more channels, more often

[AA9VI]

Wow..  I wonder if someone can elaborate on a comment I saw somewhere that adjacent channel interference wasn't as big of issue as 2nd adjacent channel interference.  I have to say I am pretty happy with the switchover.

From my location at I-94/US-41 in northern Cook Co. I can get the following Milwaukee stations
WDJT   very reliable    same as before 6/12
WMVT very reliable     same as before 6/12
WTMJ very reliable     same as before 6/12
WPXE very reliable     same as before 6/12
WISN fairly reliable, minor pixelizing,     massive improvement since 6/12
WMVS fairly reliable, minor pixelizing,     massive improvement since 6/12
WITI fairly reliable, minor pixelizing,    improved some since 6/12
WVTV fairly reliable, minor pixelizing ,  improved some since 6/12
WCGV sometimes... still having issues receiving it here.. (see W25DW interference)   just as troublesome since W25DW signed on... still having issues.

Great jobs by the local RF engineers at the stations.  I think the Chicago analog signoff helped because some analog signals were spilling over the assigned spectrum and causing interference to the Milwaukee stations in my area.  When WFLD-analog 32 signs off we'll see if that helps WITI.  I bet it will to an extent.  

I'm even getting WZZM, WTLJ, and WGVU from Grand Rapids now. I also received WTVO for 2 days from Rockford, and the usual WNDU and WSBT from South Bend.

Cool stuff... RIP analog... may you never return to my tuner!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location: Northbrook, IL
Antenna:  Radio Shack VU-160
Preamp: Winegard AP-8700
Antenna Height: ~30' above 640' above sea level ground level
coax: RG-6 quad shield
tuners;  Directv H20, Directv HR20, Hitachi 42HDT79

[troyriley]

I'm about half way between Madison and Chicago. My problem was co-channel interference from Chicago analog stations. I was not able to pick up Madison stations. I now receive WKOW-27 (RF 26) and WHA-21 (RF 20). I'm still picking up an analog 32 broadcasting DTV information, interfering with WBUW-57. Any idea when this waste of a channel be off the air? My only problem now is that I have digital stations fighting one another on the same frequency, making it difficult to receive WMTV-15 (RF 19) and WISC-3 (RF 50).

[mrschimpf]

I have an odd problem; WHME 46 (digital 48) from South Bend is heavily interfering with WBME (digital 48) where I am in Sheboygan and I can only get that on my indoor antenna, no matter where I turn it. I guess that they still haven't turned up the power on that signal.

[InsulinJunkie]

I'm still picking up an analog 32 broadcasting DTV information, interfering with WBUW-57. Any idea when this waste of a channel be off the air?

The analog "nightlight" stations in each market (WFLD 32 for Chicago, WITI 6 for Milwaukee) air for two weeks post-transition, I believe.  FCC thing.

[Jack 1000]

Sometimes local Channel 18 on TWC does not always play their movies in HD. (518) so to avoid sidebars on the HD channel when they run the stuff in SD, I have to watch on stretched analog.  I watched/DVR'd The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and recorded it in SD, thinking it's an old movie and it won't be in HD.  During the recording, I flipped over from channel 18 to channel 518 and was surprised to find this movie in HD! Mad that I DVR'd the SD version.

I am hoping that local channels 24 (524-HD) TWC and channel 18 (518-HD) TWC will work to convert ALL movies as much as possible to HD formats, now that the digital transition is complete!

Jack

[mrschimpf]

Sometimes local Channel 18 on TWC does not always play their movies in HD. (518) so to avoid sidebars on the HD channel when they run the stuff in SD, I have to watch on stretched analog.  I watched/DVR'd The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and recorded it in SD, thinking it's an old movie and it won't be in HD.  During the recording, I flipped over from channel 18 to channel 518 and was surprised to find this movie in HD! Mad that I DVR'd the SD version.

I am hoping that local channels 24 (524-HD) TWC and channel 18 (518-HD) TWC will work to convert ALL movies as much as possible to HD formats, now that the digital transition is complete!

Jack

1 2 3 was in HD since it was a CW Network presentation. Other movies outside the 7-9 hours Sunday-Friday nights are going to be in SD for now until the movie syndicators for 18-24 and the "Bargain Bin'o Shame Cinema" presentations on 6 and 58 begin to transmit movies in HD (for now, they're not and many of the stations in the US don't have the equipment to play them back outside of the network feeds).

