You shouldn't have any problem selling it.

Originally posted by N5XZS
I just got a 2 E-mails from KASA-DT and KOAT-DT chief enginerings guys.

KASA-DT is having TX tube problems and expect to be back on the air in the next few days at the most.
5-25-04

HAHA

I have been out of town, but I returned yesterday, and began preparing for our annual barbecue (with all the racing). Much to my chagrin, KASA-DT was down. Engineering reported that they are waiting on parts, and it could be fixed any day now. Garbage!

Has anyone heard when KRQE will be back up.I emailed Frank Lilly and haven't received an answer.

jtb50, when did you email Frank Lilley ???

fjerina,i emailed him Monday morning,no return response yet.

I checked this morning on my Hughes HDVR2, and the Albuquerque locals are now live on DirecTV. They show up at their normal channel numbers. Here is a link to the channel numbers (http://www.directv.com/see/pdf/LILStickers/stickers/StickersA/DSU-0397AAlbuquerque.pdf). The PDF does not include UPN 50 when I look at it this morning, but I am sure I saw it listed on the document yesterday. Channel 50 was being sent over the satellite in spite of the document.

The other news is it looks like all DirecTV customers around the country currently served by Pegasus will be switched over to DirecTV no later than August 31st, 2004. This includes most of New Mexico excluding Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and probably Las Cruces. DirecTV is sending me an authorization form for agreeing to transfer my account from Pegasus to DirecTV. This has been a good week, indeed. :)

Brian

How is the Pq? I get them on E*, called Pegasus yesterday to see if they had free upgrade to the phase 3 dish but they said no. (99$)Saw one at dish depot for 79 awhile back. I keep D* alive for the distants, which have better pq than my E* locals .

The picture quality was very good at 7:45 am. I didn't have very long to watch since I had to go to work. I would say it is better reception on the analog stations than I could ever get from my rooftop antenna in Los Alamos.

I ordered my Phase III dish from SolidSignal.com and installed it myself. At this point, you may want to call DirecTV instead of Pegasus and see if they will sign you up. DirecTV said that when they transfer my account, they would send out an installer if necessary. Also, they have an offer for a new dish and an HD receiver for about $400 and a programming commitment, which includes installation.

I guess by "keep D* alive for the distants" you mean that you have the LA and NY locals on Pegasus due to waivers. The number that I called for switching from Pegasus to DirecTV was 866-235-2500. You would have to ask whether they would able to transfer the distant channel waivers to DirecTV.

Brian

bkzoller -- DirecTV has an installer based in Los Alamos.

I actually had the distants before Pegasus bought out PVT down here, back when USSB was in operation. Not that that would probably matter, besides that new shiva will probably kill my distants anyway. But I was kinda leaning toward the Hd tivo and was waiting for the dust to clear after congress gets through to see what is what. (I get cbshd from E*) Thanks for the number.
Don

I have been a Pegasus customer since 1998, and USSB was still in operation at that time. The buyout must have been earlier than that, because I don't know who PVT was. I guess your distant networks would be of the "grandfathered" variety, before the SHIVA act and before waivers were required.

Edwardacampbell, were you referring to Radio Shack? They are the only local installer I could find for DirecTV, unless you are including the ones based in Santa Fe or Espanola. It doesn't really matter to me, because I already installed a Phase III dish myself.

Brian

I wish KRQE would get their HD transmitter fixed so we could see the Tony awards in high-def. But I guess that is a very slim chance. Wish I knew what was going on over there. They must be having serious problems.

Pvt is peneasco valley telecom based in artesia, they had the channels that ussb did not have before pegasus bought them out. I bought my first 2 d* systems from them. I had the distants from superstar on bud before I got them on d*. I will wait till d* takes over , I talked with them yesterday and was told they would work with me when they get my account.

No, there's a guy named Pete something-or-other who functions as a freelance for Pegasus, etc.. Lives in LA.

Also, out of Abq, is the New Mexico Satellite Guy -- who works for damned near everyone. Very good. Bright. Conscientious. Since my purchase of a P3 dish [+ my HR10-250, HD-TiVo] each entitled me to a free install, he was the installer who came up to relocate my dish and tweak it -- when I actually started using the P3 for hi-def.

While we are waiting for the KASA-DT,KRQE-DT and KOB-DT get their acts together on technical issue.

This is will be fun to look in the future where the local OTA channels line up will be after the analog shut down in 2006 or later.:D

What I thinks it's gonna happen this way..........

2004 "present day" "A" Analog "D" Digital"

Channel 2 "A" 27 "D" KASA-DT "FOX"

CH. 4 "A" 26 "D" KOB-DT "NBC"

CH. 5 "A" 35 "D" KNME-DT "PBS"

CH. 7 "A" 21 "D" KOAT-DT "ABC"

CH. 9 "D" soon to be second PBS station KNMD-DT

CH. 11 "A" 10 "D" KCHF-DT "REL"

CH. 13 "A" 16 "D" KRQE-DT

CH. 14 "A" No digital channel assigned by the FCC, KTFQ-TV "Telefutura Spanish Net."

CH. 19 "A" 29 "D" KWBQ-DT "WB"

CH. 23 "A" 24"D" KNAT-DT "TBN REL"

CH. 25 "A" There is no digital channels assigned for low power stations Not sure what the call letter is though. "Spanish Network"

CH. 32 "A" 17 "D" KAZQ-DT "REL"

CH. 41 "A" 42 "D" KLUZ-DT "Univision Spanish Net."

CH. 43 "A" Low power station "Home shopping"

CH. 48 "A" same thing as channel 43 "Simulcast of channel 43 Home Shopping

CH. 50 "A" 45 "D" KASY-DT "UPN"

CH. 53 and 56 are both "A" and is also a low power stations KTEL-LP,K56FB "Telemundeo Spanish Net."

CH. 61 "A" This station is class A meaning they can't be bumbed off the air they are moving to channel 30 "A" or "D"? KYNM-CA "REL music videos"

Now the interesting part post 2006 after the analog shuts off date.....

KASA-DT might go to channel 27 due to a TV skips interfrences on VHF low band channel 2! "Good news for TV DXers":D

KOB-DT will also do the samething by just going to channel 26.

KNME-DT may want to stay on channel 5 for digital but will go full power to overcome the VHF low band's noise floor level, but then again they may just stick to channel 35 for now.

KOAT-DT will use channel 7 for digital due to a VHF mid band has the best of both world for propagations and low TX power level......

KCHF-DT channel 10 or 11 but can't have both at the sametime!!;)

KRQE-DT will use channel 13 for digital.

KTFQ-DT will be forced to go digital on channnel 14.

KWBQ-DT will take channel 19 since it's the lower channel for them!

KNAT-DT will take channel 23 or 24.

KAZQ-DT will take channel 17 instead of channel 32.

KLUZ-DT will take channel 41.

KASY-DT will take channel 45 and just be UPN 45!!:D

As for the rest of low power TV stations who's know what where they will be at, so take your best shot at it!!:D

Channel 52 to channel 69 will be reallocated for two way radios comms,.

You are more than welcome to put your predictions for this TV market.

Have fun!!:D :D :D

6-7-04

Interesting speculation. But I wonder why a station would elect to move their digital to the old analog frequency? Aren't the transmitters/combiners/antennas built for a specific frequency?

Digital seems to work so good as compared to analog that most people shouldn't have any trouble. A friend of mine picked up one of the digital Hobbs stations with rabbit ears in ABQ! Amazing, I'd say. He also got a lock on KNME and KOAT with nothing more than a raw coax cable plugged into the tuner - no antenna at all. Cool stuff.....

Pete

Hello Petew,

Your friend must have the same brand that I have, called Zenith 520 Directv and the OTA reciever.

KHFT is on analog channel 29 and digital channel 16.

The data program informations was downloaded from the Directv that is causing to get some semi out of town info, causing double mapping of digital channel 16 which is KHFT-DT "UPN" out of Hobbs and KRQE-DT also is on digital channel 16!!;)

Since we don't get Tropo Ducting in Albuquerque, and which is very rare save for E-Skip for this time of year "May to September" on channel 2 to 6 or even higher.

As for the KNME and KOAT's signal they must very strong and or He or She must live very close to the transmitters with cox cable and that's means the signal must have bleeded in.:)

Hopes that's helps and don't give up trying TV DXing on channel 3 or 6 here in Albuquerque but check channel 2 first that's where you get's first sign of interferences on KASA-TV signals.

THe skip seasons got off a poor start so hang in there if you can.;)

6-7-04

Just got this email from Frank Lilley at KRQE. Hopefully they will be up my mid-month.

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

Fred, We are still waiting on our up converter to be repaired. The
manufacturer is now saying mid-June.

Franklin Lilley
Director of Engineering
KRQE/KBIM/KREZ
505-767-9400
frank.lilley@krqe.com

Has anyone checked with KASA about the status of their digital channel? Their outage has continued for several weeks now.

Brian

Does anyone have a list of all the Abq station engineers with their email addresses? That would be handy for all us grouchy curmugeons. JR

I just picked each of 'em off of the relevant Web site. Never assembled all the addresses in one place 'til now though.

KASA FOX 2
Dudley Bullock
Chief Engineer
dbullock@kasa.com

KOB NBC 4
Sean Anker
Chief Engineer
sanker@kobtv.com

KNME PBS 5
Jim Gale
Director of Engineering
jgale@knme.org

KAOT ABC 7
Dan Brown
Chief Engineer
drbrown@hearstsc.com

KRQE 13
Frank Lilley
Director of Engineering
frank.lilley@krqe.com

KWBQ and KASY WB and UPN (Acme TV)
Anthony Liparoto
Chief Engineer
aliparoto@kwbq.com

.....G (your fellow grouchy curmudgen)

Just got this word in from KOB-TV...

Our target is the middle of July. Our setup is being built and tested at a
facility up in Wisconsin right now. I¹m not sure when it will arrive here,
but it should be here soon! The Olympics start August 13.

Thanks for the interest,

Sean Anker
________________________________
Sean R. Anker
Director of Engineering and Production
KOB-TV, Albuquerque, NM
sanker@kobtv.com
(505)764-2442

> I understand your station is underway in acquiring the equipment (i.e.
> high-def mpeg encoder) which will allow you to pass-through the
> network's
> programming in high definition. I understand that you are planning to
> be up
> for the Olympics this summer. Are you on-schedule with this? I believe
> the
> Olympics will be starting around August 11. Thanks, Fred Jerina.

Very nice Fred thanks for the info. I cant wait for all our major locals to be in HD.

Hey all,

For those of you wondering what happend to KOAT yesterday, I emailed Dan Brown and he responded the following:

Good Morning!
In a nutshell...yesterday afternoon our transmitter fried two power
supplies that operate amplifiers in the transmitter. The system is
redundant, but both failed...leaving us no alternative and no way to bring
the transmitter back on line.

We are having two more supplies flown here today and we hope to have the
transmitter back in working order tonite.

Thanks, again for the eamil!

Dan Brown
KOAT-TV Engineering

KOAT-TV Engineering

Koct-dt down here in Carlsbad has a strong signal, but no picture. Thanks for the e-mail addresses Guruka, just sent one to koat.

How is it that KOAT can fix their problems within a couple days,and KASA and KRQE take months?Makes you wonder how dedicated they really are to HD programing.

Some of it relates to the severity of the hardware problem and what component is affected. However, I believe we are getting to a point where our local TV stations should start thinking of "backup" units. They haven't been at this point because the number of "digital" viewers is relatively small. Hopefully we will get to the point soon where they will really need to have some backup units due to customer complaints and FCC rules.

Originally posted by guruka
I just picked each of 'em off of the relevant Web site. Never assembled all the addresses in one place 'til now though.

