Get ready for off air DTV reception before the snow flies
National News: With just over 100 days until all full powered analog TV stations go away for digital, the time is now to make sure that you'll have perfect reception. A report on WSEE on Tuesday night (October 28th) reminds viewers to make sure everything is in working order before the winter weather makes it impossible to check your outdoor antenna. This is a good point for those who rely on an outdoor antenna for reception to make sure everything is connected properly and before more snow flies as it has already here in Western Pa. With the harsh winter weather ahead, I would not recommend walking on an icy roof and risking a serious injury. Plan ahead for February and see how well digital signals come in at your location with a digital TV or converter box. Those who use simple rabbit ears should also check out reception now. Those in apartments may have a much harder time using rabbit ears, depending on location and may be forced to subscribe to basic cable. Feel free to let us know how well your reception is in the PBRTV coverage area.Readers’ Forum
I HAVE to ask this $64,000.00 Question.What’s going to happen to all of the analog transmitters and the support equipment that goes with them after the Sunset? Will the analog radiators also be removed from the towers or just left up there?
{Wondering if there might be some interesting conversation pieces to be had.}
RJ Kanary - October 29, 2008 at 10:16 pm
As I have been saying all along . . . I am not happy with the reception from my converter boxes one bit. At my home in the Pittsburgh suburbs, we still don’t get the ABC or PBS stations and same for our home in Crawford County, where we finally got the Fox station just recently. And at both places … the signal is constantly breaking up and pixelating. I’ve tried three different brands of converter box, and they all work the same . . . this technology is a step backwards not forwards. I am surprised that I don’t hear many other people complaining though . . . maybe they are waiting till February to hook up? Either that, or everyone has cable.
Troy - October 30, 2008 at 07:15 am
Troy – That is why I post articles regarding the DTV transition. I want to hear both good and bad experiences people are having & share with other readers. I have heard both the good and bad regarding this topic and I hope to hear more with this article.
Tom Lavery (URL) - October 30, 2008 at 08:50 am
Troy, when you look at the FCC anticipated coverage plots to compare NTSC signal coverage to ATSC coverage it doesn’t take to much in the way of powers of observation to see there’s going to be problems.And it’s not with the converter boxes. :)
KDKA’s NTSC plot at 100kW ERP is at a 47dBu level.The SMALLER ATSC plot is at 1000kW ERP and a 41dBu level. So, right off the bat, more power for less coverage.
Factor into that the problem with ATSC is, if the signal level is low, you don’t get a degraded picture like you do with NTSC. YOU GET NO PICTURE AT ALL.
Quite a technological step forward, isn’t it ?
RJ
RJ Kanary - October 30, 2008 at 10:39 am
Too bad that most stations won’t go back to their NTSC channel allocations. Stations such as KDKA and WTAE will move from VHF low to the UHF band, significantly decreasing their coverage area! Why won’t they be allowed to return? IIRC, WQED will be the only Pittsburgh area station that will return to their original NTSC allocation. But I’d rather have VHF high than UHF any day of the week!
Dave - October 30, 2008 at 11:10 am
And to make it worse . . . how many thousands of dollars of our tax money have been spent on subsidizing people to adopt this inferior technology?
Troy - October 30, 2008 at 12:34 pm
http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/1150..
Dave, the above link may provide some insight as to why ATSC Low Band VHF assignments are being avoided in some markets.
RJ
RJ Kanary - October 30, 2008 at 6:14 pm
If you’re still awake, here’s one more link. :)
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/Musica..
RJ
RJ Kanary - October 30, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I’m sorry. I just can’t help myself beating up on ATSC. Just one more link…................
http://discussions.consumerreports.org/n..
RJ
RJ Kanary - October 30, 2008 at 6:36 pm
It’s very obvious to me that people here have never had to deal with a low-VHF digital. Suffice it to say there’s a very good reason why KDKA and WTAE are choosing to keep their UHF channels.
Trip (URL) - October 31, 2008 at 01:10 am
And to Troy, who asks how much tax money has been spent, the answer is zero. The spectrum auction paid for the coupon program 20 times over. $20 billion was made, $1 billion has been spent on the coupon program.
Trip (URL) - October 31, 2008 at 01:17 am
Well, I recently bought an outdoor antenna and installed it to go with the digital converter box I’ve had for some time. (We have Comcast HD in the rest of the house, this is just for my bedroom and just in case something happens to the cable.) In New Castle, I’m able to get all of the Youngstown-area stations just fine, and the outdoor antenna improved reception greatly. With a digital-compatible rabbit ears (which I still have at home somewhere), I got WFMJ-DT and WKBN-DT just fine. WYTV-DT didn’t come in as well, and went out at times (although this can be attributed with WYTV’s weak signal, though they are expected to greatly increase power in February), but after getting the outdoor antenna installed I now get all three stations in without a problem PLUS WNEO-DT. I’d like to get the outdoor antenna installed on the roof eventually to see what else I can get (no Pittsburgh channels at the moment), I have it sitting on our front porch right now. But it is nice to have nine channels for FREE.
Joe Gerard (URL) - October 31, 2008 at 01:29 am
RJ: Thanks for the links. I didn’t know that VHF-low DTV was so much of a problem. I always detested analog UHF because of the high frequency, but in DTV a high frequency might be better. However, I’ll miss the days of VHF-low “skip” (tropo ducting) when you could get stations very far away if the conditions were right.
Dave - October 31, 2008 at 05:52 am
Speaking of snow… I see Julie Bologna is giving WPXI’s Winter Weather outlook… is this another sign Mike LaPoint is on his way out?
MusicManBQ - October 31, 2008 at 06:17 am
Dave, you brought back some child hood memories of being able to watch Erie and Buffalo stations in Northwest Butler County, when the Pittsburgh stations were unwatchable due to ‘skip’.
RJ
RJ Kanary - November 02, 2008 at 4:59 pm
I am 67 years old and have depended upon free over-the-air TV ever since my preschool days. I and my neighbors are highly disturbed that suddenly we are being forced into obtaining cable TV because of distance from a major city (35-40miles). We have bought the converter box and even new antennae costing us about $150., and still unable to receive most of our previous analog channels. We are now no longer able to get ABC, NBC and PBS.
Is there any action taking place to strengthen channel signals or setting up additional sub towers to reach their outlying viewers. I particularly am interested in WTAE , WPXI and WQED of Pittsburgh.
I feel we have been betrayed by our government, legislators, and local stations in forcing us to accept cable and a new monthly expense for home TV. The bare minimum of this cost would most likely be nearly $400. Annually. This is particularly a hardship during these economic conditions we are presently facing.
Victim of theives - January 01, 2009 at 2:41 pm