KTTC's LaCrosse translator W67CH goes offline

On Wednesday November 4th, a member of the AVS Forum's LaCrosse/Wausau, WI - HDTV thread posted a confirmation that W67CH (ch. 67), KTTC's analog translator to the LaCrosse area was no longer in operation.

KTTC La Crosse Translator W50DR Online

At 2:10PM today, W50DR went on the air, from an antenna that is about 606 meters above sea level. Side mounted, the antenna is on the Wisconsin-side leg of the WXOW tower.
I am getting traces of it in Kasson, MN and it is at 15kW ERP, so it should get out well with decent LOS.
Rescan to get channels 10.1, 10.2

KTTC's LaCrosse Tanslator to go Digital

A member of the AVS Forum's LaCrosse/Wausau, WI - HDTV thread posted an e-mail from KTTC's chief engineer Tim Morgan regarding the station's LaCrosse translator. The e-mail reads:

We will start installing the broadcast antenna early next week, perform
some testing and hopefully start broadcasting a digital channel 50
signal by the end of the week. Stay tuned to WXOW or KTTC analog channel
67 in the La Crosse area as we will be promoting the start date for this
channel.

Thank You,
Tim Morgan, KTTC-KXLT-NTTC Director of Engineering

KAAL Digital

As of October 9th, 2009, KAAL will no longer be broadcasting on both DT-33 and DT-36. This means that viewers will now need to make sure their antennas are aimed at the Grand Meadow tower that KAAL-DT/KXLT/KSMQ share.

EDIT: Right around noon today (Oct. 9th) KAAL-DT-33 went off the air and DT-36 became the ONLY way to receive their programing (that is until the Mason City translator comes online)

KTCI

It has long been known, that KTCI (TPT 2.3/4) would like to move its' digital OTA RF channel from 16 to 23 and increase power from 50kW to 375kW as well as use an antenna mounted much higher on the current tower. This morning their filing with the FCC was entered into the FCC database.
They are guessing that everything will be in place to make the final move in January 2010.

Dolby Digtal 5.1 Suround Sound Audio?

I recently finished installing a surround sound audio system for my living room at home, and I have become interested in which stations pass Dolby Digital (DD) 5.1 or 2.0 channel audio.
5.1 audio stands for 4 surround speakers (one each side of the viewer), 1 center channel (dialog), and the ".1" stands for the sub woofer. 2.0 channel audio is just basic stereo audio composed of two channels of audio.

Many shows produced in HDTV (if not all) include 5.1 audio, but it takes special gear to handle the audio in most cases, so it also depends on the encoder at the local affiliates.

So as to which stations push 5.1 audio when available by market:


Rochester/Austin/Mason City:

KIMT > 5.1
KAAL > 2.0
KTTC > 2.0
KSMQ > 2.0
KYIN > 2.0 (see note at the bottom)
KXLT > 5.1


Twin Cites:

KTCA > 5.1
WCCO > 5.1
KSTP > 5.1
KMSP > 5.1
KARE > 5.1
KTCI > 2.0
WUCW > 2.0
WFTC > 2.0 (see note again)
KPXM > 2.0
KSTC > 5.1


LaCrosse/Eau Claire:

WKBT > 5.1
WEAU > 5.1
WXOW > 2.0
WQOW > 2.0
WLAX > 5.1
WHWC > 2.0
WHLA > 2.0
WEUX > 5.1


(notes: KYIN is a member of Iowa Public Television and they are rumored to be adding 5.1 audio to the HD sub channel in the coming months on all of their stations.
WFTC surprised me, but then I went and looked and in the 3 biggest markets (NYC, LA, and Chicago) Fox owned My Network affiliates are also not running 5.1 audio, so in the Twin Cities, it is probably not a high priority. WFTC is an Owned and Operated [O&O] of Fox. Also remember that only the HD sub channels include 5.1, depending on station of course.)

WEUX now in HD!

Months after the digital transition, the chief engineer for Eau Clare's FOX affiliate WEUX announced on the AVS Forum that they began broadcasting in HD this afternoon (9/10/09) at around 2:08PM. The HD subchannel is on 48.1 and the SD version is 48.2.