Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 303

Comcast updates for DC, DE, MD, NC, VA, WV in June

http://comcastchannelchanges.com/


Changes for Comcast of Baltimore City (Nothing exciting):

http://comcastchannelchanges.com/cha...timoreCity.pdf

Check out these channel changes effective Tuesday,
June 30th for Baltimore City.

The following channel will be added:

fittv
Channel 181
Digital Classic

If you currently subscribe to Digital Starter, you will receive these channels
at no additional cost as they move from Digital Classic to Digital Starter!

Bio
Channel 115

History International
Channel 116

To help make room for these and future channel additions, the following
channel will be moving.

Channel: Moving From:
MUN2 636 to 178

The following channel will move from Digital Starter to Digital Classic:
MoviePlex
Channel 149

http://comcastchannelchanges.com/cha...timoreCity.pdf

They may have been adjusting the transmitter and antenna setup. We will have to wait until June 13 to get a good handle for the reception of WJLA-DT 7, WUSA-DT 9, WBAL-DT 11, WJZ-DT 13 after they flash cut for real. However WJZ-DT will be operating at a lower power of 9.8 kW from their current omni-directional VHF 13 antenna until they install a new directional antenna for 28.8 kW peak power by August 1 (with notably weaker power to the west).

Would be useful to learn about the digital testing in advance so people could get up and do a scan to see what happens. I'm curious whether I will be able to get WMDO-LD on VHF 8 when WJLA-DT 7 and WUSA-DT 9 go digital on the adjacent channels. My tuners detect WMDO-LD, but I have not been able to get a lock on it from 16 miles out. But with the analog shutdown only a little more than a week away, we will find out the good and bad news for the four stations flash cutting to upper VHF soon enough.

Has anyone else seen that WWPX-DT has the 700 Club back on? I just found it. I wish I could know if it's going to stay that way. If not, I may not be able to get that program after the 12th.

As for CBS, If WJZ-DT will not be broadcasting towards Hagerstown, WUSA-DT doesn't reach there, I currently can't get WHP-DT, that means I'll need to setup a channel 32 yagi for WTAJ-DT.

How in the World does the FCC think viewers can be prepared for the transistion, with all the uncertainty that exists? If I can't get Y&R for the wife, when the 15th comes, I'm dead meat. I'm sure I can, but I'll have to retrain her on what channel and antenna setting (WTAJ-DT) for her recordings. Just what she'll want, more things to do to get her Soap.

Can anyone here recommend a decent indoor antenna for use in Columbia?
Or some suggestions for jury rigged attic antennas?

Have you checked out EscapeVelocity's thread on Indoor Antennas?

I have a Terk amplified antenna (HDTVa pro) that picks up all of the DC and Baltimore digital channels from the first floor of my house. It works pretty well just aimed at DC for both, but sometimes it would need a little aiming for a particular station. It was my son's and I used it during (frequent) Comcast outages or to watch DC HD channels that Comcast didn't carry. It hasn't been used since I switched to FIOS about 2 months ago.

Two points to note:

1) I'm at a pretty high point off Route 108 near Howard High where the county has water towers and their main radio transmitter.

2) All of the stations are now on UHF. After the big switch and some move back to VHF with reduced effective power and more directional antennae, this may change.

If you're not in a rush, re-post or PM me in about 10 days and I'll check it then.

Hi I am new and just registered after browsing for sometime. I live in PA just north of Hagerstown, MD. I have a cm-4221 pointed towards Hagerstown and get NBC25, PBS31, ION60 out of Marinsburg, WV, and VA PBS out of Front Royal.

Today when I was checking my digital channels. Digital channel 60.1, 60.2, 60.3, and 60.4 for ION out of Martinsburg were showing up differently. 60.1 and 60.2 came up as WUSA 9.1 and Radar 9.2, but were showing the ION channels. 60.3, and 60.4 were broadcasting as 12.5 and 12.6. It showed up this way on a 19" Sanyo HDTV and my Artec convert box, but the Artec could not even pick up the 12.5 and 12.6 just the 9.1 and 9.2 showing WUSA, but broadcasting ION.

