LPTV CH 6 Franken FM not on TV anymore but OK on 87.75 Mhz

[Tom Wells]

That's it. Just that. Maybe 3 days ago.
Clicked through existing TV channels and 6 isn't there anymore. No more alt rock?
Audio modulation HAD been REEEALLY high compared to adjacent televsion chs now nothing, no no but NO nothing there
on the TV. Checked with 14 yr old offspring, who claimed she had just been listening and 87.7 was on the air.
Had her bring her radio right down, and sure enough big as life, alt rock where it was and has been.
Rescanned the TV several times, adjusted antenna and repeated. (2008 Sony 42" flatscreen)

Only change in rescan is now a reported 3 analog channels vs 4 when franken FM came in on the TV.
Still 44 reported digital channels as always before regardless of antenna placement.

Just checked on Sangean ATS 803A which tunes teensy steps and 87.75 seems to be actual center of freq deviation
as "seen" by the silly bar graph and gives pretty good signal IN BASEMENT with whip antenna completely closed.

TV still can't "see" or recognize anything on "6" upstairs.....now, that means something changed.
Are they doin the allowable FM (87.9-108) modulation of 200 khz at 87.75 but no longer providing
all of the NTSC information that MAKES them a low power analog television station,
vs an FM conveniently "just off the legal end of the dial"?

They WERE annoying to encounter while clicking through the TV dial, audio about 6-8 db louder than "proper" TV signals.

Did manually enter CH 6 into channel scrolling , and it will tune there, but detects no audio and screen reports "No Signal".

 

[w9wi]

Interesting; sounds like they may have turned off the visual transmitter.

I don't think they're going to get away with that for very long. The "FrankenFM" in Anchorage which got this whole ball rolling tried to operate without a visual transmitter, and got promptly called on the carpet by the FCC. Commission didn't care what aired on the visual, but if you're a TV station you have to *have* a visual signal...

 

[RayInChicago]

I still get channel 6 fine on my TV. The screen is blank, but the sound is just fine.

 

[cd637299]

I still get channel 6 fine on my TV. The screen is blank, but the sound is just fine.

I would suppose that a blank screen would qualify....

cd

 

[Tom Wells]

I still get channel 6 fine on my TV. The screen is blank, but the sound is just fine.

I would suppose that a blank screen would qualify....

cd

Qualify as no TV station because no TV signals?

That's the way my Sony sees it. Ch 6 came up fine on scan a week ago with a good signal, and it's on the FM now,
but the Sony must be helpfully muting the audio since "there's no station there".

 

[radioman148]

What video were you getting a week ago?

 

[Tom Wells]

It wasn't the old "data-rich" screen, it was something much simpler and unchanging...Now I wish I'd paid more attention.

 

[RayInChicago]

I still get channel 6 fine on my TV. The screen is blank, but the sound is just fine.

I would suppose that a blank screen would qualify....

cd

Qualify as no TV station because no TV signals?

That's the way my Sony sees it. Ch 6 came up fine on scan a week ago with a good signal, and it's on the FM now,
but the Sony must be helpfully muting the audio since "there's no station there".

I'm using an old analog TV with rabbit ears. No scanning on that TV, so it just gives me what it receives. In this case, a blank screen, and the audio. But the traffic maps are back now, so you should probably be able to get channel 6 now.

 

[w9wi]

I still get channel 6 fine on my TV. The screen is blank, but the sound is just fine.

I would suppose that a blank screen would qualify....

cd

Yep. Indeed, you don't even have to run IDs on the screen, as long as you run audible IDs on the sound.

Now, Ray does mean a blank screen, not snow, right? (many viewers would call "snow" a "blank screen") Some TVs would mute the screen to black or blue if there was no visual carrier -- it would look like a blank screen but in fact there would be no video at all. That said, most such TVs would mute the sound too.

In fact, nearly all TVs won't play the sound if there is no visual carrier. (which means that with nearly all TVs, if you have sound, there's a visual carrier present)

 

[RayInChicago]

I still get channel 6 fine on my TV. The screen is blank, but the sound is just fine.

I would suppose that a blank screen would qualify....

cd

Yep. Indeed, you don't even have to run IDs on the screen, as long as you run audible IDs on the sound.

Now, Ray does mean a blank screen, not snow, right? (many viewers would call "snow" a "blank screen") Some TVs would mute the screen to black or blue if there was no visual carrier -- it would look like a blank screen but in fact there would be no video at all. That said, most such TVs would mute the sound too.

In fact, nearly all TVs won't play the sound if there is no visual carrier. (which means that with nearly all TVs, if you have sound, there's a visual carrier present)

It was a blank black screen. Not snow. My TV (an old analog TV) does not mute the screen to black or blue. If I turn my TV to say channel 8, I will see snow and hear static. But when I turned it to channel 6, I got a blank black screen, and heard Q87.7. So I suppose they were broadcasting some sort of video, it's just that the video they were broadcast was a blank screen.

