Nashville DTV News
& More

I was receiving 44 pretty well this past week, but not as good as before the repack. Since last night, I’ve not had any signal again.

I have given up on doing a re-scan until 44 is done with their technical work.

They are just not at full power yet no doubt. About channel 31 WJDE they must have ran into some problems? They were suppose to be back on the air this week.

I am still receiving full bars on all 44 channels day and night on my living room antenna which is a 6 foot long 20 year old antenna. I have full signal in bedroom which uses a $10 outside chinese antenna that looks like just the front part of a large antenna. I live in monroe county, Kentucky. I am about 45-55 miles away I think. maybe a little more but I am receiving good. I still however can't get Dabl, but do get the other 58 channels.

I may take a chance and try a rescan, but if I do, I may not get it and lose WZTV and WNAB on my guide, because they are so weak, but a chance to get MeTv back would be worth the risk and I can always rescan early morning and get everything back.

well here in monroe county, kentucky I couldn't ask for better signal. 4 bars during night and 3 bars during day. real good here.

I was getting a great signal Thursday from 44.x until about 11:30 PM, then it went away. As I have said on other posts, I have no issues with 40.x at all. Hopefully, WJFB will get things sorted out soon.

Thanks for the update information everyone. I did a rescan around 6:30 p.m. CST on 12/5/2019 in Rickman (Overton County), TN from a distance of 59 miles and 97 degrees magnetic east/north from WJFB tower. I've got a TCL/Roku 55" connected to an Antennacraft U8000 bow-tie antenna UHF-only antenna and CM-37777 preamp. I'm pointed due west. I've got a gable-end supported mast erected 22' from ground level on the high-ground end of my house. I've got only a 3/12 roof pitch so it's very easy to slide down my mast and do work and/or testing if needed. This latest scan caused me to lose WZTV and WNAB on my t.v. tuner guide that were both showing up on my last rescan, but that I rarely receive since Repack 6 with those stations still in degraded mode. Currently, since my last scan, I've retained virtual channels 2, 5, 20(east-38 miles / Crossville), 22(south-7 miles / Cookeville), 28, 30, and 50. I gained WJFB-44 with two bars; also showing two bars this morning at 4:15 a.m. Since my tuner signal meter will never show only one bar, I can't know just how weak the WJFB signal is, but I've not seen any drop outs so far. At this early morning hour, as a comparison of signal strength, WTVF is showing all 5 bars from a distance of 78 miles and 85 magnetic degrees from my location with my set up; so WJFB is quite weak by comparison. I have been able to receive virtual channel 40 a time or two since Repack, but is not currently available on my tuner and can be received only in the middle of the night at my location with my set up; so WJFB-44 is a far better hope for me to get for MeTv than the retrans on 40.

I live in Dickson. So happy to now be getting MeTv. I was thinking it was gone for good but it is back.

Channel 6 is having more woes than usual. Wrote to the owner a couple of days ago, no response yet. 6-2 is a black screen. 6-3 displayed a message that ThisTV had moved and (I guess the station) to call if you see this message. Now it is a "No signal" message. 6-5 is frozen. 6-6 a different No signal message. And 6-7 is frozen. Noticed 31 still isn't coming in, though most of the networks I wanted are now on 40 and 44. All 35's subchannels were displaying a message for a couple of days, glad it is back on, though I'm getting a lower signal, pixelated. Getting 40 and 44 at good quality. As with others, changing to 58 dropped 58-4 on my TV (a bit older Samsung).

I received an e-mail back from Rick Goetz about WRTN. He is waiting on a satellite receiver to come in to receive This TV. They must have changed encryption or something?. He said they were also going to be re-aligning the satellite dishes.

It's already on. 42-4 still has a test pattern. I wonder what they will end up putting there as Heartland is on 2 other channels? (31 is off the air and 6.7 is frozen).

I can't get Dabl either on my Samsung TV. I was getting it the other day...About channel 35 WCTZ. They have "test signal" in big letters on all of their channels and nothing else. I can't tell any difference in the signal though. It's pretty bad and pixelates.

I was able to contact a person with the company that owns WCTZ. He replied back saying he would look into it.

I'm not getting 58.4 on my Panasonic TV either. They must have some problem.

i can't get dabl, i get the other 58's but not 58.4. my mom lives about 20 miles north and she gets dabl but she has trouble with the 44 channels. got me puzzled

i would like to also say that last week i was getting dabl, it has just started not showing up.

I have to say it is not an over the air signal problem. It is something wrong at the broadcasting tower. I have e-mailed the engineer about it, and at this time, I have not gotten a reply back. When I do, I will post it.

