# OTA Fox in Austin



## CricTic (Mar 17, 2006)

Has anyone else noticed a drop in the Fox (KTBC, ch. 7) signal strength in Austin within the last couple of weeks? It's essentially unwatchable for me now, with frequent dropouts. I haven't changed anything in my setup (E* 622 with amplified HD OTA antenna).


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## swtbrad (Nov 8, 2006)

I live in Georgetown and have also noticed dropouts recently. The signal strength is in the 80's with numerous dropouts.


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## UT_Texan (Dec 9, 2004)

Ditto, I live in RR and noticed drop outs. But I have always noticed that to some degree from FOX just not as bad as it has been.


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## julesism (Feb 25, 2004)

yep, i'm in town (near 35 and 290) and notice it as well :/


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## debpasc (Oct 20, 2005)

My FOX HD over satellite has consisstent audio-synch problems. This just started a couple of weeks ago.


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## mikeinaustin (May 20, 2004)

i have constant blocking and "signal loss" messages with fox ota HD even though the signal strength appears to be in the low 90's. I don't believe it is a signal strength issue, but rather some type of coding issue on fox's end that is causing troubles with dish network decoders (622 and 211). in other words, i believe the local fox did some type of hardware or software upgrade on their end that has caused this issue.


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## BMc (Dec 5, 2006)

I'm also having the same problems with KTBC HD on my Dish 411. It blocks about every 20 seconds and I get signal loss messages. Relocating the antenna has no effect. I have an 85% signal strength on KTBC and version L3.41 software.

To watch the Cowboy/ Giants game Sunday on KTBC HD I tried my old Dish 811 receiver with the same antenna and it worked fine all afternoon.


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## mikeinaustin (May 20, 2004)

So whats the problem with fox? I hear it isn't just an austin,texas issue, but is happening in various cities around the US with FOX and dish hardware. For me, i have 622 and 211 and both have a problem with fox (constant blocking, etc, while signal strength remains very high). This problem with fox and the 622/211 did not exist at my house until about 2-3 months ago. 

I also have a tv with built-in HD OTA tuner, this TV tuner, using the exact same feed as the dish hardware, has ZERO problems with the fox feed.

Anyone have ideas? Is this something fox has done or some type of software upgrade dish had done to ruin things?


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## CricTic (Mar 17, 2006)

My TV's OTA tuner is having issues just like my 622 tuner is. I guess I'm just unlucky.


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## BMc (Dec 5, 2006)

Why would my old 811 still work with KTBC but not my 411? It could be the current software on the newer Dish HD receivers will not work properly with any off the air station using the 720p format. Only Fox 7 KTBC is using that format in Austin.


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## CricTic (Mar 17, 2006)

Doesn't PBS HD also use 720p?


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## mikeinaustin (May 20, 2004)

CricTic said:


> Doesn't PBS HD also use 720p?


not sure, but i'll check tonight. i don't have a problem with pbs though with any of my tuners. Did dish do a software upgrade in the last month on both the 622 and 211? thats when the problem began, until then, everything was fine with fox.

my signal strength is 90-100 on all OTA's here in austin.


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## BMc (Dec 5, 2006)

This site says KLRU is 1080i: 

austin.tx.us/hdtv (I can't do a link yet - need 5 posts.)


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

PBS-HD is 1080i.


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## pjm877 (Apr 27, 2003)

no problems with my Mits 65813 is dead on and locked with Fox .. but the 942 and 622 are now unwatchable... I even had to change the PVR recordings to SD for house and bones.. and others ... Fox 7 changed something about a month ago... 

I have low 90's for fox and 85 > for the rest of the Austin HD channels. but I do have a out door 8' ant.


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## BMc (Dec 5, 2006)

KTBC HD Fox 7 started working on my Dish 411 yesterday. A problem may have been fixed at the station.


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## CricTic (Mar 17, 2006)

My reception is still screwy.


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## pjm877 (Apr 27, 2003)

Gang, here is the reply I got from from Fox: 

Dear Perry:

I am forwarding your email to our Vice President of Engineering so he can have someone in our engineering dept. get back to you regarding your technical question.

Thank you,
Holly Breaux
Program Director
KTBC FOX 7 Austin
512-495-7782


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## mikeinaustin (May 20, 2004)

my hd fox is still messed up on both my 622 and 211. as always, my tv's ota has no problems with fox hd ota though.


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## mikeinaustin (May 20, 2004)

my tv hd tuner reports that pbs is 720p not 1080i as of 11pm on 12/12/06.


