Albany, NY - HDTV - Page 149

But the second harmonic of the 89.1 signal falls in the middle of channel 7. I could definitely see it causing a problem.

- Trip

I don't think there'll be any more of a problem than exists now (if any) considering that 89.1 is moving from their current tower to the DTV tower which are about a mile away from one another and 89.1 is lowering ERP with the move so if anything may help if the problem exists anywhere.

I live in Troy which is in the city grade of both stations (with 89.1 still unmoved) and I have no problem with RF 7 except when atmospheric conditions cause it.

The WMHT CP MOD shows the antennas going up 78 feet, with an ERP drop from 11 kw to 6.1 kw, almost half. The change may help any current interference....

The only speculation I had is, that from their current site, (1.5kM north of the DTV tower, on WMHT-TV's analog tower), you aren't aiming directly at the antenna but at the DTV tower, south of it. With the move complete, then instead of aiming your receive antenna near the FM, now you will be aiming it AT the FM. So whatever power difference there is, is offset by the fact your now pointing right at the tower.

On a completley unrelated note, has anyone ever done one of those FM mix factor calculations to see if there is a mix factor falling on one of the VHF channels? I can do one, but it will take a bit.

Yes, I failed to notice the coordinate changes on FCC FMQuery yesterday, I had assumed they were already on the WRGB tower....
WRGB has assured me that there "shouldn't" be an interference issue, but of course, that will remain to be seen....
Being you know about FM mix factors, I'd like to ask you if you could do a calculation, please....

Oh I completley forgot about this. I will get to it when I get a chance.

Heading up to my place in Middleburgh this weekend for the first time since last August. I'm curious to see how my Radio Shack VU-190 antenna survived the winter and also if any changes in signal strength. I still got my numbers from last year so I can compare.
I could not get 51.1 last time, I'm going to try again.
Also going to give 55.1 (ION) a shot again.

UPDATE:
We'll just got back, all the channels still come in strong. My antenna lost another element, but still functioning great.
I was getting 51.1, but breaking up pretty bad. Also I can get 55.1 ION when I point the antenna North with 50% SS, no breakups.

Over one year later since the switch to digital TV over the air .... was it a success?

http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/...one-year-later

http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/...transition.ars

Here on the edge of the digital cliff, I feel schizophrenic even trying to judge. I see a huge improvement in quality, but a disastrous plunge in reliability. Raw channel count has made a huge leap (from 10 to 25+), but variety has plummeted. I now get 7 PBS channels, 4 weather channels, 5 religion channels, 3 Spanish channels, 2 ABC's, 2 CW's, 2 ThisTV's, a Korean Channel and an infomercial channel.

The above wouldn't be so bad, but I completely lost NBC, Fox, and MY, while CBS, and one each of the ABC's and CW's are pretty unreliable.

Overall, it probably has been an improvement, since my pre-transition reception was pretty bad, but an agonizingly painful one at that.

The hit or miss of digital OTA tends to drive those like us in the fringe off their rockers. Our 30 year old rooftop antennas for analog just didn't cut it for digital. They have been retired. There also hasn't be a resurgence of new rooftop antennas in our neighborhood though. Most had cable or satellite (still see the dishes) and continued to keep what they have. There is also not exactly a lot of professional antenna installers in the Poughkeepsie area (maybe an occasional satellite dealer who will do terrestrial TV antenna installatons?). Here's a throwback to the old days - in Silicon Valley of all places!

http://www.siliconvalley.com/opinion/ci_15368990

Wonder if he would move his biz to the Hudson Valley? :-)

I can't say I blame any business owners for completely neglecting the OTA market here in Poughkeepsie. Other than myself, I don't know anyone who would even consider installing an antenna. Most people around here consider PayTV (Cable, satellite, or fios) as the only option. The few people that don't have it, either go without or rely on the internet and Netflix.

I will admit I am one of those that did not jump off the cliff when OTA DTV became available....I still have DirecTV in standard definition, only because I've had it so long, many channels have become a mainstay in this household. But a 50/50 watching schedule between Sat and OTA has also occurred, this only because of the High Def I get on OTA. Now that I consider myself successful stablizing all channels on OTA that are available to me, I would consider the transition a success. I still have one local LP station that is still in analog, an occational stop on that channel reminds me where we were and where we are.

As far as home OTA reception, I'd say the DTV transition has been a success. With the myriad of channels I receive from Utica/Albany/Syracuse, one can't deny the crystal clarity of Digital. Ghosting and snow is gone and I find the new weather sub-channels with their almost constant radar very useful.

Where I find it not as much a success is with my camper's TV which would equate to anybody living out in deep fringe areas. Through the Adirondacks for example, reception was marginal in analog, now with digital, what were snowy signals (but watchable for the news for example) are now non-existent.

Also Any interference (particularly on VHF rf channels such as from a passing car) with analog was tolerable as the signal would still be visible and audible, with digital you lose both audio and video for those moments.

Is Bruce Radio still in Business? Bruce Yates sounds alot like Dick Boughman.

I remember Bruce's Television. I've seen references online to that establishment in Pleasant Valley and Amenia in Dutchess County, but I'm not sure if he is still in business. There were so many TV repair shops 25-30 years ago, but now they have faded away.

Yes, TV and radio repair have gone to the wayside, these days with the K-car style TV's, if it dumps, go buy a new one for not much money....
There used to be a TV/radio repair shop on Main St, the street heading into downtown Glens Falls from Northway exit 18 (I had him repair my parents 1949 wooden floor radio before I was a Ham)....the weeds are tall, and the sign is faded....I'm not even sure if Fix-It-Base on South St is still in business, that place was around forever...it's the 21st century, I guess....

