Has anyone noticed any problems with the OTA signal coming from WFSB in the last few days. After some ridiculous calibration, I was able to reliably get a signal @ 70. Noticed that starting @ Wednesday, the signal was back down to @ 40. Nothing's changed in my setup, so I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed the same thing ? THey've got a new show starting tonight, Threshold, that I'd really like to watch in HD, but I'm leery about Tivo'ing the show if the signal is going to be crap. Anybody else noticed this - could it be due to the nasty weather the last few days ?

I have been getting WFSB steady around 80% with my OTA and I live out by UCONN. But last night around 9pm the signal dropped out almost completely. It was around 10%. I checked this morning. Channel 3-1 is not even there and only 3-2 is there (around 80%). Usually WFSB never broadcasts HD via 3-2 so I will check again tonight.

Is it just me or does the Dolby surround not work on WTNH's HD feed on Monday nights? No center channel, no surrounds, just front R and L.

I have been getting WFSB steady around 80% with my OTA and I live out by UCONN. But last night around 9pm the signal dropped out almost completely. It was around 10%. I checked this morning. Channel 3-1 is not even there and only 3-2 is there (around 80%). Usually WFSB never broadcasts HD via 3-2 so I will check again tonight.

I'm in the same boat - getting to the point where I'm a little concerned when I try to Tivo any WFSB shows. Some I get lucky with (Threshold on Friday night had fantastic PQ) but I tried clicking it last night at 9 PM and it was basically unwatchable.

It's not just you - their audio is all messed up.

Weird, I recorded How I Met Your Mother at 8:30 last night and it was flawless.

Is it just me or does the Dolby surround not work on WTNH's HD feed on Monday nights? No center channel, no surrounds, just front R and L.
I watched the first half of the MNF game last night on 8.1 and it was in 5.1DD and sounded fine. The first 5 minutes of the game were in SD with 2.0DD though.

I haven't watched much from ABC as they've either been in reruns or haven't broadcasted anything I've been interested.

Frank

Lost the signal ?!? :eek:

Did anyone watch the end of the game? I watched the first half and then tuned into the last 5 minutes around midnight. The signal was basically gone!!! I had to watch in SD via D*TV!

I usually get ~65 for a signal. The first half was fine. When I tuned in at the end of the game my signal was in the teens!!! My TiVo tuner would NOT lock onto the signal :mad:. This morning at 5:45 the signal was ~55.

I'd like to hear if anyone else had a similar problem...

Frank

I'm not sure if this is the right forum. I think so... I'm just about to pull the trigger on buying my first HDTV. Silly me, I thought my cable system would at LEAST carry the major networks - but turns out they only have NBC and Fox! No ABC, no CBS, no WB! :mad:

Looking through some very old posts, it seems that they have always lagged behind and have not added anything new in quite a while. Aside from NBC and Fox, the ONLY other HD they offer is ESPN HD, Discover HD and TNT HD (you can also get HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz, if you want to pay for the Premium package... but I don't). Does anybody here have any inside information/updates on when Charter Newtown may add any additional HD channels?

... Thanks - Keith

Lost the signal ?!? :eek:

Did anyone watch the end of the game? I watched the first half and then tuned into the last 5 minutes around midnight. The signal was basically gone!!! I had to watch in SD via D*TV!

I usually get ~65 for a signal. The first half was fine. When I tuned in at the end of the game my signal was in the teens!!! My TiVo tuner would NOT lock onto the signal :mad:. This morning at 5:45 the signal was ~55.

I'd like to hear if anyone else had a similar problem...

Frank

WTNH does this to me every night. During the day, my signal is between 82 and 87. During primetime, it drops anywhere between 10-25%. If the signal strength dips below 65 for me, it starts to pixelate. It happens at different times but its a consistent issue. Prime time hours the signal strength will drop. Its an automatic. What does change is the time and degree of degredation.

I dont know what the heck is going on but I am getting quite sick of it. It usually impacts MNF, Desperate Housewifes, and Lost. Of course, because I use an HD Tivo, I dont know till later and there isnt much I can do about it. I wish someone would shed some light on whats going on. I wonder if its interferance with Ham radio operatators or something silly like that. :mad:

WTNH does this to me every night. During the day, my signal is between 82 and 87. During primetime, it drops anywhere between 10-25%. If the signal strength dips below 65 for me, it starts to pixelate. It happens at different times but its a consistent issue. Prime time hours the signal strength will drop. Its an automatic. What does change is the time and degree of degredation.

I dont know what the heck is going on but I am getting quite sick of it. It usually impacts MNF, Desperate Housewifes, and Lost. Of course, because I use an HD Tivo, I dont know till later and there isnt much I can do about it. I wish someone would shed some light on whats going on. I wonder if its interferance with Ham radio operatators or something silly like that. :mad:
Yes, I experience the exact same thing!!!! :mad:

You're in Hartford, I'm in Burlington, so were pretty far apart. The interference must be coming from closer to the broadcast antenna. I don't know how to pursue investigating this? I'd like to hear from others to see if it's happening else where...

I use the HD-TiVo as well and pay D*TV for locals (SD). One solution is record the HD & SD episodes and suffer through watching SD if the HD reception fails.

A buddy of mine just loaned me another UHF antenna and I'm going to experiment trying to pull in ABC from Springfield, MA. Station 40.1 on channel 55. I hope to get to it in the next couple of nights. I'll let you know how it works out.

Folks, Please report your ABC/WTNH experience!!! :o

Frank

Does anyone have a contact name / number for a knowledgeable engineer at WTNH in New Haven? Maybe they can shed some light on the problem...

Hi folks, any baseball fans here? I am trying to plan ahead to maybe having people over to watch one of the last three games of the year where the Yankees and Sox are hopefully battling for their playoff lives. I'm not a big baseball fan, so I don't know much about the TV contracts, etc... My question is, is there any way to know ahead of time what channel the games will be broadcast on, and most importantly whether they will be in HD? For example, if I knew that the Friday night game was going to be in HD, I might have an outdoor baseball night (projector).

It looks to me like the Friday 9/30 game was not intended to be a national TV game. I have DirecTV, and I get YES HD, but not NESN HD, so I don't know how to reason out whether there is a chance that the game would be on YES HD. For the Sat 10/1 game, On MLB.com, it says FOX next to the game, so I assume that means that FOX is broadcasting it nationally. Are all FOX Saturday afternoon games done in HD? Can anyone help in trying to help me figure this out? Thanks.

Hi folks, any baseball fans here? I am trying to plan ahead to maybe having people over to watch one of the last three games of the year where the Yankees and Sox are hopefully battling for their playoff lives. I'm not a big baseball fan, so I don't know much about the TV contracts, etc... My question is, is there any way to know ahead of time what channel the games will be broadcast on, and most importantly whether they will be in HD? For example, if I knew that the Friday night game was going to be in HD, I might have an outdoor baseball night (projector).

It looks to me like the Friday 9/30 game was not intended to be a national TV game. I have DirecTV, and I get YES HD, but not NESN HD, so I don't know how to reason out whether there is a chance that the game would be on YES HD. For the Sat 10/1 game, On MLB.com, it says FOX next to the game, so I assume that means that FOX is broadcasting it nationally. Are all FOX Saturday afternoon games done in HD? Can anyone help in trying to help me figure this out? Thanks.

According to titantv.com, Friday's game is on WCTX, so no hi-def :(
Saturday afternoon is a Fox game, so it SHOULD be in hi-def.
Sunday's game is on Yes. It SHOULD be hi-def, even though it is in Boston.

Chip

Hi folks, any baseball fans here? I am trying to plan ahead to maybe having people over to watch one of the last three games of the year where the Yankees and Sox are hopefully battling for their playoff lives. I'm not a big baseball fan, so I don't know much about the TV contracts, etc... My question is, is there any way to know ahead of time what channel the games will be broadcast on, and most importantly whether they will be in HD? For example, if I knew that the Friday night game was going to be in HD, I might have an outdoor baseball night (projector).

It looks to me like the Friday 9/30 game was not intended to be a national TV game. I have DirecTV, and I get YES HD, but not NESN HD, so I don't know how to reason out whether there is a chance that the game would be on YES HD. For the Sat 10/1 game, On MLB.com, it says FOX next to the game, so I assume that means that FOX is broadcasting it nationally. Are all FOX Saturday afternoon games done in HD? Can anyone help in trying to help me figure this out? Thanks.


Friday night games are on WCTX 59, which never shows the game in HD. The saturday FOX game may not be in HD. I believe last week the game was in 480P widescreen, at least that's the way it looked to me. I think this is because they schedule 6 HD NFL games on Sunday and may not have an available truck on Saturdays.

On the other hand, all remaining games on YES will be HD. That was announced about a week ago. YES has an agreement with NESN to provide HD feeds to each other, and YES just reached a temporary agreement with the Baltimore Orioles station. The only other games are with Toronto which I think are home games.

Yes, I experience the exact same thing!!!! :mad:

You're in Hartford, I'm in Burlington, so were pretty far apart.

Frank

I wouldn't assume that the two problems are caused by the same interference source.

I'd start by looking for electrical interference. Trying to find electrical interference with a digital signal is nearly impossible, so look for the interference on analog channel 8. It can be identified by looking for a band of white dots across the screen. The pattern of dots will slowly move up the screen. You can also hear electrical interference on an unused frequency on the low end of the AM band. Listen for a buzz in your car radio. Drive around until you find where the buzz is loudest and have the power company fix it.

Years ago the FCC issued a handbook to track down interference. It is designed for analog interference, but if you can fix all the analog problems, DTV should work too. KYES-TV still has the handbook on their web site.

http://www.kyes.com/antenna/interference/tvibook.html

Yes, I experience the exact same thing!!!! :mad:

You're in Hartford, I'm in Burlington, so were pretty far apart. The interference must be coming from closer to the broadcast antenna. I don't know how to pursue investigating this? I'd like to hear from others to see if it's happening else where...

I use the HD-TiVo as well and pay D*TV for locals (SD). One solution is record the HD & SD episodes and suffer through watching SD if the HD reception fails.

A buddy of mine just loaned me another UHF antenna and I'm going to experiment trying to pull in ABC from Springfield, MA. Station 40.1 on channel 55. I hope to get to it in the next couple of nights. I'll let you know how it works out.

Folks, Please report your ABC/WTNH experience!!! :o

Frank

I am in Cheshire, just north of Dodd Middle School. I get WTNH rock solid all
of the time, morning, noon or night, even with my antenna pointed in the
opposite direction, for the Rattlesnake Mtn stations. I have a CM 4228 and
an LG3200a, which has a "bad normal good" meter. It shows in the middle
of good all of the time.

Chip

I wouldn't assume that the two problems are caused by the same interference source.

I'd start by looking for electrical interference. Trying to find electrical interference with a digital signal is nearly impossible, so look for the interference on analog channel 8. It can be identified by looking for a band of white dots across the screen. The pattern of dots will slowly move up the screen. You can also hear electrical interference on an unused frequency on the low end of the AM band. Listen for a buzz in your car radio. Drive around until you find where the buzz is loudest and have the power company fix it.

Years ago the FCC issued a handbook to track down interference. It is designed for analog interference, but if you can fix all the analog problems, DTV should work too. KYES-TV still has the handbook on their web site.

http://www.kyes.com/antenna/interference/tvibook.html
Lots of electrical items in the home can cause problems too. If you see sparkles on analog channel 8 it might be something in your house, try going around turning things off like fluorescent or dimmered lights- especially anything that isn't working right or might be arcing. I just found a bad fluorescent fixture in my house that was even affecting UHF channels.

Hi,
Does Anyone Know If Chater Cable In Willimantic Connecticut Is Going To Put On More HD Channels? Dose anyone know if they are going to put on WCTX-HD-UPN,WTNH-HD-ABC,WFSB-HD-CBS And WEDH-HD-PBS? Also does anyone know if they are going to put on VOOM HD Channels? Does anyone know if in January they will put on MHD MTV'S HD Channel. Email me back.
Thanks,
Varian

Does anyone have a contact name / number for a knowledgeable engineer at WTNH in New Haven? Maybe they can shed some light on the problem...


When you are experiencing the drop out of signal, you might want to try tuning your analog side of your tuner to Ch10 NTSC and see if you are able to see anything at all.
Ch 10 in Provicence is on the same channel as WTNH DT.......10.1, may be your problem may not , worth it to check in to
In eastern CT we are about in the middle of the two stations and they interfere with each other pretty bad!
You gotta hand it to FCC for letting that fly !
They did it with Ch 12 in Provicence and WTXX 20"s DT 12.1 so good luck on getting that over here too....lol
Check that out it might help!

Ch 10 in Provicence is on the same channel as WTNH DT.......10.1, may be your problem may not , worth it to check in to
In eastern CT we are about in the middle of the two stations and they interfere with each other pretty bad!
You gotta hand it to FCC for letting that fly !
They did it with Ch 12 in Provicence and WTXX 20"s DT 12.1 so good luck on getting that over here too....lol
Check that out it might help![/QUOTE]

Ch 10 in Providence should be broadcasting their Digital Signal on Ch 51 and Ch 12 in Providence should be broadcasting their Digital Signal on Ch 13.

Check out this link for the DTV channel elections from round 1. http://www.necrat.com/dtv.html


WFSB is dropping out and the signal is all over the place this morning after yesterday morning's no broadcast in Ch 3-1. Anyone else have the same experience?

Thanks

Hi,
Does Anyone Know If Chater Cable In Willimantic Connecticut Is Going To Put On More HD Channels? Dose anyone know if they are going to put on WCTX-HD-UPN,WTNH-HD-ABC,WFSB-HD-CBS And WEDH-HD-PBS? Also does anyone know if they are going to put on VOOM HD Channels? Does anyone know if in January they will put on MHD MTV'S HD Channel. Email me back.
Thanks,
Varian

Varian,
I got disgusted in waiting for HD channels from Charter in Willimantic. I installed a large antenna on my roof. I now get locals for FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC

"Ch 10 in Providence should be broadcasting their Digital Signal on Ch 51 and Ch 12 in Providence should be broadcasting their Digital Signal on Ch 13."

You are correct about the 51 and 13 digitals, but Ch 10 and 12 analog are still on the air and very strong and do interfere with the digital signals from CT.


"WFSB is dropping out and the signal is all over the place this morning after yesterday morning's no broadcast in Ch 3-1. Anyone else have the same experience?"

Yes Channel 3.1 has been dropping out and it was off for a while yesterday so it's not on your end.

Lots of electrical items in the home can cause problems too. If you see sparkles on analog channel 8 it might be something in your house, try going around turning things off like fluorescent or dimmered lights- especially anything that isn't working right or might be arcing. I just found a bad fluorescent fixture in my house that was even affecting UHF channels.

Good ideas but it doesnt appear to be in House issues. My UHF has no problems at all and only WTNH is affected which is VHF. I actually have more activity during day since I work from home and no issues with signal during day. WTNH drops usually strength around 9-11 PM and looks its coming from the source.

I was thinking it could be a Ham radio operator that likes to do things at night. Can this cause interferance?

Handbook says this. I dont have analog setup but I might have to configure something to see I can hear the CB radio stuff.

1. When do you get the interference?

Keep track of the time of day you usually receive the interference. Do you get interference only at dinnertime? Does the interference occur day after day at the same time? Does the interference occur at all times or is it unpredictable?

