Harrisonburg / Charlottesville, VA - HDTV

This thread covers HDTV in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, with information and comments welcome on cable, satellite, and over-the-air offerings.

Here is the channel lineup available as of this posting:

Shenandoah Valley (Harrisonburg):
WHSV
3.1 ABC HD
3.2 Valley's FOX SD
3.3 TV3 Winchester SD
3.4 MyValley SD
WVPT
51.1 PBS HD
51.2 PBS Create SD
51.3 V'me SD (Spanish language programming)

Central Virginia (Charlottesville):
WVPT (low-power on Carter's Mountain on UHF 11)
51.1 PBS HD
51.2 PBS Create SD
51.3 V'me SD (Spanish language programming)
WCAV
19.1 CBS HD
19.3 FOX SD
WVAW
16.1 ABC HD
WAHU
27.1 FOX HD
27.2 MyCville SD
19.2 19News Weather Now SD
WHTJ
41.1 PBS HD National Feed
41.2 PBS SD
41.3 MHz-Worldview SD
WVIR
29.1 NBC HD
29.2 Weather Plus (SD)
29.3 CW (SD)

Cross-market reception is possible on the stronger signals with a large amplified outdoor antenna, though coverage varies on some weaker signals. This post points to some coverage maps: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post15404671

Good resources for antenna aiming are www.antennaweb.org and www.tvfool.com

Signals from Richmond, even coming across one or two high mountain ridges, have become dependable for those with good outdoor antennas. Some of the possibilities are:

6.1 CBS Richmond - HDTV
6.2 24-hr Richmond weather - SD
8.1 ABC Richmond - HDTV
12.1 NBC Richmond - HDTV
12.2 24-hr Richmond weather - SD
23.1 PBS Richmond - HDTV
23.2 PBS Richmond - SD
23.3 PBS Richmond - SD
35.1 FOX Richmond - HDTV
35.2 Richmond - SD
65.1 CW Richmond - HDTV

Questions to answer:

What stations can you get? With what equipment?

Who's good at installing antennas?

One final note: People on this thread have been good most of the time about not insulting the broadcast engineers and other technical people who post. Among broadcast professionals, 29Guy has for years provided excellent information on NBC 29's digital transition. More recently, WCAV has begun posting as the Gray stations' digital transition has occurred. Again, the authoritative information is much appreciated.

Experience shows that when there's a technical problem with digital or HD, the broadcast professionals are on the same side with the enthusiasts -- wanting to deliver the best signal available, but having to work within practical constraints. Also, keep in mind that broadcast professionals posting on this board typically will not discuss politics, programming or similar issues.

In other words, "thank you for not trash-talking the broadcast engineers who may post on this forum."

willie

Just wondering . . . your antenna isn't suitable for channel 11 -- meaning it's UHF only, right? I have seen folks posting that the upper VHF channels, especially the higher ones among 7-13, can produce an acceptable signal on a UHF-only antenna.

I have only a little local information to contribute: A supposedly UHF-only Radio Shack double bowtie antenna brings in channel 11 fine from here in Bridgewater -- but that's a very strong signal in our neighborhood anyway, and things may be different from your distance.

A while back I was considering going UHF-only and e-mailed WVPT about that. Their recommendation was "stick with a combination VHF-UHF antenna," implying they'd forsake channel 51 and stick with 11 after the digital transition, perhaps? But for around here, UHF-only seems to do fine with channel 11.

willie

Right -- that's the same lineup that WVPT broadcasts on 11-1 through 11-5 from its transmitter west of Staunton. I gather that the signal is stronger to the northeast of the transmitter.

willie

You're right -- I understand TV3's direct signal is a little sketchy in Charlottesville so that a lot of folks who get TV3 over the air in C'ville are relying on that translator. When I lived over that way -- in the Red Hill area -- I happened to be living on a mountain that faced NW and we got TV3 over the air directly better than we got WVIR-29. But we were the exception.

I notice that Gray Television is specifically saying that the new Charlottesville CBS affiliate will serve that area -- notably, not claiming that it will try to serve Harrisonburg-Charlottesville as TV3 and WVIR-29 both currently do, to some extent. However, if that new CBS affiliate's signal gets as far as Waynesboro, I'll bet my big ol' antenna will get it, whether or not the broadcaster is interested in the signal getting out this far. After all, I can pick up Charlottesville's low-power Pax 55 and I'm thinking that the Pax affiliate doesn't count on many viewers pulling in that signal from out here.

