WISC-DT (Digital Television Station) is on the air and broadcasting from its permanent home on top of the Madison Community Tower. The signal has been maximized to best replicate the coverage of its analog sister WISC-TV.

READ: Get More Information, Apply For Digital TV Converter Box Coupons |
READ: Visit C3K's Digital TV Section | VIDEO: Watch Summary

How To Get WISC-DT in HD

First, you will need a HD display and a DTV/HD tuner. This can be purchased in two different ways; 1) an HD-Ready display and a separate DTV/HD tuner, or 2) an HD Television set with the tuner built in. Before you head for your local TV retailer or shop the web for your new HDTV system, here are some shopping tips to help you make a smart decision.

At this time there are three ways to recveive the programming from WISC-DT; 1) Directly from the air using an off-air TV antenna, 2) From Charter Cable by subscribing to their HD Digital tier of service, or 3) from DirecTV satellite service by subscribing to their HD Local into Local programming package (a dish hardware upgrade will be needed).

Charter HD Cable: WISC-DT HD programming is available to Charter Cable HD Subscribers on channel 784 on the Charter provided digital set-top-box. It is also available directly on your new HDTV if it came with a cable-card slot. Conaact Charter Cable TV customer service to activate that cable card if you have one.

DirecTV HD Satellite Service: If you subscribe to the DirecTV HD programming package contact the DirecTV customer Service and request the Madison HD Local into Local channel package. They will schedule an upgrade of your dish hardware if necessary. After you get it you will find WISC-DT HD programming on channel 3 of your HD Satellite Tuner box.

HD Over The Air:A viewer within the local Madison metropolitan area can usually receive the digital signal using an indoor antenna. A viewer located outside the immediate Madison area will likely need an outdoor rooftop antenna to pickup the digital signal. Regardless of your location, the most reliable reception of a digital TV station is via on outdoor antenna. In extreme cases, the outdoor antenna will need to be erected on a tower higher than the rooftop to pickup the signal. Generally speaking, the farther away from Madison the viewer is located, the higher the receiving antenna will need to be. The receiving antenna will also need to be carefully installed so that it points in the direction of the WISC-DT transmitting antenna located on the west edge of Madison.

WISC-DT Technical Information

WISC-DT's digital transmission is on Channel 50. A viewer will need a reliable UHF antenna system capable of receiving the higher UHF channels. Some older antenna splitters and amplifiers will not work all the way up to channel 50. Care should be taken that none of those limited components exist in your antenna system. The entire antenna system must pass frequencies up to 692 Mhz in order to receive WISC-DT from the air. Some antenna components have their operating range stamped on them. If not a quick check with the manufacturer or dealer will reveal this information.

Unlike an analog TV channel where the picture and sound gets "fuzzy" when the signal is weak, with digital TV a viewer will receive no digital transmission at all if the antenna is not properly installed and pointed. As an aid to correctly pointing a receive antenna for WISC-DT reception, it is fortunate to have analog channel 47 on the air from the same tower. By connecting the antenna to an analog TV and tuning it to analog channel 47, the antenna can be positioned to get the best picture and sound on channel 47. Once this is accomplished the antenna can be connected to a digital tuner or HDTV and WISC DT on channel 50 should be received with no further antenna adjustments. If, however, it is impossible to receive analog channel 47 at all, it is unlikely that WISC DT channel 50 will be received.

When the standards were written for digital television, virtual channel capability was included so that stations could stay connected with their viewers on their old analog channel number. So even though WISC-DT transmits over TV Channel 50, its programs will appear on the viewer's DTV Program Guide as channels 3-1, 3-2... etc. From a viewer's point of view WISC-DT is still channel 3. On some older receivers a menu option has to be activated to enable the tuner to extract program information from the off-air digital television signals in order to display the programs at their virtual channel number. On those tuners WISC DT's digital services will appear as 50-1 and 50-2 unless that menu option is activated.

Digital Programming

WISC-DT provides two program services on its digital television station. Channel 3-1 is the same programming of its analog sister WISC-TV and the CBS network. When CBS is providing an HD version of its program the high definition program will be carried on WISC-DT. The CBS high definition schedule is available online. All other times, Channel 3-1 sends a simulcast version of analog channel 3 programming so that it can be received and viewed on a digital television receiver but in Standard Definition.

The second digital service offered on WISC-DT is Channel 3-2 and is called MyMadisonTV, an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. That channel is broadcast only in Standard Definition and is also available on Channel 14 of Charter Cable and Channel 14 of the DirecTV Local into Local Madison channel package.