Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 427

Has anyone observed WIAV-LD 44 on the air? My train is going to be stopped in DC for a while tomorrow and I need to know if I should be looking for it.

Thanks!

- Trip

I'm not sure if it's the same station, but I can pretty easily pick up some low-powered digital station that broadcasts some basic, low-quality "coming soon" loop on the first sub-channel, and a test pattern on three other sub-channels. I'm about 1.8 miles from the transmitter site.

Nothing new here on RF44 from DC, though still seeing a good signal from the MPT Hagertstown affiliate on 44.

You're probably picking up WWTD-LD transmitting on RF 14 with a virtual channel of 49.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://www...TON%26state=DC

WIAV-LD is supposed to transmit on RF 44 with a virtual channel of 58.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://www...TON%26state=DC

WWTD-LD 14 is currently mapping to 14-x for some reason, but I'm sure WFDC will be letting them know it's a bad idea very shortly.

I didn't see anything from WIAV-LD or WDDN-LD while in DC today. Didn't see WMDO-LD or WWPX-LD either, but VHF was a royal pain as always.

- Trip

Yep, it's WWTD that I'm seeing. No sign of WIAV-LD here.

14-1 = WWTD ch 49
14-2 = test pattern
14-3 = test pattern
14-4 = test pattern

transmitting on RF channel 14. Wonder what the three test patterns will be?

No idea, but if they're going to keep stealing WFDC's VC, might be nice if they offered some Spanish programming.

WWTD-LD's virtual channel in 49. Their transmitting channel is 14. They are supposed to map to 49 and not appear on 14 but that is not happening at present. They are appearing only on 14. I imagine that the FCC does not require them to address and map their PSIP for 49 while they are in the test pattern stage.

I have stated before and I will state it again that in my opinion the FCC should mandate away the virtual channel requirement. They mandate it because the American viewing public (with the notable exception of the participants of this forum) are simpletons. Simpletons hate change. They cannot get their minds wrapped around the idea that WRC is no longer 4 but is actually 48. OMG! Or that 5 is really 36 now! Oy vey! You get the idea. Following the new assignments on channels 7 through 51 (forget about using low vhf 2 - 6) would be much easier without worrying about the old virtual
analog channel assignments.

I know that some here disagree with doing away with the virtual channels but lets move on. Analog is gone. Digital is here to stay. RF channels are supposed to map to virtual channels but sometimes they don't. Scanning is a mess when WFDC gets kicked off Virtual 14.1 to RF 15.1 because WWTD is not using its PSIP correctly. If the FCC would do away with the virtual channels then we would all know for sure where each channel is supposed to appear. If no one wants to transmit on 2 through 6 anymore and is not allowed to use 52 through 69 anymore (and CANNOT use 37 either) then why
use these channels as virtual I.D.'s? Just my 2 cents.

There is more than just the FCC involved with requiring the virtual channels on PSIP.. The government wanted to reduce confusion during the digital transition true, but over the years stations have honed their brand through the channel number. No station is interested in erasing and re-promoting their identity. Something like that costs potentially millions and may lead to a loss of viewers in the process. To use your example from a average viewer perspective; remembering NBC programming is available on channel 4 (albeit virtual), is much easier to remember than 48.

I totally disagree with you. The confusion is worse because of the virtual channels. WETA is on 26 but is really on 27. WFDC is on 14 but really is on 15. WBFF is on 45 but is really on 46. What is so difficult about learning a new set of numbers one last time when in some cases the virtual channel is but one silly channel away from the RF channel? WRC-4 is easier to remember only because its been that way for over 60 years. Change it now to WRC-48 and by the year 2070 no one will remember that it used to be WRC-4. If WETA used a virtual channel of 3 then would WETA-3 be easier to remember than WETA-26? Why is WETA-26 easier to remember than WETA-27? Is it because it is 50 years old? The stations are not going to lose viewers. That is patently absurd as well as bogus. There is but one NBC outlet in Washington. People will tune to it for Jay Leno whether it is on 4 or 40 or 400 or 4000. If they want to watch Leno, then they will tune to 48 just as easy as they will tune to 4! Why in the world would it cost WRC millions to officially change to 48? That is also absurd. Most people watch WRC on cable or satellite where it might not necessarily be assigned to 4. WNBW changed its call letters to WRC back in 1954. WMAL changed to WJLA. WTOP changed to WDVM and then to WUSA. WAAM changed to WJZ in 1959. WBAL switched from NBC to CBS and back to NBC regained from WMAR while WMAR switched from CBS to NBC in exchange with WBAL and then to ABC in exchange with WJZ which then became CBS. The earth didn't stop turning on its axis when each of these things happened, did it? The sun rose in the east the next morning just like it always does. Do away with the virtual channels and America will survive. Remember this, virtual channels are useless unless they can pay off our national debt!

