, or what PSIP stands for or does), and trying to figure out which people's problems are related to which explanations. I am not sure whether KOLR is even aware that there may be entirely separate problems being reported here or not, but I suspect they are.

KOLR-DT has been operating at reduced power for several days. Replacement parts should arrive and be installed today (Wednesday) to fix that problem. An IOT is an "inductive output tube" serves as a power amplifier. These are big heavy water cooled tubes and they are roughly the size of an oil drum. They are in a cabinet the size of a large refrigerator. The problem was a faulty "diode stack" in the external power supply.

Tuesday we made several changes that appear to have improved the audio problem. The PSIP which controls the electronic program guide was configured and appears to be working.

What I need are reports about your reception after about 5 PM Tuesday. I haven't heard anyone say that they now had the EPG (electronic program guide) data or that the audio problem was better, but I'm certainly seeing an improvement.

Mediacom's problems should be reported to Mediacom. They have not provided us with an HD set top box to monitor them and the clear QAM signal was not watchable so we don't monitor their signal.

We are aware of a problem with the Dish 622 receivers. Both transmitters and receivers are software driven devices these days. The people who wrote the software are the only ones who can fix it. When Dish has a fix they will download it to your receiver. When the transmitter manufacturer has a fix we will download it and install it.

rhoops last I checked (Monday) the guide was still not working through my dish. I'll see what my TV says tonight as it has a guide of some sort. I'll let you know tonight.

Unfortunately my TV does not have a HD tuner so it will be off to my parents house to watch on their 50" plasma. Dang! :) They have had it for 6 months and it just occurred to me last Sunday to try tuning in the HD locals OTA for them. They've been saying we have HD thinking that buying the plasma tv automatically gave then everything in HD. lol After I tuned them in we watched the golf on KOLR in HD and my Dad was psyched!

chaotic646,
Welcome back.

No HD Springfield locals on D* yet, so you still need an antenna. What kind of antenna depends on how far you live from the transmitters and the elevation where you live. What your home is constructed of may also determine if you can use an indoor antenna. You can almost forget reliable reception if your house has foil-backed insulation in the walls, or a stucco-on-screen exterior.

Which D* receiver or DVR do you have? The H20-100, H20-600 or HR20-700? The H20-600 is the most likely to work the best in poor reception conditions.

Thanks for the response arxaw. My receiver is a H20-600. I have recently moved to Willard (well between Willard and Springfield) but I have no idea what kind of insulation I have. The home is made of brick and I dont think my insulation has foil backing. I probably live closer to the towers than the people here who live in Nixa so I was hoping I may be able to pick up 10-1 and 27-1 with an HD indoor antenna since they can. Price is no object so can you recommend the best known indoor HD antenna? If it doesnt work I will just return it or put it on ebay. I brought my 4228 when I moved and set it up but the icestorm came 3 days later, a tree limb took it down, and I really dont feel like messing with it again. I figured I would just try the best inddor hd antenna I could find and if that doesnt work I could maybe try setting up my 4228 in the attic.

Tuesday we made several changes that appear to have improved the audio problem. The PSIP which controls the electronic program guide was configured and appears to be working.

What I need are reports about your reception after about 5 PM Tuesday. I haven't heard anyone say that they now had the EPG (electronic program guide) data or that the audio problem was better, but I'm certainly seeing an improvement.

Mediacom's problems should be reported to Mediacom. They have not provided us with an HD set top box to monitor them and the clear QAM signal was not watchable so we don't monitor their signal.

We are aware of a problem with the Dish 622 receivers. Both transmitters and receivers are software driven devices these days. The people who wrote the software are the only ones who can fix it. When Dish has a fix they will download it to your receiver. When the transmitter manufacturer has a fix we will download it and install it.

Rhoops - once again, we are in your debt for providing information we simply could not get any other way. I appreciate your responses, and want to make clear that any information or comments I post here are never intended as a complaint or criticism of that.

As a TiVo user, my guide information comes from the TiVo guide service, which is working just fine.

After reading your post, I split my signal to my HDTV, and scanned for channels on its ATSC tuner. Watching on my (Sharp Aquos) internal tuner, I can see EPG information (the Aquos displays the program title and input info. - don't know if other information is even part of the EPG or not) for both 10-1 and 27-1. Signal strength is measured as 99 on both TiVo and Sharp tuners (I have a nice rooftop antenna, so no surprise there).

On 10-1, I am still getting audio dropouts (and much less frequently, minor video glitches), on both the TiVo's and Aquos' built-in tuners. My subjective opinion is that they are happening less frequently (about every 2 minutes or so) now than they were before. Bear in mind that I wasn't using the Aquos' tuner prior to this afternoon, so I don't know what its performance would have been prior to your recent changes.

As I stated in my previous post, I was just using another person's Mediacom HDR (at his home, not mine), but I can certainly state that the audio and video dropouts I noticed were virtually identical to those I was having with my TiVo at the time, including the fact that they only happened on 10-1 (the Mediacom equivalent of that, anyway...).

However, until I get my cable cards, I won't personally have a horse in that race :-)

I have been watching 27 on my dish 921 for about 15 minutes now while catching up on my reading here. I haven't saw one glitch in a/v drop outs. Still no guide info. I also checked 10 for a few minutes and it seemed fine also. 107% signal on 27 and 95% on 10

Maybe this info can help solve the problem. I will check my 622 now.

On my 622 is just like it was 10 and 27 both on and off the air with error 739 popping up on the screen.

The repairs have been made and KOLR-DT is at nominal full power now. Most of you won't notice any change, but if your signal strength was marginal, this may provide the modest boost you need.

On another front, you should now have closed captioning and EPG ( electronic program guide ).

The audio drop outs should be much less frequent now.

Just looked at uplinks for dish subs and looks like guide info is coming for sub channels on 3 and 21. Didn't see KOLR or KSFX on there. I don't know when the will turn it on. A&EHD is now live on dish.

On my 622 is just like it was 10 and 27 both on and off the air with error 739 popping up on the screen.

A call to Dish tech support may be in order. The error code may help the diagnosis.

I now have guide info on 21-002 HD PBS finally on my VIP622, now I can record NOVA and others, Thank You Dish. Also on 03-002 CW although I never watch that and care less it's good to see the guide populate and I still have no guide on 27 or 10, I do see 10 again for the first time in days, it is still weak signal here. Glad to see A&E HD added to my channels on E* too. So far it's been a good day!!!

Thanks for the response arxaw. My receiver is a H20-600. I have recently moved to Willard (well between Willard and Springfield) but I have no idea what kind of insulation I have. The home is made of brick and I dont think my insulation has foil backing. I probably live closer to the towers than the people here who live in Nixa so I was hoping I may be able to pick up 10-1 and 27-1 with an HD indoor antenna since they can. Price is no object so can you recommend the best known indoor HD antenna? If it doesnt work I will just return it or put it on ebay. I brought my 4228 when I moved and set it up but the icestorm came 3 days later, a tree limb took it down, and I really dont feel like messing with it again. I figured I would just try the best inddor hd antenna I could find and if that doesnt work I could maybe try setting up my 4228 in the attic.

That 4228 is a heck of an antenna. At least try it in the attic.

I picked up an indoor hd antenna from Radio Shack and Im picking up 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 21-1, 21-2, 21-3, 21-4, and 27-1 all @ 90+% signal strength. Im picking up 10-1 @ 70-76% strength. 33-1 is only about 30% which is weird because according to antennaweb Im closer to 33-1 than any others...a lot closer.

I do have a partial giude on 10-1 now on my 622, has 1 hour but none on 27. both Pictures are still breaking up, if this is not still a 10 problem I may have to try to strengthen my signal here.

I am very impressed with this Radio Shack indoor antenna. I live between Springfield and Willard and after a little tweaking and the gain set all the way up to max Im picking up all the 3's, all the 21's, and 10-1 @ 100%. 27-1 is between 92 and 96%. 33-1 is still in the 40's. With the exception of 33-1 I am picking up better signals outside of Springfield with this indoor antenna than I did IN Springfield with my 4228 on my roof. Very strange. If anyone is looking for an indoor hd antenna I highly recommend this Radio Shack 15-1878. It was about $35. Since all of our local digital channels are in UHF you can just fold up the "rabbit ears" and push them down out of sight and the gain will all go to the UHF loop.

The repairs have been made and KOLR-DT is at nominal full power now. Most of you won't notice any change, but if your signal strength was marginal, this may provide the modest boost you need.


Is it still at full power?
I couldn't receive KOLR at all yesterday evening and came home from work today to find out I still can't receive it. I get KSFX just fine though, and KSFX was working great yesterday too.

Is it still at full power?
I couldn't receive KOLR at all yesterday evening and came home from work today to find out I still can't receive it. I get KSFX just fine though, and KSFX was working great yesterday too.
It's still at full power. I suggest turning off your receiver for a minute or two and then re-scanning. The on/off switch often fixes things like this.

That 4228 is a heck of an antenna. At least try it in the attic.What he said.

For indoor, the silver sensor available at Circuit City (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=158311&WT.mc_n=4&WT.mc_t=U&cm_ven=COMPARISON%20SHOPPING&cm_cat=GOOGLE&cm_pla=DATAFEED-%3EPRODUCTS&cm_ite=1%20PRODUCT&cm_keycode=4) is a good one to try, as is the Radio Shack 15-1890, if you can find it. Or try the antenna chaotic bought at radio shack.

Antenna tests (http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/antin.htm).

It's still at full power. I suggest turning off your receiver for a minute or two and then re-scanning. The on/off switch often fixes things like this.

Didn't seem to help. Weird. It doesn't come in at all, not even a little bit.
Maybe fiddling with the antenna will help, but kind of strange that it was working fine up until yesterday.

It's still at full power. I suggest turning off your receiver for a minute or two and then re-scanning. The on/off switch often fixes things like this.
I just unplugged the Panasonic for 20 minutes, then let it autoscan when I turned it back on. I still don't get 10-1. If I punch in 52, it goes straight to 27-1, with the station ID and program ID correct. If I punch in 28, it thinks for a couple of seconds (with static showing) then stays on 28 and goes to KSFX-DT programming, no station ID, and with correct program ID.

I have the latest firmware in the Panny. The problem is with KOLR-DT.

Everyone who can't get 10-1 OTA, but can get 27-1 please raise your hand, and let us know what TV you have.

I'll start. I have a Panasonic LCD, model 32LX60.

Didn't seem to help. Weird. It doesn't come in at all, not even a little bit.
Maybe fiddling with the antenna will help, but kind of strange that it was working fine up until yesterday.

You and I, and others, have the same problem. What TV do you have?

Just been reading the posts. I live in republic, have a totally destroyed 10 year old radio shack antenna destroyed by the ice storm and as of right now, running through the tv, not dish receiver, signal is amazing, just audio dropout every 10-15 seconds. I have a 942 and experiencing the pixelation and dropouts everyone else are having. Over the last few days, the signal and picture have improved immensely.

Everyone who can't get 10-1 OTA, but can get 27-1 please raise your hand, and let us know what TV you have.I get both KOLR-DT and KSFX-DT, using:
Samsung SIR-TS160 D* receiver.
DirecTV brand H20-600 D* receiver.

