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Des Moines, IA - HDTV

517K views 5K replies 379 participants last post by  grich 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,


Did anybody catch Crossing Jordan? I caught the tail end of it because they

didn't advertise it. I did a search with my Mits 65909 tonight and locked in

perfectly!!!



Recorded the news and I'm now recording Jay!!!


does anybody have a date for KCCI? Titantv.com says Nov 1. for WOI.


Enjoying HD in DES MOINES!!!
 
#3,477 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluejayrock /forum/post/15333895


If you watch 5.2 as much as I have the last few days, you'll see that they've also added local "time capsules" instead of the national "retromercials." So far I've seen commercials for Bob Allen Motors and Foreman & Clark, a short segment from the 1950's dance show "Seventeen", and 80's sports sgements about Iowa preparing to play Washington in the Rose Bowl and Iowa State's basketball team in training. Personally, I'm hoping they throw in something from The Magic Window sometime.

Interesting. Maybe our RTN affiliate should do that. I would love to see some old local commercials.


As for The Magic Window, yes, you do risk opening some old wounds -- its host was there 'til the end and was one of the 20 people let go by the station's current owners the instant they took over from ISU. But then again, it has been nearly 15 years since the sale (man, do I feel old saying that!), and the show is a fairly important part of the station's history.
 
#3,478 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dline /forum/post/15335294


As for The Magic Window, yes, you do risk opening some old wounds -- its host was there 'til the end and was one of the 20 people let go by the station's current owners the instant they took over from ISU. But then again, it has been nearly 15 years since the sale (man, do I feel old saying that!), and the show is a fairly important part of the station's history.

Old wounds indeed! The forced sale of WOI-TV, engineered by interests and alumni of my alma mater, the University of Iowa, should never have happened IMO. But then, that's water over the dam. Another worthless observation: ISU should have taken WOI totally educational back in the early 50's so it could avoided a Frankenstein existence. (and it would be the oldest public TV station in the country right now.)


Anyway, ISU Library archives has posted a number of old WOI-TV kinescopes on YouTube, such as Magic Window, Seventeen and others. Wish those old commercials were on YouTube.
 
#3,479 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by iowegian3 /forum/post/15340514


Old wounds indeed! The forced sale of WOI-TV, engineered by interests and alumni of my alma mater, the University of Iowa, should never have happened IMO. But then, that's water over the dam. Another worthless observation: ISU should have taken WOI totally educational back in the early 50's so it could avoided a Frankenstein existence. (and it would be the oldest public TV station in the country right now.)


Anyway, ISU Library archives has posted a number of old WOI-TV kinescopes on YouTube, such as Magic Window, Seventeen and others. Wish those old commercials were on YouTube.

The Bob Allen one is one of those classic "Anything can happen on live TV" moments. The spokesman is talking about free snow tires, and as he's getting out of the car he closes the door on his microphone cord.
 
#3,481 ·
did anyone catch cold case this sunday, i have the am21 ota tuner on a hr-21 directv hd dvr and am getting a good signal strength of around 98% on ch 8.1 but during the flash back scenes of the show, where its wider than 16/9 the picture was breaking up at an annoying rate, then when it would go back to the main part of the show it would be fine, now ive seen this before on cold case, so im curious if anyone else saw this issue as well


also does any one get strange picture tearing when a program goes from HD to SD on any of the OTA channels on the AM21 if you have directv hd with that ota tuner
 
#3,482 ·
Just an FYI, Pappas wants to buy the DTV facilities from WHO-DT outright instead of building out their own. For this reason, they want their KDMI-DT's post-transition channel changed from 31 to 19. We'll see how quickly the FCC moves on this.


- Trip
 
#3,483 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Trip in VA /forum/post/15364966


Just an FYI, Pappas wants to buy the DTV facilities from WHO-DT outright instead of building out their own. For this reason, they want their KDMI-DT's post-transition channel changed from 31 to 19. We'll see how quickly the FCC moves on this.


- Trip

I don't see anything on this yet in my FCC database searches, but I can understand why they'd want to. Essentially they wouldn't have to build much of anything new and can keep all their operations on the same tower, the newest and northernmost one in the Alleman cluster. (WHO, as I've said before, says it's leaving that stick and going back to its original tower for its Channel 13 digital operation.)


Not having to build a new Channel 31 facility is even more important for Pappas considering its financial situation. In fact, KDMI has actually filed for an extension of time to build its post-transition facilities ( link ) due to "severe financial hardship." The details are confidential.


