We had a good turnout. Lots of good information. Hopefully someone else will post a detailed report, as I'm somewhat buried at work today. We discussed starting a dedicated topic here for the NMDTVUG. Perhaps we should do it on the HD chit chat forum, since it does not get much traffic.

more to come
Pete

It was great meeting all you AVS Forum guys that have been posting to this thread over the past months. I have opened a new thread dedicated to the DTV User's Group called "The Official New Mexico DTV User's Group Thread". Feel free to add your comments about last night's meeting to it and future DTV meeting information/rumors.

Well, people do read letters and reply to them. Here is the reponse I received today from Hubbard Broadcasting in Minneasota, owner of KOB-TV. See letter several posts back.

Dear Mr. Jerina

Thank you very much for your kind correspondence. I am going to pass your letter on to Ron Hubbard who is president of Hubbard Media Group and to Mike Burgess and Jerry Danziger at KOB. I know that they too will appreciate your kind words.

Sincerely,

Stanley S Hubbard
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

[QUOTE]Originally posted by fjerina
I know that they too will appreciate your kind words.

Yaa. It's nice to get a reply. Does anyone have any news on if KOB is going to fill the Olympics vacuum with something besides SD? JR

Now is the time to write letters or emails to KOB requesting, at a minimum, to pass on through the national NBC HD programs (Jay Leno, Crossing Jordan) whenever it comes through to them preempting whatever they would normally pass through. So, we could be watching Jay Leno at 8:30 instead of 10:30 pm. I wouldn't mind.

I saw an episode of "Smart Travels" on KNME DT yesterday at 5:30 pm. Was wondering if they are now passing the national PBS feed on through.

BTW, did you know that KOB-DT's sister station KOBR-DT in Roswell is now broadcasting on digital channel 38.

Any TV viewers with a set top box receivers in Roswell areas please send in your reception report!

I will plan to watch Jay Leno at ether 8:30 PM or 10:30 PM MST if do really pass on HDTV to us.

Does anyone know what bitrate KOB-DT is sending in SDTV right now?

Keep eye on KRQE-DT for any sign of signal testing anytime soon! :)

2-26-02

Well I guess everyone has noticed that KOB has gone back to sleep. Talked to a guy in engineering yesterday and he said they returned the rental decoder(?) they were using. It was too expensive to keep and too expensive to buy one. I asked if they could show J Leno in HD; nope. Could they at least show SD in widescreen; nope.
Sigh. JR

Well I got 2 different E-mails,

The first one is from KCHF-DT "Santa Fe, church TV station" saying they will try to go on the air before May 1st, 2002.

KWBQ-DT and KASY-DT saying Sometime by Arial 2002.....

What is Arial "French word?"

Boy I just wish the wind would die down and let KRQE-DT's crews to work on their antenna tower in time for the March madness!!

Anyway party on!!

3-1-02

Other minor update news........

I just found out KLUZ-DT has filed for CP, delay due to a shipment of transmiter and other stuffs may be running late sometime between April to July at the most.

They will start off with Special Temporary Authority thats mean starting off running low power first.

It will be on digital channel 42 and I think it will run multicasting i'e, Univision and Telfutera Spanish networks and maybe some more as well too.

All this infomation was from the FCC database website.

This only Albuquerque TV station has filed for DTV delay so far for going past May 1st deadline mandate.

Well that's the news!! :)

3-1-02

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

KOAT-DT just went on the air and its putting out a very strong signal I am getting at 88 on my RCA DTC-100 receiver!

Thay are now testing in HDTV I am not sure its 720p or 1080i video format.

I am taping to my VCR in ET-S-VHS format for this rare catch I sure do wish I have a real HDTV VCR.

They are on digital channel 21.1!

Please send us your signal report here!!

3-4-02 5:24 PM MST

Signal strength is pegged on my mits box. I'm doing a channel scan now to see if I get a picture.

COOL!

I'm getting a slightly zoomed upconvert of the analog channel.

Didn't Jim Gale say the head engineer at KOB who got things running for the olympics moved on to KOAT? I sure wish we could get some people from the other stations interested in coming to the next NMDTVUG meeting.

Pete

Hello Petew,

They been testing all day in HDTV with all kinds of pictures and sometime live back east HDTV feed and then sometime they go back to upconverted "480i up to 1080i and strected the picture and halfway cutting the station's ID logo bug on the lower right" with little black bar to the right side of the screen.

Yes the signal is very strong at all times it peaked at 96 by adjusting my antenna but loosing the KOB-DT "It's dropped to lows 20s" so I adjusted the antenna again KOB-DT back around 52, KOAT-DT 88, KNME-DT 76 "KNME was alway stay at 76 whatever no matter what I move my terk TV-50 antenna around a bit. :)"

I think they are running at 280 KW ERP but then again I might be wrong on this.... :)

They might try the PISP testing anytime soon.... "Multicasting maybe?"

3-4-02

I will have to check KOAT on my system tonight. Hope KOAT will end up sending the high-def prime time programming instead of just upconverting their analog signal. We will see. Very interesting.

Here goes.......


Thank you for your informative email.

I am not part of the technical staff, however I can give you a few answers. You will be able to watch NYPD Blue and Philly tonight on HDTV, however they will air an hour earlier than normal programming. (NYPD Blue at 7PM, Philly at 8PM).

I will pass your information concerning the DTV Users group on to our engineering staff.

Bill Case
Research Director
KOAT



Here's what I posted on the feedback form on the koat web site:


Congratulations on starting digital broadcasting yesterday. I'm getting a strong signal at I-40 and San Mateo. Audio is coming in fine in DD 2.0, and there are no video breakups or other problems. I'm looking forward to enjoying HD programming. How soon do you plan to begin passing through network HD content?

Jim Gail at KNME has started a DTV users group. It would be great if someone from KOAT's technical staff would join us on the third Thursday of every month at KNME's boardroom.

Thanks

Well, I get KOAT DT strong and clear but it is just the upconvert from their standard definition signal from 5-7pm and from 9pm and on. I assume it was that way all night. No value added here. They might as well just turn it off if that is what they are going to send. Big disappointment.

I wish we could convince the broadcasters to pass through the HD feeds. They don't seem to understand that we won't watch if it's not HD. So instead of having a few people watching HD (but not local ads) they have ZERO viewers of the digital channel. And still ZERO eyeballs seeing local ads.

Picture was outstanding for NYPD Blue and Philly. The first few minutes of that sitcom looked good too, until someone got to the switch to change to the crappy NTSC upconvert.

Pete

Jim Gale emailed me an accurate schedule for PBS HD for March. He is going to try to get a PBS web access or page for this information but for right now here it is. Is will be nice to really see what is coming on PBS HD. The file is in Excel and I had to zip it to attach it to this message per this forum.

Has anyone picked up the Ch 7 HD shows and not had any audio? I've noticed it a few times and don't know if my Samsung only receives Korean. (Kidding, it works fine on 4 & 5). JR

Late to the party but....Just tuned into KOAT and am picking up what looks like hidef tonight. My system indicates that it is indeed 720p and I am getting DD2.0

These must be upconverts as the picture quality (watching something called According to Jim) is not very good. Tried both native 720p as well as 1080i. Then again, I am getting used to CBS-HD and some of their shows (CSI !) are drop dead sharp.

Regards, Peter

KRQE files delay request. Here's (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=62158) the PDF file.

They anticipate completion of construction by June 1st.

Pete

Last night I received "Drew Care" in hi-def on KOAT DT which looked good. At 8 pm they were passing through some test patterns and images, why I don't know. Hope they can pass the normal 7 pm evening programming in hi-def at 7 pm.

Sorry KRQE had to file for an extension. I feel the next two months through May 1 should give them AMPLE time for good weather to install the equipment and get it working. Are they waiting for 80s days at the top of the crest so they can do their work?

No one's had any audio problems on 7? Hmmm.
BTW, won't be able to make the March DTV user's meeting; going to be out of town, drat. Tell Gale hi for me. JR

I got a nice reply from KOAT about what is happening right now with their DT station and programming.

Dear Mr. Jerina:

You are right. We are still testing everything and there will be times when
test
patterns appear on your screen.

I asked the chief engineer about the times. He said our digital station,
KOAT-DT, will continue airing the programs live from ABC's Eastern Time Zone
Feed. This means the primetime programs will air at 6pm to 9pm local time.
ABCdoes not provide a separate Mountain Time Zone Feed. Tape-delaying a
digital
feed requires very expensive equipment. Without the equipment, we do not have
the capability to delay digital feeds. Our analog station, KOAT-TV, does
tape-delay the programs so people can watch primetime between 7pm and 10pm
instead of at 6pm to 9pm.

Thank you for taking the time to write to KOAT.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director

Now, here's what I got from KRQE on their status.

Fred, Thanks for the inquiry, We are waiting on mounting hardware for our antenna. This has been back ordered and we should see the equipment next week. We will then have to schedule a tower crew to mount the antenna on the Crest. With a little luck we should be on the air by May 1st.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV

Hey what happen to KOAT-DT?

Did it got knocked off the air by nasty winds or its somthing else?

Other than that it's not much going on around here. :)

3-9-02

I sent an email to KOAT on why they were down this weekend and also I requested that they start the HD programming at 6 pm so we get the full evening of prime-time programming (6-9 pm New York feed) and this is their response.

Dear Mr. Jerina,

You are right. The digital transmission was not available during the weekend. I
asked our chief engineer about this. He said the digital transmissions will not
be on every night because we are only in a testing phase until May 1st. Starting
May 1st, we will transmit digital signals on a full-time basis.

As for what will air at 6:00pm on our digital channel, it is my understanding we
will pass-through the Eastern Time Zone feed every night starting at 6:00pm.
This plan, like most things in television, could change. I will have better
information the closer we get to May 1st.

I apologize for this inconvenience during our transition to digital
broadcasting.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director

Originally posted by fjerina
I sent an email to KOAT on why they were down this weekend and also I requested that they start the HD programming at 6 pm
(...)



KOAT can't offer the full prime time programming in HD most nights as not all ABC shows are in HD. There are some nights where there is only partial prime time programming in HD sent by ABC to affiliates.

robert

Anyone heard any news from KOB on when they are going to buy a decoder of their own? Can't watch their SD signal in Fatsovision (Full mode). What happened to KOAT? Getting tired of the Azelia Trail! JR

Right now at KOB-DT they can't afford buy a new HDTV NBC's satellite feed receiver at this time, but if there's enough interest in the community then they might just well go ahead get the HDTV satelitte receiver.

As for KOAT-DT they haven't been on the air very much and I was hoping to see James Bond in HDTV. :(

They must be getting little lazy IMHO.....

KASA-DT just E-mailed to me saying they will try to go on the air before May 1st.

They have no plan for multicasting, but did not say anything about 480p or 1080i passthrough.

Other than that not much else going on here in lands of Chiles tasting!

3-16-02

[QUOTE]Originally posted by N5XZS
[B]Right now at KOB-DT they can't afford buy a new HDTV NBC's satellite feed receiver at this time,


Well hey, they could do what I did to get my new hdtv, make payments for a year. Holy cow, nobody said they had to cough up all the cash up front.
Just my $.02 JR

I emailed KOAT early last week to request that they turn their transmitter on for "The Man with the Golden Gun" last night and the programming guy replied and said he would forward the request to engineering. Nothing happenned. I quess they are keeping the transmitter off to save some bucks (as before). They probably turned it on for a short time so they could report to the NAB that they were up-and-running. You guys should contact KOAT and give them HELL about them keeping their transmitter off.

KOB has no motivation in investing in a HD receiver. Since Dan Brown left KOB as head engineer they probably could care less. Dan Brown got the Olympics to be transmitted by KOB by hook or by crook. Now he is at KOAT. Wonder why he can't kick some but over there.

