Yesterday I finally put up a RS VU-90XR antenna on my single story (chimney mount). I live in N. Olmsted.

I used to have a satellite dish but when I canceled it I just unplugged the cable from the dish & re-routed it to the VU-90XR.

I can now pick up 3, 5, 8, 19, & 43 - all of them comes in around 50% on my Samsung SIR-T150.

The 50% all around makes me wonder. I do have a tree in the direction of where the UV-90XR is pointing but I'm wondering if I should be getting better than 50% on some/all channels?

TIA,
Robert

im down in cuyahoga falls and get abc (93%), fox (69%), and cbs (93-100%) and i use the terk indoor antenna everyone complains about...

you can probably improve your strength if you tweek your antenna

i dont get nbc channel 3 at all .. but ive heard that their power is weak

Thanks. I need to tweak the antenna angle this weekend.

Wow, you getting 93% with indoor antenna:o

I live in Wellington, which is probably 30 miles southwest of North Olmsted. I had to go to an outdoor antennae to pick up CBS reliably, and finally be able to pull in NBC. I get anywhere from85%-95% on all stations now....

does anyone know if wews shuts its digital transmitted off during nonprime time hours the way ch43 does?

TAKOSAN,
From North Olmsted point your antenna southeast past the airport to the Parma tv towers. That should give you 70 to 100% if your antenna is on the roof. Slightly less if antenna is in the attic. WEWS CH 5-1 seems to be doing some upgading lately. Their signal is on & off, up & down, all over the map. Hopefully they and CH 43-1 will have it all fixed by the time the new fall shows start.

Ben Music
North Ridgeville

ABC is down again today. I hope this is not going to be an ongoing problem. With MNF starting soon....maybe they are upgrading to DD 5.1!

WEWS is at 0's for me:( I get NBC and fox great, but CBS is also bad now(18-30's). What are you guys getting CBS at?

Thanks,
Fred

I also forgot to add, that WKYC(NBC) sometimes has an occasional dropout. Are any of yoy having this problem? If so, we need to organize a group call in to have them fix this.

Channel 3 is usually so prone to dropouts for me that I don't ever watch it. Except for the radar channel lately. You know, with all the rain and all. :mad:

I'm in Medina, and signal strength is about 85%. I just chalk it up to the fact that it's a low VHF station, and there must be a lot of "interference" on the channel. But if it's something that they could fix on there end, I'd be all for it! :D

ABC is still down (sunday night) was a 100% on friday- so maybe they are working on the STRENGTH of their antennas...

Just spoke with Mr. Baird in engineering. Digital is down and he was on the phone ordering parts. Also Ch 43 is on the air 12-12 daily. I receive CBS at 69 % in Bath. Many evenings signal does break up around 9

Thanks for the update. Any mention on when ABC might upgrade to DD 5.1 audio?

ABC is still down today.

Hey guys, just a thought,

Since this thread keeps growing about all the crap we get from local dtv in cleveland, and since it has a decent thread title, how about we make this an unofficial official cleveland thread to post all the cleveland problems in?

Just a thought.

btw, WKYC is always 100% for me. I just chalk that up to being lucky. I lose the signal occasionaly though when my dad runs his paper shredder, or with the dish washer running. But thats just cuz those morons put it on channel 2 instead of going UHF.

Mike

Originally posted by Mike_Stuewe
Hey guys, just a thought,

Since this thread keeps growing about all the crap we get from local dtv in cleveland, and since it has a decent thread title, how about we make this an unofficial official cleveland thread to post all the cleveland problems in?

Just a thought.

btw, WKYC is always 100% for me. I just chalk that up to being lucky. I lose the signal occasionaly though when my dad runs his paper shredder, or with the dish washer running. But thats just cuz those morons put it on channel 2 instead of going UHF.

Mike

Great idea Mike. Lets make this the offical thread.

Ken H....can you help with this??? Please add "Offical" to the title.

Thanks,

Jim

abc still down in cleveland -- this is getting ridiculous

Just spoke with engineering at Ch 5. Waiting on parts that were ordered. Earliest is Thursday could be as late as Mon. Hopes to have it fixed by Monday Night. He used the word HOPE. That is the latest and greatest from Cleve. Keep this forum going

Hey, as long as ABC has it ready to go by the first Monday night game, thats all I care about.

Yeah, Football is the main concern, although its a good thing its not the Browns playing Monday Night. Can't wait til the uproar occurs when something goes wrong when the Browns are on MNF on that Sunday game against the 49ers on CBS.

Heres hoping that with the repairs they are making, they are also upgrading to 5.1

I want to touch on 2 things here:)
First, if there is a program that should be in HD but our local isn't broadcasting it in HD, then call the channels newsroom(the news room is always open), and then ask for MASTER CONTROLL. Once they answer, ask them to flip the switch, and bam, you have HDTV)

Here are the numbers to call to get in touch with our locals(these may be a little out of date, but I haven't had any problems):

Thanks To Blaney for posting these 2 years ago:)


WKYC, analog 3, D-2, NBC
general 216-344-3333
newsroom 216-344-3300
Rex Rickly, chief engineer 216-344-3353
Donna Cropf, Programming 216-344-3559


WOIO, analog 19, D-10, CBS
general 877-929-1943
Harry Wilkens, chief engineer, 216-367-7450
Jim Kopanski **engineer, good guy 216-367-7455
Bryan Anderson, programming 216-367-7114


WJW, Analog 8, D-31, Fox
general 216-432-4240
John Cifani, engineer 216-432-4888


WEWS, analog 5, D-15, ABC
general 216-431-5555
Ken Jackson, chief engineer 216-431-3494


About a year or two back, we had a problem with WKYC(freequent dropouts(about every 10 seconds). We organized a group call in effort, and each cleveland area member called in a few times to let engineering know that there were digital channel viewers who want the channel fixed. After a week of the calls, the channel was fixed!

We need to do something like this again(on a larger scale(there are more of us know then there were 2 years ago)).

The Problems that each local has:

ABC:
Not on the air at the moment.
No 5.1 sound(they have been promising this to us for over a year!!!!!)

NBC:
Still having occasional dropouts, but nowhere as freequent as they once were

CBS:
Their signal strenth is crap! It has never been good, and it wont be(rumor has it that they bought the wrong type of antenna for our region).

FOX:
I dont have any problems with FAUX because they dont broadcast in HDTV!

PBS:
Ok, others have had HDTV through PBS for 2 years now.....Lets get it together PBS. I understand how Public TV works, but cmon

WB:
They have been offering programming for over 6 months....Lets get on the bandwagon here!


I think that if you guys are interested in solving some of these problems, we need to work together. If you guys are up for it we can organize and pick a local per week to annoy untill everything is up to our standards. We may be annoying them, but once HDTV becomes more mainstream, they will be glad that everything is up and running.


Fred

WEWS chief engineer is John Workman.
Anyone else notice that WKYC takes a little longer to pop in. I have spoken with Rex, I know him personally and they are aware of the problem. It is a PSIP problem and they do not know how to solve it. Also bad weather does affect their signal more than others. Do not be fooled by claims that digital signals are not affected by rain. They are. Keep this group running!!!
I do not think anyone in Cleve is broadcasting DD 5.1. If they are let me know.

Fred,

as far as PBS and the WB are concerned, I think WVIZ and WBNX have legal issues to deal with. I know WBNX has a problem with their digital station broadcasting into Canada. Not sure what the issue was with WVIZ. Oddly, one day my dad ran into, I believe on of the engineers, of WVIZ. He said once the legal issues get cleared up, they will have to order the equipment, and that will take at least 4 months to receive and install. This was last month so at the earliest we are looking at Winter for WVIZ.

you are right, there is no 5.1 in cleveland right now. if anyone is close, it is ABC, but they have been saying that they will upgrade soon, but they never do..

hey guys i live in willowick by rt 2 and e 305 intersection im only able to get 8-1 and 43-1. im usin the stealth vhf/uhf in my attic. im gettin be picture with that antenna than i was with my radio sahck giant antenna. anything else i can do to get the other stations in?
thanx zelko

Group.

I'm all for picking a station to pester each week. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

On another note. I have the Dish 6000 receiver and could get CBS HD via the satellite. Has anyone had any luck getting the waiver from CBS WOIO?
WOIOs poor signal strength has ruined many great HD programs for me over the last nine months.

Ray

I tried years ago and no waiver given. Stations are pretty strict about that

Who do you suggest we pester first?

I vote for NBC - cause their signal sucks

If we pester WKYC, NBC Affiliate. I think one of the things we bother them with is the multicasting. Does anyone really watch 3-2 or 3-3? It just ruins the signal for 3-1. NASCAR looks like crap cuz of the fast motion. Same with the Triple Crown and that was all HD.