How and why is the ION station out of Martinsburg showing a station id of WUSA out of Washington DC? This is really weird. Also, NBC 25 now has no signal and hopefully will come back on June 12.

You're right, something is really weird with the Martinsburg ION station. Their PSIP is now mapping to 12-3, 12-4, 12-5, & 12-6. I can only get analog on UHF 60 now. Maybe they are preparing to switch to 720P on the main channel????

You have asked about the 700 Club on the two Ion stations before. I don't think anyone here can provide a reliable answer. Have you emailed Ion at the contact link at http://www.iontelevision.com/? Do you currently get WUSA-DT 9 with your current antenna setup? If so, you should be able to get WPXW-DT Ion 66 after they take over the WUSA UHF 34 transmitter.

As for the CBS stations, we will have to wait to see the reception for WUSA-DT 9 and WJZ-DT 13 after next Friday. WJZ-DT will be broadcasting around 7 kW in the direction of Hagerstown after they put up the directional antenna at 28.8 kW. With some luck, you may be able to still get WJZ-DT then. Or not.

I am also seeing the weird PSIP mapping going on with WWPX-DT Ion 60 on VHF 12. They are mapping to 9-1, 9-2??

If you want to get both the DC and Baltimore stations, you need a non-directional antenna setup. A flat bowtie UHF antenna such as the CM-4221 4 Bay antenna can pick up UHF stations over a wide spread in azimuth including stations in the opposite direction. It has some pickup for upper VHF, but hard to say how well it will work after June 12 for the digital stations on upper VHF. Check the antenna threads in the HDTV Technical forum for a ton of info.

No, I haven't e-mailed them. I had just resigned myself to lossing the "700 Club."

I did a reset and rescan with one of my Sunkey's and found that I'm now getting 9.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, & 9.6 with WUSA-DT and WWPX-DT. I did notice that 9.1 showed a Jim Carrey movie (no sound) and I thought I saw a HD logo.

I've been getting WNUV-DT fairly well for the last two weeks and WBFF-DT has been coming and going.

Does anyone know if after the digital transition whether channels (such as 9.1) will become just 9 or will digital channels contine to be 9.1, 9.2, etc? Just curius.

Digital stations will continue to be 7.1, 9.1, 9.2, 30.5 and at their analog channel base number.

There was a FCC STA filing by WHAG NBC 25 in Hagerstown earlier this week asking for permission to shut the analog down for good at 4 AM on June 10. The low power UHF 55 digital broadcast may have to shut down for a while as well. The details are all laid out in their explanation in the STA filing:

"THE INSTANT FILING REQUESTS SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY (STA) TO TERMINATE THE ANALOG FACILITY ASSOCIATED WITH WHAG-TV ON JUNE 10, 2009 TWO DAYS EARLIER THAN PREVIOUSLY ANTICIPATED IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE THE INSTALLATION OF THE STATIONS POST-TRANSITION DTV EQUIPMENT. AS EXPLAINED BELOW, SUCH INSTALLATION MAY TAKE PLACE ON JUNE 11, 2009, DEPENDING ON WEATHER CONDITIONS.

AS THE COMMISSION IS AWARE, WHAG-TV IS AUTHORIZED TO OPERATE ITS ANALOG FACILITIES ON CHANNEL 25, ITS PRE-TRANSITION DTV FACILITIES ON CHANNEL 55 AND ITS POST-TRANSITION FACILITIES ON CHANNEL 26. WHAG-TV IS PRECLUDED FROM OPERATING ITS POST-TRANSITION FACILITIES ON CHANNEL 26 UNTIL WETA-TV, WASHINGTON, DC TERMINATES ITS ANALOG OPERATIONS ON CHANNEL 26. WETA-TV HAS ADVISED THE COMMISSION THAT IT WILL BE TERMINATING ANALOG OPERATIONS BETWEEN 6:01 A.M. AND 12:00 NOON ON JUNE 12, 2009.

