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Fort Wayne TV

D

DouglasB

TV troubles in Fort Wayne. Early this morning WPTA analog 21 and WISE analog 33 were off the air as were their respective digital signals. Later in the day, the analogs were back on with tones/bars, and digitals were still off. Now at 9:14pm 21 analog and digital are on. 33 analog and 33.1 digital are on but the audio sounds like a rushing river. Digital 33.2 and 33.3 are on with audio.
This whole Digital TV this is a real bitch. Buy a box, cable, FIOS or satellite to get your "free" TV. If only there were something worth watching, but thats another thread.
 
I don't think this is a DTV problem if there were tones and bars when they came back on the air. Odd, though.
 
justalurker said:
The stations were doing some work on their digital switching and new master control.
Click to expand...
Thought that might be the case, but it was going on all day Saturday. And they finally got the audio on Law & Order last night right after I posted.

And another thing: WFFT 55. Their digital is off more than it is on at my house. And I'm about 2 miles south of them with an antenna 30 feet in the air. Using a box, their relative signal is about 30 (out of 100) while the others are around 70-75. On the only digital TV in the house (a 15") WFFT is a no-show 100% of the time while the others are there.

Ever notice how bad digital TV pixilates when it's windy? Nice.
 
Weird stuff Saturday night when trying to watch Law & Order. Audio was missing the voices. Background sounds including the music was heard but no voices?!?!

I noticed this awhile ago watching an episode of Cold Case on CBS. Commercials played okay.

Also last night, Saturday night Live was having weird signal problems. Is this from the network or from WISE-TV?

BTW, we were watching via Comcast.
 
sclohonet said:
Weird stuff Saturday night when trying to watch Law & Order. Audio was missing the voices. Background sounds including the music was heard but no voices?!?!
I noticed this awhile ago watching an episode of Cold Case on CBS. Commercials played okay.
Also last night, Saturday night Live was having weird signal problems. Is this from the network or from WISE-TV?
BTW, we were watching via Comcast.
Click to expand...
Maybe it has a Gremlin in it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmwjD6B3nIU&feature=related
 
sclohonet said:
Weird stuff Saturday night when trying to watch Law & Order. Audio was missing the voices. Background sounds including the music was heard but no voices?!?!

I noticed this awhile ago watching an episode of Cold Case on CBS. Commercials played okay.
Click to expand...

The Dolby DP569 surround encoder (which I suspect most NBC affiliates have) has three AES stereo inputs. They can be assigned through menus, as to which signals they carry.

Normally during non-network programs the encoder operates in 2.0 stereo mode, carrying the signal from the first AES stereo input and ignoring #2 and #3.

Normally during network programs the encoder operates in 5.1 surround, with the three AES inputs carrying L/R front surround, L/R rear surround, and center channel/subwoofer.

If the front surround and center/subwoofer feeds get swapped, you would hear what you heard. That *has* happened to us.

I don't know as a fact that CBS affiliates use the same gear but I'd be surprised if they didn't.
 
Thank you W9WI.

Is there anything that we can do at home if this is happening? Also I wonder why the techs at the station didn't notice the problem?
 
Douglas B. said:
justalurker said:
The stations were doing some work on their digital switching and new master control.
Click to expand...

And another thing: WFFT 55. Their digital is off more than it is on at my house. And I'm about 2 miles south of them with an antenna 30 feet in the air. Using a box, their relative signal is about 30 (out of 100) while the others are around 70-75. On the only digital TV in the house (a 15") WFFT is a no-show 100% of the time while the others are there.
Click to expand...
Last I checked, WFFT-DT was transmitting only around 900 watts, and their signal (according to the coverage map on fcc.gov) scarcely gets out of Allen county.

With an amplified indoor antenna from my ground-floor apartment in Kendallville, I usually get the FW digitals OK, but nothing on ch. 36 (WFFT-DT's RF channel).

I'd guess that WFFT is waiting for WUPW in Toledo (analog 36) to shut down before boosting power.
 
sclohonet said:
Is there anything that we can do at home if this is happening?
Click to expand...

No... because the missing audio channels are being ignored at the encoder, so they aren't being broadcast at all.

Also I wonder why the techs at the station didn't notice the problem?
Click to expand...

I would be pretty confident the techs did notice the problem, they just couldn't come up with a quick way of fixing it. The thing isn't particularly easy to program, and if they were rewiring MCR it could well be the problem went beyond the encoder.
 