But that's an extension beyond February 17, folks, and that alone suggests trouble if they want to keep the station on the air.


Since they're currently on 56 and can't legally stay on that channel after February 17, this could force KDMI off the air for a time, if not forever.
 
#3,484 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dline /forum/post/15366631


I don't see anything on this yet in my FCC database searches, but I can understand why they'd want to. Essentially they wouldn't have to build much of anything new and can keep all their operations on the same tower, the newest and northernmost one in the Alleman cluster. (WHO, as I've said before, says it's leaving that stick and going back to its original tower for its Channel 13 digital operation.)


Not having to build a new Channel 31 facility is even more important for Pappas considering its financial situation. In fact, KDMI has actually filed for an extension of time to build its post-transition facilities ( link ) due to "severe financial hardship." The details are confidential.


But that's an extension beyond February 17, folks, and that alone suggests trouble if they want to keep the station on the air.


Since they're currently on 56 and can't legally stay on that channel after February 17, this could force KDMI off the air for a time, if not forever.

But if KCWI is using a subchannel of KDMI to broadcast digital until Feb 17, couldn't KDMI use a subchannel of KCWI to broadcast after Feb 17 and until they are able to build out? Just a theory.
 
#3,485 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluejayrock /forum/post/15367011


But if KCWI is using a subchannel of KDMI to broadcast digital until Feb 17, couldn't KDMI use a subchannel of KCWI to broadcast after Feb 17 and until they are able to build out? Just a theory.

They could.


Of course, it also means you'll wait longer for whatever HD MyNetwork is putting out.
 
#3,487 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluejayrock /forum/post/15367388


I'm only speaking of what little I know, but wouldn't the elimination of KEFB as a subchannel allow Pappas to transmit HD for both KCWI and KDMI?

That'd be -- at most -- around 9 megabits per second of bandwidth for each even if KEFB was dropped. There may be ways to shoehorn it in but you may not like the results.
 
#3,488 ·
#3,489 ·
In case you're wondering how much coverage the Des Moines stations could gain or lose compared with their analogs, here's a map showing what the engineers think:

http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_...es-Ames_IA.pdf


Note: The map assumes KFPX will still transmit from its current site in northwest Jasper County. The FCC has yet to act on its request to move its transmitter to the Alleman area with the other stations.
 
#3,490 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dline /forum/post/15384703


In case you're wondering how much coverage the Des Moines stations could gain or lose compared with their analogs, here's a map showing what the engineers think:

http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_...es-Ames_IA.pdf


Note: The map assumes KFPX will still transmit from its current site in northwest Jasper County. The FCC has yet to act on its request to move its transmitter to the Alleman area with the other stations.

Looks like all the stations are either staying on even keel or even picking up viewers after the changeover.
 
#3,491 ·
FYI, today it's not you, it's us. Our channel 31 DT transmitter has been giving us problems since earlier this morning (12/30). Reflected power from the antenna is showing up as too high, for some reason, and it keeps kicking our digital transmitter into auto-shutoff. We're afraid it may be a transmission line problem, and if so it may be several days before a tower crew can deal with it. Meanwhile, we're trying to keep the signal up at about 25% power, but it's still tripping off on us.


Analog OTA is unaffected by this. Mediacom customers both analog and digital should be unaffected, as they're fed by a land-line from the studio. Dish Network and DirecTV have been deriving *both* their SD and HD returns from our digital OTA lately, but they've been alerted and asked to revert back to analog OTA as the source for their SD return feeds. Dish and D*TV HD feeds may be offline or intermittent, though they said they may switch the Des Moines HD feed over to WCBS during key prime time hours.


I will keep this forum updated as we learn more.


Chris Wilde

KCCI-TV
 
#3,492 ·
Thanks Chris. I'm still pulling 100% signal in Norwalk... on KCCI-DT




Quote:
Originally Posted by cpwilde /forum/post/15416606


FYI, today it's not you, it's us. Our channel 31 DT transmitter has been giving us problems since earlier this morning (12/30). Reflected power from the antenna is showing up as too high, for some reason, and it keeps kicking our digital transmitter into auto-shutoff. We're afraid it may be a transmission line problem, and if so it may be several days before a tower crew can deal with it. Meanwhile, we're trying to keep the signal up at about 25% power, but it's still tripping off on us.


