Greensboro, NC - HDTV - Page 64

Yeah, that sounds like a she to me.

So how much does an automated HD switch cost anyway?

It has nothing to do with an automatic switch. I do not think ABC broadcasts all of its programming SD and HD on the HD link so the station has to keep switching and someone has to keep up with that HD schedule and then pass it along to the master control operator.

FOX sends all of their programming, SD, widescreen and HD down the HD link to the splicer so we have just hardwired the splicer into the "network" button on the analog switcher so if network is on the air, we are taking the HD link no matter what FOX is sending us.

Time Warner Cable runs there RG6 underground all the time. I run it also but I make sure I use a grounding block. It is a female to female connecter that has a place to screw in a ground wire. If you are in the area of lexington, nc, stop by, I will give you a grounding block and a grounding wire, I have several in the shed.

I have a Dish Network 811 receiver and was wondering if anyone else with this receiver was having issue with WFMY2's digital station. It was flickering in and out very bad this evening and it's not a signal issue because I always get 90-95% on this channel.

Excellent. Thanks for the info.

I got the antenna (4228) today and tried it out in the attic. Basically i just leaned it against the main beams going down the middle of the house, and pointed it toward the nw.

I'm getting a reception on 2 (cbs) and 45 (abc) digitals, as well as some 4 (pbs) stations.

Unfortunately, I'm still not picking up 8 (fox) or 12 (nbc). Of course, that doesn't surprise me considering I didn't really aim the antenna yet, and it's up in the attic.

I ran the coax cable down the same hole I drilled for my cat 5e ethernet network. Will having the same cables going down the wall together cause any interference (reception loss)?

Also, would a pre-amp help with reception on the stations I'm not receiving at all?

It sure would be nice to be able to keep the antenna in the attic. No fights with the wife on location.

BTW - if these questions are off-topic, please let me know a more appropriate thread.

Thanks again!!

It should be fine.


If you want to use the preamp to pull in stations in the direction that the antenna is not pointed in, the answer is no.

No, this is the correct thread for those questions or any questions dealing with local digital issues.

Where are some local places to purchase the OTA antennas other than Radio Shack. Also, what online sites are you guys using to get your OTA antennas and equipment?

Thanks! I just ordered my HDMI cable for my projector. Can't wait until next week, finally I will have HD!!!!

Per suggestions here, I purchased my 4228 Channel Master from Dow Electronics www.dowelectronics.com (Greensboro).

Everything else I got from Radio Shack and Lowes. (rotator, wiring, mast, etc).

Let me know what you think of the cable. I ordered one from there and received it quick. Shockingly, the DirecTV receiver I got for HD came with a HDMI cable, so I haven't used the one I ordered yet.

Yeah, it's sort of like being a kid at Christmas again. Couldn't wait for the DTV guy to come out and install the HD last weekend. Now if I could just get my OTA HD set up, I'll be ready to sit down and watch something.

Thanks for the info. I quickly realized that I'm never going to be satisfied until I get the antenna outside and see what it can really do, so I took it down from the attic, and went to Lowes and RS to get everything I need (and spent a fortune btw!)

Just for kicks, I propped the antenna up outside to see what I could get. Best I could do was CBS, ABC, PBS (from Chapel Hill - 4), and 48. Still couldn't get the prize - channel 8, nor UPN, NBC, etc.

Hopefully when I mount it up on the roof of the storage building, that'll help.

I purchased the Channel Master rotator (thanks for the suggestion), and bought a tripod mount from RS. I'm hoping to get it mounted up there soon (weekend maybe).

Curious as to why I could get those other channels but not 8, as that's the closest to where I live, and should be in the same direction as 2...

Does height make a lot of difference with reception?

As noted in previous posts, you'll need a preamp if you plan to get 8. Also, it's strange that you can't get NBC as WXII has pretty good penetration in the Triad market. I get NBC with no problem from an indoor set top antenna in Greensboro. I'll bet a preamp would do the trick though. BTW, FOXENG will verify that you should have no problem picking them up after they go full power.

Yeah, guess I might need the 777 preamp. I was hoping I wouldn't need it for 8, as I'm only about 15 miles away.

