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KHFD/51 ON FROM CEDAR HILL

B

Bob E. Nelson

Another digital LPTV has come to the D/FW market. KHFD/51 is programming religious content in English on 4 subchannels, two of which are simulcast. 51-1 and 51-2 are Global Christian Network and 51-3 and 51-4 are evidently local origination.

It's only 5 kW but is up at 1000' on the big Richland Tower on Potter Street in Cedar Hill. At my location, it's at parity with the 15 kW low power facilities at lower HAATs.
 
julesism said:
I noticed it was gone last night and I've got nothing as I type this in 75006.
Click to expand...

Yes. It's still gone here after blasting in for the first night it was on the air (2 JUN 2010) and the next day. The irony is that KHFD's license to cover for the new location was accepted for filing by the FCC today.

During the short period they were actually on the air, in spite of a steady, strong signal indicated on the meter, it was breaking up frequently. Maybe KHFD is still working out the kinks getting the data delivered from the origination site to the Potter Street tower in Cedar Hill?
 
julesism said:
it's back. noticed it last night and it's on as I type this...
Click to expand...

...and they fixed the distorted audio on 51-3 and 51-4. Plus the dropouts are gone from 51-1 and 51-2.

I'm still amazed at just how robust the signal is up here (40 miles from the stick on South Potter Street in Cedar Hill) with only 5 kW. DTV and the UHF band appear to work very well (from the Captain Obvious department).
 
I'm getting it now at about 57-60% here in Plano.

Also noted that in the past few days I've had pretty good luck getting crummy little KHPK 3.1 and 3.2 up here. Usually alll I can get is a few pixels or half a picture with no sound. But in the past few days I've gotten full video and audio much of the time and some motion with audio most of the time.

On a side note, I happened to hit KXXV in Waco 3 days ago. I've left it in my channel list and discovered that I can get a useable picture much of the time at night, and maybe 20% of the time in the afternoon. I'm not sure if the weather is playing a role in KHPK and KXXV coming in up here, but it's certainly been fun to play with.
 
I got it in Decatur at 10-15% on the RCA which seems to be high enough to show a clear picture.
 
JHBrandt said:
Weird. I'm not seeing it at all, even though KATA/50 comes in fine.
Click to expand...
They have like a church access channel for Grace Community Church in Southlake on 51-3 in HD and 51-4 in SD. They have some religious programming in HD on 51-1 and SD on 51-2.
 
No, all the subchannels on 51 are 480i. They're not doing any HD programming.

On an unrelated note, I see tonight that someon has finally put some programming on 38.4.
It's an english language religious channel of some kind. 38.1 is still a spanish language religious channe. 38.2 and 38.3 are still colorbars.
 
tested said:
No, all the subchannels on 51 are 480i. They're not doing any HD programming.

On an unrelated note, I see tonight that someon has finally put some programming on 38.4.
It's an english language religious channel of some kind. 38.1 is still a spanish language religious channe. 38.2 and 38.3 are still colorbars.
Click to expand...
When do you think they'll put programming on there?
 
eskipper411 said:
JHBrandt said:
Weird. I'm not seeing it at all, even though KATA/50 comes in fine.
Click to expand...
They have like a church access channel for Grace Community Church in Southlake on 51-3 in HD and 51-4 in SD. They have some religious programming in HD on 51-1 and SD on 51-2.
Click to expand...

Wait - two HD channels and two SD channels?

And I thought KXII was overtaking the plumbing.
 
JHBrandt said:
eskipper411 said:
JHBrandt said:
Weird. I'm not seeing it at all, even though KATA/50 comes in fine.
Click to expand...
They have like a church access channel for Grace Community Church in Southlake on 51-3 in HD and 51-4 in SD. They have some religious programming in HD on 51-1 and SD on 51-2.
Click to expand...

Wait - two HD channels and two SD channels?

And I thought KXII was overtaking the plumbing.
Click to expand...


