This is awsome news i already have limited basic along with my internet, and now for 5 more dollars i can have my locals in hd, now will have to see how much they charge for the full boat. Directv charges 10 for there hd package wich includes about 8 premium HD channels and since I have already dropped $500 on my hughes E86 and another $50 on my ant. i doubt it will be worth it for me. I am getting off topic here bottom line is HD is awsome no matter how you get it and for us in this forum it was a "must have" and i would spend whatever it took to get it, and now people that cant afford to spend the money can have it cheap. Props to comcast for providing a soulution to abq's hd needs!:cool:

P.S. People get these letters out to KOB and let them know how critical it is for them to get this done!

P.S. People get these letters out to KOB and let them know how critical it is for them to get this done!

Good luck.

I have contacted them three separate times because I can not pull in their OTA Digital channel. I got one reply, telling me that they were off the air at the time I e-mailed. I replied that I have not been able to get their station since February. No reply. Nada. Zip.

Of course, I can get every other channel that we have here, but not KOB. I suspect they are doing something in their PSIP data that does not play well with my Sammy 151. I even upgraded to a better UHF antenna (Channel Master 4221) but still nothing.

I have posted this a few times, and it appears that there are no other Sammy 151 owners in ABQ, or none that are having the problem.

Oh well, as I said before, there is absolutely nothing on KOB that I care to watch, and since I can't receiver them, that is not likely to change! And FWIW, their PQ on basic cable is without a doubt, the worst of any local channel.

Rant mode now off.

BGL

I heard that if a letter is sent to Hubbard's attorney, Mr. Hubbard WILL see it. Anyone know how to find out an address??

(edit)
Found this match on Google, not sure if it's the right firm though.

Leonard, Street and Deinard

150 South Fifth Street
Suite 2300
Minneapolis, MN 55402
(612) 335-1500
(612) 335-1657 FAX

The Army and Navy Club Building
1627 Eye Street NW, Suite 610
Washington, DC 20006
202-974-6100
(202) 974-6101 FAX

Petew, thanks. I will also send a copy to the lawyers. They love to get involved in everything. Fred.

Well, I sent out the letter to the lawyers today !!! Let's kick some ass !!!

This is for BGL:

I have an SIR-T151. I can get KOB (4-1) all right but, of course, there's no HD to watch anyway with them.

Other stations come in all right. KNME is great but I'm getting a little bored watching the HD demo. Sometimes I switch to 5-1 just to remind myself what a beauty HD is.

Bearman

Thanks Phil.

Finally, confirmation that the box is at least capable! Do you mind if I ask the general area of your location? I am a bit southwest of Tramway and Academy.

As I mentioned, I recently bought a CM 4221, but still no joy. I have read that even minute movement of the antenna can pay big dividends. I suppose I need to climb up in the attic, and slowly move it around while someone watches the set.

BTW, they are on channel 26, right?

Thanks again!

BGL

I am not getting out local PBS or ABC digital station last night or today on my Dish 6000 unit. Is anyone else getting these stations??? Thanks, Fred.

Fred,
still getting all the channels abq has to offer as of 7:54 pm.
On my hughes e86.

BGL

I'm near Indian School and Morris. Have a semi-clear shot at the crest. Semi-clear because there's a tree in the way. I'm using a regular Radio Shack antenna that has to be at least twenty years old. I did raise it another eight feet but didn't improve the signal strength which is still a little above 50%.

Could be you're in an RF shadow since you are much closer to the base of Sandia Mountain. I don't know what you would do to solve that.

KOB is 26-1 but the 151 displays it as 4-1. Same thing with KNME (35-1 is 5-1). And so on with the other channels.

Phil

I am getting all the channels except channel 24 KNAT-DT REL, TBN "Running at 600 watts ERP" with my Terk TV-50 indoor antenna here in 4 Hills areas.

The receiver that I am using is the RCA DTC-100.

Only 2 more stations to go on the air......

KCHF-DT channel 10 "REL" and KAZQ-DT channel 17 "REL" sad to say both stations are junk IMHO, no real independent station in this Albuquerque's TV market "KTVK or KCAL and many others around in the country"

Sure wish Hearst Argle and others broadcasting companys would buy out KCHF,KNAT and KAZQ and that woulds help out the Albuquerque's TV market.

Anyway party on!!!

8-26-03

I am little concerned about KRQE-DT's broadcast's of U.S. open on September 1st being replaced by telethon coverages!!

I just E-mailed to Bill Anderson GM of KRQE-DT about will be they sending U.S. open on digital channel 16 at the sametime showing telethon on analog channel 13?

Stay on yours toes guys!!

This is semi Red Alert!!


8-29-03

Well I am very disaponted that KRQE-DT is NOT carring the HDTV covereges of U.S. open tennis!!:mad:

What we get is the telethon crap years after years and why can't they put U.S. open on the digital channel 16 and at the sametime show telethon on analog channel 13!?

Lucky for some people who get Comcast cable will able to get SDTV U.S. open but not for free OTA digital channel 16!

I'e E-mailed to Bill Anderson GM of KRQE-DT, few days ago and still haven't got a word from him!

I thought he was a nice guy!?

Have you guys had any luck getting hold of him?

So much for the good tennis covereges today, now is all wasted....

9-1-03

Minor news update......

K17DD channel 17 3ABN, "Now off the air" has filed to the FCC, moving to a new channel 38 and move the transmitter to the Sandia Crest Mountain not only that they also plan to upgrade the TX power to 45.4 KW ERP.

Channel 17 will be a new home for KAZQ-DT.....

Last I heard they plan to run 8 KW ERP under STA unless they updated on the FCC's website...

No news on KNMD-TV channel 9 or soon to be DT,KCHF-DT channel 10....

The FCC is making final touchs on digital lowpower rulemaking so it's might take few more weeks.

That's the news!!

9-2-03

I don't want to start a new thread for this question. Figured this thread would do.

I tuned in to the NFL football game last night (9/4). Great picture but absolutely lousy sound. I ended up using a little radio that tunes to the TV channel audio.

Did anyone else have the same audio problem? I am using a Samsung SIR-T151. Previous ABC football games had good sound.

My brother, who lives in the east mountains, also had lousy sound. He is using a Samsung also, either a T160 or a T165.

I wonder if it's the Samsungs? But I tuned into KNME (5-1) and its sound was great.

I called KOAT this morning but the Chief Engineer wasn't aware of any problem last night. I treid calling KOAT last night but the phone just rang and rang.

Any comments?

I noticed it too with my Sammy 150. It sounded like someone was playing with it. The audio on 7-2 was ok though, as was all the other channels. JR

It appears to be a KOAT issue. I have a friend with a Sony that I rang up; same issue. I have a Sammy 151. I note that it affected the game and the commercials.

Funny that KOAT had no idea about the problem. You would think that someone is monitoring their broadcast with consumer equipment somewhere? Not counting us.

During the NHL and NBA playoffs, there was a problem with their picture; it kept loosing focus. I e-mailed, and got a quick reply saying they were unware of the problem. A short time later, I got another e-mail saying that they (KOAT) got an e-mail from ABC, telling them to tweak a setting on one of there devices. Oooops.

On the plus side, Soundstage last night (Tom Petty, The Last DJ) was in 5.1. IIRC, the previous shows had been in 2.0. FWIW, even the 2.0 shows were fantasic when decoded in Pro Logic.

In fact, I was not really impressed with PQ or Sound quality of Tom Petty. From the looks of it, it appears that this was shot on film. Compared to the previous shows that were shot on HD video, it had a certain "look" to it that seemed lacking in detail.

And the sound was not that great either. The bass/drums were OK, but the cymbals had a harsh quality to them. His vocals had a certain raspiness as well (OK, I know, it IS Tom Petty!).

I did have one brief incident of pixelization. Don't think I have gotten through a single episode of Soundstage without some sort of audio or video problem, minor as they are.

BGL

With a panny OTA, the crowd drowns out speach and sound was "noisy". I was able to listen with
COMCAST but it seems like a strange problem to me.

I have noticed sound problems several times on KOAT and after talking with their engineers and some resets and fine tunning on there part they were able to fix it. Sounds to me like they need to adjust there DD sound for live broadcasts.

PS I agree, I dont think they have anyone monitoring the digital stations.:rolleyes:

Couldn't get Petty in 5.1, just DD 2.0. Hmmm JR

A co-worker just called Albuquerque Comcast representative and he was informed that High Definition is available RIGHT NOW from them. Here are some of the details.

1. A $20 one time upgrade charge.
2. A $5 a month box rental (Scientific Atlanta 3100).
3. With the $54 basic digital package you get ...
all the local channels that are in high-def (ABC, CBS, PBS),
ESPN HD,
InHD1, and
InHD2
4. If you get the total package for around $75 you also get...
HBO HD,
Showtime HD
5. Suppossedly there are 10 HD channels Comcast will initially carry and I just listed 8, so, they are two unaccounted for. Will let you know the others when I find out.

You can go to their office on Montano and see the HD tuner with a plasma display that you can check out.

I got a call this afternoon from Comcast. They will install the SA3100HD next Tuesday. Comcast will supply the component video cable but that's the only cable they'll supply. If you want to use the digital audio out, you need to supply that cable. The SA3100HD has no optical audio output.

Anxiously awaiting next Tuesday.

Phil

Just called and have an appointment for next Wednesday. I asked them if I could just pick up the box but they said it was a new product and they would need to perform the install. When I tried digital cable I connected the box myself:rolleyes:. I was hoping to see the Giants on MNF next week. Maybe I'll try going down to Comcast tomorrow and try begging :D .

If no luck, anxiously awaiting next Wednesday.

We now have 10th digital stations now on the air which is KAZQ-DT on digital channel 17.

This station's signal is pretty strong around upper 80's on the signal meter...

This station is not much to see other than the classic old TV shows in the late afternoon hours and the rest of other programs is junk.

This station is using 480i and may plan to multicasts in the future since I noted they seems to set their PISP to 17.1. "Gives you a hint!:D "

The last digital station to go on the air in digital is KCHF-DT or KNMD-TV "May go on the air in analog" or DT. "Which is more logical IMHO"

As for the Comcast Cable that is good new for some......

But for me I am happy with my Directv for now.

9-11-03

So the Comcast box has component outs for video? Now I gotta figure out how I'm going to route that through my Faroudja, which only has one set of component ins. The digital coax out for sound is no problem, that's what I'm using now with my digital cable box.

Where can I find details on this HDTV cable box without going down there?

Are they charging another $5 per month on top of what they're charging for the digital cable box? Damn, cable is just outrageously expensive compared to dish!

Dan

To get the info on the Scientific Atlanta 3100HD unit (Comcast's unit) see the link below:

http://www.sciatl.com/consumers/Exp3100hd.htm

Looks like it has component video output and coax digital audio output.

From what I've heard, the 3100 isn't so hot for a stb., there is a better one in testing. The Motorola isn't too good either, but they will never come to Abq. according to rumor. I read that there is a new Pioneer box that is supposed to be great, let's hope it becomes available. JR

I asked the CSR about upgrading to a newer STB (than the 3100HD). She said they have a bunch of the 3100s and had to use them up before any newer ones were introduced.

Also, don't we have to take what they give us? If Comcast's system is set up to talk to a particular STB (right now it's the 2000) for firmware upgrades or whatever, then using a different maker would not work. Or do I have it wrong?

Phil

For what it's worth, and a few days late, I've heard complaints on MNF sound quality on other threads from places other than Albuquerque...IOW, it may be an ABC issue and not a KOAT issue...

I've had sound problems everytime I,ve watched a MNF of Thurs night game on ABC. Usuaaly sounds like a center channel dropout, and that's what folks have reported on other threads.

I'm glad Comcast decided to go ahead and launch their HD package. One of the reps told me they were going to wait until they had some more channels available, but decided to go ahead and release it with what they had.

I just picked up my 3100 HD box from Comcast today(saturday). They must of had a policy change concerning the installation because I walked in, asked for one, and they gave it to me. Those of you who have an installation appointment should just go down there and pick one up. Hook-up was a breeze.

It looks good, but I haven't had a chance to compare the quality of the locals with my Samsung SIR-T151. HBO looks great which was the selling point to my wife(she loves The Sopranos). They are working on the INHD 2 channel, so it's not available at the moment.

Ah, I can't wait to watch some MLB & NFL games in HD on ESPN!

DJ

Vergilium...

Does Comcast give you locals in HD?

I can't get cable up here in the East Mountains, but I have friends who are interested but not very technically savvy.

