Charlotte, NC - OTA - Page 5

My Samsung SIR-TS160 seems to be one of the affected ones.

I wonder if there is any way to correct this.

I sent an e-mail to WSOC, and got the following response:

"We recently up-graded our PSIP generator to the latest Harris release. It has come to our attention, some Hitachi receivers are having problems with this up-grade. It is not as easy as just going back new hardware was part of the deal. Harris Corp is aware of the issues and are working to resolve them in a timely manner.
Please don't give up on us, surely they will have a fix soon."

Not quite good enough, since their trying to tell me that there's a problem with my TV, when it's really a problem with a non-standard transport stream. I then wrote a note to a guy at Hitachi (Bob, you know the dude; he helped us with the Fox 18 issue), and here was his response:

"Yes, we are already aware of this incident in your area. Actually, I am working with someone for the Harris Corporation and with the Engineer from this station as well. I am sure we will have will get to the bottom of it and get it going as soon as possible.

[WSOC engineering] is also working with us on this.

Thank you for letting us know. I will keep you posted as soon as I get some news from the station. They are sending us a sample of their digital stream."

So hopefully the right folks are working on it. If I hear more, I'll let everyone know.

Charles

While flipping around the OTA HD channels last night (Tuesday), I noticed that WSOC-DT was back in HD on channel 9-1 on my set. JEFatCLT, have you checked to see if your Samsung was picking it up?

Thanks for the note....I checked and am receiving 9-1 again!

This is my first post in this forum. I would appreciate others' experience and opinions.

My location is Lincolnton, NC (zip 28092) about 30-35 miles northwest of downtown Charlotte.

I have just purchased a Panasonic PT-50LC13 LCD projection HDTV. I also purchased a Samsung SIR-TS360 HD receiver. I hooked the HD receiver to my existing rooftop antenna. With no adjustments, I can pick up the following digital channels:

WJZY (channel 46.1 or 47)
WWWB (channel 55.1 or 39)
WCNC (channel 36.1 or 22)
WBTV (channel 3.1 or 23)
Signal strength on these 4 stations varies from 0% to 69%, but I get no audio or video dropouts or pixelation. According to www.antennaweb.org, I'm only 8-10 miles from these transmitters.

For WCCB (channel 18.1 or 27), signal strength varies from 0% to 54%. However, I do occasionally get audio/video dropouts and pixelation. www.antennaweb.org says I'm 33.3 miles from this transmitter.

For WSOC (channel 9.1 or 34), I can't get a watchable picture. Audio/video dropouts are common if I can get a picture at all. www.antennaweb.org says I'm 33.9 miles from this transmitter.

I haven't gotten a signal at all from WTVI , WUNG, or WAXN, but I'm not really concerned about them since I rarely watch them.

I don't have any hills or buildings (only trees) between my antenna and the transmitters.

I don't know what model # antenna I have. It has been on the roof since the house was built in 1977. It has 4 "bow-ties" in front and a rectangular wire mesh in back. It's somewhat similar to this one. http://www.antennasdirect.com/db4_bow.htm

The cable from the antenna to the receiver is about 40-50 feet long and is not a RG-6. It is a flat cable with twisted copper on each end.

I have lost/misplaced/chunked the rotor that I used up until about 10 years ago. The antenna is currently pointing generally toward the 4 closest transmitters and should be moved about 10-15 degrees counterclockwise to point directly to WCCB and WSOC.

I have considered the following options for improvements on WCCB and WSOC.

1. Go on the roof and manually turn the antenna 10-15 degrees counterclockwise. I'm not sure how much that will help.

2. Replace the "twin-lead" cable from the antenna to the receiver with a RG-6 coax. I'm not particularly thrilled with this option since I would have to take the antenna down to do this, and it's pretty dangerous to work on my roof.

3. Add a pre-amp or amp to the existing "twin-lead" cable or to the new RG-6 coax.

4. Forget the exsting antenna and install a new antenna/amp in the attic and feed the receiver with RG-6. It would probably be about 15-20 feet lower than the existing antenna.

5. Install a new rooftop antenna/amp and RG-6.

I would appreciate opinions/experiences on how likely these options are to help, or any other options that I haven't considered.

Thanks.

WolfpackJohn,

My guess is that replacing your cable would have the most impact, followed by turning your antenna.

Attic antennas have mixed results. I am in Huntersville and am playing around with my directional attic installation with mixed results thus far.
I would try a pair of cheap rabbit ears first, just to get a feel for the other end of the spectrum. If they work halfway decent, then the attic route may be OK.

Hey bdfox18doe - are you guys going to pick up the HD feed of the MLB Allstar game? I have read that your splicers are in place and that the Fox affiliate in Houston and NYC are picking it up in HD so I was just wondering.

Thanks

At this point we will not be carrying the game in HD. Other than Houston,
no one else will have the game at this time. This info comes from those
who actually know at FOX.

Dale is correct, and makes some great recommendations.
By the way, you reception problems on WCCB & WSOC are due to terrain,
(AND /OR MULTIPATH from downtown) and not signal, as both of us are running 1 megawatt erp..and are located beside each other. WAXN is on the same tower as WSOC.