Some of these Mom & Pop TV and appliance stores survived by going into satellite TV. Some also do custom work with home theaters. Sink or swim I guess. I heard Bruce TV does that kind of work now, so I am hopeful they've adapted and didn't go out of business.

"Over one year later since the switch to digital TV over the air .... was it a success?"

Like many on these forums, I guess my answer is...probably I enjoy it, although at times it has been frustrating.

Certainly an extra lineup of channels is nice, and when the signal is good so is the picture. The old chore of manipulating the rabbit ears for certain analog channels however was replaced with a more difficult challenge of orienting a rooftop antenna(s). Plus I do think there is some technical competency required for OTA DTV. Not tooting our own horns here but most of us early adopters are hams, engineers, technical hobby types who are patient enough to tinker and understand RF a bit more than the average consumer. Unless a consumer is in really good proximity to a transmitter, they might indeed become frustrated.

I've never had cable/satellite so in my case the DTV OTA was an improvement.

I don't doubt that many of you are hams. I see your ham call signs in your forum user names, postings, etc. Kind of the same thing with computers - you have your early adopters and tinkerers who build their own PC and experiment with things like Linux. But most PC users aren't like that. They have no patience. Most consumers hook to cable because they don't have the patience for fiddling with antennas. I have to admit - I am one of those who gave up on OTA reception and got cable TV service after going from snowy analog reception to no digital reception. Sorry to say, my roof climbing days are over.

Trust me, I don't like heights! So my roof climbing is limited too. I combined a ham antenna project with my DTV endeavor a few years ago. My recent addition of the folded dipole for VHF-WRGB CH6 went in the attic - lucky for me it worked

I can say with confidence that all the contributors to this forum are tinker types to a certain degree. I found this place extremely helpful when I got started in 2005. Excellent group of interested tech types of all stripes. More broadcast engineers should browse forums like this to reap all the free field data that is available.

Yup, the best advice always came from the tinkerers on this forum. I still like to tinker but I now prefer to stay on the ground. When I was a teenager I had no fear walking around on the roof helping my Dad replace the TV antenna with a bigger and better one. I had much better balance back then. Now I take to heights like a cat takes to water.

By the way, it was 30 years ago when I first read: "Beginner's Guide to Ham Radio" by Len Buckwalter. I was a kid with CB radio back then who was curious about Amateur Radio. I don't have the CB radio anymore, but I still have that book somewhere.

The analog shutdown caused me to loose channels. I didn't watch them much, but with analog I could receive;

WCAX 3 or WFSB 3 depending on the aim of the antenna
WTVH 8
WVIT 30
NBC on Mt. Ascutny, VT
WUNI 28 in Worcester, MA
WTXX 20 Waterbury, CT

I get none of them on DTV.

It's also much harder to pick up WKTV in Utica on 29 than it was on 2.

I hate to bust up your OTA love fest here but I see some Pough. locals posting and was wondering if anybody happens to know of an Authorized DirecTV installer who might do what DirecTV is calling custom work.

I believe I only require work done on the ground floor but if that can't be done, custom work will be required to replace the dish located on top of a tower approx. 30' in height.

The guy DirecTV sent just looked at the dish and decieded whatever I needed to be done couldn't be done, because if I needed a new dish, he wasn't going to be the guy to put it up there.
Anyway, since what you folks use for reception is usually above ground, I thought this might be a decent place to look for help.

Thanks

I'm afraid I don't know any installers in Poughkeepsie. Arace Electronics (http://www.araceelectronics.com/home.html) in Kingston seems to have a bucket truck and could probably do the work if you can convince them to come out so far without charging an arm and a leg.

I bought a Tripod antenna mount and a grounding plate there a year or so ago. The clerk told me they used to do a lot of antenna installations, but that business had kind of died out in recent years. Now they seem to be mostly focused on Repairs and Electrical (electrician) work.

Ok, well thanks but I really need some Authorized guy with a bucket.

I had Hughs Sat. in Red Oaks Mill do the inital tower install some years ago and it was no problem for them to plop a dish down on top of the thing.
I can't use them this go around cause their not "Authorized" DirecTV people.
Well I can use them if I want to pay for the entire job but I thought it might be nice if DirecTV paid a portion of the tab this time around

Thanks anyway

I don't know of any authorized DirectTV installers in Poughkeepsie, but doing a search on Google turns up some far away.

Waterbury, CT: (203) 437-4998‎
Yonkers, NY: (914) 595-2179‎

Trying to track down the guy Tower Guy mentioned in a previous post, I think you might want to give Bruce Yates a call. Maybe he's an authorized DirectTV installer? Bruce Television, 1015 Freedom Rd, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569. (845) 635-3835

Another place you can try.

A Direct Dish Satellite TV
(845) 485-3046
237 North Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY

I think they are a DirecTV vendor but not sure if they are a authorized DirecTV installer.

WTXX analog was always hit or miss in Poughkeepsie. Someone a mile away from me could pick it up on a old Radio Shack indoor twin bowtie UHF antenna, while our UHF rooftop Yagi antenna got nothing.

I heard Waterbury's WTXX-DT now comes from Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. The terrain of the Litchfield Hills also makes any signal from Connecticut difficult. I have a friend in Torrington, CT who can't pick up anything, and he's less than 20 miles away from the Rattlesnake tower.

Yep. WTXX is on sister station, WTIC's tower on Rattlesnake. The 1200 foot WTXX tower on Peach Orchard Road is basically vacant.

Does anyone here know what is on the digital channel 30 from Ellenville?
(W30AZ). Wikipedia wasn't much help, but it's on the air from Sam's Point (where the 99.3 FM is located)

I pickup txx from queens, ny mostly at night i use xg91 uhf yagi