Channel 12 Signal Strength

[mr_yeti]

I've been putting off buying an HDTV receiver, mostly because of cost and the lack of any real choices when it comes to HD programming. I am a bit of a sports junkie, so, needless to say, I'm quite excited about ABC's recent announcement regarding Super Bowl, NBA Finals, NHL Finals, and next season's MNF (Madden in HD! Now you can hear him not talk about football in 5.1!) being broadcast in HD. Really, this was the decision-maker for me. My question is this - will Channel 12 have sufficient signal strength to reach me in Port Washington, or is it a directional signal whose blind spot I'll be in? Thanks for your help.

[ReesR]

From what we have been able to gather so far Ch 12 will be running high power.  Therefore, you should be able to receive them if you can also receive their analog signal.  Stay tuned.

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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2
Bi-directional Yagi Antenna at 30 feet

[mr_yeti]

Thanks a lot. Now all I need to do is find a good SAT/OTA receiver for a reasonable price, buy it by the middle of january, and enjoy.

[wxndave]

From what I can see Ch 12 has side mounted the antenna at 900 feet.  You may have problems if you are at lake level.  If you get channel 41 or 63 now you should get ch 12 digital.  The FCC shows them as having Special Temporary Authority to run lower power than there license.  They will be running 570 KW ERP instead of 833KW ERP.

Most digital OTA boxes work with a much lower signal.  I did a test and found out that you can run a box down -30db compared to a analog signal that starts to look pretty bad at -10 and is next to nothing at -30.  I did hower started to get break ups after that point.

Dave

 

Originally posted by mr_yeti:
I've been putting off buying an HDTV receiver, mostly because of cost and the lack of any real choices when it comes to HD programming. I am a bit of a sports junkie, so, needless to say, I'm quite excited about ABC's recent announcement regarding Super Bowl, NBA Finals, NHL Finals, and next season's MNF (Madden in HD! Now you can hear him not talk about football in 5.1!) being broadcast in HD. Really, this was the decision-maker for me. My question is this - will Channel 12 have sufficient signal strength to reach me in Port Washington, or is it a directional signal whose blind spot I'll be in? Thanks for your help.

[mcq]

41 or 63... Uh Oh I get neither very well, and I live in the city limits. I wonder if the highest spot in Milwaukee (20th and Bolivar) gets in my way (27th and College.)

[John L]

Almost anyday now WISN-DT should be testing, assuming the target date for full DTV operation is the 15th?

[veyj]

mcq - If height is a problem, why don't you run some cable and mount your antenna on the Pick N' Save flag.  

[mr_yeti]

Thanks for all of the great input. This board is a wonderful resource for those of us with questions about getting into HD in the Milwaukee area. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens with this. What exactly are the advantages to Channel 12 of running a low-powered signal, and why would they go through the trouble of getting a waiver from the FCC to do so? Do they want to avoid having their signal reach the most possible viewers? I realize that the number of people who are equipped to enjoy HD is limited, but they're going to end up swithcing anyway, right? I suppose it's foolish to attempt to apply logic to the corporate decision-making process.

I don't even have a receiver yet, and I'm already frustrated by the foot-dragging that I read about on this board.

I will be very upset if I cannot receive the SuperB owl broadcast at my home. I was very much looking forward to having my first HD SuperB owl party next January.

[Gregg Lengling]

The low power scenario is something a lot of stations are going to until their is a larger viewing audience.  There is the 6 to 7 figure cost for the power amplifier to consider plus the monthly electrical costs that run in the thousands of dollars. So I guess I can't fault their business logic as they aren't reaching enough viewers to get advertisers to foot the bill.  Even though they got the spectrum for free,they still have a 7 figure investment in equipment and then on going maintance and utility costs.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[ReesR]

The 570kw (570,000 watts) of power that WISN will be running instead of the normal 833,000 watts is NOT low power in comparison to Ch 58's 11,000 watts or Ch 6's 800 watts of power.  I suspect you will not have any problems with ch 12 reception in digital.

Also, as you may have already concluded there are two points of view concerning whether or not you want to be sympathetic to those stations running really low power.

I have concluded that there is NOT a chicken and egg situation.  It has crystalized in my mind that if there is something excellent to watch, people will buy into it.  The stance which says "but there aren't enough people watching to justify the expense" is pure hog wash in my opinion.  They are only hurting themselves.  By dragging their feet, the time to digital profitability is merely extended into the future.

Some have expressed why I have this conclusion.  Well, reading history is one reason.  Remember the luddites?

If not please see:
 http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/luddite.html

But I doubt you will have to re-locate your Super Bowl party.  In all likelyhood, you will be really happy with the results.

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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2
Bi-directional Yagi Antenna at 30 feet

[This message has been edited by ReesR (edited 10-02-2002).]

[mr_yeti]

Ok, I guess that makes sense. But that doesn't mean I have to like it  

As you mentioned, though, they do get the license to use public property for free, and other channels have been broadcasting for a while now. It's unfortunate that a mandate from the federal government has absolutely no effect on at least a somewhat uniform implementation of "new" technology.

[mr_yeti]

I must say that I am pleased with both the fact that WISN is not broadcasting an inordinately low-power signal and the mention of the Luddites in the same post. Thanks again for the useful and encouraging information.

I, for one, agree that if quality programming exists in the HD format, people will be more likely to make the (increasingly smaller) investment it takes to view such programming. I am not a wealthy man, but I own an HD-capable set, and I know that several of my friends are thinking about purchasing one as well after seeing mine in action. And they've only seen DVDs. Wait until they see the HD display capabilities.

I can use my own purchase of a DVD player to illustrate this point. I knew that eventually, I would make the switch, but I didn't want to do it before I knew I could watch pretty much any movie on DVD that I could on VHS. During my frequent trips to a local electronics store, I kept an eye on the rapidly increasing DVD selection. When it got large enough, I bought the DVD player.

[ReesR]

You are correct!

As the saying goes:

Build it and they will come.

or in this case...

Put that signal out there so people can receive it and they will buy into it.

It's the same thing.

Now go out and get that set top box.  Enjoy it and report back in triplicate.  hehe  Oh, and yes tell all your friends about it.  It really is worthwhile.

psst...me thinks that (again) the stations don't know what kind of gold mine they are (again) sitting on.

Cheers

[Gregg Lengling]

actually I did backwards to you.  My wife bought me the set (61") with integrated ATSC and Directv receivers.  The second day I had it I tried to watch a VHS tape, 30 minutes later I was at the store buying a progressive scan DVD player and DVD's.  Once you've seen HD you can't go back, some of the upconverted 480p isn't too bad, but it's not 1080i or even the quality of a 480p DVD.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[mr_yeti]

I'm probably going to hold off until after the holidays to buy the box, because of holiday-related expenses. My goal is to have it in time to watch the Super Bowl.

This has a nice upside in that, since I am in no hurry to get the box, I can shop carefully and get ideas from other users as to which box to buy. I don't really feel I need anything other than OTA reception for right now, and if I do decide to switch in the future, well, that's what eBay is for.

I realize that this probably isn't the right forum for this question, but can anyone recommend a box in the <$500 range? I'm not concerned with getting a "third-generation" box or anything like that, and I really have no need for DVI or Firewire.