Why 6ABC WPVI Philadelphia Has the Worst TV Signal

In this video I talk about how WPVI 6ABC in Philadelphia ended up with one of the worst broadcast signals of any local TV station in the country. Other TV stations that broadcast on the low VHF band may have a similar problem.
Link to TVNewsCheck article:
tvnewscheck.co...
Link to my video about ABC O&O stations failing antenna viewers:
• How ABC O&O TV Station...
Link to low VHF antennas:
winegard.com/c...
bit.ly/3l1OHeh
amzn.to/3Fbisk1
📡 For an antenna recommendation visit my website
www.antennaman...
🔌 Did my videos help you cut the cord? If so, consider a PayPal contribution, Patreon, or a Channel Membership 👇
www.paypal.com...
/ antennaman
Visit my Amazon Store for recommended antennas and accessories:
www.amazon.com...
Sign up to my e-mail list:
bit.ly/2whSoTI
Like my Facebook page:
/ antennamanpa
E-mail brief general questions or sponsorship inquires to [e-mail] - before sending an e-mail consider a custom antenna recommendation below if you are looking for help with an antenna setup.
www.antennaman...
Note: this video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive a small commission.

[@hmedina79]

I have an an inexpensive RCA antenna in my attic. WPVI didn't come in. I used to pipe cutter to cut old golf clubs and extended the longest elements maybe a foot or so. It now comes in crystal clear. I was amazed when it worked.

[@Danielistheway1]

*Why ABC13 KTRK-TV Houston Has the Worse TV Signal???* Their broadcasting on VHF 3

[@georgeawestjr.9087]

Talk about a "Mickey Mouse Operation" gone bad (sorry, Tyler, I couldn't resist the pun 😁). The Walt Disney Company, the parent company of ABC, ESPN, and 6ABC, WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, and ABC7, WABC-TV, New York City, the ABC owned-and-operated stations, with WABC-TV, the ABC flagship station. I watch WPVI-TV on my Ruko television 📺. Everybody watches Action News for the "Move Closer to Your World" theme music 🎶. Great video as usual, Tyler! BTW.....I reside in northern New Jersey, about a half-hour west of New York City. 😁 P.S. - Both of The Walt Disney Company's television 📺 stations in New York City and Philadelphia, are being run by "Goofy" individuals, in addition to Mickey Mouse (ouch, sorry again. I can't help it with the puns 😂🤪🤣). 😁

[@vintagetvandexciting]

Still the best despite Jim Garner s retirement.

[@1stprinceoflite]

I think that rebroadcast fees are the problem with lower power broadcasting. I think the fees should be reduced or gotten rid altogether. But we both know that would be a long fight by the networks to do so. By doing it would force them to increase signal strength near where it should be. Hurray for our side if we win.

[@orsonstarbuck]

They have little incentive to increase signal quality since the problem drives viewership to its paid platforms

[@Markimark151]

Disney has been doing that to their broadcasting stations with ABC for decades, especially when they sometimes have two ABC stations in the same market! Because they want to profit off retransmission fees like on Hulu and KZbin TV!

[@kathleenclement1406]

Is there anything we can do?...I somehow knew it had to do with $$$....

[@Markimark151]

@@kathleenclement1406 that’s Disney’s decision on selling their UHF broadcasting spectrum, since they don’t care about their antenna viewers anymore, they’re putting more money into online streaming services!

[@Danielistheway1]

*Why ABC13 KTRK-TV Houston Has the Worse TV Signal???* Their broadcasting on VHF 🤦🏻‍♂️😩🙄

[@Markimark151]

@@Danielistheway1 probably because they actually broadcast on a very low VHF frequency, they don’t use UHF signal anymore!

[@mrkrasker9609]

I am a retired broadcast engineer, I live a little less then 10 air miles from the Roxborough antenna farm. Even with an outdoor antenna I still have a hard time receiving WPVI 6.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Despite being UHF and having a clear LoS, WNEP, the ABC affiliate in NEPA, the signal is weak.

[@joop1987]

You must live under the signal. I had no problem picking it up in Vineland NJ (42 miles away from the antenna) with a Winegard YA7000C on the chimney.

[@mrkrasker9609]

I can see the antenna farm from Black Horse PK and kings Hwy just up the road from my house. The Navy Yard is just about between my house and the farm. If you know anything about the USS Eldridge and TV signals into parts of south NJ you know why PVI's low power is very spotty into south NJ. I worked for WPHL, WTAF and KYW it was well known by us old timer engineers that the USS Eldridge was the cause of the signal issues. The funny thing is that if you were to ask any of us engineers about the USS Eldridge we would deny knowing anything about it.

[@ka7hqp182]

I too was in the Commercial Television Broadcast Industry as an Engineer and have no problem picking up Low VHF Channel 2 from over 30 miles away with an actual Lo/Hi VHF/UHF antenna, not the Junk so called antennas that they sell nowadays.

[@mrkrasker9609]

Well Dennis, with WPVI it all depends on witch way the wind is blowing on any given day on how the reception is. 😆🤣😆🤣

[@Techno.Junkie]

Tyler, I use to pick up 6ABC from Philly at my folks home in North Jersey back in the mid 70’s when I fixed stereosTV’s & installed antennas. I had a Channel Master Stereo Probe 9 FM antenna with rotor on their roof & being 6 is just bellow the FM band it came in, not perfect but viewable. I’d pick up FM stations from all over too…

[@321CatboxWA]

Too much easy money in rebroadcasting fees over cable and satellite to be made for them to care much about over the air . I think . thanks for posting. P.S. took tv up top of a local mountain and with rabbit ears got 70 channels . Im sure there were duplicates , but 70 wow .

[@jetdy]

Thank you Tyler, great coverage of the topic. Obviously doesn't help if I actually want to watch 6 ABC, but it does help to know what a real problem this is and understand how such a dumb situation can come to be.

[@dhelton40]

When I was much younger, you could buy VHF antennas cut to specific channels. In my area it was 5 & 11. You would see antennas on roofs with a large 5 and a small 11 connected to a combiner (mostly 300 ohm ribbon cable then) It is unfortunate that a cut, 10 element, channel 6 is not available anymore, as these very high gain antennas would help a lot in your case.

