We have known for some time that KIMT-DT (CBS. Mason City, IA) has been operating at 200KW and had paperwork approved by the FCC to increase that to 800KW.
As of later Tuesday (3/10/09), reports began to surface on the AVS Forum's Rochester, MN - HDTV thread of increased signal strength readings. This most likely means that they have increased their output power to 800kw. Hopefully, that will fill up most of KIMT's analog footprint.
In the Rochester market, all that's left is for KAAL their act together with digital channel 36 and for the analog channels 3, 6, 15 and 24 to shut off on June 12th. It would be nice if KTTC increased the output power, but don't hold your breath on that one.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
TV Tower Pictures
Matt asked me a while back, if I could get pictures up of the area Transmitter/Tower locations and I finally have time to get it done.
KTTC-DT-10 and KROC-FM share this tower near Ostrander, MN; used to be KTTC-TV-10, was converter to digital on February 17th, 2009:
(KTTC-10 is the top mounted red antenna, while KROC-FM antenna elements can be seen on the left side of the tower in the photo to the left)
KAAL-TV-6, KAAL-DT-33, and KAUS-FM share this tower West of Austin, MN
KXLT-TV (now off the air) KXLT-DT-46, KSMQ-DT-20, and DT-36 (was KTTC-DT-36 pre-transition, will be KAAL-DT-36 soon) share this tower near Grand Meadow, MN:
(KXLT-TV/DT are the top mounted antennas, while the DT-36 is tube that is half red/white, and KSMQ-DT-20 is the white antenna, lowest in the frame)
KIMT-DT and KYIN-DT share a tower just south of the Minnesota/Iowa border south of Adams, MN:
Author's notes:
(1) Anyone interested, can see high resolution copies of these pictures (and more) on my Photobucket listing: http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s129/gjvrieze/
(2) I left out the analog towers, since the end of analog is near or has already happen for most stations.
-Garrett
KTTC-DT-10 and KROC-FM share this tower near Ostrander, MN; used to be KTTC-TV-10, was converter to digital on February 17th, 2009:
(KTTC-10 is the top mounted red antenna, while KROC-FM antenna elements can be seen on the left side of the tower in the photo to the left)
KAAL-TV-6, KAAL-DT-33, and KAUS-FM share this tower West of Austin, MN
KXLT-TV (now off the air) KXLT-DT-46, KSMQ-DT-20, and DT-36 (was KTTC-DT-36 pre-transition, will be KAAL-DT-36 soon) share this tower near Grand Meadow, MN:
(KXLT-TV/DT are the top mounted antennas, while the DT-36 is tube that is half red/white, and KSMQ-DT-20 is the white antenna, lowest in the frame)
KIMT-DT and KYIN-DT share a tower just south of the Minnesota/Iowa border south of Adams, MN:
Author's notes:
(1) Anyone interested, can see high resolution copies of these pictures (and more) on my Photobucket listing: http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s129/gjvrieze/
(2) I left out the analog towers, since the end of analog is near or has already happen for most stations.
-Garrett
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Digital VHF-HI: Not Everything as Seem
For years, digital over the air viewers waited with baited breath for that magical day: February 17th, 2009. A day when analog would die and digital stations would move to their final destinations. Well.. that kind of happened. Because the transition deadline got pushed back to June 12th, 2009, only a fraction of stations went all digital.
One of the touted benefits of the transition was that some digital stations were going to move back to their digital channels to VHF-Hi (ch. 7-13) allotments, meaning less output power and better coverage.
After a few weeks, it has become fairly clear that the proposition of VHF-Hi digital TV was an "Epic Fail."
Around here, WKBT 8 (CBS) La Crosse, KTTC 10 (NBC) Rochester and WEAU (NBC) Eau Clare all switched to their VHF-Hi channels.
WEAU 13 switched on Monday the 16th. Most Rochester viewers are at least 85 miles from the station. In spite of the distance, many were able to get a perfect color picture during their full power operation and a pretty good color picture during their months of reduced power output. Currently, I have yet to find one area viewer that can actually pick up their digital channel reliably, despite the fact that many of us were able to get their UHF digital channel quite reliably. The station is operating around 20KW and seems to be at that power.
WKBT 8 switched at around 1pm on Tuesday the 17th. Many people reported loss of signal strength when they moved over to ch. 8. Some even lost reception compared to the DT-41 signal.
KTTC 10 switched on the afternoon of the 17th. While my signal is about the same, I hooked up rabbit ears to a TV (where I could get a pretty good picture on analog KTTC) and was unable to get a stable lock on the station. Many people have also reported issues with the station.
What's the issue, you ask? Well consider this. Full power analog UHF stations get 5MW, while their digital channels run at 1MW and they seem to cover about the same area. Yet, VHF-Hi analog channels all operated at 316KW and now most digital VHF-Hi stations are operating in the 20KW to 35KW range. That's only 1/10th the power. Because VHF-Hi stations are also combating a higher noise floor than UHF, it seems the only probable solution is to raise the output to ~75KW. Hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later, but we'll see.
