VOOM OTA Scanning and WTVR-DT Richmond VA

[riffjim4069]

I'm in Fredericksburg area and my VOOM receiver is mapped to the Washington DMA so all DC channels are integrated into my Program Guide (PG). As you know, the VOOM receiver now has an OTA scanning feature, which allows for distant (out of DMA) channels to be detected and mapped in the PG...minus programming information.

The OTA scan "locks" WRIC-DT (8-1, 8-2) and is now picking up WCVE-DT (23-1), but it can not "lock" WTVR-DT (6-1) even though I am receiving an adequate signal level on the VOOM receiver (88-90).

My 2 year old Mits with integrated tuner "locks" WTVR-DT without a problem, however in order for a channel to get saved in the VOOM map, PSIP must be available in the stream with at least the following three fields present: Channel Number, MPEG Service Number and Short Name. (FYI: you cannot manually tune a channel on the VOOM receiver) This must not be happening with WTVR-DT and nobody at WTVR-DT will reply to my e-mail! Is anyone else having a problem with WTVR-DT and VOOM? Most of you in the Richmond area probably have this channel already mapped in your PG, but what about some of you in the Charlottesville, Norfolk and Virginia Beach areas?

Also, I think it's pathetic how I am now receiving WCVE-DT at 160kW, but WWBT-DT (NBC) is barely visable on the radar screen here in the Fredericksburg area due to their DTV antenna being so low in the sky:

WRIC-DT (22) - 51.19 mi - 450kW - 1076 ft HAAT - Received
WTVR-DT (25) - 51.19 mi - 410kW - 1138 ft HAAT - Received
WCVE-DT (42) - 51.19 mi - 160kW - 1136 ft HAAT - Received
WWBT-DT (54) - 51.87 mi - 860kW - 692 ft HAAT - Dead in the Water

Come on WWBT-DT...raise that antenna a few hundred feet!!!

 

[riffjim4069]

I just read where other OTA receivers are having problems picking up WTVR-DT:

Samsung SIR-T151 - During an autoscan the STB did not find 6-1 (UHF 25). By manually entering channel 25, the box would find the channel and the Digital Signal light would illuminate. However, the display would show "no signal" for between 5 and 20 seconds and then tune the channel correctly. with only rare pixelzation audio or video dropouts.

Motorola HDT-100 - During an autoscan the STB did not find 6-1 (UHF 25). By using the manual scan and selecting channel 25, the box report "Scan Successful". However, despite the fact that the instruction manual says that if the manual scan is successful the channel will be added, it was impossible to tune this channel. In other words, this box COULD NOT receive 6-1 (UHF 25).

 

[jgantert]

I wonder if this is why I am not receiving 45-2 and 54-1 in Baltimore?

-John

 

[Sean Mota]

"PSIP must be available in the stream with at least the following three fields present: Channel Number, MPEG Service Number and Short Name."

If those three fields are not in the stream, the OTA scan function will not pick it up. At this point the only solution will be for VOOM to map multiple DMAs. At this point, it can't be done but VOOM is working on super DMA mapping that will take care of this problem. The date I was given for the "Super DMA" solution is sowhere between late September and early October.

 

[vurbano]

I'm in Fredericksburg area and my VOOM receiver is mapped to the Washington DMA so all DC channels are integrated into my Program Guide (PG). As you know, the VOOM receiver now has an OTA scanning feature, which allows for distant (out of DMA) channels to be detected and mapped in the PG...minus programming information.

The OTA scan "locks" WRIC-DT (8-1, 8-2) and is now picking up WCVE-DT (23-1), but it can not "lock" WTVR-DT (6-1) even though I am receiving an adequate signal level on the VOOM receiver (88-90).

My 2 year old Mits with integrated tuner "locks" WTVR-DT without a problem, however in order for a channel to get saved in the VOOM map, PSIP must be available in the stream with at least the following three fields present: Channel Number, MPEG Service Number and Short Name. (FYI: you cannot manually tune a channel on the VOOM receiver) This must not be happening with WTVR-DT and nobody at WTVR-DT will reply to my e-mail! Is anyone else having a problem with WTVR-DT and VOOM? Most of you in the Richmond area probably have this channel already mapped in your PG, but what about some of you in the Charlottesville, Norfolk and Virginia Beach areas?

Also, I think it's pathetic how I am now receiving WCVE-DT at 160kW, but WWBT-DT (NBC) is barely visable on the radar screen here in the Fredericksburg area due to their DTV antenna being so low in the sky:

WRIC-DT (22) - 51.19 mi - 450kW - 1076 ft HAAT - Received
WTVR-DT (25) - 51.19 mi - 410kW - 1138 ft HAAT - Received
WCVE-DT (42) - 51.19 mi - 160kW - 1136 ft HAAT - Received
WWBT-DT (54) - 51.87 mi - 860kW - 692 ft HAAT - Dead in the Water

Come on WWBT-DT...raise that antenna a few hundred feet!!!

Go to AVS forum under HDTV/reception and look for a reception forum in Richmond. I haver one for my area that all of the local station engineers participate in. You might find the WTVR engineer there.

 

[riffjim4069]

I wonder if this is why I am not receiving 45-2 and 54-1 in Baltimore?

-John

Could very well be! As I recall, I used to occasionally pick these up prior to VOOM when I was still using the built in tuner in my Mits. Hmmm, it just occurred to me that I used to receive 5 Baltimore stations (6 if you include channel 42 in Annapolis), but the VOOM receiver is only picking up the Big 3 (digital 38, 52, and 59) via the OTA Scan.

It's funny, but I just realized the OTA Scanner stops at 40 (54-1) and 46 (45-1), but never "locks" on either channel. I wasn't worried about 46 since a PBS stations out of Charlottesville just went to full power on 46, which surely sounds the death bell for my receiving FOX out of Baltimore. I really didn't give 40 too much thought.

Also, I noticed 43 (PAX) out of Manassas must not be passing PSIP since they never lock...good thing they are in the DC DMA Map.

I currenly have my Mits tuner hooked up to cable since it decodes QAM, which I use to receive the INHDs and HDNETs. I haven't had the desire to scan for OTA (only takes a minutes or two) since scanning Cable takes forever (15 minutes), but I will scan this evening to see if I can pick these up with and without VOOM.

It looks like we need that SUPER DMA MAP!!!

 

[riffjim4069]

Go to AVS forum under HDTV/reception and look for a reception forum in Richmond. I haver one for my area that all of the local station engineers participate in. You might find the WTVR engineer there.

Vurbano,

Already done. I've seen WRIC and WWBT engineers participate in the Forum, but I don't recall seeing anyone from WTVR...and they surely don't return my calls or e-mail.

 

[riffjim4069]

Update: The problem with WTVR-DT PSIP datastream appear to have been corrected. I am now picking-up (6-1) on my Mits, Sony and VOOM tuners; others are picking them up on their Samsung and D* (Hughes) tuners.