(BALTIMORE – July 29, 2009) – Hello shore fans. As you can tell from the dateline, I am now coming to you from Baltimore, the queen city in our state. Which would explain my much lengthy absence. For starters, Comcast is coming by to give me a cable line that works so I can do my webstuff in real-time.
In any event, I have taken up residence in Baltimore County, where I have experienced what many of you are probably having to suffer with…limited wabbit ear television reception. My hope was to be able to receive some Washington Channels, but alas, this will not be the case (at least until I find a bigger amplifier).
I can imagine that many areas on the shore are experiencing similar problems since the DTV transition. This was predicted when Wilmington, North Carolina switched to DTV before the rest of the nation. A lot of the rural areas in the area were not able to pick up the DTV signals, one of which was a Low-Power CBS affiliate, which technically could have stayed analog, even to this day.
Then it turns out the big cities are not safe either, mainly for those who opted to go back to their original channel positions on the VHF band. In the DTV landscape, VHF Channels 2-6 were not really good while channels 7-13 were not much better. WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, had opted to go back to their Channel 6 position, which is now turning out to be a headache, especially considering that the ABC station is the number one station in the Delaware Valley.
Here in Baltimore, as I found out on my first night living here, WBAL-TV has been having problems with broadcasting digitally on Channel 11. Keep in mind, I am not far from TV Hill and it was skipping in my bedroom. There have also been similar stories with WJLA-TV in Washington, WABC-TV in New York and WHDH-TV in Boston. WHDH however was lucky enough to have been able to move back to their pre-transition channel position.
Here is how I think this is going to end. There is going to be a big adjustment once everyone realizes what they need done, much like the early 50s, when television stations had to move to different channels to keep from interfering with channels in close by areas.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
2 comments:
Your problem isn't the amplifier - it's the size of your antennae.
I have a big 120"+ monstrosity on the top of my house. Across they bay, I get most of the DC/Baltimore/Salisbury channels most of the time. You shouldn't need a 50-mile antennae in your location, but you'd probably end up with one around 65" or so. Stay away from the indoor/patch garbage unless you have line of site and are under 20 miles away.
For more info, go to antennaweb.org
9/11/5/32 are the ones that I have the most problems with. But there is usually an equivalent station available when my preferred one is gone.
I hate the whole DTV thing.At least before the switch I could actually receive channels over the air.Guess I will keep making satellite company richer.
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