willie

Over at www.antennaweb.org and www.titantv.com you can put in your address and other variables to get some estimates. Here's what I got from the intersection of Fontaine Avenue and Jefferson Park Avenue:

red - uhf WVIR 29 NBC CHARLOTTESVILLE VA 157° 3.5 29
* red - uhf WVIR-DT 29.1 NBC CHARLOTTESVILLE VA 157° 3.5 32
red - uhf WADA-LP 55 PAX CHARLOTTESVILLE VA 155° 3.4 55
red - uhf WHTJ 41 PBS CHARLOTTESVILLE VA 159° 3.4 41
* red - uhf WHTJ-DT 46 PBS Charlottesville VA TBD 159° 3.4 46
red - uhf W64AO 64 ABC CHARLOTTESVILLE VA 156° 3.4 64
red - uhf W50CM 50 PBS CHARLOTTESVILLE VA 159° 3.4 50
blue - uhf W58DK 58 PBS RUCKERSVILLE, ETC. VA 19° 31.8 58
violet - uhf W39AK 39 PBS ROCKFISH VALLEY VA 259° 24.2 39
violet - vhf WHSV 3 ABC HARRISONBURG VA 0° 40.3 3
violet - uhf WPXW 66 PAX MANASSAS VA 59° 83.0 66

. . . and that says you'd need a "violet" (large directional antenna with preamp) even to get WHSV's analog signal on Channel 3. It doesn't list WHSV-DT, on UHF 49. It also doesn't list WRIC-DT from Richmond, which would be another way to get ABC in HD. Those listings are known to be conservative, though; you can often do better. Therefore:

* You should be able to get good digital signals from all those transmitters on Carter's Mountain with a "red" (medium directional) antenna, no need for a preamp, and no need for a rotator. Just aim it at Carter's Mountain and you should be fine; those locations are all within three degrees of each other. Wouldn't take a big antenna, and you might be able to get away with mounting it inside, as in an attic.

* But if you want to really reach out and grab an ABC signal from Harrisonburg or Richmond, you'd need a big antenna with preamp and rotator, say a Channel Master 4228 or 4248 with a 7775 preamp. And this antenna would probably get way too strong a signal from the Carter's Mountain transmitters. For any setup where you have two antenna inputs to your system, you could have two antennas and run both cables in (small fixed antenna pointed at Carter's Mountain, big one on the rotator to go hunting for ABC signals.) Combining the two cables outside is problematic, as you'll see from some posts elsewhere on www.avsforum.com.

* In between the large and the small, there's a possibility you could find an antenna big enough to get a distant ABC signal but small enough not to overload on the close ones. But that would be a matter of experimentation . . . as you probably have heard, it's difficult to know what will bring in signals at any given location until you try.

Good luck -- please let us know how it goes. Your experience could be helpful to others looking to bring in signals in Charlottesville (after you have gone to the effort on their behalf

willie

Carter's Mountain is the original name of what's sometimes today called Brown's Mountain -- that big mountain just above Monticello. (In fact, that mountain looks down on Monticello.) Look out that direction, SSE, and you'll see it. In fact, if you drive Va. Rt. 20 from Piedmont Virginia Community College to Scottsville, Carter's Mountain will be that big ridge on your left.


Ah, that's the problem. Our local affiliate WHSV-TV3 is already digital, on WHSV-DT 49, but that's hard to get in the Charlottesville area. . . so then the problem is, when will they convert their Charlottesville area translator to digital operation? And I think that will depend on the (unpredictable) speed of the overall digital conversion.

. . . and when they do, that translator will be easily receivable from where you are (156 degrees, 3.4 miles).

As for getting the ABC affiliate from Richmond, it's hard but not that hard. I get a reasonable signal from all the way over here in the Shenandoah Valley, and I notice an earlier post on this thread had someone getting Richmond ABC with a four-bay bowtie antenna on a 25' mast, up around Free Union. The signal should be stronger to you than it would be to Free Union.

I think.

willie

Sounds logical, but here's a curious result I've been getting: I get WWBT-DT from Richmond with a good strong signal from my rooftop antenna -- and can barely get NBC29 to move the meter on UHF 32.

As for analog signals, I get the native NBC29 signal well (pretty strong, a little snowy, very light ghosting) but the WWBT-12 analog signal badly (weak signal, snowy, but no ghosting). Of course, the relayed NBC29 signals from Massanutten, North Mountain and other translators are just fine. Who knows, maybe we won't get NBC29 well until those translators are converted to digital . . . years from now.

willie

There are translators up and down the Shenandoah Valley, and in lots of other rural areas too, as it turns out. Without the translators, you get only the local ABC and PBS affiliates. By grabbing distant signals and rebroadcasting them on available UHF frequencies, the translators add CBS and FOX from DC, as well as NBC from Charlottesville. Therefore the local viewer with a modest antenna can still get ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX-PBS.

Locally, there's not a lot of awareness about the translators. Most people have cable and satellite for a primary signal. But when they plug in that extra TV in the garage, turn the rabbit ears the right way and scan for channels, they get five instead of two because of the translators.

The local government (Rockingham County) pays for the modest yearly maintenance budget on the translators; the distant stations get a few more viewers (obviously more important for the Charlottesville station than the DC ones); local viewers get better reception.

I'm not sure what the politics were when the translators were originally approved, but in our neighborhood you can still see signs of the pre-translator era: rusting Channel Master antennas on high masts pointed toward Richmond. And, at our house, what my wife calls "a Cadillac on a stick."

willie