If you've been effected negatively by the transition, now you know what's going on and um... your not alone.
~Matt
One of the touted benefits of the transition was that some digital stations were going to move back to their digital channels to VHF-Hi (ch. 7-13) allotments, meaning less output power and better coverage.
After a few weeks, it has become fairly clear that the proposition of VHF-Hi digital TV was an "Epic Fail."
Around here, WKBT 8 (CBS) La Crosse, KTTC 10 (NBC) Rochester and WEAU (NBC) Eau Clare all switched to their VHF-Hi channels.
WEAU 13 switched on Monday the 16th. Most Rochester viewers are at least 85 miles from the station. In spite of the distance, many were able to get a perfect color picture during their full power operation and a pretty good color picture during their months of reduced power output. Currently, I have yet to find one area viewer that can actually pick up their digital channel reliably, despite the fact that many of us were able to get their UHF digital channel quite reliably. The station is operating around 20KW and seems to be at that power.
WKBT 8 switched at around 1pm on Tuesday the 17th. Many people reported loss of signal strength when they moved over to ch. 8. Some even lost reception compared to the DT-41 signal.
KTTC 10 switched on the afternoon of the 17th. While my signal is about the same, I hooked up rabbit ears to a TV (where I could get a pretty good picture on analog KTTC) and was unable to get a stable lock on the station. Many people have also reported issues with the station.
What's the issue, you ask? Well consider this. Full power analog UHF stations get 5MW, while their digital channels run at 1MW and they seem to cover about the same area. Yet, VHF-Hi analog channels all operated at 316KW and now most digital VHF-Hi stations are operating in the 20KW to 35KW range. That's only 1/10th the power. Because VHF-Hi stations are also combating a higher noise floor than UHF, it seems the only probable solution is to raise the output to ~75KW. Hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later, but we'll see.
If you've been effected negatively by the transition, now you know what's going on and um... your not alone.
~Matt
KXLT Analog Bights The Dust
FOX 47 (KXLT, Rochester MN) left their analog signal on after Frebuary 17th to "nightlight," meaning that the station played a continuous loop of informational programming on DTV. As of today, the station shut off their analog transmitter for good.
Monday, February 16, 2009
The transition has begun: WEAU (NBC 13 Eau Clare, WI) switches to all digital
At around 12:34PM this afternoon (Monday 2/16/09) Eau Clare's NBC WEAU 13 shut off both their analog and digital channels (formerly ch. 39). They moved their digital channel from channel 39 to ch. 13. and should be broadcasting at 26KW. Reports are in that it is up and running.
As has been stated before, WKBT 8 (CBS LaCrosse, WI) and KTTC 10 (NBC Rochester, MN) will be switching tomorrow. WKBT will be moving from ch. 41 back to ch. 8 and KTTC will be moving from ch. 36 back to ch. 10.
Keep re-scanning those channels, folks.
UPDATE: From all that we've gathered, WEAU is extremely weak. Many viewers who got a perfect picture on WEAU analog can not lock WEAU-DT. It seems as if there's a major issue with the station it self. As always, we'll keep you posted on the station. Check out the latest developments for your self on the AVS Forum's LaCrosse/Wausau, WI thread.
As has been stated before, WKBT 8 (CBS LaCrosse, WI) and KTTC 10 (NBC Rochester, MN) will be switching tomorrow. WKBT will be moving from ch. 41 back to ch. 8 and KTTC will be moving from ch. 36 back to ch. 10.
Keep re-scanning those channels, folks.
UPDATE: From all that we've gathered, WEAU is extremely weak. Many viewers who got a perfect picture on WEAU analog can not lock WEAU-DT. It seems as if there's a major issue with the station it self. As always, we'll keep you posted on the station. Check out the latest developments for your self on the AVS Forum's LaCrosse/Wausau, WI thread.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Understanding Subchannels and the DTV channel system
I just realized that information about the physical digital channels might be confusing to the average person, so let me try and explain how the channel system works.
We know for a fact that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Right? Same is true with radio signals. You can't broadcast analog and digital on the same physical channel at the same time. Thus, every full power station is currently broadcasting a digital channel on a different physical than their analog. After stations cut their analog signal, some will move their digital channel to their old analog channel (ie, KTTC moving from 36 back to 10), some will stay on their current digital channel (ie, KXLT FOX 47 staying on 46), and some will move to a completely new channel (not in this market, though).
Obviously, this would create a mess if viewers had to completely re-memorize their channel lineup and stations had to change all their branding to match their digital channel. For this reason, the digital TV standard allows stations to broadcasting a little thing called remap data. This tells the tuner which channel to display it as. For example, KIMT-DT tells your digital tuner (converter box, TV, whatever) "display me as 3-1 and 3-2). Without this piece of information, it would be 42-1 and 42-2. In fact, it has been reported that KIMT's equipment malfunctioned once and the channel came up as 42-1 and 42-2 for a few hours until the engineering staff fixed it.
