Dallas, TX - HDTV - Page 197

KHPK is wisely moving to RF-28 and has a CP to do so.

For the record, I don't work for Terk, Audiovox or any manufacturing company for that matter. And I'm not here to recommend the HDTVa to anyone. In fact, I had never heard of the Terk name until May 2009 when a fellow at Stereo East mentioned it in passing to me. I got one at Best Buy and was pleased with it after going through various other indoor antennas branded as Radio Shack, RCA and Phillips.

Because I do a lot of traveling, my affinity for the HDTVa might come from its small size and performance in demanding circumstances. Most recently, I was in the downstairs den of friend's home in the Chicago western suburbs, about 35 miles from the loop (Willis and Hancock are the sites for the majors). In spite of being at ground level, that little Terk managed to pull in all of the full power facilities and one of the MeTV 15 kW facilities. It got WBBM on RF-12 and the simulcast of WLS on RF-7, both of which have been problematical for some in Chicagoland. Unfortunately I didn't have access to the SMART application there or I would have saved the waveform images on the Sencore device. As I recall, they were all very square (as desired for ATSC) but I don't remember the power levels or MER figures.

So to repeat the line from my earlier posting, it ``works for me''. Maybe my magnetic personality just attracts RF! :-)

[...later edited to add...]

Lest it seem that I'm overly pimping the product, I also tried the Terk HDTVa in Washington County, PA (about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh). It only got KDKA (on RF-25) and WTOV (on RF-9) from nearby Steubenville. There really wasn't a trace of anything else. In the rough terrain of the tri-state, an indoor antenna faces some real hurdles.

And they really overpaid in the case of KMPX, channel 29. As I recall, they paid Daystar $37 million for that station. That was, of course, a couple years before the economic downturn totally cratered station prices.

More recently, both KLDT, channel 54, and KTAQ, channel 47, have gone for around $10 million in bankruptcy.

I read the FCC form 316 showing the Assignee/Transferee as ROBERT MILBANK, JR., PLAN IMPLEMENTATION AGENT for KTAQ. Has the station actually been sold or is this a temporary measure allowing Mike Simons to continue ownership?

It may have been here (or perhaps on Radio-Info) that I read KTAQ has a monthly cume of less than 7,000. Even with cable carriage, I can't envision how this facility makes enough to pay the transmitter bills.

K25FW has flashcut to digital. So far just HSN on 25.1.

In other news, I've lost KATA-CD 50.X.

The station was sold in bankruptcy court to Platinum Equity LLC, which was the company that KTAQ (under Mike Simmons) had defaulted on their debt to. What this means in terms of any sort of real change of control or direction for the station is anyone's guess, though.

It's B-A-C-K! As a CD suffixed facility, this is among the more worthwhile stations in my opinion. Or at least the main 50-1 channel is -- with what seems to be a good amount of local content. And there are actually some pretty entertaining music videos on Tr3s.

I also have to credit KJJM on 34-1. It's mostly pay for play but the production value of UAN is far better than KTAQ.

While applauding the LPTVs, there's the vintage programming on K31GL's 31-3 (HOT TV) and 31-4 (RTV).

Props also to newcomer KHFD for actually running weather warning banners during the tornadoes of last fall, the only LP to do so.

As we head toward Thanksgiving, a tip of the hat is appropriate since D/FW is likely better off than a number of other markets in terms of the little guys trying to make it in the challenging world of television.

I'm in Northeast Parker County, close to Azle and Springtown but a Weatherford address. I bought a Viore PLC7V95 portable TV with a RCA ANT1050 antenna for the garage and I picked up a strange channel.

