San Francisco, CA - OTA - Page 152

KQED 9 have also shutdown it's analog signal at the stroke of midnight.

KRON 4 and KQED 9 were the first 2 stations was stopped broadcasting in analog.

Ironically, I was playing with a spectrum analyzer earlier this week and found a digital broadcast signal on UHF 55. I messed around for the better part of the morning trying to figure out what it was (hooked to a DTV, searched TVFool, and more).

Finally, around early afternoon, something jogged my memory about channel 55 and I figured out it was the MediaFLO signal. I can assure you it was already on the air in the St. Louis area earlier this week.

Excellent conditions this morning for digital KGO, KPIX, KQED, & KCNS but KRON on 38 is a no go. I see it trying to phase lock but it's too weak. Maybe next Fall.

Am I the only one who missed that KTSF will be nightlighting for a month? I'm surprised to see that considering the new digital KTFK is firing up on 26 from Walnut Grove tonight. Seems like there's going to be a lot of interference in the overlap coverage areas like Livermore, Concord area, and maybe even up to Fairfield.

Chuck

My first real uh oh..... From Rohnert Park, yesterday when KRON was on channel
57, I was receiving it solid with a 71 on my Dishnet VIP 722. This morning
there is nothing on channel 57, of course, but nothing on channel 38 either.
This does not bode well if the problem is the new antenna which is lower on
Sutro. The rest of the channels going to that antenna might be a problem until
they build the new higher antennae.

My Samsung and Tivax STB's can display KRON ok here in South San Jose, but the signal strength is greatly reduced. The HDHomeRun can't seem to lock on solid though, the signal strength is 80% with the signal quality constantly fluctuating between 0% and 60%.

If you are talking about ch10 (KXTV) & ch13 (KOVR) from Sacramento, note that KOVR will be switching off their analog signal about 5:25pm. KXTV will be switching from their backup transmitter on analog 10 to their new digital transmitter on 10 right at midnight (and killing their digital transmitter on 61).

Hi,

At 10:30 AM KRON is up on ANALOG 4.

I see nothing on 38 or 57.

Did something fail or not work?

SHF

I pulled out the spectrum analyzer while conditions to Sutro were good. KRON is on 38 but it was 10 dB weaker than KCNS on 39, -88 dBm vs -78 dBm. I don't know why their signal is so much weaker. Something isn't right.

Chuck

KNTV 11 have shutdown it's analog signal, while KSTS 48 is still broadcasting it's analog signal. we will let you know if KSTS 48 will be shutdown anytime or at 11:59:59 p.m.

Long-awaited shift to digital TV coming Friday
San Jose Mercury News - ‎Jun 10, 2009
http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_12563692

"Two local stations — KNTV (Ch. 11) and KSTS (Ch. 48) — will turn off their analog broadcasts just after noon."

So channel 11 finished The Ellen DeGeneres Show, ran a few commercials, and started showing the Deal or No Deal show. 47 seconds into the show it switched to showing an informational screen saying:

Analog Television Has Ended
Digital Television Has Begun

48 hasn't switched off yet.

update1(
Though this message on 5/22/09 mentioned that these stations were doing stuff at noon as well. It mentions that the others that have yet to do it are doing so at 11:59:59 pm.
)

update2(
oops. I just looked at that message again. It says KMTP, 32, is doing it at 10:59:59 pm.
)

Hi,

Edit: Larry just said KRON is on half power for many days.

Can you please check KMTP Virtual 32.1 Physical 33.

For the last couple of weeks it has gotten hard for me to receive, was much better.

So, KCNS (P 39) is OK.

KRON (P 38) is so low I cannot lock on it.

KMTP (P 33) is hard to receive.

But then, KMTP has not gotten it's program listing right since we went to DST, almost 2.5 months now!!!

SHF

Question:

When there are NO workers on Sutro tower can some stations be on one set of antennas and others on the other set?

We are now in the 7AM to 7PM time window.