Dale...

Are you sure about WUNG? I live in Mooresville and pick up WUNG pretty good with rabbit ears. WTVI on the other hand appears to be making low power and they are on DT 11 (VHF). I have to have my antenna just right to pick them up.

t123

Thanks for all the opinions.

This chart is seriously wrong..WCCB is on 27..WBTV on 23. both are 1 megawatt'rs

BDFOX18DOE......

If that wasn't a true HD feed we saw last night for the All Star game, that was something else that was truly amazing (picture quality-wise). There were periodic audio problems and some picture problems from time to time, but if you were "experimenting" I think you passed the test.

Thanks!
It was TRUE HD at 720p, and a fun but tiring experiment. Learned a lot.
The NFL on FOX this fall should be Awesome!

John, please pm me with contact info..Thanks!

i am new to this forum as well and would be intrested to know what HD locals I can expect to recieve. I live in the Highland Creek area of 28269.

I currently receive:
42.1 PBS
58.1 PBS
6.1 NBC
18.1 FOX

Really need to get but don't get:
3.1 CBS
9.1 ABC
46.1 UPN

My wife is going to drop VOOM if I don't figure this out! VOOM gave me the Winegard Sensar II (GS2000a). Thing is huge and is mounted high up on my roof. It's funny because I went to Tweeter and they were pulling in ABC HD with cheapo rabbit ears!!! And my monstrosity of an antenna can't pull it in. I'm only about 8 miles from the tower.

rcase,

You are very close to WSOC-DT. I live in Mooresville and I pick them up with a set of (very nice) rabbit ears. Does your reciever show signal strength? They are on Channel 34.

Have you tried rotating your antenna?

test123

rcase,
try a silver sensor or winegard square shooter. You don't need much antenna where you are.

It looks like I am at the mercy of VOOM technical support. I called and they showed me how to check the signal strength of each local channel. I'm only getting 78~80 and need 90 or above for the STB to lock in the channel reliably. They are coming out to try and get it working. They told me if I rotate the antenna it will void my in home warrenty. I will mention the other antenna choices when they come out.

Thanks for the help!

Rodney

Dale,

Voom is a satellite provider like Directv or Dish that provides more HD channels than the others. I guess when he had the service installed they installed an antenna for the OTA stations.

I don't understand why Voom won't let him rotate his antenna. With a group of stations to his east and another to his west it only makes since that he would have to move his antenna.

As for power levels of the Dallas stations, without looking at the forward power meter we don't know how much power they are making. I know WBTV's(23) antenna is on top of their tower but I don't know much about WJZY(47). I do know that there are 2 analog TV antennas and 2 digital TV antennas (WJZY and WWWB) on that tower as well as antennas for WPEG,WNKS and WWMG (FMs).

I think you are in the ballyard with the too much signal idea. He could also be experiencing intermod or multipath. Rotating the antenna may help.

I also think Bob Davis has a good idea with the Silver Sensor. I noticed today the Wallyworld in Mooresville has them for less than $30. I would give that a try. The Voom peeps would never know...

testing123

Yeah I am basically renting the antenna. Does the Silver Sensor mount the same way the Sensar does? If they can fix this I might consider mounting the Silver Sensor myself. If I ever need them to come back out I guess I could switch it out.

The problem is VOOM uses a diplexor to combine the SAT signal and OTA signal onto one wire. I don't know exactly how this system works so it makes it difficult for me start messing with it. Also they power the Sensar using the STB back through the coax line. There is no separate power supply for the Antenna. The only way I could use the Silver Sensor is if both antenna's had the same power requirement.

Rodney,

The Silver Sensor is an antenna that you would use indoors. Kinda like rabbit ears. It requires no power.

I looked at the Voom website. The photo they show of the receiver shows a 'Sat' input and a 'UHF' input. The SS would hook to the UHF input.

Is the diplexer built into the receiver? If so you may have to go to a setup menu and change the OTA input from the Sat to the UHF. If not just disconnect the cable going into the UHF input and hook the Silver Sensor to it.

As close as you are to WSOC you shouldn't not be having a problem.

t123

Rodney,
I had a silver sensor (non-powered version) outdoors for years and it worked very well, allowing me to receive all 9 locals very well most of the
time. I finally put it in an enclosure, and recently changed to the SquareShooter, which works much better, tho costs a lot more..

Wow 9 locals. I wish! Is the HD signal the same as the SD? I mean if you get the SD can I expect to get the HD as well?

I saw that UHF input but there is no menu to switch to that input. Or at least I don't know the trick required to get to it.

It's good to know I can get the channels I need though. It looks like I just need to jump through some VOOM hoops! I don't mind really. End the end it is worth it. I really like the VOOM product. Although I hear DirectTV will be launching a mega HD satelite next year. Don't know if the installer was just talking out his a$$ or if there really is truth to that.

It's funny though as much HD channels as VOOM has I realize that most of what we watch is on the local channels. You don't know what you got till it's gone!

Once again thanks for the info.