WYOU/WBRE TV Central PA - Problems

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FTA4PA

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Nov 13, 2013
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Central Pennsylvania
Is anyone else having problems receiving WYOU and WBRE TV in Central PA. WYOU changed from rf 13 to rf 12 the other day. WBRE has been at rf 11 right along. WYOU is now constantly breaking up and WBRE is having similar although not always as severe issues. This affects all four channels (main and three subs) on both, so 8 channels total. These have always been our strongest and most reliable channels but WYOU, WBRE and their subs are now basically unwatchable at this point. Could it be because they are now located right next to each other rf-wise? Also, their transmitters are basically on top of each other at the same location. Any ideas? :(
 
I just did a rescan on two TVs and two Dish receivers. None locked WYOU or WBRE and I've always been able to get them. Methinks perhaps they messed something up.
 
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Radioguy41 said:
I just did a rescan on two TVs and two Dish receivers. None locked WYOU or WBRE and I've always been able to get them. Methinks perhaps they messed something up.
Click to expand...
Yep, I had that happen last night. We now have Orby with the OTA tuned through their receivers. The coax connection to the multiswitch I use for the four Orby receivers is only a few feet from where the antenna lead comes in. Scans on the Orbys lock the WYOU and WBRE channels but with horrible break up.

I also have a long coax line running to a tv at the far end of the house. We don't use it anymore but I hooked it up to the antenna lead and did a scan just to see what would happen. Scan missed WYOU and WBRE. As I said, these have always been our strongest and always scan in. Wondering if they are not running at full power yet since the long run of coax to the tv lowered the signal enough to not even pick them up on that tv? :what2

Guess I will wait a few days to see if things improve before contacting them. :(
 
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Well, I checked them out about an hour ago and they were a bit better, then over the last hour they are back to the point of being unwatchable again, especially WYOU. :(
 
Radioguy41 said:
Hard to believe they didn't test that ahead of time. I think this entire repack could best be described as "Flying by the seat of their pants.". :rolleyes:
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I'm told the VSWR of the antenna looks fine, so theoretically, it should be working correctly.

- Trip
 
Might have been better if someone had just driven to a house with an antenna 20 miles away and seen how the actual reception was rather than rely on instrument readings and computerized sims. KISS comes to mind. It reminds me of when the local PBS went digital. After the conversion there was a very visible artifact on screen and I spent 2 days arguing with the station engineer who insisted his instruments and in house monitor showed no problem. I finally told him to get up off his duff and go visit somewhere and look at an actual OTA signal. The next day it was fixed.

A while back the FCC, in it's infinite wisdom, allowed a station in Atlantic City to relocate it's transmitter to Philadelphia but also allowed it to keep it's long reaching northern footprint and it's original channel ID, 44. Ever since then I have problems scanning in the SWB PBS (ch 44) because on my 2 TVs the Phila ch 44 locks out the SWB 44. So here I am in the SWB market area (according to the FCC) but can not receive 16 (haven't since the digital conversion), 22, 28, or 44. Back in the analog days I received them all just fine but since then I've lost one after the other and now I get zip. This is a bloody mess.
 
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Trip said:
I'm told the VSWR of the antenna looks fine, so theoretically, it should be working correctly.

- Trip
Click to expand...
But it isn't. :( Thank you Trip for your updates on this. It is appreciated! :hatsoff

Radioguy41 said:
Might have been better if someone had just driven to a house with an antenna 20 miles away and seen how the actual reception was rather than rely on instrument readings and computerized sims. KISS comes to mind. It reminds me of when the local PBS went digital. After the conversion there was a very visible artifact on screen and I spent 2 days arguing with the station engineer who insisted his instruments and in house monitor showed no problem. I finally told him to get up off his duff and go visit somewhere and look at an actual OTA signal. The next day it was fixed.

A while back the FCC, in it's infinite wisdom, allowed a station in Atlantic City to relocate it's transmitter to Philadelphia but also allowed it to keep it's long reaching northern footprint and it's original channel ID, 44. Ever since then I have problems scanning in the SWB PBS (ch 44) because on my 2 TVs the Phila ch 44 locks out the SWB 44. So here I am in the SWB market area (according to the FCC) but can not receive 16 (haven't since the digital conversion), 22, 28, or 44. Back in the analog days I received them all just fine but since then I've lost one after the other and now I get zip. This is a bloody mess.
Click to expand...

Status here as of writing this on Sunday July 5th 2020 between 8:30am and 8:50am. WYOU was actually watchable (with some break up) for about 15 minutes. WBRE was unwatchable. Within 15 minutes WYOU was unwatchable and WBRE was gone. Kudos to those who are working to get this straightened out but I really have to question whether anyone is an expert on this transition stuff or if it is just one big experiment and we don't know the outcome - and we haven't even factored in ATSC 3.0 here yet. Very frustrating! :confused:
 
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As of 3 o'clock today (Tuesday the 7th) still nothing. Based on how messed up this repack has been it scares the crap out of me knowing ATSC 3.0 is coming down the pike. :rolleyes:
 
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Radioguy41 said:
As of 3 o'clock today (Tuesday the 7th) still nothing. Based on how messed up this repack has been it scares the crap out of me knowing ATSC 3.0 is coming down the pike. :rolleyes:
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I just checked at 5:00pm and both are breaking up horribly with WBRE actually worse than WYOU which is the opposite of how things had been. :oldno
 
Well, I just checked these again and as of 9:30pm both WYOU, WBRE and all subs are coming in fine with no breakups. Crossing my fingers that it is now fixed! :yessign

Wonder what the problem turned out to be?
 
FTA4PA said:
Well, I just checked these again and as of 9:30pm both WYOU, WBRE and all subs are coming in fine with no breakups. Crossing my fingers that it is now fixed! :yessign

Wonder what the problem turned out to be?
Click to expand...
Spoke too soon. Midnight, 7/8/20 and noticing some minor breakup again on both WYOU, WBRE and subs. :(
 
Don't forget guys, it's also Tropospheric Ducting season, and that can cause issues with locals, but you might receive a station 100's of miles away for short periods of time.
 
I locked 70 channels on my scan, including ch 56 Fox and ch 16 ABC whose transmitters are located at the same place, but not these two. They both disappeared the day they changed so I doubt it's an atmospheric issue.
 
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I have checked this off and on since I posted yesterday and although there were a few minor breakups it has been 99% watchable. I looked just now and WYOU, WBRE and all subs are gone? Hope they are just making some final adjustments and will be back up.
 
I just checked these again shortly after 4pm an WYOU, WBRE and subs are all back. I did not see any dropouts or pixelation at all. Signal strength is between 69% and 75%. Signal quality is between 98% to 100%. Are you getting these now Radioguy41?
 
Nope, I rescanned late last night and again this morning on mutiple devices and while 16, 44, and 56 scanned in fine 22 and 28 still did not.
 

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