KSFX-DT signal strength = 100%
KOLR-DT signal strength = 96%

Located NW of Eureka Springs, Carroll County, AR.

signal strength in republic

KSFX-DT 96%
KOLR-DT 97%

For some reason now when I watch any of our hd locals my H20 keeps "resetting". It goes black for a second, then its on for a few seconds, then black...and so on. I thought I remembered reading something awhile back about this receiver having issues with OTA antennas but I never had the problem with my 4228 so I ignored it. Has anyone with an H20 ever heard of this and if so did anyone ever find a way to fix it?

You and I, and others, have the same problem. What TV do you have?

Whew! Glad it's not just me! I just got back from messing with my antenna and couldn't fix it out so it's a relief to know I'm not alone. I am actually using Media Center PCs with ATSC tuners. I have two, both with completely different brands of tuners and neither one can pick up KOLR over OTA, but both pick up all the other channels just fine. Strange thing is the signal strength gauge actually says KOLR-DT is coming in the strongest, it just doesn't have a signal.

chaotic646,
Call 800 DIRECTV
Tell them your receiver won't come on. Dead. Kaput.
If you have more than one receiver, tell them you swapped the boxes to opposite rooms and the H20 is still dead, but the other box works where the H20 was. If you only have one receiver, tell them you borrowed a friend's receiver and it works fine, but your H20 doesn't.

They will FedEx you a replacement at no charge, assuming you lease the box from them. If you bought the H20 early on and own it outright, ask them to convert that receiver to a leased receiver.

The FedEx box will have a prepaid return label for sending the old H20 back to them.

It's NOT your antenna.

I am looking for help with my panny will not see KOLR but I can recieve KSFX at 88%.
Any Help would be great

No sound at all on 10-1 this evening, on either of my tuners (Tivo or Aquos HD set) - wondering if whatever has been wonky with the sound has finally died for good. Anyone else got sound on 10-1 tonight?

No sound at all on 10-1 this evening, on either of my tuners (Tivo or Aquos HD set) - wondering if whatever has been wonky with the sound has finally died for good. Anyone else got sound on 10-1 tonight?
No sound.

NO SOUND HERE EITHER....Had to move my antenna about 2 feet south to get 10-1...Weird huh?...audio was cutting out during "SURF MODE" at about 7pm...During "CSI NY"...great non pixelated video...no audio....

Just got email from DNSTech from Dish. They said try to attenuate the signal 10db or so down to the upper 70's to make station function with Dish receivers untill fix is avalible. It seem to make them watchable on my 211. Good Luck!

I reset my OTA on my DirecTV HR20-700 and then went through the setup again. I still get no signal strength on KOLR, but my KSFX is in the upper 90's. I didn't take the time to move my antenna lead to my JVC tv, but the last time I did - a week or so ago - it brought in KOLR just fine. ????

Circuitbreaker, what did you do to attenuate the signal?

Just got email from DNSTech from Dish. They said try to attenuate the signal 10db or so... You try a 6db fixed attenuator or a variable attenutor from radio shaft. If it doesn't help, return it.

If you are using an amplifier, try removing it from the coax (or turn amplification off if using an indoor antenna w/ built in amp).

I used a 10db and a 6db inline attenuator on my 211. Lost 3 and 21 but ch 27 works fine at 72 to 75% . Problem starts at 85% and above.You might try indoor antenna or remove the amp if you use one . It's a overload problem that loses packets with that brand of transmitter. It's very stong signal here 90 to 100%. Hope this gets us though superbowl.

Tuesday we made several changes that appear to have improved the audio problem. The PSIP which controls the electronic program guide was configured and appears to be working.

What I need are reports about your reception after about 5 PM Tuesday. I haven't heard anyone say that they now had the EPG (electronic program guide) data or that the audio problem was better, but I'm certainly seeing an improvement.


I didn't catch this post earlier, but it seems whatever changes were done to improve the audio problem is what killed my reception. 5PM Tuesday corresponds with when I first became unable to receive KOLR-DT.

Is that the same for everyone else?

KOLR-DT is coming in fine for me. Except the audio is way too LOUD, compared to other stations I get.

Whatever they did must have only killed reception for certain tuners.

For those with Dish you might want to follow this thread on the reception problem:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=86859

I didn't catch this post earlier, but it seems whatever changes were done to improve the audio problem is what killed my reception. 5PM Tuesday corresponds with when I first became unable to receive KOLR-DT.

Is that the same for everyone else?

I don't share your problem, but am also having new problems since Tuesday.

After more experience listening to KOLR-DT, I can say that, for me, the quality of the audio is now worse than before the changes. My Aquos HD set can play KOLR-DT with pretty good sound and the infrequent momentary loss of the dolby signal through its front panel speakers. Unfortunately, if I switch to my Pioneer Elite surround receiver, fed by my TiVo, (only way I have to listen to true surround sound), the changes made Tuesday caused additional sound problems to appear. In addition to the occasional momentary loss of the dolby signal, I now have multiple but very short dropouts every minute (these are *not* the same as the dolby-stream dropouts - the surround sound's dolby indicators do not indicate loss of the dolby stream during these very brief intervals). These new, shorter dropouts are happening more than a dozen times a minute, and cause KOLR-DT to be all but unwatchable for me all the time (when watching from the TiVo/Pioneer combination).

Today, I intend to do some troubleshooting to try and determine if the TiVo itself is where the new problems are coming from, or whether its my Pioneer receiver. To do that, I plan to hook up the Aquos set's optical out to the Pioneer, and see if this new problem is still audible. If so, it points to issues with my Pioneer. If not, with my TiVo. Either way, I've got a problem here that is related to specific equipment (but, again, *only* with KOLR). I may pick up an attenuator and try that out, but I have a suspicion that it will mess up reception of 21-x and 33-1 if I do that, and I'm not willing to permanently trade those for slightly less trouble-prone reception on 10-1.

So, for me, the changes made Tuesday by KOLR appear to have made the problem worse. Since arxaw is reporting an improvement, this places KOLR in a difficult position. If the software changes they made on their end Tuesday caused my problem to get worse and arxaw's to get better, then how are they to find any solution all are happy with?

For myself, I'm very unlikely to seek firmware upgrades for my equipment (which, for my receiver which is out of warranty, would require shipping to a mfr. to fix, if a fix were available at all) when the only station I'm having a problem with is KOLR, and I believe rhoops when he says they are at the mercy of their equipment manufacturer to help remedy the problem (apparently also via software/firmware).

I have been in similar positions in my own career, and don't envy the folks caught in the middle between the manufacturers of different equipment (those folks being us and KOLR). These situations typically involve a lot of finger pointing and wasted time before any real money gets spent to solve the problem.

Sigh...

Wow, the bar has really been lowered lately for what we expect of HDTV. I, for one, will not be satisfied with "pretty good" sound that "occasionally" skips. If I didn't have a 2 year old Sanyo 30" tube that isn't confused by whatever mess KOLR-DT is making out of a signal, I would be watching the Super Bowl in analog again this year. We all have spend hundreds, and in most cases, thousands of dollars on our entertainment systems, and all that is required to watch 3, 21, and 27 is plug it in and turn it on.

There are going to be many, many new HDTV owners that are going to be livid come Sunday evening.

KOLR, it's time you got out the SWAT team.

In rhoops defense, it takes a lot of fixes to get all the bugs out of a new OTA DTV station. I've seen much worse problems with new stations in Little Rock and NW Ark. that took much longer to be resolved. Some problems (eg audio) are still not fixed in LR. Check their local thread....

But I also agree with motorhead, a lot of people in the Springfield DMA are going to be quite pissed if this isn't all fixed by Sunday. Especially with all the ads they have touting CBS-HD.

Thank god for out of market and D* HD-DNS backup stations.

chaotic646,
Call 800 DIRECTV
Tell them your receiver won't come on. Dead. Kaput.
If you have more than one receiver, tell them you swapped the boxes to opposite rooms and the H20 is still dead, but the other box works where the H20 was. If you only have one receiver, tell them you borrowed a friend's receiver and it works fine, but your H20 doesn't.

They will FedEx you a replacement at no charge, assuming you lease the box from them. If you bought the H20 early on and own it outright, ask them to convert that receiver to a leased receiver.

The FedEx box will have a prepaid return label for sending the old H20 back to them.

It's NOT your antenna.

So was I correct about this being a known issue? I could have swore I read something about thist ype of problem somewhere before.

...The PSIP which controls the electronic program guide was configured and appears to be working..
rhoops,
I get the correct station IDs through D* just fine. However, when I connected my antenna coax directly to my HDTV's internal tuner (using PSIP), KSFX-DT shows up as KSFX-DT, but KOLR identifies as KOLR-10. Shouldn't it display KOLR-DT?

Also, using the TV's internal tuner, I only get the names of the programs. No program descriptions at all. This is on both stations.

So was I correct about this being a known issue? I could have swore I read something about thist ype of problem somewhere before.Yes, it is.

But if you call and just tell them you can't watch OTA, or the box reboots watching OTA, they may tell you to "disconnect your OTA antenna until a software fix ("coming soon") is available. This is unacceptable, IMO.

If you tell them the box is dead, per my previous post, they'll FedEx you a replacement box.

For those with Dish you might want to follow this thread on the reception problem:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=86859fourholesn1,
Good thread on the dish problem. Thanks for posting it.

You're welcome. It's interesting that they seem to have been able to fix the problem in Memphis but not elsewhere. I wonder if Memphis is just lucky to have found the right hardware/firmware combination that will work with all tuners, including Dish. Until Dish figures out why their receivers are so sensitive and fixes it we are probably not going to see any improvements unless we get lucky with KOLR/KSPR's setup changes that they are going to make to fix the other issues they are having. I'd like to try the 21Db attenuation and the DC blocker. Anyone know where I can get those in Springpatch?

So, I decided to bite the bullet and get an antenna for OTA HD rather than waiting for DirecTV to get local channels on HD.

From what I've read in the past few pages here, the PHDTV1 is a good pick. My only questions are:

1) With this being highly directional, how do I know where to point it and will I need to move it to receive different channels? I remember seeing a link around here somewhere that had directional information for the towers, but I don't know how that relates to where I need to point the antenna.

2) How big is this thing? I'd like to place it in my living room (right on top of my receiver) so it's easy enough to access (and so I don't have to run any cables to my attic). I don't care if it's an eyesore, I just want to know if it's small enough to place easily in a living room.

Thanks.

I'm about 4 miles south of the 14/160 intersection in Nixa. I have a cheap Phillips amplified indoor antenna from Wal/\/\art. It is indoors in my walkout basement and attached to my Dish 811 receiver (older HD receiver). I get 3,10,21,27 all around 83-89%. I watched Letterman last night on 10-1 and did notice the louder audio, but it really wasn't THAT bad. I also noticed a couple 1 second audio dropouts over the course of an hour or so. It wasn't anything dramatic, but was there nonetheless. I will try to see if I can reduce the signal strength into the 70s to evaluate the dropouts. In my case, that just involves turning the antenna about 15 degrees.

On a side note, the difference between 1080i and 720p on 10-1 last night was VERY dramatic. I hadn't previously noted such a difference on the Dish HD channels and actually had my Dish set to 720p for sports viewing. The 1080i was much crisper on CBS last night.

Just thought I'd add my experience.

You can get a DC blocker and a variable attenuator at radio shaft. Good luck searching for them on the radioshaft web site. That site is horrible, IMO.