KRQE is probably waiting for every bit of snow to melt at the top of the Sandias and weather in the 80s before they even attempt to get their transmitter installed. I wouldn't expect them to be up before May 1, if that since they applied for a waiver.

The ONLY bright spot is my being able to catch new "Smart Travels" on KNME digital every day at 5:30 pm.

Well, I spoke to someone at KOAT and he said they will likely keep their digital transmitter turned off until a week before May 1 in order to save MONEY. They don't want to pay for the power to run it until they really need to. Sorry guys.

Not suprising.

I wonder if KRQE-DT has hired tropical TV tower crews and afraid of cold snow...... Look at KOAT-DT, KOB-DT and KNME-DT was way ahead of this game in this high mountain climate and its not a big deal to them IMHO.

KRQE-DT must be a worry warts of all time!! :rolleyes:

As for KOAT-DT it's to bad they can't smell the caffine and watch the James Bond 007 movies in HDTV. :(

3-18-02

KRQE is probably waiting for the spring winds to start up so they can keep the tower crew on the ground a little longer. They're probably very grateful that wind season starts before snow season ends.

Pete

With around 60% of the stations across the country having applied for waivers because they can't meet the May 1 deadline, our local stations probably don't feel that compelled in being up and running by May 1.

This is the response I got from KOAT on why they don't have their digital transmitter turned on. Seems like a different answer from the guy in engineering that I spoke to the other day.

Dear Mr. Jerina:

I asked our chief engineer about this. He said we are waiting for an STA from
the FCC. This is our station's authorization. As soon as we get this, we plan to
offer digital transmissions on the nights ABC sends digital transmissions. Until
now, the nights we had the equipment on were just for testing purposes only.

Thank you for taking the time to write to KOAT and for your patience during our
transition to digital broadcasting.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director

This is really getting ridiculous. If you read the "excuses" from KRQE in their request for delay and in the note to Fred, you will see that there is much inconsistency. So much for the NCAA and the Masters.

I can't even watch KNME now. My Zenith receiver will not maintain a signal since they went back to mapping at 5-1. I had no problem at 35-1 or 35-3. Jim Gale thinks it might be a design flaw (they too have a Zenith acting this way) but I believe it has something to do with the PBS signal. Why do the other channels work fine for me? And why did KNME work fine at 35-1 or 35-3?

I don't suppose there's any chance KRQE will surprise us this weekend with the final 4? Any news on this front?

John

I wouldn't hold you breath. I have been doing a scan on the digital stations every couple of days and NOTHING except for KNME and KOB. KOAT is off the air. KRQE is sure having nice weather lately atop the Sandias. But they have to schedule a tower crew do mount their antennae so who knows.

I just got this from KRQE about their DT status. Hope all goes well for them in the coming month.

Fred, We have the transmitter installed and have completed testing. We are waiting on a tower crew to install the antenna. They are scheduled to arrive the middle of this month. If everything goes on schedule we should be operational in May.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV

[QUOTE]Originally posted by fjerina
[B]I just got this from KRQE about their DT status. Hope all goes well for them in the coming month.

Fred, how about asking them to hang a temporary ant. on top of their bldg. and transmitting low power? Isn't that what Ch4 did for the Olympics? It worked fine. JR

Originally posted by jmcferrin
I don't suppose there's any chance KRQE will surprise us this weekend with the final 4? Any news on this front?

John

John,

I'll record tonight's game on D-VHS and make it available to anyone who wants it...Of course you need a D-VHS playback system :D

Regards, Peter

Peter:
You must be recording from a CA station. As far as I know there's no way to get any CBS HD in ABQ at this time. BTW, I've been reading about the D-VHS system(Wide Screen Review has quite a write up). It sounds pretty cool. However, I am not planning on getting one at this point.
Thanks,
John

Hi guys!!

Boy it's been a weard morning since my dumb local "QWEST" phone company caused my AOL to drop out at the same time I am typing for this tread at around 7 AM MST!!:(

Anyways nice to hear that KRQE-DT might get on the air by mid April at the most!:)


This will be my second try if this dumb local phone company do not bothered me at this time!

As you know 30 days till the digital TV deadline on the May the 1st!!

So who's will make it or not the deadline!!

Here's the listing....... ;)

KOAT-DT will be on the air at least an week before May 1st....

KRQE-DT at least mid April as reported on this tread... "Good work Gentalmen!! :D :D :D "

KASA-DT is the great mystery digital TV station at this time.....

KCHF-DT IMHO, This station is so broke that I think it might better be sold off because their progarming sucks and they put their analog TV transmitter in the very poor location. "Just south of Los Alamos"

KNAT-DT Unknown at this time......

KAZQ-DT Since it is a non comm, they don't have to go on the air till May 2003 unless they want to go on the air early....

KASY-DT and KWBQ-DT will be on the air later till at least mid June of this year....

KLUZ-DT it may go on the air sometime in May or June at this time.....

KAPX-TV has no new digital channel allocated by the FCC at this time....:confused:

So that's the news!!!

Party on dudes!!:) :) :)

The KCHF transmitter site is close to the same height above sea level as the Crest, however from this location they run full power which is much more than the stations on the Crest are permitted. This is the same location where Ch 2 was located and where Ch 9 will be located. I was last there in 84 to install KCHF's new transmitter. Another consideration for this location is that Ch 11 is allocated to Santa Fe.

Hello Larryv,

Well I think it's still a bad location and besides KWBQ-TV "WB" channel 19 and KASA "FOX" channel 2 is also belong to Santa Fe and it's on the Sandia Crest.

As for KNMD-DT channel 9 Jim Gail "Chief Engineering" of KNME told me they will change the CP to digital and it will be on the Sandia Crest and may go on the air sometime in 2003 or 4!

Most people point their outdoor antenna to Sandia Crest Mountain resulting a very poor reception on channel 11 and very lousy TV programings. "Home Shopping and Church programings"

I would not be suprised if this station get sold off, and move the transmitter to Sandia Crest and we badly need a pure indy, that would broadcast lots of sports,news and movies for the Albuquerque and Santa Fe metro areas.

It's nice to know that you built this TV tower!

:)

4-2-02

Originally posted by N5XZS

Most people point their outdoor antenna to Sandia Crest Mountain resulting a very poor reception on channel 11 and very lousy TV programings. "Home Shopping and Church programings"


KCHF's problem is more like there is a mountain in the way. In the heights, the station is unreceivable since the Sandias are in the way. I could point my rooftop antenna anywhere and not get them. When I get to uptown or towards the river, I can see the Jemez and can get Ch 11 on a TV.

The only way I see KCHF is from their satellite feeder since I'm in the heights. No big loss, though as I am not into televangelists.

Robert

Little news update......:)

KASA-DT has filed for a minor CP perment to downgrade the TX power 1'000 KW to 390 KW of ERP.

The tower height will also be reduced as well too 1'313 meters to 1'278 meters.

Oh well, it's would been an interesting TV DX reception report if KASA-DT has gone on to full 1 MW of ERP, but still at 390 KW of ERP it stilll the most powerfull digital TV station in New Mexico! :D

Not much else is going on, so hang lose!!:)

4-5-02

I wish these jerks would hurry up!

I just wanna watch some HDTV...is that so wrong!

Has anyone in the ABQ area catch the "Shape of Life" series on PBS? When it is on here (day and time)? Sounds like it is a gorgeous video production.

Fred

The Shape of Life is amazing video. I'm disgusted with the state of HDTV though. All the evidence I found said they'd be repeating the show last night at 7:00 local. I emailed Jim G for confirmation (got no response). I took a gamble and invited some friends over who like to dive. I should know better than to gamble. All they showed was that worn out PBS demo loop. So we watched a few minutes of that, and a few minutes of boxing (ugh) on HDNet. The DTV transition stands no chance to succeed if you can't find out what the hell is on. My friends are dying to buy a new TV, and they want HD. Last night they decided to wait another "year or two". If they had seen the program, they'd probably be at Ultimate or Sound Ideas THIS WEEKEND picking out their new TV.

The next episode is supposed to be on next Tuesday at 7:00. PM or email me if you'd like to check it out on my Sony 10HT.

later and crabby about HDTV
Pete

Pete, thanks.

I wish KNME would add to their local web site an up-to-date listing of what will be broadcast, on a weekly basis, like the Detroit station does. I can get so screwed with the time zone thing too. Jim Gail should pressure KNME in doing this.

I sent this to PBS at www@pbs.org just now. I suggest some of you send out an email to them too.

------------------------------------------------------------

I appreciate what you are all doing in bringing high-definition digital to PBS but there are a few things you MUST address:

1. You have to start providing additional program content on your digital station. The PBS demo loop is being played excessively and it has lost its purpose and usefulness. There is abundant HD material out there according to Jim Gale, chief engineer at KNME-TV here in Albuquerque, and you should be playing some of this material no matter who produced it as long it is QUALITY material.

2. You should replay your HD programs (not the demo loop) through the later evening time frame since we are watching your programs several hours earlier than the east coast due to the time zones. For example, a program you play at 7 pm on the east coast is being played at 5 pm mountain time which is too early for us working people here in Albuquerque.

Thanks for your time,

Fred Jerina
PBS Supporter

Well I just got a E-mail from Bill Anderson of KRQE-DT saying.....

We've been approved for an extension in case we need it (we're waiting on an antenna from Diaelectric) but have outside shot at being on in May. Either way, June's probably the latest.

I asked him about the multicasting when not using the HDTV during these daylight hours. "Weather radar or traffic cam"

Answer is......

No specific plans yet for multi-channel useages.

As for on KNME-DT.....

Yep it's a shame that KNME-DT HAS not posted on HDTV programings info, :( IMHO.....

I just think KNME -DT's webmaster might be clueless...:confused:

Now back to DXing......:D :D :D

4-5-02

Good note to PBS Fred

I complained to the producers of "Shape..." for not even mentioning the fact that the program was in HD. It seems like everyone in the industry wants to keep a secret.

Pete

Gee, I remember last summer when Bill Andersen at KRQE said he thought they would be up in the late fall time frame. I don't believe ANYTHING he has to say. I wouldn't be surprised if they wait until the last second before their waiver times out. Gee, do I seem a little bitter???

These people are so full of BS. KRQE has said they were only waiting for better weather, with crew standing by. Then they said they needed to get a crew. Now, they are waiting on an antenna.

Obviously, like the others in this two-bit town, they are waiting until they are forced to spend the money on digital transmission.

So much for the Masters, which would be an unbelievable advertisement for the potential of HDTV.

KOAT-DT is back!!:) Channel 21.1 But KOB-DT went off the air for some reason...

KNME-DT still on as always....

Still no sign of KRQE-DT so far .......


Stay tuned........:D

4-8-02

Minor update, KOB-DT Is still on the air but very weak at 28 on my signal meter probley due to wind shift changes to bent and tilt on the Sandia Crest or but not very likly that KOAT-DT's signal might cause QRM to KOB-DT's signal....

KOAT-DT's signal strenth is between 88 to 94 on my signal meter, so it's is very strong signal so far.

KOAT-DT is still in the testing phase so far with all the loop HDTV 720p testing going on.

Well anyway that's the news on the digital signal reports for the night!;)

4-8-02

KOAT DT's "Once and Again" looked really good last night. It was on an hour earlier than usual. They then went to their test patterns (boring). Hope KRQE gets going on their antennae install soon.

The PBS special "The Shapes of Life" looked great in HD last night. You all should catch it sometime when they repeat it.

KOAT did not show the network programs in HD last night. They just forwarded the SD version. I guess I won't press them until May 1st since they are in their "testing" mode right now.

Haven't seen any tower activity on the crest yesterday for KRQE. If anyone sees something going on up there then let us know.

I sure do wish that KRQE-DT would get on the air in time for the master golf covereges.

