Cedar Rapids, IA - HDTV - Page 159

I have a Hitachi plasma HDTV, I have imon for my cable provider, I just have the basic so no cable box. I can recieve quite a few HD channels. I am wanting to cancel my cable and just use a hdtv antanna which I purchased from Radio Shack. I few years ago I have mediacom and I could witch to the antanna and it would pick up the local hd stations. I just tried this and I would get anything to work. I goes from the antanna to the supply power supply then to the tv and I could get anything to pick up the tv goes into stand by mode. Any help would be great.
Thanks

The manual for your TV should explain how to change from cable mode to air mode which is what you'll need to do to get over the air channels. Also you will need to rescan which should also be covered in the manual.

If it really was a few years ago, that was back when all of the locals were in the UHF band. A number of the locals have moved back down into the VHF band now, so if you want to be able to pull in KWWL (7) or KCRG (9), you will need to make sure that you have a VHF/UHF antenna. If you have UHF only, it will likely have problems pulling in all of the current locals.

I'm trying to gather info on what HDTV OTA receivers can pick up the IPTV XX.99 subchannel.

If you have a rig that pulls in IPTV from an antenna, could you see if your tuner can pick up one of the XX.99 subchannels below? It should be audio only, probably sometime before noon daily.

The following tuners have been reported to work. If yours is not listed, and works, please post it here.

DigitalStream DTX9950 digital-to-analog converter box
Accurian handheld DTV
LG TV

Channel 11.99 - Des Moines
Channel 12.99 - Iowa City
Channel 21.99 - Fort Dodge
Channel 24.99 - Mason City
Channel 27.99 - Sioux City
Channel 32.99 - Waterloo
Channel 32.99 - Council Bluffs
Channel 36.99 - Red Oak
Channel 36.99 - Davenport

Thanks!

I get KRIN, the Waterloo PBS, as channel 35.99. I have an Access HD converter.

Tommymack, thanks, that's an unreported model! There's about 12 different model numbers of the Access HD CECB, do you know which one you have? It should be DTA10 something.

DTV channel 35 is virtual channel 32. You must have a good antenna rig to pull that in Dubuque!

Did you hear audio on 35.99 or is it just finding it in a scan?

~jay

It is a DTA-1080. When I listened, about 5:50pm, some newspaper guys were giving the news, maybe reading the paper.

Thanks! That makes two CECB's that can pick it up, yours and the Digital Stream DTX9950. The people who read the articles are volunteers from all over the state.

We have a few digital TV's here at work that I checked for XX-99 reception. Here's what I came up with:

The Auvio 7" Portable (Model 16-906) picks up 35-99 and shows it as a "Radio Channel".

The Auvio Pocket TV (16-972) picks up 35-99 and shows it as "Audio Only".

The Hitachi LE19S314 19" picks it up as 35-1 (Not 35-99) and shows it as "Audio Only".

All three TVs played the audio without trouble. When I get a chance, I'll check my TV's at home.

Picked up 12-99 and 35-99 on my Sony XBR-960. My old Samsung won't manually tune a channel that's not in memory, and neither one of those came up in the scan when I re-scanned for channels on that TV, but I tried!

I am sure there's a lot more interest in what DTV converter boxes will pick up the .99 channels than TVs. I'd be willing to bet most blind folks don't buy extravagant TVs, if at all.

You're probably right. My 4-year-old 34", 200-pound tube TV is all sorts of "extravagant". I should tell my friend, whose wife is legally blind, that he should never have bought her that 55-inch LED TV, since there's no possible use that she could ever get from it.

Some people use their "extravagant" TVs hooked up to magnifying readers, since a large TV makes a much larger magnification on a reader.

Perhaps if Oldsyd had said, "we only care about blind people on this, so if you don't have an STB, keep your trap shut," I would never have bothered to look. But, he didn't say why he wanted to know, so I figured that more data was better than less. And now I know about these extra channels, in case my friend's wife would like to tune in and listen to the news in between listening to audio books.

But, then again, what do I know?

