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Sioux City, IA / Sioux Falls, SD - HDTV

216K views 2K replies 137 participants last post by  rhubarbpieguy 
#1 ·
I have been posting in the Des Moines forum but I thought it was time for a Siouxland thread. I have a Hitachi 61" with an integrated digital tuner. I have an all channel antenna with a rotor to pick up the local ABC and NBC digital feeds. On other local forums the engineers from the local stations contribute and I hope that happens here. That way we can get accurate information about the digital transmissions. I encourage anyone in Siouxland to share their experience with HDTV and OTA digital reception.
 
#1,003 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by cdieren /forum/post/11922512


Scott - Don't waste too much time trying to pick up KTTW 17.1. FCC site lists them at only 5 kW ERP. I've heard of others in SF that cannot pickup this station with much better antenna systems. Eventually, I think the FCC rules will require them to be much higher power (Feb '09?? deadline).

A couple of months ago I was told that KTTW would have their digital channel at full power by the beginning of '08. I don't know what "full power" is for them but I hope that it is an improvement over what they currently have.


Britney
 
#1,006 ·
I live outside of Norfolk, NE and with my Channel Master 4228 can receive KTIV, KMEG, and KPTM digital signals most of the time. My problem is that I can't get a strong enough signal for KCAU and I understand they are at full power now, but transmit from a different location than the others. The Channel Master 4228 is a UHF antenna, do I need a VHF antenna in order to receive the OTA signal from KCAU.
 
#1,008 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Norfolk /forum/post/11944329


I live outside of Norfolk, NE and with my Channel Master 4228 can receive KTIV, KMEG, and KPTM digital signals most of the time. My problem is that I can't get a strong enough signal for KCAU and I understand they are at full power now, but transmit from a different location than the others. The Channel Master 4228 is a UHF antenna, do I need a VHF antenna in order to receive the OTA signal from KCAU.

If KCAU is at full power, they seem to be lacking some serius power compared to the other guys. I still have not been able to lock in a signal from them.


I was working on an antenna in Okoboji this week. I am able to pull in KSFY and KDLT using an Antenna Direct DB4. The signal was very stable on an older Samsung 360. I have since ordered an Antennas Direct XG91 which should give me the needed gain to lock all of Sioux Falls in strong. Very exciting. That is well over 70 miles.
 
#1,009 ·
KCAU is at full power, albiet a toughie too pull in. I have been able to get a lock on it in the past way up here in the far NW corner of IA. And just to back up with what crcbsjh and cdieren are saying about KTTW; they are currently broadcasting with 22 watts of power (digital) off of their current KTTW analog (which, by contrast, is 175kW) tower in SW Sioux Falls. Right now they have a construction permit to broadcast at 5 kW on a tower near Rowena SD (where KDLT,KSFY, and KELO broadcast from). Who knows when that may be turned on.
 
#1,010 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hiltsy855 /forum/post/11948867


KCAU is now transmitting from the same location as the other Sioux City stations. All digital stations in this area are UHF so you don't need any other antenna. I think if you had a CM amplifier (7777 / 7775) that would take care of your problem.

I failed to mention that I do have a CM amplifier on my antenna. It is the CM 7775 / 7777, but I forget which. I know here in Norfolk we are about reaching the maximum distance that an antenna can reach. Is there any other antenna that anyone would suggest that might make the difference in pulling in KCAU's signal.
 
#1,011 ·
I live in Sioux City - which is about 85 miles from the towers in Sioux Falls. When I purchased my HD set 3 years ago, Sioux Falls was the only nearby city with HD broadcasts. I purchased the same antenna and amp as yours, and after a LOT of tweaking the exact rotation of the antenna, I was able to reliably receive the Sioux Falls stations. My friend in the foothills outside of Denver had the same kind of experience - he said that aiming the antenna is a game of inches. Your antenna is HIGHLY directional, and a nudge of a degree or two can make a huge difference. Go up on the roof with your crescent wrench and a cell phone and call someone inside to watch the signal strength meter on your setup to see if you can nudge a better signal.


If there were substantial hills or buildings between us, I doubt that would have been possible. But where I live high in the hills in Sioux City, it was possible. Your mileage may vary.
 
#1,012 ·
I switched from CableOne in Sioux City to DirecTV, and re-aimed my antenna to pick up the local Sioux City channels. When I explained to the installer that I wanted my antenna fed to each TV in addition to the satellite signal, he said that was nuts, because the Sioux City stations were scheduled to be uploaded to the satellite, and would soon be available on DirecTV.


Has anyone else heard this -- or was my installer blowing smoke?
 
#1,013 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rmullin /forum/post/11953152


I switched from CableOne in Sioux City to DirecTV, and re-aimed my antenna to pick up the local Sioux City channels. When I explained to the installer that I wanted my antenna fed to each TV in addition to the satellite signal, he said that was nuts, because the Sioux City stations were scheduled to be uploaded to the satellite, and would soon be available on DirecTV.