But seriously, 3-2 is such low quality that if you wanted the unstretched version of the show, it would be better just to watch analog. And 3-3? Use the freaking computer if you wanna know whats up with the weather.

As far as the dropouts, maybe thats just interference for some of you guys. I don't watch NBC much, but when I do, I rarely if ever get dropouts. Next time it happens for you guys post on this board and I can check my reception.

Stu

3-2 is a signal sent for cable distribution. It cannot be dropped. I personally prefer WOIO, their signal is my weakest and breaks up many evenings and in bad weather

someone think of a plan -- maybe we can pick a day - and have some of us call at certain times- - spreading it out - so they know there are several customers with concerns. . and we should all have the same thing to say too

I vote for NBC - easily the most problematic channel I receive in Medina.

But I have to say that I actually LIKE the 3-3 material. With D*, we don't get a local forecast on the Weather Channel, so it's amazing how many times a week I flip over to 3-3 for a quick check on the radar.

But they could certainly drop 3-2. Just because they produce a digital signal for cable distribution doesn't mean that they have to actually broadcast that signal, right?

As of 8 this morning WEWS is still not active. I hope they deliver as sort of promised by Monday Football

Originally posted by Rbuchina
Group.

I have the Dish 6000 receiver and could get CBS HD via the satellite. Has anyone had any luck getting the waiver from CBS WOIO?

Ray

I applied for, and received a waiver when Dish first offered CBS on 9453. I rarely watch it though because channel 19 is very solid now. NBC is still the one that drops out the most and the one I watch the most. Can anyone using a Dish 6000 receiver see 3-3? I can only glimpse it as I change off the station. 3-1 and 3-2 come in OK. I am in Brunswick using a StealthTenna mounted at the one story level of a two story house.

abc still down

Just spoke with the head engineer. Digital hopes to be fixed in time for the game, but he did not sound optimistic. Waiting on parts and the power outage yesterday set them back. I did ask about 5.1 audio and they are looking at it. I told him he would be the first in Cleve to have it. Call and pester them and we could get 5.1 audio. 216-431-5555 ask for engineering. John Workman head, Jim Beird asst. More calls about 5.1 and they will probably do it. Let's pretend that we are larger than what we really are

just called and left a message -- lets get on these guys - i dont want them to think that there are only limited customers and that they are just upgrading for 5 years down the road--

WKYC has signal dropouts that need attention
WOIO has been bad ever since I have owned an HDTV! Back in the good old days(when everyone was up at full power, CBS was still a 60 signal rating which is unacceptable).
Newschannel 5 has been promising 5.1 sound for at least a year, and always putting it off.

All 3 of these are great ideas(I guess we will wait on the others(PBS and WB)), but we should start our call-a-thon:)

What do you guys think about calling each station on the same day? It will only take 2 minutes per each channel, and we can call on a daily basis until their problems are resolved. Also, it doesn't hurt to call more than once per day(disguising your voice like a woman doesn't hurt:D...Ok, just kidding), and you will be surprised how fast the digital channels will be fixed.

If this is too much, someone please come up with a schedule that we can adhere to.

Thanks,
Fred

Even though the majority of the outage was overnight, I doubt the power being off helped WEWS get their act together any quicker.

anyone else tried to call? im calling ABC tomorrow

Thank god I checked in here. I just installed a new Zenith 520 and set up my ota. I thought I was going crazy moving my antenna all over the place and still no ABC. I could have saved a lot of grief by checking in. I will be really pissed if they do not have this fixed by the game tomorrow night.
What is up with WEWS? When and why did the digital signal go out?

BP

dont hold your breath - abc has been on and off for about a month now - -started with the flooding we had in late july

I just called Ken Jackson at WEWS and got voice mail. I left a message about how disappointed I am that I cant get the signal. I also asked that he call me back and let me know if repairs will be made in time for MNF.
I doubt I will hear anything, but the more of us that call the better!

parsons -- i just called and left a similar message- - i want it for MNF --

I know this is off topic, but I need some input from you guys. Do any of you have a D* Phase III dish? If you do what is the signal strength that you are pulling in??? I just got one installed Saturday and I'm only getting 78-84%....however, the installer had never done a three LNB dish before and I was wondering if I should have someone come out to tweak it more.

Thanks for the input!

Shark, I just had it installed a week ago Saturday and the best we could get on 110 is 87%. However on the other two I am pulling 92-94%. I am on the west side in Avon.

I Just spoke with Ken Jackson (Chief Engineer) at WEWS. He stated that the director of engineering and some of his staff have been out at the transmitter all day trying to fix it. He also said that to this point he had not heard that it was fixed yet. He expected to get a call when repairs are completed. He stated that while getting it fixed for MNF was not necessarily the focus of the repair, he hoped that it would be up by tonight at 8pm. He said that they are not "commercializing it yet". I assume he means that they are not marketing the HDTV signal to customers yet, so the sense of urgency is not as high as it would be otherwise. He seemed like a nice guy and sensitive to our wishes to get the signal back up, but did not share a whole lot of detail.

I guess we are just going to have to be patient with them.

Still no Channel 5-1. Hopes for MNF tonight are dwindling. I was really hopin to see the Rams too. 2nd favorite team in the NFL, and really lookin forward to seeing what Sehorn can do for them.

No signal at this time. Looks like they need more time. I know some of you wanted the game tonight in order to see your teams play, but lets just hope they fix it properly and we get all the regular season MNF games.

well i hope they are working on it at least- - we wont have HD MNF tonight boys -- but its only pre season

So what's the schedule for calling? I'm in.

Is anyone not getting WOIO channel 19-1 tonight? (Monday) Seems like CSI is dead digital wise.. It's a sad day for Cleveland HDTV if it's not just me..

Lets call CBS tomorrow(Tuesday, August 19th) if thats cool with everyone else.


WOIO, analog 19, D-10, CBS
general 877-929-1943
Jim Kopanski **engineer, good guy 216-367-7455

These numbers may be a little dated, but just call and ask for engineering. Let them know that their signal sucks(well, that there signal is worse than all of the other locals, and you were wondering when they planned to fix this). If enough of us call, we can possibly see some results. I am getting 19-27 readings from CBS, and I am getting 90-100 readings with everyone else.

Awhile back, someone mentioned that they bought the wrong antenna for Cleveland's terrain. I think CBS has alot of quality programming to offer, and we didn't spend all of the money that we did to not receive programming. I bought the Directv NFL package that will air the CBS weekly football game in HDTV, but for those of you that don't get the NFL package(who also have trouble getting CBS), it will be a long season unless we act now! Also, the Masters, Final Four, and all of the other great sporting events that CBS does wont be available:(

Lets get together and work as a team!

Please call, it will only take 2 minutes.

Fred DeGrandis

I had no problem with CSI tonight. I already saw this episode so I was only on the channel for a few minutes. I was really hoping for MNF but as long as they are working on it I'm happy.

I just left a message on Jim's voice mail letting him know that I have spoken to several Cleveland area members who also complained about a very weak signal. All we need is for more members to call tomorrow(I will be calling again as well). I just layed the foundation, now lets get this done.

Next on the List:
WKYC Channel 3:)

Originally posted by Cactus Matt
Is anyone not getting WOIO channel 19-1 tonight? (Monday) Seems like CSI is dead digital wise.. It's a sad day for Cleveland HDTV if it's not just me..

Its been off and on for awhile:( Please join the call in effort. I am in Rocky River(about 10 miles out from the tower with a big ugly antenna on my house) and their signal stinks. It should be at 80-100 not 18-30!

i just called and left a message
-- nbc is the station i have the most trouble with --- but im willing to call all - cause it really depends where you are and whta antenna you have

Thanks bud! I hope that all of this wont be needed soon, and that all of our locals work!

Originally posted by danton3
well i hope they are working on it at least- - we wont have HD MNF tonight boys -- but its only pre season

This may only work for people South East of Cleveland, but I turned my roof-top antenna toward Youngstown and Watched MNF in HD on 36-1, WYTV. I was only getting about a 45 to 50% signal, but it locked in and looked great. If you have a high antenna with a rotor, give it a try.

ABC is back up!!!!!!!!!!!!

And CBS is down. Just spoke with engineering 440-845-1919 rings to the transmitter and they are down. Picture pops in and out. CBS is my weakest and definately the worst. It also has the most shows in HD. Lets work them over to increase power and quality

And CBS is down. Just spoke with engineering 440-845-1919 rings to the transmitter and they are down. Picture pops in and out. CBS is my weakest and definately the worst. It also has the most shows in HD. Lets work them over to increase power and quality

And CBS is down. Just spoke with engineering 440-845-1919 rings to the transmitter and they are down. Picture pops in and out. CBS is my weakest and definately the worst. It also has the most shows in HD. Lets work them over to increase power and quality

Originally posted by rlockshin
And CBS is down. Just spoke with engineering 440-845-1919 rings to the transmitter and they are down. Picture pops in and out. CBS is my weakest and definately the worst. It also has the most shows in HD. Lets work them over to increase power and quality

CBS seems to be better now.

all is well in cleveland -- FOR NOW -- lets stay on it

ABC is back on, and I am getting a 100 reading!
CBS is still bad, but I will go check my projector(the readings I have been giving are from my mits)
I switched to NBC for a second, and there was a little dropout(and the signal was at 93(it was always at 100).