The DC blocker is made for blocking DC power from preamps, etc., from getting to TVs that have a splitter between the power supply and the preamp. It also has an insertion loss that evidently is enough to attenuate the signal somewhat.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and get an antenna for OTA HD rather than waiting for DirecTV to get local channels on HD.

From what I've read in the past few pages here, the PHDTV1 is a good pick. My only questions are:

1) With this being highly directional, how do I know where to point it and will I need to move it to receive different channels? I remember seeing a link around here somewhere that had directional information for the towers, but I don't know how that relates to where I need to point the antenna.

2) How big is this thing? I'd like to place it in my living room (right on top of my receiver) so it's easy enough to access (and so I don't have to run any cables to my attic). I don't care if it's an eyesore, I just want to know if it's small enough to place easily in a living room.

Thanks.
antennaweb.org will show you where to point the antenna.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and get an antenna for OTA HD rather than waiting for DirecTV to get local channels on HD.

From what I've read in the past few pages here, the PHDTV1 is a good pick. My only questions are:

1) With this being highly directional, how do I know where to point it and will I need to move it to receive different channels? I remember seeing a link around here somewhere that had directional information for the towers, but I don't know how that relates to where I need to point the antenna.

2) How big is this thing? I'd like to place it in my living room (right on top of my receiver) so it's easy enough to access (and so I don't have to run any cables to my attic). I don't care if it's an eyesore, I just want to know if it's small enough to place easily in a living room.

Thanks.joypunk,
The antennaweb.org (http://www.antennaweb.org/) site will give you a street map for aiming the antenna. If stations are in slightly different directions, start by aiming in the "middle" of them.

To get an accurate map, enter your complete address and 9-digit zip code. Just entering your 5 digit ZIP and no street address is not accurate at all.

The silver sensor antenna (PHDTV1 (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/howToGetItTab.do?c=1&zip=72616&oid=158311&userClick=&showMoreStores=true#tabs)) is not very big. Not nearly as big as a VHF antenna. If you don't like the color, spray paint it a flat color to match your wall. Or install it in the attic, if it seems to work well for you.

OTA will nearly always give you the best picture quality.

Okay. If I'm reading antennaweb correctly, it looks like the majority of channels (3.1, 10.1, 21.1, and 27.1 are all in the same general direction (east of my location). Only one channel (19.1) is in the opposite direction (west of my location). However, 19.1 requires a "small, multi-directional antenna"... so it should receive just fine with my antenna pointing east to the majority of the channels. Does that sound accurate?

19-1 is LOW POWER kspr-dt (abc). And you probably won't be able to get it reliably until they increase their power and move their transmitter antenna to where the other towers are. That may be sometime later this year or next. If you can get it, you'll likely have to rotate your antenna to pick it up.

For all the full power stations, just start by aiming the antenna EAST. If you have problems, move it very gradually in either direction to improve reception.

rhoops, I now have the full 9 day guide with program descriptions for KOLR from dish on my 622 but the KSFX guide still says "Digital Service" both stations are now ID ok but there must be some difference in the PSIP's.

I have a Hauppage HVR-950 on a PC, that picks up all the Digital OTA stations great on a PC. The sound also skips on my PC for KLOR only. The picture is great.
It comes with a 3" tall ant, that gets all stations but CBS.
I also have a Panasonic Direct tv HD reciever I have been using all 2006 to recieve OTA Digital tv. It has worked great until KLOR went high power.
Tuesday things got alot worse on KLOR only, It now displays the channel banner every few seconds then goes away, this morning it even flickered the station ID banner for 3 seconds. Makes it impossible to watch KLOR.
All the other channels are ok.
Just FYI it is getting worse!!

Wow, the bar has really been lowered lately for what we expect of HDTV. I, for one, will not be satisfied with "pretty good" sound that "occasionally" skips.

Please don't misunderstand me. I am nowhere near being "satisfied" with the current state of affairs. I was merely trying to point out that, compared to the problems prior to Tuesday's updates by KOLR, my sound problems didn't prevent me from watching KOLR-DT. Afterwards, I can no longer watch the channel at all. Being willing to watch and put up with occasional dropouts is not at all satisfactory, but I was hoping it would eventually get fixed. It does seem to be a case of one step forward and two steps back at this point, though.

If I was a big football fan (I'm not), I would be seeking out friends with the D* national feed of CBS at this point. I hold out very little hope of this situation getting rectified for all viewers by Sunday.

I decided to contact dsmith@kolr10.com to report the problem I've been having since Tuesday, and he said I'm the only one reporting inability to get a signal. Those of you who have also had problems since Tuesday might drop him a line, because it didn't seem like he realized Tuesday's changes actually made it worse for some people.

It seems most people have lost sound, but still have video. I've completely lost sound and video, but still have good signal on the signal strength meter. Are there any other MCE users out there? If so, do you get either video or sound, or do you have the same problem I have?

Got the Silver Stream hooked up and tuned in, and it's working excellently. I can't wait for prime time to see how good the HD broadcasts look. I get 100% signal on every station except for KSPR, which I expected.

Thanks for the help/advice, everyone.

You mean the Silver Sensor?

http://tinypic.com/4hi44xv.jpg

If so, glad it works for you! Did you try aiming it in the opposite direction, just to see if you could get kspr-dt (abc)?

I decided to contact dsmith@kolr10.com to report the problem I've been having since Tuesday, and he said I'm the only one reporting inability to get a signal. Those of you who have also had problems since Tuesday might drop him a line, because it didn't seem like he realized Tuesday's changes actually made it worse for some people.

It seems most people have lost sound, but still have video. I've completely lost sound and video, but still have good signal on the signal strength meter. Are there any other MCE users out there? If so, do you get either video or sound, or do you have the same problem I have?
Thanks for the info. I emailed him too just now.
Squeaky wheels get reception.

rhoops, I now have the full 9 day guide with program descriptions for KOLR from dish on my 622 but the KSFX guide still says "Digital Service" both stations are now ID ok but there must be some difference in the PSIP's.

I'm not getting any guide info on my 622 for KOLR. I have had it on KOLR for around 45 minutes and saw very little problems with it. Channel 27 still has the same problems as before.

I will try a hard reboot and see if that brings guide info in. Anyone else getting guide on their dish receivers for KOLR?

I'm not getting any guide info on my 622 for KOLR. I have had it on KOLR for around 45 minutes and saw very little problems with it. Channel 27 still has the same problems as before.

I will try a hard reboot and see if that brings guide info in. Anyone else getting guide on their dish receivers for KOLR?

We had to temporarily disable the EPG data in order to clear some errors and work on some other things

Do I understand that you are using a Dish VIP-622 and actually getting both a picture and sound from KOLR?

We had to temporarily disable the EPG data in order to clear some errors and work on some other things

Do I understand that you are using a Dish VIP-622 and actually getting both a picture and sound from KOLR?

Yes I have been on 10 now for about 1:30 and has worked near perfect on my 622. I haven't tried to record or any DVR functions . 27 is a different story though.

When I got home from work @ 5PM Thursday, I discovered KOLR is now coming in A-OK for me. Whatever you guys did today seemed to fix the problem I had that started Tuesday.

In Marshfield using a Silver Sensor with a DTV HR10-250 and a Sony SXRD TV.

Pulling everything except 33 digital okay when connected directly to the TV, but can't even get one digital signal detected when running through the DTV receiver.

Weird, but it still works. No noticeable audio drop outs on 10.

OK I have a Panasonic LCD same as Motorhead, just did a scan. I had all digital 3, 21, and 27. When I would tune to 10.1 I would get no signal. When I tuned to 52 I would get FOX.

I just did a full scan, now FOX is mapped to 10.1 and I have no 27.1.

In Marshfield using a Silver Sensor with a DTV HR10-250 and a Sony SXRD TV.

Pulling everything except 33 digital okay when connected directly to the TV, but can't even get one digital signal detected when running through the DTV receiver.

Weird, but it still works. No noticeable audio drop outs on 10.


Okay duh. Didn't realize you had to reset the DTV system all over again to pick up satellite and OTA...

Now getting most everything except 33 through the DTV receiver (27 is spotty) BUT when I run a signal strength test for each channel, it comes up as zero for every one. Huh?

Think I'll swtich it back to the way it was before--OTA through the TV, everything else through the DTV.

OK I have a Panasonic LCD same as Motorhead, just did a scan. I had all digital 3, 21, and 27. When I would tune to 10.1 I would get no signal. When I tuned to 52 I would get FOX.

I just did a full scan, now FOX is mapped to 10.1 and I have no 27.1.
Holy cow! I did a scan and I get CBS on 10-1!!!! No 27-1 now, but that's okay. I ain't touching until at least Monday.

BTW, I still get 33-1 with just my SS in the attic. No dropouts at all with a 45% signal.

I have a Hauppage HVR-950 on a PC, that picks up all the Digital OTA stations great on a PC. The sound also skips on my PC for KLOR only. The picture is great.
It comes with a 3" tall ant, that gets all stations but CBS.
I also have a Panasonic Direct tv HD reciever I have been using all 2006 to recieve OTA Digital tv. It has worked great until KLOR went high power.
Tuesday things got alot worse on KLOR only, It now displays the channel banner every few seconds then goes away, this morning it even flickered the station ID banner for 3 seconds. Makes it impossible to watch KLOR.
All the other channels are ok.
Just FYI it is getting worse!!

KLOR is much better tonight, very few sound drops. Banner pop up is better. Thanks rhoops!!

Tonight I tried to lower my signals on KOLR and KSFX from the current about 93% to around 73% which others have said will correct the Dish 622 problem. I discovered a few things............

1) I SPENT $100 AND A WEEKEND PUTTING A BIG ANTENNA 20 FEET UP ABOVE MY ROOF WHEN $10 WAL-MART RABBIT EARS WAS ALL I REALLY NEEDED!!!

Ahem..........

2) So I got some cheap rabbit ears in the hope that the reception would drop down to the mid-70 range. In fact I still am getting in the low 80s so I added a couple of splitters between the rabbit ears and the 622 and the signal is down to about 77%. This DOES seem to fix the 622 problem! There are still a few minor audio glitches but not many, I'd say it's pretty normal, on both KOLR and KSFX. Just to be sure I wasn't imagining things I switched back and forth between the Ears and the big antenna a few times and the difference is obvious.

I wish I had found this forum before I put up the big antenna! :)

I found another splitter and added it into the line and now my KOLR signal is 68% and the KSFX signal is 72%. Both channels are working perfectly now, no audio or video glitches at all. I am watching Letterman now, I was at his show in June in NYC and I have to say, this picture is better than seeing him live!

I wish the internet had been around 40 years ago when I was a kid chasing sporatic E and TVDX....Some of the best analog TVDX I ever got was using a self made 6 foot dipole taped to a piece of wood...from Regina Saskatchewan in the north to Mexico City in the south...the keys are still the same...Quality of the receiver, antenna, atmospherics....and the real estate term...LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!....DONT TOUCH ANYTHING!!!....THE SUPER BOWL IS IN 3 DAYS!!! :D :D :D :D

I am new to the Forum but live in Ozark-south of Fremont Hills. I have a Samsung Plasma with a amplified Terk in the attic (small antenna made for the tv but wife wants it hidden). I have noticed the audio dropouts and a few video glitches with the Samsung tuner. Only like every 15min or more. Do you think reducing the signal would help me? Also I have heard talk of hooking a 622 dishnetwork receiver to OTA antenna. My DVR 622 is not HD (2 years old) would it display the content as HD if I went through the receiver so I could see the Guide? I am not sure how to see what my % of signal is?