The primary market for those antennas was cable TV operators; they would use a separate antenna for each station they carried to get the best possible reception. They especially made sense in markets where each station broadcast from its own location, requiring the antenna for each channel to be aimed in a different direction. Consumer sales were secondary, but since the antennas existed some people bought them to use at home. The market for them shrank over the years for a number of reasons. We got more markets where most or all of the channels broadcast from the same tower, eliminating the need for separately aimed antennas. (The digital transition accelerated that; UHF antennas are smaller, making it easier to put a bunch of them on one tower.) The number of channels increased. And many consumers switched to cable or satellite TV (and more recently streaming) and stopped using antennas altogether. I don't know whether any companies are still making those single channel antennas for professional use. But they disappeared as consumer items long ago.

[@mikestaples3734]

Who thought low transmit power was suitable for VHF low-band DTV? That would be the FCC, which assigned lower ERP to low-band stations that elected to remain on-channel rather than transitioning to higher channel operation. You know, the same FCC that ignored all testing - including its own - that showed COFDM to be superior for DTV, and instead mandated 8VSB. It was never about reliable OTA reception, it was always driven by the revenue from spectrum sales to cell operators.

[@njlauren]

It was the broadcasters that wanted the 8-vsb for a specific reason ( note, this is direct inside info , a close relative, a broadcast engineer who was involved w the original hdtv standards testing,then worked developing it in the labs of a major broadcaster developing the technology). When they demonstrated how digital tv worked, how the transmission pattern radiated from the tower, how it basically cut off at a point, the TV people were horrified. Why? With the old analog broadcast technology the field pattern was not fixed. So for example, on some days ppl in area x 40 miles to the west could get it, but not others. Another town to the north 50 miles away would get it done days). When they showed their operating territory, they showed a map where towns that could receive it a couple of days a week are part of the field pattern. Why? Broadcasters use that to sell advertisers , that they reached x millions of ppl. DTV wasn't like that, those fringe towns likely would not show on a DTV map bc they couldn't get it. COFDM of the two standards made this effect much worse, their field pattern instead of x millions, might be be .75x. 8-VSB allowed broadcasters to have an operating field pattern more close to the analog transmission pattern at lower power than COFDM. Note that 8-VSB has multipath problems in urban areas, it really is a standard designed to extend the range from what I can tell. Note when they set those standards OAT was still a major force, cable hadn't quite taken over. Back then as revenue was king, this was before they made money as content providers charging cable ( and now streaming tv) to redistribute ( back then not even sure they were allowed to charge for it for cable). There were a lot of compromises with HDTV. One of the biggest is they were required to use the 6mhz NTSC bandwidth, which de facto required using compression thus digital broadcast. The FCC will tell you it was to be fair to existing tv users, to allow using current broadcast spectrum already there. There is some truth to that, but another reason was the Japanese and Europeans had analog HDTV, but it was satellite based. By limiting it to 6mhz, it knocked those systems out of contention.

[@mousepaws]

I miss the "olden days" where I could pick up Ch.6 Philadelphia on my car radio on 87.7FM . Made for a nice drive if I was stuck in traffic or driving through and wanted to listen to the news, or a show. I got some serious range back then on just the little dinky car antenna!

[@raymondmartin6737]

The old standards for NTSC low VHF. I think was 100KW ERP, and high VHF was 316KW ERP. I forgot if that was aural or visual. The only good thing for low VHF at about 50 MHz is 6 Meter amateur radio when we have Eskip at Solar Maximum in summer. 73 de W2CH Ray New Hampshire.

[@josephbovio3447]

Let's hear it for the magic band!! de KD9MKO

[@philaman1972]

I am from Philly so I know exactly what you're talking about. Also, a lot of people are still subscribing to Comcast/Verizon just to get their local channels. Personally, I watch Action News and other programs on 6abc either via Roku or the web.

[@billhendrickson1831]

We get 6abc here in toms river but it took the biggest antenna I could find and its on the roof up around 20 feet off the ground...but still sometimes it pixelates when fort dix is doing maneuvers

[@SDS-1]

As a teenager the only stations I could pick up was the low vhf. I use a scanner antenna in vertical position and that was the best way to get channels.

[@LaurenGlenn]

During analog TV, low VHF always came in great for us... 7-13 came in good too. UHF not so much... but how the tides have turned.

[@SDS-1]

@@LaurenGlenn yup that's why I like VHF

[@bobh.4580]

The whole story about how ABC RF6 avoided jumping to UHF because their channel number might get confused is just bizarre. Here in Chicago WBBM Ch2 transmits on VHF RF12. Due to consumer complaints, it's also has a supplemental rebroadcast on UHF RF18 virtual 48.3 for viewers who can't receive WBBM on RF12.

[@jameskilrain38]

Exactly.I know about CBS being on 48.3.Got it a few times after channel scans.Unfortunately,I lost it.Think 48.3 is a low power station.

[@luisreyes1963]

I was wondering why WBBM-TV was being rebroadcast on digital channel 48.3 here in Chicago. 😕

[@classichank60]

I had a hard time receiving WBBM even though I was within 5 miles of their transmitter. Because of that, whenever I'd watch them, it was on their UHF simulcast.

[@Poorgeniu5]

I've been wondering why I can't get 6ABC anymore since the shutdown of Analog TV as I clearly remember being able to receive it clearly when I was like 5. I thought they pick an awful place for their transmitter site but after this video, it all makes sense now! Thanks for the video.

[@dancooper6002]

The US is stupidly corrupt at this point. The cell phone companies paid off the FCC to move TV to digital and sell off the rest of the spectrum. They keep chopping away at free TV because companies want to charge for it instead. Our government is for sale.

[@Danielistheway1]

*Why ABC13 KTRK-TV Houston Has the Worse TV Signal???* Their broadcasting on VHF 🤦🏻‍♂️😩🙄

[@elmofx09]

@@Danielistheway1but it high vhf

[@raymondmartin6737]

Back in the 1960's when I lived north of NYC, on a hill at about 400 feet ASL, I received the old NTSC system. Ray W2CH.

[@Pallidus_Rider]

I grew up with low VHF channels, such as 3, 6, and 12. Yep, all three of the major networks. Low VHF antennas looked different than the ones they sell now. All elements were the same length. It would look like a skeleton of a large rectangle.

