I think there is a misconception out there about where the tv channels on the village MATV system come from. Judging by the comments that I receive, a lot of residents believe that our channels 2-22, are supplied by Charter Communications.
All of the channels on our lineup, channels 2-22, 98, 99, and the FM radio lineup are received right here on the Heritage Village property through a combination of technologies.
Most of our channels are received through over the air broadcasts which we pick up via antennas on our tv tower. At it's very basic, think rabbit ears or an antenna on your roof. Instead of rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna, we have individual antennas, cut to frequency, on our 150' tower and aimed directly at the desired station, but the technology is still the same. The transmitting station broadcasts their signal over the public airwaves and we receive them here at our tower location.
Several of our channels are received from satellite dishes. C Span, Home Shopping Network and QVC, all are received with a large C Band satellite dish. C Span 2 recently switched to a new satellite and encrypted their signal preventing us from carrying that channel.
Channel 14 originates at the management office with a computer and a bank of networked DVD and VHS players. When we have a live presentation from Sarah Cooke Hall, we switch over to dedicated cable from the hall up to our tower for insertion on channel 14.
We also have three FM antennas on our tower, one for Connecticut, one for New York and also one aimed up towards Massachusetts in order to receive WFCR from Amherst. We recently lost WQXR as the station was sold to WNYC which has a low power transmitter which cannot send a signal to this area. I,ve replaced the off air signal with one originating from a computer web stream, then modulated it on a carrier and inserted on our FM lineup. Sometimes, it's problematic because of inconsistancies from the internet, but for the most part, works well. Hopefully, we can integrate more of this technology in the future.
All of these signals are received and in the case of the tv signals, are converted from digital to analog, processed and combined with the FM radio and several high definition feeds from WFSB and WLIW and sent to Charters headquarters in Newtown over fiber optic cables.
There, Charter adds their lineup including internet, telephone and digital services and sent back to HV over fiber optic cables and distributed throughout the village.
I,m always asked why we dont just run our own cable system here in the village. We have tried that, but that is another story that I will explain on a future post.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
No Signal ??????????
Why do we keep losing our picture and a no signal message pops up my tv screen?
One of the biggest problems in tv reception is additional offending signals from other sources. In the old analog reception, these problems would show up as snow, lines or ghosting in the picture. With digital tv, these same problems cause the complete loss of signal.
The sources of interference are many and always a challenge as they are not necessarily constant, due to the way a radio signal propogates.
The two main problems that any tv reception facility experiences are co channel and mutipath interference.
Co channel is an undesired tv station from far away that is on the same frequency as the desired channel.
Under certain atmospheric conditions, that signal can carry very long distances. Because it is on the same frequency as the desired channel, the receiver can not differentiate between the two and locks up and generates the no signal message. This ususally occurs during the hazy summer days. In the old analog medium, we would actually receive tv stations from as far away as Florida!
What we seem to be experiencing lately is caused by multipath distortions or reflections. These reflections can be caused by a building, mountaintop, airplane, or in our recent case, I believe, the leaves are starting to bud and creating reflections. Hopefully, it will settle down soon.
A pretty good article on mutipath signal problems can be located here:
http://kh6htv.com/application-notes/tv-propagation-multi-path-effects/
One of the biggest problems in tv reception is additional offending signals from other sources. In the old analog reception, these problems would show up as snow, lines or ghosting in the picture. With digital tv, these same problems cause the complete loss of signal.
The sources of interference are many and always a challenge as they are not necessarily constant, due to the way a radio signal propogates.
The two main problems that any tv reception facility experiences are co channel and mutipath interference.
Co channel is an undesired tv station from far away that is on the same frequency as the desired channel.
Under certain atmospheric conditions, that signal can carry very long distances. Because it is on the same frequency as the desired channel, the receiver can not differentiate between the two and locks up and generates the no signal message. This ususally occurs during the hazy summer days. In the old analog medium, we would actually receive tv stations from as far away as Florida!
What we seem to be experiencing lately is caused by multipath distortions or reflections. These reflections can be caused by a building, mountaintop, airplane, or in our recent case, I believe, the leaves are starting to bud and creating reflections. Hopefully, it will settle down soon.
A pretty good article on mutipath signal problems can be located here:
http://kh6htv.com/application-notes/tv-propagation-multi-path-effects/
What happened to Channel 2 ?
On June 12, 2009 at midnight, analog transmission of television broadcasting stopped and digital transmission began.