.....G (your fellow grouchy curmudgen)

In the past I have emailed KOB, WB, UPN and FOX about issues. KOB, WB/UPN at least send a reply, even if the content is not what I want to hear.

FOX, however, has NEVER replied to a single email I have sent them. Has anyone else every recieved a reply from FOX?

John

Yes I have, and got a E-mail from the Chief Engineering of KASA-DT, saying that their transmitter's tube has blown out.

They are very expensive to replace the TX tubes "$30K to 60K" to run this high power levels I guess around 20 to 50 KW depending on the antenna gain itself. "255 KW ERP"

But remember Chief Engineering are very busy people and can't answer to everyones. The best way is just spread the news is here on our own thread!!;)

So we just have to relax for now and enjoy the shows... "Go check out the NBA finals in HDTV on KOAT-DT channel 21!! "

Party on Dudes!!:D

6-15-04

I have been watching the finals,but not enjoying it very much(i'm a Laker fan)OUCH.

Got an answer back from koat, it looks like I am the only one down here that knows there is a digital signal.

Since this last weekend, the audio from KOAT has been DD2.0 instead of DD5.1.

Has anyone else noticed this?

John

Audio from game 5 of the NBA Finals on KOAT-DT was in DD5.1. I recorded it on the HD DirecTiVo, and I just checked the audio. :)

Brian

KASA-DT is back on the air this evening. Also, it looks like KRQE-DT got their HD encoder repaired. :)

Brian

I found this other thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=409554&perpage=20&pagenumber=1) that is tracking FOX stations around the country currently broadcasting 720p and whether they are ready for HD. The thread states that the station must have a splicer installed in order to be HD ready. I didn't find that information in this thread, so I sent an a-mail to the chief engineer at FOX. Here is the reply:

Yes
The FOX Splicer is installed and we are ready for FOX to send HD
broadcasts this fall.

Dudley Bullock


Brian

Anyone else seeing low signals from KOAT this week? I am in White Rock and see a low (<50%) signal for a few seconds then it ramps up and locks at about 70%. Not seeing anything like this on anyone else in ABQ.

They were off the air [digital] for a bit, recently. I presume they're twiddling.

One of the funniest things that happened was -- during a daytime show -- they cut away from the scheduled broadcast to a delightful animated test pattern package. Before I switched my brain on and TiVo'd it -- it went to the old-fashioned several-vertical-bar test pattern -- and an engineer's [presumably] voice started coming through on the respective speakers:

"This is the left channel!"

"This is the right channel!"

Repeating for a few minutes and, then, back to the scheduled broadcast.

I saw that one evening this week! Very whimsical (sp)! I called my wife to come check it out but by the time she came in, it was gone. Had patterns going in all different directions. Picture was good though.

Boy, it is sure nice to have KRQE (CBS) digital up in high-def again. Now it will be interesting monitoring KOB (NBC) to see when they come up (hopefully sometime mid-July).

Anyone have a Samsung TS-350 directv receiver?I have had it a week and it has rebooted on its own 3 times and froze up once where i had to unplug it to get it to work.

That could inhibit forum searches. It may be either SIR-T351 or SIR-TS360.

Check the model number and, then, try searching at:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25

Here is the master thread for that box.

FWIW, I have a Sammy 160, and it has locked up three times since February when I got it. Seems to be a real challenge for any vendor to make a HD D*TV box without some sort of bug.

BGL

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=364689

It seems to be the nature of the beast with electronics; there still hasn't been a "perfect" dvd player or hd tv yet either. JR

I haven't been able to record KNME 35-1 HD on my DishNetwork 921 PVR - until the end of last week. I could view it fine, but no PVR functions worked - pause, FF, record, etc.

In order to find out why, I spent about 40 minutes on the phone with KNME chief engineer, Jim Gale, this morning. I asked if they had made any recent changes to their PSIP stream. And they did. Last week they added IP datacasting. and now I can record their OTA HD signal where I couldn't before. Go figure. Jim actually spent the $$ to have his PSIP stream fully certified.

They have a fantastic setup and their 200 kbps PSIP carries full rolling three day EPG info. He said the EPG lock on a Zenith LG3510 receiver is lightning fast. They are simulcasting SD and HD using a DM 6400 Statmux to convert the PBS HD 18 mbs stream down to 15.5 mbs for broadcast. Their encoder is a top-of-the-line Harmonic MV45. They are putting out 20KW RMS (250 KW ERP) from their solid-state DT transmitter on the crest. It's the largest fully solid state DTV xmitter at the highest elevation in the entire US.

Jim is a great guy and offered me a full station tour on my next visit to Albuquerque.

.....G

KNME really has it together, don't they. They're about the only OTA station I ever record from. I guess I'll have to try something, tonight, on my HR10-250. It's always worked just fine.

The HR10-250 gets programming guide information from the satellite for the digital OTA channels. I'm not sure if it is even possible to view the PSIP on that device, although I haven't really looked for it. The 921 PVR uses PSIP for guide information on the digital OTA channels, which has apparently caused difficulty for that device. The part I didn't realize was that it also affected pause, FF, RW in addition to the recording problems.

Brian

Phew!

Guruka, if you're ever in town on the 3rd Thursday of each month, try to make it to one of the dtv user group meetings at KNME, 7PM, and meet Jim in person. One of the nicest, not to mention smartest, guys you will ever meet. JR

Guys, is KOB digital up and running? I can't get it on my Dish PVR 921 unit. I got a new software upgrade from them and I cannot bring up KOB digital. Thanks.

Originally posted by fjerina
Guys, is KOB digital up and running? I can't get it on my Dish PVR 921 unit. I got a new software upgrade from them and I cannot bring up KOB digital. Thanks.

Yeah, I can't get a lock on KOB up here in Espanola either, Fred. So I emailed Sean Anker and here's his reply:

Guruka - I was just up on the mountain this morning, and we're reduced in power about 40% right now. We should have that back up sometime next week.

Overall, we are only at about 1/4 of our final power, so we will indeed have
a less powerful signal into Espanola. We actually need to build a new tower
up on Sandia before we can hit full power. This will take some time, but
should be completed within a couple years.

Our HD gear just arrived this morning, so we're getting ready to unpack it
right now!

Thanks,

Sean Anker

Sean is really excited about setting up their newly purchased HD equipment and about carrying the NBC feed of the Olympics in HD.

.....G

Originally posted by jerrich
Guruka, if you're ever in town on the 3rd Thursday of each month, try to make it to one of the dtv user group meetings at KNME, 7PM, and meet Jim in person. One of the nicest, not to mention smartest, guys you will ever meet. JR

Will do. Jim was kind enough to send me a copy of his annual engineering report (over 2 MB) which has many great photos of their engineering and xmitter facilities.

Here's one. What a beautiful solid state xmitter!

.....G

Guruka, thanks for the info on KOB. I hope it is just a power issue as you state which should be resolved soon. I am also anxious to receive KOB high-def from them. Hope they don't run into any major problems with the install. Take care.

Originally posted by guruka
Yeah, I can't get a lock on KOB up here in Espanola either, Fred. So I emailed Sean Anker and here's his reply:



Sean is really excited about setting up their newly purchased HD equipment and about carrying the NBC feed of the Olympics in HD.

.....G

I can't get the KOAT tv local in DT either. Does anyone know if they're working on their equipment?

Originally posted by lujan
I can't get the KOAT tv local in DT either. Does anyone know if they're working on their equipment?

KOAT has been off the air since at least saturday. I don't know why.

John

P.S. Is the user group meeting this Thursday? I have never been. I would like to go but may have to wait until next month.

Yes it is, the 15th. Hope to see you there.

Fred, are you ready to sell that ROKU yet? JR

jerrich, no why would I want to sell my Roku unit? In fact, I have been using it lately to show my friends my digital pictures of my recent vacations.

Looking forward to KOB going high-def. Would be nice if they could post a status to us once in awhile on their progress.

If our WB station is not up in high-def by the end of September we will need to jump on the general manager who stated that timeline. He said they should have enough bandwidth for high-def even though they have leased a lot of their bandwidth to USDTV. We will have to keep up with what is going on over at WB.

Originally posted by fjerina
[B]jerrich, no why would I want to sell my Roku unit? In fact, I have been using it lately to show my friends my digital pictures of my recent vacations.


Just hoping you were tired of it by now. :( JR

Originally posted by fjerina
Looking forward to KOB going high-def. Would be nice if they could post a status to us once in awhile on their progress.

If our WB station is not up in high-def by the end of September we will need to jump on the general manager who stated that timeline. He said they should have enough bandwidth for high-def even though they have leased a lot of their bandwidth to USDTV. We will have to keep up with what is going on over at WB.

I sent an email several weeks ago to WB, when channel 29 was completely off the digital air. I received a very quick response, and they had it fixed within a couple of days.

However, part of the response was that they hoped to go HD by the END OF THE YEAR.

John

Originally posted by jerrich
Yes it is, the 15th. Hope to see you there.


Okay, I think I am going to be able to make it. It is off of University, right?

What time?

Thanks,

John

Sounds like stall tactics at WB if you ask me. I doubt that they even have their high-def equipment on order. We may need to get into a letter writting mode if the end-of-September date (as promised by their station manager months ago) never happens.

I also sent the following email to 'dbullock@kasa.com' at FOX about the all star baseball game tonight...(not that I'm a big baseball fan)

I understand that the All-Star Baseball game tonight will be presented from the FOX network in high-definition. I also understand your station is all set to forward the high-definition to us here in Albuquerque. So am I to assume that we will be able to see the game tonight here in Albuquerque in high-definition? Thanks, Fred Jerina.

Fox looked great last night with the All Star game. Kept flipping back and forth to do A/B comparisons.

Does anybody know if was true HD? My receiver indicated that is was HD, but I have found that it is not always the truth.

Anyway, if this is Fox's HD, I'll be very pleased come football season. (Last season, the CBS games were incredible.)

I was only able to watch briefly, but it looked like hd to me. If not, it was the best 480p upconverted by the stb to 1080i I've seen. JR

Got this reply from FOX.

We will show the game in FOX widescreen 16:9. The high definition shows start in the fall.

Thank you,
Dudley Bullock

For all of you out here in Pegasus-land, the switchover has started!

I faxed in the form [their 800#] from the DirecTV website requesting transfer back to DirecTV from Pegasus several weeks ago. Got the phone call, tonight. Went back-and-forth proving I am who I am, access card numbers, etc.. and, Bingo -- I'm a DirecTV customer, again.

Originally posted by edwardacampbell
For all of you out here in Pegasus-land, the switchover has started!


Since you are also a former Pegasus customer in New Mexico, I was wondering if you would mind checking something. When I was with Pegasus, the MLB games I was able to watch were the Colorado Rockies on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (FSRM) and the Arizona Diamondbacks on FSAZ. After the transfer to DirecTV, I am still getting the Rockies on FSRM, the Diamondbacks game was blacked out on FSAZ, and I was able to watch the Houston Astros on FSSW. I didn't look for the Texas Rangers game, but it may have been on RSN Alternate. If given a choice between FSSW and FSAZ, I would choose the former. I don't have either the Sports Pack or the MLB Extra Innings packages. Maybe the lineup change corresponds to getting the Albuquerque locals. Does this match what you are seeing?

Brian

I had a problem getting my MLS package transferred. In fact, I still may have a problem until I see my 1st bill. Meanwhile:

Getting FSRM, Padres v. Rockies --- FSAZ, looks like pre-game. Nothing over on FSSW, right now. RSNa does have something coming up.

Don't have any MLB subs; but, getting 757, Angels pre-game --- getting 758, Red Sox v. Mariners, looks like post-game --- 764, Padres v. Rockies, again.


