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Fort Wayne, IN - HDTV

post #1 of 4210
6/11/03 at 4:49pm
Thread Starter 
As of today June, 11 Ft,Wayne has Digital 36 Fox . The omni directional antenna is mounted 200 feet off the ground with 100 watts running to the antenna. I am located 8 miles from the tower and only once did the signal lock on for 3 minutes. NBC digital 19 is on and the panel antenna is side mounted to the tower at 400 feet above ground level with 500 watts running to the antenna. I can lock on to this signal and do see some break ups every few minutes. Pbs digital 40-1 40-2 is on and thier new antenna is mounted at the top of 700 ft tower. HDTV is only on 40-1 PBS. TBN digital 12 is located 26 miles North East of here and is viewable. Of course a Highband VHF antenna is aimed only at this station. I was told by the Chief Engr. at WISE TV digital 19 that a new rulling is coming down that to have a total digital tv market and analog shut off forever, Eighty percent of the market must have digital receivers. hOW IN THE hell ARE THESE idiots GOING TO KEEP A COUNT? Analog tv is here for quite sometime and this area for Digital conversion is making me sick.
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post #2 of 4210
6/11/03 at 7:44pm
I got a kick out of WISE's commercial stating they're the first local HD channel. As far as I recall, WFWA beat them to it. Also, could WISE possibly transmit one 16:9 1080i broadcast over the air instead of up converting and cropping 4:3 material? I'll stick to my current gray HD selections .
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post #3 of 4210
6/12/03 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
I live off Dupont Rd. Near Tonkle RD. and was wondering what part of the city your in ? Also do you receive Fox on 36? And can you get digital Vhf 12 WINM?
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post #4 of 4210
6/12/03 at 10:00pm
I live in Hearthstone off Wallen so I'm pretty close to you. I do get WFFT-DT 36 but the signal is very weak. I use an indoor Recoton antenna connected to an amp which I found works better than the Silver Sensor. My SS is going back to Best Buy. I've tried using an outdoor VHF antenna indoors and was unable to get WINM-DT. Depending on signal strengths when all of the DTV channels go live, I'll probably put an antenna on my house with a rotor.
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post #5 of 4210
6/13/03 at 8:13pm
I live on the east side of town a little past georgetown. I get 36-1 around 35% with a Zenith SS in my attic. I usually pull everything else in at 75 - 100 percent. I have it split running to two rooms with about 75 feet of coax run without an amp and it works great.

TKO: I noticed that advertisement on WISE last night that they were the first but it says commercially funded or something like that at the bottom for a split second, so maybe they changed it after a few complaints from WFWA. And I also hate the way that they crop everything.
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post #6 of 4210
6/17/03 at 9:27pm
Well, I live out on the southwest side of Huntington and tonight I've been able to latch into PBS-39.01 & 39.02 quite well (still working on what the actual signal strength is). I've got an amplified indoor antenna and it's worked great so far. Still getting some digital artifacts on the screen every now and then.

Speaking of which, does anyone know a good antenna installer in the area?
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post #7 of 4210
6/19/03 at 6:25am
Is WISE running at full power yet? Reason I ask is that I've never been able to get a lock on signal wise out here in Huntington. The only thing I can consistently get is WFWA.
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post #8 of 4210
6/19/03 at 1:00pm
I also live in Huntington. Been waiting to purchase ota HDTV receiver until Ft. Wayne was broadcasting. Although their power output is currently very low, they are at least making an attempt. Hopefully by fall they will all have turned up their power so that I can get them. Would be great to get all of the ota programming that I currently don't get.

Right now I only have D*, no locals except the analog signal I get with rabbit ears, and this doesn't look good on hdtv set.

It's great to hear some positive news about Ft. Wayne stations broadcasting digital!!
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post #9 of 4210
6/20/03 at 7:58am
My new Zenith HDV420 shipped today! I'm in Van Wert and have a large (RS# VU-120 XR) roof mounted antenna with a rotor. I'm hoping to receive everything from Ft. Wayne and Lima, OH. With any luck, I'll also get Bowling Green and Angola.

Sorry to hear about WISE upconverting and cropping

Any tips for a new guy?
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post #10 of 4210
6/20/03 at 3:30pm
bwohlgemuth: I emailed WISE's engineer last week asking him that and he said that right now they just have their temporary antenna up and that in the next month they will have something permanent up. He also stated that they are not currently broadcasting in HD, that the current plan is to just feed the standard across digital. Even though their commercial states that they are the first in commericially funded station in fort wayne to broadcast in HD.
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post #11 of 4210
6/21/03 at 10:43pm
And of course, after I sent that post I got my first lock-on with WISE tonight. It said "Hi Def" but it looked like upconverted 480i to 1080i personally.
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post #12 of 4210
6/23/03 at 9:32am
I checked antennaweb.org this weekend and it looks like WANE has moved back their digital date to Nov 30.
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post #13 of 4210
6/23/03 at 1:18pm
Nov 30th?

That stinks. It seems that CBS has the most primetime television programs in HD of all the networks and that will be the last channel for us to get. Not only that CBS uses 1080i, which for most people gives the best experience. It would be nice to get some football games in hi-def in the fall and definetely March Madness will be great come next spring.

Having ABC this fall will be good though, MNF in HD will be great!
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post #14 of 4210
6/23/03 at 8:43pm
I can deal without the Dolts games (and I'm not too surprised about WANE's lack of progress). Just as long as ABC is broadcasting by Sept 28th, I'll be happy!
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post #15 of 4210
6/24/03 at 7:47am
WANE is still dealing with the FCC in finalizing its DTV channel switch from 4 to 31. There are a number of steps the company (LIN....sister station to WISH, Indy) has had to deal with and some of those are still continuing. In order to make the switch they even had to wait for Canadian approval due to Ft. Wayne's proximity to the border. It is unfortunate that WANE-DT was originally assigned ch. 4 in an all UHF market. From what I know this is one of the main reasons for the new channel request. From what I know locally and have read online, LIN has done a nice job getting DTV stations on the air.