If your equipment is reacting to the transmissions of a nearby radio operator, you will have the interference only when the radio operator is talking. The pattern will be much like that of a normal conversation except that you will hear only one half of the conversation. Usually the interference will occur for brief periods during specific times of the day.

If the interference is on constantly, it is not caused by a nearby radio operator. You may have electrical, broadcast, or paging interference.

2. What does the interference sound like?

Listen carefully to the interference. Read this section and see which part best describes the interference you are experiencing.

Do you hear music and voices from a broadcast station in the background? If so, try to identify which station you hear.

Stereo and other newer televisions may have separate audio channel capabilities. A foreign language that synchronizes with the video, a description of what is happening on the screen, or even continuous traffic reports may indicate that your television is switched to the separate audio channel. Refer to your operator's manual for instructions on how to change the audio channel.

Do you hear radio operator voices? Are the voices garbled? If the interference is intermittent and you hear clear or garbled voices, you are probably picking up the transmissions of a nearby CB or Amateur radio operator. If so, you will probably be able to see an antenna mounted on their house or car.

Do you hear static, or a constant buzzing sound like bacon frying? You may be picking up interference from an electrical device in either your house or your neighbor's house. You may also be picking up interference from electrical power lines. If the buzzing noise only occurs for short periods of time, you may be receiving interference from a household appliance, such as a hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, or electric drill.

Any one have any luck using a High Pass Filter to block radio and HAM operator interferance?

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-711

I wouldn't assume that the two problems are caused by the same interference source.

I'd start by looking for electrical interference. Trying to find electrical interference with a digital signal is nearly impossible, so look for the interference on analog channel 8. It can be identified by looking for a band of white dots across the screen. The pattern of dots will slowly move up the screen. You can also hear electrical interference on an unused frequency on the low end of the AM band. Listen for a buzz in your car radio. Drive around until you find where the buzz is loudest and have the power company fix it.

Years ago the FCC issued a handbook to track down interference. It is designed for analog interference, but if you can fix all the analog problems, DTV should work too. KYES-TV still has the handbook on their web site.

http://www.kyes.com/antenna/interference/tvibook.html
Thanks for the info and the link. I'm reading the information provided in the link and will try to experiment and find the problem.

A lot of the time I don't discover the problem until it's gone! I TiVo most everything and discover the problem when I go to watch something I recorded earlier :(

F

Good ideas but it doesnt appear to be in House issues. My UHF has no problems at all and only WTNH is affected which is VHF. I actually have more activity during day since I work from home and no issues with signal during day. WTNH drops usually strength around 9-11 PM and looks its coming from the source.

I was thinking it could be a Ham radio operator that likes to do things at night. Can this cause interferance?

A ham operator alternatively talks, then listens, talks again, and listens again. Each transmission could be anywhere from several seconds to several minutes. If it were amateur interference, there would be times where the signal was fine and other times that it was bad.

Electrical interference is more prevalent on VHF than UHF. You can't conclude anything from the observation that UHF is OK.

You can look at channel 10 analog, if you see a weak picture or sync bars rolling behind the snow, it could be Providence. If you can hear the analog audio you may be able to identify it.

I haven't been experiencing any significant problems with WTNH here in East Lyme.

Ross

I haven't been experiencing any significant problems with WTNH here in East Lyme.

Ross
Thanks Ross.

Last evening at 9:00 Lost was displaying some dropouts during the first 5 minutes. I experienced it here in Burlington as did my friend in Willimantic. The rest of the show from 9:05-10:00 was fine.

Did anyone else see Lost over the air on WTNH?

Frank

Several years ago I spent a lot of time trying to get WTNH-DT in Mystic. I used a narrow bandwidth receiver to look at the video carrier from Providence analog channel 10. I could never eliminate it, but when it was at a minimum I could receive WTNH pretty well. During the summer I found many nights when Providence was weak but a second carrier 10 or 20 Khz lower would appear and WTNH would not come in. I assumed this was another analog channel 10 comming possibly from NJ. John

Thanks Ross.

Last evening at 9:00 Lost was displaying some dropouts during the first 5 minutes. I experienced it here in Burlington as did my friend in Willimantic. The rest of the show from 9:05-10:00 was fine.

Did anyone else see Lost over the air on WTNH?

Frank

Yep - saw it OTA here in Wallingford. No problems with signal, except for some macro-blocking on the many night scenes. Then again, here in Wallingford you can pick up WTNH with tin foil on a coat hanger.

Thanks Ross.

Last evening at 9:00 Lost was displaying some dropouts during the first 5 minutes. I experienced it here in Burlington as did my friend in Willimantic. The rest of the show from 9:05-10:00 was fine.

Did anyone else see Lost over the air on WTNH?

Frank

Thats exactly what I saw in Marlborough. Signal pixelated first 5 min or so and was solid throughout after. This leads me to believe its not my reception or local interferance. How the heck could Marlborough, Willimantic, Burlington all experience the same problem at the same time if it wasnt from the originating broadcast tower?

Thats exactly what I saw in Marlborough. Signal pixelated first 5 min or so and was solid throughout after. This leads me to believe its not my reception or local interferance. How the heck could Marlborough, Willimantic, Burlington all experience the same problem at the same time if it wasnt from the originating broadcast tower?
I agree completely!

In reading ctdish's post above, I wonder if WTNH is aware that someone is 'stepping' on their broadcast signal. I hope they'd step up and investigate it.

Again, does anyone know of a caring engineer at WTNH? :confused:

Frank

I used to know a caring engineer at WTNH. (His name is Frank.) But he left there and took a job at Yale.

I used to know a caring engineer at WTNH. (His name is Frank.) But he left there and took a job at Yale.
docbone,

What has your WTNH reception been like? What does your typical signal look like and do you get occasional dropouts?

Thanks,

Frank

I don't have an OTA receiver. I get all of my HD channels via Comcast. My WTNH picture looks fine but, especially on Monday Night Football, the audio has been extremely low.

Frank - I didn't experience any dropouts while watching Lost. I've generally had pretty good experiences with WTNH's engineering dept - never spoken to anyone in particular, just called the main number (203-784-8888) and asked for engineering.

Ross

I don't have an OTA receiver. I get all of my HD channels via Comcast. My WTNH picture looks fine but, especially on Monday Night Football, the audio has been extremely low.

My reciever shows that it is Dolby Digital, but the center and surround speakers have absolutely no sound coming out of them, so I have to turn the volume up quite a bit to hear it.

just a heads up. WFSB-DT has fired up 3.3 for weather coverage from Hurricane Rita. It is from KHOU in Houston. Good Stuff!

just a heads up. WFSB-DT has fired up 3.3 for weather coverage from Hurricane Rita. It is from KHOU in Houston. Good Stuff!

Thanks for the info.

I like to consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to HDTV and OTA, however I had a very bizarre experience last night.

I was screwing around with aiming my antenna at different directions last night and seeing what I could pick up. (I also have an amplifier). I aimed my antenna towards the East and punched in a random channel number on my ATSC receiver, the number being 13. To my surprise, it tuned into channel 13, which remapped to 12-1, and labeled itself WPRI-DT. I immedietly recognised it as being the CBS affiliate out of Providence. I was shocked that I was not only able to pull in a channel from Providence, but pull it in with such a strong signal, about as strong as I can tune into WFSB-DT.

So I got very interested in what I had stumbled upon, and did a channel scan while facing the same direction. I got A LOT of results! Here is what I was able to get:

CBS: WPRI-DT Channel 13 Providence (Excellent signal)
PAX: WPXQ-DT Channel 17 Providence (Excellent signal)
PBS: WSBE-DT Channel 21 Providence (Excellent signal)
FOX: WNAC-DT Channel 24 Providence (Excellent signal)
NBC: WJAR-DT Channel 51 Providence (Decent signal)
ABC: WLNE-DT Channel 49 New Bedford, MA (Excellent signal)
UPN: WLWC-DT Channel 22 New Bedford, MA (Excellent signal)

PBS: WGBH-DT Channel 19 Boston, MA (Decent signal)
PBS: WGBX-DT Channel 43 Boston, MA (Poor signal, but can maintain steady picture)
WB: WLVI-DT Channel 41 Cambridge, MA (Decent signal, ocassional breakups)
NBC: WHDH-DT Channel 42 Boston, MA (Good signal)


Yes, that's right, I was able to pull in FOUR channels from Boston. Keep in mind, I live in Prospect, in West-Central Connecticut.

So I turned on my TV and receiver this morning, and I didn't get a blip of signal from ANY of these channels! I figured that it must be some sort of thing that had to do with it being at night when I was able to get them in. So here it is 24 hours later, and I still cannot get a single ounce of signal from any of these channels.
Correction: I can still pull in channel 17, WPXQ-DT.

Can anyone here explain this? It is extremely odd to me. I never in my dreams thought I'd be able to tune into Boston analog channels, let alone watch Boston HD programming. Someone, please explain what happened last night if you can. Thanks.

P.S. I've attached two screenshots below, one of my receiver showing WGBH-DT and one showing WHDH-DT, both out of Boston.

What you saw was tropospheric ducting or scatter. It is not uncommon in warmer weather. I have received stations from as far as Newport News, VA here in Mystic. Since people are not looking at unused channels it usually goes by unnoticed extept when the channel is on a local one being watched. If the one watched is digital it will have droppouts or disappear for a time while the distant one tries to come in. Channel 17 is right on the CT border in RI. John

What you saw was tropospheric ducting or scatter. It is not uncommon in warmer weather. I have received stations from as far as Newport News, VA here in Mystic. Since people are not looking at unused channels it usually goes by unnoticed extept when the channel is on a local one being watched. If the one watched is digital it will have droppouts or disappear for a time while the distant one tries to come in. Channel 17 is right on the CT border in RI. John

Damn, I got all excited, when in fact I probably won't see these channels again. So there goes my theory that I'll more likely get them in when the leaves fall off the trees. I wish tropospheric ducting/scatter was always going on, hehe.

Do you think I might be able to pick up the Providence channels once the leaves fall off though, since I can already pull in 17 with an excellent signal?

I can get the Providence, Boston, and New York channels when the weather is right. I've done the same thing. Its like Christmas morning. Unfortunately, they dont last. I even got a Philadelphia station once. It was awesome. I just wish they would kill the analog stuff now and boost the digital. I would love to be able to get out of market stuff more often.

So do you think that when the analog is turned off, we'll be able to get more out of market channels regularly? Also, are they going to ditch the new digital channel numbers once analog is shut down, in favor of the old analog number? For example: When analog is turned off, WTNH-DT will move from channel 10 to channel 8, and WFSB from 33 to 3?

Who in CT doesn't have the new channel lineup from Comcast?

The reason I ask is, once everyone has the same lineup and all the realignment work is done, I'm wondering if we might start to see some more HD channels added to the mix.

I am moving from Manchester to Vernon, and therefore from Cox to COmcast. In looking at the online channel lineup it's telling me two different things as far as the HD channels available. To be clear, in Vernon I should get CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC, UPN, PBS, InHD1 and 2, Discovery, and HBO/Showtime if I subscribed? I've seen other lineup mentions that didn't include all of the locals. Excited about the new place, I should finally be able to conquer my line of site issues :)

Did you go here? (http://www.comcast-ne.com/newchannels/channels.php)

I checked the Comcast site and the channels were the same for Windsor (where I am) and Vernon. You should add ESPN HD to your list. And I think change UPN to WB?

Andy

You're right about WTIC. I was just on my roof an hour ago and had the same exact problem. I also was going to fine tune WB-59 and that's off the air too......
WTIC-DT 61-1 still seems to be off the air. Would anyone know what their problem is? Or are they in the process of upgrading the tower? Other?

Any info would be of help.

Thanks.

WTIC-DT 61-1 still seems to be off the air. Would anyone know what their problem is? Or are they in the process of upgrading the tower? Other?

Any info would be of help.

Thanks.
On Wednesday morning the 21st of September we were off the air from about 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM while the tower crew serviced the tower lights. Other than that we haven't had any interuptions in the last few weeks. Tomorrow or Tuesday we may be down for a bit while we add more hardware to the upconversion chain.

On Wednesday morning the 21st of September we were off the air from about 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM while the tower crew serviced the tower lights. Other than that we haven't had any interuptions in the last few weeks. Tomorrow or Tuesday we may be down for a bit while we add more hardware to the upconversion chain.

n1 - Thanks for the update. Are you an engineer over at WTIC ?

Yes WTIC and WTXX

On Wednesday morning the 21st of September we were off the air from about 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM while the tower crew serviced the tower lights. Other than that we haven't had any interuptions in the last few weeks. Tomorrow or Tuesday we may be down for a bit while we add more hardware to the upconversion chain.
My Sony KDF-E50A10 HDTV is reporting no signal from WTIC-DT but the diagnostics screen shows continuous lock and an excellent 84% signal strength with no errors. In my basement I have one of the close-out radio-shack digital tuners and it is receiving WTIC but it is not remapping it to 61.1; it can only get it when I tune 31.1. So it looks like something may be wrong with the data stream. I suspect the PSIP is bad.

Sorry, I meant to post this in the Locals forum.
I purchased a Sony 42A10 on Saturday locally and replaced it on Sunday. Both units have the same problem. I can't receive the Local FOX digital feed with the built in 8VSB OTA tuner. If I try to manually have it find the digital channels it finds all in my area except Fox. The physical channel is 31 with 61.1 as the channel the TV should be showing. If I manually enter 61.1 by using the keypad on the remote it finds WTIC-DT but won't tune. When I look at the Diagnostic page it shows the following:

Signal Strength: 93
Physical Channel: 31
Freq (Khz): 575000
Modulator: 8VSB
Status: LOCK
SNR (db): 29
AGC (%): 41

H05-01.15 0043

It's evident that it has found the channel but all I get is a black screen, no video or sound.

I have two other 8VSB tuners in my system, one on a Dish Network 921 Satellite receiver and on on a MyHD card in my HTPC. Each receive and output FOX with no problem. Oh yes, I know your next question and no it's not hidden in the channel list, it doesn't even show up.

The Sony people were pleasant but not of much help. Any thoughts??

Thanks, Don
East Hampton, CT

Received some requests for a separate Hartford cable thread since this thread is heavily focused on OTA. If someone wants to start a Hartford, CT - Cable thread (or company specific if there's only one primary cable provider in the Hartford DMA - go ahead and start one and we'll change this to OTA.

Make sure you summarize the cable HD offerings in the first post and periodically update it if possible.

If you do start one, send me a PM so I can add it to the Index.

Yes WTIC and WTXX

Maybe you can answer this. Are there plans to stop stretching the local SD content on both WTIC-DT and WTXX-DT? I, along with many others, if not everyone, find the stretching to be extremely annoying. Thanks!

Yes WTIC and WTXX

Glad to see you on the boards - I'm sure we'd all love to be able to share any info/issues we have with WTIC / WTXX. I've personally been quite lucky with both channels here in Wallingford, in fact, the HD signal on some of the WTXX shows has been absolutely stellar the last week or two. As long as you're not an engineer from WFSB, you're safe........ ;)

Here's my quick question. The rumor for a while was that WTIC was moving their transmitter(?) up the tower to a higher location similar to WVIT's. Can you either confirm or deny that statement ? Most of us get WVIT at a signal of @ 90 while WTIC tends to be @ 70. Thanks in advance.

