DMA 29: Raleigh/Durham, NC

[Stewart Vernon]

This is a complete list of the digital OTA channels generally considered to be part of the Raleigh/Durham DMA #29. I believe this list to be complete and accurate. If anyone has updates feel free to post a reply or PM me and I will update this post with any verified changes.

Notes:


The Real Chan # is the actual broadcast channel, while the Virtual Chan # is what your HDTV or set-top box is most likely to display.
It may be possible to receive additional channels outside this DMA if you put up a large/high enough external antenna.
Your receiver may identify channels/sub-channels by the Network Affiliation instead of a station's call-sign. For consistency, I list the call-signs followed by the Description/Network affiliation. You should be able to easily identify the channels you receive by one or the other.


Real Chan #
|Virtual Chan #
|Station ID
|Description/Network Affiliation
|Resolution
|Guide Info

25
|4-01
|WUNC-TV (http://www.unctv.org/)|PBS in HD|1080i|Yes

|4-02
|WUNC-KD|PBS Kids|480i|No

|4-03
|WUNC-EX|The Explorer Channel|480i|Yes
48
|5-01
|WRAL-DT (http://www.wral.com/)|CBS in HD|1080i|Yes

|5-02
|WRAL-2 (http://wral.thistv.com/)|THIS movie channel|480i|Yes
11
|11-01
|WTVD-HD (http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/index)|ABC in HD|720p|Yes

|11-02
|WTVD-DT2 (http://livewellnetwork.com/index)|Live Well HD|720p|Yes

|11-03
|WTVD-DT3|Live Well|480i|Yes
17
|17-01
|WNCN-HD (http://nbc17.mync.com/site/nbc17/)|NBC in HD|1080i|Yes

|17-02
|WNCN-DT (http://www.antennatv.tv/)|Antenna TV|480i|Yes

|17-03
|WNCN-DT (http://www.universalsports.com/)|Universal Sports|480i|Yes
27
|22-01
|WLFL-DT (http://www.raleighcw.com/)|CW in HD|1080i|Yes

|22-02
|WLFL-DT2 (http://www.tcncountry.com/)|The Country Network|480i|No
28
|28-01
|WRDC-DT (http://www.wrdc28.com/)|MyNetwork in HD|720p|Yes

|28-02
|WRDC-DT2 (http://www.thecooltv.com/)|TheCoolTV|480i|Yes
42
|30-01
|WRAY-DT (http://www.tct.tv/)|TCT|480i|Yes

|30-02
|WRAY-2|TCT in HD|1080i|No
|30-03
|WRAY-3|TCT Family|480i|No
|30-04
|WRAY-4|TCT Spanish|480i|No
38
|40-01
|WUVC-DT (http://www.univision.com)|Univision|480i|Yes

|40-02
|WTNC-LP| |480i|Yes
15
|47-01
|WRPX-DT (http://www.ionline.tv/)|Ion|720p|No

|47-02
|WRPX-DT2|qubo|480i|No

|47-03
|WRPX-DT3|Ion Life|480i|No
49
|50-01
|WRAZ-HD (http://www.myfoxraleigh.com/myfox/)|FOX in HD|720p|Yes

|50-02
|MeTV (http://metvnetwork.com/)|MeTV Memorable Entertainment Television|480i|Yes

[Stewart Vernon]

There is a known issue right now with OTA channels 5-01 and 50-01 EPG data intermittently being unavailable to some customers. I do not have a ViP211 or 411 receiver, so I cannot verify this is true for those folks... but below is verifiable for customers with ViP622 receivers.

Customers with Dish1000+ antennas can currently receive channels 11 and 17 in HD via Dish network. Those are the only HD-via-satellite locals currently for this market. EPG data differs slightly when comparing channels 11 and 17 in HD with their SD counterparts, also available via Dish.

During times when OTA 11 and 17 channels EPG data matches the HD-via-satellite 11 and 17, there will be no EPG data visible for channels 5-01 or 50-01 OTA. The 5-01 and 50-01 OTA EPG data is only available when the OTA 11 and 17 channels EPG data matches the SD-via-satellite 11 and 17.

What is unknown at this time is why this happens. The problem has been reported to Dish, but no status for a fix has been communicated at this time.

Customers who DO NOT HAVE Dish1000+ antennas (and thus cannot receive the HD-via-satellite locals in this market) do not seem to have this problem.

[cdub998]

I can verify for the 211's also. I had one until recently that lost guide data. It seemed to lose it more than the 622.

[dkelly701]

I am glad to hear I am not the only one with the disappearing 5.1 epg. I just started service and had the 1000+ installed this week. I talked to a csr about the problem and was told that it was due to the intermitten lose of signal I was experiencing on the 118 satellite. I got the loss of signal problem corrected yesterday (04/14/07). I have not seen the loss of epg since last night but I will keep an eye on it.

[Stewart Vernon]

I am glad to hear I am not the only one with the disappearing 5.1 epg. I just started service and had the 1000+ installed this week. I talked to a csr about the problem and was told that it was due to the intermitten lose of signal I was experiencing on the 118 satellite. I got the loss of signal problem corrected yesterday (04/14/07). I have not seen the loss of epg since last night but I will keep an eye on it.

I did not have the problem prior to my Dish1000+ upgrade... so about the only thing I can guess to is that there is a relation to the intermittent EPG info and seeing the 118.7 location.

[Stewart Vernon]

Decided to be brave and update the chart since Dish uplinked the sub-channel EPG data again this afternoon.