Way to go guys on the ABC thing, now we wait for a week or two before we pester them for 5.1 sound:)

a week or two -- i already called again - wondering why there wasnt 5.1- - i thought thats what they were upgrading i said .... lol

Ok, I was wondering why my projector had a decent signal, but my mits didn't:)

Just for fun, I replaced the wire from the antenna splitter to the mits, and pow, a 79 signal reading! I would still like to work on them more(this si the weakest channel out there, and members more than 10 miles may have problems.

I am going to snake the wire through the wall now:(

You have a good point Denton, now its time for 5.1 sound!

NBC also needs some love:)

CBS is still up. That number I gave for transmitter site could be valuable. Sorry for dup posts earlier

Who are we calling today?

Today, lets call WEWS:) (Thursday)
Give the head guy Ken Jackson a call and lets let him know that we are happy the station is up again, but we want 5.1 sound! Other markets have had this for almost 2 years now:(, and now its our turn.

Please post after you call.


WEWS, analog 5, D-15, ABC
general 216-431-5555
Ken Jackson, chief engineer 216-431-3494

well 5-1 looked good and steady for me but i couldnt get cbs at all. was it off last night?

I was very happy to see a great signal on ABC (85%). NBC is finally coming in just ok at (50-60%). But CBS is out again. Bums me out, I love CSI in HD.
I will call tomorrow. Just once, I would love to have all channels to chose from. Lets continue calling these guys!

CBS is on now with a signal close to 90%.

I called an engineer last night who said that he didn't know when the 5.1 sound would be up, because their transponder is down, and he didn't think the digital channel was working.

BAsically, we have to annoy them more to get our 5.1 sound.


Parsons, we need to call WKYC too! I am getting it at 100, but every three seconds, it drops to 93. It sounds good, but there are bad audio dropouts here, and it bothers me.

Please keep the effort alive guys!

WOIO is fine signal wise. It just isnt doing any HD.
I noticed that on football friday night and the movie 11-14 last night.

Football on Friday night was not scheduled for HD....thus you didn't see it.

Not sure if the movie was done in HD or not....you should check the programming forum.

The movie even had the broadcast in HDTV logo at the beginning

Originally posted by bassguitarman
The movie even had the broadcast in HDTV logo at the beginning

Not sure what to tell you. I was at the local bar catching my Fins on the big screen and having a few beverages. I know that CBS was not having any preseason games in HD, but if the movie had the logo for HD then someone must not have flipped the switch in the control room. When that happens you need to call the station and ask for the control room and tell them that the show is not in HD....and to flip the switch!

Hope this helps!

Is ABC down again tonight?

I live on the eastside and ABC ( WEWS ) has been down all evening. I thought it was a quirk in my antenna.

I got my SIR T-151 two weeks ago and have been getting all channels via the Silver Sensor.
I stopped using the dish two years ago so I attached the Silver Sensor to the dish and connected it to the Coaxial cable and have been getting all channels since last week with MNF having a gorgeous picture.
Tonite, CBS and ABC were down but Faux and WKYC were fine.

I tried the Optima ( UHF, VHF ) indoor antenna both inside and out but the loop did not obtain the UHF well, though 3 was good and 10 came in often.

Silver Sensor ( $ 40.00 at Sears ) is a UHF antenna but it not only received Channels 15 and 31, but also Channel 3 very well and Channel 10 ( CBS ) most times. The outside usage of the antenna is better than the set top.

I am grateful for the information in this Forum and it is most useful to me to hear that a particular channel is down so I don't need to go out and reposition the antenna.
Thanks to all.

Well, I sent an email to the folks at ABC, Jim Baird, Gary Stark, Moreen Bailey, John Workman and Ric Harris pestering about 5.1 for MNF. Lets see if I get a response. I also sent an email to the folks at CBS, James Stunek, Judi Smith, and Lisa McManus, pestering them also regarding 5.1......

Anybody else notice CSI last night was not widescreen on the digital channel. Looks like they sere sending SDTV picture instead of HDTV. This is not acceptable. Call them

Rlsockshin I noticed CSI was SD as well. I was just flippin through the channels though. Didnt watch it all. There was during one moment CSI in HD. But later in the night it was all SD again.

I think we are getting SD during the US Open Tennis. I know some of the matches are SD only, but I think the Womens match on now should be in HD, and it isnt. I would call, but I don't really care. And I seem to recall that CBS Cleveland sucked so freakin much during the Masters and calling them didn't do jack.

It's in HD now. Looks good!

Did anyone else experience problems with ABC while watching the first 45 minutes of Any Given Sunday? The picture was in and out, sound all messed up...

ABC was bad for me yesterday too. I wonder if the weather had anything to do with it? I hope they fix it by Thursdays' edition of MNF in high def.

Ray

My son and I noticed problems with the movie
just after it started, we watched in in SD for a while and when we went back to HD it was fine.
From your location the weather may Have had an impact, but I live across the street from the WEWS TX site and it was bad here.

/Dan

I watched the PGA tour event on the digital channel earlier in the day and did not have any problems. However, I didn't watch any of the HD stuff last night, so I can't comment on that portion of programming. Just my 2 cents

I also suggest that we all call the station and let them know about the problems you guys had last night, so it's taken care of by Thursday night.

Jim

Thats possible, I live in Wellington. But it sounds like maybe the station was having issues in the beginning, and got it fixed early in the movie if we both were having problems.

Yo fellow Clevelanders!
This thread has been so helpful and I think it is great that we are getting together to call these guys to keep the pressure on and letting them know we are out there.

The reason I am posting this here is due to the local nature of the thread.
Anyway, I need some advice on an antenna. I live in Avon which is about 25 miles from the "antenna farm". Over the past few years I have accumulated 3 antennas. 1. Terk TV42 (goes on the dish). 2. Terk TV55. 3. Radio Shack 160" boom length.

I know that the obvious choice here is to go with the Radio Shack model. However, I am somewhat limited in that I do not want to install a big ugly antenna if I can help it. I have had a little success with the TV55 putting in an east facing window (temporarily). NBC seems to always be weak no matter what I do. Others seem ok.

Any advice?

hello
i live in akron as well, after trying few other antennas I finally got a outside antenna on my roof and wolla i get everyhting now, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and this worship channel but i forgot the brand name of the antenna, I know u dont wanna put up a big ugly thing outside but if u are successful otherwise i wanna know about that too. I live in firestone park area.

Parsons let me ask you this simple question.

Would you rather have a great looking picture on the TV, or a great looking roof?

Right, the TV.

So go put that 160" antenna up. Throw a rotor on that baby, and you should pick up a whole lot of great stuff. (like CBS out of Toledo when 19 is down).

Stu

Well, game day is here. I haven't had the TV on much this week so I have not checked out ABC....are we still up and running with no problems?


Jim

I too am glad to see a local Cleveland thread going in this forum.

Regarding antennas, I live in Olmsted Twp. and tried numerous indoor antennas to no avail - none of them worked for me. I finally had a chimmney-mounted UHF/VHF antenna professionally installed and have been able to receive all 5 of the currently available digital stations.

So, I highly recommend going with an outdoor antenna. For the Cleveland stations all the broadcast towers are roughly in the same direction, so I don't think you need a rotor unless you want to receive Toledo or other locations as suggested.

I've read mostly bad reviews about the Terk 55 antenna.

Good luck!

I am trying to avoid putting up a big ugly outdoor antenna, too, and have experimented with a few things with mixed success. Both antennas were tested in a 3rd floor guest room with double windows facing the transmitters in Parma. I am in Shaker Heights.

1. Radio Shack 120" VHF/UHF double boom - installed this for Super Bowl last January - worked well on all DTV locals until the trees grew in summertime. Foliage directly in line of sight apparently blocking good reception. Also had problems picking up signal in heavy snow last winter. I'll bet putting this baby outside on the chimney and up higher would do the trick.

2. Now I am testing the ChannelMaster 4228 double bow-tie "mother of all UHF antennas". This picks up all the DTV locals thru the trees *except* is flaky on WKYC (NBC). Alas, WKYC-DT is on VHF channel 2 which this antenna was not designed for...



Hope that helps!