Yes WTIC and WTXX

N1ety,

Thank you for posting information on WTIC and WTXX digital signals. I was wondering if you could provide a general status of where you are with respect to raising the antenna height? I am in Killingworth and can not get a consistent lock on WTIC. I'm hoping the additional height will solve my reception issues. Thanks in advance.

Received some requests for a separate Hartford cable thread since this thread is heavily focused on OTA. If someone wants to start a Hartford, CT - Cable thread (or company specific if there's only one primary cable provider in the Hartford DMA - go ahead and start one and we'll change this to OTA.

Make sure you summarize the cable HD offerings in the first post and periodically update it if possible.

If you do start one, send me a PM so I can add it to the Index.

Can't be company specific... we have Cox, Comcast, Cablevision, and probably a couple mom and pops that I don't know about (Naugutuck has their own, right?). I am not sure why we need a seperate thread, everyone here is great about answering either question type.

-MP

Can't be company specific... we have Cox, Comcast, Cablevision, and probably a couple mom and pops that I don't know about (Naugutuck has their own, right?). I am not sure why we need a seperate thread, everyone here is great about answering either question type.

-MP

In the Naugatuck / Waterbury area, we already have our own cable thread for Adelphia (Tele-Media).

Maybe you can answer this. Are there plans to stop stretching the local SD content on both WTIC-DT and WTXX-DT? I, along with many others, if not everyone, find the stretching to be extremely annoying. Thanks!

Yes, please tell the powers that be to stop it. It's horrible. Most displays could zoom out the 4:3 if the viewer wants to lose 1/3rd of the horizontal image.

The network SD and HD content has been looking good. I'm in Manchester and get an 85 signal with my RS Accurian clearance box and the Channel Master 3018 from Lowe's.

I purchased a Sony 42A10 on Saturday locally and replaced it on Sunday. Both units have the same problem. I can't receive the Local FOX digital feed with the built in 8VSB OTA tuner. If I try to manually have it find the digital channels it finds all in my area except Fox. The physical channel is 31 with 61.1 as the channel the TV should be showing. If I manually enter 61.1 by using the keypad on the remote it finds WTIC-DT but won't tune. When I look at the Diagnostic page it shows the following:

Signal Strength: 93
Physical Channel: 31
Freq (Khz): 575000
Modulator: 8VSB
Status: LOCK
SNR (db): 29
AGC (%): 41

H05-01.15 0043

It's evident that it has found the channel but all I get is a black screen, no video or sound.

I have two other 8VSB tuners in my system, one on a Dish Network 921 Satellite receiver and on on a MyHD card in my HTPC. Each receive and output FOX with no problem. Oh yes, I know your next question and no it's not hidden in the channel list, it doesn't even show up.

The Sony people were pleasant but not of much help. Any thoughts??

Thanks, Don
East Hampton, CT

So do you think that when the analog is turned off, we'll be able to get more out of market channels regularly? Also, are they going to ditch the new digital channel numbers once analog is shut down, in favor of the old analog number? For example: When analog is turned off, WTNH-DT will move from channel 10 to channel 8, and WFSB from 33 to 3?
The first round of digital channel election is complete. Nationwide about 2/3 of stations kept their digital channels and about 1/3 will move their ATSC channel back to the original NTSC channel. In CT the first round (form 382) results were as follows:
Approved:
WTNH: 10
WTIC: 31
WFSB: 33
WVIT: 35
WUVN: 46
WCTX: 39
WSAH: 42

The following digital channel elections were disapproved but the stations filed a form 383 indicating that they were keeping the selection unchanged and had resolved the conflict. Strangely, only WTXX checked a required box showing how the conflict was resolved (WTXX negotiated an agreement to resolve the conflict).
WTXX: 20
WHPX: 26
WEDW: 49

WEDY deferred its station election until round 2 and the following two selections are only marked as tendered for filing:
WEDN: 9
WEDH: 45

In RI all the selections were marked approved with WPRI and WNAC showing that they had negotiated for the channel selected:
WPXQ: 17
WJAR: 51
WPRI: 13
WSBE: 21
WNAC: 12

Tropospheric ducting will not be any more frequent after analog is turned off but the reduction in interference should generally improve reception of certain channels at all times. One bad thing is that it will be much more difficult to identify the presence of some common reception problems like impulse noise, overloaded amplifiers and long delay multipath.

Glad to see you on the boards - I'm sure we'd all love to be able to share any info/issues we have with WTIC / WTXX. I've personally been quite lucky with both channels here in Wallingford, in fact, the HD signal on some of the WTXX shows has been absolutely stellar the last week or two. As long as you're not an engineer from WFSB, you're safe........ ;)

Here's my quick question. The rumor for a while was that WTIC was moving their transmitter(?) up the tower to a higher location similar to WVIT's. Can you either confirm or deny that statement ? Most of us get WVIT at a signal of @ 90 while WTIC tends to be @ 70. Thanks in advance.
Yes, we are moving to the top of tower, both WTXX WB DT 12 and WTIC FOX DT31.
When this happens I'm fairly certain is in the hands of the FCC.

I have the same issue with my Hughes HTL-HD. Screen shows "No Signal" and the signal strength meter shows as very good. Trying 31-1 doesn't work.

I've reset the unit, rescanned the channels. All other HD locals come in fine. It's just WTIC-DT.

So what's up? Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
K

I used to get 61-1 fine and for the last 2 weeks..nothing. I tried 31-1 tonight and it to maps 61-1 with no problem. Type in 61-1...nothing.

I'm fairly new to all this but something doesn't seem right. I sent an email to FOX61 this morning and they said they haven't touched anything for the past 2 months. :confused:

Well, if they say they haven't touched anything - then you can be sure they have!!

It's always best to admit the mistake, fix it and move on. We'll respect you for it, rather than suspect you of it.

My 2c.

KWDuerr - take a look about 15 posts back - n1ety answered your question. With all due respect, give the guy a break; he's not WFSB and looks like he's trying to help.

Yes, we are moving to the top of tower, both WTXX WB DT 12 and WTIC FOX DT31.
When this happens I'm fairly certain is in the hands of the FCC.
Or maybe Canada since CPTV's WEDN/WEDH channel change probably needs international approval and the candelabra is waiting for WEDH to finalize its plans.

P.S. Please fix the WTIC PSIP.

KWDuerr - take a look about 15 posts back - n1ety answered your question. With all due respect, give the guy a break; he's not WFSB and looks like he's trying to help.
No, n1ety didn't explain why so many receivers suddenly are unable to decode the strong WTIC signal; he just indicated when the transmitter was off the air.

RTracey - I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time.

Just want to find out why I can no longer receive their broadcast - it's that simple.

We are looking into it.
First off over the last 24 hours watching this forum the time frame when everyone had trouble was last Tuesday to two weeks ago. That makes a big difference.
With this new information I do know of a change that occurred in our PSIP a couple weeks ago that eliminated glitching on our K-tech demod and eliminated flashes of black occassionally.
Not sure who you spoke with at studio that said no changes have occured but not all 5 engineers are privy to everything going on.
We all field calls.
This will be at the top of my priority list in the morning.
We have an assortment of recievers, generally we ensure those are working correctly and assume things should be good.
I know of a Samsung, MGA, Zenith, Ktech, and RCA recievers working fine.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Well I haven't figured out how to move this over to "Hartford Local" :( If someone like an administrator wants to move it, feel free.

I did find a work around for my FOX Local problem using the Sony 41A10 LCD RPTV, however. I kept directly typing in a different Physical Channel derivative and Vola, FOX digital showed up on 31.3. (Should be 31.1 or 61.1) I can't store it but I can access it directly. I believe Sony has a problem with their 8VSB software.

Don

My Zenith 420 stopped picking up WTIC also. A rescan didn't help.

I know of a Samsung, MGA, Zenith, Ktech, and RCA recievers working fine. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I have not had any access/blank screen issues with my Samsung TS-160. WTIC comes up on 61-1 as usual. I do have issues with breakups, but that's a different issue. Sounds like it is box specific.

Firstly, I'd like to request that we don't start separate threads for Cable and OTA. I really like to know what's happening in both arenas so that I can make an informed decision on what provider to go with. This idea has come up in the past and a couple of cable only threads started and died. It's not like there is an overwhelming amount of traffic here, and cable questions get addressed. Anyway, that is my .02 on that.

I'd also like to thank n1ety for posting here. I, and I'm sure many others appreciate it. Posters, please go easy on him, I'm sure it's alot easier for him to just not post here at all. I love the fact that he is getting some information from here to help him troubleshoot things. It shows you that it is imortant that people post their experiences here, it helps us all!

Thank you n1ety, please keep us informed.

We are looking into it.
We have an assortment of recievers, generally we ensure those are working correctly and assume things should be good.
I know of a Samsung, MGA, Zenith, Ktech, and RCA recievers working fine.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Take a look at the resolution on the Ktech receiver. Occasionally we have seen 1440 X 1080. Some receivers can handle this as it is a legal MPEG resolution, but it's an illegal ATSC setting. When this happens, our encoder said that it was configured for 1920 X 1080, but it was not. (Tandberg 5780 with MEM)

I recieve FOX with a Wegener DTV742 8vsb 4 channel multiplexer that has been working fine, except when you were off last week...lol
I reset the errored seconds yesterday that were at about 800 from over the weekend and had 50 errored seconds between yesterday and today.
Hope that helps n1ety

Well I haven't figured out how to move this over to "Hartford Local" :( If someone like an administrator wants to move it, feel free.

I did find a work around for my FOX Local problem using the Sony 41A10 LCD RPTV, however. I kept directly typing in a different Physical Channel derivative and Vola, FOX digital showed up on 31.3. (Should be 31.1 or 61.1) I can't store it but I can access it directly. I believe Sony has a problem with their 8VSB software.

Don

My Panasonic does the same thing. I can access 31-1 directly, which redirects to 61-1 but I cannot get 31-1 to store.

For those that are having problems getting WTIC Fox Hartford OTA to show up using the Digital Auto scan feature, this is what I had to do to make it work on my New Sony KDF-E42A10 RPTV.

Manually enter 31.3 from the Remote keypad and it will show up. 31.1 and 61.1 will show it is locked in the diagnostic window, but no Pic or Sound. It still won't save in the channel list however. So it will have to be manually entered to access.

Don

Thanks n1ety!!! Problem solved on my end. The wife will be able to watch "House" in HD tonight.

Are things any better tonight?
We checked and rechecked all settings of all upconversion equipment, rebooted everything and added a Nielson Encoder today.

Are things any better tonight?
We checked and rechecked all settings of all upconversion equipment, rebooted everything and added a Nielson Encoder today.
Yep, both my receivers needed a re-scan but after that they both work fine for 61.1. Thanks for fixing it.

Did any other region have Comcast "miss" the channel lineup update? (Does anyone has information as to the mixup on dates?)

The card I got in the mail had the new channel numbers (everthing different) and said something like existing channels are rearranged on Sep 27th and new channels (digital package realignments too) are done on Sep 29th.

Well as of this morning (28 Sep) the <100 channel numbers have not shifted. I'm hoping they just get this mess (reprogramming SA HD DVR) over with at a time that we users can adjust all our recording schedules in time. That and getting inHD2 and DiscoveryHD wouldn't be that bad (as promised).

Though I'd trade both those for ESPN2HD.

Are things any better tonight?
We checked and rechecked all settings of all upconversion equipment, rebooted everything and added a Nielson Encoder today.

I watched 2 shows on Fox last night (House & Bones) and both came through great. I believe I only had 1-2 breakups over the course of 2 hours. Good job. Looking forward to seeing if this gets even better when you move further up the tower.

Beaker,

Comcast missed the original date of 8/24 in the Hartford areas scheduled for that date. It was pushed back to 9/20 due to "technical problems." You should call the local Comcast CT number to talk to someone there.

Pick a number (probably the Groton number) from the list at the following page. Don't bother with 1-800-COMCAST, you'll probably just end up with someone out-of-state that will make up a story to get you off the phone.
http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?stx=comcast&stp=a&tab=B2C&city=Newington&state=CT&uzip=06111&country=us&msa=3280&slt=41.697929&sln=-72.724411&cs=4&Submit=Search

-Scott

Did any other region have Comcast "miss" the channel lineup update? (Does anyone has information as to the mixup on dates?)

The card I got in the mail had the new channel numbers (everthing different) and said something like existing channels are rearranged on Sep 27th and new channels (digital package realignments too) are done on Sep 29th.

Well as of this morning (28 Sep) the <100 channel numbers have not shifted. I'm hoping they just get this mess (reprogramming SA HD DVR) over with at a time that we users can adjust all our recording schedules in time. That and getting inHD2 and DiscoveryHD wouldn't be that bad (as promised).

Though I'd trade both those for ESPN2HD.

I hate to start another cable vs sat thread, but Im really on the fence about what I should do next.

Background - Ive been with D* since 2001. Perfectly happy 99.9% of the time. I loved it when CV wasnt carrying YES but D* was so I could still see my Yankee games. I loved it when HDNet was free. I loved it when they gave us YESHD for free. Now the whole "we're not carrying YESHD anymore" debacle has got me thinking about switching.

I would be a CV customer, with their iO setup. Obviously they have more HD than D*, and its still free. And Im guessing the PQ is gonna be better (although Ive seen HD over iO, and it wasnt much different than what I see with D*).

What keeps me from switching is 2 things: 1. the DVR (I am *spoiled* by a DirecTivo right now), and 2. the PQ on regular channels (which is about 80% of what I watch).

Can anyone in the lower New Haven County area comment on the PQ of iO? A friend of mine across town has it, and the HD is maybe slightly better than D*, but the SD is absolutely horrible (Im attributing that to the fact that they havent made every channel digital, just some). So horrible, in fact, that my wife actually refuses to let me switch to iO.

Also, any comments on the DVR (preferrably the HD-DVR) would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
-Chris

Are things any better tonight?
We checked and rechecked all settings of all upconversion equipment, rebooted everything and added a Nielson Encoder today.

All set here. About 8:00pm 61-1 showed up for me without a scan.

Thanks.

PS - Do you know what the root cause was?

All set here. About 8:00pm 61-1 showed up for me without a scan.

Thanks.

PS - Do you know what the root cause was?

No, sorry, we have a great deal of hardware which the signal(s) pass through before they head for the transmitter. We just rebooted pretty much everything in the chain.
(( I'm blaming Bill Gates as a few of these boxes run imbedded WINDOZE. I'm sure the boxes that run imbedded Linux were not the problem) just kidding, I'm a hardcore Linux user/administrator/developer)


Today we mounted an antenna on the penthouse of our studio to receive our signal. Currently to monitor off air we use a receiver at transmitter and feed baseband video over fiber and /or microwave back to studio. It's been that way for many years as the studio is in a shadow of building across the street. Yesterday we did a test on a 30 foot mast, capable of 50 feet. The 31 signal was usable so made the antenna permanent today. Will take a couple months to get the hardware we want to decode and distribute signal from 31down about 300 feet from rooftop into studio and distributed around studio. This will make QC'ing our signal far more accurate, I hope. DT12 was a disappointment but that transmitter antenna is only 250 feet off the ground. When it goes along with 31 antenna to the top of tower I'm confident our receive at studio will be great, and hopefully for many more viewers.

