Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 439

I have installed outdoor antenna (about 15 feed above ground) sometime before spring (when there were no leaves on the trees behind my house).
I used to get clear reception of almost all the channels. After the leaves have grown (that is my suspition), few of the channels either keep breaking up or do not come at all.
I know the best (or ideal) option is to raise the antenna to above roof.
But as a temporary major, if I install in-line amplifier, would that help improve the situation?
Appreciate your response..

No, an amp most likely won't help but you can try it, if you want to

Signals coming through trees can be trashed. Amplifying them only makes a"bigger pile of trash".

Hmm. Makes sense..

So going on the roof seems to be the only options. Second best is the attic I guess..

Keep in mind, aluminum siding will kill antenna reception in an attic (or so was my experience here in Columbia). I had to use a roof antenna, even an indoor antenna didn't work for me.

I have vinyl.. So seems that is not an issue (or who knows).
I would love to mount it atop roof, but I am **** scared to even go there...

My antenna is the one like CM4221.
I also have the mast which looks like CM1810.
If anyone has any link on how to use the mast CM1810 for installing CM4221, I would really appreciate your help.

Looks like 7-3 switched from RTN to LWN. Bummer, same programming as 2-2 now.

I live in Upper Marlboro now. I have DirecTV but I am not that happy with broadcast quality of sporting events, like NBA and NFL.

If I get Verizon FIOS, do you think the picture quality is better for fast-moving sports?

FIOS is as good as it gets, so you should notice a difference. FIOS adds no additional compression, so you will see the highest quality available from the source.

All broadcast & cable sources inherently already have varying amounts of compression, so the quality will never be as good as Blu-ray, regardless of your particular provider.

I de-programed 7-3 off my DTV boxes yesterday, no point in having duplicate channels...

I'm happy with 26-2/WETA-UK, esp the original Foyle's War & Prime Suspect.....

But the subcarrier seems to be weak in the audio dept. Does anyone else have this issue?

Nod... While it was far better when it had Rockford Files & other NBC-Universal product, I did enjoy seeing I Spy again & will miss Intelligence.

Now there is nothing at all......


BTW, WJLA hardly seem proud of this; I can not find Word One re: 7-2 on their web page.....
Edited by mkfs - 7/4/12 at 7:58pm

I can't comment on the sound.
Since so many of the shows (if not most) are 30-40 years old, perhaps they haven't bothered to put much effort into SQ.
J

Comcast has added Olympic Soccer Channel HD and Olympic Basketball Channel HD at channels 843 and 847 in Baltimore.

From my bill:

IMPORTANT INFO: On or shortly after August 22, TBN HD on
channel 798 will no longer be available.
Edited by Marcus Carr - 7/18/12 at 3:15pm

30.11 is using RF24, the same RF channel as WNVC-DT is using for 30.1 through 30.5. I can't be positive, but it appears that WNVC may have increased their ERP from 160kW. The FCC records do not show any application or increase over WNVC's listed 160 kW ERP. Reception tonight is simply unbelievable at 95-100 and over a 31db s/n ratio. Maybe, it's just atmospheric enhancement I am experiencing tonight. That +31db s/n ratio rivals my strongest reception of any other station in Baltimore or Washington and yet my outdoor rooftop antenna happens to be aimed away from NoVA and towards Baltimore. I live in central Montgomery County. WNVT-DT is the station which could use the additional power. They're way down there near Ft. Belvoir in Goldvein, VA and much much farther away for me then WNVC, located in Fairfax. WNVT is transmitting 160 kW on RF30 and maps to 30.6 through 30.10.

BTW, if WNVC-DT has added 30.11 to RF24 to join present 30.1 through 30.5 then that would make six 480i SD subchannels for RF24. I was under the assumption that there was room only for a total of five 480i SD subchannels per digital RF channel. I appear to be mistaken. How many subchannels using 480i SD can fit onto one 6 mHz wide digital RF channel? Anyone here know? Most TV stations have one 720p or 1080i HD channel and several 480i SD subchannels. WNVC-DT and WNVT-DT are the only stations that I know of that do not use 720p or 1080i for any HD channel but feature only 480i SD channels on their bandwidth.
Edited by StevenJB - 7/20/12 at 11:43pm

There's effectively no upper limit on channels; you could run 98 if you wanted, but none of them would be watchable. The only limit is how good the encoder is.

KAXT-CD in San Francisco runs 12 SD channels.

- Trip

WNVT is actually just south of Manassas. It's on the same tower as the former analog channel 53.

MundoFox, most likely.

- Trip

Why does Goldvein (actually just a store and a few houses) have this station? Channel 53 was originally a non-commercial allotment for Fredericksburg. Changing the community of license to Goldvein was possible as a) a transmitter there could deliver adequate (not sure if A or B service was required) signal to F-burg and b) there was a channel 69 allotment for Fredericksburg. With the COL in Goldvein, the transmitter could be located further north, having only to deliver Grade A service to Goldvein and meet separation standards to other stations. Boom! Now you have a semi-DC station.

For the first time, I'm getting WBOC (on 21.1), and FOX21 (21.2) in Landover (PG co.) So, WBOC is a CBS and FOX station? Also 30.11 is showing up (VTV4 coming soon).

For the past few days, channel 30.11 was showing a signal strength that was the same as 30.1 - 30.5 out of Arlington(?) - 90%. Tonight it's showing a signal strength that's the same as 30.6 - 30.10 (65%). Did they move it to the other transmitter?

20.2 MundoFox starting August 13

Yes, it does look like 30.11 has been moved to the Independent Hill transmitter (WNVT)

The last I saw, they were showing color bars. Are they broadcasting anything?
J

Nope, still just color bars.

Quick question - I've been using a CM4221 for years, and have had perfect reception of all the major DC networks. I live in upper MoCo.

Over the last couple weeks, I have basically lost reception of WJLA and WUSA. They either don't come it at all, or I get blocky reception. FOX, WB50, and channel 20 come in perfectly with a strong signal.

Nothing has changed on my side, and I double checked my antenna which is still in the attic exactly where it's always been.

Only think I noticed was a gradual loss of WJLA in the previous weeks, but I chalked that up (at the time) to poor OTA broadcasting on their side. Now I wonder if it's related.

Any ideas? Did something change on the broadcast locations of these folks? Any idea what this might be a symptom of?

Thanks!
Mark

It could be just the hot weather and humidity we've been having lately. Sometimes WRC for me has been sketchy lately, but I seriously doubt the stations have changed anything. More than likely, you're being affected by a combination of temperature inversion and maybe trees in the path.

The 4221 is primarily a UHF antenna, so if either local noise has gone up or the propagation path has changed somehow, there is not enough antenna gain for channels 7 and 9 to overcome it. If those channels don't come back soon, you should consider adding a high-VHF antenna.