# Digital Transition Information from DirecTV



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Received this from DirecTV:

As you know already full power stations that have not already transitioned to a digital signal will be doing so on Friday 6/12. Overall we expect very few problems with the transition but here are a few last minute notes:
WNBC in NYC is expected to be down for 2 hours in the afternoon as they retrofit their transmitter. We will have on screen messaging up while this is happening and redirect to another station if needed.
We expect temporary outages for the following stations

Thursday June 11th:
6/11/09 – 2301 MT – Davenport, IA/Rock Island, IL/Moline, IL: KWQC 6 (NBC). Expected outage 1 hour.
6/11/09 – 2301 MT – Jackson, MS: WLBT 3 (NBC) Expected outage 2 hours
6/11/09 – 2335 MT – Cincinnati, OH: WKRC 25 (CW) Expected outage 2 hours
6/11/09 – 2335 MT – Cincinnati, OH: WKRC 12 (CBS) .Expected outage 2 hours

Friday June 12th:
6/12/09 – 0500 MT – Greenville- Spartanburg, SC/Ashville, NC: WLOS 13 (ABC) Expected outage up to 1 hr
6/12/09 – 0500 MT – Portland OR: KGW 8 (NBC) Expected outage - up to 1 hr
6/12/09 – 0500 MT – Seattle- Tacoma, WA: KCTS 9 (PBS) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 0700 MT – Washington DC-Hagerstown, MD: WDCW 50 (CW) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 0800 MT – Kansas City, MO: KMCI 38 (IND) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 - 0900 MT - Lansing MI: WKAR 23 (PBS) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 1030 MT – New York NY: WCBS 2 (CBS) Expected outage 2 hours
6/12/09 – 1030 MT – New York NY: WCBS – DNS 80, 380 & 390 (CBS) Channel will be in outage for approximately 2 hours
6/12/09 – 1130 MT – El Paso, TX: KTSM 9 (NBC) Expected outage- up to 1 hr
6/12/09 – 1200 MT – Salt Lake City UT: KTMW (IND) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 2159 MT – Miami-Ft Lauderdale. FL: WLTV 23 (IND) Expected outage 2 hours
6/12/09 – 2200 MT – Miami-Ft Lauderdale. FL: WSVNHD 7 (FOX) Expected outage 45 minutes
6/12/09 – 2159 MT – Tri-Cities, TN-VA: WCYB-CW 6 (CW) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 2159 MT – Tri-Cities, TN-VA: WCYB 5 (NBC) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 2200 MT - Boston MA: WMUR 9 (ABC) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 2258 MT – Salt Lake City UT: KUTH 32 (UNI) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/12/09 – 2259 MT – Topeka, KS: KSNT 27 (NBC) Expected outage 1 - 2 hours
6/12/09 – 2300 MT - Cedar Rapids, IA: KIIN 12 (PBS) Expected outage 6 hours
6/12/09 – 2300 MT – Des Moines- Ames, IA: KDIN 11(PBS) Expected outage 6 hours

Saturday June 13th
6/13/09 – 0059 MT - Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: KBMTHD 12 (ABC) HD -Expected outage 4 hours
6/13/09 – 0059 MT – Chico-Redding, CA: KRCR 7 (ABC) Expected outage 1 hour.
6/13/09 – 0059 MT – San Francisco- Oakland- San Jose, CA: KRON 4 (MNT) Expected outage 2 hours
6/13/09 – 0100 MT – San Francisco- Oakland- San Jose, CA: KTVU 2(FOX) Expected outage 6 -12 hours

The following stations will be going dark after the transition:
Buffalo NY - WNGS Ch 67 (Ind)
Eugene OR - KTVC Ch 36 (Ind)
Fort Myers-Naples FL - WEVU Ch 4 (UNI)
Fort Smith AR - KPBI Ch 34 (Ind)
Little Rock-Pine Bluff - KKYK Ch 49 (Ind)
Oklahoma City OK - KUOK Ch 35 (UNI)
Salt Lake City UT - KCBU Ch 3 (Ind)
Salt Lake City UT - KUTF Ch 12 (TFT)
Spokane WA - KQUP Ch 24 (Ind)
Springfield MO - KWBM Ch 31 (MNT)
Butte-Bozeman MT - KBTZ Ch 24 (FOX/MNT)


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Thanks for posting, Chris -- a couple of thoughts, and a question...

- one would think that after all the time in preparation, the actual switch-over for these stations would be accomplished more quickly.

- Iowa: 6 hours to switch -- what's up with that?

Has Dish published a similar list of delays?


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

Thanks for the info. Any idea where someone could find out if and when their OTA locals will change frequency? I use an AM21 to pick up my locals. Thanks.


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## ndark (Dec 12, 2008)

Chris Blount said:


> Received this from DirecTV:
> 
> The following stations will be going dark after the transition:
> Buffalo NY - WNGS Ch 67 (Ind)
> ...


What is the deal with these stations. I am in one of these markets and I rely on this station for Cardinals Baseball on Sundays. Are they gone for good? Is it DirecTV or the stations fault?


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## micster5 (Mar 25, 2008)

ndark said:


> What is the deal with these stations. I am in one of these markets and I rely on this station for Cardinals Baseball on Sundays. Are they gone for good? Is it DirecTV or the stations fault?


Most are gone for the forseeable future due to bankruptcy or lack of funds to convert to digital. I believe there are a total of 31 stations in the country going dark.


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## micster5 (Mar 25, 2008)

Nick said:


> Thanks for posting, Chris -- a couple of thoughts, and a question...
> 
> - one would think that after all the time in preparation, the actual switch-over for these stations would be accomplished more quickly.
> 
> ...


