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1340-1971
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Posted: Wed Jan 14th, 2009 11:18 am |
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| Looking for thoughts and opinions on the change to digital. Are Ozarks stations and viewers ready to send and receive? Looks like KOLR 10 will make the change ahead of schedule. Is that a good thing to do for them? Is President Elect Obama correct in asking for a delay in implementation?
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XGM
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Posted: Wed Jan 14th, 2009 11:52 am |
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I'm on cable so I'm ready is suppose...but you never know for sure about mediacom.
Just hope I don't have to call them...that's an experience you won't forget...it takes about an hour to get to a real live person after tons of "push one for this and two for that",etc. and oh yes, "your call is very important to us"...HA!
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TheColonel
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Posted: Thu Jan 15th, 2009 01:27 am |
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| At this late date, extending the date will only add to the already confused world. I just attended (today) a public meeting, attended by an FCC Rep, the mostly older crowd had many questions, but got few definitive answers. The Rep used an indoor VHF/UHF amplified antenna for demo purposes. It didn't work. Why promote such an antenna for the all UHF St. Louis Market at 45-50 miles from the nearest TV tower? Some participants brought their TV instruction manuals asking whether or not it would work for DTV without a converter. Much of the meeting was simply devoted to discussing the handout materials. Specifics questions about fringe area rooftop antennas went unanswered. The meeting last one hour. Similar meetings will be held around the country. All of the hype on radio, TV and newspapers apparently had little impact on this crowd. There is still a lot of confusion as to the difference between DTV and HDTV. Let's pull the plug on February 17 and get the show on the road.
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1340-1971
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Posted: Thu Jan 15th, 2009 12:34 pm |
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| For those with outside antenna or rabbit ears, the days of setting up a VCR (VHS) to record a program on a certain date at a certain time will be gone once the change takes place. Users will be able to only record the program that is on the screen at the time. The converter box hook-up through the VCR and then to the TV will also add to the confusion, especially for the older folks. I do like the ads that suggest helping elderly with the hook-up.
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TheColonel
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Posted: Thu Jan 15th, 2009 09:48 pm |
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| Its been suggested that amateur radio operators, ham operators, high school techies and those similarly inclined volunteer to help the seniors and others who are experiencing problems. Would be nice to hear that radio clubs (if they still exist) throughout Missouri hold up their hands and say "I want to Help". Why rely solely on Uncle Sam?
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AdamWest
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 01:38 am |
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My own experience helping the elderly with DTV...
Grandma in NE OK...bought the converter box. I made a trip to hook it up and it's similar to a VCR or cable box. Signal was bad so I worked the outside antenna for a couple hours (just like the old days when dad would goof the rabbit ears from behind the set and ask how it looks now). I thought to replace a thin coax and the signal improved. I then replaced all coax with more improvement. I replaced the outside antenna and all is well. Total time was about 6 hours and $130 for coax and antenna with grandma providing homemade kolache.
I think many elderly will have problems with this transition and some of them will be with coax and antenna which does not seem to be talked about very much.
Maybe a short term gig is working conversion issues?
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Gregg Richwine
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 02:23 am |
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| Lotsa antenna confusion. We've had viewers ask about UHF-only antennas, good in Des Moines for DTV but not after the analog shutoff, when all Des Moines analog VHF stations fall back to their old analog channels for DTV (including WOI channel 5...they're crazy!) Some callers can't get one station reliably...had an old all-band Yagi with broken elements. Others would lose signal several times during the day...they live right next to the airport...can't help them! We're telling people to get good all-band antennas, RG-6, watch for signal overload and install pads if needed, and the need to rescan when the change occurs.
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Buddy Dornster
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 02:47 am |
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Antenna and lead-in seem to be the biggest problems. Some friends even still have twin lead coming down their tower.
Signal overload is a big concern, and pretty hard to detect. Unless your set or box has an indicator, the only way to tell is to turn your antenna AWAY from the center path, to see if you can acquire. Padding will need a meter to set the right amount.
Is THIS what the FCC foresaw in 1988?
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Kent Clark
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 03:13 am |
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WOI-TV and its owners have never been considered particularly smart, or so I've heard. They really didn't have much of a choice but to go back to 5. They had a high UHF allotment at either 58 or 59, which is out of core and not much better for DTV than 5 (DTV reception moves on somewhat of a bell curve). They could have asked the FCC to assign them the "best available channel," but that's not a guarantee. Plenty of operators have found themselves with allotments as bad as they would have got had they kept their original channels.
KCWX in San Antonio fits this category. They were on 2 and wanted 8 for their digital channel. They allowed the FCC to give them the best available channel if they couldn't get 8. They couldn't get 8 because KTBC decided to go back to 7, and KLRN, which was DT-8, decided to go back to 9. They couldn't locate their transmitter in the right spot since their COL was Fredricksburg. So, they got stuck with DT-5.
