Sacramento, CA - OTA - Page 307

The Fox 40 information was correct about digital televisions. All of them have digital tuners. With the right antenna, many Fox 40 viewers can receive digital channels from Walnut Grove, including Fox 40. Plugging an antenna into the rf in/antenna in port is how that process starts.

If a Direct set top box doesn't have a digital tuner, and you are getting service for an analog tv, no antenna will work for OTA.

I'm disappointed that the new Hopper from Dish doesn't have OTA capability yet.

There is a fairly long story in the Bee today about 40 being off DirecTV. The last sentence is as follows:

"Channel 40 programming is still available via cable, Dish Network and over-the-air transmissions with a properly modified antenna"

What it is exactly that must be modified about an antenna to get 40 OTA is not explained.
I would guess that someone told the Bee reporter that and that he has no idea himself.

Maybe a follow up story could be published explaining how to make the modifications.

I saw an announcement about this station being on the air for a couple of weeks now. It's pretty strange for an analog station to show up these days. It's just an excuse to run an FM radio station. It plays music and has a slide show. I'm amazed I can see it at all considering the poor location I have for a station on the Sutter Buttes. Must be strong in Sacramento.

Chuck

For at least the past week, I have been seeing intermittent problem on KOVR. The video goes to horizontal/diagonal lines then goes black with no audio. About 10 seconds later it comes back on and is normal. It has happened at least 3 times that I have recorded during primetime. Once was CSI something, then just tonight it happened at the very beginning of Amazing Race.

Note: These were recorded off Comcast cable KOVR CH713 (I rarely use OTA since getting a 4 tuner Tivo Elite and dumping Dish Network). I posted the problem here because this thread gets way more exposure than the Comcast thread AND this problem ONLY happens on KOVR.

I've been seeing the same problem on KOVR. It happened during my OTA recording of Criminal Minds which I watched last night.

Chuck

The problem with KOVR is still there. This morning has been atrocious. Far too many cut-outs for the shows to be marginally watchable. I'm getting plenty of signal strength, so that isn't the problem. Yet the video/audio are blacking out constantly.

No problem with any channel except 13.

Seems kind of ridiculous that after days of this, KOVR has neither resolved the problem, nor posted anything advising viewers.

Ya. Who's running KOVR now? Where's Bob Hess? He hasn't posted here for six months! Time to call the station? Anyone got his info?

I think Bob is here. He posted on March 5th. I'll bet they know about this problem.

Chuck

Happened again last night during Amazing Race at 7:39. I haven't watched Good Wife or NYC22 yet, so I don't know if it was there, too. Channel 10 was almost unwatchable for a while a few weeks back. Still see some pixelation/brief freezes every once in a while.

S~

Yes, I am very much around. I've been out of town for the past week at the National Association of Broadcasters convention. I have an army of engineers here who have kept me in the loop.

We have had multiple issues, unfortunately all happening simultaneously and all unrelated. The Sunday issues were completely unrelated issues involving our studio to transmitter link transmitters, which are about two years old.

In addition, we may have a microwave interference issue which is showing up very intermittently. The STL problems have been fixed.

None of this has affected any of our fiber feeds, such as Comcast, Wave, ATT, or SureWest, but systems receiving us OTA, such as Dish and DTV, have been affected.

I saw some mention of Comcast issues. Nothing that we're aware of. In our infrastructure, Comcast feeds are totally separated from anything else. I've had no complaints from Comcast customers at all other than those customers on a very small system up north that is not on the fiber backbone.

We have spent some time on our backup facility and this, as most of you know, does not have any RF in the SF market.

Bob

Bob,

There was a long black out at the beginning of Supernatural Friday night.

S~

No issues other than the problem a week ago, Sunday.

A Zenith 901 converter hasn't been able to receive guide info since last weekend.

I've been experiencing poor OTA reception on KOVR 13 for well over a week. Are they having trouble with their transmitter again? Thanks.

Happened on this week's NCIS about 11 minutes after top of the hour. Video turns to diagonal multi-colored lines, then diagonal white dashes, then black screen, then back to normal. Only lasts for about 5-7 seconds. Comcast HD CH713.

We were running at half power yesterday and part of the day before but otherwise no problems. No one should ever be able to tell that we are at half power. That's 500,000 watts!

Bob

Appreciate the specific time and program info, Hammer. We will check the video and stream recordings.

A few ABC prime time shows have been nearly unwatchable the last 3 weeks due to constant picture break-up and audio cut outs. Revenge and Modern Family have been the worst two offenders. Revenge was very difficult to watch this week.

Is there something going on with Channel 10?

I receive my locals through DIRECTV.

DirecTV is having a problem with reception of KXTV at their West Sacramento receive site. This has been an ongoing problem for many weeks. When this first started the DirecTV person responsible for the site said the problem was propagation conditions which we thought was questionable. Now the problem has continued for many more weeks and DirecTV is telling the public that the problem is with KXTV. The station is getting lots of complaints from DirecTV subscribers some of them angry. There is nothing the engineering people at KXTV can do and we were told weeks ago that the problem is being addressed at the corporate level but obviously the problem continues. We certainly hope a solution is found soon.