[@zachronspees6432]

Tyler, Dumb question, is VHF especially Low VHF still "junk" on ATSC 3.0 (AKA Next Gen)??? or is it too early to tell? Thanks & keep up the good work.

[@sirmoony5633]

Speaking of 6ABC, when I placed my RCA Indoor Antenna with the long VHF rods near my bedroom window while being connected with a coupler and a RG6 quadshield cable, I was actually able to pick up a very consistent signal on that channel. General Hospital and The Tamron Hall Show are pretty good in my opinion. ^_^

[@KA9DSL]

A good FM periodic antenna will work well for Ch6. The antenna has enough bandwidth.

[@peterflynn2111]

or a VHF phased array like what we use here in Australia

[@georgef551]

What you may not realize is that UHF need far more power to send a signal just as far as low VHF. In Boston during the analog years, channel 4 (WBZ) only broadcasted at about 30KW, could come in fairly clear on foothills 40 miles line-of-sight. Channel 68 on the other hand, was a 5MW, yet it barely worked. So if ABC 6 was at 500KW at 64, they can reach the same distance on low VHF, in theory, at just 3KW. Note I said "In Theory", because of the interference VHF suffers from as you mentioned. They would need to be about 10KW at the least to compensate for a decent chunk of interference. 50KW would probably be best. If you make the signal too strong, then it'll interfere with stations on the same frequency, or on neighboring ones.

[@RickPaquin]

I had no idea WBZ only did 30KW. Interesting! As a kid, I lived in the Pioneer valley and we had a 500 ft elevation mountain between us and Boston. I'm guessing we were roughly 80-85 mi. from the transmitters. Everyone in the valley had rotors on their antennas though because 2, 4 and 5 came in good enough to watch. 7 was too poor. On the top of the mountain, these stations would actually come in perfect so these low band signals, even at that distance were strong enough to follow the contour of the mountain down into the valley quite well! That's the HUGE advantage of low band VHF in areas where you have rolling hills or mountains that otherwise totally block UHF. I'm guessing probably 2, 4 and 5 had the lower 30KW power to prevent interference with the NYC market. Later in life I worked at a company who sold antennas in that area. Customers who lived in the Berkshire hills could NOT pick up the more local UHF stations from even 20 to 30 mi, so the VHF stations from further distances were the only channels they could watch. 2 major stations in Springfield moved from UHF down to VHF Hi band after the repack and it could be they are now serving areas in the hills that they could not serve before. It all depends on terrain as far as which is best and when you live in a valley, VHF is often your only hope for reception.

[@kathleenclement1406]

All our channels have been changed to commercials,and advertising.... undesirable programs...and no movie channel.... multiple stations have the same program on them?...this happened around 2 mos ago....I have antenna tv...a senior that can't afford cable ...what can I do...or can I complain to someone?...zip code is 68111....it's horrible....

[@MrLyosea]

I remember in Aug 2007 my dad who so happened to have cream on his head from a bump on his head, walked close to our living room tv with channel 6(wpvi) playing, and the channel just went black. When he moved back, it came back on. It only seemed to happen with that channel. I wonder if this has something to do with it. Mind you it was playing on our digital cable box but regardless, still odd.

[@johnothy]

I saw where WMC 5 in Memphis is moving to the UHF band and off VHF 5. Not sure when it actually takes place.

[@robincobb8611]

I noticed it once they switched over to low VHF back in 2009. I had to get a giant antenna on my roof to get their signal.

[@ken5042]

In my younger days, channel 6 was one of the few broadcast channels we could get clearly where I live, along with channel 8 out of Lancaster.( I live 125 miles from Philly)...I stream now but have been comp templating going to an antenna

[@michaeloptv]

You’ll get nothing with an antenna these days. Even the best antennas need to be within 50 miles of the receiver region to ganther an adequate signal.

[@Noone9227]

Our ThisTV and Comet affiliate began broadcasting as a complately new channel on low power channel 2 in my market. I have a Televes antenna that is low-VHF capable. I’m 25 miles from the tower. The tower height is so low that I have 1-edge diffraction. The tuner slows down on the channel when doing a scan but never locks it in. Meanwhile, ThisTV is on a low power UHF station in an adjacent market 51 miles away LOS thanks to flat terrain, but the signal is directional with a null in my direction. Consequently, I don’t always get it. Went on vacation to Pensacola. Took the Terk HDTVA. Got every station with ease except for Fox 10 (RF Ch 9), which I could not get at all although the channel scan slowed down on it.

[@jrc774]

From my parents' roof the roxborough towers are line of sight. With a crappy antenna and an hdhomerun i can pick up over 100 channels including subchannels. All of the uhf ones come in fantastic, definitely as good as cable except of course WPVI and WDPN, which are very spotty. It's maddening standing up on the roof, literally looking at the towers (albeit from center city) and not being able to reliably get what is probably the most popular station in the city.

[@franktpattersonjr465]

You just saved me money by convincing me to give up fixing interference problems with channel 6. I keep trying news things and it's getting expensive

[@franktpattersonjr465]

I live near Atlantic City in Egg Harbor Twp so I'm 57 miles away. I get the channel well but it says signal loss when I turn on the bathroom fan or plug my phone or vape in to charge

[@AntennaMan]

That's due to interference. An ATSC 3.0 tuner like the model below might solve the problem because 6ABC is on a higher powered 3.0 signal that isn't prone to interference. bit.ly/3STyTqX

[@josephklapatch9576]

Will Low VHF be any better with ATSC 3.0. If not, maybe they should let Channels 2-6 go back to analog.

[@jrs9264]

I still say that cable, satellite, and streaming services should be mandated to put local stations collecting retransmission, err extortion, fees on an optional separate tier. Let's see how many people will decline to pay when they see what the cost is. That would entice stations to make sure the over the air signals are receivable, otherwise lower ratings and lower ad revenue.....💰🤑🤔🧐🤗

[@njlauren]

There is an irony to that ( you are correct ) , that is I believe by law cable operators have to carry local broadcast. They used to offer a local service called 'basic outlet' that in some places literally was free ( my dad lived in a building in Florida where the cable had that. ) once the broadcasters started charging to redistribute that free service went out the window from what I know. With cable use down to like 1992 levels and even pay services like Hulu live running into the price walls now bc free TV services are popping up, be interesting to see if they clean up broadcast tv to try and draw ratings.

