just recently these stations started advertising as of june 12,they will be switching from vhf to uhf.just wondering how that will effect people with certain antennas,and will there be channel changes? i myself have a MANT510,and i get decent reception as is.what can i expect when the changeover occurs,better signal quality on the uhf freq or worse? thx

Try it out now. WGRZ is 33-1 and WIVB is 39-1.

WIVB has been on 39-1 for over 5 years.

i was under the assumption judging by the commercials that the digital signal was going to change from vhf to uhf.i must of took it the wrong way.my apologies.i already can get wrgz and wivb digitally,just thought that they were changing the digital freq's.

i already can get wrgz and wivb digitally

Then you are getting them on UHF on channels 33 and 39. They appear as virtual channels 2 and 4. Come the switchover, the Lo-VHF will cease altogether. Once the Canadian channels have turned off their analog, those frequencies will become emptied for other uses.

Once the Canadian channels have turned off their analog, those frequencies will become emptied for other uses.

Not necessarily. They are still technically allocated to TV broadcast service, and several (but not a lot of) stations in the US have elected to stay on VHF low. In NY State, WRGB Schenectady will be reverting to digital on channel 6.

In Canada, there are some stations that have been allocated channels 5 or 6 for post-transition use.
Channel 5 in Toronto is an open allotment in the Canadian post-transition plan. (CBLT will stay on UHF).
Several US VHF-Lo channels that were vacated by US broadcasters remain as allotments in the FCC-Industry Canada Letter of Understanding -- for example, channel 3 Burlington VT and channel 5 North Pole / Plattsburg NY.

Basically, what they're saying is "If you're watching us on analog 2 or 7 with a VHF antenna, you will need a UHF antenna to get our digital-only signal as of June 12"

Word is that WNED and CFTO will be hosts for TVGOS (TV Guide).

Does this mean sub-channels (e.g., 17.4, 9.2) will be TV Guides?

When is this expected to happen?

It is already the case. WNED and CFTO have been doing this for a long time on their analogue carriers, and WNED is already transmitting the guide. I believe wned is using 17-2, but it does not require a dedicated sub-channel.

To simplify things a bit - the main channel is usually the carrier - it used the same part of the data stream as Close Captioning.

Stu

WNED has been and is currently providing data on both analog and digital.
Since Lin TV (WIVB's owner, being the CBS affilate) refused to partipate in the TVGOS program, WNED aggreeded to continue to be the 'Host' for WNY. They started transmitting data on 43.2 at the end of January.

Next week, I will know for sure if all is well when analog 17 goes dark.

(Perhaps a silly question?)...

When a local TV station switches off their analog transmitter and if in the event they vacate their current "pre-transitional" dtv station to a new "post-transitional" dtv station, are there a lot of costs accosiated? Basically what I'm asking, is, for example when CFTO-DT (CTV Toronto) shuts off analog channel 9, they are set to move from digital channel 40 to digital channel 9. Do they have to get an entire new set of broadcasting equipment?

My guess is that it would depend on what kind of transmitter they have and how old it is.
Old TV transmitters used big tubes. They had separate tubes to amplify the Aural and Visual carriers separately. Even older than that, they used to use separate antennas for aural and visual. In the 70's, antennas became wide band. In the late 80's, VHF transmitters went to solid state, later, in the early 90's, UHF transmitters went to solid state amplifiers. The early versions of these still used separate amplifiers for aural and visual. If that is the case, they would definately not be suitable for digital transmission. ATSC requires a flat frequency response accross the 6 MHz band.
So, if the transmitter is fairly new, and already has a wide bandwidth, then all you need to do is replace the exciter, or input section, with an ATSC version. Most Transmitters made after about 2001 would be easily upgradable. That probably would have been a selling point the manufacturer would have used.
On the other hand, TV transmitters were made to run 25-30 years. A lot of the major market stations sold their old transmitters to rural markets. Specifically, a lot of the independent religious stations still use old tube transmitters, they bought them cheap from major stations and scavenge old parts wherever they find them. For those guys to change to ASTC is a really big step for most of them.
CFTO probably could use the channel 9 transmitter and antenna, with a new input section. And since there is CKXT going to ch.40, I'd guess they've already got the transitional transmitter sold.
P.S. Tansmission equipment is very expensive, as is most broadcast equipment, because its a much smaller market than consumer electronics. There is no mass production, so it's a lot harder to make. Back when I used to install transmitters, I remember doing a couple that were one of a kind.

