RabbitEars Blog

DMAs and Listings

2008-09-26T14:09:00.002-04:00

Hello all:

I know it's been a very long time since I've posted, but I haven't felt a need to. Features have been slowly adding up on the site, but I figure they're plain and obvious enough that I didn't need to post about them.

But this latest change is rather large and important, so I'm going to go ahead and mention it. As you may or may not have heard, Nielsen recently sent a DMCA takedown notice to Wikipedia over its use of the Nielsen DMAs in its TV station listings. I also made use of these listings, and quickly grew concerned about having to take down parts of the site if something like that were sent to me.

Bruce developed a new algorithm for determining market ranks and whatnot, and that has now been implemented. I'll still be tweaking it for quite some time to come, but this should at least keep the site safe from Nielsen. The DTR page is, for the moment, still using the DMA system. I'm up in the air about whether or not to leave it, since it'll be completely gone at this time next year. I don't think it's worth the effort of reworking the whole thing, and I might just leave it and if I get a takedown notice, I'll make a new page that isn't quite so lengthy.

I'm also quite pleased with the way the markets are shaping up. I have more data than ever, and am still seeking data in markets I'm missing. It's easy to tell which markets are complete by the new TVGOS page (under Listings in the menu at the top), since the finished ones have TVGOS data as well as other data.

Finally, I'm working on a new project for the site, and I have yet to figure out how to make it work, since I know very little about coding. Once I do, it'll be something completely new, and will require participation from visitors, so I'm hoping to get it working some time soon.

Anyway, have a good day!

A Vacation

2008-07-01T23:25:00.002-04:00

I am typing this message from a timeshare in Pennsylvania. Yep, I'm on vacation.

And what kind of vacation would it be if I hadn't dragged my reception equipment with me? I'm staying at Fernwood in the Poconos, which is in a valley which cuts it off from virtually all TV reception. All I can see here are analog signals--WTBY-54 Poughkeepsie, WMBC-63 Newton, and occasionally WNJB2 Blairstown. None of them will make it here in the world of digital, due to new tower sites.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I managed to get my mom to stop several times on the way home, plus I took a drive today. I've received:

WHSV-DT Harrisonburg
All of Hagerstown, MD's stations
All of Harrisburg, PA's stations (WGCB-DT was too weak but I got the gist of it)
All of Scranton, PA's stations except WQMY-DT which may not be on the air
Most of Philadelphia's stations (except WHYY-DT, WNJS-DT, WMCN-DT, WBPH-DT, WWSI-DT).

I hope to go through Allentown on the way home and receive WBPH-DT, and maybe complete Philadelphia if I'm really lucky. I also want to try to get a better capture out of WGCB-DT and stop somewhere near Staunton to try and receive WVPT-DT.

I am also going to the suburb in New Jersey where my relatives live tomorrow with my uncle. He needs to go home to pick something up, and I'll be going with him to try and receive as many of the New York stations as I can. At my grandparents' house I've received 2/4/5/7/9/11/13/29/31/41/47/50/63/68, so I'm expecting to receive at least those stations tomorrow. Ideally I'd also like to grab 58 and 25 (I didn't have a VHF antenna last time, and 25 wasn't on the air).

All the data from my trip is uploaded and posted. All the data from today's journey is posted, but the captures have yet to be uploaded. I hope to correct that soon.

Have a great holiday week.

Digital TV E-Skip

2008-06-08T18:37:00.002-04:00

I believe that I broke a record today.

I decoded a few frames of KOTA-DT 2 Rapid City, SD on the DTT900 in the kitchen. I tried to get it on the DViCO so I could get a TSReader capture, but I was too slow.

So I'll keep trying to get some proof of reception throughout the summer before getting too carried away. If Wikipedia is to be believed, the current DTV E-skip distance record is 1,236 miles, whereas my reception was about 1,370 miles.

I almost got WWAY-DT to add to my Wilmington collection, but it didn't quite make it. I got WECT-DT and WUNJ-DT a few days ago, along with WFXI-DT, WUNK-DT, and others. I'll be doing more DXing before the summer's out.

Have a great week!

Quick Followup Re: WDRL-DT

2008-05-28T07:22:00.003-04:00

Good morning.

All I have is a quick followup to my last post. After I received WDRL-DT on Saturday night, I sent an e-mail to the general manager informing him of my findings. I told him of three things he could fix in his signal to make it decode for some people with finnicky tuners.