CR_Client, you're being oversensitive. Seriously. I would have "off the bat" assumed someone that could not see would not bother getting a new TV either. But, good info about screen magnification and of course guests and family.

That said.. Mythtv version 0.23 as well as 0.24 get 12.99 and 35.99, as long as I check the box to pick up all services when I channel scan (otherwise it's strictly regular TV channels.) It seems like EVERY time I've tuned to it they were reading obituaries!
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Regarding 20, yes, I get no guide info either most of the time. Other times it shows as "KWKB...." (the "." are actually "boxes", I think they are null characters. If I tune to KWKB at this point, it screws up MythTV and I have to do some mucking about to fix it. I have guide info turned off for that channel now for just that reason.) The weird thing is, KWKB had guide info for a little while months ago, then it went back away.

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Anyone have KYOU "shooting blanks" some recently? I have had failed recordings off 15 the last several days (but I think a few that DID work), this morning I had no program guide info for 15, and when I tuned in 15 I got a clean signal, but black picture and no sound (and after 5 or 10 seconds, ""Error opening jump program file"). I think this means there is no data whatsoever coming through on the channel.
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So, my OTA setup. I have a Grey-Hovermann antenna (somewhat older design, not the newest one that is better for VHF-Hi...). This antenna is indoors. It is hooked up to a 20dB amp, then via short length of cable to a high quality USB TV tuner (excellent multipath handling, and sucks in the weak signals very well..) This keeps the coax run short, instead of 50 feet of coax I have short coax and ~50 feet of USB cables.

So, initially i got 2, 12, 15, 20, 26 (usually), 28, and 48 (So, CBS, PBS, Fox, WB + AntennaTV -- but no program guide so I can't usefully record them -- , WB again + ThisTV, Fox again, and Pax. Well, *initially* I got 7 and 9 too, before they went back to VHF. Grrrr.

I then found an aim where it was not particularly aimed towards Cedar Rapids, it must be picking up reflections off metal siding and such; I was getting 2, 7, 9, 12, 15, 20, 26, 28. But 7 (NBC, ThisTV, and MeTV) and 9 (ABC and 9.2) recently became too unreliable, I have read stations tend to be a few db higher in winter, and I guess I needed those couple db. Plus I enjoyed several shows on 8.3 when they briefly came in.

So I've recently aimed towards the quad cities, and now get 6, 8, 12, 15, 20, 26. So, I'm getting NBC, ABC + AntennaTV + MyNetworkTV 16 (WQBD-LP), PBS, Fox, WB + AntennaTV (no program guide), WB again + ThisTV. Only thing really missing is CBS. But I can watch the 1 or 2 shows on there on Hulu. I get far more entertaining shows from WQBD-LP than off CBS to be honest.

I really didn't mean to ruffle any feathers by this. I am EXTREMELY nearsighted myself and I even posted in the Des Moines thread that I picked up the IRIS channels on my 55" Sony LED. I have that 55" Sony LED in my bedroom because it's the only TV I can really see from bed, and even then, I couldn't read the scores for the NBA game on ABC with my glasses on.

I can honestly claim ignorance and didn't know that there was such a thing as a TV magnifier or that it wasn't unheard of for those who are blind to have televisions. I guess I assumed and made an ass out of myself. I do truly apologize.

Thanks everyone for the XX.99 updates. I've wanted to know because out of the CECB set top boxes I have, and my lone DTV, none of them will tune in the IRIS audio channel. And yes, I am more interested in set top boxes since that would mean you could have one hooked up to a preamp through the audio RCA jacks and use it like a radio, without having to power a display just to hear the content.

I don't think anyone here was knocking people who are visually impaired.

On another note, I noticed Friday night after IPTV had signed off for the night, I ran a rescan and my TiVo locked in on WHO-DT and KDM-TV out of Des Moines. Thinking it was a low signal, I double checked it, and the signal was running at around 60% and looked great! Is that common when the IPTV network is shut down, or was this just due to some freak DX conditions? I'm in Cedar Rapids, not on a hill, with a fixed attic antenna pointed towards the Walker towers.

