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Latest Area Repack Developments

Eli Polonsky said:
15.3 and 15.4 are now on, duplicating the same programming as 15.1 (NBC) and 15.2 (Cozi), but I think they are shared on the WNEU (virtual 60) signal rather than the WGBX (virtual 44) signal.
Click to expand...

A transmission issue is impacting a number of stations in Boston right now, which is affecting NBC10 Boston's over-the-air signal of 15.1. The tower company is working to correct the issue, but there is no estimated time of restoration at this time.
Until the problem is resolved, if you're not receiving NBC10 Boston on 15.1, you'll need to grab your remote and rescan for our temporary reduced-power channel of 15.3.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
15.3 and 15.4 are now on, duplicating the same programming as 15.1 (NBC) and 15.2 (Cozi), but I think they are shared on the WNEU (virtual 60) signal rather than the WGBX (virtual 44) signal.
Click to expand...

Fenway1912 said:
A transmission issue is impacting a number of stations in Boston right now, which is affecting NBC10 Boston's over-the-air signal of 15.1. The tower company is working to correct the issue, but there is no estimated time of restoration at this time.
Until the problem is resolved, if you're not receiving NBC10 Boston on 15.1, you'll need to grab your remote and rescan for our temporary reduced-power channel of 15.3.
Click to expand...

WBZ, WCVB, WFXT, and WGBX are sharing the same combiner, transmission line, and antenna, so this may not be easily fixed due to the need for downtime of these stations to do any work. This only has to last until the CBS tower work is complete and WBZ, WFXT, and WGBX move back there. WUNI was scheduled to move from Marlborough to Cabot St and also share that antenna, but they may wait until the problems are resolved.

There is a certain amount of irony that NBC, which had decided to keep the NBCBoston and Cozi signals on the better signal of WGBX rather than use WNEU - now had to add the signals to WNEU anyway.

For those who think the average person has no interest in OTA TV and doesn't notice these problems, check the comments here:

https://www.universalhub.com/2019/digital-tv-great-until-it-isnt-boston-stations
 
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Today I cannot receive WBZ-TV 4, WNEU-TV 60, WBPX-TV 68, and WUFT-TV 27 (and as usual WGBH-TV 2) at al or any of their subchannels. and WSBK-TV 38 is heavy pixellating Anyone know if they are doing transmitter work?
 
WCVB filed today with the FCC for an STA to use an emergency antenna on the CBS tower at 350 KW in place of the Cabot St shared antenna, and in the filing, gave the cause of the signal problems - there is a problem with one of the transmission lines at a height of about 400 feet.

That leaves WFXT, WGBX, and WBZ on the shared antenna, with WGBX affected the worst. This may not be fixed quickly.

https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f916c8d16dd016c90c2179300de
 
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justgladtobehere said:
Is there a problem with WUNI since the changes? I didn't show up on the latest scan.
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I haven't seen any change in their signal level in months. They are still on their original tower in Hudson, and not being included in the repack, could have stayed there, but have a construction permit to move to the CBS tower in Needham. Exactly when it happens probably depends on the other work in progress on the tower.
 
StartTV looks unwatchable - so pixelated. Why are other channels able to keep their main station in HD looking good and still have watchable substations, but not WBZ?

I don’t know how they think dabl is a good idea - are people really into watching reruns of “Martha Stewart” and “Emeril”?
 
Kbirdusa said:
StartTV looks unwatchable - so pixelated. Why are other channels able to keep their main station in HD looking good and still have watchable substations, but not WBZ?

I don’t know how they think dabl is a good idea - are people really into watching reruns of “Martha Stewart” and “Emeril”?
Click to expand...

I recently got a smart tv and while setting it up I noticed a few online alternatives for the those cooking/home improvement/travel channels that are on basic cable. The offerings are dated repeats or pale imitations of some HGTV show. My impression is that those online stations and the OTA sub-channels are trying to capture some of the demand for those types of shows from cordcutters. These shows wouldn't drive people to cut the cord, but might capture some of the people who have.
 
More channel Changes in October

WHDH 7 and WLVI 56 have notices on their website that they will change their RF channel to 35 on October 19th. Tonight I saw an onscreen scroll on WSBK 38 that they will change to RF 21 on the same day. So because RF21 is currently WSBE 36, they will be moving to RF2. As for the two other stations on the same tower WJAR 10 has a notice to do a rescan on October 19th to RF25, and WLNE will be going to RF24 on he same day
 
alg2468 said:
WHDH 7 and WLVI 56 have notices on their website that they will change their RF channel to 35 on October 19th. Tonight I saw an onscreen scroll on WSBK 38 that they will change to RF 21 on the same day. So because RF21 is currently WSBE 36, they will be moving to RF2. As for the two other stations on the same tower WJAR 10 has a notice to do a rescan on October 19th to RF25, and WLNE will be going to RF24 on he same day
Click to expand...


WSBE on RF 21 only uses 50 KW, very low for a full power UHF station. On RF 2 they will be using 10 KW which is not bad for the low band, and less than WGBH uses currently. Their predicted coverage area is vastly larger going from 5000 square miles to 13000 square miles and reaching to NH. Of course the curse of interference on RF 2 will be problem.

WHDH has a construction permit to operate with reduced power on their current RF Ch 42 from a temporary antenna 200 feet from the top of their tower, while the current RF 42 antenna at the top is replaced by a new RF 35 antenna.
 
While flipping through the roster of OTA channels, looking for something to grab my attention, my TV passed through WCVB 5.1, and 5.2. The odd thing though is that it also found 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5 with error messages reading "No Broadcast".

Could this mean WCVB might be putting these other sub-channels to use soon with other programming?
 
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Channel 83 said:
While flipping through the roster of OTA channels, looking for something to grab my attention, my TV passed through WCVB 5.1, and 5.2. The odd thing though is that it also found 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5 with error messages reading "No Broadcast".

Could this mean WCVB might be putting these other sub-channels to use soon with other programming?
Click to expand...

A TSReader scan right now shows only their 2 usual program map tables - with 5.1 assigned to program number 3 and 5.2 assigned to program number 4. Possibly the TV is confused by the fact that they don't have a program number 1 or 2 configured - just a guess. It is also possible they were testing something when you scanned.

The trend is to squeeze more and more subchannels in, so they could be planning something.
 
Today the double feeds of WBTS and Cozi have been removed. As a result, the guide info on Verizon FiOS for WBTS is showing info for WNEU instead.
 
Repack dates changed

Due to the rain and windstorm causing power outages and damages yesterday and today, the repack dates for Providence's WLNE, WJAR, and WSBE have been changed from Saturday, October 19th at 10AM to Tuesday, October 22nd at 2PM. I have not heard about any change to the October 19th date for WHDH, WSBK, and WLVI as of tonight.
 
davect said:
WHDH and WLVI will for sure be happening overnight tonight as scheduled.
Click to expand...
WSBK and WHDH moved to their new RF channels between 1 and 1:30 AM (Saturday). WLVI, sharing on WHDH, moved with WHDH, of course. All of the Boston market full power stations have now moved.
 
As of this morning after the repack here east of Providence near the state line: On RF35, WHDH has a weaker signal with pixellation at times, and interestingly WLVI (also on RF35) has no signal at all, and no signal from WSBK on RF21.
 
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