With wnab 58 - I used to be able to get 58 before their change - are they still not back up to full signal or did something change?

Yes, they are still not back to full power. When either WZTV or WNAB goes to full power, I will post about it.

What are you all seeing on the screen on 58.4? On the Crossville CW affiliate, ever since I found that I could receive that station shortly after repack and subsequent rescan, I've been showing a test pattern with a message on Dabl 20.4; but no Dabl. I can't get 58 before or after repack, but I'm hopeful that it might be little better after they go to full power.

Today is the first time since the rescan that I have been able to receive WJFB without it cutting in and out. Thanks for keeping us updated. I live in the Lafayette, TN area.

I live about 14 miles north of lafayette tn., just acrossthe state line in Kentucky.

I am also getting a good signal on WJFB now. As WJDE says the week of Dec. 2, I'm not worried about it. I hope it is back by Friday, although I don't watch it much after their channels changed.

I believe they are now on their main antenna but I do not believe they are at full power yet?

Nothing yet for me down in Hohenwald. Long time waiting

I did a re-scan around 11:45 PM Tuesday evening and I can finally receive WJFB, but it is weak and pixelated. It will be interesting to see if the signal improves on Wednesday when they are finished with their work. If it doesn't improve, I get their translator signal on 40.x just fine, with very good signal strength, so it will not be a big deal for me if I do not get a better signal on 44.x.

Wjfb is received well here here in East Franklin.

I ran a scan and i have a 4 bar signal on the channels 44.1 thru 44.7, however when I scanned I lost 58.4 dabl tv. i still get 58.1, 58.2, and 58.3, don't know why 58.4 won't come in. I live in Monroe county, Kentucky about a mile across the tennessee line.

WJFB is off of the air again today, Wednesday. Hopefully it will be back on later. I also noticed DABL has not been transmitting on channel 58.4 for the past couple of days. I still get 58.1-3.

I'm in the Tusculum area near Antioch and I'm getting about a 55% signal. If they are at full power now they need a new tower. It's not a very good signal being that they are transmitting at 950,000 watts.

I'm in Spring Hill and as of this morning (Thursday) still can't receive WJFB. However, I actually can see a weak signal (which I haven't been able to even get since this all started). Does anyone know if they are still doing work on their antenna or not yet at full power?

I noticed that on WRTN 6.3 also. I think the network changed satellite transponders and WRTN did not change it's receiver. About channel 44...This was posted on Facebook from MeTV... Nashville – WJFB is currently working on signal enhancements. Viewers may experience a loss of the WJFB signal through tomorrow, Wednesday 12-4. The WJFB signal will reappear (following a rescan of your TV) once this work has been completed. Thank you for your patience. We apologize for any inconvenience.

I looked at channel 6 for the first time in a few days. I'm sure this message is for their affiliate. Only three of the channels has programming on it now (6.1,6.4 and 6.6). It looks like they could keep the programing more up to date as 6.2,6.4 and 6.7 have had no programing for at least a week now.

I received this email back from Rick Goetz about WRTN and This TV. We are aligning in the morning. Waiting on the receiver.

As of today,6.2 Retro TV , 6.3 This TV, 6.6 shopping channel are blank. 6.5 a classic program channel is frozen. 6.7 Heartland is pixillated. Only 6.1 and 6.4 are broafcasting. 12/09/19

I'm in the Tusculum area near Antioch and I can't receive this station. I only have a indoor antenna but I pointed it south and I still can't get it after rescanning. It must be real low power.

According WJDE's web site it now says it will Be the week of Monday December 2 when they will be back on the air. So sometimes this week.

Thanks for the update.

I've rescanned several times today and I'm still not getting WJDE channel 31. The weather may be delaying things.

Yeah, it's either that or they are having trouble.

I e-mailed Tom Fawbush about WJDE channel 31. He said channel 31 is completely off the air right now and it will not be back on the air until next week when they get the new transmitter installed and powered up.

Thanks for the info.

Well thanks to ALL these stations for keeping the public updated. I thank the people responsible for this site. But for FOX 17, CBS, etc..... you are all a bunch of low life thieves. For well over a month, we've been told to rescan. YET not a word about LOW POWER for now and all this other BS. Politicians, News Media, scum of the earth because you all deal in deception and lies

I was receiving it yesterday afternoon. I rechecked this morning and get 5.1,5.2,5.3,5.11,5.12 and 5.13. It must have been off just temporarily.