Okay duh. Didn't realize you had to reset the DTV system all over again to pick up satellite and OTA...

Now getting most everything except 33 through the DTV receiver (27 is spotty) BUT when I run a signal strength test for each channel, it comes up as zero for every one. Huh?

Think I'll swtich it back to the way it was before--OTA through the TV, everything else through the DTV.jbird5150,
Before you switch the OTA back to the TV, make absolutely sure you have entered your local ZIP Code in the OTA local networks setup menu. Then, do a reboot and rescan for OTA channels.

See this site (http://www.dbstalk.com/reviews/HR10-250_HD_Tivo/) for more info on the HR10-250. Scroll down to OPERATION.

If you don't have your user manual, download it HERE (http://directv.com/learn/pdf/System_Manuals/DIRECTV/DIRECTV_HR10-250.pdf).

One reason the signal is weaker on the HR10-250 is because the signal is split off to two OTA tuners. What kind of antenna are you using?

welcome to the forum, klstewart80.

The Dish 622 DVR is HD. Connect a decent antenna to the correct RF input on the back, go into the menu to setup and scan for OTA channels.

Read your manual, or check the HDTV Recorder threads (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=42) for help.

If you're having dropouts, consider getting a better antenna. Nearly all TERK antennas are junk. All of them are overpriced. They work fine for some people. But a coathanger will also work fine for some people.

Thanks for the quick reply arxaw
My bad I looked again my Dish Reciever is a 522. Waiting to upgrade till I make up my mind to go DISH or Direct HD. It seems from what I have read that Direct is more commited to getting HD content this year and our Locals HD?
Both dish and direct want $200 for the HD reciever.

I have been trying to get the silver sensor but sold out everywhere.....
I did get a PHDTV3 powered antenna and the terk works much better than it.

Actually, as of Feb 1, Dish is giving the HD receivers away with a contract (it is a lease, but no upfront cost for the receiver)

Thanks for the quick reply arxaw
My bad I looked again my Dish Reciever is a 522. Waiting to upgrade till I make up my mind to go DISH or Direct HD. It seems from what I have read that Direct is more commited to getting HD content this year and our Locals HD?
Both dish and direct want $200 for the HD reciever.

I have been trying to get the silver sensor but sold out everywhere.....
I did get a PHDTV3 powered antenna and the terk works much better than it.

If your trying to decide between Dish and Direct, you should go on what they have right now, both companies promise everything and don't deliver on time, Look at what each has right now and make your call or wait a year, I promise you neither will have what they said they would have but they will be different.

The DVR HD reciever is still $200 I think.

Here is the free 622 info:
Click me! (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=75584)

Thanks for the quick reply arxaw
My bad I looked again my Dish Reciever is a 522. Waiting to upgrade till I make up my mind to go DISH or Direct HD. It seems from what I have read that Direct is more commited to getting HD content this year and our Locals HD?
Both dish and direct want $200 for the HD reciever.

I have been trying to get the silver sensor but sold out everywhere.....
I did get a PHDTV3 powered antenna and the terk works much better than it.The PHDTV1 is the original Silver Sensor UHF antenna. It usually works better than the PHDTV3, which is a VHF+UHF antenna. If CC is out of stock, you can order one online (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/howToGetItTab.do?c=1&zip=72616&oid=158311&userClick=&showMoreStores=true#tabs). If it doesn't work, return it to your local CC for a refund.

If you want HD locals, OTA is the way to go. Forget waiting on sat. providers. The picture quality of HD locals on satellite isn't as good, anyway, compared to OTA.

jbird5150,
Before you switch the OTA back to the TV, make absolutely sure you have entered your local ZIP Code in the OTA local networks setup menu. Then, do a reboot and rescan for OTA channels.

See this site (http://www.dbstalk.com/reviews/HR10-250_HD_Tivo/) for more info on the HR10-250. Scroll down to OPERATION.

If you don't have your user manual, download it HERE (http://directv.com/learn/pdf/System_Manuals/DIRECTV/DIRECTV_HR10-250.pdf).

One reason the signal is weaker on the HR10-250 is because the signal is split off to two OTA tuners. What kind of antenna are you using?


Silver Sensor.

Thanks for that info. Didn't realize the signal was being split to the two different tuners, but I guess that makes sense.

And my zip was correct. I think it's just my location. I'm maybe 15 miles north of the Fordland tower, but on the side of a hill next to a small valley.

No biggie. I can just run the Sensor through my SXRD and get local HD to come in pretty well. Funny thing is--if you set up your DTV reciever to pick up satellite and OTA signals, you lose all of your regular local channels through DTV--even if you're paying extra for them.

The only way to "get these back" is to set it up as satellite only. So I can watch my game Sunday in HD with my OTA antenna, and switch to DTV if it gives me fits. The DTV version won't be in HD of course, but at least it will stay put.

Thanks for the quick reply arxaw
My bad I looked again my Dish Reciever is a 522. Waiting to upgrade till I make up my mind to go DISH or Direct HD. It seems from what I have read that Direct is more commited to getting HD content this year and our Locals HD?
Both dish and direct want $200 for the HD reciever.

I have been trying to get the silver sensor but sold out everywhere.....
I did get a PHDTV3 powered antenna and the terk works much better than it.


This is where I got mine last week. I think they still have some left. Make sure you put the coupon code in and get free shipping.

http://store.snapstream.com/phdtv1.html

coupon code: freeship

Silver Sensor.

Thanks for that info. Didn't realize the signal was being split to the two different tuners, but I guess that makes sense.

And my zip was correct. I think it's just my location. I'm maybe 15 miles north of the Fordland tower, but on the side of a hill next to a small valley.

No biggie. I can just run the Sensor through my SXRD and get local HD to come in pretty well. Funny thing is--if you set up your DTV reciever to pick up satellite and OTA signals, you lose all of your regular local channels through DTV--even if you're paying extra for them.

The only way to "get these back" is to set it up as satellite only. So I can watch my game Sunday in HD with my OTA antenna...Splitting the signal weakens it considerably. Adding a preamp (http://warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm) would help tremendously, if you want the ability to record OTA HD with the DVR.

If you're below a hill between you and Fordland, try aiming the antenna in other directions besides Fordland.

You should not lose the D* local SD channels when you select Sat+OTA reception. Check the HDTV Recorder threads (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=42) for more info.

Actually, as of Feb 1, Dish is giving the HD receivers away with a contract (it is a lease, but no upfront cost for the receiver)

If you are already a dish customer its 149.00 up front then a 50.00 rebate then 10.00 per month off your bill for 10 months which makes it free if you qualify.

Maybe someone can help here. My nephew is getting a HDDVR cable box from mediacom, does it hook up HDMI or DVI or just component? He lives in an apartment in Crane and thats his only choice to get HD. Not sure what Crane mediacom offers in HD but maybe he can get his locals. I just need to know what cable he needs to buy when he gets the box.

Channel 10 is messing up again today on my 622vip.

You need to see what connectors his TV has. Newer HD models should have HDMI but ones a few years old may just have component cables, like mine. I don't have Mediacom but I would think their newer boxes would support HDMI. My Dish 622 does.

Well I'll have to try lowering my signal str then on my dish to see if it works. I'll turn my amped antenna down and see what it does.

You need to see what connectors his TV has. Newer HD models should have HDMI but ones a few years old may just have component cables, like mine. I don't have Mediacom but I would think their newer boxes would support HDMI. My Dish 622 does.

He got the 50" SXRD Sony, it has 2 HDMI and I would think all receivers and cable boxes now days would have HDMI out.

If anyone is interested, here are the Lat-Long locations of the Springfield area towers. Cut and paste them into Google Earth to see them. Might be a little quicker than the antennaweb.org way.

KOLR/KSFX: 37°13'13.8"N 92°56'56"W
KYTV: N 37° 10' 26" W 92° 56' 27"
KOZK: 37°10'10.93"N 93°56'30.12"W
KSPR-DT (downtown): 37°12'37.67"N 93°16'13.71"E

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think KSPR analog uses the same tower as KOLR/KSFX.

Have fun!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think KSPR analog uses the same tower as KOLR/KSFX.

You are correct. KOLR KSFX and KSPR analog share the same tower. KOLR-DT and KSFX-DT and the proposed KSPR-DT ( high power ) are on that same tower.

It was built by KOLR in 1973, but sold to American Tower several years ago. One of the reasons for the delay in getting KOLR / KSFX's HDTV on the air was that the tower had to be "beefed up" structurally to carry the additional load.

They had to install external "falsework" bracing, and actually remove and replace structural elements.

Yes, it is.

But if you call and just tell them you can't watch OTA, or the box reboots watching OTA, they may tell you to "disconnect your OTA antenna until a software fix ("coming soon") is available. This is unacceptable, IMO.

If you tell them the box is dead, per my previous post, they'll FedEx you a replacement box.

Well I got my replacement box yesterday. My original was a H20-600 but they sent me an H20-100. So far I'm happy and disappointed. My new H20-100 is working fine so far with my antenna and I can actually scroll through the guide at a normal, quick pace. On my H20-600 it would literally take about 1.5 seconds in between channels while scrolling through the guide - very annoying. But there is a major problem with my new H20-100 - I have to keep the native resolution turned off and manually set the receiver to 1080i, so I have to watch all channels in 1080i - even SD - unless I want to get up and switch them every time. On my old receiver if I turned native resolution on it would automatically change to 720p or 1080i every time I selected an HD channel, depending on what that channel was broadcasting at. If I turn native on with my new receiver, every channel stays at 480i. If I get up and manually set it to 720p or 1080i it will switch back if I change the channel or even open the guide. Between this and the "HD-lite" channel quality, Im really starting to hate DirecTV:(

chaotic,

Did you activate both 720p and 1080i (in addition to "Native") in the setup menu?
It's in "TV TYPE" in the "RESOLUTIONS" tab.

Just curious, what kind of TV do you have and what is its native resolution?

chaotic,

Did you activate both 720p and 1080i (in addition to "Native") in the setup menu?
It's in "TV TYPE" in the "RESOLUTIONS" tab.

Just curious, what kind of TV do you have and what is its native resolution?

Hey you're right. I was just being stupid and forgot to change the resolutions tab. :o So I guess this receiver is better than my last. Now that I got that little problem situated, this receiver does everything that the 600 did plus navigates a LOT faster and works well with my antenna. I thought the 600 series was supposed to be an improvement over the 100? :confused:


Oh and my tv is a Toshiba 57H84 and I have it set to 1080i - but nothing changes at all when I switch between 720p and 1080i. I dont know if theres something wrong with it or not but the screen looks exactly the same at either setting. The only time I can tell a difference is when I change the resolution on my H20.

According to the Toshiba site (http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=57H84), that TV only displays 1080i or 540p, but not 720p. It would probably look the best if you leave the TV on1080i and set the H20 to scale everything to 1080i (native OFF). Have you tried that?

Both the H20-600 and H20-100 have advantages and disadvantages.
The H20-100, made by RCA, runs cooler and has faster guide/menu response.
The H20-600, made by LG, supposedly has a slightly sharper SD picture and definitely has a superior OTA tuner for multipath or fringe environments.

