WTTW-11 BACK ON THE AIR THIS MORNING BUT STILL NO METV OR WCIU CHANNELS ARE STILL OUT AND OFF THE AIR THIS WEEKEND. IN REGUARDS TO CHANNELS 26.1 - 26.2 - 26.3 - 26.4............
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UPDATE: WTTW-11 IS BACK ON THE AIR BUT NO METV OR WCIU
- Thread starter BobMSmith1959
- Start date
As im no longer in that market, but have family there..Im curious ..What happened?
Nevermind , found the answer but non the less, thats a pretty serious situation.
Channel 11 did issue a statement about a power outage. I'm really surprised they don't have some sort of backup.
Bob, I am still not having any trouble with any of the 26's, I really don't know what the problem could be. Did you
try unplugging your converter box for at least one minute, then plugging it back in and rescanning it? That has
worked for some people who have suddenly lost certain station's.
Have you tried to watch ME TV on 23.1 or ME TOO on 48.1? If you are able to pick these up than I suspect it has
to due with your converter box, as these station's are much lower power than WCIU channel 26's digital power.
I hope you can solve the problem, I would not like it if I couldn't pick up ME or ME TOO, I don't watch much TV,
which is why I won't pay for cable, but; these are the two channel's I watch the most.
Bob, I am still not having any trouble with any of the 26's, I really don't know what the problem could be. Did you
try unplugging your converter box for at least one minute, then plugging it back in and rescanning it? That has
worked for some people who have suddenly lost certain station's.
Have you tried to watch ME TV on 23.1 or ME TOO on 48.1? If you are able to pick these up than I suspect it has
to due with your converter box, as these station's are much lower power than WCIU channel 26's digital power.
I hope you can solve the problem, I would not like it if I couldn't pick up ME or ME TOO, I don't watch much TV,
which is why I won't pay for cable, but; these are the two channel's I watch the most.
TR1992 said:Channel 11 did issue a statement about a power outage. I'm really surprised they don't have some sort of backup.
Bob, I am still not having any trouble with any of the 26's, I really don't know what the problem could be.
Did you try unplugging your converter box for at least one minute, then plugging it back in and rescanning it?
Nope! I never thought of it nor neither tried it yet.
That has worked for some people who have suddenly lost certain station's.
Have you tried to watch ME TV on 23.1 or ME TOO on 48.1? If you are able to pick these up than I suspect it has
to due with your converter box, as these station's are much lower power than WCIU channel 26's digital power.
I can get only 23.1 But I tried punching in 48.1 It just bounces back to 23.1....
I hope you can solve the problem, I would not like it if I couldn't pick up ME or ME TOO, I don't watch much TV,
which is why I won't pay for cable, but; these are the two channel's I watch the most.
As of this evening, the 26's are NOW back on the air!!!...
The station that is mapping to 23-1 and 48-1 is actually the FULL-power signal of WCIU-DT.
Weigel has made this confusing because the FULL-power signal of WCIU-DT (Digital Channel 27) displays on 3 different channel numbers:
23-1 MeTV
26-1 WCIU-DT
26-2 MeTV
26-3 MeToo
26-4 THIS
26-5 THAT? (promo screen with silent audio)
26-6 FBT (simulcast of low-power analog Channel 33, WFBN-LP Rockford)
48-1 MeToo
You should be able to receive all the above listed channels with the same reception because they originate from the same digital channel.
WWME-LD (Channel 39) is the low-power digital channel that is also on the air, mapping to the following numbers:
23-2 MeTV
23-3 promo screen for THAT with Oldies / current Adult Contemporary music
23-4 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-5 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-6 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-7 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-8 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
Some viewers will notice better reception on 23-1 than 23-2 because they originate from separate signals. 23-1 is full-power, but 23-2 low-power. Apparently the FCC allows mapping to multiple channel numbers from a single digital number, even when the programming is a duplicate.
Also, Weigel's two low-power analog channels are still on the air (because they were not required to sign-off on June 12th):
23 WWME-CA (simulcast of WCIU-DT, except newscasts from WMAQ-DT and WGN-DT)
48 WMEU-CA MeToo
Weigel has made this confusing because the FULL-power signal of WCIU-DT (Digital Channel 27) displays on 3 different channel numbers:
23-1 MeTV
26-1 WCIU-DT
26-2 MeTV
26-3 MeToo
26-4 THIS
26-5 THAT? (promo screen with silent audio)
26-6 FBT (simulcast of low-power analog Channel 33, WFBN-LP Rockford)
48-1 MeToo
You should be able to receive all the above listed channels with the same reception because they originate from the same digital channel.
