DTV transition: Antennas and your reception
KCTS 9 Executive Director of Engineering
We have been fielding a lot of calls and e-mails regarding the DTV transition and viewers not receiving KCTS 9. If you haven't re-scanned your DTV converter box or digital TV since Friday, June 12, please do so immediately.
KCTS 9, along with KSTW (11) and KCPQ (13) transitioned from their pre-transition UHF channel assignment to their VHF channel for DTV transmission. KING, KIRO, KOMO, and KONG all remained on their UHF DTV channels. This means you may have received our DTV signal on UHF 41 in the past but can't receive it now that we are on VHF channel 9. If this is the case, the first thing you need to do is make sure you have an all-band VHF/UHF antenna. There is no guarantee that what works for one person will work for everyone because there are so many variables, but I'm going to give some general guidelines here in this space.
For all of the below suggestions you will need to try adjusting your antenna to increase signal strength. Some converter boxes will let you see a signal strength on a channel it didn't find using the meter. Other boxes require you to adjust the antenna and then perform a full scan or partial scan to find the channel before you can call up the signal strength. Other boxes allow you to manually add a channel using the RF channel, our RF channel is 9. Once you can bring up the signal strength make adjustments to the antenna in one direction or the other with small changes and let the signal strength meter respond. Indoor antennas with rabbit ears may work best if they are about 20 inches long. Also, try closing the rabbit ears down all the way or about 6 inches long to see if that works. Try turning the antenna 90 degrees again while watching the signal strength.
If you are within 5 miles of our Capitol Hill (Seattle) transmitter you should be able to receive KCTS 9 with a non-amplified VHF/UHF indoor antenna. We have talked to some people that have had trouble using an amplified VHF/UHF antenna. The problem here is that the amplifier gets overloaded by the signal if you are really close to our transmitter - which is located at 18th and Madison. If you are on Capitol Hill and live really close to the transmitter tower, you may find a straightened paper clip to work best as an antenna.
If you live farther than five miles from our transmitter, or if a non-amplified antenna doesn't work for you, the first thing to try is a VHF/UHF amplified antenna. Again, follow the instructions for re-scanning or adding the channel manually to view the signal strength to maximize the signal by adjusting the antenna. Amplified indoor antennas top out at about 15-20 miles from the transmitter, which again, is located on Capitol Hill near downtown Seattle. The amplified indoor antenna's range is only an estimate and other factors can cause problems with its reach as well. You can also try adding an extension to the antenna coax so you can move the antenna around the room. If you have a balcony or window, try placing the antenna outside as a test. Lastly, if you have an amplified antenna be sure it is plugged into the wall for power.
There are some antennas being sold as "HDTV" antennas that have VHF/UHF amplifiers but the antenna is designed for UHF. These have been marketed by different companies and sometimes mislead consumers that it is a VHF antenna.
A true VHF/UHF indoor antenna will have two extendable elements often referred to as "rabbit ears". These antennas are similar to your old "rabbit ears" but they have a UHF antenna as well that is usually round in shape. The knob that some antennas have usually only adjusts the UHF antenna.
If you have tried an amplified antenna and it didn't work by adjusting it and moving its location, then you probably need an outdoor antenna. The size of the outdoor antenna determines how far away it can receive a signal. www.antennaweb.org and www.tvfool.com are good resources to help determine what size of antenna you need. If you have an outdoor antenna and is not working you may try an antenna pre-amplifier (more info in next paragraph) or a bigger outdoor antenna. We are the lowest frequency station in Seattle since KING, KIRO and KOMO are all on UHF. You really only need an antenna that can receive channels 7-69. This is also labeled as high VHF thru UHF. WINEGARD makes several antennas that can be acquired online that are high VHF thru UHF. This link has pictures of different types of antennas. Beware of the UHF-only outdoor antennas as they don't work very well at all for channels 9 and 11.
Another option to increase the signal for outdoor antennas is to use an antenna pre-amplifier. This is a two piece device -- the amplifier goes just below the antenna on the antenna mount and the power supply device is installed in the house. Be sure to install both devices and plug the power supply into an outlet. If you have multiple splitters in your antenna feed, try removing them as a test. Also, if you have a splitter with multiple unused outputs, replace it with a splitter that has only the number of you outputs you need, maybe two or four. Each splitter reduces the signal to each TV and the more outputs a splitter has the more it reduces the signal.
If you need help installing an outdoor antenna or adjusting an indoor antenna the federal government has contracted with Installs Inc. They can be contacted at 1-800-582-4250 or dtvhelp.install.com.