We now (again) have EPG data for all the Raleigh, NC local channels available OTA except for 30.1 and 47.1-47.4

Dish does not carry even SD versions of those channels, so no surprise they are left out for the time being. 30.1 is Shop@Home so probably not a big loss there, though completion would be nice. Would be nice to have 47.1-47.4 since those are the Ion family of channels and sometimes there is some good programming on there if you know when to look.

FYI, for those following along... Still no addressing of the 5.1 and 50.1 disappearing guide data. I suspect we will not see this resolved unless and until either they reach a carriage agreement with WRAL/WRAZ OR give up and take their uplinks down. Hope to see these carried in HD on Dish, but if not would like to resolve the EPG problem.

Hopefully the EPG data for the subchannels added today stays this time. A few months ago Dish had them up, but had to remove them because of some problems found in the field apparently with some receivers not able to handle the data (speculation on my part as no official word was given). I decided to have faith this time and added to the chart!

[cdub998]

Decided to be brave and update the chart since Dish uplinked the sub-channel EPG data again this afternoon.

We now (again) have EPG data for all the Raleigh, NC local channels available OTA except for 30.1 and 47.1-47.4

Dish does not carry even SD versions of those channels, so no surprise they are left out for the time being. 30.1 is Shop@Home so probably not a big loss there, though completion would be nice. Would be nice to have 47.1-47.4 since those are the Ion family of channels and sometimes there is some good programming on there if you know when to look.

FYI, for those following along... Still no addressing of the 5.1 and 50.1 disappearing guide data. I suspect we will not see this resolved unless and until either they reach a carriage agreement with WRAL/WRAZ OR give up and take their uplinks down. Hope to see these carried in HD on Dish, but if not would like to resolve the EPG problem.

Hopefully the EPG data for the subchannels added today stays this time. A few months ago Dish had them up, but had to remove them because of some problems found in the field apparently with some receivers not able to handle the data (speculation on my part as no official word was given). I decided to have faith this time and added to the chart!

Had a dish tech at my house yesterday because of switch problems. Asked him about 50.1 and 5.1 and he said it was a software issue and there was nothing dish could do about it. I just don't buy that one. :nono2:

[Stewart Vernon]

Had a dish tech at my house yesterday because of switch problems. Asked him about 50.1 and 5.1 and he said it was a software issue and there was nothing dish could do about it. I just don't buy that one. :nono2:

I agree it probably is a software issue, but that means there should be something Dish could do about it. Gotta love those quick no-answers from people! ;)

As I see it, they have probably done all the testing they need to do with WRAL/WRAZ uplinks... so if they aren't going to have them "alive" they could just take down the uplink and I would almost put money on it that would fix our EPG problem. I never (as noted in this thread) had the problem until I added 118.7 to my setup... so if they cannot fix the software, the "easy" fix seems to me to be take down the uplink until they can actually turn on the channels.

[dkelly701]

I decided to report the 5-01 and 50-01 EPG data intermittently being unavailable bug to Dish just to get another complaint on the record. The CS rep. claimed there was no report of this issue in the system. I told him I was pretty sure that it had been reported but he said no. He took a report and said he would send it to engineering. He tried to send a service tech out but I insisted that it would be a waste of time so he didn't. The only time this is really an issue for me is when I lose the data just before a scheduled recording and it doesn't record. Frustrating. Is there anything I can do to solve this problem myself?

[Stewart Vernon]

Nothing you can do to solve the problem yourself, unless you take away the 118.7 location and sacrifice your WTVD/WNCN HD via satellite in the process. The problem has to do with WRAL and WRAZ being uplinked but not available while Dish negotiates to carry them. The receiver sees the channels, but no EPG data, and periodically fluctuates for some reason between displaying the EPG data it has and the data it doesn't have.

Taking away 118.7 would "cure" the problem... but so would Dish uplinking the channels OR taking them down while negotiating rights to carry.

I know I reported this through the beta team as part of the problems when they asked for forum members to volunteer for testing during the 4.0X releases earlier this year. I didn't get a direct response, but know they were reading the emails because they responded to lots of us on other issues.

The average CSR you speak to may or may not know of this problem since it only affects a couple of markets where Dish has similar partial HD locals uplinked to our area... so it isn't a "major" problem for them... but for us in the affected area, it is annoying.

[dkelly701]

I missed another recording due to the EPG dropout of 5.1. It is very frustrating. Everyone who is experiencing this problem and have not reported it lately please do so. Maybe if they get some complaints, they will fix it. It apparently would not be hard to do so.

[Stewart Vernon]

Today Dish launched WRAL and WRAZ HD channels at the 118.7 location, I saw they were lit up a little bit ago but no HD on either channel for a few hours to check things out properly. I can check WRAL out at 4pm with a soap opera, but WRAZ will have to wait until primetime to check.

Right now no guide info for either channel, but this matches the 5.1 and 50.1 so that comes as no surprise. Hopefully when the guide populates for these new channels, our problems with the disappearing guide info will be a thing of the past.

More info and follow-up later when the guide info comes up and some time has elapsed to see how things shape up.

[bhenge]

So far HD content looks good on both channels and guide data is properly data-filled but only for a few hours worth of content. So far, forcing the guide to update still only fills about 3 hours of content. I am just glad the wait is over and whatever contract issues held things up for what seems to be a year or more are past.

