Could someone refresh me on how the goverment will gain extra frequencies to be used for other forms of communication by Broadcast tv switching from NTSC to ATSC?

Is it because the channel frquencies will be packed tighter "bandwidth wise" by going digital and this will free up some available frequencies?

-Don B

The VHF frequencies for channels 2-7 (not sure about 7, somewhere around there) will be given back to the govt, which they will sell or use themselves. Mostly they are planned to be sold for broadband use. Telephone wires may become a thing of the past in the next decade, for instance.

This may also apply to UHF frequencies above a certain point, channel 50 or something. Not sure, but those won't be available to TV stations anymore, so something is happening with them.

Spikey,

Are they moving stations to UHF that were previously on VHF channels that are being given back to the goverment?

I guess what concerns me is that I hate to think that there are not enough UHF frequencies left for future expansion of additional ATSC HD channels since we are losing frequencies to broadband use.

Of course if everyone has Satellite or cable it is a moot point.

-Don B

Yes. Ex: In Mpls there are channels 2, 4, 5 that are in this range. They are tentatively set to be on 34, 32, 35 after analog goes dead. Right now the digital channels are on 34, 32, 50.

You don't see the UHF channel numbers now because of the PSIP information. Using channel 2 above as an example....my HD receiver gets channel 34, but the PSIP says to call it 2-1, so that is what I see in the channel guide. This will most likely stay this way forever so channel 2 never gets called 34, but I'm sure each station will decide that for themselves.

Not all stations are leaving VHF, so it would be impossible to sell off that space. At minimum hi-VHF is sticking around.

The current plan that is proposed by the FCC is that the broadcast channels will be from channels 7 to 51. The current VHF stations that are on 2-6 will have to relocate to different channels. All stations that are currently broadcasting a digital channel will have the option to stay at their current digital channel except for the ones that are broadcasting on channels 2-6 and channels above 51.

Some stations have announced that they will stay at the present digital channel while others have stated that they will switch their digital signals to their old VHF allocated channel or move to a more favorable UHF frequency.

Hope this helps,

Dave

What I found very interesting is that a somewhat local station broadcasting 4900kw analog on channel 49 and 0.65kw digital on channel 34 due to a conflict with a future Canadian station's assignment, was *denied* their option to return digital to 49 when analog is shut off.

As an alternative they've now opted to install a highly directional antenna broadcasting 34 at 175kw in a different location (ironically much closer to the conflicting station). But 175kw is quite a bit shy of 4900kw.

I'd love to know the real reason why this happened.

well being that WNYO is so directional, it probably wont make it to Toronto or anywhere near where CHEX will broadcast...

Daniel,
which of those stations are Canadian? Is Canada also in some mandated mad dash to drop analog?

None of the currently operating stations are Canadian... and the conflicting ones, which are, don't exist yet.

No, there's absolutely no mandated deadline in Canada to drop analog. It's being run as a "market driven" transition. Actual broadcast HDTV is only available from a few stations in a few cities at any rate. Most other Canadians get their HDTV from cable or satellite, where all the national networks (plus a few minor ones) are already providing HDTV content.

So if I am reading this correctly the stations that use to be on the lower VHF band are relocating to available UHF channels.

There are the same number of UHF channels now as there were 20 years ago - correct? So in effect all digital stations are getting packed closer together on the UHF band as well as maybe the high end of VHF. This will free up the lower VHF bands for other uses by the Goverment.

So.. over all in the future there will be less available bands for future tv stations to bid on. Am I correct on this.

Also I think that the lower VHF bands are really not the premium choices for digital broadcasting so maybe it does not much matter that future prospective stations lose a few choices.

-Don B

The UHF band will go from 14-69 to 14-51. The VHF band will go from 2-13 to 7-13.

Yes there will be less channels, 45, then there were before, 69, but there can now be more channels. That is because with digital channels can be adjacent or next to other digital channels.

With analog broadcasts channels, that are nearby, there would always be separated by an unused channel. This would prevent one channel from interfering with another. Currently with digital channels there is no buffer channels. In my area, Washington DC/Baltimore we have digital channels on 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, and 40.

I am not sure if adjacent channels will be used on the VHF band but currently they are allowed on the UHF band.

Hope this helps,

Dave T

Well, that's not completely true. We have had channels 4 and 5 here in Mpls for decades.

There's actually a reason for that - there's a 4 Mhz gap between channels 4 and 5 used by radio control transmitters.

Thanks everyone , I have learned a lot from all the responses.
I myself would love to see all the bands packed full with various HD broadcasts but I am sure I am a dreamer as broad cast towers are not inexpensive and getting a license is not a simple task.

Last time I looked all available band licenses were on hold and a low power digital xmitter was at least $100k.

But it would be cool to be able to view a assortment of OTA HD and digital channels rivaling what is avaliable from cable/satellite.

One band could devote itself to just rebroadcasting cable stations that really don't need to be HD quality just Digital quality. I think that at least 4 digital quality cable channels could be broadcast this way. Of course I am clueless how revenue could be generated. And before you mention it I am aware of the scrambled enterprise in the midwest that was buying bandwidth from existing towers and scrambling the broadcast requiring a unique HD receiver available at Walmart.

Daniel,

Interesting about the RC band as I never was very good at flying model airplanes.

-Don B