Charlotte, NC - OTA - Page 3

Digital Television, I guess. They make-up those names, and there doesn't seem to be a standard (some networks use a dash, others don't). For CBS, titantv.com is usually accurate, but Charles is right that decisions at the local station can mean you see a red "HD" on titan and you get SD on your set.


Yellow would be better. Red, for me, means on the roof to get a signal through thick and thin. Jumping around, again for me, usually means interferance, multipath, or possibly overdriving your receiver. I don't know about the specific antenna you bought, but if it handles both VHF and UHF that means it's picking up and amplifying the FM band. If it has an FM trap, make sure it's active. If interferance is from other TV stations or multipath, and you don't want to buy more hardware, you just need to try more positions. You might need to do something drastic (how much coax did you get?). If you are overdriving (how many dB is the amp on that antenna, and what's it's noise rating), then you might attenuate. If you have a long length of coax, that would act as an attenuator, and you'd be ready to climb if it didn't work! It might seem like I plug Radio Shack a lot, but that and Slayton Electronics are the only local places I go for geek stuff. Anyway, they (RS) have a UHF-only yagi for $20 (a yagi is highly directional, so if interferance is a problem, it will have to be UHF interferance from Kings Mountain, or something between you and Kings Mountain). Good luck!!

--Dale--

Welcome! According to antennaweb.org, WBTV-DT should be one of your easiest stations to pick-up (from the south-west). It might be overdriving your receiver, so you might consider an attenuator as a first try (they are cheap). The bow-tie type of antenna is less directional so wouldn't help if the problem was interferance. I'd keep the rotor, if only to simplify optimizing the direction of whatever antenna you have. It seems like most stores sell combination UHF/VHF antennas, but all digital stations except WTVI are UHF. I wonder if those long upper or lower band VHF or FM waves are the source of some interferance. Maybe a harmonic or something. Just a wild guess, though. Also, I suggested to Charles, if you have any amplifier, engage the FM trap, if there's on on there.

--Dale--

Enterprise had a few blank spots so far tonight as well. This time I'm watching it live.

There's been at least 6 dropouts so far (8:45). There was a even short one during a commercial. It sure sucks when there's some action going on. Is this a local thing, or is it on the network feed?

--Dale--

Would it be too cynical to think that someone at UPN doesn't want to allow a 'perfect copy' of one of these shows to escape?

--Dale--

Was it just me, or was WTVI's digital signal missing yesterday? It's fine right now, but yesterday I didn't get anything.

--Dale--

It appears to be missing again.

Has anyone else notice anything wrong with physical 44 OTA (WUNG 58)?

I noticed that the TitanTV schedule sometimes has 5 programs concurrently, with one being an HD program. I think that's not possible, and in fact when I played back several recordings of this station, there was a black screen where there was supposed to be a show.

But beyond having bad schedule information, I think the transport stream format is bad, or at minimum, confuses my tuner (MyHD 100). I usually don't watch live TV much, so my experience is with recordings. I can switch between subchannel 1, 3, 4, 5. Each has a show on, no problem. But when I try to switch to subchannel 2, it causes MyHD to crash. Actually, using the remote, it just quits responding. Using the subchannel button on the control panel is when it crashes.

But I wondered if anyone else has seen this strangeness with the PBS signal.

--Dale--

I usually record Enterprise (the Wednesday version), and they've been in HD. I had a really whacked Simpsons (wouldn't play with MyHD but would with VLC - and was fuzzy), but that was a while back.

--Dale--

alexaaa, NBC has been consistent for me - flipping between 87% and 93% on the MyHD tuner at the moment (this is typical for my setup). I noticed that as the leaves came-out, and especially if it was raining or had rained recently, my percentages were down or were more erratic. Could it be there's something between you and the tower? Have you noticed any correlation with weather?

--Dale--

I've got a TS file of it and planned to sit down with the whole fam damily tonight to watch the season wrap-up show. This forum bailed me out; I'll tell-em what to expect. In the transport stream, there is weather radar, so I'll be able to see if there's any precip near the tower or not ;-)

I don't know if you folks have noticed, but it seems like there's always a burp or two in each airing of the show; I don't think I've ever seen a 'perfect' HD Enterprise. These are typically just a black spot (not the typical pixilization that comes with marginal signal). Call me skeptical, but I don't think this is an accident.

--Dale--

You're right. It seems like I get about 5 radars, but wjzy is not one of them.