Fox 6 is moving their Antenna this Week!

[Riktar]

Rick Sass : I in Neosho which is about 12 miles due north of Oconomowoc on Hwy 67 which is SLIGHTLY closer to CBS58 towers than you are. But for the most part I think you and I (Terrain excluded) should be pulling about the same.

 I wasn't getting 58 (1.1) until I got the courage to climb up on my 2nd dtory roof and place my CM4228 on a rotor.

 While I won't say that CBS comes in rock solid I am able to get it in most days. Oddly enough I am doing a better job yanking in WISC out of Madison which is their CBS affiliate.  Which makes the wife happy since all she worries about is gettin Y & R on the tube.

[tazman]

This is a major changing point and I think we should be supportive and not at all critical. Fox 6 has had (rightfully so) a very bad opinion of this board in the past, and I know I myself have been responsible for a number of nasty email communications with them as well, but what they are showing here is literally a 180° about face.

I'm sure the people at WITI realize, at least I hope they do, that even though a lot of the past criticism may have leaned toward the negative.  All of us here still showed a great deal of interest and concern about their progress.  If we wanted to not care at all, and to really show it, we would have ignored them all together.  I think that would have been a more powerful message as to what we thought of their services and of what they had to offer the community.  The old saying goes, it's easiest to hurt the ones you love.  We do care about the progress they make, after all Packer season is just around the corner and we have to keep the fire lit until we all get what were looking for.

[Tom Snyder]

Update from Fox6...

The part they needed has taken longer to get here than expected (not their fault)... it's finally due in today...they will install and hope to get it up and running in the next day or so...

In my discussions with them, I can attest to the fact that nobody wants this up and running any more than they do.  

And they will continue to keep us posted.

[vper]

Thanks for the update.  I looked for the signal last night, and figured that they had not recieved the replacement part yet.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by Tom Snyder
In my discussions with them, I can attest to the fact that nobody wants this up and running any more than they do.

Well, some of us want HD Packer games pretty badly.....  I'm glad they are finally putting forth the effort to make it happen for us.  Thanks for keeping us informed.

Starving

[Tom Snyder]

NFL Football is obviously the killer app... ABC could do it cuz they just do one game per week... same with ESPN.  CBS decided to do two games a week, and because of the expense, even that was stretch on their part...

Think of the signficance of Fox doing 7 games every weekend! How many cameras and trucks that takes. The financial commitment has to be huge... and my guess is that there is an equally huge pressure on all the Fox O&O stations to make sure that people get to see those games.

[Bebop]

Think of the signficance of Fox doing 7 games every weekend! How many cameras and trucks that takes. The financial commitment has to be huge... and my guess is that there is an equally huge pressure on all the Fox O&O stations to make sure that people get to see those games.

It an investment all networks have to make soon or later.  It's not like they are doing anything special. Don't they already have HD equipment for their baseball and basketball games on FSN HD? Now that NBA has ended, Baseball should come to a close when football gets into full gear.

If they had HD football two years ago, that would have been something.


Still waiting for the chicken to hatch.

[borghe]

Originally posted by Bebop
It an investment all networks have to make soon or later.  It's not like they are doing anything special.

ahh yes, the common misconception....

No, no network "has" to move to HD sooner or later.. The FCC mandate is DTV, not HDTV.

So here is this technology that no one is forcing these networks to except a vast minority of enthusiasts (though obviously this is slowly changing). Furthermore, as more viewers move over to HD IN THE MEANTIME, it is actually hurting the networks as Nielsen currently doesn't track HD channels.  This means even though Fox doesn't lose a viewer when they go digital, when it comes to ad revenue, at least for the past two seasons and next season at least, they will...

So no revenue coming in, no mandate to move over, and less revenue for each viewer that switches..  not to mention the added costs for the switchover...

DTV turn on is government mandated... absolutely.. no crying for anyone from that aspect.. but HDTV... these stations are incurring huge costs to essentially lose even more money, and doing so for a FUTURE profit, but for a current loss, and at times a significant one..

my main beef with WITI hasn't been anything having to do with HD, it has just been about reception.. the fact that Fox is taking this kind of step is just icing as far as I'm concerned.. eventually HD will be "mandatory", but it ain't nowhere near there in the meantime..

[wxndave]

It will be interesting to see how people receive a low power Ch 33.  Since it is located next to a almost full power Ch 34 and 35.  Low power Channel 46 and 61 don't have adjacent channels to cause problems.  Channel 25 at low pwer has to deal with a full power ch 24.

Dave
HDTV Tweaker

[John L]

My only concern is receiving WFLD-TV, ch. 32 analog which comes in practicully snow free here when the antenna is aimed towards Chicago.  However that could change when WITI-DT signs on.  However I also get WFLD-DT on ch. 31.  I have watched shows like Malcolm and Arrested Development in Widescreen on WFLD-DT here.  I don't think WITI-DT ch. 33 will have any effect on WFLD-DT, ch. 31.

-John L.

[Joseph S]

If they get it on tonight you can watch as...

The pornographers daughter falls for the DA's son and they all move to the North Shore after the Marlins win the World Series.

[chrisj]

What is the latest on the antenna? How long does it take for a part to come in??

[Tom Snyder]

As we reported earlier, the part arrived yesterday, and they said that they hope it would be installed in the next day or so.. today is the next day, tomorrow and Saturday are the "or so."  

Of course, this isn't as easy as bringing home a TV and plugging it in.. it's part of the send/receive component of a microwave signal and there's still stuff that can go wrong.

I would guess that I'l hear a progress report from them tomorow.

[Gregg Lengling]

Just to point out some things that had to be done to get the transmitter on the air at the main tower:

First and what everyone sorta thinks about they had to get the antenna and feedline installed on the tower.  Then they had to move the transmitter from the studios to the transmit site.

But now comes the rub.....the satellite downlinks are at the studio so how do you get the signal to the transmitter.  They have Microwave links from the studio to the transmitter and they needed to upgrade to a higher bandwidth from the studio to the transmitter.  They needed the bandwidth to provide for the following items:

1  Analog NTSC signals for the channel 6 transmitter
2  Digital ATSC signals for the digital 33 transmitter
3  Digital remote control and telemetry
     (this is to control the transmitters and monitor all the functions associated with the transmitters, antennas and all subsystems.  This is a bi-directional control (sometimes called SCADA (supervisory control and data acquistion)).


So there is much more to it than just hanging an antenna....I'm just very happy that FOX6 has decided to keep us in the loop of their upgrades and how they are progressing.  I keep my one receiver on 33 (6.1) all the time and everytime I walk thru the room I look at the display hoping to see it say 6.1 and not
"No Signal"....I'm figuring it will probably happen Friday when I'm too busy moving 15 ton of rock in the front yard.


later Ladies and Gents!!!

[rnelson]

Originally posted by Gregg Lengling
I'm figuring it will probably happen Friday when I'm too busy moving 15 ton of rock in the front yard.


later Ladies and Gents!!!

Boy!!! the things people have to do to keep the water back!:)