Some stations are having to replace existing equipment with digital equipment which can't be done until the signal is down. Others are having to move transmission lines. It depends on the station and their situation.

Flash cut stations will be hit hardest as they didn't have a separate digital frequency to broadcast on so they have to go from say 18 analog to 18 digital with no alternative broadcast location.


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## ndark (Dec 12, 2008)

micster5 said:


> Most are gone for the forseeable future due to bankruptcy or lack of funds to convert to digital. I believe there are a total of 31 stations in the country going dark.


So it is the stations fault and not D*? That makes me feel better. I was not going to be a happy customer.


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

dodge boy said:


> Thanks for the info. Any idea where someone could find out if and when their OTA locals will change frequency? I use an AM21 to pick up my locals. Thanks.


Basically "SOS" (Scan on Saturday). It would be a good idea for everyone to run the scan on their OTA boxes Saturday morning. Some stations are changing frequency.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

New York City "flagship" CBS & NBC networks down for 2 hrs. I'm really surprised. You'd think they'd have figured it out by now.  They must be using the elevators in the ESB to move gear.



> "WNBC in NYC is expected to be down for 2 hours in the afternoon as they retrofit their transmitter"
> 
> "New York NY: WCBS 2 (CBS) Expected outage 2 hours"


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

Chris Blount said:


> Basically "SOS" (Scan on Saturday). It would be a good idea for everyone to run the scan on their OTA boxes Saturday morning. Some stations are changing frequency.


Thank you... I can scan with my TV and hope that the networks updated their info to Tribune...


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## tvjay (Sep 26, 2007)

Nick said:


> Thanks for posting, Chris -- a couple of thoughts, and a question...
> 
> - one would think that after all the time in preparation, the actual switch-over for these stations would be accomplished more quickly.


My local stations made the switch in less then five minutes. My guess is that these stations that are taking longer have some very specific and challenging RF problems.

My questions for DirecTV is when will our OTA channels that are changing frequencies be working again on DirecTV?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

dodge boy said:


> Any idea where someone could find out if and when their OTA locals will change frequency?


With the AM21 what is important is when the guide data changes. Obviously the guide data shouldn't change before the station changes but less obviously, the guide data has to sync up before any of the modern DIRECTV OTA solutions will work.


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## cover (Feb 11, 2007)

tvjay said:


> My questions for DirecTV is when will our OTA channels that are changing frequencies be working again on DirecTV?


That is my question, too. WMC (NBC) in Memphis changed frequencies early AM, but HR20-700 still seems to be trying to tune the old frequency and getting a 771. I understand that this is a big deal, but there was _lots_ of warning and time to prepare.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

cover said:


> That is my question, too. WMC (NBC) in Memphis changed frequencies early AM, but HR20-700 still seems to be trying to tune the old frequency and getting a 771. I understand that this is a big deal, but there was _lots_ of warning and time to prepare.


FYI... WREG is switching at 9:23... So you should be able to test them in a bit as well.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

cover said:


> That is my question, too. WMC (NBC) in Memphis changed frequencies early AM, but HR20-700 still seems to be trying to tune the old frequency and getting a 771. I understand that this is a big deal, but there was _lots_ of warning and time to prepare.


until tribune updates the database from the info given from the station there is nothing D* can do. 
if the database has been updated a rescan of ota channels would help.
it took 2 weeks last february to get 1 channel here corrected.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

micster5 said:


> Some stations are having to replace existing equipment with digital equipment which can't be done until the signal is down.


Antennas don't discriminate based on content; they discriminate based on wavelength. If the digital channel is staying where it is, there's no new hardware required. If the digital channel is taking over where the analog channel used to be, there's no new hardware required.

The problem is when they need to swap out the antenna itself to make a change to an entirely new frequency.


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## CopyCat (Jan 21, 2008)

Charleston SC switch times for today

WCSC (CBS) — 6 a.m.

WCIV (ABC) — Noon

WCBD (NBC) — 11:30 p.m.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

David MacLeod said:


> if the database has been updated a rescan of ota channels would help.


What is this "rescan of ota channels"? Modern DIRECTV OTA tuners don't have this capability and any other ATSC tuning devices aren't dependent on any database.


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## Steveknj (Nov 14, 2006)

TBlazer07 said:


> New York City "flagship" CBS & NBC networks down for 2 hrs. I'm really surprised. You'd think they'd have figured it out by now.  They must be using the elevators in the ESB to move gear.


Why wouldn't they do this at 2AM instead of 2PM. Seems odd they'd do it smack in the middle of the day. I know in the IT world, ALL conversions are done after hours.


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## VARTV (Dec 14, 2006)

tvjay said:


> My questions for DirecTV is when will our OTA channels that are changing frequencies be working again on DirecTV?


Good question!!! We lost our MNT station on 4/30 and the ABC station this morning...


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

Steveknj said:


> Why wouldn't they do this at 2AM instead of 2PM. Seems odd they'd do it smack in the middle of the day. I know in the IT world, ALL conversions are done after hours.


wondering about that myself, saw a few doing this in daytime. wondered if it was due to payroll/overtime issues


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## VARTV (Dec 14, 2006)

David MacLeod said:


> until tribune updates the database from the info given from the station there is nothing D* can do.
> if the database has been updated a rescan of ota channels would help.
> it took 2 weeks last february to get 1 channel here corrected.


What?


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## say-what (Dec 14, 2006)

harsh said:


> What is this "rescan of ota channels"? Modern DIRECTV OTA tuners don't have this capability and any other ATSC tuning devices aren't dependent on any database.


