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OTA Station Status: Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham WA

184K views 869 replies 104 participants last post by  keithr386 
#1 ·
I asked KVOS Bellingham's general manager and engineering staff about their progress towards DTV (they're running DTV on UHF 35 remapped to 12.1 in a lab bench sort of system for now) and received this reply:

Dear Jon,

KVOS is only able to operate in DT with a low power (1KW) transmitter
from Bellingham at the present time. Though some people in White Rock
may be able to receive our signal, I doubt that you would be able to
receive our signal in Delta on Ch.35 based on the location of our
antenna and the low power.

We hope to have our new transmitter and more importantly, our new
antenna operational by mid-Summer '06. With that new transmitter, we
will be providing a robust signal from the top of Mt. Constitution on
Channel 35. (We have not been able to make the full transition due to
tower location difficulties. We hope to have a new tower build by the
end of next Spring--but regulatory officials still have to grant
approvals for us to build the tower.)

We will eventually migrate back to Channel 12 DT once the cut off period
has been declared by the FCC sometime after 2006.

Should you have any further questions, I encourage you to contact John
Franz, our Chief Engineer.

Dave Reid
Pres/GM
KVOS TV
They're still on VHF 12 for now.
 
#372 ·
Why summer's end? Just a guess? That contour was a best guess from Stampeder re the K60GV-D application. From what I can tell, there is an LD station NE of Everett/ accompanied by a translator on Orcas for that station related to that application, a digital flash cut approved as of April 26, 2010, expiring end of March, 2011. I'd hazard a guess that it could happen anytime, although Stampeder is probably best suited to decipher all those applications!
 
#377 ·
Here is the info on KBCB...

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the call. The translator on Mt. Constitution actually gets KBTC’s signal off the air. We have a UHF receiving antenna 150 feet up the tower that picks up KBTC-DT’s digital transport stream on channel 27, then what we do is run that digital transport stream into the channel 24 transmitter and re-broadcast it. 99% of the time this works very well because we get great signal up there.

You saw break-ups last night because the windstorm was blowing around the UHF antenna on the tower and disrupting the OTA reception of KBTC’s main digital signal on channel 27at the transmitter site. Normally this isn’t a problem; windstorms like we saw last night are not a frequent event. Although we are looking at the possibility of getting a fiber feed of KBTC’s transport stream to the transmitter and that would provide stable signal even during a windstorm.

KBCB is off the air because the windstorm knocked out power to the transmitter site. The PBS translator is still on the air because there is a small back-up generator at the transmitter site. The generator is big enough to keep the 200 watt LPTV signal on the air, but it can’t handle keeping the 5kW KBCB signal on the air.


P.S. Thanks for letting me know yesterday about the status of CBUT’s signal.
 
#383 ·
K24IC-D is the KBTC Repeater's Call Sign

Just a request to everyone to help keep the station call signs straight regarding KBTC and its repeater near Bellingham:
  • the transmitter on Mt. Constitution near Bellingham is K24IC-D so let's keep using that name to refer to it regarding status and technical matters
  • K24IC-D is a privately owned, independent low power digital station not affiliated with KBTC
  • the programming on those repeated channels originates from KBTC at Bates Technical College in Tacoma
  • KBTC is affiliated with the PBS and MHz networks
  • if KBTC Tacoma's own status changes or technical issues arise there at the originating site then KBTC is the name to use
Cheers :)

If you're wondering how a lower power digital station can do this sort of repeater arrangement, here is a good explanation of those U.S. regulations.
 
#391 ·
K24IC-D query

Anyone with an interior antenna managed to pick up K24IC-D? I've moved mine all around the house, and found a position where I will pick up KBCB 19.1 at 80% and KVOS-DT 35.1 at 100% on my Samsung TV (strongest it's ever been), but still no luck with K24IC-D.
 
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