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Watching TV in Worcester MA?

G

Garrett

I was wondering. If someone were to move to Worcester MA, and couldn't afford (or was unable to get) cable, sat or other pay tv, would they be able to watch TV at all? I remember that 27 which is Worcester based has a rim shot into the Boston area, so imagine the same is true in reverse. With no stations of their own (other than 27) how does one simply plug in rabbit ears and watch TV in Worcester? And what about receiving DTV channels?

Watching TV in Worcester must be tough for the pay TV challenged, huh?
 
Generally depending what part of Worcester you are living in you should receive of the Boston based TV stations (chs, 2, 4, 5, 7, 25, 38, 44, 56, 68) and outlying channels 46 and 62; also the Providence area stations - signal quality depends on where you are located - (chs 6, 10, 12, 28, 36, 64), and some channels fron New Hampshire (chs 9, 11, 50, 21, 60). Under good signal conditions you may also receive Springfield channels 22, 40, and 57; and Hartford area stations 3, 30, and 61. So there are plenty of channels you can receive in the area with the right equipment.
 
Thanks, but the question wasn't "with the right equipment." The question was, (or should have been stated): "with a normal set of rabbit ears, can u watch TV in Worcestor without some kind of snow on the screen?"
 
Other than channel 27, I know Worcester has a religous station on channel 48. Besides Boston and Cambridge, there's also channel 66 from Marlborough (Telefutura). Speaking of Connecticut, channels 3 and 18 transmit from Avon Mountain while channels 24, 30 and 61 transmit from Rattlesanke Mountain in Farmington, which would be a bit further from Worcester.

On the flip side, I've only received channel 27 twice here in central Connecticut, both times during the independent WHLL-TV days.
 
I used to live northwest of Worcester, and although we had cable, I sometimes tried rabbit ears and a loop antenna to see what I could get.

I would expect great signals from Worcester channels 27 and 48, although if you don't speak Spanish or follow Texas-based Bible-thumper religion, that might do you no good. Channel 66 would come in good too, although it's Spanish-language also. You would get good signals from Boston channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 25 and 38. 56 would be weaker, 44 weaker still and I don't know if 68 would come in at all. Springfield channels 22 and 40 should come in OK, as well as Providence channels 6, 10 and 12. I wouldn't expect 28, 36 or 64 too much.

But Worcester is hilly and your exact location will probably determine on which of these channels you'd get the best reception.

Paul
 
Hence the reason Worcester is known in some circles as the city of seven hills.
 
I think Worcester has a better chance of picking up the Springfield stations than the Boston ones, but I could be very wrong on that, but Worcester is closer to Springfield is it not?
 
LOL I actually had to pull out the Rand McNallly for this one, and Worcester is closer to Boston, although Worcester is geographically like the middle of the state so it's also somewhat close to Springfield, although slightly father from what I thought. The only place I ever go ever go to Massachusetts anymore these days is Taunton I haven't been on the Turnpike in ages, nor have I been to Worcester since 2004...closet I get to it is Woonsocket.
 
Over the last 20 or so years I've lived in ;pcatopns about 10 mi NW of Worcester (Woostah) and 10 mi SE.
With rabbit ears and a cheap loop, one can get outstanding reception if one lives on a hill facing in the direction of the faraway towers. One can get all networks and most indies from at least 3-4 different locations.
With an antenna in Rutland, MA we got 10 of the 12 VHF's very well, and at least 20 UHF's (yes 20) from all 6 new England States incl ME on a regular basis. On the other side of town (much lower elev) I was able to get
But if one lives at the bottom of one of those famous 7 hills of Worcester, pickings are much slimmer.
 
No 6 or 13. We got Ch26 from just south of Portland-about 100 air miles from Rutland. This was about 20 yrs ago when we had an antenna and I recollect 26 was PBS. When we first moved to MA we stayed at a motel just south of Uxbridge MA center (about 15 mi SE of Worcester, we had OTA reception and 26 came in crystal clear, about 125 mi OTA. In Rutland 26 was just so so. We did get Ch 8 in Rutland from Mt. Washington watchable but fuzzy but we also got Ch 8 New Haven by rotating the antenna SW. We would even get Ch 2 NYC (fuzzy) after Boston signed off. But the elev was 1000+ feet above sea level. Some people who lived in the center of town and at the crest of a huge hill (about 100 ft higher) had even better reception.
Without details, we had 6 PBS,ABC,NBC affilitates (only 3 on CBS-I'm not counting after hours WCBS NYC). I was able to get most of these with rabbit ears and a 99 cent loop in other rooms as the antenna only fed one set.
But moving to the other end of town, behind the hill led to getting only 2-3 clear stations with rabbit ears.
 