There are several viewers in this thread that have been having drop out problems with WTNH 10.1. We've been reporting our experiences with 'Lost' to see if we're having the same problems from different locations in an effort to determine where the 'interference' is coming from.

Last night I had a signal strength of 68%. The show was fine except for at 9:36 when Kate was locked in the storage closet. I'd say that for a full minute the reception was horrible. Almost completely pixelated, no audio.

Will all those who watched the show using the OTA signal report their experiences?

Thanks,

Frank

I watched it OTA last night and never had a single issue. I don't know what my signal strength was, but it's usually in the 90s.

Watched all on lost last night and it was fine for the whole hour. I live in East Hampton and have a separated large VHF and UHF antenna, amplified with remote controlled Channel Master rotor.

No problem here Frank - don't think I've mentioned it before, but my "signal strength" is consistently in the high 80's.

Ross

My signal (WTNH) in Marlborough stayed solid around 71 but is definately weaker than normal. It should be in the 80's. I have seen the strength wilt in the past month. Its not leaves on trees since its been pretty good most of the year.

Lost was fine for me with my indoor FM antenna! About 68% signal strength.

Lost signal good for me here in Wallingford (although I can pick up WTNH with tin-foil). Signal consistently @95.

Lost signal good for me here in Wallingford (although I can pick up WTNH with tin-foil). Signal consistently @95.

There's a pun in there somewhere. Did you watch "Lost" or is the signal lost?

I can hardly stand to watch WTNH OTA due to the audio/video sync problems. Are people really not bothered by this? Does this only happen OTA? I have two well respected receivers which work fine on other channels, so I doubt it is a hardware issue on my end.

ABC has been doing HD for quite some time now. It does kind of surprise me that they haven't corrected the audio sync issues yet. It is kind of anoying. I guess that is why subconsiously I choose to watch other channels, rather than 8. Monday Night Football isn't bad since they rarely have the cameras on the people speaking.

Thankfully my Denon receiver has a delay functionality I can use.

I don't know if it helps but I believe the quality of the tuner and or the the audio processer.
At work I have 2 different brands of 8vsb recievers, one is K-Tech wich is junk and it has the delay, the other is Videotek that is a great product and it doesn't have the delay.
On the otherhand at my house with my OTA I started with a Samsung TX-P2670WH TV and Surround Sound and now I have Sony KD34XBR960 and Sony Surround Sound and I have no audio delay.
Hope It Helps !

I watched it OTA last night and never had a single issue. I don't know what my signal strength was, but it's usually in the 90s.
Thanks for the information.

Would you mind telling us what town you live in?

Thanks,

Frank

I can hardly stand to watch WTNH OTA due to the audio/video sync problems. Are people really not bothered by this?
Geez, I never noticed it! Thanks, now I won't be able to take my eyes off of it :rolleyes:

I never noticed the sync issue with WTNH. I use HD Tivos. I too will start looking. That may not be a good thing.

I don't know if it helps but I believe the quality of the tuner and or the the audio processer.
At work I have 2 different brands of 8vsb recievers, one is K-Tech wich is junk and it has the delay, the other is Videotek that is a great product and it doesn't have the delay.
On the otherhand at my house with my OTA I started with a Samsung TX-P2670WH TV and Surround Sound and now I have Sony KD34XBR960 and Sony Surround Sound and I have no audio delay.
Hope It Helps !

Thanks for that info, I never really thought that the quality of the receiver would affect that. It's nice to know.

Hi Folks,

As the OP of this thread, I think it's time that the original post gets updated with some summary information for people who are new here (and us too). I think it should have information on OTA broadcast channels around here, their locations, status on transmitter power, hieghts, and pending moves, PBS HD info, and basic starter antenna guidance. Also, we should have information regarding the various cable companies and their HD channel line-ups and equipment offerings. The channel line-ups and equipment offering from the two major satellite companies should also be included. I do not have either the time or the information to pull all of this together. If you folks could post information and/or links that you think should be included, I will cut and paste into the original thread. Thanks.

Looking at antennaweb, WTXX is about 10 miles from my house. Similar direction and distance as WTIC and WVIT yet I cannot get any signal. I get close to 80% for both WVIT & WTIC. Once in awhile, I may get about 3%..not enough. What is everyone's experience with pulling in this station? I need to see Smallville!

Looking at antennaweb, WTXX is about 10 miles from my house. Similar direction and distance as WTIC and WVIT yet I cannot get any signal. I get close to 80% for both WVIT & WTIC. Once in awhile, I may get about 3%..not enough. What is everyone's experience with pulling in this station? I need to see Smallville!
Do you know your Lat&Long? If so I can put that into radiomobile and see the signal level that it predicts. I think the problem with WTXX is the antenna height. If they are still operating under the same STA as on the fcc website then they are only about 80m up the tower. When WEDH gets the OK to go to channel 45 and the antennas go to the top of the tower then that height will go up to almost 400m above the ground. Here in eastern CT WVIT-DT seems strong and WTIC-DT is fairly strong but WTXX-DT is impossible to get. [edit, well I'm getting WTXX-DT tonight so maybe it's not impossible to get here] That could partly be due to interference from channel 12 analog from Providence.

Do you know your Lat&Long? If so I can put that into radiomobile and see the signal level that it predicts. I think the problem with WTXX is the antenna height. If they are still operating under the same STA as on the fcc website then they are only about 80m up the tower. When WEDH gets the OK to go to channel 45 and the antennas go to the top of the tower then that height will go up to almost 400m above the ground. Here in eastern CT WVIT-DT seems strong and WTIC-DT is fairly strong but WTXX-DT is impossible to get. That could partly be due to interference from channel 12 analog from Providence.

Latitude: 41.57714
Longitude: -72.87806

Thanks

Latitude: 41.57714
Longitude: -72.87806

Thanks
Radiomobile predicts that with a good antenna you should have plenty of signal for all of the following digital stations (with approximate signal margin shown): WFSB (+26dB), WTXX(+29 dB), WTIC(+32dB), WVIT(+39dB), WCTX(+46dB), WTNH(+53dB).
Your problem may be that you do not have a good antenna for VHF-high which is where WTXX-DT is since it is on channel 12. WTNH-DT is also VHF-high since it is on channel 10 but it is so strong for you that it would be difficult for you to not get it with any antenna. You might want to try a good set of VHF rabbit ears to see if you can get WTXX with them.

Radiomobile predicts that with a good antenna you should have plenty of signal for all of the following digital stations (with approximate signal margin shown): WFSB (+26dB), WTXX(+29 dB), WTIC(+32dB), WVIT(+39dB), WCTX(+46dB), WTNH(+53dB).
Your problem may be that you do not have a good antenna for VHF-high which is where WTXX-DT is since it is on channel 12. WTNH-DT is also VHF-high since it is on channel 10 but it is so strong for you that it would be difficult for you to not get it with any antenna. You might want to try a good set of VHF rabbit ears to see if you can get WTXX with them.

Thanks for looking into this for me. I guess it may be time to trade in my little indoor FM antenna and experiment with other solutions.

I don't know if it helps but I believe the quality of the tuner and or the the audio processer.
At work I have 2 different brands of 8vsb recievers, one is K-Tech wich is junk and it has the delay, the other is Videotek that is a great product and it doesn't have the delay.
On the otherhand at my house with my OTA I started with a Samsung TX-P2670WH TV and Surround Sound and now I have Sony KD34XBR960 and Sony Surround Sound and I have no audio delay.
Hope It Helps !
I have a RCA DTC-100 (built into the F38310) and a LG LST-4200A. These are two very popular and well respected ATSC tuners. The audio sync is unbearable even to my wife. We only have this issue with WTNH.

Yea I also only had it only with WTNH, I'm sure they do have some kind of issue but I don't
seem to have the problems with my new TV and I use the lower quality tuners for other
stations in my headend.
I can remember posts from quite some time ago talking of this problem so it is well kown
and does exist.
I am also able to recieve Ch 6 DT on 49 on a good day, I never heard the problem on that
channel and the peeps on the Providence forum don't speak of it so I would suspect the
problem lies with WTNH and not ABC as a whole.
WTNH does do some funky stuff that is run from a controll center in Sringfield Mass. so
maby it has something to do with all the links they have.
At any rate the Sansung and Sony do make a difference at my house and at work the
difference between a $2,000 receiver and a $5,000 is well noticed, It could be quality or
it could be the different ways that the differing brands process the signal.
Maby you know somebody with a different brand you could borrow and test it?
Also just to note the delay was much worse when I had the surround sound on
than with just my Samsung TV!

Speaking of WTNH, I typically need to turn up my volume a good 25% when compared to all the others stations. Are other people experiencing this as well?

Speaking of WTNH, I typically need to turn up my volume a good 25% when compared to all the others stations. Are other people experiencing this as well?
I just noticed this during prime time tonight but the sound level went back up when they switched to the local news.

On some stations the image quality of local SD programming is awful. I wasn't expecting HD quality but with an HD bit-rate available I thought I might see DVD quality. Instead much of the local/syndicated programming looks like it was recorded on VHS in slow speed then was sent over a dial-up video conferencing link. There is a huge variation in quality between stations and shows though. What do you think of the technical quality of local programming? Which stations do you think do a good job? Which do you think should do better (and why does stretch-o-vision still exist on WTIC)? It seems like it shouldn't take a huge capital investment to get the local stuff looking better- or would it?

This morning it is WFSB eyewitness news that looks bad. It is soft (especially the sports highlights) and there seems to be some macroblocking all the time that has nothing to do with motion. I also see what looks like the NTSC type dot crawl that you get with a composite video connection. I wonder if they haven't yet moved up to even s-video level connections for their equipment? Maybe what I called macroblocking is caused by a poor composite video signal. WVIT and WTNH news was not too bad in comparison.

I have a RCA DTC-100 (built into the F38310) and a LG LST-4200A. These are two very popular and well respected ATSC tuners. The audio sync is unbearable even to my wife. We only have this issue with WTNH.


I could buy the tuner quality excuse if it were on more than one channel, but I can watch Fox (Also in Dolby Digital) without any issues, so it must be WTNH. I have a Zenith HD-420.

Wasn't trying to sell the excuse or any particular product to anybody, just sharing my experience that have shown an improvement!

Say, did anyone else have audio dropouts and video skipping yesterday during the Pats game on WFSB with Comcast?

I had terrible audio dropouts that lasted 3-4 seconds along with dropped video frames. It made watching the game unbearable.

I checked WFSB later in the evening and the dropouts weren't evident.

Just curious...

Hi Everyone,
I live in Cromwell and was having trouble maintaining lock on WTIC DT (channel 61-1 or 31.1) out of Hartford with the "Off Air Antenna" DirectTV installed so I just had the following "Big & Ugly" antenna system installed:
Channel Master; 3679 Deep Fringe Crossfire antenna,
Channel Master 9521A Rotor System with 9521 IR remote,
Channel MasterSpartan-3 mast mounted preamp & power supply (0068DSB).

I'm pulling in a lot of channels and am ready to compare notes etc.

I still have the "off air" antenna Direct TV installed (is it a Winegard Sensar III DS-2000?) connected to the Direct TV H10 receiver that I can use for reception comparison purposes.

Count me in as another data point in to share reception notes in central CT.
All the best,
Ceij

The rest of the equipment list:

Sony KDF-E50A10
Z-line Designs Stand
Direct TV H10
Yamaha DSP-A3090 Processor
Yamaha NS-1000M Studio Monitors (fronts)
Definitive Technoligies; CLR-3000 (center), BP-30s (rears), PF-1500 Subwoofer, BP1.2X (front effects)
Panasonic PV-D4745K DVD/VHS
Sony DVP-S7000 DVD
Yamaha CDV-W901 Laserdisc

Re the Pats game: I had the same problem. Got so bad, I couldn't watch (for several reasons!).

I think the weather was bad for OTA on Sunday. I had problems getting WTNH but worse than normal. Normally, I get at least 60% all the time, but this was dropping to zero and all over the place. It later came back to 71-76% just in time for Desperate Housewives. I dont have issues with WTIC and WFSB or WVIT since I grab those on a very large double 6 foot yagi antennas. My VHF is smaller and opposite side of house which appears to be more susceptable to drops.

I had trouble watching the Pat's game too in HD through Comcast due to video and audio hickups (freezes). I was thinking that it could have been my HD DVR hard drive buffer finally dieing. I'm almost glade to hear it was from the OTA source having hickups, now I don't have to trade out my box again to potentially get a worse one (I hate that part of rental boxes).

Thanks again for the information!

I hope it was just OTA hickups but I'm not sure. I was watching the Science Channel (non HD) on Comcast last night and it had really bad dropouts too; audio & video. I wonder if it's related to the new channels Comcast just added? They must be working on something...

I've never seen the digital channels such a mess!

Welcome to the forum Ceij.

Ross

Ceij,

Welcome to the forum. I also live in Cromwell, so I'm very interested in your story. I have a very large hill to the North of me that makes my OTA reception worse than average for our area. I have played around with a few antennas, and the smaller Channelmaster bow tie one does pretty well most of the time. DirecTV is coming out later this month to relocate my dish and install an antenna.

Is the model that they installed for you amplified? The Winegard Sensar III DS-2000 is an amplified antenna, where the DS-1000 is not. What channels did you get with it, and what channels are you getting with your new setup? How were DTV's installers with the antenna? Did they test it out before they left? Thanks for any info you can share.

Re the Pats game: I had the same problem. Got so bad, I couldn't watch (for several reasons!).

My reception on WFSB last Sunday was the best I've seen, until about 3:30, then the signal went to zero with occasional blips up. Prior to that I had a lock on WFSB at 77% - I was swearing they went off-air or something. Just doesn't make sense. And by the way, was anyone getting WTNH audio with no picture later in the day on Sunday? The radar loop on 8-2 was fine, but 8-1 had no picture. I never have a problem with WTNH as it's the closest digital station to me.

Does anyone know when WEDN is going to resume broadcasting HD on channel 45?

And by the way, was anyone getting WTNH audio with no picture later in the day on Sunday? The radar loop on 8-2 was fine, but 8-1 had no picture. I never have a problem with WTNH as it's the closest digital station to me.

Yup...I saw this too

Yeah, WTNH was "out" on Comcast too.

I hope this is the right thread for this. I am a total HD newbie, but this seems like the best forum for this stuff. This weekend I'll be picking up my wife's new Panasonic TH-42PD50U EDTV. We have DirectTV with a dual-channel TiVo receiver and most of the TV watched will be SD recordings on the TiVo until I purchase an HD TiVo. In the meantime, I'd like to try to set up some OTA HD reception. Here are my location particulars:

We are located in Southern Litchfield County on top of a 860 ft. hill. According to AntennaWeb, the HD transmitters I'd like to pick up are within 12-20 miles and are from 82* to 175* from magnetic North. Most are UHF, but two are VHF. AntennaWeb recommends a Medium Directional Antenna with pre-amp.

I would like to stick with an indoor antenna if possible. The Zenith ZHDTV1 antenna seems to be highly recommended, but it's only UHF and unidirectional. Does anyone have any recommendations for an indoor antenna that will grab most of the UHF and VHF stations? Are there indoor pre-amped versions that work well? Am I dreaming by hoping to get all HD signals with an indoor antenna given my location? My budget is $100. Thoughts?

