A Lot of News - Please Bear with Me

- Posted February 11th, 2020 at 4:34pm

There is a lot to go over with you. I hope I don't overload you with it all, but here it goes.

WCTZ 35 "Test Signal On" Screen

I got an e-mail back from someone in the company at HC2 Broadcasting. He said, "There is a failure in the fiber circuit feeding the site." That was all he said. He didn't say anything about any timeframe of when it would get fixed. So, we will just have to wait and see.

WRTN reply about moving to 17

I got an e-mail back from WRTN owner from where I asked him about when he would switch WRTN over from channel 7 to channel 17, and he replied, "We are waiting on the transmitter and antenna to get here." The reason I ask about it, is because WRTN is right now broadcasting on channel 7 which WNPT 8 will be moving to anytime in phase 10 which is between May 2nd and July 3rd. So that means he would have to vacate channel 7 before WNPT even tests on channel 7, but that is all he said. Again, another "have to wait and see".

NextGenTV News - The "Big" News

Well, I know everyone has been waiting a while for this so-called "big" news. Now, I know it may or may not be big, but to me it was. Ever since they, the FCC, have been talking about replacing ATSC 1.0 with ATSC 3.0, I have always been wondering when and how they will do it here in the Nashville TV market. Well, thanks to both gregsfc and WKRN Engineer, now I have a piece of the puzzle. I am posting what I received below. This is a quote from the WKRN engineer.

The short answer is yes, we are going to put 3.0 (also known as NextGen TV) on the air in Nashville this year. Right now our plan is to begin NextGen TV broadcasts this summer. Most of the stations in the market are working together to make that a reality including WKRN, WTVF, WZTV, WNAB and WUXP. We expect Nashville will be among the first handful of markets launched. We have also committed to continue our 1.0 signal for at least 5 years. It’s possible that will be extended. Our initial launch will just be to simulcast our 1.0 signal onto 3.0 and begin testing different modulation and coding schemes. We believe that, eventually, the added features available in Nextgen TV will make the consumer want to upgrade. We are also working on how to bring some of those features to cable customers. When we get closer to launching you can bet that we will talk about it during newscasts and on our website.

So, he did not say which station will become the 3.0 station that all the stations will broadcasts on 3.0, but with him saying "We have also committed to continue our 1.0 signal for at least 5 years", it looks like WKRN will not be that station. I have e-mailed him to see if he could tell me. I will post about it when he replies back to me with that information.

WZTV and WNAB Repack Update - More "Big" News

Well, it looks like they are changing some things with their final setup. I hope I can explain it well. All the links below are of broadcasting maps provided by Rabbitears.info. Both WZTV and WNAB operate right now on an antenna at 1,051 ft high. WZTV broadcasts at 68.43kw and WNAB at 130kw. This is just temporary. They were going with these following specs.

WZTV - 1,348ft at 1000kw
WNAB - 1,394ft at 725kw

Now, they have changed that. They are now going with these specs.

WZTV - 1,401ft at 1000kw
WNAB - 1,348ft at 510kw

It looks like WNAB was going to be on top of WZTV, but now it looks like they are switching them putting WZTV on top, and lowering WNAB's ERP from 725kw to 510kw. That is still more than where they were in the past at 350kw.

Phew! My fingers and mind are starting to get tired. So, I hope everybody was able to digest all that news. Like always, until more news breaks, that's all for now.

12 Comments

Brentwood OTA

- Posted on February 11th, 2020 at 10:27pm

Wow! More than my money's worth in this issue! Thank you for your efforts in keeping us all informed.

itgrouch

- Posted on February 12th, 2020 at 3:28am - Edited

Thanks for the fantastic data dump! WKRN would have to replace their transmitter to be NextGen TV ready and knocks them out of being the "mothership." It is just conjecture on my part, but I feel that WTVF will be the NextGen TV "mothership" because they have the best transmitter/tower location and tower height, plus their new transmitter is state of the art and NextGen TV ready. For me, the best thing about NextGen TV will be the vast improvement in reception. Interesting there is no mention of WSMV moving to NextGen TV. Good news about WZTV and WNAB.