Seriously guys, I dont know what the deal is with some of you. Antennas are not big and ugly. They may be big, but they look cool, not ugly. So if you are gonna complaign about the look, at least have some dignity and blame it on the wife. :)

Yeah, I agree with Mike_Stuewe. I live more than 45-50 miles from the transmitters, and my only option was going with rooftop antennae. I live in a newer development, and I am the only one who has a rooftop antennae. Its been up since last January, and noone, I mean noone in my neighborhood has said anything about it. (But they sure as hell will make comments if I dont mow my yard and it gets a little long.) I don't even notice it anymore, and I know its there.

Look, I will absolutely resort to putting up the big one if necessary, I just dont want to if I dont have to. Even with the bad reviews of the Terk 55, I get average to above average signal on all except WKYC. Not much there anyway, but I would still like to have it.
I guess I will continue to experiment only to put up the big one in the long run (that is if the wife lets me :D )

MNF tonight and ABC is coming in strong as of 7:31pm. We'll see about kickoff...

MNF was full of dropouts here in Mentor. I called and left a message on the Cheif Engineers machine. I asked about DD 5.1 too.

Ray

MNF looked fine here. I went to bed around 11:00
and did not see/hear any dropouts. FCC info lists
870KW ERP for WEWS. Wonder if your getting clobbered by "Airplane Flutter".

/Dan

MNF was great in Strongsville. No dropouts or audio breakups at all. I thought they did a great job last night.

Ray....what kind of antenna do you have? If you're using an indoor all the way out in Mentor, that might be the problem.

Jim

I did not have a single audio or video drop out during the entire game. I am in Olmsted Twp. I thought the game looked pretty good. Hoping to have 5.1 at some point this year, but not counting on it.

Not one single drop out here in Wellington. The game looked awesome, and I second that thought of 5.1 soon.....

Thanks for all the feedback on MNF signal. I guess its not WEWSs fault for my dropouts. I may need to take a peek at the connections on my roof mounted antenna. I think the low level here in Mentor is hurting my reception too. I need to raise the house about 50 ft.

Ray

Hey guys,

Does anyone else want to join me in emailing WKYC Channel 3 and request that they stop multicasting. Points in my email that I want to get across is that no one watches 3-2, there is no reason. 3-3 is a waste as well cuz of the internet. But they should at least get rid of 3-2.

Leno looks horrible at night when ever they do a crowd shot because of the motion. And whether its SD or HD, sports look horrible as well because of the fast motion. They need all the bandwidth possible, and they chop it up with wasted channels.

Also anyone watch CBS today for the US Open. Good to see they couldnt have a flawless program. The audio was messed up as it usually does for a good couple of minutes during the Agassi match. You would think they could have the problem fixed considering how many times it comes in. NCAA Champ, Masters, and often during Primetime.

The US Open was unwatchable for me in Mentor yesterday. The Browns game was fine before the Open. I had a terrible time with MNF last Thursday but WEWS was fine yesterday. Later in the evening on WOIO I had great reception on whatever movie they were showing. My reception in Mentor is so inconsistent its funny. I will try to get up on the roof this week to check out the antenna connections. I hope I find a corroded connector or something to explain some of the bad reception problems I'm having.

I will E-mail WKYC about their multcasting. What's the Email address?

Ray

I dont see engineering listed for email addresses on the wkyc.com website. Does anyone know it?

Ray don't worry about the US Open being unwatchable, the audio was a joke during the entire match. The browns game was fine, but during the Tennis it was not. There were split second drops of audio every 2-3 seconds, it was super annoying.

I had good reception for MNF on WEWS yeturday evening. CSI on WOIO also had good reception yeterday evening.

Ray

Parsonsbri,

I live in Avon also, I played around with multiple antenna's for 6 months I finally went with just a plain old outdoor radio shack, and for the relative small dollar amount I put up a rotor and am glad I did, if you want to compare notes just email me and I will happy to help.

john

Originally posted by Ben Music
TAKOSAN,
From North Olmsted point your antenna southeast past the airport to the Parma tv towers. That should give you 70 to 100% if your antenna is on the roof. Slightly less if antenna is in the attic. WEWS CH 5-1 seems to be doing some upgading lately. Their signal is on & off, up & down, all over the map. Hopefully they and CH 43-1 will have it all fixed by the time the new fall shows start.

Ben Music
North Ridgeville

Hi Ben,

Got knee deep with work that I haven't been able to get up on the roof to re-point. I hope I can try it this weekend ... I'll try to point past the airport direction.

P.S. I was surprised to see how long this thread became since I first posted :D

WKYC cannot get rid of 3-2 as it is used for cable companies. Let's work on WEWS for 5.1 sound. Does CBS offer 5.1? If so bug them , too

I could not receive WOIO early yesterday evening (8-10PM). The signal was fine after 10PM. Did anyone else have this problem? I live in Mentor.

Ray

Originally posted by rlockshin
WKYC cannot get rid of 3-2 as it is used for cable companies. Let's work on WEWS for 5.1 sound. Does CBS offer 5.1? If so bug them , too

I don't understand this. Do the cable companies have antennae that they use to pick up the locals in this manner? How many cable companies actually retransmit an OTA digital signal? I really am completely naive about this stuff, but it would seem to me that even if WKYC does have to produce a digital signal of SD material for cable companies, that doesn't mean they actually have to broadcast it OTA.

I mean neither 5 nor 19 have digital SD signals broadcast, and they're carried by cable companies all over northeast Ohio. What's so special about WKYC?

Does anyone know what is wrong with CBS' audio, sounds like a skipping CD. currently watching the SEC football game of the week on WOIO. Happened before during CSI a couple weeks ago and last week during the US Open.

It better not happen during a browns game.

Anyone in the Cleveland area also have dropouts on FOX 8, 31. I think its a multipath issue with my antenna placement. Its a small outdoor antenna right now. Nothing indoors really lets me pick anything up. Anyways dropouts occur a couple times every minute. It happened a lot during the begining of summer, never in the spring. The last couple of weeks there signal has been received by my samsung t151 really well. Today though it is dropping out again. Rotating the antenna doesnt really help. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with multipath issues? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks Clevelanders, go browns.

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking about picking up the Samsung SIRT-151 for some local HD here on the east side (Mayfield). Are the Browns games available in HD? WOIO?
Are there any other issues I should be aware of? Thanks!

ace check out the hdtv programming page for NFL in HD info.

the browns will be in HD on WOIO next weekend as it is the main game on CBS against the 49ers. Right now the Patriots/Eagles game is in HD and looks awesome. The Browns will be in HD on MNF later this year against the Rams.

I like my Samsung, but I believe they have a new model that you may want to check out. Check the HDTV Hardware thread for that.

Oh, thought of something else I noticed while watching the Brownies. There is a ford commercial where the Truck goes on the screen from left to right. The audio from the truck goes from the right to left. I have always suspected that 19's audio is reversed, this is just another example of it. I first noticed it during the final four in March. Players would go to the right half of the court, and the sound would go to the left speaker, very annoying. Does anyone know this, has it been discussed before???

Ace

I bought my SIR-T-151 at Ebay for $220 plus $ 20 shipping ( Reconditioned unit , packaged by Samsung , looks brand new and works very well). I have a "Silver Sensor" indoor antenna but have it outside on top of my sunroom and I get ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

Monday night football is always on HDTV and only one ( so called national ) game out of seven every Sunday on CBS is HDTV, so Browns usually are not. Today it was the New England vs Eagles. Seems the Saturday College football game on CBS is also HDTV.

Fox ( NFC games ) is digital widescreen but not HDTV.

However, with the new season of TV shows, many will be in HD including " Law and order ","CSI'. " Judjing Amy " and the various CBS primetime shows.

Even without HD, the local channels are much better as Digital thru the SIR-T-151 than through Cable.

If you have a widescreen, HD ready TV, it is well worth to spend the money for the digital box.

Best wishes

Hello all, I'm totally new to HDTV and just hooked up my Samsung 151 this weekend and I bought the Radio Shack HDTV antena with the amplifier. I've got it in my attic. I have the Sony HS10 pj. My wife and I are now totally spoiled with the great picture. I'm in Brunswick and get the 3, 5, 8, etc. that most everyone else gets. My signal strength is about 50% for most channels. I think I could boost this by messing with the position of the antena or putting it outside (which I would rather not due.

Anyway, where can I look to get a listing of all shows that are broadcast in HD? Is there a web site. I couldn't find one.

Originally posted by MovingTarget
Hello all, I'm totally new to HDTV and just hooked up my Samsung 151 this weekend and I bought the Radio Shack HDTV antena with the amplifier. I've got it in my attic. I have the Sony HS10 pj. My wife and I are now totally spoiled with the great picture. I'm in Brunswick and get the 3, 5, 8, etc. that most everyone else gets. My signal strength is about 50% for most channels. I think I could boost this by messing with the position of the antena or putting it outside (which I would rather not due.