[@franklinwerren7684]

I think every market has the same issue or similar story. It could be Fox 66 Erie Pa, The religious station channel 26 that is listed in the Buffalo Market. And then there is WIVB Ch 4 and it’s sister station Ch 23 that is the reason I paid a pretty penny for the ATSC 3 box you show one video back…. Now you need to talk about the terrible price increases in TV antenna’s especially the VHF high for my ch 12 that tripled in price over the last three years.😢😢😢😢😢 From $50 to 180!!!! Makes it hard on seniors to get the right antenna at a price they can afford!!!😢😢😢 Personally I think the TV stations should pay for the TV antennas that their low power transmission needs!!!!😅

[@EdVelez]

I live smack dab between NYC and Philly and I am actually able to get ABC7 once in a while, provided of course the leaves are off the trees. Once spring hits, I am SOL getting any ABC OTA.

[@georgeawestjr.9087]

A "Mickey Mouse Operation" gone bad. 😳🥺🙄😡

[@hallkbrdz]

The nice thing about the analog 6 channel was that the audio could be picked up on the FM radio band.

[@cohort6159]

Interesting. In the analog days my local channel 6 station was the powerhouse broadcaster in the area. It had the widest coverage of any of the big 3 channels (other 2 were channels VHF 13 and UHF 42). The UHF channel was the trash channel back then although it had the highest ERP. I thought digital low VHF would also be the best signal until seeing your videos about Philadelphia 6. I looked and found my local 6 is now on a physical UHF channel.

All else being equal, low VHF has the most range for a given amount of transmitter power, and in the days of analog TV some stations used a lot of power. Also, early TVs were most efficient at receiving low VHF (because of frequency limits of the tubes or transistors of the day); UHF receivers were really terrible and required strong signals to work at all. People weren't dealing with HOA restrictions back then, so they were able to put up large antennas that were designed for low VHF reception. There weren't as many electronic devices generating noise as we have now. All of that added up to low VHF being king in those days. Things changed over time. We got better transistors, so high VHF and UHF reception were able to match the technical quality of low VHF. Electrical noise has gotten worse and worse over the years; that has had a huge effect on low VHF. Lots of people are living in locations with antenna restrictions, limiting them to more modest outdoor antennas if they're able to put up anything at all. (One workaround is antennas that LOOK like small satellite dishes -- those get special protection from many antenna restrictions -- but are actually UHF antennas.) And then the digital transition happened. The FCC limits digital stations to much lower amounts of power than were used in the analog days, and the limits were designed to equalize coverage of all the bands -- so low VHF lost its range advantage. Add in the other factors, and it's now the least desirable place for a TV station to be. Even high VHF isn't as desirable as it used to be, especially for urban markets where many viewers are using indoor antennas; UHF penetrates buildings better than VHF. (One example: WHDH, channel 7 here in Boston moved back to its original high VHF channel in 2009 when analog broadcasts were discontinued. But so many viewers had trouble receiving the station that they asked the FCC to move back to the UHF channel that their pre-transition digital signal used. That request was accepted, and the station now broadcasts on UHF channel 35. (They now channel-share with sister station WLVI, channel 56, which sold its channel to cellular carriers in the 2017 reverse spectrum auction.)

[@andydelle4509]

@ Based on the 1996 congressional Telecommunications act, section 207, there are no legally binding HOA restrictions nationwide for OTA TV antennas, DBS satellite dishes, and MDS antennas. No HOA can stop anyone from erecting a TV antenna on a roof of a SFD. Condos with shared roof's are another matter. The fact that a HOA has cable service is not an exception either. You have the right to free OTA television and cable is not free. The same thing happened again years later with solar panels. You cannot prevent a home owner from installing solar panels.

[@GKennon]

I feel your pain KTRK in Houston the only ABC O&O in Texas has extremely bad signal I have to buy a powerful antenna to pick up the channel and it’s still bad

[@alexlee6487]

Their on the low-powered VHF Channel 13

[@christopherboone9802]

Not low powered and their RF13 is now ATSC V3..Their V1 is on another UHF channel now

[@christopherdunne7848]

Generally in Philly, how do the signals of WDPN 2 and WACP 4 stack up against WPVI? If I ran another Philly station on UHF, now that the FCC repack allows piggybacking/sharing, I could certainly make an offer to 6 ABC to be-my-guest! 💰😛

[@rahkuaschount]

Just to clarify: Disney has about $200 million in operating capital - less than most major videogame companies. They have fired thousands of people this year and many more are to come. They are not in a position to lease a frequency from someone else - they are in a massive contract dispute regarding Hulu right now and have no money to satisfy it.

[@charlie_nolan]

I have a question. Why are omnidirectional TV antennas a curly shape and not just a straight whip?

[@GentileMysteriesConspiracies]

Very similar to an ABC in this region, WTXL 27 from Tallahassee, FL. Signal goes in and out often, while every other station from the same city literally never goes out and I live apx. 1 hour from Tally. An ABC from twice as far away in Panama City Beach is more reliable than the one from Tally.

[@kensmith5694]

... and you don't really have hills to explain it. It may be worth your while to investigate an antenna specific for the ABC's frequency if you care about the station. Two antennas and an A/B switch can give you more options.

[@GentileMysteriesConspiracies]

@@kensmith5694 - I will give that a try, thanks for the input.

[@donbest5024]

I have don't have any problems with 13 Panama city or abc 27 wtxl Tallahassee FL and I live 15 miles from dothan al.50 ft tower i recieve channels from Montgomery,Panama City,Columbus,Abany,Tallahassee and don't forget Dothan. channels- 3 Columbus,4dothan,6 Tallahassee,7 Panama city,9 Columbus,10 Abany,11 Tallahassee, 12 Montgomery,13 Panama City,14 Pelham,18 Dothan,21 Panama city,23 Dothan,25 Dalton ga,27 Tallahassee,28 Panama city,31 Abany,34 Dothan,40 Tallahassee,43 Louisville,49 Tallahassee,51 Marianna Florida,56 Panama city.I have 6 antennas using switches to recieve these channels,all over 50 ft high.

