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WGBH-TV's on-air signal to get a boost
By adamg on Tue, 10/22/2019 - 11:41am
On the Boston Radio Interest mailing list, Larry Sochrin forwards a copy of a mailing from WGBH:
WGBH's petition to increase its broadcasting frequency strength was approved by the Federal Communication Commission.
The power of our transmitter will be increased from 6.9kW to 34.5 kW. We expect this increase to result in significant improvements to reception quality. Getting the right hardware, testing and installation brings us to approximately first week of January; however it is very possible it will be completed sooner.
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Comments
This is good - we can't get
This is good - we can't get WGBH over the air where we are on the South Shore, but we can get all the other major ones (ABC,etc)
THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND WATTS OF
THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND WATTS OF POWER
Echo Chamber --amber --amber --ber --ber
Excellent news for those that just can't get enough of Shirley Leung agreeing with Jim Braude agreeing with Callie Crossley agreeing with Andrea Cabral agreeing with Emily Rooney agreeing with Brian MacQuarrie agreeing with...
Kids programming, Home Improvment
It's still the best broadcast TV for people with kids and/or enjoy fixing up their homes, cooking, etc.
I don't love WGBH but PBS has the best TV programming when it comes to non-fiction and long form news. They also produce a whole lot locally.
It's easy to ignore Greater Boston.
Masterpiece
Is also wonderful, IMHO.
NOVA and American Experience
Two (of many) reasons why I don't regret the decision to finally ditch cable last March. Now if only Channel 38 can ramp up their power to a reasonable level - it's been at least a couple of months since I've been able to receive their signal at all.
^^ THIS
I miss 38. Its about the only channel I do not, and have never got with an antenna. Well most of the times. On a *good* sunny day, I can get it and even then its blocky and sounds like max headroom sometimes.
25 is a close second.. their signal blows.
7 is the best, followed by 56.x, and then 4&5
Anyone else lose all TV
Anyone else lose all TV reception in Boston in the past 2-3 weeks?
It was weak with a handful of channels since the signal migration and then all of a sudden every channel was gone. Re-scanned several times, moved the antenna around, tried tin foil, and nada. =(
I didn't lose all channels,
I didn't lose all channels, but they're much weaker signal. My understanding is that ABC, CBS, Fox & NBC are still all operating at low-power on some auxiliary tower because of the frequency switchover from August.
Not all, but...
I just checked on our "OTA TV" (the one in the kitchen), and I was missing 7, NBC-10, CW56, 38, and their associated sub-channels (and a couple of others that are usually marginal).
Rescanning....
Everything's back except the two marginal channels, and it looks like I picked up a few extra sub-channels.
You may want to check if your tuner has fried; I've had that happen before.
OOH OOH
Do Fox next! I haven't been able to pick up Boston 25 for months now, since the signal "repacking" which was supposed to be finished in August. Guess not. Used to be one of the clearest channels too.
OTA channels have been kneecapped so hard in the past decade, its a joke. You would think these networks want to reach as big an audience as possible.
I don't watch FOX much
But their signal generally comes in reliably in Wakefield. Have to move the antenna around once and awhile, but not every time I want to watch something.
They do want to reach a large audience
They just want to do it through cable operators to whom they can charge a retransmission fee.
Yes please
I can get FOX, but it is noticeably weaker since August - cuts out or pixelates frequently. I have re-scanned (multiple times). Some of the other channels seem to have gotten worse as well, but FOX has downgraded the most.
Not reported whether radio or
Not reported whether radio or television. Does anybody know ? All indications point to a television involvement, but some of those indications also raise the question of why a cable tv company would care at all about broadcast transmitters.
Re-read the headline
It answers your question.
How many people still use
How many people still use over-the-air TV?
I gave up on TV when it went digital in 2009, and I haven't missed it.
yup
Yup. I cut the cord eons ago, but I still like to wake up and watch local morning news before leaving out (for the weather and traffic)
I also watch a few things on the digital subs. There's some great digital subs out there. i get around ~30 some odd stations. Pretty good deal for a one time 50 buck investment (antenna).
This news does not apply to cable or satellite TV subscribers...
As you will get WGBH no problem.