San Francisco, CA - OTA - Page 164

http://onelook.com/?w=AFAIK

AFAIK = as far as I know

onelook.com lets you check many dictionaries with just one look up.

I imagine this just momentarily slipped your mind.

rackerby, take the output of the preamp and send it to a distribution amplifier. That is something with one input source and multiple outputs that doesn't result in a loss of signal because it is a powered amplifier. (at least this is my understanding of it)

My father has one of those that has 8 output ports.

8-Way Signal Distribution Amplifier
Channel Master 3418 (PCT-MA2-8P)

He bought it at Frys Electronics, I do believe.
http://www.frys.com/product/5770192

Googling site:avsforum.com PCT-MA2-8P OR "channel master 3418" OR cm3418 finds some talk about it.
(ok, so maybe mentioning that search is a little bit much. Why leave out anything?-)

update1(

A couple of other tidbits.

Out of those 8 ports one is marked to indicate that it has power on it. So far he has stayed away from using that port. I don't know what the harm is using standard equipment on that port.

Winegard VB 1000 DC Voltage Block for 75 Ohm F-Connector
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_disp...p?PROD=VB-1000

Maybe something like this could be utilized to remove that power.
(see update4 below)

And apparently:
So a version without the powered RF output port exists.

Before my father went on his shopping spree I mentioned that he might want to get RF cabling that is better quality than the typical RG59.

I gave the example of how it is silly today to buy cat5 ethernet cable when for not much more you can buy cat5e or cat6. With cat5e and cat6 you can handle gigabit ethernet. Where gigabit ethernet stuff doesn't cost that much today.

Anyway, so he asked me to research it. RG6 is what should be gotten instead of RG59. And preferably with solid-copper core. He came home with RG6 but then realized it was not solid-copper core. But rather steel platted with copper. Anyway, that's what he ended up keeping.
(see message below where someone points out solid-copper core is seldom necessary)

The reason for choosing RG6 over RG59 is to reduce the amount of signal loss.

Disclaimer: I don't work in this field. (which I suppose is obvious from what I said)
)

update2(
I asked my father, an electronics engineer, if anything bad would happen if you hooked up a TV or other tuner to the port of the PCT-MA2-8P that has power on it. He said it depends on the equipment. I said so you have no way of knowing. Correct, he said.
)

update3(
I don't know all of the uses for a powered RF port, but I can imagine one. The CM3418 (PCT-MA2-8P) is itself powered over an RF connection. Its AC adapter has a female RF connector. And an RF cable that attaches between it and the box with the 8 output ports on it.

So you could daisy-chain two of these things. Maybe the 2nd is located in a remote location where there isn't an AC outlet. So delivering the power over the RF cable gives you more flexibility.
)

update4(
I was thinking it was too bad that 8-port distribution amplifier didn't come with an adapter to strip off the power from the one port out of those 8 that has power on it. It turns out it does. It just doesn't look like that Winegard one I mentioned above. It comes with an MPI-1G adapter that splits the power off. It has an input port, and two output ports. One output is labelled "to TV", the other is to whatever needs the power, if anything.

The little instruction pamphlet that comes with the amp makes no mention of this adapter.
)

Larry,

Have they removed the old KGO antenna from Sutro yet?

Chuck

A few quick questions...

1) I went to the KTVJ website and looked at their coverage map is it really going to be that limited? If so most of us in the bay area won't even be receiving it. Also why are they waiting all the way till November to come on?

2) Am guessing at this point the only new additions we'll be getting is if any body adds extra subchannels but was wondering are their any other stations scheduled to come on anytime soon and if so will they to be very limited in range?

3) Somebody mentioned KSBW getting a new omni direction antenna will that change its coverage area?

And a note I did a rescan today and got 4 new channels I think they have been mentioned already but just in case they are

26.3 - KBS WORLD
26.4 - KTSF 26
28.1 - HSN/RELIGION
28.2 - KFTL LOGO

They will be returning to their omni directional analog antenna supposedly by mid August. If you had a good signal from KSBW analog you should have no problem getting them. Right now they're using their channel 10 directional antenna on 8.

I just noticed that they submitted a Form 387 (DTV Status Report) on 6/23 which says they are operating their full post transition facilities. I just checked their signal and they're definitely not on their omni antenna so I don't know what they're talking about.

Chuck

Unless you plan to run a significant DC current through that RG6, the difference between solid copper core and copper plated steel is probably negligible over the distances you will need to run it. At high frequencies, the current is all on the surface of the wire, so what is in the core doesn't matter much.

Ok. Thanks.