Well it's looks like KOAT-DT will stay on the air for good, but there's a little annoying 2 blinkings dots one on the very upper left eges and upper center of the screen little more to right of it. :p

I just hope they will fix this problem right it away.

Not much else going on.....

This thread may be moving to all Local DTV news forums threads pretty soon.:cool:

Party on!!

4-12-02

Does anyone else out there hear only the left channel from KOB DT's signal?

Also, seems like KOAT is now just up-converting the analog signal and sending it through the digital signal. I hope it doesn't stay that way.

KRQE DT where for art thou?

I actually got some responses within a half hour of sending out my emails this afternoon. Here they are...

KOB---

We're only pumping mono into it right now. I thought the guys had split the
audio into the left and right, though.

They'll be up there Monday, maybe we can fix that then!

We'll be back to stereo soon

Thanks!

Sean Anker

KOAT TV---

Dear Mr. Jerina:

ABC will not be sending every show in HDTV. Only a portion of ABC's schedule
will be available in HDTV. When ABC provides a show in HDTV, it is our intent to
pass-through the show in HDTV.

Again, thank you for your patience during our transition to digital
broadcasting.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director

Good news Fred. I think our stations are doing pretty good.

I got email from Jim Gail today. He's been at the NAB convention and the PBS Technology Conference. Regerding PBS's sparce programing, he said

"With 70 digital PBS stations now in the air (most simulcasting the HD Channel from PBS), we are very concerned. I picked up a few names for PBS programming types, but they were not at the technology conference"

We need to write PBS. I've asked Jim for contacts.

Pete

I was flicking through the channels tonight, Sunday, and noticed that at 8:50 pm KOAT TV "The Practice" on the digital channel had no sound. Did anyone else notice that?

No sound on koat-dt anytime I checked last night. Wonder if they knew!

Son of a gun! I recorded Small Soldiers and Alias only to find that there was no sound.

Any ideas on whom to contact or should we expect this to go on until May 1st?

Regards, Peter

From reading other threads, I think it was a network problem.

I called KOAT Engineering yesterday and let them know that there was no sound. We should all get in the habit of calling them when there is problems with their digital transmissions. They must feel there are just 2 of us out there watching their digital stations.

I understand that the majority of the NBC fall prime-time line-up with be in high-definition. The following is a letter I just mailed (a physical letter preferred over email) to the owners of KOB TV. If any of you have time then you should fire one off to them also. Jim Gale says a few letter from us consumers can make a difference.

------------------------------------------------------------

Stanley Hubbard
Hubbard Broadcasting
3415 University Avenue
St. Paul, Minn. 55114

Dear Mr. Hubbard,

I am excited to hear that the majority of the NBC fall line-up will be in full high-definition digital. I am looking forward to seeing many of my favorite NBC shows in high-definition.

I would like to report the Albuquerque's KOB TV digital station has been on-line and stable for the past few months.

I hope that you will be investing in the necessary equipment over the next few months so your New Mexico viewers will be able to enjoy the NBC high-definition programming this fall.

I appreciated the efforts on the part of the KOB engineers that presented the Olympics to us here last February. It was truly most enjoyable. I was sad that the high-definition equipment was borrowed and that it had to be returned. Hopefully, you will find the funds to purchase that equipment for your digital transmission system here in Albuquerque.

I appreciate your time.

Yours truly,

Fred Jerina

Last night, Monday, the KNME digital was done on my set. Did anyone else see this and does anyone out there know if it's still down. I hope it will be up tonight so I can watch the next installment of "The Shape of Life" series.

KNME-DT is back on the air but KOAT-DT went off today.....

Still waiting for KRQE-DT to go on the air if anytime soon.....:rolleyes:

4-16-02

Here's the status of the local ABQ TV stations as presented in the DTV User's Group meeting last night.

Jim gave a status of the ABQ local digital stations:
a) KNME within 2 weeks will announce their selection for their transmitter they are purchasing. It will be capable of
20,000 watts and will likely be delivered and running by the end of July,
b) KOB is up and running but will likely be upconverting the standard definition signal and sending over the digital
line for quite some time to come,
c) KOX (KASA) is working on their digital transmitter and will be up within 3 or 4 months,
d) WB and UPN is making good progress and will be up likely by the end of May,
e) KOAT is up and will likely be sending out their HD programming by May 1 (they have been turning their
transmitter off and on for the past month, their power bill is $8K a month to run it), and
f) KRQE just needs to get a tower crew to install their antennae (right now in a crate on top the Sandias), the
crew is scheduled for the 1st week of May, so they may be up and running by the 2nd week of May, they have a
file server and the HD equipment so we will likely see all the HD CBS programming passed through to us during our
time zone.

Wells guys,

KOAT-DT is back on the air and maybe for good since May 1st is around the corner.:)

But then again you never know what KOAT-DT might do next....

Right now they are doing NTSC 480i and upconverting to 720p or 1080i 4X3 in a 16X9 format.

RCA DTC-100 will pick up 720p and upconvert to 1080i there is no way for me to tell is KOAT-DT doing in 720p or 1080 video formats and maybe someone with the right STB will get the right information?

Still no news on KRQE-DT....:p

Anyhow just hang in there!!

Party on dudes!!:D

4-32-02

I hope KOAT is going to pass on through the high-def 16:9 programming like they said they are going to do. I am holding off until after May 1st before I send any further correspondence to KOAT (since they are SUPPOSSEDLY in a testing mode until then).

Hey, i need to ask a question.

I have an OTA HDTV receiver, and I cannot get a signal to save my life. are you guys running any special antennas or anything. Also are you receiving a signal only at certain times?

I have the RSBT antenna, and I also have a giant antenna on my roof? Neither of which I can get to receive signal?

I guess what I am asking for is help?

JQ

Where are you located? I doubt that you'd be able to get KNME or KOB with the indoor antenna since they're both running low power. KOAT is on full power when they're transmitting.

Can you get low power UHF analog stations with your outdoor antenna? If so, you should be able to get good digital reception.

There are reception problems right up next to the mountains. Areas like Sandia heights and Copper east of Tramway have issues with KOB and KNME because of low power and temporary antennas.

I'll PM you with my phone number.

Pete

You should use a UHF antenna connected without any coupler or spliters between the antenna and your HDTV receiver. I and others have had problems with splitters and surge protectors dropping the signal strength of the digital signal before it reached the receiver. Point the UHF antenna towards the Sandia Crest (to open V side towards the crest) and use the auto scan on your receiver if equipped. Hopefully if will work for you. You should always be getting the PBS signal (channel 35 I believe) and the KOB signal (not sure #). They are both always on. Good Luck.

If you can get low power analog UHF stations listed here....

Channel 48 "Spanish"
Channel 53 "Spanish"
Channel 56 "MTV-2 but showing dead air of satellite messages bar!"
Channel 61 "Church programings with a very bad picture it's the transmitter problem itself."

The digital channels listed here.....

KRQE-DT channel 16 "Will get on the air anytime soon..."

KOAT-DT channel 21 "Testing mode at this time."

KOB-DT channel 26 "is on the air right now at 10.6 KW ERP"

KNME-DT channel 35 "is on the air right now running at 384 watts ERP"

And the rest of others will come on the air pretty soon digital channels listed here are....

Digital channels 17,24,29,42 and 45......

Hopes that helps...:)
4-25-02

OKay, I live Off of San Pedro and Hanes (Indian School)

I have tried the antenna on the roof, and I Have it pointing towards the peak. I have never even received the smallest amount of signal strength. I am begging to think that my HDTV receiver is malfunctioning. It's running at a very high temperature, so I contacted the Samsung tech support, and they suggested I contact a service center. I gave them a call and I am waiting to hear back from them!

Is it strange that I haven't received any signal strength at all? With 2 antennas?

Am I missing something? I will try an dcall pete later tonight!

thanks again for your help!

JQ

I'm at Haines and San Mateo. If you want to hook up to my antenna and projector, give me a ring.

Pete

I've read a lot of this thread and am excited to see that ya'll are pushing the programmers to pass through the HD shows.

I am setting up my OTA antenna tomorrow and I am anxious to see how the reception is.

I'll check in here often!:p

Welcome to the forum kalarson.

We're in great shape as far as HDTV goes here in Albuquerque. We owe a lot to Jim Gail of KNME for pushing things and keeping us informed.

Sometimes I think New Mexico might actually be emerging from the third world. Our new state-of-the-art freeway construction project couldn't have happened a few years ago. The highway department would have split it up into 20 ten million dollar contracts so they could spread them around their local buddies. Now they actually did something smart for the good of the public instead of lining pockets.
(political rant mode off)

Pete

If KRQE (CBS) comes through by mid-May with there digital transmitter forwarding the widescreen high-definition content from the network then we would be a step ahead of Phoenix which their local affiliate has no desire to invest in the high-definition equipment. Hopefully we will be seeing some tower crew action on the crest next week (as they indicated).

ABC has their digital transmitter off last night.

Bummer that KOB-DT probably won't carry it in its HD glory since they probably won't have another HDTV satellite receiver.

Give me a STL dish and I'll be happy to provide my HDTV output to them. 8^)

Robert

HDNet is producing it and it will be on ch199 DirecTV

Originally posted by jqderrick
I have tried the antenna on the roof, and I Have it pointing towards the peak. I have never even received the smallest amount of signal strength.


What kind of antenna are you using? a TV antenna (VHF/UHF), a UHF TV Antenna, or an outdoor scanner antenna?

I've found scanner antennas mess up the received signal, while a UHF antenna seems to be the best. The signals really aren't strong enough for indoor rabbit ear antennas.


Do you also know your STB good enough to understand how it works? I have a felling some STB may require you to not only tell it the channel number but also the sub-channel number in order to lock a signal. my STB auto-searches the sub-channel info (the UM HDR-1000A)

Robert

I inquired about the current status of KOAT's digital transmitter (since they have had it off for the past week or so) and this is their response:

Dear Mr. Jerina:

There are some last-minute things being worked on, but KOAT is still planning to
begin digital transmissions on May 1st. As with anything in television, this is
subject to change with or without notice.

Feel free to check back again as we get closer to May 1st.

Thank you for your patience during our transition to digital broadcasting.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director

Just spoke with Jim Gale at KNME and he said they awarded a contract to Harris Corporation for 2 digital solid-state transmitters for around $1.5 million. He thinks they should have then delivered and installed by the July/August time frame.

I was wondering if anyone in the area is having the same problem as I am. I have rooftop VU-90 antenna from radio shack and I can pick up PBS in digital and also receive the analog channels with great reception, But I can't get channel 21 or 26...0% signal.

I live in north hills, Rio Rancho. When I first set up my antenna I could get about a 45-50% signal on 26 KOB, but it was cutting in and out and had no sound. I moved the antenna around some and now can't get any signal. I've tried an amplifier but saw no difference on any channel.

I would appreciate any advice given. Thanks Kurt

If you get PBS ok, then you are fine. I get 6 bars with them and they are still on low power. Channels 4 & 7 are up one day and down the next. I saw 7 this afternoon, but it was a 4:3 signal, at least it looked like it. I use the same antenna as you. If I were doing it over though, I think I'd get the RS uhf only; it has twice as many elements and is half the cost. JR

KOB digital is currently down due to the new high-power antenna/transmitter being installed atop the crest.

Well that's the good news on KOB-DT upgrade on TX power and any ideas how long it will take for KOB-DT to go back on the air if the weather is nice to them?

I just noted that KOAT-DT went back on the air and they must have cranked up their TX power! :) My old reading was 88 on the signal meter to a very rock steady hot 94 on the meter must be running at full power at 290 KW of ERP!!

Still no sign of KRQE-DT or anyone else so far since it's 1 more day till the deadline of May 1st.

4-29-02

Maybe the same tower crew that's doing the work for KOB will move over to KRQE next!

