Portland, OR - HDTV - Page 285

Is there any way to get 11.1 and 11.2 where ThisTV channel is now or at least it appears to be ThisTV? It was on Channel 2.2 but that has changed to METV. I have a roof top antenna about 25+ feet high near 122nd and Stark. Thank You

P.S. I just learned that 32.3 is now Thistv. We have a new channel
Edited by warnerwh - 6/26/12 at 6:58pm

Yes, the long dark and former home of Universal Sports, 32.3, is now ThisTV, home of frustratingly poor PQ and never a movie that can't be cropped to 4:3. The former channel for ThisTV, 2.2, is now MeTV, which appears to be similar to 32.2 Antenna TV and 27.2 Retro TV in that it shows old TV series. The PQ I thought was really good, however, though I only caught a bit of Lost In Space before heading off to bed. Cool stuff as I can take a little nostalgia trip on a variety of channels now.

That's why I can't stand to watch movies on these subchannels. We've been able to see them in their OARs since they were released on DVD in the 1990's and some were even available letterboxed on Laser Disc years before that, yet these stations think we want to watch old VHS videotapes. No thanks, I got rid of my old Quasar TV many years ago.

Been noting good signal/reception in the calm of summer, the cool, cloudy ams have seen the weak KWVT/RTV peaking at an 82-83 and steady low-mid 70's signal mostly...rarely at other times lower, their last slight power boost was a genuine help in signal capture. Rains and wind of winter will tell if it holds! But, an attic mounted Weingard 1080 fits in the small space and "almost" LOS to the towers (over hills, through some trees at a distance and PDX airport) at 15-17 miles it works great! (BEst Signal is KRCW which often peaks at 100 and stady 98-100 signal also), The VHF's of KGW, OPB and KPTV are also doing great!
Edited by JeffinWesternWA - 7/16/12 at 9:57pm

Has anyone figured out why Azteca TV isn't showing any guide data for OTA Tivos?

RetroTV (27-2) has the same problem. In Portland, virtual channels 17-2, 27-2 and 37-2 are broadcast over the air on RF channel 49, but Tivo's lineup was assigning the wrong RF channels to them.

I reported this to Tivo and got them to fix 17-2, but they told me the other two were correct according to the TV station. Using the FCC's TV Query tool and the stations' websites, I found that three low-power transmitters are simulcasting these virtual channels.

Transmitters:
KWVT-LD, Portland (RF 49, 14.2 kW)
KSLM-LD, Dallas (RF 27, 15 kW)
K38KU-D, Albany (RF 38, 2.83 kW)

Virtual channels:
Willamette Valley TV, KWVT (17-1 or 17-2)
RetroTV, KSLM (27-1 or 27-2)
Azteca (37-1 or 37-2)

Assigning RetroTV and Azteca to their primary RF channels isn't necessarily wrong, but it doesn't help those who receive the simulcasts. If Tivo can provide duplicate listings for the simulcasts, I think it would fix the problem.

It might help if others reported the problem. You can use the following link to report a lineup issue:
http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/contactsupport/lineup_tool.html

I've sent in a lineup fix form twice, to no avail

Maybe you'd get better results if you ask KWVT to contact Tivo directly and straighten out the mess.  You can contact Lewetag via the KWVT facebook page "KWVT Television" or thru the 'contact' link on KWVTSalem.com

 

AFIK, the original plan for the Portland area was for sister stations  KSLM, KWVT, and KPWC to broadcast the content of all three in their respective planned locations:  Salem, Portland, and Tillamook --> moving to  "Forest Grove" but physically Chehalem Mt/Newberg.  It appears that KPWC may be transmitting again in Tillamook, on RF4 at very low power, but I've seen no official update on the plan for Forest Grove.  KPWC - Forest Grove was listed as virtual 5.x and RF24.  The project list is running a couple years behind, and KPWC was at the very bottom of the list.  www.rabbitears.info has these RF subchannels:

 

KWVT Portland

 

Virtual     Physical

17.2         49.3  - KWVT

27.2         49.4  - KSLM (RTV) Salem sister station

37.2         49.5  - KPWC (Azteca) Tillamook

 

 

KSLM Salem

 

Virtual     Physical

17.1         27.3   - KWVT

27.1         27.4   - KSLM

37.1         27.5   - KPWC

 

IIRC, when KSLM started transmitting KPWC, it appeared as 5.1 very briefly, then became 37.1.