[@MrDan708]

Oh wait, 6abc is owned by Dizzy-ney? Say no more! They seem intent on challenging Comcash for Most Hated Company!

[@JCWise-sf9ww]

I am Highly disappointed with the what FCC did to DTV power limitations (& to sell off UHF frequencies) and the DTV engineers recommendations on lower power for DTV signals on lower TV channel frequencies . Not just lower power on the the atrocious low band VHF, but also lest power on high band VHF and even lower maximum power on UHF. What fools we have that made these horrible decisions .

[@BleuthaiTube]

What good is brand recognition if you’re not able to see the product (the broadcast) 😊

[@wlan246]

IMO some broadcast stations only transmit their signal over the air because they're required to, and using low VHF is a great way to fall off the radar while remaining compliant with the letter of the law.

[@e.b.8080]

I live in the Kent/Sussex county border area of Delaware and I get WPVI (Lo-VHF) on my antenna with little to no issues depending on weather. Yet the two UHF stations WBOC/WMDT which are both much closer I can barely get to come in. KYW/WCAU (both UHF) out of Philly are more likely to come in than their more local UHF counterparts. Not sure if elevation has something to do with it but it doesn't make sense to me.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

This was why Toledo's WTOL 11 and WTVG 13 stayed on their numbers after going digital.

[@wecontrolthevideo]

In Southeast Michigan all the high VHF channel stations except WXYZ 7 decided to keep their channels. 9-Windsor, 10-Lansing/Jackson, 11-Toledo, 12-Flint and 13-Toledo. WXYZ-7 moved to 41, then again to 25. WJBK-2 decided to take ch7 rather than a couple other UHF's that were open to them in 2009. They are a little trickier to get but still much better than a low VHF channel.

[@GameMasterpg]

I heard there's even a fallout within Disney Between ABC & Hulu disagreeing over money. So good luck having Disney fix a free over-air Station.

[@somapersona]

Disney is absolutely the greediest

[@Andrew-DX]

I live in Akron, OH, and I used to receive WOUC 24/7 on actual channel 35 pre-repack. Then they moved to RF channel 6, and I don’t even see any indication that it exists. I have a Winegard 8200 designed for low-VHF, and it’s mounted on a 50’ tower.

[@RickPaquin]

WOUC only operates with 7KW, so that seems way too low. Akron is just outside it's signal contour so you're probably not going to receive it.

[@douglascalhoun6471]

This echoes the fun I had with WRGB when they were on rf6. It actually worked better than their new channel on uhf35. Living near Cooperstown WRGB has a null in their signal to protect the Fox station out of Utica making it too weak to receive. Thankfully ATSC 3.0 is receivable and has WRGB on that broadcast. I actually used an old vhf only Winegard to pick up vhr and it was a bit of a pain.

[@garys.7846]

I'm in the Utica area and WRGB 6 Schenectady or WTVH 5 Syracuse were the CBS affiliates that served the area. Now with WRGB's move to uhf and nulling towards Utica, it's gone. WTVH's uhf signal out of Syracuse isn't that strong either, but now that WKTV here in Utica has added CBS to one of their sub channels, this area doesn't have to go through hoops for a CBS channel.

[@RickPaquin]

Their old analog signal would reach the pioneer valley in Mass, but there was a mountain that blocked reception for those who had high antennas living near the mountain. The trick was to lower it near the ground and the station would come in pretty good. In fact we had better reception with rabbit ears in the basement vs. the antenna we had up on the roof, with was necessary for the UHF stations from Springfield. VHF, especially low band, follows the contour of mountains and hills great. I'll bet though their UHF signal doesn't come into that valley now at all.

[@radiodude1976]

You just stumbled on about *the* only benefit of having a low-VHF RF channel digital signal. It handles mountainous and rough terrain (which Cooperstown is surrounded with) much better than UHF. However, the serious drawbacks of Low-VHF digital channels are well documented at this point.

[@GooglyMcDoubleface]

I have no problem with channel 6. my mom watches general hospital. fox 29 is an issue especially around 11pm trying to get the lottery numbers. awesome video.

[@martz1191]

Fast forward to today. The RF6 signal is now 58000 watts and its on RF33 as atsc 3.0

[@carguy4243]

I know in the Quad Cities IA/IL market CBS WHBF 4 on RF 4 fairly recently put a simulcast on a subchannel of UHF CW 26. It's probably for this same reason.

[@timbo303official9]

Useless North of quad cities since cw 26 signal is pointed the southern direction. Heck when I vacationed in savanna there was no possible way to receive cw 26 because of this but cbs 4 was reachable. The bluffs actually can work in your favor to get low-vhf.

[@segaszivos]

Dude. Thank you for explaining why 6abc is trash.

[@Earcandy73]

I guess I’m lucky. I live in Central New Jersey. I have an antenna rotor but Intend to keep my antenna pointed to New York City. 6ABC still comes in fine in this position.

[@marymlodzinska4383]

I guess I am glad that here in Boston our ABC channel 5 is owned by Hearst Corp and we have none of these problems. But I've tried to help my sisters in Philly suburbs trying to set up antennae and we were all flummoxed why we couldn't pull in Ch 6. Now we know. Wow, really bad management choices from a terrific station.

[@AntennaMan]

That's because ABC 5 in Boston does not broadcast on channel 5. It broadcasts on the UHF band like most TV stations. See video below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6qqiKd8opakaJY

[@jgclark45]

I had problems picking up WPVI way back in the early 90"s so I quit Philly stations and went to Susquehanna Valley stations, I live around the Hamburg area

[@AntennaMan]

Same here except I chose the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre channels.

[@LeonZetekoff]

That's because there's a ridge going through berks county. I live on the north side of it in blandon about 8 miles ne of reading. But due to my solar installation my noise level is terrible and also on vhf 2 meters. I need to contact the solar company on part 15 violations potentially.

[@billgreen1861]

Tyler, I lost all ABC 7 channels in New York City about 2 years ago, so how can they claim to be the number one news channel in the area ? I have to watch the eyewitness news on Hulu but that's it no other programs are being released to Hulu. I wish we could get it back it used to be my favorite TV station. Oh, BTW, HSN the home shopping network has been gone also two plus years as well. What can we do to get them back ?