Um, people do have other ATSC equipment in their households - also, "rescanning"/redoing OTA setup on a DirecTV box will refresh the OTA guide data on the box.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> I know in the IT world, ALL conversions are done after hours.


Funny you should mention that. The time-keeping company that my employer uses is updating their website software at 2pm next Wednesday. As we're two time zones later, it hits us when we would clock out for lunch.

I'm guessing that daylight and security are overriding concerns in operations like changing out broadcasting gear.


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## Steveknj (Nov 14, 2006)

David MacLeod said:


> wondering about that myself, saw a few doing this in daytime. wondered if it was due to payroll/overtime issues


The only thing that makes sense to me was that not all of their resources (perhaps outside sources) were not available outside of business hours. Especially union folks. Although I wonder if things like that were covered by Federal money.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

say-what said:


> Um, people do have other ATSC equipment in their households - also, "rescanning"/redoing OTA setup on a DirecTV box will refresh the OTA guide data on the box.


The original poster would have no real way of knowing that. 

In any case....yes...there is a notice on the main DBSTalk page regarding actions along this topic.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

> I'm guessing that daylight and security are overriding concerns in operations like this.


Yes, technical issues are _always_ more easily resolved in daylight.


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## cforrest (Jan 20, 2007)

I assume MT is Mountain Time? If not can someone correct me, thanks!


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

say-what said:


> Um, people do have other ATSC equipment in their households - also, "rescanning"/redoing OTA setup on a DirecTV box will refresh the OTA guide data on the box.


Atlanta market here. The only station involving a frequency change (temporary digital to permanent digital) was WGTV (PBS) VHF 8 which cut over back in February. So re-scan for this market should not be required. That said, DirecTV handled the OTA swap (i.e. pushed a guide/RF channel assignment update) for WTGV pretty quickly as I recall. They have also pushed updates to the guide for recent additional channels like subchannel 11-3.

One would think they would be doing one or more global pushes of this info across the board today.

Still, I would prefer to also have OTA scan capability in the DirecTV boxes.


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## tvjay (Sep 26, 2007)

harsh said:


> I'm guessing that daylight and security are overriding concerns in operations like changing out broadcasting gear.


If it is tower related then yes, daylight REALLY matters. Otherwise most equipment is located inside buildings so there is really no need for daylight. As for security, I am pretty sure that is not an issue.



tkrandall said:


> Still, I would prefer to also have OTA scan capability in the DirecTV boxes.


Same here.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

say-what said:


> Um, people do have other ATSC equipment in their households - also, "rescanning"/redoing OTA setup on a DirecTV box will refresh the OTA guide data on the box.


This is an excellent point. If you are having any issues at all with your OTA reception today or tomorrow, redoing Antenna Setup would be your first step in solving them.

Unlike satellite-fed channels, OTA mappings are static, meaning they won't change unless you make them.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

I'm hoping that the issues that happened on 2-17 have been used as a template for those swapping today. so that may help ensure an easier swapover.


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## dduensing (Oct 5, 2007)

In New Orleans, at 9:05 AM (Central Time) our channels 26 (ABC) and 38 (CW) turned off analog. The OTA signals were back on at 9:15. 

On DirecTV, channel 26 came back online at 9:25 AM and 38 came back on at 9:40. 

Looks like the DirecTV people are on the ball.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

dduensing said:


> At 9:05 AM (Central Time) our channels 26 (ABC) and 38 (CW) turned off analog here in New Orleans. Using OTA, they were back up at 9:15. On DirecTV, 26 came back online at 9:25 and 38 came back on at 9:40.
> 
> Looks like the DirecTV people are on the ball.


Good to hear! Not bad at all!


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

...or when is a firm deadline not really firm?

The FCC says that 118 stations in 85 DMAs have agreed to keep analog services going for another 30 days as a "nightlight" to broadcast emergency and DTV-related information to the remaining analog-only households, a figure that was up from 99 stations earlier in the week. The nightlight program makes July 12 the final DTV cut-off date for those stations. :joy:

I fully believe that our befuddled Congress and a flummoxed FCC will keep this a-d conversion going until the last socially-regressive diehard analog holdout either converts, gets arrested for growing weed, or dies off. :alterhase

Un-freakin-believable!


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

harsh said:


> With the AM21 what is important is when the guide data changes. Obviously the guide data shouldn't change before the station changes but less obviously, the guide data has to sync up before any of the modern DIRECTV OTA solutions will work.


GUIDE data "syncs" 24/7 meaning it's typically up-to-the-minute. The issue is that it is also dependent on the local stations. There will very likely be some local stations that will fail to make the transition correctly, but after the February transition, hopefully all of the stations that were changing frequencies were reminded (again) to update the guide information with Tribune.

Even so, it will likely be beneficial to re-run the Guided Setup for Antenna so that any changes are properly accounted for. As Chris noted earlier, it will probably be best to wait until the weekend (Saturday or even Sunday) to re-run the setup as there will be cases where the transition is not immediate.


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## spidey (Sep 1, 2006)

WRAL 5 CBS in Raleigh NC was reporting last night on the news that it would have a 5 minute outage at 12:55PM today on everything but the local cable system. So D*, OTA and E* customers will see a 5 minute outage as they move.


I figured I would run OTA setups again tomorrow after stuff settles down


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

dodge boy said:


> Thanks for the info. Any idea where someone could find out if and when their OTA locals will change frequency? I use an AM21 to pick up my locals. Thanks.


Directv handled the switch for KCTS just fine both via satellite and with the ATSC tuner on my HR20. The switch happened at 4:30 and when I checked at 7:30 all was working as expected. There are a couple of other Seattle locals (KSTW and KCPQ) switching frequencies later today so I will check again later.


