More Power RRR

[Jimboy]

The conversion process to full power operation is starting today (Wednesday 5/31). During the next few days and possibly through next week both 18-1 & 24-1 will be off the air (at times) so the work can be completed. Depending on the scope of the work this may or may not affect Primetime programming, my guess is that it probably will.

I will post when the conversion is done and everything is up & running. :)

[Gregg Lengling]

ARRRRGGGGHHHHH....the long wait is over...especially for those of us that have been around here for over 5 years as we watched the digital transition. Of course because of that we all have great antennas and didn't have problems with the lower power signals (of course except for Faux6 when they were at their studio tower).

Glad to see the transition is in progress, of course in a few years we'll have to watch as the channels change with the relocation process.


:wave:

[Jimboy]

As of today the low power modifications have been removed from both transmitters (channel 25 & channel 61). If we're on the air it's now at full power.
The work is expected to be completed by Friday afternoon barring any major setbacks.

[Todd Wiedemann]

As of today the low power modifications have been removed from both transmitters (channel 25 & channel 61). If we're on the air it's now at full power.
The work is expected to be completed by Friday afternoon barring any major setbacks.


Nice ! Thanks for the update, Jim.

Let us know if you'd like reception reports from various areas and times of day.

We've helped out many of the other broadcasters in the same way ...

[Joseph S]

18, which was unavailable without specifically aiming for it previously at Tosa/MKE border, is now 81-83% which correlates to about an error per 4-5 hours based on other channel history. Can't see 24 at all from this antenna position.

Would like to get UPN in HD to record Supernatural so I don't have to blow my remote HDPVR's chance to catch CSI in full res tonight. Is 24 up? I can move the antenna tonight to try, but can't leave it there as everything else is rock solid at the current sweet spot.

Don't forget to nominate yourself as Sinclair employee of the year. You should win hands down given the lack of national candidates. ;) Thanks for making the best of crappy situation these past few years.

[Jimboy]

18, which was unavailable without specifically aiming for it previously at Tosa/MKE border, is now 81-83% which correlates to about an error per 4-5 hours based on other channel history. Can't see 24 at all from this antenna position.

Would like to get UPN in HD to record Supernatural so I don't have to blow my remote HDPVR's chance to catch CSI in full res tonight. Is 24 up? I can move the antenna tonight to try, but can't leave it there as everything else is rock solid at the current sweet spot.

Don't forget to nominate yourself as Sinclair employee of the year. You should win hands down given the lack of national candidates. ;) Thanks for making the best of crappy situation these past few years.

Supernatural is on WB 18-1.
24-1 is currently off undergoing the upgrade. When it comes back up it will be at full power.
I always try to keep crap at a minimum. But thanks anyway.

BYW - I was getting 18-1 last night at a solid 97% in Oak Creek.

[Joseph S]

Oops. It's Veronica Mars that I blew a CBS recording on last week on UPN, but caught 4 HD episodes on the distant HDPVR!!! Also blew another for WB Supernatural because I couldn't get it reliably before. Thanks.

[Mark Strube]

Awesome... I'm now getting 18-1 in the mid-high 90's.

[Joseph S]

24 is now up on rescan without antenna change.
18-1 - 81-85% (in line with ABC)
24-1 - 88-90+% (in line with CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS)
:rock:

Shop at home and 10 multicast blocked on purpose so can't compare. ;) No real changes with multipath on other channels.

[Joseph S]

18 has now gone off the air and 24 has dropped 10%.

[Jimboy]

18 has now gone off the air and 24 has dropped 10%.

Last items to get attention would be remote control.
Like I mentioned above everything should be in place Friday night. However, the learning curve starts all over again. We need to see how it all behaves once the transmitter manufacture tech leaves. ;)

[Joseph S]

18 is back about 10-12% points down from yesterday. 24 is still there down 8% points from yesterday's peak value.

[Joseph S]

18 is now down another 10% to 60-64%, 24 about 4% less than peak yesterday.

Update: 3:12pm
24 is back where it was
18 is still about 10-12% points down.

[Jimboy]

18 is now down another 10% to 60-64%, 24 about 4% less than peak yesterday.

Update: 3:12pm
24 is back where it was
18 is still about 10-12% points down.

Everything is currently running at full power. (4:30pm)

BTW - Joseph S - The power output of the transmitters stay rock solid at 99 to 100%. If you are seeing drastic swings in signal level you may be suffering from multipath.

[Joseph S]

I saw drastic swings during the day including an outage. I can monitor the strength in a background window without viewing the stream.

At the end, UPN is back where it was yesterday. WB is consistently 8-10% lower than it was yesterday night without moving the antenna. WB is in the "I don't trust the recording" range for me right now. Not sure what has changed, but the end result is WB's signal was better before it was shut down. There have been no changes with reception of other stations' signal.

[Jimboy]

I saw drastic swings during the day including an outage. I can monitor the strength in a background window without viewing the stream.

At the end, UPN is back where it was yesterday. WB is consistently 8-10% lower than it was yesterday night without moving the antenna. WB is in the "I don't trust the recording" range for me right now. Not sure what has changed, but the end result is WB's signal was better before it was shut down. There have been no changes with reception of other stations' signal.

It was still being worked on today which would be the cause of the swings and outages earlier. If you are still having issues multipath could still be the problem.

