Hartford, CT - OTA - Page 20

Arnold - what is the status of WVIT? Last we heard from their engineer a couple of weeks ago, the transmitter was operating into a dead load and they were just waiting better weather to install the temporary antenna.

You can read the frustration in this thread. Every time we get a date, the stations fail to meet it.


Pete

Pete, I have no idea what is going on with WVIT. They are by themselves on their own tower, so I don't have access to what they're up to. As of about 10 days ago (when I was last at our Rattlesnake Mountain facility), there was still several reels of guy wires at their site yet to be installed.

The stations on our tower are WTIC analog, WTXX-DT, and coming: WTIC-DT, WEDH-DT, WEDH analog, and possibly, WTXX analog.

achase, Will wedh dt be up also in 2 weeks or are they a different story? What will wtxx do with their tower in waterbury? Does that mean they will be a hartfordstation now. Thanks for keeping us up to date on what is happening. Are you going to broadcast at full power and if so do you think I would be able to pick up signal in Bethlehem? Am getting tired of waiting for Charter to get networks and am thinking of going back to dishnetwork and an antenna.

http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineeri...0/nret0007.txt

Here's a link to the FCC's website ain regards to the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHIVA). These are the passages I think apply the best.

"The SHVIA also authorizes satellite carriers to provide distant broadcast programming to eligible subscribers. A household is eligible to receive distant TV signals via satellite if it can not receive a signal of Grade B intensity using a conventional outdoor TV antenna."

"The SHVIA establishes procedures whereby broadcast stations can
grant waivers to satellite subscribers who are predicted to be able to receive local network station signals off-the-air, and therefore are ineligible to receive distant signals via satellite. The SHVIA also provides that if waivers are denied, consumers can request a signal test to determine the
actual signal strength received at their homes."

The procedure is to call the station state that you were denied a waiver for the DTV signal, and ask for signal test. Whether it works or not is another story.


Good news on WTIC-DT!

I thought we were told that WVIT had all the guy wires installed already.

In talking with a WFSB engineer I came away with the impression that part of the reason for their delay in going to full power is that they are employing the same tower crew as WVIT and won't be getting their new antenna installed until the WVIT tower work is completed.

Can't WFSB refuse the waiver and say they are not going to do a signal test because they are not operating at full power and will be at some later date?

Pete

I'm not sure if this link has been posted here before, but I came across this interesting page that shows several photos of WFSB's transmitter site. It may be of academic curiosity here... note the small low-power digital transmitter and the side-mounted temporary antenna.

http://necrat.tripod.com/wfsb_protv.html

I don't know if they could. I didn't see a provision about temporary situations. There always seems to be loophole.

WEDH is still awaiting FCC approval. The timetable on that is unknown. Until they grant the license, the antenna(s) can't be ordered. If WTXX (20) moves to Rattlesnake, they will still officially be a Waterbury station (just as WVIT is technically a New Britain station). What will happen to WTXX's tower is unknown. We are looking at it for telcom use, but Waterbury is not exactly a hotbed of rental activity.

When WTIC-DT starts up from the temporary location, it may not be at ultimate full power, but it will be at HIGH power. I'm not sure what the terrain is like between Rattlesnake and Bethlehem, so I can't predict the coverage. What is your WTIC analog signal like?

Good News:

Major parts of the WTIC-DT (31) tansmitter arrived today! The antenna installation is scheduled for NEXT WEEK!!!

Thanks for the info, Arnold...we all know that if you still owned the station, WTIC-TV would have been the first in CT with DTV!

You can say THAT again! Boy, does it ever frost me to see how slowly these corporations move. I don't know if you remember, but when WTIC signed on it was already 100% in stereo, and also had the first statewide use of S.A.P.


BTW, I've been 'filming' in hi-def for the last four years....

Let's face it, Arnold, you just like toys, like the rest of us!

Assuming WTIC's timeline is accurate, then Connecticut's only O&O station (of the big 4) will be the last to broadcast DTV over the air, how pathetic!!

scottte

Yes, pathetic indeed! What's really pathetic is that PAX, UPN, WB and even Univision for God's sake, have a DTV station on line in the Hartford area. Even if the HD content isn't there, these stations are further along than WTIC-DT and WVIT-DT.

It'll be really ironic that if all this happens, WFSB will be the last station to broadcast at full power.

Hi, Arnold...

If WTIC is mounting the antenna before the candelabra is in place, will they be able to go full power, or will they have to use a reduced power due to tower placement (side mount) or proximity to the ground?

Arnold already answered that (see below).

"When WTIC-DT starts up from the temporary location, it may not be at ultimate full power, but it will be at HIGH power."


Pete

Is WCTX at full power. It is at the same location as WTNH, but comes in with just over 1/2 the signal strength at my location.