Some people on the SF HD Yahoo Group are saying the can't receive KRON. If you're in that same predicament, make sure you re-scan! Since most receivers already have 38 being used for KCNS, if you tune to 38.1, you won't get KRON, you'll get KCNS. When you re-scan, your tuner will find KRON on 38 and alias it to 4.1 and 4.2. The station IS on the air on 38. SD is still on 4.1 and HD is still on 4.2. Note, KRON is only operating at half power. They have to modify their old channel 57 transmitter to 38 before they go to full power. Their on-the-air promos have been saying that they should be full power about June 18th.

In other news... you'll also have to rescan to get all of the other stations that will be changing channels:
2 - KTVU - from 56 to 44
6 - KVIE - from 53 to 9
7 - KGO - from 24 to 7
8 - KSBW - from 10 to 8
10 - KXTV - from 61 to 10
40 - KTXL - from 55 to 40
42 - KTNC - from 63 to 14
64 - KTFK - from 62 to 26

The stations are changing at different times, so re-scan often! KSBW 8 did it at 12:30 pm this afternoon. Most do it tonight at 12 midnight or sometime in the early morning after they make the necessary changes to connect their new digital transmitter to the antenna. It took KRON three hours to change. KTVU, like KRON, might take a few hours. KGO is ready and will be able to do it in minutes. KXTV 10, as reported yesterday, is going to change their analog transmitter to a backup antenna at 10 pm so that they can connect the channel 10 digital transmitter to the main antenna. They plan to be ready at midnight for 10 digital on channel 10.

I've heard no details for channels 6, 40, 42 or 64. Channel 64 is making a major change. Not only are they changing channels from 62 to 26, they're also changing transmitter sites from Mt. Diablo to Walnut Grove.

Some of the channels that are not changing channels will have to go off the air temporarily tonight so that connections can be made to the antennas they share with other stations.

All of the other channels will only turn off their analog signal. Most plan to do this at 11:59 pm tonight. Their digital signal is already in it's final configuration.

KNTV analog 11 switched to Nightlight Service at 12:01 pm this afternoon and is offering a very well produced program on DTV that repeats over and over and over... and will for at least the next two weeks.

KOFY 20, KCBA 35, KICU 36, KCNS 38, KION 46 and KFTY 50 have already turned off their analog signals, and their digital transmitters are on their final channel.

By early tomorrow morning, all analog stations will be off the air (except low power stations and translators), and all digital stations will be on their permanent, final channel assignments. The only thing left after the changes today and tonight are the installation of new antennas and possible power increases. The stations on Sutro Tower will not be on their permanent antennas and final power levels for digital until October. KCRA 3, KICU 36, KTEH 54, and maybe others will be changing to new antennas and increased power later this year.

For a complete list of all digital stations, with their virtual (aliased) channel and transmitter channel numbers, transmitter location and other information, go to my website:
http://www.choisser.com/sfonair.html - listed by virtual channel
http://www.choisser.com/sfonair2.html - listed by transmitter channel
All lists have been updated with post-transition information.

Remember re-scan and re-scan again!

Larry
SF

I'm still getting KQED 9 analog here.

Larry
SF

So, I'm thinking of getting a DTV converter for one of my analog TVs. Is there any sort of consensus on which brand/model is the best? Best for me would be best at pulling in signals. It'd also be nice to have one w/ signal strength indicators, since my Olevia HDTV doesn't have one.

No assurance needed. The article I posted was just about the new markets that will go online tonight. FloTV was already in 68 other markets, so I have no trouble believing that St. Louis was one of them.


Patty

It's coming in fine in Sunnyvale, too. (Pretty weak on my indoor antenna, but it's definitely there.)

I can't tell about KRON analog, since it's always bad at my house.

I was disappointed in how unceremoniously KNTV said goodbye to analog. Well, not quite goodbye, since they're nightlighting. And at least the loop they're running was locally produced. But no fond farewell at all.


Patty

I've found the Insignia box from Best Buy to be the best for both receiver sensitivity and signal strength indicator, but I don't think they have any more of them. You could check before buying another one, though. (The Zenith box that was available from Radio Shack is the same box with a different label.)

Larry
SF

I think that's what you're going to find on most of the stations around here. They're just going to "flip the switch"... and that's it.