Anyway, where can I look to get a listing of all shows that are broadcast in HD? Is there a web site. I couldn't find one.


http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dstarlin/hdtv/Fall.htm

Moving Target

I too get 50 % , but with digital, you get an excellent picture or none, so you cannot improve the picture quality by adjusting your antenna. 75 % will be no better than 50 %.

Try:
www.titantv.com

You customize it to your local area.

Stan,
I PM'd you.
I also wanted to get this thread back to the top.
Ray

Originally posted by kagat
Moving Target

I too get 50 % , but with digital, you get an excellent picture or none, so you cannot improve the picture quality by adjusting your antenna. 75 % will be no better than 50 %.

Ya that's the way I understand it too but I mounted the thing on a snow scrapper that is connected to my rafter with a C clamp and I used crimp on ends that I applied with a pair of pliers.

I'm pretty sure that I can get one more station based on the angle that I mounted it so I'd like to give that another shot too.

I'm pretty sure I can do a better job mounting it but I was so anxious to get things going that I was mostly interested in getting it put together. :D

Has anyone lost WJW channel 8 digital signal power recently? I didn't change anything and for some reason it dropped down pretty low, but all the other channels are nice and strong... I don't get it..

Terrible audio on the Georgia/LSU game!!!!!!

Get your heads out of your a$$es CBS

Ya what the (*#$@(#$*&!!!

Can't we call them or something :(

Audio is fine now, better not be screwed up tomorrow for the HD Browns game.

Cactus Matt I got 100% of Channel 8 here in Westlake.

The Browns game reception was excellent. I only got to see the fourth quarter in HD though. I watched the first half at a friends house in SD and left to watch the rest at home at half time.

Ray

wow, this is great, now i won't have to do a search for "cleveland" i can just bookmark this thread. the browns game looked great yesterday after i finally got it in. for some reason i used to be able to get a very strong signal on cbs and for a little while now i've been getting no signal. i had to actually turn the antenna on it's side to get the signal to come in and i only got around 50% but it was good enough to watch. my biggest beef with cleveland hdtv is no 5.1 sound on abc or cbs. i feel like i'm missing out.

the Browns game looked great! Funny story: I invited my neighbor over to watch the game but he had already invited some buddys over to his house. He has a HD ready Mitsu, but no HD receiver (what a waste!). Rather than miss the free beer and burgers, I ran a 50 foot RG-6 over to his place and brought over my Zenith reciever. Before the game, they were all saying things like "no big dea, HDTV is overrated" and "I wont be able to tell the difference". HA! When the game started I spent the first quarter listening to them rave about the picture. It was pretty funny.

Is any else not able to get ABC? I haven't been able to pick it up for the last couple of days. If you're getting it let me know, that means I need to make a trip to the attic.

Coming in here in Mentor, even with Silver Sensor in my 2nd floor office.

Didn't you just make a trip to the attic?

Yes but back I go. :( I still have the snow scrapper installation. Maybe I should do it right this trip...

Just bought the HDV420 and the new indoor Radio Shack amplified antenna. I'm only getting the UHF stations (WEWS, WJW, WUAB) and they are not holding their signal strength. The signal meter keeps moving from Bad to Good and the pictures constantly drop out. I can't get either WKYC or WOIO. I live in an apartment and have to use an indoor antenna, so I may have to give up and wait on cable, unless someone has a suggestion. Thanks in advance.

See Peter Putman's site:

www.hdtvexpert.com/

for benefit of his great knowledge and experience.

In addition, I find that the Silver Sensor antenna is superior to any other UHF antenna that I've tried. And it was the least expensive. I don't know who carries them now, but a search on this forum or on Google should tell you.

Well, I was able to improve the reception for the UHF stations. Of course, the only HD station this includes currently is WEWS. Anyone hear anything new about WVIZ? The information on their website hasn't been updated for awhile.

Of course, from reading here, it looks like the VHF stations are running at pretty low power. I may test another antenna, just to see what results I get.

I'm glad there's a spot that those of us from Cleveland can compare notes.

Joel

I upgraded my system over the weekend to include a Dish 6000u with the OTA module. I was thinking, based on comments found elsewhere, that I would need to buy a new antenna at it would be a while before I would be watching network TV in HD. Well, Friday night I hooked up my old Terk TV50 and it was able to pull in a couple of stations while laying on the basement floor. Sunday I mounted outside about 10 feet off the ground facing closer to 90 degrees where 47 degrees is the angle to the towers 15 miles away. With this setup I was able to lock in on all the digital locals. This was just too easy.

The only (very) minor problem I have seen, the system won't display 03-03. I can watch 03-01 and 03-02 fine, but 03-03 only flashes up for a brief instant when changing channels and then goes black. Has anyone seen this before?

-Jeff

Sunday's News-Herald had an article by Jim Collins in which he 'interviewed' the local Comcast honcho. She says they'll have a demo the first week of October of HDTV. Then they'll begin to activate their Mentor and Elyria services.

Originally posted by JeffreyTaylor
The only (very) minor problem I have seen, the system won't display 03-03. I can watch 03-01 and 03-02 fine, but 03-03 only flashes up for a brief instant when changing channels and then goes black. Has anyone seen this before?

-Jeff


You're not missing anything on 03-03, it's just constantly displaying their rather low resolution (and stretched) weather radar. On my SIR-T165 I find 03-03 very annoying while channel surfing as the tuner takes an extra couple seconds to lock onto the channel and display it. The tuner only gets the hiccup when passing 03-03.

-- Paul

Jeff,

I also have the 6000 and 3-03 does the same for me. I have removed 3-02 and 3-03 from the 6000 in the local HDTV section so I don't need to scan through these needless channels while surfing.

Ray

I get 3-1 and 3-3, but only a blank screen on 3-2. What are you seeing on 3-2?

Ben Music

3-2 is the digital version of analog Channel 3.

Thanks Ray...I will just drop those channels as well.

BTW, how do you jump from 9421 to 05-01? So far, I have had to go from 9421 to 100 then scroll down to 05-01 (or any other DTV channel). Is there a way to directly enter these channels in the 6000's remote? Maybe I need to open up that instructions.

-Jeff

Stan Z,
Thanks for your reply. I have a Toshiba STB-3000 and I don't see a listing in my channel set up for 3-2. Only 3-1 and 3-3 which both come in fine. Even if I punch in 3-2 directly into the remote, it says channel unavailiable. I wonder why.

On a side note, you must be right about Comcast HDTV. I got a postcard in the mail today that said "Catch the debut of Sunday Night Football (Browns vs Pittsburgh) on Comcast HDTV October 5,2003." They went on to say that you can get two months of Comcast Digital plus and HBO for free. They also will toss in a ESPN nerf football.

Just thought you might be interested.

Ben Music

Jeff,

You can direct access channels with the 6000 by pressing zeros before the number. For 5-01, press 0-0-5. The 01 will come up by default.

Ray

Group,

How was your reception of the Monday Night Football game last night? Mine was full of drop outs and pretty much unwatchable. Fortunately I was watching CSI without any problems. I was switching back to the game during commercials to check out the WEWS reception and all through the first half and into the second I would get major drop outs every 30 seconds or so.
WOIO used to be my bad reception station but WEWS has won out recently. The weather was terrible so let me know how your reception was if you live in the Mentor/Lake CO area. I may just need a new antenna.

Ray

I watched the first half hour of the game and didn't have any drops. Flipped back and forth after that and still did not have problems. I turned it off at halftime so I can't input on anything in the 2nd half.

Jim

Ben,

I also received the Comcast post card in the mail yesturday. I looked at the Comcast web site this morning and found out what channels they offer in HD. They have WKYC (NBC), WJW (FOX), ESPN, HBO, Showtime, INHD1, and INHD2. Not a bad line up but a few holes compared to my E* service. I would like to see a WOIO (CBS) and WEWS (ABC). I'm sure these will come eventually and I am intrested in the high speed modem service. Maybe I'll be back with cable TV in the near future. I do want to take a look at the new DISH 921 with HDPVR. Decisions, Decisions..

Ray

Thanks Ray...005 it is.

Last night we watched CBS from 9:00-10:00 with 4 dropouts during that time frame. I switched to MNF at 10:00 and watched it for 20 minutes with no dropouts. BTW, I am in Brunswick.

As cable companies start adding locals, is there anyway to tell how much they are compressing the signal (do any STB display the MB/sec like DVD players?)? I am amazed at the difference between Fox OTA Digital and the rebroadcast on my Dish Locals...the OTA picture is so much better (on a 7' screen). My wife refuses to believe that FOX OTA it isn't high definition. I am just starting to wonder if the cable companies will make these available and slowly start cranking up the compression (like Dish and Directv did) until we end up with something like DVD quality (or worse).