I just got this email from KRQE on their status:

Fred,

The tower crew is scheduled for May 6th. It should take one week to get the antenna installed. We will need another week to do testing and finish up the installation.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV
505-767-9400

Hey I just wanted to let you guys know that I had a Bad OTA HDTV receiver! Sorry for not calling you Pete, but I have a buddy who has teh same setup as I do, and I took it over to his house, and sure enouggh it isn't working

Luckily, the company I bought it from is going to issue an RMA for the receiver and send me another one!

Just thought I would give you a heads up!

JQ

That's good news JQ. There sure is a lot of DOA equipment out there. I'm on my second DirectTV box, and I went through hell with the audio side of things. Everything's finally working well for me though. We still need to get together sometime since we're neighbors! And be sure to join us at the next NMDTV meeting on the 19th.

Pete

Yeah, I was planning on coming to the next meeting, but I heard it was really crowded?

I just need to register and take care fo everything! I'll be there on thursday though!

JQ

Hi everyone I live in Albuquerque and am glad to know that there are lot off people pushing for hdtv here. I have just got into it my self and am looking forward to seeing what it looks like (still need the receiver) now that koat is up are the primetime shows in HD?

Hey Goodwrench

Welcome to the forum
There's tons of good information here. Do you have a digital set already?

later
Pete

To answer your question...
KRQE and KOAT have said they'll run HD programming whenever it's available. KNME is running the network feed from PBS which is usually a demo loop that we're all fed up with. When they have HD programming it's great! KOB won't buy an encoder to do HD until NBC steps up to the plate with more programming. FOX does not do HD at this time, but KASA has HD equipment.

I have a Hitachi 61swx12b, Mitsubishi home theater set-up, Dish Network, got my antenna up just need the dish 6000 receiver. what's up with FOX and the shows in widescreen, are they not HD?

GW
Fox only does 480p widescreen, although all their affiliates are set up to do HD. Apparently the have a very nice facility here. But the network does not seem to believe in HD. My personal, unfounded opinion is that they will do HD someday. They're learning about it from Cuban with HDNet.

Pete

I wanted to clarify something. KOAT is going to pass through the high-definition but because of the time zone we will be seeing it 1 hour earlier. Unfortunately, they would have to start passing the network stuff at 6 pm and they are still showing the news and Entertainment Tonight until 7 pm (cutting an hour into the high-def network programming). If they get a file server then they could delay the programming by an hour and play it at the same time as the standard definition stuff. I would encourage ALL OF YOU to write to KOAT after May 1st if they are cutting ANY of the high-def network programming in the evening hours (which would be 6-9 pm). We should really encourage them to get a file server like KRQE is planning on using.

KRQE is going to pass the high-def programming via a file server which will delay the programming and play it during the standard 7-10 pm time period. Good for them.

Goodwrench, I also have a Dish 6000 with an OTA module. If you have any questions on this setup then let me know.

I wouldn't worry too much if KOAT cuts off national HDTV pass-thru from 6pm to 7pm. There are not many (or many good) shows during that hour so you aren't missing much. The good shows in HDTV on ABC air at 7pm or 8pm.

Alternately, KOAT could have taken the west HDTV feed and cut off the 10pm news which is a bigger deal as it would cut off some of the best HDTV-aired shows on the network.

KOAT using east-coast HDTV feed is the best scenario out there for now.

Robert

I see that D Day has come and gone and KOB is still in hiding! To bad they lost their lead engineer. JR

They're erecting their permenant antenna so the temporary stuff is off line for now.

DTV off-air in Los Alamos!

Just wanted to post a note that KOAT is coming in loud-and-clear up in Los Alamos. I'm getting a rock-solid 100/100 on my Mitsu 5000 box using a Radio Shack 190 antenna on my roof. This is the first off-air DTV signal I've seen up in Los Alamos, and it's great! Thanks KOAT for upping the power. Still looking for KOB and KRQE; perhaps later this month...

Joe M

That is Awesome! Hopefully I wll be getting my ne wSTB in a couple of days! Woot!

JQ

Hey Fjerina,

You said that KNME-DT has ordered 2 transmitters from Harris one for channel 35 and I assumed for channel 9 or they doing 2 transmitters at the same time on channel 35 for power boost in order to get at 250 KW ERP?

I was hoping that you would clear this up.:)

Thanks!!

5-4-02

The other transmitter is for Portales or Las Cruces. Jim Gale is doing all the PBS affiliates in NM.

That's correct. Next week look for antenna installation activity on top the crest for KRQE (CBS) digital.

Last Saturday and Sunday KOAT had some nice looking movies and programs being presented in widescreen high-definition. Things look promising.

Hope KRQE has good luck this week installing their antenna. They shouldn't have any problems with the weather this week THANK GOD.

I just noted that KNAT-TV was off the air 2 times in 2 nighttimes early hour around 6PM.

They were off the air for about 15 to 20 minutes so they must be helping the KOB-DT and perhaps KRQE-DT as well too.

As for KNAT-DT digital channel 24.. whos know what will happen if they go go on the air early or not?

I just hope there is no crazy winds this week and looking forward to see KRQE-DT to go on the air later this week if not sooner the better.:D

Anyhow party on guys!!:)

5-6-02

Hi everyone
Saturday night I tuned in KOAT and the "Sixth Sense" was on. It looked so good that I asked my wife to come down and watch. She was hooked until 10:00 pm, when they switched to the local news upconvert in the middle of the movie! My wife was not happy. They need to come up with a rational plan if they want to gain support for this great new technology from the regular public. Explaining that this can be expected for new technology did not impress my wife. Cheers, Horton

PLEASE !!! PLEASE !!! PLEASE !!!

Whenever you see problems with KOAT passing through the HD programming to us then send an email to John Trambley, Program Director. He has been very responsive to emails I sent him. He should hear from more than just me. If they feel a little more pressure then they may just get their act together and consistently send the HD stuff to us. Send email to: jtrambley@hearst.com. Thanks, Fred.

I have listed above the email for the program director at KOAT (jtrambley@hearst.com). Here is the email address for KRQE of someone who responds: frank.lilley@krqe.com (director of engineering).

You all may want to write a letter to Hubbard Broadcasting in Minneasota for KOB (NBC). They still need to purchase the high-definition encoder/decoder unit to pass the high-definition content to us. They are probably reluctant to do so since there is not much HD content on NBC right now. Their address is:

Stanley Hubbard
Hubbard Broadcasting
3415 University Avenue
St. Paul, Minn. 55114

You can also go to their web sites and go to their "contact us" department.

Below is the reply to my nice e-mail to Mr. Trambley. What a pleasure to have people respond rapidly!

Did anyone else have this problem with the 6th Sense, or was I halucinating? I suspect the engineer switched to the west coast feed sometime Saturday night. Horton

"Dear Dr. Newsom:

I discussed your email with the chief engineer. KOAT-DT is airing ABC's East Coast Feed live at 6:00-9:00pm (local time) except on Sundays when it is live at 5:00-9:00pm (local time). This means the movie should have ended at 9:00pm. Then, starting at 9:00pm, you should have rejoined our main signal from KOAT-TV and you would have seen the remainder of the movie (for a second time) and then our local news at 10:00pm.

I'm not certain what happened to prevent your viewing the end of this movie.

Please let us know if you have additional difficulties.

Thank you for taking the time to write to KOAT.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director"

Originally posted by Horton
Hi everyone
Saturday night I tuned in KOAT and the "Sixth Sense" was on. It looked so good that I asked my wife to come down and watch. She was hooked until 10:00 pm, when they switched to the local news upconvert in the middle of the movie! My wife was not happy. They need to come up with a rational plan if they want to gain support for this great new technology from the regular public. Explaining that this can be expected for new technology did not impress my wife. Cheers, Horton

If you had a C-band dish in your backyard, you could have watched the SIXTH SENSE twice in HDTV on Saturday! 8^)

What happens is that Monday-Saturday, ABC's HDTV feed is shared - the East time zone HDTV feeds from 6:00-9:00pm Mountain and Pacific time zone HDTV feeds from 9:00pm to 12:00am Mountain.

On Sunday, due to the longer primetime, there are 2 separate HDTV feeds from ABC to their affiliates and no sharing goes on.

From reading the posts, obviously what happened is that East Coast SIXTH SENSE fed from 6:00-9:00pm and KOAT forgot to switch off the HDTV feed so the first hour of the SIXTH SENSE pacific feed was shown before the switch was made to the upconverted 10pm local news.

Robert

I had a very nice note from Frank Lilley regarding KRQE's planned broadcast power. It differs from what was posted earlier in this thread, so I'd thought I'd pass this along. We're very fortunate to have such dedicated and responsive broadcasters here in NM, BTW.

Joe M.
-----

KRQE-TV's plans are to test around the 30kW level. We are doing this to insure that our RF levels do not exceed FCC RF radiation standards at the transmitter site. If we are in compliance, we will then increase power to 75kW, which is our licensed power for channel 16.

When we are up, I would greatly appreciate any input you have about our signal.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV

I am very happy that both KOAT and KRQE have been responsive to our emails.

I just spoke with Jim Gale and he said that KRQE should be mounting their antenna tomorrow, Wednesday, and there is a possibility that they may be up and running by the end of the week. No promises though.

KOB has mounted their new antenna but are still connecting it up.

Exciting times !!!

I just found out that Titantv.com has just updated on KASA-DT "FOX" on air date target.

Thay say this station will go on the air on May the 20th.

It will be on digital channel 27.

Now I know titantv.com might not be reliable from time to time IMHO. :D

We will wait and see what happens....:)

5-7-02

Has anyone seen any antenna installation action atop the Sandias?

Boy I am getting tired of winds that interfered with tower crews trying to do their work!:(

But I just hope they put the antenna up safetly and hook it up to the digital transmitter.

Well anyhow just hang in there....:D

Party on guys!!

5-10-02

CALL TO ARMS !!! CALL TO ARMS !!!

CALL TO ARMS !!! CALL TO ARMS !!!

I wanted to watch "Air Force One" tonight on KOAT and it is not in HD. I called the engineering dept. just now at the station and they said there is probably something wrong at the crest. It didn't seem like they felt any urgency to resolve the problem. I urge all of you when you see this to call them up at 884-7777 then press 2 for engineering. We need to let them know that there is more than one person watching their HD digital station. This kind of thing would be TOTALLY unacceptable on their current analog station if the picture was screwed up.

If anyone is out there tonight you may give them a call now to let them know you ARE WATCHING.

Thanks, Fred.

Fred,

According to most reports, AFO was not broadcast in HDTV. So I don't think it was an issue with KOAT. Check the following thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=140586

Tomorrow should have Dinosaur in HD. If it ain't, then it's time to yell!

Regards, Peter

I saw a good portion of Dinosaur tonight and it looked GREAT. I wonder when KOAT will be equiped with DD 5.1 sound? I am glad they were playing it after 5 pm when I turned on my set.

This may be old news but I got this from KRQE last Wednesday.

Hi Fred,

The antenna installation is going well. We were slowed down by high winds last week, but this week has been great. I have an antenna engineer scheduled for Saturday to do a final sweep of the line and antenna. This is the last step before applying transmitter power to the system. Monday we will start testing, you should start see some pictures at that point. We are still scheduled for June 1st to start broadcasting.

Thanks for inquiry, and please let me know how our service looks out in TV land.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV

I just did a scan for new channels and there it was big as day. 13-1. Right now it looks as though it's just a digital version of what's on the analog (like what KOB was doing) but hey, it's more than what they had. Please oh please have something Hi Def tonight.

Well I just got back from Denver and to see if the station is on the air. I went to my receiver and tune in on channel 16 TA DA, its on the air!!

I am getting about 86 on the signal meter.

They are using the channel number as 16.2 at this time.