Oh well. Looks like I can pick up a preamp online for around $50. Could be worse I guess.

It also depends on what you are looking through as well. When we power up in a month or so you shouldn't have a problem at all.

FWIW, I noticed last night that TWC was testing the mystery channels in the 900's and 1000's. It appeared that they were testing digital (non-HD) versions of many of the analog channels (i.e. Weather Channel, ESPN2, WXLV, etc.) I watched the UNC-St. Louis b'ball game on the experimental ESPN2 channel, and it looked and sounded much better than the analog channel 16 that ESPN2 is on.

From Experience, TW will have to do something with their analog channels. They simply can not stand next to Sattelite.

I received my Dish 942 HD DVR yesterday, but the UPS guy put it outside hidden behind my garbage can and my wife forgot he came by.

You could imagine my frustration this morning to learn that it was outside all night. I hope the cold didn't do anything to it, I'm pretty sure it's ok.

S*cks to wait until next week to get it hooked up.

First of all, I'm a new member and have been reading your posts a few weeks now and decided to join today. Anyway, I currently have 3 antennas in my attic all combined together with a splitter reversed and get everything great (except Fox, I only get that some of the time). I have a Winegard Sensar outside that can get Fox 8.1 with no problems. It's attached to a switch so I can switch between my attic setup and my Winegard. I live in southern Forsyth county near the Davidson line just to let you know where I am. Here's my question... I was playing around with my amplified Sensar (Batwing-looking) antenna just to see if I could get any Charlotte stations. When I first started playing with it, I got the usual 2, 12, 45 but no Charlotte channels. I got the signal meter to jump a little on 3, 9, and 18, but nothing would lock. I didn't play with it any more until I went to bed around 11:00 yesterday evening. I figured what the heck, let's see if I can get anything, and what do you know, 3-1 and 9-1 came in at about 60-70% signal strength. I checked it again this morning and they are gone again. Why is it the stations came in late at night, but I couldn't get them any other time?

Thanks,
-Chad

I am inquiring on behalf of my parents, as my mom is trying to purchase a new TV for my dad for Christmas. They currently have analog TWC. If they purchase a TV with a cable card slot, will they still have to upgrade their subscription to digital cable? I know they will have to pay ~$2 a month to rent the cable card, but I'm not sure they want to pay $10-15 more per month for digital channels they won't watch.

My dad will probably want to get the HD pack of channels ($5-6 per month?), but is there any way to keep their analog subscription, get the cable card and still get the HD pack channels on the TV?

Figured I would ask here, as it appears with TWC you get a different answer every time you call. Thanks for any help.

Quote:

Question about OTA reception...

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

First of all, I'm a new member and have been reading your posts a few weeks now and decided to join today. Anyway, I currently have 3 antennas in my attic all combined together with a splitter reversed and get everything great (except Fox, I only get that some of the time). I have a Winegard Sensar outside that can get Fox 8.1 with no problems. It's attached to a switch so I can switch between my attic setup and my Winegard. I live in southern Forsyth county near the Davidson line just to let you know where I am. Here's my question... I was playing around with my amplified Sensar (Batwing-looking) antenna just to see if I could get any Charlotte stations. When I first started playing with it, I got the usual 2, 12, 45 but no Charlotte channels. I got the signal meter to jump a little on 3, 9, and 18, but nothing would lock. I didn't play with it any more until I went to bed around 11:00 yesterday evening. I figured what the heck, let's see if I can get anything, and what do you know, 3-1 and 9-1 came in at about 60-70% signal strength. I checked it again this morning and they are gone again. Why is it the stations came in late at night, but I couldn't get them any other time?

Thanks,
-Chad






Easy....Less interference...No Sunspot acvtivity. You will see the same in am/fm reception.

We'll I'll be. That's all there is to it. I've pondered that question for about a year now but never asked. Thanks for the info. I know this is a Triad forum, but does anybody know if any of the Charlotte channels are running at reduced power? If so, which ones? I'm into getting all I can get with this whole HD thing...

Thanks,
Chad

Not quite that simple. Differing atmospheric conditions "bend" signals, sometimes to your advantage, sometimes to your disadvantage, occasionally causing freak long distance reception. Local weather, leaves blowing on trees, even where your next door neighbor parks his SUV, will cause variations of received signal strength and quality. TV reception is as much art as science, and results can never be fully predited. and are constantly changing. Cable is a more consistant signal source if available, not always better, but more consistant.