[Stewart Vernon]

So far HD content looks good on both channels and guide data is properly data-filled but only for a few hours worth of content. So far, forcing the guide to update still only fills about 3 hours of content. I am just glad the wait is over and whatever contract issues held things up for what seems to be a year or more are past.


I've checked here too, and am pleasantly surprised at the quality. I think if I squint I can see differences from the OTA quality, but by and large these are nice versions of both channels in HD.

I saw (see) the same thing you mention, about the guide... seems to not go out to 9-days yet, but I also haven't forced my receiver to take a new guide download. I figured I would wait an let my normal overnight download happen and see if that takes over. Could also be they haven't gotten complete info from the Tribune folks and didn't notice because these channels weren't live yet.

On the plus side, IF we have any guide problems now we have an easier road to complain and comment because it would be guide data on their provided HD channels and not just the OTA ones (since that is the guide data mapped). I strongly suspect our problems will be gone in short order if they haven't already been fixed by the launch of the channels by default.

[dkelly701]

Checked mine this morning and the guide seems to be fully populated. As others have said, hopefully this has solved a most frustrating problem.

[Stewart Vernon]

In case this is only affecting Raleigh, DMA... I started a thread in the Dish General forum because tonight while Dish has some satellite-provided locals off-air, for some reason my receiver will not let me view those same channels OTA either. The OTA channels are not off-air, but while the Dish satellite provided channels have them off-air, I cannot tune the OTA either.

I can watch, for instance, 11-1 and 4-1... but cannot watch 5-1, 17-1, 22-1, 28-1, or 50-1 via OTA because Dish has their satellite-provided locals flagged in the EPG as "off-air". Looks like OTA for those channels is disabled as well, which makes no sense.

FYI, I have another TV connected to a digital receiver that is not a Dish receiver, and those OTA channels are all available (not off-air) right now.

Here's the link to the Dish General forum thread I started for discussion in case this affects more than just our DMA: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=94379

[Stewart Vernon]

Not exactly new news as it was announced a few weeks ago, but I was slow to update...
I'm doing the heads-up now because I just scanned ahead to Monday 9/10 and see that the EPG reflects the changeover happening in the early morning hours on 50-02 OTA so if you want to watch some good old TV series, you can start firing timers now!

Here's a link to the article on the WRAZ home page:

http://www.fox50.com/entertainment/news/9498362.html

For Immediate Release
08/14/2007
Raleigh-Durham – The airwaves over Raleigh-Durham and surrounding cities will soon become home to a new broadcast network when WRAZ-DT adds the new RTN, “Retro Television Network”.

[cdub998]

Not exactly new news as it was announced a few weeks ago, but I was slow to update...
I'm doing the heads-up now because I just scanned ahead to Monday 9/10 and see that the EPG reflects the changeover happening in the early morning hours on 50-02 OTA so if you want to watch some good old TV series, you can start firing timers now!

Here's a link to the article on the WRAZ home page:

http://www.fox50.com/entertainment/news/9498362.html

For Immediate Release
08/14/2007
Raleigh-Durham – The airwaves over Raleigh-Durham and surrounding cities will soon become home to a new broadcast network when WRAZ-DT adds the new RTN, “Retro Television Network”.

Is this going to cut into fox's bandwidth? Is my fox HD going to start looking crappy?

[Stewart Vernon]

Is this going to cut into fox's bandwidth? Is my fox HD going to start looking crappy?


No moreso than usual. WRAZ has had its bandwidth divided into 3 channels as far back as I've had OTA HD.

Used to be:

50-01 FOX HD
50-02 FOX SD
50-03 Weather

Now it is:

50-01 FOX HD
50-02 RTN
50-03 Weather

So I wouldn't expect any quality issues, unless you already had some.. in which case it would be the same as usual.

[cdub998]

No moreso than usual. WRAZ has had its bandwidth divided into 3 channels as far back as I've had OTA HD.

Used to be:

50-01 FOX HD
50-02 FOX SD
50-03 Weather

Now it is:

50-01 FOX HD
50-02 RTN
50-03 Weather

So I wouldn't expect any quality issues, unless you already had some.. in which case it would be the same as usual.

Thank god. I was expecting them to just add it as another subchannel.

[Stewart Vernon]

FYI, for anyone still looking at this thread... This year WRAL opted (thankfully) to not simulcast all 4 first/second round NCAA games at the expense of their HD main channel... so this year we got 2 games OTA, one HD and one SD.

I mention this because, it means 5-03 and 5-04 were not activated this year. I'm not sure if this means we will never see 5-03 and 5-04 again.. but it seems WRAL listened to their OTA HD viewers who wanted HD more than multiple games... so it may be possible that these last subchannels will never be seen again.

I'm leaving them in the chart for now, because I've heard nothing official to mark their demise, but we may actually never see them again so don't be surprised.

[Mokanic]

I missed the other 2 channels this year. There were a couple of the teams this year I would like to have seen. I didn't care if it was SD or HD. Of course, I am close enough to Greenville's Channel 9 to flip over to their HD channel if I really wanted to see the "main" game in HD.
I e-mailed WRAL and their reply stated they have not decided if this will be the case next year. Oh, well to each his own. It will depend if Time Warner Cable made any money on the "exclusivity" deal w/ WRAL probably.

FYI, for anyone still looking at this thread... This year WRAL opted (thankfully) to not simulcast all 4 first/second round NCAA games at the expense of their HD main channel... so this year we got 2 games OTA, one HD and one SD.