Are you sure it is dolby 5.1? I can look into this - but I believe the stream is Dolby Digital but only 2/0 (stereo, left + right).
Not uncommon. Cranking up the gain on a pre-amp could overload the receiver and/or increase the signal to noise ratio making it difficult or impossible for your receiver to maintain a lock on the digital signal.
I'm a late comer to this thread; wish I had seen this back when you posted it! In any event - I recently noticed this myself. A few weeks ago some changes were made which should have eliminated this problem. Some ATSC receivers were having a problem when we switched from network to locally inserted advertisements and then back to network. But not all ATSC receivers exhibited the problem ...

Bob McCormick
WWLP TV22
Springfield MA

Terrain can play a greater role as you go higher in frequency. WFSB is on the east side of the north-south ridge ... as you may also be in Easthampton MA. You may have a clear shot to them (whereas the poster in Tolland CT may have some level of obstructions).
My understanding is WFSB-DT is still also running low power ... you can find information on the FCC's web site for WFSB. On that page it indicates that the current WFSB-DT channel 33 transmissions is using an omni-directional antenna and 20 kW ERP. They're supposed to go to a megawatt with a directional antenna. This is their Relative Field Polar Plot

Remember: the FCC's goal was to provide each broadcaster with a digital channel that would provide the same coverage area as their current analogue allocation. The difference with digital (ATSC) is that its either there or not - there's no fringe snowy type reception ...

This is not totally accurate. Meredith Corporation bought channel 67 from Trinity Broadcasting. The station is a low power allocation for Springfield MA and is located on Mt. Tom, not in Agawam. The station has been on the air (not defunct) since circa 1994. Trinity's callsign was W67DF - and it was changed to WSHM-LP in October 2003 when Meredith purchased it. FCC information can be found here. Most cable operators in the Springfield market seem to have replaced their WFSB allocation with the WSHM-LP broadcasts.

This is one of Entravision's CT stations. The -CA on the end of the callsign indicates a "class A" television service. (See FCC web site for more info.) Currently on channel 47 they have a construction permit to move to channel 28. The transmitter location is just north of Route 94 (Hebron Ave) in-between Hill St and Mountain Rd in Glastonbury CT. Their FCC information can be found here. They have a very directional antenna with one main lobe pointed at 295 degrees - which puts most of the signal out over the Hartford area. This station is the same owners as WUVN channel 18 in Hartford. Can't receive it from where I am (western Mass) but suspect it may be programmed similarly to WUVN, possibly in Spanish.

A signal test is requested through your satellite provider. They will ask the station for permission to test at your house. The station may then either issue a waiver without a test, or grant permission to do a test. The test is done by an independant third party agreeable to the station and satellite company. If the test passes, (the signal is strong) the subscriber is required to pay for it. If the test fails, (the signal is too weak) the TV station is required to pay the tester. The test is done on the analog channel. There is no legal requirement for a HD waiver at all. HD waivers are issued at the discretion of the local station.

How big of an antenna do they use to do the signal test? If it passes how much do you actually have to pay? I am 40 - 50 miles from WFSB on the Shore in Old Saybrook and have been told people can't get it with a huge antenna on there roof in Madison.

-Joe

The antenna is not large. It will be placed at 20' if you live in a one story house, 30' for a two story. A very rough calculation of available TV signals at any location is at: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

To get CBS in HD in Old Saybrook I'd try a high gain UHF antenna with a preamp aimed at WCBS on channel 56. It's 92 miles away, but no terrain to block the signal. A Channel Master model 3023 UHF antenna with a AP-8703 preamp or 3018 VHF/UHF antenna and AP-2870 preamp is available at: http://www.starkelectronic.com/allant.htm

RPMcCormick,

Thank you for your posts.

Would you know if WWLP has high definition studio cameras for the newscasts that originate in their Chicopee studios?

Also, would there be any visible difference in the station's high-def picture quality if standard definition channel 22-1 and weather radar channel 22-2 were eliminated to devote full bandwith to high definition?

WWLP-DT consistently provides one of the best digital signals that I can receive via a small arc-shaped antenna that is clipped to the top of my satellite dish in East Windsor, CT.

No - currently no HD studio cameras, etc.
Yes, indeed. The bandwidth of an ATSC transmission is around 19.39 mbps. The sum total of all channels encoded plus the tiny bit of overhead can't exceed that. Although many ATSC tuners won't tell you the numbers most ATSC PC cards will. The 22.2 weather channel is taking 1.5 mbps, 22.1 SD broadcasts around 4.5 mbps and the rest for the 22.3 HD transmissions. The station is looking at changing that configuration to improve on the quality of the HD broadcasts. Keep watching!
Thank you for your feedback - will make sure it is shared internally. There is also another thread for the Springfield market here on the AVS forum that I'm also actively monitoring. We appreciate all feedback and comments!

Well the thing is I am not physically able to do it myself and don't know of anyone except American Satellite in Middletown that does it with a 12' Channel Master, Pre Amp, Router, all setup and installed for $750.00 but they said they just did one in Madison and could not get any CBS HD from anywhere, not Hartford, New York, or Rhode Island. That location was only 10 miles east of me on the water so I do not want to put $750 out for it on a gamble. I would really rather not deal with an antenna and fade and all the stuff that comes with it if I can somehow get a signal test to fail and get the waiver.

-Joe