W46ED ... I think

[ejb1980]

I am suddenly getting PSIP 34-1, 34-2, and 34-3 from RF 29 that I have never gotten before. It started coming in only in the last week or so. The thing is, I think that is supposed to be 46-1, 46-2, and 46-3 W46ED-D from Willsboro, NY which relays Mountain Lake PBS (WCFE Plattsburgh, NY) into Burlington, VT from across the lake. W46ED-D has been there "forever" and I am just on the edge of its range, according to the coverage maps, but it has never come in. WCFE comes in just fine so it's not something I have tried to get. Is it changing to 34 or this an error? Is it a little stronger now or am I just experiencing enhancement and am DXing a local? I see nothing on rabbitears about this channel making any changes. I have not moved my antenna.

Speaking of rabbitears, it shows WYCI Saranac Lake, NY moving to a new transmitter that will make it actually serve Burlington, Plattsburgh, and most of Montreal and a little beyond. But that CP expires 9-1-18, so what now? The 34 situation above made me think something was happening with WYCI since WYCI is apparently moving from RF 40 to RF34 but Mountain Lake PBS is not H&I and RF 29 is not RF 34.

Also (unrelated), for trip, on rabbitears, why is WBTS-LD listed as Providence, RI not Boston, MA?

 

[Trip]

W46ED-D moved first to channel 34 to avoid T-Mobile, then to 29 to avoid WYCI. In the process, they did double their power.

WYCI is not yet on the air, and applied for a 6-month extension, so their date should be in early 2019.

WBTS-LD is moving to Providence.

- Trip

 

[ejb1980]

W46ED-D moved first to channel 34 to avoid T-Mobile, then to 29 to avoid WYCI. In the process, they did double their power.

WYCI is not yet on the air, and applied for a 6-month extension, so their date should be in early 2019.

WBTS-LD is moving to Providence.

- Trip

Thank you for your quick reply. So you're saying that W46ED-D recently did this? That would make sense based on what I have seen. Honestly, I had never kept up with them because I only looked at the main WCFE transmitter. Why would they use 34-1, not 46-1, as it seems to indicate they "should?"

I guess that would make sense for WBTS to move with WNEU moving to Boston. Do you know if WNEU is going to stay Telemundo and WYCN will stay NBC, and become the cable/satellite affiliate? Or is it too early to know that stuff now?

 

[Trip]

LPTV stations are not required to follow the PSIP standard unless there is a conflict with a full-power or Class A station that is required to follow it. But if they were following the standard in full, they would either map it to 57-x like the main WCFE signal, or 67-x to match its analog. My guess is that they switched it to 34-x from 46-x when they made the first move, then someone either forgot to move it to 29-x when they did the second move, or they were concerned about overlap with some other 29-x, like CFTU. Or, perhaps, they wanted to be right next to WETK.

My guess is that NBC will leave the WGBX transmitter (allowing both WGBH and WGBX programming to air from that transmitter when WGBH ultimately moves to low-VHF), and WNEU will air NBC and Telemundo as it does now, but from Needham. WBTS-LD will ultimately become the channel sharing host station for WRIW-CD, providing Telemundo to Providence, and will likely use the old WRIW-CD equipment when all is said and done.

- Trip

 

[ejb1980]

LPTV stations are not required to follow the PSIP standard unless there is a conflict with a full-power or Class A station that is required to follow it. But if they were following the standard in full, they would either map it to 57-x like the main WCFE signal, or 67-x to match its analog. My guess is that they switched it to 34-x from 46-x when they made the first move, then someone either forgot to move it to 29-x when they did the second move, or they were concerned about overlap with some other 29-x, like CFTU. Or, perhaps, they wanted to be right next to WETK.

My guess is that NBC will leave the WGBX transmitter (allowing both WGBH and WGBX programming to air from that transmitter when WGBH ultimately moves to low-VHF), and WNEU will air NBC and Telemundo as it does now, but from Needham. WBTS-LD will ultimately become the channel sharing host station for WRIW-CD, providing Telemundo to Providence, and will likely use the old WRIW-CD equipment when all is said and done.

- Trip

A quick update note for rabbitears while I have your attention: the following subchannels are now (and have been for a bit, but I don't know exactly how long) 480 widescreen in the Burlington area: WVNY 22-2 Laff, WVNY 22-3 Grit, WFFF 44-3 Bounce. (WPTZ 5-3 Me TV is still 4:3 and is the only channel I receive that is so.)

 

[Trip]

Thanks. I've updated accordingly.

- Trip