gregsfc

- Posted on February 12th, 2020 at 5:40am

Great information! Thanks as always for your efforts, time, and using your talents to help interested viewers learn what's going on. As much as I'd love to get a reliable WNAB signal, in my case, it is much more important to get a reliable WZTV signal, so this is great news. This should put them at near equal signal quality for me as WTVF, since they are at the same azmith for me as WTVF. The reason WNAB is less important is that I've got a CW signal that's 95% reliable out of Crossville that's intended the Knoxville market. I wonder if there is any sort of update on the status of their tower work, as right now I'm black on those two Sinclair broadcasts? As for NextGen Tv, I'm hoping for a future HDhomerun or Tablo dual tuner (one ATSC-3 and one ATSC-1). That'd be cool.

botts_w

- Posted on February 12th, 2020 at 6:45am

What is the difference of atsc 3.0 and atsc 1.0?, and what will that mean for me and my tv's? thanks

NashDigie

- Posted on February 12th, 2020 at 2:03pm

Well, 3.0 will replace the current 1.0 digital TV format that's out there right now, but not for a few years down the road, and it is not backwards compatible with any TV or converter box that is out right now. The manufacturers are just now developing TVs and other equipment with 3.0 receivers built-in. 3.0 is suppose to be more robust of a signal than 1.0. It can penetrate through walls better than the current signal. Also, you can receive a signal while in movement, i.e. in a moving car going down the road. You can't do that with the current 1.0 signal. Also, it can better alert you in an emergency situation given your geographic location. What I mean by that is, is that if a tornado is bearing down on you, you will get an emergency alert while someone watching the same channel two counties away won't see any such alert. That is how I have come to understand it. It has much more capabilities than that but that is all I can think of right now. If you have any more questions, just let me know.

CompuPaul

- Posted on February 13th, 2020 at 11:36pm

They plan to have converter boxes, like they did when we went to digital TV, that you'd have to get/buy if you want the 3.0 service on your current TV's. Seeing that no current consumer TV or other tuner sold in the US has a 3.0 receiver, it's going to be a while before the 1.0 signals stop. (And 1.0 is required for at least 5 years after a station begins 3.0 broadcasting.)

obsvr

- Posted on February 13th, 2020 at 10:41pm

Will WRTN have a stronger signal? I’m just south of I-24 in Murfreesboro and cannot pick it up.

videohead311

- Posted on February 16th, 2020 at 2:24am

Yes, WRTN right now transmits at 0.3kW. When they move to channel 17 they will be transmitting at 12kW.

CompuPaul

- Posted on February 13th, 2020 at 11:27pm

According to online stories, the FCC requires stations continue broadcasting 1.0 for at least 5 years after they begin 3.0 service. Nice of them to "commit" to it.

gregsfc

- Posted on February 17th, 2020 at 1:29pm

WSMV is owned by Meredith Corporation in Des Moines, IA. WKRN is a Nexstar station, WTVF is a Scripts station and WZTV/WNAB/WUXP are all three owned by Sinclair. WSMV is not part of a consortium called Spectrum Co. who is working together nationally to bring NextGen TV to many markets this year; the other five stations are part of that consortium; Scripts is a recent joiner, and they own WTVF. This is why WSMV may be left out; at least for a while; like most of the indpendents and smaller national companies. We don't have enough inside info to know who will be first, but WTVF is a good speculative guess for the reasons given above, plus the fact that they already run a duplicate signal RF-5 and RF-36. One could broadcast on 3.0 and the other on 1.0. But again, I'm speculating.

gregsfc

- Posted on February 17th, 2020 at 1:36pm

I think it has been said that as many as two 4K programs can be compressed on to one signal transmission or up to three HD 1080i programs with NextGen TV. Far better than 1.0. This is one of many advantages of 3.0 (more bandwith and more compress-ability). I could have that wrong, but I do know it's supposed to carry more than 1.0 significantly. I woild refer folks to "the antenna man" on Youtube; he's been interviewing folks and reporting hot and heavy.

botts_w

- Posted on February 18th, 2020 at 8:28pm

My WZTV is real good now with 2-3 bars but not like it used to be with 4 bars. My WNAB is terrible with no signal to 1 bar at night and no signal during the day. Before the redone I would get WNAB with 2-3 at night and 1-2 at day.

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