Omaha / Lincoln, NE - HDTV - Page 28

Eyedox,

KETV-DT is currently at 2.7% licensed power. (Not a chance for Pender)

KETV-DT at the end of June, or first part of July (this year) will be at 50% licensed power. If you look at post 804, there is a coverage map at 350Kw ERP, and it looks like the signal spills into Pender.

At this moment in time the planning for KETV-DT is to be at 100% power mid year 2004.

It's amazing how well these signals are getting out. "full" power almost seems like overkill. Although I suppose the guy in a basement with a small antenna on the fringe of the coverage area would beg to differ.

WOWT is running 3.2% of its allocated power. The time frame for increased power is related to the repair of our transmission line. Hopefully I will have more information sometime in June.

Jay Nix
Chief Engineer
WOWT-Omaha

Good news for people out west near Grand Island. CBS Ch. 11 KGIN-DT plans to launch HD May 26th, with KOLN-DT in the next couple months. My understanding is pretty full power, so they should have good coverage.

Just FYI.

S.K.

We fired up the other IOT cabinet today. After a thorough check-out, we put it on line with the other side. We eased back on the combined power a bit to see how it does overnight.

As of 6:30pm this evening, KMTV-DT began transmitting at the 500 kW ERP level.

(I never knew that the disc in an OPPD power meter could move that fast!)

Mike, what do you figure your range to be to the West?

Do you have a similar coverage map to that of KETV'S that Warrne posted a while back.

Thanks, S.K.

Thanks for the update Steve.

In other central Nebraska news ABC KHGI DT 36 in Kearney came on the air this evening. They are sending out a digitized analog 480i signal similar to KLKN. Picture is a little better mainly due to a lack of ghosting. I spoke with the engineer yesterday and he told me KHGI DT would be coming on today and FOX KTVG DT 19 would be turned on on Wednesday. They also turned on ABC KWNB DT 18 in Hayes Center on Monday. No definite plans for upgrading to 720p on the ABC affiliates plus all these are low power. Sounds like KGIN DT 32 will be the last in the Tri City area but it should be worth waiting for.

Prior to this power increase watching KMTV during daylight hours, especially twilight was a trying experience. I was getting very frequent dropouts, to the point where I didn't bother watch your DTV station until after sunset...

Yesterday and today: No dropouts at all, daylight or not!

Just want to let you know that your increase in power provided a recognizable benefit to someone.

Received this from ABC:

Please be advised that NBA Playoffs On ABC (Game #2 Eastern Conference Final) scheduled on Thursday, May 22, 2003 in the 8:00 - 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 - 8:00 PM-PT time period as well as the NBA Finals On ABC scheduled on June 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 18, 2003 in the 8:00 - 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 - 8:00 PM-PT time period will be broadcast in HDTV/5.1 Audio.

This afternoon we went up to 700kW ERP.

After addressing some issues with one of the IOT's, we re-proofed the transmitter for 700kW ERP. We were pleasantly surprised, however, that the transmitter would easily run at the 800 kW level, and well in specs. Since we recently received our new STA (special temporary authorization) to run at 700kW, we will stay there.

I will try to find the pridicted coverage maps and get them posted.

Tyler, where in Nebraska do you live? I am curious how far away and in what type of terrain do you live?

Just a quick update to the antenna replacement project.

The dual band antenna is finished, and has been moved to temporary storage.

Tower crew will show up the end of next week, they will prepare to take delivery of the dual band antenna on June 4th, one oversized truck which can only travel during daylight hours, and only Monday - Friday.

I have been working with the web team, they will come up with a page on the omahachannel.com website which we will post pictures and updates as this project moves forward. More to come on this.

Do not have the exact date which I will start broadcasting on the aux transmitter at the studio site for analog, but at this time, the plan is to still continue the DTV broadcast from the main transmitter site for the duration of this project, toward the end, we will switch the DTV transmitter to the new antenna once we re-proof the transmitter at the higher power level.

Project is still estimated at 4 weeks, pending weather delays. This would put it at the end of June, or first part of July for completion.

I live in Blair, so my problem wasn't distance but obstructing terrain. The hills on the south edge of Blair present a bit of a problem for low power signals...

Attached is the coverage map for KMTV-DT at 700 kW ERP.

Blue line = 100 mi radius.

Thanks Mike.

Any word on KOLN-Dt 25? The 26th has been here and gone.

gpflepsen, check this out about KOLN...

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs...ibit_id=125241

Hopefully about mid-june.

Thanks!

What a PITA for KOLN.

dcad Thanks for the info.