This is all on the HR10-250 receiver which has scanned and setup for Abq digital locals. I haven't yet checked my old SD receiver -- which is still getting the free trial spot-beam locals.

I always forget there are about a dozen RSNa's. Stuff upcoming 7/21 and 22.

More important, checking the SD receiver, I AM getting FSAZ . Giants v. Diamondbacks. Also showing up on 765 [w/o writing down the #?]. Not getting FSSW.

My email:

From: <guruka@sunandson.com> Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 17:58:00 -0600
To: Sean Anker <sanker@kobtv.com>
Subject: Re: Transmitter status?

Hi Sean - Just looking for a status update on KOB DT. Your signal up here has been up and down. Perhaps you are in a testing phase. When it's up, it's still low-power and barely locks - with nearly constant pixelization.
Are you in a DT testing phase? Have you tested your new HD statmux and encoder? When do you plan to resume at 1/4 power? I'm still hoping to be able to watch the NBC HD feed of the Athens Olympics and hope you will be putting out enough power for me to receive it clearly.

Sean's reply:

We had to ship a couple of the amps back to the manufacturer for repair.
They understand clearly that we will be back at power for the Olympics, whether using our amps or loaner amps from them!

We put upconverted HD on the air today! By mid-week next week we should actually be putting NBC's HD material on the air.

I'll hold onto your e-mail and try to remember to send you a note when we get the amps back online to check on your reception.

Thanks,

Sean Anker

Yesterday I decided to drop the Sports Pack during the transfer. The only Fox Sports channel I got this evening was FSRM. I called the same toll free number to add Sports Pack, and now the Diamondbacks game is on. Any other games that don't have the "Program not available in your area" message should be viewable now, hopefully. I also told them that I had made one payment for NFL Sunday Ticket at the autorenewal price. After talking to a supervisor, they are giving me the $20 autorenewal discount and a $44.75 credit against the payment I made to Pegasus. They may have to charge you for the MLS package and then credit an equal amount in order to add it.

Brian

I haven't decided whether or not to bother them at the phone number, now, or just wait till the bill arrives. So far, they've handled it just the way you related. They charged it -- and are trying to get confirmation of my payment from Pegsat.

Haven't wandered through the locals for morning news in a spell. Nice to see KOB and KRQE broadcasting in 16:9.

I noticed the new KOB stretch mode yesterday afternoon. It looks alot like KRQE now only the graphics at the bottom are pretty bad (blurry).

Anyone else seeing this? Are they broadcasting a 1080i signal yet?

Yes, KOB is broadcasting in 1080i right now according to the MyHD software. It does look similar to the KRQE upconversion. The NBC logo looks blurry or noisy due to being upconverted from the SD signal.

Brian

Doh! Forgot to try looking at that on our PC. We have a MyHD card as well. Our daughter is home from college for the Summer and has taken over the media PC.

I didn't see any programs last night on KOB in HD. Didn't quite make it to Leno. Are they broadcasting anything yet in HD?

Nope not yet, still waiting for Jay Leno to be shown in HDTV, might happen tonight if not wait few more day for the engineering to install the NBC HDTV satellite receiver.

Other news.....

KOAT-DT might carry Democrat Convention ABC news feed I am not sure if they will broadcast in 720p or just plain old 480i on the digital sub channel.

ABC plans to broadcast 24/7.

Can't remember the airtime date might be 24th till 30th I might be wrong on this.

If you know what the right date just send it in.:D

Thanks!

7-22-04

ABC's press release said they'll be doing their news in "HD" right through election day. They're proposing a 24/7 news channel during that period -- "using their available digital specturm". Whatever that might mean.

I found this on the ABC News page. It says the 10 ABC-owned stations will have a subchannel for the ABC News Now channel. There is no indication whether affiliates such as KOAT would have access to the signal or whether they would have the option to broadcast it.

http://abcnews.go.com/service/DailyNews/abcnews_now_faq.html

Brian

I just got a E-mail from KOAT-DT saying they are looking into this and see if they can carry the feed.

So for now we will have to wait and see what happens next.....;)

7-22-04

ABC News/Now website says:

"ABC News Now is not available at this time in your market. Please call your local ABC station to ask for ABC News Now. "

So far no luck on ABC News Now channel and I will try to E-mail KOAT-DT to find out what's going on.

7-26-04

Well, I just got a E-mail from KOAT-DT saying they have no plan to carry the ABC News Now digital sub channel at this time....

It would have been interesting to see extra free channels when not broadcasting HDTV this time of day.:(

Anyway back to TV DXing...:D

7-26-04

I was wanting to get my HD RPTV calibrated.Can anyone recommend someone in Albuquerque? Thank you.

I know one who specializes in Mits; what kind do you have? JR

Audio Design Ltd., Digital Home, Inc., Prysm Video Entertainment Systems are all ISF-certified calibration specialists listed in Albuquerque.

I have no experience with any of these folks. I'd probably start with the 1st since he's the sponsor of the New Mexico A/V Forum.

I have a JVC 48in RPTV.

I sent an email to Sean Anker at KOB-TV asking him the status of their high-def capability. Haven't heard back as yet. Anyone hear anything out there???

Fred - They're Hi-Def "capable", but they have practically no output power. I can't get their signal at all up here in Espanola anymore.

Sean said he'd try to remember to email me when the new xmitter amplifiers were online. I check KOB about every other day. . . not yet ;-)

Sean promised the olympics in HD and they start in just one week. I also have E* and they will be broadcasting 5 channels of the olympics including a Hi-Def NBC feed 24/7, so if Sean doesn't have it together, I'll still be able to watch the olympics in HD. :cool:

.....G

guruka, I also have E* and how are you planning on getting the Olympics in high-def other than our local KOB station???

I assume people of seen this:


August 5, 2004

The WB To Present Nearly Two-Thirds Of Its Fall Schedule In High-Definition; Network To Unveil Its 5.1-Channel Audio In November With Broadcast Of "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring"


The WB Network continues its commitment to the latest in television technology as it will broadcast 9.5 hours, or 63-percent of its schedule, in high-definition this fall, it was announced today by Garth Ancier, the network's Chairman. The WB, which has had a substantial percentage of its programming in 1080i HDTV since Fall, 2003, will broadcast dramas Everwood, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Smallville, The Mountain And Jack & Bobby As Well As Comedies What I Like About You, Commando Nanny And Reba. The Network Will Also Broadcast Its Biggest Events Such As Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, and its first made-for-TV movie, Samantha: An American Girl in high definition. The WB's Sunday EasyView broadcasts of One Tree Hill And The Mountain will also be broadcast in HDTV. Additionally, beginning with the November broadcast of Lord Of The Rings, The WB will air its shows with 5.1-channel surround sound. "Our viewers are early adopters of new technology so The WB wants to offer as much programming in high definition as possible," Mr. Ancier said. "It is important for us to give our audience the best experience possible, and given the cinematic scope and production values of our programs viewers will truly benefit from the amazing depth and clarity high-definition provides."

The WB's HDTV offerings:

Monday: Everwood
Tuesday: Gilmore Girls; One Tree Hill
Wednesday: Smallville, The Mountain
Friday: What I Like About You, Commando Nanny, Reba
Sunday - One Tree Hill (Easyview), The Mountain (Easyview), Jack & Bobby

For more information, please visit www.wb.com.



John

Fred - Satellite 110 transponder 19.

http://www.dbstalk.com//showthread.php?t=31080

.....G

Fred - Satellite 110 transponder 19.

http://www.dbstalk.com//showthread.php?t=31080

.....G

Last night, I tuned to KOAT that is received over the satellite at the same time I tuned to KOAT-DT on a different tuner. This was during the Hall of Fame Game. The contrast on the satellite version of the analog station was cranked up too high compared to the digital OTA broadcast. The colors looked washed out on that channel, but none of the other channels were affected. Also, tuning to the analog OTA channel showed that the problem is not with the KOAT broadcast. Is this a problem that could be corrected at the KNME office which provides the signal to DirecTV, or is it a problem on the DirecTV side after they receive the signal?

Brian

Edit: Changed KRQE to KNME.

My E* version was the same and the koct digital around here has been broadcasting black screen for awhile. I think I am the only one in the Carlsbad area that knows about the digital channel...

Originally posted by fjerina
guruka, I also have E* and how are you planning on getting the Olympics in high-def other than our local KOB station???

Channels 148 and 9425 will be hot on Friday. 24/7 Olympics coverage in 1080i 22Mbs HD! It should look fantastic. I dunno if KOB will pass the full bitrate, but E* will.

You will need a waiver. If you get East and West network feeds on E*, you'll get the Olympics in HD.

.....G

Brian

D* is in total control of the situation. They have a bank of tuners grabbing the analog broadcasts from all the Albquerque stations. Those feed into filters, A/D converters and the MPEG encoders. From there the outputs of the encoders are combined and sent via fiber to the uplink facility in Colorado. Then it gets beamed to the bird.

Everything is located at KNME, but D* has the ability to tweak and adjust things remotely. They also have redundant equipment that they can switch in if something goes flakey. D* should be able to fix it. Might help to let KOAT know that their picture is getting hosed too.

Pete

Guruka

Do I need a waiver if I DON'T have East and West network feeds, or if I DO?

Or can I just tune to 148 and 9425 on Dish and get HD Olympics on my 6000?

Just a little confused, so thanks.

You need a waiver in order to get non-local networks on E*. take a look at this URL: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/hdtv/olympics/index.shtml

You see, our DMA (NM) is not listed. But if you are currently able to receive distant networks from E* (due to out-of-range or poor local reception of the OTA ABQ locals), then you can get a waiver and qualify for distant networks.

If you are ALREADY receiving distant networks from E* then 148 (SD) and 9425 (HD) will become hot and appear in your EPG on Friday 8/13.

Since KOB reduced their output power a month ago I can no longer receive KOB at all here in the Espanola valley, it's pretty close to Friday and they have not raised their output power back up, so I'm very glad to be getting the Olympics in HD on E* in better-than-ATSC-standards 22Mb/s HD!

.....G

I get locals package from E*, no distant nets.

I get KOB digital OK, so hopefully I'll get the Olympics in HD, if they get it together.

Will 148 and 9425 have programming not on KOB?

Will 148 and 9425 have programming not on KOB?
My understanding is that KOB will provide exactly the same 24/7 HD feed that E* is providing. There's no difference.

Are you receiving KOB in HD yet on ATSC 26-1?

......G

Originally posted by guruka
Channels 148 and 9425 will be hot on Friday. 24/7 Olympics coverage in 1080i 22Mbs HD! It should look fantastic. I dunno if KOB will pass the full bitrate, but E* will.


I think an ATSC broadcast is limited to 19.2 Mbps, so I would say it would be impossible for KOB to be broadcasting the full 22 Mbps. KOB is still upconverting their SD signal, so they are going down to the wire on showing the Olympics opening ceremonies in HD. The good news is that I am still able to receive their signal in Los Alamos while they are on low power.

Brian

Originally posted by petew
Brian

D* is in total control of the situation. They have a bank of tuners grabbing the analog broadcasts from all the Albquerque stations. Those feed into filters, A/D converters and the MPEG encoders. From there the outputs of the encoders are combined and sent via fiber to the uplink facility in Colorado. Then it gets beamed to the bird.

Everything is located at KNME, but D* has the ability to tweak and adjust things remotely. They also have redundant equipment that they can switch in if something goes flakey. D* should be able to fix it. Might help to let KOAT know that their picture is getting hosed too.

Pete

Thanks for the info. I will report the problem to DirecTV. There would probably have to be more than one person reporting the problem to actually get them to fix it. That's a good tip on letting KOAT know about the problem, too.