If you live in a suburban area, a weak tuner is not an issue, but where I live (right on the very edge of two markets' reception areas), it can mean the difference between getting some stations - or not. With the H20-100s I had, I always had to use the rotor to get both Springfield and Fayetteville stations. With the H20-600s, I can aim the antenna in a sweet spot and pick up both markets, without messing with the rotor.

To me, that's a must-have feature.

According to the Toshiba site (http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=57H84), that TV only displays 1080i or 540p, but not 720p. It would probably look the best if you leave the TV on1080i and set the H20 to scale everything to 1080i (native OFF). Have you tried that?

Both the H20-600 and H20-100 have advantages and disadvantages.
The H20-100, made by RCA, runs cooler and has faster guide/menu response.
The H20-600, made by LG, supposedly has a slightly sharper SD picture and definitely has a superior OTA tuner for multipath or fringe environments.

If you live in a suburban area, a weak tuner is not an issue, but where I live (right on the very edge of two markets' reception areas), it can mean the difference between getting some stations - or not. With the H20-100s I had, I always had to use the rotor to get both Springfield and Fayetteville stations. With the H20-600s, I can aim the antenna in a sweet spot and pick up both markets, without messing with the rotor.

To me, that's a must-have feature.

Yeah you're right again, I meant 540p. I have always kept it on 1080i but like I said earlier I dont think that setting works. When I switch it back and forth from 540 to 1080 the screen doesnt change at all. However, when I try to watch SD channels with the H20 set at 1080i they look like crap - even for SD.

rhoops-

Thanks for all the updates and hard work. I have a request. I know you guys were proud that you were able to get the school cancellations bar on the HD signal, but could you make it less obtrusive/distracting? Maybe a different shade of blue, less bright - a transparent blue-gray? Even no banner at all (just text) would be fine with me (and probably many others). I realize it's probably up to the suits at the stations, but I thought I would ask.

Still getting limited dropouts, maybe every ten minutes or so. Usually it's the audio for a second or two, followed by a pixelation of the video signal. Is this my setup or are others seeing this as well? I'm using a DirecTV HD Tivo HR10-250 with an outdoor antenna that's at least 10 years old.

I was getting audio dropouts during the super bowl.
Had to switch to KFSM-DT in Ft. Smith.

Anyone else have the same problem?

... when I try to watch SD channels with the H20 set at 1080i they look like crap - even for SD.Strange, since 1080i (540p) is the native resolution of your TV.

How do you have the H20 connected to the TV? Component? HDMI?

Jwollard, I had similar dropouts and pixelation but it wasn't too bad, I still enjoyed the Super Bowl in HD! I second the motion on weather warnings and school cancellations, less often, smaller, and less obtrusive would all be very nice!

I was at my friends house in Battlefield and he has a antenna in his attic and we were getting a pretty good signal going through his projector.

We experienced audio dropouts but like four said it wasn't that bad. We were able to watch in HD.

The dropouts seemed to get worse when Prince was on during the HT Show.

But like someone else posted on my 622 I'm getting 10-1 now and I'm not having the problem I was before. I went into my menu and the signal is locked and staying locked.

KSFX is still locked for a sec and unlocking. It seems my 622 can't get a lock on the signal even though it locks at 90%.

rlu929s, if you can get your signal down into the high 60's or low seventies the problem will go away, at least it did for me. I know, it makes no sense.

Strange, since 1080i (540p) is the native resolution of your TV.

How do you have the H20 connected to the TV? Component? HDMI?

Component. My tv only has one HDMI jack and I use it with my Oppo upconverting dvd player since I watch way more dvd's than tv. I thought about buying one of those HDMI switch things but last time I checked they were very expensive and not very stable. (from what Ive read)

HDMI will not improve PQ on most CRT sets, since the signal has to be converted to analog anyway.

On most displays with native 1080i, the H20 have fantastic PQ when set to rescale everything to 1080i. Strange that your TV/STB combo doesn't work well that way.

So you're saying everything looks better on your TV when the H20 outputs 720p?

No, when I watch a program in HD it looks great at 1080i. When I watch a SD channel thats broadcasted in 480i it looks better if the H20 shows it @ 480i than upconverting it to 1080i. Basically, I think my tv must do a better job of upconverting than the H20.

If that's the case, make sure Native is checked, and uncheck any resolutions that don't scale well on your TV - like say 480p.

IIRC, some of those Toshibas rescale all 480i to 540p, which displayed well.

rlu929s, if you can get your signal down into the high 60's or low seventies the problem will go away, at least it did for me. I know, it makes no sense.

I installed the attenuator that came with my 622 in the antenna coax cable and it lowered my signal around 66-68, it seems to have solved most of my trouble on 10&27. The attenuator says for tv2 only but I gave it a shot and it seems to work.

I just rescanned my digital channels on my dish 811 today, the day after the superbowl, and figured out that 10 and 27 finally went hd. I watched it in crappy blurrovision. But at least i'll get to see american idol in hd tomorrow. I do have a question also. I have a big roof antenna and I have a big long cable going down to the tv in the living room. I have to move the cable around and position it perfectly to get good reception. I have to have it hanging over the speaker sitting on top of my tv to get good reception on 27. Anybody know how to improve my hook-up situation? Thanks.

Matt, is your reception problem just with 10-1 and 27-1?

mattzane, sounds like a bad cable or a loose/bad connector.

How old is the cable?

More questions, Matt. How many TV's are on the antenna? (How many splits?) How far are you from the towers? Do you have the antenna aimed correctly? Do you have RG6 or RG59 cable?

OK. Anyone have the Panasonic 50px60u plasma other than me? I absolutely cannot find KY3 using the QAM tuner. I have KSFX, KOLR and KSPR in crystal clear, but no KY3, upn or weather +. Any ideas as to where I might find them????

Running OTA w/o going through my 211 I picked up the Super Bowl at 98% signal Strength from Bolivar with a 1 second Audio Drop Out maybe once or twice every half hour. Any leads yet on the Dish issue? I hate having to switch back and forth.

OK. Anyone have the Panasonic 50px60u plasma other than me? I absolutely cannot find KY3 using the QAM tuner. I have KSFX, KOLR and KSPR in crystal clear, but no KY3, upn or weather +. Any ideas as to where I might find them????

I turned my Antenna about 15/20 degrees and started picking up 3 again after losing it.

ShackMan: Oddly my 10 is working now through my 611. However others have found if you use an attenuator and can knock down the signal into the 70% area they work through the dish.

This is only a temp fix.

[QUOTE=rhoops]We had to temporarily disable the EPG data in order to clear some errors and work on some other things

rhoops:
Today on KLOR and KSFX It now displays the channel banner every few seconds then goes away again. Makes it impossible to watch.
All the other channels are ok.
Do you think there may be something wrong with the EPG data?
Whatever you did back then fixed my problem?

I have a Panasonic Direct Tv HD reciever. Its old but has been working ok.

rhoops,
Did something get "fixed" today (Wednesday 2/7)? I no longer receive KOLR10. KSFX is still good though.

rhoops,
Did something get "fixed" today (Wednesday 2/7)? I no longer receive KOLR10. KSFX is still good though.
Something weird happened. Try punching in channel 52. My panny says it goes to 27-1, but shows CBS. Channel 28 gets me to Fox.

Okay I have an big old roof antenna, and i'm running 300 ohm cable from it to the tv, which evidentally really isn't good from what i've been reading on the net. So I have a 75/300 ohm outdoor TV antenna transformer balun adapter that I will put on the antenna, then should I run rg 6 or rg 59? Does it really matter that much? It's probably like a 50 foot run. And will it be okay if I split it to 2 tvs or will that hurt reception?

YES, it matters. Especially for UHF and particularly higher frequency UHFs, like KOLR-DT, which is way up on channel 52. Don't scrimp on coax, the price difference isn't that much and it lasts for years.

Use RG6. You can skip the overhyped "gold" colored connectors, though.

..I have a Panasonic Direct Tv HD reciever. Its old but has been working ok.flybyair,

If it's a Panny TUHDS20 (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=UI9&q=tuhds20+panasonic+junk&btnG=Search), that's most of your problem, right there. Horrible 1st-generation OTA ATSC tuner, and not enough processor/ram to do the work.

I've spent the last few days reading and re-reading this thread -- JACKPOT! I can only second what's already been said about the quality of information -- Cannot thank you guys enough...

I'm located in Marion Co. Arkansas - and after reading posts from several of you not too far away - thought I'd at least experiment with a cheapo, Wal-Mart indoor OTA. Using the panny's tuner (I have a 42PX600U), with the antenna on the floor (!) I picked up more than I thought. (specifically KY3 (3.1, 3.2, 3.3) PBS (21.1, 21.2, 21.3) and KSFX (27.1))

My question is this -- I'm planning on returning the cheap antenna for something better. Should I look at something outdoor or something indoor, like the Silver Sensor? So far, indoor reception seems promosing, but I'd like to KNOW I'm doing everything I can to maximize the amount of programming I can receive...

I've spent the last few days reading and re-reading this thread -- JACKPOT! I can only second what's already been said about the quality of information -- Cannot thank you guys enough...

I'm located in Marion Co. Arkansas - and after reading posts from several of you not too far away - thought I'd at least experiment with a cheapo, Wal-Mart indoor OTA. Using the panny's tuner (I have a 42PX600U), with the antenna on the floor (!) I picked up more than I thought. (specifically KY3 (3.1, 3.2, 3.3) PBS (21.1, 21.2, 21.3) and KSFX (27.1))

My question is this -- I'm planning on returning the cheap antenna for something better. Should I look at something outdoor or something indoor, like the Silver Sensor? So far, indoor reception seems promosing, but I'd like to KNOW I'm doing everything I can to maximize the amount of programming I can receive...

The adage that "you get what you pay for" doesn't seem to apply to HDTV antennas. There are some very expensive antennas that are absolute junk and some very inexpensive ones that work well.

An outdoor antenna in the clear above your roof will always outperform an indoor antenna.

For starters I recommend the Radio Shack $25 UHF outdoor antenna. A better one is the channel master mentioned frequently on this board.

There is no substitute for antenna height. If a particular outdoor antenna doesn't do what you want, adding another 10 foot mast section will do more than getting a larger or more expensive antenna.

As for antenna pre-amps, they can compensate for the loss of signal in the coax if you have a long run, but they can't "pull-in" a signal that is not there.

The same applies to an indoor antenna. If the signal is not "there" in your living room on the cheapo WalMart antenna, it will not be "there" on an expensive Terk indoor antenna.

It will almost certainly be there with the $25 Radio Shack antenna on a 10 foot mast above your roof.

$25 RadioShack UHF Antenna with $59.99 Pre-Amp 10 feet above house: 100% in Bolivar.

All for under $100 bucks. Works Great!

@mattzane227: Anything is better than 300Ohm Wire! Of course everyone here would recommend using the RG6 Quad Shield Just because it better insulated, can carry a digital signal better and the shielding helps reduce interference. I'm using RG6 (not QS) and I'm not having any problems so that may be the way to go. RG 59 is going out of common use anyway with so many digital applications out there.

Does anyone have guide info for KOLR on their 622 dish receiver? I don't, but my brother-in-law just got a new install 622 and he does have guide info for KOLR OTA, I saw this myself.

Rhoops - you expressed some interest in my cable card experience with Mediacom on my TiVo series 3. Here is my story. I'll try to keep it short.

