Reception Reports: Post-Transition Fun! The first VHF digitals! (June 13-22, 2009)

Greetings TV Garth readers! This will most likely be the last Reception Report in this format, as I’ve been making a transition of my own to Flickr! I find Flickr to be a much easier way to upload my TV pics, since (as you may have noticed) I take a lot of them.

This report will cover the week and a half after the DTV transition from June 13-22, 2009, in which I picked up my first VHF digital stations including Erie’s WICU for the first time.

June 13, 2009

On June 13th, I was once again doing some DXing at Mr. A’s apartment in downtown Toronto. Rochester’s WROC was coming in, but I couldn’t get anything else to arrive until much later that night.

While WROC was solid, WXXI and WUHF were too weak to come in, and there weren’t even flickers of signal on the newly VHF WHEC and WHAM.

Later that same night (after partying and perhaps a drink or five) I saw Utica’s WKTV just barely come in for a few seconds here and there.

I like that WKTV keeps their logo on screen, even when they succumb to late night infomercials.

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June 16, 2009

On June 16th, I was getting a burst of Rochester back in Markham. Here’s WXXI running their kids’ lineup in the afternoon, featuring It’s a Big Big World.

Scrubs was showing on 31-1 WUHF.

8-1 WROC was shaky, but coming in with soap operas.

But then came the big surprise! I picked up my first VHF digital reception when I connected an old (but good) pair of homemade rabbit ears to my CM7777 pre-amp and was able to get Rochester’s WHAM on RF 13.

At first I thought it was great progress to see a Muslim woman being represented on a national American program, but given that it’s a trashy court show, maybe it’s not that progressive.

Meanwhile, soap hunks show up on General Hospital on the main 13-1 WHAM.

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June 19, 2009

Not long after picking up WHAM as my first VHF digital station, I caught WHEC on RF 10 for the first time on June 19th! (It took some experimenting, but it amazed me that my old homemade rabbit ears could pick these stations up over the larger and more powerful CM4221HD antenna – although that antenna is designed mainly for UHF.) Tonight was another Rochester Burst of reception.

Jimmy Fallon is very pleased that I can watch him on WHEC again!

Jimmy’s guest that evening was Jeff Goldblum.

Rochester traffic cam seen on 10-2 WHEC-DT.

“I was positively shocked that you were picking up WHEC again, on VHF no less!” Jeff exclaimed.

Here is the antenna I was using at the time. It was kind of nostalgic and appropriate that I was using this particular antenna on the days leading up to Father’s Day. Back in the day when I was about 10 (circa 1990), I would go to Radio Shack and look at all the over the air gear they carried. I totally flipped when I saw they sold antenna poles individually, and got the idea to build my own antenna. So after explaining the idea, my Dad pretty much built the whole thing for me, and it brought much better reception than most store bought antennas. So it’s neat that it now has a “second life” in helping me pick up digital VHF signals.

Meanwhile, back on UHF we see Gwen Ifill on Washington Week, seen on 21-1 WXXI.

WHAM also came in again this even, thanks to the rabbit ears, and here’s a hilarious looking South Park episode on 13-2 CW-WHAM.

A worthwhile cause popped up on 10-2 WHEC-DT in the form of an ad for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

This late night “adult” chat line had some of the trippiest looking bedsheets I’ve even seen. Yellow flowers on a blue background??? It made the woman look as if she was superimposed on top.

The CW’s new ad campaign is seen below on 13-2 CW-WHAM.

This episode of Cops: Bad Girls is definitely TV to talk about.

13-1 WHAM showcases local businesses with their Seek It Local program.

Three 60 TV is a religious program that buys time on 10-1 WHEC in the slot normally used for infomercials. This episode featured a bizarre intro with the people in the background singing about their martial problems to the tune of A Whole New World. Then religion saves them, their marital problems disappear, and that bald guy in front pops up to sing along.

Meanwhile, 13-1 WHAM was running a repeat of their newscast.

The Rochester Jazz Festival was taking place this weekend.

Edward Moody felt many emotions when he reported on the festival.

Then came a report about the DTV transition! Since WHAM had moved back to VHF channel 13 from UHF channel 59, they were reporting on areas with trouble accessing the signal.

Great shot of a rooftop antenna!

WHAM interviewed local folks who could no longer get the WHAM digital signal. I felt almost guilty getting a perfect picture at this time all the way in Markham, while local residents were shut out.

Below is anchor Don Alhart, who has been with WHAM since 1966!

Glenn Johnson was delivering the weather!

WUHF muscled their way onto my TV with a fitness infomercial.

Meanwhile, The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet was on 8-1 WROC.

The subject was “classy” makeovers for Mom, but I think I was more interested in the son pictured below.

***

June 22, 2009

June 22nd brought my first reception of Erie, PA’s WICU on channel 12! This was a station I had eagerly wanted to pick up digitally, but couldn’t as their pre-transition frequency was channel 52 (which is analog Sun TV in Toronto.) So after the transition they moved back to VHF 12, and here they are! (Look back at this post about analog WICU and see how much faith I had in picking up their digital signal.)

It only came in for a few minutes, but I would pick it up for longer periods later in the Summer.

Cue the Lady GaGa. You really can’t read his Poker Face as the pixels kept shifting around in the picture.

In the meantime, Rochester’s WXXI was building a mystery. A Masterpiece Mystery, that is.

31-1 WUHF was promoting their Go Green scholarship programs which are featured through the Rochester Homepage site.

I was glad to bee there when Erie’s WQLN on 54-1 came through this night.

The Vision car dealership stomps on high prices - literally -with a giant CGI foot seen on 8-1 WROC.

It was time for the morning news on 8-1 WROC.

This morning, they were doing reports from a live telethon promoting education.

They kept the numbers up on screen even when they did normal segments, like the weather.

I know Toronto is a major city and will feature on many weather maps, but I still get excited to see it listed when I’m getting far away stations! WROC actually features a lot of Canadian cities on their weather maps.

And there you have it, the post transition week and a half of TV reception. Stay tuned for our own transition, as TV Garth makes the jump to Flickr! Expect Reception Updates and links to Flickr galleries of even more TV pics than you’ve seen in these reports!