HD locals for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA timeframe??

[Yes616]

Thanks for that info.
Where did you buy your antenna from? I can only seem to find them on ebay? Also, how much did it cost you?

$61.00 on eBay. That's where I got it.

 

[amoni]

$61 Bucks is crazy to get channels others in our area are getting for free and that Dish insits we can get. It's just driving me crazy the denial of it all.

 

[Yes616]

The only ones who get the channels for absolutely free are nobody. Some may have spent a one time charge of a few dollars for a set top antenna. Some like me spent a one time charge of about $100 for a roof top antenna system. Everyone else, cable and satellite people pay a monthly subscription charge.

I think it's cool that if I pay for locals (NYC in my case) I can also get the Scranton channels if receivable with an antenna as well. It's the next best thing to "significantly viewed".

It's true that if you are in the eastern areas of the Scranton area, you are in their spotbeam area.

 

[amoni]

Sorry, if I'm paying $5.99 for my locals for five years and they add all the channels in HD at no extra cost, those HD channels are free to me. Just how I see it.

 

[Yes616]

Looks like WNEP is watching this forum? WNEP-2 is now showing RTV in a full picture mode! They have also started doing the channel 50 thing. Funny how they say this is a much more powerful signal but my signal strength meter reads 100% on 49 and upper 90's on channel 50. This might be a temporary thing until 49 shuts down for good on the 5th.

You will not get those digital sub-channels on satellite. Thats another reason to get an antenna even if you can get the channels in HD.

 

[jsaxon2]

Go to 61.5 and look through the transponders starting at 1, give them about 15-20 seconds to lock, sometimes it takes a bit, make note of the ones that change to Spotbeam where it says transponder, also make a note of the signal strength. Come back here and post your notes.

So what spotbeam am I getting if on the point dish screen Transponder 13 on Sat 61.5 changes to spotbeam?

 

[Jim5506]

Probably SB 4, it covers Buffalo, NY, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.

SatelliteGuys.US - Subscription 61.5°W

The map should be shifted up considerably to be correct, Dish has re-oriented E12 northward.

 

[btharner]

How is it determined which locals you are eligible for? I live In Sunbury and am 50 miles from Harrisburg and 70 miles from Wilkes-Barre. I get the Wilkes-Barre stations (I still live in the SD world, but not for long). Cable customers in this area get both Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg stations, why don't satellite customers have a choice when they live on the fringe of two viewing areas?

 

[Jim S.]

Presumably, the government was bought between the time the rules were made for cable and the time the rules were made for satellite. I believe there's talk of fixing the satellite situation, but who knows what specifically will happen by the time they're done, if they succeed in doing anything at all.

 

[cwkulp]

I am a new subscriber to Dish and I can't get local HD's. Needless to say, I am not very happy about it. Especially since it is football season. I was under the impression that I would be able to get them. Anyhow...

I live in Montoursville. Does anyone in the Williamsport area have any luck with the indoor or indoor/outdoor HDTV antennas? I saw a few at Target and I was thinking about getting one. If I am reading it correctly, TV Fool suggests they won't work, but I thought maybe someone out there might have had some kind of luck with one.

If those don't work, are rooftop antennas difficult to install? I am not a very handy person!

Thanks!

 

[sdschramm]

I am a new subscriber to Dish and I can't get local HD's. Needless to say, I am not very happy about it. Especially since it is football season. I was under the impression that I would be able to get them. Anyhow...

I live in Montoursville. Does anyone in the Williamsport area have any luck with the indoor or indoor/outdoor HDTV antennas? I saw a few at Target and I was thinking about getting one. If I am reading it correctly, TV Fool suggests they won't work, but I thought maybe someone out there might have had some kind of luck with one.

If those don't work, are rooftop antennas difficult to install? I am not a very handy person!

Thanks!

Hey there! i'm from Williamsport!
I set a "somewhat high" powered antenna on my roof about a two years ago when they had them on sale at Biters Home Center, but I could not pick up any channels. If I plugged it into my TV, I could get a few, but they were all SD. If I plugged it into my 722, I got nothing because none of them were digital.
Now that the DTV switch has taken place, I've wondered what I could get now. I still thinking nothing, but have been waiting for a deal on a high powered antenna to give it a try. Even if I did get one, I would need someone to do the install. So I just don't know.

If anyone else is in this area and can help us out, please reply!

Regards,
Scott

 

[cwkulp]

Thanks! It sounds like those indoor/outdoor antennas are probably not worthwhile. I thought that if Target is selling them, maybe they work around here. I guess that was a little naive!

Chris

 

[sdschramm]

I thought that if Target is selling them, maybe they work around here.

I thought if Dish advertised that I would get my locals in HD, I would actually get them in HD. But I guess I was a little naive! lol.

 

[cwkulp]

I briefly got the local HD's last night. They lasted about an hour before they pixelated out.

 

[sdschramm]

I briefly got the local HD's last night. They lasted about an hour before they pixelated out.

Really?
By satellite?
In Montoursville?

 

[cwkulp]

Yes. In fact, I got them again last night and again this morning. Each time, I get reception for about an hour and then the screen pixelates. Once the pixelation occurs, if I change channels and try to go back to the HD local channel, I get that blue screen that claims Dish Network knows all about the problem and not to call them.

 

[Jim S.]

My signal strength is currently oscillating between 10 and 12. The meter turns from red to yellow at 11. When they started adding the HD channels, the signal strength was around 10 but never seemed to go higher long enough to view anything. Then later it went down, it would never be above 6 or 7 and sometimes would be almost 0. Now, I can view them, at least temporarily. I wonder if the satellite is drifting around, or if the cold weather is decreasing the amplifier noise enough to make the signal usable.

 

[Jim S.]

It started breaking up around 10PM tonight, and now it's gone again -- signal strength around 5.

 

[sdschramm]

Hmmm..

What times does it usually come on?

 

[cwkulp]

Jim S: I have been trying to correlate the time we have HD signal to cloudiness, but no obvious correlation has popped up. There is a possibility that the colder air is decreasing the noise. My guess is that the colder air is less humid and not as turbulent. Although it is my understanding that the frequencies chosen by satellite providers are ones not absorbed by water... I'll need to think about this a little more.

sdschramm: I have been able to pick up the local HD's in the morning and evening. I am not home during the day, so I don't know about times from 8 - 5. Like I said, I have been getting about 1 hour of viewing time and then it goes away.