WDIV Signal Quality

[KeithAbbott]

The signal quality for WDIV-DT has been what I can only describe as volatile (constant rapid fire 30% increase/decrease) at my house for the past few months. I've tried everything I can think of with all three of my antennas, including raising and lowering the gain sent to my HDHomeRuns. Nothing seems to have worked. I just googled and found this post from 3 weeks ago on a random facebook group:

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William Robertson
WDIV has resumed it's Maintenance Project for our Main Transmission Antenna transmission line which has necessitated switching to our Back-up Transmitter. This may affect reception in certain areas, notably in downriver area, certain areas in Canada & parts of downtown. We sincerely regret any possible interruptions in service and hope to return to full operation on our Main Transmitter as swiftly as possible.
Weather permitting, we expect to have the new Main Antenna transmission line installed and tested within two weeks’ time.
Thank You for your patience and understanding!

Does anyone know of a better source than a random facebook group to determine whether there is a transmitter problem that would create reception issues? If this is documented somewhere on the WDIV website, I sure haven't been able to find it. This is quite frustrating, if it is indeed a transmitter issue, I've wasted a lot of time trying to fix my reception issue.

[jasonl]

Stations rarely make any kind of public announcement for short-term issues, especially if they are still operating from their backup facility. WDIV's problem is their backup antenna is side-mounted on the NW corner of a tower with a triangular cross-section. Service is fine if you're in most of the the suburbs, but if you're in this wedge, the tower itself is between you and the antenna and that will distort the signals.

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[KeithAbbott]

Thanks Jason. I've sent an email to WDIV to hopefully find out if the issue is on their end or not. I'll post their response if I receive one.

[zephyr901]

I don't have any specific information beyond the accuracy of the statement about the standby antenna for WDIV. Although the ERP of the standby is higher than the amin antenna there is a protection null toward downtown Detroit that is approximately what is detailed in the map. The 3db points are actually in a slightly narrower slice toward downtown. When they operated on the standby in August & September 2020 there were many complaints of poor signal near downtown Detroit. The standby absolutely booms toward Flint and most areas other than the protection slice to the south.

[KeithAbbott]

Unfortunately, I do not live in the wedge shown on the map, I actually live about nine miles west and two miles north of the main antenna. 9.4 miles as the crow flies. I have not received a response from WDIV yet, I sure wish I knew if they were operating on the standby antenna or not. If this is a temporary issue, I'll stop spending time on it until they switch back to the main antenna.

Your statement that the backup transmitter has a higher ERP than the main transmitter makes me wonder if the signal is coming in too hot, and causing signal quality issues. I use a Televes SmartKom mast amplifier, which is amazing for all of the other channels. Since it amplifies all of the channels to a predetermined level (+/- 3dBmV) I can't really get a reading of how hot the signal is coming in off the antenna, but before the SmartKom.

I am curious where you are finding the information about the ERP of the main and standby antennas. All of the information that I am finding refers to the main antenna.