WHAG-TV OPERATES ITS ANALOG AND DTV FACILITIES ON A REMOTE MOUNTAINTOP SITE IN CLEAR SPRINGS, MARYLAND. THE ONLY ROAD ENABLING ACCESS TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN IS SO NARROW THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR A TRUCK OR OTHER MOTOR VEHICLE TO TRANSPORT THE STATIONS NEW DTV ANTENNA, WHICH HAS BEEN ASSEMBLED AT ANOTHER LOCATION, TO THE TOWER SITE. ACCORDINGLY, THE ONLY MEANS OF DELIVERING THE NEW DTV ANTENNA TO THE SITE IS VIA HELICOPTER. THERE ARE A VERY LIMITED NUMBER OF COMPANIES THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR THIS TYPE OF WORK, AND SCHEDULING A CREW REQUIRES MANY MONTHS NOTICE. THE HELICOPTER CONSTRUCTION CREW THAT NEXSTAR BROADCASTING, INC. (NEXSTAR) WAS ABLE TO SECURE FOR THIS PURPOSE IS NOT AVAILABLE ON JUNE 12, 2009. THE WORK HAS BEEN SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 10, 2009, WHICH ALLOWS AN EXTRA DAY IN CASE THERE ARE WEATHER PROBLEMS THAT WOULD PREVENT THE HELICOPTER FROM FLYING TO THE TOWER SITE.

UNDER THE CURRENT PLAN, WHAG-TV INTENDS TO TERMINATE ITS ANALOG OPERATIONS AT 4:00 A.M. ON JUNE 10, 2009, WITH WORK COMMENCING SHORTLY THEREAFTER. WHILE WORK IS ONGOING, IT MAY ALSO BE NECESSARY TO TERMINATE WHAG-TVS PRE-TRANSITION DTV OPERATIONS, IN ORDER TO AVOID HUMAN RF EXPOSURE. ONCE THE INSTALLATION OF THE POST-TRANSITION DTV FACILITY IS COMPLETE, WHAG-TV WILL RESUME DTV OPERATIONS ON ITS PRE-TRANSITION CHANNEL (55) AND WILL AWAIT CONFIRMATION FROM WETA-TV ON JUNE 12 THAT ITS ANALOG OPERATIONS HAVE TERMINATED BEFORE WHAG-TV WILL COMMENCE OPERATING IN DTV FORMAT ON ITS POST-TRANSITION CHANNEL (26). IN THE MEANTIME, NEXSTAR HAS ARRANGED FOR WHAG-TVS SIGNAL TO BE DELIVERED TO LOCAL MVPD HEADENDS VIA FIBER, SO THAT MOST OF WHAG-TVS VIEWERS WILL BE COMPLETELY UNAFFECTED BY THE CONSTRUCTION WORK TAKING PLACE ON JUNE 10 OR 11." More text on why the STA should be granted follows.

"MOST OF WHAG-TVS VIEWERS WILL BE COMPLETELY UNAFFECTED BY THE CONSTRUCTION WORK TAKING PLACE ON JUNE 10 OR 11."

That doesn't include me. OTA viewers that are not close to WHAG-DT, or have a small clump of trees between them and the transmitter, can't receive the 0.9KW transmission. I'm one, yet my neighbor 300yards away, with a clear view to the transmitter, gets WHAG-DT very well.

From the beginning, WHAG-TV has been notifying the FCC about the need to terminate early.

I saw this morning that WWPX-DT only had the main channel (still 9.1) operating, but no audio.

I just checked WWPX and when I tuned to 60.1 it switch to WUSA-DT only get 9.1 and 9.2 tried to tuned to 60.3 and 60.4 and there gone now... What is going on with them???

I now have the 60.3 ION Life and the 60.4 Religious channel coming in on 12.5 and 12.6 on my 19" Sanyo HDTV, but they will not come in on my Artec converter box. The 9.1 ION and 9.2 Qubo come in on both.

The 9.1 ION is showing as WUSA and the 9.2 is showing as Radar. I get no signal at all from DC. I wonder if they are putting a translator for WUSA on the Marinsburg tower? Probably not, but that would be awesome! Anyone have a clue why ION 60 is showing up as WUSA?