TV Channel Display:
95-4 031GO-D Audio Scrambled
Fri 31-DEC-1999 7:01:06 PM

[The actual time/date was 10:39 PM 11-08-10]
It was a completely black screen with no audio. I got it several times over for more than a week. Today 11-20-10, following a channel autoscan, it no longer shows up. Just curious about it.
Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I just watched two football games last night (11/20) on WFAA 8-1: Ohio State vs. Iowa and Nebraska vs. Texas A&M. Paying close attention to the screen, the HD PQ is still very good; the colors (reds especially) are vibrant and some of the images on screen still have that lifelike quality. A word of concern, though: am I seeing a little bit more grain on 8-1, or is it just me thinking about Live Well making ABC look bad (literally)? I'm just saying, because of the Live Well channel on 8-3. (And some of the shows on LW, I actually enjoy!) The TV I used was a 22" Toshiba 720p HDTV/DVD combo.

In other news, I wonder when KDAF will add "Coming Soon" cards to 33-2 (Antenna TV) and 33-3 (This TV)? I assume This TV is on hiatus here in DFW because KDAF needs to order and install equipment to make a 33-3 possible? If and when KDAF adds these channels, please tell your antenna-viewing friends (and electronics salespeople) to rescan their TVs or DTV boxes!

Sounds like 31-5. Blank screen, but it's there.

Maybe 33 is installing it right now. Midnight, 11-21. No signal at all here on 33, and usually it's one of the stronger stations. Everything else comes in all right, so it's not me. All I know is that I'm missing Elvira!

Is 600kw LP? KTAQ analog was LP on a 700ft tower in Greenville. KTAQ-DT is coming from Cedar Hill.

KTAQ was and is full-service.

- Trip

I currently have a Radio Shack traditional aerial in the attic which at present time is a dedicated run to only one set and provides excellent OTA reception in Plano. I am considering utilizing other lines in other bedrooms for OTA access and in lieu of having to amplify the signal or degrade the signal from splitting it I'm interested in having dedicated, smaller attic antenna (such as a ClearStream4) for each room. Is there any reason why this should not be considered aside from the cost? My current antenna is suspended by twine from an overhead rafter and I would do the same for the other rooms thus limiting the cable run lengths from each room to the respective antenna to increase signal strength. A family member has the CS4 further north in McKinney and states that he has excellent reception in a one story structure.

No, as Trip said downthread, KTAQ has always been a full service facility. Even when operating from that rather short stick in Greenville, they were running a healthy amount of power, 4860 kW.

The intent of my posting was that some of the LP stations have better production values (and PQ) than this particular full service facility. Financially-strapped KTAQ appears to have only one camera (based upon the static shot of Mike and Hazel Simons when local Promiseland programming is on).

Recent lottery winnings burning a hole in your pocket? Your situation is exactly what amplifiers are designed for: taking an already good signal and compensating for losses due to splitters and long cable runs. There are no strong FM signals near Plano so overload shouldn't be a concern. In any case, the CS4 isn't very good below channel 12, so you might have some trouble on WFAA and KFWD depending on your exact situation and the quality of the tuners. On a price/performance basis, just about anything else on the market is better than the CS4, especially if you're looking for consistent performance across the VHF high band.

I didn't realize that word was already out about myself and the lottery!

The reason for the consideration is the lower profile (space wise in the attic as opposed to the behemoth already there), and the ability to split the signal at a room for radio as well as OTA (further degradation from one isolated feed as well as long cable runs across the attic to multiple rooms). If one can recommend a better option vs. the C4 which has a similar foot print I'd appreciate the insight.

I was also curious as to whether or not the idea of multiple antenna (2-3) would affect reception on one of the others (don't believe it would but I'm not an engineer).

No bowtie/screen antenna has particularly good VHF performance. In the case of the CS4, the 2 bars in the back are the primary radiating elements for VHF. In the case of the 4228HD, which is probably the best at VHF of that style, the screen itself is what receives VHF. Neither can really compare to a real antenna like the one you already have up there, because there is nothing to reject signals from the rear and increase signals from the front. In addition, the behemoth you already have in place is going to have better FM performance than anything that will fit in a smaller space. Performance on anything intended for high VHF and above falls off rapidly below the bottom of channel 7 at 174MHz, and FM is down in the 88-108MHz range.