Your FOX on DISH is giving you the analog broadcast. The satellite is digital, but is sending you from an analog source.

Our local FOX DTV signal is excellent. It's not yet high definition, but for typical network broadcasts that's not much of an issue for me.

Originally posted by Rbuchina
Group,

How was your reception of the Monday Night Football game last night?


Reception perfect entire game in Shaker Hts.

-- Paul

Reception for the first half in Wellington was perfect, turned it off to go to bed after that, so I cannot comment on the 2nd half..

ERic

It looks like I have a local issue with my reception. I may need to try another antenna or cut some trees down next spring. Maybe I should move.

Thanks for the MNF feedback.

Ray

Clevelanders-
Looks like we are going to get screwed this Sunday. We are getting the Bengals/Bills game instead of the Game of the Week, Dolphins vs Giants, so no HD for us on Sunday. Looks like the folks in Toledo will get it though....
I have already emailed James Stunek, Judi Smith and Lisa McManus about this today, doubt I will get a response though....

Sounds about right. We always get an AFC North division team if the Browns are not on at that time. Lucky for me I have NFL Sunday ticket and can watch my Dolphins in HD!!!!

Jim

I finally gave up with my OTA box and returned it. I just have too many obstructions. I then called the cable company to see whether they have any current HD plans, and was pleasantly surprised when I was told that Adelphia plans to begin HD rollout in the area in November.
Of course, I'll believe it when I see it, but the representative seemed well-informed.

I actually just got a notification from Adelphia that all their service areas will have HD by the end of the year.

I'm wondering if they're going to compress the signal though. If they do will I be able to tell a difference between the OTA and cable? If not then I'll sell of my Samsung 151.

Originally posted by MovingTarget
I actually just got a notification from Adelphia that all their service areas will have HD by the end of the year.

I'm wondering if they're going to compress the signal though. If they do will I be able to tell a difference between the OTA and cable? If not then I'll sell of my Samsung 151.

Where did you get this notification from??? Can you please post it or send it to me via PM. I'm in Strongsville and would love to see what Adelphia has planned.

Thanks,

Jim

I went to Adelphia's web site and asked a question from it. I got the following response:



Subject: Adelphia HDTV Services
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:33:37 -0400
From: "Rita Georgian" <rita.georgian@adelphia.com>

Dear Chris Goumas:

Thank you for contacting Adelphia about our service.

HDTV will be available before the end of 2003. All local broadcast channels, HBO and Showtime will be available in HD format. To receive the HD signal, you will have to lease equipment from Adelphia at a small extra charge.

Thank you for your interest.
Rita Georgian

Thanks for the post. I've sent then numerous emails asking about HD and have never received a response.

I'll try again.

Jim

Well, here is the reply from CBS

Eric,
Sorry I didn't get back to you on the previous email. We've been discussing the audio, but due to the substantial investment in equipment required, we won't be broadcasting in Dolby for awhile yet. At this point we're still discussing capital projects for next year, so I couldn't even guess at a timeline.

All the Game Of The Week broadcasts are determined by CBS, and they're the only games in HD. They also determine what markets air which games under their "standard regionalization procedures".

Looks like no 5.1 for awhile from CBS...

As I mentioned earlier, I actually talked to someone in customer service. He said they recently had a meeting where the HD product was discussed. Unfortunately, he wasn't willing to discuss any specifics. All he said was that there would be mailings, plus notices on the cable system itself.

Also, Adelphia's email responses are definitely spotty. As recently as yesterday I received their canned "we don't know about HD because we have no money because we're bankrupt" response.

I honestly haven't dealt too much with Adelphia but those of us poor soles in Brunswick were the last to get digital cable (just this past June), when they sent out their flyers I called and had a battle of wits with the customer service rep. I asked if they did or were going to carry HDTV and she kept insisting that HDTV was digital cable. :/

Hopefully their statement about getting HDTV by the end of the year is true but we'll just have to wait and see.

Has anyone else noticed sound problems on the CBS digital broadcasts?

Last night the sound on CSI was very poor on my setup. I've noticed that other times recently on 19-1. I have no problems with the analog stations or other digital stations.

Thanks,
Richard

rlb - I'm in Akron, and I had the same problems last night, Both CSI and Without A Trace were unwatchable, had to resort to DTV locals. Not only the audio was poor, it was pixelizing a lot as well. Anyone know why it only happens sporadically?

It ruined CSI for me yesterday too. I also noticed it Wednesday evening as I was surfing. This "cracking sound" was also present during the Masters coverage back in May.

Come on WOIO (CBS) !!! We're Watching and Listening.

Ray

I just saw this today, but www.titantv.com has the browns game in HD on NBC 3-1....

That's interesting. I didn't know they could pass along the ESPN HD feed. I checked the WKYC website, but they don't mention HD in their press release for the broadcast.

Sorry guys, but this will not happen! WKYC will not have the HD feed. ESPN does not allow the HD feed to be shown in the local market via OTA.

If you don't believe me read some of the NFL posts on the programming forum. Ken H has discussed this numerous times.

Jim

Is ESPN HD Blacking out locally the Game? Since the Browns really haven't been on many Sunday night games these past few years my memory seems to remember something like a local OTA showing the game when it was on ESPN. Do I remember this right or was I dreaming?

John

They're not blacking out the game; just the HD broadcast. It'll be standard on WKYC. Titan TV is wrong.

So it will not be on ESPN HD? It will be on WKYC? That stinks the one game I was looking forward to.

John

Cristo....the game will be shown in HD on ESPN HD.

WKYC will show the SD version of the game.

As far as SD ESPN goes....I'm not sure if it's on or not.

Thanks for all your help.


John

Oh well, 3 OTA Browns games in HD this year would have been much too nice :(

BTW, that was a GREAT game!

The HD broadcast on ESPN looked very good. As my buddy said, the Browns are 2-0 when in HD!!!!

Jim

For you Comcast people who haven't heard the news yet, they hope to roll out up to 7+ HD channels by 12/01/03. I was able to Beta Test the Browns game yesterday, and was able to do a Directv/Comcast A/B test, and to my surprise, Comcast won out.

Ben Music

I received a letter today offering me digital cable with an option for HDTV.

They don't commit to anything precisely in the letter, other than a free installation and trial period.

So I'll call them tomorrow to try to get some details. A newspaper article yesterday indicated there would be a monthly additional fee for the HDTV option -- a major portion of that being the rental of the receiver.

So does that mean cable companies have opted to no longer compress the HD signal? I wish I knew how Adelphia's HD will compare to the dish.

On another note, for anyone keeping track, I moved my antenna to outside instead of in the attic, took 2 tries though. The first spot I put it I was trying to pickup the signal through the peak in my house. This spot was toward the back of the house and would have looked better from the street. I was hoping just being outside was going to solve my problems. 6 unnecessary holes in my house, a cable splice (I could have avoided), and a tube of caulk later, and I'm finally enjoying all the channels with strong reception...Although I no longer get channel 68 which is no loss.

So, a note to anyone purchasing the Radio Shack HDTV antenna, mount it outside instead of in the attic.

Note to self, try to stop putting anymore holes in the house or your wife will take away your drill. :(

I live in Akron, and with the roof top antenna that was left by the previous home owner I am able to get WOIO, WUAB, WEWS and WJWDT with all near 100% (20db+) signal. However I can only get short burts of WKYC (VHF channel 2) if I'm lucky. For the most part though WKYC doesn't come in at all.

Is the WKYC thing just me? Should I look at the antenna? From the ground it appears to be a pretty descent 80"+ Yagi with a UHF bowtie. A single piece of 300ohm twin lead comes down from the roof which I convert to 75ohm RG6 as soon as it hits the house. Would running RG6 all the way to the antenna produce much signal gain? Should I install an amplifier at the antenna? Should I get a new antenna?

Thanks for your help.

I live in Akron, and with the roof top antenna that was left by the previous home owner

I am in the same situation, with an old antenna left by the previous owners of our house, and got lucky - I get all cleveland area digital OTA signals, including WKYC.

I think I would try to re-aim the antenna first to see if you can get WKYC without much signal drop from the other stations.

Here is a pic of my antenna, I have no idea what kind it is, just thought it might be helpful for comparison.

Originally posted by mchil
Here is a pic of my antenna, I have no idea what kind it is, just thought it might be helpful for comparison. [/B]

Looks almost like mine, but I'll take a picture tonite.

The antenna is aimed in the general direction of cleveland. Howver the antenna is really high up on one side of the house and would be difficult to aim. Is 3rd party service on this kinda stuff affordable?

Just wanted to add my support for this thread. I too am in the greater Cleveland area and would love to help out!

I just spoke with a Comcast customer service person, and she told me HDTV will be available in the Cleveland area (N. Ridgeville for me) by the end of this month. She told me the receiver is free, but I have to pay the $5.99 a month fee for it just like another digital box. She said no other monthly fee will be charged for the programming other than having to pay for the HBO or Showtime standard package.

