Johnstown, PA - HDTV - Page 93

Same thing my TV and boxes have been saying: only 43-3 (53-1) is being aired.

Why does WJAC's RTN/RTV seem to at times no matter if it's ATSC or QAM have constantly A/V or lip-syncs problems.

Is the RTN/RTN feed just bad to begin with?

It is bit starved. I believe the bitstream rates are posted earlier in this thread, but RTN is getting less than 2 MB, AFAIK.
That's mostly due to WJAC's use of the 6-3 SD version of its primary program. You can see the difference when switching between 6-2 and 11-2 (WPXI) when they are running the same RTN content.
It would seem the cable providers are getting their 6-2 signal from the same bit stream, whether it is OTA or by fiber.

We just recieved a notice from Comcast today saying they are moving some channels around and it appears as though the Pittsburgh stations in my area are moving from their current anolog channel to a digital channel. The only exceptions are WPCW and WQED. WQED will stay on Ch. 13 and WPCW will move to Ch. 15.

Here are some of the changes...

KDKA is moving from Ch. 2 to Ch. 191
WTAE is moving from Ch. 4 to Ch. 189
WPXI is moving from Ch. 11 to Ch. 190
WPMY is moving from Ch. 7 to Ch. 193
WJAC-HD is going from Ch. 748 to Ch. 706
WTAJ-HD is going from Ch. 725 to Ch. 711
WJAC-RTN is going from Ch. 106 to Ch. 187

It also mentions that some networks in HD like TBS-HD and CNN-HD will move. This new line-up will take effect on or after August 3rd. The notice mentions that they are moving some of the analog stations to digital so they can make more room for HD channels.

I'm not sure, but it appears as though only people that have cable boxes will be able to view the Pittsburgh channels. Also, I'm not sure, but will I still be able to get some of the Pittsburgh channels on my TV with a digital tuner. I think I might because WPGH-HD has been off Comcast for about two years, but I get it on my TV with a digital tuner on channel 53-1.

I don't think it's a very good move at all.

I knew that it was bit straved.

I just didn't think that would screw up the voice though.

I figured it just made the quality low not screw with A/V sync.

Yeah, the audio needs fewer bits, but if those particular bits are the ones lost at a given moment ... and the lower bit rate would imply less error correction. A shame ATSC does not support MPEG-4.

I've seen other RTV affiliates on satellite, and they too have audio sync issues. Usually I have to turn off my DVB receiver then back on for the audio to sync.

My friend and I both live in or around the city of Johnstown.

West End/Oakhurst and Oakland.

My question is, we are both unable to have rooftop antennas where we live.

We only ever seem to get WJAC period.

When analog was around it was pretty much the same, except I received audio of some with no picture.

Does it look like we will ever receive anything else or just WJAC?

EDIT: I'm not complaining about WJAC, my friend and I are both glad, since we both like RTN, but we are surprised we can't receive any other channel at all.

Is there a reason you can't install roof-top antennas?

Well for me, I don't own my house and the landlord will not allow it.

My friend basically is in the same situation.

That was because in analog broadcasting the audio was transmitted as a separate modulation at the upper end of the station's broadcast channel. With DTV broadcasting the audio is digitized and is encoded and compressed along with the video elements for broadcasting. (This is the reason older multi-band radios which had a band to listen in on the television audio, no longer work.)


And my question to you is, what kind of antenna are you and your friend currently using to receive WJAC OTA?

Assuming no one it saying to you that you can't install an outdoor antenna, like a landlord (and against FCC regulations by the way), could you install one in say an attic, which might provide better reception?

----
Oh, so it is your landlord. You then should take a look at this:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Well basically we only have antennas that came with our Hauppauge TV Tuner Cards hooked up to our ATSC-to-Analog converter boxes.

He has a DigitalStream from Radio Shack and I have an RCA from Walmart.

Anyway, I live in a part of the city that has issues receiving, so I may be out of luck. I mean police radios sometimes malfunction here, radio stations don't get picked up as well, and definitely cell phones act bad.

Anyway, he's in a slightly better area than me, he gets a 91 out of 100 signal on WJAC, yet still can't seem to receive anything else.

Yet if I go up the road a tad bit in to Richland Twp, PA, my TV Tuner Card on my laptop can pick up WWCP but it breaks up.

Well your problem with WWCP doesn't surprise me given the station's polarization pattern to beam most of it's 9 kwatts towards Indiana, Pittsburgh, and Uniontown while short-changing Johnstown, Somerset, and Bedford.

And while I'm not familiar with your tuner card and the antenna that comes with it, I would think even a small to medium metro type (yellow, green, or light green zone) antenna located as high as possible even inside your home would give you more signal to work with and might let you pick up WWCP, and even perhaps really strong PGH stations like KDKA, WPXI, etc.