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## julesism (Feb 25, 2004)

mikeinaustin said:


> my tv hd tuner reports that pbs is 720p not 1080i as of 11pm on 12/12/06.


ditto. when i tune into KLRU-DT's HD content, it's 720p.

the drop-outs during the game on KTBC are annoying today


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## UT_Texan (Dec 9, 2004)

I too have an OTA tuner in my tv and it receives the Fox channel fine but my 622's have constant dropouts and picture breakups while watching the bowl games. This really sucks!
I have hooked up my RCA HD atenna to both the 622 and tv with a splitter.

I am going to PM this to Ron Barry and see if he can help us!


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## richiephx (Jan 19, 2006)

I have a VIP211 receiver...I can receive all digital channels in the Phoenix area except FOX. This sounds fishy to me. Could it be Rupert 's way of getting back at Charlie?


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## UT_Texan (Dec 9, 2004)

dunno but could very well be.
I just found this other thread for the same thing. The Fox engineer suggests installing an attenuator on the input line to the reciever. We are still waiting for confirmation if it works.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=73419


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Hmm interesting. Seems we have a few of these type of threads going on.

One thing.. There have been no software changes to the 622 since end of September. If it was working and stopped working since then, I can only see one of two possibilities. 

1) Something relating to OTA that is transferred through the Dish stream as changed that as created the issue. 

2) Something in the station's stream has changed that is causing the 622 and other Dish receivers to not be happy. 

If all other variables are the same.. those are the two possibilities that I could see. Might be more.. but those are two that come to mind. Also, remember just because it works in one receiver and not the other does not mean it is the other receivers issue. 

We have seen situations were the Dish Receivers seem to be at fault in the past only to find out that it was something bad in the stream that other receivers ignored and Dish Receivers considered invalid. Not saying this is the case.. but definitely a possibility. Personally giving the posts I have read, I think in #2 would be the more likely scenario here. Ofcourse, I am in SoCal so I can't see it personally and I am by no means an OTA expert... 

It would be very interesting if the fix suggested in the other thread helps.

One thing I would suggest, if this is a case that it stopped working around the 8th of November, I would suggest contacting the station and see if there was any changes made on their end around that time frame. If they say no, I would wait a day and call again.. Perhaps getting a few calls will get them to look harder on there end to see if some equipment was upgraded and possible a mistake made during the upgrade.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

I personally am of the opinion that at least 90% of these OTA bugs are at the station. My local FOX station just went to full power and a new transmitter and encoder and everyone with a 622 is having tiling problems plus some people on Suddenlink with built in tuners on TVs. The station is working to fix their encoder. DTV is not plug and play. There is a ton of software on the other end that is not standard and needs a lot of tweaking, don't be too hasty to blame the receiver.


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## cwc (Jan 28, 2007)

Just so the problem might be considered to be a real and significant issue, I want to add my displeasure with the inability to view Channel 7 HD content using the OTA capabilities of the VIP622 and VIP211. I just signed up with Dish this month and neither of these two receivers will lock and my attic antenna consistantly provides a 90+ signal strength. Needless to say I am bummed by this problem.

CW in Cedar Park


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## PhantomOG (Feb 7, 2007)

Does DISH not broadcast locals in HD in Austin?

I just signed up for their HD-DVR promotion with locals. I was under the assumption this meant I would also be getting locals in HD from the satellite. Is this not true? Do I need to buy an antenna? I live in SW Austin at Slaughter/Mopac. Antennaweb says I'm just under 10 miles from most of the towers. If I need to buy an antenna I want to be ready.


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## CricTic (Mar 17, 2006)

Dish doesn't carry Austin's HD locals over satellite. If you want them, you'll need to get an off-air antenna (and good luck pulling in Fox ...)


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Over at AVSForum in the Austin local thread someone said that he put a couple attenuators on the OTA antenna feed into his 622 and make the channel much more stable, you might want to go check it out.


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## jas88 (Feb 8, 2007)

Did anyone hear back from Fox 7 on this? I just got my OTA locals scanned in and running tonite and Fox 7 is pretty much unwatchable. All others are fine even tho many have lower signal strength than does Fox.


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## UT_Texan (Dec 9, 2004)

jas88 said:


> Did anyone hear back from Fox 7 on this? I just got my OTA locals scanned in and running tonite and Fox 7 is pretty much unwatchable. All others are fine even tho many have lower signal strength than does Fox.


I haven't been able to talk to anyone at E* yet that is in a position to help. I have talked to Fox but their hands are basically tied. They state they are within FCC regulations and need to work with E* but they too can't seem to get in touch with anyone.