You guys may not believe this but last fall when I got my Samsung SIR-TS360 HD receiver, I had one of those crappy Terk clip-on antennas attached to my dish. Anyway, I was able to get Fox 18-1, and CBS 3-1 out of Charlotte with that thing! I would have never believed it had I not seen it. As of last night, I'm lucky to get 30% signal strength from 18-1 with my Winegard. Any idea what time of year is good for "sunspot activity" and what time of year is bad? It seems like we're in a time period where it affects signal strength considerably.

About the sunspot activity, early to mid Oct. last year saw extremely few sunspots for the USA.

If you would like to read on sunspots and see actual calendars with qty mappings of sunspots, follow some of these links:

1. Nasa site: http://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/sunspots.htm

2. NOAA site on Sunspots: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/SSN/ssn.html

3. links to charts/graphs that show actual numbers of sunspots by geographic region plotted by year/month/days http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/f...potnumber.html

4. plotted calendar for USA 2004: ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DA...N_NUMBERS/2004

Well.............. that isn't quite right.

The sunspots run in 11 year cycles that do enhance radio signals and can also degrade signals and disrupt the power grid and other nasty things. We are actually moving through a low in the cycle now.

The summer and winter yearly enhancement is caused by atmospheric changes from cold to hot and hot to cold. When you have radically different day and night temperatures, it sets up what is called tropospheric ducting. Imagine a heating duct in the sky where you have a layer of warm air, a layer of cold air and then another layer of warm air, like a duct. Radio waves get trapped in this duct and can be transported many miles, up to a 1000 miles on ocassion and then drop out of the duct when a hold develops in the bottom layer.

There is also a phemomena called Sporadic E that is triggered by the sun and the weather affects it also. That is also a yearly event with the maximum effect in June, July and August and a milder "season" in the month of December.

Tropo is basically short distances of several hundred miles and Sporadic E averages around 1500 miles on a single hop but on rare occassions, you can get double hops out to 3000 miles.

Here is a URL of a site in Lexington, Ky of a guy who DX's (or distance listens) for FM and TV signals. He has screen caps of analog and DTV stations he has received at his home in Lexington, Ky. For about a year he held the DTV DX distance record of about 110 miles. Interesting stuff. http://www.dxfm.com

I'm not sure what is not quite right. I am no sunspot expert, that is for sure, in fact, I know nothing about them. I was not trying to give reasons as to the reception of signal last fall.

I simply made an observation that during the dates of Oct. 8 - 15 last year there was apparently little sunspot activity according to the chart at the URL below. If I am reading the chart right and understanding the chart right, then that was actually the least amount of activity all year last year.

Did I read it wrong or misunderstand,?

ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DA...N_NUMBERS/2004

Thanks in advance, just wanted to make sure so I didn't do it again.

I appreciate it. The guy in Lexington, KY is taking DTV to a whole new level isn't he? Quite impressive! Once Fox 8-1 is full power, I'll be a happy man, that's for sure. It sounds like it won't be long before it's up and running at full strength.

You can have sunspot activity at anytime. But the sun produces more sunspots in an 11 year cycle and we are in the lower output of the cycle. That doesn't mean that there are no sunspots, it just means that the number and intensity of the sunspots are much lower than the highs of the cycle. When we are at the high point, you get much more consistent DX stations than when there is a low in the cycle.

Check out http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/ for the current solar update from Tad Cook, K7RA. He has all of the numbers and also predicts trends and recaps recent history of all major frequency ranges.

To say that we are busting hump to get it up at full power would be an understatement! But it looks like everything is coming together at the right time and we are on schedule for middle to late next month. We are just waiting for one final piece of paper from the FCC to give us the actual permission to energize the antenna and we expect that any day now. We get that and it should be smooth sailing to completion next month.

TWC cable is Greensboro is broadcasting Digital SD on the new 900 series channels. There is no IPG guide info and the DVR recording does not work yet.

Also, press the yellow triangle button "A" on a channel and a new pop-up menu shows up.