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Lafayette, LA / Beaumont, TX / Lake Charles, LA - HDTV - Page 2

post #31 of 9765
8/7/04 at 2:57pm
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Unfortunately it is a VHF channel. It is 8-1 DT.
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post #32 of 9765
8/7/04 at 8:19pm
I went ahead and purchased a chimney mount and VHF antenna today in hopes of picking up KPLC in a week. Should this work without a pre-amp.
Antenna web says KPLC is 73 miles away. That seems pretty far when Lake charles is only about 45 miles away.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.
I'm sure the big tree directly to my East is not going to help matters.
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post #33 of 9765
8/7/04 at 8:30pm
Just looked at the map and Fenton is pretty far out there.
Wish they had chosen a closer city for the tower.
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post #34 of 9765
8/8/04 at 12:22pm
According to videos on their website, this new transmitter is much higher and has considerably more power. They actually state that many people who couldn't receiver their signal before, should be able to with the new transmitter. You just may be able to get it, but don't rule out a pre-amp.
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post #35 of 9765
8/8/04 at 2:20pm
I will try without the pre-amp first of course. But if one is needed exactly how does one work?
does it go on the antenna? In the attic? inside by the HD reciever?
I guess I could use one of those plugs that screws into the light socket in the attic for power. I really have no idea how to set one up.

I have a friend coming over this afternoon to help with the straps to go around the chimney mount. The instructions on that are confusing enough.
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post #36 of 9765
8/8/04 at 8:22pm
A pre-amp comes in two pieces. One piece goes on the mast, close to the antenna. The other part is the power supply, which is plugged in indoors by the receiver or tv. The power to the pre-amp runs up the coax, and amplifies the signal before a long cable run.
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post #37 of 9765
8/8/04 at 10:20pm
Well I got the antenna hooked up today. If nothing else all my Beaumont Signals are very strong now by having an outdoor antenna.
Anyone know what day KPLC is supposed to flip the switch?
I'm not quite as optimistic after finding out the tower is 73 miles away as opposed to the 45 that I thought it would be.
My antenna claims to have a 70 mile UHF and 90 mile VHF reception yet it only has the yellow and green colors on the color code wheel.
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post #38 of 9765
8/10/04 at 2:41pm
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EUREKA!!!! KPLC is broadcasting on digital 7-1 and 7-2. The picture is pixelated and the sound is dropping out but it is there!!! This is the way they did it before the tower fell last spring. They will slowly bring up the power the next few days. 7-1 looks like 480p (black bars on the sides) 7-2 looks like an upconvert to 1080i. It's fullscreen 16X9. I'm 55 miles west-southwest of the transmitter in Fenton. If anyone else is receiving it please let me know.
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post #39 of 9765
8/10/04 at 6:58pm
Nope. Nothing here yet. Even with the new antenna. I think I just have too many big trees that are directly in my path and no way around them.
I sure wish they had put the tower in Vinton instead of Fenton.
Also I thought the HD signal was supposed to be on Channel 8.
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post #40 of 9765
8/11/04 at 5:10am
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It is broadcast on Channel 8 but they map it to 7-1 and 7-2. KBTV is broadcasting their digital channel on channel 40 but they are mapping it to 4-1. Don't give up hope. I noticed they stopped broadcasting sometime before 6:00 PM yesterday on the digital channels. They will probably start testing again today.
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post #41 of 9765
8/11/04 at 10:41am
Well that is good news. I tried them out yesterday about 7:00 PM.
I still think that the giant oak tree is going to cause me problems though.
That thing is huge, green and right in my way.
I will keep trying when I get home tonight.
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post #42 of 9765
8/12/04 at 5:34pm
I wrote a letter to KFDM Channel 6 last week telling them how much I was enjoying their signal and how dissapointed I was that NBC and ABC were not in HD yet.
Below is the response I got today.




Leon:

I'm glad that you enjoy our HDTV programming. It really is a great picture. We spent a lot of time (and money) putting it all together. I, too, wish the other 2 stations could broadcast HDTV. They did no more than the law required (broadcast a digital signal; HDTV is not required).

This decision was not made locally. Their corporate offices made the decision for them. I'm sure that the local engineering departments at ch. 4 and 12 would be broadcasting in HDTV if they had been the people to make the decisions.


