Birmingham, AL - HDTV - Page 3

Directv's new spotbeam sat. It will move a lot of local channels off the 101 location and 7s is slotted to go to the 119 slot. This will allow room for more HDTV. The Sat has been delayed since last year due to various problems. Hope this helps.

So ABC will be broadcasting HDTV from 2 towers?

I read one was where the ch 40 tower is.

Where is the other tower and is it really ch 5?

yes, eventually. the first one up will be ch 5 located NNE of Tuscaloosa and West of B'ham...I think this is where the ch 33 (analog of WCFT ) tower is currently.

Xmitter ready for check out. Harris guy due in later. Tower crew lost most of today. May be Friday before they get in a full day. I will detail process when I have more time. Working long days now.

Please let us known when they transmit anything so we can all work on picking that signal up.

Thanks

Dave

bearmur...

Thanks for the update.

I think I speak for most of us on this forum that we'll be happy to be your eyes and ears in the field to let you know how the broadcast is being received and if there are any problems.

I hope I can pick it up at home. We will see. I get 33 but it has a lot of noise. We will want feedback.

How far do you live from the tower?

Do you think it will be strong enough for pelham, hoover and the surrounding areas?

I got a uhf/vhf combo antenna installed and pointed toward the ABC tower last weekend. Channel 33 is coming in very clear. So, I hope that I can get the digital version of ABC here in Mcalla.

I was really surprized that the combo antenna didn't mess up the signals I am pulling in with the UHF only antenna when I combined them.

For others that attempting to combine a UHF only and a combo antenna, I stacked the UHF only antenna on top of the combo with about 3.5 feet of seperation with no problems or signal loss from the red mountain stations. On my first attempt, I stacked the combo on top of the UHF only, which caused alot of signal fluctuation and resultant pixilation from the red mountain stations. I'm not sure why that happened, but maybe my error can save some of you some install time in the attic or on the roof.

Bearmur, thanks for all of the updates.

Tom

I live about 90 miles from 33. If you get 33 good you should get 5.

90 miles - now that's a serious drive B! If you can get the signal most of us have nothing to worry about! What type of antenna/amp setup do you have for that distance?

THancock, what is the model # of your combo antenna?

Not to be the forum police, because it truly doesn't matter to me, but shouldn't some of this ABC 33/40 tower talk go in the other thread.

Antennacraft 5885 - I pretty sure it's considered a near fringe antenna.

Here's a link:

http://antennacraft-tdp.com/ColorKing.htm

By the way, I think the ABC tower discussions are OK in this thread. (just my opinion)

I don't see how the discussion of the ABC towers can be considered irrelevant to this thread! That type of discussion is the exact purpose of this thread.

Thats what this thread is all about. Most of the people that have been here for over a year have talked about ABC 33/40 coming online - i have done my fair share as many of you will agree.

here's one:

Bearmur-
Do you know station management's reasoning for not carrying the Jimmy Kimmell show? Just curious.

I can answer that one. They have existing contracts that were signed for programming before JKL was on the air. I think they will pick it up once the contract runs out but you would need to call 33/40 - ask for Viki Hearn. She is in the programming dept.

I was worried that station management was trying to decide for the viewing masses what was and wasn't appropriate, and opted not to show JKL for that reason. The Wednesday night news tends to get a little "preachy" with Dave Baird's 'Matters of Faith'.

Tower crew lost today. Tower Too WET. Maybe the weather will be better Thursday. Snow?

I have an old Radio Shack UHF antenna & amp. I will change to cm7777 & new cm UHF when I combine VHF.

I currently have the zenith silver sensor. I am getting all channels except for PBS (no sound).

What antenna is everyone suggesting to get to pick up ABC as well?

Thanks..

And I thought you guys stopped posting until I went back and actually caught the new thread post. Sorry guys!

Looks like I almost missed the grand opening of ABC. I'll probably need some assistance from you guys if I run into troubles.

Im picking up evertything available right now with a CM4228....what would be a good VHF antenna and "combiner"...and how much do they typically cost?

Anyone know the compass orientation for ABC's towers from Alabaster area? When does Antennaweb.org post this information?

not sure when antennaweb.org will post this....I'm assuming based on bits and pieces posted here that WCFT's digital transmitter will be at the same location as their analog transmitter. the analog station is shown on antennaweb.org.

is this correct, bearmur?

YES.

This information might be true?
Fox 800 watts Ch 50
PBS 31 KW Ch 53-1 53-2
NBC 360 KW Ch 52
Pax 225 KW Ch 45-1 45-2 45-3 45-4
WB <15.4 KW Ch 28
ABC 9 KW Ch 5-1 5-2 On air tba
CBS 1000 KW Ch 30
TBN 8.2 KW Ch 26
UPN 17.1 KW Ch 36-1 36-2 {?audio}

bearmur....

I noticed that you listed 5-1 and 5-2. What 2nd channel are you going to be multicasting? Will you be able to give the full bandwidth to the HDTV channel with a multicasted channel?

Look back a page or two on this thead - David Richardson posted some info about this very question. I have ordered the CM 2001 that he suggested. It shoud arrive next week.