Pittsburgh, PA - OTA - Page 140

WQED-HD just locked in on 13 with about 3/4 of a signal with my Insignia box. On my Samsung set, it is registering 7/10 bars where 38 would maybe at most come in at 3/10 bars.

Not sure if this is a test as 38 is still active or they will simulcast like WWCP did just after they moved back to 8 until it's time to move WQEX.

I just rescanned and picked up doubles on all three 13s. I can't tell which is which. Signal strength is the same on both.

I scanned today and am getting doubles as well.

I have a ClearStream4 which is a UHF antenna that is VHF capable, and am getting 100% Signal Quality with 78% Signal Strength off of 13 while I am getting 100%/100% with 38.

Edit - I am now receiving both channels at 100/100

Nothing at all on either 13 or 38 in my part of Greene County.

was wondering if someone could help i have a radioshack outdoor antenna looks like a mini dish i have been having trouble with getting vhf channels first once wwcp channel 8 went back to 8 i lost it (although i learned they lowered their power so that might be the case) 19 i only get once in a while now with people saying they have been getting signal on 13 i havent been getting any was wondering if anyone knew what techinically might be wrong

Sounds like you have a UHF antenna.
You'll need an antenna that also picks up VHF (for 8 [8.1], 11 [19.1], and 13 [13.1])

Go back to Radio Shack and pick up an HBU-22 (cat # 15-278) or an HBU-33 (Cat # 15-279) - depending on how far away your towers are and how your antenna is mounted.

A TVfool plot for your exact location is necessary for a more accurate estimate of your needs.

Hooviebaby, sorry to say that those small circular antennas aren't very good at picking up VHF. I don't know where you live, but I have a larger VHF antenna, and I also lost channel 8 when they switched back. I was getting a very strong signal from them on UHF, but now it only comes in choppy on overcast days.

ty everyone for all your help forgot to say im about 23 miles away from pittsburgh in northeastern allegheny county i will go to radioshack and pick up one of the antnnas u suggested cause seems like your right doesnt pick up vhf very well

anyone know when is WQED going to shut off their UHF feed completely and go solely on their VHF-hi feed?

they have been saying the switch would happen no later then november 18th that would be my guess thats why im trying to get another anntena to get vhf better

The lighting up of RF-13 by WQED has piqued my interest. I'm an old high school classmate of WQED Director/Producer Rick Sebak so that gives you an idea of how old I am and how long I've been away from the tri-state area.

Just how well did the DTV transition work out in that terrain-challenged part of the world? From what I recall of the long-ago past in the South Hills, WTAE was always hard to get even with an outdoor antenna. In contrast, both WSTV (now WTOV) and WTRF came in quite well. We also got WJAC (``Serving Millions from Atop the Alleghenies'') regularly but not with the strength of the two Wheeling-Steubenville stations.

I realize that cable penetration in Pittsburgh is much higher than it is here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, so perhaps OTA viewing is limited. But for those dauntless antenna users, how are the stations coming in nowadays in Six-burgh?

With a mast-mounted ClearStream4 (on my deck) plus a ChannelMaster 7777 Pre-Amp I'm able to pull in 2, 4, 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 40, and 53. The only shaky ones are 16 and 19 but they still lock in fine - just not as strong as the others. I'm in Northern Allegheny county on the backside of a hill as well.

Thought some of you folks might be interested in this. Antenna work at WQED. Information from ham operator AB3L:
[QUOTE:AB3L]
WQED has been getting their new HD antenna installed near my work. I have never seen this type of replacement done before. The other antenna on the tower was done about two years ago but with a Carson air lift. One of the guys doing the work this month said that Carson wouldn't come back to this location for some reason so up went the pole.
The contractor was Vertical Technology out of Hagerstown. They were there for about five weeks getting it rigged up and working around weather. At one point when they got the pole up for a look they found that the "T" on top was deflecting so a set of support legs had to be fabbed up which added more time. It was neat to follow the cable runs and pulley installations up there at 640 feet to get the pole up there. At one point the guys had to climb down to the bottom of the pole to steer the antenna safely around as it went down. I can't imagine how the hell you can do that but my respect goes out to them. Free and easy...
[/quote]

Larger and Additional Images; & Original REF: http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=21841.0

Thanks for the update and the tower pix. That's one heck of a big Gin Pole!