Spend $35 and put a Winegard HDP269 preamp up there. You can do a 6 way split in the attic, and then a 2 way split in each room, and have basically the same reception performance on everything as you do now on the one TV. You'll have better reception on WFAA, KFWD, and the entire FM band than you would get with the CS4, and you won't have to spend a week screwing around with multiple separate antennas to get all of them adjusted for optimal reception.

One antenna should not affect another unless they are very close to each other (say within 6') or one is in the way of another.

Thank you very much for the concise answer. That was what I was looking for. Happy holidays to all!

Something you may want to try is the Terk TV-42 antenna intended for satellite dishes. I got one, and while it didn't work as intended (I may not have hooked it up right), it works fantastic as a stand-alone antenna (see picture). Yea, I know how it looks, and no one was more surprised than me when I found out how well it worked!



I had it hooked up from one terminal only, then into a cheap inline amplifier left over from another antenna I tried, and into my Vizio TV. Since that picture was taken, I've dropped my satellite TV, and mounted it on my (now unused) dish, and ran it through the dish's grounding block and into the house with the amplifier in the attic before splitting it into my other TVs. It works great for the 4 TVs I have in the house. It's small, easy to mount anywhere (it doesn't have to be on a dish), and pulls in 54 digital stations (including the VHF ones and LP Ch. 31.3 & .4) at my location, halfway between Denton and Decatur.

Now, for the disclaimer... I'm at 850 above sea level (higher than most of the area), and have no vegetation or other obstacles on the south side of my (one story) house. In other words, an ideal location, but still 50 or 60 miles from Cedar Hill. At less than $50, however, it might be worth a try.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Weigel Broadcasting is taking Me-TV national:

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...-national.html

As I've mentioned on this thread before, the WCIU cluster of stations in Chicago never fails to impress me (and capture most of my viewing) when I'm visiting the Windy City. MeTV and MeToo are pure viewing enjoyment.

I hope that someone picks this up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market. Of course my dream would be that Weigel just swoops down and buys a full-power station here. KFWD is really a shoestring operation (with no plans to build the 55 kW facility to give them a denser signal and hold off QRM from nearby KCEN).

On the other hand, KTAQ might be a viable candidate for a sale. Archie and Edith might draw higher numbers than Mike and Hazel on 47-1. So, please Mr. Weigel, come forth from Illinois and buy a station hereabouts! :-)

As much as I tend to prefer local ownership, this is one case where the "Chicago Way" would be welcomed.

Looks likt the FCC is trying once again to bully its way with OTA broadcast TV spectrum. Now they want to ram through legislation before the end of the year that will allow channel sharing and eventual forcing TV off the air. At a time when more people are dumping cable and satellite because they are too expensive.

Excerpt from 11-22 Broadcast Engineering News

"Declaring over-the-air commercial television an
“obstacle” to expanding mobile broadband
expansion, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said
last week the FCC may launch a proceeding on
Nov. 30 that will lift technical restrictions on the
use of broadcast spectrum for broadband and to
allow the use of channel sharing.
These actions, said the chairman, would be
“essential groundwork” that will be necessary so the
commission can move quickly once Congress
passes legislation to allow incentive auctions of
broadcast spectrum"

"...today. Less than 10 percent of us
— down from 100 percent — still get our television
programming from over-the-air broadcast
transmissions. Instead, people watch TV through
cable or satellite,” he said. “The world has changed,
but our spectrum allocations still reflect the
previous era. This presents a real obstacle as we try
to ensure a spectrum infrastructure for the new
world of mobile broadband.”

I'd sure like to see how the percentage of households that receive OTA breaks down by geographical area.

Once people see DTV via OTA and NOT via cable or sat, they WANT OTA....
1) its free
2) it looks a HELL of a lot better than the further compressed signals
3) its free!!!
AND as in our area, (SE TX) you can get channels from an adjacent market that has stuff NOT in your home market (KPLC out of Lake Charles, LA has THIS on their .3 channel...nothing local carries THIS)

Time to start educating the masses and get them to write Congress and the FCC and stop the spectrum grab....(I suspect some of the ham radio bands like 220 and 420-450 may be eventually part of it)

Distressing news indeed. Just this past weekend, I dropped satellite (Dish) because there was hardly anything on it that I cared to watch, and I was finding myself watching OTA TV a good part of the time. Plus, the expense was getting me.

