CBS 3 Springfield

[MarcB]

Is it really necessary for CBS 3 Springfield to have at the bottom of the screen through-out their entire newscast "Top Stories, Full Forecast, First Five Minutes"?

 

[KML0224]

So that's still available via WFSB-TV 3-2? Is it still in SD only? ???

 

[MarcB]

So that's still available via WFSB-TV 3-2? Is it still in SD only? ???

Yeah it's still on WFSB Channel 3.2 - that's how I was watching it in Bristol, Connecticut. It was on at Century Buffet in Bristol, where I was dining Monday Night. And the picture filled the entire screen. There were no black bars and the picture WAS NOT in STRETCH-O-VISION.

 

[smaug07]

So that's still available via WFSB-TV 3-2? Is it still in SD only? ???

Yeah it's still on WFSB Channel 3.2 - that's how I was watching it in Bristol, Connecticut. It was on at Century Buffet in Bristol, where I was dining Monday Night. And the picture filled the entire screen. There were no black bars and the picture WAS NOT in STRETCH-O-VISION.

I still only get WFSB 3.2, aka CBS3 Springfield, in SD so my guess is it had to be either stretch-o-vision or the TV picture was zoomed in some way. The only HD broadcast by WFSB among its four subchannels is 3.1 which is the primary WFSB out of Hartford. WSHM (3.2), WFSB news (3.3), and the Fairfield County version of WFSB (3.4) are all in SD, and the pixelation of 3.4 is just plain awful, and, in my opinion, a total waste of bandwidth. There is an HD feed (not via antenna) for WSHM for cable and satellite but that would only be in the Springfield DMA and Bristol, Connecticut is certainly not in that.

 

[qunewsguy]

WSHM is also in HD over the air mapped to digital 3.5 in Western Mass... not that a whole lot of folks can see that signal.

 

[smaug07]

WSHM is also in HD over the air mapped to digital 3.5 in Western Mass... not that a whole lot of folks can see that signal.

Sorry, forgot WSHM had an "actual" digital station, so I guess that is the official HD signal. I'm about 30 miles east of Springfield/Holyoke and cannot get even a whisper of the WSHM digital so I receive it via WFSB's subchannel.

 

[KML0224]

That's because the digital transmitter is in Montgomery, MA, north of I-90 (Massachusetts Turnpike).

 

[smaug07]

That's because the digital transmitter is in Montgomery, MA, north of I-90 (Massachusetts Turnpike).

It's also very low power if I recall which means only the very local OTA viewers can view it.

 

[VoiceofWayne]

The mystery continues... I know they were going to transmit from Montgomery, but the latest from the FCC shows them on RF21 broadcasting from Wilbraham with power focused to the west to cover Springfield. This could explain why someone 30 miles east of Springfield would not pick them up. The service contour that is shown is "wildly optimistic" in my opinion...

http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=67980

 

[dhett]

The mystery continues... I know they were going to transmit from Montgomery, but the latest from the FCC shows them on RF21 broadcasting from Wilbraham with power focused to the west to cover Springfield. This could explain why someone 30 miles east of Springfield would not pick them up. The service contour that is shown is "wildly optimistic" in my opinion...

http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=67980

FCC service contours generally are "wildly optimistic" - probably more useful for interference protection than for actual coverage prediction. RabbitEars has a Longley-Rice prediction - much more realistic.

 

[smaug07]

The mystery continues... I know they were going to transmit from Montgomery, but the latest from the FCC shows them on RF21 broadcasting from Wilbraham with power focused to the west to cover Springfield. This could explain why someone 30 miles east of Springfield would not pick them up. The service contour that is shown is "wildly optimistic" in my opinion...

http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=67980

WSBE, the PBS affiliate in Providence also transmits on digital channel 21, and I can receive this at my house east of Springfield-Holyoke, so I'm sure that does not help to try to receive WSHM. Damn, I wish the FCC would stop overlapping signals on the same channel in such a close proximity. I have three conflicts here...both WCVB and WCCT on channel 20; both WFXT and WTIC on channel 31, and now both WSBE and WSHM on channel 21. I have excellent reception in Springfield and Hartford and fair reception in Boston and Providence...all of which adds to the conflict OTA.