The 480i video is being upconverted and strethed to 16:9 format in 1080i.

Glad to see KRQE-DT got their act together!

5-20-02

GOOD NEWS!

Hey RipClaw - welcome to the forum. I wonder how many NMDTV viewers there are out there?

I just did a scan of the digital channels just now and it did not pick up KRQE. Did they turn it off for the night. Is anyone still getting it? Thanks, Fred.

Hello Fjerina,

Yep they just went off the air and I was hoping they would show some primetime CBS's HDTV programings tonight.

I guess they are still testing at this time....

Not a peep on KASA-DT FOX on channel 27 yet.....

I think TitanTV was wrong on this but then again though.....:D

5-20-02

"BTW" Denver is really in bad shape 3 low powers ABC,CBS and PBS from downtown Denver and 1 full power KDVR-DT "FOX" from Lookout Mountain.

Due to a crazy NMBYS "Not in My Backyard" dumb mentaly on Lookout Mountain.

I think we are in better shape than Denver IMHO... :)

5-20-02

KRQE in Los Alamos - a few notes

The signal was moderately strong up here on the hill (got 56/100 on my Mitsu HD400 box) and at this level, the picture had a few artifacts and dropouts (a few a minute or so). I'm hoping they were testing at the 30kW level before they boost to the 75kW licensed power mentionned previously. (Also note my antenna location is less than ideal; I'm in a valley and can't get a good line-of-site to the crest)

A few comments on the picture: they stretched the NTSC to something less than 16:9 (it looked like a 14:9 stretch to me). For my tastes, this was great. I prefer the stretched pictures over the side bars, and the KRQE stretch was less distorted than the 16:9 stretches I usually do on my own. The picture was brighter than the KOAT feed as well (has anyone else noticed that KOAT is a bit dim with a touch too much contrast compared to other HD sources such as HBO-HD and HD-NET?).

Regardless, much thanks to KRQE for also going on-line today, and I'm happy to say us distant viewers look like we'll have another option for off-air viewing very soon.

Joe Martz
Los Alamos

I decided to check out the off-air stations for the first time in a while and I couldn't find KOB-DT and KNME-DT stations on the air. KOAT-DT was strong as could be.

When my STB didn't find them, I checked the spectrum with my spectrum analyzer and not a trace of KOB-DT and KNME-DT either. Are both down for maintenance/upgrading as we speak?

Robert

Originally posted by jcmartz

Regardless, much thanks to KRQE for also going on-line today, and I'm happy to say us distant viewers look like we'll have another option for off-air viewing very soon.


Good to hear KRQE-DT is finally testing - that was the big HDTV station to get as it was not available to me from satellite and they do carry a few sporting events that I would watch in HD.

Robert

Hello Sthscan,

KNME-DT is fine to me and the signal strenth is about 76 and as for KOB-DT still off the air at this time.

Keep the eye on KRQE-DT digital signal test on Tuesday and later, it will be on digital channel 16.

5-20-02

OOPS!! you just beat me to it on my the lastest news on KRQE-DT hi.. hi....:)

Hopefully KRQE will stay on full time now. I just checked my signal strength and I got 100 out of 100 from them just like KOAT. Granted I just live on the Westside, but I feel that's excellent considering I just use an indoor antenna. By the way, thank you KOAT for continuing to show the HD material you have to offer. Hopefully KASA will have their stuff up and running soon (even though it'll just be 480P).

I hope KRQE will be up also when I get home today from work. Looking forward to seeing their evening programs in hi-def.

The whole UHF stations are off the air except digital channels 16 and channel 35!!

Yep channel 19,21,23,32,41 and 50 are off the air helping the work TV tower crews to work on the digital transmitters or I think they may have some kind of power blackout due to nasty windy day.

Somthing big is happing here I hope!:)

The KRQE-DT seems a little stronger it's now reading 88 on the signal meter.

Well guys this it and keep the eye on the any new digital signals.

5-21-02

Hey Ripclaw

Are you getting KNME with an indoor antenna? They're still very low power.

later
Pete

Yes, I am. I'm getting around 72 out of 100. It's one of those RCA powered ones, that I have plugged into my Sony A/V Receiver.

Looks like channel 7 is back up (digital) and KRQE is still testing :( For those of you out there that scan channels, my Mits HD400 scans and only puts the checks in those channels that are digital. While having to manually add the analog channels is a pain, I've noticed that by default there's checks in channels 45, 47, and 61. Does anyone else have this situation, and/or are these UHF channels for future DTV? Just wondering.

Hello RipClaw,

The analog low power stations that you mentioned are channel 45 "home shopping channel" K45DL transmitter location is from the westside on Coors road, channel 48 is "Telfutera Spanish Network" transmitter location is on the Sandia Crest Mountain there is no such station on channel 47 at this time.

KTEL-LP "Telmundo Spanish Network" channel 53 also located on the Sandia Crest Mountain.

K56FB channel 56 "MTV-2" Dead air at this time only showing DirectTV receiver saying "For ordering information please call customer service, ext. 721 banner on the screen" :cool: also on the Sandia Crest Mountain as well too.

KYNM-LP channel 61 "Church programings and somtime relaying KCHF-TV frome Santa Fe channel 11 and is also located on Sandia Crest Mountain.

K17DD channel 17 "3ABN Church programings" From the westside on Coors road.

It's look like that all UHF stations were back on the air right now at this time
same goes for KOAT-DT channel 21.1 but nothing new here.

We will see what happens next day or 2 at the most.:)

Well party on and hope no more bloody winds to deal with at this time!!:D

5-21-02

Is KRQE up and running today?

I haven't seen it today at 4:50pm. Did you get your friend a HD tv yet? JR

Yes, He got a Sony 51" CRT RP HDTV from Circuit City for around $2000. Looks pretty good. He now needs to get a HD decoder/tuner so he can watch HD from the crest.

Originally posted by N5XZS
Hello Sthscan,

KNME-DT is fine to me and the signal strenth is about 76 and as for KOB-DT still off the air at this time.

Keep the eye on KRQE-DT digital signal test on Tuesday and later, it will be on digital channel 16.



Update on KNME-DT -- i moved my on-the-roof UHF yagi to point more towards the crest and KNME-DT is coming in now with a 30 db over noise signal as compared to no signal on my spectrum analzyer before I repointed my antenna.

KOAT-DT continues to be a barn-burner signal - about 80 db over noise signal and it's so strong that I can get it with a UHF loop antenna that I took off an old TV set and hooked it up to my STB just to see how super KOAT-DT's signal is. KNME-DT is way too weak for anything but an outdoor antenna here.

KRQE-DT - I've been watching the spectrum analyzer the last 2 days with no sign of a signal. one of these days... 8^)

Robert

Originally posted by N5XZS
The whole UHF stations are off the air except digital channels 16 and channel 35!!

Yep channel 19,21,23,32,41 and 50 are off the air helping the work TV tower crews to work on the digital transmitters or I think they may have some kind of power blackout due to nasty windy day.


The analog off-air channel outages were due to a power outage in a hard-to-reach location up on the crest. Too bad they weren't done to help other stations get their DT transmitters going.

Yesterday was a good example of which stations are too cheap to have backup generators and which ones care about being on the air no matter what! 8^)

Robert

Just want to let you know that KRQE-DT is on the air this morning and the signal is very strong.

So catch it when you can as long they stay on the air and mayby for the whole day.:)

5-23-02

KRQE is broadcasting a very strong signal today: I'm getting 100/100 on my Mitsu HD400 box here in Los Alamos. Nice picture, no dropouts. I would guess they're testing high-power today. My last e-mail from KRQE said they were waiting on an RF meter to perform some FCC-required measurements on the crest prior to final certification.

Regardless, it's sure nice to have the growing HD choices here in NM.

Joe M.

Glad to hear all of this. Hope they will leave the transmitter on tonight and pass through the high-def programming to us all.

KRQE-DT is now broadcasting in true CBS HDTV programing right now!!:) :) :)

They are using HDTV CBS eastcoast feed at this time.

But the weird thing I am getting close captioning from the wheel of fourtune
analog programing while at the same time I am getting CBS HDTV programing.

I am sure they will clear up this little glitch since they are in the testing mode.

Injoy the show!!!

5-23-02

I watched CBS HD last night also and enjoyed "CSI" and "The Agency" for the most part. Seems like someone at KRQE in engineering needs to learn how to use the HD recorder/file server. A times the picture froze or the program was being fast forwarded or reversed for some reason. I guess it will be some time before they get all the kinks worked out. However, the picture (during the unglitched times) looked very good. Looking forward to more series in HD.

I was impressed with the PQ on CBS. Looking forward to watching some of their shows. What's the word on KOB-DT? My Mits DTV box now shows program guide info for KOB-DT, but still no signal. I don't know where that data comes from - DirecTV or the station. Also, when I did a channel scan last night, my box added KOBR-DT (8) to the guide. That's probably just a DirecTV channel list artifact though.

I hope KRQE is up tonight. I have friends coming over for a barbecue and I wanted to show them how "Jag" looks like in HD. Is KRQE up right now???

Petew: Although KOB is down right now I still have their channel show up on my Dish 6000 menu (since it detected it some weeks ago when it was up at the time). KOBR-DT may be Roswell. Seems like KOB is not in any rush to come on-line.

Well KOB just went back on the air, sorta. Maybe it's just me and my indoor antenna. I get a signal of 100 but then it just drops to 0 and then back to 100 again. Hopefully they're back on track. I was/am even grateful for just the regular picture being converted to digital seeing as how they had little HD programming.

Was anyone able to receive a signal tonight (Friday) for KOB-DT or KRQE-DT?

I live near San Mateo and Constitution and get mapping at 4-1 for KOB but no picture. Nothing at all for KRQE.

Does KRQE HD transmit a true 16:9 picture? Comparing it to their SD signal, the HD looks zoomed; the tops of peoples' heads are chopped off, but not on their regular SD signal. Has anyone compared the two pictures? JR

Ozone,

There was a local blackout on CBS-HD due to a baseball game. KRQE returned at exactly 9pm when the game was scheduled to end.

Jerrich,

I compared the DISH CBS-HD feed with KRQE's. They are identical.

Regards, Peter

Peter,

How do you get CBS-HD on a dish? IS that Dish Network? Also, is KRQE-HD up only at night? It seems everytime I do a channel search I am missing them.

Ozone,

Answer to question 1 is ;) .
KQRE was running all Friday except for the baseball blackout, but seems to be shut off completely today.

Regards, Peter

Hey Pete, compare the CBS HD on dish with the local SD picture for me and see if there is any difference in the picture size. Why can't they be the same vertically? JR

Pete,
Do you know if KRQE-DT is up today, Sunday afternoon? If a CBS daytime sporting event is HD, do you think KRQE would carry?

I don't know if my city location is contributing to the problem. I'm near San Mateo and Constitution and would think that is a good spot for reception.

KRQE DT doesn't seem to be up this weekend. What a bummer. Guess I will go see Star Wars with my friends this afternoon.

Is KRQE up and running today???

Not a peep on digital channel 16.....:(

No sign of KOB-DT's signal.:(

They must have been off the air for almost 2 weeks now.

News here has been too quiet latley.

5-28-02

KOB-DT is now back on the air, but.......

I am just getting an blank picture and no sound but the signal is very strong 77 to 81 and lose lock on around every 6 seconds or so.

The pisp information still saying 26.3.

Any of you guys get any kind of KOB-DT's signal?


5-28-02

Originally posted by N5XZS
KOB-DT is now back on the air, but.......

I am just getting an blank picture and no sound but the signal is very strong 77 to 81 and lose lock on around every 6 seconds or so.



KOB-DT is very strong (like 80db over noise on my spectrum analzyer).
The problem I have is the picture is breaking up big time. It's the Kings/Lakers NBA basketball game show in 4:3 format but it's artifacty and breaking up.