If you still can't receive ch. 9, we would like you to complete one of our TV Reception forms for over-the-air antenna viewers. The FCC would also like consumers to contact them with reception issues at 1-888-225-5322 or fill out this FCC form.
At this time, KCTS 9 has no plans of adding translators or repeaters and we are operating at our full licensed power. We also will not be moving back to UHF channel 41. We are not authorized by the FCC to operate on channel 41.
I am very disappointed that KCTS decided to drop the UHF Transmitter in favour of VHF. It has been well documneted by engineering reports that digtal transmission below channel 18 UHF (eg between 7 & 17) is unreliable. I went from 75% signal locked at the 1/2 powered UHF transmitter to 50% not locked with the VHF. Sorry but I agree with most of the other writers, this was a bad decision.
Same story.... No more Ch 9 after the switch from UHF back to VHF. I even have an antenna (on a rotator) rated for high VHF/UHF(7-69) with range of 65 miles (I only live about 20-25 miles away), pretty clear line-of-sight, but still no reliable signal. I guess I will have to take my pledge money elsewhere unless they move back to UHF or increase their transmit power on VHF. :(
We turned on TV to see new Poirot.Used to get 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, and loved the Dickins, and so much more. But now, no signal, and I have a very nice VHF/UHF antenna purchased just for this Digital transition purpose. How utterly ridiculous. Digital was supposed IMPROVE things. Seems like that's not what happened. We are very unhappy. Frustrated. PBS is about the only thing we watch (watched?). Not buying cable. We already read a lot. Guess we'll read even more. We're in the Lake Stevens area.
We are so bummed...the only channel I ever cared about is gone...we have tried everything. Now we are getting a bunch of freaky christian channels and white trash shows like "cheaters"...help!!
well i am retired and disabled both...on limited income....i bought a uhf antenna and got my fav kcts fine.. now you changed to vhf after all the work i did to get you...your communication to me came to late...btw i pledge money to you...this i can't forgive...enumclaw area...i am SURE you don't care about me or people like me...but be a man and admit it at least...because i KNOW you knew this would happen...bruce greenig..
Dear Friends,
Can anyone recommend a brand and model antenna( indoor)
That gets channel 9. I am in Ballard?
Thanks for your help.
-walt
I was having no luck with an amplified rabbit ears type, found a RCA flat digital antenna at Lowe's for about $50, rescanned and now we have channel 9. Plus this one doesn't need a power source. we live in Greenwood. Good Luck
Dear Friends,
Can anyone recommend a brand and model antenna( indoor)
That gets channel 9. I am in Ballard?
Thanks for your help.
-walt
As of 6/12 we lost all Ch 9 stations when they reverted to VHF transmission. I knew KCTS planned to change back to VHF but gambled that our new UHF antenna might work with high-band VHF. We're about 42 miles out, SW of Port Townsend, using a ClearStream C-4 from Antennas Direct. We are just barely high enough to get Seattle reception and for a couple of months enjoyed Ch 9 in crystal clear HDTV.
The engineer I talked with at Antennas Direct was also aware that KCTS planned to give up Ch 41 and was as puzzled as I am as to why they planned to do this. We are currently getting Chs 4,5,7,13, etc, but we will miss KCTS most of all. I am not willing to buy an 8 foot long VHF antenna just to receive KCTS!
The one question I have for KCTS is this: Why did you decide to revert to VHF transmission? Is is technical? Financial? Some explanation of this decision would help us (former and potential subscribers) accept the loss of your station. On the face of it I think it's going to be a bad decision for lots of people.
Fortunately there is still NPR.
Count me as one more angry viewer who was sold a bill of goods on which antenna to buy and the lack of information on the fact that you were going to change from UHF to VHF after June 12th. We have worked hard for months at squeezing information out so we could continue to watch channel 9 but here we are without any reception. We bought a Clearstream antenna on advice from a technician at KOMO (we couldn't get an e-mail response from you), we spent a few hundred dollars on that, then another hundred to have a guy come out and install it on our steep metal roof, plus the cost of the signal booster, not to mention the DTV set we purchased last winter. I think you have made a big mistake by switching from UHF to VHF and suspect you will lose enough revenue through lost pledge money to cancel the savings you thought you would get by paying less for the VHF band. I guess the next thing to do is drag out our old antenna and put it back up. If my husband falls off the roof I feel like sending you the hospital bills. We certainly aren't going to renew our membership if we can't get the reception. And how dumb is it that you can't get Create on cable, not that we have access to cable here on San Juan Island. I think you have goofed up big time. At least Canada isn't making the switch till 2011 so we can still watch the CBC.
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