I hope this is the right thread for this. I am a total HD newbie, but this seems like the best forum for this stuff. This weekend I'll be picking up my wife's new Panasonic TH-42PD50U EDTV. We have DirectTV with a dual-channel TiVo receiver and most of the TV watched will be SD recordings on the TiVo until I purchase an HD TiVo. In the meantime, I'd like to try to set up some OTA HD reception. Here are my location particulars:

We are located in Southern Litchfield County on top of a 860 ft. hill. According to AntennaWeb, the HD transmitters I'd like to pick up are within 12-20 miles and are from 82* to 175* from magnetic North. Most are UHF, but two are VHF. AntennaWeb recommends a Medium Directional Antenna with pre-amp.

I would like to stick with an indoor antenna if possible. The Zenith ZHDTV1 antenna seems to be highly recommended, but it's only UHF and unidirectional. Does anyone have any recommendations for an indoor antenna that will grab most of the UHF and VHF stations? Are there indoor pre-amped versions that work well? Am I dreaming by hoping to get all HD signals with an indoor antenna given my location? My budget is $100. Thoughts?
Will the Terk HDTVi suit my needs?

Hi jake14mw,
I'll do the best to answer...

Is the model that they installed for you amplified? The Winegard Sensar III DS-2000 is an amplified antenna, where the DS-1000 is not. What channels did you get with it, and what channels are you getting with your new setup? How were DTV's installers with the antenna? Did they test it out before they left? Thanks for any info you can share

No the model they installed is NOT amplified and they don't give you the choice on the antenna. It must be the DS-1000. I was on a website (forgot which one) and the picture of the DS-2000 doesn't have a pre-amp. Sorry for the confusion.

The Direct TV installer told me that the "off-air antenna" didn't work well but I had him put it up anyway. I wasn't thrilled that he used a splitter to join the two cables (dish and off-air) and then another splitter at the receiver. I wish I watched what he was doing up on the roof (I would have made sure he ran a separate cable for the off-air). The antenna is bi-directional and it's pointing southeast (like the dish). It pulls in WTNH-DT (8.1) very well but of course it will, that channel is VHF. I get pretty good results with the digital channels from channel 3 and channel 30. UPN, channel 59 comes in OK but with drop outs. Like I said before, I can't maintain lock with channel 61.1 (WTIC). It comes in and out.
The Direct TV installer did test everything before he left but not extensively (not every channel).

I considered putting a preamp on the Winegard when I started thinking about using my old VHF/UHF antenna and just replace the rotor. That antenna was pretty old so I decided to put a whole new system up there.
After checking out the FCC web site survey maps of transmitter range and talking with Bob from C&M I decided that anything bigger than the Channel Master 3679 would not get me anymore channels. Note that the Channel Master 3679, with preamp, is "overkill" to fix my WTIC-DT problem but I wanted to get as many channels as I could.
Obviously I maintain a perfect lock on all the Hartford channels (even the weak local and PBS ones) and I don't even have to accurately point the antenna (as long as it's not perpendicular to the transmitter I lock on it).
I can also lock the Springfield, Waterbury and Bridgeport stations (but the antenna vector is less forgiving). I even receive the two high power Long Island analog stations and hope they put their digitals on their "big transmitters" soon.
In addition, I receive more analog channels than I can possibly remember and didn't make note of them because I'm primarly interested in the HDTV and digital ones. If you want to know about a specific channel, just ask!

I live near the town hall and my "hill" is to the West.
If I could do this all over again, I would not have bought the Direct TV "off-air antenna" especially since that's the only one they have and it doesn't have a preamp. If I knew what antenna they were going to install and had info from the forum, I may have purchased a preamp and slipped the installer a "tip" to bolt it onto the mast and connect it while he was up there (I'm even thinking about going up there myself and trying it to ee if it would have made a difference).
Again, my setup is way overkill if you just want the local HD channels.
You may want to ask "tigerbangs" over on the High Def Forum (highdefforum_dot_com) what would be best.

I'd be happy to answer your questions.
All the best,
Ceij

Greg - I don't have any personal experience with indoor antennas, but most people seem to view the Terk antennas as garbage, while the Zenith Silver Sensor seems to be preferred. You may find, however, that you need to use an outdoor antenna.

Ceij - just fyi, "tigerbangs" also hangs around this forum as "cgorra", although I must admit I haven't seem him post in quite a while.

Ross

Greg - I don't have any personal experience with indoor antennas, but most people seem to view the Terk antennas as garbage, while the Zenith Silver Sensor seems to be preferred. You may find, however, that you need to use an outdoor antenna.
Thanks Ross. So what would be an equivalent to the Zeinth Silver Sensor that grabs both UHF and VHF? I would obviously like to start with an indoor antenna and I'm hopeful it will work as we live on a hill and I can actually see some antenna farms (although I have no idea whether they are UHF/VHF transmitters...). Thanks!

The HDTVi appears to be a "Silver Sensor" style UHF antenna, with a pair of VHF rabbit ears stuck on the back side. However, it is unamplified.

I would give the Terk HDTVa amplified antenna a try and see if it works for you.

Does anyone know when WEDN is going to resume broadcasting HD on channel 45?

I think WEDN-DT is going to use channel 9 and WEDH-DT will use channel 45.

So what would be an equivalent to the Zeinth Silver Sensor that grabs both UHF and VHF?

Sorry Greg, as I mentioned, I'm no expert on indoor antennas - I was just relaying my impressions of previous posts about the Terk and Silver Sensor antennas.

Ross

Thanks Ross. So what would be an equivalent to the Zeinth Silver Sensor that grabs both UHF and VHF? I would obviously like to start with an indoor antenna and I'm hopeful it will work as we live on a hill and I can actually see some antenna farms (although I have no idea whether they are UHF/VHF transmitters...). Thanks!
Well it costs twice as much as the silver sensor but the Terk HDTVi is basically a silver sensor with VHF rabbit ears added.

Thanks Ross. So what would be an equivalent to the Zeinth Silver Sensor that grabs both UHF and VHF? I would obviously like to start with an indoor antenna and I'm hopeful it will work as we live on a hill and I can actually see some antenna farms (although I have no idea whether they are UHF/VHF transmitters...). Thanks!

I helped my son set up his antenna in Thomaston and we had a lot of multipath problems.He is on the east side of town on the street across from dunkin donuts. The hill into plymouth screws up his signal. If you are on the west side of town and higher up you should have better luck. We ended up being able to receive WTNH,WCTX,WFSB,WWLP,WTXX and PBS from bridgeport. No good signal from WTIC or WVIT. He cant get a good analog signal from them either. Hope this helps.

I think WEDN-DT is going to use channel 9 and WEDH-DT will use channel 45.

I understand this. But is WEDN really going to wait until that happens in order to put their HDTV signal back up? I mean, my cable company (Adelphia) added "CPTV HD" as they call it, which is WEDN-DT channel 45-1. There has been zero HDTV content, and is kind of pointless to have. I remember channel 45 having HDTV content a while back, but absolutely nothing but a rebroadcast of WEDN analog for the past few months, at least.

We are located in Southern Litchfield County on top of a 860 ft. hill. According to AntennaWeb, the HD transmitters I'd like to pick up are within 12-20 miles and are from 82* to 175* from magnetic North. Most are UHF, but two are VHF. AntennaWeb recommends a Medium Directional Antenna with pre-amp.

I would like to stick with an indoor antenna if possible. The Zenith ZHDTV1 antenna seems to be highly recommended, but it's only UHF and unidirectional. Does anyone have any recommendations for an indoor antenna that will grab most of the UHF and VHF stations? Are there indoor pre-amped versions that work well? Am I dreaming by hoping to get all HD signals with an indoor antenna given my location? My budget is $100. Thoughts?

Yes, you are dreaming. If antennaweb says to use an outdoor antenna with a preamp, an indoor antenna will be a huge disapointment. A preamp is normally used to overcome the line loss of an outdoor antenna. An indoor antenna has very little line loss, so a preamp on an indoor antenna can't be expected to give much benefit. I'd try a medium sized outdoor antenna without a preamp first and then add the preamp only if you have problems.

Comcast Groton / New London area made good on their 2nd channel conversion date. This morning weather channel had moved from 27 to 26. I was unable to check / confirm the addition of DiscoveryHD and inHD2 as I do not turn on the HDTV in the morning before work.

So it's a fun afternoon/evening of redoing the HD DVR's scheduled recording in store for this region!

Thanks Ross. So what would be an equivalent to the Zeinth Silver Sensor that grabs both UHF and VHF? I would obviously like to start with an indoor antenna and I'm hopeful it will work as we live on a hill and I can actually see some antenna farms (although I have no idea whether they are UHF/VHF transmitters...). Thanks!


I'd have to assume your VHF stations are WTXX-DT (12) and WTNH-DT (10). Seeing how high-VHF those are, I would try my luck with a silver sensor first. You *might* be able to get WTNH-DT (although distance in play here too), but I would think WTXX-DT is a shoo-in at that altitude with that distance.

I helped my son set up his antenna in Thomaston and we had a lot of multipath problems.He is on the east side of town on the street across from dunkin donuts. The hill into plymouth screws up his signal. If you are on the west side of town and higher up you should have better luck. We ended up being able to receive WTNH,WCTX,WFSB,WWLP,WTXX and PBS from bridgeport. No good signal from WTIC or WVIT. He cant get a good analog signal from them either. Hope this helps.
What antenna did you use? An indoor one? I am on the West side of town and I would argue that we are within 50 feet of the town's high point. It looks like Pine Hill at 950' is what's screwing things up for your son. I think we're far enough North of it that it shouldn't effffect us.

Attached is the AntennaWeb map. The Frequency Assignments of interest are 35 (101°, 12.6 miles), 10 (175°, 19.8 miles), 12 (101°, 12.6 miles), 45 (101°, 12.6 miles), 31 (101°, 12.6 miles), and 33 (82°, 15.0 miles). I guess I'll start with the Terk HDTVi and see how it goes...

Yes, you are dreaming. If antennaweb says to use an outdoor antenna with a preamp, an indoor antenna will be a huge disapointment. A preamp is normally used to overcome the line loss of an outdoor antenna. An indoor antenna has very little line loss, so a preamp on an indoor antenna can't be expected to give much benefit. I'd try a medium sized outdoor antenna without a preamp first and then add the preamp only if you have problems.
Thanks for the candid response. Again most of the TV will be SD via the TiVo until I get an HD version. I'm just looking for an inexpensive way to supplement our service with some HD for now...

Cool. 5 posts. Here's a link to a TopoZone map showing our location:

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4617608&e=660045&s=48&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25

If you buy an indoor antenna from most electronics stores, you are allowed to return it for a full refund if it does not work to your satisfaction.

So while you may be "dreaming", it doesn't hurt to give it a try and see what happens.

My friend in WILBRAHAM, MA on top of a hill was able to pull in WTNH-DT (10) from New Haven, CT area using his Hitachi CRT RPTV tuner and a UHF Silver Sensor, in addition to many other CT based digital stations.

Antennaweb reported some of them as being in the "Large Directional w/preamp" category and WTNH-DT was not even listed at all because it was too far away regardless of antenna type.

So give it a try. Why not?

Comcast Groton / New London area made good on their 2nd channel conversion date. This morning weather channel had moved from 27 to 26. I was unable to check / confirm the addition of DiscoveryHD and inHD2 as I do not turn on the HDTV in the morning before work.

So it's a fun afternoon/evening of redoing the HD DVR's scheduled recording in store for this region!

Beaker,

To avoid getting lost in all the OTA discussion that has taken over this topic, I created a new one (Hartford, CT - Comcast) that should give Comcast CT customers a better place to discuss issues pertaining to Comcast HDTV.

I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised when you find out that all the recordings migrated to the new channel number assignments (at least they did when they swtiched us over). We have the Motorola 6412, not sure if that had anything to do with it -- I would suspect not.

What antenna did you use? An indoor one? I am on the West side of town and I would argue that we are within 50 feet of the town's high point. It looks like Pine Hill at 950' is what's screwing things up for your son. I think we're far enough North of it that it shouldn't effffect us.

Attached is the AntennaWeb map. The Frequency Assignments of interest are 35 (101°, 12.6 miles), 10 (175°, 19.8 miles), 12 (101°, 12.6 miles), 45 (101°, 12.6 miles), 31 (101°, 12.6 miles), and 33 (82°, 15.0 miles). I guess I'll start with the Terk HDTVi and see how it goes...

i tried a cm 4228 with cm7777 preamp. ended up with a rs combo antenna with the preamp. Had better luck with that. You should be good where you are but i would strongly suggest an outdoor antenna with rotor. I live in Bethlehem and I can get most channels without turning antenna by pointing it in the middle of Hartford and New Haven towers but sometimes depending on weather and things I have to point antenna directly at towers. Digital is very finnicky but worth the work. I installed an antenna for a friend in Waterbury on a very high popint of town and he was ale to get hartford and new haven stations without rotor or preamp with my cm 4228 that i tried at my sons house.

Any reports from CPTV Bridgeport HD? Remember it being contingent on a piece of equipment due back late Sept.

With all the discussion of poeple having trouble recieving WTNH DT, I was looking onTV Radio World and found a new WUVN channel. It happens to be on Ch 10 in Hartford at only 30 watts.
May be a problem for some of you in that area if in fact this exists !
Here is the link,
http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/ct/tv_information.asp?m=har
Hope it helps !

Any reports from CPTV Bridgeport HD? Remember it being contingent on a piece of equipment due back late Sept.

I'm getting WEDW-DT, CPTV, Channel 49.1, Bridgeport, clear and steady.

Hope this helps,
Ceij

Anyone know of any hope of getting UPN and ABC on Cox?

Hi,

Good morning to all.....BrandNewbie here to the HDTV world residing in Hamden, 20 min from New Haven....After discussing w/the wife, we decided to make a move on the HDTivo rebate. After the tech arrived, he suggested that we cancel the ota antenna that D* offered b/c of the trees behind our home. Is there any other way we can get our locals via best buy, radio shack.....antennas or through d* waivers? We thank you in advance for all of your suggestions. In the meantime, I will try to find some answers in this thread........Thanks

Hi,

Good morning to all.....BrandNewbie here to the HDTV world residing in Hamden, 20 min from New Haven....After discussing w/the wife, we decided to make a move on the HDTivo rebate. After the tech arrived, he suggested that we cancel the ota antenna that D* offered b/c of the trees behind our home. Is there any other way we can get our locals via best buy, radio shack.....antennas or through d* waivers? We thank you in advance for all of your suggestions. In the meantime, I will try to find some answers in this thread........Thanks
Hi kimora, wellcome to the forum. For a first estimate of the antenna you will need you can go to www.antennaweb.org and type in your address. The estimates for digital stations that it gives are conservative. You will get the New Haven stations, WCTX 59-1 (digital 39) and especially WTNH 8-1 (on digital 10) very easily. A bit of wire pushed into the antenna connector would work for WTNH. For the Hartford stations it will depend on your elevation; typically you should get them OK with an outdoor antenna. The best way to get an antenna is to order it online from someplace like www.starkelectronic.com www.warrenelectronics.com or www.solidsignal.com . Unless WTXX (20-1, digital 12) is a priority for you then a UHF only antenna would be a good choice. DirectTV will not have HD locals for Connecticut for about a year. Until then I think you can get a waiver for WVIT to get WNBC because NBC owns WVIT but WVIT is not hard to get over the air anyway.