I am 10 miles North of BG and I concur. I am now getting WTVF as good or better than before the repack. The signal is rock solid. I posted a screen capture over on AVSForum (https://www.avsforum.com/forum/45-local-hdtv-info-reception/391433-nashville-tn-ota-170.html#post58828356).

According to t.v. fool, I'm 79 miles away at an easterly direction; specifically at 85 degrees magnetic east from WTVF broadcast tower. This morning at 5:30 a.m. CDT, my signal strength has been teetering between 2-5 bars; mostly 3-5. From Repack date until yesterday, I normally was staying steady at 2 bars, but sometimes get drops around 4:30-5 a.m. it's hard for me to confirm, because, sometimes, early mornings are unusually good. As I type at this moment, I'm at 5 bars on WTVF; sometimes drops to 4. I'd have to conclude that they have improved their performamce. Doing some channel surfing, I see that I'm right now getting a few more channels that I never get after the sun comes up; at least since Repack, but they are very weak; these include Fox 17 and CW 58, however, I've got 40 on my tuner where it added after a rescan yesterday early morning but not coming in for me this morning. So while the atmosphere is good, it is not unusually good to the point where WTVF should be at or near full signal strength on my tuner as compared to the last month. I've sent a contact form to WTVF to try and confirm that they are now back to full performance.

At 8:20 a.m. My t.v. tuner is most times showing full signal strength. Definitely the best signal since before WTVF's move to RF 36. I can't really comment about the signal strength before, because I didn't pay much attention until Repack when it got weak and started having drop outs occasionally. Ironically, however, 5 minutes after I posted the information above, WTVF started occasionally dropping and pixelating for short periods of time (a second or two every 20 or 30 seconds). I looked at the strength during this period, and it was showing only 2 bars. It probably means that since my tuner is sometimes picking up the signal at full strength and other times down to 2 bars (my tuner will never show only 1 bar), WTVF is back at full performance, but my distance is still going to occasionally be an issue. I never watch this time of day, so it's hard for me to compare. I looked at the recently-added graph tool; it shows virtually no changes or down time in the last 48 hours. I'm not sure if that tool would be helpful in the case of WTVF, because the performance was nearly maxed out over the last 48 hours for the person who is receiving this signal. So I'm not sure how the tool can show better than almost perfect.

Not only is WTVF broadcasting with a clear signal on 5.1-5.3 they are still broadcasting on 5.11-5.13.

Are 5.11-5.13 identical broadcasts on RF 5? Do they still transmit on RF 5. I kmow that TV Fool says so but their info is terribly dated, I never know what is current.

Yes, 5.11-5.13 is identical. Those channels are what broadcasts on RF 5. Don't know the exact time, but they just started back broadcasting RF 5 the other day according to cdg's above comment because the other week, I know they weren't broadcasting.

I live in monroe county, kentucky. I am getting channel 5 real good now, 3-4 bars all day.

Thanks.

Wow, very nice! I wish I had this for my incoming cable internet signal, so I could show them hard evidence of all the signal drops that occur every day.

The tower they will be broadcasting from is shorter than the L&C building. Only 480 feet.

Thanks! I just noticed it as well.

WNAB must have been just testing with Dabl. It's been completely off for the past two days.

Yeah, I don't know what is going on there. I haven't heard anything about what is happening with that channel.

It came back on the air this afternoon.

I've got Dabl on 20.4 out of Crossville, which is the Knoxville market. So those of you from fringe areas east of Nashville may be able to get CW 20, however, my Roku t.v. won't show any programming info for 20, so that sort of sucks, since I can't tell what's on 20.1-20.4 without first tuning to it. This is the only channel that my t.v. will not give me programming info. Seems like the old 39 was that way as well, but I don't get it any more.

Thanks for finding and providing this very useful information. I'm sitting here just north of Cookeville with several lost stations (WTVF, WZTV, and WJFB) but have gained CW-20 in Crossville; wondering if I need to try and upgrade, because I can find no information save here, and I lose this website every time I come to it and try to go back to it on the same device or browser. I'm running out of devices and browsers to get to this site for information. When I try to go back to this site, I get a page that states "user not found" and no variations of the web address helps. As for WTVF-5, I had looked all over the NewsChannel5 website yesterday, including the site map, and did a couple of searches on their site, and couldn't find any info about their OTA broadcast. However, lately we've been getting WTVF solid. During periods of cloud cover, we get the signal without drop outs, but near dawn and dusk with clear skies, our signal drops or stays out, and those are the times when we tune in the most. Does anyone know anything specfic about WZTV-17? I read on one of the early repack posts that they are at a lower, temporary power, but have found nothing specific? We used to get it weak but pretty solid. Now, hardly ever. Thanks again.