She said (and their website lists) the following channels will be available in HDTV on startup:

NBC (WKYC)
Fox (WJW) Enhanced widescreen of course
ESPN
HBO
Showtime
In Demand HD1
In Demand HD2

I already have HBO and SHO, so if they indeed are giving ESPN for free, then I will have all seven channels offered :D :D

It's about time!

Rob

What no Discovery HD?? I hope that's available for Adelphia.

I'm in Mentor. Comcast is scheduled to install at my house on next Tuesday.

The deal they quoted me, a current Comcast analog customer, is $14.95 a month for Digital Plus and HDTV and the receiver. The first two months and the installation are free.

It's amazing how serious they are about this. They went public with a demo on Sunday; I received a letter with the offer on Monday; and on Tuesday night we received a telemarketing call. (Since we're customers, they can telemarket.)

The times -- they are a-changin'.

My sound problems with the Cleveland CBS digital station (19-1) have cleared up during the last few days. However, now I'm getting frequent (every minute or so) pixelation or drop outs that last maybe half a second. I don't experience this on the other digital stations.

Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks,
Richard

I have always had momentary dropouts with CBS but very rarely with NBC or ABC. Some days CBS is good and on other days it seems to drop out. Occasionally it is so bad that it is unwatchable. I'm in Avon Lake.

Richard,

I was having very bad drops during the SEC game on Saturday. I haven't watched it since then, so I can't comment on the past few days.

Jim

Here is the text I received from my latest query to Adelphia on getting HD:

Dear Mr. Henson:

Thank you for contacting Adelphia regarding services we offer.

HDTV will be available to you before the end of 2003. Local broadcast stations, HBO and Showtime will be available in HD format. A high definition television and Adelphia leased equipment will be needed to receive programming in HD format. There will be an additional monthly charge to lease the Adelphia equipment.

Thank you again for your interest in services offered by Adelphia Communications.
Rita Georgian

Since I have a tuner for over-the-air I would like them to offer ESPN and Discovery HD to make the switch more attractive. However, it is finally coming.

Discovery HD is a great channel, but I don't think many companies will add it without a $5-10 price increase (based of E* and D* pricing). ESPN HD is barely an HD channel. Playmakers and 1-2 sporting events are the only HD coverage each week. Sure the games look great, but they need to build more trucks before they can offer much variety. HDnet and HDmovies are solid channels. I think Comcast owns INHD1 and 2, so that is likely why they can offer an HD package without a price increase right now. It will be interesting to see what the various providers do to handle the increased bandwidth requirements and programming choices. D* is almost out of bandwidth until next year, while E* has space for almost 50 HD channels. I don't know if bandwidth is a problem for the cable providers.

Have any of the cable companies commited to providing all of the local HD feeds? Fox and NBC are nice, but without a (hopefully clean) feed of CBS I will stick to using my antenna.

Moving Target...6 holes in the roof...you might be able to use them to mount a dish and start getting DiscoveryHD this weekend.

Adelphia has a separate website for Southern California and I've been looking at what HD stations they are currently offering there, since that was their initial HD rollout. It looks like they only offer ABC, NBC, PBS, HBO, and Showtime; no ESPN or CBS. Since nobody from Adelphia is giving details for the Cleveland rollout, I guess we'll just have to wait a little while longer.

That sucks, I think I am ready to make the switch from D* to adelphia. I already use them for Cable Modem and get their "free" basic cable feed with that.

Mr Taylor, 6 holes in the side of my house and I'm leaving for Maui tomorrow so I don't need no stinking dish THIS weekend. :)

Say what you will about D*'s compressed signal. But it's much better than Adelphia's cable signal. When I had Adelphia it was the worst SD PQ I ever saw....the local NBC would have constant ghosting. I just couldn't take it anymore and switched to D* for a better PQ, HD channels & NFL Sunday ticket.

Adelphia would have to offer a lot to get me to switch back.

Jim

On a positive note for Adelphia. They will offer the HD package to all digital service levels. From their website which has a new FAQ regarding the new cable TV plans available to customers. This is fine, but I would like to know if you can get the HD package if you only subscribe to basic cable.

"How does changing the packaging (and pricing) on the digital offerings get Adelphia ready for new services like HDTV, VOD and high-speed Internet? Will the increased rates I'm paying go towards putting in new services? What if I don't want new services?

The repackaging of our digital product is one step forward in Adelphia's mission to bring customers a broad and valuable range of entertainment and technology offerings. However, our focus is more about expanding customer choices than it is about providing every innovation available. Adelphia is exploring both HDTV and video on-demand offerings, and we are currently providing a base selection of HDTV programming in areas surrounding Los Angeles, expanding availability by the end of the year to a number of additional markets. In a number of key markets, the availability of HDTV for an additional $8 to $10 per month will be integrated into the unveiling of new digital cable packages and will be available at every level of service."

Here's the link:

http://www.adelphia.com/cable_entertainment/new_digital_paks_faqs.cfm#1

I used to have a REALLY REALLY bad picture with Adelphia, but when they upgraded the wiring in Brunswick in June, the quality got about 500 times better. Really a very noticable difference.

CBS has been dropping out for a while. Since the SEC game. Signal strength stays the same, but picture drops so its a WOIO problem since all of us are experiencing it.

Mansfield Report. Get all CLE HD channels with the exception of NBC. It simply does not have enough signal. When they first came on the air with HD a year or so ago everything was fine, a beautiful picture, escpecailly Leno, but now nothing. Analog signal is also the worse of all stations out of CLE. Anyone know if they have any plans to boost their signal?
Thanks

Anyone else experience frequent audio dropouts last night on WKYC? It happened all through West Wing and Law and Order. There was also the occasional pixelizing as well.

What causes this?? Is it atmospheric?(Weather was clear last night) Equipment? (all of my OTA signals are 85% and above) Or, is it the fault of the stations??

I just don't get why it only happens every now and then. Anyone have the answer? Do these dropouts happen to everyone?

Originally posted by mchil
Do these dropouts happen to everyone?

I can't answer for everyone but WKYC is a pain for me here in Brunswick. I get momentary drops 4 to 5 times an hour. My situatiuon is reversed from yours. "Sometimes" I don't get drops.

All I can say is WKYC is very inconsistent....one day it's perfect and one day it's horrible. I'm using an small indoor antenna in Strongsville, so I tend to blame it on my setup, but I've heard other with outdoor antennas complain at times. I didn't wee NBC last night, but I did have a few drops during Las Vegas the other day.

Jim

MovingTarget...while you are in Maui, could you film your scuba dives in HD for me (I think that's as close as I can get to Maui for years)? In return, I'll throw a tarp over the holes in your roof if it rains while you are gone :). Have a great trip.

Looks like we should expect problems with CSI again tonight (still see reports of CBS problems). Is there someone at CBS we should contact tonight if we see problems? If we all call, maybe someone will look into the problem.

mchil, I noticed problems with WKYC before the Browns game on Sunday, but I switched to ESPN HD to watch the game and haven't watched channel 3 since. My signal strength is typically in the 80s, so I don't know what causes the problems either.

-Jeff

Originally posted by JeffreyTaylor

Is there someone at CBS we should contact tonight if we see problems.




Try calling the programming department and talk to them or ask to be transferred to engineering. They have numbers on their website.

http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=152814&nav=3Nic10Hf


Jim

As you saw on my earlier post, Adelphia is "promising" HDTV before 2004. They indicated they would be offerling local stations and HBO/Showtime, not Discovery, ESPN, etc. I use a Samsung tuner for local HDTV so really will not see great improvements with the Adelphia upgrade (unless their signal is good and some of the dropout issues with local reception will then be avoided). I was just about set to go with Sat. but I will try the Adelphia offering. However, I have concerns about the following:

Has anyone yet been contacted by Adelphia about upgrading to HD? I haven't seen any advertisements, etc., and would assume this would have started by now if the rollout is really coming by December.

Does anyone know if Adelphia plans or is likely to offer more HD channels than they indicated in their e-mail?

Does anyone know what box they will use? Will they support 5.1?

How hard is it to sell a Samsung 151 at a reasonable discount?????

Thanks for any input

As i mentioned earlier, I talked with someone in Cleveland customer service, who said the service was supposed to begin in November. He wasn't able (or willing) to give any other information. He stated that the customer service people had attended meetings about HD. He said to watch for mailings, as well as ads on the local programming channel. I plan on calling back later in the month if I don't hear anything new before then.

"How hard is it to sell a Samsung 151 at a reasonable discount?????"

Check e-bay. HD Stuff seems to be selling well and it seems to be a sellers market. I just sold a Dish Network 6000U for $475. I never thought in a million years I would get that for it.