WWME-LD (Channel 39) is the low-power digital channel that is also on the air, mapping to the following numbers:
23-2 MeTV
23-3 promo screen for THAT with Oldies / current Adult Contemporary music
23-4 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-5 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-6 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-7 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-8 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
Some viewers will notice better reception on 23-1 than 23-2 because they originate from separate signals. 23-1 is full-power, but 23-2 low-power. Apparently the FCC allows mapping to multiple channel numbers from a single digital number, even when the programming is a duplicate.
Also, Weigel's two low-power analog channels are still on the air (because they were not required to sign-off on June 12th):
23 WWME-CA (simulcast of WCIU-DT, except newscasts from WMAQ-DT and WGN-DT)
48 WMEU-CA MeToo
avtosalon said:The station that is mapping to 23-1 and 48-1 is actually the FULL-power signal of WCIU-DT.
Weigel has made this confusing because the FULL-power signal of WCIU-DT (Digital Channel 27) displays on 3 different channel numbers:
23-1 MeTV
26-1 WCIU-DT
26-2 MeTV
26-3 MeToo
26-4 THIS
26-5 THAT? (promo screen with silent audio)
26-6 FBT (simulcast of low-power analog Channel 33, WFBN-LP Rockford)
48-1 MeToo
You should be able to receive all the above listed channels with the same reception because they originate from the same digital channel.
WWME-LD (Channel 39) is the low-power digital channel that is also on the air, mapping to the following numbers:
23-2 MeTV
23-3 promo screen for THAT with Oldies / current Adult Contemporary music
23-4 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-5 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-6 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-7 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
23-8 promo screen for THAT with silent audio
Some viewers will notice better reception on 23-1 than 23-2 because they originate from separate signals. 23-1 is full-power, but 23-2 low-power. Apparently the FCC allows mapping to multiple channel numbers from a single digital number, even when the programming is a duplicate.
Also, Weigel's two low-power analog channels are still on the air (because they were not required to sign-off on June 12th):
23 WWME-CA (simulcast of WCIU-DT, except newscasts from WMAQ-DT and WGN-DT)
48 WMEU-CA MeToo
So? What does this mean? or what does this has to do with the problem of 26's channels going off the air on mondays and fridays???
Tuning in 48.1 would automaticly only bounces back to 23.1....
Thanks for the explanation of the channel mapping. It's very confusing! And if it's confusing for us, imagine how it is for the average consumer. Can they just choose whatever channel they want to call themselves? Imagine the guy who buys a VHF antenna thinking that's what he needs, when his station is now actually on a UHF channel. There was a time when the channel number actually meant something, but not anymore!
audioguy said:Thanks for the explanation of the channel mapping. It's very confusing! And if it's confusing for us, imagine how it is for the average consumer. Can they just choose whatever channel they want to call themselves? Imagine the guy who buys a VHF antenna thinking that's what he needs, when his station is now actually on a UHF channel. There was a time when the channel number actually meant something, but not anymore!
Apparently there was no way that the FCC could have simply allowed every station on its original channel to stay there if there was a transition period, and there was a digital companion channel simulcasting the analog - tough to do in major metro areas. If there was only "flash-cut" - no transition - meaning one day we're analog, the next day we're digital - there would have been huge confusion) Add to that, the number of channels was decreased to a "core" number of channels, 2-51 (it was supposed to be 7-51, but some Low Band VHF broadcasters screamed on that one) so there is less to work with spectrum-wise, though digital stations can operate on adjacent channels, where before there had to be a one channel separation on VHF (not 6 & 7) or six channel separation on UHF in a given local area.
The mapping does not confuse most people, in fact, it helps them because the channel numbers remain familiar to them. The only people who are messed up about this appears to be the geeks who don't like the RF channel being different from the mapped channel. Average Joe doesn't care about the RF channel, all he cares about is receiving the station! (of course, we are finding out that the digital theoretical radius does not match the actual measured radius and the radius is less in digital than analog - and the digital tuners also appear to be somewhat less sensitive than their analog counterparts which doesn't help either)
stormy01 said:The mapping does not confuse most people, in fact, it helps them because the channel numbers remain familiar to them. The only people who are messed up about this appears to be the geeks who don't like the RF channel being different from the mapped channel. Average Joe doesn't care about the RF channel, all he cares about is receiving the station! (of course, we are finding out that the digital theoretical radius does not match the actual measured radius and the radius is less in digital than analog - and the digital tuners also appear to be somewhat less sensitive than their analog counterparts which doesn't help either)
Beg to differ; the channel number is confusing to consumers.
