Re: OT local TV channels

Posted by AG in IN on October 27, 2013 at 06:23:01 from (67.236.88.212):

In Reply to: OT local TV channels posted by Heyseed on October 27, 2013 at 01:01:58:

Like others have said, older TV's need a converter, newer ones don't. It was only a few years ago that the FCC mandated all tv's have a digital tuner, but digital tuners were available long before that. Tuners in early digital tv's were not very good, and many converter boxes have better tuners than early-gen. digital tv's. Many converter boxes had other quality issues, though.

Analog TV stations are still on the air in many markets in the USA. All are low-power, some are translators/repeaters of full power stations for rural, isolated, or terrain-challenged areas. Some are in the process of converting to digital (or coming up with the money to do so), and some never will, and will eventually go off the air. Last I read the FCC proposed a date in 2015 for the final, final end of all analog tv broadcasts in the USA. There may not be a thing you want to watch on any analog station still broadcasting in the USA, but they still exist.

The same "blocks" of frequency are used for digital broadcasting that were used for analog. Channels 52 and up are gone forever. 2-51 are left--2-6 are low-band VHF, 7-13 are high-band VHF, and 14-51 are UHF--and nobody in the USA uses 37 for tv. FCC wants channel 51 back now too, because they fudged-up and didn't create a guard band between tv and the services they sold channels 52 and up off to, and, according to the FCC, channel 51 interferes, or will potentially interfere with those services in the markets where channel 51 is used (they're not worried about the other services interfering with tv).

Be aware of "virtual channels" and actual channels. When stations had a digital signal and an analog signal at the same time, they both couldn't operate on the same frequencies. Some stations have returned to their original allotment they had for analog, some didn't, and some couldn't, because of 52 and up being deleted, and some still are trying to move around. Some stations that had VHF allotments before are UHF now and vice-versa. A station that still calls itself "4" could be, and likely is elsewhere. Any station that uses 52 and up as it's number is guaranteed to be elsewhere. Different antennas are needed for different frequencies.

Good websites:

RabbitEars: http://rabbitears.info/ Lots of good information. Longley-Rice maps provide good estimates of how far signal can travel based on terrain, etc.. Great information on digital subchannels and the actual/virtual channels. Information on stations that have went off the air/shouldn't still be broadcasting (deleted allotments) as well.

TvFool: http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 Good info here as well.



AVS Forum: http://www.avsforum.com/f/ As YT is to old tractors, AVS is to TV's and electronics.

AG

This post was edited by AG in IN at 06:30:02 10/27/13.

Replies:

• Re: OT local TV channels Dachshund 06:56:38 10/27/13 (0)

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