[@tedlahm5740]

Comcast charges $21.00 per month to receive OVER THE AIR stations. including TV 6.

[@AntennaMan]

That's from the TV stations. They charge Comcast for the right to rebroadcast their channel and it's passed onto the consumer.

[@NJRoadfan]

FWIW, I haven't had reception problems with Low VHF WJLP broadcasting on channel 3. I'm using a 50 year old Channel Master roughly 20 miles away that I suspect is pointed at 1WTC. The station's range is surprisingly high given the Times Square transmitter and Low-VHF frequency. WPVI's only shot might be a ATSC 3.0 shared station at this point. That or switching the main broadcast to ATSC 3.0 as OFDM might fare better on VHF-6 vs. 8VSB. It's weird, back in the analog days it was pretty easy to get WPVI. Couldn't say the same about WNYW here in the NYC market though....yeesh.

[@Chris-tf7gi]

Mainly, when people try to pick up a VHF channel with a UHF antenna it is not a surprise that it doesn't work well if at all. (Ham radio operator for 40 years hear.) Good VHF antennas are much larger. Its still the UHF stations that require more accurate pointing. VHF is pretty forgiving with the right antenna, unless you're not using the right antenna with much smaller UHF elements. Not everyone is in a position to mount a large yagi on their roof, especially when renting. Its more than that though. Proper install, so you don't burn your house down, means the antenna is grounded with a large copper grounding rod that your local Radio Shack USED to have. Oh you can still do it. When the Philly area flipped to digital, I simply had to do . . . nothing. . . to my antenna. And it still works great.

[@AntennaMan]

Even with a good low VHF capable antenna, the band is still trash for digital TV. I've set up a massive CM3020 on homes. The UHFs will come right in while the low VHF channels still struggle even with the appropriate antenna. The low VHF band is trash and shouldn't be used for TV broadcasting.

[@Chris-tf7gi]

@@AntennaMan It depends. Something that looks almost exactly like a Winegard HD7694P long range antenna is what I have on my house. (Mine is a Winegard but I could not tell you the model. Its more than 20 years old at this point.) Pulls in 6ABC and WHYY like a boss. Its not an omnidirectional antenna and needs to be pointed reasonably close to the proper direction. I'm also in a very bad area because its lower than most of the surrounding area.

[@gobuflo]

Any hope for an ATSC 3.0 option in Philly for 6ABC?

[@AntennaMan]

We'll find out when/if Philadelphia launches ATSC 3.0 in July. I wouldn't be surprised if 6ABC isn't involved. They like to just sit there and keep their trash low VHF signal as is.

[@mike95826]

There is also a problem designing and building an antenna that is good enough to handle a multi-kilowatt signal that has a good enough Q (bandwidth vs SWR) across frequencies that are a large percentage of the transmit frequency. 6 megahertz at 60 megahertz transmit frequency. It wasn't so much of a problem with analog because the receivers just showed the picture as a little fussy or twisted. With ATSC 1, the digital signal is expected to have a certain bit error rate across the whole bandwidth. This will be less of an issue with ATSC 3.0 because the signal is actually split into many smaller bandwidth signals and the error correction can handle each segment with less trouble. The FCC should have re-farmed the Low VHF for Low Power fill in, Non profit entities or as the temporary placing of ATSC 3.0 build out.

[@doorknob2150]

Hey Tyler great video as always. I worked with you back in the summer on getting 6ABC at my house and bought the Yagi antenna you mentioned in this video per your suggestion and I've been getting 6ABC almost perfectly every since about 30 mi away. I wonder if ATSC 3.0 would help us views out any with current reception issues?

[@nanoflower1]

Given all that has been said I'm sure ATSC 3.0 will help if/when the station supports it. Tyler has shown how much more robust the ATSC 3.0 signal is even if the TV is in a poor reception area.

[@christopherdunne7848]

That will still require the proper outdoor antenna.

[@Danielistheway1]

*Why ABC13 KTRK-TV Houston Has the Worse TV Signal???* Their broadcasting on VHF 🤦🏻‍♂️😩🙄

[@michaelkelly4613]

I'm about 10 miles from the towers, and I can get a good signal on an RCA Amplified Indoor HDTV Antenna. It's not the HDTV that allows the signal to be picked up, but rather the fact that it has pretty long rabbit ears which I have extended out horizontally like an outdoor antenna. So, a good set of long rabbit ears in the right position does work if you are close to the city. I also can get channel 2 out of Wilmington and channel 4 out of New Jersey if I repoint the antenna like we used to have to do in the old days. Edit: Actually, now that I look at the map, channel 2's tower is right next to channel 4's tower, even though it calls itself a Wilmington station.

[@kensmith5694]

Yes, if you have traditional rabbit ears you can do well. Many they sell today are too short even when fully extended

[@danieldrago8766]

We need a redo of this video with the new antenna and power abc put out here in the Philly market!

[@AntennaMan]

Even with the power increase 6ABC still has a trash signal

[@marymlodzinska4383]

Still doesn't work, 2024.

[@patuxenthistory6410]

The vhf lo band during analog days covered more territory.

[@msc8408]

Is it possible the problem of receiving digital TV on real Channel 6 is the fact that it is so close to the FM Radio Band? I remember a time when it was analog signals going through the airwaves and every so often I would get a Channel 6 (KMOS) from about 155 miles away from me, the TV station tower is located about twenty miles east of Sedalia, Missouri. There is an 88.1 FM (KJTY) signal close to me and while I got video from the Channel 6 the audio did not come in well at all, all I heard was the local FM station on 88.1 bleed in on the Channel 6 audio so, I'm trying to guess just find out if that is the root cause of the Channel 6 issues with the reception of it and that is the proximity that Channel 6 is so close to the FM Radio Band. Any thoughts on the issue?