CBS, ABC, & PBS

I got my comcast HD cable box on Saturday. I watch the end of a football game in HD. The picture had few artifacts but in general both the sound and picture where great.

The all HD channel "inhd" is great for showing off. Inhd was broadcasting a teaser advertising greatly increasing their HD content in Sept.

The local hd channels are great even when the shows are not broadcast in HD, I can now watch the local stations without ghosting...

Does anyone of a website that list all available HD programs?

Jeff

Go here. (http://www.titantv.com/ttv/Home/Home.aspx)

You sign up for a free account and they'll give you the HD available in your area.

Edit: It doesn't look like they list HD cable on their grid layout yet, so try here (http://www.titantv.com/ttv/home/HDTVUpdate.aspx) instead.

DJ

Vergiliusm

thanks for the info..

Jeff

Vergiliusm and jeffpyn,

Thanks for the heads up on Comcast's change on the installation requirement. I went down to the Comcast location at Smith's on Coors and Central and picked up a box today(Sunday)! It looks great onESPN, InHD, and CBS, but I'm getting heavy pixelization on ABC and PBS. Are you guy's having the same problem? I hope it's fixed in time for the MNF game tomorrow night (Go Giants!).

Thanks again! :D

Is there any word on Comcast adding FOX or prodding KOB to finally go HD?

Both stations are foot dragging about upgrading to widescreen "FOX 480p" and HDTV "NBC 1080i".

Today I noted KASA-DT DID not go to widescreen on OTA just up converting to 1080i 16:9 with 4:3 inside. "Black bar on left and right side of your 16:9 TV screen!!"

It may not be be ready till next year at least.

Not much else going on other than watching the ESPN-HD on Directv.

:)

9-14-03

Can someone let me know what kind of video connections the cable boxes have to connect to your hdtv's.

The 3100HD has component video, an S-video out, digital audio out, regular stereo audio out, NTSC video out, cable out and cable in, and a IR connection (probably for operating your VCR).

PBS has been working great for me.

The sound and picture have been spotty on ABS. Hopefully the signal will clear up for MMF.

Jeff

I really like that INHD channel. There is some great undersea demo stuff and last night I watched Full Metal Jacket. It wasn't as stunning as some other movies I've watched probably due to the film itself and the way it was shot, but it was light years ahead of the DVD(framing issues aside).

I briefly compared the quality of PBS between the 3100HD and my Samsung SIR-T151. I didn't really notice any difference which suprised me since I figured the compression of the cable system might roll-off some high frequency detail.

Since the other local channels aren't broadcasting any HD anyways, I think I'll sell the Samsung. Anyone want to get a 151 for cheap? :)

DJ

The guy from Comcast at our last NMDTV meeting said they would not be adding any compression.

Does WB or UPN have any HD in Albuquerque?

Not at the moment. ABC, PBS, and CBS are it.

For reasons I can't fathom, Fox is sending out a 1080i signal, but is just upconverting SD 4:3 sstuff. Since they are sending out a 16:9 singnal, I wish they would pass along Fox WS stuff, even of it is not true HD.

BGL

Thanks, BG

I now have Comcast HDTV. I have a question about INHD. Both of them look superb but, since I'm a little hard of hearing, I like to use close captions. I can't get CC to work on INHD1 or 2. Tried various combinations of CC using the 3100HD remote. Tried using the 3100HD's CC with my TV 's(Sony KV36XBR450) CC. Nothing works.

Any ideas.

Phil

It's been 2 months since I had a usable DTV signal from KRQE in Los Alamos. Every other DTV station from ABQ comes in strong (ABC, PBS, UPN, Fox, several of the independents); I just can't get KRQE (Digital Channel 16) on either of my Hughes E86 boxes. Each gives about 15/100 signal strength (most others are 100/100). I sent a note last month to Frank Lilley, he said no problems on his end. Can someone in Los Alamos comment whether/not they're also having problems? Perhaps some weird construction on the crest put something in between Los Alamos and the KRQE transmitter? Any thoughts? As I'm having problems on 2 different boxes, I'm inclined to say if the problem is on my end, it's a strange one indeed that would only effect KRQE (cabling? Antenna?). To recap, one day (late July) KRQE was 100/100, the next it was 15/100 on both boxes.

Thanks, Joe M.

(duplicate post deleted)

Hello Jcmartz,

KAZQ-DT "REL" on channel 17 may be causing some QRM "Man Made interferences " to KRQE-DT's signal.

KAZQ-DT just went on the air for about a week now and seems to have some kind of digital audio problems. "No Sounds"

They also launched analog low powered channel 36 which is not very clean signal and no audio as well.

Other QRM may be local in your area or it's somthing else.

For me I am getting the KRQE-DT just fine and as well for the rest of the local stations save for KNAT-DT "TBN REL" "Running very low power at 600 watts ERP"

Anyway btw, have you pick up digial channel 10 KCHF-DT "REL" by any chances since you more closer to the transmitter's location just south of your location? "So Called No Name Mountain"

It's just for my DXing research fun!:D

Tim,

Tried a couple of things today, they helped. Given possible QRM from 17, I moved the antenna around on the roof and found that the signal on 16 was exceptionally sensitive to position and aiming. A change of as little as 2 degrees in my directional antenna gave 4 to 5x changes in received signal intensity. I relocated the antenna, pointed it carefully, and now I'm getting KRQE marginally (58/100). Frank Lilley has said they have a blown amp out for repair, and that they're currently at 76% power, so that's good news for me. When they're back to 100%, I should have a decent signal.

I do get channel 10 (35/100) and my Hughes boxes are able to lock on this (few dropouts/minute at this level).

Thanks for the help and suggestions,

Joe M.

I just spoke to an engineer at the Albuquerque NBC station, KOBTV. The engineering department has been debating with the corporate leadership about when to upgrade to HD on KOB-DT. Their website still indicates no plans to do this; however, expect it to happen around May 2004.

I feel next May 2004 is still too far off for our local to upgrade to high-def. I encourage all of you to send a letter to the station owner, Stanley Hubbard, and their attorneys (at end of letter). The following is a letter I sent last August to them. Go for it. Letters WORK.

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

Dear Mr. Hubbard,

I have corresponded to you several times about your Albuquerque digital station KOB not transmitting the NBC network programming in high definition. For only a $50,000 investment on your part you could equip the KOB station with an mpeg decoder that would provide high definition capability to the Albuquerque market. You feel there is hardly anyone capable of receiving your digital transmissions to warrant the expenditure. As an interesting note, our local Ultimate Electronic’s dealer said they are now selling more HD capable TVs than standard analog ones.

Well, I have some great news for you!!! Our local Comcast cable will, in two weeks, start transmitting our local high definition digital stations to its subscribers. So there will be about 130,000 people able to receive high definition digital programming. Our Comcast is planning on carrying our local ABC HD station, CBS HD station, PBS HD station and the FOX digital station. However, they have no plans on passing your KOB digital station because (as a Comcast employee said to me) it doesn’t look good.

And for only for a $5 a month rental fee for the HD tuner anyone in the Albuquerque area can get the high definition digital local stations with just an added monthly basic cable fee. So for a small fee (without having to invest in an over-the-air HD tuner) an Albuquerque resident with a HD capable set will be able to enjoy our various network’s programming in high definition.

I would think it would be great to have your digital station also included in the Comcast cable local line-up. I am sure NBC will be offering many more programs in high definition this fall. I would hate to see your station lag behind the other Albuquerque local stations.


Yours truly,

Fred Jerina

cc:
Leonard, Street and Deinard
150 South Fifth Street
Suite 2300

The sound for CSI tonight, Thursday, Oct. 2, was distorted, sounded jerky. Did anyone else notice it?

If anyone cares for an ISF calibration, esp. on a Pioneer rptv, send me a pm as soon as possible. Dave Levy is coming to town later this month and is going to go through my 510. Thanks, Jerry

Breaking News!!

KOAT-DT is showing our first local HDTV programing on Balloon Feasta and it's taped at night and looked raw feeds and unedited, to me with no ads at it all.

Can't tell if is 720p or 1080i format.

It's looked they stop sending HDTV feed as I typed.... 3:50pm "Might show more later"

It's now back to upconverted 480i feed of ABC's football covereges.

So keep eye on the channel tonight if they will send any more local HDTV feeds.

10-11-03

UPN will start showing Star Trek Enterprise in HD starting Oct. 15. Isn't our local UPN station refusing to go HD??? If so, what a bummer.

HD?? I'd be happy(er) if they would even go STEREO! JR

KASA FOX 2 is doing the World Series in widescreen. The picture varies from pretty good to amazingly bad. Some of their cameras are terrible, with massive amounts of edge enhancement. Garbage in, garbage out.

THANKS KASA!! Looking forward to HD next year.

What network is covering this season's Super Bowl?

CBS I think, ABC had the '03 game in HD, FOX did '02 in widescreen crapola. NBC does not participate in expensive sports productions.

The Fox 480p widescreen is better than what we had! Thanks KASA! Now, only NBC needs to get off it's duff and support DT here in New Mexico.

Joe M.

Sometime this last weekend I stopped receiveing KRQE-DT. My signal strength is good (88) and it still recognizes the 13-1 designation. However, no picture and no complaint about weak signal.

All other DT channels come in (except 10-1 which is signal strength of 33 but I dont care).

Anyone notice first game of World Series on FOX was 16:9 and second was 4:3 for a while? Anyway 3rd is now back in 16:9.

Also, I keep getting KRQE-DT on channel 80-3 (although sometims its on 50-1). I have a lowpass filter on my input that blocks all channels over 58 so it really is not on channel 80-3. Weird.

Hi Zozobra:

Samsung box? I think they have trouble with KRQE sometimes. Maybe someone else will chime in with better info.

KNME sometimes shows up as 80.3 because of the bogus PSIP data that PBS puts on the data stream. KNME has a box on order to strip out the wrong PSIP data and rebuild it correctly.

Joe:
I was browsing around KOB's site the other day (after launching a flame in their direction) and found the following:


.......We will return to full-time HDTV programming for central New Mexico in Summer 2004 with primetime programming and sports from NBC, including the 2004 Summer Olympic Games........

Think it could be true??

What do they mean by "return" to HDTV?

Also, with KASA doing the Series in Widescreen, does this mean they will now broadcast more programmong the same way...Like "24"?

Hint, hint.....:)

KOB brags that they were the first commercial station carrying HDTV in New Mexico. That only happened because some dedicated engineer BORROWED an encoder to do the winter olympics.

No word on KASA's plans. I sent email to management and engineering asking for more widescreen. No response.... Email addresses are on their web site - keep those emails flowing!

That only happened because some dedicated engineer BORROWED an encoder to do the winter olympics.

I think Jim said that engineer has now moved on and doesn't even work there anymore. Too bad about ch.4. At least 7 and 13 are trying (but 13 sure needs a DD encoder so their audio would match their great video). Jerry

I spoke with the programming person at KASA Fox2 today...She said they are now broadcasting Widescreen "High Resolution" TV when available from the network...

You probably saw that "24" was on in Widescreen.

They don't start broadcasting digital until 3PM daily, so no NFL morning game, though she said she would work on it.

Said she had just bought a new analog TV and wanted to know how the world series looked in Widescreen.

If more of these types had HDTV's, I bet there'd be a lot more HD programming available...:D

I thought 24 looked pretty good and I appreciated the widescreen, but it just whetted my appetite to see it in true HD. Hurry up Fox; and get DD 5.1 also. JR

So, is FOX broadcasting widescreen 480p material? What other programs on FOX other than 24 is being broadcast in widescreen?

FOX does widescreen for NFL on sundays so check it out... 480p is little better then PAL video system "Mainly color spaces" BUT no where near HDTV 1080i quality IMHO....

Can't wait for 720p on FOX to come out sooner the better!!:)

Have fun!!

10-19-03

Any Comcast subscribers here? You should ask them for KASA. It ain't HD, but it's not KOB KRAP either!!

I watched the new Norm McDonald show tonight...the credits said High Definition where available" but not here, not tonight.

As I said last post, I was told KASA would pass on whatever the network sent them in HD, so I don't know what's going on...

Maybe the solar flares...? :D

Was it widescreen? My understanding is that FOX can't send HD out to the affiliates yet.

Norm was not wide screen. The World Series and 24 were.

It is 480p, not true High def, but what Fox calls "high resolution."

Still looks great, though, compared to SD.

