My friend lives on the north side of Providence on the ground floor of an apartment building. He can't afford cable right now so he's using traditional rabbit ears on top of his TV. He gets great reception of channels 10, 12, 28, 36, and 64, but ABC 6 barely comes in at all. Is this a common issue in Providence? Does ABC 6 broadcast from farther away? The VHF's from Boston are also unwatchable, but he gets decent reception of 25 and 38.
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WLNE OTA Reception
- Thread starter ansky212
- Start date
J
jvparent
Guest
The WLNE signal comes from Tiverton, RI -- to the southeast of Providence. 10, 12, and possibly the others (I don't quite remember) transmit from Rehoboth, MA -- east/northeast of Providence.
When I lived on a lake in eastern CT, I could shoot my antenna right in the middle of the two (right at Swansea, MA) and nail all the Providence signals cleanly. Your friend might try that, or something slightly north.
When I lived on a lake in eastern CT, I could shoot my antenna right in the middle of the two (right at Swansea, MA) and nail all the Providence signals cleanly. Your friend might try that, or something slightly north.
What about 28, 36, and 64? Where do those transmit from? I remember I was at a thrift store in Woonsocket that had a bunch of TVs set up with just rabbit ears. There were even some very old ones with separate knobs for VHF & UHF. I mean, who the heck would buy one of those today? But I remember I think some of them were actually tuned to 25, which, IIRC, came in better than 64. And I know that 36 doesn't have a very strong OTA signal at all. I don't think 36 came in well, but channel 2 came in slightly better than it.
I am not certain about WSBE 36, but 28 and 64 both transmit from Rehoboth, MA. Remember that UHF transmission/reception behavior can be quite different than VHF, so the UHF signals can have different characteristics than VHF ones that come from the same tower.
Interesting about WLNE not having a great signal in the market because it seems to be the strongest Providence station in parts of eastern CT and it's the first Providence station to skip out of its range during tropo events and to be picked up in places like NH, Western MA and Western CT. Since that's pretty common in the summer, I recall channel 6 being watched pretty regularly at my relatives house in the Litchfield Hills of CT. I think it often actually came in better than local ch. 8 for ABC programming (at the time).
Interesting about WLNE not having a great signal in the market because it seems to be the strongest Providence station in parts of eastern CT and it's the first Providence station to skip out of its range during tropo events and to be picked up in places like NH, Western MA and Western CT. Since that's pretty common in the summer, I recall channel 6 being watched pretty regularly at my relatives house in the Litchfield Hills of CT. I think it often actually came in better than local ch. 8 for ABC programming (at the time).
36's analog signal transmits from Neuticoncanut Hill in Johnston, the WPRO-FM tower. 28 is actually a bit beyond Rehoboth, out in Freetown, MA, but at least in the same general direction as seen from Providence.
All the Providence-market DTV signals will be coming from Rehoboth (WLNE, WJAR and WSBE from the current WJAR site, WNAC and WPRI from their current sites), except for WLWC (which will stay at the Freetown site) and WPXQ (which stays at its current site down south).
All the Providence-market DTV signals will be coming from Rehoboth (WLNE, WJAR and WSBE from the current WJAR site, WNAC and WPRI from their current sites), except for WLWC (which will stay at the Freetown site) and WPXQ (which stays at its current site down south).
N
necrat123
Guest
Only the WJAR tower is retrofitted for WSBE-DT, WLNE-DT along with WJAR-DT. WLNE-DT & WJAR-DT share a common antenna, and WSBE-DT is on a lower antenna @ 89 Pine St WJAR tower. WNAC-DT is side mounted on the WNAC analog tower up @ 33 Pine St, and WPRI is combined with WPRI-DT into the same antenna over on Homestead Ave.
ansky212 said:
This is why WLNE has never become very popular in the Providence market. Back in the old days, people couldn't easily get the signal.
I find it ironic that WLNE's antenna is actually in RHODE ISLAND, while the other more popular Providence stations' are in MASSACHUSETTS. Just a smart-aleck comment from a Brown U. grad!
Another reason why 6 doesn't come in well in Providence (vs 10 and 12) it may be directly related to the length of the rabbit ears. 10 and 12 require rather short rabbit ears and you have to strech out the ears to nearly the full extent and have them open up quite wide for ch 6. A royal pain in the keyster since U have to keep adjusting them for the other stations. Doing that may even help get the lower Boston VHF's in (2,4,5) since it was said that they get 25 and 38 from Beantown.
Even though we have cable, we keep a small TV in the breezeway to watch the Providence stations that we can't get on cable.
Even though we have cable, we keep a small TV in the breezeway to watch the Providence stations that we can't get on cable.
C
chuckydoll
Guest
It's not about the rabbit ears -- it's about location
When WTEV was built in the 60's it had to put its tower in Tiverton to avoid interference with Channel 5 in Boston, then occupied by the original WHDH-TV. Going DT from Rehoboth cancels out that disadvantage.
The CW28 tower is located in Freetown to avoid interference with Univision on Channel 27, which is licensed to Worcester.
formeraa said:
When WTEV was built in the 60's it had to put its tower in Tiverton to avoid interference with Channel 5 in Boston, then occupied by the original WHDH-TV. Going DT from Rehoboth cancels out that disadvantage.
The CW28 tower is located in Freetown to avoid interference with Univision on Channel 27, which is licensed to Worcester.
N
necrat123
Guest
Even with that, WLWC's analog antenna is still directional with a null aimed towards 27 in Worcester. (I was about to call it WHLL!)
Was WTEV short spaced to WHDH 5? I had always heard it was shorter to WCSH 6 in Portland and WRGB 6 in Schenectady.
WJAR 10 is short spaced to WTEN in Albany, NY, however because WTEN was on later on VHF 10, is why WTEN has the directional antenna towards WJAR and not vice versa. (I believe WTEN also nulls slightly towards WHEC in Rochester, NY)
I bring that up because Albany is closer than Portland. Just different than the stories I heard in the past...
Was WTEV short spaced to WHDH 5? I had always heard it was shorter to WCSH 6 in Portland and WRGB 6 in Schenectady.
WJAR 10 is short spaced to WTEN in Albany, NY, however because WTEN was on later on VHF 10, is why WTEN has the directional antenna towards WJAR and not vice versa. (I believe WTEN also nulls slightly towards WHEC in Rochester, NY)
I bring that up because Albany is closer than Portland. Just different than the stories I heard in the past...
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