No, he's mistaken about that. 51 has NO HD of any kind.
 
tested said:
JHBrandt said:
eskipper411 said:
They have like a church access channel for Grace Community Church in Southlake on 51-3 in HD and 51-4 in SD. They have some religious programming in HD on 51-1 and SD on 51-2.
Click to expand...

Wait - two HD channels and two SD channels?

And I thought KXII was overtaking the plumbing.
Click to expand...

No, he's mistaken about that. 51 has NO HD of any kind.
Click to expand...

Finally got KHFD/51 working, and I see what he was talking about now. All channels are SD, but 51-1 and 51-3 are 4:3, while 51-2 and 51-4 are 16:9 (Stretch-O-Vision)
 
Looks like programming for both 51 and 38 is in flux right now.

Today 51-1 and 51-4 started simulcasting new Christian programming, while 51-2 and 51-3 looked like the same two broadcasts as before. The new programming went off the air and was replaced by color bars for a short while, but it's back now.

38 finally got rid of all the color bars. 38-3 still lacks programming but contains an animated "coming soon" logo. Looks like 38-2 and 38-3 will be in English while 38-1 and 38-4 remain in Spanish. But whoops - even as I type 38-3 and 38-4 just went back to color bars!
 
Looks like the new programming on 51-1 and 51-4 isn't exactly Christian programming, although it does cater to Christians (at least if they're conservative). It's American News Network. Looking at their website, they seem to be sort of an OTA version of Fox News.

BTW, 51-2 is now 4:3 aspect. 51-4 is now KHFD's only Stretch-O-Vision channel.

Channel 38 continues to evolve. 38-2 through 38-4 all have English-language programming now. 38-2 is a simulcast of KTAQ/47. What's the point? I don't think there's a square foot of North Texas that can get 38 but not 47. Maybe it's just a placeholder. Beats color bars (but not by much).
 
Hello, I am a content provider for channel 51.1 KHFD and your info on this site is very valuable. We wamt to start promoting that we are there but were curious as to how the channel looked and if it was readily accessible. Has anyone seen it recently and are you able to tell me how it looks ie if there are drop outs etc...Thanks!
 
dmcafee said:
Hello, I am a content provider for channel 51.1 KHFD and your info on this site is very valuable. We wamt to start promoting that we are there but were curious as to how the channel looked and if it was readily accessible. Has anyone seen it recently and are you able to tell me how it looks ie if there are drop outs etc...Thanks!
Click to expand...

I am able to receive it w/o dropouts but it takes a good outdoor antenna, preamp, and variable attenuator. Adjusting the attenuator is touchy. It has to be adjusted between "too weak to receive" and "overwhelmed by intermodulation interference from RF 48 (KSTR/49) and RF 45 (KDTX/58)."

But I'm 30 miles ENE of the towers. Folks closer to Cedar Hill may have a somewhat easier time.
 
dmcafee said:
Hello, I am a content provider for channel 51.1 KHFD and your info on this site is very valuable. We wamt to start promoting that we are there but were curious as to how the channel looked and if it was readily accessible. Has anyone seen it recently and are you able to tell me how it looks ie if there are drop outs etc...Thanks!
Click to expand...

Unlike poster JHBrandt, I get KHFD with a rather modest attic antenna and I'm 40 miles away in Frisco. The caveat is that I'm a hot spot for RF, both from Cedar Hill, downtown Dallas and Madill, OK (for KXII).

I get no breakups whatsoever on any of the four streams. It's a very potent 5 kW signal. The exciter must be a newer model since the MER values are also very good.

In terms of content, 51-1' s programming (and its simulcast on 51-4) is rather schizophrenic. Just a few days ago, Emvee TV was featuring a semi-nude statue. A short while later, a Christian preaching program was on. Then I seem to recall an episode of a vintage ``Bonanza'' aired.

KHFD ought to be an LPTV pioneer by updating program info since none of the other LPTVs offer EIP data. Otherwise, it's just a matter of stumbling across whatever happens to be on.

By the way, for those of us who are tower geeks, the building of KHFD's antenna on the Potter Road site in Cedar Hill is interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fzad6hun3c
 
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