Well, I managed to decode WDRL-DT again yesterday and it's either a coincidence and he just happened to configure PSIP and his TVCT yesterday, or he listened to me and configured it. It now maps to 24-1 and has "WDRL" listed for the call sign. The whole TVCT is filled out now, though there's still no program guide. (You can find an updated TSReader listing on the listings page)

Now that it's correct, my DViCO will show me video when the signal is strong enough, and the station even seemed to add itself to the DTT900s downstairs. I have yet to see any picture out of my Zenith HDV420, but at some point while sitting on 41-3 it remapped itself to 24-1.

I also determined that the DTT900 shows a clear picture on WDRL-DT when the WinTV-D has as little as 12.6 dB SNR, which is below the point where I can even determine the PIDs on the WinTV-D. The DTT900 tries to decode as low as about 12 dB on the WinTV-D but is pixelated and generally unsuccessful.

Anyway, I have to go off to work, just wanted to make that note. Have a good day!

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-26T10:52:00.002-04:00

Hello again, all.

I've had nothing much to post about for the last two weeks. I've been working my new job and keeping up with site updates as needed.

A couple of interesting points. The first is that pre-amplifiers can greatly improve fringe signal, even having two in a series. For many years, my family has had a setup involving two antennas out on the roof and then coming in to a 30 dB Radio Shack amp. On Saturday, on a whim, I took my CM7777 and put it in the line before the Radio Shack amp, and saw signal on my weakest signals spike. To be specific:

WBRA-DT went from about 11 dB up to 13.5 dB-14.2 dB, usually sitting right at 13.8 dB.
WDRL-DT went from varying between 4-7 dB to a fairly consistent 10-12 dB, usually sitting right at 10.8 dB.

WDRL-DT is probably a lost cause for the time being, but there's still hope for PBS, as we're seriously considering a larger antenna that is actually wide enough to capture the waves on channel 3.

Speaking of WDRL-DT, I was finally able to decode the station on Saturday evening thanks in part to the amp and to favorable atmospheric conditions. I've posted some TSReader output and found that the station does not appear to be transmitting any PSIP at all. The Zenith receivers showed the station on 41-3 with no guide data or identification, and my DViCO I use for TSReader wouldn't even show me the video feed for some reason. This probably explains why I seem to remember my Zenith HDV420 shutting itself off last time WDRL-DT decoded (it was never strong enough to do so on Saturday night with that receiver).

Does anyone know if there's a receiver like the WinTV-D in terms of its signal measurements, but with a newer chip in it? I love the way it measures signal, but the tuner in it is atrocious. I had 13.8 dB SNR on it when WDRL-DT was decoding cleanly on the Zenith DTT900 boxes downstairs. The WinTV-D generally needs about 16.5 dB SNR to decode cleanly, just to give an idea of how much of an improvement there is. (That said, low-VHF on the Zenith begins trying to decode a lot sooner, but isn't watchable until it's stabilized on the WinTV-D, which just goes to show how much more signal is required to overcome low-VHF's problems.) If you wish to see what its signal meter looks like, here's Girard Westerberg's page on it. The signal meter images begin about 2/3 of the way down the page.

Anyway, enjoy your Memorial Day and updates here will resume tonight just after midnight. Have a great day!

Retired One Section, Added a New One

2008-05-12T16:43:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

Not much to talk about today. I retired the Subchannels section about half an hour ago. It was falling out of date and it was quite annoying to have to update two pages every time I got an update, so I went ahead and retired it.

In its place, I spent most of today as well as a large chunk of last night researching and building its replacement. While it has absolutely nothing to do with OTA DTV, I wanted to make this page for my father who loves watching video on the Internet. As long as I was compiling this huge page, I figured I might as well make it available to the public. So there it is; enjoy it.

I know I'm missing a lot of things in the Sports and Music sections, but neither subject interests me too much. I should hope that people find some use in the massive list, and do let me know if any errors are found.

Have a good day!

Free to Be Accurate

2008-05-08T11:51:00.003-04:00

First of all, let me start off with some news updates.

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, Wilmington NC is slated to be the DTV shutoff "test market." They will terminate analog on September 8, 2008, five months ahead of the shutoff for the rest of the country. Right in the middle of hurricane season, no less, and in a market with all UHFs. Personally I think it was a poor choice of market, whereas Chico, Lexington, or Columbus would have been superior choices.

I managed to finish Raleigh yesterday, due to some intense tropo ducting, now that I'm home. I'm also running through and trying to update all the UNC stations so they are the same. I'm part of the way through, still have to do the stations in Charlotte, Greenville, and Asheville.