[John L]

Sometimes local Channel 18 on TWC does not always play their movies in HD. (518) so to avoid sidebars on the HD channel when they run the stuff in SD, I have to watch on stretched analog.  I watched/DVR'd The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and recorded it in SD, thinking it's an old movie and it won't be in HD.  During the recording, I flipped over from channel 18 to channel 518 and was surprised to find this movie in HD! Mad that I DVR'd the SD version.

I am hoping that local channels 24 (524-HD) TWC and channel 18 (518-HD) TWC will work to convert ALL movies as much as possible to HD formats, now that the digital transition is complete!

Jack

My guess is, I could be wrong...but I believe TWC receives ch. 18 & 24 off the air. They are rebroadcasting, no doubt the DTV transmission since it is the only transmissions that ch. 18 and 24 have.  Chs 4, 6, and 12 send thier signal to TWC via Fiber Optic so if their DTV transmitter should fail, at least they are still on cable.

Therefore if you got it on TWC 518, you should be able to received in on 18-1 off the air...NOT TWC.  In TWC Basic Cable you are seeing the Digital converted down to Analog and they have it set up in SD format.

-John L.

[Jack 1000]

Other movies outside the 7-9 hours Sunday-Friday nights are going to be in SD for now until the movie syndicators for 18-24 and the "Bargain Bin'o Shame Cinema" presentations on 6 and 58 begin to transmit movies in HD

So channel 18's movies from 7-9 right now from Friday-Sunday SHOULD be in HD, especially if they are a part of the CW schedule?  Outside of that it could really be a guessing game.

LOL@ "Bargain Bin-O Shame Cinema!!"

Jack

[Jimboy]

So channel 18's movies from 7-9 right now from Friday-Sunday SHOULD be in HD, especially if they are a part of the CW schedule?  Outside of that it could really be a guessing game.

LOL@ "Bargain Bin-O Shame Cinema!!"

Jack

All depends what CW sends us.

[tbarney]

I'm even getting WZZM, WTLJ, and WGVU from Grand Rapids now. I also received WTVO for 2 days from Rockford, and the usual WNDU and WSBT from South Bend.

I was getting the Rockford channels a couple nights ago, but they don't come in now. Must have been something in the air that night which let the signals get this far.

[troyriley]

I was getting the Rockford channels a couple nights ago, but they don't come in now. Must have been something in the air that night which let the signals get this far.

Lately, there have been a few nights where atmospheric conditions are favorable for reception of stations to the southwest. I regularly receive Rockford stations, but I have also recently had luck with Quad Cities and Peoria. In late summer/early fall, I find that stations from the east come in better (Grand Rapids/South Bend).

The elimination of analog signals is really going to improve DX'ing with fewer stations on the same frequency.

[John L]

The elimination of analog signals is really going to improve DX'ing with fewer stations on the same frequency.

Yes I have noticed that myself.  I was getting a Canadian ch. 2 on my old analog on Saturday.

I have heard several reports in the last couple of days from DXers who are getting skip from not only Canada, but Mexico and the Carribean much easier than in the past since many domestic analogs have left the air.  

-John L.

[ddeerrff]

May be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.....

How does one manually tune digital channels on a DTV?  IOW, how do I look for a channel that the scan on the TV has not picked up?

Let's say a 'new' channel comes on the air as Ch 8-1 on RF39.  Short of telling the TV to rescan, can I just manually enter '39' and have it pop up?  (obviously, I wouldn't enter 8-1 as that is a faux channel number.)  If so, how does the TV know which tuner to use, NTSC, ATSC, or QAM?

I know I can enter random channel numbers and if there are still analog broadcasts on those channels they show up, but what about digital signals.

[Jimboy]

May be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.....

How does one manually tune digital channels on a DTV?  IOW, how do I look for a channel that the scan on the TV has not picked up?

Let's say a 'new' channel comes on the air as Ch 8-1 on RF39.  Short of telling the TV to rescan, can I just manually enter '39' and have it pop up?  (obviously, I wouldn't enter 8-1 as that is a faux channel number.)  If so, how does the TV know which tuner to use, NTSC, ATSC, or QAM?

I know I can enter random channel numbers and if there are still analog broadcasts on those channels they show up, but what about digital signals.

All depends on what the tv is capable of. Some will just find it, some have a way to manually enter the actual broadcast number. Some will allow you to channel up & down through all available channels (digital or analog) and lock onto whatever it finds. The Zenith CECB converter allows manual entry.