WXTX Upgrades

[Mike Slade]

Got this from WXTX today:

WXTX is back on air, after a brief outage today, with our new transmit antenna mounted 400 ft. higher on the tower and a more Omni directional pattern. We will still operate at 50% power for a time until our tower work is complete but the coverage should be much improved even at 50% power.

[rexh53]

Mike,
For the first time I can now recieve WXTX at my location here in North Marion County.

Now I can Tivo Jack Bauer and 24!!!

Life is good.....

[elmo]

I live only a mile and a half from the WXTX tower and since the upgrade I've had occassional drops while viewing. And during tonight's storm the WXTX HD feed was the first to cut out. Perhaps by raising the antenna I'm now positioned inside some sort of "shadow" (ie - the signal passes overhead)?

[Mike Slade]

Got this update from WXTX today

We are back to full power on our WXTX HDTV transmitter into our
new antenna as of 2:08 pm today. We should see some improved coverage
with this new antenna. By the end of June we will increase our
transmitter power from 1,000 to 20,000 watts to further increase our
reach.

[crepehanger]

I live in southern Harris County. With rabbit ears, I can pull in WRBL and WTVM in clear as a bell. However, I cannot pick up 54, 38, 28, or 66 at all--nothing but total static. I am surrounded by 75-100 foot trees though.

[Mike Slade]

Static? you must be talking about analog. No static with digtal. WTVM and WRBL are both VHF analog and WXTX, WLTZ and the others are UHF, which could explain the difference.

[crepehanger]

This may be a dumb comment since I'm not up on all the digital broadcasts, but I get nothing on any of the digital pictures. I get complete static and noice (maybe I'm using the wrong technical term ;D). Anyway, this is with rabbit ears.

[DJ]

Your TV probably needs to be set for off air reception. It's often located under the channel setup menu option of many TVs.

[Mike Slade]

crepehanger, do you have a digital tuner? Either built in your tv or seperate set top box? If so, something must be setup wrong. With a digital signal if you are not getting it you should get just a blank screen or perhaps a 'No Signal' indicator of some sort. There should be no static like with analog signals.

[voomvoom]

I'm over in Lizella (Crawford County), just west of Macon, and WXTX is "Booming Tonight". I guess I should say this morning. Not getting anything else out of Columbus, at the moment. This is only the 2nd time I've ever gotten WXTX. I find the Tube a nice difference. Nobody has it in Macon or Atlanta. Hope this reception will continue. I don't have any problems with Atlanta after dark or WXIA, WTBS, WUPA in the daytime. It will be nice when we get full power in Columbus and Macon. Was wondering if WXTX has boosted their power or if atmospheric conditions is doing this.

Al

[DADRAD99]

I am currently having problems with WXTX. I get a 95% signal strength but it constantly drops out every 20 seconds. Could this be related to them boosting their power?

[Mike Slade]

I haven't really watched a lot of WXTX recently but when I have, I haven't noticed any dropouts. My signal fluctuates in the high 80's to low 90's.

[voomvoom]

Hi everyone, I noticed a while ago, while I was channel surfing that Fox 54 was showing "So You Think You Can Dance" in SD upconvert (4:3). You nice people in Columbus might like to know that Atlanta's Fox 5 and Macon's Fox 24 were both showing it in glorious HD (16:9). Makes me wonder if someone at Fox 54 is sleeping on the job? It's been nice to be able to get 54 regularly after dark and 38 somewhat regular after dark. Especially with the tube on 54.2, as Macon nor Atlanta have the Tube available, at least up until now.

Al

[sklej]

I did find out yesterday that WXTX is running at full power as of June 30. I checked my signal and it's the strongest of all the stations for me, and very stable as compared to a month ago.