Low VHF digitals continue to suck. WBRA-DT has annoyed me to no end since I've gotten home. Right this moment the signal is decoding at 16.9 dB, but it is always gone when there's something I want to watch. Their answer? "Get satellite." Also a great way to ensure they cut their donations, since those will end up in the satellite bill instead. Good job, WBRA, way to provide a public service!

Finally, the point of this post. Last month, days before the official launch of RabbitEars, I received an e-mail from the Senior Vice President of Technology at the CW. (Since I have not received permission to publish his name, I shall not) He complimented the site I had even then, and requested a list of his own affiliates. Fortunately, the site as it stands was launched the next day, and on the Search page it provides a list of both CW and CW+ affiliates. He asked for my mailing address and said he wanted to send me something from the CW.

Gift 1
Gift 2 (Front)
Gift 2 (Back)

And as you can see, I've chosen to wear the green one today.

I have my last final this afternoon, and so I won't be doing anything with the site this afternoon. Have a good Thursday!

Joy is a Visit to NBC29!

2008-05-06T00:49:00.005-04:00

Hello all!

I have exciting news! I visited NBC29 on Monday. I received an invitation before I left for college back in August to come visit once I'd gotten "settled in." Since engineering school kept me quite busy, I was unable to do so before now.

It was such an amazing experience. Got to see all the equipment, discuss broadcasting issues and whatnot... it's very wonderful.

More importantly, I have pictures! I was planning to do a full walkthrough here on the site, but I may not do so since I wouldn't be adding much more than I already have.

So without further ado, here's the links to the pictures:

NBC29 Pictures

Enjoy!

Exam Week is Over!

2008-05-04T23:51:00.002-04:00

Apologies for my absence over the past week. I've had exams and whatnot, and that kept me very busy. I feel good about them all though, so there's plenty of good news there.

Today I spent part of my day fixing the subchannel listings so the physical channel would be listed based on the MPEG Stream "Program Number" rather than just numbering 1, 2, 3, etc. This means that a lot of stations now have their first subchannel appearing as xx.3 instead of xx.1. This behavior is correct. I also managed to receive WUPV-DT from Richmond this morning, so I am now missing only WWBT-DT. Receiving that station would complete my Richmond section.

After I did that, I dragged my computer, tuner, and antenna to the dining hall's second floor which has one particular window with a clean line of sight to Carter's Mountain. I attempted to receive WVPT-DT1 on channel 11, which does 0.4 kW from there supposedly, but never got more than 30% signal (60% is required to decode the signal). While there, I met with someone involved in the amateur radio club here, and we ended up playing with every piece of reception equipment I have. This included my IBOC radio, shortwave, and the Insignia NS-7HTV I have. After talking to him, I'm strongly considering attempting to get a license. It sounds interesting.

Some notes relating to TV now; it seems Georgia PBS has been lighting up stations. In addition to WGTV which has been on the air for some time, I've heard multiple reports that WXGA, WMUM, and WVAN are on the air, plus a single report that WNGH (formerly WCLP) is also on the air. All of these have had their single subchannel added, and none of them map to their analog channel numbers. Still to come are WACS, WABW, and WCES.

I also found out that Bismarck's ABC station has a digital up, mapping to 1-1. This is, of course, not allowed by the FCC. It sounds like they installed the equipment and didn't bother configuring it, as some PSIP devices default to 1-1 out of the box. I recall the Weigel stations (WCIU in Chicago and WDJT in Milwaukee) mapped to 1-1 for some time because of this.

I'll be returning home tomorrow and likely on Tuesday or Wednesday will make a post about a gift I've received. I'll also be touring a station tomorrow, and will write about that as well.

I'm updating the DTR in a few minutes, and then heading to bed. Adios!

Lengthy Week

2008-04-25T12:23:00.002-04:00

What a week.

You may skip this paragraph if you don't care about my technical troubles.

On Wednesday I got the brilliant idea to reload my system with the Kubuntu-KDE4 RC. I backed all of my data up as I wanted to change the partition layout, then reloaded. Everything went well until I tried to install KDE3's Guidance Power Manager. The thing decided to suspend itself right away. When I tried to wake it up again, the wireless card and LCD backlight wouldn't turn back on. Two hours of panicking later, it fixed itself somehow. Still not sure what's up with that, but so far everything is working alright.

Anyway, on to actual news. Apparently WJJA is going to change call letters to WBME now that it's picked up the "Me-TV" name. I also picked up some updates here and there which are now shown on the Updates page of the site.

As for features, I imagine most who have looked at the technical data can now see the little visual directional patterns. Bruce implemented this a few days ago and the directional patterns have been parsed so the images show up. I hope it is useful for those who wish to see what stations' directional patterns look like.