If you want to watch channel 2 and you were using a low band VHF yagi, you now need a high band or cut-to-channel antenna for channel 12.
If you want to watch channel 5, you need a UHF antenna that covers channel 29
If you want channel 7, you can actually use the same antenna that you used previously, since it is still on channel 7
If you want channel 9, you need a UHF antenna that works on channel 19
For those unfamiliar, they do make such things as low band and high band VHF antennas, as well as single channel antennas.
They also make UHF antennas that are optimized for certain ranges.
Agreed talking about antennas - it would have been a lot easier to put all of the TV stations on UHF, a wide bandwidth UHF antenna would have worked fine for most people. It seems some broadcasters were so 'nostalgic' about their channel number that they just had to have their old channel back. People nowadays are not as ambitious putting the proper antenna(s) up on the roof or a tower as previous generations in order to receive the stations. Rabbit ear antennas are not going to pull in stations from 50+ miles away unless your area's topography is substantially higher than the surrounding area and it had better have a preamplifier as well. The increased urban RF noise floor, susceptibility to lightning/weather and building density does not help matters either, especially low-band VHF.
Good points all. Few of us with cable remember the occasional static bursts that low VHF would display during a thunderstorm. Frankly, they were so sporadic and minor that you mentally tuned them out. Now you can't because they break up the entire signal, which then takes several seconds to reconfigure every time. Very, very distracting.
A little static was a lot easier to take with an analog signal which is far more forgiving. With digital's "all or nothing" signal decoding characteristics, interference can really be a distraction to your viewing enjoyment.
A little static was a lot easier to take with an analog signal which is far more forgiving. With digital's "all or nothing" signal decoding characteristics, interference can really be a distraction to your viewing enjoyment.
BRNout said:Good points all. Few of us with cable remember the occasional static bursts that low VHF would display during a thunderstorm. Frankly, they were so sporadic and minor that you mentally tuned them out. Now you can't because they break up the entire signal, which then takes several seconds to reconfigure every time. Very, very distracting.
A little static was a lot easier to take with an analog signal which is far more forgiving. With digital's "all or nothing" signal decoding characteristics, interference can really be a distraction to your viewing enjoyment.
Anybody but me remember the times in the 50s & 60s before cable when an airplane flying overhead would make the VHF stations flutter? In our house we could always tell when there were planes in our path.
I actually experienced that when listening to some of the weaker suburban FM's. I remember that when I use to listen
to 96.7 WLLI in Joliet(when they were I Rock and Will Rock)that the signal would fade out for a few seconds when a
plane was flying overhead(usually the lower the plane, the more the interference). I would also get some sort of police
or fire radio that would completely take over the frequency for about 10 seconds and then the station would come back.
It usually only would happen a couple times a week. I don't know if that still happens, with their new stick, because I
don't listen to the station anymore.
to 96.7 WLLI in Joliet(when they were I Rock and Will Rock)that the signal would fade out for a few seconds when a
plane was flying overhead(usually the lower the plane, the more the interference). I would also get some sort of police
or fire radio that would completely take over the frequency for about 10 seconds and then the station would come back.
It usually only would happen a couple times a week. I don't know if that still happens, with their new stick, because I
don't listen to the station anymore.
audioguy said:stormy01 said:The mapping does not confuse most people, in fact, it helps them because the channel numbers remain familiar to them. The only people who are messed up about this appears to be the geeks who don't like the RF channel being different from the mapped channel. Average Joe doesn't care about the RF channel, all he cares about is receiving the station! (of course, we are finding out that the digital theoretical radius does not match the actual measured radius and the radius is less in digital than analog - and the digital tuners also appear to be somewhat less sensitive than their analog counterparts which doesn't help either)
Beg to differ; the channel number is confusing to consumers.
I've answered several hundred viewer emails and phone calls about the DTV transition. NONE - NOT ONE - in Nashville has been confused by the VHF/UHF thing.
I've encountered a literal handful (one hand, at least one finger left over) who were *aware* of remapping.
There has been no remapping confusion in this (Nashville) market. I find it very hard to believe the situation is significantly different in Chicago.
If you want to watch channel 2 and you were using a low band VHF yagi, you now need a high band or cut-to-channel antenna for channel 12.
If you want to watch channel 5, you need a UHF antenna that covers channel 29
If you want channel 7, you can actually use the same antenna that you used previously, since it is still on channel 7
If you want channel 9, you need a UHF antenna that works on channel 19
For those unfamiliar, they do make such things as low band and high band VHF antennas, as well as single channel antennas.