It looks as though I've figured out my issues accessing this website. Firstly, I must not check the box that will keep me logged in for future sessions, and secondly, I need to remember to log out before leaving the site. Thanks for what you all do. I rescanned this morning while it was still dark and got a bunch of extra channels that I don't usually receive; some even low power. I got the retransmitted channel 40 in Whitehouse for MeTV, but I'll still have to do a rescan before it's all said and done, because I still didn't get WJFB-44, aka MeTV in Lebanon, and the only way my tuner will ever pick that channel back up is for me to do a rescan. I'll be checking back here frequently and will rely on someone else to tell me when 44 is back up at full power.

Thank you so much for pointing that out about the "Remember Me" option. I have finally looked at it, and I believe I have now fixed it. Now, it should work. I am sorry to everybody for not finding that sooner. I don't know how long that has been like that, but now it should work. Thank you, again, gregsfc. Also, WZTV is indeed on lower power. It is only running at 68.43kw vs. 1000kw before the repack, and yes, I will definitely post when WJFB will finally start broadcasting at full power again.

Does 'low power' affect the HD feed? Mainly I am wondering if WJFB is ever going to have an HD equilivant to channel 66 (SD) on AttUverse. The SD is poor...MeTV looked so nice on the old AttUverse 1136.

No, it shouldn't affect it, and I have no idea about Uverse or any other TV carrier at this time.

All else being equal, an OTA signal will always provide a superior picture on an equivalent t.v. screen as compared to a compressed cable or satellite signal as long as the signal on the former is strong enough for your t.v. tuner to decode it to the point where it's not de-pixelating or dropping out entirely. The power level affects whether you can receive it or how big an antenna you need to receive it, but not the quality once it's received. Sometimes the difference in picture quality may not be noticeable, but it is superior. As for HD, it all has to do with whether or not the station is broadcasting in HD and if the programming is in HD. So while you can have a station like WKRN 2.1 that broadcasts news and sports in HD (that means it's an HD channel) there may sometimes be programs on that channel that will not be in HD. That means no one gets that program in HD; not OTA, not cable and not satellite. However, an OTA viewer, viewing an HD program in HD over the air, will always have a superior HD picture than a satellite or cable viewer watching an HD program. The same will be true in SD, because the OTA signal is not compressed. Your t.v. tuner should show you what quality level that you're receiving on any particular show when you tune to it. For instance, Right now, I'm watching Dick Van Dyke Show on retransmitted channel 40.1 out of White House. When I first tune to the program, it shows it as HD in 720. So that's not the best HD, but it is still considered HD. No cable or Satellite or anyone else is going to offer a better picture of that show on any MeTV outlet than what I'm getting OTA. As long as OTA exists, it's probably going to always be this way.

Dabl is on the air now--58.4...looks better than the food network!

I don't suppose anyone has heard any news on WJFB getting back to full power?

So far, I haven't heard anything, but once I do, I will post it.

Just checking to see if anyone was receiving WJFB yet? I keep checking on and off, but so far a signal of zero.

No, sorry, they never have came back on the air. Once they do, I will post it asap.

So happy to stumble upon this... WJFB apparently obtained the rights to MeTV and have been broadcasting on AttUverse #66. The national MeTV feed on ch 1136 was a joy...some of the shows and movies were in beautiful HD and when not, the upscaled images were far better than anything I have ever seen old SD shows. Does anyone know if WJFB will have an HD counterpart on Uverse? What I have seen has been almost unwatchable.

I have a UHF-only, 8-bay antenna (AntennaCraft U8000). I'm as far as 82 miles from Nashville towers. I'm currently getting: WKRN (2), WTVF (5), CW20 (Crossville), WCTE 22 (Cookeville PBS), Ion 28, MyTv30, and TBN 50. They are all 2 bars and about 80% of the time received; WTVF is weaker than before and so is ION. What I'm missing are: the low power stations, WJFB-44, WZTV 17 Fox, CW 58, the old 38 religious, and the two VHF channels 4 and 8. Before the MeTV move, I did not not have the VHF stations as I currently have no VHF antenna and I never could receive CW-58 unless atmospheric conditions were very good. As I'm typing Friday, November 1, I've not been able to receive WJFB except but just a few mornings ago when I did a rescan and 44 came up on my tuner. It came up 2 out of 5 bars signal strength (about the same as all the other channels for me at my home slightly northeast of Cookeville). I did a rescan after reading here that it was on the air at full power. I rescanned that morning and sure enough, I had it. When I came home from work that afternoon, I no longer had a good signal on the channel, so I rescanned again just in case my tuner might pick it up somewhere else on the dial, such as on 40, which has happened a time or two. Ever since that one morning, I've not been able to get it back. I also lost Fox 17 on that dreadful rescan a couple days ago. My tuner won't allow me to manually add channels (it's a TCL with no numbers on the remote). So depending on atmospheric conditions and the power output transmitting from towers at the time when I scan, I either gain or lose channels and the only way I can get them back is another rescan. Whenever I do a scan and get everything back, I'm going to then leave them (and not rescan) and just hide the ones that won't come in. That way, I'm not constantly rescanning just to try and get back what I've lost.