Finally, I got a gift in the mail at home. I'll post more about it once I'm able to get home and take some pictures.

My updates may become more spaced out as I have exams this coming week. Computer Science is on Monday, then three over two days next Friday and Saturday. Then I go home for a while and come back the following Thursday for Economics. Once that is all said and done, I'll be home for the summer.

Have a good weekend!

O Canada!

2008-04-22T18:43:00.001-04:00

Hello once more!

I spent a decent amount of time today adding Canadian stations from southern Ontario to the listings. I did this mainly because they are needed for the Available Channels search to work properly in the border areas. I may separate the Canadian stations into their own DMA listings beginning with #501, but I haven't decided yet. We'll see what happens; right now they're numbered along with the nearest US market geographically.

A couple of changes of note. First of all, WJJA in Milwaukee finally had its sale to Weigel close yesterday, and by evening the station was "MeTV Milwaukee," simulcasting 58-3. It airs classic shows, much as RTN does.

I received a message informing me that KLUZ 41-2 in Albuquerque is now showing LATV instead of TeleFutura. That change has been made in the listings.

Also of note, congratulations to my local CBS station, WDBJ in Roanoke, for beginning HD newscasts! I can't wait to return home from college and see what it looks like and get some screencaps.

Another new feature is in the works. I will post about it when it becomes available.

Portland, Oregon is Completed

2008-04-20T21:50:00.003-04:00

Post-Midnight Edit: KTOO-DT has filed for an STA to go silent. Apparently an avalanche has cut a mile and a half of power lines which fed Juneau's power, so the whole town is being run off of diesel generators. KTOO wants to kill their digital signal so as to save energy which is expected to spike 400% in terms of cost. Given that their digital signal is twice as powerful as the analog, this makes sense. This is noted in the DTR, along with all other new filings from the weekend.

As I stated, I got another market this evening. I didn't actually plan to get Portland, but I'm not arguing!

My source was unable to receive KPXG or KORS-CA, so I guessed at KPXG based on another ION station. I'd be very interested to see KORS-CA, but such is life.

Also, note that the previously mentioned new feature is in testing. If you sign up for an account, I can send e-mails when the site is updated either daily, weekly, or monthly, and it can be customized for whatever markets, networks, owners, or stations you'd like. Check it out if you're interested.

Of course, it's not automated in any way yet, so it relies on me remembering to send it at the moment. I'll get it in my script eventually and then it'll be more regular.

I hope to have another market in the very near future. If I'm really lucky, I'll have three.

Another Market Complete

2008-04-20T14:06:00.004-04:00

Good Sunday afternoon!

Before I start, I just want to note that I forgot to mention that yesterday morning I was able to decode WJLA-DT and WBAL-DT. The latter is 132 miles away (the former is 98 miles away), and I was quite surprised to get it to decode with just my little Silver Sensor inside a cinderblock building. So those stations now have data associated with them.

Anyway, onto the news of today. I added more links to the FAQ page, so hopefully those will interest some people. I've also done some more work on the Credits page.

But the big news is that I have technical data on another city now. Thanks to Terry Knab, with whom I frequently have conversations about DTV, I now have complete technical data on the stations in Springfield, MO. I'm still missing screencaps and history, but those aren't top priorities for me. I now have these markets finished as far as technical data or at least mostly finished:

Cincinnati
Little Rock
Dayton
Roanoke
Springfield, MO
Charlottesville
Lima

The following are partially finished:

Columbus
Louisville
Richmond
Lexington

I think that's about it for today so far. I hear that I may be getting information for another city in the very near future, and if I do get that information, I will do the updates and make a post about it.

Have a pleasant conclusion to your weekend!

FAQ is Almost Complete!

2008-04-19T20:00:00.002-04:00

Good Saturday evening.

I spent a decent amount of time on the FAQ today. Most of it is done, with the exception of the site layout section. I'm still attempting to figure out how to do that. Bruce has suggested that I use screenshots with comments in them, but I'm concerned about load time for dial-up users. Perhaps if I compress them enough it will work out alright...

Bruce has added a feature to show what updates I make to subchannels and whatnot. You'll find the link to that feature in the Updates section. Today I updated WMUM and WXGA, both of which apparently signed on in the last week finally.

He also added the direction stations are in to the available channel search. So if a station is close, you can figure out which direction you need to move in to (hopefully) make it fit.

I still have to work on the Credits page some, and I have more links to go in the FAQ, but that can happen another time. I dedicated most of the day today to this site and almost none to homework, so I figure I should do something with that tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a pleasant conclusion to their weekend.