Anyone notice that the CBS HDTV channel has been pulled! I called and they said that the local affiliate made them do it for contract reasons. He said they don't know when it was coming back and no compensation on the HDTV package for the missing channel :mad:. Man, they better take care of this before the NFL playoffs!

On the plus side, he did also mention that they would be adding three new HDTV channels next month, although he couldn't tell me what they will be:rolleyes: .

KRQE is screwing up again !!!

All through tonight the control room is not switching back to the high-def mode after their local commercials. This is most irritating. Please, anyone receiving KRQE CBS HD from over-the-air, call the newroom at 243-2285 then extension 240 and ask to be connected to the control room if they don't connect you then ask them to forward a message to them telling them to get on the ball.

I'm mad as hell! No CBS High Def on Comcast with the playoffs coming. What can we do to raise cain about this?

OK people, it appears that good old KQRE is screwing the viewer again. THEY are the reason we lost our comcast HD. Obviously, this group is the logical one to scream bloody murder. I'm here to help out. We have one month to go before the superbowl.

I live in the East mountains and can barely see the towers, but I get CBS HD with an OTA tuner just fine.

If Comcast isn't doing CBS HD, get an OTA box...even if you return it after the Super Bowl. Unless you just can't pull in a signal, it's a no-brainer.

Incidentally, I called KRQE today about the Miami/Buffalo game, and was told they forgot to pull the switch, which they then did..

You're welcome...:D

Here is the response from KRQE to my complaint about the channel being pulled from Comcast’s line-up.

Jeff
--------------------------
Comcast was taking the KRQE digital signal without our permission, and
charging customers for that signal. We have agreements with Comcast
and all of the other cable and satellite providers for our analog
signals, which grant concessions from those providers in terms of cash or
"must carry" rights.

Comcast believed that our digital signal was the same as our analog
signal, and that they had rights to that programming. This is not the
case, and as digital develops there may be additional channels available
from KRQE-DT.

Until an agreement is reached with Comcast, our digital and HD signals
are available, for free, on KRQE-DT channel 16.

We hope that an arrangement will be made in the very near future which
will allow us to grant Comcast the rights to KRQE-DT programming.

Thanks for your understanding,
Fred Woskoff

Fred Woskoff
Fred.Woskoff@KRQE.com

Jeff, I got much the same from Fred Woskoff. I corresponded back to him and he admitted Comcast's position is based on their contract which requires them to carry ALL KRQE signals.

Don't see any possibililty we'll get the Superbowl in HD except OTA. I'm planning on digging out my SRT150 and hooking it up for that game.

I think this is complete BS. To start with, the DTV signal is Federally mandated and the fact there are two signals right now is only because of the transition period. Content DOES matter and the content is the same. I hope Comcast screws KRQE to the wall for breach of contract. But in the mean time we're screwed.

I wonder if this is coming from higher up the food chain, because I just read of a similar situation over on Hometheaterspot. Another CBS station yanked their digital signal from the cable co. for lack of payment, and claimed it was normal for cable co.s to pay for extra programming. Hmmm.
Anyone in contact with Fred, ask him when they are going to get a DD 5.1 encoder so their audio will match their great video. JR

Good question, Jerrich. What I can't figure out is how the stations think they are providing "extra" programming?

Fred says Comcast is charging their customers for the signal. From what I've heard, that's not true. If you have limited basic cable you get the local HD broadcasts if you have a TV with a QAM tuner or if you rent the box from Comcast. Digital tier is not required to get the locals, you only need the box.

It's not free. When I signed up for Comcast HD, I had to rent the box (SA3100HD) and that costs me $5 a month more than the regular box.

While I don't have a dog in this fight (I get digital OTA), and I do sympathize with those that lost their KRQE HD feed from Comcast, I have to ask why anyone thinks that KRQE should be passing this on the Comcast for free?

While it might help them to get more eyeballs looking at the HD broadcasts (which someday may allow them to charge more for advertising), the amount of money they had to spend to go digital must have been astounding.

And then someone takes that, and uses it to charge more to their subscribers? Sorry, but I don't see KRQE as a villain here.

And in case anyone is confused there is NOTHING in the law that says they had to go HD, only that they had to go digital. We should all be thankful to ANY station that has gone full HD, as they did.

Comcast is using the investment that our local stations have made to provide a competitive advantage over satellite, AND to charge more for it. I fully support KRQE on this.

BGL

HD broadcast channels are free with Comcast.

Equipment needed to receive these channels at your home is not free. A modest $5.00/month equipment fee to receive the "free" signals.

Does CBS or your local station get a cut of every OTA HD receiver that is sold?

First, going HD is part of going digital and they are required to go digital.

Second, there is NO NEW programming. Only a temporary dual signal until analog is turned off. On that day, will KRQE expect to collect less from Comcast? I seriously doubt it.

Third, for every HD viewer that KRQE might access via OTA, they could probably access 10 times as many via cable because the hookup is simple and cheap.

I paid over $300 for my HD tuner. The standard digital cable box is maybe a $100 item. Seems reasonable to me to charge for the more expensive box. They are adding more HD channels but the box charge will not change. So how are they charging for the channels?

KRQE is being greedy and shortsighted. HD could bring them more viewers and hence more ad revenue. That's where they make their money, not nickel and dimeing the cable companies.

BTW, why hasn't KOAT been similarly stupid? Maybe this is why they are the #1 station in our market and KRQE is a distant third, reduced often to running "paid programming" better known as infomercials.

Sorry, BGL, your argument doesn't wash. KRQE is hurting everyone in our area who wants to advance HDTV. :(

Sorry, BGL, your argument doesn't wash.

Do you work for Comcast or something?

My arguments wash just fine, thanks. They are well reasoned, and accurate. You just don't happen to agree with them.

I suppose I would be pretty pissed if I bought something from someone, only to find out later that one of those items was claimed by its owner to be stolen.

Or, in easier terms to understand, your a kid with a lolly pop, suddenly yanked from your mouth because the rightful owner feels that he was not compensated for it. That would make for one whiny kid, to be sure.

But moving right along, let me make a few more points, before I back out of this. Like I said, I have no dog in this fight. And you are not going to be buying in to any of these facts anyway.

First, going HD is part of going digital and they are required to go digital.

Wrong.

There are many formats (I want to say 18, but am not 100% sure of that number) defined for digital transmission. There is nothing that I am aware that compels a station to go HD (720P or 1080i). Don't feel bad. This mistake is made in many A/V publications as well.

Of course, if this is wrong, and all stations ARE required to go HD, someone can chime in and let me know so I can correct my facts. And that will mean that KOB, KASA, UPN, and the WB had best get on the stick.

And, do you think it costs the same to go HD digital as SD digital? If so, why have only 13, 7, and 5 gone HD? They have made a business decision that there will be a payoff for doing so, at some indeterminate point in the future.

KRQE is being greedy and shortsighted. HD could bring them more viewers and hence more ad revenue. That's where they make their money, not nickel and dimeing the cable companies.

Well, lets look at if from their point of view. The government puts a gun to their head, saying they must go digital (not HD, as I said before, just digital) by a certain date. They go above and beyond, and go HD.

Are they able to get one penny more in ad revenue to do that? Not today, and not back when they turned on their digital transmitters. They are forced to make the transition before there are any significant numbers of viewers, thus no additional ad dollars. And as you said, thats where the money comes from.

So, whatever that costs, and I would wager its in the 100's of thousands of dollars, if not millions, thats money for which there will be NO payback in the foreseeable future.

Sound like a good way to run a business to you?

Now, I am in agreement with you that they would get more viewers if they made nice with Comcast, but they have made a business decision that they feel is correct for them. And really, how many more viewers? Enough to matter? And really, how many of the viewers are NEW eyeballs? Let me answer that for you. Nada. Zip. Squat.

No one that is not currently a KRQE viewer is going to become a KRQE viewer because they are available in HD on Comcast.

So as an advertiser, does that make you want to pay more for your ads?

KRQE is hurting everyone in our area who wants to advance HDTV.

Humm, thats an interesting point of view. One of three stations that have been LEADERS in the digital transition by virtue of going HD long before there were more than a few hunderd viewers, is HURTING the transition?

Lets compare that to what cable in general has done to advance the transition. They have fought tooth and nail to NOT have to carry any digital stations. They fought tooth and nail to NOT support a true plug and play standard.

Only when they started loosing viewership to satellite, along with some much needed bullying from the FCC, did they finally come around.

I challenge you to review ANY article published in any A/V publication over the last several years that talks about the pace of the transition. Virtually ALL of them site the cable industry as the #1 most serious impediment to the digital transition.

To be sure, the broadcasters are also in line for their share of brick bats on the subject, but then again, if someone told me I had to spend millions of dollars for something for which there will be zero ROI in the foreseeable future, then I would probably drag my feet too.

So, its a bad deal for everyone that KRQE and Comcast are not in agreement on what the cost should be for the digital signal. I am sure that they will sort it out sooner or later, and we can get back to more important matters. But in the meantime, you need to really look at the big picture.

HD is a gift from heaven from the broadcasters. They didn't have to do it, but we should be thankful that they did.

BGL

BGL
I agree with you on this matter and I like you have no "dog in this fight" just wanted to show a little solidarity brother.;)

I agree with you on this matter and I like you have no "dog in this fight" just wanted to show a little solidarity brother.

Well thanks!

In the general scheme of things, its pretty silly to be arguing over something as trivial, but I just feel that our freinds at KRQE are getting a bum rap.

Regards,

Brian

I notice you didn't address the fact that KOAT, the top dog in ABQ by far, hasn't been so short sighted as to cut Comcast off. Why not? Probably because it is pretty obvious that smart management wouldn't pull something stupid like this and KOAT is far more successful than KQRE because they have smart management. Interesting that they are "forced" to make the same investment with no "payback for the forseeable future" and yet they have their signal on Comcast.

And what about KNME?

I also notice you didn't address the "must carry" clause that Comcast has with KQRE. Seems like the station wants that to cut in one direction only. If this goes to court, Comcast will win it. They've been winning this issue all over the country and they sure aren't going to get stopped by penny ante KRQE. There is NO NEW PROGRAMMING HERE.

As long as it's limited to OTA, they are pretty much broadcasting into thin air. That's a fact. I'll bet the number of you using OTA is probably not more than a few hundred in the entire viewing area. Far, far more opportunity to be seen exists when the signal is sent over cable. For starters, they've cut off the many thousands of viewers who live in apartments. That's how they're hurting the adoption of HD.

Your rant about cable and HD is irrelevant here. Fact is, Comcast is trying to make HD available to a much wider audience here for the cost of the more expensive digital box, and KQRE is blocking it. Comcast has spent a bunch of money upgrading their system so it could carry HDTV. This was one of the reasons they put in fiber optic all over town.

Stick to the case at hand. Comcast is a strong local booster of HD and they've put their money behind it.

Yes, KRQE had to go HD because CBS went HD. KRQE either plays ball or they lose CBS. To my knowledge there is NO local HD programming. All KRQE is doing is broadcasting the CBS signal. Interesting that CBS/Viacom, the SOURCE of HD, had no problem working out a fair deal with Comcast.

If we left it up to KRQE, we'd probably still be watching B&W TV. You'll be old and gray before they originate any HD programming.

You also didn't address the question--when the analog signal is turned off, Comcast should cut what they pay KQRE in half, right? No, that's nonsense, Comcast is paying for the CONTENT, not a transitional double signal.

BTW, I run a business, and a very successful one. The first thing you DON'T do is cut off your most affluent customers over what amounts to a few pennies. That's the big picture. And no, I don't work for Comcast. But I sure am rooting for them to win this one and stop the extortion that just A HANDFUL of locals are up to.

I get HD in ABQ over the air. I don't use Comcast digital cable.

KRQE is being foolish in this matter, and Dan Houck gave an excellent explanation of some of the reasons why this is so.

To my knowledge there is NO local HD programming.

This is true, but the good news is there may be some in near future according to Jim Gale at KNME. They are going to get some HD cameras and camcorders, so things are looking up. JR

Pretty bad when the only local station that will be able to do local HD programming is a public TV station largely supported by viewers. My hat's off to them. I've been very impressed with the HD stuff I've seen there.

Happy New Year Jerrich. When is the local HD group meeting again?

Dan

Thought I'd post this for you guys since Emmis owns KRQE. Clearly, the policy of requiring cable companies to pay extra for HD signals comes from the Emmis corporate HQ (it's not determined by each local station's GM), so the corporate HQ is the place to complain.

