[opendtv] Re: Martin: 15% of Stations Face Smaller DTV-Coverage Areas
- From: "Dale Kelly" <dalekelly@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:40:37 -0700
All of John and Don's remarks are valid, IMO.
However, my point was that the FCC, based upon its original allocation
planning, knew of coverage disparities from the very beginning.
One example: I attended a meeting at the FCC in the late 90s in which they
presented the transmission facility planning factors required for analog to
DTV replication. This original plan required 5000 KW UHF ERPs to replicate
DTV coverage of many VHF analog stations. I was astonished by the staff?s
lack of understanding regarding the unpractical nature, economically and
otherwise, of constructing and operating such massive facilities and I spent
a short time at that meeting explaining the issue. Later the max UHF DTV ERP
was scaled back to 1000KW but that action is responsible for a number of the
current replication problems.
The moral of this story is that you can?t have it both ways. While it is
theoretically possible to replicate VHF analog coverage using UHF, it is not
practical.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of John Shutt
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:24 AM
> To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [opendtv] Re: Martin: 15% of Stations Face Smaller DTV-Coverage
> Areas
>
>
> How much of this is due to co- or adjacent channel interference?
> How much
> is due to the predicted UHF equivalent coverage power level not
> replicating
> a low VHF station's NTSC pattern? How much is due to receiver front end
> desensitizing from a nearby high power UHF, preventing reception of a
> further UHF (a problem my station is already facing)? How much
> of this is
> due to the very large disparity in FCC authorized UHF power levels of
> different stations in the same market? Two VHF stations in our market are
> authorized 1 MW ERP, while the others are authorized in the
> neighborhood of
> 50KW ERP.
>
> What I never found out was are all of the Wilimgton stations on
> their final
> channels at final power, and are the stations in adjacent markets also on
> final frequencies? Three stations in our market are out-of-core,
> and as a
> result we're not sure what our final coverage will be when we
> light up for
> the first time on channel 40 on 18 Feb.
>
> John
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dale Kelly" <dalekelly@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> > Martin said that perhaps 15% of the nation's TV
> > stations might have carriage shrink "in a significant way,"
> similar to the
> > changes in WECT's coverage area.
> > He added that the effect of that changed contour was the key lesson
> > learned
> > from Wilmington. He said FCC engineers were working on
> identifying all of
> > those markets -- he said it would take a few weeks -- and the FCC would
> > address remedies on a case-by-case basis, calling it the "highest
> > priority"
> > for the commission. Subcommittee chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
> told Martin
> > the issue needed resolving "very soon," at least by
> communicating the fact
> > to viewers who might lose their signals do to coverage-area changes.
> >
> > Broadcasting & Cable
> >
> >
>
>
>
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