I wonder if your "blank picture" is how your receiver chooses to display a transmission that does not decode well for some reason.

Robert

Hello Robert,

I am now getting a picture with some freeze and some breakups the and sound sound great but the Close Captioning is missing somehow though.

Still the same old channel number 26.3 so far. :)

The signal strenth went up to 88!!;)

Now let's if they can pass on HDTV NBC feeds to us here in New Mexico.:eek:

5-28-02

I'm getting a very strong signal for KOB-DT (4-1) in Los Alamos. 100/100 on my box. Picture is strong with occasional breakups and audio dropouts.

Regardless, this is great news for those of us in outlining areas. Here in LA, I've now gotten excellent signal strength from KOB, KOAT, and KRQE.

Joe M.

Originally posted by jcmartz
[B]I'm getting a very strong signal for KOB-DT (4-1) in Los Alamos. 100/100 on my box. Picture is strong with occasional breakups and audio dropouts.

[B]

Looks like KOB needs to tweak their encoder. The "low-action" 10pm news came on and all picture breakups magically went away. It looks like they can't encode "high-action" content such as the basketball game until they adjust some settings on their encoders.

Robert

I just found out that almost all analog and 1 digital stations are off the air this morrning.

Channel listed here that are off the air at this time, 5,19,21,23,32,35,50. The stations are still on the air listed are....

2,4,7,13,26,41.

I hope they are working on the towers!!

This is your rare chances to TV DX on channel 5 while KNME-TV is still off the air during the TV skip season!!:D

5-29-02

I'm not sure folks following this thread are aware of the KOB-DT statement regarding upcoming HD broadcasts (or, more accurately, the lack therof). Here's a link to their full policy.

KOB-DT Digital Statement (http://www.kobtv.com/kob-tv/dtv.htm)

And here's a few relevant excerpts:

Will KOB-DT provide more HDTV broadcasts? -- KOB was pleased to provide HDTV broadcasts of the 2002 Winter Olympics to the Albuquerque area. We were able to do this thanks to hard work by our engineering department and, most importantly, the loan of HDTV broadcast equipment during our testing phase. We no longer have the ability to broadcast HDTV, and because of the great expense involved, we currently do not have plans to invest in new equipment at this time.

Now, I believe KOB is the #2 station in the Albuquerque market. KRQE (#3 station) has made the investment to broadcast HD, so I find KOB's statement a bit odd. Perhaps a more coordinated response from us (in the form of e-mail/snail-mail contact) with KOB might help encourage them to speed-up the acquisition of the necessary hardware. Is there something else at play here (such as the lack of NBC HD content?). That's going to change next fall, as I believe NBC has announced all its new shows (roughly half a dozen) will be broadcast in HD.

Thoughts?

Joe Martz

I also read the NBC plans on providing much more HD programming this fall. However, KOB's parent company, Hubard Broadcasting, is the one to ignite a fire under. They will likely be the one that gives the decree to their stations to purchase/install the HD encoder/decoders/file servers to provide us with the programming in HD. Scan the previous replies on this thread for their address in Minneapolis. We should be writing letters to them, and also KOB here in Albuquerque.

Originally posted by N5XZS
I just found out that almost all analog and 1 digital stations are off the air this morrning.

Channel listed here that are off the air at this time, 5,19,21,23,32,35,50. The stations are still on the air listed are....

2,4,7,13,26,41.

I hope they are working on the towers!!



Man, you all get your hopes up way too high! 8^)

Another power outage this morning at the crest, knocking several radio and TV stations off the air. A news story I saw said power was restored about 10am.

Robert

Does anyone know a DirecTv installer in ABQ or someone who could align my oval dish? The signal has degenerated, making reception of the Lewis-Tyson fight problematic.

I think today marks something of a milestone for Albuquerque digital television. To my knowledge, today is the first day that the big three national networks are all transmitting digital TV at the same time.

So, it's May 30, 2002 and Albuquerque has crossed the threshold, well ahead of many larger markets.

Isn't it nice to be ahead of the curve here in New Mexico (just ask are poor neighbors up in Denver).

Joe M.

My Mits receiver picks up 35 and 16 on the digital meter at 100 for both, yet, when I go to 13-1, 16-1, 5-1, or 35-1 I get channel unavailable. Anyone else having problems getting KRQE and KNME?

Have you tried using the autoscan feature in the Mitsu box?

Yeah, and that's what's so weird. It will not pick up the stations at all on the scan. Yet it shows their stregnth (100 for KRQE and 75 for KNME) when I punch in their number.

I can only think of one other possibility: is your "Local Area" setting under the Installation menu set to the proper input (probably need "Local In 1" set to "Antenna")?

For your info, I've got 2 Mitsu boxes (one is labelled the Hughes E86, same thing) and they both work just great, no problems on either KRQE or KOB.

Sounds like you may have a bad unit (see if Ultimate will swap it out for you or at least check your box at their store).

Joe M.

Originally posted by ripclaw
Anyone else having problems getting KRQE and KNME?

I can't pick up KRQE-DT. Their signal is messed up as seen on my spectrum analyzer. Instead of being a perfect flat-topped mesa, it's jagged. The signal strength is just as good as KOAT-DT and KOB-DT though.

I don't have your STB so I can't say what a solution is, but it just won't lock with my Unity Motion STB when I do an "installation scan" while all other signal lock in just fine due to how clean they are.

Robert

Thanks to everyone that gave advice. It turns out my DTV card was screwed up. For whatever wacked out reason the zip code was something out of state so, those channels were overriding the locals for here. A quick reset of the receiver and reinputing the zip and I was back up and running again.

It was nice to see all the major networks up digitally last night (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS). Looking forward to the high-definition programming content increase for this fall. Hope KOB (NBC) gets the necessary equipment to pass the HD material to us.

If there is someone out there that can check, are all of them up today, Thursday?

As of 12:30pm today, KOB and KOAT are up; KRQE is down.

I am having problems receiving any of the local digital stations. Is anyone else having problems with them?

1:43am on Fri May 31 and 3 of the 4 HDTV channels are coming in just fine (KOB, KOAT, KNME). KRQE is not coming in and I haven't fired up the spectrum analyzer to see if it's up or if the signal is still messed up as received here with a rooftop antenna.

KOAT is doing something good - stretching out the 4:3 to fill up the full screen without seeming to lose any aspect (Nelson's head in the news replay is not distorted like I'd expect when you take a 4:3 pic and stretch it out to roughly 16:9 to fill the screen)


Robert

My problems on Thursday night were with my Dish 6000 unit. I had to remove power from the unit then plug it back in then they all came in fine. One of the stations (I believe KOB) was not very stable last night and when I tune the bad station in for awhile then switch to the other channels it screws up the ability for me to receive the other stations. Odd.

Anyway, CBS's "The Agency" looked very good last night. I think CBS looks the best (next to PBS) locally on my set.

Also, I guess KRQE is officially on-line due to some of the web postings I saw this morning. Check them out.

http://www.nab.org/Newsroom/Pressrel/releases/3602.htm

http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=249

By the way, sthscan, I also think the stretch mode that KOAT is doing (I think KRQE also) is a good thing. Looks pretty good and not distorted. On my 16:9 set there is a small black bar on each side which is only slightly noticeable.

Yes, I also complimented KOAT on the new stretch they have; very similiar to the KRQE format. I think they're basically doing a simple, partial zoom. This leaves a small, black bar on either side and cuts off a small portion of the top and bottom.

I've been futzing with the cabling in my house to try and optimize the signals to my 2 HD sets. I've got considerable cabling, splitters, etc. I also use amplifiers at 2 points. Anyway, I found something interesting. My bedroom set was showing breakups, etc. when my main unit was working just fine. After considerable testing, I found my amplifier gain was too-high on my powered splitter. I backed this off all-the-way, and it cleared up the problems (expecially on KOAT). So, too-much signal was the problem. No doubt this would show immediately on a spectrum analyzer, but I don't have one (at home, at least). Once I made these changes, I've had solid HD reception with no breakups from any of the ABQ sources for almost 2 days now.

Joe M. - Los Alamos

Seems like KOB is the only digital station on air that is not passing their content in high-definition. This fall NBC will be dramatically increasing their HD content. We should write letters or send emails to KOB and their parent company Hubbard Broadcasting. This is the email I sent to KOB. Hubbard Broadcasting (believe it or not does not have email) but I am listing their address. If you have some time then send something out to them.

'kobtv@kobtv.com''jgaray@kobtv.com''bwagoner@kobtv.com''jbla de@kobtv.com'

Dear Sirs:

I want to congratulate you on your digital TV broadcasting. Albuquerque is now fortunate to have four of the network majors broadcasting from their digital transmitters atop the Sandias (KRQE (CBS), KOAT (ABC), KOB (NBC), KNME (PBS)).

I heard the announcement from NBC that this fall the NBC network will be providing over 11 hours of prime-time programming in HIGH DEFINITION. This is great news. As you know, the other three stations currently have significant high definition programming and are currently transmitting this programming in the high definition format. KOB is merely passing their standard definition programming over the digital channel.

I am sincerely hoping that KOB will be able to purchase and install the required equipment to pass the high definition programming to us here in Albuquerque for this fall. I see this fall as the true beginning of the high definition TV era. I would hate to see KOB lose out to the other Albuquerque stations in the high definition digital TV domain.

Sincerely, Fred Jerina.

Stanley Hubbard
Hubbard Broadcasting
3415 University Avenue
St. Paul, Minn. 55114

This is the response I got back from KOB per my email.

Fred,

Thanks for the feedback. As you may know, the cost of high definition
broadcasting equipment is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Given
the tough economic times and the small audience that could see the
broadcasts currently, it's a tough expense to make.

I have forwarded your comment on to our management.


KOB-TV Interactive Media Dept.
kobtv@kobtv.com

As I understand KOB's situation, all they need is a $50K encoder to do HD. Still not chump change, but it's not "hundreds of thousands" either.

Pete, you are right, I just talked with Jim Gail and he told me how much they are. I replied to KOB with the following email and printed the email and sent it to Hubbard Broadcasting. I would encourage all of you to do the same. Maybe we may see the added HD programming from NBC this fall.

Dear Sirs:

In response to your email reply about the cost of high definition broadcasting equipment being in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, I must tell you that you could purchase a Tandberg high definition mpeg encoder (similar to the one you rented to present the Olympics over your station last February) for around $55,000. With this device you could pass through the HD programming to your New Mexico viewers. I do not feel this is an excessive amount of money. If the other stations here in Albuquerque found ways to put it into their budgets, why would KOB be any different? I understand that the FCC is currently making resolutions that will be pressuring all digital TV stations to pass through the HD programming over the air. With your station being the only one NOT passing the HD programming here in New Mexico you will be receiving many more phone calls, letter and emails from viewers in the not to distant future. I would encourage you to reconsider your decision. Thank you for your time. Fred Jerina.

cc:
Stanley Hubbard
Hubbard Broadcasting
3415 University Avenue
St. Paul, Minn. 55114

If I remember correctly, KOAT is broadcasting in 720P while KRQE is sending a 1080i signal. On my setup, the 1080i is far superior to the 720p. Has anyone else noticed this difference?

Seems like most of their stuff during the day is upconverted 480i. I do have a problem getting a reliable audio lock on their signal with a Sammy 150. What setup do you have? I called the station engineer at KRQE this afternoon and had a nice chat with him. My purpose was to see if they could de-zoom the picture a little to match their SD picture. The answer was no, not without getting the black bars on the sides. (I notice that KOAT's digital signal also looks a little zoomed.) Anyway he informed me that he had to shut down for the weekend because he didn't have a license to stay on the air except for 'testing'. I told him that he has a lot of viewers out here, and could he 'test' all weekend? He laughed, and I'm not sure how serious he took me. Happy Viewing. JR

Looks like KOB-DT still off the air for past 2 days due to some kind of glitch on STL or it is something else.:confused:

I just noted that KAZQ-TV was off the air for 2 days as well too.