Cox, Emmis in Omaha HD Dispute


By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 12/31/2003

In a spat between a distributor and programmer that wasn’t resolved, CBS affiliate KMTV in Omaha, Neb., planned to pull its HDTV signal from Cox Communications Inc.’s system in that market.

The station, owned by Emmis Communications Corp., is seeking compensation from the cable operator for its HDTV signal. Without that feed, Cox subscribers in that DMA will not be able to view the Super Bowl in HDTV.

The two parties have been negotiating for nearly one year over carriage of the station’s HDTV signal. The broadcaster wants to be compensated by Cox, which is refusing.

"We have not resolved it, and we have every intention of withdrawing permission for them to carry our HD signal [effective Dec. 31]," KMTV general manager Jim McKernan said.

"The issue is compensation, and we’re not going to compromise on that," he added. "Our feeling is that after a $3 million investment to build a digital-broadcasting facility in Omaha, with more expense to come from the standpoint of being able to originate local programming in high-definition, we should be compensated for that."

Cox’s position is that it offers a tier of 10 HD networks free-of-charge to its digital customers and, therefore, it should not have to compensate KMTV or anyone else for their HD signals.

"Our position is that it’s just ridiculous for us to be charged an extra fee when we help to deliver their signal," Cox spokesman Bobby Amirshahi said, adding that Cox has long-term deals with all of the other HD providers in Omaha and it is not paying any of them.

KMTV doesn’t buy Cox’s argument. Cox has been running a promotional campaign that is "basically using ABC, CBS and NBC programming as the hook for them to upsell people to their digital tier," according to McKernan.

"For them to say they’re not profiting from that is ludicrous," he added. "For us to be used as a hook with no compensation is just a position that we cannot agree with."

Here is a link to the corporate website:

http://www.emmis.com/portfolio/tv.aspx

Happy New Year Jerrich. When is the local HD group meeting again?
Dan [/B]

Thanks Dan, you too. Will be heading over to my brother in laws place tonight to celbrate with too much food.

The DTV user group meeting is the third Thursday of each month at 7pm at the KNME building on University. Hope you can make it. They usually are very interesting. We are truly fortunate to have someone of Jim Gale's caliber here in Abq. Jerry

Sonoma, thanks for the link to these pikers. Your post confirms what I am finding out--this two-bit operator is the only one trying to get paid twice for the same programming. I sent them this:

Clearly Emmis doesn't get it. You whine about your investment in HD without noticing the obvious--it is totally wasted if the signal isn't carried on cable. How many people are going to spend $300 plus for a tuner, plus antenna, plus the hassle of setup? You've spent $3 million in Omaha to reach a few hundred viewers OTA and probably spent 7 figures here in Albuquerque for less than that.

You act like the only ones investing in HD are yourselves. You don't think that Comcast or Cox or any other cable system had to spend serious money so that their systems could handle the HD signal and the other DTV channels you will want them to carry? I suppose Comcast spent millions on fiber optics here in ABQ just for the fun of it.

You had to spend most of this money to comply with the Federal DTV requirement. Once the analog signal is shut down, are you planning on only charging the cable companies for one signal again? Why should they, and that means we their customers, pay you TWICE for the same content, or pay you to comply with the Federal DTV requirement? Everyone else is doing it as a matter of course, what makes you entitled to anything different?

Why do you think no one else is following your lead on this? Perhaps it is because they are a great deal less short-sighted and recognize the ONLY way to realize their investment is for the signal to be widely available and easy to use. OTA is a minority market and will become more so in the future. Many places cannot use antennas, such as apartments. Many affluent neighborhoods, the places your advertisers really want to reach and the places most likely to adopt DTV early, do NOT allow antennas.

The most affluent consumers are found on cable. You make your money from advertising. It's pretty dumb to shaft your most affluent viewers, don't you think?

CBS has spend far more money than Emmis on HD. So has cable. You are sabotaging them and you are sabotaging the viewers. Why do you think Viacom/CBS made sure their deal with Comcast included HD? Because they know this is the way to take HD mainstream!

And that is how you realize a return on your investment, not nickel and dimeing cable operators. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Daniel Houck
Albuquerque NM

cc: CBS, Comcast, Viacom

Gee Dan, tell us how you REALLY feel! Seriously, tell us what they say IF they even reply. Thanks, Jerry

Gee, Jerry, I thought I did! :)

Had a nice chat with William Kent, the new guy in charge of local Comcast. He confirmed what you see above--Comcast is not paying KOAT or KNME or anyone one else extra for HD locally, just as Cox is not paying anyone else in Omaha for it. He also noted that this is true all over the country. It seems that Emmis is pretty much on their own with this.

Kent was pretty definite in that Comcast is not going to establish such a precedent, for obvious reasons. Cable costs, already high, would go out of sight. He reminded me of the millions Comcast spent locally on fiber optic so they can carry these signals and the expanded digital spectrum.

I got the distinct feeling that some big people at Comcast are talking to big people at CBS about this and Emmis may have bit off more than they can chew here. Comcast feels they are using the Superbowl in an attempt to gain leverage and Kent was pretty convinced that wasn't going to work.

An interesting side item cropped up. Emmis only lists the Omaha station as a full CBS affiliate. They do not list KQRE as such and there is no CBS logo on KQRE's website. As you know, the Superbowl is CBS's HD showpiece and they aren't likely to be too happy about this extortion. If KQRE is less than a full affiliate, they may find themselves in a tight spot with CBS very shortly.

I also asked Kent why Comcast isn't carrying the UPN, KASA and KOB DTV signals, pointing out that, even though they are just 480p they are still a whole lot better than analog. He said he'd get back to me on that.

Seems like a really decent guy. He took over here in November just before Emmis pulled their little stunt. I'll keep you posted.

Dan

Also communicated this to Chairman Michael Powell of the FCC. Just go to the FCC website and follow the link to his email.

------------
Honorable Chairman Powell:

I would like to direct your attention to an emerging issue with the full implementation of DTV and HDTV. As you know, many viewers are constrained from receiving OTA (over the air) broadcasts because of location, geographic factors, restrictions on the use of antenna, and urban signal interference. CATV mitigates these factors and allows viewers to receive high quality video, including DTV, with simple setup. CATV reaches well over half the homes in many markets and is able to provide access to HDTV with a simple and inexpensive set up as well.

We are currently in a transition period where broadcasters are providing both analog and DTV signals. Many have also elected to provide HDTV signals. Although the signal is different, the content is the same.

Although CATV has been slow to adopt DTV and HDTV transmission because of the high cost of upgrading networks, many are now doing so, ensuring that far more viewers will have DTV access than is possible OTA. Most broadcasters have taken the position that they are providing content rather than signals and have allowed CATV to carry their DTV and HDTV signals under existing contracts.

However, one broadcaster, Emmis Communications, feels they are entitled to special treatment and compensation and have pulled HDTV signals from the Omaha and Albuquerque market areas in a coercive attempt to force cable systems there to pay them for the HD signal. Emmis is the only broadcaster in these markets that feels they are entitled to additional payment for the HD signals.

Apparently, several other independent or small broadcast holding companies are considering doing this or have already done so.

This action, if allowed to continue, will have a chilling effect on the growth of DTV and HDTV. They are attempting to use a technicality, the temporary duplication of same content in parallel analog and digital transmission, to extort dual payment for single content.

As noted previously, the vast majority of broadcasters understand this behavior is short sighted and unfair. However, this situation clearly needs an unequivocal statment from the FCC that the DTV/HDTV signal, which will become the only signal in time, is not some kind of premium to be charged extra for but rather is the standard, to be disseminated as widely as possible without price discrimination.

Failure to do this, in my opinion, will cause this currently isolated behavior to spread and result in serious retardation of the converstion to DTV/HDTV.

CATV is not a hugely profitable business and forcing cable systems to pay twice for the same content, plus the huge costs of upgrading systems for DTV/HDTV will definitely slow the spread of digital transmission to millions of viewers.

I do not work for a cable system nor do I hold any stock or other investments in one. I am contacting you as a consumer who is greatly concerned by this situation.

Thank you for reading this. Happy New Year to you and yours.

Sincerely,
Daniel H. Houck
Albuquerque, New Mexico

At about 7pm i lost signal completely on digital ch 21 anyone else have a problem or just me?

Yes, I lost signal on digital 21 at about the same time. It is still down for me.

Yes, lost the signal on Comcast just before halftime. Oh well, the Cowboys are getting stomped. Fortunately, it held up through the first game which was a real cliff hanger.

This is ridiculous. I bought widescreen tv a month ago, cancelled dish service, and got Comcast. They told me HD boxes would be here in a couple of weeks. Today they told me that it would be early February before they were in.

Hey all,

Just wanted to introduce myself to the forum. I'm Brady living up in Los Alamos. After reading through all 43 (!) pages I just want to thank all of you for putting this info out there. Everything has been super helpful. Hopefully I'll be joining the ranks of an HDTV viewer in the next few days. Just picked up my Panny RPLCD tv from Ultimate last week. I'll be getting the STB shortly (probably the new Hughes for DirecTV). So thanks again!

Rick, what model are they going to get? The old SA 3100 is a little long in the tooth these days. Jerry

Rick, given that CBS HD isn't on Comcast, I'll probably be turning mine in shortly and going OTA. Soon as I get back from CES, going to do the install.

INHD isn't worth $5 a month, most of the DTV broadcasts are not on Comcast, such as KASA, and now no CBS. ESPN HD isn't worth it either, IMO, they do this awful stretched DTV broadcast most of the time.

Good old KQRE, owned by some outfit called Emmis, has stuck it to Comcast locally. If you want to see the Superbowl in HD, have to go OTA.

Anyway, the box I have is a SA 3100. Aren't they using the Motorola 5100 now?

Thanks goodness I don't have to deal with Comcast cable since I am happy with my Directv and digital OTA.

Finaly I just upgraded from just having a 19' inch computer monitor to watch a HDTV programings and now I just got a 34" inch 16:9 Sony "34XBR910" with a new digital tuner Zenith 520. "Directv and analog,digital OTA"

KRQE-DT's signal has always been the most stable signal on channel 16, but still they need to work on getting close captioning up and running again on there digital channel.

Any news on upcoming 2nd newest PBS station KNMD-TV or DT on channel 9?

Anyway party on guys!!:D

1-5-04

Welcome Brady

You'll like the hughes box from DirecTV if you go that route. You should make the trip to ABQ Thu, 1/15 for the DTV meeting at KNME. It's always interesting and everyone learns a lot from each other.

Hey petew,

Almost 1 am and I just finished hooking up my new hughes box. Currently watching my first HD program on KNME. Unbelievable!! Tomorrow I'll put up a better antenna so I get more stations. So much to figure out still!! I'll try to make it to the meeting.

Thanks!

New to the forum myself, (my name's Chuck) I'm going to try to make it down next week for the meeting. I have a 46" Toshiba 16x9 HDTV and just picked up the new DirecTV Hughes (HTL) receiver. The DirecTV stuff is OK, but pulling OTA would be great.

Gibby's post made me realize something (I hope).

I live in LaMesilla (Espanola) and am trying to get OTA. I have a Channel Master 3020 (Deep Fringe) antenna and have been trying to pull in ABQ stations. (Bearing of 192) I am considering the CM 7778 Pre Amp, but want to see if I can get there without it. Analog is acceptable, but no HD.

When I read Gibby's post, I realized that maybe I should be aiming for the towers above Los Alamos. I have direct site to Pajarito ski area. Sound OK? I don't know if I'll get up on the roof tonight or tomorrow, but thought I would bounce the idea.

(If Gibby is pulling signal, it must be from the towers above him, right?, doesn't Pajarito block his line to ABQ? I could be way off, but I am hopeful.)
Let me know what the 'experts' think. Thanks in advance and like Gibby, the thread has been very illuminating.

Hope to meet you all next week. And if anyone has ANY hints for this newbie, let me know. Thanks again.

The broadcast towers are on Sandia. That is about 60 miles away line-of-sight from Los Alamos, where I live. My antenna is pointed at 179 degrees (compass direction), while Pajarito is to the West from here.

I also have the ChannelMaster 3020, but I have not installed a pre-amp yet. I am getting good reception from the digital stations KOAT, KWBQ and KASY, but marginal reception from the others. On good days I get KASA, KRQE and KOB, and on bad days I don't. Analog reception is fine for me, and probably better than I was getting with my old VHF antenna. There are several large trees and a slight hill in the direction the antenna is pointing, so maybe installing a pre-amp would bring the marginal stations up to an acceptable level. Also, I am using the same coax cable for the satellite feed and the antenna feed using diplexers, but I understand that a dedicated RG6 cable from the antenna is ideal.

