tschmidt
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1 edit | [OTA] OTA DTV conversion problems
MSNBC has an article about DTV conversion problems.
»www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31710381/ns···gadgets/
Here in the NH/Boston area Channel 7 WHDH is having trouble moving back to VHF. They got permission to simulcast on temporary UHF channel. Channel 7 comes in fine on both VHF and UHF so was surprised they were having problems.
Personally I hope they stay on UHF. That way two NH stations we care about are on VHF and Boston on UHF. We have separate VHF and UHF outdoor antennas so it is easy to point them in different directions eliminating need for rotor.
We are having trouble receiving Channel 44 WGBX the second PBS station out of Boston. Per all the modeling I've done it should be fine. Predicted to be stronger then other Boston stations we receive without problem. I emailed station to verify they were at full power and optimum antenna. They responded they were and did not have any explanation why signal should be so much weaker then expected.
Now that conversion is mostly complete, except nightlight analog broadcast for another couple of weeks, I wonder what other OTA viewers experiences have been.
BTW we are in a fringe area about 42 miles from Boston stations in hilly Southern NH. Here are the details of our antenna if anyone is interested:
»www.tschmidt.com/writings/Design···enna.htm
/tom
fixed broken link |
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sonofjay
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| That's good stuff. Was surprised to see WHDH back on it's temporary assignment again. I had actually removed it from showing up in my guide after it went VHF. From what I read they had tons of complaints from people even inside of 495 and downtown Boston.
here is the fixed link to your design »www.tschmidt.com/writings/Design···enna.htm
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Hayward
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Key West, FL
| reply to tschmidt
said by tschmidt  :We are having trouble receiving Channel 44 WGBX the second PBS station out of Boston. Per all the modeling I've done it should be fine. Are the call letters a coincidence or is not WGBX a sub station of WGBH??? I would think they would just do it as a sub channel of WGBH than rather than a second station required with Analog.
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tschmidt
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| There are two PBS channels out of Boston.
»wwd.wgbh.org/tv/schedules
WGBH is the main station broadcasts on channel 19.
WGBX broadcast on channel 43.
WGBH simulcasts HD and SD
WGBX does 4-SD programs: World, Create, Kids, Family
/tom |
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Hayward
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4 edits | Of course in the analog days they were just 2 stations/channels.... but, the Miami station Does that too,,,, HD and SD, plus OK only three subchannels all on one channel.... but since GBH had two why give the licence up. But GBH could be doing several Subs too besides the HD and SD.
Thing that ticks me off is WPBT/PBS here has taken to CROPPING the SD feed.... so name and date tiles are often chopped off, the secondary PBS is not doing that nor are they HD yet.... so I have told WPBT fine, I will now be watching WLRN for the duplicated programming even if it a few days later and shift my contributions there too.
Rather than one org with two stations, here it is Miami and Ft Lauderdale. Many major shows like Nova, etc duplicated but WLRN second run status by a few days.
LRN runs more secondary shows, and WPBT runs more movies... so they amicably sort it out. But I will not watch cropped HD crap on WPBT if I can see it on WLRN leterboxed.
And the Odd thing is WPBT did not do thins until just before the change over.
And oddly enough actually was watchiging when the did it..... pict sunddenly stretch vert and then clipped sidwayas..... been that way ever since. The only Graphic properly placed not cut off is of course the ghost channel logo. An in HD often person is set off left or right and you only see half a face.... again really annoying nonsense.
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hybucket
join:2001-10-10
Boston, MA | reply to tschmidt
Why doesn't WBGX 44 broadcast in HD?
And why doesn't Boston/Comcast carry WENH PBS in HD?
Just askin'... |
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tschmidt
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| said by hybucket : Why doesn't WBGX 44 broadcast in HD? WGBX broadcasts 4 subchannels. DTV transmission delivers about 19 Mbps so station has to decide how to "spend" it. To broadcast one HD program and 3 SD, requires the SD data rate be reduced to significantly less then optimum.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_subchannel
said by hybucket : why doesn't Boston/Comcast carry WENH PBS in HD? TV Stations get a lot pf pushback from Cable due to Cable's lack of bandwidth. Cable's argument is with two network affiliates in the same RMA (also applies to WMUR) there is not enough difference between them to spend precious bandwidth to carry both.
/tom |
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hybucket
join:2001-10-10
Boston, MA
| Thanks for the Ch 44 info. Would rather 44 in HD than the subchannels, which I never watch.
And for the WENH thing - figured it was something like that.
As for WMUR, I think I read somewhere on one of these forums that since WMUR is owned by WCVB, they don't care if WMUR is carried in the Boston market at all. I suspect that, if they're ever sold, the new owners will change that. |
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Hayward
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4 edits | As for WMUR, I think I read somewhere on one of these forums that since WMUR is owned by WCVB, they don't care if WMUR is carried in the Boston market at all. I suspect that, if they're ever sold, the new owners will change that.
Really when the heck did that happen????
Used to be WMUR was stuck between a rock and a hard place. WMTW (8) from MT Washingtom covering everything north (at high power and elivation, yet weirdly ADJACENT channel WMUR 9 the FCC normally avoiids so must have been very low power though not the UHF LPTV/translator level thing)) and WCVB owning Boston.... all 3 ABC (at least 20 years ago)... did they buy it just buy it to just get it off the air? Or is there some mysetious black hole in So NH? 
Butr now that I think about it Boston has always been a bizare frequncy market. You hvae WBZ on 4 and WCVB on 5.... again in a common market adjacent channels are avoided with the exception of channel 6 and 7 where you have a huge space of aircraft and other services actually between 6 and 7 Agaqin plus same network just north MUR and MTW on 9 and 8
The VHF big gap is between 6 and 7 but now that I think about it there is a 4 (also NBC) and 5 in NYC as well so maybe there is a small gap there vs adjacent ...... but as far as I know there isn't between 8 and 9.... so WMUR has always been in a tough place.
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