[WilliamCL]

Sunday night I watched the first part of Walking with the Dead on DT-21 but tuesday night when I went to watch it the signal was down. Tonight I checked to see if there was a signal and I am still getting nothing.


Can anyone in the Central Ohio anrea confirm that the signal is down?


I hope the problem isnt on my end.



Thanks

 

[WilliamCL]

I emailed John Owen (Cheif Engineer) at WBNS and got the following reply:

Quote:

We are installing a new DT21 antenna on top of our tower replacing our side mounted antenna. We shut down DT21 two days ago to run new transmission line. All installation is now complete. We still must perform an FCC proof and finish checking out the system. When we return to air, we will be broadcasting at 750,000 watts, up from our current 400,000 watts. We should be back on Friday or Saturday. Thanks for watching and taking the time to write. Stay tuned. John Owen Chief Engineer

I suppose this is good news for people outside of central ohio (i.e. Dayton) that try to bring in the Columbus CBS station.

 

[JRChisolm]

It would be nice if they actually bothered to update their inane website with pertinent information such as this. I did four channel scans today.


-J. R.

 

[cbauer]

Are they still having problems? (as of Thursday May2?)


It appears to be no signal, or some type of static, as of late.

 

[scantor]

Quote:

Originally posted by cbauer Are they still having problems? (as of Thursday May2?) It appears to be no signal, or some type of static, as of late.

As the thread reports, they're installing a new antenna. I knew they were doing that, but it's amazing that they'd just kill the signal for three days to do it. Shows you how utterly insignificant it is to them.


Apparently it may be back on by tonight.


Isn't this humiliating? No offense to our fellow Ohioans, but doesn't anyone find it ridiculous that we have fewer stations than Dayton? What a cowtown we live in.


-- Scott

 

[GScott]

Quote:

Originally posted by scantor As the thread reports, they're installing a new antenna. I knew they were doing that, but it's amazing that they'd just kill the signal for three days to do it. Shows you how utterly insignificant it is to them. Apparently it may be back on by tonight. Isn't this humiliating? No offense to our fellow Ohioans, but doesn't anyone find it ridiculous that we have fewer stations than Dayton? What a cowtown we live in. -- Scott

It's not a new antenna, it's a new transmitter.


Did you ever stop to consider that it may have been necessary to shut down the transmitter to do the work they indicated? We have no way of knowing what health risks are involved in what they are doing. There is a good chance that a transmitter that puts out over 700,00 watts could pose a significant health risk. Would you ever consider doing any electrical work without cutting the power?


Also, if you read the WBNS response the engineer also indicates that they need to run some FCC checkout tests.


Before you start ranting about WBNS you should consider the fact that they have been on the air for over 2 years and were one of the first stations in the country to broadcast in HD. They are also firmly committed to providing the best picture possible and have stated numerous times that they fully intend to pass whatever HD signal CBS gives them. For everything they have provided Columbus over the past 2 years I think they are entitled to a few days to install new equipment.

 

[scantor]

Quote:

Originally posted by GScott Did you ever stop to consider that it may have been necessary to shut down the transmitter to do the work they indicated? We have no way of knowing what health risks are involved in what they are doing. There is a good chance that a transmitter that puts out over 700,00 watts could pose a significant health risk. Would you ever consider doing any electrical work without cutting the power?

Um, I think you missed my point, which is that if this was regular NTSC OTA being affected, they simply couldn't afford to just shut it down. They'd do the work at 3:00am or whatever, and still probably would need to work out a way to stay on the air.


That was *not* a criticism of WBNS, really, so much as a comment on the sad state of interest and access to DTV by the general public. My grousing about losing our only channel, etc. was mostly tongue in cheek. It is sort of funny if you think about it.

Quote:

Before you start ranting about WBNS you should consider the fact that they have been on the air for over 2 years and were one of the first stations in the country to broadcast in HD. They are also firmly committed to providing the best picture possible and have stated numerous times that they fully intend to pass whatever HD signal CBS gives them. For everything they have provided Columbus over the past 2 years I think they are entitled to a few days to install new equipment.

I agree. You're overreacting to my comment. I see where you got the wrong idea, but when I said it was insignificant to them, that was more a statement of fact than a criticism. It *is* probably meaningless for them to just shut it down, and I think that's a shame.


The rest was a complaint about the city and the other stations, and if you take issue with that, well, I've been here long enough to stand up and admit what Columbus is like.


