Yeah I'm real thrilled that 7.1 (real channel 56) moved to (real channel 7). Ever since this changed my signal strength for that station dropped by 30%. Good thing the station is only 9.6 miles away but I did notice my rate of drop off have increased.

Any idea at what distance to place the narod reflectors for real channel 7? I was thinking of trying to place them on the other side of the antenna from the narod reflectors I'm using for real channel 9 & 10 since channel 7 is 180 deg off from those 2 channels.

Well, it looks like most of my stations transistioned between 2 and 4 pm. (only one hasnt as of 9:30pm, the Spanish Telemondo Channel, real channel 66, even though their new assigned real channel 29 has been open since 4 pm)
I thought the timing to be weird, (I thought 12:01 am or 11:59 pm would be more logical) until I thought about it from the stations point of view. Between 2 and 4 pm, they have the whole crew on board and everyones had their coffee. Because its Friday and if they screw it up, theyll have to work overtime, cutting into their weekend. Powerful incentive to get it right, heh.

Any idea at what distance to place the narod reflectors for real channel 7? I was thinking of trying to place them on the other side of the antenna from the narod reflectors I'm using for real channel 9 & 10 since channel 7 is 180 deg off from those 2 channels.
That wont do it. How strong is real channel 10 ? If its strong, build the channel 7-9 NAROD model. Or also, if 7, 9 and 10 are strong and 7 is 180 degrees from 9 and 10, try removing the NAROD reflector. Without the NAROD reflector, vhf-hi is still better than twice rabbitt ears.

Well, it seems DTV boxes are selling out at Best Buy stores all over the West Coast, maybe the rest of the US too. If you can't find one at your BB, this is why.

KXTV 10 Sacramento (www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=61079) Also contains videos on DTV.

Not sure if this should go here. Anyway, found an interesting nightlight slide. This is from KMAX CW31 Sacto. Cropped from HDTV.

http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/art7220/KMAX31Crop.jpg

Great morning show, BTW. I catch it sometimes.

The transition in Rochester went smoothly and I added 4 new channels thanks to Ion. The relocation of stations to the VHF band resulted in no changes in signal strength(they were already fine) and are able to be picked up with an UHF antenna, so no need for new antenna(unless my ship comes in). I get a total of 13 digital and one low power analog now. I was shocked to read today that Watertown, NY had all but one station terminate analog broadcasts in February. Nothing like a little concern for your customers health.

I'm hoping for a smooth transition for all of you across the lake.

The transition in Rochester went smoothly and I added 4 new channels thanks to Ion. The relocation of stations to the VHF band resulted in no changes in signal strength(they were already fine) and are able to be picked up with an UHF antenna, so no need for new antenna(unless my ship comes in). I get a total of 13 digital and one low power analog now. I was shocked to read today that Watertown, NY had all but one station terminate analog broadcasts in February. Nothing like a little concern for your customers health.

I'm hoping for a smooth transition for all of you across the lake.
Watertown only has 3 high powered stations. WWNY went on February 17th, with their FOX subchannel WNYF, WPBS and it's two subchannels went in Mid April and WWTI with it's CW subchannel waited until June 12th. WNYF is supposed to go HD, on channel 35, very soon.

Three of our DTV stations changed RF carrier channels and also effective radiated power (ERP) levels:

WFAA Chs 8.1-8.3 went from VHF carrier 9 @ 18.6kW to VHF carrier 8 @ ERP of 26.8kW. I was seeing a 60% signal strength from this station; now it is at 100%. I have had trouble with this station on both my Samsung DLP and my home built HTPC with pixelization and failure to record due to a weak signal with me only 34 miles from the transmitter and it is a LOS type reception for me! Hopefully it is better now. They are petitioning the FCC for an ERP of 45kW.

KFWD Ch 52.1 went from UHF carrier 51 @ ERP of 375kW to VHF carrier 9 at ERP of18.6kW. (used same ch 9 transmitter WFAA was using) and now only comes in at 60% signal strength compared to 100% when it was on carrier ch 51. Good news is they are petitioning the FCC for an ERP of 55kW.

KTVT Ch 11.1 went from UHF carrier 19 @ ERP of 695kW to VHF carrier 11 @ ERP of 23kW!! Interestingly, these guys may have figured it out as they are petitioning the FCC for an ERP of 122.6kW!

IMHO, what the FCC should have allowed was for them to just halve their original max power and there probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal reception wise!

Ch 2-6: 50kW

Ch 7-13: 158kW

Ch 14-51: 2500kW (2.5MW)

HTH

Mike

Here's something interesting, there are now "DTV help centers" running in US shopping malls now. If you need help connecting your converter box or a Q about antennas, they should be able to help. Malls in US Border cities should have this. The ones in my area run till the 21st.

Watertown only has 3 high powered stations. WWNY went on February 17th, with their FOX subchannel WNYF, WPBS and it's two subchannels went in Mid April and WWTI with it's CW subchannel waited until June 12th. WNYF is supposed to go HD, on channel 35, very soon.
More news on WNYF out of Watertown, NY. Received an E Mail from the station manager, telling me that the HD version will not be available until late July, early August. It will be a low power station, so it will be difficult to receive, north of the border. They will also be upgrading thei Messina, NY, repeater to do HD during the same timeframe.

More news on WNYF out of Watertown, NY. Received an E Mail from the station manager, telling me that the HD version will not be available until late July, early August. It will be a low power station, so it will be difficult to receive, north of the border. They will also be upgrading thei Messina, NY, repeater to do HD during the same timeframe.

This is slightly different from what Jim Corbin said yesterday in the WWNY/WNYF DTV Transition blog. There he says WNYF-CA will start broadcasting digitally this summer, but they are still exploring sites/frequencies etc for WNYF-LP in Massena and are unsure when that will happen.

Youtube has a ton of video captures of Analogue TV station signoffs from across the USA, such as this one:

2CMeg54auVY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CMeg54auVY

wow, that brought a tear to my eye ;)

and got a chuckle on some other clips... the one where a guy is filming his handheld TV (probably now a piece of junk without an ATSC tuner).

One station (I think WFAA in Dallas), ran their 70s reel from when they actually used to turn off the trasnmitter at the end of the broadcast day. It is on Youtue.

Youtube has a ton of video captures of Analogue TV station signoffs from across the USA, such as this one:


I've been checking them out! I was watching a few of those videos a couple months ago after some stations opted to shut down analog back in February. :)

WFAA in Dallas did do that and they had several of their retired Engineers there when the switch occured.

In Atlanta, the other market I am very familar with, WSB had Ray Moore (long time anchor on WSB channel 2-retired, and Don Mclelland (long time reporter semi-retired) flip the breaker to the analog transmitter off. I remember both of these folks from my childhood and I am 48 yrs old!

Mike

DFW Channel 11.1 is going away from their old VHF-Hi channel 11 frequency that they switched over to on June 12th and back to a UHF carrier!

http://cbs11tv.com/press/digital.signal.strength.2.1102966.html

Check out this application for a "low power" 100kw DTV station in the the Florida Keys. The ranting in the comments section is hilarious!

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101330470&formid=346&fac_num=182546

Anyone that can work a quote from Buckminster Fuller into an FCC application is ok in my books! :rolleyes:

Like so many other things, anyone can apply, but getting one is something else again.

Looks like she had one going for a bit after Hurricane William.

Interesting the reasons she is applying. Doesn't sound much different than what is going on this side of the border.