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Chicago, IL - OTA

2M views 15K replies 680 participants last post by  Mike Beranek 
#1 · (Edited)
#11,101 ·
I apparently missed it, but it looks like Ion has finally launched its AirBOX service. Looks like it's using a higher end converter box with h.264 and encryption support. $10 a month, or $20 with Starz, plus PayPerView on top of that. No contract. But, of course, running on Ion, it requires you to be able to tune in an Ion station. From their website, though, it sounds like they're planning on expanding. Do you think they'll try to sell AirBOX service to non-Ion affiliates, maybe under some revenue sharing agreement? $10 does sound like a pretty good deal, especially when you consider that Ion advertises locals as being "free" since there's no monthly fee for the receiver (you own the equipment), but the only package available is the Spanish language package. Is it too little, too late, though? The conventional wisdom is that the days of premium OTA died with the rollout of city cable, and I believe AirBOX only has 10 channels. I guess $20 for Starz still manages to qualify as a good deal, though, given the cost of cable plans with premium channels.
 
#11,102 ·
I don't think this was brought up before but WSNS (Telemundo) news is now in HD. I don't know when they switched over, but the subject was brought up in another forum so I did some checking tonight. Lo and behold...











All the Chicago news broadcasts except WYIN (PBS) are now in HD!
 
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#11,104 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by HDTV TOM  /t/815397/chicago-il-ota/11100#post_22123558


ABC7 just announced that for the next ten nights, there would be "signal interruptions" between 1:00am and 4:00am due to maintenance at their transmission plant.

Looks like this could be the start of the final phase of the upgrade to full power RF 44.

I hope they can get it right this time. The last antenna they got wouldn't even cover the area within 10 miles of the Sears Tower, while those more than 10 miles could get them on RF 44. So far, I've had better luck with them on RF 7 than on RF 44. Since switching to the Winegard HD9032 UHF antenna, WLS-TV on RF 44 was dropping out a lot with no warning. With my old Philips VHF/UHF/FM deep fringe combo antenna, WLS-TV on RF 44 pixelated a lot. If they do get it working right, I wonder if Venture Technologies will try to apply for RF 7 again, just so they can get off of RF 33, & not even try for RF 28, which is even worse than RF 33, since RF 28 would receive interference from WTMJ & WSJV, & possibly interference from WMAQ-TV on RF 29 & WCIU on RF 27.
 
#11,105 ·
i use wm7 ota for all of my reception. last night during the cubs/tigers game i could get no picture on 26.1 (or it seemed any of the subs), however i showed full gree bars when i ran the signal strength program. i did a rescan of the channels with the same end result.


ideas?
 
#11,106 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jcr74  /t/815397/chicago-il-ota/11100#post_22132007


i use wm7 ota for all of my reception. last night during the cubs/tigers game i could get no picture on 26.1 (or it seemed any of the subs), however i showed full gree bars when i ran the signal strength program. i did a rescan of the channels with the same end result.

ideas?

the psip info for channels 26, 23 and 48 was lost for a while... (it was ok by 10:30 pm) ...

my window media center tuner would not allow the video / audio data to process without the psip data ....

so i watched the game on another tv with the dt-901 converter box .....

the dt-901 box ID'd the channel 26 as 27.3, etc ... channel 48 as 32.3 ... which are the rf channels ......



the WLS maintenance .. so far i have seen the stations using the same antenna as rf 44 go off air .... WLS on rf 7 has not gone off air


kd9fz

comments criticisms and questions of sanity are always welcome
 
#11,107 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by HDTV TOM  /t/815397/chicago-il-ota/11100#post_22123558


ABC7 just announced that for the next ten nights, there would be "signal interruptions" between 1:00am and 4:00am due to maintenance at their transmission plant.

Looks like this could be the start of the final phase of the upgrade to full power RF 44.

So what happens to RF7 when (if) WLS leaves? Does it become another home shopping channel or will they push one of those co-channel interferers like W25DW or WCHU there.
 
#11,109 ·
Hi - I'm new to this group just because of what's going on with the interruptions. Just didn't know why. Now I need to solve the problem hopefully with help from anyone that can point me in the right direction. When we moved here in the Northern Indiana area from the Chicago Area a few years ago we couldn't find anyone to put up an antenna for us so we went to Comcast as the last resort. My 70 year old husband lost his job in Chicago a few months ago and Illinois subtracts what ever you get in Social Security from your Unemployment check so we do not have a lot to work with so we decided to go back to Over The Air (OTV) for TV and dropped Comcast TV but kept the Internet. Oddly enough when they "turned off" the TV there was still a signal coming through the cable of the OTV stations so we feverishly have been working to get the OTV system up and running before that was shut off. Well I guess the change over to HD did it and we now do not receive anything as of this morning and we still have not got the OTV system working.


I get the feeling we must not have the right equipment which is: all analog TV's


RCA Amplified Indoor * Outdoor Antennae UHF - VHF

Terrestrial HDTV Broadcast Compatible Model ANT706


APEX Digital DT250A Digital TV Converter (DTV Tuner)


Magnavox TB100MW9 DTV Digital to Analog Converter.