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1340-1971
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 04:42 am |
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| I've been told but haven't confirmed that Roy Blunt has issued a statement to the effect of Republicans not wanting to delay implementation in part because of national security concerns. I think it has more to do with fat wallets wanting to grab some of the spectrum asap. Last edited on Fri Jan 16th, 2009 04:45 am by 1340-1971
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Gregg Richwine
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 01:39 pm |
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Kent Clark wrote: WOI-TV and its owners have never been considered particularly smart, or so I've heard. They really didn't have much of a choice but to go back to 5. They had a high UHF allotment at either 58 or 59, which is out of core and not much better for DTV than 5 ... We would have gladly handed them the keys to our Channel 19 setup post-conversion. Instead, their choice was for the lure of solid-state transmitters and a tiny power bill (8, 11,and 13 are doing the same thing, but hey, we're high-band!) The power bill issue is huge for them, but a LOT of people I know have trouble getting 5 analog cleanly...I can only assume a 5 digital is going to be more trouble, especially in the urban areas with the really small ERP they have been given (their analog ERP is 100kw, digital ERP is 11.5 kw.)
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Gregg Richwine
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 01:48 pm |
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1340-1971 wrote: I've been told but haven't confirmed that Roy Blunt has issued a statement to the effect of Republicans not wanting to delay implementation in part because of national security concerns. I think it has more to do with fat wallets wanting to grab some of the spectrum asap.
There's a lot of stations that did not budget the power costs of running analog and digital later this year, assuming we finally had a firm cutover date. Some of you folks know how many kilobucks a month it takes to feed a UHF transmitter. At this moment in Des Moines, 5 digital is operating half-power because a tube trolley burned up. Channel 8's digital was running 25% because of a line burnup just below the antenna. Not much fiscal sense in fixing these problems with only a month left (we hope). Many stations are band-aiding their 30-40 year old analog boxes with no parts support trying to keep them going until the changeover.
A delay in the conversion will drive some stations into bankruptcy and cost people jobs.
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1340-1971
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 02:58 pm |
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| Great point Gregg. I agree, however there are still many entities out there who are chomping at the bit to get their hands on some bandwidth. They won't have to shell out nearly as much a month as stations are having to do, but the spectrum is very attractive to commercial interests these days.
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Kent Clark
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Posted: Fri Jan 16th, 2009 05:56 pm |
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Gregg Richwine wrote: We would have gladly handed them the keys to our Channel 19 setup post-conversion. Instead, their choice was for the lure of solid-state transmitters and a tiny power bill (8, 11,and 13 are doing the same thing, but hey, we're high-band!) The power bill issue is huge for them, but a LOT of people I know have trouble getting 5 analog cleanly...I can only assume a 5 digital is going to be more trouble, especially in the urban areas with the really small ERP they have been given (their analog ERP is 100kw, digital ERP is 11.5 kw.)
It's not just the power bill. I'm sure being able to use an air-cooled transmitter as opposed to the water-cooled transmitters UHF generally require played a big factor, too. I've been told some longtime engineers at VHF stations really hate those water-cooled transmitters.
When you look at the FCC's estimates for WOI-TV, it shows a significant improvement in digital at 5 versus what it's presently running on analog. However, I believe the FCC also assumes an antenna optimized for channel 5 at 30 feet off the ground. I doubt you'll see very many people getting either of those. I understand an antenna optimized for DT-2 would have to be 9 feet long, and one optimized for DT-5 would have to be gargantuan as well even if not quite that big.
Also, has WOI-TV filed to optimize yet? I've been told filing for optimization isn't a requirement yet, and that could make a significant difference. WMC-TV in Memphis will be going to 34.5 kw, which may make a difference though the jury is still out. I remember an engineer talking about how low VHF would work very well if it was operating at higher power. His calculations concluded 100 kw at DT-2 would be excellent. We'll have to wait and see if his theory ever gets tested.
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TheColonel
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Posted: Sat Jan 17th, 2009 02:46 am |
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| As I said before on this post, I do not favor an extension of the cutoff date no matter what excuses are be floated by the politicians. Has anyone asked the question why millions who ordered and got coupons never used them? There never should have been a 90 day redemption window. I understand that those who didn't use their coupons are not eligible for additional ones. TV stations will suffer the most if an extension is approved even if it is for only six months. As previously stated, the expense of maintaining duo transmitters is high. One has to wonder what would cause a low band VHF station to remain on the low band. The potential problems there are huge particularly with DTV signals. One of the major antenna manufacturers, Channel Master, has just come out with a high band/UHF antenna that is selling well in some markets. They are considering abandoning low band antennas altogether. Stay tuned.
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