Their Sister Station KGIN-DT 32 in Grand Island came on board by May 26th but as you can read in the previous post it could be mid June, but Ch. 10 announced in a news broadcast last week that it could be a couple months. So time will tell. Hopefully soon. An interesting note on Ch. 32, they are stretching 4x3 programming at the station and sending it out 1080i stretched and a little cropping of the top. I can only assume Ch 25 (KOLN) will do the same, but we'll see.

S.K.

Steve, stretching the picture really bothers me. PBS 40 does a zoom which crops the top and bottom. I'd just as soon have the original 4x3 with side bars. Those with HDTVs susceptible to burn-in can zoom it on their own. I don't want it done for me because in this case, I'd prefer it not zoomed.

I hope KOLN DT won't distort the picture.

I aggree with you, however, most 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen HD Sets won't let you zoom, stretch, etc if the Signal is 1080i. That has been addressed going forward by most brands, but it is still an issue. Thats why set top boxes can be benificial to do the stretching for you.

But I aggree with you, I hope Ch. 10 sends it out w/ Bars on the side.

My Zenith 420 STB will allow stretching or pillarboxing only on SDTV signals. When 26 in Omaha is operating in multicast mode I have this option. 1080i must be displayed as it was broadcast.
I would suggest to the folks at NETV that if you are not broadcasting HDTV material in its native resolution then don't upconvert when broadcasting only one channel.
Frankly the zoomed video is unwatchable on my 57" set. Recently I was looking forward to a Nature documentary about life on the WWII wreckage in the Pacific. I figured that this would look fantastic in HDTV.
The show looked better in analog form on my 12 year old 27" set than the upconverted signal did on a brand new 57" Sony.
Is PBS making any of this programming availiable in HDTV? If so is NETV passing any of it through as such?
This should not be interpeted as a jab at NETV. I just can't recall seeing any HDTV programming on their air as yet.

It's my impression that NETV could be passing more HD than they do. Check out this
Web Page to see the National PBS HD feed. I would love to see Tracks Ahead, Chefs A' Field and Smart Travels: Europe.

Also, I wish they would stop using 12-05 for the HD channel. Why can't they just broadcast it on 12-01? It wrecks havoc with my tuner when subchannels aren't there after it is programmed to think it is there.

I have sent them e-mails before with these points but haven't heard a reply. Am I alone in my thinking?

We have added a link on our home page www.theomahachannel.com (under "Coming up on KETV 7") which I will post updates to our progress as we replace our main antenna. The link is "KETV Installs New Broadcast Antenna"

I will be adding pictures to this area as well.

We just finished installing our new Miranda HDTV-Upconverter. This replaces the three year old unit that was purchased for our cable project. Hard to believe that we have been feeding Cox HDTV for over three years now.

The Miranda looks a lot better than the Sony on both cable and OTA. Technology has come a long way in the last few years.

Hello everyone! I'm setting up my father's new HDTV and I was wondering if anyone in the dundee/fieldclub (52nd and Dodge) area of Omaha has had any experiences with indoor antennas. Or any experiences with OTA HDTV in the area at all for that matter.

We were going to go with Cox for service but with them charging $500 for a hd box (thats not going to be available for 1.5 months), I'm thinking OTA is a much better equipment investment. I'd like to get it hooked up so that we can watch the NBA finals in HD, we'll see if I can arrange it that quickly...

Great to see such a wonderful HDTV resource for my home town on the web.

In Dundee signal strength will not be a problem but multipath may cause you some grief.
If you can get a strong , ghost free. signal over the air on your analog set at your location you should be OK with digital.
Make sure you buy your OTA box from a retailer with a solid return policy and jump in.
WOWT, KETV and KMTV look really good in HDTV and the nice thing about them is that their transmitters are grouped so closely that once you have one tuned in all of them will be fine.

Guess I have never noticed any audio problems with Wowt-dt or any of the rest of the dt's. I am using the same dish 6000 setup as you are I would guess. I live about 40 miles southwest of Omaha.

Received this from ABC as I noticed the games were not in DD 5.1.

Superceding in part previous advice, Stanley Cup Finals on ABC Presented by Nextel scheduled on May 31, June 2, 5, 7, and 9, 2003 in the 8:00 - 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 - 8:00 PM-PT time period as well as the NBA Finals On ABC scheduled on June 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 18, 2003 in the 8:00 - 11:00 PM-NYT/5:00 - 8:00 PM-PT time period will be broadcast in HDTV/Stereo Audio and not, HDTV/5.1 audio as originally advised.

My tower crew has arrived as we were planning on starting the antenna replacement project this month. It is raining, so we are in a "rain-delay" mode currently.