Analog OTA is unaffected by this. Mediacom customers both analog and digital should be unaffected, as they're fed by a land-line from the studio. Dish Network and DirecTV have been deriving *both* their SD and HD returns from our digital OTA lately, but they've been alerted and asked to revert back to analog OTA as the source for their SD return feeds. Dish and D*TV HD feeds may be offline or intermittent, though they said they may switch the Des Moines HD feed over to WCBS during key prime time hours.


I will keep this forum updated as we learn more.


Chris Wilde

KCCI-TV
 
#3,493 ·
Just out of curiosity, anyone out there know what channel 13.2 (Iowa's Weather Plus) is airing right now?


Our Weather Plus on KWWL has been replaced by a still saying "This TV" is coming soon to Weather Plus' former subchannel.


(NBC, as you probably know, is discontinuing the network.)
 
#3,494 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dline /forum/post/15432668


Just out of curiosity, anyone out there know what channel 13.2 (Iowa's Weather Plus) is airing right now?


Our Weather Plus on KWWL has been replaced by a still saying "This TV" is coming soon to Weather Plus' former subchannel.


(NBC, as you probably know, is discontinuing the network.)

Still weather plus

Joe
 
#3,495 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jobedo /forum/post/15433012


Still weather plus

Joe

Interesting. WHO must be trying to continue it locally without NBC.


The network part of Weather Plus (outside the local inserts and ads) has been dying a slow death over the past month, when it got rid of all its national reporters and started airing nothing but maps and background music.
 
#3,496 ·
There are a number of stations which have decided to keep airing local weather using the equipment from WX+. No point in throwing away perfectly good equipment.


What's different here is that they even kept the WeatherPlus branding, and I was surprised to find a number of stations did that. A lot more seem to have taken new branding while using the existing equipment.

http://img.lineupui.silicondust.com/...ot_7229794.jpg


And here's a list that I've compiled of what I've found so far.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...4&postcount=90


- Trip
 
#3,497 ·
Our digital signal was in maintenance sign-off last night from 8:13pm through 12:51am, while the tower crew worked on faulty sections of transmission line up near the channel 31 antenna. (We have to shut down when they're in close proximity to the antenna. There's a limited number of people in the world who will work on 2000' towers in the middle of winter, so we have to make sure they can keep reproducing for as many years as they survive to do so). Two sections of transmission line were replaced last night, resulting in significant improvements in the TDR scan of the line. There were still a couple bad spots detected in the next section or two downward, though, and some more parts were ordered. The parts arrived this morning, and KCCI-DT OTA is offline again this afternoon as the tower crew is back at work.
 
#3,498 ·
Hi everyone, first post here, but have been reading the forums for over a year. Mostly the OTA DTV forums. Lots of GREAT info on here. I just had a quick question. Does anyone know if IPTV plans on adding more sub-channels? My dad lives in NC, and the local PBS station has 5 sub-channels. I have noticed on the PBS website ,that around the country there are many stations broadcasting 5 and even 6 streams (7 -I think in Boston). Anyway, just curious if anyone had any info, or could point me in the right direction.



I should say also that I am lucky enough to live half way between the CR and DSM markets, so I receive 2.1,2.2,5.1,5.2,7.1,7.2,7.3,8.1,8.2,9.1,9.2,11.1,11.2,,11.3, 13.1,13.2,17.1,17.2,23.1,28.1,28.2,32.1,,32.2,32.3,48.1-48.4 (on a good day), and 56.1. All this with a 30 year old GE 11 inch color TV, indoor UHF butterfly ant. and DTT911 box. I have dish in 4 rooms----I am doing the convertor box as an extension of my radio hobby. Mostly a DX thing for me! Thanks, (sorry so long winded!) Mike
 
#3,499 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Haley1966 /forum/post/15446790


Hi everyone, first post here, but have been reading the forums for over a year. Mostly the OTA DTV forums. Lots of GREAT info on here. I just had a quick question. Does anyone know if IPTV plans on adding more sub-channels? My dad lives in NC, and the local PBS station has 5 sub-channels. I have noticed on the PBS website ,that around the country there are many stations broadcasting 5 and even 6 streams (7 -I think in Boston). Anyway, just curious if anyone had any info, or could point me in the right direction.

In the case of Boston, they have a total of 6 PBS channels overall, but they're divided among 2 transmitters. WGBH has 2 channels, WGBX has 4. IPTV's 3 channels are coming from 1 transmitter, KDIN in the case of metro Des Moines. Now I'm not a broadcast engineer, and I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I think that the current IPTV setup (1 HD, 2 SD) is about the max they can do without dumping HD altogether.
 
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