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

D* updated the guide for Nashville, too. I did a rescan about 12:30AM and the new channels showed up with no problem.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

OK, as of earlier today, I get blank screens and searching for signal on all my local OTA stations using my 2 HR20-100s. I redid antenna setup on one of them and it did not help. The channels show up on the signal strength screen just fine. I think that DirecTV (or Tribune) changed the mappings already for this area, even though they will not actually change till later today.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Nick said:


> ...or when is a firm deadline not really firm?
> 
> The FCC says that 118 stations in 85 DMAs have agreed to keep analog services going for another 30 days as a "nightlight" to broadcast emergency and DTV-related information to the remaining analog-only households, a figure that was up from 99 stations earlier in the week. The nightlight program makes July 12 the final DTV cut-off date for those stations. :joy:
> 
> ...


It's really not that bad. This would have happened with the original deadline as well. All they will broadcast is emergency weather info and "This is why you're not getting programs anymore."

And they can't do it if it would interfere with any other stations.


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## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

Most of the stations here in Atlanta are scheduled to change at 12:30PM. i am anxiously waiting to see if I finally will be able to pick up WXIA (NBC) as I have never had good luck with them.


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## STEVED21 (Feb 6, 2006)

CBS & NBC NY has converted. No loss of picture


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

The only device in my house that's seeing the re-assigned NBC in my area, moved from freq. VHF 2 to UHF 18, is my SONY TV. Good thing I'm not an NHL fan.


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## micster5 (Mar 25, 2008)

Nick said:


> ...or when is a firm deadline not really firm?
> 
> The FCC says that 118 stations in 85 DMAs have agreed to keep analog services going for another 30 days as a "nightlight" to broadcast emergency and DTV-related information to the remaining analog-only households, a figure that was up from 99 stations earlier in the week. The nightlight program makes July 12 the final DTV cut-off date for those stations. :joy:
> 
> ...


This is simply an 8 minute loop telling people how to convert since they are obviously not converted yet. There is no regular programming on a nightlight station, only the loop and emergency information for the local market. This nightlight has been planned all along to let people know why they only get the one channel.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

tvjay said:


> As for security, I am pretty sure that is not an issue.


I think you might be surprised at the security surrounding many antenna farms.


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## mikeinthekeys (Feb 10, 2007)

Orlando market: My H20, that actually scans for channels, found 6-1 (local CBS) right away at noon local. However, my two HR20s after rerunning antenna setup finds only 6-2 a Latin sub-channel but not the main channel. Judging from the Feb transition, this is a Tribune issue, but it seems weird that only the -2 channel shows up. Another odd thing, the signal strength meter does show 100% signal strength on 6-1, but when the channel is selected there is no picture and a message states, "searching for signal."

Well good! 15 minutes after last post 6-1 showed up! Thanks D*!


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## flyingtigerfan (Feb 16, 2005)

Good job by DirecTV. WIS Columbia cut their analog channel 10 at 12:30 and moved digital from 41 to 10. I came home at 12:40 for lunch (and to check and make sure I wouldn't have any problems watching the Penguins tonight) and my HR-20 has a strong signal for the new WIS Channel 10 - looking in the right place for it and everything!

The -DT is now a thing of the past.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Doug Brott said:


> Even so, it will likely be beneficial to re-run the Guided Setup for Antenna so that any changes are properly accounted for.


Is it required or will it happen without intervention?

I would like to point out that quite a few stations aren't changing digital frequencies as part of this transition so before anyone gets too excited, each should determine for themselves whether they have to deal with this at all.

In my DMA (Portland, OR), the PBS, NBC, Fox and an independent have changed frequencies. The ABC, CBS, CW and Pax affiliates aren't changing frequencies.


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## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

STEVED21 said:


> CBS & NBC NY has converted. No loss of picture


Steve,I can't find WCBS ch 2 ? I'm in Monmouth County just below NYC.20 miles via the crow.All others are fine that have switched over.


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## nn8l (Sep 7, 2007)

bidger said:


> The only device in my house that's seeing the re-assigned NBC in my area, moved from freq. VHF 2 to UHF 18, is my SONY TV. Good thing I'm not an NHL fan.


Our local NBC had planned a 6:30am switch, but will wait until after the news tonight to make sure nobody misses the game. Gotta love 'em.

GO WINGS!!


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## Raymie (Mar 31, 2007)

All of the stations on the dark list are owned by Equity Media.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

harsh said:


> Is it required or will it happen without intervention?
> 
> I would like to point out that quite a few stations aren't changing digital frequencies as part of this transition so before anyone gets too excited, each should determine for themselves whether they have to deal with this at all.
> 
> In my DMA (Portland, OR), the PBS, NBC, Fox and an independent have changed frequencies. The ABC, CBS, CW and Pax affiliates aren't changing frequencies.


If there are not frequency changes, then probably re-running satellite setup is not required. Even in cases where there were frequency did change, not everyone had to re-run sat setup in February, but in other cases it was definitely necessary. I should only takes a few minutes, but will interrupt or prevent recordings, including the Live TV buffer.

The bottom line is that if you find something "missing" and you have an AM21 (or HR20), you should probably re-run satellite setup. If everything "looks good," then you probably don't need to re-run satellite setup.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

Nick said:


> Thanks for posting, Chris -- a couple of thoughts, and a question...
> 
> - one would think that after all the time in preparation, the actual switch-over for these stations would be accomplished more quickly.
> 
> ...