I mention this because, it means 5-03 and 5-04 were not activated this year. I'm not sure if this means we will never see 5-03 and 5-04 again.. but it seems WRAL listened to their OTA HD viewers who wanted HD more than multiple games... so it may be possible that these last subchannels will never be seen again.

I'm leaving them in the chart for now, because I've heard nothing official to mark their demise, but we may actually never see them again so don't be surprised.

[Stewart Vernon]

I missed the other 2 channels this year. There were a couple of the teams this year I would like to have seen. I didn't care if it was SD or HD. Of course, I am close enough to Greenville's Channel 9 to flip over to their HD channel if I really wanted to see the "main" game in HD.
I e-mailed WRAL and their reply stated they have not decided if this will be the case next year. Oh, well to each his own. It will depend if Time Warner Cable made any money on the "exclusivity" deal w/ WRAL probably.

I was one of the people last year pushing them to at least give us one HD game OTA. I hate Time Warner with a passion, and it irks me that because they have a direct fiber link WRAL can give them multiple feeds. I know the OTA bandwidth limitations, and while I agree there have been times when other compelling games were on, I can't really watch but one at a time anyway... so I "voted" last year that I'd rather just have 2 games with one in HD than 4 with none in HD for the entire first weekend.

Before CBS was doing all the games in HD, it was fine getting 4 simulcasts because you didn't miss out on HD... but once CBS started all HD, it was almost painful to watch knowing I could have been seeing in HD.

[Stewart Vernon]

Over on AVS Forum there was a post from the NBC Engineer who posts regularly there, and the gyst of it was that during the Olympics NBC-17 is going to shut off their 17-2 sub-channel for the duration of the Olympics. Also the bitrate on 17-3 is going to be minimized so that they can give the most to their 17-1 primary HD OTA channel for the Olympics.

I should have posted this yesterday prior to the start of coverage but it slipped my mind earlier this evening.

[Stewart Vernon]

Heads-up for those watching channel 4 via OTA, via this snippet from WUNC:

"Starting Sept 25, 2008 UNC-TV will be changing its configuration of digital services. It will provided UNC-TV in high definition, UNC-KD and UNC-NC in standard definition all the time. The switching back and forth between 8 and 11pm will stop."

Once this date comes and goes, and I verify the new channel lineup, I'll go back and update the chart at the top of this thread.

Good news for HD via OTA! Potentially bad news for fans of the channel that is being dropped (UNC-ED).

[Stewart Vernon]

I'm still running with an indoor antenna setup consisting of a quarter-wave UHF omni-directional and a Terk directional antenna. This typically gets me reliably good reception for everything except channels 40 and 47, which fortunately I don't want to watch much anyway.

Well... just for fun I periodically rescan my locals to see if anything new comes in... and last night I was picking up channel 7.1 and 7.1 from Washington, NC at about 55-60 on my ViP receiver!

Didn't last long... and hasn't been back since... but it was pretty cool pulling in a station over 70 miles away with my indoor setup! So I left it in my scanned list (just not in my favorites) in case I ever put up a bigger antenna to pull it in for real.

FYI, I noted too that my Dish receiver ultimately populated the EPG info for 7.1 and 7.2 correctly even though I'm in the Raleigh DMA... so this is good news to me for if/when I potentially am able to pull in some more out-of-market OTA that the receiver will have EPG data for them!

[cdub998]

Cool. Ill have to try it. I have a channel master 4228 so maybe I can pick it up.

[ENDContra]

Does anyone else have issues with 22-1 and 28-1? I have the VIP722, and for some reason both channels will come up as SD (not SD upconverted on an HD channel, but actual SD). Looking at the channels on TWC, they are in HD at the same time. Some nights, however, the OTA signal is HD. Is it possible my DVR is only finding an SD subchannel for these on some nights? Or are they only broadcasting in HD certain nights, while having a direct link to TWC so its always in HD?

[Stewart Vernon]

Does anyone else have issues with 22-1 and 28-1? I have the VIP722, and for some reason both channels will come up as SD (not SD upconverted on an HD channel, but actual SD). Looking at the channels on TWC, they are in HD at the same time. Some nights, however, the OTA signal is HD. Is it possible my DVR is only finding an SD subchannel for these on some nights? Or are they only broadcasting in HD certain nights, while having a direct link to TWC so its always in HD?

I can't compare to cable myself... but I have seen nights when I thought programming on 22.1 and 28.1 should have been HD but wasn't... I never think to check with my father and see if they are in HD on his cable.

Sometimes 22/28 have put SD in a widescreen image with black bars... other times I've seen them drop to just the SD broadcast and then my TV adds the grey bars to it, so I can tell when they are switching modes like that. I honestly don't watch much on either channel, so if they don't do it while I'm watching I could completely miss it. Did this happen on a particular program/night you remember?

I do know that WRAL/WRAZ and WUNC deliver different/unique feeds to TWC so it is possible to have a different "experience" from OTA than the cable channel. I do not know about the other locals, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[ENDContra]

Im going to hook my antenna up to my PC tuner card and see what it can find. The thing here is that, its an actual SD channel...so no pillarboxes or any of that...its plain old 4:3 broadcast...if you put it in the PIP, its obvious as it treats it like any other SD channel. Assuming TWC doesnt come to put the block on the basic cable channels (I have Roadrunner with them still), I still have the option of just watching via QAM, but would either have to watch live or use my tuner card to record....would much rather be able to use my DVR.

[Mokanic]

...Well... just for fun I periodically rescan my locals to see if anything new comes in... and last night I was picking up channel 7.1 and 7.1 from Washington, NC at about 55-60 on my ViP receiver!