We are willing to start over again if necessary. I went to Radio Shack to see if they had any better antennas that would get in up to 100 miles and a tower to put it on plus an installer if needed but nobody knows nothing here in La Porte County just like the people in South Bend were when I tried this the last time in 2008. I was told then to go get cable TV. Unfortunately there are those of us that are on fixed incomes that cannot afford that kind of ongoing expense just to watch the weather and news. As it is we can't afford the Comcast Internet now that there is no TV at all as the Internet is suppose to be 1.5 down and 3++ up and we are getting .7 down and 295 up for the great price of 60.00 a month. We here in La Porte County and West are the Step Children as far as news and weather go on local channels out of South Bend unlike the Chicago Stations let alone the area north of Chicago is really home so that is why we needed an antennae to pick up stations from as far away as possible. Otherwise we have to listen to those ingrates in the South Bend Area that think they are the only people in this area. SO...... PLEASE HELP.
 
#11,110 ·

Getting Chicago stations from LaPorte County, IN could be difficult. South Bend would be much easier. Go to TVFool.com to see how far you are from the Chicago stations.

To get Chicago, you would definitely need an outdoor antenna. There are some forums on AVS that discuss antennas.

A lot of people like the Weingard products, but I don't know much about them.
 
#11,111 ·
"Go to TVFool.com to see how far you are from the Chicago stations." According to this website all my Chicago stations are within a 60 mile distance as the crow flies and can be gotten. The ones in the "grey" or difficult area are not any of the ones I watch. Thank you for that. Since I am an RVer I am familiar with Weingard name in Sattelite Dishes for our RV's. Is there any particular one anyone has had success with? You said there is another forum that discusses antennas - do you know which ones they are or how to get to them or does this group have just as good an answer? Thanks for your help. Each piece of information helps.
 
#11,113 ·
As an alternative, have you asked Comcast about low cost cable service. It's about $10 a month in Illinois, and actually turns out to be free if you also have Comcast internet. Just the basic OTA channels, but maybe easier than fighting the OTA distance with an expensive outdoor antenna.
 
#11,114 ·
Hello Mejustme,


As you surmise, you are close to the fringe of reception for Chicago, but you should still be able to get them well with a proper antenna. Some stations may not come in---notably, WCIU-DT on channel 27 (but your tuner shows it to be on channel 26). That's because of a station in South Bend broadcasting on the same frequency, causing interference.


What I would do is try these things, given your situation:


1. If you really want to go with an antenna, the ChannelMaster 4228HD or the Winegard 7084 are the antennas of choice for you. You can get it at solidsignal.com, warrenelectronics.com. To have it installed, ask, beg and plead http://www.tvantennainstaller.com to see if they will install it.Buy it for them, maybe give them extra gas money, and see if they will do it.Or, try this: http://www.servicemagic.com/task.Antenna-Install-or-Replace.40310.html


2. See if DSL Internet service is available at your house. Call your local phone company to see if that is available (or AT&T).


3. Ask Comcast for basic "lifeline" TV service, where they provide free converter boxes. About $20/month.


I hope this helps a little. I'll try to answer any more of your questions as best I can. Take care!
 
#11,115 ·
The problem you have is that Comcast have probably removed their analog channels, but are still sending you your locals via a system called Clear-Qam. With your current TV's you won't be able to receive them. However, in Illinois, you're elidgable for 3 x DTA adapters for your local channels, which you would use between the comcast signal and your analog tv's. This would solve your problem and allow you to continue without an antenna. It's normally cheaper to pay the "basic tv" subscription that a "One service only" fee.


If you want your independence, you need to change your TV's to newer ones with digital tuners. A portable 19" one can normally be found for around $100 or so. Or, get converter which will cope with Clear-Qam. I ordered one of these on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OQGJV6/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00


Rob
 
#11,116 ·
I think the answer you are looking for is this: Just point the antenna towards South Bend if you want ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, MeTV. If you want Chicago, you will definitely need a nice sized antenna and a preamp. My suggestion is a Channel Master CM-7777 preamp and a Channel Master CM-3020 antenna. The key is to get an antenna that is both VHF and UHF. You can purchase these from Amazon.com or Warren Electronics, most likely. Stay away from Rabbit Ears and cheap stuff like that.


South Bend is probably much easier than Chicago from where you are, especially if you're not within 10 miles of the lakeshore.


May I also suggest this for Internet TV: http://bensoutlet.com/products/sony-smart-tv-network-media-player

You'll be surprised how much you can watch with a nice internet to TV interface like the Sony Smart TV interface.
 
#11,117 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rdoac  /t/815397/chicago-il-ota/11100#post_22150287


The problem you have is that Comcast have probably removed their analog channels, but are still sending you your locals via a system called Clear-Qam. With your current TV's you won't be able to receive them. However, in Illinois, you're elidgable for 3 x DTA adapters for your local channels, which you would use between the comcast signal and your analog tv's. This would solve your problem and allow you to continue without an antenna. It's normally cheaper to pay the "basic tv" subscription that a "One service only" fee.

If you want your independence, you need to change your TV's to newer ones with digital tuners. A portable 19" one can normally be found for around $100 or so. Or, get converter which will cope with Clear-Qam. I ordered one of these on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OQGJV6/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Rob
Rob has recommended a great box !! I ordered one for just over $40 on Wednesday and it arrived this morning. I hooked it up to Comcast and ran the scan and get all the South Bend local channels. (On Monday Comcast had removed and replaced the local channels with a slate and 1-800 number about not being digital ready.) Thank you Rob !!
 
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