Richard Kihn
Chief Engineer
KFDM-TV/KFDM-DT
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post #43 of 9765
8/14/04 at 3:14pm
Quote:


Originally posted by woodyww
Fenton, LA is where the PKLC tower is located. It's a few miles north-northeast of Lake Charles I think. Go to the KPLC website and you may find some more information. They give updates on their tower construction there. The last I saw, the tower was topped out at something like 1600 feet and they were planning on resuming broadcasting from the tower in August. I believe right now they are broadcasting from their studio on a short antenna.
If Fox broadcasts Texans games then the answer is no there was no HD last year. The Fox network is supposed to go HD before the start of the NFL season this year but according to the Fox 29 engineer in Lake Charles it isn't going to happen for us. They are currently broadcasting a digital signal on DT-30 from their studio in Lake Charles. It's so weak that most of the people in Lake Charles can't see it. They have no plans to upgrade. It looks like they are going to do the bare minimum that the FCC mandates. Kind of like KBTV and KBMT. I would urge everyone to call and complain to these broadcaster until we can change their attitudes. I also call TWC routinely and ask when they are going to ad KFDM DT 21-1 to their lineup. The only answer I ever get is that it is in negotiation. The email address I have for the manager at TWC is mike.mckee@twcable.com . A good resource for what is going to be happening at KFDM is Jeff Laird. His email address is jefflaird@kfdm.com He is their HD guru.
In the meantime I'm happy to stick with D* TV.

Calling/writing broadcasters will do no good, most stations are sitting around claiming financial hardship waiting for the government to grant them necessary money to build out thier full power dtv signals.
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post #44 of 9765
8/16/04 at 6:30am
Thread Starter 
KBTV DT-8 is mapped to 7-1 and 7-2. It is live and I'm getting a great picture with no breakups in Bridge City, Texas (55 miles from transmitter). Olympics in HD are great!!
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post #45 of 9765
8/16/04 at 4:18pm
Woody. What is your signal strength. I am getting nothing at 73 miles out and this big tree in my way.
Leon.
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post #46 of 9765
8/16/04 at 6:44pm
Thread Starter 
Unfortunately my Zenith 520 Direct TV/HDTV decoder doesn't show signal strength on over the air antenna. Wish I could help but I can't
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post #47 of 9765
8/16/04 at 8:29pm
I am getting KPLC, but not without dropouts. I too have a big tree in the way at about 64 miles out. The power increase for KPLC was not as great as I thought, 20 kilowatts up from 5 kilowatts I think. In comparison, KFDM is 50 kilowatts.
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post #48 of 9765
8/16/04 at 8:43pm
Quote:


Originally posted by baron141
I am getting KPLC, but not without dropouts. I too have a big tree in the way at about 64 miles out. The power increase for KPLC was not as great as I thought, 20 kilowatts up from 5 kilowatts I think. In comparison, KFDM is 50 kilowatts.

At least that is encouraging that it can be done. I wrote KPLC an email late today to see when they would be at maximum power but maybe they already are.

Where did you find the kilowatt info for KPLC?

I also wrote an email to our local NBC to tell them that some of us have switched over to Lake Charles for our NBC feed. I told them to let their regional office know that they will lose viewers by doing nothing for much longer.
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post #49 of 9765
8/16/04 at 9:11pm
This data may not be up-to-date, but you woud think the fcc site would be current.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state...&mlon2=&slon2=
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post #50 of 9765
8/17/04 at 3:36pm
Thanks for web site information.

I received a response from KBTV Channel 4 today about what their HD plans are. Here is the reply:



(Thank you very much for your comments. We are in the planning stages of continuing to provide improved digital transmission of our local signal to local viewers. Including full HD.)

Van Greer
VP/GM
KBTV



I wrote him again this morning to see if he could give us any kind of date as to when this may happen. No reply yet.
Leon.
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post #51 of 9765
8/17/04 at 8:58pm
Well today I added another 5 ft. of antenna pole to get my antenna away from my chimney. I also turned the antenna a little more Northward to try and get around the tree in my yard.
To my surprise I started getting channels from Houston. This is with the antenna aimed NE and not at all to the West towards Houston.
in addition to our local 4,6, and 12 stations I am now able to pick up the following stations at decent strength. I will try to aim it directly at Houston soon to see what else I can get.

