Stations urge patience with digital switch

TV broadcasters say they are tweaking power; viewers advised to rescan channels.

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By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer 1:28 AM Saturday, June 13, 2009

If you’re one of the many over-the-air TV viewers in the Miami Valley having reception problems following the switch Friday, June 12, to digital TV, local stations ask your patience, and your vigilance in rescanning channels, as they tweak the power of their digital broadcasts.

“All stations will be doing something to get the best signal out to viewers in the coming weeks,” said Chuck Eastman, chief engineer for WHIO-TV.

Eastman recommends that viewers rescan the channels on their converter box every Saturday for the next five to six weeks, just to make sure they have locked on to any signal changes. If you’re still not receiving a local channel, call the station, he said.

Some area viewers may lose more distant stations, he said. That’s because digital TV signals must reach a minimum threshold of strength before a picture will appear on the set. Analog TV will pick up weaker signals but the picture quality is often poorer and, in some cases, unviewable.

“With digital, it’s all or nothing,” Eastman said. “You either have a beautiful picture or no picture at all.”

Jane Steinhauser of Brookville said she has lost six stations since switching to digital, all of them in Cincinnati, Oxford and Indianapolis. “We have a huge (antenna) tower because we don’t have cable out in the country.”

Many over-the-air viewers here are likely to lose Cincinnati stations because of the hilly terrain there, said John Chaffin, an instructor at the International College of Broadcasting in Dayton.

Hills, tall buildings and surrounding trees affect digital signals more than analog, he said. The only solution in some cases may be a rooftop or tower antenna. In housing developments that won’t allow outside antennas, Eastman said placing an antenna in your attic should work as well.

Mike Petsch, who lives near Sugarcreek Reserve, said he knows all too well about “terrestrial blockage.” He has spent more than $160 on converter boxes and another $150 on DTV antennas “only to find out that my trees interfere with the signal.”

“This is a nice place to live, but I won’t get any TV reception until winter-time,” he said.

Contact this reporter at  (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@ DaytonDailyNews.com.

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