WNCN Engineering

Hello Springtime! We've been waiting for you, however the weather might make us wait a little longer. Spring is notorious for causing reception problems with antennas. The trees are the main culprit eating RF signals like a tree eating Charlie Brown's kite. They munch on different frequencies, so it's common to lose one channel and other channels be fine. Most of the time, it's just a temporary thing and will clear up after a few days, but other times it can become constant until Fall comes around. It may require just a minor tweak to the antenna to restore things back to normal. Take a look at the TV's signal meter and use it to tweak the antenna. Move the antenna slightly and stop for several seconds to see if the meter increases or decreases. They do not read instantly and you usually have to wait 5-10 seconds before it changes. Keep making small adjustments until the signal peaks and begins to fall again. Back up and tighten it down at the peak. If a channel has disappeared from the database, perform a re-scan with the antenna properly peaked, and it should restore all channels back to normal.

We have been running Justice on 17-3, which slid to 17-2, (Spectrum ch 1245), and added Grit on 17-3 (Spectrum ch 1246) and Escape on 17-4 (not on Spectrum) yesterday afternoon. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to AntennaTV on 17-2, but I'm sure another station will pick it up soon.

Some TV sets may require re-scanning the channels for the new sub-channels to show up, and some may require a simple add in the add/delete menus.

PSIP program guides are correct on air, but will be wrong for a week or so on cable and TiVo until the new data is ingested.

http://wncn.com/blog/2017/06/27/repack-madness/

Repack Madness! As you may already know, the FCC is packing TV channels closer together to make room for new services from the cellular companies and other technologies yet to be imagined. While the changes are tw…

There are a few models of TV sets that do not switch audio modes between Surround Sound programs and Stereo programs. This causes a huge volume difference between the two modes on those sets because the left/right speakers only carry effects in surround mode and full volume audio in stereo mode. To compensate for those TV models, we installed equipment to up-convert stereo audio to surround sound mode so those sets do not need to switch modes. That device failed yesterday during the Sun Bowl game and we had to bypass it to restore audio on air. We do not know which sets fail to switch audio modes automatically and fortunately not all sets have that symptom. With the Holiday, I don't expect the manufacturer to get a replacement to us before the end of next week, but we are exploring alternatives to compensate for those TV sets that do not switch modes properly until the replacement equipment arrives. You may be able to change the audio mode on your TV in the menu to find the proper mode that allows it to switch. The issue occurs during network shows in surround sound and local material which is usually in stereo and is not due to sponsors purposely blasting the volume. If you are experiencing drastic volume changes, please report the brand and model TV or surround sound receiver you are using to [email protected]