Hartford, CT - OTA - Page 131

Channel 3 Phone Numbers

Main number:
860-728-3333 8:30am-5:30pm M-F

Post what they tell you.

Thanks for the replies - I will send an email to that address, and will also try to call at 5:00. I'll post any replies.

Has anyone heard back from the station on their HDTV problem yet?

I just emailed them a little while ago.

Just got this email response from wfsbengineering -



I don't know what that means exactly, but it's encouraging from my perspective since I'm only interested in having them fix it by Saturday's UConn game (I can't stand CSI - if we were talking about ABC on 'Lost' Wednesdays, though, I would be freaking out a good deal more... )

Thanks again for the contacts!

Hey all,

I've been lurking for a while picking up the info I needed. Most everyone has been informative.

Now I could use some help as I know you are all good at.

In November I picked up the new Sony SXRD 60" and switched my regular DirecTVio service to HD.

WTNH (ABC) is the ONLY network channel to NOT grant me a waiver!

I put up a new Channel Master 3671, a Channel Master 7777 pre-amp along with at rotor on top a 23' mast (with guy wires) on top of my roof (single story) and still cannot pull in any MAJOR (digital) network from CT (just the PBS - Norwich and Ind - New London). I get better reception from RI but only 1 digital signal (another Ind).

I have a small mountain to the West and a couple of trees and water to the East. BUT the direction I have to point the antenna to pick up ABC HD in RI is a clear shot.

I've tried using my TV's and DirecTVio's tuner. I don't even get a small blip on the signal meter on the DirecTVio. (I tried tuning in to the HD feed of Good Morning America on frequency 49 yesterday (RI channel 6)).

What am I overlooking?

How far away from the broadcast towers are you? Are there any tall hills are mountains between you and the towers?

CT Raider,
It is likely you are suffering from interference and or preamp overload. Do you see channel 10 (analog) from Providence when aiming at New Haven? If you can, try seeing what happens with the preamp removed or maybe get a lower gain preamp. I am in Mystic and found RI to be more reliable that CT stations because of the interference. However even for RI I need to get a notch filter to prevent amp overload from channel 17. John

You are almost sure to overload a 7777 from Preston if you point your antenna East without something blocking channels 17 and 69. I have a hill to my East and even with my antenna pointing towards Hartford I had some overload problems with my system until I notched out 69. You may need to use less pre-amp gain plus a notch filter on both 17 and 69 to reliably receive stations from RI. If your TV is like mine (I have a Sony E50A10) it will show the AGC level on the diagnostics page when tuning a digital signal. I trick it into also metering analog signals by doing a full rescan with no antenna connected to clear out all stations then manually tuning the channel I want to measure with .1 appended to it after re-connecting the antenna. So, with no channels in the channel memory I tune 26.1, 53.1 and 69.1 and go to the diagnostics screen to get the AGC level of the local analog channels (no picture appears when doing this of course since the TV is trying to tune the analog signal with the digital tuner). To measure the digital equivalents you would use 34.1, 45.1, and 17.1 which will give you a picture and the diagnostics screen will show signal quality along with the AGC value. Any AGC reading on my TV of less than 33 with the preamplifier in the system is an extremely strong signal which could cause problems. ( The stronger the signal the lower the AGC reading).

I have a hill to my East which helps reduce the WPXQ signal but it is still strong. I had problems with the NTSC signal on 69 overloading my amp so I have notched it. Using the AGC measuring method in my recent post the NTSC signal on 69 was stronger than the ATSC one on 17 when I pointed my antenna towards the stations I want to receive (which are in Hartford for the UHF antenna and New Haven for the VHF-high one). The analog picture from 69 sometimes would also flip to an inverted (negative) picture which also suggested to me that it was overloading- so that is why I got the filter for it. Right now with the antenna pointed West my AGC readings from the local digital channels (WHPX-DT, WEDN-DT, WPXQ-DT) are all about the same at 33. I tweaked my rotor to minimize these local signals which seemed to optimize my ability to get the major Hartford stations without re-pointing the antenna. I will probably try adding filter(s) between the pre-amp and my distribution amp to help get rid of 26 (analog) 53 (analog) and maybe 17 (digital) to help make the antenna pointing less finicky.

I have a small mountain to the West and a couple of trees and water to the East. BUT the direction I have to point the antenna to pick up ABC HD in RI is a clear shot.

WHPX 26 i NEW LONDON CT 259° 12.4 26
WHPX-DT 26.1 i NEW LONDON CT 259° 12.4 34
WEDN 53 PBS NORWICH CT 295° 9.8 53
WEDN-DT 53.1 PBS NORWICH CT 295° 9.8 45
WPXQ-DT 69.1 i PROVIDENCE RI TBD 88° 18.9 17
WSBE 36 PBS PROVIDENCE RI 65° 33.9 36
WLNE 6 ABC NEW BEDFORD MA 94° 41.6 6
WTIC 61 FOX HARTFORD CT 303° 46.2 61
WTNH 8 ABC NEW HAVEN CT 279° 50.4 8
WTXX 20 WB WATERBURY CT 287° 53.6 20
WUNI 27 UNI WORCESTER MA 28° 59.7 27
WYDN 48 DAY WORCESTER MA 19° 56.1 48
WVIT 30 NBC NEW BRITAIN CT 303° 46.2 30
WPRI 12 CBS PROVIDENCE RI 68° 44.7 12
WPXQ 69 i PROVIDENCE RI 104° 10.2 69
WJAR 10 NBC PROVIDENCE RI 69° 44.1 10
WFSB 3 CBS HARTFORD CT 309° 46.7 3
WCTX 59 UPN NEW HAVEN CT 279° 50.4 59
WNAC 64 FOX PROVIDENCE RI 68° 43.9 64

With the antenna pointed to New Haven I do see a snowy analog 10 from Prov.