DAMN! You were so lucky! Channel 26 is WMEA-TV (PBS) of Biddeford, ME. WMTW-TV (ABC) channel 8 of Poland Spring, ME now transmits from Baldwin, ME. (I think it's by Lake Sebago.) WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven transmits from Madmere Mountain in Hamden, CT.

Here in New Britain, CT, I get a so-so 3 (WFSB), a half-decent 8 (WTNH), a terrible 18 (WUVN), a so-so 20 (WTXX), a now-GREAT 24 (WEDH), a decent 26 (WHPX), a solid 30 (WVIT), a snowy color 53 (WEDN), a so-so 59 (WCTX) and a solid 61 (WTIC). Channel 24 only became watchable last week when they switched on their new transmitter at Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington, CT. As for Springfield, MA? Can't get 22 (WWLP), 40 (WGGB) or 57 (WGBY) at all. :(
 
K.L. as lucky as I was it is VERY unusual to have such poor reception as you have in the south end of New Britain. The VHF stations are so close to you. The hills giveth and the hills taketh (Walnut Hill). Isn't there some "hot spot" in your house that improves reception?
By contrast my aunt and uncle lived in Kensington about 3-4 mi at most S of where U are. With an outdoor antenna and no Walnut Hill in the way they were able to get all the CT locals and watchable pictures on the NYC indies-5,9, 11. This was before the dreaded cable.
My sister and brother in law, by contrast live on a south facing hill in MA and get nearly all the CT stations perfectly but cannot get a watchable picture on the Spriongfield stations about 10 mi away. All U can do is listen to them if you want local news. They are the dinosaurs who have never had cable.
I lived at the bottom of too many hills myself and as manure tends to flow downhill, so does the quality of TV signals! And Woostah has a LOT of hills!
 
Considering that most Boston TV stations have their transmitters west of Boston, and none of the Springfield transmitters are east of Springfield, that makes 22, 40 and 57 a harder catch.

Paul
 
It's definitely Walnut Hill messing me up here. Go back to 1991, when I was living a block from East Street in the east end of the city, on the other side of CT Route 9. I was using a 13" Curtis Mathes TV with 12 presets you had to do with these tiny wheels for fine tuning. (The TV was from 1985 or so.) I got close to the same reception for channels 3 and 8. Channel 18 (just before they were forced off the air) and 24 (then from Avon Mountain) were perfect. Channel 57 from Springfield was so-so. However, channel 22 from Springfield was nearly clear while channel 40 from Springfield has a slight bit of snow, but was still clear enough to watch and tape off of, if need be.
 
How come the Boston stations don't use translators like they do out here in Texas? All the local stations here have UHF translators that dot the distant rims of the market.
 
Who knows? WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain once ran W59AA channel 59 in West Haven and translator channel 79 in Torrington, CT. Of course today we have full-power channel 59 in New Haven, which has no connection to WVIT-TV.
 
I grew up in Princeton, MA, a town north of Worcester that, to my knowledge, still has no cable to this day.

Being about 4 miles southeast of Wachusett Mountain, Boston and Providence signals came in fine for the most part, everything else was slim pickins'.

2, 4, and 5 came in fine but curiously 7 was always a bit staticy. 25 and 56 came in much better than 38, 44 came in clearly, and 68 reception was marginal at best (which SUCKED during their short time as the Red Sox flagship). 27 was crystal clear but useless (no habla espanol.)

As far as out of market signals, 10 came in much better than 6 or 12 out of Providence, 9 out of Manchester was viewable... nothing doing out of Springfield or Hartford, or Maine (even when WMTW was on Mt Washington, not a trace.)

Curiously, we were able to get a shaky signal of WTEN/Albany's repeater on Channel 19...
 
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