Portland, OR - HDTV - Page 286

What's the NEW channel on 22.4?I(it was a simulcast of 22.3 IONLIFE but, has changed to something else...)

Anything else changing coming to PDX area OTA Tv in 2013?

anybody seen 49.1 (KPDX) lately, my tuner has it off air for a few days??

Whats the deal with 22.4??

Inquiring minds...

49.1 is on air. 

rescanned and 49.1 is back, and another spanish channel I see,....so: what's 22.4? Independent, IONLIFE, something else??

I suppose 22.4 is how PSIP now lists it:  ShopTV.   Lots of paid programming, and a bit of ION Life duplication. If they vary from that, I'll never know. 

I just switched to receiving HDTV using a HD Blade indoor antenna. I have the antenna connected using approximately 3 feet of coax to my VCR. The VCR is connected to my HDTV.

The HDTV, VCR and Antenna are inside a wooden built-in. I'm located in the West Hills approximately 2 miles from the KOIN/KATU tower.

I get excellent reception on all the local channels including KOIN & KATU.

Unfortunately, I cannot receive KOIN and KATU at the same time. I've experimented with numerous antenna orientation/positions inside the built-in, but have not been able to receive KOIN & KATU with the same antenna placement.

Looking for advice.

First advice is bypass the VCR. You won't get true HD from the HD channels (usually -1, but there are sometimes HD -2 channels, too) with a VCR...

You're in a tough location (believe it or not) being so close to the towers. KOIN and KATU are on separate towers so they're in significantly different directions at your location. The HD Blade may just be too directional to work there.

@ejb1980. Thanks, I do get the - (dash) channels with the connection through the VCR. Ex: 8-1, 8-2 & 8-3 here in Portland.


@scowl. Thanks, I was under the impression that KATU & KOIN use the same tower based on Lee Wood's first post in this thread "Operating at full power (1,000 kW) from the Sylvan Site shared omnidirectional antenna (KATU, KOIN and KRCW all use the same transmitting antenna)".

The FCC HDTV map for my location also shows both KOIN & KATU along the same directional angle.

Is it possible to use two antennae and combine their output?

Yes, you'll get them with the connection... but when you watch anything through the VCR, it is not really HD.

Shoot, you're right. Both KATU and KOIN are UHF on the same tower at the same power. It's a mystery why you can't get both but I've just used simple Yagi's and rabbit ears for antennas. I don't know what your fancy antenna is doing.

I think AntNewbie is just passing the RF signal through the VCR. I don't think you need to tell anyone that VCR's aren't HD these days.

]A quick look on RabbitEars.Info indicates that KOIN (RF ch. 40), KATU (RF ch. 43), KCRW (RF ch. 33) and KTMT (RF ch. 45) all are transmitted from the same antenna on the same tower.

Even then, because of the frequency variation, there will be some variation in signal strength at a given location. Plus, any multipath to your antenna will be highly frequency selective and can cause the problem.

The first thing I would try is to put another length of cable (6' or longer) between the antenna and the set. Many sets kick out some EMI that could be desensing the set's input. In addition, the extra cable length will give you more options as to where the antenna can be placed; higher is better. You will need a stort type-F cable and a type-F barrel (i.e. femal to female adapter).

AntNewbie, I agree that you may ultimately have to move your antenna out of the built-in to find the best position for it.

With as close as you are to the towers, and depending on how well the tuner in your TV deals with a "hot" signal, you could try an inline RF attenuator.
With digital, too strong of a signal can give you issues too, more is not necessarily better in this case.

Thank you to every one for your responses.

It took a while, but I have a setup that seems to work within the built in. It required laying the antenna flat on the TV base and placing one corner of the antenna on the TV base stand causing the antenna corner to warp. Not sure why I had to do this, but I'm guessing its due to the multipath mentioned by LinleyG. Weakest channel (2-1) is at 52% strength, strongest (12-1) is at 90% strength.

Here are the results of the various suggestions.

1) Antenna outside Built in with 3 ft type-F cable. No position worked for all channels (including warping the antenna edge)
2) Antenna outside built in with 8 ft type-F cable. Same results as above. I placed the antenna as high as the cable length would allow.

