As of 6-13-09, I can receive many analog stations in Chicago!

[drh4683]

I am shocked with what I am seeing. Last night at 11:59:59, I watched channel 26, WCIU go off the air. It was the only station that did a "tribute" to their analog station. They had a party in the transmitter room at the sears tower with all the engineers and TV station staff. In the last 15 minutes of analog, they did a tour of the tranmitter room, showing the new and the old equipment and also discussed the history of the TV station and interviewed a few of the early station workers and what they did. I thought it was really great that they did that. I was able to record it, but lost the first 3 or so minutes as I didn't expect any TV station to do such a thing. They then did a countdown like a new years eve party and then shut the transmitter off and into snow it went.

At that time, channel 26 (chicagos first UHF Station) was the very last remaining analog transmitter to go out. Channel 32, WFLD is currently on, but not in any normal format. Its a 24 hour how-to program about the digital switchover and how to hook up your dtv box etc.

I went up into the attic today to hook up my good RCA 25db antenna amp, which I took out of service about 1 year ago as I thought it was causing problems in my reception. It did however do an excellent job of amplifing weak stations.

To my amazement, I can still receive numerous analog stations over the air! I kid you not, I am currently receiving 11 analog stations! Some of which I have never seen before. Only one is on VHF, and thats channel 6, which has never been a "chicago" TV channel.

I am receiving WLFM-TV channel 6. Its a smooth jazz music radio station broadcasting on TV and its nothing more than a slide show of different buildings in chicago while playing the music. Then a station ID appears indicating "WLFM-CA channel 6 and 87.7FM smooth jazz".

Next station is channel 23, which is WCIU!!! WCIU was 26, but weigel broadcasting owns channels 23, WWME, channel 26, WCIU, and channel 48, WMEU. They replaced WWME with WCIU on channel 23, coming in crystal clear. I have no idea when this happened as all the weigel stations were off after midnight.

Next station was on channel 24, some totally unknown broadcast at the moment. Looked like some kind of local station, but very weak.

Next in line I could tune in a channel 25, which was a home shopping network channel. I know this is a low powered station that serves chicago and near suburbs.

Channel 31 was the next to be tuned, very distant and weak broadcast. Sound was clear, picture could be made out but poor horizontal sync.

Channel 32, WFLD as mentioned before is a 24 hour DTV conversion station

Channel 34, WEDE, broadcast off the sears tower as indicated in the vertical blanking bar. Its a religious station, comes in quite well.

Channel 41, another clear analog signal that is not been identified yet

Channel 42, another clear signal that I cannot identify

Channel 48, WMEU as previously mentioned, a wiegel station, broadcasting its original content, 24 hour vintage TV shows (yes!)

Last is channel 61, some unidentifed spanish station.

Perhaps I can receive more stations if I change direction of my antenna, but as of now, these stations all appear to be originating in chicago or near by suburbs.

Its not totally over just yet in chicagoland. I'm curious how long this will continue. What suprises me is that WCIU went back on the air but took the place of channel 23.

I'm going to do some reading up on whats going on and find out what these other stations are. Im curious if anyone else has witnessed some of their major TV stations go back on the air like WCIU and WMEU just did!

[Jeffhs]

Low-power and translator TV stations are not required to convert to digital, at least not yet, so some stations will continue in analog for some time. Certain full-power stations in larger markets are keeping their analog signals on the air for the next 30 days or so as "nightlight" stations, as are WFLD, et al.; these stations carry only emergency information, news and tutorials on how to connect and use DTV converters. I also read in a recent issue of Broadcasting&Cable's online newsletter that one Chicago station was planning on rebroadcasting the early evening newscasts of the NBC affiliate there, so viewers not yet having a converter box or cable/satellite will still have access to local news.

[Jeffhs]

(Duplicate post--please disregard)


Low-power and translator television stations are not required (yet) to switch to digital, so you will be seeing some analog stations in your area for quite some time after the transition. Many major TV markets (obviously including Chicago, as you mentioned) are keeping at least one of their full-power stations' analog signals on the air for the next 30 days as "nightlight" stations. These nightlight stations carry only news, emergency information and tutorials on how to connect and use DTV converter boxes. I also read in a recent issue of Broadcasting&Cable's e-mail newsletter of one Chicago station's plans, after the transition, to rebroadcast the early evening newscast of WMAQ-TV NBC5 for an indefinite period of time. The station to rebroadcast NBC5 news, if I remember the report correctly, is WFLD-32. This is so that viewers who do not yet have a converter box or cable/satellite service will continue to have access to local news.

