U.S. DTV News & Discussion

[videobruce]

Interesting that chs. 5, & 13 are the most popular in their respective bands.
I'm surprised any elected to revert back to the lousy (noisey) low band.

[GerryB]

Im not sure I would want to be one of the few broadcasters in the low VHF band knowing full well that most of the technical support and antenna deisgn will be in the UHF and high VHF.

Will be interesting for some rural TV dx'ers during E-layer propagation to see if they can get digital on channel 2 and 3, etc from 1000 miles away during the solar flares. I doubt it though. Whenever they have happened in the past I always remember huge fluctuations in the phase - the audio would be from a channel in Georgia while the video would be from another station two states away, for example.

[Walter Dnes]

Originally Posted by roger1818

VHF-LO (total 38 or 2%)
Ch. 2 - 7 stations
Ch. 3 - 8 stations
Ch. 4 - 2 stations
Ch. 5 - 13 stations
Ch. 6 - 8 stations

So why don't they just tell 17 out of 1800 stations to abandon channels 2/3/4 and hand them over to the "White Space Coalition", and Google can stop whining? As someone who receives weak remote TV signals, I dread the possibility of Joe cranking up their device like the CB nutcases of years ago.

[99gecko]

From Broadcastengineering
TV antennas getting congressional attention

Last week Sen. Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said the FCC has failed to warn over-the-air TV viewers that they may need new antennas to get DTV reception and that the commission has inaccurately downplayed the likelihood of the necessary modifications to those antennas.
...<snip>...
Sanders cited the study by Centris, a consulting firm, which said the FCC had underestimated the homes that would need antennas to receive over-the-air signals. He also cited a study of the digital transition in Britain that said that 35 percent of consumers would need to buy new antennas.

And living in Canada, this didn't even cross my mind???

Sanders, who is from Vermont, noted it was dangerous for viewers to install outside antennas in very cold weather. He envisioned the risk to senior citizens trying to climb onto the roof in the Vermont winter.

Yikes! At least in Canada they lucked out by picking a date in August. I wonder if that was even a consideration?

[videobruce]

Sanders, who is from Vermont, noted it was dangerous for viewers to install outside antennas in very cold weather. He envisioned the risk to senior citizens trying to climb onto the roof in the Vermont winter.

Gee, I don't know what the problem is. I always have my 83 year old mother do all of my antenna work.
Is this guy on drugs?

At least in Canada they lucked out by picking a date in August.

If anyone waits untill the last minute, that is their problem. I can't beleive "rabbit ears" are still being sold. Note, I said "rabbit ears", not indoor antennas.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by videobruce

I can't beleive "rabbit ears" are still being sold. Note, I said "rabbit ears", not indoor antennas.

Well, if you are using a 2-bay bowtie as an indoor UHF antenna, a set of "rabbit ears" are about the only indoor option for picking up DTV stations that will be reverting to VHF.

[SanityRemoved]

If anyone waits untill the last minute, that is their problem.

Maybe Buffalo broadcasters have been kind but in Rochester signal strength has varied since OTA DTV began - not in the expected ways of weather and seasonal changes but long periods i.e. months of stronger or weaker signals - so it has been difficult to determine whether or not the homeowners current antenna will suffice.

Add to that the move of some channels currently in the upper UHF band to their previous VHF locations. I for one will not be silly come February and venture on the roof, but someone's anger is going to outweigh their common sense and I foresee accidents after the cut off date.

[videobruce]

You should be in the Erie market. Most of the stations aren't at full power or in HD.

[SanityRemoved]

I have a feeling that only two in Rochester are at full power, WXXI and WUHF.

I hope the Canadians are learning from this and start calling on their government to get broadcasters to adhere to a better transition than the US is experiencing.

People should have been able by now to determine whether or not their existing antenna would do the job. Maybe come February I should write Hillary asking her to come help me on my roof if reception gets worse.

[stampeder]

CTAM '08: Communication Needed on DTV Transition

Kim Cannon of Time Warner Cable's Wilmington, N.C., system says many people "really do live under rocks"

by Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/10/2008 12:32:00 PM

BOSTON--You can’t over-communicate the message when it comes to the digital television transition, say executives who have made the jump or experimented with a drop of analog, for a portion of “people out there really do live under rocks.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6613142.html

Sadly I suspect that we'll have similar situations in Canada no matter what level of press bombardment of the topic.

[stampeder]

Just 100 days to go in the USA:

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/art....jsp?id=576818

[tricky]

The US program is out of money it seems


Six weeks from today, TV signals will turn digital, but a program intended to ease the transition, is out of cash.
The government set aside $1.3 billion to provide $40 coupons to help people pay for the converter boxes. But less than two months before the switch, the program is out of money.
If you applied for a coupon before December 31st you should be in the clear, and recieve it about four weeks after your application date.


http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/37183794.html

[stampeder]

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said Friday that "it is becoming increasingly clear that at minimum Congress may need to quickly pass additional funding for the converter box program in early January to prevent any delay in coupon availability or issuance."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122902016.html

I think its a matter of budgetary timing.

[StillRYE]

I think they have bigger problems to worry about other then making sure people can watch tv.

[El Gran Chico]

OTA television is "too big to fail"