Does the Hughes box have a signal meter for the digital OTA stations? If so, tune to digital 21 (for example) and find out what reading you get.

Brian

There is one detail of the ChannelMaster 3020 setup that was unclear in the instructions. The UHF dipole shown in figure 6 on the back page is actually folded inward during shipping. Make sure that the UHF dipole is folded out, and then pull the bottom section of each side of the dipole so that it fits over the threads on the underside of the antenna. Install each wire of the balun on the underside of the UHF dipole, and secure each of those wires with a wing nut.

I didn't do all of these steps correctly on the first few tries, and my reception was very bad until I got it right. The symptom was that my reception on analog 13, 19 and 50 was very snowy. My reception on channels 2 thru 7 was usable, but clearly worse than with my old VHF antenna. I didn't have a digital receiver when I installed the antenna, but I figured that UHF analog reception would be a good indicator of potential digital reception.

Good luck, and I hope this saves you some time and frustration on the antenna installation.

Brian

Thanks for the info, bkzoller.

Pointing up the hill did no good, as you implied.

I did the little trick with putting on the balun wires, but may have put the wires above the dipole. Also, I'm not sure that I moved the dipole. I think I did, but will check again tomorrow.
Also, I do have a separate RG6 run for the antenna.

Surprisingly, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 13 are all watchable, even 19 and 50 are OK.

When I moved the antenna back to it's original position, I was able to pick up 10-1 (KCHF) Not much, but at least it's a start. I just noticed that there are 2 10-1 programmed (KOAT as well)

I'll probably retry tweaking the alignment tomorrow, but I am starting to think that I am in enough of a valley to need the amp. As I said before, I'm in La Mesilla, so I am up from the bottom of the valley (~5800 feet), but maybe not high enough.

Unfortunately, with the current software level (1.06), my Hughes HTL-HD does not have a strength meter. It is in the most current version (shipped with the newest receivers, 1.07), so I kind of have to wait for a sw update.

I'll post updates as appropriate, and if anyone has help, it is appreciated.

Hey Chuck,

Glad to hear you are having some success. Just to let you know, I went to antennaweb.org to find out which direction to aim my current antenna. For me (in Los Alamos) I have to aim basically directly south (180 deg.). I imagine it wouldn't be too different for you in La Mesilla. But you might need a more powerful antenna (as you mentioned). Also, like we mentioned the other day, Pegasus was no help for the DirecTV deal. I bought the Hughes reciever at Best Buy yesterday. Oh well!! Good luck! PM me if you want to talk more.

Brady

Welcome Chuck

From what I understand about digital, aiming of the antenna is more critical than it is with analog. Analog has the bulk of the information within a narrow slice of the 6mhz channel, but digital spreads the information evenly out over the whole band. If you're not perfectly aligned with the transmitter the digital receiver can't lock.

If you're getting a decent signal (minimal ghosts) from 19 and 50 you should be able to get the digitals too.

Pete

Also, moving the antenna higher "might" work better than a preamp. JR

Does vertical aim matter as much?

IOW, my antennae aims more at the base of the Crest...I'm on the East side of the mountains...If I could tilt my antenna back to better point at the towers, would I get better reception, ie fewer dropouts on the weaker signals, like KOAT?

Does anyone know of a device that will allow me to tilt my antenna?

Also would a larger Antenna help?

Thanks in advance...

I'm in Edgewood; can see the crest. Using a Zenith STB can pick up Khft-DT 29-1. Isn't that a Farmington station behind the Crest and the Jemez. BTW, if anyone's interested I've got a surplus CM7778 preamp and an 8 bowtie UHF which I no longer need since I got a replacement DTV card for my HTPC.
John

jmcferrin,
You've got a PM.

Hello Jmcferrin,

KHFT-TV "UPN" is located in Hobbs, NM and Zenith 420 or 520 tuner series are downloaded by Directv for local TV guides.

What are you seeing now is KWBQ-DT "WB" on digital channel 29 and sorry no real TV DXing for you!!

That's why the Zenith don't get local PISP data info, from the local station itself.

But it will detect local digital sub channels.

Latest news from local station........

KAZQ-DT plans to add KTVS-LP ch. 36 "Analog" to digital channel line ups to KAZQ-DT's digital channel 17 "KAZQ-DT' main programings 17.1 and KTVS-LP on 17.2" somtime this fall, 04.

That's the latest news!!:D

1-10-04

Tim: they show KRQE local news and there is the CBS eye in the corner of the screen but I have watched enough or paid enough attention to see any call letters.
John

Little error on my part, KHFT-TV "UPN" is on anlog channel 29 and KHFT-DT is on digital channel 16. So what you are seeing is the real local KRQE-DT signal not the KHFT-DT's signal itself.:)

Best way to edit the channel line up is go to menu and go to channel edit and it will show list of channels and delete the channels that you don't want.

I use the channel edit for TV DXing by leaving channel 3 and 6 on for E-skip season in summer and mid winter.

Hopes it helps....

1-11-04

Thanks, Tim

The sound from CSI Miami last night (1/12) after the basketball game was horrible. The sound was constantly jerky and many times you couldn't understand the conversations. I sent another email to Frank Lilly[Frank.Lilley@krqe.com], engineer at KRQE, and asked him if there was any progress to this problem. He is aware of it. Hope they can resolve it by Feb. 8 when the Grammys are presented in HD. Wish they also would upgrade to DD 5.1 sound too sometime soon.

I didn't watch CSI Miami, but It would be best if they fixed it sooner than that. They are broadcasting the Superbowl this year, which is Feb. 1st.

Brian

I heard it too and switched back to SD and the sound was ok. Since the Lobo game delayed the broadcast, I'm guessing they taped it and their recorder needs some work. They sure need a 5.1 encoder to go with a new recorder.
JR

The Game started breaking up so badly I had to switch to Sat just to watch it...Don't know if that was related to later problems. :(

I didn't have any problem with the Lobo game last night, rock solid. But right now KNME is showing a program called DNA which is unwatchable, breakups, drops, pixelation. Anyone else having this occur???
John

I am not getting any signal from KNME right now up in Los Alamos. This is usually one of the most rock solid stations I recieve.

Brady

No Fox tonight either...

And why the h*ll won't they show the playoffs in Widescreen?

I read in the CES news section that as many as 50% of next year's NFLST games will be HD. Does that mean fox finally gets their act together???
John

Good question.

I've heard that Fox will start broadcasting in HD by Fall of this year (2004).

Fox, or KASA?

Fox aready does much of it's programming in Widescreen, 480P, I think, but KASA doesn't always pass it on...as in NFL games.

Not too bright on their part.

Something to remember, if CBS does all their games in HD, that would be half of Sunday Ticket.
Plus, regardless of the local affiliate (KASA) Sunday Ticket games are the network feeds, so KASA doesn't have to be HD ready to get the games on NFLST (DirecTV), if Fox is transmitting it that way. The bottleneck is really DirecTV and their opening up bandwidth for it (6 or 7 channels per weekend would be 50%)
This year they had 3 games per weekend on HD (at least since I got my receiver in December)

I just found out KNME-DT has just started multicasting for the first time today!

The channel 35.1 now shows "PBS HDTV" and channel 35.2 "Main KNME-TV programings 480i" if your reciever does remaps it would shows channel 5.1 and 5.2 in this manner....

I thinks its due to a FCC rules that you must simacast the main channel 5 programings at the same time.

We will see what Jim Gail has to say on this....

On the HDTV picture itself it's seems to blink,blink,blink hard to describe though, due to a reduce HDTV video bit rate at this time.

I have a feeling they will add more new PBS channel in the daytime hours and leave HDTV on only at nightime hours "7PM to 6 AM"

But there maybe some good news if KNMD-DT on channel 9 does goes on the air in late 2004 or 2005 by freeing up the video bandwith for HDTV only on channel 9 or channel 35.

Please share your coments on this breaking news......

1-14-04

I don't get Directv---I need Dish for the locals---or NFLST.

I just want KASA to broadcast whatever Fox does in HD.

They have the capacity, they just don't feel like pushing the button sometimes.

Like "24" last night.

Idiots.

I got'cha Moonhawk, I'm so ingrained with watching NFLST on DirecTV, I forget there are people that don't have it.

It does seem a waste if the capability is there and they just don't flip the switch. I realize that there may be some costs involved, but it's a real chicken and egg situation. A lot of people are going to wait until there is more content, while content providers are waiting for more customers.

Sports are the perfect hook to get most people to HD and not exploiting that is just stupid IMO. Once you see a HD game (football and hockey especially), SD just doesn't cut it anymore.

AT least the Broncos are on CBS, and I got to watch about 8 Bronco games in HD on KRQE, and MNF ...Not that that helped them two weeks ago...:(

Oh well...next year it looks like we'll have more content than this in HD.

If the broadcasters took the same approach to color TV as they are to HD, we'd still be watching B&W.

And I remember this because I WAS THERE! :)

Funny thing though when I was a kid stationed in Panama Canal Zone in the 1969 to 1973, AFRTS was sending in some NTSC color format back in those days!:D

Of course I was about 5 or 6 at that time and I think I get at least 3 or 4 stations and of course most of the stations were spanish and black and white at the time.....

The first color TV was a sony 20" inch TV set that we got from AAFES base exchange at that time.:)

Anyway any latest news on NMDTV user group?

1-15-04

Has anyone actually seen kasa broadcasting in EDTV? I have seen people mentioning it but personally i've never seen it in action you would think if they could pass on the EDTV feed then the NFC Championship game would be the day to do it. I looked for a few mins for a phone number to control room at kasa but i would rather watch sd than search their web site for a phone number.
That cbs game looked awsome sorry to you comcast guys who missed it, now we just need 5.1.
:D

I have seen some of the World Series in Faux WS, but nothing else.

And unless I am wrong, KASA actually transmits in 1080i. Such a waste of bandwidth to show SD 4:3 windowboxed.

And yup, I can't bring myself to watch the game on Fox after the Pats in HD on CBS.

BGL

If they are broadcasting in 1080i wouldnt that mean that when fox goes HD this fall kasa would be able to pass the feed along to us? Just an optimistic question.

If they are broadcasting in 1080i wouldnt that mean that when fox goes HD this fall kasa would be able to pass the feed along to us? Just an optimistic question.

Well, yes, except I read that FOX was going to use 720P as their HD format.

Putting that aside, I would ask if anyone can confirm what format FOX is currently transmitting. My OTA tuner (Sammy 151) only indicates SD or HD, not the actual format.

KASA always indicates HD on my Sammy (although we know that its all up converted SD stuff), but I don't know what format.

BGL

I am using the MyHD MDP-120 PCI card as my tuner. It shows 1920x1080i for KASA channel 27. They must be receiving 480p EDTV and upconverting it. Hopefully, their broadcasting equipment will support 720p whenever that becomes available.

Brian

Well, those boneheads at KASA are screwing up, as far as I can tell.

I have seen widescreen, or EDTV, on Kasa this season, most episodes of 24 are shown that way...I think its 480p, but it's full screen, and looks a heck of a lot better than SD.

I spoke with an engineer at the station the other day, "encouraging" him to remember to push the button today for the game.

He seemed to be unaware that HD actually looks any better than SD--Same with a programming person I spoke with a couple of months ago.

But, no HD today...Guess remembering to push a button is above their pay grade, or whatever.

Or, to be fair, they have been having equipment trouble, and that ccould be the case.

I just don't know what they're gonna do when they HAVE to have a digital signal up.

He seemed to be unaware that HD actually looks any better than SD--Same with a programming person I spoke with a couple of months ago.

But, no HD today...Guess remembering to push a button is above their pay grade, or whatever.

Just a small point of clarification.

Regardless of what KASA did or did not do, we would not be getting HD. FOX is not broadcasting ANYTHING in HD yet. As you mentioned regarding 24, the best we could have hoped for is for them to pass along the game in 480P WS (assuming FOX sourced it that way). But KASA did not do so.

I just don't know what they're gonna do when they HAVE to have a digital signal up.

Digital and HD are not synonyms. KASA does have their digital signal up, just not 24/7. They are under no requirement to broadcast HD, just digital. That can be 480i 4:3 like UPN and the WB.

Since they are sending out a 1080i or 720p signal, (still not sure which), its a safe bet that once FOX gets with the program KASA should be good to go.

