DTV

[kenstrac]

Got up this morning reprogram TV lost 5 channels last week was wanting to watch an already programed channel and another channel was over riding it
why do we always have to fix things that aren't broke.

 

[cowboy357]

I Here You kenstrac , We,ve been having to rescan for channels the last 2 weeks here . Did it again this morning & lost the ones We gained a month ago. down to 5 now . . Bob

 

[tommu56]

I'm not all that happy at my cabin I got 4 fuzzy stations.
The last time we were up, on digital we got 1 pbs station with 3 feeds that I didn't get before and one other but no abc cbs nbc and coulden't get the old stations.
I hate to admit it but those channels i did get were as good as my cable at home.

tom

 

[tommu56]

Got up this morning reprogram TV lost 5 channels last week was wanting to watch an already programed channel and another channel was over riding it
why do we always have to fix things that aren't broke.

To sell of the old band with to the phone company's for $$$$$$
and the heck with the public.

BTW the FCC isn't the ones that started this, congress decided we needed it.


tom

 

[turbo36]

I got up to the cottage this weekend and hooked up the digital converter box that cost $10 ( with the coupon) and 6 minutes later I had more stations ( with higher quality picture and sound) then I had with analog, I'm very happy with the change. Why did we wait so long?

 

[tanglefoot]

I think we were sold a bill of goods. The TV stations save money by decreasing the power they supply to their signal. We're out here trying to jump through hoops to satisfy them while we watch their numerous commercials plus a plug on every news show.
Butch

 

[turbo36]

I think we were sold a bill of goods. The TV stations save money by decreasing the power they supply to their signal. We're out here trying to jump through hoops to satisfy them while we watch their numerous commercials plus a plug on every news show.
Butch

No one is forcing you to watch this free service, just turn it off if you don't like it.

 

[cowboy357]

No one is forcing you to watch this free service, just turn it off if you don't like it.

I,m glad its working out for You. But This so called free service has been Free since Television first started & Worked Great . Out here if You dont have Cable or dishtv ( Which are far from Free ) You cant even get the stations We,ve had for decades .

Also it Depends on the Weather of what You can get & We have to rescan several times a day just to watch the local news . A real PINA as far as I,m concerned . . Bob

 

[dooleysm]

The only thing consistent in life is change. I'm sure people were just as upset when analog television came out and started to take the place of radio.

"But radio has always been free and works great. Now if you don't have a new fangled television you can't get the Little Orphan Annie show."

New technology is always painful at first, but it will pay off in the long run. Cell phones switched from analog to digital in the late 90's. Look at everything that has come about as a result of that change...text messaging and voicemail are everywhere, you can access the internet from your phone from most of the country. I would expect similar advances in the television arena now.

 

[cowboy357]

Very True Shawn , Im just one of them old dogs that you cant teach new tricks to . . I,m still upset cuz I cant play my ole 8 track tapes . . bob

 

[teststrips]

A lot of people don't realize the benefits that will come because of this transition. Part of the transition is to free up some frequencies - the most often talked about is emergency communication... currently most police/fire fighters/ambulances use the same crowded frequencies that everyone else uses (Which causes poor or lost communications... something not good in the emergency services group). Part of the DTV transition was to give emergency services workers some "space" for reliable communication.

For you and I, there was also some extra frequencies sold off to the highest bidders. These frequencies will get used mostly for better cell phone communication. You'll probably also see wireless broadband showing up - on the 700 mhz frequencies, one tower can likely cover a 30-50 mile radius... which will likely bring broadband to many of our farms that are currently stuck with dial-up.

 

[The Dougster]

There is little reason to be stuck with dial up.... any place you have cell phone coverage, you can have 3G wireless service... Da Warden gave up our satellite for the Sprint wireless service and love it... where our laptop goes, we have internet service... It's great

 

[tommu56]

A lot of people don't realize the benefits that will come because of this transition. Part of the transition is to free up some frequencies - the most often talked about is emergency communication... currently most police/fire fighters/ambulances use the same crowded frequencies that everyone else uses (Which causes poor or lost communications... something not good in the emergency services group). Part of the DTV transition was to give emergency services workers some "space" for reliable communication.

For you and I, there was also some extra frequencies sold off to the highest bidders. These frequencies will get used mostly for better cell phone communication. You'll probably also see wireless broadband showing up - on the 700 mhz frequencies, one tower can likely cover a 30-50 mile radius... which will likely bring broadband to many of our farms that are currently stuck with dial-up.

our old 33.70 fire raidos worked better and had a better coverage area than out 800mgh trunking ones.

The county had to put 5 or 6 antennas in to get it to work were they had 2
but it is nice being able to cross talk be tween rhe different services.

tom

 

[440roadrunner]

A lot of people don't realize the benefits that will come ......better cell phone communication. You'll probably also see wireless broadband showing up - on the 700 mhz frequencies, one tower can likely cover a 30-50 mile radius... which will likely bring broadband to many of our farms that are currently stuck with dial-up.

First, no cell service is going to use any of the vacated TV spectrum, as cell has pretty much moved "up" in frequency. The old analogue 800mhz band is pretty much unused for now

Second, I don't know what kind of power you intend to run on these imagined 700mhz broadband towers, but there are NO services in this frequency range that can get anywhere near the 30-50 mile radius that you imagine. ****, you'd be lucky to get that kind of coverage with high gain, directional antennas on a point to point link

DTV is a joke. period. The propagation (coverage) is worse, and when you lose the signal you've lost it. At least with analogue, I could put up with a "little snow" if I had to.