Brian

I could not get KOAT digital last night. Was that the same for you guys out there too?

Same thing here to not getting KOAT-DT's signal here in 4 Hills....

I guess their transmitter got sick again.

Must be a big headache for Chief Engineering.:p

8-12-04

Ditto in La Cieneguilla

Any news on the status of KOB HD for the Olympics? As of Thursday afternoon, I'm still geting a 1080i signal containing up-converted 480p. In fact, I've never seen a true HD signal on KOB, though they did begin the 1080i upconversion a few weeks ago.

Joe Martz, Los Alamos
(I've also noted that both KOAT and KRQE are down are present; KRQE lost one of their amps several months ago and are below full-power, which gives a marginal and unusable signal up here on the hill. Any news on when KRQE might be back to full power?)

KRQE was up last night and was looking good.

I would imagine that KOB is not going to turn on their high-def equipment until the Olympics start tomorrow, Friday. I sure hope they have all the bugs worked out. I am ready to record the opening ceremonies on my high-def PVR tomorrow night.

I sure hope KOAT aren't having serious problems.

I guess we will all have to wait and see.

Anyone in Albuquerque with a Dish DVR 921 able to receive the KOB DT station? I was able to receive it earlier in the year, but not after around the April timeframe.

Originally posted by lujan
Anyone in Albuquerque with a Dish DVR 921 able to receive the KOB DT station? I was able to receive it earlier in the year, but not after around the April timeframe.

They've been operating at very reduced power. I can grab a frame here and there, but no lock. I emailed Sean Anker yesterday, but no reply so far.

.....G

KOAT-DT is back on the air. I guess the problem wasn't too serious.

I agree that KRQE-DT is very marginal here in Los Alamos. When I am able to receive it, the signal is just barely above the threshold for tuning it. On the HR10-250, I get 70 to 75 on the signal meter for most digital OTA channels. KRQE-DT is fluctuating wildly between 15 and 45. I get frequent pixellation and dropped tuning as a result.

Brian

I have a PVR 921 and receive KOB DT without any problem but I live in the NE Heights around Spain and Eubank, clear shot to the crest. The new PVR 921 software download (got it today) looks really good. My OTA stations are pretty stable now.

Originally posted by jcmartz
Any news on the status of KOB HD for the Olympics? As of Thursday afternoon, I'm still geting a 1080i signal containing up-converted 480p. In fact, I've never seen a true HD signal on KOB, though they did begin the 1080i upconversion a few weeks ago.

We'll know Friday night. They had better start broadcasting every HD show in HD, but somehow I'm not confident they will. I checked ER tonight, and it was in SD locally. KOB has been worse than worthless; I therefore almost never watch their station.

I am hoping that KOB-DT will show Jay Leno tonight in HDTV but the chance are not good tonight, but if they do I will let you guys know.


8-12-04

No Jay Leno in HDTV tonight not till after the Olympic coverages is over, but the good news the real HDTV Olynpic starts at 5 pm MST.

The best thing is they will be automatic control when the primetime or Jay Leno comes on in HDTV mode!!

That's how I just got their E-mail from KOB-DT just a few minutes ago!;)

8-12-04

Well folks, here goes my first post...

I just gave Tim (N5XZS) and a bunch of other viewers some bogus information. I got my times wrong on when we're starting HD tomorrow... way wrong. I bet a bunch of folks were going to go home early to watch the Olympics starting at 5pm, and boy would they be disappointed!

They are actually going to be starting at 7pm. I got a couple different times confused. Apologies for the confusion.

So, to cover a few topics:

1. We will be back at normal power output tomorrow morning. We had two amps and a power supply blow up. The manufacturer shipped us back the amps, but forgot to ship the power supply. It arrived today and will go up the mountain first thing tomorrow morning.

2. We had a heckuva time getting the HD gear to talk to the rest of the plant. As of 5:40 tonight the important parts are all working. We had to have stuff shipped from Canada to one of our vendors so that they could bench test the stuff in their lab before they could figure out how to get things to talk. The day after the Olympics you might see some weird stuff as we retool for normal programming, but at that point we will begin broadcasting the HD stuff that we get from NBC.

3. Coverage is going to be different than what you will see on channel 4. They have separate trucks producing the HD material. The opening ceremonies start at 7pm and will be 4 hours long. They will repeat several times until Sunday morning. The 'broadcast day' will start for us at 2am MDT (4am EDT) Sunday, and every day following that. Most 'days' will consist of 8 hours of programming, repeated twice. 8/18 and 8/20 will consist of 6 hours of programming, repeated 3 times. This is the most current information I have from NBC.

4. We will not be running 'full' 22 megabits as we are limited to our 19.39 megabit pipe. We are currently only putting out 17.5. We kept it low for testing. Tomorrow morning I'm going to fill that pipe as full as I can to give you guys the best I can! We bought a newer generation encoder that's a little more efficient, so it should look pretty daggone good.

5. As long as NBC sends us 5.1, we will broadcast 5.1.

6. We will not be able to provide HD to our KOBR-DT or KOBF-DT viewers for some time.

Wish us luck! DTV broadcasting is still 50% technology, 50% good luck, and 50% black magic. Nobody's been able to make that add up to 100% yet, which is why you all see some of the weird stuff that you do. It's the brave new frontier...

I will try to be good about responding to your e-mails and posts over the next few days, but please understand that we're a little busy right now!

Best to all, and happy viewing!

Sean Anker
Director of Engineering and Production
KOB-TV, Working 4 You!

Thanks for joining us here, Sean! We really appreciate the effort you've put in to get us our KOB DT and your proactive communication is much appreciated as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys and looking forward to tuning in this evening. Looks like nice weather this morning for the work on the crest.

.....G

Boy, am I getting excited NOW!!! My Dish HD PVR is ready to go to record the high-def Olympics from KOB DT today at 7 pm. Will be replaying the opening ceremonies to friends tomorrow night at a get-together I am having. They should be impressed. Thanks Sean at KOB!!!

Sean, I hope you don't mind; but, I re-posted your email over at the HD-TiVo forum [in the TiVo Community]. There are a couple of threads discussing the ongoing soap opera of what is actually going to make it on the air in HD from the Olympics.

I think you are one of the better examples of a local station trying to support local viewers.

Originally posted by fjerina
I have a PVR 921 and receive KOB DT without any problem but I live in the NE Heights around Spain and Eubank, clear shot to the crest. The new PVR 921 software download (got it today) looks really good. My OTA stations are pretty stable now.

I live in the Four Hills area and have not been able to receive KOB DT since around April. I assumed that it was the L180 software update at that time, but I guess it's something that KOB did that caused the loss?

This is very promising for me, as relates to KOB.

I have never been able to get a solid lock with the two Sammy boxes I have owned (151 and 160). Seems like I have been in a black hole, but all other ABQ digitals come in fine. For reference I am just west of Tramway and Academy.

But, with the increase in power, I am now solid at about 69%.

And it gets even better. My normal antenna is an attic mount CM4221 (I think that the model). But I am remodeling the HT room, and for the last few days, I have had the 160 connected to a $6 pair of RS Rabbit Ears. No lie. These are the cheapest rabbit ears that they sold at the time.

Since Monday, I was struggling to pull 35% signal, and frequently lost lock. But today, with my POS rabbit ears, solid signal. Hurray!!!!

Really looking forward to the opening ceremonies tonight, and hopefully when I go back to the attic antenna, continued good reception.

BGL

BG -- have you ever tried the Zenith Silver Sensor set-top antenna? I'm line-of-sight; but, about 45-50 miles from the antenna farm up on Sandia Crest, and I pull 65-95 OTA readings on Abq digital channels on my HDTiVo.

Got mine for $25 online; but, you might find one, locally. Just be certain it's the Zenith [actually LG]. There are knockoffs that don't work as well.

I have been planning to try one, just for yucks.

I have a friend in Tanoan that bought one on my suggestion (as a temporary measure, prior to him running coax to his roof).

Seemed to work well for him, but he did say that he needed to tweak the position once in a while.

Audio Designs in Albuquerque is now selling them as well.

BGL

The crew at KOB got it right.

Wow!

Great work KOB-DT!!

Keep up the good work!:) :) :) :)

The pictures are awsome man!!


8-13-04

Another couple of reasons the KOB-TV HD crew deserve some applause -- are the screw-ups in other cities by NBC locals!! By comparison, our local is apparently a lightyear or two ahead of Atlanta and the Bay Area -- from what I've been seeing online.

My display picked last night to stop working, which is just really bad timing. :( I am relegated to watching HDTV on a 17" computer display hooked to the MyHD card. The opening ceremonies are still pretty sweet that way, but it is not the same as it would be on the big screen.

Brian

Yeah...Great job, KOB, and thank you, Sean...

Ah well, as you wrote me earlier, Sean:
Overall, we are only at about 1/4 of our final power, so we will indeed have a less powerful signal into Espanola. We actually need to build a new tower up on Sandia before we can hit full power. This will take some time, but should be completed within a couple years.
Even with my roof-mounted high gain Winegard HD8200P antenna and ChannelMaster 7777 high gain pre-amp, I don't have a strong enough signal from KOB DT to watch it here in Espanola :( All the other ABQ DTV stations that broadcast from Sandia Crest lock in just fine, only KOB is unwatchable.

I can catch a lovely 1080i frame here or there, but no solid lock and the signal is pixelated and unusable. Perhaps KOB will have enough power for me to watch the Winter Olympics in 2006 :)

Too bad for this time around though

And E* is no help. NBC has blacked out this DMA and no amount of rural waivers will get E* to turn on the HD Olympics for me. I'm stuck watching the Summer Olympics in SD.

Congrats to all you ABQ residents. I'm jealous up here in Espanola.

.....G

guruka, I am sorry you could not get the KOB DT signal for the Olympics. I recorded it on my PVR921 and will play it back from friends coming over for a barbecue tonight.

I want to thank Sean Anker at KOB for getting it together. I am sure there were a few stressful moments for him.

I am now looking forward to the fall season of NBC network programming. Now we have all 3 major networks in high-def.

Kudos to Sean and KOB, the opening ceremonies looked outstanding last night on my ISF calibrated Pioneer Elite. Also want to mention my appreciation for the DD 5.1 audio that went with it. Keep it up KOB! JR

Just want to add my thanks to Sean and the crew at KOB. A beautiful, glitch-free picture up here in Los Alamos (rooftop-mounted Radio Shack 210 aerial, Samsung 61" DLP and Panasonic 50" Plasma displays, HD Tivo + Hughes receivers). Audio was outstanding as well. As was mentionned by others, we're fortunate to have such dedicated techs at the ABQ stations. Based on the complaints from other areas, us NM folks appear ahead of the game, and with 4 great HD sources out of ABQ (well, KRQE is still marginal on the hill, but DirecTV does have CBS HD), we're (for once) on the cutting edge.

Kudos, and now I can't wait to see Leno...

Joe Martz
Los Alamos

Isn't the PGA championship on KRQE supposed to be in HD?

Thanks for the hard work Sean and crew. The other night my mom (76 years old, damn good eyes) called:

"What's happened to KOB? Their picture is WONDERFUL now!!"

I told her to call your boss and let him know.

Pete

I'm impressed with the KOB HD feed, however, I'm getting tired of seeing the opening ceremonies repeated over and over. I'm wondering why the analog coverage isn't being broadcast on channel 4.1.

I have *D*, is there any other channel that is running the Olympics in HD?

There's a chance that BravoHD will kick in during the Olympics. Also, it's running in HD on channel 84. Trouble is, you and I [and we] can't access channel 84 because we can get NBC over the air.

