DTV viewing report, first one!

This afternoon I drove for an hour, found a place to park, then set out on a new phase in my over-the-air TV viewing.

I left my handheld TV at home, as this was the trial run for my Elgato EyeTV hybrid. I just took my Mac, the aforementiond DTV stick, and a set of rabbit ear antennas. Today's reception report comes from Holdrege, NE. I chose that town due to its relatively close (in a matter of speaking) location to my own home, its range to a variety of TV signals, and it has the transmitter for KLNE-TV just a few miles outside of town (although Lexington, not Holdrege, is the COL). Sometimes I think the residents of Holdrege could pick up KLNE on their fillings. But maybe not once the analog signal is shut off.

I set up the rabbit ears on top of my truck for the best unobstructed reception I could get in the area. (This town has a five or six-story building in the downtown area--one wonders what I could receive from that height.) I then went through the regimen of setting up a new device for the first time--detecting, going through the setup menu, then it was time for channel detection.

I was not disappointed. Two DTV channels: KLNE-DT (of course!--3-1, 3-2, and 3-3) and KGIN-DT (11-1 and 11-2). I also induced the auto scan to search for analog signals as well. No surprises: KLNE (3), KGIN (11), KHGI (13), plus some noise on UHF channel 20. (Holdrege apparently had a translator for KHAS-TV at one time on channel 14 but this seems to have since been turned off as the FCC query shows no TV licenses of any type for the town of Holdrege. I also never received any analog signal on channel 14 a few months ago when I used my handheld set to keep me apprised of the Texas-OU game.)

Channels 3-1 and 11-1 were broadcasting in HDTV, with the former showing the closing minutes of a Creighton University men's basketball game and the latter airing final round coverage of the FBR Open (from Scottsdale, AZ!!)

What can I say about the picture quality? Superlatives just don't seem sufficient enough. Once I got home and was telling Geogal about how well the stick worked, I summed up the experience in one word: "Wow." I went on to tell her that I think I could see the sweat droplets on on the basketball players, that's how good the definition was.

I'll be testing reception from Holdrege again, next time will be after the analog switch-off date. I hope to pick up KHGI-DT as they should be at full power and tower height by that time. And yes, I know The Big Game is today and it's ironic that I could not pull in a NBC affiliate this time around. However I don't think either NBC station in this area (KSNK or KHAS) is broadcasting in HDTV. But you never know--they might pull out all the stops for the Super Bowl.

Overall, though, I'm glad with the ease of use of the EyeTV stick and the picture quality of the Hi-Def broadcasts. Methinks I will get a lot of on-the-road enjoyment out of this combination.