Fort Smith, AR - HDTV - Page 99

I was wondering myself, oxidation, etc. I went up to the attic this morning, and took my little test rig consisting of the Digital Stream converter box and a small video monitor. I came directly off the antenna with a new transformer into the converter, bypassing the CM 7777 pre. All of the UHF Springfield stations were in the 50's, and KPBI 34 came in around 60. KNWA was wallowing around at the extreme low end of the scale, barely discernible. Of course there was no signal lock whatsoever. I then took a splitter and a DC block, and came off the output of the Channel Master pre, which raised all of the signal strengths across the board about 10-15 points, but barely moving KNWA's strength at all. These represent the same numbers I'm seeing downstairs with all my splitters, etc. in the rack. So unless the antenna itself has become a low pass filter above channel 34, I'm stumped. You had mentioned that there may a problem with adjacent channel interference, which makes sense because of KNWA's sudden disappearance after being the best signal of everyone for over a year and a half. I have two possible culprits in that channel range that TV Fool says reside nearby:

K54GH Analog, out of Green Forest, AR, at an ERP of 7.5 kw, 26.2 miles from me
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K54FH

and KNJD-LP, analog ch. 59, out of Branson at 10.5 kw, 11.7 miles from me.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KNJD-LP

I cannot receive these stations, and it looks like they have have been operational for some time, so I don't know if they could be the culprit behind my problems starting in June with KNWA's signal. I know there are some RF gurus lurking around here, so does anyone have any thoughts on the culprit? I've resigned myself to giving up on a remedy, but I thought it might be interesting to hear some suggestions.

Michael

OK, I'm really puzzled at this point. I went to the FCC website to look at KNWA's info:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=29557#10000
It is showing two different patterns for their tower, one directional in a cardioid pattern, and the other non-directional, or omni. The directional pattern would explain my loss of KNWA, which would be comforting, because it would mean that no, I am NOT bat-**** crazy and am not the only person that has possibly lost their signal. And it would also explain why KBPI 34 comes in uber strong here, even though KNWA's tower is mere feet away from theirs. I can't find a date for when they made the pattern change, but it was in June when I noticed.

Here's their directional service contour map: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-serv...=DS655730.html

...and their omni service contour map: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-serv...DT1006433.html

What's really baffling, is that they appear to have lost a lot of coverage by going directional. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Or am I still bat-**** crazy :-)

so i guess we are not going to get that Tuff Tv now with 34.2 having univision on it.

It's not crazy. You aren't reading the FCC database correctly. If you will look under the application information link just ahead of where you found the map link you would see that this was a 3KW directional requested on 4/1/2003. They were just trying to meet the FCC deadline to get something in digital on the air by the deadline. The FCC dismissed it on 4/15/2003. It was never built, and certainly is not being used now.

Thanks for that. I also failed to notice that the directional antenna would have been running at a paltry 3 kw, as opposed to the 1000 kw of the non-directional antenna.

Your case is very puzzling. Where are you located? Lat / Long would be best if you know it.

Hello,

Thanks for the interest! Here's the lat/long:
36°39'49.58"N
93°21'37.95"W

(Branson West area)

The antenna is at approx. 960', about 25' above ground level, with hills all around. It is pointed at 259 degrees, sort of West Southwest. That allows me to catch a bounce off a nearby ridge to get all of the Springfield stations. I had aimed the antenna while everyone was still analog, which allowed me to actually 'see' the multipath I was getting. Turns out the strongest signal wasn't the best for digital, and multipath was it's enemy. The Springfield stations (Except for KOLR going back to VHF) have been fine for almost 2 years, regardless of season, with wind (shifting multipath) being the culprit most times. KNWA, which is about 37 miles away, has always been the strongest and most consistent of all the channels, until a couple months ago. It didn't just deteriorate in quality, it simply vanished, and only shows up in channel scans about 30% of the time. When I can get it to lock, it's a pixellated puzzle. I just wrote it off as trees, vegetation, etc. that may be gaining in height, as TV Fool lists everything thing I get as 2-edge. But when KPBI-34 came on the air, with the same strong signal characteristics KNWA had exhibited previously, combined with the fact that the two transmitters share the same real estate, I became curious what was going on. My rack is on a UPS, so earlier today I powered down the entire house, in hopes that self-inflicted interference may be the problem, but no change. My only guess is interference of some sort. I'd be open to any suggestions as to what to try next, as the whole thing has now become a kind of science project. :-)

These two showed up this morning during a scan. One was showing "Ask Judge Karen" and the other one was showing some real estate infomercial. I did see an ad for Ocean Dental Center in Ft. Smith, and a brief mention of Nexstar. (It's quite pixelated) Even inputting a 200 ft. tower height on TV Fool doesn't show these. Just curious what I'm looking at, and where they are from. Incidentally, KNWA wasn't showing up in the scan. Is it possible this was KNWA messing around with channel mapping?

i would say those are KNWA(50.1) and KFTA(50.2). was it around 11a.m.? Both are owned by Nexstar.

