KERA'S NEW MASK FILTER

[Bob E. Nelson]

You might want to check this note from KERA before it gets removed:

http://artandseek.net/2011/10/27/reminder-kera-tv-maintenance/

The installation of the new mask filter was completed by late Friday afternoon, October 28, 2011. RF-14 has always had a good strong signal but the SNR (signal quality) never matched the raw power. That's why many consumer sets reported a "weak" signal when viewing a diagnostic meter.

The new mask filter has been very effective. On my HD HomeRun, the SNQ had been in the mid-70's and now it's full scale at 100. The story is the same on a Sencore signal analyzer. The MER was typically around 30 dB. Now it's max scale at 36 dB. KERA now matches the signal quality of all the other full-power facilities in the market.

[tripinva]

Excellent news!  Glad to hear it is significantly better.

- Trip

[Bob E. Nelson]

Excellent news!  Glad to hear it is significantly better.

A graph makes it abundantly clear. Here's how KERA looked before the mask filter was changed:

http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b403/repulsive_shaper/kera_sig.jpg

...and after:

http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b403/repulsive_shaper/kera_newmask_sig.jpg

The graphs were made with TSReader/HD HomeRun.

[JHBrandt]

I was wondering what they did. There was a significant improvement in signal quality at my home as of Friday. On the Philco it jumped from 55 to around 76, on par with the downtown Dallas LPs.

[JHBrandt]

Should've sat on my hands. No sooner had I bragged on them than their SQ reading fell to about 64. Still better than 55, though.

Hopefully this post will not result in another drop. 

[JHBrandt]

Should've sat on my hands. No sooner had I bragged on them than their SQ reading fell to about 64. Still better than 55, though.

Hopefully this post will not result in another drop. 

Well they remained consistently at 64 for two months. Then last Friday their SQ reading dropped to about 49 - worse than many LPTVs! Still comes in clearly for me but I expect folks with a marginal signal may have lost it entirely. What happened??

[Bob E. Nelson]

Well they remained consistently at 64 for two months. Then last Friday their SQ reading dropped to about 49 - worse than many LPTVs! Still comes in clearly for me but I expect folks with a marginal signal may have lost it entirely. What happened??

Without betraying any possibly confidential sources, suffice it to say that there was a change made in the wee hours of Friday morning (6 JAN 2011) that didn't have the desired results. KERA is aware of it and working to resolve it. There are challenges with being on RF-14 due to the steep filtering on the < 470 MHz side.

[JHBrandt]

I noticed a slight improvement in KERA SQ starting this Monday. It's not huge but it's at least where it was before the mask filter was replaced.

Anyone who might've had trouble receiving KERA after the Jan 6 change should give it another shot: KERA might not be over the cliff for you now.