BTW, I think all the HD is probably going to run 24 hours behind. The good news is that we may just get to skip all the stellar in-depth pieces and just mostly get actual events.

Originally posted by jtb50
Isn't the PGA championship on KRQE supposed to be in HD?

I was watching the PGA Championship yesterday at about 3:00 pm, and low and behold, the HD signal kicked in. Not all cameras on the course were HD, but it looked great. Is channel 13 running in 1080i? The picture appeared fuzzy when the camera panned.

All in all, bravo to channel 13. I'm looking foreward to the US Open.

Originally posted by fjerina
I am now looking forward to the fall season of NBC network programming. Now we have all 3 major networks in high-def.

FOX is going 720p/5.1 next month, and KASA is prepared. I think FOX has earned the right to be considered a "major network." With their NFL coverage, they have an advantage over NBC (not during the Olympics, of course).

Originally posted by Rexrode
I'm impressed with the KOB HD feed, however, I'm getting tired of seeing the opening ceremonies repeated over and over. I'm wondering why the analog coverage isn't being broadcast on channel 4.1.

I have *D*, is there any other channel that is running the Olympics in HD?

Two Items here:

First, we had 'emergency' plans to simulcast our analog on 4-2 if we had to, but the FCC granted a blanket waiver to NBC stations waiving the simulcasting rules. I decided to stick with as much HD bandwidth as I could.

Second, the HD -- and to my knowledge -- all HD feeds in the US are delayed roughly 24 hours. This -- again, to my knowledge -- is due to NBC's rights package. I have no idea what the rights are for 2006, but I would hope they'll renegotiate if they are the same!

Additionally I want to make it clear, because I have had a few e-mails about it, that we have no way to affect the HD signal from NBC. This means what you see is what we get. This is what happened on the East Coast; NBC is only providing two feeds, an Eastern and Pacific. For whatever reason, the timing on the Eastern feed was bad for the East Coast, but perfect for us!

The schedule of events is on www-dot-nbcolympics-dot-com, click on TV Listings. (the forum won't let me make that linkable because I haven't posted three times yet... sheesh)

Best,

Sean Anker
DOE @ KOB

Sean,

Quick question...

In a prervious post you said something about eventually building a new tower on the Crest. You are currently broadcasting from the Crest, right?

I have had very poor luck getting KOB, while every other digital station in the city comes in strong with perfect signal lock. I always thought that I may just be in a spot of severe multipath, but I don't know.

Early this week, I had to move my TV to another room during a remodel. During that time, I was using a cheap pair of rabbit eras, and for the first time in 18 months, I got strong signal from KOB, and was able to watch the HD Openning Ceremonies (there were a few instances of pixelation, but with the antenna I had to work with, that is not a shock!).

Now, the den is done, the TV is back in the den, and I am again connected to a Channel Master 4221 in the attic....and I can no longer get KOB (all other stations are still fine).

So, back to my initial question, you are broadcasting from the same relative location as all other ABQ digitals, right? If not, that may explain a lot.

I am going to try to reposition the attic antenna a bit and see if I can get lock, but I have not previously been sucecssful.

And for reference, I am located a bit west of Tramway and Academy.

Best Regards,

BGL

One more question for Sean here. . .

What is your output power at this point?

KNME-DT's power is 20 kw (rms) TPO from the transmitter with 250 watts ERP - and they come in fine here.

.....G

Originally posted by BGLeduc
So, back to my initial question, you are broadcasting from the same relative location as all other ABQ digitals, right? If not, that may explain a lot.

We are indeed up on the Crest. We are are on a smaller tower for the time being, but that doesn't affect coverage into your area.

Yes, we have to build a new tower. Our regular channel 4 tower is fine, but strengthening it to handle the DTV antenna was impossible. We have been working on this for a while now, but there is no set construction date yet.

Originally posted by guruka
What is your output power at this point?

We are running 5KW TPO, about 80KW ERP -- roughly 1/4 power. We will have to wait until we are on the new tower before we can increase our power output.

Back to BGLeduc, short of getting into a dissertation on all the weird things that can happen with DTV signals, it sounds like you are getting some kind of nasty ghost signal on our channel. While you don't see ghosts on the DTV channels like you can on the analog channels, they can have the effect that you are seeing by cancelling out a big portion of the digital information.

You might try moving the whole antenna around in the attic, i.e. move it 10 feet to the left or 5 feet back or forward towards the Crest. The ghost may be from within your attic, so you might have the most luck moving the antenna towards the Crest.

The only good news about the whole ghost issue is that the newest receiver chips that have been developed almost eliminate the ghost effect. The bad news is that they aren't yet in receivers, and it doesn't do any of you guys any good since you already own DTV stuff.

Everybody, thank you for your kind words. I'm very happy that we were able to get this together for you.

Thanks!

Sean Anker
DOE @ KOB

Thanks Sean.

I spent a couple hours up in the attic this afternoon, and the good news is that I am able to find a position that appears to give a solid lock on KOB.

The bad news is to do so I lose one or more of the other channels. While I am OK with losing the WB or UPN (no HD there), I instead lose KASA, KNME, or KOAT (not all three at once, but I never figured out a spot that would give me all five of the HD (KASA will be HD soon) channels. Arghhh!

Question for anyone that might know.

Can more than one antenna be combined onto a single coax via a splitter/combiner type device?

As someone else suggested, I am thinking of trying a Zenith Silver Sensor. If I can move that around in the attic, I suspect I can find a spot to get a good lock on KOB. I would then try to combine that with the CM4221 (back in its normal spot).

I suppose in the digital world, combing more than one antenna may not be a good thing, but I am willing to try.

BGL

Sean, one more thing I would like you to fix.

Please do something about that stupid Sony commercial that runs 5000 times an hour during the Olympics. Just kidding. If Sony could of at least taped the commercial in HD then it would be somewhat bearable.

My friends were most impressed with the Olympics last night when they were over for a barbecue.

Is KOB DT being carried over Comcast???

Originally posted by Rexrode
I was watching the PGA Championship yesterday at about 3:00 pm, and low and behold, the HD signal kicked in. Not all cameras on the course were HD, but it looked great. Is channel 13 running in 1080i? The picture appeared fuzzy when the camera panned.

All in all, bravo to channel 13. I'm looking foreward to the US Open.

I'm afraid you'll be in for a long wait. The PGA Championship is the last of the major golf tournaments each year. The US Open will be played again in June 2005.

Brian

Okay, I'll admit the KOB-DT HD Olympics coverage is looking great. The delay is offensive, but that's NBC's fault. The Sony commercial is annoying, but that also is not KOB's fault.

So, thank you, KOB engineers. Good work. Keep it up, and I'll likely watch more of your programming.

Originally posted by fjerina
Please do something about that stupid Sony commercial that runs 5000 times an hour during the Olympics.

--snip--

Is KOB DT being carried over Comcast???

Boy-oh-boy do I wish we could do something about that spot. It looks like NBC is trying to break things up with more promos now.

We were not able to reach an agreement with Comcast -- they worked on this all day Friday. I have no idea when/if this will be resolved.

Originally posted by BGLeduc
Can more than one antenna be combined onto a single coax via a splitter/combiner type device?


Yes, but usually this is done with tuned antennas, phased combiners, filters, etc. Getting the antenna outside is going to be the most effective... but you probably knew that. If you have any luck with it I'd like to know!

Sean Anker
DOE @ KOB

And you're up to when you can include links. Bravo!

Originally posted by bkzoller
I'm afraid you'll be in for a long wait. The PGA Championship is the last of the major golf tournaments each year. The US Open will be played again in June 2005.

Brian

Actually, I meant the US Open tennis tournament. I'm hoping D* has Bravo-HD up by then as well.

Anyone watch the NFL game last night on KASA? The lip-synch was way off :( . The picture wasn't bad for 480p though :) .

Damn it. I missed it. American football isn't my favorite; but, I'm so starved for HD sports, I'm even watching baseball.

The synch problems are uneven. I haven't recorded enough to say my conclusions are 100% valid. I have some adjustment for delay on my HLP Samsung TV. None that I know of in the HD-TiVo. I think there may be some in my Pioneer Amp/Receiver; but, haven't yet been motivated enough to graze message boards and the manual.

Folks in another forum note that currently, even when Fox covers an event in HD [for practice, I guess], they're still telecasting 480i which the local station can [or doesn't] upconvert to 720p. Fox's 1st official NFL game in HD is September 12th.

Saying all that -- I've adjusted set-based delay to where standard digital and OTA analog always appear to be in sync. SD and HD via satellite [DirecTV] always appears to be in sync -- whether using set speakers or external system for the SD. HD, of course, requires the external sound system, because whether it's fed to us correctly or not, it's Dolby 5.1. I don't know of any TV sets out-of-the-box with Dolby. My OTA HD to sound system performance just about always has a delay!

Sometimes, it's bothersome. Sometimes, barely noticeable. Not my area of geekness; so, I haven't any suggestions or solutions to offer. Just confirming your perception.

I submitted this email to several management individuals at our local WB station here in Albuquerque and also cc: several commissioners at the FCC. Should be interesting to see their response.

Dear Sirs:

Could you inform me as to your status for transmitting your network high definition programming in high definition over your digital station. I spoke with your station manager, John Greenwood, about 3 or 4 months ago and he indicated you would be transmitting in high-def in September of this year.

Have you purchased the required high definition equipment yet to be able to transmit in high-def? I would assume you would have in order to be up next month.

I really hope the leasing of the majority of your digital bandwidth to USDTV is not going to affect your ability to transmit your network programming in acceptable high-definition bandwidth. The citizens in Albuquerque deserve to be able to enjoy the WB network programming in high definition if it is available.

I would appreciate a response.

Thanks, Fred Jerina.

Thanks, Fred. Good message. Keep us posted.

.....G

I just got this reply from Anthony Liparoto [aliparoto@kwbq.com] (engineer at WB). I guess we will have to wait and see. This is something we all will be monitoring very closely in the coming month.

Hi Fred
We have most of the equipment here and are racking it up now. It is hard to say when it will actually be on the air. As far as USDTV goes it will have
to hold to a strict usage of the allotted bandwidth.

Fred we all appreciate your well worded letters, it sounds to me like the guys at WB might be stalling a little but we all will be watching the situation closely.
Thanks again Fred.

Credit to Broadcast Engineering Magazine: (http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/20040823/#)
No one, including NBC, is satisfied with the amount of programming or the way it’s being produced, Wired reported. NBC spokeswoman Cameron Blanchard said the host committee’s last-minute decision to provide high definition was the main factor.

“We would like to do much more but can’t this time around,” she explained, adding that NBC plans to provide the main feed without delay in high definition for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Well folks, there's your answer about the next Olympics! The rest of the article is here... (http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/20040823/#)

(psst... don't tell anybody I posted a super-secret link to an industry trade pub!)

Best to all!

Sean Anker
DOE @ KOB

What's the latest news from KNME DTV meeting?

Also I am wondering to see your ideas on allowing KOAT-DT to drop 480i simulcasting of analog KOAT-TV in favor of ABC News Now on ch. 21.2 or 7.2 or we could tell KOAT-DT use HDTV only in primetime and live sports and just use 480i programmings on 21.2 and just add ABC News Now on 21.3.

Now when HDTV programmings comes on they shut 21.2 analog,and leave 21.3 on for ABC News Now and remember its only 720p and they dont take up that much bandwith.

Heres the how it's look......

720p 15 Mbs HDTV only when it's on, if not go to idling at 256 Kbs on channel 21.1 .


480i KOAT-TV only when there is no HDTV, but when there is a HDTV programing is on this channel will go to idling at 256 KBs on 21.2!

Now, ABC News Now will stay fixed at 4 Mbs 24/7 on channel 21.3!

