Rescan day flop

samve33 · 8-Sep-2019, 10:23 AM

Hey guys, been a many years since I've posted here. My antenna system has been working great for all these years thanks to you guys, that is up until now.

9/6/19 was rescan day for one of the main channels I use, WSB, channel 2 out of Atlanta. It's about the only channel the TV really stays on.
Use to come in great, but not anymore. I can get it late evening, but that's it. I mostly like to catch the morning news on it, but that's out right now.
I don't know what frequency it moved to, maybe low VHF which my antennas aren't designed for, I'm not sure.

Anyone got any suggestions what I can do to get this channel back? Thanks.

ADTech · 8-Sep-2019, 11:45 AM

WSB is currently operating at reduced capability (about 1/3rd of the power of their full license) from an alternate site while their permanent channel 32 facility is completed.

You'll probably just have to wait it out and watch something else in the meantime. It's likely going to be months of waiting, check with the station for updates.

samve33 · 8-Sep-2019, 12:00 PM

Thanks, that explains that then.
Guess I'll have to work around it for now. Hope they'll get it worked out soon.
Thanks much for the information.

ADTech · 8-Sep-2019, 7:01 PM

It depends on your definition of "soon". It may be yet this fall, it may be next year.

Keep in touch with the station.

Tim · 9-Sep-2019, 3:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

WSB is currently operating at reduced capability (about 1/3rd of the power of their full license) from an alternate site while their permanent channel 32 facility is completed.

Wow! I don't know where their alternate site is but I am getting a super signal from them now compared to a month ago. WSB has always been borderline in the past. I wish they would stay where they are at!

samve33 · 9-Sep-2019, 11:52 AM

I did have WSB for a little while this morning, but it faded out a little after 7am.
I have found a workaround. There's a WSB Roku app I can use for their news and then switch to a chattanoga station for the rest of ABC's programming, so I should be OK.

ADTech · 9-Sep-2019, 12:45 PM

Quote:

I don't know where their alternate site is

Temporary facility https://www.rabbitears.info/contour....d470939&site=1

Permanent facility, once completed: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour....4b40b13&site=1

Quote:

so I should be OK.

Making the best of an annoying situation, for sure!

Tim · 9-Sep-2019, 9:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

Temporary facility https://www.rabbitears.info/contour....d470939&site=1

Permanent facility, once completed: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour....4b40b13&site=1

Well, that explains why I am getting such a good signal now...they are using the same tower as many of the other Atlanta TV stations that I get so well. When they go back to the previous tower, the signal will be two edge instead of 1 edge. Guess I will enjoy them while I can.

samve33 · 18-Oct-2019, 11:22 AM

Appears WSB is making progress with the new transmitter. They showed a video of a helicopter mounting their new antenna on top of the new tower. Over 900 feet high with 3 or 4 guys waiting at the top to bolt it down. One of those guys sure isn't me, no way!
They're claiming their new signal will be better than before, as long as I get what I had back I'll be happy.
Hopefully it won't be much longer now before they have it operating.

Tim · 18-Oct-2019, 7:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samve33

Appears WSB is making progress with the new transmitter. They showed a video of a helicopter mounting their new antenna on top of the new tower. Over 900 feet high with 3 or 4 guys waiting at the top to bolt it down. One of those guys sure isn't me, no way!
They're claiming their new signal will be better than before, as long as I get what I had back I'll be happy.
Hopefully it won't be much longer now before they have it operating.

When they swapped to the temporary tower, the signal here went from marginal to great. Hopefully when they move to the new antenna at the original tower location we'll all be able to get a great signal.

samve33 · 14-Jan-2020, 11:18 AM

It's been awhile now and I've lost WSB completely, haven't been able to get a over the air signal at all for some time.
I've been hunting around to see if they ever got the new tower going, haven't been able to find anything.
I'm thinking they have probably switched back to their permanent tower and I've lost them forever. I did see that the new tower is a good bit shorter than the original.
Does anyone know if they are back on their permanent tower? Thanks.

Tim · 14-Jan-2020, 3:49 PM

I don't know the answer. The old tower they were on had to be rebuilt. Their temporary authorization for the temporary location expires on Feb 5th. Maybe an e-mail to their chief engineer would bring you a direct answer. Sending you a PM.

samve33 · 14-Jan-2020, 10:18 PM

Thanks for the advice of a fellow member here, I did email WSB, this is the reply I got back.

We will be moving back soon...i will send you an email when we get it fired up

KevinTMC · 19-Dec-2020, 10:09 PM

Apologies for necro-ing this thread, but I just recently got my antenna back up and running with a new pre-amp, and WSB is still problematic on my end.

This channel was by far the most troublesome for me back before the frequency shift. There was a translator out here in the Athens area that would have a fantastically strong signal, then start dropping out entirely at night for no discernible reason...though sometimes I'd be able to pick up the main transmitter when that happened, though not terribly reliably as it was fringe service to be sure.

Now, rescanning doesn't seem to find the translator at all; the signal I do get, presumably from the main transmitter again, is even fringier than before, below the minimum for reception more often than not.

Anyone know what the current status of things is with WSB...especially for service out here east of the city?

(And, as an aside, there's another station or two that seem notably weaker than before--and a couple marginal ones seem gone entirely--even though on paper my new Kitztech should be more robust unit than the old RCA. Though to be fair, I guess a couple of other channels do seem a bit stronger. I suppose the repacking has changed the overall environment more than a little then. Or have other folks in this market noticed less change in performance over the last couple years?)

rabbit73 · 20-Dec-2020, 2:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinTMC

.....I just recently got my antenna back up and running with a new pre-amp, and WSB is still problematic on my end.

Hello, Kevin.

Before we can even begin to help you, we would need to see a signal report for your location. East of Atlanta isn't much help and your original TVFool signal reports are no longer on the TVFool server. Please do a rabbitears.info signal report. You can do it here:
https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php

For OTA reception problems in the Atlanta area, you could join the AVS Forum:
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/atl...84623/page-217

KevinTMC · 20-Dec-2020, 3:56 PM

Thank you for the reply. The AVS Forum link was helpful...the most recent post there indicates that the only WSB signal right now is the one from Atlanta.

That seems to be reflected in the RabbitEars report also. The only WSB transmitter showing up is channel 32 from Atlanta. Meanwhile, two of the three channels that should be by far the strongest are listed as off-air.

https://www.rabbitears.info/searchma...tudy_id=190553

I see that the database for the TVFool reports was last updated pre-repacking...that's actually quite helpful for comparison if it's still accurate as of how things stood in 2017.

(Running it again for my location produced this report:

https://www.tvfool.com/modeling/?id=903872156194f3

Back then I was able to pick up the likes of WANN-CD and WTBS-LD on a good day...haven't yet had a sniff of them since I got set up with my new preamp.)

rabbit73 · 20-Dec-2020, 7:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinTMC

The AVS Forum link was helpful...the most recent post there indicates that the only WSB signal right now is the one from Atlanta.

Thank you for the two signal signal reports. You are much further east than I thought you were, so your signals are quite weak. The signal margin of -11.26 dB for WSB in the RabbitEars report is similar to a NM of the same value in a TVFool report.

Terrain profile for WSB using different software:

Any trees in the signal path will make reception of WSB even more difficult.