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12 News -- Recorded Forecasts

F

formeraa

Star Participant
On Monday's 5, 6, and 10pm newscasts, 12 News simply had a recorded forecast by Jimmy Q (presumably from much earlier in the day). They didn't provide any current conditions or even the high temperature for the day. Seems rather pathetic for a major market newscast. Surely Caribe could have gone over to the green screen and provided a forecast. Or how about hiring a substitute meteoroiogist, if nobody else is available.

12 Cheap News strikes again...
 
landtuna said:
You watch 12 for news? How quaint. :)
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Actually, I occasionally watch 12 News at 10 for the laugh factor. They have changed it into an entertainment show. You must watch it once just for kicks and noticed the recorded weather forecast. Tonight, Jimmy Q was talking about 7pm forecast temperatures at 10pm -- totally ridiculous.
 
dhett said:
No doubt, one of those uncomfortable laughs to mask the cringe...
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Yes, you are spot on. So very sad for what was arguably one of the best news organization in town when I first moved here.

"Join Curtis and Caribe on 12 News"
 
tjguitar85 said:
As I recently moved into the area, who would be considered to have the best local newscast ?
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I think 10 (Fox) does the best job of purely local news and 3 probably is next. The network affiliates (5, 12 and 15) tend to repeat the national stories during their local news shows.
 
landtuna said:
I think 10 (Fox) does the best job of purely local news and 3 probably is next. The network affiliates (5, 12 and 15) tend to repeat the national stories during their local news shows.
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Great, thanks. I thought 5 and 3 were sister stations utilizing the same production space? Funny thing is here in S. Scottsdale, my indoor antenna pulls in the NBC and FOX out of Tucson much better than the Phoenix affiliates on VHF. The VHF was working fine before, but the antenna dropped on the floor at some point and I feel like ever since then the signal goes in and out, pixelates, etc.
 
tjguitar85 said:
Great, thanks. I thought 5 and 3 were sister stations utilizing the same production space?
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Different anchors for the most part. Sorry, but Sean and Kris are far weaker news anchors than the crew they put on 3.

Funny thing is here in S. Scottsdale, my indoor antenna pulls in the NBC and FOX out of Tucson much better than the Phoenix affiliates on VHF. The VHF was working fine before, but the antenna dropped on the floor at some point and I feel like ever since then the signal goes in and out, pixelates, etc.
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Much of the valley can pick up at least a few of the Tucson UHF stations (read: All but KGUN/9). I can't in NE Mesa because Santan Mountain blocks the signals, but I had no problem with them in Ahwatukee when I lived there.
 
tjguitar85 said:
Great, thanks. I thought 5 and 3 were sister stations utilizing the same production space? Funny thing is here in S. Scottsdale, my indoor antenna pulls in the NBC and FOX out of Tucson much better than the Phoenix affiliates on VHF. The VHF was working fine before, but the antenna dropped on the floor at some point and I feel like ever since then the signal goes in and out, pixelates, etc.
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I live 8 miles as the crow files east of the S. Mountain towers and have always had trouble with 8, 10 and 12 VHF. The worst times seem to be when the sun is going down behind the towers I lose 5-10 minutes of picture. I have a very large outdoor antenna about 12 feet off the ground but cannot get any of the Tucson stations. I lived there for many years and as I remember channel 4 (NBC) was very local in their news coverage. Never watched Fox in Tucson.
 
landtuna said:
I live 8 miles as the crow files east of the S. Mountain towers and have always had trouble with 8, 10 and 12 VHF. The worst times seem to be when the sun is going down behind the towers I lose 5-10 minutes of picture. I have a very large outdoor antenna about 12 feet off the ground but cannot get any of the Tucson stations. I lived there for many years and as I remember channel 4 (NBC) was very local in their news coverage. Never watched Fox in Tucson.
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I have the same problem in Gilbert. I'm only about 15 miles due east of the South Mountain sticks. 3, 5, 15 and 45 comes in like gangbusters, but 8, 10 and 12 are weak with 12 being the absolute worst. I actually can't get a reliable signal from channel 12, even though I'm only 15 miles from the tower. Meanwhile, KVOA NBC 4 Tucson comes in great with 3 out of 4 bars so when I need to watch NBC programming, I watch NBC 4 Tucson, in Gilbert.