It's DX related. What's really interesting about IPTV is that from what I understand, the translators do not shut down at night, only the full-powers. A friend in Minnesota informed me that he's received WVTV on channel 38. The station was being picked up off-air by the translator (K38LE-D) and being repeated and he picked it up.

A similar situation happened for him with Wisconsin PBS, with W24CL-D picking up KFXA instead of WHWC due to atmospheric conditions.

Someone else I know managed to receive KRCG on channel 24 via K24IM-D, another IPTV translator.

- Trip

As far as I know, the translators are shut down via remote control as part of the sign off procedures. It's possible they could briefly rebroadcast another signal during the time between when the main transmitters are turned off and the translators get shut down. It takes the operators some time to get all the various transmitters turned off at night.

I'll send the chief engineer a message and let them know that this has been reported. Thanks for the report.

Those reports were all months ago. I only mention them now because it seemed somewhat relevant and interesting.

- Trip

It's that time of year, Trip! The word I received is that it's a known issue that's being worked on. One would think that a digital translator could be made to look at the PSIP of the original signal to decide whether or not to rebroadcast it, but they don't have that capability.

OK, here we go again. Can anyone answer this for me? Have been getting excellent signal stregths for all local stations here in the CR area. Recently, over time my channel 7, 9 and 12 have gone bye, bye with Zero signal streght on all TV's. I am running a UHF/VHF antenna and have had little problem for years now. All of the sudden nothing. Channel 2 and others are full strength on all TV's. Funny how it is only those three stations with no reception. So I have gone outside where my cables combine and enter the house and did some jiggling and bam, all stations with have great strength like in years past. Now it comes and goes with the same three stations cutting out. I have replaced ends on the cables where it enters the house and now get pretty much nothing. It'll be great reception for 30 seconds or so and then nothing no 7 or 9 or there sub chnnels.

Any ideas guys?

Well, so far so good, I think I might have found two bad ends up in the attic from the amp to the antenna. Hope that works

7, 9, and 12 are the local VHF stations. The rest are on UHF. If the bad ends don't turn out to be the problem, you might check on the VHF section of your antenna.

- Trip

Not sure what can go bad on the antenna since it's in the attic, but if that doesn't work I guess I'll be running new cable. The two bad ends were my fault, when I looked at them tonight I couldn't believe I put them on partially. Hope that is a mistake that ,akes the difference.

Anyone else seeing 25-2 showing up on their box? I assume this is a subchannel from KWKB 20 RF:25. One of my TVs gets it, the other two refuse to tune KWKB 20.1 for some reason and sit on 25 for about 5 minutes while scanning before moving on and not adding it to the channel guide.

I thought sending a signal out without PSIP data was illegal...

Not near an OTA box right now, but 20-2 was on the air several weeks ago. I forget the official name, but they show some older programs like Patridge family, etc....

That would be Antenna TV. And yes, there might be a PSIP issue. Some receivers are far more tolerant of missing PSIP data than others.

It's been a while since I've followed this closely, but while my back was turned, KCRG put in for a power boost from just over 30kW to 48kW, according to the FCC web site. The application was granted Friday, so it's probably just a matter of time before it happens.

Here's a link to the application:
http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws....cility_id=9719

The station claimed it needed the boost to match KWWL's coverage area, but hopefully it helps folks closer in as well. (It's currently my second best VHF "get," second only to KIIN which has a closer tower and hits my rabbit ears on the backside.)

I suppose you could also call it "Northeast Iowa DMA".

 

Cedar Rapids DMA Map.pdf 61.998046875k . file

Same old KGAN. Vikings preseason game was in HD with No sound. Now we have sound but no hd.

Speaking of the NFL, The Gazette is now saying that Mediacom will carry the NFL Network and Red Zone (in HD of course) locally. The article doesn't have a date, just "by the start of the 2011 regular season."

It appears the NFL caved a little, since Mediacom is putting the channel on "digital plus," not the standard tier, and Red Zone is being offered "a la carte."

http://thegazette.com/2011/08/19/med...k-nfl-redzone/