Before I go on into some things Scotty was asking I just wanted to let everyone know that WQEX-DT is back up and sending full PSIP data and you should be able to scan it in. Yep, I know it is home shopping, but it is another channel and makes good background noise. For some reason when I'm so sick I can't get out of bed or confined to the couch I'll watch this stuff as it is something that doesn't need concentration.
What I am also excited about is that WQEX is licensed with 50Kw and it booms in down here with an 89. Ok, so what? Well the new FCC rules for LPTV and Class-A TV is that those stations may use upto 30Kw. So if WQEX is at 50Kw I can expect to receive WBGN-LP and any other LPTV/Class-A stations transmitting at 30Kw from the WQEX/WQED tower and points west at probably an 85 or above. BTW I already receive WNEU (ch.63) which transmits in analog from Green Tree Hill.
Now on to Scotty's questions.
Scotty said:
where do you get this info? Is it freely available on the web? Is there an easily digestible writeup (like yours!) out there, or do I have to wade through dozens of FCC docs to get up to date on this tech? Where is the 2-6 debate raging? Do you think they will make the tv band 7-51? What every happened to channel 1? Why don't they just renumber the frequencies from 1-50?
Most of the time I get my information from the broadcasting trade papers. I don't remember if I had mentioned that I own broadcast stations so I get the pubs free, they cost an arm and a leg for everyone else. You can see our Wheeling station at
http://wvjw.info I also confirm things with FCC documents. You can find infromation from weeding through the FCC, but most of it is rather technical and not easily digestable by the general public.
The 2-6 debate is raging on several FCC dockets. Sometimes keeping up with them all is difficult. I'm a party to a FCC docket requesting 82.1-87.9 MHz (channel 6) to be allocated to FM Broadcasting. There are other dockets requesting 2-5 to be allocated to public services (IE: Police, Fire, etc...)
Do I think the TV band will be 7-51? I would say the possibility is very high.
From what I have seen very few stations want to operate digital on ch.2-6. WTAE's channel choice was posted the other day and they chose 51!!!!
So what happened to ch.1? Urban legend says it was deleted so that no station could say they were #1, but of couse that is legend and there is no truth in it. The TV and FM bands have moved around a couple times. KDKA was once on ch.3 and when the TV Band was shifted again it was on ch.2. When ch.1 existed it was on 48-54MHz (right above today's ch.2). This is very close to the beginning of the shortwave bands (actually today's ch2-6 have some shortwave propogation properties). When FM Radio was developed 48-54MHz was removed from TV service and the FM Broadcasting band was 47-52MHz. The propogation of this band proved unsuitable and the FM band was shifted to 88.1-107.9 and the frequencies 48-54MHz were allocated to amateur radio.
Why weren't the channels renumbered starting with 1. Well technically there still is a ch.1 it is allocated for amateur radio. There is something that most in the general public do not know. Nearly all frequencies under FCC jurisdiction have channel numbers. For instance our station is 94.1 FM however 94.1 is just our center frequency the station is allocated to use 94.0-94.3MHz and 94.0-94.3 is Ch.231
Why not re-number the channels as 1-50, well it's kind of like why bother shifting channel numbers by 1 and creating confusion (that's just my opinion). I'm sure if the band becomes 7-51 there will be some kind of renumbering.
I just want to see something consistent. It's a no brainer when there are two subs, HD, and SD. Just take the station 4 letter call sign and add -HD or -SD. In the case of a station that decides not to use substations, let it just be -HD. Some stations choosing to use -DT, and other use -HD, and others like WPXI choosing not to append, makes it all pretty inconsistent. I guess it's not the most important thing in the world, but consistency is good.
Think of it this way. This is the government we are dealing with when have they ever been consistent
I thought someone mentioned it all had to do with an problem probelm with canada. Seems its more than just that. I sure hope they solve it soon.
Yes, there is a lot more than just a problem with Canada. This is what I think will happen. There will be 3 channel election rounds. The first election round period has completed. Those stations choosing their permanent channel do not get to choose in the remaing rounds.
Stations who have either their analog or digital outside the new TV band, those stations where both their analog and digital are outside the new TV band, or stations that have a digital or analog operation on ch.2-6 could delay their choice and choose to wait till round 2 and choose a different channel that another station could have used. For example WNPA basically is waiting for round 2 to pick a channel. The channels available for choosing would be 11, 16, 19, 22, 26, and 40 as stations operating on these channels chose not to use those channels.
What we do know is that Viacom wants WNPA to be closer to Pittsburgh (actually they want the transmitter between WQED and WPCB), but it can't use ch.19 to get there since ch.19 is allocated to Cleveland and the stations would be too close together. If I owned WNPA I would take ch.11 since WPXI doesn't want it, but what I really think it will choose is ch.26. Why? WQEX is already operating on Ch.26 which is adjacent to KDKA-25, and they can probably buy the used equipment for ch.26 from WQED on the cheap.
