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WPVI Digital Problems Still?

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

It's been several months now after the transition... Haven't seen any complaints lately... I take it WPVI is now coming in loud and clear in all households?
 
I'm sure the answer is "no" but after a while people just give up.

- Trip
 
tripinva said:
I'm sure the answer is "no" but after a while people just give up.

- Trip
Click to expand...

I tried it from two Philadelphia locations last week during the NAB show - once from the Sleep Inn in King of Prussia, and again from a fifth-floor room at the Courtyard across from Philadelphia City Hall.

100% signal on channel 6 in both locations with my usual Terk HDTVi/Magnavox DVR combination.

Oddly, 12 was a no-show from center city, while it was loud and clear in King of Prussia. No idea why...
 
It's hit or miss with me. The wind storm we are having today is completely wiping out their signal. Every other station in the market is coming with little to no problem though.
 
I haven't invested in a good VHF antenna. I have a cheap VHF one in the bedroom and WPVI is hit or miss (mostly miss) there. The other TVs are running off a Silver Sensor in the attic and WPVI & WHYY are non existent, but all the others come in quite well. This is all from Mount Holly, NJ.

By getting Networks on Directv, I only really miss the subchannels, and it hasn't been worth it for me to re-arrange my antennae for LivWell infomercials, though I do miss Accuweather. WCAU's weather subchannel is not as good.
 
I'm willing to bet that 6.3 has the lowest bandwidth of the three streams, which makes it less susceptible to dropouts. That's why it's the most stable.
 
Just bought a spare TV for the bedroom. I'm not hooking it up to cable, so I needed to buy a digital antenna. Channel 6 does not come in at all.

Ironically, I got it mainly just to watch the news in the morning, and I usually do watch Channel 6. So now I'll just have to get the news from one of the other channels. Oh well...
 
According to recent FCC paperwork and tidbits on the FCC site, WPVI is looking to permanently increase power on channel 6 from its current (temporary) 30 kW up to 48 kW. The way I'm reading the FCC site, it sounds like the FCC is strongly considering it.

- Trip
 
If you're trying to get Channel 6, with no luck so far, give this a try. Find a pair of dipole rabbit ears - the kind that used to be attached to every television that you brought home from the store back in the '70s and '80s (and before). This is simply two telescoping rods.

Pull each section out to exactly 36", and place each one straight out and parallel to the floor. Rotate them so that they are "facing" Roxborough. Do a scan on your digital tuner, or manually lock it into Channel 6.1 if it will allow you to do so. If everything is aligned just right, you MIGHT just pick up Channel 6.

Until a few months ago, I was living in the area, north of the signal about 20 miles and in a ground floor apartment that faced either north or east. Getting Channel 6 wasn't easy, but the above formula worked well enough that I got to view what I needed when I needed it.

That's not to say that it wasn't suscepitble to dropouts and interference. Heck, anytime the guy upstairs (affectionately known to us as "bigfoot") moved around, the signal was likely to get interrupted. But, we perservered and managed for the short time we lived there.
 
EZway2go said:
Just bought a spare TV for the bedroom. I'm not hooking it up to cable, so I needed to buy a digital antenna. Channel 6 does not come in at all.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, many "digital" antennas do not support VHF, especially low VHF. Does it have "ears", as in rabbit ears? If not, you're going to need a proper antenna.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I purposely bought a TV with a built-in DVD player because I knew my viewing choices would be limited. (BTW, the antenna was not the most expensive, but it wasn't the cheapest one either).
 
EZway2go said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I purposely bought a TV with a built-in DVD player because I knew my viewing choices would be limited. (BTW, the antenna was not the most expensive, but it wasn't the cheapest one either).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, with TV antennas you don't necessarily get what you pay for. (and on the other side, you don't necessarily get crap when you buy cheap antennas) I have yet to see a new design that's any better than what you could buy in the 1960s. *Smaller* than the 1960s, that you can find. *Better*, you can't.

If you're using an indoor antenna within say, 15 miles of the towers, old-fashioned un-amplified rabbit ears are probably the best antenna you can get. Anything more expensive is a gimmick.
 
w9wi said:
I have yet to see a new design that's any better than what you could buy in the 1960s. *Smaller* than the 1960s, that you can find. *Better*, you can't.
Click to expand...

I think that's true with just about everything these days, w9.
 
I agree with Doug about rabbit ears at VHF. At UHF, though, I'll put my newer Silver Sensor up against any 1960s-design bowties or loops.
 
Why? The FCC and WPVI are well aware of the signal problems.

- Trip
 
Scott Fybush said:
I agree with Doug about rabbit ears at VHF. At UHF, though, I'll put my newer Silver Sensor up against any 1960s-design bowties or loops.
Click to expand...

Good point.

(sorry UHF folks, the seven channels I watch most here are all VHF... so I have a tendency to forget about the other side of the dial!)

Rabbit ears are good competition for "flat" antennas on UHF though. Especially for *amplified* flat antennas, if you live within a few miles of the towers.

(and really, a Silver Sensor isn't that new of a design electronically. The idea of using that design indoors certainly is!, as are the aesthetics of the design.)
 
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