Didn't last long... and hasn't been back since... but it was pretty cool pulling in a station over 70 miles away with my indoor setup! So I left it in my scanned list (just not in my favorites) in case I ever put up a bigger antenna to pull it in for real.

FYI, I noted too that my Dish receiver ultimately populated the EPG info for 7.1 and 7.2 correctly even though I'm in the Raleigh DMA... so this is good news to me for if/when I potentially am able to pull in some more out-of-market OTA that the receiver will have EPG data for them!

My mom's indoor OTA will pull WITN's digital signal. But, no matter where I put or tune the antenna, it will not get WNCT9.1. Across the county, with my indoor OTA, it's the exact oppostie. She lives ~8 mile east of Clayton and I am ~12 mile east of her. Go figure.
In eastern JC, I am able to pick up the Raleigh DMA and two of the four network stations down east. WITN-7 (NBC) and WNCT-9 (CBS) with an outdoor antenna. When I first hooked up the outdoor OTA, I was also picking up WCTI-12 (ABC) digital signal which was being broadcast on VHF 12 instead of UHF 48. But, I haven't been able to pick that digital signal up in over a year. 12's analog is an acceptable image to watch. Channel's 7 and 9 are fairly strong digital signals. It was good to watch down east during Hannah. WNCT-9 comes in handy when WRAL-5 preempts CBS programming for ACC BBall/FBall. I can still record them in HD at it's correct time.
I am now getting ready for the digital transition by figuring out which channels will be moving to VHF or UHF. I wish WRAL would move to a VHF instead of staying on UHF,as is being reported. During a thunderstorm, even with the antenna pointed in the optimum direction, their UHF signal is flaky. And when, the analog signal goes after next year, and they are still on UHF, it's going to be iffy for Wx info during a thunderstorm. May begin to rely on WTVD 11.1. I believe they are going to VHF after the transition. Much more stable signal.
Have to check out the post transistion signal strength to see if 7 and 9 will still be available. Didn't know that the signals from stations might be different.

Another note. HDMe, I looked your EPG chart again and remembered I can't pick up WUNC-4 digital transmission, even with my outdoor antenna. The analog signal is "clear". I have to rely on WUNK-25 our of Greenville for my PBS needs.

[scooper]

channel chart for Raleigh
analog pre post
4...........59..25
5...........53..48
11.........52..11
17.........55..17
22.........57..27
28.........27..28
30.........42..42
36.........39..36
40.........38..38
47.........15..15
50.........49..49
62.........36..36

[Stewart Vernon]

I'm still considering an outdoor or at least in-attic larger antenna setup one day... Channel 4 is tough to get in some areas around here and I'm not 100% sure why... could be some obstructions or maybe they are not as omni-directional as they should be in their broadcast.

For the most part we'll probably be in wait-and-see mode to see how our reception changes in various areas next Feb. Since I'm in Raleigh I don't expect my situation to get worse, but certainly for folks farther away it could make a difference.

[scooper]

Channel 4 digital is difficult, 36 digital doesn't seem to be much better - they're both about 40 miles from my house. And yes, I have outdoor antennas (a CM4221 on a rotor, and a Radio Shack U75r pointing at Roanoke Rapids.

[Stewart Vernon]

Late last night the changes took at channel 4 OTA...

I've updated the top post in this thread, but for reference again...

We now have ONLY:

4-01 PBS in HD
4-02 PBS Kids
4-03 PBS North Carolina

These are all 24 hr channels now, nothing offline from 8-11... The main channel will have HD, but I gather could still have some SD if they are airing a program not yet available in HD.. so it is not just a 24hr HD channel though I suspect it may always be in "HD".

The Dish EPG is predictably wrong due to this change as they are still mapping EPG data from the old config. I sent an email to Dish about this in hope they can correct soon. Until then, watch your timers because it will be hard to tell what is on when until Dish is back in synch with this new change.

[Mokanic]

Anyone noticed lower strength signal with WRAL-5?

In the last couple of days my signal strength is now running in the 60's. It normally runs 90+. All other channels are normal strength.

[scooper]

Anyone noticed lower strength signal with WRAL-5?

In the last couple of days my signal strength is now running in the 60's. It normally runs 90+. All other channels are normal strength.

http://www.wral.com/5onyourside/story/3623178/

[Stewart Vernon]

Anyone noticed lower strength signal with WRAL-5?

In the last couple of days my signal strength is now running in the 60's. It normally runs 90+. All other channels are normal strength.

Scooper posted a link... WRAL also ran a crawl sometime over the weekend as well about some tower changes and lower output until after Feb due to the changeover.

I haven't noticed signal change at my house, but then I am not that far away (maybe 10-15 miles) from the tower and get a strong signal anyway.

[scooper]

Scooper posted a link... WRAL also ran a crawl sometime over the weekend as well about some tower changes and lower output until after Feb due to the changeover.

I haven't noticed signal change at my house, but then I am not that far away (maybe 10-15 miles) from the tower and get a strong signal anyway.

WRAL ran the crawl Several times over the weekend AND on Monday and Tuesday as well....

[Mokanic]

Thanks for the info and the link.

I have turned my antenna in different directions, but it only gets worse. I'm about 15 miles from the "regular" tower.

I had not been able to watch TV until this morning. 14 hour shifts over the weekend.