Thanks for the info. I'll scan during a better atmospheric condition time and see if we have it back. At this time, I'm not getting much at all in southwest Overton County, and if I rescan right now, I'll have very little. My t.v. tuner doesn't have an add channel function nor does it have a way to tune by channel number; only an up and down function of the channels that came in on it's latest scan. I do have a hide function to skip channels or sub channels that I don't want, but no add function. I've not been getting WJFB (44) since around the time that MeTV went to them. I'm not really sure if it was exactly at that time, since I rarely watched 44, but when MeTV 2.2 was telling us about the change, I periodically looked to see if I could receive 44, and every time I checked I could get it, but once they moved their, I could receive it only in the middle of the night, and then since they moved from 44 to 25, I've not got them in a single time. I have gotten in 40 on the other tower, but only a time or two. I don't understand why all the broadcast stations didn't come together and set up a twitter or FB site where they could report their current statuses to all Nashville area viewers, or at least communicate via each of their websites. Of course this station doesn't have a website, but they could have set themselves up on FB.

This describes my situation perfectly. I did not scan late last night. However, I was receiving several of the current full-power stations running at reduced power since the re-pack (5, 17, 58). I am guessing it was just a better atmospheric condition as you suggested. I am a bit surprised that BG stations were able to accomplish their tower work and have it completed by 10/18 while Nashville stations have scrambled. WNKY built a brand new tower and the KET station increased their tower height and top mounted their antenna. Aside from WNKY being down in the middle of the night, there was no other interruption in full power service. That having been said, the size of the tower is more likely the culprit. The Nashville towers are all closer to 1400' while the BG stations have towers around 600' (WNKY) and 800' (KET/WKGB). I suspect this is the difference as the taller towers likely require more experienced crews and fewer available resources for these types of projects.

@n2radio. I think one of the differences from what you've stated is that some of the BG stations actually constructed or lengthened their towers and that allowed them to do more pre work before changing frequencies; then all they had to do was switch over to their new antenna at the same time as the actual move. By contrast, if we take the most proactive station in Nashville, which is WTVF-5, as you say, they already have a very tall tower. They could not simultaneously work on constructing a 100K transmitting antenna on RF-36 while also transmitting concurrently 100K on RF-25. Besides space restraints, there is also a radiation hazard for the crew. So what WTVF is doing is all that they can logistically do, and that is to have a side-mounted, lower-power for safety, temporary antenna ready to go at the time of the repack. When they hopped over to RF-36, they began transmitting on the temporary antenna and started working on their new antenna that sits right where the old, RF-25 antenna sat before. It's a little different if they were building a new tower. Luckily for me, our family is still getting WTVF most of the time even at the reduced power and reduced height.

Another option regarding WTVF NewsChannel5. Free NewsChannel 5 internet APP. If you live in a fringe area like me (I'm northeast of Cookeville), and you normally watch NewsChannel 5 news, but all-of-the-sudden can't receive a reliable signal during their transition back to full power now on RF-36 ; there is another option. No other channel in Nashville has this that I'm aware of. If you have the ability to download their APP to your t.v. or other device, any time they are broadcasting live their local newscast (4 am - 7 am) or at 4 pm, again at 5 pm, and also again 6 pm, and 10 pm, it will stream automatically on that APP with about a 30 second delay once you go to the APP and let it automatically load. It will play some commercials during commercial breaks, but not the same as on the t.v. It will also have some dead air space for time not taken up by their internet sponsors. However, this doesn't mean you always have live CBS broadcasting, such as CBS national evening news or NCIS. When they are not broadcasting their news, it will play pre recorded shows such as Talk of the Town; or you can choose a pre recorded news clip by hitting the back button or mouse that are shown in an icon-based list. Basically, what you have with this APP is local NewsChannel 5 access, but not the other shows on CBS.