Installer was not knowledgeable about TiVo or cablecards. He was more than happy for me to place the cards in the TiVo and navigate to the config screens.

He called a dispatcher, and I read out the info. from the "pairing" screen for both cards. The dispatcher then sent a hit.

Short story: Close but not perfect performance from the cards. I'm getting all the HD channels I should, but some of the other cable-plus channels are not yet receivable, even after calling Mediacom myself and having them re-send a "hit". I'm not getting about 13 channels I should, fairly randomly distributed from 120 thru 503.

I wanted to also mention that, after the cable card install, I am no longer able to tune KOLR (10-1) OTA on my TiVo. I am able to get the channel (sans TiVo's program guide, natch) on 52-3. I still get 27-1 with no problems. Do you think this could be a similar problem to the Dish folks' problem who can't get KOLR 10-1? Up until the cable card install, 10-1 had been rock-solid, except for the occasional audio glitch that everyone is reporting.

I also reported to TiVo that they are missing program guides for cable channels 702 and 709 (KSFX and KOLR HD feeds on Mediacom). They said they needed to contact Mediacom and get that info. verified. The CS I spoke to was very friendly and knowledgeable, but thought it could be 5 business days to get the problem fixed (no promises, though).

I know you don't have anything to do with Mediacom's reporting of their channel lineup to TiVo, but thought others reading the thread might be interested (if they have TiVo's capable of receiving HD cable channels, anyway).

KOLR still not coming in for me today. Very frustrating, I hate watching it in SD after getting a taste of HD. What changed yesterday? Please change it back!

KOLR still not coming in for me today. Very frustrating, I hate watching it in SD after getting a taste of HD. What changed yesterday? Please change it back!
Shawn, have you tried channel 52? It really is KOLR-DT.

Shawn, have you tried channel 52? It really is KOLR-DT.

Yeah, it didn't work. :(
It seems there's something in the stream that my Media Center PC's just don't like. I plugged in a Samsung SIR-TS360 tuner and it gets KOLR-DT just fine.
ARGH! Other Media Center users theorize something wrong with the PSIP can cause this problem.

On an unrelated note, it's amazing how powerful the KOLR-DT signal is. I'm about 24-miles from the transmitter according to Antennaweb.org. The SIR-TS360 receives KOLR-DT perfectly sitting on my floor with nothing but an 8" piece of scrap wire as an antenna!

MRUSS, I have the program guide for KOLR-DT on my 622 but not for KSFX-DT. But both channels of KSFX show up in the guide side by side so it isn't too much of a problem

Now getting KOLR-DT @ 100% signal strength. Was in the upper 90s.

Not sure if the station changed something or if it's weather-related reception improvement.

MRUSS, I have the program guide for KOLR-DT on my 622 but not for KSFX-DT. But both channels of KSFX show up in the guide side by side so it isn't too much of a problem

Still no guide info on my 622 for 10-01 or 27-01, brother-in-law has 10-01 only. You would think if one had it they all would.

KOLR still not coming in for me today. Very frustrating, I hate watching it in SD after getting a taste of HD. What changed yesterday? Please change it back!

OK. Evidently the EPG continued to cause problems. We've ditched the EPG on both stations until we can get a "stream probe recorder" to make a recording to send to the experts.

OK. Evidently the EPG continued to cause problems. We've ditched the EPG on both stations until we can get a "stream probe recorder" to make a recording to send to the experts.

Ah, that explains it! I got KOLR-DT back today on my MCE PC's and was very happy. I have never lost KSFX though.

No HD for the Pro Bowl?

arxaw. Do you know when Fox will go to HD there in ARK. all my channels are good other than Fox not being HD. Thanks

KFTA-DT (FOX) is already HD on 24-1 (or 27-1 on some TVs). Their studios are in Ft. Smith and the transmitter site is in Crawford County, AR, broadcasting on RF channel 27.
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1006429.gif

If you're in that blue coverage zone and can't get them, they're either not at full power or you're getting interference from KSFX analog in Springfield. KFTA-DT and KSFX analog are both broadcasting on channel 27 (really stupid channel choice by KFTA).

If you can't get them, the only alternative is KFTA-SD, multicast on KNWA-DT, channel 51-2, or KSFX-DT (FOX-HD), channel 27-1 out of Springfield.

I got the rg6 cable to my roof antenna and now I get 3, 10, 21, and 27 in HD and they're all in the high 80's low 90's signal strength. But even the analog channels are really clear too. I wish i would have known how crappy 300 ohm was before. Thanks for the help everybody.

mattzane227,
Glad the RG6 was all you needed!

300 ohm "flat wire" really does suck for antenna lead in wire.

Why no HD for the Daytona 500 qualifying, is this FOX or channel 27 not giving it to us. FOX is advertising it being in HD.

OK. Evidently the EPG continued to cause problems. We've ditched the EPG on both stations until we can get a "stream probe recorder" to make a recording to send to the experts.

rhoops
Did they turn the EPG back on Sunday?
The channel banner is poping up every 3 seconds again on KSFX and KLOR?

holy crap. Now I'm having a stroke. My digital scan will not pick up KSPR or KYTV on my QAM. Is anyone else having problems??? I hate to buy a STB with a QAM in the TV, but if I have to I will

holy crap. Now I'm having a stroke. My digital scan will not pick up KSPR or KYTV on my QAM. Is anyone else having problems??? I hate to buy a STB with a QAM in the TV, but if I have to I will

I just did a re-scan of Mediacom with my Samsung SIR-T451 QAM tuner today.

I got these channels

16-1 KYTV
16-2 KY's WX
16-3 KSPR
62-1 KFSX
62-2 KOLR

This is the same as it's been since KOLR / KSFX first appeared on Mediacom in Springfield.

The QAM signal breaks up periodically on all those channels here. I also have a Mediacom supplied Motorola DCT-6200 box, and it works much better, but still loses the signal periodically.

I have the following cable HD channels with that tuner:

702 KSFX
708 KSPR
709 KOLR
712 KYTV

OTA with the Samsung SIR-T451 I get:

3-1 KYTV
3-2 CW-15
3-3 Weather
10-1 KOLR
21-1 KOZK
21-2 PBS-HD
21-3 PBS-Create
27-1 KSFX
33-1 KSPR Only in SD, and low power

Summary: with OTA you get PBS HD, but lose KSPR's HD signal. At this time OTA digital looks better than anything else.

I just did a re-scan of Mediacom with my Samsung SIR-T451 QAM tuner today.

I got these channels

16-1 KYTV
16-2 KY's WX
16-3 KSPR
62-1 KFSX
62-2 KOLR

This is the same as it's been since KOLR / KSFX first appeared on Mediacom in Springfield.

The QAM signal breaks up periodically on all those channels here. I also have a Mediacom supplied Motorola DCT-6200 box, and it works much better, but still loses the signal periodically.

I have the following cable HD channels with that tuner:

702 KSFX
708 KSPR
709 KOLR
712 KYTV

OTA with the Samsung SIR-T451 I get:

3-1 KYTV
3-2 CW-15
3-3 Weather
10-1 KOLR
21-1 KOZK
21-2 PBS-HD
21-3 PBS-Create
27-1 KSFX
33-1 KSPR Only in SD, and low power

Summary: with OTA you get PBS HD, but lose KSPR's HD signal. At this time OTA digital looks better than anything else.
any time I scan, all I get is KOLR and KSFX. I used to get both KSPR and KYTV. Any chance the signal strength from Mediacom is not enough for the other 2 to show up? Should I call them and ask what's up? Last time I called with a QAM inquiry, I was met with stone dead silence.

We've put the EPG data back in, and made a few changes on the settings.

Your report appreciated.

Signal strength is 100% on both stations and audio & video are fine using a Samsung SIR-TS160 D*/OTA receiver and a DirecTV brand H20-600 D*/OTA receiver. Guide info is present, too, including FOX & CBS logos. But, AFAIK, the EPG supplied by D* has always been OK.

Also, prime time HD programs are correctly tagged with the [ H D ] icon.

9:40 PM
Having a lot of problem with dropout on channel 10 DT.
Not having the problem on 3 DT or 27 DT. We are having heavy rain in the West Plains area, is this the problem?
If so why on 10 only?
Thanks

Also had brief intermittent audio dropouts on KOLR-DT too, trying to watch CSI Miami. I had to flip over to KFSM-DT in Ft. Smith to watch the rest of the show. Signal strength was 100% here and no video dropouts.

I am also having a lot of trouble with 10-1, and also 27-1. I live near sunshine/glenstone and can pick up all the channels rhoops mentions, but get a/v dropouts after about 5-10 seconds of programming. I am using the $25 radio shack antenna on a 3 foot pole above the peak of my roof - any ideas? I get the other channels in the 70-80 range, except for pbs, which is around 90-92.

what is strange is that when its clear (10&27) i get a signal strength of 70-80, then it pixelates out.

ssc955s,
By "clear" if you mean clear weather, reception is often better during cloudy, damp weather.

Have you tweaked your antenna for the highest signal strength? IIRC, if KOZK-DT is your strongest signal, you may need to turn your antenna slightly to the left to get a stronger signal for KOLR-DT & KSFX-DT.

rhoops, is that correct?

I am also having a lot of trouble with 10-1, and also 27-1. I live near sunshine/glenstone and can pick up all the channels rhoops mentions, but get a/v dropouts after about 5-10 seconds of programming. I am using the $25 radio shack antenna on a 3 foot pole above the peak of my roof - any ideas? I get the other channels in the 70-80 range, except for pbs, which is around 90-92.

what is strange is that when its clear (10&27) i get a signal strength of 70-80, then it pixelates out.

The $25 radioshack antenna is directional. so adjusting it even 25-45 degrees can help. Also, if you're by Sunshine and Glenstone you may want to explore the possibility of raising your antenna another 5 or 10 feet. There are some taller buildings & trees around that area so that might help a little bit. And you may want to get a pre amp to compensate for "Clear Days".

I am also having a lot of trouble with 10-1, and also 27-1. I live near sunshine/glenstone and can pick up all the channels rhoops mentions, but get a/v dropouts after about 5-10 seconds of programming. I am using the $25 radio shack antenna on a 3 foot pole above the peak of my roof - any ideas? I get the other channels in the 70-80 range, except for pbs, which is around 90-92.

what is strange is that when its clear (10&27) i get a signal strength of 70-80, then it pixelates out.

That sounds like "multipath". You are getting signals reflected off buildings and other objects that arrive slightly later than the direct signal. KOZK and KYTV are nearly due east from you. KOLR and KSFX are north of there. Try turning your antenna slightly towards the north. If it's pointing at 90 degrees, try swinging it to the left, say 70 degrees.

KOZK and KYTV are in line with Sunshine Street. KOLR, KSFX and KSPR are in line with Division street. You can see the towers from the Hwy 65 over/underpass on these respective streets.

Replacing the 3 foot mast with a 10 foot mast may be all you need.

I'm near Glenstone and Cherry with the same antenna at about the same height and I get all the digitals well, including KSPR LP off the back of the antenna.

The $25 radioshack antenna is directional. so adjusting it even 25-45 degrees can help. Also, if you're by Sunshine and Glenstone you may want to explore the possibility of raising your antenna another 5 or 10 feet. There are some taller buildings & trees around that area so that might help a little bit. And you may want to get a pre amp to compensate for "Clear Days".


