Need help

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Shawn Smith

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Apr 19, 2026, 12:17:24 PMApr 19
to Puffer
why can't i get ABC and I been trying all morning

nmongrain

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Apr 19, 2026, 8:06:52 PMApr 19
to Shawn Smith, Puffer
Shawn, the landing page clearly states, "ABC remains unstable or unavailable."

This means the local broadcast signal is too weak. In my market,  some of the local broadcast channels have been reducing signal strength to "encourage" viewers to subscribe to streaming services or cable, where they receive higher advertising revenue. 

If you live in the Bay Area,  complain to that station. 

Nicole 



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Gina Snow

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May 13, 2026, 10:35:52 PM (3 days ago) May 13
to Puffer
Can you at least put a notice for everyone on the Puffer homepage about ABC's status? Is it ever coming back?

Francis Y. Yan

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May 13, 2026, 11:10:32 PM (3 days ago) May 13
to Gina Snow, Puffer
Just put up a notice. We are still testing KQEH but given ABC has been unstable for more than a year, having any other channel will probably be better!

Best,
Francis

Matthew Mason

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May 16, 2026, 9:05:33 PM (3 hours ago) May 16
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How to solve the KGO reception problem:
Step #1: Use the ATSC 3.0 KGO feed being broadcast on KRON's ATSC 3.0 lighthouse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KRON-TV#ATSC_3.0 The feed is not encrypted, and reception with ATSC 3.0 is way better. This should fix the problem.

Would you be able to do that?

Matthew Mason

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May 16, 2026, 9:12:41 PM (3 hours ago) May 16
to Puffer
Keith said:
"Puffer uses a Blonder Tongue 8-channel 8VSB-to-UDP demodulator and a lot of software we wrote (back in 2017 when this project began) to process the MPEG-2 TS from an ATSC A/53 signal and keep the audio/video in sync through dropouts (which sometimes affect the different streams differently). It would be a lot of work to implement all this for ATSC 3.0, not counting the new demodulator, and it's probably not that valuable from the point of view of getting better data from the studies we run on the different bitrate-selection or congestion-control schemes. If you know somebody interested in funding this work, happy to talk, but otherwise I doubt we can justify the software engineering (or procurement) for it."

In other words it would take some money, and a lot of time to accomplish.

Shawn Smith

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May 16, 2026, 9:30:56 PM (3 hours ago) May 16
to Matthew Mason, Puffer
I'm in Houston Texas and just Don't understand what's the issue when I'm assuming it's y'all connection 

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Matthew Mason

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May 16, 2026, 9:34:11 PM (3 hours ago) May 16
to Puffer
Okay. I looked into the signal strength of KGO. I put the coordinates of the computer science building into RabbitEars assuming that is where the antenna is.
The report indicates the signal strength of KGO should be good, so what is going on?
I don't have the measurement of the height of the antenna above the ground, I could get a more accurate report if I had that.
I did take a look at the terrain path profile. The green line represents the terrain and the red dotted line shows the line of sight path. On the profile, the line of sight path looks like it gets very close to the terrain. Maybe the issue has to do with the antenna height? This is just a guess though.

Matthew Mason

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May 16, 2026, 9:44:26 PM (2 hours ago) May 16
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Wait a minute! Are you trying to get the KGO signal on VHF channel 12, or the KGO signal on UHF channel 35? If you are trying to use the VHF one, that would explain your problems and I would switch to the UHF one.

cofycat

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May 16, 2026, 10:55:07 PM (1 hour ago) May 16
to Shawn Smith, Matthew Mason, Puffer
Hi Shawn, 

The issue is with the signal strength. You know, the same reason you don't get KTRK in your home. 
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