PBS Des Moines has apparently done better than that. I found that it had switched by the time I checked it early this morning, requiring a re-scan by my HDTV's. Interestingly, my D* OTA tuners were automagically prepared (by D*), and required no reset for PBS. Interestingly, I have lost CH 5 (abc) and 8 (cbs), as it appears D* has proactively changed the freq, and they are actually moving until very late this evening.

Some times the best of planning doesn't work out. I applaud D* for being proactive and big bozo award to the two affiliates who couldn't manage to change until the last minute.

There are other problems associated with the switch (like signal level meters not working on the changed channel (not acquired), but it is being tuned to properly, and has the same gorgeous pix it had yesterday.

Expect some issues and mixed results in those circumstances where your station not only dropped analog, but changed it's RF carrier frequency. In my locale, the following is/has happeing/ed:

NBC 13.1 was on RF 19, now on RF 13 (Feb 17th)
ABC 5.1 was on RF 59, will be on RF 5 tonight
CBS 8.1 was on RF 31, will be on RF 8 tonight.
PBS 11.1 was on RF 50, is on RF 11 at this moment.


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## ajc68 (Jan 23, 2008)

They just announced on ABC7 in Los Angeles that aprx. 250,000 won't be ready for the DTV transition in the region. I was at Best Buy this weekend, and people were buying the boxes by the score. I wonder how many people have bought these converters that don't even need them. The feature they just ran on ABC7 didn't even bother to tell people they only need the converter if they have an older, analog TV. They make it sound like everyone that is watching over-the-air TV needs them.

Btw, the ABC7 switch went off w/o a hitch at noon.


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## ziggy29 (Nov 18, 2004)

Surprisingly, no issues on my HR20-700 with the Austin Fox affiliate moving its signal from RF 56 to 7. I reran the antenna setup and it found KTBC where it now resides, on channel 7. Given all the issues in the past with the D* implementation of OTA on these boxes, I was expecting to see a 771 message for a while, but no...


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## spidey (Sep 1, 2006)

ziggy29 said:


> Surprisingly, no issues on my HR20-700 with the Austin Fox affiliate moving its signal from RF 56 to 7. I reran the antenna setup and it found KTBC where it now resides, on channel 7. Given all the issues in the past with the D* implementation of OTA on these boxes, I was expecting to see a 771 message for a while, but no...


My HR20-700 are fine but my HR21 with AM21 is having all sorts of issues. Oh well who needs OTA anyways


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## spidey (Sep 1, 2006)

spidey said:


> My HR20-700 are fine but my HR21 with AM21 is having all sorts of issues. Oh well who needs OTA anyways


The HR20s seemed to do okay the HR21 and AM21 needed me to reset setup on OTA and go thru initial setup again, after that everything is back working fine


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## retromzc (Sep 7, 2007)

Surprisingly, there were no outages on either Chicago stations (WBBM or WLS) when they changed frequencies at noon. They must be getting a direct feed from the stations rather than ota.


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## ziggy29 (Nov 18, 2004)

spidey said:


> The HR20s seemed to do okay the HR21 and AM21 needed me to reset setup on OTA and go thru initial setup again, after that everything is back working fine


I had one strange glitch here with KTBC (7-1), the one station in Austin which changed frequency at 12:30 PM today. At around 1:00 I tuned to 7-1 and got a picture, presumably from the new digital location at RF channel 7. So far, so good. But when I checked the signal meter, it said there was no signal on 7-1 (even though I was watching it!).

After doing a reset and initial setup, the signal meter again showed a signal for 7-1. I assume the signal meter was still looking for 7-1 on RF channel 56, even if it knew that tuning to 7-1 would pick up RF channel 7. After the reset, the signal meter apparently "fixed" itself and looked for a signal on 7.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

fluffybear said:


> Most of the stations here in Atlanta are scheduled to change at 12:30PM. i am anxiously waiting to see if I finally will be able to pick up WXIA (NBC) as I have never had good luck with them.


Fluffy - to my knowledge none of the Atlanta stations ATSC signals' power or directionality is changing, as they are all on their permamanent asssignments for some time now. I am not aware that any have been held to reduced power such as due to analog interference.

What kind of antenna do you have, as WXIA is on VHF 10?


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Lee L said:


> OK, as of earlier today, I get blank screens and searching for signal on all my local OTA stations using my 2 HR20-100s. I redid antenna setup on one of them and it did not help. The channels show up on the signal strength screen just fine. I think that DirecTV (or Tribune) changed the mappings already for this area, even though they will not actually change till later today.


Are your regular sat stations, like cnn coming in. I lost all channels for some reason when a couple stations went dark last night and I think guide data got kind of messed up on the unit for some reason.. Try doing a reset, and see if you get some stations back..


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

bobnielsen said:


> Directv handled the switch for KCTS just fine both via satellite and with the ATSC tuner on my HR20. The switch happened at 4:30 and when I checked at 7:30 all was working as expected. There are a couple of other Seattle locals (KSTW and KCPQ) switching frequencies later today so I will check again later.


KCPQ switched at 9 am and KSTW at noon. I didn't check the transition on KCPQ until a few minutes later but it was fine. When KSTW switched, the screen went black for a few minutes and then a transition slide came on. Several minutes later it was back.

The OTA Tribune database for KSTW had already changed so it was unavailable this morning but there as soon as the transition occurred. I can't receive KCPQ OTA so don't know about that one.


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## homeskillet (Feb 3, 2004)

Kansas City made the switch at 9 AM this morning without any problems. All of the KC stations came together to set a time to switch, as to not confuse the public. More markets should have done this.

