Montgomery, AL - HDTV - Page 180

Here it is.
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=10848312

No it's not old news. And yes, we're at a reduced power. I'll have to talk to our chief engineer about why and what it means. My uneducated guess is that since the tube went out, we'll have to get another one and make sure it's working before we can rev up the power.

And I love the cows picture of the tower, that's a keeper

I guess I learned something. I did not know Transmitters still used Vacuum tubes.

Since I'm new to this blogging stuff, are there any other areas on this site that people post stuff that's pertinent to the Montgomery area (or other areas within our coverage)

Lemme know the cool places to go!

Yep..most do.. in WAKA's case..3 of them..new replacements are almost $50k each installed. And they run on ~34,000 volts ..

http://www.thalesgroup.com/Portfolio..._792/?pid=2290

The two red dots pictured are where the coolant hoses connect up..with about 16GPM of water going through the tube.

Ok, one correction I need to make is that we run on two tubes! and one went out. We'll have to wait until we can get a rep out there to the transmitter to get it fixed. And yes, it will be pricey! Anyone care to donate? Ha!

I support WCOV's advertisers whenever possible. I hope that is enough

Drew,

That second tube must have been having problems for a while. Now that its completely out, the occassional audio dropout is almost completely gone.

Yeah, I think it was old

I am using a Series 3 TIVO with OTA. I am now receiving Montgomery PBS (WAIQ) on channels 27-3,.27-4, and 27-5. I preiviously received WAIQ on Channels 26-1 thru 26-4. My TIVO program guide reflects programming under the 26 series channels rather than the 27 series. Anyone else experiencing the same?

edge

I have a S3 also.

Called Tivo week before last regarding this problem. They stil haven't fixed it. I'll call again.

JimP

Thanks for your reply. I opened a case number with Tivo and just emailed a followup. I also placed a voice message with WAIQ in case they have delayed in providing PSIP info up the line for their change to frequency 27.

edge,

I switched my antenna lead to go directly into my display's antenna input.

Entering 26.1 gets me WAIQ which would mean that their PSIP info is correct. Entering 27.5 got zip.

This isn't the first time Tivo has done something similar. I've gone though this several times with them with other station combination changes. Given the frequency of this happening, its obvious that they've got something screwed up in their software.

I got off the phone with them a few minutes ago and their rep instructed me to do another channel scan. That hasn't worked the other times I've had a similar problem but its possible that they've changed the logic in their firmware where this will work. I'll post if it does.

Looking at the bigger picture, the only show I watch on PBS is This Old House. So its not like they carry compelling programming any more.


Edit: Channel scan did not correct the problem.

The annoying thing is that this happens every few months but with different channel combinations. aaargh.

JimP

Thanks for the update. I too had done a channel scan with no change.

edge273,

I posted an inquiry on TIVO community and got this response. It sounds correct. I'll call TIVO again this afternoon.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...43#post7437843

JimP

Good job JimP. I read your Tivo community reference. I think you are on tract. Thanks for the good work friend.

Thanks Drew. I live down in Ozark and have been unable to receive WCOV for a couple of weeks now. This explains it. I have raised and lowered my antenna trying to find the signal, so I have it back in original spot now. Only getting 20 to 25% before so that 1 tube is critical for me to receive you.

Yikes! We fixed the problem and replaced the tube and have been back at full power for a week or so. How was your signal before?

Thanks Drew for keeping us up to date on the issues with the tower.

In the past, other systems have gone out.

It gets frustrating when you think it might be your own equipment and you spend an entire afternoon moving, raising, lowering, your antenna, wires, cables, etc.

It would be great if all the channels would at least post to their network sites (like channel 12 did with the problem with channel 20) when there is an issue. It will save us a lot of grief from trying to fix it ourselves.

did anyone ever answer this question?

I'd like to know too. I get a better signal from 22.2 and have set up season passes, but don't want to come home one day to find them gone.

Thanks for that tip, in the future, we'll try and put it up on our homepage. And yeah, I understand the whole 'afternoon at home trying to figure out antennaes, cables, connections, tuners, etc' problem. It's rather exhausting. I'm extremely cheap in my consumer nature and purchased an indoor/outdoor antenna from walmart and spent a good hour on a 20 foot extension ladder drilling it into a telephone pole, checking signals etc. And certain stations still aren't that strong. (this is in north prattville)

Let us know anything else we can do to help!

Well, we're right at our 4th anniversary of DT service.
A few of the first quotes from the forum after we took to air, originally on channel 55:

Anything new going on w/ WAKA going HD???

__________________________
Just for the fun of it I checked Channel 55...to by surprise Channel 55 HDTV is on the air . At present getting between 62 and 65 percent.

__________________________
CBS8 registering about 70% on my meter off Vaughn Road

__________________________

Great day for OTA in Montgomery. Thanks!

The picture on CSI looks great. There was some audio problems but things seem OK now.

Has anyone seen or heard anything recently about AT&T U-Verse coming to the Montgomery area?

I would not hold my breath, here..it is available in spotty areas, and there does not seem to be much push to make it available at that. I have a friend who works there,and cannot get it at his house. He says they just aren't worrying about areas that don't work. The headend engineer here tells me he can't get it at his house either. They tell me that I am +5000 feet from the V-RAD and thus can't get service either.

Bob,

Is it something about the technology or that they're only running main lines to denser populated areas?

Jim, just my opinion, I surmise based on what inside people tell me..that coupled with the current economy,V-RAD to home (copper) distance limitations,only 1 HD channel at a time delivered, etc....that U-Verse just isn't ready for primetime.
Here, we have dual, redundant fiber feeds going to them out to a NOC in the (Midwest?) IIRC. They do call very quickly if any problems arise with our signal. Based on what I see from the re-trans agreement, subscriber numbers are quite low. The copper to home distance seems to be the main limitation here, so I would think the population density there in FunGomery (TM/copyright 1968 Mark@WAKA) would be even worse than here.

I did ask to see the local NOC, they wanted me to fill out several pages of paperwork that had to be approved in advance of any visit.

From the few that have it,and from the U-Verse engineers..I do hear that U-verse has the best quality of anyone compared to OTA.

There are a few threads here on AVS on U-Verse.

It's my understanding the pipe is already in place connecting Montgomery, Birmingham, Mobile, Atlanta.
I believe they are running at 3.2 Terabits Per Second over a single strand of single mode.

Saw my friend yesterday who works for AT&T engineering..he says they are moving towards VDSL2, which will then give up to 5000' on copper, and up to 30 mb/s eventually. They tried the install at his house but we unable to get solid service due to distance.

I'm right at 5000 from the Dalreda switch if they want a Guinna pig.

I have been trying for that myself with no luck. Oh well, at least Time-Warner takes care of me in that respect....