WHDT Rf 4

[Bob DeMattia]

Thanks Eli.
I think they have fixed it, my TV is now saying "WHDT"  (no 4) and virtual
channel 3.1.
The audio needs some work though.

-Bob


On Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 5:41 PM Eli Polonsky <elipolo881@gmail.com> wrote:

> My set scanned it in with an indoor antenna here in Somerville,
> but it's not on virtual 3.1 (which it was briefly on years ago), it's
> now on virtual 4.3, and the visual TOH ID card says WHDT 4.
> It's coming in with a very weak signal, one "bar" on my set.
>
> Apparently, different types of sets deal with scanning in multiple
> signals that have the same virtual channel but are on different RF
> channels differently.
>
> On my old 2009 Westinghouse HDTV (that died a few years ago),
> the channel with the highest RF channel of two that used the same
> virtual channel (that the set would find last of the two in a scan),
> would supercede the one with the lower RF channel (that the set
> would find earlier in the scan) and it would map that channel to
> the virtual channel, with the one with the lower RF channel being
> lost.
>
> The Element "Smart TV" that I bought to replace it (an off-brand
> that was on sale cheap at Target the night that my Westinghouse
> died) maps both channels as watchable. It mapped the first one it
> found (with the lower RF channel) WHDT to virtual 4.3, and it now
> shows up on the set on 4.3 between WBZ 4.2 and 4.4, instead of
> WBZ 4.3.
>
> When the Element encountered the WBZ channels on its higher RF
> channels later in the scan and it already had WHDT mapped to 4.3,
> it mapped WBZ 4.3 to display on its RF channel 20.3, which is where
> I now get WBZ 4.3. The Westinghouse would have just thrown out the
> one it got earlier in the scan (WHDT) and mapped WBZ 4.3 there.
>
> I don't understand why WHDT does this. They have been on, what,
> about a half-dozen different virtual channels in all of their short-lived
> attempts to come on the air in Boston over the years?
>
> I don't see how this one will work in the long run, are they even aware
> that they are using a virtual channel occupied by a heritage 70+ year
> major station? I'd think that WBZ wouldn't be happy with them not
> only being on the same virtual channel (albeit the .3 subchannel) but
> also marketing and promoting themselves as Boston's Channel 4.
>
> If they are aware of the existence of WBZ-TV and they insist on being
> "on" ch. 4 in Boston, why didn't they map to a higher sub-channel than
> 4.4 to avoid the in-use WBZ virtual channels?
>
> EP
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2022 19:07:49 -0500
> > From: Bob DeMattia <bob.bosra@demattia.net>
> > To: boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org
> > Subject: WHDT Rf 4
> >
> > WHDT Rf4, virtual 3.1 went on the air today from the Pru.  Low power
> > temporary antenna.  Is anybody able to receive it?
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
>