BGL

Regarding the NFC Championship game of KASA yesterday evening:

FOX broadcast that game in "Fox Widescreen" 480P 16:9, but KASA didn't "flip the switch" to transmit that signal to this area during the first quarter of the game. I called the newsroom and asked someone there to let the MCO know about this error. The newsroom person didn't know what widescreen was, but did pass the message along, and 90 seconds later, the KASA signal was filling my 16:9 set. KASA may be populated with ignorant people, but they are kind and responsive to customer concerns.

I checked back once or twice, but I guess not late enough...Plus, I've necer been able to get a live person on the phone at KASA on the weekend...

I still think it's amazing they can't be bothered to throw a simple switch to broadcast the NFC Championship game.

I'm well aware that HD and digital are not the same...But 480p widescreen still looks immeasurably better than SD 4:3. and if Fox broadcasts it that way Kasa should be able to get it together to push the button.

What I was saying is that all the stations seem to have a lot of difficulty with the digital/HD technology. And while I'm not sure there's any law that says they MUST broadcast HD, at some point they are required to make all broadcasts digital. When that day comes, I hope they can get it together.

moonhawk, I agree completely. Both the local FOX and NBC affiliates need to embrace DTV and HDTV. Curiously, the newsroom to which I was forwarded after calling FOX was the local NBC newsroom. I didn't realize it before, but they have some sort of partnership. I hope they'll hire someone who wants to bring them into the modern era.

I knew of the KOB/KASA affiliation, but I didn't realixe KOB could pass on the request to push the button to KASA on a weekend.

I understand KOB will start broadcasting HD with this summer's Olympics, which will be nice.

I'm sure we'll be getting more and more HD content as time goes on. I have made a point of calling local stations and speaking with programming people and engineers.

I keep it courteous, and tell them that there are really quite a few "early adopters" out there and that we appreciate their efforts to bring us as much HD as possible.

It's just amazing how little awareness there is among some "professionals" in the business about the issue.

My PC tuner reports that KASA is sending out 1080i. When FOX starts HD in the fall, they will be doing 720p. KASA's encoder can do either format so we should get 720p unless KASA decides to cross convert it to 1080i for some reason.

Film sourced 480p looks great, in my opinion. I don't watch many FOX shows, but they always impress me. Video sourced content is another story altogether. FOX is sending out 480i widescreen to the affiliates. The affiliates line double it to 480p for broadcast. As we all know, video is hard to deinterlace, film is easy. That's why film looks so much better than video.

The playoff game had some nasty artifacts on some shots and others looked great. I'd guess (wild assed guess here) that some of the handheld sideline cameras are putting out 480p which is converted to 480i in the truck for distribution and then back to 480p at the affiliate. Since the video started out progressive, it's easy to convert back. (someone please let me know if I'm full of $#|+).

This year will be good - KASA and KOB going HD, PBS getting some programming, more on Satellite hopefully, HD-TiVo....As Emeril says: "Happy, happy, happy".

Pete

Anyone know what happened to 13? Are they so mad at Comcast, they turned off their digital transmitter completely? JR

I watched the game Sunday on Channel 13 OTA. Looked pretty good but the camera work could have been better. Also, they need to have someone wipe the water drops off the lenses once in a while.

I do wish Channel 13 would get their closed captioning fixed on their HD signal. Chief Engineer says the equipment is out for repair and has no timetable for its return.

Still getting the KRQE-DT's signal on channel 16 OTA...

Has anyone noted that KOAT-DT's digital sub channel is down channel 21.2 or remapped to 7.2? "This channel is used for 480i Main programings MST feed."

1-20-04

Comcast now has a new supply of HD boxes

Does anyone have a listing of which local channels are at which numbers? Are they all broadcasting from the cluster of antennas on top of the Crest?

Trying to get my OTA system up and running so I won't miss the SuperBowl thanks to our friends at Emmis/KQRE. I can tell you this--if everyone has this much trouble with OTA, it will be DOA. Compared to cable, there's no comparison at all. To have HDTV with cable, took 5 minutes and it worked perfectly right off. Up to a day and a half on the OTA and still not functional. :(

If there's a thread or post that has this information, would appreciate a link. Unable to find it by searching. Does anyone think it might be time to start a new Albuquerque thread?

DanHouck, go to titantv.com and personalize it for your location in Albuquerque. It gives a great TV listing for both the digital and analog channels. The left-hand column for the digital channels list the digital numbers. You will like the site.

fjerina, thanks for the info. :)

Dan

Originally posted by DanHouck

Trying to get my OTA system up and running so I won't miss the SuperBowl thanks to our friends at Emmis/KQRE. I can tell you this--if everyone has this much trouble with OTA, it will be DOA. Compared to cable, there's no comparison at all. To have HDTV with cable, took 5 minutes and it worked perfectly right off. Up to a day and a half on the OTA and still not functional. :(


I got my OTA antenna working over the weekend, also to get ready for the SuperBowl. It was a long process, but also worthwhile. There isn't an option for HDTV over cable in Los Alamos, but I agree that it would be a much simpler process.

I had to run more coax in order to have a dedicated line for the antenna, and also to install a DirecTV Phase III dish. This allowed me to eliminate the satellite diplexers which were used to share the coax with the old dish. I also installed a ChannelMaster 7777 pre-amplifier, and it seems that my reception problems are solved. Last night's snow storm surprisingly gave me a stonger signal than I have ever seen before on the digital channels that used to be marginal for me. :)

TitanTV is a good site, and registration is free. I use it both as a channel guide and to schedule recordings with the MyHD card. It allows you to see OTA, cable and satellite channels in the same guide. The site is really convenient when you have a computer connected to the TV, but a computer near the TV would be the next best thing.

Brian

Reply to Dan: In addition to titan, try this http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dtvsched.htm
for the PBS hd schedule. Actually, KNME looked better before they started the mandatory subchannel simultaneous transmission. JR

Hi guys:

OK, here's where I'm at. Got the antenna pointed right at the mountain, but still picking up only a few of the stations. It is noon now, I wonder how many are working?

On my SIRT150, only getting a signal strength of a little less than half on KNME. Beautiful picture, though softer than on cable. Picking up most of the rest now, though some times it takes two tries to get the thing to lock on.

Is there anyone here in town who could update my SIRT150 with later software? I really don't know how to do that kind of stuff.

Thanks.

Dan

Are you pointing at the top of the mountain or the base...?

Knowing how critical the horizontal aiming angle is, I imagine the vertical aiming angle is as well...

But no one has been able to answer my question about an available means to tilt an antenna up towards the towers.

One way I could imagine aiming the antenna with a vertical angle would be to lean the mast. In order to aim the antenna upward, you would lean the mast in a direction 180 degrees from where the antenna is pointed. In order to aim it downward, you would lean the mast in the same direction as the antenna aim. The leaning process would involve securing the mast at the base and at a point below where the antenna is mounted. I don't know how necessary that would be for reception however. From my location, the vertical aiming would be so small that it would not matter in any case.

Brian

With me it means a difference of 5-10 degrees. That is a critcal amount on some stations with me.

I live in the East mountains, and my view of some towers is partially blocked by Palomas peak, even though I am in effect right below the towers.

Channel seven is my weakest station, and very small adjustments make a big difference in reception.

I figure aiming vertically should help make the signal notably more stable.

Good point. Easy to tilt my antenna, I'll try it. Channel 7 is also my weakest station, sometimes have to try several times before the tuner locks in but then it is OK.

Bring on the Super Bowl! :)

Dan:
Well, I see you got the suggestion to check your tilt in this thread too.

BTW, there are fancy rotators used by HAM operators for moon bounce and satellite operation that have both azimuth and elevation control. For example, Ham Radio Outlet carries the Yaesu G-5500. Only $650. :rolleyes:
But it is computer controllable and has good accurracy. :D

I am sure everyone here will want to run out and buy one. ;)

Maybe I could just borrow one of yours....?

:D

I just got a E-mail from KOB-DT today saying they will go HDTV around May and June at this time.....

After that they will add multicasting and TX power upgrade to 290 KW ERP somtime later this year.

I think they are running "STA" 80 KW ERP at this time....

That's the news......

1-22-04

N...

Thanks...

What is TX 290 KW ERP; STA 80 KW ERP?

I think I'll just try the MANUAL tilt first! :)

Only station I'm having a little trouble locking in on first try is KOAT. Are they putting out a weak signal?

KNME is awesome. Hard to turn it off, there's so much eye candy there.

Will we get FOX football in high def next season?

You know, reading some of the other threads about reception problems, we should count ourselves lucky that our DTV is so well located. We seem to be ahead of many places that are a lot bigger than us.

Just another "bennie" to living in NM! :)

Before I installed the preamp for my antenna, KOAT was actually the second-strongest signal for me, behind KASY. With the preamp, all of the stations are more or less even in signal strength.

Yes, it is good for reception that we essentially have a 6,000 feet or so natural antenna tower above the elevation of Albuquerque. :)

Brian

Hello Moonhawk,

"TX" means transmitter "ERP" Effective Radiative Power" based on antenna gain and "STA" Special Temporary Authority issued by the FCC.

100 Watts

1'000 Watts becomes 1 KW

1'000 KW becomes 1 MW

These are the transmitting power scale by the Radio and TV broadcasting and as well by the Ham radio community!!

"N5XZS" is my ham radio call letter!!:)


1-22-04

Thanks, N5XZS...

(I knew the KW part)...:)

Originally posted by N5XZS
"TX" means transmitter "ERP" Effective Radiative Power" based on antenna gain and "STA" Special Temporary Authority issued by the FCC.


Does "STA" also mean that KOB-DT might move from channel 26 to some other channel in the future?

Brian

Hello Bkzoller,

Nope it's just mean they are at temporary TX power and they must upgrade full power within 1 year or at least renew the STA if the FCC approves it.

When the NTSC "Analog system" shuts down by 2006 or later if the TV viewers have OTA digital tuners at least 85 percent in the Albuquerque TV markets.

Now, KOB-DT can file the CP permits changing to channel 4 for digital transmission by at least year or 2 before the NTSC shutdown date.:)

IMHO, I think channel 4 or channel 26 is mixed trade off in propagation issue whether to have VHF low band in order to punch through the New Mexico's mountain by using channel 4 or use more on digital relays station through out of state of New Mexico if KOB-DT chose to stay on digital channel 26.

We just have to wait and see what happens next!:D

1-22-04

So channels 4 and 26 have different transmission properties?

One VHF, one UHF?

Yes, as of right now channel 4 is analog "NTSC" AM video "VSB" and channel 26 is digital "ATSC" digital video "8VSB"

1-23-04

Hey you guys, I'm having some problems getting my SIRT150 to lock on 13.1. Antenna is pointed straight at the towers on the mountain and tilted a bit. When it does come on, getting nearly 50% signal strength. Same problem with 7.1 though I can usually get that on by going past and coming back. Gotta get this working before the superbowl! :)

Is this a firmware problem with my 2-year old box? How do I figure out what version of firmware in this box? Anybody here in town can update if needed?

Thanks.

Dan, to get your firmware version #, (also on the 151) hit menu, turn on help, then hit display. Mine is v. 1.8 dated Sep 25 2001 10:47:45. I don't remember any newer versions available, but my memory is fuzzy. One other tweak: hit menu, turn off help, hit display; this will toggle the sidebars between black and gray, IF they are being added by the box, and not transmitted from the station.

The Sammy signal strength meter is mysterious, no one seems to know exactly how it works and about 50% is all any of them register, or 6-9 bars. A better/higher antenna might help your reception, or some have reported a little luck with a preamp. Jim Gale at KNME is impressed with the little Zenith Silver Sensor indoor ant., but just be sure you can return it if it doesn't perform for you. Good luck, one week left. Jerry

Jerrich, we have the same firmware and apparently the same box. Supposedly there is a version 2.0 available that makes the station listing work a lot better but has issues with stations that have older equipment.

Did you try to watch 13.1 yesterday (Saturday)? It kept pixelating on my set and finally shut off altogether around 1PM. I have installed a rooftop antenna and pointed it directly at the towers. 7.1 is a little slow to lock on but it does so every time. Indoor antenna is out of the question--I live in an adobe house with 2 foot thick walls, not much gets through that.

One other question, does FOX Kasa have an antenna up on the crest broacasting? Can't seem to find that one at all and the program listing on Titan says it is in Santa Fe.

Thanks for the info about the bars.

Dan

RE: KRQE

My 151 occasionally (every couple months or so) has trouble locking in KRQE(although it does usually get lock). When all is well, it locks instantly. Then it will go through periods where it takes 15 seconds or so, during which it says no signal.