WDAF-TV 4 (FOX) which was the first station on in Kansas City, signed off the analog the same way they signed on, with an Indian head test pattern and the national anthem, saying "This is WDAF TV 4 Kansas City concluding the broadcast day" On the digital side you could watch the chief engineer (in a suit & tie) press the button that killed the analog transmitter. Pretty cool.


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## Rob (Apr 23, 2002)

Live switch over via web stream... For KCAL and KCBS Los Angeles.

http://cbs2.com/

Click link: Live: KCBS Switches To Digital TV on Breaking News section at top.

1:10 Pacific Time


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## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

Channel 5 and 9 here in NYC are not pulling the plug until 11:59 PM tonight.Nothing like waiting till the last minute.Channel 2 just came back on an hour ago.


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## bobcamp1 (Nov 8, 2007)

My NBC station is off, but will turn analog back on at 8 for the hockey game. Because they aren't broadcasting ANYTHING right now (digital transmitter has a problem).

They are also getting pressure to do something for Sunday night as well. Hopefully they'll that their digital transmitter working by then.

So the "switch" works both ways apparently.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

bobcamp1 said:


> My NBC station is off, but will turn analog back on at 8 for the hockey game. Because they aren't broadcasting ANYTHING right now (digital transmitter has a problem).
> 
> They are also getting pressure to do something for Sunday night as well. Hopefully they'll that their digital transmitter working by then.
> 
> So the "switch" works both ways apparently.


It's likely the the DIRECTV LA or NY stations will be available to you during prime time and Live broadcasts .. Check those if your Locals are still having trouble.

I'd say your station is within it's right to broadcast today, but if they do so on Sunday they may get into trouble with the FCC.


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## gfrang (Aug 30, 2007)

Having searching for signal on channel 7-2 on HR23 am21 getting channel on tv in kitchen whit converter box and h20 in bedroom.Tried resetting hr 23 and rerunning the antenna setup.No stations have moved in my area yet as far as i know.


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## mobandit (Sep 4, 2007)

homeskillet said:


> Kansas City made the switch at 9 AM this morning without any problems. All of the KC stations came together to set a time to switch, as to not confuse the public. More markets should have done this.
> 
> WDAF-TV 4 (FOX) which was the first station on in Kansas City, signed off the analog the same way they signed on, with an Indian head test pattern and the national anthem, saying "This is WDAF TV 4 Kansas City concluding the broadcast day" On the digital side you could watch the chief engineer (in a suit & tie) press the button that killed the analog transmitter. Pretty cool.


Aw. I missed that this morning!


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## gomezma1 (Mar 28, 2006)

Will the stations digital signal be stronger now that it is in full implementation? i live 60 miles from Austin TX. Will i be able to get their signals also. I get TV from san Antonio.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Local channels here were changing over 2-4:30AM. NBD.


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## quinnr53 (Mar 12, 2008)

Channel 12 Wicu in Erie,Pa shut off the analog transmitter 3 days ago. I am still waiting for the perminate channel 12-1 to come on the air. As of 9:00 p.m. Friday 6-12-09 no site of Wicu 12 at 12.1 at high power. I called the station and the newsroom said that it should be on the air at any time. I also found out that they will not be broadcasting in HD. They are sill on sub-channel of Wsee35 at 16-3 at a lower power. Can they be fined my the FCC for being late getting full power digital signal going? I wish I lived in A bigger city because the local operations are Mickey mouse at best. I have Direct in HD with 32 inch hd set. Be nice to use it at its full potential.


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## paulh (Mar 17, 2003)

no Peoria/Bloomington ABC WHOI (ch 19) being broadcast on 72.5 this evening. (I'm not sure if MPEG4 is ok, I have not been converted, yet)

I rescanned my one ATSC TV and all is OK OTA, but that does not help all my TV's.

I noticed I can get NYC NBC, but no ABC...


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## Johnnie5000 (Mar 26, 2008)

The flashcut ones are expected to be out for 36 hours....


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## tvjay (Sep 26, 2007)

harsh said:


> I think you might be surprised at the security surrounding many antenna farms.


Well, I am glad someone has security.....my station and other stations around here, yeah not so much.


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## JLucPicard (Apr 27, 2004)

gfrang said:


> Having searching for signal on channel 7-2 on HR23 am21 getting channel on tv in kitchen whit converter box and h20 in bedroom.Tried resetting hr 23 and rerunning the antenna setup.No stations have moved in my area yet as far as i know.


I've got a similar situation where two converter boxes and an HR10-250 are picking up all my locals fine, but my HR21 with AM21 is having problems with my FOX and NBC stations. I've re-run the Antenna set up doing Initial Setup.

Is this something that could be related to someone else (Tribune, someone else???) having to tweak something before they're right?

Where are people finding the information for when a station actually switches and if they are on a new frequency or not?

This is the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, KMSP9 and KARE11. These two stations had been working perfectly as far as HD goes before this.

Thanks for any advice!


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## slowmoe (Dec 18, 2005)

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090613/ap_on_hi_te/us_digital_tv_transition

Sounds like like FCC was very busy.


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## kbxm (Mar 15, 2007)

I've got the same problem.

The two converter boxes I got at a garage sale last week as well as the internal TV tuners were all fine after a rescan this morning. Windows Media Center (2005, Vista and Vista TV pack) were all hosed because the databases they rely on weren't up to speed. Even manually entering the channel info in the XML files didn't help.

DirecTV didn't go so well either, black on 5, 9 and 11 OTA.

After surfing the problem for a while, it looks like if you could do a rescan for channels you're good. But...anyone having to rely on a guide or some other database for their channel info is hosed for now.

