Anyone know why CPTV WEDH 24 has been off air this afternoon? Not just OTA. It's off Dish too.


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back on now at least OTA

Not sure why it was off, but DISH was probably using the OTA feed. That's fairly common, especially in a tiny market for DISH like Hartford-New Haven.

Dish in most areas gathers the signal OTA...just like they do in Minneapolis, MN

Tiny? 7 counties and a low-30s rank out of 210?

Tiny for dish because of lack of RSNs for NY and (some of) Boston.

DING DING DING! We have a winner. Obviously KEVINL71 took my comment out of context, since he cut off the "for DISH" part of it. SNY is part of that, since Connecticut plays a lot of games on SNY. I don't know what the actual numbers are, but they've got to be pretty bad given that they are missing so many sports teams, and the entire state has cable available. DirecTV does well for people who want a premium experience and are willing to pay for it.

For the record, DirecTV, who has the RSNs for Connecticut, also uses OTA reception for Hartford and most other markets, including major markets like Philly and Chicago. They also lost their signal for WEDH (and WEDW since they just use a remap of Hartford's WEDH/24 spotbeam feed for WEDW/49 in the NYC DMA)

They mainly use fiber for fringe stations who's signals are too weak at the local receive facility, or cases where their local receive facility is located at a station's studio and they can pick up an internal feed. (i.e. in Providence their receive facility is at WPRI's studio, in NYC it's at WWOR's studio, in Springfield it's at WWLP's studio, while in Hartford and Boston they use datacenters for their receive facility) The major stations in NYC however have been delivered via fiber to most providers since the first WTC bombing in 1993, and DirecTV has been using it since they first started providing NYC locals. They do use OTA for some lesser stations like WZME, WNYE and WMBC.

Whats everyone here using for amplifiers? I have been using a RCA TVPRAMP1Z Preamplifier for a few years. Works good for me, as it does both u, and v. Well it crapped out, I bought another, and after 3 weeks, the v crapped out already I guess they don't make things the way they used to.

I concur with LenL on the NYC OTA thread. A Channel Master preamp is the way to go. I plan on replacing my old Winegard preamp with a CM-7777 when they come back in stock. If you decide to look through the Channel Master website, just be wary of the mileage claims. I think they are still using analog era distances. Just chop about 30% off any mileage claim on the site to get an approximate real life ATSC 1.0 signal distance.

Beware: Amplifiers are sensitive to the heat, so I wouldn't put one in a typical attic. They can run hot.

Thanks! Think I will give the CM-7778HD a try since i need both u and v. These things seem out of stock everywhere. Talking about heat, is it any better on the mast outside sitting in the sun all day??? Tough call.

Scott I am getting WHPX on RF 28 at 60 to 70% signal strength, of course unlike when they were in New London and on RF 26, I can no longer get them without using a 4 bay pointed towards Farmington.

I get every Connecticut station from that location, with the exception of WFSB TV I was never able to get them when they were on RF 33, I am getting WCCT TV on that channel at 70 to 80% signal strength, proving to me that WFSB's RF power is the cause.

One station I have never received since TV went digital is WTNH on CH 10. My outdoor 4 bay antenna whisker length is cut to include VHF HI reception. I do have a VHF-UHF antenna in a fixed position pointed towards Rehoboth MA I just have not ever tried pointing towards WTNH.

Bruce.

Yes. Most attics are hot boxes in the summer. Mine can easily get over 140 degrees on hot days. This would be out of operational temperature range for any amplifier. Experts (I've talked to) would recommend putting your preamp on the mast below your antenna(s). That is the way mine is. I have it plugged in an attic electrical outlet just before the signal runs through a splitter.

BTW, my local dealer says that Channel Master should have their amplifiers ready for shipping sometime in September. Good luck.

My RCA started flaking out a few months ago after 3 years. Intermittent problem I thought was due to a loose cable. When it finally failed I found that a small trace on the circuit board for the RF output was broken. A bit of solder fixed it. It seems even with the thin hex nuts that fasten the RF connectors they're still prone to stress from frequent tightening.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EF9500

Whats everyone here using for amplifiers?

Kitzamp KT-200. Both UHF and VHF are fed into it. It replaces a CM 7775 UHF only amp that has been on the roof many years and is beginning to show its age...but it still works. I have a Winegard VHF and an XG91 fed into the Kitzamp.

The kitzamp, heard they suppose to be a low noise amp, like 1.0 n.f. do you give it high praise? I had antennas direct juice for 1 day then amp crapped out after a thunderstorm.

Pretty sure we are a bit off topic, but thinking of getting that kitzamp for my vhf. What's the easiest way to combine my uhf and vhf. Thanks!

Very interesting... I grew up in Bethel, CT and remember that Comcast of Danbury picked up everything OTA at least until I moved away in 2000. Their headend was on top of a hill about a mile west of my house. Channels 2, 3, 4 and 5 were almost unwatchable during intense E-skip in the summer - I could easily see the “ghost” of WPBT and WESH logos under WCBS every June! Likewise, channels 7, 9, 11, and 13 were affected by coastal tropo from Virginia and Eastern NC around Labor Day every year.

Even in the analog days, OTA reception was very poor in the Danbury area unless you were at a higher elevation - I lived on a north facing hill and couldn’t get either NYC or Hartford clearly. Meanwhile, our friends about 300’ up the hill could pick up every NYC channel clearly with rabbit ears. I’m sure it’s much worse now with digital.