While I too hate virtual channels, I know that they are not going to go away.

But, that said, Kelly's point about the cost, unfortunately, is very real. It costs millions of $$$ to rebrand. If the station only changed their real channel only once, I'd say tough. There are stations that have changed channels more than once.

Our local Fox affiliate went from 47 to 11. But, the owner, Sinclair, wanted all of their stations off the VHF band. Viewers in this market were having trouble getting 11, but not having issues getting the UHF channels that were broadcast from the same tower. So, after a long period of time, Sinclair finally got their UHF channel (49 I believe). It cost them a lot of money to go to 49. They couldn't use the old waveguides for 47, as they were cut to only work with 47 (the length). New antenna needed as well.

So, this particular station (actually Sinclair) would have spent a sh!tload of money rebranding to Fox11, only to have to do it all again a few years later as Fox49. And we all know how cheap Sinclair is. So cheap that this station is so low on the Sinclair totem pole, that the plant is still analog.

What I hate worse than virtual channels is multicasting. HD image quality is suffering because of all those SD sub-channels.

It is coming to wgcb, red lion PA, so if you have a good antenna and point it north, you will get it.

True true. More useful for the B-more crowd.

I live in No. York Co. PA and pickup all Bmore stations and DC on good nights, so I'd figure since red lion is 25 miles south of me, you all will have some luck (depending on where you are)

Does anyone in the Fairfax VA area have Directtv CHOICE XTRA? I am wondering what they are paying in taxes. I see right now they are offering it for $42.99 which would be much less than I am paying for cable but I am interested to know what the EXTRA charges/taxes may be.

Thanks
Dan

WZDC-25 has finally gone digital with 3 subchannels. (25.1-25.4) 25.1 is only 480i & the 3 sub channels are just test patterns. The signal is very weak & should have no detrimental effect on WHAG-25.1 for those in the immediate DC area.

WHAG is on RF26 so other than PSP problems, those who currently pickup WHAG and live near enough WZDC should be able to manually tune.

You would think with how crowded the spectrum is in the BoshWash corridor that they could consolidate some of those 480i only channels onto subchannels

I see that WZDC's directional signal is focused to areas southeast of DC which explains why WHAG is much stronger at my location.

I'm in Virginia Beach and have that package. Here's how it's listed on my bundled Verizon bill...

DIRECTV Sales Tax 1.50
DIRECTV Virginia Communication Services Tax 3.95

Just for completeness, I'm paying $3.50 in taxes with Dish and I'm in Fairfax.

As if the Redskins themselves weren't embarrassment enough, the game tonight is in SD on WRC. HD on CSN Washington only.

I think Comcast Sportsnet had exclusive HD rights last preseason and I guess this preseason too. How they managed to get it I don't know. I personally think that all sports should be in HD if it is OTA. I does look slightly better than years past when it was like watching a computer screen.

Yep. And it's still dumb.

CSN - MA was blacked out in Harrisburg on D*, even though CSN -MA is my RSN.

I usually just lurk here, but I wanted to say thanks for the HDOTA antenna recommendation from someone else from Capitol Hill. I ordered the same one (hope it works as well for me).

More broadly, I'm renovating the house and running wires everywhere after the HVAC system replacement left me two sets of holes running throughout the house. Do splitters for the TV reception degrade the signal significantly even if nothing is attached at the other end?

Yes they do. You can choose to go with a distributed amp splitter, but that is still going to add noise into the line which will degrade performance. Best thing to do is try it with and without splitters. You may have enough RF that it doesn't impact viewing.