One other thing I recently learned yesterday about utilizing the NewsChannel5 live stream internet APP: If you try using the APP to watch Channel 5 local news, wait at least 30 seconds after the live news begins before accessing the APP (for example, 5:05 p.m. CST). If you go to the APP early or right at start time and let it load automatically, it will load a rerun broadcast or news clip, and then it will not automatically go to the live broadcast when it becomes available. It just keeps playing the same rerun. So if this happens, and you go to the APP right around the start time, and you find it does not start streaming the live news, you have to then back out of the APP, and then reload the APP; at least that's what happens on my Roku t.v. What's been happening to us is that, while we can usually get the WTVF signal, the times in which the local news is broadcasting (early mornings and evenings), those are the very times when we have the most signal drops). And so if we're trying to watch the news, and we're getting significant drops (especially early mornings at or about day break), we'll just go to the APP, load it, and about the time it comes up, it's about where the OTA broadcast left off, because there is about a 30 second delay to the OTA broadcast.

I have a question...I live in Dickson and I am on an indoor antenna and last night I was getting Memphis stations and this morning i am getting Louisville,KY. Also I have lost CH 28 Ion...Did they drop power again and how do I get those stations so far away?

Wow, you were getting Louisville, KY stations with just an indoor antenna. The reason you lost 28 ION is because they now broadcast on channel 32 (they still show up on your TV as 28.1-28.6) and they have now moved to the north near Cross Plains in Robertson County and have gone from 733kw down to 550kw. Also, a station in Louisville (WDRB) has also changed to channel 32 the same as ION. When two channels on the same frequency exist, all they do is block each other out unless one becomes dominant over the other.

... Also, about your question, are you saying "how do I get..." or are you saying "how did I get..."? If you are saying "do", then if you can, you can get an outdoor antenna to put outside for a better reception of channels, but just so you know, when you do that, reception for local channels may improve or deteriorate. Most of the time you can only get far away stations when the atmospheric conditions are right for them, i.e. when it is foggy. I hope I answered your question. If I didn't or if you have any more, please let me know.

I was getting ION till last night then i got memphis for a bit when channel 2 was down and this morning I was getting Louisville,I though maybe something changed in the last 24 hrs.I was as amazed as you are I got Louisville on rabbit ears.We live in an apartment and cant put up outdoor antennas...btw do you have any reccomendations for a good indoor antenna? Thanks for all you do!

As far as indoor antennas go, I am not that knowledgeable on those antennas when it comes to which is best. Also, you said 2 was down when Memphis was in. Well, actually, WKRN 2 has never changed or went down. It was out at your location, because a station near Jackson, TN is now broadcasting on channel 27, which is the same channel WKRN is broadcasting on. When Memphis came in, that channel 27 knocked out your reception of WKRN.

I am pretty happy with my Winegard Flatwave amplified antennas. (Amplified is important.) I got them refurbished (renewed) from Amazon, currently $27.95. Mount to wall, window, etc. with two included Command strips, so you can position it for better reception.

They sent a Twitter message right before 12pm today (10/25) that they would be off the air to fix a problem and they came back up a little after 1pm. They sent out another tweet around this same time that they were back on the air. Also in this tweet, they also stated that they were working on a solution to the issue of some viewers not being able to receive their signal since their repack on 10/18.

Yeah, they are currently operating on an temporary antenna that is mounted on the side of the broadcasting tower while they switch out their full powered antenna on the top of the tower. Once they change the antenna on top, then they can start broadcasting from the top at full power so where everybody can receive them. That is the solution they were talking about.