Anyone see this 70's PSA that currently shows on Ch. 31.4? I tried to embed it, but couldn't figure out how.

Agreed! I think it's interesting that digital antenna is picking up where the original cable TV left off about 10 years ago! I say that because of the -2 and -3 channels that play interesting programming! As for you saying "nothing local carries THIS," however, I recently e-mailed KDAF about Antenna TV and This TV and they will be launching both by year's end! (This TV will return on December 6th, BTW.)

Very interesting news. I like how there are DTV subchannels that resemble the old cable formats of the 80s and 90s, when there was always something good to watch; the channels never lied about their format, and everything ran on a schedule.

I noticed after WFAA's departure from This TV that Belo still has that channel in Phoenix and Tucson. Perhaps Belo (or HIC, since both have connections with this DFW station) could possibly acquire the rights to play MeTV on KFWD 52-2 as a supplement to their classic shows on the main channel as well as saying "sorry" for dropping This from 8-3?

Since you brought up KTAQ, I myself have a couple suggestions about the sale (just for fun): in a similar situation, we all know that KMPX went from being a Daystar affiliate to what was then a Spanish independent (now Estrella). Taking re_nelson's Weigel dream into play, could anyone see KTAQ becoming a regular entertainment station (including the MeTV subs)? Or, if KTAQ remains a noncommercial station forever, perhaps the DFW area community colleges could team up to play telecourses for free on various subchannels (one for each county), and maybe, just maybe, possibly add a MHz Worldview (foreign news) subchannel?

Note that this last paragraph isn't real news, but since re_nelson has his dreams of wanting all the Weigel subchannels in the Metroplex, I thought I'd give my two cents.

KTAQ is operating on a commercial license. KERA and KDTN are the only non-commercial full power stations in DFW. Really a pathetic situation considering every other market our size has multiple PBS stations.

But we have THREE (!) fulltime, full-service religious stations! So, take that Boston with your multiple public stations! :-)

Such as?? Houston certainly doesnt...LA IIRC only has one PBS station...I dont recall San Fran having more than one PBS...and Boston? There is another one besides WGBH???

Boston has WGBX. San Francisco has KRCB and KTEH.

- Trip

Good to know. I certainly hope re_nelson's dream comes true, considering KTAQ's commercial status and the bankruptcy news.

Another suggestion regarding MeTV possibly coming to the Dallas area (if they go national, per http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...s_National.php) should be that they should take over KFWD 52-1, if possible. I mean, compare the two schedules and tell me what you think:

- MeTV Schedule (as of 11/23): http://www.metvnetwork.com/metv_schedule.pdf
- KFWD Show List (as of 11/23): http://www.kfwd.tv/shows/index.html (kind of slow as of posting)

As for the non-classic programming (such as Dr. Oz encores and The Insider), WFAA could simply place those over the infomercial parts of Live Well 8-3. The 6 and 10 P.M. news encores could play on 8-2.

NYC has WNET, WLIW, and WNJN/WNJB, with WEDW available in the northern area, plus WNYE which isn't PBS but is doing educational programming. LA has KCET (for now), KOCE, KLCS, KVCR. Chicago has WTTW, WYCC, and WYIN. Philly has WHYY, WYBE, WNJS/WNJT, and WLVT. SF has KQED, KTEH, KCSM, and KRCB. Boston and WGBH and WGBX, plus WENH and WSBE each reach a lot of viewers in that market. Atlanta has WGTV and WPBA. DC has WETA, WHUT, WMPT, and non-PBS but still educational WNVC. Houston just has KUHT, Austin just KLRU, San Antonio just KLRN, and El Paso just KCOS. Maybe Texas is just lousy for noncommercial, nonreligious TV.