Hi kimora, wellcome to the forum. For a first estimate of the antenna you will need you can go to www.antennaweb.org and type in your address. The estimates for digital stations that it gives are conservative. You will get the New Haven stations, WCTX 59-1 (digital 39) and especially WTNH 8-1 (on digital 10) very easily. A bit of wire pushed into the antenna connector would work for WTNH. For the Hartford stations it will depend on your elevation; typically you should get them OK with an outdoor antenna. The best way to get an antenna is to order it online from someplace like www.starkelectronic.com www.warrenelectronics.com or www.solidsignal.com . Unless WTXX (20-1, digital 12) is a priority for you then a UHF only antenna would be a good choice. DirectTV will not have HD locals for Connecticut for about a year. Until then I think you can get a waiver for WVIT to get WNBC because NBC owns WVIT but WVIT is not hard to get over the air anyway.

You don't need a waiver from WVIT to get WNBC, it is automatic. As far as getting
WTXX, it's likely you will get it with a UHF only antenna like the Channel Master 4228.

Hi,
After the tech arrived, he suggested that we cancel the ota antenna that D* offered b/c of the trees behind our home. Is there any other way we can get our locals via best buy, radio shack.....antennas or through d* waivers? We thank you in advance for all of your suggestions. In the meantime, I will try to find some answers in this thread........Thanks

It's a shame when a professional satellite installer assumes that OTA signals get blocked by trees as easily as satellite signals. It is true that the antenna that DirecTV provides is an underperformer. To begin the antenna selection process, type your address into the following URL:

www.antennaweb.org

You don't need a waiver from WVIT to get WNBC, it is automatic. As far as getting
WTXX, it's likely you will get it with a UHF only antenna like the Channel Master 4228.

raoul5788-

I would like to thank all for the good info, but for nbc, do I just tune in to the d* nbc channel when they broadcast a signal or shall I call d* for the automatically turn on. antennaweb reads "You need a Medium Directional Antenna with pre-amp. " Any specific antennas to buy or places to buy in the hamden area. Thank again to everyone........

raoul5788-

I would like to thank all for the good info, but for nbc, do I just tune in to the d* nbc channel when they broadcast a signal or shall I call d* for the automatically turn on. antennaweb reads "You need a Medium Directional Antenna with pre-amp. " Any specific antennas to buy or places to buy in the hamden area. Thank again to everyone........

kimora,

Welcome. If you subscribe to D* SD locals for CT, check to see if you also have NBC-NY digital on Channel 82. If you do, you're already getting the NBC digital. When D* first started carrying NBC-DT from NY, anyone in CT that sub'd to the local stations automatically received it since NBC owns WVIT; therefore, no waiver required. However, new D* subs since last spring or summer have reported not getting the station automatically. If you don't get it, you should call D* and request it. BUT, access to non-local stations has gotten very confusing since the new law went into effect on satellite carriage restrictions.

I suppose this should be in the Springfield, MA section, but I have 2 questions:

1) I get "40-1" on 55-3 and nothing on 40-1. Are others having the same problem; is it going to be fixed?

2) Any idea when/if 40-1 will be switching to HDTV broadcasting (I know it's a Sinclair station)?

I guess that's 3 questions. Thanks.

raoul5788-
Any specific antennas to buy or places to buy in the hamden area. Thank again to everyone........
The Channelmaster 4228 would be an excellent choice because it is about as good a UHF antenna as you can get and it works surprisingly well for VHF 10 and 12 too. One of the three websites I listed is where I would recommend getting it. (I will link the solidsignal site below because they have the best website not because they are any better than Stark or Warren for buying the items.) For instance:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=&PROD=ANC4228
Since you are so close to New Haven's towers you need to be careful about pre-amplifier overload. If the cable from the antenna is not too long then you might not need a pre-amp for the 4228. If you do need a pre-amp then one of the lower gain Winegard pre-amps would be a good choice:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?CAT=&PROD=ANWHDP269
or for a little more gain:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?CAT=&PROD=SAP8700
or for UHF amplification only:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?CAT=&PROD=SAP4700

If you buy an indoor antenna from most electronics stores, you are allowed to return it for a full refund if it does not work to your satisfaction.

So while you may be "dreaming", it doesn't hurt to give it a try and see what happens.

My friend in WILBRAHAM, MA on top of a hill was able to pull in WTNH-DT (10) from New Haven, CT area using his Hitachi CRT RPTV tuner and a UHF Silver Sensor, in addition to many other CT based digital stations.

Antennaweb reported some of them as being in the "Large Directional w/preamp" category and WTNH-DT was not even listed at all because it was too far away regardless of antenna type.

So give it a try. Why not?
Well, I'm able to get WFSB, WTNH, WTXX and a couple of other digital stations. I haven't played with the Terk HDTVi much. Just basically plugged it in and roughly pointed it towards the transmitters. I could see how I'd do better with an outdoor antenna.

I do see one huge problem with HD though - I makes you wish all that SD was HD too. I was watching Letterman and Leno the other night in HD......wow! :eek:

I'm getting WEDW-DT, CPTV, Channel 49.1, Bridgeport, clear and steady.

Hope this helps,
Ceij


Yeah, their signal hasn't gone off, but they've been unable to broadcast anything in HD for a while, due to equipment failure. Just looking for an HD sighting or 2 :)

Have green screen on WFSB via Comcast (803)...it's on in SD, so presume not a blackout situation?

never mind, it's on now...guess I'll check w/ comcast if it happens again

A little help here please. I live in Shelton, 1/2 mile northwest of Huntington Center. I have D* now and get the big 4 locals in HD because of being in the NY DMA.

Anyway, I'm sick of the poor picture on D*, and would like to try out cable, which in Shelton(along with most of the valley) is Tele-Media cable, which is owned by Adelphia.

They offer CBS, NBC, and Fox in HD, ABC used to be available, but was turned off over a year ago and never turned back on. I know that I can get ABC with and antenna because I was able to get it before D* turned on ABC. But what else will be available to me with a good antenna(I had a cheap one that was never mounted on the roof, but it broke when I was putting it away)? What antenna should I look at?

Would I be able to get WB? I guess that's the only other channel that I would want. Tele-media offers the rest of the big HD channels except for Universal HD, but there really isn't too much on that so I don't really worry about it.

Does anyone here have Telemedia HD? How is it? Do they have a DVR? If they do, is it able to record OTA broadcasts, or only what comes over the cable line?

Anything else that I should know about in researching this? When will the Adelphia buyout be completed? Who is going to be the new cable company in this area? What will they offer?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for all the questions.

Charter adding PBS digital from Bridgeport Oct 12th.

I am an engineer from WFSB! Why are we not safe? I would like to know!


:mad:

Glad to see you on the boards - I'm sure we'd all love to be able to share any info/issues we have with WTIC / WTXX. I've personally been quite lucky with both channels here in Wallingford, in fact, the HD signal on some of the WTXX shows has been absolutely stellar the last week or two. As long as you're not an engineer from WFSB, you're safe........ ;)

Here's my quick question. The rumor for a while was that WTIC was moving their transmitter(?) up the tower to a higher location similar to WVIT's. Can you either confirm or deny that statement ? Most of us get WVIT at a signal of @ 90 while WTIC tends to be @ 70. Thanks in advance.

A little help here please. I live in Shelton, 1/2 mile northwest of Huntington Center. I have D* now and get the big 4 locals in HD because of being in the NY DMA.

Anyway, I'm sick of the poor picture on D*, and would like to try out cable, which in Shelton(along with most of the valley) is Tele-Media cable, which is owned by Adelphia.
I am also in Shelton and was in the same situation you are in a couple years ago. I am with Tele-Media right now. I will try to answer you many questions quickly but most of them have already been discussed on the Connecticut - TeleMedia thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=314315&page=1&pp=30)

They offer CBS, NBC, and Fox in HD, ABC used to be available, but was turned off over a year ago and never turned back on. I know that I can get ABC with and antenna because I was able to get it before D* turned on ABC. But what else will be available to me with a good antenna(I had a cheap one that was never mounted on the roof, but it broke when I was putting it away)? What antenna should I look at?

Would I be able to get WB? I guess that's the only other channel that I would want. Tele-media offers the rest of the big HD channels except for Universal HD, but there really isn't too much on that so I don't really worry about it.
For major networks, Tele-Media also has PBS and will be offering ABC in the very near future. Probably by the end of the month. In Shelton, a little indoor VHF antenna should be enough to pull in ABC since they are right in our back yard. A slightly larger antenna will give you WB, UPN, PBS, and a Spanish channel. FOX, NBC, and CBS are more difficult to get because we are in the valley. An antenna mounted in the roof is the only way to go. Put a rotor on it and you can pick up most of the NYC channels too.

Tele-Media is the only cable company in CT to offer both InHD, both HDNet, and both ESPN-HD channels as well as Discovery and NFL Network. A channel listing is in the thread mentioned above.

Does anyone here have Telemedia HD? How is it? Do they have a DVR? If they do, is it able to record OTA broadcasts, or only what comes over the cable line?
Believe it on not, Tele-Media does a fantastic job with their HD offerings and PQ. Much better than the HD Lite offered by D*. Tele-Media does have a DVR (SA 8300HD) which does a good job but does not record OTA. You are able to record 2 HD programs at the same time while watching a third.

Anything else that I should know about in researching this? When will the Adelphia buyout be completed? Who is going to be the new cable company in this area? What will they offer? Thanks in advance, and sorry for all the questions.
The Adelphia buyout is trying to be completed by the New Year. Comcast will be the new company. I have been told that Adelphia and Comcast's programming will be combined so no one will loose channels, just gain channels because Comcast will own the contracts for both companies. Look for Universal-HD, YES-HD, the new Mets Network SportsNet NY-HD, and possibly others to be added around the merger date.

Hope this helps. Like I said, check out the Connecticut - Telemedia thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=314315&page=1&pp=30).

Thanks, that's alot of good info. I would love to pull in WB OTA so I can watch smallville. Will have to research getting an antenna.

Any idea what direction you need to look to get WB?

PS, where in Shelton are you?

WB (WTXX) in Connecticut is out of Waterbury so basically just point north. I am watching Smallville a season behind on HDNet.

I am off of Buddington Road in one of the condo developments.

Last year I spoke to an engineer from wtxx and he told me that they weren't doing HD at full power, and I wouldn't be able to receive it in Shelton. I take it things have changed now.

Do you have a recomendation as to what antenna to get, or where to get one from?

WTXX-DT, channel 12 is on the same tower as WTIC near Hartford. They are not near the top of the tower at this time, so in most locations they are not as strong as they will be when the antenna is moved to the top af the tower. John

WTXX-DT, channel 12 is on the same tower as WTIC near Hartford. They are not near the top of the tower at this time, so in most locations they are not as strong as they will be when the antenna is moved to the top af the tower. John


So, can I get it in Shelton or not?

So, can I get it in Shelton or not?

You should be able to get it with a roof mounted antenna.

I am an engineer from WFSB! Why are we not safe? I would like to know!


:mad:

You're kidding, right? On the off chance you're serious, I'll bite. WFSB's reputation on this forum is right down there with dirt - there's even a whole thread called "WFSB sucks" (since renamed). Your station consistently ignores requests for information or help from your HD viewers, and when it has rarely responded, it has consistently stonewalled or mislead. Even now, with your station supposedly transmitting at "high power", many of your viewers (I should say potential viewers) cannot pick up your signal - yet your station refuses to grant waivers so we can watch CBS in HD on D*.

Ross

So, can I get it in Shelton or not?

harlenm:
If you are up high enough in Shelton, you'll be able to pull in almost all NYC stations with a really good outdoor antenna.
I believe UPN 9 out of NYC is broadcasting on Channel 38. I can get it in Seymour on a good day (about 40% of the time) with an old semi-good receiver and about 90% of the time with a newer receiver.
I can't get anything from the Hartford area due to a hill near me.

harlenm:
If you are up high enough in Shelton, you'll be able to pull in almost all NYC stations with a really good outdoor antenna.
I believe UPN 9 out of NYC is broadcasting on Channel 38. I can get it in Seymour on a good day (about 40% of the time) with an old semi-good receiver and about 90% of the time with a newer receiver.
I can't get anything from the Hartford area due to a hill near me.

I can't mount my antenna on the roof due to the weather, but it's mounted on my porch on a 10 foot pole. I can pull in WVIT at about 65% or so, but can't see WTXX. I didn't try to get anything from NY. I don't think that I will be able to get WTXX with this antenna, I don't think the stuff from Radio Shack is any good. Will mount on the roof on Sunday, see what I can get, and if I can't get WTXX, will return the antenna and order a good one from one of the online sites.

I can't mount my antenna on the roof due to the weather, but it's mounted on my porch on a 10 foot pole. I can pull in WVIT at about 65% or so, but can't see WTXX. I didn't try to get anything from NY. I don't think that I will be able to get WTXX with this antenna, I don't think the stuff from Radio Shack is any good. Will mount on the roof on Sunday, see what I can get, and if I can't get WTXX, will return the antenna and order a good one from one of the online sites.

I don't think you will get WTXX in Shelton until they move to the top of broadcast tower. They are the lowest antenna now. WTIC is higher on tower. I only live 20 miles from towers and Both channels are touchy in the summer when leaves are on trees. You might have better luck with WPIX from NYC. They are on channel 33 which is also WFSB but you might be far away enough from Avon that it won't interfere.

A few of you may be interested to see where some of your OTA signals are coming from. Here are a couple of links to a tour of the Avon Mountain site where the WFSB and CPTV towers are located. This guy is primarily a radio guy and the main focus is the WTIC (AM & FM) antennas, but he pretty much covers everything. Here is Part 1:
Avon Tower Tour - part 1 (http://www.fybush.com/site-020926.html)

And here is Part 2:
Avon Tower Tour - Part 2 (http://www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html)

(After Monday 10/18/05, that second link is likely to take you to whatever tower site he is featuring for that particular week but if you go to the "Archives" you should find the correct link listed under "Connecticut.")

Since there is an existing 600 post/2 year old thread (that somehow I missed when setting up the DMA Index) for Telemedia cable here:
Connecticut - Telemedia (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=314315)

and a recently started thread for Comcast here:
Hartford, CT - Comcast (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=585963)

I'm changing this thread to the Hartford, CT - OTA thread - it appears the vast majority of posts are OTA related anyway. If any of you have an interest in both cable and OTA, be sure to check out these other threads.

The Index is auto-updated every day or two, so the new threads should be included shortly.

SOL to the Cox crowd?

It will likely change to "Cable". Charter is in Roxbury.

What areas does Cox cover?

SOL to the Cox crowd?

Start a Cox thread.

Start a Cox thread.

That's the best solution. No point in discussing Cox cable in a primarily Comcast thread.

Scratch what I said about a single "Cable" thread. Some areas do that, but there is very little if any common ground between different cable companies.

You need a Cox thread then. Covers a big portion of CT.

You need a Cox thread then. Covers a big portion of CT.

Attached is a cable franchise map for CT, last updated in 2004, but probably still pretty accurate.

Comcast is the biggest in CT, followed by Charter and Cox and then it gets into pretty small shares beyond that.

Speaking of Cox, Channel 701(CBS) is missing from the Guide. I encourage people with this problem to call Cox as I did.

