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Youngstown, OH - HDTV

282K views 2K replies 151 participants last post by  pyroman251 
#1 ·
The place for Youngstown, OH HDTV messages.
 
#1,628 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by fmcomputer /forum/post/17186033


Is WYFX 17/62 OTA HD yet ???

Unless I am mistaken, I don't think they'll be wasting the money putting it on it's own transmitter since they have done real well squeezing it on 27 with WKBN and it's got great coverage.
 
#1,630 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rluyster /forum/post/17191123


However, as a result, both WKBN and WYFX ended up with a really mediocre quality HD picture, IMO.

Sorry for the late reply. But while I do not disagree on this point, the biggest thing I see coming out of this is OTA broadcasts are ultimately focused on and used by those who don't care much about quality. At least imho. Though maybe WKBN's engineer has other ideas for the future? But I think if he's squeezing the quality in that's there now (which is honestly astounding FWIW. 2 720p feeds in 18mbit of bandwidth. No easy feat when trying to keep PQ up.), the push for a separate transmitter becomes less and less.


One thing I wanted to ask though and maybe WFMJ's engineer is still hanging around and reading this: Any known plans for HD Syndication/in-house programming in the near future? I know the budget issue makes this difficult, but no idea if anything has changed recently. I'd love you guys forever if this could change.



And also to the WFMJ engineer if he reads this: When it comes to primetime NBC programming, if there's any way you can postpone like the onscreen lottery tickers to commercials or something rather than in the middle of primetime shows, that'd be awesome. Kinda annoying right now 'cause it cuts the picture back to the SD feed and windowboxed with the added graphic clutter. I haven't watched enough this tv season but I know last season with L&O:SVU it happened just about every week at the same time during the same show. I eventually switched my DVR recording to WKYC for that show (thankfully Time Warner gives us both the Y-Town and Cleveland locals down here.).
 
#1,643 ·
The WKBN digital antenna move from the side mount position to the top mount has taken place. However, there is still a little work yet to be done. We had to make a custom length piece of transmission line that connects the last piece of standard length transmission line (roughly 20 foot pieces) to the elbow complex that transitions into the antenna. We will have a factory piece made and shipped in for the final assembly. This is a typical procedure and usually once the length of the custom piece is known, progress stops until the piece is made and flown in. Obviously in our case we didn't want to be off the air for another whole day (or best part of one) so we made a temporary one on site. Once the factory piece is installed the whole system must be swept and fine tuned for best performance. There are a few places where there are fine matching adjustments for impedance optimizations: at the launch in the transmitter building, the elbow at the base of the tower and at the input of the antenna. The system is tuned so that every precious Watt of energy gets radiated from the antenna and nothing (or very little) gets reflected back to the transmitter. So what this means is that we will be operating at low power, about 30%, until all of this work is completed. Looking at the weather and talking with Don Guthrie, it looks like our next safe opportunity will be Sunday night going into Monday morning. Since we will have to be off for a few hours again, we'll do this work between midnight and 5 AM and then hopefully we will finally be at full power at the top of the tower. As far as the low power situation goes, we've been running at 30% since last Sunday morning for safety reasons because of all of the cables and riggings on the tower. Once we are up to full power the crew will continue removing the old analog transmission line from the tower and then WKBN will be done.


Once WKBN is done, the crew will pack up their equipment and move it down the street to WYTV and that project will begin. In this case, all of the old analog antenna and transmission line must first be removed from the tower before the new line and antenna can be installed. I have no estimate on the time frame because every bit of tower work is dependent upon the weather conditions. Even when it's not raining, high winds can stop work at the top of the tower. Just as an example, the crew has been on site at WKBN for a little over a month. We've needed about 10 good working days to get where we are right now Welcome to NE Ohio!
 
#1,644 ·
Thanks for the update Tom!