Dave Morrison (W3WX)
WPXI Engineering

SCARY!!

I was totally shaking in my booties and trying not to, um, crap my pants, when I climbed up on the roof of my ranch style house a little over a year ago to check on my aging TV antenna and do a little temp repair work. When I finished and got my feet back on the ground I collapsed in to a lawn chair and sat like that for several long minutes while I waited for my heart to get back to beating more or less normally.

I could never imagine working out in the open at such a height above the ground. Those guys doing that must have nerves of steel. (Or else use industrial strength anti-anxiety medication )

I can't answer for everyone, but for me I would have to say that with my old CM Crossfire antenna I can receive every DTV PGH station that I was getting when they were broadcasting in analog, only with much better picture and sound (usually).

And in fact I've even picked up a new one or two, like WBGN [UHF 16; 59.1 -59.4], a low power independent.

I even discovered I could receive WWCP [VHF 8, 8.1, 8.2] again last week. I had totally lost their DTV broadcast after they transitioned in March from the UHF band back to their old analog VHF channel. While I don't think they raised their broadcast power level, they may have done somethings to improve their signal and that lets my Zenith DTT 901 lock on to it. (I'm of the opinion that's also why WBGN's reception, which had been spotty, seems to be much better and consist now too.)

What took me some time to get use to was the cliff effect as I "tour around the dial". In analog, I could get some signal from stations like WWCP or WTAJ even when my antenna wasn't turned to optimally pick them up. Now all I get is a black screen with a floating "no signal" message box unless I turn the antenna.

And now some PGH stations are installing translators to provide better coverage in those areas with reception problems. So far, WTAE [4.x] seems to be the first to have one operating part time on an experimental basis. But with the QED's tower being completed, it shouldn't be long for it to go to full-time operation.

So I would have to answer that while cable and sat are fairly predominate around this area, the stations haven't forgotten the OTA viewers, and generally I'm more than pleased with the DTV transition.

wanted to let everyone know i got a different antenna and i am now getting 13 on 13 and 38 only channels im having trouble with is 22 and 59 with 59 dont have too much on anyways i am pleased with the results ty to everyone who helped me

Like you HB, I'm located in the same general direction from Pittsburgh but much further out, so your reception problem with WPMY [UHF 42, 22.1] doesn't surprise me what with the station directing most of it's 1000 kw ERP broadcast signal in a direction opposite to you.

Now if the new antenna you got is a directional type (and an HBU-xx is) then you might need to turn the antenna a bit in one direction or the other and not directly at the stations tower to find a strong enough signal for your TV to lock on to WPMY.

You see, whenever I rotate my antenna from due south to due west I'll pick up a strong WPMY signal and then it will drop down making the program disappear. Meanwhile WPGH [UHF 43, 53.1) which transmits from the same tower, and directs the majority of it's signal in our direction, comes in perfectly no matter how my antenna is pointed. I suspect whatever signal I'm getting from WPMY comes to me by reflecting off some distant objects.

So I hope when you put up your new antenna you thought to included a rotor to turn it as you may need to experiment a bit to find those spots where WPMY's signal is the strongest for good reception.

I just got word from my sister from South Buffalo Twp, in Armstrong County. She was previously unable to get digital channels 4-1 and 4-2 on RF 51, even though she's using a large 160-mile-range antenna that used to pick up analog stations from as far away as Youngstown, Wheeling, Stuebenville, Altoona, occassionally Erie, and rarely Cleveland.

She's watching the Steelers at Denver on RF 22 with a good strong signal now. Thanks WTAE.

I live 40 miles southeast of the city near the Chestnut Ridge, and get all of the Pittsburgh stations except WQEX-16 which comes in off and on like WBGN-59.