Cox thread for Hartford was started here:

Hartford, CT - Cox (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=592183)

This may have been covered, but this thread is pretty deep so I have had a hard time locating information on this.

I know WCTX (UPN) is broadcasting digitally, but not passing the HD signal. Does anyone know why that is, or when that might change?

This may have been covered, but this thread is pretty deep so I have had a hard time locating information on this.

I know WCTX (UPN) is broadcasting digitally, but not passing the HD signal. Does anyone know why that is, or when that might change?

From the WCTX website:

Due to technical difficulties WCTX cannot broadcast programs in High Definition from UPN. You will still be able to view the program digitally. We are working to resolve the problem. Thank you for your patience.

From the WCTX website:

Due to technical difficulties WCTX cannot broadcast programs in High Definition from UPN. You will still be able to view the program digitally. We are working to resolve the problem. Thank you for your patience. Yeah, I dug that up, but thank you. I was kinda curious what "technical difficulties" actually amounted to :).

Trying to watch baseball and I'm getting a black picture. Anyone else have a problem? It's been this way since I checked about 8pm tonight. It's not a signal issue as I have 90s on the meter, although it's dropping repeatedly to the 60s every few seconds no matter where I point the antenna.

Trying to watch baseball and I'm getting a black picture. Anyone else have a problem? It's been this way since I checked about 8pm tonight. It's not a signal issue as I have 90s on the meter, although it's dropping repeatedly to the 60s every few seconds no matter where I point the antenna.

Same thing here in Cheshire, although the HD cable channel is okay.

I'm having the same problem in Durham with my LG 3510 STB. I deleted the station and tried going to 31-1, no change still no game. I also have a Radio Shack tuner which is connected to another antenna. I tried that one and FOX comes in fine only on if I use enter 31, it doesn't come in if I use 61 or the remapped channel.

The last time this problem existed WTIC was unknowingly having problems with their psip equipment at that time I rescanned and FOX came back. Try using 31 and if that doesn't work you might have to delete and rescan your channels.

Good luck.

Joel

Great (if huge) thread. Very newbie question here. I have D* but no locals in HD. I too live in Hamden, so the recs given earlier are ervery helpful. My question is on the logistics of adding the antenna. My HD setup is in the basement. If I were to place a small multidirectional down there would I get the New Haven stations? Getting onto the roof for a directional antenna would be a challenge.

If I were to climb up there, can I plug an antenna into the D* 3-LNB dish? I've never looked at it to know if it's setup to do that or if I'd need diplexers and the like.

Thanks so much,
-Rob

Great (if huge) thread. Very newbie question here. I have D* but no locals in HD. I too live in Hamden, so the recs given earlier are ervery helpful. My question is on the logistics of adding the antenna. My HD setup is in the basement. If I were to place a small multidirectional down there would I get the New Haven stations? Getting onto the roof for a directional antenna would be a challenge.

If I were to climb up there, can I plug an antenna into the D* 3-LNB dish? I've never looked at it to know if it's setup to do that or if I'd need diplexers and the like.

Thanks so much,
-Rob

Rob,

Welcome aboard. As far as picking up the New Haven station (Channel 8), you should have no problem using even a Radio Shack antenna to pick it up. Many of us in the same area have been able to just plug a piece of coax into the receiver and pick up Channel 8 just fine. Your only problem will be the Hartford/Avon stations (3,30,61, etc). I don't see how a small multidirectional antenna in your basement would get those at all. My opinion would be (unless your roof is steeply pitched) to get something like the ChannelMaster 4228 antenna (which says UHF only, but believe me you'll pick up Channel 8 just fine with it) and put it on your roof. Orientate it towards Hartford to get the Hartford stations and you'll probably be able to get 8 as well. If you can't get on the roof, chances are you'll only be able to get 8 in HD - nothing else. The only thing I'd be a little worried about is your proximity to the Channel 8 tower, which I believe is also in Hamden. The signal may be so strong there that it overdrives your receiver. That's why you may get lucky with the UHF-only antenna that'll pick up Channel 8 by default.

WTIC-DT FOX61 is having problems with their channel mapping again.

According to my over the air tuner last night, WTIC-DT appears as subchannel 31.3 that is supposed to map over to 61.1 on your TV set's channel list.

However 61.1 is not working YET AGAIN.

Having grown sick of WTIC-DT 61.1 disappearing every 2 weeks or so, I give up.

I manually programmed 31.3 into my channel list so that I don't need to deal with the 61.1 blank picture problem any more.

If your TV tuner supports this type of manual channel addition, I suggest that you do the same.

WTIC-DT FOX61 is having problems with their channel mapping again.

According to my over the air tuner last night, WTIC-DT appears as subchannel 31.3 that is supposed to map over to 61.1 on your TV set's channel list.

However 61.1 is not working YET AGAIN.

Having grown sick of WTIC-DT 61.1 disappearing every 2 weeks or so, I give up.

I manually programmed 31.3 into my channel list so that I don't need to deal with the 61.1 blank picture problem any more.

If your TV tuner supports this type of manual channel addition, I suggest that you do the same.

Sorry to rant but.....
There seems to be a very lax attitude towards OTA DT from broadcasters. I think they'd prefer to supply content only by cable and not have to worry about transmitters and such. Last night was the NLCS which Fox has paid a lot for the rights to, and advertisers pay a premium to buy airtime during, and Fox 61 DT had dead air. This is top flight HD programming and they f'd it up. There doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency, as if DT is just an experimental broadcast. I don't mean to jump on the engineer who's on the boards here, but isn't this something that someone is paying attention to? So that it gets resolved within minutes or hours, rather than still being a blank screen some 24hrs later??? If it wasn't for this board I'd be watching House in SD tonight.

Sorry to rant but.....
There seems to be a very lax attitude towards OTA DT from broadcasters. I don't mean to jump on the engineer who's on the boards here, but isn't this something that someone is paying attention to? So that it gets resolved within minutes or hours, rather than still being a blank screen some 24hrs later???

In most cases, the DTV receiver in the master control room never gets turned off. This means that the tuner can still receive the signal because it is already locked on to the defective bit stream. The operator could only learn of the failure by switching to another channel and finding that they can't switch back, but they are trained to keep the receiver on their own channel. This forum can help them if they are paying attention. Better yet, call them on the phone and tell them.

Sorry to rant but.....
There seems to be a very lax attitude towards OTA DT from broadcasters. I think they'd prefer to supply content only by cable and not have to worry about transmitters and such. Last night was the NLCS which Fox has paid a lot for the rights to, and advertisers pay a premium to buy airtime during, and Fox 61 DT had dead air. This is top flight HD programming and they f'd it up. There doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency, as if DT is just an experimental broadcast. I don't mean to jump on the engineer who's on the boards here, but isn't this something that someone is paying attention to? So that it gets resolved within minutes or hours, rather than still being a blank screen some 24hrs later??? If it wasn't for this board I'd be watching House in SD tonight.

The cable companies or the one I work for and one other over on this end of the
state recieve the HD broadcasters via antenna just like you.
The recievers look at the broadcast digital channel only not the mapped channel.
The PSIP data for mapping and programing is passed through for TV's that accept
clear-QAM signals, the cable box does its own mapping to put the channel on the
number specified by the cable company.
So the problems by the broadsters can affect cable if the problem is that severe.
I don't think it is a lax attitude but a newer technoligy that needs all the bugs
worked out.
Analog is an old dog and stable because it has been around for many years.

I suppose, but some of these channels have been broadcasting for 2+ years now with the same reoccuring issues.

Yea and they also can't seem to figure out how to put local insertion in like lotto numbers
or severe weather reports and keep the HD and 5.1 passing through.
Thought that one would have been figured out from the getgo.
I don't know the Feds pushed to get these digi channels up and running and now the
broadcasters are stuck with maintaining the 2 channels so I kinda feel for some of them.
Ch 8 has been on for 5 years now and they still have issues, so there is still problems with
this technology, they just settled on a PSIP format of some kind what a year ago?

I don't know the Feds pushed to get these digi channels up and running and now the
broadcasters are stuck with maintaining the 2 channels so I kinda feel for some of them.
?

Disclaimer: I'm not a broadcast engineer. With that out of the way, my opinion is that until all these OTA stations are faced with a drop dead date for when they have to switch off analog and go digital only, they will not give their digital signal the priority it needs. That's just human nature. I'm not saying this date has to be tomorrow or in six months, but there needs to be a date certain. Period.

Yes you are right there needs to be a date but that isn't going to fix the OTA problems
with the digi channels that quick .
Some it will like the issue with existing analogs beating on new digi channels that were
assigned the same channel in a close by market, that type of stuff isn't the broadcasters
fault is it?
Most of the big cableco's in connecticut are getting the analog locals via a fiber studio
feed so there is no problem with those, except maby when somebody takes down telephone pole with their front bumper.
I am in no way defending them completely, beleive me if you have had some of the
conversations that I have had with most of them you wouldn't.
But I am in the buisness and know what is like to have a new thing mandated on
you and have to deal with it with customers that just want to watch TV, the latest
one that rates up there with this is Cablecard TV's.
The Feds mandate the TV maurfacturers have to produce them and the cableco's
have to offer them and they mesh with some TV's and not with others and the
customers get mad at us.
They are a great idea but rushed out way to fast and have way too many bugs.
I was just trying to give the guy a heads up on the way thing are done and not
sell the local broadcasters to him!

Yea and they also can't seem to figure out how to put local insertion in like lotto numbers
or severe weather reports and keep the HD and 5.1 passing through.
Thought that one would have been figured out from the getgo.


They do know how, but it requires investing money in some infrastructure and they probably have determined that their money can be better spent elsewhere. The local stations have the capability to put network HD programming on the air but not to originate their own HD content. In the case of WFSB (and I presume WTIC and the others may be in the same boat), the HD signal never actually enters the local control room. Instead it is fed directly to the transmitter and merely switched from the control room. So, when something such as a weather alert or the lottery numbers need to be added locally, they have no way to combine the local content with the network HD content so they have to superimpose their graphics over the network's SD feed which does come in to the downtown bulding, and then put that entire video programing on the digital channel for as long as the graphic needs to stay on screen. Then they remotely switch back to the HD feed.

I wish I could figure out why the volume on ABC is soooo much softer than any of the other stations. When I change to that chanel I have to jack my volume way up, which makes it hard when I switch channels ;)

Well, I finally put my atenna up on the roof. I can see WVIT at 80%, but can't find WTXX at all. I don't know if it's because I bought a Radio Shack antenna, but it just doesn't work. Pointing at NYC now to see if I can get anything, but I doubt it.

This really sucks, the one channel I want I can't find. Right now the antenna is about 20 feet above ground. I have a taller mast and can get it at 25 feet, but I don't think it will matter.

Guess I'll have to try a new antenna.

Well, I mounted the antenna on the taller mast. I can see wvit at 86-93%, but still no WTXX.

This sucks!!

Hello
What a great, long, information rich thread. I have enjoyed reading and learning.
I am canceling my basic cable service due to the fact that the few programs we
watch are carried by local channels available OTA. As such I am researching
the equipment I will need to receive them. Antennaweb(dot) o r g produced the following map of available stations, which I am unable to link to through this new account.

Of these potentially available channels those of interest are 22, 57, 40 to the Northwest of my location and 30, 61, 20, 24, 3, 8 to the Southwest. They range from 14.5 to 48.7 miles away and are separated by 76 degrees, from 228 to 304 degrees.

I live in Somers at the base of the mountain, in a single story house, with tall white pine and various deciduous trees more or less surrounding my house, though somewhat sparse to the Southwest.

I am considering the DB8 from Antennas Direct, with a pre-amp, roof mounted. No rotor to begin with in hopes that I can position it such that it will receive the target stations.

I cannot allocate the cash to conduct a trial and error experiment, I am hoping that perhaps those of you with vastly more knowledge than I can help me to get it right the first time, or go with equipment upon which I can add to accomplish my goal rather than replace. I would appreciate any and all feedback, advice, or sharing of knowledge anyone would be so kind as to provide me.

Thanks in advance
WyoNative

Well, I mounted the antenna on the taller mast. I can see wvit at 86-93%, but still no WTXX.

This sucks!!

You aren't going to get WTXX until they change their transmitter no matter what antenna you use. Can you get WTIC? They are on the same tower a little higher up than WTXX. WVIT is on the tower next to it at the top of the tower. Hopefully next year they will fix this. Doubt they have time this year before winter gets here.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Will just hope that Adelphia gets WBHD sometime soon.

Hello
What a great, long, information rich thread. I have enjoyed reading and learning.
I am canceling my basic cable service due to the fact that the few programs we
watch are carried by local channels available OTA. As such I am researching
the equipment I will need to receive them. Antennaweb(dot) o r g produced the following map of available stations, which I am unable to link to through this new account.

Of these potentially available channels those of interest are 22, 57, 40 to the Northwest of my location and 30, 61, 20, 24, 3, 8 to the Southwest. They range from 14.5 to 48.7 miles away and are separated by 76 degrees, from 228 to 304 degrees.

I live in Somers at the base of the mountain, in a single story house, with tall white pine and various deciduous trees more or less surrounding my house, though somewhat sparse to the Southwest.

I am considering the DB8 from Antennas Direct, with a pre-amp, roof mounted. No rotor to begin with in hopes that I can position it such that it will receive the target stations.

I cannot allocate the cash to conduct a trial and error experiment, I am hoping that perhaps those of you with vastly more knowledge than I can help me to get it right the first time, or go with equipment upon which I can add to accomplish my goal rather than replace. I would appreciate any and all feedback, advice, or sharing of knowledge anyone would be so kind as to provide me.

Thanks in advance
WyoNative

WyoNative - Unfortunately, getting good OTA reception and trial and error often go hand-in-hand. You mentioned you live at the base of a mountain, but didn't state where that mountain is in relation to the transmitters you are interested in receiving. Trees (heavy foliage) can be an issue with UHF reception, not so much so with VHF. With the wide transmitter location spread you describe, if you're hoping to get all those stations, there's no way you're going to get by without a rotor. However, if you're willing to focus on the CT stations (Hartford and New Haven), you'll probably get by without - the fact that you mention the trees are more sparse to the southwest should help with that as well. Personally, I would go with the CM4228 (just as good as the DB8, but a lot less expensive) and a CM7777 preamp.

Your choice of the DB8 suggests you're only interested in the UHF stations - keep in mind that WTNH (ABC, New Haven) is VHF. Having said that, WTNH's signal is so strong and it's in the high VHF band, that either the DB8 or CM4228 may pick it up - but that's an example of where the trial and error come in. If you want to be sure, you'll want to pick up a ch 10 yagi as well (which can be combined with the UHF antenna using the CM7777 preamp), or get a good UHF/VHF antenna. I have no experience with the combo antennas, so I'll let someone else recommend one of those (or go to the ChannelMaster website and find one that matches your requirements).

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Ross

WyoNative - Unfortunately, getting good OTA reception and trial and error often go hand-in-hand. You mentioned you live at the base of a mountain, but didn't state where that mountain is in relation to the transmitters you are interested in receiving. Trees (heavy foliage) can be an issue with UHF reception, not so much so with VHF. With the wide transmitter location spread you describe, if you're hoping to get all those stations, there's no way you're going to get by without a rotor. However, if you're willing to focus on the CT stations (Hartford and New Haven), you'll probably get by without - the fact that you mention the trees are more sparse to the southwest should help with that as well. Personally, I would go with the CM4228 (just as good as the DB8, but a lot less expensive) and a CM7777 preamp.

