Fox - Witi

[creed3]

Is Fox - WITI sending a signal in Digital?

I can receive Digital or HD signal from NBC, ABC, CBS, UPN and WB with no problems... but nothing for Fox at 6.1 even though I have seen articles stating they are transmitting digital.

I live in Pewaukee.

Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks.

[Gregg Lengling]

Well I guess legally Fox has been digital since last year...however they are running a low power transmitter from their studio tower and I think there are only 2 or 3 persons on this forum that can receive them. However they are carried by Time Warner Cable so their audience is about 500 times greater there...maybe 1000 possible viewers. However Fox doesn't believe in HD...they have what they call enhanced Wide Screen....basically a standard 480i signal in progressive scan format with a 16:9 aspect ratio. However the only thing they seem to have ever shown from my knowledge is Packer's football (I could be wrong..there could be some other programming...but nothing that trips my trigger).

The other stations 30, 24 and 18 have digital but no HD and 4, 10, and 58 have 1080i widescreen and 12 has 720p widescreen HD signals.

[Snard]

Originally posted by Gregg Lengling
... they have what they call enhanced Wide Screen....basically a standard 480i signal in progressive scan format with a 16:9 aspect ratio. However the only thing they seem to have ever shown from my knowledge is Packer's football (I could be wrong..there could be some other programming...but nothing that trips my trigger).

I'm pretty sure that the Bernie Mac show is also shown in wide-screen mode.

[gyoung]

Yeah, Bernie Mac is as well as NASCAR.  But when viewing on the TWC SA3100HD box it upconverts the 480i signal to 1080i which gives it a flicker effect.  

Kinda like a monitor running at a 1024x768 resolution but at a refresh rate of 60hz.  Irritating to the eyes especially with a lot of white in the background.

[StarvingForHDTV]

They send out multiple shows in widescreen.  The flicker is not from the 480i -> 1080i conversion.  The flicker is just as bad when watching their shows in 480p.

Starving

[FreQi]

Isn't there something that can be done to motivate WITI to actually broadcast their dTV signal?  It's pretty insulting that they can say "Yeah we're broadcasting digitally" when they reality is they are simply not.  Low power signal or not, we can't watch it.

[gyoung]

They send out multiple shows in widescreen. The flicker is not from the 480i -> 1080i conversion. The flicker is just as bad when watching their shows in 480p.

Starving

But on TWC, aren't all the Fox shows upconverted to 1080i from 480p if you are using the TWC Scientific Atlanta 3100HD set-top box?  From what I understand the 3100HD upconverts all programming to 1080i when outputing through the component video outs.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by gyoung
But on TWC, aren't all the Fox shows upconverted to 1080i from 480p if you are using the TWC Scientific Atlanta 3100HD set-top box?  From what I understand the 3100HD upconverts all programming to 1080i when outputing through the component video outs.

I'm not sure about TWC or their set top boxes.  I'm one of the few who gets Faux 6-1 over the air.  I watch it on my Sony HD200 set top box.  With that particular box I can watch in 480p or 1080i, whichever I choose (also 720p if my TV were capable).  They look about the same, but I like to watch in native resolution whenever possible so I do most of my viewing of that channel in 480p.

Starving

[techguy1975]

Originally posted by FreQi
Isn't there something that can be done to motivate WITI to actually broadcast their dTV signal?  It's pretty insulting that they can say "Yeah we're broadcasting digitally" when they reality is they are simply not.  Low power signal or not, we can't watch it.

The signal was just temporary until they got good enough weather to mount the new antenna on their tower in Easterbrook Park.   Now that spring is here, this excuse can be used too much longer....

[mhz40]

Originally posted by techboywi
The signal was just temporary until they got good enough weather to mount the new antenna on their tower in Easterbrook Park.   Now that spring is here, this excuse can be used too much longer....

Don't expect too much improvement in reception.  New antenna location on the tower is anticipated, but the same low power transmitter will be used...  :confused:

[foxeng]

Originally posted by mhz40
Don't expect too much improvement in reception.  New antenna location on the tower is anticipated, but the same low power transmitter will be used...  :confused:

I don't know how high their antenna is going to be but since I run the same transmitter WITI runs, with my antenna at 900 ft, we get OTA viewers 35 miles with simple outdoor antennas and indoor antennas out to 15 miles. Our terrain does have some hills and if you live on a hill, then it comes better. WITI's new antenna site and height may not do the same thing as mine, but if it is engineered like it should, it should cover the close in environs fairly well. The signal won't be as strong as others, but it should be viewable.