As for the outlying stations, I still get WWCP-8 and WTOV-9. WJAC-6 and WTAJ-10 were the two stations that I lost, but I can now get a watchable picture from WPSU-3.

Unless you're really in to shopping from home you aren't missing much on WQEX, but after the 18th your reception problem will most likely disappear when the station moves from UHF channel 26 to 38 and significantly increases the power of it's signal.


Regarding the disappearance of my reception problem with WWCP [VHF 8, 8.1, 8..2] I think I spoke to soon in my previous post about it. I tried tuning it in the other night to watch something on it I wanted to see by rotating my antenna to pick the signal up and while at first I was getting a good picture and sound it wasn't more than 20 minutes until the signal began to vary all over the map thus making the program unviewable. Given my location from their transmitter, and the fact I easily can receive WTOV [VHF 9, 9.1, 9.2], which is much further away, I shouldn't have these problems with WWCP. Well, perhaps someday they might do something to fix it. *Sigh*

I realize that the Pittsburgh DMA is more compact than the sprawl of Dallas-Ft. Worth and that Zone I is a different animal than Zone II, where stations are permitted much higher transmitting antenna elevations.

That being said, do you think that the terrain of the tri-state is one of those few regions better suited to VHF as opposed to UHF? For instance, you can get WWCP (albeit with disruptions) but if it were a U with an equivalent power/height, would it even come in at all?

Well, before when WWCP [8.1, 8.2] was still broadcasting in analog on VHF 8 they also were operating a DTV transmitter on UHF 29 and that signal was so strong I was easily picking it up even when my VHF/UHF antenna was pointed towards Pittsburgh. But that might have been because they were putting out a UHF signal at 1000 kw ERP. Then last March they ceased analog broadcasting and shifted their DTV operation to use their previous VHF channel, and that's when my reception problems started.

And while their current transmitter tower is a bit higher than the one they used while operating in the UHF band their current broadcast power in the VHF band is a measly 9-1/2 kw ERP, which is even less than the 14 kw ERP that WBGN [UHF 16, 59.1-59.4] uses and it's only licensed as a low power digital station.

Now the other VHF stations in the region, WTRF [7.1-7.3], WTOV [9.1, 9.2], WPCW [VHF 11, 19.1] and soon WQED [13.1-13.3] all operate in the 20 to 30 kw range. And with the sole exception of WTRF (which has always been a fringe reception station to me even in analog) my reception of all these other VHF stations presents no problem whatsoever.

So it is my view that as a full power commercially licensed DTV station, WWCP needs to ask the FCC to approve increasing their broadcast power to about the same level as the rest of the other VHF stations. IMO it is the only thing that would really correct these reception problems with their VHF signal.

UHF 29 was quite a bit more stable for me to receive than VHF 8 is now. I can still lock it (at 60mi), but I actually have to pay attention when I turn the rotator.

When I've be able to get it, I just kept going to either 13 or 19. Although, it makes for a good reference for any tropo occurring.

I did a scan last night and also found the new 4.3 and 4.4 WTAE channels. The signal is good so now we have channel 4 in southern Butler county again!

[, I just kept going to either 13 or 19. Although, it makes for a good reference for any tropo occurring.[/quote]

Good time for tropo's may be Monday the 16th [ Morning]

Is anyone else having a lot of trouble receiving 11-1 via the DirecTV AM21 Off-Air tuner? It comes in fine on my converter box and my built-in TV tuner, but the AM21 can barely lock it in, and when it does it doesn't last.

got home a little after midnight and saw they finished their conversion 16 is on 38 now also i am now able to get all the channels except for 59 which im not worried about i get 19 and 13 very nicely just a sidenote i have dish network and right now 13 and 16 is not on because of them switching around so much for not having to worry about digitial conversion if u got them haha also almost forgot ty again to everyone for all their technical advice i found out the round antenna in geral is good to pick up vhf i just had one that was defective nevertheless im grateful to all the replies i got