Cedar Rapids / Davenport, IA - HDTV - Page 92  

On my Voom STB, I'm getting 28-1 HD and 28-2 SD.

Looks like KFXA is down right now (11:30 am). Maybe their tweaking some PSIP data. :)

Must be good weather conditions though. I'm getting QC stations halfway decent on the backside of pointing at KFXA.....

They filed their license to cover on July 19. They are at 1 mw!

Wow -- what are the chances an "average" roof top antenna will be able to get them in NE CR?

Also, I saw a question earlier about KRIN -- has anybody heard when 32-2 will be up and running?

I thought that they must be now. I get them LOTS better tha I used to, but didn't know if perhaps it was weather conditions. I get them better than the other QC stations now.

On good weather days, an average roof top antenna may very well pick them up if you have a good clean line of sight. Thats what I have on a rotor with a preampthat helps out a lot. On a REALLY good weather night, I pull QC in at 100%!!! (That's rare of course...)

From what I've been able to pry out of them the answer is "soon". Coming from a state agency that could mean anything, but it sounded to me like they are getting fairly close to being ready.

You think I'll be able to get them now? ;)

Has anyone heard if KFXA has their second tube in yet? My reception has been EXTREMELY spotty in Waverly (pretty much non-existent) which is supposed to be well within the coverage area for their new transmitter.

They have their second tube, it just wasn't online. They were still tuning on it, but I don't know when it will come online. They were off air this morning so who knows, maybe they were working on getting that online.

No change in signal strength for me since day 1.

Bierboy,

Don't worry about QC stations. Keep working on getting a 6 month STA
from the FCC to grow some hair back! I can't understand why they keep
denying yours... :D

BTW, Phil Smith, who is located 40 miles south of Chicago, locked
KWQC-DT and other QC stations this past weekend using a
SILVER SENSOR antenna in his ATTIC! :eek:

He has the screenshots to prove it:

http://psmith.us/rf/screencaps/atsc-dx

Is the Cards/Cubs game in HD or is this the "Fox Widescreen" I have heard about? I'm guessing its the latter. Still pretty good picture.

KCRG no longer mapps to 9-01 on my 811. I had to re-enter 51 and now I get no guide info. Must have change the something when they relocated the equipment.
Anyone else having problems today?

The Cards/Cubs game was SD widescreen. I agree; it looked pretty good, and it was nice to have some extra real estate on the screen.

That's un-freaking-believable!!!! I used to have a SS in my garage rafters and couldn't get a steady lock on WQPT (although they're not high power). I'm not a fan of the SS at all.

Were you watching on KFXA, hawkeye_fan? If you were, then no, they didn't flip the switch, at least the times I kept checking from about 3:15 to 4-4:15 they weren't. KLJB, on the other hand, was in WS 480P - first time in a few weeks, or so it would appear. The last couple times I checked before today, they hadn't bothered to flip the switch. (Don't know if its just a bunch of Cubs and/or Cards fans at KLJB or what, but just what I've noticed)

This afternoon, I got a good picture on WQPT analog, but not digital. BUT, I
did get WRTH-DT Indianapolis with an 80% lock from 60 miles west of Chicago last night. I have a CM 4228 with a 7777 preamp in my attic on a rotator.
I also got WOTV and WZZM-DT, both from Grand Rapids, MI. 200 mile DTV tropo,
not bad!

---

http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/new_all_coholic.gif

Don't drink and DX! A reminder from the Ad Council, and this station.

KCRG went back to 9-1 last night.

BTW, a quick correction is in order: KCRG's "actual" channel is 52. 51 is KGAN-DT.

I noticed that KFXA has made at least one change in their PSIP data that so far seems to have solved my STB mapping problem. 28.1 & 28.2 seem to be ok now.

How's everyone else KFXA mapping now????

(HD-Tivo/HR10-250 question!!)

Ok, my unit seems to be recording random programs, mostly in the 600s on D* (sports pack channels) - one even occured WHILE I was watching TV last night. Why is this happening and how do I stop it? 2 of the programs recorded were a sports info show and the Today show on NBC, they had the TiVo logo next to them - does that mean Tivo did it for me? Again, why and how can it be stopped? TIA.

I think (I can verify in a bit) it's in your "Pick Programs to Record" menu. Possibly a menu option called "Tivo Suggestions." Like I said, I can verify that later...it's a guess off the top of my head.

I live in far north-east Iowa; along the Mississippi; in a little town called Guttenberg. I'm nestled in the river valley with a tall bluff to my west in my back yard. Antenna web says the only digital channel i can receive is KFXB-DT 40.1 Dubuque. All the others are analog from Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, ranging in the 45 to 50 mile range. I am about to receive my Samsung 6168, and decided to give my 4228a Channel Master antenna a try. I mounted a Channel Master 7777 pre-amp, and hooked it to a Sony 200HD. All i did is set the antenna on the ground in my back yard, and moved it around. I did a scan for antenna, and digital ant on the Sony, and i am able to receive Dubuque 40 and Waterloo 7 and 32 and Cedar Rapids 9. My problem is none of them come in real clear; much less high def. Do i need to wait for my high def display, or is ota high def wishful thinking in my situation. My zip is 52052. Is their anybody close to me receiving ota high def?