Has anyone else heard this -- or was my installer blowing smoke?

I talked to a guy at KMEG last week and he said that they have had no talks b/w Directv and themselves on putting their signal onto Directv.


I think the installer did not want to do more work for himself. I hope he is right though!!!!
 
#1,016 ·
I'm sitll having problems with KSFY. The signal strength keeps dropping off, so I can not maintain a picture. Posts on the previous page about this subject, shows that KSFY is aware of this problem, but that was a month ago. Apparently this podunk station doesn't care and still has not fixed the problem. Time to write them to demand a waiver.
 
#1,017 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by wxman /forum/post/11965343


I'm sitll having problems with KSFY. The signal strength keeps dropping off, so I can not maintain a picture. Posts on the previous page about this subject, shows that KSFY is aware of this problem, but that was a month ago. Apparently this podunk station doesn't care and still has not fixed the problem. Time to write them to demand a waiver.

I am not sure it is them. Everybody I know 40 miles out is watching Florida with no problem. I have had 1 dropout and that was a while back. Have you tried to rescan your channels back in. I was having problems with 4-1. After resetting my locals a few times they have finally stuck.


Good luck with the waivers!!
 
#1,018 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rmullin /forum/post/11953152


I switched from CableOne in Sioux City to DirecTV, and re-aimed my antenna to pick up the local Sioux City channels. When I explained to the installer that I wanted my antenna fed to each TV in addition to the satellite signal, he said that was nuts, because the Sioux City stations were scheduled to be uploaded to the satellite, and would soon be available on DirecTV.


Has anyone else heard this -- or was my installer blowing smoke?


I would say that since they don't offer local channels in SD yet, that it will be a LONG time before they offer them in HD. Dish Network currently offers locals in SD and they were guessing it would be around 6 months before they switched them over to HD in our size of market, though they were pretty sure it would be available.
 
#1,020 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben L C /forum/post/11966307


I am not sure it is them. Everybody I know 40 miles out is watching Florida with no problem. I have had 1 dropout and that was a while back. Have you tried to rescan your channels back in. I was having problems with 4-1. After resetting my locals a few times they have finally stuck.


Good luck with the waivers!!

I have re-scanned several times with no luck. I get all of the other digital channels fine, including some of the Sioux City stations. I live on the southeast side of Sioux Falls so I know I am close to the KSFY tower. KSFY use to be one of the strongest signals, now I can not get a continuous lock on it.


Husker on 9/21 posted this from KSFY: "I just wanted to get back in touch with you on this matter. We have discovered a power drop-off problem with our digital transmitter and are in the process of renting the necessary test equipment to help us resolve the issue. thank you for contacting us on this and for your patience in this matter."


So I doubt it is my reciever, and I started having at the same time as the above posts in September.
 
#1,021 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by wxman /forum/post/11965343


I'm sitll having problems with KSFY. The signal strength keeps dropping off, so I can not maintain a picture. Posts on the previous page about this subject, shows that KSFY is aware of this problem, but that was a month ago. Apparently this podunk station doesn't care and still has not fixed the problem. Time to write them to demand a waiver.

I emailed the engineer again this morning. He says they are having trouble tracking down the issue. This blows.
 
#1,022 ·
Husker, thanks for the info.


I also wrote him and this was the response:


"Our transmitter engineer has been having trouble tracking down the

issue. He tells me this morning that he believes he knows what may be

wrong and will be working on it this evening."


So it looks like the issue is being addressed, hopefully.
 
#1,025 ·
I have a CM4228 and it's doing the job for all the local channels, on all TV's in the house. I have purchased a pre-amp to assist in trying to somewhat consistently pick up Sioux Falls & Omaha stations, but I'm not strong in the area of installation. I'd like to hire someone to install the pre-amp (CM7777) to my antenna but don't have any idea who to contact to do that sort of thing. Any suggestions out there?


GT in M'Side
 
#1,026 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by GT25Ump /forum/post/12000970


I have a CM4228 and it's doing the job for all the local channels, on all TV's in the house. I have purchased a pre-amp to assist in trying to somewhat consistently pick up Sioux Falls & Omaha stations, but I'm not strong in the area of installation. I'd like to hire someone to install the pre-amp (CM7777) to my antenna but don't have any idea who to contact to do that sort of thing. Any suggestions out there?


GT in M'Side

If you have any questions on installing it I would be more than happy to try to answer them. They are pretty simple devices to hook up. I have hooked up many preamps and it takes longer to get the ladder out, climb up the ladder than it does to hook it up.


The biggest deal, I feel in pulling in a digital signal, is the aiming of the antenna. There is a little tolerance, but nothing like an analog signal. I have a cheap compass from walmart that is the best tool to have. Go to antennaweb.org and put in your coordinates. It will tell you which degrees to have your antenna facing for your surround towers.


To answer your question, I am not aware of any installers in Sioux City.
 
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