[Gregg Lengling]

I've always had good signals up here in Cedaburg, but now everything is all in real high signal levels. Here's a current report:

ch/dig signal
04/28 91
06/33 89
10/08 89
12/34 94
18/61 93
24/25 91
30/22 78
36/35 93
55/40 84
58/46 91

Didn't bother looking at any out of market stations as those are continously variable with weather conditions.

[waterhead]

What do you guys use to measure the signal level? My equipment just has the crappy bars showing signal strength. Is there an application that I can run on a Windows computer.

I think Linux has one, but everything in Linux is so labor intensive (no GUI).

[Joseph S]

It was still being worked on today which would be the cause of the swings and outages earlier.
That was my assumption and was why I kept updating when I could.

If you are still having issues multipath could still be the problem.
Where are your towers and where in relation to the others? I'm having to point North toward Capitol rd and East toward Milwaukee, more East than North. I know multipath is why I can't get WISN and NBC/CBS at their higher levels. Have to aim almost away from the towers to get them at top values. Same story with WB/UPN. I could either get one or the other before, not both. So overall, it's a great improvement. Just seems odd that I'm seeing lower numbers on WB without moving the antenna, one day later. Another trick I've tried in the past is aiming straight toward the sky. Worked well for almost everything, but not WISN/WB/UPN. Might fool around a little with the antenna this weekend.

What do you guys use to measure the signal level? My equipment just has the crappy bars showing signal strength. Is there an application that I can run on a Windows computer.
Either EyeTV or MyHD(lower vals). Someone here was using a fancy or not so fancy gizmo to test signals back when Fox was running on the 9volt to see if they actually had a signal when there wasn't even a broadcast. Don't remember what it was or who did it. If I had to bet it was Gregg. ;)

[LoadStar]

Nice. I was beginning to think that HDTV OTA was a lost cause. Using the crap-tastic antenna I picked up at Radio Shack, I'm getting full signal on 24.1, and virtually full signal on 18.1.

I like. :)

[Jimboy]

Where are your towers and where in relation to the others? I'm having to point North toward Capitol rd and East toward Milwaukee, more East than North. I know multipath is why I can't get WISN and NBC/CBS at their higher levels. Have to aim almost away from the towers to get them at top values. Same story with WB/UPN. I could either get one or the other before, not both. So overall, it's a great improvement. Just seems odd that I'm seeing lower numbers on WB without moving the antenna, one day later. Another trick I've tried in the past is aiming straight toward the sky. Worked well for almost everything, but not WISN/WB/UPN. Might fool around a little with the antenna this weekend.




We transmit from the American Tower Complex. Channel 10-1, 36-1, 55-1, 30-1, and analog 10 & 36 also transmit from this location.

[Joseph S]

Ok, then here's what I'm getting from that Tower.
36=24 in reception - High 80's/Low 90s
55 approx = 10 in reception - Mid 80s with 10 drifting a little lower on avg (10's VHF and I'm using a UHF antenna)
18 lowest at low 70s.

Is there anything in placement, height, or direction of the signals on the tower that would explain the above. I know moving the antenna will change things, but if I do I'll lose CBS or ABC out of completely reliable range. Just curious.

Other Towers same antenna position - NBC/CBS/FOX low 90s, ABC mid 80s. I can pretty much get everything in mid 90s now, but not at the same time. Before yesterday, UPN and WB were a pain to get and mutually exclusive in terms of reception.

[Mark Strube]

Well it's a different situation for me Joseph... 18-1 was in the mid-high 80's, now it's in the mid-high 90's... 24-1 I couldn't receive at all, and now its signal is in mid-high 80's with no problems.

[Gregg Lengling]

What do you guys use to measure the signal level? My equipment just has the crappy bars showing signal strength. Is there an application that I can run on a Windows computer.

I think Linux has one, but everything in Linux is so labor intensive (no GUI).


I get my levels from my PC card receiver that I use for recording, my STB's also provide a level but they are almost identical to the PC so the PC is easier to look at.

[waterhead]

I get my levels from my PC card receiver that I use for recording, my STB's also provide a level but they are almost identical to the PC so the PC is easier to look at.

Thanks guys. Joseph, I can't use your methods because I don't have a Mac or a MyHD card, but thanks anyway.

I think I'll have to check my card/software setup programs again. That's where it originally scanned for the channels.

Paul

[Joseph S]

Looks like 18-1 croaked Sunday night, doesn't seem back up here.

[Jimboy]

Looks like 18-1 croaked Sunday night, doesn't seem back up here.

Its been on all weekend...still is.
What are you using for an antenna? We're talking Wauwatosa right?

[Joseph S]

Its been on all weekend...still is.
What are you using for an antenna? We're talking Wauwatosa right?

Yeah. Wind? Saturday it recorded a show just fine. Noticed it was gone Sunday, and it's bouncing around near 50%. Silver Sensor antenna. Nothing else has changed at all, including 24.

Update: It's there if I move antenna to the expense of ABC or CBS. Weird that the signal has gone from 80s to 40s-50s without moving the antenna once.

[Jimboy]

Yeah. Wind? Saturday it recorded a show just fine. Noticed it was gone Sunday, and it's bouncing around near 50%. Silver Sensor antenna. Nothing else has changed at all, including 24.

Update: It's there if I move antenna to the expense of ABC or CBS. Weird that the signal has gone from 80s to 40s-50s without moving the antenna once.

Does your antenna have the amplifier on it?

[Joseph S]

No, there's no amp.