[Stewart Vernon]

Looks like Dish fixed the PBS OTA guide data this week. I haven't checked all the time, but noticed the change in the uplink this week in the thread elsewhere on this forum... then checked and all three (4.1-4.3) were accurate.

On a non-related note.. sometime late last night WRAL and WRAZ both seemed to be off-air. The SD sat channels were fine, but the HD sat ones were just a yellow screen and the OTA was registering no signal. Seems fine today, so maybe it was just overnight work by the engineers.

[Stewart Vernon]

As of yesterday morning no EPG info for PBS OTA 4.1 for some reason. Haven't been able to find out what is going on, but it just started yesterday that I noticed.

I assume everyone else in Raleigh DMA has noticed by now or will shortly, unless it is a receiver specific thing. My receiver is a ViP622 FYI.

[Stewart Vernon]

Maybe that will be a one-time thing, as I notice today the OTA EPG seems to be back for 4.1 again.

[scooper]

On a side note - my signal has dropped to unusability on WLFL22 -DT - looking at www.tvfool.com, I find they are currently at 9-10 kW on RF channel 57 - consider that most of the other channels out there are doing 500Kw up to 1M watts -

[Stewart Vernon]

On a side note - my signal has dropped to unusability on WLFL22 -DT - looking at www.tvfool.com (http://www.tvfool.com), I find they are currently at 9-10 kW on RF channel 57 - consider that most of the other channels out there are doing 500Kw up to 1M watts -

I have noticed some problems recently with both WLFL and WRDC. WRDC is substantially lower signal levels than a few weeks ago, but I don't watch often. WLFL is fine some nights and unlockable others. I couldn't watch Smallville last Thursday night at all... but the next day was back to full signal.

[Stewart Vernon]

Thanks to bjflynn04 and scooper for the info... In case the moderators don't decide to combine the thread, here's a link to the thread discussing possible impact to our Raleigh locals via Dish:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=147740

[miketorse]

Hello... I have an indoor antenna, and receive 5.1, 11.1, 22.1 and 50.1 very well:

Signal Strengths: CBS5.1 in 70's, ABC11.1 in 80's, FOX50.1 in 70's, and CW22.1 around 60.

My question is NBC11.1. My signal level hovers around 40, which is a crapshoot. My question is, will this get stronger once their Analog signal is turned of in Feb? Or are these signal strengths what I can expect going forward.

I live near Crossroads in Cary, so I'm definitely okay with having a OTA indoors I believe, except for the NBC station...

[scooper]

NBC is going to be on 17, if you can receive the analog 17 fine, you should be OK

[Stewart Vernon]

I believe channel 11 is going back to its VHF frequency in Feb, but all the others will be still somewhere in the UHF band. That might help you on channel 11 potentially.

[scooper]

I believe channel 11 is going back to its VHF frequency in Feb, but all the others will be still somewhere in the UHF band. That might help you on channel 11 potentially.

analog present post
4............59.........25
5............53.........48
11..........52.........11
17..........55.........17
22..........57.........27
28..........27.........28
36..........39.........36
50..........49.........49
62..........36.........36

[Stewart Vernon]

Looks like (based upon the uplink report) we will have WRAY (30) guide data now that Dish is carrying the SD channel. I'll wait and see if it sticks, since an overnight update will need to happen for EPG update anyway. Soon as that looks good I'll go back and update the top post to indicate the new data.

Only thing missing for us is the ION OTA channel and sub-channels guide data.

[timhk]

Hello... I have an indoor antenna, and receive 5.1, 11.1, 22.1 and 50.1 very well:

Signal Strengths: CBS5.1 in 70's, ABC11.1 in 80's, FOX50.1 in 70's, and CW22.1 around 60.

My question is NBC11.1. My signal level hovers around 40, which is a crapshoot. My question is, will this get stronger once their Analog signal is turned of in Feb? Or are these signal strengths what I can expect going forward.

I live near Crossroads in Cary, so I'm definitely okay with having a OTA indoors I believe, except for the NBC station...

The tower for channel 11 is located about 100 yards from the tower that has 5,17,22,28,50. This may be the source of your problem

[Stewart Vernon]

Several folks (myself included) are not seeing channel 50 or 17 in HD via Dish. OTA working fine, but not the HD via satellite.

No ETA, as Dish is just now being made aware of the issue... could even possibly (speculation) be weather related damage to the reception/uplink site since we had some local snow/ice and cold the last couple of days.

Will post again when it is fixed.

[Stewart Vernon]

Both 17 and 50 seem to be back this afternoon. Not sure what really happened, but seems to be fixed now.

[Stewart Vernon]

Durham, N.C. — FOX 50 (WRAZ-TV) announced the launch of a new, free, over-the-air movie channel Monday.

"THIS" can be found on Ch. 50.3 and on Time Warner digital cable Ch. 252. It will feature movies from the libraries of MGM, United Artists, Orion Pictures, Polygram, Cannon and Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Full article here (http://www.wral.com/entertainment/story/4844000/).

WRAZ-TV and THIS are subsidiaries of Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc., owner of WRAL-TV and other media, sports and real estate properties.Copyright 2009 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved.

[Stewart Vernon]

I'm editing the first post of this thread to reflect the new channel 50.3, and the change to 5.2 that will now be both News and Weather OTA.

Of course the EPG data is wrong now on 50.3 as of today, but hopefully Dish will catch up with the changes.

FYI, I still have intermittent problems with 4.1 OTA EPG data on my receivers. Sometimes it is there, sometimes not. No word from Dish as to a fix for that problem.