[@RickPaquin]

You bring up a good point, and there's been very little discussion on this issue. Under the old Analog rules, you never had adjacent channels in any given market, except for channels 4 and 5 and 13 and 14, which were separated by another band of frequencies. NYC, for example would have 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. You would never see both a channel 12 and 13 in the same market because in reality, transmitters are not totally perfect and one could interfere with the other. There was no guard band for 6 and FM either, but since FM was just audio, it didn't matter. But, if 88.1mhz is running a 100kw signal and you have Ch 6 running 7kw aural, with probably even less power for their audio, yes, I would see a potential problem. Under the old analog rules, Ch 6 could run at 100kw, and so could 88.1mhz. But by trimming back severely on Ch 6 power, it's possible strong FM signals could NOW interfere simply because there is no guard band, and FM stations are still running older transmitters. Now about the guard band for channels, everyone made a big fuss about the FCC repack, where we "supposedly" lost half of our channel capacity going from 14-62 down to 14-36, thus selling those frequencies to the Telcom's. In reality though, under the old analog rules you could not have co-channels. Thus the actual channel capacity for a given market was really only 36. Now that the FCC has sold half of the UHF spectrum to telcoms, they now ALSO ALLOW co-channels to exist giving each markets a channel capacity of 35. Effectively, each market really only lost 1 channel in compared to the capacity we've enjoyed over the past 60 years. One could argue successfully that the FCC should have kept the additional channels thus giving OTA Television MORE capacity, up to 68 possible channels per market, but except for the largest cities, that was a large amount of bandwidth going unused. One could also argue that VHF should have been scrapped because the general public has no interest in placing huge antenna's on their roofs anymore. After all, this is 2023, not the 50's. These are all valid arguments. But having lived in an area with mountain ranges, VHF was the ONLY lifeline if you wanted ANY OTA television, so there's that perspective as well. I generally slam the FCC for incompetence, but this IS a tough issue. We have to consider we don't all live in Kansas where it's flat and interference in cities is a major problem. As more and more people, flip on their Roku, Fire stick or Google dongle, or even just their Smart TV to watch television through the internet, sadly we will get to the point in the future where there will be no OTA television. People simply don't want big ugly antennas and when they can find most of their content on their little plug in devices, OTA will eventually die and the FCC will sell our entire spectrum to the Telcoms. We see this happening now chunk by chunk. The FCC has failed with managing our OTA spectrum. In a city with trees, I shouldn't have to work that hard to get OTA stations perfectly, a mere 14mi away. ATSC 3.0 is probably the answer to reception problems, but it's coming TOO SLOW. The FCC needs to give ATSC 3.0 some serious incentives before people give up on OTA completely and say the hell with it. And they will! The hidden danger of this transition away from OTA is that we then place all of our entertainment needs into the hands of a few internet providers, who in most areas, already operate as monopolies. I WILL support OTA, even if it requires a large antenna, to prevent internet providers from controlling all of my entertainment choices. But sadly, in spite of my efforts, if people are going to fuss over putting up large antennas and are not willing to invest the time necessary to get their antenna working well for them, the day we no longer have independent entertainment choices will come sooner than expected. This is why I support people like Antenna Man. Unlike the stations themselves, who appear to make no effort to help viewers view their stations, Tyler appears to be one of the few willing to help people set up their antennas with excellent advice, thus helping to sustain OTA television and our entertainment choices. We need to appreciate his efforts.

[@AntennaMan]

Close proximity to the FM band is probably part of the reason RF 6 is so bad for digital TV broadcasting.

[@LeonZetekoff]

Fm interference should not be an issue since with atsc the signal is spread across the 6 mhz where in analog days there were two carriers. Also it was more receiver overload from fm broadcast causing reception issues. With digital coding that gets rid of analog interference. Still could have some signal blips on the video depending how strong the TV signal is vs. The FM broadcast.

[@richellebrittain2127]

You briefly showed WMC-TV Memphis' Wikipedia page. The FCC in January granted its application to move its RF channel from 5 to 30, so that one is all over but the actual move. Maybe WPVI can work something out with another station in a nearby market; WMC-TV had to contour its channel 30 signal to avoid overlap with the Little Rock Fox affiliate (KLRT-TV) also on that channel.

[@electricdinosaur]

Yes it comes in once in a while. It seems better at night time. I live in Ambler

[@joej19]

I live in Jacksonville Arkansas and we have an even more trash signal for ME tv. They broadcast on RF channel 25 but it’s very weak.

[@jimbarber691]

I have a Winegaurd attenna outside for 3 TVS run into a distributor left from Comcast that gets 6 ABC well on 2 of the TVS. I finally figured out that cables in the wall that where there when we moved in 10 years ago where bad. When I replaced the cable it came in great. I also made a simple diy attenna cut a copper pipe in half for an bedroom TV and put it in the attic and that gets 6 ABC great. An old VHF dipole attenna is pulling in WFMZ but will not get 6 ABC

[@bulldogbrower6732]

The big wigs in Lancaster Pa also didn’t understand that the channel displayed would still show the number 8 and stayed on the VHF band which caused a lot of problems. They were constantly asking people to rescan as they added extra transmitters in the area. Lancaster didn’t have it as bad as Philly’s channel 6 because we don’t have all the tall buildings to interfere with reception.

[@AntennaMan]

High VHF channel 8 is nothing compared to TRASH low VHF channel 6.

[@kenteagle2918]

I truly hope 6ABC works out a repeater agreement, increases power, or both. I've got a monstrous low VHF antenna and 6ABC, because it's my wife's favorite channel, is the lone thorn in my cord cutting experience.

[@miketech79]

One thing to note here is that higher ERP is easier to achieve on UHF than VHF. So while the ERP might be drastically reduced it is highly unlikely that the actual power was reduced by that much power. Antenna gain is a function of multiples of wavelengths that are resonant wavelengths of a given frequency. The UHF channels therefore have higher gain with smaller antennas than the VHF ones. So to get a high ERP VHF station is going to require massive antenna to hit the same ERP as the UHF.

[@Dratchev241]

VHF low was limited to 100KW ERP in the analog days. but digital is just kinda crap at vhf. and imo digital is honestly crap no matter where it is analog is still far superior as you can at least watch/hear a weak analog signal.

[@miketech79]

@@Dratchev241 I’ve seen low VHF digital channel 5 go a long distance before. It’s not impossible. I’ve received digital UHF from over 40 miles away. The problem really is that digital doesn’t like multi-path reflections. The new standard is supposed to help this situation.

[@lon_dawg]

Wouldn't the new modulation standard of ATSC 3.0 address the multipath and impulse noise issues on Low VHF?

