Any idea when Cincinnati HD locals will be lit up?

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SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 22, 2005
1,027
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Kettering, Ohio
Cincinnati is listed as an expected market in 2006. I live outside of Dayton, but I will probably "move" when those locals get lit up.
 
I have not heard anything lately. About two months ago one big box store that sells DISH systems was telling customers that the Cincinnati HD locals would be available this fall. My guess is that it will be next year, likely spring.

And as far as "moving", that might not work. It depends on where DISH puts the Cincinnati HD locals. If they put them on the "new" 110 satellite the new spot beams are fairly tight and you may be out of range. One local installer told me that they will be on 118.7 (you will need a Dish500+ or a Dish1000+ to get that satellite) and another one has said that they will be on 110. The truth is, neither one of them REALLY knows and we will just have to wait to see where DISH puts them.
 
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I'm southeast of Dayton, and only about 10 miles south of me is the Cincinnati DMA. I'd imagine I'd be fine for the spot beam on the new 110. Of course, I won't even try it if they go to the 118.7 satellite.
 
Cincinnati is a real grey area for both satelite TV providers...not sure why. They both have said Cincinnati locals, and neither have followed through. It can be a challenge to pick up Cincinnati HD OTA because WCPO Channel 9 broadcasts on VHF channel 10, which means the majority of antennas desgined for HD reception will not work. The UHF channels are no problem. However, once I got my big bertha 50's antenna into my attic and pointed the right way, I haven't had a problem since I started. SOL for trying to get Dayton HD though, because the antenna is certainly not 'omni directional.'
 
they have modified that original list.

last conference call dish said only 3 more markets in 06

we know 2 of them will be indy and raleigh when they turn them on

pitt is the rumored third as it was listed on maps at the summit and on chats
 
It really doesn't matter if a digital station is UHF or VHF. DirecTV has fiber feeds from all four of the Cincinnati stations that they carry from the station to their POP (point of presence). The vendor that DISH uses for SD pickup does pick up the channels via OTA antennas at their POP and they already have VHF and UHF antennas so it doesn't matter for DISH either.

I have asked the engineers at several Cincinnati stations if they are going to have fiber feeds for DISH like they do for DirecTV. The answer right now is no but neither engineer knew if DISH actually has an agreement to carry the digital feeds of those stations (that could be the holdup).
 
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Well its obvious Dish the the way to go if you want HD! Both Direct and Dish are adding locals in HD but main thing is National Networks in HD which Dish has 30 to direct 9.
 
Attic Ota Antenna

Well, it has been a quarter of a year since this was posted. Any new news this?

BTW, I would be interested in getting one of those attic OTA antennas to pick up Cincy local HDs. In fact, I had the builder put in an electrical outlet in my attic and a pvc pipe to the basement (for easy cable running) when they built my home just for this reason. But in Northern Kentucky (where I live) is very hilly, and my house is fairly close to a hill (but not extremely) which sits between me and downtown.

Question is, what is the likelyhood of an attic OTA antenna working? I know the answer is "it depends", but is there a general sense on how well these things work? I am disabled so I am not able to go out and buy one, put it in, see if it works, and tear it back down, return it for another, and so on. I will have to pay someone to come out and install one. I don't mind doing that, but don't want to do it if the chances are low for success. And I certainly am not going to pay for multiple trial and error installs.
 
I know how hilly No KY is. It really really depends. :) The towers are not in Downtown. Most of the towers are in Clifton just north of downtown and channel 64's tower is in Finneytown at the top of Winton Hill which is just on the other side of Clifton. Also does you house have aluminum siding? Brick? Wood? Vinyl siding? This all makes a difference.

I will say that I have no issues getting any of the Cincinnati (10 miles) and many Dayton (45 miles) channels using indoor rabbit ears set in a window! But I do have line of site to all the towers.
 
Unfortunate to hear -- would be nice to have Cincinnati locals in HD from E* so I could record additional network shows in HD. I'll have to continue with 1 OTA recording at a time, with addiitonal network shows being recorded in SD or watched live in another room.
 
I fear Hall may be right. I saw this thread as well, which led me to raising the antenna question. I am a little miffed that last May when I was no longer under a contract, that I decided to get the ViP 622 and sign up for another two yrs and HD. I had just moved across the country to Cincy, and seriously considered D* as well. The fact that E* was going to carry Cincy HD within months, was the determining factor to staying with DISH.

To answer TNGTony (The Next Generation??), I have vinyl siding at the part where the antenna would be pointing towards (North). I work downtown (Chiquita Bldg), and it is right at 16 miles of pavement between driveway and parking spot. So lets say air distance is 12-14 miles. And Clifton is, what, another 3-4 air miles from downtown judging from mapquest. So 15-18 miles from house to towers is a pretty sound estimate.