Other Tucson stations that come in great where I live is FOX 11 and MY 18. The Tucson PBS channel, 6, comes in better than our local channel 8. Meanwhile, KGUN 9 is nowhere to be found. Back in the analog days, KGUN 9 had the strongest signal into the southeast valley of all the Tucson stations (along with NBC 4). What happened there?
 
asugeorge1 said:
I have the same problem in Gilbert. I'm only about 15 miles due east of the South Mountain sticks. 3, 5, 15 and 45 comes in like gangbusters, but 8, 10 and 12 are weak with 12 being the absolute worst. I actually can't get a reliable signal from channel 12, even though I'm only 15 miles from the tower. Meanwhile, KVOA NBC 4 Tucson comes in great with 3 out of 4 bars so when I need to watch NBC programming, I watch NBC 4 Tucson, in Gilbert.
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Do any of Arizona's VHF-HI stations run half-power (158 kW ERP), which from what I've read is the digital equivalent of the old 316 kW analog standard for those channels? If they don't, maybe they should.

Other Tucson stations that come in great where I live is FOX 11 and MY 18. The Tucson PBS channel, 6, comes in better than our local channel 8. Meanwhile, KGUN 9 is nowhere to be found. Back in the analog days, KGUN 9 had the strongest signal into the southeast valley of all the Tucson stations (along with NBC 4). What happened there?
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KGUN is Tucson's lone VHF station, on its original Channel 9. It has the same issues that 8, 10, and 12 (especially the latter) have in Phoenix -- VHF stations in mostly-UHF markets. UHF antennas won't pick up VHF stations well, and rabbit ears for VHF are useless for digital (no directivity, resulting too much multipath -- a DTV killer).
 
asugeorge1 said:
I have the same problem in Gilbert. I'm only about 15 miles due east of the South Mountain sticks. 3, 5, 15 and 45 comes in like gangbusters, but 8, 10 and 12 are weak with 12 being the absolute worst. I actually can't get a reliable signal from channel 12, even though I'm only 15 miles from the tower. Meanwhile, KVOA NBC 4 Tucson comes in great with 3 out of 4 bars so when I need to watch NBC programming, I watch NBC 4 Tucson, in Gilbert.

Other Tucson stations that come in great where I live is FOX 11 and MY 18. The Tucson PBS channel, 6, comes in better than our local channel 8. Meanwhile, KGUN 9 is nowhere to be found. Back in the analog days, KGUN 9 had the strongest signal into the southeast valley of all the Tucson stations (along with NBC 4). What happened there?
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I received the 3 Tucson stations you mentioned great as well.

My antenna was able to grab PBS 6 out of Tucson when scanning at some point, but I haven't been able to duplicate that. I was also able to get KOLD, the Tucson CBS affiliate if I moved my antenna to a very specific location and angle in my apartment. I did that to catch the NFL game on CBS last weekend which was blacked out on KPHO because the Cardinals were on FOX.
 
asugeorge1 said:
I have the same problem in Gilbert. I'm only about 15 miles due east of the South Mountain sticks. 3, 5, 15 and 45 comes in like gangbusters, but 8, 10 and 12 are weak with 12 being the absolute worst. I actually can't get a reliable signal from channel 12, even though I'm only 15 miles from the tower. Meanwhile, KVOA NBC 4 Tucson comes in great with 3 out of 4 bars so when I need to watch NBC programming, I watch NBC 4 Tucson, in Gilbert.

Other Tucson stations that come in great where I live is FOX 11 and MY 18. The Tucson PBS channel, 6, comes in better than our local channel 8. Meanwhile, KGUN 9 is nowhere to be found. Back in the analog days, KGUN 9 had the strongest signal into the southeast valley of all the Tucson stations (along with NBC 4). What happened there?
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What kind of antenna do you use?
 
landtuna said:
What kind of antenna do you use?
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The antenna I use is the stock antenna that came with the TV I bought, which is a portable Philips PT902 9 inch television. It's just a little metal stick antenna with a magnetic base that I attach to my bedside lamp. You can see the antenna and TV here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YONCR2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Surprisingly, this little antenna that extends out maybe 12 inches works better at picking up stations than an amplified Mohu Curve 50 antenna that cost $70.00 (I returned this antenna to Amazon after trying it out for a couple weeks). Regardless of what antenna I use, though, I can not seem to pick-up channel 12. I can get channel 8 and 10 if I move the antenna around enough, but not channel 12. Meanwhile, I can rely on getting KVOA NBC 4 at pretty much any angle I move the antenna. FOX 11 and MY 18 comes in great as long as I keep the antenna in a mostly perpendicular direction toward Tucson. KOLD CBS 13 and KUAT PBS 6 come in and can hold a signal, but I noticed during the monsoon storms this summer that if Tucson was getting storms, I could not pick-up these stations.

