Is CBS using less power now?

[Joseph S]

Last week during the "Amazing Race" the CBS feed seemed to blow up and then slowly began powering up  back up from 5% to 10% and so on. About 10 minutes later the feed was back. I guessed it was some sort of power failure??

However, in March I could get peaks around 70 and troughs of 53. It seems now that the peaks don't get much higher than 55 and the troughs are rapidly approaching 35.

Was this just a reset in power to a factory standard when the system reset itself on Wed after the system failure or is the power less by decision?

My PBS and NBC levels have remained constant.

[This message has been edited by Joseph S (edited 05-11-2002).]

[Gregg Lengling]

I think you are just starting to see absorbtion of the signal due to the foliage of trees and stuff leafing out.  Remember that 46 is running about 10kW ERP and that 8 and 28 are probably running higher power.  I also have seen a drop in the signal level on my receiver.  We monitor all our tower sites year round from our shop (all our transmitters are between 450 and 470 mHz) and always see a lower level during the summertime when the trees are fully leafed out.  Of course there are some conditions where the signal gets propogated better due to weather conditions....caused by thermal layers.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
gregg@camelcomm.com

[Tom Snyder]

I guess that means 58 will be making me change my viewing habits till Fall...

Too bad, as I was just starting to make it a habit to watch Everybody Loves Raymond, CSI, Judging Amy, The Guardian and many of the other CBS shows that I had *never* seen before I could pick up 58 in HiDef.

Now that the trees are leafing up, it's getting harder and harder to watch these shows, and I guess it's gonna get worse.

Bummer...

[Gregg Lengling]

Stealth Antenna time...just tell the wife it's a birdhouse or flagpole.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
gregg@camelcomm.com

[Kevin Arnold]

I had mentioned this to Tom before but for those who have surfed the AVS forums you might have seen mention of a powerful indoor UHF antenna called the silver sensor. It comes in a amplified and non-amplified model. Here's the home page from England.
 http://www.antiference.co.uk/sensor/?KeohiHDTV

Only place I know of where its sold is up in Canada from Next Big Thing Electronics. They're selling it for $54.95 Canadian which is about $35.25 here. Might be a solution for those stuck with indoor only installs. Here's the link to sales:
 http://www.accountwizard.com/clients/shop.asp?Web=nbtelectronics&AW_SessionID=AWEngine2002000032544276307073077Q07d307eId7A07e307dSite4d14k414d&page=class&class=24&subclass=64> Link

And for what its worth 46's signal is all over the place here in Hartland. Some days 60's and then into the 80's. Sometimes I think they have the transmitter hooked up to an exercise bike at Bally's in the same strip mall that 58 is in. If thats the case they need more women in spandex there in prime time.  


[Note: This message has been edited by Tom Snyder]

[Tom Snyder]

This bears on the question.. what does 58 want? To make everyone more than 15 miles away from their tower to buy a stinking rooftop antenna to pick up their digital signal? Screw that!

Maybe to have us pressure TW Cable and DirecTV to pass thru the digital signal? That would be great if TW gave a *$%# or if DirecTV had the bandwidth.

Bottom line here is that it's after May 1st, and according to the spirit of the FCC ruling is that I should now be able to pick up the same quality digital signal levels as the analog signal on all the Milwaukee channels.

Rabbit ears do that for me for 4 and 10, and need to be able to do that for 6, 12 and especially 58.

I mean, C'mon... 11,000 watts? When can we expect a decent power level, Jim?

[Joseph S]

I got the Silver Sensor from Next Big Thing. I get better reception from the apt. roof antenna of which I have zero control over.

That Silver Sensor needs to be in eight different directions to get PBS, NBC, and CBS.

When I return from my sister's graduation in a week (and get done with Pharm and Path finals, ahhh), someone can borrow the Silver Sensor Antenna if they think it will help.

I think the Radio Shack bowtie is better for indoors in my case, though I butchered my amateur soldering job. If I buy another, How exactly do I use my dremel to get those rivets out? I've got a drill too if that will do the job. I think it took me 8 tries before I decided that you can't solder directly to the sheet metal.  

 

I mean, C'mon... 11,000 watts?

I can get most of the 50,000 Watts of WBZ radio some 1000 miles from Boston. "Clear Channel WDJT" could probably sell some advertising up in Canada with added HD power.

"You sir, you must change" - The annoying Cadillac guy during every olympic commercial break
 


Back to the books and lectures on audiotape I go.

[GS kid]

My CBS 58 signal has gone up for some strange reason. It seems to stick steady at 70. Every now and then it drops into the mid 60s. Before, I never got it above 64. Alot of the time it was in the 49-57 range. I thought they boosted the power. But, I guess not since you guys are getting worse reception then before. I guess the spring leaves on the trees are working out better for me.
----- GS kid

[Matt Heebner]

I feel sorry for all you "outlanders". I get a super steady 85 for CBS. I've never seen it go lower. I can get it in the 90's, but I lose PBS then.

Matt