Digital TV broadcasts (Scranton, Harrisburg, Mountain Top: salary, rooftop, live)

[blip]

Hey, Anyone getting TV off the air waves around here? If so, what channels do you get, and anyone know where they all broadcast from?

I extended my intro pricing on Commiecast for another 6 months, but I'm dying to ditch them and build a MythTV (a DIY Tivo), as most of what we watch is PBS and major networks.

I connected the rooftop antenna to the TV and get a decent number of stations, and they're mostly really sharp. But, tried it the other night during the rain and reception was pretty bad. Here's what I've picked up:

16 WNEP (ABC) not digital
22-1 WYOU (CBS) spotty
26-1 WBRE (NBC) sharp
38-1 WSWB (CW) sharp
44-1 WVIA (PBS) sharp
44-2 WVIA sharp
44-3 (Create) sharp
45-3 (Fox?) spotty not coming in right now
45-4 spotty
45-5 (Fox News?) spotty
64-1 (ION) sharp
64-2 (qubo) sharp
64-3 (ionlife) sharp
64-4 (worship) sharp

[MovingOutOfNJ]

Originally Posted by blip

16 WNEP (ABC) not digital
22-1 WYOU (CBS) spotty
26-1 WBRE (NBC) sharp
38-1 WSWB (CW) sharp
44-1 WVIA (PBS) sharp
44-2 WVIA sharp
44-3 (Create) sharp
45-3 (Fox?) spotty not coming in right now
45-4 spotty
45-5 (Fox News?) spotty
64-1 (ION) sharp
64-2 (qubo) sharp
64-3 (ionlife) sharp
64-4 (worship) sharp

Your doing better then me... I had all of those (fox on 56) before the analong cut... now that its digital i only get 16,22,28,and 44, I no longer get the rest of them and im pretty aggrivated about it too.

[blip]

the 56's are coming in now, btw.

56-1 WOLF (Fox)
56-2 "PA's CW"
56-3 WQMY

(can't edit my orig post. that's whack.)

[InfectedMushroom]

Myth TV is great btw...

If you are missing some channels, I think an antenna is really the only thing you can do to improve it. I don't have cable where my TVs are, but I have everything set up through the internet. There's not much I watch on TV anyways though...mostly the news and PBS. I watch a lot of South park and those kind of shows but I just get them online anyways.

[blip]

You have a Myth TV?

Just found a couple of sites for anyone who's interested in this stuff. Here's a list of all the stations w/in 50 miles of Scranton: Scranton, PA Area TV Broadcast Stations - GoodTimeScranton.com

Even better, TV Fool takes your address and shows you all the channels you should be able to get and where exactly they broadcast from, and their distance and direction info for pointing antennae: TV Fool
They also have maps with all the local broadcast points: TV Fool

The ones where my reception is sometimes spotty are from Mountain Top (though WVIA almost always comes in pretty well.) The other ones that always come in well are right up West Mountain.

And some background reading on the use of the spectrum.
DTV transition in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
North American broadcast television frequencies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apparently many stations are moving around after the transition period from UHF back to VHF (though I guess they'll keep the same "virtual" channel numbers.) So sounds like you need an antenna that's both UHF and VHF.

Yeah, not sure if it's worth trying to tweak the rooftop antenna or to try a new rooftop one. I may try one of these indoor omni-directional suckas first.

Can't wait for the internet to just eat these cable companies' lunch, but until then hoping to stick it to them however I can.

[#1Mr.C]

I live about an hour above Harrisburg, Pa. When the analog goes I will be stuck with receiving nothing from Antenna.
Seems the Digital signal drops to nothing after about 35 miles. My only question was why didn't they think a little more into this whole DTV transition. Like putting relay transponders at certian points,either that or get the signal up - Analog signals 110 watts vs 7.5 for Digital.
Now that is a big difference !
Anyway I used to get channel 8,15,21,27,33,43 -( Harrisburg Area ) and turn the rotor an get 16,22,28,44,56 - ( Scraton Area ) .
Now come June 12, I will get nothing - for some reason that does not seem fair.
As if the people that live closer are free to receive free to air but, if you live another ten miles well, your screwed.

[MovingOutOfNJ]

Update on the situation in Wilkes Barre City---

Where i USED to get a couple of channels with NO fox at all..

I now get 16,22,28,44,45,and 64 clearly with only vague distortion when i'm laying in a certain position in my bed... (apparently i have my own magnetic force that my girlfriend just doesnt seem to have?) ...

but over time it seems as if they've amped up the signals.

[blip]

Originally Posted by MovingOutOfNJ

Update on the situation in Wilkes Barre City---

Where i USED to get a couple of channels with NO fox at all..

I now get 16,22,28,44,45,and 64 clearly with only vague distortion when i'm laying in a certain position in my bed... (apparently i have my own magnetic force that my girlfriend just doesnt seem to have?) ...

but over time it seems as if they've amped up the signals.

Cool, I'll have to do a channel scan again. I got the indoor omni-directional antenna I mentioned above, but the best picture I got was from hooking the signal amplifier that came with it to my rooftop antenna. Last I checked, all the area stations were coming in quite well except for 16-- which I still wasn't getting at all in digital.

Got CommieCast to extend my intro pricing for 6 months, so haven't felt pressed to experiment more.

Originally Posted by #1Mr.C

Seems the Digital signal drops to nothing after about 35 miles.

Somewhere I read that digital works just as well with 1/5th as strong a signal as analog, but seems that in practice there are lots of caveats with that claim..

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by blip

44-1 WVIA (PBS) sharp
44-2 WVIA sharp
44-3 (Create) sharp

We in Harrisburg are envious. We stopped in Greater Pittston for a potty break on a trip north so I scanned on the WinTV in the back seat and found the three versions of PBS. Our 6yo was very impressed. Down here WITF sank all their money into a new building and CEO salary so there's only one DTV signal. Even WSKG in Binghamton has two. Maybe WITF is trying to drop the I from their callsign or something.

[blip]

FYI, I wrote to the folks at WNEP (Ch. 16) to ask if they plan to boost their signal, as it's weaker than other stations.

Turns out they're getting a new transmitter that'll boost their signal 5 times. They expect to have it up in August.

The ditch-commiecast plan is coming together..