Hi all, a question on OTA HD reception in Lake Oswego. I'm not sure if I have an antenna problem or a tuner(s) problem... hoping someone here has some insight. I have a pair of 6 to 7 year old Sharp Aquos LCD TV's, specifically LC-32D43U and LC-37D43U. I recently got a Mohu Leaf antenna. I've got the Leaf in my attic, oriented with the "flat" pointing north, with a pretty short run thru a splitter to the TV's. The problem is that the TV's will only tune the Hi-V channels (8.1-3, 10.1-3, and 12.1) but none of the UHF channels (2.1, 6.1, 22.1, 24.1, 32.1, 49.1). Reception is perfect on the Hi-V's, almost maxed-out signal strength per both TV's meters, but no response at all for the UHF's. All these channels are broadcast virtually straight due north of my house; here's the TV Fool report: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d2df9c1b457ff1a.

The strange thing is that the Leaf should perform *better* for the UHF channels than the Hi-V channels, but I get exactly the opposite results. This makes me suspect a tuner bug in the Sharps... perhaps they're too old, and unable to tune both Hi-V and UHF during their autoscan?? I know that makes no sense, but I'm otherwise at a loss to explain. Doesn't seem like I should need an amplifier but that'll probably be my next attempt.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

First thought...are your tuners set to broadcast ota or cable before running your scans.

Broadcast OTA definitely, because they easily tune in the Hi-V's, just not the UHF's.

maestro-pdx - Did you try your Leaf hookup before you put it in the attic? Do you have another antenna you can temporarily attach to each TV to test your tuner theory? I have a silver sensor you can borrow. PM me if you wish - I'm on Bull Mtn.

Hi ridgefamus, thanks for the offer. I may take you up on that. I did try the Leaf hooked up to one of the TV's direct before putting in the attic, got the same results. Which was also surprising since the TV's are on the first floor of the house so elevation was 10-15' lower than the attic. Previously to the Leaf, I was using a Winegard GS-1100 which pulled in 12.1 and 10.1 thru 10.3 but nothing else. So the Leaf is definitely an improvement by pulling in 8.1 thru 8.3. It's the fact that neither antenna helped either TV tune in any UHF channels at all that makes me suspect a problem with the TV's instead of the antennas (assuming that Sharp used the same tuner in the 32" and 37" models). I wonder if there's an external digital tuner I could, like the ones that were supposed to be available to help across the analog-to-digital conversion.

Your tuner could be set to Cable, instead of Broadcast ota, and still receive low (2-6) and high (7-13) VHF channels. They are the same as in cable frequencies. Cable then uses different frequencies from those on broadcast ota for UHF. So a tuner set to cable would pass the VHF channels, but block the broadcast ota rf channels 14-69.

Hey guys. I just ditched Comcast and bought an ota HDTV receiver. I get channels 2.1, 2.2, 6.1, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.4, 24.5, 26.1,32.1, 32.2, and 32.3.

I live in Goose Hollow so I didn't think reception would be an issue. If there any reason I pick up CBS and ABC crystal clear but my TV doesn't pick up Fox or NBC? I'm trying to watch the world series tonight. Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

The key to any ota reception is the antenna system. You didn't mention what your antenna brand and model happens to be. Your reception might suggest that you need a hi-VHF antenna in addition to any thing you currently are using. Your NBC and FOX affiliates broadcast on rf hi-VHF while they display to 8 and 12 respectively.

Do you have a combo VHF/UHF antenna or just UHF?   NBC, OPB, and FOX are VHF, everything else transmits on UHF frequency.  

Urgh...This is my antenna:

http://www.amazon.com/SuperSonic-HDTV-Digital-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B003IN0GRI

Looks like it's only UHF, but not sure. Then looking at the channels broadcasting in my area:

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/ (zip code 97201)

PBS, FOX, NBC are the only ones broadcasting in Hi-V, like you said...And those are the only notable ones I don't receive. Apparently, I didn't do my due diligence and I simply took the reviews on Amazon as a good to go purchase. Guess I'll be writing a review letting people know. The UHF channels come in great though. Thanks guys.

I have not been able to get a usable signal on channel 49 (KPDX) for over a year now. I live in Oak Grove (S. of Milwaukie). My antenna is a Winegard that is UHF and VHF. Any suggestions?

