not receiving digital over-the-air

We have an HDTV with an integrated digital tuner. Our local TV
station advertises free digital over-the-air reception (www.wbng.com)
on digital channel 7. But all we are getting is its analog version
channel 12. The antenna is a popular Radio Shack brand with an
amplifier, a "rabbit ears" antenna which has a coaxil connection to
the back of the TV. The antenna claimed it would work with HDTV sets
on the box. Is there a difference between digital and analog
antennas? Could the signal not be strong enough?

The analog channel 12 comes in fairly well but not great. We have
DirectTV for our main channels which doesn't come with local channels.
Thanks. --Tim

Binghamton, New York?

There is no difference between digital and analog antennas, just UHF
and VHF like before. In order to receive channel 12 in digital, your
TV must tune to Channel 7, which is WBNG-DT. So try entering 7.1, and
see if that changes to 12.1.

Most likely, you will need to go into the menus and perform a digital
channel scan. That way, your TV can find all the available digital
signals and you won't have to enter the locations of the digital
channels. Remember the .1 though. That's because you'll be getting
additional subchannels of programming.

On Fri, 2 May 2008 15:57:37 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Binghamton, New York?

Yes, Binghamton, NY in Upstate New York.

Most likely, you will need to go into the menus and perform a digital
channel scan. That way, your TV can find all the available digital
signals and you won't have to enter the locations of the digital
channels. Remember the .1 though. That's because you'll be getting
additional subchannels of programming.

Thanks. The channel scan worked.

wrote:
Binghamton, New York?

There is no difference between digital and analog antennas, just UHF
and VHF like before. In order to receive channel 12 in digital, your
TV must tune to Channel 7, which is WBNG-DT. So try entering 7.1, and
see if that changes to 12.1.

Most likely, you will need to go into the menus and perform a digital
channel scan. That way, your TV can find all the available digital
signals and you won't have to enter the locations of the digital
channels. Remember the .1 though. That's because you'll be getting
additional subchannels of programming.

I live more than 220 miles by air from Chicago. I have received Channel
7 HD channel a couple of times. My HDTV says it is WLS-HD. Is there two
channel 7's in Chicago.

The analog channel 12 comes in fairly well but not great. *

As an analog station gets weaker (further away?), the signal quality
gets poorer.

Unlike analog, digital is all-or-nothing. It's a one or a zero. Your
TV either gets the bit or it doesn't. There are redundancies built
into the signal. If you miss a small (10?) percentage of the bits,
you still get a picture because the TV can interpolate or correct with
hardly any notice.

How "local" is the station. Indoor rabbit ears may not get a marginal
signal. For digital, you may need to put an antenna on the roor as I
did.

I live more than 220 miles by air from Chicago. I have received Channel
7 HD channel a couple of times. My HDTV says it is WLS-HD. Is there two
channel 7's in Chicago.

No, there are not two independant stations on one channel. However,
digital TV is bits. With enough bits, a single station can broadcast
4 different programs on the same bandwidth. The bits are interleaved
and the TV knows which bits go with which program.

VHF (channels 2-13) is line-of-sight. Even with a 1000 foot antenna,
that's about a 60 mile limit. UHF is about 1.3 times line-of-sight
distance.

The HDTV may think it's the Chicago station, but I doubt it. Does the
station broadcast its own call letters?

NadCixelsyd wrote:
I live more than 220 miles by air from Chicago. I have received Channel
7 HD channel a couple of times. My HDTV says it is WLS-HD. Is there two
channel 7's in Chicago.


No, there are not two independant stations on one channel. However,
digital TV is bits. With enough bits, a single station can broadcast
4 different programs on the same bandwidth. The bits are interleaved
and the TV knows which bits go with which program.

VHF (channels 2-13) is line-of-sight. Even with a 1000 foot antenna,
that's about a 60 mile limit. UHF is about 1.3 times line-of-sight
distance.

The HDTV may think it's the Chicago station, but I doubt it. Does the
station broadcast its own call letters?

I'm not receiving it today but the TV still has the channel memorized
from the scan and its it is D 07-1 WLS-HD. I did a google search on
WLS-HD channel 7 and it and it says it is an ABC Chicago station. I'm a
long way from Chicago here in southern Illinois.

On Sat, 3 May 2008 11:26:06 -0700 (PDT), NadCixelsyd
wrote:

How "local" is the station. Indoor rabbit ears may not get a marginal
signal. For digital, you may need to put an antenna on the roor as I
did.

The signal suffers from annoying audio and video freeze-up, every
10-30 seconds. But sometimes it can go a minute without it. We may
consider the roof idea.

"Hugh" wrote

I'm not receiving it today but the TV still has the channel memorized from
the scan and its it is D 07-1 WLS-HD. I did a google search on WLS-HD
channel 7 and it and it says it is an ABC Chicago station. I'm a long way
from Chicago here in southern Illinois.

It IS possible you're receiving the signal through some kind of quirky
atmospheric ducting, but of course that's totally unreliable. Keep checking
for it. If you're getting it fairly regularly, then.... ?

NadCixelsyd wrote:
I live more than 220 miles by air from Chicago. I have received Channel
7 HD channel a couple of times. My HDTV says it is WLS-HD. Is there two
channel 7's in Chicago.

No, there are not two independant stations on one channel. However,
digital TV is bits. With enough bits, a single station can broadcast
4 different programs on the same bandwidth. The bits are interleaved
and the TV knows which bits go with which program.

VHF (channels 2-13) is line-of-sight. Even with a 1000 foot antenna,
that's about a 60 mile limit. UHF is about 1.3 times line-of-sight
distance.

You have that backwards. VHF propagates better over the horizon that UHF.