KASY-TV has some kind of video interfrences on the STL microwave video link. "If you look carefully it's on the left side of the picture is a video Horzonatal bar and you can see different TV show in a ghost on a main channel 50's programings."

It's seems everyone has some kind of hicups.;)

Channel 16.2 still coming in nicely and passing through Close Captioning in both video formats 4:3 upconverted 1080i and true 16:9 HDTV 1080i.

I wish KOAT-DT,KOB-DT and KNME-DT would pass through Close Captioing on their digital channels, but I will give them time to work on their learning curves on their digital encoders.

Still no sign on KASA-DT or anyone else today.....

6-3-02

As I was watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" on CBS KRQE last night I noticed that the show went from HD (high definition) to SD (standard definition)(widescreen) and stayed that way. The following show "Becker" was in the SD widescreen mode for the whole program. Does anyone know what's going on?

Just found out on the website TITANTV.COM saying KASA-DT will go on the air in June 15th it will be on channel 27.

We will wait and see what happens.

6-3-02

As far as the problem with KRQE switching from HD to SD in the middle of the evening, here is the reason why accordingly to a email reply I just received from KRQE.

Fred,
CBS does not give us a Mountian Time HDTV feed. We have installed a HDTV file server to record their East Coast feed. The file server as shipped has just enought storage to capture CBS's prime time HDTV programming. If our operators do not clean the srever out each day you can run out of space. That was what happen last night. We have on order more storage that will fix the problem. We hope to see that storage within the next two weeks.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV

Fred

We're luckey to have a station as responsive to your questions as KRQE is. Please let them know that you are our eyes and ears. Let them know there are a lot of non-vocal viewers out here!

Later
Pete

Originally posted by petew
Fred

We're luckey to have a station as responsive to your questions as KRQE
(...)


How does one get ahold of KRQe engineering? there is no email address on the web page (at least that I could fine). I want to know why their signal is unlockable here (due to the flaky appearance of it on a spectrum analyzer).

Robert

Frank Lilley [Frank.Lilley@krqe.com], the director of Engineering at KRQE, is very responsive to your questions. Feel free to contact him if you are having problems with their DT signal.

John B Trambley [jtrambley@hearst.com], program director at KOAT is very responsive also for questions you may have.

Update news,

KNAT-DT "TBN" digital channel 24 got spanked by the FCC for not telling the truth about their digital transmitter to on the air timetable.

50 would be digital stations around the country most of them are TBN "a church channel network" got scolded by the FCC for not getting their digital transmitter on time.

If they don't get their act together by Nov, 1st 2002 they will lose their digital license and not only that analog license will be revolked by 2006 KNAT-TV channel 23 will go off the air.

IMHO, nobody watch this kind of crappy church programings and might be better off getting new broadcast owner that will have us a true INDY, station that will carry lots of sport and movies and tons of local news for Albuquerque.

Remember the good old day when KNAT-TV used to carry Benny Hill and Space 1999 and tons of movies, lots of live sports programings.:)

Someday we will get our true INDY, station back in Albuquerque oneway or the other!

6-8-02

Anyone else have audio problems Thursday night with KRQE (CBS-HD)? I had loud buzzing from the right audio channel for most of the evening.

Joe M.

Yes, glad you brought it up. Now I know it wasn't my system doing it.

Things are kinda quiet lately. Anyone hear of anything new to report?

I just spoke with a Tony from ACME TV (responsible for operation of WB and UPN) and he said their extensions expire for WB on August 1 and UPN on August 15. They plan on being up before the expiration. He said we should be seeing test signals starting sometime in July. They should be up and running by August 1 (WB) and August 14 (UPN). He couldn't said in what format they will be transmitting their signal since they don't have that equipment in yet. At least we should have digital WB and UPN operational by the start of the fall season. WB is planning on more HD content for this fall.

Nice to know KWBQ-DT and KASY-DT to go on the air in somewheren in mid July.:)

I just hope to see Star Trek Enterprise being shown in the fall for true HDTV by the UPN network.

BTW, I just went by KASA-TV and are they building a new broadcast station site in order to replace the old one or it someone else is building it? "It's right next to KNME-DT on universty street."

The Titaintv say KASA-DT will go on the air for July the 1st, but as you know they are not very reilable at this time IMHO, but then again who's know what yet.
:D

As for the rest the news not much else going on at this time.

6-29-02

Party on Dudes!!

Here's the latest news.....

KASA-DT will try to go on the air for July 23 according to Titiantv website.

K56FB ch. 56 is now Telemundeo "SP" network used to be an MTV/2 network.

They are now channel hogging on channel 53 and 56 at the same time.:(

Not much else is going on at this time.....

Keep the eye out for KASY-DT ch. 45 and KWBQ-DT ch. 29

7-11-02

Breaking News!!

KASA-DT "FOX" digital channel 27 is now on the air!!

The signal is very strong 88 on my signal meter.

But they need to fix the picture since it's stretched too wide for the 4:3 program format.

I thinks it's upconverted to 1080i from the 480i NTSC format.

There is no Close Captioning pass through yet.

Next line ups are KASY-DT ch. 45 and KWBQ-DT ch. 29 and KLUZ-DT ch. 42 that will be on the air soon.

7-15-02

I saw it also tonight. Does anyone know if they present more than just upconverting their 4:3 standard def image to the digital channel? I hope so.

Great news about KASA. Hopefully they'll pass through glorious 480p. I have faith that KASA will do HD someday - they're sure helping out HDNet with their programming. And just in time for Thursday's NMDTV meeting.

later
Pete

I'm getting a strong signal on channel 27 (93/100), but my Mitsu and Hughes boxes aren't able to tune anything from 9-10pm. Did anyone else have a problem tuning this signal or can someone confirm a problem on Tuesday evening?

Thanks,
Joe M.

I am watching KOAT-DT local news at 9PM!! But at the sametime they are showing Houston hospital TV show on the analog channel 7!

Are they doing some time shifting experment?

I am not sure they are doiing live news feed at this time but then again who's know what!:)

Let me know what you think!!

7-23-02 at 9:25 PM MST "Give or take"

Tim:
I think what KOAT is doing is rebroadcasting their 6 O'Clock news at 9 since the network feeds they are transmitting are starting at 6.
Surely they aren't putting on a news production for the 6 or 8 of us watching KOAT-DT. ;)
John

In case any of you were wondering why KRQE does not always switch immediately to the high-definition programming after commercial breaks, here is the answer, as responded by KRQE Frank Lilly.

Fred,

I've made some inquires about the problem you noted about late switching between CBS' standard and high definition feeds. This is a human switching problem, and we are training new operators. We will continue to work on having a seamless switch, but our operation is a manual one, with no automation, Master Control operators are charged with protecting our analog service first (this is what pays the bills). We are getting better, but please continue with the feed back, we are committed to providing the best DTV product possible.

On your request for the Master Control phone number, our policy is not to give that number out.

Well, KRQE is screwing things up AGAIN !!!

Well, KRQE is screwing things up AGAIN !!! I was looking forward to watching CSI and the Agency tonight and it is NOT in high-def. Those baboons at the station must have forgot to reset the file-server or turn on the switch for the high-def. I can believe with all the money they spent on their high-def equipment that they cannot get their techs to run the equipment right. I will be contacting Frank Lillley at frank.lilley@krqe.com AGAIN tomorrow. I would suggest you guys do the same.

Hello everyone!!
Just joined this board and was glad to see that there are alot of people here in Albuquerque actually into DTV. Until a couple of weeks ago I didn't think Albuquerque was getting any DTV. I just bought a HDTV ready TV and everywhere I went, the salespeople didn't seem to be that informed about any digital channels here in Alq most of them stated that I would have to get satalite service to receive any HD programing. But thanks to an inquiry to Pete (petew) yesterday on this board I found this tread and WOW I can't wait to get my Mitsubishi STB this week and fire it up!!!!!!!!!
David

PONCH0069, welcome to the group. You may also want to check out the "New Mexico DTV User's Group" threat. We meet once a month, usually the 3rd Thursday night, at KNME studios. We discuss HDTV related issues.

Albuquerque is evolving into a good provider of HD TV local programming. KRQE may be having some problems right now. They haven't been providing programming in HD over their digital transmitter for the past week. KOAT is up and KNME is up, as far as HD programming. KOB does not have a mpeg decoder to provide material in HD (they just forward their standard definition signal over their digital signal).

Enjoy what we got so far. It's only going to get better.

David
Let us know how your mits box works out.

later
Pete

Admitedly off-topic. Anyone here interested in buying a 8VSB (OTA) module for the Dish 6000? I ended up with a 2nd one (new in box) that I can let go for cheap.....

....anyone?

I should have mentioned, I'm in the Albuquerque area.

I just read a post that stated that HNDet will be broadcasting over the air in some markets this winter. Does anyone know if this is going to happen in Albuquerque?
David

I would kinda doubt that since they likely don't have a transmitter tower here (unless I'm mistaken). Would be nice though.

HDNet1 will be available to local broadcasters if they want to pick it up. Some have said they'll carry HDNet when their network is not doing high def. I have no idea if any local stations are looking at it. They black out sports though, that programming is only available via DirecTV. HDNet2, 3, and 4 are supposed to start up operations this fall sometime as premium pay channels and then HDNet1 will become a demo and "low value programming" channel that will be free on D* and low cost to broadcasters.

I was excited to find this thread. I live in Albuquerque (near Paseo del Norte and Eubank) and have been nosing around the AVS Forum for a few weeks, but never dreamed I could find anything so localized. I have some questions that I hope you all would not mind answering.

I am planning on purchasing my first HD-capable TV in a couple of days. I have decided on the new Sony KV-34XBR800 (a 16:9 set with DVI). I have regular analog cable from Comcast and am hoping to receive HD signals OTA. (I recently picked up a discontinued indoor antenna at Radio Shack for $10 that I thought I might try first.) As you can guess, I am extremely new to all this and am trying to soak up as much as I can as quickly as possible.

First of all, what is the best way to pick up HD signals in this area? Does anybody here use an indoor antenna? Am I crazy to expect to pick up anything that way? (Someone on this forum recommended the Radio Shack indoor model to me and I'll try anything for $10!) Any HD tips (in newbie language) would be greatly appreciated.

I am also interested in what STB to purchase. A guy at Ultimate Electronics said they carry a "local box" made by Samsung that sells for $499. Is anyone familiar with Samsung STBs? Is that price typical? Can I count on good quality from Samsung?

I also have thought on and off about subscribing to Dish Network and getting their 6000 package, but ultimately decided I would first see how the cable looks on my new set. (I've always been pretty pleased with the Comcast PQ.) For those of you who have Dish (or DirecTV), are you happy with the service and the picture quality? I have heard widely differing reports about picture quality, but nothing from anyone in my area, so I am especially interested in what you all think.

I would assume that even if I did go with Dish or DirecTV, I would still need to access the local HD stuff OTA. Is that correct? So is satellite worth it, in your opinions, just for HBO and Showtime HD, as well as HDNet?

And is there any reason to upgrade to Comcast Digital Cable? I was under the impression that Comcast transmits most channels in analog anyway, so the digital package doesn't increase the PQ on most channels. Doesn't the digital stuff only apply to the music channels and Pay-per-View? Clarifications on this would be appreciated, too.

Thanks for any help anyone can spare! Glad to know there's a local group here to help!