-- Scott

 

[technut7]

Quote:

Originally posted by GScott It's not a new antenna, it's a new transmitter...

It most certainly IS a new antenna and the chief engineer at WBNS, Mr. Owen, personally told me this when I spoke with him last week. I've been watching their progress for the past week on my way to work downtown and the new antenna is plainly visible to anyone who can read one line above the "E" on the eye chart. BTW, WCMH is also installing a new antenna on top of the same tower.


As for health risks, what about the combined ERP of 416,000 watts that WBNS and WCMH were transmitting during the construction? I noticed that neither Channel 4 nor Channel 10 were off the air. I think scantor is perfectly entitled to his opinion.

 

[WilliamCL]

I only wish WSYX (ABC-6) & WTTE (Fox-28) cared about a HDTV signal...instead of the behind the scenes DRAMA that is "NewsCenter". I was pulling the hair out of my head when I heard those idiots over there are going to broadcast ABC 720p programming with the FOX 480p standard...cheap *******s. They should start investing some money in the programming instead of their newscenter...maybe people would actually watch then.


Off-Topic

COLUMBUS MEDIA TALK
http://mediatalk.hypermart.net/


I love this site. It always has the gossip and behind the scenes stuff going on with the Columbus Media. Some of the posts on the message board are hilarious.


Here is a great post about some of the drama going on at ABC6/FOX28 from back in mid March:

Quote:

First of all Pete Scovill is AWOL! He hasn't been seen or heard from in close to three weeks. Word has it management told him he was going to be replaced by someone younger and cheaper. Smell like a lawsuit may be looming. Then there is the Tram Mai incident. In her quest to be the most best'es, wonderful journalist on the planet she has again pissed of alot of people. Big pow-wow with CPD and OHP about a story she did on kids speedingon the interstate...this is third time going above and beyond ethics for a story. the other times were on kids who race their cars on the west side. she encouraged the kids to drag race so she could get the story. Then there was the gay pride parade/flag burner. She missed the flag being burned so she encouraged the guy to light one up and he got arrested. Management better wake up and let this walking lawsuit go. Then there is Jim Altman! It's kind of weird but not only does he tell people he interviews he worked for 20/20(as an associte prodcer/coffee getter), he now anounces that he is doing Newscenter a favor by working here. Do all of us a favor, go to Zanesville and hone your skills. (didn't mean to offend Zanesville) I know management look's at this site so get moving and clean this place up!

 

[Nitewatchman]

I'm pulling in WBNS-DT from 78 Miles out via Tropospheric scatter tonight, Solid readings off the DTC-100 - 82-84 with no dropouts for at least the last hour. I'm Between Cincinnati and Dayton, and have to "steer around" strong adjacent channel interference from analog wkef 22 dayton in order to pull in WBNS-DT. This is the first time I've been able to pull it in, I'm guessing their new antenna is helping.


BTW, good condtions for TV dx'ing this evening in SW Ohio, The Lexington, KY(107-125 Miles) Digital and analog, as well as all the Columbus stations are in like strong locals tonite. I'm also getting analogs from the south as far as 240 Miles at this time, and conditions seem to be improving.


Noticed "Beastmaster" in HD on WBNS-DT at 1am-2am tonite...Interesting.


Keep in mind that in Dayton, Currently, only WHIO-DT 41 Passes through CBS HD, sometimes sporadically. I have better luck from My Cincy locals, but neither of the Dayton/Cincy Fox affialiates have been able to pass through Fox 16x9 since the Superbowl.

 

[cbauer]

Can we get a group hug in here?


Seriously, anyone know the timetable for this?


I'm getting a signal, but it seems weaker and generally less reliable than before.


Thanks....

 

[technut7]

Yep, I'm receiving a much weaker signal than before WBNS erected its new antenna. What's up with that? I was getting 8 or 9 bars on my STB before with very few dropouts. Now I'm getting only 6 or 7 bars with continual dropouts and I'm less than three miles from the tower! Maybe they don't have everything tweaked yet...

 

[scantor]

Have to say I'm getting a stronger signal so far, about 10-15 miles NE of the antenna, fairly clear path.


I wasn't seeing much difference in occasional dropouts last weekend, but I think those are mostly from the STB. I reset it occasionally and that usually cleans up the picture. Tonight, I left it on for CSI and Agency, and got no dropouts at any point, so I'd have to say the boost is helping.


Hope it clears up for others...


-- Scott