Sounds like it could take a couple of weeks (after ALL of the notice and supposedly being ready in January) to get things back up and running.


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## jeffgbailey (Feb 29, 2008)

Raymie said:


> All of the stations on the dark list are owned by Equity Media.


which all have been sold off anyways..

funny as all stations are still on satellite (G18)....obviously D* got the signal OTA and not from satellite


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## gfrang (Aug 30, 2007)

JLucPicard said:


> I've got a similar situation where two converter boxes and an HR10-250 are picking up all my locals fine, but my HR21 with AM21 is having problems with my FOX and NBC stations. I've re-run the Antenna set up doing Initial Setup.
> 
> Is this something that could be related to someone else (Tribune, someone else???) having to tweak something before they're right?
> 
> ...


Yea i think your right about Tribune ,today on the HR23 am21 i am getting no 7-1, the h20 no 7-1 and7-2 all other channels fine.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Fox in NY is still running ads that say "you may not have TV unless you get a converter" ...... :lol:


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## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

Some of the old stations will be up for 30 days telling you how to switch over.


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## jimmyv2000 (Feb 15, 2007)

gfrang said:


> Yea i think your right about Tribune ,today on the HR23 am21 i am getting no 7-1, the h20 no 7-1 and7-2 all other channels fine.


same here on both my H-20's no 7-1,7-2 as Whdh has changed to digital 7
Wmur 9 changed to digital 9 that was ok there on my rescan.
Wutf 66 has changed over to digital 27 and i got that one back also.

Now on my 2 conveter boxes.... rescanned this am No issues at all.All boston/Manchester NH stations are there


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## gfrang (Aug 30, 2007)

jimmyv2000 said:


> same here on both my H-20's no 7-1,7-2 as Whdh has changed to digital 7
> Wmur 9 changed to digital 9 that was ok there on my rescan.
> Wutf 66 has changed over to digital 27 and i got that one back also.
> 
> Now on my 2 conveter boxes.... rescanned this am No issues at all.All boston/Manchester NH stations are there


Yep same exact thing here,i really miss Mr.Ed in the morning.


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## NaperDan (Jun 9, 2009)

quinnr53 said:


> I am still waiting for the perminate channel 12-1 to come on the air.


Perminate?


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

jeffgbailey said:


> which all have been sold off anyways..
> 
> funny as all stations are still on satellite (G18)....obviously D* got the signal OTA and not from satellite


In the Spokane market, KQUP is still on D* as of this morning. Since it was sold to Daystar (pending FCC approval) and still operating, I see no reason why it wouldn't continue to be available on D*.


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## jeffgbailey (Feb 29, 2008)

Jaspear said:


> In the Spokane market, KQUP is still on D* as of this morning. Since it was sold to Daystar (pending FCC approval) and still operating, I see no reason why it wouldn't continue to be available on D*.


they must be getting it via satellite because the OTA station is gone

However, the LP translator in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is still active


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

jeffgbailey said:


> they must be getting it via satellite because the OTA station is gone
> 
> However, the LP translator in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is still active


It would be very unusual indeed for a translator to continue operating without a main signal. Are you absolutely certain that it is gone? Have you asked anyone who has cable if it is still around?


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

harsh said:


> It would be very unusual indeed for a translator to continue operating without a main signal. Are you absolutely certain that it is gone? Have you asked anyone who has cable if it is still around?


Same question I had. I have never been able to get KQUP OTA on channel 24, since it transmits from Pullman, about 100 miles south of Spokane. They do have a CP for a digital station on channel 24, which according to the FCC's service contour map, will transmit from Spokane's south hill, so perhaps they shuttered the Pullman transmitter in anticipation of beginning the new digital service in Spokane. Or maybe they just did it to save money.


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## rsteinfe (May 7, 2005)

I used to be able to get NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, PBS OTA in Buffalo, NY. Just did an initial antenna setup (Sunday 8 PM) and get no OTA channels at all on my HR-20. Anybody in the Buffalo DMA getting anything?


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## hobie346 (Feb 23, 2007)

I'm still waiting for the SF bay area 2-1 (Fox); 4-1 (KRON) and 7-1 (KGO) to lite up (771 error). Me thinks D* is sending the wrong channel mapping info as the digital tuner in the TV shows those channels just fine (after rescanning).


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## premio (Sep 26, 2006)

I'm still waiting for 13.1 in Sacramento, what the dilly! Why do they rely on these mappings and not just let us SCAN?!?!?


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

premio said:


> I'm still waiting for 13.1 in Sacramento, what the dilly! Why do they rely on these mappings and not just let us SCAN?!?!?


Good question. I've been asking the same thing ever since I mistakenly bought an AM21. It's like a crap shoot every time I use it.:nono2:

If I want to reliably watch OTA, I use the competition's receiver.


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

jimmyv2000 said:


> same here on both my H-20's no 7-1,7-2 as Whdh has changed to digital 7
> Wmur 9 changed to digital 9 that was ok there on my rescan.
> Wutf 66 has changed over to digital 27 and i got that one back also.


Two of my locals changed frequencies Friday. My HR20 updated the first day, while my H20 still hasn't. I figured out a workaround, though. Go to Antenna Setup and change your zip code to 99999. The H20 will erase your old locals and won't add any channels. Then, you can rescan and get every OTA channel, no matter what frequency!


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## Karen (Oct 4, 2007)

premio said:


> I'm still waiting for 13.1 in Sacramento, what the dilly! Why do they rely on these mappings and not just let us SCAN?!?!?


I can get 13.1 in Sacramento with my HR20-700. I reset the OTA channels and then ran the OTA channel setup on Saturday morning.


