Comments on: In the Dark http://shortleaf.com/2008/12/in-the-dark/ Photography by Ryan McCoy Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:40:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kris Keller http://shortleaf.com/2008/12/in-the-dark/comment-page-1/#comment-395 Kris Keller Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:38:46 +0000 http://www.ryanmccoy.us/?p=586#comment-395 Hi Ryan. I read about you in the Carter family newsletter. Your website is great. My mom is your grandfather Gene's first cousin. She has great things to say about Gene. Feel free to email me at kkeller@unionstation.org or kellbkris@yahoo.com I work at Union Station in KC Hi Ryan. I read about you in the Carter family newsletter. Your website is great. My mom is your grandfather Gene’s first cousin. She has great things to say about Gene. Feel free to email me at kkeller@unionstation.org or kellbkris@yahoo.com I work at Union Station in KC

]]> By: Kim http://shortleaf.com/2008/12/in-the-dark/comment-page-1/#comment-394 Kim Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:48:33 +0000 http://www.ryanmccoy.us/?p=586#comment-394 I don't have satellite or cable. Instead, I pay to have high speed internet and I can watch most shows online for free. I don’t have satellite or cable. Instead, I pay to have high speed internet and I can watch most shows online for free.

]]> By: Ryan http://shortleaf.com/2008/12/in-the-dark/comment-page-1/#comment-398 Ryan Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:26:11 +0000 http://www.ryanmccoy.us/?p=586#comment-398 The good news is that I took the antenna back so i wasn't out any money, just time. Well, some money because I think gas was about $4.00/gal at the time. The good news is that I took the antenna back so i wasn’t out any money, just time. Well, some money because I think gas was about $4.00/gal at the time.

]]> By: grant http://shortleaf.com/2008/12/in-the-dark/comment-page-1/#comment-397 grant Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:59:31 +0000 http://www.ryanmccoy.us/?p=586#comment-397 Well, I too have a few comments: 1- I'm sorry you wasted your money at radio shack. I could have told you that amplified antennae are no good with HD signals. They try to take what signal they get, and then add more power to it, in effect increasing the amplitude of the waves from small to large. It's like being on a suspension bridge and shaking it. The signal isn't very strong...but then paying someone to stand on the bridge and jump in rhythm. Works great for those analogue signals. However, doesn't do jack for digital except throw in interference. Digital is like this "I'm throwing you a baseball, but I can only throw 100 yards, if you're in that 100 yards you catch it, if not, you're not even aware the ball has been thrown". Plus I talked to the station engineer and he reconfirmed this fact to me. 2- The digital broadcasts will and must get better. The consumer demand is not large, but they are paying a lot of money to broadcast. If you cannot get those signals, no one in Carthage could either. They will have to find a way to make them better. 3- I used to get KOAM pretty darn well. LAST YEAR during football season we watched the chiefs in HD just about every Sunday. That stopped a few months back. Rumors were they took down their antennae, rebuilt it, and now it's under full power. I find that hard to believe because of my past history. If I got the signal about 85% of the time under low power, why is it that I cannot get the signal at all now? If anything it should be clearer. The only suggestion I would have would be that they a- do not have it at full power until 2009 or b- they redirected or re-aimed their broadcast and I now fall out of their target. That sounds weird, but it's the reason you can drive for 2 hours one direction and get a radio station, but then drive 30 minutes the other way from the station and it dies off. They can direct their signal to stay in their broadcast market. Only problem is, Webb City IS KOAM's broadcast market. 4- I have in fact received KOAM, KSNF, KFJX, and PBS all in their digital signals. Now, I only get PBS. So, what's up with that? 5- When I watched the Chiefs games on KOAM, there would be times we'd come back from commercial and the game would be in SD for like 5 minutes before it would switch to HD. Once it was in SD the whole game. I called to complain, and found out that some of the commercials they run (probably local) cannot broadcast in HD, so they have to manually push a button to switch it to SD during commercials, and then remember to push the button after commercials to switch back to HD. Sounds pretty dumb to me, but after watching I can support this fact. I've seen it. I've even called the station 4 or 5 times on weekends to tell them to push the button. Only, no one ever answers the phone there on the weekend. It's frustrating to watch the game in SD on a digital signal just because some weekend slacky is jackin around on the job and didn't push a button. Hopefully Feb 09 will fix that, but talk about dumb and frustrating. You call you say "hey, idiot, push the button" and all you can do is leave a message saying "whoever the boss there is should know that people rely on your weekend team to do their job,and apparently they are not". 6- I've had instances where the picture comes in perfectly, but the audio cuts in and out really bad. It's unwatchable because the audio is so bad. Which, that's weird because so much more bandwidth is eaten by a video signal than audio. So, do they broadcast from different towers and just do it simultaneously? Do they bundle the audio as a subfrequency in the channel and not give it enough power or bandwidth? I dunno, but even if you get the picture with no audio, it's not much good. Ok. Done. Well, I too have a few comments:
1- I’m sorry you wasted your money at radio shack. I could have told you that amplified antennae are no good with HD signals. They try to take what signal they get, and then add more power to it, in effect increasing the amplitude of the waves from small to large. It’s like being on a suspension bridge and shaking it. The signal isn’t very strong…but then paying someone to stand on the bridge and jump in rhythm. Works great for those analogue signals. However, doesn’t do jack for digital except throw in interference. Digital is like this “I’m throwing you a baseball, but I can only throw 100 yards, if you’re in that 100 yards you catch it, if not, you’re not even aware the ball has been thrown”. Plus I talked to the station engineer and he reconfirmed this fact to me.

