Reception problems north of Grand Rapids
August 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm by Dave DeJonge under Inside WOOD TV8
The following note comes to you from Michael Laemers, Director of Engineering at WOOD TV8 ….
We have received emails and telephone calls from our viewers in Northern Kent, Muskegon, Newaygo and Oceana counties, who have indicated they watch the WOOD TV analog signal but cannot pickup the digital signal when they purchase a converter box or a new TV.
WOOD TV operates on digital channel 7. This is the same channel WPBN in Traverse City uses for its analog broadcast. Viewers in the northern part of our viewing area may experience problems with this interference. This interference is most prevalent for about 4 hours after sunrise and the early evening hours. The viewer may do a simple test to see if this is the reason they are not able to receive WOOD DT digital signal.
To test for interference, connect the antenna to the analog TV tuner. Tune to channel 7. If there is any picture or sound, this interference will unlock the digital tuner and prevent WOOD’s digital reception. If the viewer has a rotor on their antenna, turn the antenna until the analog signal is minimized, then re-connect the antenna to the digital tuner and try to rescan.
The interference from WPBN, Traverse City should go away after February 17, 2009. This is the date that WPBN will turn off their channel 7 analog signal.
WOOD TV and WOOD DT both transmit from our tower in Middleville, MI.
If have not yet made the transition to digital TV, do it this summer! You will not want to mess with it in February! Find out more about DTV here.
Internet Director for WOODTV.com
[...] Frugal wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptTo test for interference, connect the antenna to the analog TV tuner. Tune to channel 7. If there is any picture or sound, this interference will unlock the digital tuner and prevent WOOD’s digital reception. … [...]
I too am having a lot of trouble receiving a signal through the box I purchased. I live in Ionia, and I cannot receive half the channels I receive on an analog signal. Of the station I receive through the box, half of them I will not watch at all. I am on Social Security, and cannot afford a new tv, I was barely able to buy the box which cost me $10.00. If the change is made, and I cannot receive the new signals correctly, the your sponsors will suffer for it, and I am sure I am not the only one with this problem.
I live west of Kalamazoo and converted to Digital TV last May and am using Zenith converter boxes, which were rated higher than most other boxes. So far, I am not impressed with DTV. I had to get an inline powered signal amplifier before I could receive channels 17-1 and 41-1 at all. Though channels 8-1, 8-2, 8-3 are OK most of the time, the picture and the sound especially degrades during bad weather to the point where weather alerts are sometimes undecipherable (why bother with tornado warnings if they cannot be received in the affected area). Worse, the picture and sound deteriorates on many of the channels, especially 17-1 and 41-1, for no apparent reason during the middle of the day at times. The 8-1 audio during the olympic telecast seemed to emphasize the background noise instead of the commentator(s) but this may be a problem with the converter box (poor audio was mentioned in the reviews). Hopefully, the situation will improve after the February conversion date due to less interference from analog signals, but otherwise, I contend the switch to DTV was engineered by cable TV companies who want free broadcast TV dismantled so they can line their pockets with money.
-Peter-
We’re in the center of Eaton County, and you’re our favorite station. We’re having a hard time picking you up on our digital box. Where should we be looking for you?
Thanks
We’re in the center of Eaton County, and you’re our favorite station. We’re having a hard time picking you up on our digital box. Where should we be looking for you? 41 is not all that great. Hopefully you’ll have further suggestions for us.
Thanks
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