Repack woes

[Radioguy41]

Now that the dust has pretty much settled with the repack I guess it's time to throw in the towel. Prior to the repack I could receive 16, 22, 28, 44, and 56 (and all their subs) out of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazelton PA. As each channel was repacked I lost it with the end result today that I no longer receive any of them. They are all gone for me. My location is considered to be demographically in the SWB market yet I can no longer receive any of their signals. However, I have scanned and locked 68 channels out of Phialdelphia/Delaware even though they are much farther away and there is a mountain between me and them. Yep, makes sense to me. Thanks for nothing FCC.

 

[navychop]

Wait for the ATSC 3 fun!

 

[Radioguy41]

I'm just surprised that the networks aren't squawking about the market coverage they're losing. I know I'm not the only person with this experience. Wouldn't you think that with the current condition of the broadcast TV industry they would want to fight for every square mile they could get?

 

[primestar31]

Now that the dust has pretty much settled with the repack I guess it's time to throw in the towel. Prior to the repack I could receive 16, 22, 28, 44, and 56 (and all their subs) out of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazelton PA. As each channel was repacked I lost it with the end result today that I no longer receive any of them. They are all gone for me. My location is considered to be demographically in the SWB market yet I can no longer receive any of their signals. However, I have scanned and locked 68 channels out of Phialdelphia/Delaware even though they are much farther away and there is a mountain between me and them. Yep, makes sense to me. Thanks for nothing FCC.

Run a Rabbitears report, and post the RESULTS link, along with the info as to what your antenna system consists of. Then we can tell what's going on. Though what you are describing, is TROPO reception. Which is usually very temporary, maybe an hour or so. Try scanning at a few different times of the day.

RabbitEars.Info

RabbitEars, where you can learn all about local, over-the-air TV channels.

rabbitears.info

https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

 

[Radioguy41]

Run a Rabbitears report, and post the RESULTS link, along with the info as to what your antenna system consists of. Then we can tell what's going on. Though what you are describing, is TROPO reception. Which is usually very temporary, maybe an hour or so. Try scanning at a few different times of the day.

RabbitEars.Info

RabbitEars, where you can learn all about local, over-the-air TV channels.

rabbitears.info

https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

If it was Tropo it worked well for 15 years until the repack. I've been scanning weekly for more than a year and no luck. Each station disappeared as it was repacked. When the rescan notice came for each and I rescanned it was gone. I've been in contact with station engineers and there doesn't seem to be any real concern.

Rabbitears is not, in my opinion, accurate. It lists every Philadelphia station as "Bad" and I get them all clear as a bell and always have while SWB is listed as "Poor" and I lost all of them so Bad is good and Poor is bad. According to Rabbitears I should not be able to receive any stations yet I regularly scan and lock 68 of them, all from the Philly area, except for the Allentown stations which I also receive..

RabbitEars.Info

Radio Shack VU-190-XR Antenna
Channel Master 7777 mast mounted Pre-Amp

 

[navychop]

I'm just surprised that the networks aren't squawking about the market coverage they're losing.

If they complain, they draw attention to the reduced customer base- to the advertisers! Who pay for eyeballs.

If they keep quiet….

 

[N6BY]

If it was Tropo it worked well for 15 years until the repack. I've been scanning weekly for more than a year and no luck. Each station disappeared as it was repacked. When the rescan notice came for each and I rescanned it was gone. I've been in contact with station engineers and there doesn't seem to be any real concern.

Rabbitears is not, in my opinion, accurate. It lists every Philadelphia station as "Bad" and I get them all clear as a bell and always have while SWB is listed as "Poor" and I lost all of them so Bad is good and Poor is bad. According to Rabbitears I should not be able to receive any stations yet I regularly scan and lock 68 of them, all from the Philly area, except for the Allentown stations which I also receive..

RabbitEars.Info

I noticed the same thing about RabbitEars -- it is very pessimistic about what can be received.

The channels that you lost (16, 22, 28, 44, and 56) are RF channels 11,12, 21, and 22.

WHLZ in Harrisburg, PA also uses RF channel 21 and it's closer. There are TV stations using RF channels 11, 12 and 22 and interfere with the ones you want, but they are much farther away.

If there is any way you could move your antenna so that your house is blocking those interfering stations it might help.

 

[mwdxer1]

On the other hand, we really got the better deal here on the coast, as the stations in Portland stacked, more channels were added, so via the local translators we went up to 36 channels now.

 

[Trip]

The repack did not touch WBRE. That you lost it as well implies something else is going on.

- Trip

 

[primestar31]

Channel Master 7777 mast mounted Pre-Amp

I think it's entirely possible that this pre-amp is causing your issues. I can't use one in my area, because even a single strong channel can swamp it in odd ways.

I switched to a Televes 560383, and pretty much solved my issues.

Televes 560383 Single Input Antenna Preamp, 5G Cell Filter, Coaxial F-

Televes 560383 Single Input Antenna Preamp Orders placed by 3pm Central Time will ship the same day (M-F)! OVERVIEW: This new one input T-Force mast-mounted preamplifier is an entirely new design optimized for the new repack TV frequencies. This particular unit features one input covering the...

www.nesselectronics.com

 

[RUSSK]

I think it's entirely possible that this pre-amp is causing your issues. I can't use one in my area, because even a single strong channel can swamp it in odd ways.

I switched to a Televes 560383, and pretty much solved my issues.

Televes 560383 Single Input Antenna Preamp, 5G Cell Filter, Coaxial F-

Televes 560383 Single Input Antenna Preamp Orders placed by 3pm Central Time will ship the same day (M-F)! OVERVIEW: This new one input T-Force mast-mounted preamplifier is an entirely new design optimized for the new repack TV frequencies. This particular unit features one input covering the...

www.nesselectronics.com

As an antenna installer, I have seen many of the old 7777's that the switches inside went bad/noisy. You can try either cleaning them with some Deoxit, but the real fix is to take the preamp apart, remove the switches, and solder jumpers to the positions you want. Not sure why you are getting Phila, and nothing on WB. The other thing that can be happening, is you have a cell signal in the 700Mhz band that is overloading the preamp. You could try one of the new 600 mhz low-pass filter on the input from the antenna. I am 77 miles from Penobscot Knob where the WB signals are. They are also our local channels, but over the repack our 16, 44, and 56 have gotten better due to the lower rf channel they are using. I get a -18 db barefoot (no preamp) here on 16 and 56.

 

[Comptech]

I agree with what was said about Rabbit Ears. WHNS my fox channels says bad. but it is the strongest channel I get. Maybe reflection? But the big thing is I can now faithfully receive our ABC affiliate since the 3.0 switch that has always been a problem in upstate SC. The bad thing about the WLOS tower on 1.0 is that I can see the tower from here on Mt. Pisgah and no go. The lighthouse tower 40 miles from me I receive it fine in 3.0

 

[sktn77a]

I'm just surprised that the networks aren't squawking about the market coverage they're losing.

They couldn't care less about free OTA TV. They want to get paid by the local cable/satellite/internet companies to carry their programming. Who pays for cable when you can get all the local stations over the air?

 

[Trip]

For all the folks complaining about the RabbitEars predictions, the software powering it is the same software the FCC uses for coverage predictions, and is an implementation of the Longley-Rice model. Pretty much all TV predictions are done with Longley-Rice, which is known to under-predict signal levels by as much as 15 dB or so in very rough terrain since it doesn't handle knife-edge diffraction well.

- Trip

 

[Comptech]

Trip, not complaining, that is why I posted reflected as a possible. Love your site. I am in the mountains, just a heads up it could be a reflect signal.