National PBS Gone

[comfortably_numb]

I was afraid to put up a high gain antenna before, while WNVC was less than 2 mi away. But they went off the air on April 1, so I have no excuse for not installing it sooner.


This pathetic-looking antenna that is even smaller than my current one? Where's your pride man?

I can see why you’d think that, but trust me, it’s a GREAT antenna. These are my live bandscan results, and I am 40+ miles from my towers: RabbitEars Mobile

 

[osu1991]

IIRC, there’s a “sweet spot” zip code somewhere between Tulsa and OKC where you can get both DMA’s with Dish (ie, two PBS stations). Have you ever tried that?

Not that I know of, but I imagine there are some areas that qualify. I don’t know if Dish will provide them though.

Suddenlink cable in Stillwater used to have both Tulsa and OKC on the cable feed back in 89-91 when I was in college.

You can pick up nearly all the channels from both DMA’s along that line North from Seminole towards Cushing depending on which way you point the antenna. At Seminole you can actually get 3 DMAs from there as you can also get Ada/Sherman too. OKC pointing west, Tulsa pointing NE and Ada pointing South. Our ranch house was on the highest point in Seminole county. In the evenings I could also pick up the Lawton channels, by rotating to the SW between the signals from Ada and OKC.


Edit: in terms of PBS, if you got both Tulsa and OKC they would be the same, as it is a Statewide feed from all 4 stations and the translators. I can pick up the Eufaula pbs feed in Tulsa too.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Not that I know of, but I imagine there are some areas that qualify. I don’t know if Dish will provide them though.

Suddenlink cable in Stillwater used to have both Tulsa and OKC on the cable feed back in 89-91 when I was in college.

You can pick up nearly all the channels from both DMA’s along that line North from Seminole towards Cushing depending on which way you point the antenna. At Seminole you can actually get 3 DMAs from there as you can also get Ada/Sherman too. OKC pointing west, Tulsa pointing NE and Ada pointing South. Our ranch house was on the highest point in Seminole county. In the evenings I could also pick up the Lawton channels, by rotating to the SW between the signals from Ada and OKC.


Edit: in terms of PBS, if you got both Tulsa and OKC they would be the same, as it is a Statewide feed from all 4 stations and the translators. I can pick up the Eufaula pbs feed in Tulsa too.

Looks like DTV does, but Dish does not: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/svLocalChannels.jsp

 

[The Fat Man]

Interesting. What markets are without a PBS affielate? I always assumed that it was available everywhere. My guess is small rural markets.

 

[pattykay]

Interesting. What markets are without a PBS affielate? I always assumed that it was available everywhere. My guess is small rural markets.

The problem is not necessarily that the market lacks a PBS affiliate. There are probably very few (if any) markets that lack a PBS affiliate, since PBS has many more affiliates than there are markets. The problem is situations like I alluded to earlier, where the local PBS affiliate is a low-powered station that does not qualify for must-carry as part of the local package on satellite. (The must-carry rules are different for cable, so these stations do get carried by the local cable providers.) It is those markets, with no must-carry PBS station, where Dish uses the national feed instead.

 

[ShawnHill1]

Interesting. What markets are without a PBS affielate? I always assumed that it was available everywhere. My guess is small rural markets.

Rockford, Illinois (my hometown) doesn't have its own PBS affiliate...via cable, they get WTTW (Chicago) and WHA (Madison; the flagship of Wisconsin Public TV), and via Dish/DTV, it's the national feed; I haven't lived there in nearly 30 years, but in the analog days, you could pick up WHA over-the-air in most of the Rockford area, but you could also up WTTW or Milwaukee's WMVS if you lived north and east, and possibly the Quad Cities' WQPT to the southwest.

 

[Joe Capitano]

Here in Western WA we get two PBS channels - KCTS is the major one, while KBTC, owned by a small college, is secondary. That station also operates a fill-in translator north of me on Orcas Island, and that station offers on its subchannels NHK World, MHz (remember when they had Aussie Rules Football?) and TVW (that's a C-SPAN-style channel with an Evergreen State slant). Now if only the other local channels would put repeaters up here (KIRO/7 is the only major network one doing that right now, their repeater is to the east in Burlington) things would be real nice.

 

[Cheddar_Head]

Here in Western WA we get two PBS channels - KCTS is the major one, while KBTC, owned by a small college, is secondary. That station also operates a fill-in translator north of me on Orcas Island, and that station offers on its subchannels NHK World, MHz (remember when they had Aussie Rules Football?) and TVW (that's a C-SPAN-style channel with an Evergreen State slant). Now if only the other local channels would put repeaters up here (KIRO/7 is the only major network one doing that right now, their repeater is to the east in Burlington) things would be real nice.

Now that MHZ doesn't transmit Aussie Rule, what do you do for your fix? Go CROWS

 

[Joe Capitano]

Lake most anyone else, I watch the FOX Sports channels (I don't have FS Plus, however).