Steve
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post #16 of 4210
6/24/03 at 6:04pm
I guess that I am confused about something. WISE states that they are the first to broadcast in HD. From what I can tell they don't have that completely right. My image is cropped and from what I have read everyone else's is. But the picture that I am getting does look good, but I'm not sure if it is 1080 or what. If anyone knows please fill me in. Plus won't all of the stations that switching to digital need to broadcast on at least two sub channels if they are running 1080 like PBS currently does? I'm saying this because I believe that they will have to support standard and hd digital signals until the standard def tv's are gone. So I would assume that all of the new channels that have switched over recently are only running a standard digital broadcast. If some one out there has any info please let me know. Right now from what I can tell PBS is the only true HD channel available in fort wayne.
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post #17 of 4210
6/24/03 at 6:24pm
Goldrich, I ended up on the WANE mailing list for HDTV. The change to 31 is a done deal, they are waiting for a construction permit from the FCC so they can build the new station.
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post #18 of 4210
6/25/03 at 6:12am
Thread Starter 
AS of Tuesday Wpta has the new antenna in place at the top of the tower and the workers are currently putting up new wave guide to the antenna. Wise has the new antenna at the station but it is on the ground waiting for the tower crew to do its magic. Again Fox dt-36 is 200ft. off the ground with 100 watts running to the side mounted antenna. The only thing we can do is be patient .
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post #19 of 4210
6/25/03 at 10:07am
Just got my antenna installed today from Starlight. They put up an 8Bow in my attic, I'll let you know if I can get anything tonight!
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post #20 of 4210
6/25/03 at 7:06pm
Ugh, anyone know if 19 is broadcasting tonight. I'm sure they are, but this new antenna didn't do much. I'm sure I need an amplifier, the tech thought my multiswitch would act as one.
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post #21 of 4210
6/25/03 at 8:07pm
Yes WISE is on tonight, as I type. 98-100% signal strength. That is what I normally get for 19, so I would say it's a normal day at WISE. 50% and rarely a picture for FOX 36, less than 3 miles from the towers. Also thinking of adding an amplifier. 2 diplexors and a multiswitch in-line, sounds similar to your situation.

Good Luck!!
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post #22 of 4210
6/26/03 at 8:12am
Well, I'm up and running in the digital domain! I don't have my list on me, but I'm pulling in about 7 channels. I'm getting channels from: Lima, Angola, Ft. Wayne, and even one from Toledo. I'm very satisfied with performance of my equipment, though the fact that most of the transmissions are upconverted 480i burns me. Thank the heavens for PBS! Even if it is demo material, my wife and I sat there unblinking for an hour last night just to bath in the full glory of 1080i.

One question: I noticed that when I tune to 40-1 the HDV420 automatically changes to 39-1; it is still PBS, though. The same thing happens when I tune in 12-1; it changes to 63-1, but is still TBN. Is this something I should be concerned about?
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post #23 of 4210
6/26/03 at 6:36pm
No that is normal. I get 36-1 at 55-1. They do this so because we all remember that WFFT for instance is channel 55. My guess is that it is viewed as a convienent way to list their channel.
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post #24 of 4210
6/27/03 at 5:38am
CGGorman & ceconl:

See pp. 86 & 87 of http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_65b.pdf for an explanation of analog and digital channel numbering.
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post #25 of 4210
6/27/03 at 7:09am
Just an FYI to those in Fort Wayne. Best Buy has a Samsung (I think) D-VHS VCR for under $600. And while I was there last night, I picked up a Zenith Silver Sensor antenna. I could easily pick up 39 and 23 from Indy just from the top of my set.
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post #26 of 4210
6/27/03 at 5:44pm
Two stations out of Indy? That's great, they must be transmitting at a really high power. What signal strength were you getting, any dropouts, etc?

If we can pull in Indy stations who cares about the Ft. Wayne channels. It's not like their broadcasting the local news in 1080i.
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post #27 of 4210
6/29/03 at 5:30am
Has anyone talked to WISE about when they will start broadcasting true 1080i pictures as opposed to cropped 480i??
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post #28 of 4210
6/30/03 at 7:44am
Update from WPTA (copied straight from the e-mail):
Quote:


During the last few weeks, WPTA has been operating at a lower power than normal. We are installing our new digital antenna. We expect the installation to be completed by July 9th.

When the new antenna is installed, analog over-the-air reception will improve dramatically.

Digital broadcasting will not begin until later this year as we must yet install our digital transmitter. Our target date for digital transmission is September 30.

Thank you for your patience.

September 29th is the first Bears game in the new stadium which will be broadcasted in HDTV nationwide. I've asked them to see if they can move it up a day or two! :-)
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post #29 of 4210
6/30/03 at 7:23pm
Would be great if we could get Bears vs. Packers in the opening game for the renovated Soldier Field in HD. Not only that but the rest of the MNF football games for the year.

Although since they won't be broadcasting digital until then I can't imagine that it would be HD right away. If they're like any other station they will broadcast a cropped up-converted image.


We'll hope for the best though.
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post #30 of 4210
6/30/03 at 8:11pm
As usual, I have my tuner rescan the channels each and every night. Tonight, I got a treat.

All the major Indy channels, along with Muncie and Marion. I was literally in HD heaven. So who cranked up the trophosphere tonight?
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