Indiana's NewsCenter (WPTA and WISE) must be doing a TOTAL rewire, because all week I've heard errors in the audio (on 33.2 and 33.3 espcially.)
I've worked on building a new TV ops center (for Georgia Public Broadcast in Atlanta) and I'll tell ya, it's EXTREMELY easy to crosswire and miswire anything.

The only thing I missed was that they were going off the air, due to a power grid rewire and generator install. Normally I hear about these things, or they'll mention it on air so the viewers know what is happening. I NEVER heard anything. A mistake by the INC management?? Just wonderiing...
 
Douglas B. said:
Ever notice how bad digital TV pixilates when it's windy? Nice.
Click to expand...
Yes I have! I thought it was just me but I do get a pixalated pic. Also has anyone noticed the DTV signals being weaker during COLD weather. During the single digit weather, I got far fewer channels than normal. Everything seems nornal now. Does anyone have an answer why this may be happening? How can this be prevented?
 
And since we're on the subject of FW TV, can someone PLEASE tell these people to stop squishing the display to roll delays and closings? :mad: Clint Eastwood was on Letterman the other night, and his face was so flattened, he looked like Yoda. The rest of the country has figured out how to do this without dirstoring the picture. We need to catch up and look like professionals around here. Gotta make room for those big affiliate logos and US93, I guess. Ghost it, for heavens sake.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks.
 
KyDXIn said:
Douglas B. said:
Ever notice how bad digital TV pixilates when it's windy? Nice.
Click to expand...
Yes I have! I thought it was just me but I do get a pixalated pic. Also has anyone noticed the DTV signals being weaker during COLD weather. During the single digit weather, I got far fewer channels than normal. Everything seems nornal now. Does anyone have an answer why this may be happening? How can this be prevented?
Click to expand...
If you think wind is bad, wait until you see what lightning does to it. It's not bad on UHF, it'll kill stuff at 40 miles on 7-13 and its catastrophic on the few 2-6 DT channels...
 
BobOnTheJob said:
KyDXIn said:
Douglas B. said:
Ever notice how bad digital TV pixilates when it's windy? Nice.
Click to expand...
Yes I have! I thought it was just me but I do get a pixalated pic. Also has anyone noticed the DTV signals being weaker during COLD weather. During the single digit weather, I got far fewer channels than normal. Everything seems nornal now. Does anyone have an answer why this may be happening? How can this be prevented?
Click to expand...
If you think wind is bad, wait until you see what lightning does to it. It's not bad on UHF, it'll kill stuff at 40 miles on 7-13 and its catastrophic on the few 2-6 DT channels...
Click to expand...
So can I NOT plan on watching television for 9 months out of the year here in Indiana?? Who at the FCC came up with this digital format then? Did they test it in Hawaii where there is very little inclement weather?? Seems like from what I've heard we OTA guinea pigs are going to be SOL!
 
The FCC didn't design the system. They did mandate its use, however.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
The FCC didn't design the system. They did mandate its use, however.
Click to expand...
Correct. The FCC enforces it. If you want someone to blame, call you Congressman. They voted to implement this flawed system so they could free up spectrum and then sell it to the highest bidder. Isn't it a bi*ch that if you want to watch free TV reliably, you have to buy cable, or sat TV. The Federal Imperial government at work.....
 
Do the weather conditions especially affect outdoor antennas? Would think that the indoor/attic antennas would be unaffected possibly, but not sure.
 
TommyHawk said:
Do the weather conditions especially affect outdoor antennas? Would think that the indoor/attic antennas would be unaffected possibly, but not sure.
Click to expand...
Hey T.H.! Attic and indoor are also affected. Think of it this way: on AM radio (some of us remember AM) during thunder storms, the static effected the signal if you were out in your car or inside your house. The receiver still see the lightning as an RF signal no matter where the antenna is. Hope that helps.
 
Hey Dougie B...it's been my experience that outdoor antennas that have a good ground system (as in their own ground rod) and indoor antennas on better quality RG-6u don't get a lot of atmospheric interference.
I've been told by some "brains" in the RF world (a guy with Spaun) that HDTV, no matter how well engineered, is more susceptible to interference. (I don't remember the exact reasons...that's been about 7 years ago that I heard it, and this was before HDTV was in the area.) But if the aim of the stick is good, the antenna is level, the mast is plumb, then it should work. Level and plumb. I've not had any trouble sticking with that, and I've got probably 8 or 9 recent installed antennas that work great.
 
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