It's just surprising to me that I can pick-up stations perfectly well that are over 100 miles away on Mount Lemmon and Mount Bigelow with the San Tan Mountains obstructing my view, while Phoenix stations 15 miles away from my house with an unobstructed view of South Mountain don't come in at all. Must be the high elevation of Mount Lemmon and Mount Bigelow (over 8,000 feet). Still, it sounds like I'm not the only one with this problem!
 
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asugeorge1 said:
The antenna I use is the stock antenna that came with the TV I bought, which is a portable Philips PT902 9 inch television. It's just a little metal stick antenna with a magnetic base that I attach to my bedside lamp. You can see the antenna and TV here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YONCR2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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That's your problem right there. Those little stick antennas are useless for VHF. Any VHF. I'm between Chandler and Ray about a mile east of I-10 and KGUN 9 is my strongest, most consistent Tucson station, followed by KUAT 6 (RF 30), KTTU 18 (RF 19) and KVOA 4 (RF 25). On rare occasions, KMSB 11 (RF 25) and KOLD 13 (RF 32) come in, and once, I even picked up KWBA 58 (RF 44) from the Santa Rita Mountains, to the southeast of Tucson!

I get good results with a ChannelMaster StealthTenna mounted in my attic and connected to 2 TVs. Because I have it pointed at Tucson, I get the above stations, plus KGRY-LD 29 on the Gila River Reservation. Downside is I sometimes lose KFPH 35 (3 of the 4 subchannels are duplicated anyway) and KDPH 48 (likely due to interference from co-channel KUVE on RF 46 - hopefully that goes away when KUVE moves to RF channel 34 next year.)
 
I'm between Chandler and Ray about a mile east of I-10 and KGUN 9 is my strongest, most consistent Tucson station
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This is so interesting. I've never been able to pull in that one.

I'm between McDowell and McKellips, west of the 101 Loop and the Tucson channels I get perfectly are KVOA, KMSB and KTTU. All of these come in far better than KPHX and KSAZ which are 12 miles away. I'm using a Winegard Freevision inside, facing East, a solid 10 feet from the windows.
 
asugeorge1 said:
The antenna I use is the stock antenna that came with the TV I bought, which is a portable Philips PT902 9 inch television. It's just a little metal stick antenna with a magnetic base that I attach to my bedside lamp. You can see the antenna and TV here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YONCR2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Surprisingly, this little antenna that extends out maybe 12 inches works better at picking up stations than an amplified Mohu Curve 50 antenna that cost $70.00 (I returned this antenna to Amazon after trying it out for a couple weeks). Regardless of what antenna I use, though, I can not seem to pick-up channel 12. I can get channel 8 and 10 if I move the antenna around enough, but not channel 12. Meanwhile, I can rely on getting KVOA NBC 4 at pretty much any angle I move the antenna. FOX 11 and MY 18 comes in great as long as I keep the antenna in a mostly perpendicular direction toward Tucson. KOLD CBS 13 and KUAT PBS 6 come in and can hold a signal, but I noticed during the monsoon storms this summer that if Tucson was getting storms, I could not pick-up these stations.

It's just surprising to me that I can pick-up stations perfectly well that are over 100 miles away on Mount Lemmon and Mount Bigelow with the San Tan Mountains obstructing my view, while Phoenix stations 15 miles away from my house with an unobstructed view of South Mountain don't come in at all. Must be the high elevation of Mount Lemmon and Mount Bigelow (over 8,000 feet). Still, it sounds like I'm not the only one with this problem!
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Who would-a thunk a simple little dipole would pick up so well.

Interesting how reception works. My uncle, who lived years ago in San Manual (north side of the Santa Catalina's where Mt. Bigelow is located) could get all the Phoenix stations (20 years ago when they were all analog and high power) but could not get the Tucson stations without significant interference. Might have been because of signal overload. When I lived in Tucson going up to his house was the only place I could watch Wallace & Ladmo on KPHO.
 
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