I just checked and they are still on RF12, but only broadcasting -1 and -2. I found that I get the audio on all my CECB's (Insignia -APT, Sunkey SK-801ATSC's, & Zinwell ZAT-970A), but my APEX DT502 doesn't. All of them are identifying the channel and program information as and from WUSA-DT. I'm also getting two sets of each channel with no information on the second set. My Zinwell also identifies the programming as 480i.

I only got a .1 and .1 stiil shows on RF 12 but displayed as 9.1 & 9.2, someone would have had to change the PSIP data on them. I saw an fcc transfer to debitor in posession, wonder if they found a buyer for the station

ION went bankrupt. I don't think a buyer's been found.

- Trip

I thought I'd do an EPG and Time check on the stations I receive, while my antenna is pointed at 131° (Baltimore), and here are my results:

Channel	ID	Time Variance	Hours of EPG
2	WMAR-DT	-0:01	3
11	WBAL-DT	+0:02	9-10
13	WJZ-DT	Reference	9-10
24	WUTB-DT	+0:01	9-10
31	WWPB-DT	+0:02	9-10
54	WNUV-DT	+0:02	48
60	WWPX-DT	+0:02	12
67	WMPB-DT	+0:02	12
68	WJAL-DT	-0:05	N/A

For those who care, my Signal & Quality Levels are as follows:

Channel	ID	Quality	Strength	AXIS From Station
2	WMAR-DT	52-63	53-54	-2.4
11	WBAL-DT	27-40	45-46	-2.4
13	WJZ-DT	100	84	-2.4
24	WUTB-DT	23-31	62-63	-7.8
31	WWPB-DT	43-51	78-79	-106.3
54	WNUV-DT	39-62	75-76	-2.3
60	WWPX-DT	86-89	87	-95.7
68	WJAL-DT	58-81	87	-157.7

I didn't include WMPB-DT (67), because it isn't reliable unless the antenna is off-axis -11. I also don't pull-in WVPY-DT (42) or W08EE-D (WNPB-DT 24) at this compass heading.

The complete National Network?

Yep. It was big news not too long ago.

- Trip

The Ion network filed chapter 11 as part of a financial restructuring process with debt holders to reduce their debt. The press articles on the bankruptcy filing indicate Ion is planning to continue to operate and acquire more programming. Not going out of business, but obviously on shaky ground given the economy and the tough times for broadcast stations.

I doubt if WUSA-DT has brought WWPX-DT 60 because if they did, they would be putting CBS programming on it and WWPX-DT would have to keep the channel 12 ID. I wonder if the PSIP glitch is somehow related to the impending move of WPXW-DT 66 in Manassas to the WUSA-DT UHF 34 transmitter in NW DC. WWPX-DT 60 is a satellite station of WPXW-DT 66. Maybe they are sending the feed to WWPX-DT 60 through the new site and they are using PSIP equipment which has leftover WUSA-DT configuration in it. My Samsung T451 still has the 60.1, 60.2 channels as 9.1, 9.2. The Sony HD-DVR which does NOT remap channels or find new sub-channels without a full scan still shows all four sub-channels for WWPX-DT at 60.1 to 60.4. Very weird. I wonder if WWPX-DT 60 even knows they are putting out messed up PSIP data?

I just cleared RF 12 and rescanned, still showing RF 12 as 9.1 and 9.2, wonder what happened to .3 and .4 when I tried to enter 12.4 manually it switched to 9.1. Very weird.

Try 12.5 and 12.6 instead of 12.4.

- Trip

I tried 12.3 to 12.20 and all take me to WUSA 9.1 12.2 takes me to 9.2 9 radar. I can't get WPXW out of DC so I don't know if they still have all there sub channels up or only have two now also.

Puzzling. I'd love to see some TSReader on that...

- Trip

Trip, I'll see if I have a tunercard that will work with the TSreader lite software, but it will have to wait till morning, I've been work 11 to 14 hours a day this week.

No changes on WPXW-DT 66.

My Samsung LCD is picking up WWPX-DT 60 on 9.1, 9.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, & 12.6. No program info is available on any of the 12.x channels.

This should be quite an interesting week!!

I don't have a tuner card and haven't tried acquiring WPXW-DT. Sorry I can't help with that information.

I also did a rescan on my APEX and Insignia boxes earlier today.