Montgomery, AL - HDTV - Page 10

Watched the first few minutes of Law and Order. The HD signal is coming through but it is almost unwatchable with bad pixelation and audio drop outs. I'm going to send an e-mail to Hoyt Andres.

I'm not having any problems so far...knock on wood.

I just turned back to WSFA and I don't have the pixelation and audio drop outs now. I sent another e-mail to Hoyt Andres letting him know this.

I wrote too soon. Now that the news is on the pixelation and audio drop outs are back. I wonder if they increased the bandwidth for the HD broadcast at the expense of 12-2 and have reduced it now that they only have to broadcast SD?

Oh heavens no.

Don't suggest they stretch anything or we'll wind up with junk like on TNT-HD. A disproportional stretch. Pans make you sea sick. yuk.

Most HD sets have stretch modes of their own. Use one of those.

On a side note to the side note:

Anyone notice the color quality of the HD signal?? Saturation levels, color matrix, etc.

I just e-mailed Hoyt myself. I suggested eliminating 12-2.

There's a new limited series tomorrow night that starts "The Grid". Wonder if it will be HD?

I don't know about color that much... it looks okay to me but my eyes are not spot on for color. If they ever broadcast a football game in HD then that seems to be when the colors really shine.

Ehhh.... uhh... scratch that show on NBC. The commercial for "The Grid" said right after "Law & Order" on Monday night so my mind was on NBC but the commercial was on TNT and so is the show.

I just got an e-mail back from Hoyt. I had mentioned pixelation and also suggested using the bandwidth from 12-2 for the HD channel. He said that
was over his technical knowledge and he would forward it on to the engineering guys. But, Jim, the picture looks fine with good color and, except for the pixelation, seems as good as the B'ham picture. Right now, I am still using my indoor antenna for WSFA and, when I adjusted it a little, the pixelation seemed to go away.

On reguilar broacast do like they are doing on 12-2 but when HD use both channels for bandw. Like WNCF is doing now. 12-3 is ok

Maybe the problems I'm seeing with my picture are because I'm only 16 miles from the tower and have too strong of a signal. I might need to make use of my remote controlled rotor for once.

Or maybe we all should pick up one of those Algolith Mosquito's for $4995.

Well I guess they passed the storm test, I had no major problems, only minor pixelation when the lightening was the worst. Other than that I have had a great picture w/o any problems.

I got my HD Tivo today. I was a little worried about OTA as I had heard mixed reports on the OTA tuner. At set up it mapped all the digital channels in this area except WSFA (I assume since they are just on the air they are not in the DirectTv or whomevers data base). A scan put WSFA in the guide. At first I just had my indoor antenna hooked up. I got nada.
I then connnected my outdoor antenna (still aimed at B'ham) and I got strong signals from WSFA and WAIQ. I got a fairly good signal from WCOV
(my Samsung never pulled in Fox) and a so-so signal from WNCF. Once I reposition my antenna I should have no problems with the Montgomery area signals. The only B'ham station I still care about is CBS but I think I'll probably go ahead and reorient my antenna. I haven't had much luck lately with B'ham. Maybe WAKA will feel some pressure now that WNCF and WSFA are on the air. I wish, but, I seriously doubt it.

Voom added channel scanning feature to their receivers. Now I get 12 like gangbusters. Lookout Olympics.

WAIQ use to be very borderline. If anything, it would lock on just enough to impress you with the picture and then breakup or freeze.

This morning, I added another 5' section to the antenna mast. Using a channelmaster 4228 with an amplifier. This was scary as I'm already pretty high and trying to manouver an antenna on a 10' mast was a little crazy. Anyway, now my signal number for WAIQ is something like 93. Picture doesn't freeze, but I am getting frequent pixelzation on part of the screen and audio dropouts. Viewing the antenna strength meter, the signal is well into the green area and only fluctuates slightly(well within the green). Although its improved substantially, is this as good as its likely to be until they get their big antenna back and are up to full power?

As a side note. This past week I was emailing someone over at WAIQ and learned that the big antenna that got toasted last March, probably won't be back until September or October.

Ah... Voom finally sent out the software upgrade. Cool. I'm glad because they were sure a lot of people screaming about it.

Jim... that 4228... it's the bowtie antenna right? Will it pick up the higher range of VHF like 8 and 12 analog?

Sonnie,

Yeah, I think its called a double bowtie. I was just checking the map from antenna web. It appears that I've got it aimed directly at channel 12 and 20, which makes it about 40 degrees away from PBS. Maybe I should try splitting the difference and rotate 20 degrees. Even without the rotation, the extra 5 ft definately helped. Sure hate to drag that ladder out again. aarrrggg. How's your PBS (WAIQ)reception?

