Analog shutoff: One year later
National News: It was June 12th 2009 when all full powered TV stations had to shut off their analog transmitters for good. Some kept theirs on for a brief time with instructions on how to convert to digital. With a year in the books, how has your reception been. I know some folks have had problems receiving some or all stations that could be received before with analog reception. I have had no problems with reception here near Cochranton with my two antenna set up. Feel free to share your good or bad reception stories here in our forum.Readers’ Forum
Well New Castle is close enough to Youngstown that it really hasn’t made a difference. WFMJ-TV, WKBN-TV, and WYTV (now that its power has increased now comes in consistently) all come in fine. Once in a blue moon WNEO comes in. To be honest we have more channels now because of digital subchannels. WKBN has a powerful enough signal that we don’t even need an antenna to get that one in. (WFMJ and WYTV we do.) On analog we got all of the Youngstown stations plus WPXI, WQED, and WPGH-TV, as well as WBGN’s repeater signal that’s located in town. We currently do not have any of the Pittsburgh channels nor WBGN, though both WBGN and WPXI are supposed to have their repeater signals up and running in digital here in town soon.
Joseph Gerard (URL) - June 14, 2010 at 12:54 am
My observation point, of course, is east of Pittsburgh, close enough that I can get WTAE from both Oakland and Elizabeth Township, but just far enough away from wherever WPCW is transmitting that occasionally I have trouble pulling it in on my trusty bedroom black-and-white. WJAC comes in once in a blue moon and WWCP-WATM has not been available since the flip a year ago. WBGN oddly enough comes in on occasion but without video … I get a black screen on RP16/Virtual 59. I also get WPXI, WQED, WQEX (including that intriguing CMS-TV business station), WPCB, WPMY and WPGH.
Pat Cloonan (URL) - June 14, 2010 at 12:44 pm
One year later, it is really no better. I still have problems getting certain channels (WQEDs and sometimes FOX) and can’t get WTAE at all. When it works, it works well, when it doesn’t it’s not good. I still say this was a technological step backwards.
Troy - June 15, 2010 at 08:04 am
One year later, and I have to agree it is no better. I am on the Allegheny/Beaver county line. I have no issues getting WPXI, KDKA, and WTAE (although it can be spotty at times). We get some Y-town and Stuebenville but not consistently. WPCW occasionaly, usually at night. WQED has gone backwards since they changed some equipment or signal or whatever late last year(??) I have to stand on my head to get QED at all. Of all the stations this is the one that is most frustrating as the childrens programming was superb. Overall I love the digital signal one it is acquired and held onto.
Bill - June 15, 2010 at 2:39 pm
WTAE and WBGN are not receivable in the North Hills.
A. Vandolay - June 15, 2010 at 3:09 pm
As another severe weather season gets going, the fact that the ATSC system can’t get the job done when it is needed the most will again surface.I wonder if throwing more KW at the problem will have the same results as it has had on Hybrid Digital FM ?
RJ Kanary - June 15, 2010 at 7:58 pm
For anyone having problems with reception, feel free to join the High Def Forum and I will be happy to diagnose your situation for free and prescribe a good antenna set up to resolve most of your issues. Or you can feel free to email me at jb1buckmaster@yahoo.com
The reasons why you cannot receive some of your stations is probably due to your antenna being the wrong antenna, or pointed in the wrong direction or the lack of amplification – which does not physically make the signal appear bigger, but compensates for line loss between the antenna and the television or splitter loss – which some crappy splitters are known to loose 50% or more of the signal just in the splitter.
It’s hard to blame the reception on the signal when you use the wrong antenna or point the antenna in the wrong direction.
As for my reception – living near Punxsutawney. All I can say is that I live in the Johnstown / Altoona market. When the origional DTV maps came out, Pittsburgh was out of my reception area. I will not say that I have 100% reception for Pittsburgh, because I don’t. But because of my situation – in the middle of a construction job at home, the antenna is not in the right location. It needs to be up above the main roof 10 feet or 36 feet above the ground for the best reception I can get without using a tower.
The plus side of my situation is that with Tropo reception I can watch about 40 stations in the summer.
All of the Youngstown Oh, most all of the Cleveland OH, the PBS stations out of the Reliance OH – Western Reserve, Morgantown WV, Wheeling WV, even WDTV out of Clarksburgh comes in with no issues.
The hardest stations to receive are the ones out of Erie PA – WJET and WSEE and WICU mainly due to the fact that my house is blocking the signal and also due to the fact that my antenna is not up high enough and also due to the fact that the mountains up around Tionesta blocks the signals coming from the north.
But at my mom’s house – about 1100 feet up the road, with a XG 91 antenna and a CM 7777 pre amp, can get all the stations I can get with the exception of the VHF – since the XG is a UHF only antenna. PLUS because her antenna has a higher gain on the UHF she can get more stations then I can and can get the Pittsburgh market reliably.
So my comment is that we lost some reception – during the winter, but we gained 4 times more channels during the summer. The other plus / minus is that digital is a all or nothing proposition. Either you have a crystal clear picture and sound or you have some stops and starts and pixelation or you have nothing at all. There is nothing in between.
In the analog days, you could receive a ghost of a picture and some static – sound and if you didn’t care about the quality, you could watch / listen to your program, even if it didn’t want to come in.
Now, unless you have your antenna aimed directly at the strongest part of the signal, and use the best antenna, wire and pre amp, you might have little or no reception at all. There is no more just putting up a new antenna and pointing it in one direction and hoping to get all the channels reasonably well.
My house looks more like NORAD then a traditional home antenna system.
Jerry Bosak - June 16, 2010 at 10:18 am
Thanks for your insight Jerry. This is exactly what I like to see so that others can get tips from other people who are trying different things in order to get the most channels. I have two antennas for two different directions and the setup works well. I even get WICU which a lot of people have a hard getting when it was easier to get on analog 12 than digital 12. However, I do have a problem getting WQLN at times due to a Pittsburgh (WPCB) and Akron (WEAO) area stations also on DT 50. I think that WQLN should have went with another channel location so that there would not be any interference for those south of Erie.
Tom Lavery (URL) - June 16, 2010 at 11:17 am
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