With that change, some stations also changed the channel or frequency that they have historically used to transmit their over the air signal.
The agency that coordinated this change and granted the operating license is the FCC, ( the Federal Communications Commision ).
The FCC gave channel 2 WCBS from New York and WFSB channel 3 from Connecticut, the same transmitting frequency, channel 33. Both of these stations are CBS affiliates.
Confused yet ? Hang in there......
Southbury is in the Connecticut DMA (Designated Market Area ) of channel 3 from Hartford and their signal is much stronger than channel 2 from New York, so our receiving equipment locks onto the stronger signal, which is from Ct.
Since we were no longer able to lock onto Channel 2's off air signal, I immediatly called WCBS's engineering team to request a satellite variance, which is permission to pull their signal off of a satellite. They readily agreed,as they hate the prospect of losing all of the HV viewers, but said that by law, I had to also obtain permission from WFSB, channel 3 in Hartford, as we reside in their DMA. I called Channel 3 requesting permission and they refused, their logic being, of course, that they now have a monopoly on CBS programming.
We then approached Charter to see if they would be willing to provide channel 2 in the Village and they also refused. Charter can still receive channel 2 as they have a fiber optic line going down to Stamford where they obtain the signal from New York.
Where do we go from here?
After the analog shut off, the FCC realized that their projections would disrupt service not only for Upper Fairfield County, but also parts of Westchester County and Long Island could no longer receive channel 2 for the same reasons that we have, channel 3's signal was too strong, or channel 2's was too weak.
To try and remedy that, WCBS, New York has received permission from the FCC to increase their operating power from New York, which they hope to do soon.
They also have received permission to install a low power transmitter down on Long Island on WLIW's tower, trying to fill holes in their coverage pattern. My hope is that when this happens,, we will once agin be able to lock onto the signal from WCBS.
Speaking with the Engineering team from New York last week, they told me that they were in the process of budgeting for this new tower and hoped to have it installed this spring.
Whenever I talk with the New York engineers, they are pretty surprised that we can receive any of the signals from New York due to our distance and the inconsistancy of over the air digital transmission. We do have a good facility and state of the art equipment which helps overcome most problems, but sometimes atmospheric conditions will cause some problems, especially, seasonally. But more on that in another post.
Jeff
With that change, some stations also changed the channel or frequency that they have historically used to transmit their over the air signal.
The agency that coordinated this change and granted the operating license is the FCC, ( the Federal Communications Commision ).
The FCC gave channel 2 WCBS from New York and WFSB channel 3 from Connecticut, the same transmitting frequency, channel 33. Both of these stations are CBS affiliates.
Confused yet ? Hang in there......
Southbury is in the Connecticut DMA (Designated Market Area ) of channel 3 from Hartford and their signal is much stronger than channel 2 from New York, so our receiving equipment locks onto the stronger signal, which is from Ct.
Since we were no longer able to lock onto Channel 2's off air signal, I immediatly called WCBS's engineering team to request a satellite variance, which is permission to pull their signal off of a satellite. They readily agreed,as they hate the prospect of losing all of the HV viewers, but said that by law, I had to also obtain permission from WFSB, channel 3 in Hartford, as we reside in their DMA. I called Channel 3 requesting permission and they refused, their logic being, of course, that they now have a monopoly on CBS programming.
We then approached Charter to see if they would be willing to provide channel 2 in the Village and they also refused. Charter can still receive channel 2 as they have a fiber optic line going down to Stamford where they obtain the signal from New York.
Where do we go from here?
After the analog shut off, the FCC realized that their projections would disrupt service not only for Upper Fairfield County, but also parts of Westchester County and Long Island could no longer receive channel 2 for the same reasons that we have, channel 3's signal was too strong, or channel 2's was too weak.
To try and remedy that, WCBS, New York has received permission from the FCC to increase their operating power from New York, which they hope to do soon.
They also have received permission to install a low power transmitter down on Long Island on WLIW's tower, trying to fill holes in their coverage pattern. My hope is that when this happens,, we will once agin be able to lock onto the signal from WCBS.
Speaking with the Engineering team from New York last week, they told me that they were in the process of budgeting for this new tower and hoped to have it installed this spring.
Whenever I talk with the New York engineers, they are pretty surprised that we can receive any of the signals from New York due to our distance and the inconsistancy of over the air digital transmission. We do have a good facility and state of the art equipment which helps overcome most problems, but sometimes atmospheric conditions will cause some problems, especially, seasonally. But more on that in another post.
Jeff
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