Thanks for that explanation Tom.F.1. So I guess it depends on the situation. I guess I was under the impression that perhaps the reason a lot of stations have not started simulcasting in digital is because they don't want to purchase the equipment, then purchase a bunch of new equipment in 2011.

I guess I was under the impression that perhaps the reason a lot of stations have not started simulcasting in digital is because they don't want to purchase the equipment, then purchase a bunch of new equipment in 2011.

It depends on the station's situation, but that is often true. In other cases they are putting off the expenses to both give them more time to raise the money and wait for the cost of some of the equipment to go down. This is especially true with the encoders which are still getting better and cheaper. Also, after the analog shutdown for full power stations in the US is finished and the initial rush of LPTV and Class A stations migrating to DTV has passed, equipment prices will likely drop even further.

Just put up my tower today to complete my system. I'm using a Winegard YA1713, for VHF high and a PR8800 UHF antenna's, with a CM7777 pre-amp, with rotor. All seems to be working well and I am ready for June 12th. What have the rest of you recently done, to get OTA digital ready?

i was ready 3 years ago..... :)

i can't wait for it to get here... i'm getting too much interference from distant signals (for example, WJW-DT on 31 is blocking WPXD-DT on 31). once that day passes, the RF spectrum will be FAR clearer...

I was an "Early adopter" of HD technology ... way back 5 years now in 2004. It was really cool to watch the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in HD for the first time. Everyone was coming over to see my new HD set and watch the games.

Back in 1968 my father had the first color TV on our street.... same thing... everyone was coming over to see the super bowl in color!



Prince can you show us some photos... that's an interesting setup having the VHF High band antenna too... I'm now thinking I'll need a VHF high band antenna too since I'm all UHF only.

I have been enjoying FREE HD for 6 years, since my first Samsung 151 STB in 2003.

Didn't see a thread about this, so I thought that it would be a good topic for the U.S. digital changeover.

While I am on cable, I have tried OAT using an old set top UHF antenna. I can get several channels, but apparently none from Buffalo, so June 12 won't make much difference to me. Incidentally, I bought that antenna years ago to get Ch 23, when it was the 2nd PBS station. At that time I lived in a 14th floor apartment, overlooking the lake. My reception of Ch 23 was much better than anything on the cable. Where I am now I'm much further north and just above ground level, with some buildings in the way, so no Buffalo signals at all. :(

I was an "Early adopter" of HD technology ... way back 5 years now in 2004. It was really cool to watch the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in HD for the first time. Everyone was coming over to see my new HD set and watch the games.

Back in 1968 my father had the first color TV on our street.... same thing... everyone was coming over to see the super bowl in color!



Prince can you show us some photos... that's an interesting setup having the VHF High band antenna too... I'm now thinking I'll need a VHF high band antenna too since I'm all UHF only.
I'll make sure that I get a picture of the system for you, once the rain stops. We're experiencing heavy rains, here in eastern Ontario.

Anyway, I have been setup to receive digital signals for the last 7 years, but decided to add the tower and rotor, plus a better pre-amp. I recently had the antenna aray, with rotor, about 22 feet off the ground, on a pole. It is now about 35 feet in the air. I was kind of disappointed, because I wanted to play with it, but the heavy rains is making it difficult to reign in some of the stations in the 80 - 100 mile range right now.