Frankly, this doesn't surprise me at all. Thanks for the response.

Maybe it is related to VHF. I see the same problems on KVIE.

I found out today that a fiber connection to get the KXTV digital signal to Directv is going to be installed. It is supposed to be done in a couple of weeks. There was a fiber connection to get the KXTV analog signal to Directv for years paid for by them because of interference problems with analog channel 10 at their receive site. The equipment was removed after the analog signal no longer existed.

Thanks, Rory. That's great news.

Too bad they aren't doing this before the season finales this week.

What's happened to this forum? Is it somewhere else now? The search function is darn near worthless compared to the old platform, so I'm not sure if there are questions/comments out there that I should be commenting on or responding to.

Bob

They switched message board engines Bob. Ferrari to Yugo.

Hey Bob,

I see you're in Placerville and am hoping you can answer a quick question. I honestly tried to search through the 307 pages here, but gave up.

We are considering ditching our satellite provider. We are off of Missouri Flat (pretty much right off the freeway). Our property is on a west-facing hillside, but as you know there are plenty of LOS issues up here. I cannot see the Sacramento basin from my deck. Anyhow, with your familiarity with the area, what do you think our chances are of getting any quality HDTV signal up here? I am not mechanically inclined and have a debilitating fear of heights, so climbing on the top of my two story is out of the question. Although, I could pay someone else to do it.

I just do not want to go through all the purchase and setup only to find out that it's impossible.

Thank you in advance,
Roy

Hi Roy. I live in the Placerville area, near Lotus.

I'm guessing you could receive the local signals, but I can verify your line of site to Walnut Grove if you can give me some accurate coordinates.

I will note that, even with LOS, the foothills can be troubled by temperature inversions which can result in destructive multipath which can just kill the digital signal. This will generally happen around sunrise and for 2-3 hours after sunset on days when a strong temperature inversion exists....like today. The bowtie type antennas are best for this phenomena and some viewers have put up elaborate installations in attempts to improve reception when this happens.

Channel Master has an 8-Bay bowtie that is generally available from Fry's for about $100, model #4228HD. Antennas Direct makes a similar antenna called a Clearstream5. Both antennas cover the high-VHF band (local channels 6 and 10 are in this band). The Antennas Direct model tends to perform better on high-VHF while the Channel Master performs better on UHF. I recently installed an antenna at my mother-in-law's house in Encinitas. She wanted to see the LA signals, 160 miles away. I installed the Channel Master and got 143 channels, including the high-VHF channels out of LA.

With all of that said, I get tons of complaints viewers using from one particular satellite provider and virtually no calls from viewers using the other. If you're dropping your satellite service due to signal problems, you might want to take advantage of one of the "switch" promotions available from their competitor.

Bob

Thank you for the quick reply!

We are considering switching because about 90% of our viewing is for local stations. I just cannot justify paying the money that I am for that extra 10%. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a "local only" with Dish or DirecTV (as you know, we cannot recceive cable out here). My lat and long are 38.703316,-120.839677.

By the way, could I use my DirecTV dish as a OTA HD receiver? I seem to recall reading this somewhere on this board. I even saw someone mount their OTA HDTV antenna to their old dish. That would save some work.
Edited by Roy Simpson - 7/13/12 at 1:15pm

I live in Folsom, specifically in Empire Ranch (Iron Point Road and Empire Ranch Drive). I am having issues getting the local channels on my televisions. I have been using a Terk antenna and switched to a Leaf but I haven't seen any improvement and at times lost almost all channels. I am frustrated with the indoor antenna setup, but don't have the money or knowledge to set up an outdoor antenna. What is the best indoor setup for me right now and does anyone have information on who to have install an outdoor antenna and which kind is best. I have a two story house and the antenna is set up on the second floor, near a window.

Well friends I have tried it all and about to throw in the towel, I am trying to receive KCSO-LP TV33 (digital 3) from my home in the Butterfield area at Hwy50 and Bradshaw, I am receiving all the local full power stations and on these hot days the bay area stations as well, no matter what I have tried I cannot get KCSO, installed a rotor KUVS comes in at 100% there on the same tower, I just went out and bought a Low VHF Yagi rated at 90 miles installed and direct hook up to a Digital tuner and no KCSO but it gets all the other stations as well as my VHF and UHF and FM yagi's

Since KCSO is licensed to Sacramento do they have a responsibility to the viewer/customer to get there signal in there city of license, what I am trying to get is ME-TV on KCSO 33.2 any suggestion or assistance will be appreciated

HD Stacker Antenna VHF/UHF/FM/digital/HD
http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/

AntennaCraft Y5-2-6 Lowband-Broadband VHF Yagi TV Antenna Channels 2-6 (Y5-2-6)
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=Y5-2-6&d=AntennaCraft-Y5-2-6-Lowband-Broadband-VHF-Yagi-TV-Antenna-Channels-2-6-(Y5-2-6)&sku=716079000949


Thanks
BUD K.
Edited by bkress - 7/14/12 at 9:26pm