Comcast was different back then. They were a much smaller company just starting their growth, and it was before their shared headend started and their NYC DMA presence was a few isolated systems in the fringes of the market. It was mainly the core NYC companies like Time Warner, RCN and Cablevision that got connected to the fiber link, while the ones who only had a presence in Upstate NY, northwestern NJ, CT or PA like Comcast, Adelphia, Blue Ridge, Service Electric and Charter were on their own. The NJ Comcast systems were likely on fiber too, but at the time it probably had no physical link to the Fairfield county systems.

If you ever have time to take a deep dive into the state public utilities commission applications, you might find some of the old franchise renewal filings where they indicated which services they offered at the time and how they were delivered. I'm not sure how far back the CT online archive goes, but the New York State one goes back to the mid 80s.

The geography of Danbury is unforgiving from an RF perspective. I would think that Comcast has everything fed by IP-fiber now, as that's the direction they are moving for everything nationwide.

Some good Tropospheric activity last night after midnight. Pulled in WJAR about 90 miles away, a first for me. Main channel was showing junk so I capped their MeTV sub airing 80's Twilight Zone. Also finally got WGGB which is a paltry 30 miles but it was still cool because all the hills always put me in a black hole for reception. WLVI 56 also popped through again in addition to the regular Tropo channels 17 & 23. Whenever there's good conditions they're the first to show up.

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Colebrook...only been through that town once. A friend decided to head from the New Britain area towards Albany (and eventually Troy) by taking the scenic route. [It's where CT Route 8 becomes MA Route 8 at the state line and also gets you to US Route 20.] I wonder if channel 30's old analog translator in Torrington could've reached that far out? It was on channel 79, so who knows?

Who's up for the next repack? Is it true that WTNH-TV/WCTX-TV (uses channel 10) will be staying put?

WTNH/WCTX and WEDN are not changing their RF numbers. The Hartford DMA is pretty much done when it comes to the repack, except for two low power stations WTXX-LD and WHCT-LD that aren't assigned specific phases:
https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?mktid=36

It's mainly people who get border reception of stations from NYC, Boston or Providence that have to worry about future phases. WVVH-CD from the Hamptons and the remaining Providence and Boston stations are in Phase 7, while WNET from NYC is in Phase 9.


The Torrington translator was W79AI, unfortunately the records going back that far in the FCC's database don't include engineering data needed to generate a contour. The only thing the FCC has online is two renewals in 1982 and 1983, and a 1998 license expiration date, but obviously they stopped broadcasting long before that. Between the rise of cable and the improvement in UHF tuners, they had no reason to find a replacement channel number after 70-83 were eliminated in the mid 80s. Most cable systems either have their own tower or leased space on one to mount their receive antennas, so terrain wasn't an issue like it would have been for potential home antenna viewers relying on the translator.

The Torrington repeater became unnecessary when WVIT pumped up their power to 3 million watts in 1980. It doesn't surprise me that it went off the air shortly afterward. WVIT's West Haven repeater (W59AA), lasted until around 1992.

Here's some fun facts: TV channels 70-83 were officially eliminated in the USA in 1983. Most televisions manufactured that year were the first to top out at channel 69. Even so, some rural translators in that band were grandfathered and a few even lasted into the 21st century. From my research, K70DR in Blue Earth, Minnesota was the last to be turned off in 2011.

Fun time this morning with strong signals from the Boston/Providence stations. Strong enough to briefly pull in WPRI ch.7 VHF on my 8 bay which is pointing through a wall of trees getting a bounced signal off a hilltop. WJAR & WBZ were on the longest. Once again signal presumably from Boston's WCVB (RF33) knocked out WCCT but not enough to get a lock.

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I live in Norwich Connecticut has anyone else in southeastern Connecticut been getting a regular appearance of WGBY 57 since they moved to VHF 13?
My included photos shows on-screen photos of WGBY and my homemade 4 bay antenna tuned for VHF high pointed towards Farmington and I'm still getting WGBY Springfield MA off the side of it. This is NOT tropo either I get it 24/7 at about 60 to 75% signal strength. I do not get WWLP or WGGB however, not with the antenna pointed west-north-west.

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Terminal man I can tell your WJAR METV photo is of Night Gallery which is on METV early in the morning.

I noticed a while back that the new coverage area for WGBY was going to be quite a bit larger than it was before. It looks like you are verifying that came to be in real life...

https://www.rabbitears.info/contour....3&site=1&map=Y

Yes! It was an episode starring Sandra Dee "Spectre in Tap-Shoes" - It seems MeTV is no longer running Night Gallery with their Fall schedule.


Also able to receive WGBY with the change. Too bad the PBS stations are so similar now with their programming. Last I had 57 was in the 90's and I always watched their Sunday foreign classics.

I agree about the PBS stations but I have been checking their sub channels. Both 24 and 57 have create, which I enjoy, but 57 has a channel called World. 24 has one called Spirit. Never know what you'll find. For instance today 24 Spirit is running the movie "High Noon", for us old folks. At 8 tonight 57 World has The History of Bluegrass. Have to peek at that. Prime time PBS pretty much the same but 57 gets me with This Old House at 8 PM Thursday.
WGBY also popped in with me in Wethersfield hitting my antenna pointed towards Rattlesnake.

I live in Norwich CT and tonight while taking a walk, I noticed something missing from the southwest skyline. I can still see Atlantic Broadband's tower and beacon on the horizon, however what is missing is the WHPX channel 26 tower and it's two beacon and 2 solid aviation lights on the skyline.

I know WHPX moved to Rattle Snake Mountain in Farmington, did they dismantle the former tower in Waterford already?

Was it cut and dropped? I heard nothing about their tower, at any rate there are no longer any beacons in that area where the tower once stood.

Bruce in Norwich Connecticut.