That sounds like "multipath". You are getting signals reflected off buildings and other objects that arrive slightly later than the direct signal. KOZK and KYTV are nearly due east from you. KOLR and KSFX are north of there. Try turning your antenna slightly towards the north. If it's pointing at 90 degrees, try swinging it to the left, say 70 degrees.

KOZK and KYTV are in line with Sunshine Street. KOLR, KSFX and KSPR are in line with Division street. You can see the towers from the Hwy 65 over/underpass on these respective streets.

Replacing the 3 foot mast with a 10 foot mast may be all you need.

I'm near Glenstone and Cherry with the same antenna at about the same height and I get all the digitals well, including KSPR LP off the back of the antenna.

I have adjusted the antenna in 2-5° increments (thats about as sensitive as I can get, then asked someone inside to watch the meter on the tv (I have a PDP-5070, btw). but pretty much the same result. I consulted antennaweb and for the most part, all the towers in fordland are within 81-93°, so I have tried to be in that range.

The previous owner of my house had two directv dishes on the roof, so I removed one and put a 3' plastic pipe inside the bent tube on the dish mount there as a temp "pole" I am going to invest in a 10' mast to put the antenna up a bit higher.

as for the clear days - I did this about 2 days ago, and it hasn't been sunny yet. I am one of those people who went through about 10 store brand indoor antennas with little luck.

And you may want to get a pre amp to compensate for "Clear Days".

can you guys recommend which preamp to use? I don't have an available electricity source on the roof - i assume there is a passive model? Radioshack brand or something I can buy/take back with ease would be helpful.

can you guys recommend which preamp to use? I don't have an available electricity source on the roof - i assume there is a passive model? Radioshack brand or something I can buy/take back with ease would be helpful.

The pre-amps have a two components. There is a "power injector" which is near the TV set and plugs into the wall, and the actual pre-amp which is inserted near the antenna. The power is actually carried by the same coax that feeds the antenna.

SSC: The Pre Amp I am using is Cat#: 15.2507 from Radioshack. It uses two "Blocks". One that mounts up with the antenna on the mast, and the other stays in the house where it can be plugged into an AC socket. I notice a major difference when I have it on and when I didn't.

The $25 radioshack antenna is directional. so adjusting it even 25-45 degrees can help. Also, if you're by Sunshine and Glenstone you may want to explore the possibility of raising your antenna another 5 or 10 feet. There are some taller buildings & trees around that area so that might help a little bit. And you may want to get a pre amp to compensate for "Clear Days".

Namely St. John's and the Plaza Towers for multipath. Get the ant up to at least 5' above the garage, preferably 10. Or consider a CM4221 or Antenna's Direct DB-4 instead of the U-75R.

Anyone that don't have guide info for 10 and 27 on your 622vip receiver, just delete those channels then enter them in again. It worked for me, now I have guide info for everything but my sub channels.

A member of the SatelliteGuys recommended that I ask my question here... hopefully someone will have an answer-

Has anyone experienced the hr10-250 hanging on KODE DT?

My ABC affiliate, has lots of glitches while watching. The only affiliate that is 'perfect' is the NBC affiliate... a shame since they aren't broadcast any HD content. The PBS feed only glitches occasionally. I'm less than 2 miles from the towers for ABC, NBC and PBS. All the towers are the same bearing. The CBS affiliate is also in the same bearing, but is about 13 miles away. CBS tends to come and go according to weather. I have an outdoor antenna that shoots right through a 2 story brick building with a bunch of steel right next door to me, so I have multi-path issues.

With the updated software -6.3b, If I leave it on KODE for any length of time the Hr10-250 gets really un-responsive, eventually leading to the point where I have to unplug the unit and restart to gain control back. None of the other channels cause this. It also does the same with a Zenith Silver Sensor antenna as well.

The digital tuner in my TV & HD tuner drops signal/tiles/etc. in the same way as the Hr10-250, but they don't hang or become un-responsive.

Any opinions on the cause? Is it simply the multi-path? Could they have their encoders configured in some way that makes Hr10-250 unhappy?

Thanks for any replies.

One thing that can cause lockups is incorrect PSIP. PSIP is the data that among other things, tells the receiver what channel name and number to display for the station (12-1 etc.), program titles and synopsis of the program, ratings, etc. If the station is sending out corrupt or non-standard PSIP, it can cause problems with some receivers.

But your problem sounds more like it's being caused by poor signal quality. Just guessing, though...

IIRC, both KODE-DT (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=18283) (1.46kW ERP) and KOAM-DT (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=58552) (6kW ERP) are still broadcasting at these ridiculously low power levels. The fault lies with the station owners.

BTW, KOAM-DT is broadcasting on VHF. The Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna that doesn't usually work too well for VHF stations.

Anyone that don't have guide info for 10 and 27 on your 622vip receiver, just delete those channels then enter them in again. It worked for me, now I have guide info for everything but my sub channels.

Thx for the update. I'll check mine when I get home tonight. Any luck yet on fixing the issues with the channels? I've yet to try an anntenuator.

Thx for the update. I'll check mine when I get home tonight. Any luck yet on fixing the issues with the channels? I've yet to try an anntenuator.

Still have trouble with 27 if my signal is above 70% on my 622vip. Seem to have less trouble with 10. My 921 works ok with both channels , just glad I still have it with nascar racing starting.

One thing that can cause lockups is incorrect PSIP. PSIP is the data that among other things, tells the receiver what channel name and number to display for the station (12-1 etc.), program titles and synopsis of the program, ratings, etc. If the station is sending out corrupt or non-standard PSIP, it can cause problems with some receivers.

But your problem sounds more like it's being caused by poor signal quality. Just guessing, though...

IIRC, both KODE-DT (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=18283) (1.46kW ERP) and KOAM-DT (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=58552) (6kW ERP) are still broadcasting at these ridiculously low power levels. The fault lies with the station owners.

BTW, KOAM-DT is broadcasting on VHF. The Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna that doesn't usually work too well for VHF stations.

What on earth is KOAM doing broadcasting Digital in the VHF Spectrum?!

I thought the FCC mandated that all digital channels be in the 300MHz - 3 GHz band.

And do you think attaching a regular set of "Rabbit Ears" to the Silver Sensor would at least help reception with that channel?

What on earth is KOAM doing broadcasting Digital in the VHF Spectrum?!

I thought the FCC mandated that all digital channels be in the 300MHz - 3 GHz band.



I just checked the FCC records and there are currently 304 VHF Digital Stations Licensed, including Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Las Vegas and Miami.

KOLR will go digital on channel 10 when analog goes dark.

The top end of the TV spectrum will end at around 700 Mhz, or channel 50. DT's like KOLR that use channels above 50 will have be required to vacate so that the spectrum can be re-assigned.

I just checked the FCC records and there are currently 304 VHF Digital Stations Licensed, including Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Las Vegas and Miami.

KOLR will go digital on channel 10 when analog goes dark.

The top end of the TV spectrum will end at around 700 Mhz, or channel 50. DT's like KOLR that use channels above 50 will have be required to vacate so that the spectrum can be re-assigned.

Wow. I did a little bit more checking and I guess the FCC opened up the higher channels to make it easier for stations to make the switch to digital while maintaining their analog signals as well. It's suppose to ease the pain of switching to digital before '09.

My Bad.

We've put the EPG data back in, and made a few changes on the settings.

Your report appreciated.
My Panasonic is getting all channels and all program info correctly now.

SWEET... Just saw Motorhead0922's post, channel scan and boom. HD CBS. THANK YOU!!!

I have the same Panasonic 32" as Motorhead and neither of us were getting CBS on 10.1. So if you've had that problem check again.

theshackman,
lotsa stations on VHF. Several down here in Ark. There will also be digital VHFs in Tulsa and OKC. Look for more VHFs after the dust settles.... not that that's a good thing for the OTA viewer, though.

The problems with VHF digital I've encountered:
Many (most) UHF antennas don't work well for many VHF channels.
Very annoying audio/video dropouts during thunderstorms that UHF stations don't have.
Co-channel interference.
Impulse noise interference from light switches, electric motors, etc. I have seen this on both high VHF (chs 7 thru 13), and low VHF (chs 2 thru 6). It is much worse on low VHF and the FCC should have made that band off limits for digital tv.

After analog goes dark the TV channels will be VHF 2 thru 13 and UHF 14 thru 51.
Chs 52 thru 69 will be auctioned off for new wireless services.

...do you think attaching a regular set of "Rabbit Ears" to the Silver Sensor would at least help reception with that channel?You need a VHF antenna and a V/U combiner to connect the two antennas.

Unless you're very close to KOAM's weak transmitter, you'll probably need a good outdoor VHF antenna (and possibly a LOW NOISE preamp) to receive it reliably. Most radio shack amps/preamps are too noisy to consider for digital tv. Get a good low noise preamp from Channel Master (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm) or Winegard.

Another problem you may encounter with KOAM-DT is co-channel interference. KAFT analog in Fayetteville, AR is also broadcasting on VHF channel 13 at a much higher ERP (316kW) than KOAM-DT. This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on distance from the station, terrain, directionality of your antenna, etc.

Unless you're very close to KOAM's weak transmitter, you'll probably need a good outdoor VHF antenna....

Another problem you may encounter with KOAM-DT is co-channel interference...


If I had a better location for my antenna, I would probably get KOAM-DT much more reliably. Although that is '?encouraging?' if they are not at full power yet.

I wasn't aware that KODE-DT was still running low power as well. Not ready for prime time...


Another issue is KODE analog is channel 12, so there is a bit of wash from them as well. Putting a pre-amp for Ch13 may result in an overloaded signal from 12. If things stay on track, that should only be an issue for 2 more years?

EPG seems to be working great on KSFX and KOLR. Glad to see that up and going!

Ok, Brain picking time.

I get KY3 perfect during the day until about 7 p.m. then it slowly starts getting weaker and weaker until I don't get a picture anymore. Their DT Signal is UHF like KSFX/KOLR and I don't lose either one of them at night. KY3 doesn't lose power at night so I don't understand why I lose it and not my other channels.

Any Thoughts?

EPG seems to be working great on KSFX and KOLR. Glad to see that up and going!

Ok, Brain picking time.

I get KY3 perfect during the day until about 7 p.m. then it slowly starts getting weaker and weaker until I don't get a picture anymore. Their DT Signal is UHF like KSFX/KOLR and I don't lose either one of them at night. KY3 doesn't lose power at night so I don't understand why I lose it and not my other channels.

Any Thoughts?
My analog reception gets worse in very cold weather. I don't know if it affects the tower or my preamp in the attic. I haven't noticed an issue with digital.

TheShackMan,
It's not likely, but still possible that you're getting co-channel interference from one of these other channel 44s (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=&chan=44&cha2=44&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=2&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9). Co-channel interference from a distant station is more likely to occur in the evenings, when stations travel farther. However, it usually happens in summer. So, who knows....

I know that warmer air helps carry the signal but I have perfect reception until about 7 p.m. in 30 degree weather Day and night. Almost 100% signal that drops more than 40% with less than a three degree temp change.

It's Elevated, Amplified and pointed directly at KY3's tower. Perfect in the Day, gone at night. I'm at a loss of Ideas at this point.

I guess i'll just have to keep studying and see if something pops out.

What Freq. does KY3 broadcast on?