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## gfrang (Aug 30, 2007)

On hr23 am21 still not getting ch 7-1,h20 getting all channels in now.


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## ziggy29 (Nov 18, 2004)

ChrisPC said:


> Two of my locals changed frequencies Friday. My HR20 updated the first day, while my H20 still hasn't. I figured out a workaround, though. Go to Antenna Setup and change your zip code to 99999. The H20 will erase your old locals and won't add any channels. Then, you can rescan and get every OTA channel, no matter what frequency!


Wouldn't that be the same thing as performing a "reset" followed by an initial setup? The reset effectively does the same thing as an initial setup with a bogus zip code in terms of clearing out your current locals, does it not?


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## randyk47 (Aug 21, 2006)

I just had my H20 do a scan of locals and it came back with the new lineup without any trouble. My HR20's are also in line so for me the transition wasn't much of a deal.


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## mluntz (Jul 13, 2006)

No 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, or 13-1 here in 21108. Have done multiple antenna resets and reciever resets with no luck! D* channels work fine. This is getting a little frustrating!


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## jeffgbailey (Feb 29, 2008)

harsh said:


> It would be very unusual indeed for a translator to continue operating without a main signal. Are you absolutely certain that it is gone? Have you asked anyone who has cable if it is still around?


not really when we're working with Equity. In some cases public access is more technological than Equity

They do all their stations via satellite (they uplink all from Little Rock) so they can easily turn off the analog full power tower (which they HAVE to since there was no digital facilities). Since the LP station is exempt they can still broadcast on it. At 95% of the stations the only thing there is a transmitter and in some cases a FTA receiver.

By the way they turned off WMQF Fox Marquette too...black screen on the FTA receiver


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

Transition went pretty well in my market, except for one channel that changed frequencies. I gave it 3 days, still no signal after several rescans (works fine on my TV tuner after a rescan). So I call D* to report the matter. CSR basically says that I'm crazy. Tells me that my antenna is obsolete as of Friday and that I need to get a converter box. WTF? I tell them my antenna still works fine with my HDTV tuner in my TV, it's just that they may have missed the frequency change. They say my antenna only works with analog waves, which have now been turned off, and won't work with ones and zeros. I tell them I've been getting this digital channel OTA for 2 years on my HR20 until Friday. D* says OTA is not their responsibility. I need to take it up with the FCC and my local station. How the &*$^# do I get this fixed when there are no intelligent life forms on the other end of the phone?


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## Inches (Jan 5, 2005)

Still not receiving 2-1, 20-1, 44-1 or 60-1+, am getting the 771 error. Have done the initial antenna setup, refreshed services and rebooted several times on different days. I am getting other OTA signals like from 4-1, 5-1, 9-1, 11-1 and more. I am at a loss of what to do next. I am assuming its on my end since I do not see any chatter to the contrary.


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## tvjay (Sep 26, 2007)

mdavej said:


> Transition went pretty well in my market, except for one channel that changed frequencies. I gave it 3 days, still no signal after several rescans (works fine on my TV tuner after a rescan). So I call D* to report the matter. CSR basically says that I'm crazy. Tells me that my antenna is obsolete as of Friday and that I need to get a converter box. WTF? I tell them my antenna still works fine with my HDTV tuner in my TV, it's just that they may have missed the frequency change. They say my antenna only works with analog waves, which have now been turned off, and won't work with ones and zeros. I tell them I've been getting this digital channel OTA for 2 years on my HR20 until Friday. D* says OTA is not their responsibility. I need to take it up with the FCC and my local station. How the &*$^# do I get this fixed when there are no intelligent life forms on the other end of the phone?


I love how many people have NO idea about RF and antennas! Stupid question but have you tired a reboot?


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

Yep. Did a couple of reboots. Fourth time through the initial setup today finally did the trick. Somehow I'm magically getting all my OTA digital channels without a converter box. Guess my non-digital antenna isn't obsolete after all


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## sum_random_dork (Aug 21, 2008)

hobie346 said:


> I'm still waiting for the SF bay area 2-1 (Fox); 4-1 (KRON) and 7-1 (KGO) to lite up (771 error). Me thinks D* is sending the wrong channel mapping info as the digital tuner in the TV shows those channels just fine (after rescanning).


I heard from KRON today and they have to move their transmitter up on Sutro Tower, so currently they are running about half power. Once that is moved up they feel things should improve, as for KTVU I am not sure what's going on, I sent an email to the engineer but have no respons yet. I think Tom Vacar was on Monday and said it may be Oct before things are done. KCRA in Sac is raising their tower height but that won't be completed until Oct and KTVU is looking to add some trasmitters in certain areas that don't have good recpetion currently. As for KGO I didn't have any issues with my AM21 or Slingbox ProHd once I did a rescan. Remember they moved back to VHF channel 7.


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## goober22 (Sep 8, 2004)

Details:
HR20 x4
DMA/Market: Panama City, FL
Zip Code: 32401
Channel: WJHG VHF 7
Channel Number Showing in Guide: 7-1

Everything was fine since the changeover until last night (Tuesday 06/17/09). I can no longer receive WJHGs main HD feed, 7-1. The subfeeds all come in fine (-2, -3, -4). Signal strength is good on all. This has happened on all 4 of my HR20s, 2 -100 & 2 -700s.

I have reran the OTA setup a few times and done resets & reboots - nothing has helped. I can receive 7-1 fine on my TVs OTA tuner so it seems it's a D* issue. They did move from VHF8 to VHF7 but I have been getting them fine since the move until last night.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

A reminder that real issue reports should go here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=152685

rather than be made in this thread.


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