Just a minor question but any idea what is up with WYTV currently and their unstable reception for many of us? Is all this antenna/transmitter work a cause? I know others have already chimed in but here in Warren the signal strength of 33 can vary greatly in the matter of minutes and cause dropout issues. Sometimes it will read 70-80% signal strength and just as easily it can drop down to 30% or so where a solid signal lock will not happen.


Would be nice to finally get 33 in solidly here. Now if only WFMJ can start pushing out WBCB in HD like 27 is doing now.
(Though honestly I think having the quality degradation, as minor as it may be, on 2 major networks in a single market would be pretty messy.)
 
#1,645 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vchat20 /forum/post/17398483


Thanks for the update Tom!


Just a minor question but any idea what is up with WYTV currently and their unstable reception for many of us? Is all this antenna/transmitter work a cause? I know others have already chimed in but here in Warren the signal strength of 33 can vary greatly in the matter of minutes and cause dropout issues. Sometimes it will read 70-80% signal strength and just as easily it can drop down to 30% or so where a solid signal lock will not happen.


Would be nice to finally get 33 in solidly here. Now if only WFMJ can start pushing out WBCB in HD like 27 is doing now.
(Though honestly I think having the quality degradation, as minor as it may be, on 2 major networks in a single market would be pretty messy.)



I think that's a major issue. Quality degradation is always a major issue. At least with WKBN it can be justified(
) because FOX is a major network. If my NBC affiliate decided to downgrade to 720p AND cut bandwidth for the CW, I'd be out there with torches and pitchforks. Plus it should come with the folks at 30 Rock yanking their NBC affiliation. The CW is a crap "network" like that "My Network TV".


I'll bet there would be tons of P.O.ed viewers if Sunday Night Football, the Summer and Winter Olympics, Saturday college football and other NBC programming was degraded for fncking Gossip Girl.
 
#1,646 ·
There have been no changes or work done on the WYTV transmitter, antenna or tower. It is running with a solid output and a high S/N and MER. The transmitted signal does not vary throughout the day and the power is never lowered. So I don't have any explanation for your observed signal changes other than possibly seasonal atmospherics. I have recently seen an increase in viewer complaints regarding signal dropouts so you are not alone. Hopefully our new transmitter and antenna will remedy the situation.
 
#1,648 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by WKBN Chief /forum/post/17399195


There have been no changes or work done on the WYTV transmitter, antenna or tower. It is running with a solid output and a high S/N and MER. The transmitted signal does not vary throughout the day and the power is never lowered. So I don't have any explanation for your observed signal changes other than possibly seasonal atmospherics. I have recently seen an increase in viewer complaints regarding signal dropouts so you are not alone. Hopefully our new transmitter and antenna will remedy the situation.

Is WYTV stilll planning on increasing thier power output?
 
#1,649 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by firemantom26 /forum/post/17403112


Is WYTV stilll planning on increasing thier power output?

Well, they're probably not going up there because they like the view.



Looking at WYTV's FCC database entry, the 1000 kW upgrade is the only one on the plate:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=4693


And I'm not sure why he'd mention "new transmitter and antenna" if this wasn't the case.
 
#1,650 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by firemantom26 /forum/post/17403112


Is WYTV stilll planning on increasing thier power output?

Was gonna post til I saw Inundated's response. Though TV-Fool now pegs it in the same signal quality area as WFMJ and WKBN with the 1000kw update, this is only going by FCC filings so I dunno if it's actually been bumped up yet or if it's gonna be done after WKBN's antenna is finished. Though with the noticable increase in signal lately I'd wager a guess it has been upgraded. Just need to figure out exactly what is causing all these dropout issues around here.
 
#1,651 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vchat20 /forum/post/17403222


Was gonna post til I saw Inundated's response. Though TV-Fool now pegs it in the same signal quality area as WFMJ and WKBN with the 1000kw update, this is only going by FCC filings so I dunno if it's actually been bumped up yet or if it's gonna be done after WKBN's antenna is finished. Though with the noticable increase in signal lately I'd wager a guess it has been upgraded. Just need to figure out exactly what is causing all these dropout issues around here.


Thanks for the info.
 
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