I live about 88 miles due East of WTVF's tower in Cumberland County, on the Cumberland plateau about half way between Sparta and Crossville on HWY 70 W. Being on the plateau give me a very good height advantage for my antennas. I am using an Insignia digital converter Model SN-DXA1 with a manufacture data of 2-2008 to look for OTA TV signals. The Insignia allows me to add and remove channels with out having to do a rescan. I have programmed all of the channels from 2-69 into the Insignia. The antenna array that I am using is home made, it has 2 co-phased 17 elements Yagis of my own design, I designed the array specifically for CH 36, WTVF's new over the air channel. I built this antenna to specifically receive WTVF 5 (any other channels received are a bonus) I designed the antennas for CH 36 and it has worked outstandingly, I had around 97% up time while WTVF was transmitting on CH 25 up until the channel change over on the 18th. I know they are using a temporary side mounted antenna and are running lower output power so I am confident that after the new top mounted antenna is fully installed and they are back to full output power that I will once again receive WTVF. I am hopping for 100% up time. I am using an RCA TVPRAMP1E mast mounted preamp. This preamp allows for the use of separate VHF and UHF antennas, I have my Preamp set to use the separate antenna inputs. I am using my DIY UHF CH 36 Yagi array on the UHF input side of the preamp. In this configuration it will not pass VHF channels only UHF. I will be designing and building a VHF Yagi that I will connect to the VHF side of the preamp. This new antenna will be pointed south to receive the VHF station from Chattanooga. I am currently receiving WRCB 3, WTVC 9 and WDEF 12 on a simple 1 element dipole that I built using a 4 ft piece of 1 inch gray PVC pipe and door bell wire cut specifically for CH 9, this antenna is mounted on it's own mast about 16 ft AGL. Today I ran separate UHF and VHF channel sweeps not a rescans, I work my way up the UHF and VHF channels, the sweep delivered the following. UHF Channels WKRN 2 27 Very weak WTVF 5 36 NO SIG. WZTV 17 20 Very Weak MyTV30 21 Strong WBXX 20 31 Very Strong ION 28 32 Weak TBN 50 33 Weak VHF Channels WRCB 3 13 Strong WTVC 9 9 Strong WDEF 12 12 Strong Videos of my antennas can be seen on my YouTube channel at DIY TV ANTENNA PART 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jintvRnYWzI and DIY TV ANTENNA PART 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fhmYf7Nc0

When will the channels 44 ( light tv ) and the others be back up and running? Or should I ask will they be broadcasting at enough strength for us to view them.

Depending on where you live, you should be able to receive them once they power up before the end of the year. When they do up the power, I will, of course, post it.

Thanks Nashdigie! These have indeed been interesting times. Hoping everything gets back to "normal" soon. (I've still got to straighten out my Myth TV box re channel 6's what's on now vs what they last told Gracenote they were broadcasting.) Still unable to receive 31 for months. :( At least MeTV and H&I are on 40 now and coming in strong for me.

I finally got 44 WJFB back today. WJDE 31 comes and goes. Is WRTN going to update ? Some of the channels will freeze up from time to time.

Trying to get MeTV, what I can tell it is on 40-1 or 44-1 (WJFB). When scanning for the channels assuming they have low frequency. Will the signal be strong enough to reach the 37179 zip code?

Once they fix it, you might be able to receive it then.

Do you know if WZTV17 is operating at reduced power since moving from 15 to 20. Thanks for the info. Most of your news is good I think. We live up to 80 miles due east of most transmiters in Nashville and had been getting all but the VHF (RF-10 and RF-8/7) channels and CW-58 with a UHF only, bay antenna about 20' from the ground. We use a single Antennacraft U8000 and point 270 degrees without a rotor. We use a pre amp. We have lost strength on virtual channel 5 since they went to 36 but it still comes in weak most times. It's good to know they are at reduced power. We have lost Fox 17 for 90% of the time. We used to receive it 90%. We also lost MeTv programming after they moved to WFTB (only middle of the night) and even worse since the repack going from 44 to 25 (now we almost never get it). I was considering paying for t.v. or trying to upgrade even further, because we've been degraded so much lately. For some reason, we now get CW 20 out of Crossville even though it's east and we're pointed west.

Yes, WZTV is at reduced power. When they went from 15 to 20, they went from 1000kw down to 68.43kw. WJFB(MeTV) is at reduced power at the moment as well due to an equipment part being broke. Once that is fixed they will power up, and yes, WBXX CW 20 has also changed channels and increased power. They went from channel 20 to channel 31 and from 652kw to 834kw.

Thanks for the updates: today’s changes were surprisingly smooth (from viewers point of view at least). FWIW...WNPX antenna is @ around 1200’ on the Cross Plains tower. Still a strong signal at Percy Priest Lake.

Picking up 5, 17 and 58 just North of Bowling Green, but signal strength is greatly reduced. I expect these signals to be hit or miss while they are running on temp antennas. Locked in also on 40.1-.5 from WKUW White House which hasn’t happened since the WJFB simulcast began. WNPX 28 signal on 32 with the move north is making Ion a local signal in Southern Kentucky. I have a stronger signal on WNPX than WBKO 13 And WNKY 40. In addition, KET 58 (29) was able to increase power and coverage with the re-pack. It may have some coverage now into Middle TN. Still no WJFB which was mostly solid prior to the addition of METV, etc. Looking forward to picking it up on the new frequency sooner rather than later.

