Post DTV Transition Troubleshooting Guide

WRAL's new over-the-air “carrier signal” frequency is channel 48 (or 674 MHz). Viewers’ converter boxes or HDTV’s will automatically display WRAL’s programming on the old channels with which they are familiar – after they have rescanned.

WRAL has not changed the channel designations on which it is displayed on viewers’ TV’s - they are still 5.1 and 5.2.

WRAL is currently transmitting from our main digital antenna at full power with occasional variances as equipment is tuned or tested to insure peak operation, primarily in the very early morning hours. We were transmitting at 50% power from June 12th through the beginning of July.

In addition, WRAL’s new main digital antenna has a different signal radiation pattern (and frequency) than either the old analog or the auxiliary digital antennas. This may affect how receiving antennas need to be positioned or aligned. Viewers should try adjusting/relocating their antenna if they are having reception issues – they just need to be sure to rescan after each time they adjust it (if they are trying to pick-up a channel or channels they haven't been able to receive, at all).

If a viewer has done a full channel scan and picked-up WRAL during that scan, they shouldn’t have to rescan for WRAL, although signal strength may vary throughout the day for some viewers.

NOTE: If viewers are adding WRAL post-scan, many converter boxes do not save manually-added channels or have a somewhat complicated process for doing so.

Troubleshooting Tip (if a viewer has “lost” channel 50, alone or along with other channels):

Since WRAZ (channel 50) did not make any changes during the transition, viewers would be advised to double-check and insure they correctly followed all scanning and/or setup steps.

The loss of channel 50 might also indicate a converter box issue.

IMPORTANT SCANNING UPDATE

The FCC is recommending a procedure known as a “double-scan” or “double-rescan” to over-the-air viewers using converter boxes who are still having reception difficulties. Some converter boxes will not disassociate and clear old frequency assignments with a standard rescan. As a result, while many TV stations changed frequency assignments during the digital transition, these boxes are not accepting the new frequencies for those stations.

To perform a double-scan:

1) Disconnect the antenna from the converter box
2) Rescan the converter box without connecting the antenna to the box (this clears the converter box’s memory)
3) After rescanning, unplug the converter box from the electrical outlet
4) Reconnect the antenna to the converter box
5) Plug the converter box back in and position the antenna
6) Rescan the converter box