Hi,

Well we now know what they were working on.

I discovered this while I was closing the Volvo Ocean Race recorded at 1:30 PM today. (39,000 miles, 9 Months)

KCSM 60.1 is Now in HD, started sometime before 1 PM 06/29/2009.

SHF

My hats off to KCSM, someone really is on the ball.

The English subtitles I saw were cut off on "MHz Worldview Presents", I can only crop these programs with 16:10, not the normal 16:9 for 16:9 appearing programs.

I just looked again and the picture size appears to be adjusted with Black bars at the top and bottom, just like it looks when I used 16:10 cropping.



Great work realizing the problem and fixing it so fast.

SHF

-------------------------------
Follow up discussion;

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/H.../message/27901

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/H.../message/27904

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/H.../message/27905

I lost KQED (ch. 9.1) Monday night in the Berkeley hills at about 8:11 p.m. while recording* Antiques Roadshow. All three channels were still off at 11 p.m.

This failure must not have been a scheduled shutdown, unless they decided to leave us in the middle of a program! Hardly likely.

There was nothing about it on the main page of their Web site (which also was not working all that well, either). Any word?

*Strange: A DVD recorder apparently just stops when the signal disappears. The timer said "00:10:47" (approximately--I didn't start recording precisely at 8 p.m.).

It's on for me. I notice a bit more breakup though tonight. It's normally rock solid for me. Although this may be because I have it going through a Zenith 901 with RF passthrough that I was using for testing earlier.

I just turned on the 901 and watching it with the signal strength meter on. It comes in fine, then every few seconds the signal just DROPs into the "bad" red zone for about one second, then comes up again and is normal. Odd. Maybe they're having problems, or there's something generating RFI, or the weather. Not sure.

EDIT: I'm getting the same thing happening on KPIX 5.1. Interestingly, KQED and KPIX are close together in freq. KPIX is RF ch. 29, KQED is RF ch. 30.

KPIX is operating on the same antenna, with full power of 1000 kW, as they have been for more than 10 years. There have been no changes so far for them. They will be on a new antenna more than 200 feet higher than their present one in October.

Larry
SF

No signs of any physical changes yet. When there are, I'll post some pics on my Sutro page and let you all know.

Larry
SF

KTVJ will be a low power station and will only be transmitting with 300 watts. Since they're going to be on channel 4, low VHF, you'll need an antenna for Low VHF to receive them well. It'll be interesting to see how well a low power station will work on low VHF with all of the electrical interference that bothers digital signals.

They won't be on until November because they're building an entirely new transmitting facility on Mt. Tam. It takes time to get the equipment and get it installed, build the tower, get the antennas installed, etc. They're starting from scratch up there. They (and the new channel 3) will be the first broadcasting transmitters on Mt. Tam. Other stations have microwave links and cameras up there.

If you check my TV lists (linked below) and see an L in the notes column, that station is low power. Don't expect to receive a low power station unless you're fairly close to the transmitter site. Low power stations are designed for local service and aren't expected to cover the same as the full power stations.

Larry
SF

According to the Chief Engineer of KCSM, as reported on the SF HDTV Yahoo site, there were power fluctuations from PG&E up at Sutro and it knocked the KQED transmitter off the air.

Larry
SF

We noticed the KQED outage when we tried to watch History Detectives last night on 9-1. Fortunately, we were able to watch it on KQED's redundant feed on 54-2. 9-1 was back on the air by about 11:00 p.m.

Bob

yes the KQED outage was an awkward coincidence since i chose that particular moment to finally do a bunch of scans and rescans and record my results in a spreadsheet and other geeky stuff and i kept thinking i could *swear* KQED was there a minute ago. funny.

meanwhile i realize this is not a samsung tuner thread, but i figured out the samsung DB H260F does let you add channels *if* you know the physical channel.

(our previous discussion that touched on this topic was focused only on KGO where the physical and virtual are the same, so the issue was moot.)

today when i went to add KQED manually, i first tried the obvious: i just pressed "9" on the remote. nothing. then i pressed "3" "0" and immediately the tuner displayed "9-1".

in the "channel manager" the tuner had auto-added all three channels 9-1 9-2 and 9-3

surely this behavior would strike most consumers as bizarre but we've been over the whole virtual channel / physical channel / PSIP / branding issue several times by now so i won't go there.

not that anyone cares or that it would be at all helpful to others, but there is a grand tradition of posting what channels you can get, and i currently have been able to tune in 50 virtual channels on 20 physical channels here in the flats near the san mateo / santa clara county line using the above mentioned tuner and a cheesy philips "indoor/outdoor" amplified antenna (about the size of a book) currently sitting about 18 feet off the ground perched on top of my chimney.

that one in cotati seems to come in pretty well here for some reason!