[Hemingray]

the only analog I am getting here is a very VERY faint nightlight broadcast on channel 3, probably KY3 from Springfield, MO, and a VTN christian channel on 15 from Batesville, AR (LPTV)

[drh4683]

You're correct jeff.

As for this new channel 6 that I'm picking up, its all because of a new FM radio station that went on the air. Chicago had a smooth jazz station, 95.5 WNUA. That station went off the air and became some spanish station. WNUA was the only smooth jazz station. WLFM supposedly picked up the abandoned format on March 22, 09 and put it on 87.7 mHz, which just so happens to be the sound carrier for TV channel 6 and is broadcast off the hancock tower downtown. Apparently it is required by the FCC that if audio is being broadcast on a TV channel, that video information must also be sent.

This makes total sense now. There does not appear to be any attempt to shut down this low powered station, which is quite helpful. It atleast gives me a good VHF analog signal to work with when I work on my old sets. As long as its not total snow across the entire band, I'm happy.

http://www.wlfm877.com/

[dr.ido]

Originally Posted by drh4683

I am shocked with what I am seeing. Last night at 11:59:59, I watched channel 26, WCIU go off the air. It was the only station that did a "tribute" to their analog station. They had a party in the transmitter room at the sears tower with all the engineers and TV station staff. In the last 15 minutes of analog, they did a tour of the tranmitter room, showing the new and the old equipment and also discussed the history of the TV station and interviewed a few of the early station workers and what they did. I thought it was really great that they did that. I was able to record it, but lost the first 3 or so minutes as I didn't expect any TV station to do such a thing. They then did a countdown like a new years eve party and then shut the transmitter off and into snow it went.

This sounds interesting. Is there a recording available online anywhere that's viewable from outside the USA? Any other analog tribute stuff would also be interesting.

[maxm]

Last night I attempted to see what station I could pick up here on the north side of Chicago. I don't have a roof or attic antenna, so I just used a small tabletop antenna and was able to pickup 6, 23, and 32 like Doug mentioned. I also picked up 40, which was a religious station, maybe it was the same as the 41 that you saw.
I was surprised too to see 23 WCIU back on, I figured I would not see any channels anymore.
I was also able to pick up what seemed to be a hint of a picture on 2, but it was too weak to make anything out.
I need to try a bigger antenna, I'm curious to see how much analog I can still pick up here.

[maxm]

I did another check this morning, and I also found I can get 35, 34, 41 (a Korean station), 48, and 61. Counting the music station on 6 and the DTV information on 32 I can still pickup 9 analog stations here in the city with just an indoor antenna.

[N9ZQA]

Doug -

Analog 24 is W24AJ from Aurora, a translator for WSPY-LP, supposedly on analog 30.

42 - http://www.kbctvusa.com/

61 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCHU-LP

WCIU was simulcast on 23 very soon after the shutoff; I'll have to look at the video that I took and see when it was.

Dr. Ido -

I recorded the WCIU shutdown and tribute, but like Doug, missed the first few minutes. I've uploaded the last 4 minutes (the actual transmitter shutdown) to YouTube. WCIU is supposed to post the video on their website, but I haven't seen it yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SbizfeDRYQ

Sorry for the video quality; I'm working on cleaning it up a little.

-Jim

[dobulee]

Out here in Lancaster, Pa, Nielsen Market 41, analog is all but dead.

With a rooftop antenna, the only analog still on the dial is a faint out of market nightlight coming in from WMAR, Channel 2 Baltimore. Even the local HSN translators have made the jump to ATSC.

The Philadelphia nightlight stations, if there are any, are too weak to come in here.

I had expected local broadcasting legend, WGAL, to do a 'farewell to analog' at midnight -- but there was nothing. I guess I expected a little more nostalgia for Pennsylvania's first TV station outside of Philadelphia, and one of the 22 stations to carry the first NTSC colorcast on Jan 1 1954.