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## jas88 (Feb 8, 2007)

I think the attenuator thing has fixed mine. Last night I recabled so I could get the Fox channel in my VCR so I could use that tuner (my upstairs tv is a monitor only) for Ch 7. So I split the incoming antenna signal and then added 1 attenuator that I found in the box for the 622. Now the signal strength on Ch 7 is 72 and it looks fine. All my other locals work as well (interestingly, Ch 24 is still a 98 SS) with Ch 36 being the only one that has any trouble, even tho SS is 89 there. It pixelates a bit when you first tune it in, then it seems to be fine thereafter. I will have to do some more long-term watching to say for sure, but last night it was fine.

Did Fox/E* fix this, or did I just get lucky?


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## Texxen (Mar 14, 2006)

It seems something has changed. Fox/Austin seems to be working good for me now.
From what I remember I had it hooked up to my OTA antenna and was working good Tuesday.....
I have three feet of coax picking it up right now and working great but can't 
get 24 or 36 without an antenna. So when I get my 61.5 sat figured out (where to mount) I guess I'll see if it was the "weak" signal that fixed it.


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## jas88 (Feb 8, 2007)

I don't think it is "fixed" by either of the players here because my 211, which I have not done the attenuator fix to, still has problems with Fox 7. But my 622 is working great with the splitter/attenuator setup I have. I need to replicate that on my 211. Does anyone know how "big" (i.e. how may db) the attenuator is that comes with the 622?


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

I guess that's 10dB. Just guessing.

However, that doesn't relate linearly to the signal strength on the 622 which is in percent. That percent thing seems to be a non-legit measurement.


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## MonkeyMD (Apr 15, 2007)

I live in Temple Zip 76502 about 50 miles from Fox Austin (7). I seem to pick it up just fine (70%- no dropouts) with a radioshack amplified indoor antenna hooked up to VIP211 or directly to my HDTV. Of course I can get Fox Waco with 90% so I just use that.

ALthough my parents have the classici style antenna (don't know what they're called) in attic and they can't pick up Fox Austin.

Weird I know.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

no that's not weird. even with 3.66 SW, getting KTBC at 70% signal quality pretty much worked for most people. Being 50 miles from Austin you don't have the overdrive or whatever crosstalk problem that I speculate is caused by KVUE.

4.03 of course makes this situation better but not fixed. There's another thread on it.


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## Citation Pilot (Apr 16, 2007)

I just joined this group today. I have Time Warner and am in the process of getting Dish because it appears to be cheaper. Now, here in Austin, do I have to have a OTA Antenna for local HD channels? Am I getting out of the frying pan into the fire? Stay with what I have? I have a little time to cancel this switch Idea. Recommendations?Thanks


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

You will need an antenna for HD locals for the time being and also for the foreseeable future. Suddenly and without warning, Dish may turn on the local HD feeds on the sat but nobody knows when or if it will happen. Likewise you may encounter reception difficulty depending on a number of factors. You can see the other thread about this.


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## Citation Pilot (Apr 16, 2007)

Thanks for the quick reply both here and private. Just thought I would let the group hear my tale. I have Time Warner and the works...Cable, ISP, and phone. No real problems and they have worked many hours overtime just trying to get one channel right..which they did. I just thought I would go with AT&T with Dish and save a few bucks. First it took the person in my home over two hours on the phone with AT&T just to sit up the phone for a future connection..Dish would follow when I got the phone as would DSL..they couldn't tell me if DSL was available..would have to wait until phone installed..That's ok, sit up an appt. then they called had to change the date as they didn't know Time Warner needed extra time so I could keep the same phone number. Then I found about this Web site and discovered somethings about local TV & HD, so as it stands now. I will wait until Dish has HD local channels without another antenna. This is not slam on Dish nor an endorsement of Time Warner...just a story.


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## MonkeyMD (Apr 15, 2007)

On an aside, I have found the 211 (L345) to be a very good OTA receiver. Originally I had my antenna plugged into my TV directly and the signals were decent, but one channel in particular 25 (ABC Waco), I would get over 90% signal with great video, but no sound, so I had to watch 24 (ABC Austin). When I changed to using the STB, I had no such problems. Also the signal strength improved by about 10 on all the channels. All other factors stayed the same. I don't know if the TV and STB use the same measure of signal strength or not, but there was an improvement.

And Mr72, I have no idea what the 3.66SW and 4.03 are of course I am a newbie.


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