This method helps the DTV tuner don't get confused by not turning on and off the digital sub channels.:)

Now of course it's up to KOAT-DT to make a call on this idea.....:D

8-24-04

Here is a response I got from HDNet regarding the airing of the Digifest Across America segment.

The Digifest story is currently scheduled to premier on the Across
America airing 9/21/04, although there's still a chance that will
change. Feel free to check back with me for an update, if you like, as
we get closer.

Thanks,
Kathy Gettings
Producer, HDNet's Across America

Latest news about KNMD-DT channel 9......

They just filed to the FCC for reducing the TX power from 3.4 KW to 200 watts ERP.

Why?

To protect KCHF-DT channel 10 from interferences.

KNMD-DT will be very directional and amed at Santa Fe from Sandia Crest towers.

I think KCHF-DT is to be blamed for this mess.:rolleyes:

Nobody watch this channel anway since it's garbages. "Home shopping selling drug for the old farts and Religious programings"

As for other news not much going on around here.....

Still waiting for Star Trek Enterprise to be shown in HDTV if KASY-DT get's their acts together for the Fall season.:D

8-26-04

I think KCHF-DT is to be blamed for this mess.
Come on now, how can KCHF be blamed for this 'mess'?

Just because you don't appreciate their programming, they have every right to broadcast and have been on the air before KNMD. This is the same sort of discussion that rises up on the satellite boards. Too many shopping and religious channels, I want XYZ instead.

The fact of the matter is that somebody is watching them or they wouldn't be there. Isn't capitalism great?! If nobody is watching, they go away. I'm just glad we won't have to go back to 3 channels of banality.

I'm not sure if the frequency is requested or assigned. There is other bandwidth out there and I understand why KNMD wants to be in the slot they are, but they may have been short-sighted when they selected that frequency, if in fact that's the case. Maybe it's the FCC's fault for assigning it too close to another licensee.

That being said, I strongly support PBS and am anticipating any additional contributions they make to the community. But to blame KCHF is like moving next door to an airport, then complaining that there are actually planes taking off and landing there.

It would be interesting to get Jim Gale's take on the situation.

Mainly it's KCHF-DT's place of transmitter's location just south of Los Alamos and its a bad location for them to transmit and most of Albuquerque TV viewer don't get good signal.

Reason the KNMD-DT's channel 9 transmitter has to stay low and not wipe out channel 10 digital signal in the Albuquerque metro areas.

Right now as this time KCHF-DT is running at 1.7 KW ERP "STA" they plan go to 30 KW ERP somtime in the future.

There is no way that that anyone in Albuquerque can get KCHF-DT channel 10 signal at this time, unless someone tells me otherwise.;)

Even then KNMD-DT runs at 200 watts of ERP people living in Santa Fe will have a hard time picking up this signal and same goes for Albuquerque TV viewers as well too.

Yes it will be interesting if Jim Gales has somthing to say about this issue!:rolleyes:

8-27-04

Is anyone else having problems receiving the local KOB-DT station in Four Hills? I've spoken with Sean over at KOB and he said his instrumentation could not lock into the station either when he was near my house. He also told me of someone near Juan Tabo and Central that could not receive it either. Sean, has there been any progress made as to what might be the reason?

Thanks

Hello Lujan,

I also live in Four Hills and I am getting KOB-DT just fine.:)

THe signal strength is mid range "Zenith 520 STB, with indoor antenna Terk-50"

You must be very close to the mountains?

8-27-04

I posted previously that I am in a total black hole for KOB (south west of Tramway and Academy).

All other (and I mean ALL) ABQ stations are strong and solid, but I can not get lock with my attic mount CM 4221. I previoulsy had the set in another room, and was actually getting decent lock with a $6 pair of rabbit ears, but no luck with my attic mounted antenna.

Obviously lots of users are fine with KOB; even some from SF and LA, I just am in a real bad spot I guess.

I pretty much gave up, as thats the only place my antenna is going, and I don't plan to move house any time soon. Dissapointing, but such is life in the digital TV world.

Good luck.

BGL

BGL -- try a search online for "attenuator". You may be experiencing multipath interference. It can happen close up to a digital signal. Some folks switch in an attenuator actually to weaken the signal a tad to sort out the problem.

If you try one from from a local store, 1st, you can always return it if it does nothing to solve your problem.

Originally posted by lujan
Is anyone else having problems receiving the local KOB-DT station in Four Hills? I've spoken with Sean over at KOB and he said his instrumentation could not lock into the station either when he was near my house. He also told me of someone near Juan Tabo and Central that could not receive it either. Sean, has there been any progress made as to what might be the reason?

Thanks

No. We haven't had a chance to get over there with the analyzers -- though the RF guys are champing at the bit to check it out. I actually just had a Zenith receiver sitting on my passenger seat with a set of rabbit ears wedged into the door handle... very sophisticated test gear! :D

Until we actually look at what the signal looks like we won't be able to make any determination, but I think there is some local interference. It's not like a ghosting issue. It's like there is a big carrier signal on top of our signal that is knocking us out. There's enough of the data getting through to identify the channel, but not to make a picture.

If we find anything interesting I'll post it here.

(And yes, attenuators work -- sometimes when you think they shouldn't)

Sean

Sean -- check your PM's [private messages], when you have a chance. I didn't wish to wander far off-topic, here.

And yes, attenuators work -- sometimes when you think they shouldn't

Thanks for the suggestions Edward and Sean.

I actually have a couple potentiometer based 75ohm units that I bought at RS. I use them to tweak one of the 3 component video lines from my HD box and also my DVD Player...a very slight adjustment helps with a very slight red push my Pio HDTV has.

It will be very simple to give it a shot with my antenna feed.

Not having had much luck with this, I will try not to get my hopes up, but being see close to the towers, it seems logical.

BGL

All the electronics of this is beyond my ken; just repeating what [mostly] works from other folks in the TiVo Community Forums. For example, more of them feel the plain vanilla attenuator from Radio Shack works better than the adjustable flavor. I haven't a clue why.

Fox OTA HD --

Surely does look [and sound] like it, tonight. They've been making noises of "hope to be ready by September". Well, I just bumped into their telecast [still on as I write this] of the Redskins-Rams preseason game. It looks damned good and sounds like 5.1.

Switched to 480p and back to [my usual] 720p and it's obviously better in the latter setting. If they're just accepting a 480p feed and upconverting [as some have suggested], they're doing a darn good job of it. Otherwise, they may be running some early prototyping.

Looking at it, a bit more, I think it's just a terrific 480p and my Sammy is doing a good job of further upconverting.

You know, it's all so much better than SD, we're all gonna be happy campers.

Question for Sean A. of KOB-TV...

We have all been enjoying the Olympics in high-definition over the past week or so and it will be coming to a close this Sunday, so, will you guys at KOB-TV keep sending out the NBC network's evening programming in high definition??? I sure hope so. There are some great shows that I would like to catch (reruns and new ones premiering next week) in high-def.

This Tuesday is the new animated series premiering called "Father of the Pride" which will be in high-definition (as I understand). Can't wait.

Originally posted by N5XZS
Hello Lujan,

I also live in Four Hills and I am getting KOB-DT just fine.:)

THe signal strength is mid range "Zenith 520 STB, with indoor antenna Terk-50"

You must be very close to the mountains?

8-27-04

Yes, Sean mentioned that he could get it from most of the Four Hills area except where I live (the Via Posada area). I guess it's just bad luck for me, huh?

Hello Lujan,

Well you might try to get broadcast waiver for NBC HD on Directv or get Canadain sat that don't need broadcast waiver by going the grey market you can go Dbsforums.com to get more info.

Remember NBC HD will start on 9-21-04 on Directv.

Not sure on comcast deal with KOB-DT over about carring local HDTV feed issue.

I am sure someone will pipe in about Comcast HDTV issue.

Hope this helps.;)

8-28-04

Ed/Sean...

No joy with the attentuator.

At its max setting, which showed an average 30% reduction is strength for all the chanenls I do get, I still get zilch from KOB. At that level of reduction, everyone else is still solid, although I do get some pixilation on UPN, but they are normally the weakest of the stations I can tune.

Thanks again for the suggestion, and Sean, if you find youreslf between Spain and Academy on Lowell with your test gear, come on over....I sure would love to get a lock on your station!

BGL

Sean, the HD feed at 2 AM had a few of the little problems folks have already discussed. It still was a gas getting to watch the soccer final in HD.

I TiVo'd it and watched it at 6 AM.

Tell the suits at corporate that, next Olympics, I expect to watch it live in HD.

Originally posted by N5XZS
Hello Lujan,

Well you might try to get broadcast waiver for NBC HD on Directv or get Canadain sat that don't need broadcast waiver by going the grey market you can go Dbsforums.com to get more info.

Remember NBC HD will start on 9-21-04 on Directv.

Not sure on comcast deal with KOB-DT over about carring local HDTV feed issue.

I am sure someone will pipe in about Comcast HDTV issue.

Hope this helps.;)

8-28-04

How do you go about getting a waiver and would I qualify since I can received the analog KOB station, just not the digital KOB-DT station? Also, I would need to get it for Dish and not Directv since I subscribe to Dish. Thanks!

Hello Lujan,

Not sure on Dish carrys NBC-HD, and you may have go to make contact to Dish for a broadcast HDTV waiver request.

I know that Dish carrys CBS-HD at this time.

It may take 45 days to process your waiver request and see weather KOB-DT approves it or not.

The Chief Engineering Sean, of KOB-DT may chime in for more info.

Or even better E-mail him!:)

8-30-04

Now that KOB is back to regular programming I wished Jay Leno last night would have been in high-def. I wonder when KOB will be turning back on the high-def equipment for the non-Olympics (regular programming) material. Sean, are you out there ?????????

KOB-DT is not in high definition; why not? They had said that after the Olympics, they would broadcast any HD programming from NBC in HD. Anyone have info on what's gone wrong?

I'm kinda disappointed too. The new series "Father of the Pride" was on last night and in high-def but KOB does not have their high-def equipment on. I wonder how long we will have to wait for regular NBC high-def programming from KOB.

In Sean Anker's first post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4192128#post4192128), he said that there would be some retooling after the Olympics before they could begin broadcasting other NBC programming in HD. He did not indicate how long that process would take.

Brian

We've hit a bump. We're working on a fix, but it may take a day or two.

Thanks for the update Sean, nice to know you are working on it. I was afraid the rental ran out on your decoder like when ch.4 did the winter olympics. Try to come to one of our dtv user group meetings at KNME, we won't tell. JR

I should have come to AVS Forum yesterday before I called KOB engineering department to ask if they knew why KOB-DT was not sending NBC's HD content in HD. The engineer at KOB was unaware of the matter; he said they were broadcasting HD with no problems.

At least Sean is on the case; thank you, Sean, for providing info here. In the future, I'll look here first.

Any new news? JR

Originally posted by SeanA
We've hit a bump. We're working on a fix, but it may take a day or two.

Still no HD? Sean, is this 'bump' a technical glitch or political? We have had difficulties with Hubbard in the past. JR

He maybe too busy to answer this question on KOB-DT HDTV issue.

Sean of KOB-DT, will join in this thread sometime soon to answer your question.

Other news.....

No U.S. tennis open HDTV covereges on KRQE-DT and I wish they would carry the feed on the digital channel and at the same time on analog carry Jerry Lewis Telethon at their heart contents.:(

When they will ever carry Close Captionings on their digital channel it's been too long.

9-6-04

If anyone is interested, I have a Samsung 160 HDTV/DirecTV decoder for sale. Here is a link to my listing on John Ashman's/Audio Designs web site.

http://forum.adnm.com/viewtopic.php?t=253

I just upgraded to a HDTivo,so I am culling the herd.