YMMV

[Tom Snyder]

In Germantown with an indoor antenna, my chances of getting WITI wil be about the same as being able to pick up yours...

Chuck Steinmetz isn't answering my email...can you ask him why he's decided to say "screw you" to his suburban viewers? :mad:

[foxeng]

Originally posted by Tom Snyder
In Germantown with an indoor antenna, my chances of getting WITI wil be about the same as being able to pick up yours...

Chuck Steinmetz isn't answering my email...can you ask him why he's decided to say "screw you" to his suburban viewers? :mad:

I have been lurking here for the last year since WITI and my station received the same transmitter, I was curious to see how it worked in Milwaukee, knowing that the antenna was not very high compared to mine, which by the way mine was suppose to be 200 ft on our microwave tower in the back yard, but at the last minute we got FOX to let us put it on our main tower, 13 miles away. I would hope that maybe the success we have had with our setup was a small reason FOX has allowed WITI to make this antenna location change.

I am sorry I am not familiar your area. I know in my case, we were quite suprised where the signal was receivable and with what little antenna setups. Now life isn't completely rosy here either because I have potenial DTV viewers well within our analog coverage, but beyond our DTV coverage, and I have heard from them. My advice would be to just wait and see what happens when the antenna is moved. I know that FOX is aware of the problems with the low power stations and is trying to work out the problems best they can within certain parameters. We all want to go full power, but there are a lot of things that have to be weighed and each station is different. In my own situation, it will take a whole new transmitter facility to do full power DTV. My building and tower are not big enough to handle both analog and DTV. In WITI's case, I don't know. It sounds like they need to do some tower beefing, but I don't know how much and I don't know what needs to be done for their transmitter building. I am only giving a WAG here.

 I have taked to Chuck one time on the phone last fall and the headaches he described about trying to get the work on the tower completed just to get the DTV antenna moved was quite unbelievable. It sounded to me the tower crew had one time line and Chuck had another and the two were at lagerheads on it and winter was moving in. I don't know if they were trying to find another tower crew, but if it were me, I would have had them off the site in record time, but Chuck knows his tower crews better than I do, so I can't really second guess him, like he can't second guess my situtation.

My whole point in my postings are to say that for a low power transmitter, if things are set up right, you can get farther out than most people think. No it will not cover the complete analog coverage, but it will cover the city of license and an area beyond.  We have THREE cities we have to cover with two at 23 miles and 32 miles in different directions respectfully and I do envy those stations with only one city to worry about even if it is a large city like Milwaukee.  In my own situtation, I live 32 miles from my transmitter on the far side of the largest of the three cities.  I knew I would NEVER receive my DTV. Well with a CM 4228 at 15 feet with a RS pre-amp and a Samsung 150 and 160, I get it 100% of the time. I am watching 24 on it right now, so there is hope.

[drgingras]

Maybe us OTA guys will have to do a group buy on This . We could start cascading from Starving's house:D

Hate to have to call TWC - I just know the cable guy will hate me for having to climb back up that pole to disconnect me in February after the Packers win the Superbowl.

Or, maybe Tom's quoting the official Faux policy:o

Dave

[Tom Snyder]

Thank you for being the most forthcoming Fox representative in our little Web site's history.  Actually, I've seen your posts at AVS, and I know you've taken some bullets.  We'll try to be friendly here.  

If you've been lurking here, you know that there are only about 3 people in this group who can get 6's signal. I had a good dicussion with Chuck last Fall and I was aware of the tower issues, but he never mentioned anything about maintaining the low power once the antenna moved.

Germantown is about 21 miles Northwest of the new tower site, 16 miles NNW from the current site. My RS Double Bowtie gives me 80's to 90's on every other digital channel (everybody's signals are coming from the same area), but only a 22 on 6's DTV signal.  

I guess we'll see if the height does the trick...there's an 88.1 FM on their tower at 1000 ft with an ERP of about 100 watts that comes in here with a pretty solid signal.

Just keep hanging out here and you'll find out how well the new location does.