Larry
SF

Hi,

One of the voices sounded like a person on "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer", but I do not think it was him as Paul Simon(sp) does not do tech stories.

Also the loop fails the "Osama bin Laden" test, it says go to Circuit City for converter boxes.

Those stores closed and the name is on a newly owned web site.

SHF

Yeah, I suspect so--and what a pity.

I didn't realize that KNTV doesn't have a midday newscast, so when I heard that they were going at 12:01, I figured it would be during the news, with some fanfare. Instead, as has been noted, they went straight from one program to another before cutting into that with the DTV transition loop.

Aside from KMTP, which doesn't do live programming anyway, all the other local stations are scheduled to go at 11:59, long after the news people have gone home for the night. So there's slim chance of any special programming. Couldn't at least one station in this major market have marked the occasion properly??

BTW, KRON's website still says "Digital TV comes to [sic] KRON 4 tonight at midnight." As I mentioned, I don't get the station's analog signal well anyway, so I can't confirm whether "nbc11newsclips"'s report is correct.


Patty

There's a whole sub-thread on the topic of CECB's:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=186
I really like my Tivax STB-T8 which I got on Amazon through Amazon.

I'm recording all three network news broadcasts tonight. Usually I can only do two at a time because of tuner limitations. But NBC is broadcasting the network news at 4:30pm because of a hockey game. Maybe one of them will have some kind of look back and farewell to NTSC. But I'm not holding my breath on that either......

There's another AVS forum for converter boxes should you want the full scoop. The Zenith DTT901 tops their list. My nearby Sears had a few boxes on the floor although going through their website shows it unavailable.

KSTS 48 is all static now.
I don't know Spanish. I don't remember the last time I checked it.
By about 3:14pm it was gone.

Talking about converter boxes and their differences. Doing an "Ez Scan" on the Zenith DTT901 it is difficult to determine what channel it just added as it adds new channels. It counts up from 2 to 69. And it just has a field that says how many services have been added.

The DTVPal Plus converter box adds the channels it adds to a list that remains displayed until it finishes its scan. So as long as you remember what existing channel was at the top of the list when you started the scan you can make note of all the ones that have been added.

Anyway, 33.1 was added. But tuning to 33.1 just shows a blank screen.


The DTVPal Plus can be gotten at Sears or K-Mart for $60. And is the only converter, that I'm aware of, that will let you search the program descriptions and titles. It lets you save your search terms so that you don't have to enter them again. I have "News" in there. My father watches TV in the kitchen mostly, using the Zenith. And I'm always telling him which channel currently has news on it. (he's a "news" addict). Should have gotten two DTVPals.

The DTVPal doesn't support analog closed captioning, only digital. While the Zenith supports both. And the DTVPal can't override 44.1 KBCW's forced "Zoom mode" (where the sides of 16:9 content are chopped off). While the Zenith can.

Yeh it looks like the Zenith 901/Insignia Apt is the most popular. The Channel Master CM 7000 has a lot of good reviews too, and it also has S-Video output which the Zenith doesn't. Will have to decide. :P

@kev4321: Interesting. In the other thread, the DTVPal got pretty low ratings. Hrm.

I've seen the Zenith DTT901 at Kmart for $50. They weren't in stock awhile ago, but they have returned. Call first to be sure.

Hi,

Former FCC Chair Reed Hundt said on the "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer", Friday:

98% of Viewers are on Cable, Sat or the Internet. So no problem!

Other things he said also bothered me. I will be looking at the transcript which will be posted online Tuesday.

SHF

I'm still getting KSTS analog 48 here.

KMTP had nothing to do except turn off their analog tonight, but they've messed with their digital and are no longer transmitting any PSIP info. I get a strong signal, but no picture on either 32.x or 33.x. That station has been screwy for a long time though, so I'm not surprised. They need a good engineer to get them back on track!

KKPX 65.x was missing their PSIP information earlier this afternoon, but they have it back now.

Larry
SF

I think that they use volunteers for most of the work.

Anyone have some spare time near Palo Alto?

They clearly need some more help.

SHF