If I were to re-scan my channels from the menu while its in that mode, I'm hosed; it will never lock. But when this happens, I am still at full strength on the meter (which as Jerrich said is about 60%)

But heres the thing...this seems to be an issue between equipment at the station and certain Sammy gear.

When I get in these modes, I e-mail Frank Lilley at KRQE, he reboots something at his end (I think he referred to it as a Tamdberg encoder), and I am back 100%.

He said they have a reset that they do every couple weeks. The last time I noticed the problem was over the holidays, and he advised that they gotten behind on their resets.

That may have no relevance to boxes older than my 151, but just thought I would pass it along.

BGL

Originally posted by DanHouck

One other question, does FOX Kasa have an antenna up on the crest broacasting? Can't seem to find that one at all and the program listing on Titan says it is in Santa Fe.
Dan

Check out the FCC web site, they have the location of the antenna listed under "Maps" on this page

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KASA-TV

Its the on the crest. But the city of license is Santa Fe, not ABQ like most are. You also sometimes see this with radio stations licensed to another city but primarily catering to the bigger city that they also get into. Advertising being the main reason.

Originally posted by N5XZS
Hello Bkzoller,
IMHO, I think channel 4 or channel 26 is mixed trade off in propagation issue whether to have VHF low band in order to punch through the New Mexico's mountain by using channel 4 or use more on digital relays station through out of state of New Mexico if KOB-DT chose to stay on digital channel 26.

We just have to wait and see what happens next!:D

1-22-04

On this note, a prime example of choosing between VHF and UHF as the "new" channel to transmit digital on at the end of the transition. KREZ in Durango is on channel 6, a low band VHF. They are already on the air at full power on channel 15 DT because it made sense to invest now in the facility because they will abandon channel 6 at the end of the transition. Channel 6 is one of the worst VHF channels to be on; it's adjacent to FM radio and is often interfered with by the FM stations. Many of whom claim to not be the cause but are in fact often unfiltered or inadequately maintained to prevent interference to channel 6. Another primary reason not to transmit on low band VHF is impulse noise, electrical equipment (like microwave ovens) or simply random background noise in the "either".

I could see anyone on channel 7 and above like 13 who would transition back to 13 VHF because of the propagation and low noise within the band. I can't imagine KASA on channel 2 wanting to go back to 2. It would be a constant headache for them. Even now, it is a headache to be on channel 2 analog. Try picking up channel 2 70-100 miles away on top of a hill trying to relay that to a translator, you probably would get considerable co-channel interference from other channel 2's out there.

Assuming the KASA transmitter is up there with the rest of them on the Crest, wonder why I wasn't able to tune it on Saturday. Is it real low power? I think it is listed as a UHF on 26 that links back to 2.1. But I wasn't able to get the Samsung to tune it in on either 26 or 2 on Saturday. As noted previously, all the other channels are coming in loud and clear with only a short hesitation for tuning 7.1.

Do you have an email address for Frank Lilley?

What I was seeing on Saturday with 13.1 is the signal kept going to zero for longer periods until it was gone entirely. Haven't checked again since then, will do so tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

Dan

Hello DanHouck,

KASA-DT tends to go on the air mostly at 4 PM and later except when there's a live sports programings if the chief Engineering don't forget to turn it on the air.:(

I'ts on digital channel 27, channel 26 belongs to KOB-DT.....

1-25-04

Originally posted by DanHouck

One other question, does FOX Kasa have an antenna up on the crest broacasting? Can't seem to find that one at all and the program listing on Titan says it is in Santa Fe.
Dan

Check out the FCC web site, they have the location of the antenna listed under "Maps" on this page

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KASA-TV

Its the on the crest. But the city of license is Santa Fe, not ABQ like most are. You also sometimes see this with radio stations licensed to another city but primarily catering to the bigger city that they also get into. Advertising being the main reason.

Originally posted by N5XZS
Hello Bkzoller,
IMHO, I think channel 4 or channel 26 is mixed trade off in propagation issue whether to have VHF low band in order to punch through the New Mexico's mountain by using channel 4 or use more on digital relays station through out of state of New Mexico if KOB-DT chose to stay on digital channel 26.

We just have to wait and see what happens next!:D

1-22-04

On this note, a prime example of choosing between VHF and UHF as the "new" channel to transmit digital on at the end of the transition. KREZ in Durango is on channel 6, a low band VHF. They are already on the air at full power on channel 15 DT because it made sense to invest now in the facility because they will abandon channel 6 at the end of the transition. Channel 6 is one of the worst VHF channels to be on; it's adjacent to FM radio and is often interfered with by the FM stations. Many of whom claim to not be the cause but are in fact often unfiltered or inadequately maintained to prevent interference to channel 6. Another primary reason not to transmit on low band VHF is impulse noise, electrical equipment (like microwave ovens) or simply random background noise in the "either".

I could see anyone on channel 7 and above like 13 who would transition back to 13 VHF because of the propagation and low noise within the band. I can't imagine KASA on channel 2 wanting to go back to 2. It would be a constant headache for them. Even now, it is a headache to be on channel 2 analog. Try picking up channel 2 70-100 miles away on top of a hill trying to relay that to a translator, you probably would get considerable co-channel interference from other channel 2's out there.

Tried to watch Cold Case on 13 last night, but had to go back to analog due to the dig. audio was choppy again, it's happened before. Wonder where that came from? Frank said they were too poor for 5.1, but the stereo isn't anything to write home about either. JR

Hello everybody. New to the site. New to HDTV also. Waiting for a dish network 811 receiver. Should be here in a couple of days. I have a million questions but first want to start off with a signal reception. I think I have a medium sized directional uhf/vhf antenna about 12' up on my roof. I get most of the vhf channels okay, not crystal clear and my uhf channels are snow. the signal is just hooked straight into a regular TV. When my receiver and HDTV ready monitor arrive I imagine the signals will be the same. I have a little line of sight problem. Any suggestions.

try it and see...I get channels in better digitally than analog.

Originally posted by threejack
Hello everybody. New to the site. New to HDTV also. Waiting for a dish network 811 receiver. Should be here in a couple of days. I have a million questions but first want to start off with a signal reception. I think I have a medium sized directional uhf/vhf antenna about 12' up on my roof. I get most of the vhf channels okay, not crystal clear and my uhf channels are snow. the signal is just hooked straight into a regular TV. When my receiver and HDTV ready monitor arrive I imagine the signals will be the same. I have a little line of sight problem. Any suggestions.

If you’re having issues with UHF now, it's probably going to translate onto the digital side of things too. For example, if you can't pick up UPN 50 with a decent picture then that’s probably a bad thing. Being UPN 50 is pumping out around 5 mega watts of power and can bee seen over 200 miles away south in Cloudcroft NM on a good day. In fact digital 16 can also be seen on a regular basis at the same location and they are doing around 75kw. Check your balun, replace it if need be. How old is the down lead, how long is it? You might need a pre-amp at the antenna if you have a long run. Something like 10dB is good. Don't split the feed to a dozen TV's in the house. It's best to have one antenna attached to each TV. That way you won’t be having local oscillators from each TV beating against each other and making some weird harmonic that overlaps on the channel you want to watch.. But if I look back at your post, you say it's only connected to one TV.So that's good. I have a 6000 and they seem to work well, the 811 seems similar in design. Good luck!

Hello all,

I recently was able to wrangle a SA 3100HD box from Comcast only to discover that KRQE is not being distributed in HD. Thus, I read the previous posts on this thread as to the Emmiss/Comcast feud and I was hoping I could get a question answered.

Is it possible to use the SA 3100HD as an OTA receiver? I can't seem to find any technical information on this box from the SA website.

Shadow, no the Comcast box cannot do OTA. I'm trying to make a Samsung box work on KQRE with little luck. There seems to be some software issues there that create problems. The box works perfectly with all the other stations but not the one I want for Sunday. Very frustrating.

Dan

I got KRQE fine when I had a Samsung briefly, and now fine with a Dish 6000. They have one of the best HD signals here.

They just have to remember to turn it on...

Was KRQE digital up last night, Wednesday? I could not receive it on my system.

Good question...I didn't try.

I think most of the time it's the station, not our equipment, at fault.

At any rate, I'm not going up on my second story, 5/12 pitch metal roof with snow on it to play with my antenna.

But I'll be pissed if they don't have it together for the Superbowl.

KRQE-DT is still coming in very nicely here in Four Hills area and I am getting ready for the Super Bowl party and let good time rolls!

I also have the backup channel CBS-HD feed from KCBS-DT in case KRQE-DT goes off the air.

Thanks goodnees I am grandfathered for east and west coast feed!;)

1-29-04

OK, I have it working again. First I tried an in-line amp, that seemed to overdrive almost everything. I hooked it up, ran a channel scan, and found only about half the stations worked. Then I took it out, left the antenna hookup off, and ran another channel scan. Then I hooked the antenna back up and 13.1 is coming in loud and clear.

Had several conversations with Frank Lilley today. They rebooted the Tandberg this morning and checked the antennas, gain and S/N this afternoon. He was pretty emphatic that he wants this thing running perfect for the big game.

So do we! :)

Wish me luck. I'm not going to touch anything, change any channels, say bad words around it, etc., and hope it holds up for the next 3 days.

I suspect I cleared the corrupted software out with my machinations. There ought to be someway to reboot this box.

Any of you using the SIR-T150 but have updated to v2.0 firmware? If so, could I get some help with that? Thanks.

Dan

N5XZS

How do you get CBS HD feed?

Cable, Sat, whatever, and how do you qualify?

He gets it off of sat. Both dish network and directv have national feeds for cbs. here is a link to a thread that tells you about the details and how to get it.
cbs national feed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=347953)

directv also has national fox feeds up also.

Eric

Want to express my appreciation to Frank Lilley of KRQE and Jerrich of this thread for helping me work the bugs out of my OTA system in time for the big game. It was an absolute jaw dropper on my 100 inch screen and the people who attended my party couldn't stop talking about it. KRQE put out a beautiful signal, I only got a couple of momentary drop outs on both video and audio. Thanks guys! :)

Just too bad it didn't drop out during that digusting halftime show. :(

Frank Lilley of KRQE is very good at responding to my questions. I only wish they could find the money to upgrade their equipment to Dolby Digital 5.1. Maybe all of us can do a garage sale and raise the $5000 for them for the unit. Just kidding.

I also had a few dropouts too. Guess it was a national feed problem.

Huh!

I had a terrible, jerky picture throughout, even though my signal read 95%

Looked like every second or third frame dropped out, and seemed to vary depending on the camera. close-ups were much worse than wide angle shots.

I called them at the start of the game, and they said they would check it, but no improvement throughout the game.

Acted like a very cheap lo-rez MPEG encoding. Though the individuals frames were good, they just seemed constantly jerky...almost made me dizzy.

Very dissappointing.

Bummer. What receiver and antenna are you using? JR

Dish 6000, and a RadioShack something or other...Model 75 I think.

I've watched plenty of HD Games on KRQE with no problems, and my signal meter said 95%, which is better than usual, so I don't think the problem was on my end, but if no one else saw it....?

It was watchable, just jerky at times. Much worse than normal.

Do the broadcast stations actually boost their transmitters up to "full power" during the big games? I also noticed the higher than normal signal reading during the Super Bowl, and it also happened during the Nokia Sugar Bowl last month.

During the Super Bowl, I noticed the periodic sound dropouts that others reported, and a few times the picture went completely blank for a couple seconds. Overall, I would say that KRQE did a great job. Everyone at my Super Bowl party was seeing HDTV for the first time, and they kept commenting how good the picture was. :)

Brian

I was disappointed that KRQE had technical problems with their digital signal last night, Monday, 2/2. I will have to send an email to Frank Lilley to see what happened.

fjerina

Did you experience any problems w/ the superbowl..?

Would you ask him about that?

Thanks

Just another datapoint re: THE GAME.

I was solid throughout, other than two or three picture drop outs (2 were black screen, 1 was green), that lasted maybe a second or two each.

Audio was good, maybe one or two drops there as well. The half time audio was crap though....constant audio drops, but I think that was an issue at the site, since my A/V receiver never lost lock from the OTA decoder.

As soon as the show ended, and we went back to normal anouncers, all was fine.

I will echo the comments about Frank Lilley. First class all the way. I have been in contact 3 or 4 times over the last 12 months, and he is always very prompt to respond.

