Digital Transition Proves Tricky for WGHP Viewers

By: Journal Staff Report | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: June 13, 2009

The digital transition has gone smoothly for most local stations, but many viewers are having a problem picking up WGHP/FOX8.
The station got more than 100 calls in the first few hours the phone lines were staffed on Saturday morning.
Call volume was lighter than expected at WFMY and WXII, the two other stations that switched off their analog signals on Friday, with WXII reporting 18 calls in the first two hours. But many of those calls were about problems with WGHP, not WXII.
WGHP was the only local station to switch transmitters on Friday. It had been broadcasting on digital channel 35, a UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channel, but switched to VHF (Very High Frequency) so it could return to its position as channel 8.
VHF channels go from 2 to 13; UHF channels go from 14 to 83.
WGHP turned off its analog transmitter around 11:05 p.m. Friday and turned on digital channel 8, keeping digital channel 35 running until midnight. That required people who were already getting the station on digital broadcasts to rescan their converter boxes on Saturday to pick up WGHP.
The other channels in the market are remaining in UHF, with converter boxes translating their channel numbers for viewers used to channel 2 for WFMY and 12 for WXII.
"We're finding a lot of folks are getting other channels and not us," said Derrell Griffin, an engineer with WGHP. "Most people have rescanned their boxes, but a lot of them are just using rabbit ears."
VHF requires an outdoor antenna or an indoor antenna that can pick up both UHF and VHF.
For more information about antenna reception, go to www.antennaweb.org.

Digital Transition Proves Tricky for WGHP Viewers

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