Your choice of the DB8 suggests you're only interested in the UHF stations - keep in mind that WTNH (ABC, New Haven) is VHF. Having said that, WTNH's signal is so strong and it's in the high VHF band, that either the DB8 or CM4228 may pick it up - but that's an example of where the trial and error come in. If you want to be sure, you'll want to pick up a ch 10 yagi as well (which can be combined with the UHF antenna using the CM7777 preamp), or get a good UHF/VHF antenna. I have no experience with the combo antennas, so I'll let someone else recommend one of those (or go to the ChannelMaster website and find one that matches your requirements).

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Ross
I agree with your advice. The 4228 should also be much better at getting WTNH than a DB8 would be; because of the way the feed and reflector work the 4228 is actually fairly decent at the channel 10 frequency. If I knew WyoNative's lat and long I could do a radiomobile prediction of the signal strength from the broadcasters but that would not include the loss from the nearby trees.

WTIC-DT FOX61 is having problems with their channel mapping again.

According to my over the air tuner last night, WTIC-DT appears as subchannel 31.3 that is supposed to map over to 61.1 on your TV set's channel list.

However 61.1 is not working YET AGAIN.

Having grown sick of WTIC-DT 61.1 disappearing every 2 weeks or so, I give up.

I manually programmed 31.3 into my channel list so that I don't need to deal with the 61.1 blank picture problem any more.

If your TV tuner supports this type of manual channel addition, I suggest that you do the same.
It looks like 61.1 is working again. At least it was fixed fairly quickly this time.

Alright, I've had it with the DirecTV installed batwing. I'm lucky enough that this POS gives me all our locals. However, the slightest precipitation and I lose WB and ABC... not good when you are Tivo'ing Lost or Smallville. Anyway, can anyone recommend a directional antenna. Given that I live in Windsor, all our channels are within 6 degrees of each other and all within 10-20 miles, minus abc 8 which is 35 miles. I couldn't care less about pulling in Springfield, I just want Hartford/New Haven in stellar quality. With all that being said, my goal would be to continue using a diplexer (adding another wire is not an option), nothing too large (not traveling great distance and on flat ground), and not powered.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!

That should never happen. Your dish isn't aimed correctly. I have directv and it will never lose signal unless it's the heaviest of rain. Even during the 8 days of non stop rain I only lost signal for about 10 minutes on one evening.

You also could have a bad connection and water is getting into the wiring. Take a look at your signal levels for all the satelites and all the transponders, and then do it again when it rains.

Most likely your dish needs to be re-aligned slightly.

Sorry I should have elaborated, I'm talking about Over the Air HD. My DirecTV works beautifully. The OTA antenna they gave me is the source of my problem.

Just to expand upon my last post, I'm looking at the channel Master 3016.

Sorry I should have elaborated, I'm talking about Over the Air HD. My DirecTV works beautifully. The OTA antenna they gave me is the source of my problem.

Just to expand upon my last post, I'm looking at the channel Master 3016.

I would think the CM3016 is a reasonable choice....

Ross

Thank you Ross and deconvolver for your input.

The mountain/hill is to my east, so no impact (as far as being an obstruction) to my reception, I would think.

I had looked at the CM4228, will go with that, and the CM7777, and a CM9521A as well; I will try this setup initially and add a Yagi ch10 if it is necessary.

Unless the radiomobile prediction results suggest some other combination.

Generally speaking I am not at all opposed to trial and error, problem is most of my *projects* have this characteristic which drives my wife crazy. this tv is for her mostly and my life will be much easier if I can complete this in a one-shot-deal. Guess we will see...

Sorry I should have elaborated, I'm talking about Over the Air HD. My DirecTV works beautifully. The OTA antenna they gave me is the source of my problem.

Just to expand upon my last post, I'm looking at the channel Master 3016.

I guess you aren't in Ffld county, we get locals in HD from Directv.

Thank you Ross and deconvolver for your input.


Generally speaking I am not at all opposed to trial and error, problem is most of my *projects* have this characteristic which drives my wife crazy. this tv is for her mostly and my life will be much easier if I can complete this in a one-shot-deal. Guess we will see...

I think many of us empathize with you on the whole WAF (Wife Aggravation Factor). Being that I just completed a massive Trial & Error project on my own, I have to say that getting OTA here in CT seems to be a continual process of trial and error. My wife has gotten to the point where she's absolutely fed up with my yelling off the roof "how's the signal ?" to her that she now makes me enlist the help of friends when I'm screwing around with my antennas. Oh well, the price you pay for OTA HD ...........

I guess you aren't in Ffld county, we get locals in HD from Directv.

I think I may just have to convince D* that I've "moved" ;) to Fairfield county to get HD signals from D*. Wonder if the HD signal for the NY locals on D* compares to OTA. I've got to assume that the OTA signal (being uncompressed) would be substantially better, but I'll defer to those of you down in Fairfield county.

I guess you aren't in Ffld county, we get locals in HD from Directv.

Doh! Oh well, I figure with a slightly stronger antenna I should be golden. OTA does look much better then the rest of DirecTV's HD... can't speak for the NY feeds though.

Thank you Ross and deconvolver for your input.

My coordinates are ...

The mountain/hill is to my east, so no impact (as far as being an obstruction) to my reception, I would think.

I had looked at the CM4228, will go with that, and the CM7777, and a CM9521A as well; I will try this setup initially and add a Yagi ch10 if it is necessary.

Unless the radiomobile prediction results suggest some other combination.

Generally speaking I am not at all opposed to trial and error, problem is most of my *projects* have this characteristic which drives my wife crazy. this tv is for her mostly and my life will be much easier if I can complete this in a one-shot-deal. Guess we will see...
Radiomobile says that you are at 482 feet above mean sea level. If this sounds right then you should get a strong signal from the Hartford and Springfield stations :) The predicted signal margins were about 50 dB for WFSB; 45 dB for WWLP; around 40 dB for WTIC and WVIT; 38 dB for WTNH; 32 dB for WTXX and 27 dB for WCTX. The unknown is how much loss your trees will cause. Still, except for WTXX and WCTX all the stations should be fairly strong. Because of the strong signals from WFSB and WWLP I would recommend either no amplifier or an amplifier with better overload capability than the CM 7777. The Winegard AP-8700 would be a good choice or the Winegard HDP-269 could be used for even less gain.

These signal strengths are high enough that www.antennaweb.org should give you usable predictions for your ability to get the digital channels. What does it predict?

Twice in the last two weeks I had to call WTNH to have them switch to their Hi-Def feed. Last friday night My Daughter was watching Hope and Faith and it was in Standard def. Called them to switch it asked why their was a problem the engineer on duty laughted and said theirs alot of new people. I stated I can't believe it was that difficult he then proceeded to hang up on me. At least they switched it 30 seconds later. This has also happened on Monday night football and desperate housewifes. Until the Local stations take the Hi-Def audience seriously I see a long road ahead for the tecnology. Oh by the way ABC's Hi-def audio is allways lower than any other channel and Lip Sync is allways off.

I think I may just have to convince D* that I've "moved" ;) to Fairfield county to get HD signals from D*. Wonder if the HD signal for the NY locals on D* compares to OTA. I've got to assume that the OTA signal (being uncompressed) would be substantially better, but I'll defer to those of you down in Fairfield county.

D* HD is awful. I'm trying out cable now and it's better. Not as good as OTA, but better.

On a night that had lots of HD, the picture on D* was unwatchable.

Senate panel voted to eliminate analog OTA broadcasts by April 7, 2009.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001349068

Snip... DirectTV will not have HD locals for Connecticut for about a year. Snip..
Isn't D* promissing HD locals for 8 or 10 cities only, starting in 2006? I haven't seen the Hartford/CT market mentioned anywhere. Have I missed the annoucement?

kimora,

Welcome. If you subscribe to D* SD locals for CT, check to see if you also have NBC-NY digital on Channel 82. If you do, you're already getting the NBC digital. When D* first started carrying NBC-DT from NY, anyone in CT that sub'd to the local stations automatically received it since NBC owns WVIT; therefore, no waiver required. However, new D* subs since last spring or summer have reported not getting the station automatically. If you don't get it, you should call D* and request it. BUT, access to non-local stations has gotten very confusing since the new law went into effect on satellite carriage restrictions.
Chris,

Does this also hold true for the HD feed?

Frank

Believe it on not, Tele-Media does a fantastic job with their HD offerings and PQ. Much better than the HD Lite offered by D*.
I receive a few HD channels (Discovery, HBO) from D* and they look fine? Are you saying the over compress the network channels?? I'm confused by the HD Lite reference :confused:.

Thanks,

Frank

WB (WTXX) in Connecticut is out of Waterbury so basically just point north. I am watching Smallville a season behind on HDNet.

I am off of Buddington Road in one of the condo developments.
According to antennaweb.org and my reception ;), WTXX's antenna is in Avon at the same location as WTIC-DT.

Isn't D* promissing HD locals for 8 or 10 cities only, starting in 2006? I haven't seen the Hartford/CT market mentioned anywhere. Have I missed the annoucement?
From memory I think that D* will start with 10 cities and then continue to expand into the remaining top markets using capacity in the new satellites that they will have put up this year (one more to go). The one year was my guess at the time I posted; it could be sooner or possibly later but to meet their timetable for full HD LIL I would not expect it to be much later unless they have a serious technical problem.

NY DMA is the first to be turned on, and Ffld county is in that market, not the hartford market which is the rest of the state.

Deconvolver
Antennaweb dot o_r_g predicted yellow to lt green reception for all the stations I indicated an interest in picking up, with the exception of the New Haven station which was violet.

Thanks
WyoNative

Chris,

Does this also hold true for the HD feed?

Frank

Channel 82 is NBC-NY digital and has HD content when NBC has a show in HD - if that's what you're asking.

As for receiving CT local digital channels (and hence HD content), in November D* will start to make local digital channels available in the top 12 markets (i.e., DMAs). In fact, they are now testing new dishes and new boxes using MPEG4 compression in Detroit. The other top 11 should follow soon. After that, D* will announce additional markets as time goes on. Last I looked, CT is DMA No. 27; so, we should get our CT local digital channels by mid year 2006 or so, though that is just my guess. From what I'm reading on the Hardware forum, you will need a new 5-LNB dish and new HD boxes to get the channels. These new boxes will get the new MPEG4 channels as well as the existing MPEG2 channels. A new one or two year commitment will be required to get the hardware free or at low cost. If you want to know more, follow this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=592525

This is the new dish for directv for mpeg4.

http://www.solidsignal.com/images/products/AT59_zoom.gif

Wish we were getting them soon :(

I'm not digital yet but I'm researching.

Wish we were getting them soon :(
If you read a bit of this Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6414573&&#post6414573) you'll see that it isn't all roses. D* will be working out the bugs in Detroit. It's a test more than a deployment.

I'll be happy once the bugs are worked out, the PQ is comparable to OTA, AND I can use my HD TiVo with the new mpeg4 format...

Frank :cool:

If you read a bit of this Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6414573&&#post6414573) you'll see that it isn't all roses. D* will be working out the bugs in Detroit. It's a test more than a deployment.

I'll be happy once the bugs are worked out, the PQ is comparable to OTA, AND I can use my HD TiVo with the new mpeg4 format...

Frank :cool:

Hey Frank that thread you linked is THIS thread. ;)

LOL, it's links to a post 4 posts up!

Hi Guys,

I was playing around last night with WTXX. I'm finally able to get it with my indoor antenna. :)

10:00PM rolls around and I noticed that WTXX news (basically Fox61), both zoomed, appears much sharper than the Fox61 channel? What's up with that. It's basically the same broadcast, right? I mean it's like night and day. Anyone else experience this?

Maybe WTXX is stretching the original FOX61 analog broadcast, and the WTXX "screen stretcher" is a higher quality device than FOX61's own "screen stretcher".

FOX61's "screen stretcher" for SD content is HORRIBLE. My under $2K TV set's "ZOOM" and "WIDE ZOOM" modes do a MUCH BETTER job of stretching the old FOX61 analog broadcast than the FOX61 studio's own electronics.

So unless there is a national HD feed (like NFL football), I prefer to watch the analog WTIC instead of the digital WTIC-DT broadcast.

It's bad enough that the WTIC folks FORCE-FEED us a stretched 4:3 broadcast instead of letting the customer decide whether to strecth it or not. No, they have to make things even worse by sending the broadcast through a horrible looking screen stretcher.

Thanks a lot guys <sarcasm>.

WEDN-DTV, Norwich and WEDW-DTV, Bridgeport returned to HD programming on Oct. 20, 2005 at 6:00 PM.

For those who are interested, the reason for the programming switch back on Aug. 4, 2005 was the catastrophic failure of the 38 year old WEDN analog transmitter. In order to maintain a feed to those cable companies in Eastern Connecticut and RI that rely on an over-the-air pick-up (as opposed to a fiber feed), the programming was switched to simulcast the normal CPTV schedule.

Now that the Ch. 53 analog transmitter has been replaced, the HD schedule has been restored; albeit, starting at 6:00 PM now.

Maybe WTXX is stretching the original FOX61 analog broadcast, and the WTXX "screen stretcher" is a higher quality device than FOX61's own "screen stretcher".

FOX61's "screen stretcher" for SD content is HORRIBLE. My under $2K TV set's "ZOOM" and "WIDE ZOOM" modes do a MUCH BETTER job of stretching the old FOX61 analog broadcast than the FOX61 studio's own electronics.

So unless there is a national HD feed (like NFL football), I prefer to watch the analog WTIC instead of the digital WTIC-DT broadcast.

It's bad enough that the WTIC folks FORCE-FEED us a stretched 4:3 broadcast instead of letting the customer decide whether to strecth it or not. No, they have to make things even worse by sending the broadcast through a horrible looking screen stretcher.

Thanks a lot guys <sarcasm>.

I emailed WTIC back in the end of August about when they will stop stretching WTIC-DT and WTXX-DT. Here is the response I got:

Yes we plan on improvements. Right now we're waiting for the next evolution
of Fox's digital delivery system, so I can't tell you how soon you'll notice
an improvement. It could be weeks or perhaps months.

Digital TV is still at an early stage and continues to change rapidly.

Thanks for watching.

Although I hate the stretching they do, WTXX is far superior. I'm eager for them to give us the choice as do most other stations.

Does WEDH-DT, (Hartford PBS) broadcast in HD? I live in Windsor and have a pretty strong OTA reception on all my channels, but cannot pull in the Norwich or Bridgeport stations. Antennaweb lists it at frequency 45 but I get nothing. I can't get WGBY out of Springfield either thanks to a line of trees to my North. I emailed them a few months ago but they didn't answer my question at all.

Does WEDH-DT, (Hartford PBS) broadcast in HD? I live in Windsor and have a pretty strong OTA reception on all my channels, but cannot pull in the Norwich or Bridgeport stations. Antennaweb lists it at frequency 45 but I get nothing. I can't get WGBY out of Springfield either thanks to a line of trees to my North. I emailed them a few months ago but they didn't answer my question at all.

You may be able to get WGBY when the leaves are all down. As far as WEDH-DT,
there is no such OTA channel yet. They are providing a fiber optic feed to the
cable companies, but are not on the air.