Inquiries: bleduc@comcast.net

Don't panic our thread's name has changed at little thanks to our Friends on AVSforums.com.

I still like my favorite name thread called "Latest news on Albuquerque TV market" but I guess they want to keep it simple that way.:D

It's been what almost 3 + or - years since my thread started and how fast time goes by.

I'ts like a time warp man!!

Party on Dude and 73's!!!:D :D :D

See me at AAFES!!!

9-7-04

Folks, things are incredibly busy right now. Quick update:

Nothing political going on, purely technical. Amongst everything else I am working on a solution. You should see HD soon, although may not be exactly what you're expecting... I'll leave that one open-ended for you all to speculate. :)

A final, let's say seamless, solution should follow fairly shortly. Apologies for the delay.

-Sean

Originally posted by SeanA
You should see HD soon, although may not be exactly what you're expecting... I'll leave that one open-ended for you all to speculate. :)


Speculation: You are going to convert the NBC 1080i feed to 720p before transmitting.

Edit: Woohoo, post number 300! :)

Brian

Originally posted by N5XZS

No U.S. tennis open HDTV covereges on KRQE-DT and I wish they would carry the feed on the digital channel and at the same time on analog carry Jerry Lewis Telethon at their heart contents.:(

When they will ever carry Close Captionings on their digital channel it's been too long.

9-6-04

Theoretically KRQE could have carried the US Open, and I believe the simulcast rules would have allowed it. I believe the rule stipulates 75% of programming until April 2005, and then it's 100%. So about 6 hours of programming could be non simulcast then. However, the broadcasters and now the FCC seem to be looking at disbanding the 100% simulcast rule. Just doing away with it.. But who can blame them, with producing a live telecast, I don't think master control would have the time or means to run another program. Along with the technical hurdles to overcome.

As far as the Closed Captioning is concerned. There are two methods that can be used for DTV, one is EIA-608, and this is essentially the old NTSC method of using line 21 to encode CC. If you do this in the digital world, like SDI video. You also encode on line 21, but since SDI has black at zero, you need to be sure to bring up line 21 back to NTSC's standard for black, 7.5 IRE. But most digital to analog encoders already do this, so you have to bring line 21 down by 7.5 so that it ends up correctly. A bit confusing. But with EIA-608, if you pass line 21 on through the chain all the way to the STB, it should be able to decode it. But I believe that since KRQE is always in 16:9, this can not be decoded even though it might be there. It's all stretched, maybe the STB manufactures did not want to deal with stretched CC and non stretched CC.

Anyway, there is an official DTV closed caption standard that has finally been approved. It's EIA-708. It passes the CC within the transport stream. It's much faster at 9600bps (960bps for line 21), they have added 64 colors and 8 fonts, more languages at the same time, etc.. The encoder manufactures are finally coming out with the software updates to encode EIA-708. So you should see here in the next few months more stations passing CC using EIA-708 verses trying to use EIA-608 that may or may not work with your STB. Part of it also depends on the STB manufacture if they included both or just went with the DTV standard of EIA-708.

I'm confused about who owns what rights to which US Open?

BravoHD, which, I believe, is an NBC property, nowadays, has been carrying at least 4 hours of HD telecast from the Open, every day. It has been evenings; but, they have been catching some daytime, as well.

DirecTV added BravoHD, quite recently, when they realigned their HD channels for the additional channels coming up [I hope, I hope], this month.

My best guess is KOB-DT may be adding the weather channel sub channel or down rez from 1080i to 720p or maybe both at the same time!!

Who's know what's next!!:D

9-8-04

Ok, please excuse the slightly off-topic post here, but I had a bit of fun on Monday. My fiance and I were in NYC, and managed to talk our way into tickets for the Late Show with David Letterman. Had a blast, btw. If you're ever in NYC and want some tips on getting tickets, drop me a line. We were interviewed, and apparently passed because we got put on the "gold list" for tickets and ended up in the front row, right in front of Dave! Great fun to see the show produced live. Anyway, they shoot the entire show with HD equipment, so I would guess they're going to have this on HD before very long.

Anyway, with 300+ posts in our favorite 3 yr+ thread, just wanted to say thanks to the many contributors here over the years. I think we can safely say we've helped pioneer HDTV here in New Mexico, and a few of us hearty souls have been around since the very first HD OTA broadcast (KNME and their wimpy 200 W roof-top transmitter, followed by KOAT as the first high power off the crest).

To all my friends here in NM, thanks!

Joe M.
Los Alamos

Guessing games from KOB-DT? My guess is that I won't be watching their SD rendition of HD content. Fortunately, I'm not interested in anything in particular on their network at this time. Football season is here, and NBC is not a player when it comes to NFL coverage.

So I have a Mitsu 48" with the HD tuner built in. Since I've moved to the Albq area I have been able to finally use the tuner with an antenna. My question is with the information displayed on the screen. When I watch say KOBTV it says on the screen "HD Standard", and "Stereo". Yet when I watch say MNF on KOAT it also says "HD Standard" but "Surround". Also on KOAT my receiver goes into 5.1 mode and on KOBTV it stays in stereo mode. During the Olympic coverage I was getting 5.1 on KOBTV. Now I know that KOBTV is having some issues with their feed, but I guess my question is, what is "HD Standard"? KOBTV looks good but I don't think it is HD.

I Hope this isn't too confusing. I've checked the Mitsu manual and it doesn't discuss this at all.

Thanks
Greg

spawnman, the display of "Surround" in the context you mention it would mean the source material is encoded in DD5.1. KOAT-DT broadcasts HD with DD5.1 when available. KOB-DT also broadcast HD with DD5.1 during the Olympics; however, since that time, KOB-DT has reverted to SD with stereo sound. You said, "KOBTV looks good but I don't think it is HD." You're correct that it is not HD; however, I would disagree that it looks good. KOB-DT has been such a disappointment--they just don't seem to take HD seriously.

Based on your info, it's tough to be sure what Mitsu means by "HD Standard." It could be that it is indicating the original source is available in HD at either 1080i or 720p (even though your affiliate may not be broadcasting it in HD).

Welcome to Rio Rancho! For your info, here's what you can expect for local OTA HD options:
KASA (Fox) - HD 720p, DD5.1 [starting 12 September with the NFL on Fox]
KOB (NBC) - SD 480i, stereo [currently worse than worthless, but promising HD1080i, DD5.1 when they can solve some unspecified problems]
KNME (PBS) - HD 1080i, DD5.1 [demo quality loops]
KOAT (ABC) - HD 720p, DD5.1 [note that the time their programs are shown coincides with the east coast ABC feed]
KRQE (CBS) - HD 1080i, stereo
The local WB and UPN affiliates are both SD 480i, stereo

IAM4UK,

Thanks for the great reply! I'm not sure why you don't think KOBTV looks good. Since I started using an anteanna I also as you know get two KOAT channels and the 2nd or (SD) channel looks way worse then KOBTV. The 7.02 channel is the worst one I get. How does yours look?

Have you heard much about the USDTV service? I know it is available in this area, and I'm looking at maybe trying it, but don't know anyone is is using it.

Thanks again for the reply
Greg

I don't watch 7-2, because it is hideous as you imply. KOB 4-1 may look okay compared to other SD offerings, but that is not the measure that interests me. HD is available to them, they said they would start broadcasting all the HD content NBC provided, and they are not doing it. Their rep who has graciously posted updates on this forum has resorted to teasing us with guessing games about what they may provide and when. I'm not impressed with KOB.

USDTV is a mystery to me. For a while, I was able to see their index channel (99-1, I think), but nothing on their subchannels. How their service works, I do not know. I'm confident it is SD multicasting of some sort, so I'm not interested.

If you can coax your tuner into viewing digital channel 45, subchannel 2, you can see what USDTV is doing. I am able to do this with the MyHD card. I guess that subchannel got assigned the virtual channel number 99-1.

USDTV subdivided the 480i signal on the subchannel into about nine smaller segments. Each of the segments has a video feed from one of the channels that they offer. I think ESPN, Bravo and Starz are on there. In other words, those virtual channels are sub-SD quality. The HD channels that they supposedly offer are viewable with any OTA HD tuner.

Brian

Their tuner is only about $100 or so, and it picks up ota HD as good as any tuner from what I've heard. You can get them at Walmart without signing up for anything, and get HD on the cheap. JR

Called KOAT News room. They say they are setup to run the Game (MU vs FS) tonight in HDTV. However, they state that the NBC the feed is not coming in as HDTV. I watched the game last night. At 100" and 1080i, it is eye candy.


What a tease. I want more.

Does anybody know why the feed is not HDTV tonight?

Dream1, it may have been 100", but it was not 1080i. ABC uses 720p (my preference, as it happens). BTW, that was a great game.

All my digital channels are 1080i because that's what my stb outputs, but they don't all look good. What's the latest from KOB? JR

How 'bout that picture on Fox?!!!

(Why, oh why, did the Broncos get rid of Portis?)

Just switched over to the NFL stuff about a 1/2 hour ago. Just finshed watching my TiVo'd soccer match -- after watching the Italian Gran Prix, this morning.

Looks pretty crisp over at KASA. I'm not certain they're up to spec on color and brightness, yet. But, it's going to be nice to have more and more OTA HD available whilst waiting for DirecTV to get the stuff on board that's available -- and what will become available over the next year.

[In another discussion] European broadcasters have suddenly realized what American broadcasters haven't -- about the rate of increase starting to happen to HD, worldwide. They've pretty much aimed at 720p which is great for sports and news junkies.

Now, if I could only convince BBCA to upconvert all their murder mysteries!

Looks real good on my screen...

Is Fox 720P?

My Sammy DLP is native 720...Perhaps that's the difference?

KASA-DT looks very good. I think the Washington game had some great and some mediocre images; it seems lighting/brightness is important to the clarity of their pictures.

Way to go, Fox! Your use of HD highlights for the recap show/halftime updates is appreciated.

Fox is 720p. I have a Sammy, too. I've done the whole DIY calibration; so, some channels really can look skewed if they're not up to, say, the standards of the Discovery Channel.

FOX looked really good on Sunday. We now have ABC, CBS, PBS and FOX in high-def. I wonder when NBC (KOB) will join the ranks???

Originally posted by fjerina
FOX looked really good on Sunday. We now have ABC, CBS, PBS and FOX in high-def. I wonder when NBC (KOB) will join the ranks???
Hey, Y'all are lucky...down here we only have koct dt with terrrible pq and thats only when I let the engineer know up there... I'm lucky I have a waiver from E* for Cbs hd east and west....hope one of the providers gets the HD nets for us down here soon.

Yesterday was indeed a great day for OTA HD in the land of enchantment! We had KASA Fox and KRQE CBS showing HD game simultaneously! Then HD Tennis in the afternoon!

I just keep shaking my head at KOB-DT. Can't figure them out for the life of me. I hope they get their act together soon. I have emailed Sean asking what's up and never got any response. His post a few days ago does not leave me with a good feeling about the future of HD at KOB. I suppose time will tell.

I also PM'ed a ? to Sean A and he responded that it would be a week or so until he could respond, so I'm sure he's knee deep in whatever he's doing. I'm sure he's under a lot of pressure to get the HD up for the new season.
The future is bright I would say, just a couple more weeks of waiting and they'll be up.

i wonder whats up with sound on koat tonight very low voice's and very unstable.

Every time that happens with KOAT TV, I have to give them a call to flip a switch. I don't know why they don't have something that reminds them to flip that switch at the same time every day? It seems that they should be aware and up on these things by now? Go ahead and call the station and ask for engineering. I can't because I'm out of state right now.