 

[Tom Wells]

Excellent point RayinChicago.

That matches what I saw, although there was a tiny bit of rf noise in the obviously still analog NTSC raster.
Not blank, but a full luminance modulated "dark".
That's why it made no sense.
No video signal should be snow at a light grey/whitish level.
I'll go see what have on CH 6 and come back.

 

[clone]

Excellent point RayinChicago.

That matches what I saw, although there was a tiny bit of rf noise in the obviously still analog NTSC raster.
Not blank, but a full luminance modulated "dark".
That's why it made no sense.
No video signal should be snow at a light grey/whitish level.
I'll go see what have on CH 6 and come back.

Last I checked (last night), I saw the same "Xfinity | Q87.7 Underground Alternative" screen with the traffic info that you see on Comcast channel 877. Very weak, and the Toshiba LCD TV wouldn't decode the audio. Didn't check on any other TVs, but did notice that 87.7 now sounds great on my Yamaha T-60 FM tuner, where before it sounded off frequency. The Sony F1HD still can't listen, it's too tight.

Just checked now, and still getting the same thing. I can check on an old Analog TV later if anyone's really that interested.

 

[cd637299]

^ As much as I need my F1HD for DXing, its one bugaboo is not getting ch 6 audio. It is extremely selective....neither 87.7 nor 87.8 will do the trick.

cd

 

[pjc1961]

The Sony F1HD still can't listen, it's too tight.

^ As much as I need my F1HD for DXing, its one bugaboo is not getting ch 6 audio. It is extremely selective....neither 87.7 nor 87.8 will do the trick.

cd

One of the few advantages of an analog tuner! ;D The Sony tuner is otherwise quite good; the "tightness" works to its advantage in plucking out (especially weaker) signals elsewhere on the dial.

 

[RayInChicago]

Excellent point RayinChicago.

That matches what I saw, although there was a tiny bit of rf noise in the obviously still analog NTSC raster.
Not blank, but a full luminance modulated "dark".
That's why it made no sense.
No video signal should be snow at a light grey/whitish level.
I'll go see what have on CH 6 and come back.

Last I checked (last night), I saw the same "Xfinity | Q87.7 Underground Alternative" screen with the traffic info that you see on Comcast channel 877. Very weak, and the Toshiba LCD TV wouldn't decode the audio. Didn't check on any other TVs, but did notice that 87.7 now sounds great on my Yamaha T-60 FM tuner, where before it sounded off frequency. The Sony F1HD still can't listen, it's too tight.

Just checked now, and still getting the same thing. I can check on an old Analog TV later if anyone's really that interested.

Everything is fine with me. On my old analog TV, I am getting a very clear screen with the traffic maps, etc. And very clear audio. Then again, I only live one mile from the John Hancock building where Q87.7 broadcasts from.

 

[Tom Wells]

The TV is once again decoding and displaying both audio and video.

Just as before, some minor video noise thats not quite snow, and the audio louder than typical NTSC FM audio.

 

[RayInChicago]

The screen is blank again.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

When Venture's sister Franken FM here in Cleveland signed on, it had audio with a blank video screen...then it got an ID slideshow, which you can see here thanks to one of my readers:

http://ohiomediawatch.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/wlfm-lp-let-there-be-video/

As of yet, there's no debut radio format on 87.75 mHz, and the station isn't testing anymore. It was running a series of sports "fight songs" from our three major professional teams, and a local favorite, Michael Stanley Band's "My Town", which you'll hear in that video. (Oddly enough, Michael Stanley himself is now an afternoon drive air personality at crosstown CBS Radio classic rocker WNCX/98.5.)

And of course, Cleveland's version took the WLFM-LP calls abandoned in Chicago, when Merlin started the alt-rock "Q87.7" LMA.

 

[RayInChicago]

When Venture's sister Franken FM here in Cleveland signed on, it had audio with a blank video screen...then it got an ID slideshow, which you can see here thanks to one of my readers:

http://ohiomediawatch.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/wlfm-lp-let-there-be-video/

As of yet, there's no debut radio format on 87.75 mHz, and the station isn't testing anymore. It was running a series of sports "fight songs" from our three major professional teams, and a local favorite, Michael Stanley Band's "My Town", which you'll hear in that video. (Oddly enough, Michael Stanley himself is now an afternoon drive air personality at crosstown CBS Radio classic rocker WNCX/98.5.)

And of course, Cleveland's version took the WLFM-LP calls abandoned in Chicago, when Merlin started the alt-rock "Q87.7" LMA.

I'm surprised they didn't put 87.7 on the screen.

Video on channel 6 in Chicago is working again.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I'm surprised they didn't put 87.7 on the screen.

Video on channel 6 in Chicago is working again.

As far as I know, Venture doesn't have an LMA radio partner in Cleveland, yet. The plans for the video carrier will probably depend on that, so for now, it's just a TV slide...