(WIVT-DT Specific) DTV Reception FAQ's

 

We have commissioned our new digital transmitter.  Please note our temporary digital signal has now been shut off now that we have completely switched over to our new permanent digital channel 34 channel.  Over the air viewers will need be sure they have a UHF antenna connected then do a channel scan with their converter boxes or digital TV's in order to tune in the new digital transmitter channel.  

 

What type of antenna do I need?
Reliable reception for all television frequencies used in the Binghamton Area which now only include  upper band VHF and UHF band generally requires a conventional looking directional VHF/UHF antenna on the roof. One having excellent front to back ratio pointed at our tower located on Ingraham Hill in the Town of Binghamton, NY.

In most cases a rooftop directional antenna designed by its manufacturer for all the actual frequencies available in a given viewing area will provide excellent reception when pointed in the direction of desired transmitters. A couple of factors for selecting antenna size include viewer household distance from transmitter and surrounding terrain. Medium directional antennas are fine for most residential addresses close to the transmitter. Large directional antennas are needed for further distant addresses. Deep fringe addresses may also need a pre-amplifier mounted on a large directional antenna. Using a larger antenna than required can overdrive your receiver causing an unwatchable picture. Amplifiers if installed when not necessary will cause even greater reception problems. Some difficult locations may find that a separate VHF antenna along with a separate UHF antenna each optimized for the desired channel bands may be necessary.

Omni-directional antennas will by their design also pick up delayed and multiple reflections of the desired target signal especially bad in the Binghamton Area's rolling hills. These reflections will present reception problems for both analog and digital television broadcasts. In the case of digital these signal reflections will reduce desired signal gain and can null out certain frequencies that are at threshold levels. In analog the signal reflections will produce multiple or ghost images of the signal visible on the screen.

What about indoor antennas?
Overall, indoor antenna use is much less reliable due to factors of building attenuation, lower elevation and signal noise. Indoor antennas have an average gain of - 1.1 dB, which is actually a loss about 10 dB below the FCC's calculated baseline, which assumes households will be using an outdoor rooftop antenna.

Which Converter box is best for me?
People have different feature preferences, here is a link comparing features of Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units

Please note:
The Zenith DTT900, Zenith DTT901, and Artec T3A Pro have proven reliable in our area.

 

Use this link to help with pointing a unidirectional antenna from your address.
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx
Here is link for a Winegard HD7210P, which is a great antenna (medium directional UHF/VHF with excellent front to back ratio) for all Greater Binghamton Area's if you fall in the yellow, green, lt. green or red reception zones as determined from the above link.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=ANWGHST

When is WBGH-CA your NBC channel converting to digital?
We currently deliver an HD feed of WBGH directly to Time Warner in Binghamton, it is available as part of their HD package.
Our WBGH-CA is a class A low-power television (LPTV) station. By virtue of being Class A, the FCC has not issued any mandate for us to transition NBC to a digital channel. This means that WBGH-CA analog Ch 20 will not be shut down and will continue to transmit on its current low-power analog channel.
For more information regarding DTV transition for low power analog stations, please see FCC website at: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/DTVandLPTV.html

We do have plans to add WBGH as a digital sub-channel so that it will ultimately increase our WBGH coverage area, there is no definite date when this will happen.  Sub-channels are rarely HD due to the tradeoffs of the data compression necessitated by bandwidth limitations so these details are not yet finalized.

The FCC's revamped DTV web site is also designed to help consumers with questions about the DTV transition. www.dtv.gov

For more information, visit the following website.
http://www.dtvanswers.com
OR
CLICK HERE for a 30 Minute video with even more information.