Important Information About the Digital Transition - ABC5 News Des Moines, IA

Important Information About the Digital Transition

Important Information About the Digital Transition

The transition to all-digital television is now behind us.  Since June 12, we have been broadcasting in accordance with the technical specs authorized by the Federal Communications and are actually broadcasting a digital signal that is much stronger than before. We understand, however, that some viewers are experiencing problems with their digital tv's or converter boxes related to WOI-DT's move from a high UHF to a low VHF channel. On our end, we did increase the power to our VHF transmitter on September 10th and began operating a new, UHF translator on October 29th following FCC approval of our separate requests to do so. But there are some things you might check out on your end as well.

If you are one of those viewers, it is important that the rabbit ears on your antenna - the VHF portion - be fully extended and stretched out horizontally, parallel to the floor. It would also be helpful if the antenna were near a window in the house, preferably one facing the ABC5 WOI-DT tower in Alleman.  It is possible, however, that these solutions will not work and that an antenna upgrade may be necessary. 

Re-scanning is also very important.  It is important to re-scan for channels at regular intervals to be sure that you are receiving all of the digital channels at their new locations. It may even be necessary to "restore factory settings" on your converter box to effectively erase its channel memory before rescanning.

The FCC is currently focused on consumer-based fixes for reception problems, including promoting what it is calling the "double-rescan." That is having consumers clear out their boxes' memories before re-scanning, a process the commission says is having success, particularly in Chicago. 
 
Some consumers are having problems with stations that went from a high UHF to a low VHF channel (like WOI).  There are some converter boxes that, if you just do a normal re-scan, they won't be able to replace the old digital channel with the new one. So, you actually just have to clear the box out.  What you need to do is double-scan.
 
To double re-scan, viewers need to unplug the antenna, then scan so it picks up nothing, then unplug the converter or DTV set, plug it back in, then rescan. 

Antennas: As mentioned above, WOI-DT moved from UHF-Channel 59 to VHF-Channel 5. That may cause reception issues if you rely on an indoor antenna or if you have a UHF-only outdoor antenna. If you need guidance on antenna-related issues, we encourage you  to visit www.winegarddirect.com and www.ChannelMasterStore.com

Some television sets could be interfering with TV reception.  According to broadcasters and the government, one of the things that could be interfering with reception from indoor TV antennas is putting then near televison sets. 

Among the tips are to make sure the antenna gets both VHF and UHF, is to not position it near electronic devices including, ironically, the TV set "as these devices may interfere with indoor reception.

If you have other general questions about the conversion, converter boxes, or the re-scanning process, you can still reach the FCC hotline at:

1-888-225-5322

Or you can reach us at WOI:

WOI-DT
515-457-9645

Randy Shelton, Operations Manager - Ext. 108, Dennis Poffenberger, Chief Engineer - Ext. 130, Phil Mclean - Ext 159 or Dan Graves - Ext. 133