You might try an antenna Costco is carrying called the Winegard Flatwave its the FL-5000C model (I think the C is just for Costco) I honestly was not expecting much but decided to try it anyway due to the price and return policy and I was frankly floored to find I get every single channel crystal clear. 49 sometimes has some minor artifacts for a few seconds but every other local channel including CW comes in perfect and I just have it hanging in my window off an extra 15 foot (for a total of 30 feet) cable extension. I am located on the west side of Beaverton so might have a bit better LOS to the antennas on the hill. Anyhow that Antenna is Hi-V and UHF. I liked it so much I bought a 2nd.

My Comcast bill goes up $50 this month due to my special ending and I'm probably going to cancel unless I can convince them to keep my rates near what I pay for internet like it is now. I will miss a few shows like Walking Dead and Burn Notice though and need to find another way to get them.

KPDX rerun two episodes of Burn Notice every week although the picture quality is shockingly bad.

blockssss, I can get the VHF stations with my homemade UHF antennas, but it works better with some height and with the antenna nearby so I can tweak it.  With multipath, I get the best UHF signal mis-aimed, but VHF is very fussy about being directly aimed to the towers.

 

I picked up a refurbished amplified Mohu leaf for my new office computer, which has a built in tv tuner.  The nice thing about the Mohu is I can put it on the wall much higher than I could easily do with a bulky indoor antenna.  It is not aimed directly, but I get two more stations than I get anywhere else, by aiming through a hole in the neighbor's trees, and even though it's not a direct aim, the height helps pull i n the VHF fine, and it's high enough to avoid traffic interference.  Not that you'd want an amplified antenna, I'm about 15 miles out, and even though that's supposed to be close for amplified, it does help in my situation.

Interesting, but that's not the problem. I double-checked the TV's and both were set to tune Air, not Cable. Even so, I tried setting one of them to Cable and did a re-scan. It did find a couple Hi-V channels but not as many as when set to Air. Setting back to Air and scanning again restored the same Hi-V-only set, 8.x + 10.x + 12.1.

FWIW, I have since exonerated the TV's. I picked up a KCPI external digital tuner and a cheap but brand-new 19" TV at a local blue+yellow store. Both devices tuned exactly the same Hi-V-but-no-UHF channels with the Leaf, and the same fewer channels with the Winegard. So, I'm chalking the issue up to big bushy trees in my north-looking line-of-sight, and will try an amplified antenna.

Noticed 22.4 is now an "IonLife" channel but, the programming is diferent than IonLife which has been broadcast on 22.3? Anybody shed any light in this? What else do we know about any "new" OTA channels that may be upcoming, or changes to existing channels in the PDX broadcast area? Thanx...

22.4 Station ID is labeled "ISHOP"  - time will tell.  The resolution is bad.  They may be running an alternate version of Life while they tweak A/V.  When I was looking to see if there was ION news about the channel, I saw a couple references to the possibility that they are running two different feeds of Life at the moment, East and West Coast feeds airing in areas where they've added ISHOP. 

 

I suppose adding ISHOP means ION has scratched the original plan to make ION Life a second HD channel.

KGW has dropped the 24/7 news and replaced it with the LiveWell network. I also notice on their listings they have NWCN but with no channel number. Could 8.4 be coming for NWCN over the air? Boise carries it on 7.3.
Edited by jbpdx - 12/3/12 at 11:21am

I hope they don't introduce another channel 8.4 because they only have so much bandwidth and it is shared by all of KGW's channels. So the quality of 8.1 will drop even more if that happens. I would prefer they drop all their extra channels an just go with 8.1.

Amen, Brother!

What analog stations are available in metro PDX? galfriend has a small 13" tv thats not digital, she's bilingual - so I'm hoping a few other than CW on VHF ch 5?

Whos in the know? She's in SW Portland just off of Barber, hope to find a cheapie rabbit ears w UHF loop antenna that will work..

?? thx

TVFool.com shows a handful of analog, but CH 5 is the only one watchable for me.  You friend would have so much more choice with a converter box.  If money is an issue, maybe you could help her test a couple at the Thrift shop.  They can't be too expensive used, most people paid ~$10 for them, and by now many have converted at least one TV to HD.  Or new, Amazon's best seller (Zinwell Zat970A) is $45.   The Zat is one of two CECBs that had timers -- to schedule when to turn on the converter box and change to the right channel so VCR could record.  That's what I used until I went digital.