[Stewart Vernon]

Not sure when it happened, but sometime recently 17-02 OTA became Universal Sports.

So no longer an SD simulcast of NBC, but rather other sports programming. Right now happens to be Cycling.

The Dish EPG seems to be accurate on the programming change as well.

[Stewart Vernon]

Someone on AVSForum noted that 11-2 OTA is now 720p... I checked, and sure enough it is!

So I've updated the OTA chart now to list the resolution (480i/720p/1080i) for each channel/sub-channel in our DMA.

Here's a new discussion I started in the Local Television forum regarding Live Well HD (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=157070), the new launched subchannel.

[miketorse]

Stewart: Is 17-1 coming through in HD for you? Anyone else? I am seeing a center-cut SD picture on NBC Nightly News on 17-1 OTA (and on DirecTV feed - yes, I know this is a Dish forum).

[Stewart Vernon]

Stewart: Is 17-1 coming through in HD for you? Anyone else? I am seeing a center-cut SD picture on NBC Nightly News on 17-1 OTA (and on DirecTV feed - yes, I know this is a Dish forum).

I saw a thread on AVSForum earlier asking the same question. It sounded like 17-2 and 17-3 were working, as was the analog feed of 17 OTA... but some people noticed 17-1 OTA not working.

Checking myself just now... Dish SD feed appears to be working, HD has a "we know" slate... 17-2 is showing weather, instead of Universal Sports, 17-3 was a black screen, and 17-1 was center-cut as you noted.

I have not seen anything official on their Web site as to what happened. Maybe something glitched in preparing for Friday's cutover. I'll follow up if I learn anything.

[scooper]

I saw a thread on AVSForum earlier asking the same question. It sounded like 17-2 and 17-3 were working, as was the analog feed of 17 OTA... but some people noticed 17-1 OTA not working.

Checking myself just now... Dish SD feed appears to be working, HD has a "we know" slate... 17-2 is showing weather, instead of Universal Sports, 17-3 was a black screen, and 17-1 was center-cut as you noted.

I have not seen anything official on their Web site as to what happened. Maybe something glitched in preparing for Friday's cutover. I'll follow up if I learn anything.

If I had to make a guess - I'd say something broke on the HD encoder path and the station changed the PIDs so 17-1 is showing "something", and just let 17-3 show "black" until they can get it fixed.

[miketorse]

Not much detail but: http://durham.mync.com/site/Durham/news/story/36344/technical-difficulties-nbc17-is-currently-off-the-air-on-cable-satellite/

[scooper]

Recap -

WLFL /WRDC did their digital moves around 1200.

WTVD / WNCN did their analog shutdown / move their digital down to their analog channel around 1230

WRAL stopped analog / start analog night light / moved to 48 at 1255
WRAZ shutoff analog shortly after 1300

The Ion stations turned off analog sometime in that hour, but I don't exactly when.

[Stewart Vernon]

I updated the chart at the top of this thread to include the Real broadcast channel # as well as the Virtual PID info. Be aware that I already assume WUNC will be on channel 25, where they are supposed to be after tonight when they make the switch.

Also... Waiting to see what WRAL/WRAZ is going to do long-term. Right now "THIS" network is actually on 5-2 and not 50-3... but was on 50-3 and the Dish EPG still reflects this at the moment even though last I looked 50-3 was SD version of 50-1 broadcasts.

I'm not sure if 50-3 might go back to being Weather again or what.

[Stewart Vernon]

I forgot when it happened, but OTA 4-3 is now WUNC-EX "The Explorer Channel" so I updated the chart in the first post to reflect this change.

(4-3 was formerly WUNC-NC "PBS North Carolina")

Also.. since some folks have had troubles getting WUNC OTA since the digital cutover, they have applied for another channel (30) to put at the Garner/Clayton antenna farm. No word as to when/if that will happen... but when/if it does I will update the chart again to reflect the alternative way of receiving PBS OTA in our DMA.

[scooper]

WUNC has raised their tower and put more power into their transmitter.

WTVD has applied for and been approved for a power increase. I think they have implemented it, but I can't say for sure on that.

[Stewart Vernon]

WUNC has raised their tower and put more power into their transmitter.

WTVD has applied for and been approved for a power increase. I think they have implemented it, but I can't say for sure on that.

I figure WTVD must have upped their power because my signal took a big leap a while back after hearing they had been approved for the increase.

As for WUNC... I get it now fine too once they had finished their tower work... but thought they were still pursuing the option of another channel to fill in the gaps in coverage.

[Stewart Vernon]

I was snoozing when 30-01 changed last year (around October is sounds like) from Shop@Home to TCT.

But, I accidentally discovered this morning that they now have a 30-02 subchannel as well that is broadcasting in 1080i.

I have not as yet seen any actual HD on that subchannel, though. So far it has just been strech-o-vision.

Also, right now the Dish EPG data is wrong/missing.

30-02 has no EPG data. 30-01 has EPG data BUT that data appears to be for what is actually on 30-02... and thus the 30-01 is truly missing data.

I'll update if I see Dish fix the EPG data at some point. Meanwhile, the chart in post #1 has been updated to reflect the change in content and the new HD subchannel.

I can't find a Web site for WRAY... but TCT has a Web site at www.tct.tv if you're interested in what they are all about.