I now get:

14 KETH
26 KRIV
39 KHWB
67 KFTH
75 KHWB

Still can't get KPLC from Lake Charles. Maybe it is because they are so low power.
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post #52 of 9765
8/18/04 at 5:46am
Thread Starter 
I know what you mean. I turned mine toward KPLC's tower in Fenton and I'm also getting KLFY 10 in Lafayette, LA and Channel 9 in Lufkin. A couple of mornings I got a channel in Dallas. Pretty weird.
PS Right now KPLC DT-8 (7-1) has been off the air since last night. I don't know what the problem is.
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post #53 of 9765
8/18/04 at 7:18am
That is encouraging that they were off the air last night. So maybe some of my new directions will work.
I will keep trying. I have a huge open gap between the trees almost directly to my North and a little East. I will try aiming at the gap tonight and see if that helps any.
Leon.
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post #54 of 9765
8/18/04 at 4:23pm
Arcade, with the Houston stations, what you are getting is their signals reflected off of your trees. Sometimes, that is as strong as the direct signals.
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post #55 of 9765
8/18/04 at 7:15pm
Yea. It may have just been a late night fluke. Because it is now 9:10 PM. tonight and none of those stations are registering at all. But last night they were coming in at 6 bars out of 10 strong on my signal meter. I was able to watch Sienfeld, Spin City, and Third Rock on Houstons WB and FOX stations.
Still no KPLC as of tonight. If they are back on the air I feel that I will not be able to pick them up.

Still no reply from our KBTV 4 on what kind of timeline they have for HD.
Even though they said they are planning to do it, I do not think they have set a goal or they would be saying more.
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post #56 of 9765
8/19/04 at 5:30am
Thread Starter 
Here is a thumbrule for figuring if you can get a signal. The square root of the height of the tower plus the square root of the height of your antenna is equal to the distance in miles at which you can get a direct signal.
So say the tower in Houston is 1600 feet high. the square root is 40. Your antenna is 25 feet high. The square root is 5. You would have to be within a 45 mile radius to get a direct signal from the Houston antenna. You live in Port Arthur which is about 90 miles from the tower farm in Houston. You are getting a signal bounce off the atmosphere. That's why sometimes you can get a signal and sometimes you can't. It all depends on the atmospherics and the wave length of the desired broadcast. It works much like short wave radios. I used to be able to get Houston stations in the early morning but by 0800 they were gone. You also usually get better reception in winter than you do in summer.

By the way, I hear that KLTL PBS 18 DT-20 should go on the air soon from Lake Charles. They are going to rent tower space on the KPLC tower. I don't know what the output will be but hopefully we can get some PBS-HD which is really good stuff. I emailed WLPB(Louisiana Public Broadcasting) for info but have not received anything. Does any one here have any info???
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post #57 of 9765
8/19/04 at 10:13am
I was thinking about adding another 2470 feet to my mast. lol I realize it is all tropospheric ducting with my reception, but to me that beats nothing. I am pretty lucky. I get night time reception from Houston almost all the time. Monday Night Football is my main desire. When I don't get Houston, I just watch whatever is on KFDM. How high is your antenna Woody?
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post #58 of 9765
8/19/04 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
My antenna is in my attic and is about15 ft high which means about 6 ft above sea level here in Bridge City. LOL
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post #59 of 9765
8/19/04 at 10:58am
Quote:


Originally posted by baron141
I was thinking about adding another 2470 feet to my mast. lol I realize it is all tropospheric ducting with my reception, but to me that beats nothing. I am pretty lucky. I get night time reception from Houston almost all the time. Monday Night Football is my main desire. When I don't get Houston, I just watch whatever is on KFDM. How high is your antenna Woody?


Don't sell yourself short baron. Go ahead and go for the full 2475 feet. You will be glad you did the next time it rains. Also, don't forget to run a long extension cord up there as well, for the red light to warn incoming planes.
And when you are all complete, please do a web page like "HowIBuiltMYHDTower.com" .

After much experimenting with my antenna last night I just decided to leave it where I get KFDM and KBMT at 10 bars strong of signal. If Houston decides to pop in every once in awhile then all the better.
Leon.
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post #60 of 9765
8/25/04 at 9:32am
I just called Channel 6 because last night during Raymond and Yes Dear the sound started poping real bad. It was doing the same thing at my brothers house so I know it was not just my setup.
This morning during the soap Young and the Restless it is doing the same thing. However the local commercials are fine.
The tech at channel 6 went into their lobby and noticed the temp girl at the front had not been putting the signal on HD. After he switched the signal over he heard the poping as well on the national feed.
He said he would do his best to find out what was causing it.
What great customer service.
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