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Madison, WI - HDTV

732K views 6K replies 397 participants last post by  avidandrew 
#1 ·
Hey central Wisconsinites. I think we need a thread to discuss HD issues for the Madison, Janesville, Wisconsin Dells areas.


I'm in Sun Prairie, about 20 miles from the Madison towers. OTA, I'm receiving HD ABC, CBS, NBC & PBS and non-hd digital Fox and UPN. Does anyone know if the WB affiliate (out of Janesville I believe) is broadcasting a digital transmission?


Also, FYI, I received an e-mail response from an engineer who works for our Fox Madison affiliate. He states they plan to have their equipment ready to pass along the HD Fox feed scheduled to begin late summer/early fall.


Hope there are a lot of contributors to this thread.


-Chad G
 
#6 ·

Quote:
"by way of FOX 47 Engineering " wrote:


Hi Chad,


We are still in the process of purchasing equipment to

pass-thru the HD 720p signal from Fox. Our goal is to have the

equipment installed by this September and the start of football

season.

Our corporate ownership and Charter are working on the

agreement to

carry our HD signal, otherwise you will have to use an outdoor

antenna

to pickup our HD signal.

Looks good for OTA, and Charter customers as well.
 
#7 ·
This was the reply i got from Wausau,


"The FCC has yet to assign a digital TV channel to Fox 55 WFXS, so it will be some time before we can launch a digital signal."


Robert Raff

General Manager
rraff@wfxs.com


I remember looking at antennaweb.com well over a year ago to see the status and they had "awaiting fcc permit" back then, how long does this take?
 
#8 ·

Quote:
I remember looking at antennaweb.com well over a year ago to see the status and they had "awaiting fcc permit" back then, how long does this take?

I'm not sure how long a permit request to the FCC can take, maybe someone like Ken H or FOXENG can comment. Unfortunately the HD feed probably won't be ready in Sept. since your affiliate isn't transmitting a digital signal yet. Hopefully I'm wrong...
 
#9 ·
cgengler,


I don't want to sound pessimistic about your info but I have been hearing this crap from Fox 47 engineer/s since spring of 2002.



Quote:
We are still in the process of purchasing equipment to

pass-thru the HD 720p signal from Fox.



I'm hoping they DO something about it and not talk about it anymore.

2 years and waiting...........
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by lovebohn
I heard from another forum member that even when Fox goes HD, they will still not upgrade their station to broatcast it. Looks like Fox will stay 480 for some time.

This is contradictory to what I've been told by the head engineer from the Madison Fox affiliate. He stated they are in the process of upgrading their equipment and plan to be ready to pass the hd feed when Fox goes live with it in September.


He also said they are currently in negotiations with Charter.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for starting an official South Central Forum! I too have been envious of milwaukeehdtv too.



I will be subscribed to this forum and am looking forward to future news (especially around FOX 47's DTV signal by fall).


Thanks again...hopefully this will serve as a gathering spot for those of us who have HDTV in the Mad-city area. It may not seem like it, but there are others of us out there.
 
#19 ·
The "corporate" term Kerry Maki refers to is the Sinclair Group, which owns the station, not FOX. If we keep requesting info from WMSN about their transition, and if we keep calling Charter to ask if they're going to carry them, then maybe they'll get the message that there are a lot of HDTV'ers in Madison.
 
#20 ·
I live on the Madison East side near hwy 51 and 30.


What antenna's have the good folks of the Madison area found to be the most successful at picking up Madison/Central WI DTV stations?


I already had a VHF/UHF set top rabbit ear, amplified radio shack antenna. I can get almost all the stations (at times) with constant antenna tweaking except WMSN fox DTV which I don't get at all.


Does anybody have any antenna suggestions (as inexpensive as possible)?

I could fairly easily put something in my second story attic, but not outdoors.
 
#21 ·
So you're about 15 miles from the tower (which I believe is in SW Madison). I had the Zenith Silver Sensor antenna, which is indoor and directional. I was able to pick up all the stations just fine from downtown Madison. I think that antenna would work just fine, especially if you have good line-of-sight.
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by N47H4N
I live on the Madison East side near hwy 51 and 30.


What antenna's have the good folks of the Madison area found to be the most successful at picking up Madison/Central WI DTV stations?


I already had a VHF/UHF set top rabbit ear, amplified radio shack antenna. I can get almost all the stations (at times) with constant antenna tweaking except WMSN fox DTV which I don't get at all.


Does anybody have any antenna suggestions (as inexpensive as possible)?

I could fairly easily put something in my second story attic, but not outdoors.

I would try moving your antenna as high as possible in your house. I live very close to where you are (further out by a mile or two actually) & I have a simple powered UHF/VHF antenna that picks up all stations very well. It is in the second story of my house & I am running it through the coax in my house (I have my charter broadband through another loop in the house).


Give that a try before picking up an 'outdoor' antenna. You could even put the powered antenna you already have in your attic (providing you have access to power and the cabling)


Good luck
 
#23 ·
I just called Charter here in Madison to move my HD service to my new apartment. The lady on the phone told me that they were going to start offering an HD DVR. I asked if it specifically could record HD, and she said, "Oh...I think...probably...I'm not really sure." She said that it would become available "soon", so when the installer comes next month I'll ask him if they know exactly when it'll become available and if it is an actual HD DVR, rather than just a SD DVR.
 
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