Originally posted by cbearnm
I also PM'ed a ? to Sean A and he responded that it would be a week or so until he could respond, so I'm sure he's knee deep in whatever he's doing. I'm sure he's under a lot of pressure to get the HD up for the new season.
The future is bright I would say, just a couple more weeks of waiting and they'll be up.

It occurred to me that maybe they are having problems due to an attempt to timeshift the NBC HD programming by one hour, like they do with their analog station. KRQE does the timeshifting with HD but KOAT does not. If it would be easier for KOB to skip that for now, I'm sure many of us would be happy to watch HD programming on the adjusted schedule.

Brian

Someone must have flipped the wrong switch! We lost the game for a spell.

If the delay at KOB is because they are trying to get the "switcher" up and running (which automatically switches to our local KOB for local commercial inserts then switches back to national for HD programming) then I would imagine they want to complete that effort instead of having some engineer manually do the switching. KRQE does is manually and so many times the engineer (or tech) forgets to switch back to HD after the local commercials. I can't tell you how many times I had to call KRQE to inform them they needed to do the switch.

Occasionally even the engineer in New York forgets...CBS hd E

Lost channel 7.1 last night during the game and it has not come back as of 5 p.m today (9/14). I've re-run the auto setup on my tuner but still get "no signal". I'm in Santa Fe. Anyone else having problems or know why or what to do?

I use the HD TiVo [HR10-250] tuning HD. I also lost 7.1 during the game; but, switching back a few times, caught it, again, 30-45 minutes later. I remember it was just before halftime.

Regardless of make, try a reset. The full-blown, unplug your critter for a minute or so, plug it back in, again -- and see what happens. I have no idea why that often works -- other than the medieval software we're still plagued with.

Seems to me it was still working OK, this morning; but, I haven't wandered over that way, this evening -- and I've just turned the set off to check email, etc., before going to bed. I'll check back in the morning.

7.1 is still up, this morning. Though, they look silly in 4:3.

Anyone else notice last night KOB started showing Father of the Pride for a few minutes and then suddenly we were watching Fear Factor? It appears they do have the ability to shift things around anyway. Pride came on again an hour later at its regular time.

Originally posted by santa fe
Lost channel 7.1 last night during the game and it has not come back as of 5 p.m today (9/14). I've re-run the auto setup on my tuner but still get "no signal". I'm in Santa Fe. Anyone else having problems or know why or what to do?

I lost them as well for a short time but they were back up the next time I surfed over for the Benefactor.

Does anyone else on this board have a Dish 811? I never had any problems with KOAT on my old 6000 or 921 but my 811 has a heck of a time locking. I get a 49% signal for a moment and then an aquiring signal message and finally after 10-15 seconds a picture pops up. This is the only receiver that has this problem in the house. Its a very consistant problem again only with KOAT.

Unplugging the receiver and then doing an auto program brought 7.1 back. I wonder why this happens from time to time.

I haven't a clue. I know my way around software, pretty well. I've been online for 21 years. But, I joke about needing a diagram to change batteries in a flashlight.

Doubtless, it's the interface between software and hardware -- and the governance responsibilities lie with the software -- and its authors.

What receiver are you using? Have you joined the specific AVS Forum which covers it? There's a great deal of available information for just about everything.

Originally posted by ibglowin
Anyone else notice last night KOB started showing Father of the Pride for a few minutes and then suddenly we were watching Fear Factor? It appears they do have the ability to shift things around anyway. Pride came on again an hour later at its regular time.

I've heard about this before in other markets. I believe it was the day after the Olympics aired that a lot of NBC stations had a similar problem of skipping over to Fear Factor and picking up some west coast feed instead. I so don't think its KOB with time shifting ability. Rather the feed they took.

Breaking News!!!

I just found out on the FCC's web site saying KNMD-DT has filed for to cover their licences that's mean they are on the air.

Now the hard part they are transmitting 200 watts ERP so I try to tune on channel 9 and my Zenth 520 tuner try to lock the signal but no luck.

It's scans for a 5 seconds that's is somthing out there but when I move my indoor antenna a little a bit and I scans again at 0 seconds no trying lock mode, so I moved my antenna back I scan again and it's try to lock on it this time for 7 seconds.

I know my antenna is Terk TV 50 and its pull in all stations except KCHF-DT on channel 10 now add KNMD-DT to the list for not to be able get the signal but then again I will keep trying.:D

Now anyones has better luck getting that newest 2nd PBS station on digital channel 9?

9-15-04

edwardacampbell
I have a Sony HD-300 but the problem of suddenly not receiving channels only occurs with 7.1. Leading me to belive there may be something going on there.

NdXZS no 9 or 10 received here.

Ditto on no 9 or 10.

I can detect a digital signal on channel 9, but the signal meter fluctuates between no signal and 11% every few seconds. That's too low to get any picture or sound. I don't detect any signal on channel 10.

Brian

Hello Bkzoller,

Good work on TV DXing!!!:D

KNMD-DT's is about like ham radio TV transmission 50 watts or so into antenna giving the antenna's gain to 200 watts ERP.

Where are you located?

As for me I am in the Four Hills far S.E. part of Albuquerque.

9-15-04

Thanks, but I didn't realize it would count for anything. I'm in Los Alamos near the golf course. The tuner is the MyHD MDP-120 card. I have a CM 3020 antenna and CM 7777 preamp on the roof.

Does this count for more TV DX'iing?

analog channel 46 is in Spanish (Telemundo) and has the logo Al Rojo Vivo on the screen
analog channel 48 is the Home Shopping Network
analog channel 57 has a WB logo and is showing Elimidate

Brian

Originally posted by bkzoller
Thanks, but I didn't realize it would count for anything. I'm in Los Alamos near the golf course. The tuner is the MyHD MDP-120 card. I have a CM 3020 antenna and CM 7777 preamp on the roof.


Hi Brian,

What type of reception do you get near the golf course? How high is your antenna? Do you get all the majors? I have a coworker who lives behind Bethlehem Lutheran Church on North road. He is only using one of those wire dish antennas and he pulls in a couple of stations but not all. Trying to figure out if he goes to a Channel Master antenna and preamp will solve his problems. He may also have to fight the home owners association to put up anything that could be visable from the street.

I'm in White Rock, and use a CM4226 and preamp on a 30foot pole (overkill). Able to pull in everything just fine. :)

Let me know,

Yes, I can get all of the major digital and analog channels. North Road is about 100 feet of elevation more than me on the topo map, so reception should be fine there. A smaller CM antenna would probably work, depending on local terrain and buildings. My place is one of the two story government duplexes from the 1950's. The antenna is about 8 feet above the roof line, which is flat.

Brian

I have a Sammy SIR T-151. When I key in "9", it changes that to 80 and a bunch of subsets. I checked the signal level (which I realize is just an approximation) and it was just a tad below 50% and that is about what I get on some of the other OTA channels.

I'm located at Indian School and Morris so I have a pretty much direct look at the crest (except for a neighbor's tree).

Tonight is the user group meeting, right?

John

Hello Bkzoller,

Yes you got channel 48 KTFA-LP from the Crest and K46GY also from the Crest too, both stations are running at 150 KW ERP.

I am puzlled by channel 57 station and I am not able to find the database on FCC'S website.;)

It's seems to be a KWBQ-TV's relay station.

As for KNMD-DT still no luck getting the signal maybe later when the nighttime's propagation might help me to lock this station in.

I e-mailed Jim Gail on any more news on channel 9 and should be getting the E-mail soon.

9-16-04

I posted this a couple of days ago on the other thread "New Mexico DTV Users Group" but since this one is the most popular Albuquerque site I feel I should also post it here too. What do you all think???

New Mexico DTV User Group - September Meeting Announcement

The New Mexico DTV User Group will hold its September meeting this Thursday, September 16th, at 7:00 PM at the KNME-TV studios, located at 1130 University Blvd. KNME is located on University about 1 block north of the intersection of Lomas and University Blvd.

The month's topic will be "The Making of Digifest Southwest". Our special guest and presenter is Joseph Bridges, President of Vizeon, a digital video and computer systems integrator providing the latest products in digital video and animation technology.

We will be showing three of the award winning HD productions from Digifest Southwest 2004.

Come learn how Joseph, Vizeon, other corporate sponsors and many talented New Mexico folks made this year’s event a premier film production festival, and the only one produced in High Definition.

We hope to see you there!

Jim Gale
KNME-TV
Director of Engineering

Originally posted by N5XZS
I am puzlled by channel 57 station and I am not able to find the database on FCC'S website.;)

It's seems to be a KWBQ-TV's relay station.


Yes, channel 57 does appear to be a relay of channel 19 because they are identical. Apparently, the transmitter is unlicenced with the FCC. Can anyone else tune 57, I wonder?

One more DX, channel 56 K56FB 30 kW ERP. There is a logo "jewelry" and that's what they are selling. It is very snowy, B&W and no sound.

Brian

Originally posted by fjerina
[B]I posted this a couple of days ago on the other thread "New Mexico DTV Users Group" but since this one is the most popular Albuquerque site I feel I should also post it here too. What do you all think???

Fred, it sounds like a good idea to me to just put all the Abq info in this thread. What do the rest of you think? JR

Makes my thread happer the better!!

Yes, it will be simpler for everyones.:)

Osoman,

What digital channel 9 sub channels are like?

Thanks!!

9-17-04

N5XZS

They are PBS SD channels. 80-3 equals PBS1DTV, 80-4 = PBS2DTV and so on. They are not HD quality. Each channel shows a different program.

I don't see any schedule on titantv.com.

By all means, keep everything over here. It's the only NM thread where I maintain notification.

What digital channel 9 sub channels are like?

Haven't seen them yet, but deciphering my scratchy notes from the meeting last night,
9-1= X chan, Cband Public (?)
9-2= kids
9-3= kids-teens
9-4= kids, university level

JR

I just got E-mail from Jim Gale of KNME-DT and KNMD-DT,

Saying they will stay at 105 watts transmitter power or at 200 watts ERP antenna gain, till KCHF-DT moves to Sandia Crest.

When KCHF-DT finally moves to Sandia Crest than both stations can crank up the transmitter's power.

KNMD-DT is ready to run full power when times comes they can go up to 3.8 KW transmitter power or in around 10 KW ERP + or - of the antenna gain.;)

I will keep eye on the KCHF application's to the FCC and I will update you guys as time goes by.

The KNMD-DT's sub channel line up are listed here......

Some of your receiver might read as 9.1 or 80.1 since their PSIP generator is on its way.

9.1 PBS X Eastern time Zone feed.

9.2 PBS KIDS

9.3 PBS X "3 hours delay"

9.4 PBS You "Adult ED."

That's the news!!

9-17-04

I recently rescanned my OTA digitals, and my HDTivo lists 12-1 as KOBFDT (digital 17). Since I still can't pull the normal KOB-DT out of every single one of the other local digitals (Sean...are you out there???? Beer and Brats await if you can somehow figure out what I need to do to get your station!), I thought I may have found a back door to FINALLY getting NBC.

But alas, it appears that this is actually KAZQ? Dang!

So, the question is, where is the error in listing coming from? PSIP data? The guide data that my HD Tivo gets? I think its safe to say that my HDTivo is probably just getting bad guide data, although I do have it configured to only show my OTA Digitals from ABQ/Santa Fe.

And just what is KOBFDT supposed to be?

BGL

from KOB's website

About KOB-TV (http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?cat=KOBDT)
KOBF-DT broadcasts in Farmington on DTV Channel 17 (12-1)

BGL -- when I 1st scanned and set-up my HD TiVo, it included Hobbs and some town in AZ as part of my guide date! I ended up tracking down and deleting those stations from my Favorites.