Progress on FAQ Page

2008-04-18T22:16:00.003-04:00

Site Update Notice: The site is fully up to date as of today. Next FCC data comes out after midnight eastern time on Sunday evening, and all the non-FCC information I have is up to date.

I'm hard at work on an FAQ page, and I hope to finish it this weekend. So far I've put up some profiles for myself and Bruce, which may or may not be expanded, and some "cool links," along with the headers for everything else. I'm not sure when the Site Layout section will get finished exactly, since I need to do some things with that which will likely require Bruce's help, but in the mean time, I hope to have it mostly finished by Monday.

The Available Channels search continues to improve, as it has been refined to list stations' zones using data from the FCC database rather than guessing based on which state it's in. I'm also working on getting data on channels reserved for land-mobile added into the database, but I'm encountering some issues. They're being treated as regular stations, so they do not show up properly in the list, but I figure that it's a small enough problem that it can be manually determined on a case-by-case basis.

The other note is that another new feature is on the way. Look for that in the next few days.

I'm still anxious to receive updates and information from people, so as soon as that shows up in the FAQ, it will be most appreciated.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good weekend. Enjoy!

New Search Feature Added!

2008-04-16T18:15:00.003-04:00

Site Update Notice: The site should now be up to date. No subchannel updates today, but I did an FCC update and everything looks correct now. Updates to FCC data appear on the Updates page.

Good Wednesday to everyone. Another day, another update.

First of all, I've been going through the e-mails I had not read in the account listed on the contacts page. I sincerely apologize to all who did not receive a response from me over the last several years. For a very long time I'd given up on the whole idea of ever getting a site going and just ignored e-mails about it. While I sent some people responses to their ancient e-mails, there's simply too many to respond to all of them individually. Again, my apologies.

Second note, I've updated the Credits page. While it still doesn't list everyone who has assisted me, I'm still trying to compile the list, it's certainly getting there. If you're on the list and do not wish to be, please let me know and I will accommodate you.

Last and most certainly not least, the site has a new feature today! Bruce has implemented a feature you'll find at the bottom of the search page. It is a search for open channels in an area, for use in the future for digital television. It uses the FCC's guidelines about minimum distance separation (which do not apply to existing stations from what I understand, only to new ones) and computes which channels might be available for use in the future. Check it out and if you see any problems, either comment here or e-mail or let me know in some other way.

Anyway, enjoy, and have a good day!

It Has Launched!

2008-04-14T14:33:00.003-04:00

Site Update Notice: I attempted to pull updates from the FCC site this afternoon, but it seems the downloadable database did not get updated last night, so any new applications that came in last night will not show up today.

Welcome one, welcome all, to the new RabbitEars, now available to the general public!

At just after noon today, I took down the old RabbitEars and replaced it with the new one, which has been under construction for exactly one month. That's right, all of this was put together in just one month's time.

Granted, it's not finished. There's still tons of markets that are incomplete. The only ones which are even close to completion are:

Cincinnati
Little Rock
Dayton
Roanoke
Charlottesville
Lima

So make sure you check those out for a representation of what is to be available on the whole site.

Also unfinished is the FAQ section, for which I need to write up some detailed FAQs about just what all the parts of the site mean and refer to, how to send me updates, information about the digital transition (including a printable page to share with others), and a list of links to other interesting sites about broadcasting.

I am also keeping a running list of people to add to my Credits page, so that will be updated in the near future as well.

So I hope that everyone enjoys the site. Don't hesitate to contact me and tell me what you think about it or any suggestions that you have. I'm glad to hear them all!

Welcome!

2008-04-12T21:52:00.002-04:00

Hello all!

Welcome to RabbitEars. This site is dedicated to providing the most information on digital television technical data and the history of television stations overall. It'll be a long and arduous path getting all this data and getting it entered, but I feel it will be rewarding not only to myself, but to anyone who needs this extensive information.

I plan to use this blog to list site updates that are not part of the FCC database, post interesting news updates regarding digital and HDTV, and post some opinion from time to time.

I also hope to give Bruce the ability to post here to post whatever he feels like, either updates to the site or his own opinion pieces if he wishes. Bruce is the generous genius who has built this site from the ground up, and I hope he continues to remain involved in one way or another.

The informational half of the site is nowhere near completion, but I hope to correct this in the future. If you wish to help me, I'm going to be posting up the information I require and you can easily send it to me at the e-mail address listed on the Contact page.

Thanks again for visiting, and I hope you have as much fun looking at this site as I do putting data in it!