[@kensmith5694]

I have to ask because you didn't make it clear: Is low VHF trash? BTW: With an antenna specifically designed to get low VHF, chances are the reception would be OK. Such an antenna would have elements: Channel 6 -> 82MHz WaveLength = 300Meters / 82MHz = 3.66 meters. Active element = 1/2 WaveLength = 3.66/2 = 1.73 meters Reflector element = Active +15% = 2.10 meters Director element = Active - 15% = 1.55 meters Front to back length = WaveLength = 3.66 meters (1/2 back from active, 1/2 forward from active) Thus, you under estimated the size needed for the antenna even if it is the simplest one for the job. Now lets ask the marriage partner about putting that up on the roof

[@LaurenGlenn]

It used to be really good when it was on UHF prior to the official transition (when they were using both SD and HD) and then it got shifted to VHF 6 (I believe at their request too).... I gotta here this one. I used to live within 10 mi of the transmitter and I couldn't pick this thing up at all back in the early 2010s.

[@scratchpad7954]

3:02 1.7 kW is actually low enough to qualify WPVI as a low-power station on VHF!

[@steelers1965]

Found this by accident but finally know why Damn station doesn't work but once in a while it does Now this Nextgen tv crap just started Sept 1st 8pm and the switched up some stations and antennatv on 17-2 is gone no where to be found Im livid😡 CW57-1 is now on 17-1 and Philly 17 is now on 57-1

[@joe2459]

I've no issues picking up 6ABC. What does AGG me out is the signal drop out every day rain/shine, winter/summer at approximately 6PM of the 2.1 thru 2.9 channels. Even though the signal strength Always shows strong. I've got a 26' high outside 3' wide arrow antenna with the low vhf diapoles, as well as an amplifier. ONLY those channels are affected everyday. Aggravating 😖 Aggravating.

[@LatitudeSky]

More and more TVs do show the actual RF channel these days and I don't think it has led to the amount of confusion they feared. And even if it did, the branding is what people know so all you need to do is wrap the brand around explaining how to watch. A little effort spent there allowing them to use a better signal would be a lot better than staying on a lousy signal out of intertia. By the time the station eventually realizes the audience is smart enough to figure it out, the audience will have given up. As for Disney, one reason they don't care is that ABC as a network is paying the station, who in turn sends that revenue back to ABC. So no money is going to be made there even if the station was on a better signal. Local advertising dollars are probably being left on the table, though.

[@njlauren]

Yep, local ad dollars are. Network commercials revenue goes to the network and I believe a portion gets sent to the local affiliate. They also have local ads revenue that I believe is all theirs. With network vs local programming there is a ratio of network to local ads.

[@KieraCameron514]

Maybe they should ditch 8 vestigial sideband in favor of coded orthogonal division multiplexing when they increase their ERP. Also, maybe they should use both vertical and horizontal polarization.

[@mattalbrecht7471]

Low VHF? I thought they were all digital now versus moved to UHF digital?

[@EllySensei]

If a channel share were to theoretically happen, it should probably be with WPHL, since 6abc does produce the 10pm newscast for them.

[@chrisquintile1141]

I put aluminum foil on my digital attenae and it works ok. I am 1.5 hour drive from Philly.

[@jerrydemas2020]

Tyler, I have been thinking about installing a PCI ATSC 3.0 tuner card in my computer. Some even have tuners for free to air satellite reception. Do you have any experience or thoughts about them. Jerry in S.E. Pa.

[@justsayingforafriend7010]

I'd love to get into your antenna storage!!!

[@DontrellPage]

If RF 6 is so bad up there in Philly...I wonder how is it here in Macon before the 2009 digital switch I was able to get WMAZ which was on RF 4 somewhat decent with a standard RCA rabbitear antenna; plus I also thought about how come the FCC didn't delete the low-VHF from the bandplan if it was that bad?

[@hvacguy84]

When TV stations were broadcasting in analog (NTSC) the station broadcasted with higher power levels. But when digital (ATSC) came. The FCC forced stations on the VHF band and especially the Low VHF band to reduce power significantly.

[@tedlahm5740]

TV 12 is in a similar situation.

[@simms1444]

Also ME TV channel 2

[@MacRides1]

Their signal sucks. I'm in Wst Chester about 20 miles outside of the city and if there is any cloud cover or rain it pixelates and breaks up.

[@TylerLarew]

Yeah I am not sure if it is just my antenna, but I live 20min outside of Philly and can't even pick up ABC 6.

[@stevez340]

Tyler, I took your recommendation and spent a little extra and bought the Clearstream 2V antenna but in less than 2 years I have lost several channels that are more than 20 miles from me including CBS and FOX out of Albany, NY, and all Utica, NY channels. Rescanning hasn’t helped.

[@gregsz1ful]

After recent rescan I get more channels than ever. 70 channels near Pittsburgh.

[@RickPaquin]

That's a really good antenna. You might need a rescan, but since many stations repacked to new frequencies, you may have to change the location of your antenna. But Tyler gave great advice on that antenna.

[@AntennaMan]

If you signed up for my antenna recommendation service, send me a follow up email.

[@kevinx9123]

I really do miss Locast!!! At least 6ABC has an App I use with my Roku (I'm in the northern Philly 'burbs, no Ch 6 for me either) for their local news broadcast (if I choose to watch them).

[@AntennaMan]

Locast was an illegal IPTV service. I'm glad they shut down.

[@daleguthman5998]

Sounds like WOIO RF 10 CBS in my area. They are also trying to upgrade to higher power. Waiting on FCC. At least for now they do also broadcast on RF 20 as well which I receive better than RF 10. WJW Fox RF 8 never gives me any trouble in my neighborhood.

[@craigosterberg5045]

Thanks for sharing

[@thenicksmith9537]

I have a dedicated antenna pole that’s at least 20 ft tall I can’t pick up Wpvi but a stick that’s attached to a fence I perfectly pick it up

[@elmofx09]

Other tv stations Reaction to WPVI’s Signal kzbin.info/www/bejne/poaqp6Ssgr2Ifbs

[@justju0rd]

lol i wonder if this is why i can’t get WHTM which is my local ABC in my area, which isn’t too far from philly