I am 57 miles from the tower. Why would TVFool list those low power stations in the green? I get all of the other stations in the green as well as one in the yellow, and one in the red.

I know KQED (ch 9.1) was back on the air by 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, which was the time I had set up the DVD recorder to record the repeat broadcast of Antiques Roadshow that was interrupted Monday evening.

These mysterious signal losses must be a nightmare to the general public who don't look at Web sites like this one. Even if they go to the station's Web site, they don't see any explanation or notice of the loss. (The stations can't really want to have a lot of people calling them, so why not post a notice?)

And what if the novice chooses that time to do the one setup scan he or she will attempt (often with one-time outside help)? They've lost those stations forever. My one-year-old TV will only add channels via a scan; no manual additions. It seems the industry has written off the over-the-air viewer in so many ways.

We may find that it is possible to receive those lower power low VHF stations much farther than you'd think. I believe a limiting factor is how much impulse noise you have on low VHF. TVFool says I might be able to get KTVJ here at 110 miles except I have no low VHF antenna.

Has anyone taken a look at channel 2 analog since KTVU went off? I did and I found I can see KOTR, which is a 3KW station transmitting from I believe Mt. Toro south of Salinas. It's main lobe is pointing down the Salinas Valley and the FCC antenna pattern says it has 300 milliwatts in my direction. It's about a 50% quieting picture on one of my completely non resonant ham radio antennas. If I had a real antenna it would be pretty decent.

Chuck

Hey Chuck,

What is RF channel 13? I see a little bit of digital signal on that channel and I don't have it on my list. I'm pointed towards Sutro.

Hi,

Well I finally got a episode of "In Focus" during a week day. (13:30)

It is a new record, ~ 3 Months since Daylight Saving Time started and perhaps now the Program Listings are starting to reflect what they are sending.

Before, the record was ~ three weeks.

Only problem, my KMTP reception is poor as my UHF antenna is pointed in the wrong direction so as to get the other stations on Sutro.

Question, is my poor reception of KMTP match others when compared to Summers past when it was good.?

SHF

That's KCBA FOX 35 on RF 13. It's on Fremont Peak, same place as KSBW.

Chuck

Thanks, I added them to my spreadsheet. I might take another look at them next time we get an exceptional reception day up here. I had channel 8 the other day pretty well but it was spanish and I couldn't lock it - something must have been wrong with the data (I assume), even though it was easily strong enough to lock.

I can't remember if I was pointed south or east, but that must have been KUNO that I was picking up; because it was spanish... Came in good... I think I'll go experiment with that a little bit...

Is KFTL - 28 still on Analog or not??

http://www.kqed.org/tv/help/dtv-transition.jsp

-----------
PLEASE NOTE: KQED's Over The Air signal from Sutro Tower was interrupted Mon 6/29 from apx 8:10pm to 11pm due to a PG&E power surge. OTA viewers who still do not have a KQED signal need to manually add the channel back into their tuner's memory and/or rescan to restore your lock on the signal.

There is also work and testing being done on Sutro Tower Tues 6/30 apx 10am-3pm. If you try your add/rescan during those hours and are not successful, please wait until after 3:30pm Tuesday, and try again.

Cable viewing was not affected by this OTA outage.
------------

There's also information about the antenna changes on Sutro.


Patty

It is not on analog. RF channel 28 now contains KFTL's digital signal.

Ron

Hmmmm.... KGO says their antenna mast will be worked on first and finished by July 15 and KQED claims their antenna mast will be worked on first and finished by July 15. Larry just told us that none of the old antennas have been removed and it's already July 1, only 2 weeks to go. I wonder if either one of them are right? How can KQED say they're transmitting on their old tower top antenna now when they never had a channel 30 antenna up there?

I guess we'll know in 2 weeks.

Chuck

That's nice that they have that info. available. It looks like I might be able to get
KQED(30) in the evenings, after 5pm, starting sometime in mid-July. I wonder if they'll be at full wattage during that window... If I understand their explanation, they're going to have their new digital antenna up and running at about the same time as KGO(7).

I wonder if KMTP(33)/KCNS(39)/KCSM(43) will be broadcasting in "partial mode" as well, since they're supposed to end up on that same tower, below KQED(30).

Is this true, that Dish Network and DirectTV do not provide PBS in HD?

I don't know about DISH, but DirecTV provides many local PBS stations in HD. KQED is available for instance.