What Freq. does KY3 broadcast on?

Channel 44 is 650-656 Mhz.

It could possibly be either a bad amp (is it preamp'd with an amp on the antenna mast?), or it may be a bad coax connector.

One of these may be changing characteristics as the temp drops or humidity increases (at night). It's possible this could affect only a certain channel or channels.

My ABC affiliate, has lots of glitches while watching. The only affiliate that is 'perfect' is the NBC affiliate... a shame since they aren't broadcast any HD content. The PBS feed only glitches occasionally. I'm less than 2 miles from the towers for ABC, NBC and PBS. All the towers are the same bearing. The CBS affiliate is also in the same bearing, but is about 13 miles away. CBS tends to come and go according to weather. I have an outdoor antenna that shoots right through a 2 story brick building with a bunch of steel right next door to me, so I have multi-path issues.

I live in Oronogo (North of Joplin) and can only receive KOAM-DT (CBS) and KOZJ-DT (PBS) with any reliability. I have never received KSNF-DT (NBC) and can only get a 10% signal on KODE-DT on rare occasions (never watchable).

I installed a Radioshack VU-190XR VHF/UHF antenna and a ChannelMaster CM4221 UHF antenna on my roof. I aimed the VHF towards KOAM-DT and the UHF at KODE-DT/KSNF-DT/KOZJ-DT. I have also installed a CM3044 distribution amplifier and terminated all unused coax ends. All to no avail in receiving KODE-DT or KSNF-DT. I know they are broadcasting at low power, but I live less than 13 miles from the tower. If I can't receive the signal, why have a digital signal at all?

Anyway, I am curious if others can receive any of the signals that elude me. I'd like to know if I just have to be patient until 2009, or if a strong pre-amp may allow me to get Springfield signals. Thanks.

I'd like to know if I just have to be patient until 2009, or if a strong pre-amp may allow me to get Springfield signals.
KOZJ-TV & DT are fed by the signals from KOZK-TV & DT in Fordland. So yes, you can receive Springfield stations in Joplin if you can get your antenna up reeeeeeally high.

rhoops

FYI
Positive feedback.
Fox Looked very good for the Daytona 500, no Audio or video drop outs
Thanks!!

So yes, you can receive Springfield stations in Joplin if you can get your antenna up reeeeeeally high.

I'm been a ham radio operator for over 40 years, and for 13 years I owned and flew my own small Cessna airplane. One of the fun things is the great distance you can talk on 2 meter VHF FM. There is a limit even to that. The curvature of the earth cuts you off even when you are 10,000 ft up.

Distance to the radio horizon over smooth earth.

Miles to horizon = Square Root of ( antenna height in feet x 1.5 )

10000 foot tower = 122 Miles
5000 foot tower = 86 Miles
2000 foot tower = 55 Miles
1600 foot tower = 33 Miles
1000 foot tower = 38 Miles
500 foot tower = 27 Miles
100 foot tower = 12 Miles
50 foot tower = 9 Miles
35 foot tower = 7 Miles
20 foot tower = 5.4 Miles
10 foot tower = 3.8 Miles

So even if you have two airplanes at 10,000 feet their radio range is only 244 miles. Your total range is the sum of your antenna to the horizon and the broadcaster's range to the horizon.

As you can see above going from 20 feet to 100 feet gives you less than 7 miles more range.

Fortunately, we don't need line-of-sight to the broadcast tower to receive the station, since nobody has a 5000 foot tower.

It could possibly be either a bad amp (is it preamp'd with an amp on the antenna mast?), or it may be a bad coax connector.

One of these may be changing characteristics as the temp drops or humidity increases (at night). It's possible this could affect only a certain channel or channels.

I've already swaped out my preamp and installed brand new F connecters on all my Coax leads. Still having the issue.

I'm been a ham radio operator for over 40 years, and for 13 years I owned and flew my own small Cessna airplane. One of the fun things is the great distance you can talk on 2 meter VHF FM. There is a limit even to that. The curvature of the earth cuts you off even when you are 10,000 ft up.

Distance to the radio horizon over smooth earth.

Miles to horizon = Square Root of ( antenna height in feet x 1.5 )

10000 foot tower = 122 Miles
5000 foot tower = 86 Miles
2000 foot tower = 55 Miles
1600 foot tower = 33 Miles
1000 foot tower = 38 Miles
500 foot tower = 27 Miles
100 foot tower = 12 Miles
50 foot tower = 9 Miles
35 foot tower = 7 Miles
20 foot tower = 5.4 Miles
10 foot tower = 3.8 Miles

So even if you have two airplanes at 10,000 feet their radio range is only 244 miles. Your total range is the sum of your antenna to the horizon and the broadcaster's range to the horizon.

As you can see above going from 20 feet to 100 feet gives you less than 7 miles more range.

Actually, 282.84 miles (idealized).

SQRT[2*AGL (ft)] for miles
SQRT[17*AGL (meters)] for kilometers

for RF

Visual:

SQRT[ALT (ft)*1.56] statute miles
SQRT[ALT (ft)*1.33] nautical miles

SQRT= square root function

Sum these for each xmtr as noted.

I've already swaped out my preamp and installed brand new F connecters on all my Coax leads. Still having the issue.

I wonder if it's possible that you or one of your neighbors has something that generates a lot of interference on that frequency...an appliance, dimmer switch, etc. 7 PM, someone nearby comes home for the night and turns on [piece of equipment], thus killing your reception.

Interference from appliances, dimmers, power lines, lightining (impulse noise) usually won't affect UHF digital reception (where KYTV-DT is broadcasting), but this type of interference is common down in the VHF bands, and particularly bad on low VHF chs 2 thru 6. For this reason and the fact that larger antennas are needed for reception, many stations smartly abandonded the VHF band for digital broadcasting. I hope KOLR-DT is not making a mistake when they switch back to VHF in 2009.

One possibility may be an amateur radio operator in the neighborhood or some other radio transmission that is interfering with channel 44 (KYTV-DT's RF channel).

I installed a Radioshack VU-190XR VHF/UHF antenna and a ChannelMaster CM4221 UHF antenna on my roof. I aimed the VHF towards KOAM-DT and the UHF at KODE-DT/KSNF-DT/KOZJ-DT. I have also installed a CM3044 distribution amplifier and terminated all unused coax ends. All to no avail in receiving KODE-DT or KSNF-DT. I know they are broadcasting at low power, but I live less than 13 miles from the tower. If I can't receive the signal, why have a digital signal at all?Currently, these stations are only on the air at low power ("on paper") to appease the FCC, who gave TV stations the spectrum for free. The NAB asked for this spectrum, and the stations should build what was asked for by their lobbyists.

A very large dedicated VHF fringe antenna plus a dedicated high gain UHF antenna, and a decent low noise VHF+UHF preamp may be the only thing that will pick up these lowlife stations. Distribution amps amplify the noise picked up by the coax and only the weakened signal that's passed thru the coax. A preamp amplifies the signal at the antenna mast. A CM 7777 V/U preamp (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm) has a combined V/U input. It can also be changed by an internal switch, to amplify separate VHF & UHF antennas on separate coaxes. It combines the two antenna inputs into a single downlead coax to the TV.

I live in Oronogo (North of Joplin) and can only receive KOAM-DT (CBS) and KOZJ-DT (PBS) with any reliability. I have never received KSNF-DT (NBC) and can only get a 10% signal on KODE-DT on rare occasions (never watchable).

I installed a Radioshack VU-190XR VHF/UHF antenna and a ChannelMaster CM4221 UHF antenna on my roof. I aimed the VHF towards KOAM-DT and the UHF at KODE-DT/KSNF-DT/KOZJ-DT. I have also installed a CM3044 distribution amplifier and terminated all unused coax ends. All to no avail in receiving KODE-DT or KSNF-DT. I know they are broadcasting at low power, but I live less than 13 miles from the tower. If I can't receive the signal, why have a digital signal at all?

Anyway, I am curious if others can receive any of the signals that elude me. I'd like to know if I just have to be patient until 2009, or if a strong pre-amp may allow me to get Springfield signals. Thanks.

I also can't get any digital signals from KODE, sometimes KSNF, pretty reliable KOAM and very reliable PBS. I use an indoor antenna. A pretty sad situation, :mad:

After trying a great number of possible "fixes" to the KOLR-DT audio problem, we have sent for a replacement Dolby encoder.

----
A Dolby DP569 should arrive at your station this morning, Wednesday,
via Fedex. Please return the defective unit directly to Dolby. There
should be instructions included with the replacement unit on how and
where to return it.

Best regards,
Bob Young
Azcar, USA

just moving into the HD world. I looked through this thread for about an hour and couldn't find the basic info I needed.

I live in Bolivar (30 miles north of Springfield) and I didn't even realize the Springfield channels were broadcasting in HD yet. I have the new Direct TV HD DVR as well as an antenna in my attic (don't know anything about it) that was installed before Direct TV carried our locals is SD.

Are the Springfield locals broadcasting in HD all the time now? Or is it just select shows? I would really like to receive the network shows in HD.

What do I need to add in order to get these channels in HD?

If all of them are not broadcasting in HD...I have read about requesting for waivers to get a national station...has that worked in our area?

Thanks for your help!

Are the Springfield locals broadcasting in HD all the time now? Or is it just select shows? I would really like to receive the network shows in HD.

What do I need to add in order to get these channels in HD?


All locals are broadcasting HD except KSPR. I think KSPR is HD over QAM, but you need cable to get that. If the program was not originally recorded in HD, then it will be SD upscaled to HD resolution - basically not an HD picture because the resolution will be lower and it'll be 4:3 and not widescreen, but the video signal itself is HD. I hope that makes sense!

Network shows are usually in HD. I think it's safe to say all 1hr dramas are in HD, most sitcoms are HD, an exception being Scrubs. :( Reality game shows like Survivor and Amazing Race are also not in HD. :(

All you need is an antenna and something capable of receiving ATSC broadcasts over the air. I thought all those DirecTV HD DVRs had this capability, but I could be wrong.

There is no locally originated HD programming. The stations don't have that capability yet. But the bulk of prime time network fare is HD, as are many sports - football, golf, basketball.

With the DirecTV HD DVR, just connect your existing TV antenna coax to the ANT-IN jack on the back of the receiver.
Go into setup and enter your local ZIP Code.
Run a channel scan for local OTA digital channels.

That's all there is to it.

just moving into the HD world. I looked through this thread for about an hour and couldn't find the basic info I needed.

I live in Bolivar (30 miles north of Springfield) and I didn't even realize the Springfield channels were broadcasting in HD yet. I have the new Direct TV HD DVR as well as an antenna in my attic (don't know anything about it) that was installed before Direct TV carried our locals is SD.

Are the Springfield locals broadcasting in HD all the time now? Or is it just select shows? I would really like to receive the network shows in HD.

What do I need to add in order to get these channels in HD?

If all of them are not broadcasting in HD...I have read about requesting for waivers to get a national station...has that worked in our area?

Thanks for your help!

I live in Bolivar as well and pick up all the stations with my equipment. At this time both Dish and Direct DO NOT offer the SF channels in HD. The only way to get them in Bolivar is to put up an Antenna (given that you have a built in atsc tuner and are able to install an antenna where you live) due to the lack of our cable company's digital service in our area.

PM me if you would like to know my set up, it's pretty easy and inexpensive.