As for my gear, its a Sammy 160, Channel Master 4221, location is just west of Tramway and Academy.

Gee, maybe if Comcast would fork over some money to KRQE, they could get some 5.1 gear!

Note: Thats a joke, OK. No one that is still steamed about losing KRQE via Comcast need reply;)

BGL

Thanks, BGLeduc

Still don't know why my picture was so jerky, i normally get a good picture from KRQE, and my signal was 95%.

Ditto the comments on Frank and KRQE, though...

They're tryng hard to do a good job.

Did anyone happen to catch Gladiator in HD on KOAT last night? I was curious as to the format of the signal. I was under the impression that KOAT distributes a 720p widescreen so was the movie up converted from DVD 480p or re-cut from the original film to 720p. Does anyone know?

Regardless, it looked fantastic...

Originally posted by BGLeduc
Just another datapoint re: THE GAME.
As soon as the show ended, and we went back to normal anouncers, all was fine.

Gee, maybe if Comcast would fork over some money to KRQE, they could get some 5.1 gear!
BGL

It could be the production for the half time show was done out of another truck. They often have several trucks to work different parts of the production for big events like this, pre-game, game, halftime, etc.

As for getting money from Comcast, who knows maybe the justification to get DD5.1 would be much easier with income comming directly from the DTV. :)

I caught parts of Gladiator. It was in 2.35:1 which, IIRC, is the correct aspect ratio of the film.

It was not the best PQ I have seen, but then again, the DVD was also a bit dark. I have no clue what the source of the broadcast might have been.

My set does not do 720P, so I was up converting to 1080i.

BGL

I got the word from Frank Lilley at KRQE and they had a HD server connection problem. It has been resolved. I am looking forward to the Grammys on Sunday. They however cannot provide the show in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. They do not have the equipment for it (cost around $5000).

I caught the Super Bowl in little bit on Sunday but I recorded the half-time show on my new Dish HD PVR. And yes, I played back the Janet Jackson boob exposure part. She sure doesn't need any breast enhancements in my opinion. I experience an occasional picture dropout but I believe that was from the network feed. Frank Lilley didn't comment on that.

Gladiator looked really good for the few minutes I got to see of it. Nice Dolby Digital 5.1 sound too. KRQE, here that!

I know that Fox is said to be going 720P later this year. Out local affiliate (KASA) is currently sending out 1080i, although most content is 4:3 stuff, upconverted. Pretty much looks like crap.

However, over the last week, I have switched to Fox a couple times in the evening, and see that they are sending out some of their stuff in 16:9. I assume this to be Fox WS, which, I think is said to be 480P.

Here's the question/comment. While I can't recall the names of the shows I have glimpsed, they looked better than any Fox WS stuff I have seen before (the World Series for example). In fact, they looked just as good as 13 and 7 when they do true HD content of their non-sports programs.

So, am I just seeing really good 480P, or are they maybe testing out real HD stuff?

Curious if anyone else notices, but the PQ was outstanding on these 16:9 shows.

BGL

BG

I haven't been able to get anything on KASA digital for the last few weeks...

I did a scan and got nothing either.

Are they still on 27?

BGL, we watch "24" in Fox WS, and you're right, it does look pretty good. Our stb outputs 1080i so that removes virtually all scan lines, resulting in almost HD. Now if they would add 5.1 audio, it would be even better. Fred Jerina hounded ch7 into getting 5.1, so now we need to encourage him to pester the rest of the stations into doing the same thing. I kinda feel sorry for Frank Lilly, since he wants to upgrade, but the budget won't let him yet. Jerry

jerrich

Did you get "24" in digital whatever the other night? I got no signal at all.

Yes, I got them fine. Try unhooking your antenna, doing a channel scan, hook up the ant. again and redo the channel scan. See if that re-enables ch2. Let us know. JR

Moon, did you get ch2 yet? Where the heck is La Madera? JR

JR

Sorry, thought I answered that one...I probably forgot to hit the "post" button. Oral surgery last week and a severe thumb injury from my table saw on New Year's Eve...too many pain pills.

Any way, yes I did...Just did a re-scan, before trying your suggestion--hard to use the hand to undo the connection--and it worked.

I think maybe they were down temporarily the last time I tried.

What does disconnecting and doing a scan do?

La Madera is off of N14, just past the turn off to Sandia Crest, turn in to the left where the Paa-Ko community center is, and wander on in for several miles. Nice and quiet.

Let's see if I can manage to post this this time....:)

Well, I was pretty underwhelmed.

First sound...

While we know that KRQE is not yet 5.1 enabled, I was expecting a lot more from the stereo mix. Unfortunately, it was poor.

The overall balance of instruments was terrible. When Sarah Mcglaughlin performed, you could not hear Alison Krauss' violin at all. And Foo Fighters/Chick Corea (no there's a combo I would not have expected!) had great potential, but again, the overall balance was terrible (although you could hear Chick loud and clear).

And lastly, there was a tick audible almost every time they switched from commercials to the show. Whats up with that?

But, having read the AVS thread on the show, its perhaps good that we did not have 5.1. Looks like a lot of users had continuous drop outs.

As for the Picture....

Not bad at all, although it did seem soft at times. There was also a weird incident when Marge Helgenberg came out. It was like the 5 second delay got weird, and she repeated herself. Then the PQ went a bit hazy, but came back clear. Weird.

In general, the close up shots looked pretty good, but the medium and long shots were not as tightly focused.

One more comment/question: Did KRQE tape delay the show by 1 hour? The morning paper said that the show began at 5:55PM MST, 5 minutes before the broadcast time. But we didn't get the show until 7:00PM MST.

So, either this was tape delayed by KRQE, or the paper was wrong? Perhaps they meant to say 5:55 PST? I am inclined to think that it was tape delayed, due to the fact that we normally watch the Red Carpet shows with Joan Rivers (OK, its a guilty pleasure!), and they wrapped up straight away at about 6:00PM MST.

BGL

Because of the Janet Jackson incident, CBS chose a 5 'minute', not 5 'second' delay. I've seen this misquoted in multiple places as 5 seconds, but it actually was 5 minutes (Can't imagine why they would need that much, but doesn't matter to me)

Probably was supposed to be 5:55 PST, MST. Imagine the Journal having a detail wrong !

Hi gang - Just discovered this thread today 'cause fjerina clued me in over on DBSTalk. I live 58 miles north of the Albuquerque towers in the Sana Cruz river valley near Espanola, and although I can lock all the local stations, one of them is pretty weak and marginal (KOAT - the ABC affiliate). It pixelates a lot, especially daytime. All the others are solid.

Is KOAT putting out a weaker signal than the others?

I have a Winegard Platinum HD8200p antenna on the roof with a Winegard Chromestar AP-8800 mast mounted pre-amp.

I am wondering if I can add another UHF only antenna to the mast (perhaps the Channel Master 4228) and then combine the RF output from that antenna with the Winegard and feed them both into the pre-amp.

What equipment do I need to do this? Do you think it will improve gain on the weak station? Any other ideas?

Thanks, .....G

And today. . . KOAT locks just fine. Perhaps they are varying their transmitter power.

.....G

I just got a new box today from Comcast. For those of you who have Comcast HD, they have an upgrade from the Scientific Atlanta 3100HD box to the 3250HD. It offers more output options for SD and a DVI output(there's Firewire too, but I don't know if they're active).

I briefly scanned through the last few pages and didn't see mention of it.

I haven't had much time to play with it, but I'm going to A/B its 480p conversion with that of my Mits.

Does anyone here know what the difference between KOAT's two subchannels is? i.e., 21-1 and 21-2 I see that they often carry different programming.

Thanks, .....G

KNME has started doing that also, and it robs their hd channel of needed bw. It's a real shame because they were reference quality before. They have to do it by law they say, but it stinks IMO. The hd side now is degraded and shows motion artifacts it didn't used to. To make matters worse, the sd side doesn't get the aspect ratio right (like most digital channels), so it is unwatchable unless you like short fat people. Grrrr Jerry

Originally posted by guruka
Does anyone here know what the difference between KOAT's two subchannels is? i.e., 21-1 and 21-2 I see that they often carry different programming.


The reason for the different programming is that 21-1 is often one hour ahead of 21-2. I suppose KOAT does not have the equipment for time-shifting the HDTV feed, because a show that starts at 8pm Eastern is broadcast at 6pm Mountain on 21-1. The time-delayed feed that is on analog 7 is duplicated on 21-2. The other difference is that 21-1 is always broadcast at 720p, which is sometimes upconverted from 480i. 21-2 is always broadcast at 480i.

Brian

Thanks Brian. That's exactly what I wanted to know!

.....G

Is KOAT down right now? I haven't been able to get any signal from them (in Los Alamos) since at least last night.

Originally posted by toricred
Is KOAT down right now? I haven't been able to get any signal from them (in Los Alamos) since at least last night.

It looks that way. I am getting a signal strength of zero.

John

Yup. Me too. Channel 21 reads 0.

Not a peep here too on my Zenith 520 in Four Hills.

I wonder what's wrong with KOAT-DT?

Hope it's not a transmitter burn out.:rolleyes:

Just hang tight guys!!

2-15-04

I am getting Koct digital down here south of Carlsbad, wish we had hd and the second channel down here. I suspect our channel is just the analog converted as my dish "local" had a better PQ.

KOAT-DT is reading 0 for me as well. It's usually very strong. I first noticed the zero-signal yesterday, but didn't have it on to check Friday. I hope they haven't had a major equipment loss.

On the subject of signal problems, does anyone else have frequent "no signal" issues with KASA-DT?

IAm4UK

Yes, I have, though they only start broadcasting after 3-4 PM. Also, I had to rescan my channels recently.

You guys can always call KOAT to ask about their HD signal...All these stations sometimes forget to turn the thing on.

("Thing"= technical term.....:D)

My KOAT DT has been down for a couple of days now. I hope they haven't had any major problems with their equipment. I will be contacting KOAT tomorrow and see what is going on unless any of you guys know already.

I notice that Comcast Channel 180 is also out. Channel 180 is KOAT's HD signal.

I just spoke to an engineer at KOAT.

Their HD transmitter is down.

"Hopefully" tomorrow.

They better be up for the Academy Awards show or I will have to cancel my party that I invited 20 people to see the show in HD.

As of 7:30 Monday morning, Ch. 2 & 7 are both down. JR

Seems like KOAT 7-1 was up last night. Guess their problem wasn't too serious.

Sinces we are getting close to 1000th replys, I wanted to thanks everybody for keeping this thread alive!!:D

Even though we are light years behind Denver posting replys thread, BUT we are ahead of Denver stations for full power covereges thanks to our local Albuquerque stations efforts.;)

But of course not all local stations is perfect for not sending in HDTV or not sending out in 5.1 digital audio.

There is more work to be done like getting KOB-DT,KWBQ-DT and KASY-DT to carry HDTV network's feeds.

Party on Dude!! :cool: :D

2-17-04

Would settle for any and all down south in the same too:)

Hi I've followed this forum for awhile now, hoping to hear of the translator towers outside of Alb rebroadcasting HD signals OTA. I have yet to see news of this or the local cable in Gallup getting any HD. Its good to hear that Alb and Santa Fe have a good start on OTA HD. Any knowledge you can share of the growth of HD to areas outside of the big cities would be good. Are there any other forums for NM HD signals? Congrats to you all on the 1000 th post to this topic !!!(NEXT POST) I currently get HD via my DirecTV package. Recently got the LA & NY CBS in HD :) but may loose it :( when Alb locals arrive on D* in April due to CBS O&O regs. Super Bowl and Grammies where great in HD! Its great to see all the interest in HD in the Alb area and surrounding communities. Keep up the GOOD work!!

Originally posted by HD-Lover
Hi I've followed this forum for awhile now, hoping to hear of the translator towers outside of Alb rebroadcasting HD signals OTA. I have yet to see news of this or the local cable in Gallup getting any HD. Its good to


The FCC has yet to rule on digital translators. Probably less then a year on a decision. Right now there is a lot of research going into digital translators and the best way to deliver the signal. It will mean retrofitting microwave links with both analog and digital. This too the FCC will have to rule on. There are current ways of doing this, but rather expensive. Again, there have been some experiments about alternative ways of delivering digital to the translators. Most has been done up in Utah with good results. With as many as three hops before needing bit stream correction. However, right now most stations are spending a lot on relocating translators to new channels 52 and below, or lose the channel. These are multi year projects, and I don't think any station is going to think about DTV for translators tell they are done protecting their current coverage.