If we start the process of deploying ATSC-2 now, we might still be alive to see an OTA transmission..

That all depends on where in Oakland ZeroOneTwoThree is located. I ran a quick TV Fool estimate based on the 1800 block of Bedford Street, and it does indicate WWCP and WJAC should be in range. All other stations fall into the dark gray range "These channels are very weak and will most likely require extreme measures to try and pick them up".
ZeroOneTwoThree can try the TV Fool tool using his exact address to get a clearer idea of what may be possible.

My friend is the one who lives in Oakland.

I live in West End/Oakhurst.

While TV Fool gives a good estimate of OTA reception, and is much better than Antennaweb.org, it is just that, an estimate and is far from perfect.

For example, at my home I get consistent fringe reception of two stations out of Younstown (WFMJ & WKBN) which doesn't show up at all on my results from TV FOOL. Also WTOV always is listed as one of those "gray" stations, but I actual get it very clearly, all the time. Other stations that it says I should get, I can't receive, or only get occasionally when the atmospheric conditions are just right.

In any case, I think an actual antenna would work better than what I assume is a "stick" antenna that was provided to work on a tuner card for a laptop computer.

So my point is you never know what can or can't be received OTA unless you are willing to do a little experimentation.

And while Z123, might not pick up the major UHF PGH stations directly, at some later point both KDKA and WPCW have plans to build translators at WPCW's old antenna site, which may give him access to a CBS and CW affiliate.

Is there any place that can just flat out tell you where stations are in your area and what subchannels they provide?

I have tried TVGuide.com, TitanTV.com, and some random others, but nothing seems to just flat out give me every channel in my area including subchannels.

Some guides actually omit subchannels like 6.3/WJAC-SD of WJAC.

One of the major contributors to this forum, Trip in VA has a very nice site that offers a wealth of information about every digital station in the U.S. Check out "Rabbit Ears"

Specifically, this page is for Johnstown: http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?mktid=122

- Trip

Translator update:

The FCC has granted construction permits for WJAC's RF 22 repeater in Altoona and WPCW's RF 27 repeater for Johnstown (at the old ch 19 tower near Jennerstown).
WJAC's DuBois (RF 26) and Bedford (RF 30) proposals are still at the FCC.
KDKA's planned Johnstown repeater (RF 40) (to share the WPCW site) is also still awaiting FCC approval.

Directv vs Dish local channels:

I know directv has ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and WPSU in HD. No word on when CW (Pittsburgh) will be in HD or when WHVL will be carried.


Does anyone here have dish or know what locals they carry?

Thank you!

CW Pittsburgh is not available in HD in the Pittsburgh market, so chances of seeing it here don't look promising.
As for WHVL, you would be hard pressed to find D* picking up a low power station anywhere.

Did anyone hear ever really play with Free-To-Air or FTA satellite.

I've been a little curious about it for a little while but looks somewhat expensive to get the equipment.

Would you ever really pick anything up around here?

I have an old 10 foot dish connected to a DVB and a commercial Digicipher II receiver. It is possible to get the Big 4 as well as PBS, but there are other feeds that can open up from time-to-time. http://www.lyngsat.com/america.html gives an idea of what you can find.

State College people - I will be installing (or, rather, looking to see if it works for her) an antenna for my sister. With WWCP (fox) on VHF 8 I was wondering if anyone has success in St College with getting a sustained signal from them. Thanks!

You will not pick up WWCP on their VHF (8). However, WWCP is building a digital translator on RF 17 to serve the Centre County region.

The translator will serve State College but with WGAL (Lancaster) requesting more power, WWCP should probably also request more power at least to the North and NE.

Hello everybody. I have pondered this for several years, so I'm going to throw this question out there and let everyone chomp on it. There has been conversations about using several DTV boxes to re-assign stations to analog channels. That said, I was curious if there is a legal (or semi-legal) way to do short range repeater broadcast of channels within a very limited area, as this has long been a dream of mine.

Also, let me just say that I could not be happier that WJAC-TV is putting in an Altoona repeater, as I hate the 30% of the time when the State college repeater falls below 30 strength. (oh and I'm happy about the other State college repeaters that will eventually come on the air.)

Thanks in advance for any help or direction.

-Phillip

Phillip-

Presently, unlicensed broadcasting in the TV bands is a violation of the FCC's rules.

Even at very low power levels.

Get a ham license, and do some analog TV on 70cm before that becomes illegal, too.

-OR-

Get a full power TV broadcast license, and the FCC will let you build all of the 'short range repeaters' you could ask for...