I have an indoor antenna with my HD system. I live a bit further south than you and I pick up all that Alb has to offer in terms of digital broadcasting. The one I'm using is an RCA antenna (don't remember the model number) it cost around $25. As for the cable/DTV.......I'm not too familiar with the set you're getting, but the bigger the TV, the more noticable the compression gets. What looks fine on my 27inch TV for DirecTV, can sometimes show artifacts on the big TV. I've heard this from Dish and Comcast. The only reason I'd suggest getting either Dish or DirecTV is because the STB's have a built in decoder to plug your antenna ino so you can pick up the HD version of Krqe and such. Hope this helps out.

Hey Dbacks fan, Welcome to the abq thread!

You should be able to pick up all the locals easily with the exception of KNME-DT. They are very low power now. They will go full power some time this fall.

I hate to say "wait", but the industry is in a bit of chaos right now. Hollywood is trying to get their senators to mandate copy protection crap and there's the DirecTV/DISH merger on the horizon. But if you can get a good deal....

I've heard good things about the Samsung box. I have a Mits DirecTV box that I like. I don't know anything about Dish hardware. MLB on HDNet rules!

The NMDTV users group meeting is this Thursday at the KNME station on University at 7:30. You should join us and we can talk about all this in person.

later
Pete

Originally posted by petew

I hate to say "wait", but the industry is in a bit of chaos right now. Hollywood is trying to get their senators to mandate copy protection crap and there's the DirecTV/DISH merger on the horizon. But if you can get a good deal....


petew,

Thanks for the welcome! When you say "wait," I'm assuming that you are referring to the purchase of the STB and/or satellite dish. Is that correct? Or do you think I should wait to purchase the new TV?

I have heard about the Dish/DirecTV merger and thought it might be wise to wait until that goes through before going to a dish. Although hearing you rave about MLB on HDNet is making me awfully anxious to go for it!

Glad to hear you've heard good things about the Samsung box. I have also heard that Sony is coming out with a new STB in September that will facilitate DirecTV, analog and digital cable, and OTA antenna HD. It sounds extremely nice, with lots of bells and whistles, but the list price is a bit steep ($900). Maybe the street price will be less. Do you think it makes sense to wait for the Sony or is one STB basically as good as another?

Thanks for the invite to the NMDTV users group meeting! I don't think I'll be able to make it this month, but hopefully I can attend sometime soon. It's great to know that something like that is available as I need all the advice I can get!!

ripclaw,

Glad to hear you're having success with your indoor antenna! Hopefully, my luck will be as good!

The set I'm planning on getting is a 34" 16:9, so it's not that much bigger than your 27" (which is what I have now). Hopefully, I won't have too much of an artifact problem. As I said, I think I'll wait and see how the cable looks on it before making the decision about Dish/DirecTV (and maybe wait for the merger to go through, too).

Do you have any trouble with your DirecTV picture when the winds kick up?

petew,

Same question to you. Do the winds affect DirecTV picture quality?

dbacksfan, welcome to the forum.

I have a Dish 6000 system and if you want to know anything about it you can call me at work at 828-6969 and I can answer any of your questions. I receive the local stations through it.

The Samsung tuners are regarded as very good. There are some new models coming out, in fact, the Samsung T-165, coming out now, has a DVI output (which your set has). You can get it around $570 delivered.

I strongly encourage you to come to the forum this Tuesday night if you can. You can get a lot of good info from it and from the members there. See the posting under "New Mexico DTV User's Group" under the "Local HDTV Info...".

Where you live you could receive most anything through an inexpensive UHF antenna. I have a friend with a small UHF antenna in his house atop his HDTV and he is receiving everything.

Good luck.

Sorry, the DTV User's Group meeting is this THURSDAY. Brain fart.

Originally posted by fjerina
Sorry, the DTV User's Group meeting is this THURSDAY. Brain fart.

The meeting starts at 7pm I think, not 7:30. I bought the RShack VU-90 ant. for $40, and it works fine from Tramway and Candelaria, but I think I should have bought the 15-2160 UHF only model since it has twice as many elements and is half the price.
Dbacksfan, in addition to this great site, check out the HometheaterSpot.com for tweaking your home theater system.
See everyone at the meeting! Jerry

I sent an email to both KRQE (CBS) and KOAT (ABC) regarding their capability to pass the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound to us over-the-air with the HD signal. I got a response from KOAT and it is as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Jerina:

According to our chief engineer, KOAT-DT does pass-through ABC's HDTV signal when available and it does include the 5.1 audio when available.

The next program airing with both HDTV and 5.1 audio is "According to Jim" tonight (August 13th) at 6:00-7:00pm. Both "Monk" and "Widows" are not available in HDTV.

Thanks again for writing to KOAT.

Sincerely,

John Trambley
Program Director

------------------------------------------------------------

Any comments???

I now got a response from KRQE regarding their ability to pass through Dolby Digital 5.1. Here it is...

Fred, The ability to pass through AC-3 (5.1 audio) was designed into our DTV buildout. If CBS offers 5.1 we should be able to send it your way.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE-TV

Dbacksfan

What's your name? We're all getting to know each other pretty well here.

My "wait" comment was only regarding the STB, and if you can find a deal, do it! If you want a taste of MLB in HD check the schedule on www.hd.net and give me a ring at 250-6187 if you want to come watch a game. That invitation is open to everyone BTW. If we get something going I'll post it here.

I haven't had any problems receiving D* with windy conditions. My dish is on a pretty solid mount. Rain fade is a problem once a year or so though.

If the D*/Dish merger happens, I think it'll be a while before they change anything that would break our HD boxes. And I'll bet they'll have some pretty sweet deals to keep their affluent, bill paying HD customers when/if they do implement changes to the receiving hardware. So GO FOR IT and enjoy it! Look up Sherman at Ultimate Electronics and make him scrounge around for a mitsubishi box. I'm very happy with mine. I wouldn't touch the SONY until it's been out for a while and we start getting good reviews here at AVS. I had a HD100 that was total junk. At least SONY was willing to admit it and buy it back.

Jerry
Those brain farts must be catching. 7:00 is the correct time.

Fred
As usual, good job getting information out of the broadcasters. Have you found out what KASA is up to? I don't know what programming FOX is doing in 480p but I wonder if KASA is providing that or just doing an upconvert of the NTSC caca. They're still mapping to 27.1 on my box. I wonder if they're having PSIP troubles or are just confused.

KNME-DT is still having problems too afaik. My box will not map the channel to the program guide on 5.1 or 35.1 but I can manually tune it if I key in 35.1. This stuff is still pretty flakey but damn the picture's nice.

See you all at the meeting THURSDAY at 7:00PM MDT.

Pete

Hey guys, it's nice to see a good discussion about HD issues in Albuquerque going on here. I thought I would pop in and join the party.

I got the Samsung SIR T-151 as a cheap way to get some HD until some more satellite programming comes along and it has worked very well so far. I'm using an outdoor antenna and I'm able to get everything although KNME gives me a few problems here and there. I imagine it won't be an issue for anyone in Alb. after they go high power. The only downside to the Samsung box is that there is no output for recording, but it is a budget unit, after all.

I'll have to try to get over to the HD meeting on Thur. and talk to some of you in person. I work with Sherman over at Ultimate, so I'll try to get him over there too.

Regards,

David

petew,

My name is David, too.

I was just in at Ultimate Electronics today (unfortunately, Sherman was not there) and purchased the new Sony KV-34XBR800 set (16:9 HD-ready with DVI). It will arrive tomorrow. I am very excited!! They ran an HD signal through it for me and it looked breathtaking. Hopefully, my Comcast analog cable won't muck it up too much. But am looking especially forward to running DVDs (don't have a progressive scan yet, but hope to get one by year's end).

They had a Samsung T151 STB hooked up to it, but I held off buying one, as I am still considering satellite and don't know whether to choose Dish or DirecTV. Also hoping to get an STB with DVI as that will better match my set. Salesperson said PQ on Dish and DirecTV was much better than cable. Do you guys agree? My house has an unobstructed SE view, which I was told is the direction the dish would point. Is this also true?

Pete, how do you access the local channels with DirecTV? Do you use cable or antenna? If it's through antenna, is the PQ on the non-HD stuff good? I'm leaning a little bit toward DirecTV because I like their sports packages, but I want to make sure the locals come in well, too.

Thanks, BTW, for the MLB invite! I saw part of a football game on the set at Ultimate and it blew me away.

Best,
David

I have high-speed Internet access through Comcast cable. If I switch to satellite TV, how do they route the satellite signal into the house, while preserving the cable connection?

Best,
David

petew,

I am curious as to the dimensions of the DirecTV receivers for extra sets. We have 6 TVs, but 3 are quite small and have very limited space for extra elements like a receiver. If I knew the measurements of the receiver, I would be better able to gauge whether adding the receiver would be possible.

Also, if I choose not to add receivers on certain sets, which TV would those extra sets be a slave to? The master satellite TV? Or the one in closest proximity?

I'm trying to find the best solution for my situation, but it's tough! All of the TVs are very much used at various times. I'd like to take advantage of satellite's better PQ (if, indeed, everyone concurs that it is better), but it seems very complicated.

I also set up my Radio Shack double bowtie indoor antenna today just to see how local reception came through (not HD yet, just regular local reception). I'm getting a good picture on KOAT and KRQE, but next to nothing on KASA, KOB and KNME. The TV is situated in a corner with east and south facing windows.

Is this a prelude of what I can expect when I try to access the HD signals, or will they come in better when connected to an STB? Any tips on how I can improve this reception would be much appreciated.

Sorry to bombard everyone with so many questions, but I appreciate all the help.

I'll see if I can answer all your questions. First, with the indoor antenna, don't worry about how you get things on the analog stations. I couldn't even get KRQE KOB and KASA but digitally they come in without problem.

The thing about Satellite, is that you have to pay for every receiver you have. So if you have 3 receivers, you pay XXX for the first one (no not the porno channels) and 5 dollars for each additional receiver as long as they are all plugged into phone lines. If any of them are unplugged, then you get to pay for your subscription twice. Without a receiver, there's not really a way to slave another TV to one that has a receiver without special equipment. Some places have wireless transmitters (or used to) that would let you see on a "slave" tv what the tv with the receiver had. Picture quality on Satellite is up for debate. With the size of your TV, you won't be a victim as much. I've read on different message boards that cable and satellite picture are about the same. As for preserving broadband, *edumacated guess* It would go through a multiswitch so that it sort of "directed" what went where, or more seperate cable running through the house.

a few items concerning various postings lately...

1) wind is not a problem with either DBS system unless there is a seriously flawed installation of the 18" dish such as not tightening the bolts, bolting the dish to something flimsy that blows around in the wind, or placing it near trees where branches can move between the satellite and receiving dish in strong winds. Rain fade is an issue but there is nothing you can do about it since it's a physics issue. for me, rain fade for my Extra Innings DSS subscription only happens about 4-5 times a summer and usually just for 10 mins at the most in each outage.

2) is KRQE-DT viewable from tramway/candelaria (for that person who said they live there)? I"m at comanche/tramway and I cannot get KRQE-DT and Frank Lilley says there are no problems reported by anyone and that someday he will send someone with a spectrum analyzer to my area to check things out I guess in 5 years I'll not have CBS to watch and it probably won't matter as all the good programming probably will be gone by then.

3) KASA-DT - I don't know for certain, but FOX does send out a 480p widescreen channel to their affiliates so I bet KASA-DT just sends that out their transmitter instead of receiving NTSC programming and doing some resampling or sending it out with thick margins over their DT transmitter.

Robert

Hey guys I will be moving to 4 Hills areas pretty soon!

Any idea what OTA reception will be like due to Sandia mountain is partly blocked by several southern Sandia Mountains near the I-40 Tramway areas.

4-Hills is south of I-40 in the extreme Southeast part of Albuquerque.:)

Any news on KASY-DT and KWBQ-DT going on the air in digital?

Thanks!!

8-15-02