[smngm2]

5.2 THIS movie channel

I live in North Raleigh and seem to be able to receive most all of the OTA channels in our area though a few require some dilligence with my antenna. The one exception has been THIS channel on 5.2. I receive WRAL on 5.1 with a very strong and clear signal but can't pick up 5.2 at all. For those of you able to pick up this channel, do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!
Gene

[scooper]

Unless there is something screwy with your OTA tuner - if you can see 5.1, you should also see 5.2. I'd try doing a rescan of the affected tuners.

[Stewart Vernon]

What receiver/tuner are you using that you have trouble with 5.2?

Scooper is about 99.9% correct that if you are seeing 5.1 you should have 5.2.

I leave the "0.1%" because I have actually seen a problem before on Dish receivers where an OTA channel might scan but not show up or be tunable... so it is theoretically possible you could have a receiver/tuner glitch at play.

[Stewart Vernon]

I noticed recently that 47 seems to only have 3 subchannels now... so I deleted 47.4 from the chart in post #1.

I've seen people in some markets say they have ION in HD, but I haven't seen that yet here in Raleigh. IF anyone ever sees 47.1 in HD, please let me know and I'll modify.

I have trouble getting this channel OTA reliably, so that's why I was slow to notice the dropped 47.4 channel.

[scooper]

I noticed recently that 47 seems to only have 3 subchannels now... so I deleted 47.4 from the chart in post #1.

I've seen people in some markets say they have ION in HD, but I haven't seen that yet here in Raleigh. IF anyone ever sees 47.1 in HD, please let me know and I'll modify.

I have trouble getting this channel OTA reliably, so that's why I was slow to notice the dropped 47.4 channel.

Yes it is in HD now - (720p) -
However, I can't see it's southern cousin.

[Stewart Vernon]

Yes it is in HD now - (720p) -
However, I can't see it's southern cousin.

Thanks.. I'll update the chart, and maybe one day I'll even get to watch it in HD!

[smngm2]

What receiver/tuner are you using that you have trouble with 5.2?

Thanks for the replies guys. I have a 722 receiver and I have rescanned. The channel shows up in the guide as yellow and displays current content (at least, content that agrees with what WRAL's website shows for the channel).

I'll play with it again tonight to make sure this isn't an operator error :rolleyes:

Thanks.
Gene

[smngm2]

I rescanned two times last night with no success. Tried a third time expecting to call Dish afterwards and it worked. I've made no changes to the antenna, connection, or receiver and have probably scanned 15 times or more over the last couple of months. I don't know what the issue was, but I'm glad I can finally pick up the channel.

Thanks.
Gene

[Stewart Vernon]

Glad to hear it, though I'm sure I'm as clueless as you at this point as to what was the problem.

I suppose it is possible that channel 5 itself was having a broadcast issue, and those of us with the channel already scanned might not have noticed. Every one in a while the channel ID data gets funky and they have to tweak something.

I have had channels some nights that will lose their "virtual" channel and revert to the actual broadcast channel # instead... but that doesn't happen very often.

[Stewart Vernon]

Removed 50-03 from the chart in post #1... the SD-FOX sub-channel seems to be gone for good now.

If it (or something else) comes back, and I don't notice, please let me know.

[Stewart Vernon]

FYI, Dish seems to have done us the favor of screwing up our PBS OTA EPG again...

They now have both 4-2 and 4-3 showing the same EPG data for the UNC-EX channel... whereas 4-2 should of course be showing UNC-KD programming.

Not sure when this will be fixed, but I let them know about it as soon as I noticed. Here's hoping it is a priority, because anyone with kids is probably missing some recordings from 4-2 now!

[Stewart Vernon]

Added the new 22.2 Country Music video sub-channel to the chart in post #1.

Also, here's an update of what channels have wrong or missing OTA EPG data:

4.2 continues to have UNC-EX data instead of UNC-KD data.
22.2 does not yet have proper data.
30.1 continues to have data for what is actually on 30.2
30.2 does not yet have proper data.
47.1 does not yet have proper data.
47.2 does not yet have proper data.
47.3 does not yet have proper data.

While these have all been reported to Dish, there has been no movement as yet to address any of these known EPG issues for our OTA data problems.

[Stewart Vernon]

Changes made to post #1 table:

4.2 Updated to reflect "No" since Dish has screwed up the OTA EPG data for UNC Kids and doesn't seem to want to fix it :(

22.2 Changed name to proper "The Country Network" name for this new sub-channel.

28.2 is a new channel TheCoolTV, which is another 24/7 music video channel.

[Stewart Vernon]

A bunch of changes to update things to the post #1 chart...

Added channel 30.3 -> TCT Family

Changed 50.2 to MeTV (Memorable Entertainment Television).. It appears RTV is gone now in favor of MeTV which is sort of similar.

Also added a bunch of network links to the sub-channels that have Web pages. Local Raleigh Web sites are linked where they exist, while the others are the network affiliated Web sites.

If anyone sees anything wrong or that I've missed, let me know...

[Stewart Vernon]

An OTA scan picked up a new 30.4 channel last night. I'm not getting good reception, but I swear I saw something in spanish on the screen... so I put it in the chart at the beginning of this thread as TCT Spanish.

If someone can confirm who gets this channel more reliably, that would be appreciated.

[Mokanic]

I will check when I get home from work tonite.

Stewart - you have it listed right in the first post. It looks to be English programming with Spanish audio translation on 30-04.

[Stewart Vernon]

I missed when the change actually happened... but have now updated the chart in post #1 for the recent changes in NBC17 OTA subchannels.

17.2 is now Antenna TV
17.3 is now Universal Sports