I live in Alexandria, right off the AA highway about a block. Due north from house looks like it will point through the cut in the hill for the AA highway, at least parially or completely, depending on where exactly the towers are. Also there are no trees close by northward (within a block or so). I will try to take a pic tomorrow facing north and post here.

Also, I saw a website a long time ago, that showed signal strengths for TV broadcasts, but I can't seem to find it. What is the link?
 
Kaman,

Yes, TNG stands for "The Next Generation" :) When I first went on-line in 1989-1990 it was to BBS systems you dialed directly into. One of the BBSs was a Treck site at the height of "TOS or TNG" battles. My screen name left no doubt as to my position on the subject. It stuck. :)

Anyway, as long as you don't live deep in the "holler" in good ol' KY you should have no problems on a clear day. On windy days it depends on the tree situation. The more the trees move around the more the signal-freezes you might see as the signal gets bounsed around the wet leaves! At least wood construction with vinyl siding will be nealy no obstruction to the signal!

You may have some multi-phasing issues which translates to "ghosts" on regular TV, but mean NO USABLE SIGNAL on a digital signal. The solution is counter-intuative. You may need to attenuate the signal! If you limit the signal coming down to the TV, only the strongest will make it though and the multi-phase signals will be too weak to do any harm. In Alexandria the signal should be plenty strong either direct or "bounced" off a hill.

As I said, I use rabbit ears sitting in a window to get my digital channels. When I first set it up I had the telescoping antennas up as high as they would go. I tried valiantly and got a booming signal from some stations, but I could not get anything from 9 or 48. 19 and 12 were spotty. 5 and 14 signals were booming! You will probably not get 14 like I don't get 54...localized channels.

No matter what I did I could not get the other channels. When I tried the analog counterparts just to see what I got, I was getting a great signal (no static) but they all had some severe ghosting. As I knew the cure for that... less signal. I lowered the telescoping elements of the rabbit ears and the picture were quite good for OTA reception on all the local channels. The Dayton channels were "sparkly" but okay. I then did a digital scan and SHAZAM! All the local HD/DTchannels came in perfectly and stable (no freezes) (5, 9, 12, 14*, 19, 43*, 48 and 64). I got 3 of the 6 Dayton channels right away (2, 7, 16). With some tweeking I got a 4th (45). I still can't get 22 NBC or 26 CW. But I suspect that is because the channels they use for the DT signals are also used in areas south of here so they are probably highly directional as to not interfere.

From Alexandria, you stand a decent chance of getting Lexington local channel too. Again, this depends on how deep in the "holler" you really are. :)

*BTW you will problably never be able to pick up 14 or 43 (PBS & TBN) in Alexandria

See ya
Tony
 
Cincinnati is listed as an expected market in 2006. I live outside of Dayton, but I will probably "move" when those locals get lit up.

My bet is they are playing with your mind.... like they did us with the Indy market.

The Yard apes!
 
Tony,

I managed to take some shots northward of my house and make a panoramic picture. Since I do not know exactly where the towers are, I decided to do a 60 degree "sweep" northward. As you can see a few degrees can make a difference. I had to connect a bunch of pics together to get the whole 60 degree sweep. So you will have to excuse the obvious artifacts of a collage. I do not have fancy photo editing software, just the generic stuff. Of course I was on terra firma taking the shots, so imagine a perspective of 15 feet or so higher.

It turns out the signal would be going through my roof, rather than vinyl siding. Just regular asphalt shingles. I decided to take a shot of the roof where the antenna would be hiding under.

You will also have to excuse the dumpy house in the pic (neighbor). We are on the edge of a brand new development. So as the city slowly invades the older countryside, our type of eclectic mixture of neighbors are inevitable.

Hopefully you can get a better feel of what my conditions are like. Also, how much would foliage affect the signal this summer? Hope you all like the panoramic. I know I spent way too much effort on it compared to what some of you whizbangs out there could do.

Also, how will the high power lines affect things, if at all?
 

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Well, it's hard to tell but I have an idea that you can get a decent signal though your antenna will probably be pointing right at your neighbor's house. :) If the 0 degrees north you show is true north anyway.

Look at this map to see about where the towers are in relation to you.

See ya
Tony
 

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Tony,

I live up in West Chester, 15 miles from the towers according to antennaweb. I could never get all of the big 4 from Cincinnati with anything indoors, mainly because of WCPO broadcasting on VHF 10. I finally just shoved an antenna in my attic, and all has been well.

I'm off at college now, and my father has complained to me multiple times that WKRC-DT is unwatchable (no signal) and the rest of the channels are fine. I told him to reboot the 811, and it didn't change anything. The antenna is in the attic, so it hasn't moved. What would cause me to lose one UHF channel, and not any of the others? Can a connection problem/bad diplexor cause this?

Thanks
Scott
 

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