Here in the Spokane/ Coeur d Alene area, I invested in a large hi-gain log VHF/ UHF yagi (FOURTEEN FOOT BOOM) at 50 some feet with a rotator, JUST so I could get PBS's 3 new channels as will as channel 2 (CBS) out of Spokane. I finally gave up on 7 and downgraded my high speed internet so I could get "basic TV" cable at the same price. As it turned out, EVEN THE CABLE CO. could not provide me with channel 7 during this winter's storms.

I don't need to see the pimples on Rosie O'Donnell's ***** in any better quality than I could earlier.

 

[daveyb45]

DTV works ok,,,,has great picture quality and sound. Down side you either have a signal that works or you dont. The biggest problem for most people is setting up the tuner properly. Scan and rescan,,,be careful how you read the directions. Scan is either A new scan with the first setup of the tuner or it will wipe out previous scans and replace all the channels with new found channels. then Theres update or add channels display,,,use this to add to the channels already programmed into the tuner. This is important when you have to aim your antenna in different directions to program channels.

Theres are always issues when something new is introduced. Look at this way, considered it a way to prevent alzhiemers, keeps ya guessing. AH what was I saying. Oh well its off to scan land.

 

[kenstrac]

Well I have had enough, DTV is a joke they had 2 stations 11&21 that changed back in Feb. 11 branched out into 3 stations2 transmit the same and the other has different program 21 branched out int 4 maybe 5 only 1 of the 4 is worth watching and the fifth pops up but no signal early last week channel 11 was coming in on 21 but the picture was frozen no movement no sound this is with a signal strength of 89 on 21 and 93 on 11 now that the other stations moved over to DTV I still lost4 channels I played with the rotor that I put up 3 years ago that I never adjusted after I found the right direction for the best picture That now only turns about 200 deg now (Radio Shack JUNK made in China)the last roter I had was a Channel Master that lasted 15 yrs and is probably still working.
Now I have to adjust the rotor 45deg to get some channels and when we are in the bedroom and want to watch another station I have to go in the living room to turn the rotor.
I am now retired and I got a call from a company I had worked for 5 years ago I had automated some machines for them and there maint. person was out sick for 6 weeks and they asked if I could install machines they had bought.
The machine consisted of 2 air cyl. when I opened the box up to wire it I found a PLC for WHAT! I could have done it with 2 ice cube relays and a ice cube timer and 3 bases total cost about $60 instead of a $300 PLC.
Then the timing had to be changed go get the $600 laptop when all I would have to do with the ice cube relay was TURN the knob.
IT never ceases to amaze me in today's world that a simple task has to be done with PLC.
Another thing that burns my butt the govt wants you to conserve energy I just bought all new energy efficient stove,dishwasher,ref. m/w and washer and dryer my electric consumption went up the kitchen is lit up so I can read the paper with the lites off Phantom loads.
I'll be back later with chapter 2 I'M just to PO right now!

 

[tommu56]

The problem uhf doesn't propagate like the uhf did and to compound the problem digital is 1 or 0 not an analog numbet say 0 = 100 so if I had a 85 it might be fuzzy but you got some tv now lets take 85% of 1 and .85 isn't 1 so the digit is 0 == no signal no tv

Here is my reception at my cabin from the FCC search
signal strength Callsign Network Virtual Chan

Moderate Signal WQMY MYTV 53-1
Moderate Signal WPSU PBS 3-1
Weak Signal WBRE NBC 28-1
Weak Signal WYOU CBS 22-1
Weak Signal WATM ABC 23-1
Weak Signal WOLF FOX 56-1
Weak Signal WTAJ CBS 10-1
Weak Signal WVIA PBS 44-1
No Signal WNEP ABC 16-1
No Signal WBNG CBS 12-1
No Signal WHP CBS 21-1
No Signal WHTM ABC 27-1
No Signal WKBS N/A 47-1
No Signal WIVT NBC 34-1
No Signal WICZ FOX 40-1
No Signal WENY ABC 36-1
No Signal WETM NBC 18-1
No Signal WGAL NBC 8-1
No Signal WJAC NBC 6-1

Doesn't look too promising dose it!
I get the first 2 channels and never got them before and lost the 4 others that came in fuzzy
tom

 

[tommu56]

W
The machine consisted of 2 air cyl. when I opened the box up to wire it I found a PLC for WHAT! I could have done it with 2 ice cube relays and a ice cube timer and 3 bases total cost about $60 instead of a $300 PLC.

I have so much problem with people that don't know what they are doing so I try and use a PLC's to keep people from messing with the stuff.

and when managment buys new equipment the dont ask what we would prefer and they cant understand why we get ticked with another plc platform

Allen Bradley scl plc5 controllogic
Siemens s5,505 (ti) s7 and logo's
eberly
Mitsubishi f and a series
robots abb and ge fanuc
omron c200 to cqm
and about 6 hmi interfaces

and they get confused when I ask them to learn 2 other foreign languages. they just don't get it

sorry for the rant

tom

 

[dmccarty]

DTV does not impact us at all.

And its not because we are on Directv either.

The only thing we watch on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, or PBS is the local news and that is pretty close to zero these days. Maybe 60 minutes worth of local news since 2005. I don't think we have watched anything on those channels in years. We will watch PBS on Sunday for gardening and cooking shows. But if we could not watch PBS it would not be the end of the world.

For years we have talked about pulling the plug on Directv and just buying DVDs we like. We really are close to just turning it all off. We spend more time watching cartoons than anything else. Why? Because even with gazillions of channels there is nothing worth watching. The cartoons are better than much of what is on the cable channels and far better than anything on ABC, CBS, etc.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

I am on a private list server that covers the going's on in my county. One of the posts this morning was about DTV. The poster used to get quite a few analog stations and now nothing with digital.

I guess people in the country are getting the shaft with DTV.

Later,
Dan