Adelphia HD Questions/Issues. Responding to jjson:

Other threads on this forum indicate Adelphia is using the Motorola 5100 in Southern California. I would assume they will be using the same box here in the Cleveland area. It does support DD 5.1 via an optical cable. The owners manual can be found at the following site (sorry, but you will have to type it instead of being able to click on it): http://gicout60.gic.gi.com/customer_docs/user_guides/502403-001.pdf

Looks like a pretty capable STB except that it lacks any means of changing formats (i.e., narrow, zoom, etc.) on standard definition programs. But it appears to be capable of outputting both component and
s-video/component at the same time. So you could run a 480i signal to the TV and use it for changing formats on standard definition programming (if you don't want it stretched out of shape). You could also send a signal to a VCR which provides the capability of recording a program in standard definition while watching it in HD (which is more than my D* STB will allow me to do). I use a lumagen scaler for standard definition, so I could also run a 480i signal to it.

The amount of HD programming Adelphia has will determine if I move over from D*. At a minimum I want all the locals (since the Motorola won't decode OTA digital signals) , SHO/HBO, and ESPN. Seems as if I seldom watch HDNET, and Discovery HD.

Thanks for all the excellent info and I will read other posts a bit more thoroughly before my own posting.

I also hope for more HD offerings then indicated in the e-mail though I will definitely opt for HD when it is offered (incidentally, I was able to go to the PDF manual directly from your URL--no need to type it out).

Last night on CSI and Without a Trace

Same here...the digital feed was fine (besides the fact that we should have been seeing the HD signal) for the first 10-20 minutes of the show, but once they switched to the HD signal, the audio went bad. My signal was at about 80-85% with and without my antenna amplifer.

I sent an email to CBS 19...we will see if I hear anything from them.

I also sent an email to 19, let's gang up on 'em guys! I also had a very high quality signal, 85% to 90%, but horrible audio. I again had to switch to DTV, and watch fat heads stretched to 16:9 :(

Let's go 19!

It is now 9 pm on Friday night. I have tried to watch WOIO for the last 1/2 hour. It keeps having drop outs. What the heck is going on with their engineers? Has anyone heard back from their emails that were sent? I guess we OTA HD watchers are just chopped liver to channel 19. We need to do something to wake them up. Channel is not watchable. All my other channels are fine signal of 77 has always been there for this channel. Ideas?

At 10 CBS has switched to SD format. I guess they realized that they were having problems. SD is not breaking up at all.Come on WOIO, fix this recurring problem

I also could not watch channel 19 last night.

I was even getting a "fuzzy" picture from their regular analog transmission via my outside antenna. The only good picture I could get from them was via the DirectTV CL19 transmission.

Tonight's Ohio State game is in HD on ESPNHD.

Here is a reply I got back from a WOIO exec. on Friday 10/10/03:

"We have not had any reports of dropout and bad audio from anyone for quite awhile. I need a little more information so I can look into your problem.

What is your address?
Is this a consistent problem? Daily?
Is it at certain times of the day, or all dayparts?
Is it during shows broadcast in HD, shows upconverted, or both?

Please let me know and we can try to find the cause of your problem."

"Jim Stunek
Director of Operations & Production
WOIO/WUAB
Cleveland, Ohio
jstunek@woio.com "

I was polite and sent him everything he asked for. I know most of you do, buy maybe everyone else could help out and send him some more mail too?

Yesterday during the third quarter of the Steelers vs Broncos game the signal from WOIO began to break up on me after a solid signal for the first half. This occurred around 6 to 6:15pm. Anyone else have this problem?
The weather was perfect with no clouds, rain, or wind. I'm not a Steelers nor a Broncos fan so this was not a big problem to me. I was just enjoying watching the Steelers struggle.
Ray

I also experienced dropouts on WOIO during the game. The picture would go blank for 2 seconds and then come back. I have tried 3 different antennas and have experienced the same problem. It must be them. Sometimes I would see blotches of green on the screen. We need to bug WOIO about THEIR problem

"We have not had any reports of dropout and bad audio from anyone for quite awhile. "

As I have not heard back from my previous email, I just re-directed it to this contact.... Should we just give him the address of this thead??

I didn't watch TV all weekend until last night. We watched Cold Case on 19 and the broadcast seemed ok except for the occasional pixelizing.

I e-mailed Jim at the address kenNEO showed in a recently post. I explained that I have found WOIO to be the most troublesome HDTV signal of the 5 signals I receive OTA. I pasted the link to our Cleveland thread and explained that he could look and see there are others who experience problems. The audio problems were also pointed out and I suggested an upgrade to 5.1DD would make them the "first" to offer it in the Cleveland market. I also invited him to my house with signal strength meters to look for himself. I'm trying to get a waiver from them so I can receive CBSHD via Dish Network. I am not going to hold my breath since I have several unanswered E-mails and Phone calls to the station so far.

Ray

Re: WOIO

This is the most difficult HDTV channel for me in Mentor. I cannot watch it after about 9:30 at night. The signal is too weak.

And earlier in the evening I have to tweak the antenna rotor a little differently each day.

So they would be the best station for me to get through cable. But COMCAST does not offer CBS.

As you may have read elsewhere, UPN will be offering its Wednesday shows in HD, starting tomorrow. Anyone know whether Cleveland will be offering them? It's actually one of the three digital stations I can pick up over the air.

I've checked the WUAB website, but there isn't anything new there.

Here is the reply I just received from Jim Stunek:

We won't be broadcasting in HD yet. I just received an email today from UPN Affiliate Engineering that they're deploying the receiving equipment to the affiliates. Cleveland is on the schedule to receive the equipment but nothing has arrived yet. So I unfortunately can't give you any hard date when we should have it up and running.

Jim Stunek
Director of Operations & Production
WOIO/WUAB
Cleveland, Ohio
jstunek@woio.com

Too bad... I actually would have watched Enterprise for that.

On an unrelated topic, I had to call Adelphia about something else yesterday and asked again about HD. This person was much less specific than the previous person I talked to.

His answer: "Soon."

That's it.

I am in North Royalton and got zero signal from WKYC last night. Did anyone get a signal?

I watched from 9-10 p.m.

I'd say reception was very good -- just a few, brief dropouts.

Originally posted by bslep
I am in North Royalton and got zero signal from WKYC last night. Did anyone get a signal?

Mostly good reception last night in Akron, with a couple of dropouts which don't normally happen with KYC...

I have zero signal from WJW Fox 8 right at 7:30. Would be nice to watch the baseball game. Anyone else not have signal right now?

I watched the game last night with no problem. (Shaker Heights)

I also notice that the football game is full widescreen today on Fox!

Can anyone on the Eastside of Cleveland pickup stations out of Erie, PA? I have a friend in Mentor that was asking.

Thanks!

The digital guide in my area has added the HD channels. They are in the 700's. They show CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC, HBOHD, and Showtime HD. No other information though.

Originally posted by Shark73
Can anyone on the Eastside of Cleveland pickup stations out of Erie, PA? I have a friend in Mentor that was asking.

Thanks!

From Mentor, I point my antenna at 77 degrees and try to get Erie stations. None of them, analog or digital come in well enough to watch.

I see Univision the spanish channel is active on dtv channel 34. Seems like they have a lot of widescreen content. Come on FOX and UPN, get with the program !

Adelphia confirmed to me, via e-mail, that they will be offering HDTV in Cleveland by the end of this year.

I'm actually getting a picture through my normal digital cable box on channel 708 (Fox HD).

I was able to get someone at Adelphia to take my name and number to let me know when HD is available.

Just saw univison on 34, pretty sweet. Check out the show Caliente on Saturdays, freaking hilarious.

I also noticed the WKYC is said to be on Channel 2-1. 2-2. 2-3 instead of 3-1, 3-2, 3-3.

Probably a mistake, but it sort of felt like the channels changed quicker, like it wasnt the usual delay that happens when changing channel. Maybe it was just late and I was just stoked the Marlins won.

3rd message, I did a channel scan and was picking up TBN channel 17. Thats the Christian channel, they have 4 subchannels.

Mr. T. was talking right now. And MC HAMMER has a show Saturday morning at 2 am.

Originally posted by Mike_Stuewe
I also noticed the WKYC is said to be on Channel 2-1. 2-2. 2-3 instead of 3-1, 3-2, 3-3.

Probably a mistake, but it sort of felt like the channels changed quicker, like it wasnt the usual delay that happens when changing channel. Maybe it was just late and I was just stoked the Marlins won.

Does anyone know how/why WKYC changed from 3-1 to 2-1? That's what my SIR-T165 is showing now.... BTW, I still get the channel changing hangup on 2-3, the "new" weather radar page.

-- Paul

No idea why the change but seems that it has changed for everyone.

I just checked and my NBC has changed too