How can we get word to WNPX 28 that folks in the middle Tn area near Cookeville would love to have viewing once again. Our kids even loved the Qubo channel.

The only information I have for them is a link to the station page. You can copy the link below to your browser's address bar. I am sorry for not being able to help any more than that. https://ionmedia.com/business/stations/WNPX

I'm still getting Ion 28 in Rickman but it does show weaker than before. Two bars versus 5 bars before. I think they are the ones that have permanently reduced power, but not sure. It gets confusing who did what and when. Ion 28 used to be our strongest signal received to the west; second strongest was CBS, aka Channel 5. So if you are able to upgrade slightly, you may get Quobo back.The one we miss is MeTv. Gone since they left WKRN 2.2.

Status?

I live in Bellevue with a great aerial HD antenna and two HDHomeRun tuner boxes, but it looks like I can't get WZTV anymore. Rescan does not pick anything up at all. Signal was great up until the repack. Is this a temporary or low-power thing?

Actually, I see in the logs that WZTV did work after the repack (yesterday morning, 10/19) but I had a "no signal" message this morning, did a rescan, and now it's not being detected at all. Any news is appreciated - this is Sunday during football season. :(

Just checked with neighbors via a Facebook group for Bellevue (18.5k members) and it seems others are seeing the exact same issues with WZTV that I'm seeing this morning. Signal gone, rescan detects nothing at all. They say it was fine last night, just disappeared today.

Well, signal is back now. Guess they did some unscheduled work this morning.

It could also be because they are operating at a lower power. Sometimes, the lower powered signals can go out during fog and/or rainy situations.

As far as I can tell from far in the east of the Nashville viewing area, WZTV-17 is still weaker than before; aka still running at reduced power. There are times that I can receive the signal and other times I cannot, but I think that they are not back up to full power on their new frequency as far as I can tell. This is as of the morning of 11/4.

I live in Murfreesboro and still am not able to receive these stations. Used to get them with no problems. Anyone know their status? I'm surprised they have not been more transparent with the transmitter changes.....

Yeah, I thought they would be keeping us up-to-date as well. As far as I know, they are still on low power and height, and there is still no updates as to when they will get done, but right now, I can still receive them here in Smith County.

I have lost WNAB, I haven't had WJFB in a few weeks. Also on NewsChannel5 WTVF, I HAVE 5.11,5.12 and 5.13. They are the main channel, 5 plus and Laff.

WNAB and WJFB are still off the air. If you see 5.11-5.13, that is there VHF channel 5 signal. They broadcasts two channels, now channel 36 as 5.1-5.3 and VHF channel 5 as 5.11-5.13. They broadcast the same thing. Also, WZTV is still broadcasting on their old channel. They haven't made the switch yet.

at the moment (12mid Fri) they are still on 38...but also on 16...16 is extremely weak and only locks occasionally. I am about 10 miles from their tower (38 is 100%)

Not that many tower crews are available, considering the massive amount of work to be done. Transmitter manufacturers cannot keep up with the demand. This whole repack mess is all the FCC's fault. The National Association of Broadcasters warned them but their concerns fell on deaf ears. Cellular 5g implementation is the FCC's top priority.

Thanks so much for the information and as always thanks for everything you do for the local OTA community! It is really appreciated!

I saw the message posted on the MeTV website, too. And yes...you are so appreciated!

Do you know if the Heartland network that was on 42.4 has stopped broadcasting because it's been nothing but a test pattern for like a month or more?

I haven't heard anything. I just checked their website, and there's nothing there. The website is gone. Also, sister network, RetroTV's website is gone as well. I don't know if parent company, Luken Communications, has finally went bankrupt or out of business or what. I haven't seen any news about it. I will try and see into it.

Luken communications site is still up and running although the links to those 2 channels are not so it may be just those channels

Heartland is playing (all be it a bit pixelated and glitchy) on 6-7. 6-2, which has been RetroTV is showing a black screen, but this is nothing new. 6 has always had problems with satellite alignment, equipment, etc. for RetroTV.

RetroTV has been that way all week. The Luken website still shows RetroTV as of their channels although if you click on it's schedule it will not come up.

Sent Rick at WRTN an email. Hopefully he'll be able to get whatever is wrong with 6-2 (and 6-4) fixed soon.

So basically all this move might cost us our favorite tv channels just so the cell phone companies can take over the air waves for the fancy phones for 5g?

Yes, exactly.

Hi, has there been any information when DABL will become available to watch over the air?

Kudos for all of your time and effort gathering the repack information. In my opinion, except for WTVF, the stations that are repacking have done a poor job communicating information to the public.