Another thread, "hd antenna article" (read it!), brought this issue to mind.

I see that the manufacturer referred to in that articla has an antenna that receives VHF for those markets with VHF digital stations.

I have heard that the VHF channels will not be used for television once all TV stations have fully converted to digital.

Is this true? What does this do to the digital stations now using VHF; will they have to change frequencies and deal with possible loss of business from "change of address" issues? Should we be installing antennas with VHF sections because the VHF range might someday be used for digital in our areas?

I am in the Los Angeles market where all of the digital stations are UHF, but if VHF exists in one area, it must be able to exist in another, so what happens in another market will affect what we should be installing. I really don't want to have to go back to a customer for whom I mounted a bowtie antenna against a wall, and have to mount a log periodic...where there is no good location for it because we designed for a bowtie.

The receiver manufacturers have to know what to make, and they won't want to make a few receivers for a few markets having VHF. That means all markets will have the same list of channels to license, and if any VHF remains, it must be available everywhere.

What have you heard?

I believe that some DMAs will be VHF while others (most) will be UHF. Moreover, I believe that markets that are UHF will only containt UHF and markets with VHF will only contain VHF (of course, both may pick up other outside DMAs and their digital stations on the other band)...