They also make UHF antennas that are optimized for certain ranges.
They do make them, but in the U.S. virtually nobody has them. Even in the rural areas 70-80 miles from the tower, all-channel antennas are the rule, at least around here.
Those who buy single-band Yagis are generally cable systems or MATV operations.
If we didn't remap...
Station Channel, 1995 Channel, 2003 Channel, 2009
WBBM 2 3 12
WMAQ 5 29 29
WLS 7 52 7
WGN 9 19 19
WTTW 11 47 47
WYCC 20 21 21
WCIU 26 27 27
WFLD 32 31 31
WCPX 38 43 43
WSNS 44 45 45
WPWR 50 51 51
WXFT 60 59 50
WGBO 66 53 38
Since we do remap:
Station Channel, 1995 Channel, 2003 Channel, 2009
WBBM 2 2 2
WMAQ 5 5 5
WLS 7 7 7
etc.....
What's less confusing?
TR1992 said:I actually experienced that when listening to some of the weaker suburban FM's. I remember that when I use to listen
to 96.7 WLLI in Joliet(when they were I Rock and Will Rock)that the signal would fade out for a few seconds when a
plane was flying overhead(usually the lower the plane, the more the interference). I would also get some sort of police
or fire radio that would completely take over the frequency for about 10 seconds and then the station would come back.
It usually only would happen a couple times a week. I don't know if that still happens, with their new stick, because I
don't listen to the station anymore.
I'm sure it still happens with FMs that are in the right path.
w9wi said:They do make them, but in the U.S. virtually nobody has them. Even in the rural areas 70-80 miles from the tower, all-channel antennas are the rule, at least around here.
Those who buy single-band Yagis are generally cable systems or MATV operations.
Excuse me, but it depends entirely on your market. In the Chicago area, most people (but definitely not all) use a single antenna that attempts to cover both VHF and UHF. I happen to use separate antennas, as do a couple of my neighbors.
In the South Bend and Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids market, virtually every single home that has an external TV antenna is using separate antennas for VHF and UHF. And they are pointed in different directions.
Problems occur when antennas are mounted in a fixed direction and must be re-oriented. For example, you may have your VHF antenna pointed north to receive station A and your UHF antenna pointed west to receive station B. But now A has actually moved to UHF, and you either need to add a rotator or a second UHF antenna pointed in A's direction (north) in order to receive it. And of course, you first need to be able to recognize why you are no longer getting a signal.
For someone who took down their outdoor antenna awhile back when they subscribed to cable, but has now decided to dump cable and watch off-air TV, it IS confusing for them to understand what antenna they should buy and use. And if some device in their home interferes with TV reception, it is important for people to know the actual RF channel that is being affected. Otherwise how could they possibly know how to correct the problem?
Here's an interesting article on DTV reception problems. It mentions that DTV isn't doing as well as analog for penetrating buildings.
http://broadcastengineering.com/news/move-vhf-challenging-stations-0713/index.html
I think a lot of people have overestimated the capabilities of digital transmission, both for radio and television. The digital cliff effect makes it imperative that you have sufficient link margin available.
http://broadcastengineering.com/news/move-vhf-challenging-stations-0713/index.html
I think a lot of people have overestimated the capabilities of digital transmission, both for radio and television. The digital cliff effect makes it imperative that you have sufficient link margin available.
Hi,
I am 13 miles from the sears tower and before last a few weeks ago 26 was one of my strongest signals. Just built one of those youtube antennas in about 40 minutes (I'm not a radio expert but like to tinker) and now I get everything + Southbend + Milwaukee and CBS 2 in Chicago which was hit and miss.
But still no 26! I get all the 23 but 23.1 is the only one with programming (MeTV). I don't get 48.1 which I guess according to the thread is MeToo. That's the one I need. I don't want to miss the 10 hour batman marathon tomorrow!
So something seems to be up. So just wondering if there is any news.????
I am 13 miles from the sears tower and before last a few weeks ago 26 was one of my strongest signals. Just built one of those youtube antennas in about 40 minutes (I'm not a radio expert but like to tinker) and now I get everything + Southbend + Milwaukee and CBS 2 in Chicago which was hit and miss.
But still no 26! I get all the 23 but 23.1 is the only one with programming (MeTV). I don't get 48.1 which I guess according to the thread is MeToo. That's the one I need. I don't want to miss the 10 hour batman marathon tomorrow!
So something seems to be up. So just wondering if there is any news.????
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