HD locals for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA timeframe??
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If we could pick anything up OTA we wouldn't have been bitching for 30 pages
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There is no OTA signal!
OTA
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Great marketing choice for Dish, point a spot beam so that the only area that is not covered can not get the singal OTA either
And they wonder why the are losing subs to Directv
If we could pick anything up OTA we wouldn't have been bitching for 30 pages
+1
Great marketing choice for Dish, point a spot beam so that the only area that is not covered can not get the singal OTA either
And they wonder why the are losing subs to Directv
If we could pick anything up OTA we wouldn't have been bitching for 30 pages
I just thought I'd mention it as OTA must be an option for some people. I am 75 miles from the transmitter in Sullivan County, NY and it works for me.
I don't think you'll see another spotbeam satellite on EA until 77w is replaced...which information is still sketchy on.
Only thing to do for now is OTA and/or "moving", or of course switching to DirecTV.
They didn't point the spotbeam, actually it was designed by another company, they bought the satellite from the defunct VOOM satellite service. I do agree it was a poor choice of DMA to put on that spotbeam, but I guess they figured it was better to give it to some customers than to just leave the bandwidth sitting idle.
What kind of antenna do you have? All of the antenna websites say I won't receive signal, but I have not actually tried one.
Moving?
I notice that "moving" is put out there as a possible way to get HD locals.. Can anyone describe this "moving" process or point me to somewhere that does? I would obviously be getting the locals from where I "move" to.. so I would need to know where I am "moving" to so that I have reception.. (i.e. which spot beam(s) has enough signal in Williamsport, PA, and what locals are on it?)
I have ComCast Limited Basic as I have their cable modem service.. I can view my Scranton/Wilkes Barre HD locals via my ComCast cable when it is connected directly to my TV.. but the OTA module in my 722K doesn't find any channels, even after doing the channel search. Anyone else with this issue?
The Dish receivers won't do QAM. I think the cable companies should've been forced to leave the OTA signals in 8VSB, but every time I bring it up I get shouted down by the businesses-know-better-than-consumers crowd.
It would be a waste of bandwidth on the cable system, where they could instead use that 6mhz of bandwidth to provider 40 megabits of QAM256 instead of the 18 or 19 of 8VSB containing only one local's transmission.
Search the forums for several different ways it is done. To find out what you could receive, go to the Point Dish screen (Menu, 6, 1, 1). Go to 61.5 and look through the transponders starting at 1, give them about 15-20 seconds to lock, sometimes it takes a bit, make note of the ones that change to Spotbeam where it says transponder, also make a note of the signal strength. Come back here and post your notes.
I am not sure where you are but if TV Fool doesn't give you much hope, I doubt you will have much success. TV Fool does say I can pick this stuff up but I am high on a hill. Antennaweb says to forget about it. Don't believe Antennaweb.
The little antenna is the Lava 2805. It is pretty good for it's small size but rarely picks up WYOU and WBRE regardless of the Lava claims that works good with VHF. It always gets WNEP at usually 100% signal (it's great to have RTV back again), WVIA in the mid-90's (PBS in HD is super), WOLF in the 90's and WQPX at around 70%.
It does get more like the sub-channels of course plus I can get some other channels in other directions not having anything to do with NEPA. For less than a one time charge of about $100, I added around 20 channels to what I get. The only bad part besides lousy VHF reception is that when you play with the rotator, you have no idea which way you are aimed unless I have someone inside pressing the button while I am outside looking at the antenna turn. I have learned which way it needs to be for certain channels.
$100.00 is the price of the whole setup including the antenna plus a tripod, poles (10 foot), some extra wires and other accessories. Find the antenna only on eBay for $61.00.
I'm about 25 miles west of you and in a valley. TV Fool says I have no chance of receiving any signals. Oh well.
Never herd of TV Fool - gave it a try and got this:
You are looking good to go for the Scranton channels. My readings are worse and I get them. I am also 75 miles from the towers where you are 60.
But your 75 miles away in a different direction.
Also, what kind of antenna do you have?
I already answered the what antenna question in post number 314. If you mouse over the name and model, you will see I even provided a link. That antenna is about the same size as our dishes.
I just learned that WNEP 16 will be increasing their OTA transmitter strength on December 5th. That might help for some. Strange that this channel is increasing their power as this one comes in strongest for me. Almost always 100% signal strength. I would love to see WYOU and WBRE do this along with WQMY and WSWB so I can get the HD channels instead of just SD on sub-channels of WFOX 56. WQPX is another that needs a signal boost.
Also, be advised that if you get OTA WNEP, it is changing real channels from 49 to 50 when this happens. Either a re-scan or manual change from 49 to 50 will be necessary on December 5th. I wish they would change 16.2 back to the almost always news broadcast and add a 16.3 for a full picture view of RTV.
Thanks for that info.
Where did you buy your antenna from? I can only seem to find them on ebay? Also, how much did it cost you?