Thanks kanderna. I found this out from the 'HDTV Hardware' board. You have to disable the "Tivo Suggestions" option and it won't randomly record stuff (at least not as frequently - will have to wait and see).

As of earlier today my RCA HD receiver still cannot get 28-1.

Thanks. Did you try re-scanning??? How bout everyone else???

By the way, interesting what you find when looking at transport streams. I didn't realize that the KCRG is running around 13mbps with about 5mbps of null packets. Also KLJB does not have their TSID encoded properly.

Newview,

I don't live in your area, but a few suggestions before you throw in the towel:

1. Put the antenna on the roof. At ground level, you get all sorts of ground
reflections that ghost and snow your analogs. Get someone to do it while
you scan the channels, or teach someone to while you move the antenna.

2. Make sure the cable you are using is RG-6 (I like quad shielded, it helped
me out, more on that in a moment).

3. Step away from the antenna while on the roof after you point it towards
Waterloo, and then Cedar Rapids. At that distance (50 miles), you MIGHT
need a rotator to get all the stations from CR and Waterloo.

My story: I am 61 miles west of Sears Tower, also low in a river valley. I
have the CM 4228/7777 setup you do. Let's make it worse: I don't own the roof
of my townhome, so the antenna is in the attic, reducing the signal by 20 dB
(reducing by 3 db reduces it by 50%. Yep, I lose 90% of my signal to my attic!
And oh yeah, there's a townhouse east of me partially blocking the signal, and the river is beyond that.

With all that can go wrong, I can still lock all but two TV stations from Chicago
essentially all the time except in big "skip" conditions. One station
that I can't is a UHF at 15.1 kw of power; the max they can run is 1 mw.
I do lock it frequently at night, though. The other is the dreaded WBBM-DT,
drowned out by atmospheric noise, thunderstorms, blenders and whatnot
past 40 miles out.

So, yes, your river valley is deeper than mine, no question, but *do not*
under any circumstances do a ballpark estimate that far away from a
transmitter at ground level, in a river valley. I fully expected to get only
stations from nearby Rockford, IL. Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised and happy to see the results. Best of wishes and let us know
what happens!

I have a cabin in Guttenberg, south of town.

I would recommend you try for Madison HD locals.

I haven't tried to get HD at the cabin yet, but judging from my frustration in getting analog locals over the air, unless you live on River Park Dr and can shoot up a hundred feet in the air, I got the feeling you're SOL. If you're on top of the bluff, then I'd get the biggest antenna and rotor you can find, and get it as high as possible. But judging from what you've described, you're in the exact same situation as me (my cabin is in the area known as Camp Hideaway, the bluff is my back yard, literally).

The most luck with OTA locals I've ever had was with a rotor and looking for Madison locals, but since we're 90 miles away and still on the river, unless the tropo was real good (sometimes I'd get Wausau and Green Bay crystal clear, about twice a month), the best I could do was get a half arsed 3 and 15 from Madison, or 8 from LaCrosse. Forget 40, it's now a religious channel.

Sometime this summer, I'm gonna try my Sylvania with an extra antenna going for Madison locals, what I was going to try was to lean the mast to where it leans to the west a tad (and aim it to the east towards Madtown), hoping to shoot over the Wisconsin bluff...extremely doubtful I can get anything, but you never know. I haven't bought a HDTV for the cabin because until I know for certain, HD would be a waste up there (for a place I stay at 2 days out of 7 9 months out of the year). Hell, I cringe at a $30 DirecTV bill!

I just have a feeling that until D* goes 100% HD on locals, Guttenberg will be stuck in SD.

Does the local cable purveyor offer HD locals?

Don't bother to point at W'loo or C.R. None of the transmitters are there. They will all be within about 8 degrees from your location.

From Guttenberg, point at 230 degrees (find a compass). KFXA will be at 227 @ 70 miles, KWWL is 235 @ 46 mi, and KCRG, KGAN, and KRIN will be at 230 @ 51 miles.

Good luck, and report back what you find!

I did try last week to rescan with no luck, but maybe I will try again today.

I think they made the changes very late in the week..

Newview - 'bout all you can do is try to get the antenna HIGH> I'm in a small river valley - the Cedar. There are small bluffs between me and the towers, but a 10' tower on top of a two story house works wonders. I'm sure I could pull in Des Moines, IF I was on top of the hills in town; as it is, my tower brings me on somewhat of an even playing field with those who live in normal areas. Oh well.

But good luck; and as UHF said, don't bother pointing to Waterloo. Dig up your old Boy Scout compass, or go and buy one. Use the numbers from Antennaweb, point the antenna accordingly, and you may be surprised. My antenna is pretty directional, and a 5 degree rotation makes a noticable difference in signal strength. It's a lot easier just to find the right direction, and point the sucker that way, than it is to be shouting back and forth "How does it look now?" ;)