I get 100% on PBS and still get the drop outs and pixelzation. I think part of it is due to spliting the signal into two channels. I guess we gonna have to live with it tho. Networks see that extra channel as extra ad revenue. I see them using that extra channel for PAID AD programs. Well not PBS but the big networks. I have nothing against that if they would shut it down when HD content is being passed.

I don't get anything but 12 right now. No PBS, no ABC, and no FOX.


Jim... does your 4228 pick up the higher range of VHF like 8 and 12 analog?

Sonnie,

Yes, I get all 4 channels. PBS pixalates a little, but I think its more to do with the transmitter than anything else. Namb confirmed this.

I also have an amp on the 4228. Not sure that I still need it, but short of a caffene overdose, I'm not getting back on that ladder. lol

If I recall correctly, these other channels are to the right (west?) of WSFA. If your antenna is to the left(east?) you might be missing them. It seems that 20 and 12 are at the same location, but not sure.

20's signal is coming from their tower at their building in Montgomery, WSFA's tower is out in the middle of nowhere south of Montgomery, I have a VHF/UHF/FM directional antenna in my attic and am able to pick up all the digital and HDTV channels with the antenna pointing towards the SSE. I am located in Millbrook for reference.

Yeah... 20 is in Montgomery and they are not sure if they are going to install their digital antenna on the WSFA tower or not. Supposedly it's still "up in air" as to what they are going to do.

20 with it's weak signal is gonna be too far for me to recieve with the antenna I have (45-50 miles the way the crow flies) as well as 32.

I might get PBS if I rotate my antenna away from 12's tower a little but to tell ya the truth I don't watch too much PBS other that a few of their concerts all along.


Jim... I was thinkin' about getting either the 4228 or 4248 UHF only antenna but I wanted to make sure I can still pick up those 2 VHF channels of WAKA 8 and WSFA 12 that are analog.

Is channel 8 analog pretty clear with your 4228?

Here is a link to the debate of not passing the full uncompressed signal. Most is over my head. But it does affect pic quality.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=1

Sonnie,

You had me scratching my head about channel 8. You were asking about analog 8. I was thinking digital channel 8, which isn't even broadcasting yet. lol
Don't know about analog 8 as I haven't tried receiving OTA for that. I'll move my antenna lead to the ntsc tuner and see what I get. I guess I could use a splitter and leave it there.

Well I'm not meaning for you to go to any trouble just for me. Probably whoever I purchased the antenna from could probably tell me.

It seems like I read somewhere that most UHF antennas would normally pick up the higher band VHF channels 7-13.

What's worse is I'm getting a headache trying to figure out which one would be better for me the 4248 yagi or the 4228 bowtie.

Sonnie

No problem. Just got finished.

The amplified 4228 gets channel 8 analog just fine. I noticed that there is just a slight ghost picture. However, with it aimed in the direction it is for channel 12 digital, channel 12 analog looks pretty rough. Don't know what's happening there.

The 4228 is considered a directional antenna. Is the 4248 directional?

So when we gonna have a meeting and where? hehe. Maybe all the local channel Engineers could show up. We could have systems setup and pictures of everyone's HD systems. Swap idea's and other things. Get Sony, Sanyo, and other reps. to show up. Get Hooter girls to bring some wings. Runco to setup a projector system. Have seminars to explain the workings of HDTV. Oh guess we will have to rent the Civic Center for this.

Would be nice tho huh?

I'm game, but are you sure the Civic Center is large enough? lol

lol... the Civic Center? We better move it to Legion Field.

You guys put together an evening and I'll see if I can't get my wife to come along. She's kinda shy so it might be just me to start with but I'm definitely game.

Who's furnishing the steaks?


I figure one of your homes would work better since most of you are from that area and I'm in Luverne... unless you all are willing to drive here... I'd love to host a gathering. Keep in mind though that here we can only drink iced tea, coffee, and cokes... however we do have a dedicated smoking area (in our palm room and it has AC).



Jim... yes the 4248 is directional but it may not be quite as strong as the 4228. I'm surprised that analog 12 is a problem since both the analog and digital are on the same tower but it could be the UHF antenna has something to do with it.

Sonnie,

I was surprised too. Channel 8 came in better than 12. Only possibilty is maybe its too strong?

I've got an attinuator at home that I can rig up and see how lowering the gain affect reception of 12 analog. I'll get to it sometime tonight.

Anybody watch the game last night on WNCF?? Looked good. Also noticed this morning WSFA had stopped mapping from 12-1 thru 3 and was coming up on 14-1 thru 3. Also WCOV was off the air this morning.

Thanks for the info Jim... something tells me that an attenuator wouldn't work with digital but what do I know.


Yes... I'm excited about the Olympics. I understand that there will be more air time than ever before.

Did I hear WSFA is broadcasting the Olympics on channel 28? Surely I misheard this.