Yes, it was around 11AM. I'm guessing they were mucking around with their channel mapping and it inadvertently showed their actual RF channel assignment.

It gets even puzzlier..:-) Last night for several hours, KNWA came in rock solid, between 68-72 on the Dish 211, (the worst of all my tuners) the way it used to. Nary a hint of pixellation or sudden signal strength variations. KPBI was coming in at the same signal strength. This morning, KNWA is back to a very weak unwatchable signal, while KPBI continues to be solid, around 65-70. I should have stayed up past 2AM, just to see when the signal dropped off. Now I wish I had a spectrum analyzer to start sniffing around the 600 to 700 MHz area for local interference. Any experience discovering devices that have generated interference in that range, especially consumer devices?

It's screwy the way KFSM deals with US Open tennis sometimes. Yesterday (9/6) for the first two hours they put available-in-HD tennis on their SD subchannel, and aired an infomercial and church on their main channel in SD, both of which are unlikely to be available in HD. Why not switch the two?

Same thing today...tennis in SD on the subchannel, telethon in SD on the main channel.

Anyone else noticing the black blotch in the lower right portion of the screen on KNWA? It has been like this for for a couple of days.

Most likely contractual obligations Especially to the church.

I don't see it. Is it a square/rectangle, or just a darker area on the screen?

Yes, I saw it as well. Spent a few minutes making sure I did not have a pixel problem on my LCD. It was on every program for awhile but seemed to have cleared up by evening.

I am on uverse.

well they must have installed the fiber finally for Dish's feed. KNWA in HD now on Dish Network!!

It has cleared up for me too.

Anyone else getting MNTV on NC5?

Yes. It is now "My5.2"

http://www.kfsm.com/news/kfsm-news-n...8533.htmlstory

I just saw the Daren Bob commercial today. I am glad they are changing it, I wish they would go MNTV all the time, because in my opinion, it is a waste of a channel to reply the news all day.

IIRC, MNT has a lot of time for local stuff, usually infomercials. Which is probably what KFSM will end up doing with the local time.

It is kinda pointless to put the news on there at random now. I did use it before if I had the TV on and wanted to check the weather forecast. But I also have weather available on kytv-dt 3-3 here, 24/7. So, no loss if the news replays completely disappear. I just hope they don't add yet-another-sub-channel to do the news replay. CBS-HD on 5-1 is bandwidth starved enough already.

How long have 34.1 & 34.2 been around? An oldies and a Spanish-language channel.

KPBI-DT, Eureka Springs ch 34-n has been on the air for almost 2 months. See this post back in August:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...php?p=17003964

I wish they would get it fixed on DirecTV. 34 is just a black screen that says "No Signal".

Is there any prospect of getting Fox in over-the-air in HD in the Fayetteville area? Is there some technical or licensing problem? They just don't have the money?

FOX is in HD OTA on KFTA 27 (displays as 24-1).
Here's their antenna location and predicted coverage area:

I am located near the bright green square at the top of the map and get solid reception of KFTA with my outdoor antenna. [YMMV]

To make sure a hill's not blocking the signal to your house, enter your address at: http://tvfool.com/index.php?option=c...pper&Itemid=29
Copy & paste the link to your results page back here, for antenna suggestions. Your address will not display in the results.

LOL I had no idea. I've never had that channel get picked up on my tv, even briefly. Tried a rescan and nothing.

Here are the results from that site:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...507c16831494ec

For Fox, I'm in the "A roof-mounted antenna is probably needed to pick up channels at this level and above" zone.

I use an amplified, indoor antenna. I live in a condo and can't use an outdoor model--would have to be something indoors. Is there some other design that'd work?

This is the model I have:

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Perfor.../dp/B000ES8EG0

With that antenna I can get NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS all with no issues.

The Over-the-Air Reception Devices rule has been in effect since 1996. It prohibits restrictions on a person's ability to install, maintain or use an antenna for television access. A restriction is not allowed if it "(1) unreasonably delays or prevents use of; (2) unreasonably increases the cost of; or (3) precludes a person from receiving or transmitting any acceptable quality signal from an antenna covered under the rule," according to the FCC.

Community associations can impose restrictions on the placement of antennas or satellite dishes only on common areas. If the property owner has exclusive use in the area where the antenna is to be located -- such as a limited-common-element balcony -- then the no-restriction rule applies.

Put up an antenna. HD is much harder to pick up than analog was.

4029 is right. The FCC is on your side regarding antenna installations. You don't even have to get permission or a permit, if you install it on your on non-common property.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Your TVFool result for KFTA is very similar to mine. So, it may be possible to get KFTA 27 at your address. But, you'll need a good outdoor antenna and high gain/low noise preamp to get it. Indoor antennas won't cut it for "2 edge" reception.