Incidentally, WPVI, Philadelphia was one of VERY few to put ATSC on their old Analog channel 6. 65 Miles away, the signal is plenty strong to receive OTA. But at this distance, impulse noise causes 'mini breakups' so often that it is virtually unwatchable. The High VHF's from Baltimore come in decently, but not as well as their pre-switchover UHF allocations.

[Sam Cogley]

Originally Posted by Hemingray

the only analog I am getting here is a very VERY faint nightlight broadcast on channel 3, probably KY3 from Springfield, MO, and a VTN christian channel on 15 from Batesville, AR (LPTV)

That nightlight is KY3. We also still have (as of yesterday) CW15 and a couple of low-powered UHF translators running.

[zenithfan1]

It might be low power, but I can get channel 23, the now moved WCIU Chicago with a bow tie antenna and a cheapy 1973 tube B/W RCA 19" set. I hate that channel 41 Korean station, I'm right in the middle of it and channel 41 WMLW in Milwaukee, a GOOD station. They fight back and forth and neither is watchable. I do get channel 63, the new Milwaukee CBS analog channel

[bgadow]

Originally Posted by dobulee

Out here in Lancaster, Pa, Nielsen Market 41, analog is all but dead.

With a rooftop antenna, the only analog still on the dial is a faint out of market nightlight coming in from WMAR, Channel 2 Baltimore. Even the local HSN translators have made the jump to ATSC.

The Philadelphia nightlight stations, if there are any, are too weak to come in here.

I had expected local broadcasting legend, WGAL, to do a 'farewell to analog' at midnight -- but there was nothing. I guess I expected a little more nostalgia for Pennsylvania's first TV station outside of Philadelphia, and one of the 22 stations to carry the first NTSC colorcast on Jan 1 1954.

Incidentally, WPVI, Philadelphia was one of VERY few to put ATSC on their old Analog channel 6. 65 Miles away, the signal is plenty strong to receive OTA. But at this distance, impulse noise causes 'mini breakups' so often that it is virtually unwatchable. The High VHF's from Baltimore come in decently, but not as well as their pre-switchover UHF allocations.

I was playing with the sets Friday night and tried hard to tune in WGAL. Deep, deep fringe here, but I have watched it before. I, too, thought they might have something special. The evening was a real letdown for me...most stations were already gone and what was left was just doing the recorded loop/nightlight thing. You mentioned WMAR-I couldn't pick up any of the Baltimore stations, and figured they must have all signed off earlier. WMPT-22 Annapolis was running the loop, though.

I still need to get my antenna in a better location...I doubt I can find anything low power on analog, but there is always hope. I was talking with my wife the other night about the switch and she mentioned that maybe I could score some equipment that the local stations were tossing. I joked that maybe I could get a transmitter and go on the air myself...

[Jeffhs]

The digital transition means the end, at least for now, of watching TV on a portable with an indoor antenna. I receive several TV industry newsletters in my email, and almost every one of them makes a particular point of now having to use a rooftop antenna with a rotator to get the best (or in some cases any) over-the-air DTV reception, not unlike the early days of b&w and NTSC color TV in the US in the 1950s-'60s. I read a comment in the "feedback" section of one of these newsletters today from a man in Chicago, who said he wasn't getting any digital reception at all--despite the fact that he lives only three miles (!) from the Sears Tower, where all the Chicago TV transmitters are located! He said the only way he can get TV reception now is to get cable. Being almost within spitting distance (almost literally) of the transmitters, I would think he would get at least one or two stations well enough to watch in digital, using only an indoor antenna. The same thing may happen here in northeastern Ohio to people living close to the seven Cleveland TV stations' transmitters, now of course all digital, located in and near the southwest Cleveland suburb of Parma--not to mention viewers in other metropolitan areas close to the TV stations.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

I do get channel 63, the new Milwaukee CBS analog channel

CBS analog? Something seems fishy to me. I just looked at CBS-TV's affiliate list and the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee is on channel 58, digital only. How is anyone getting permission to operate a full-power analog TV station after 06.12? Hmmm. The only thing I can figure is that the channel 63 station you're getting could be a low-power or translator station.