WLS Sorts Out Signal Problems
Initial DTV problems less of an issue
By Glen Dickson and Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/13/2009 4:05:55 PM
After an initial rough start to fully DTV broadcasting, ABC O&O WLS Chicago is having an easier time of it. Chicago topped the list of calls to the FCC hotline by percentage of TV households. With relatively low operating power, market leader WLS was having trouble reaching some high-rise and downtown with a digital signal, according to an FCC staffer, who said the FCC was working on technical fixes.
VP of Local Programming Tom Hebel says the phone lines have slowed to a much more manageable level than yesterday as Chicago’s problem viewers get their converter box and antenna issues ironed out. He says there have been signal issues with viewers located 30-plus miles out—a combination of the station’s signal and viewers’ antennas.
Hebel says calls are in the hundreds Saturday, as of mid-afternoon. “It’s much better than yesterday,” he says.
The ABC station group, which selected VHF channels as the permanent home for all 10 of its DTV stations, had expected some reception problems in Chicago and New York when WLS and WABC began broadcasting DTV on their old analog VHF assignments. That's because given the sheer volume of RF transmissions in those markets, the stations are forced to transmit VHF at a less-than-optimal power level. "Soft shutdown" tests in recent weeks had revealed some reception problems in New York and Chicago, which are challenging from a reception standpoint anyway because of the "urban canyons" created by numerous skyscrapers. New York, in particular, has been hampered by the loss of the World Trade Center tower location on 9/11, and broadcasters there have been exploring single-frequency networks or translators as a way to fill coverage gaps.
"From the soft shutdowns in the last several weeks, one of the things that was revealed is the difficulty of easy reception of high-VHF signals in some of the marketplaces," says Dave Converse, VP of engineering for the ABC-owned stations. "I'm primarily talking about set-top antennas, or minimal antenna installations that haven't been upgraded for DTV."
WPVI, which is broadcasting on Ch. 6 in Philadelphia, is able to broadcast at much higher power than WLS Chicago or WABC New York, says Converse.
"We'll be signing on as big a coverage area as allowed under the current rules in Philly," says Converse. "But Ch. 7 [WABC] is restrained, relatively. The northeast corridor and all of zone 1 that extends out to Chicago is just TV station after TV station after TV station. They're just stacked in there. And over the course of time, since we first started thinking about DTV in the early Eighties, a lot has happened to the RF environment."
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I have written (not emailed) every TV station last JULY (2008) telling them I can't get any signals with digital TV. They didn't care. Why? Because it cost them to run two transmitters. All any station had to do was test a converter box in a typical Chicago flat to see it didn't work. But they ignored the issue because if they addressed it, they feared an extension of analog. Building block digital, but analog gets through fine. Why can we use cell phone on the subway but you can't get digital TV unless you have an antenna towering over a building. I live less than 3 miles NW of Sears Tower.
WLS also has further issues because the FCC said all stations staying on their digital channel assignment get to be protected. Those who return to their analog channel or pick another channel must conform to other station who have their digital assignment on the same or co-channels. WLS was on channel 52 which is being taken away from TV, so they had no choice. Instead of just saying, everyone is moving channels forget PSIP, everyone will just rebrand. Since everyone would've had to rebrand, there wouldn't have been a problem. But no the FCC pandered to money and the broadcasting bucks.
Any station who claims they didn't know or realize, is lying, I have written much about this throughout the year. WLS engineers post to places I wrote this too. They said there wouldn't be issues. Yeah right. As someone who now has to pay for cable TV where I got it free before, I say "Cell phones for the rich, no TV for the poor."
Eric Post - 6/18/2009 7:51:42 PM EDT -
For most people posting, digital does not mean HD. the reason why most people in chicago are having trouble with CBS and ABC as are the people in new york (me) is b/c they are now transmitting on VHF as opposed to UHF. Everything was fine for me as well except for PBS 13 and CW 11, but since friday I lost ABC 7. that is b/c some genius thought it would be a great idea to break something that was already working. ABC 7 NY was broadcasting digital on UHF prior to 6/12 b/c VHF 7 was being used by the analog signal. when that ended they promptly moved ABC from if UHF home to VHF. UHF is easier to receive as use more power, where as VHF, unless you close to the tower you get diddly. if you have a decent VHF antenna, then when you rescan you should receive the signal but, if you are like me with my coathanger UHF antenna then you are currently out of luck. i'm just happy CBS NY broadcasts on UHF unlike chicago!
sd - 6/15/2009 4:08:33 PM EDT -
all the engineers @ abc stations think converse knows nothing and hopefully will lose his job over this.
dan rab - 6/15/2009 8:25:51 AM EDT -
I too have rescanned and disconnected my box only to rescan to blank channels. Call or go to the Govt website and put in your zip code and everything comes back that the signal strength is the best it can be. So whoese lieing to the consumer? WlS and CBS or the Govt.
Seems to me the FCC could start asking questions as to why ABC, whose owned by Disney, who owns ESPN, is having so many issues across the country and globe for that matter. No need to be pating yourselves on the back for a job not so well done after all this time and delays in preparation.
Andy G - 6/15/2009 7:36:12 AM EDT -
I live about 25 miles from downtown chicago, which is 10 miles closer than the poster who lives in Cary, Illinois. Like him, Channel 7 disappeared from my bedroom DTV. The rabbit ears worked fine for ABC Digital Channel 7.1 in Chicago until June 12th. What the heck happened? I thought the only change was that the Analog Channel 7 was going off the air. It did, but took the Digital multicast sideband channels with it. The ABC 7 Chicago website offers no help at all.
How frustrating! No more laying in bed and watching Nightline for me and the wife, I guess. No way I'm going to fork over an additional $10 a month to DirectTV to get the bedroom wired either.
Allen - 6/14/2009 11:09:42 PM EDT
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