2- The digital broadcasts will and must get better. The consumer demand is not large, but they are paying a lot of money to broadcast. If you cannot get those signals, no one in Carthage could either. They will have to find a way to make them better.

3- I used to get KOAM pretty darn well. LAST YEAR during football season we watched the chiefs in HD just about every Sunday. That stopped a few months back. Rumors were they took down their antennae, rebuilt it, and now it’s under full power. I find that hard to believe because of my past history. If I got the signal about 85% of the time under low power, why is it that I cannot get the signal at all now? If anything it should be clearer. The only suggestion I would have would be that they a- do not have it at full power until 2009 or b- they redirected or re-aimed their broadcast and I now fall out of their target. That sounds weird, but it’s the reason you can drive for 2 hours one direction and get a radio station, but then drive 30 minutes the other way from the station and it dies off. They can direct their signal to stay in their broadcast market. Only problem is, Webb City IS KOAM’s broadcast market.

4- I have in fact received KOAM, KSNF, KFJX, and PBS all in their digital signals. Now, I only get PBS. So, what’s up with that?

5- When I watched the Chiefs games on KOAM, there would be times we’d come back from commercial and the game would be in SD for like 5 minutes before it would switch to HD. Once it was in SD the whole game. I called to complain, and found out that some of the commercials they run (probably local) cannot broadcast in HD, so they have to manually push a button to switch it to SD during commercials, and then remember to push the button after commercials to switch back to HD. Sounds pretty dumb to me, but after watching I can support this fact. I’ve seen it. I’ve even called the station 4 or 5 times on weekends to tell them to push the button. Only, no one ever answers the phone there on the weekend. It’s frustrating to watch the game in SD on a digital signal just because some weekend slacky is jackin around on the job and didn’t push a button. Hopefully Feb 09 will fix that, but talk about dumb and frustrating. You call you say “hey, idiot, push the button” and all you can do is leave a message saying “whoever the boss there is should know that people rely on your weekend team to do their job,and apparently they are not”.

6- I’ve had instances where the picture comes in perfectly, but the audio cuts in and out really bad. It’s unwatchable because the audio is so bad. Which, that’s weird because so much more bandwidth is eaten by a video signal than audio. So, do they broadcast from different towers and just do it simultaneously? Do they bundle the audio as a subfrequency in the channel and not give it enough power or bandwidth? I dunno, but even if you get the picture with no audio, it’s not much good.

Ok. Done.

]]> By: kurtis http://shortleaf.com/2008/12/in-the-dark/comment-page-1/#comment-396 kurtis Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:40:46 +0000 http://www.ryanmccoy.us/?p=586#comment-396 Well, i may not answer your question, but though i have satellite, i do have some experience with helping others. i do know from my radio shack working days that often times amplified antennas will make your signal worse around here. depends how close the transmitter/receivers are together. did you try to adjusting the setting in your TV to look for the antenna? a lot of times they come preprogrammed under "cable" if you change it to "air" or "antenna" or something along those lines, it will look for the antenna therefore getting you better reception. if you have tried those then i've just wasted a few min. of your time! Well, i may not answer your question, but though i have satellite, i do have some experience with helping others. i do know from my radio shack working days that often times amplified antennas will make your signal worse around here. depends how close the transmitter/receivers are together. did you try to adjusting the setting in your TV to look for the antenna? a lot of times they come preprogrammed under “cable” if you change it to “air” or “antenna” or something along those lines, it will look for the antenna therefore getting you better reception. if you have tried those then i’ve just wasted a few min. of your time!

]]>