Has anyone had problems with audio from CW (channel 32)? I have been getting pops and crackles using OTA signal through my TV. It isn't on all shows, but was very bad with Nikita about week and half ago. It got so bad that beside the loud pops. I had dropouts for a ew seconds periodically.

I also receive this station via DISH, and I recorded the same broadcast and surprisingly they ahd the same issue.

I've gotten this on some other CW shows, but this was the worse occurence.

Thanks
rick

I've had a few pops and dropouts from CW in the last few weeks, but nothing that got me upset. I get it over the cable.

Yes! seems 32.2 seems the worst of the "32's", I get 'em so bad my Toshiba actually mutes the volume..amd I have to change to another channel or turn the set offf/on so the volume comes back on, thought it was the tv but, only happens on channels "32".....

I have a Vizio, and the last time I watched one of the shows, it also muted sound until I switched channels and then went back. My wife was ready to quite watching and go watch it on the computer. On the other hand, it doesnt seem to happen ALL the time. I watched a different show (Arrow I think) and it didn't happen even once. I'm going to try to pay more attention to see if I can find a pattern.

Thanks for reply, I'm glad it's not just my equipment.

Thanks
rick

Is TVGOS gone in Portland?

I have been using Tivo for a while which has its own guide, but it died and now I've come back to the TV with TVGOS 9 and found out that the last time TVGOS was loaded successfully was in July 2012.

Is anybody still able to use TVGOS OTA in Portland?

TVGOS is ending everywhere - it is in the process of being shut down, with completion scheduled for next month.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1440486/tvgos-broadcasting-ends-beginning-november-1-2012-and-be-completed-by-april-2013

I had TVGOS on my Toshiba RPCRT, but I lost it when Analog to Digital conversion happened. the TV handled DTS fine, but it wasn't able to find TVGOS data.

I'm sorry to see it disappearing for everything now though.

rick

Rovi cut TVGoS in Portland on 1/21/13.  KOIN increased their own PSIP data to a week (which was wonderful!), and asked other stations to do the same.  A couple stations have extended PSIP length, but if you use PSIP on TV or DVR, make your voice heard.  A couple stations thought nobody used PSIP anymore. 

Edited by TalkingRat - 3/7/13 at 12:14pm

Thanks for the replies. That's what I suspected. Oh well...

I should have said Rovi cut TVGoS transmitted over the air, they now support only internet-connected TVGoS.  The trouble with premature obsolescence is that customers have long memories. 

Continuing the issue of pops and audio dropouts on KRCW - 32.1 :

So far I'm getting them on Nikita and Cult. DIdin't have any at all on Arrow.

These occur whether I'm using an outdoor antenna connected directly to TV, or viewing it using Dish satellite feed (either live or recorded from DVR). I am going to keep monitoring to see if this is consistent.

Rick

I get them OTA on both 32.1 and 32.2. Nasty ones. Bad enough that I worry about speaker damage. I attributed them to my ailing Tivo, but now I watch directly through the TV and they are still there.
Alex

I get ear-splitting pops OTA on 32.1, it's been doing that for a couple years, but not every week.  It sounds worse OTA, maybe my amp anticipates recorded blasts.  I haven't written to the station, and I don't watch a lot of that station.  I have never noticed it on local news, just national feeds.  One other channel that calls attention to speakers is NBC, on Brian Williams nightly news there is a speaker switch about 90 seconds before the hour, creating an attention-grabbing sound blip, but at least it isn't ear blasting.

It sounds like I'm not alone then. It's frustrating because it's not consistent. I watched a Nikita recorded on DVR and no pops at all. Which hasn't been the case for Nikita in a while. And I watched Beauty and Beast OTA with no pops.

A couple of weeks ago, I actually had to unplug my DVR and reset it after watching Nikita and having a lot of pops and drops. And I've worried about damage to speakers or amps as well.

And I agree, it seems to be on some Natioinal feeds and not during commercials, but it's hard to pin down.

I think next timeit happens, I will be sending email to station. this has to be something in their equipment, or in their national feed. I think my wife is ready to stop trying to watch CW on tv and just use her computer.

Thanks
Rick

What happened to KATU? Was fine this morning, still getting
good signal strength and s/n, but no data:
Active PIDs in this stream
PID=0x1fff, ctrl_type=0x14=NULL, pkt_cnt=762296
No valid programs found in stream.

Same here. 2.2 is missing as well. Never happened before.