If I remove the power to the pre-amp I get a very snowy sort of able to make out the picture analog 10 from Prov.

At this time in the day there is no HD feed from ABC (if that means anything at this point).

CT Raider - WFSB-DT (CBS) granted you a waiver for D*? How did you manage that?

Ross

I don't have a diagnostics page.

The only thing I have to measure signal strength is on the DirecTVio box.

I do get the New London HD feeds up in the high 80's for signal strenth. I haven't checked the channel 17 from RI strength yet.

The sad thing really about this is the amount of time and money I have spent on just trying to get the SuperBowl in HD. That and Lost.

I'd just might as well download Lost in HD and watch it on my 24" Dell LCD.

I can only venture to guess.

I signed up with DirecTV over 10 years ago. I did all the same work I have done recently regarding the antenna stuff. I got the same analog reception then as I do now. Snowy crap.

So at that time I had to write and request the waivers myself. I received waiver for all the networks no problems. DirecTV then gave me the East and Westcoast feed of all the networks.

When I switched to HD with DirecTV they requested the waivers for me and within a day NBC, CBS and Fox all came back with approval.
Except for ABC!

CT Raider,
The snowy picture on channel 10 will cause WTNH-DT to be unreceivable at your location as WTNH-DT is on the same channel. You could try to turn the antenna +-20 deg. and see if you can make WPRI turn completely to snow. Then try the digital receiver on WTNH and see what you get.
Your best bet is channel 49 WLNE from Providence. Channel 64 is broadcasts from a location very close to to 49. It is the analog FOX broadcast from Providence so adjust your antenna for the best picture on 64 and that should be your best shot at getting ABC and NBC from Providence. If you still get no signal, preamp overload needs to be suspected. You are probably getting a very strong signal from WPXQ on channels 17 and 69 overloading the preamp. The solution is a lower gain preamp and or notch filters for those channels. You could also try it without a preamp but one may be needed. Unfortunately, just removing the power from the preamp does not remove it from the line; it just becomes a big attenuator, so to do the test the preamp needs to be physically removed. John

Wow. I'm absolutely baffled by this as most of us on the thread who also have D* have all requested waivers and are only ever granted WVIT (Channel 30). I haven't heard of anybody who's been granted a waiver for any other channel. Wonder if something's changed and if we should try request waivers again ???

I have a CBS waver and am in Mystic. I don't know if it came from Hartford, Providence, or both, Maybe it has to do with how far you are from the transmitters. John

I just checked the manual for your TV online and it does have a diagnostics screen.
From the manual pages 101 and 102 it is at:
Menu->Applications Settings->Diagnostics.
The applications settings is the menu at the bottom that looks like a checkerboard. If you want to use this the way I described you will need to temporarily move the antenna connection from the Tivo to the antenna input on the TV. If you don't get the strong Providence stations with a correctly aimed antenna then I think you can just assume that WPXQ is overloading your pre-amp without doing the measurement though.

[PS] The new Sony TVs have very good tuners so you might receive channels with it that the Tivo can't get.

Jake,

Are you sure? I'm on tvlistings.com right now, and it's showing Connecticut at Indiana with the HD symbol. What listings are you using?

From cbs.sportsline.com ... "Connecticut @ Indiana (National; HDTV)"

CBS Sports Schedule

Add me to the baffled list. I must be right on the border of some imaginary line if John has a waiver in Mystic and I can't get one in Niantic.

Sorry, my fault for not being more descriptive.

The diagnostics line is greyed out every time I check for it.

However upon trying some of your suggestions right now the TV located some HD feeds. I then went to check the diagnostics and it was available.

My results are as follows.

I had unplugged the power to the pre-amp, attached the antenna cable to the TV directly and did a search. It found 4 digital channels. While watching the HD feed 69.1 from Providence I brought up diagnostics screen. I decided to plug in the pre-amp and I lost the signal completely.

I guess my next step tonight is to check for frequency 49 (6.1) ABC out of Providence. Would you concur? Then maybe add the filter for channel 17 and 69.

When you unplug the power to the pre-amp it doesn't just stop amplifying, it reduces the signal by a huge amount like ctdish mentioned. If you lost the signal on 69.1 when you plugged in the amp then you definitely have an overload condition. You will get kind of wet if you go on the roof now (yesterday would have been a better time) but removing the pre-amp completely may be worth a try.

What about an attenuator so I don't have to go outside?

My antenna just came down onto my roof.

Hope it didn't put a hole in it. I gotta check it right now since it's not raining at this moment.

I agree John to try with no preamp at all is the cheapest thin to try first. Can you get any picture on channel 64 analog? Even if it is pretty snowy you should still be able to get channel 49 digital. Also Radioshack made a preamp I had luck with that was a model 15-1108. Not sure if they still have it, but it has only 10 dB of gain at the antenna so it's much harder to ovwerload it. The preamp you have now has too much gain and even a filter might not save it. John

Just got off the roof before it downpoured. No hole in roof.

I'll post a couple of before and after pics in just a little bit.

Here is a link to view the before and after.

Antenna came down, Oh Crap

The 1 1/2 in mast bent at the clamp.

I could only put up 3 guy wires and the wind usually comes from the direction I couldn't use a guy wire on.

Now that the mast is down I won't mind changing the pre-amp so much. I think I am going to mount the mast on a tripod at the other end of the house that has a more clear shot of RI. Then I could also install 4 guy wires to secure the thing. Any suggestions on a particular tripod?