So why do I need to care about physical channels again? For antenna selection. If you have a VHF only antenna (ch. 2-13), you will no longer get ch. 3 because it is actually on ch. 42. Also, when troubleshooting it's really handy to go into manual tuning and look at signal levels of stations which are too weak to actually decode.
Subchannels. Digital TV isn't so much TV standard so much as a standard to transmit a fixed amount data, be it television, audio or data. TV stations can allocate their bandwidth (19.4 Mb/s) for different uses. For example, KAAL-DT allocates all of their bandwidth to channel 6.1 (ABC) which allows for high quality high definition video and 5.1 surround sound. KTTC-DT on the other hand still broadcasts in HD on 10.1, but uses a portion of their bandwidth for standard definition CW on 10.2. Meanwhile, KSMQ splits their bandwidth into four Standard def channels (15.1,.2,.3,.4).
Wisconsin Public Television used to have an arrangement where they had five subchannels, four of which were SD and one HD. During the daytime, the four SD subchannels would broadcast programming while the 5th sub would display a message notifying viewers when the channel would start broadcasting. At said time, three of the SD channels would cut programming and display a message notifying viewers when the channel would be active again, while the HD channel and one of the SD channels had programming on them. This is a case where the station's channel bandwidth allocations were automatically reconfigured.
[It should also be noted that every station uses a tiny amount of that bandwidth for channel re-map information, guide data, ratings, their callsign, etc.]
Stations can also broadcast audio only channels, encrypted subchannels and datacsts. While audio only channels have not seen much use, there was a company (USDTV) that bought bandwidth from local TV stations where they broadcast a few cable channels to viewers with USDTV boxes and subscriptions. The company went bankrupt a few years ago, and so far as I know nobody uses this feature anymore.
Digital stations can have up to 99 subchannels and the standard allows for remap channels 1-99. There has been talk of national translator networks, such as TBN or 3ABN using one remap channel across the entire country for consistency. In the Twin Cities, Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) owns two channels (KTCA and KTCI). KTCA will be on channels 2.1 and 2.2, while KTCI will broadcast on ch. 2.3 and 2.4.
We know for a fact that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Right? Same is true with radio signals. You can't broadcast analog and digital on the same physical channel at the same time. Thus, every full power station is currently broadcasting a digital channel on a different physical than their analog. After stations cut their analog signal, some will move their digital channel to their old analog channel (ie, KTTC moving from 36 back to 10), some will stay on their current digital channel (ie, KXLT FOX 47 staying on 46), and some will move to a completely new channel (not in this market, though).
Obviously, this would create a mess if viewers had to completely re-memorize their channel lineup and stations had to change all their branding to match their digital channel. For this reason, the digital TV standard allows stations to broadcasting a little thing called remap data. This tells the tuner which channel to display it as. For example, KIMT-DT tells your digital tuner (converter box, TV, whatever) "display me as 3-1 and 3-2). Without this piece of information, it would be 42-1 and 42-2. In fact, it has been reported that KIMT's equipment malfunctioned once and the channel came up as 42-1 and 42-2 for a few hours until the engineering staff fixed it.
So why do I need to care about physical channels again? For antenna selection. If you have a VHF only antenna (ch. 2-13), you will no longer get ch. 3 because it is actually on ch. 42. Also, when troubleshooting it's really handy to go into manual tuning and look at signal levels of stations which are too weak to actually decode.
Subchannels. Digital TV isn't so much TV standard so much as a standard to transmit a fixed amount data, be it television, audio or data. TV stations can allocate their bandwidth (19.4 Mb/s) for different uses. For example, KAAL-DT allocates all of their bandwidth to channel 6.1 (ABC) which allows for high quality high definition video and 5.1 surround sound. KTTC-DT on the other hand still broadcasts in HD on 10.1, but uses a portion of their bandwidth for standard definition CW on 10.2. Meanwhile, KSMQ splits their bandwidth into four Standard def channels (15.1,.2,.3,.4).
Wisconsin Public Television used to have an arrangement where they had five subchannels, four of which were SD and one HD. During the daytime, the four SD subchannels would broadcast programming while the 5th sub would display a message notifying viewers when the channel would start broadcasting. At said time, three of the SD channels would cut programming and display a message notifying viewers when the channel would be active again, while the HD channel and one of the SD channels had programming on them. This is a case where the station's channel bandwidth allocations were automatically reconfigured.
[It should also be noted that every station uses a tiny amount of that bandwidth for channel re-map information, guide data, ratings, their callsign, etc.]
Stations can also broadcast audio only channels, encrypted subchannels and datacsts. While audio only channels have not seen much use, there was a company (USDTV) that bought bandwidth from local TV stations where they broadcast a few cable channels to viewers with USDTV boxes and subscriptions. The company went bankrupt a few years ago, and so far as I know nobody uses this feature anymore.
Digital stations can have up to 99 subchannels and the standard allows for remap channels 1-99. There has been talk of national translator networks, such as TBN or 3ABN using one remap channel across the entire country for consistency. In the Twin Cities, Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) owns two channels (KTCA and KTCI). KTCA will be on channels 2.1 and 2.2, while KTCI will broadcast on ch. 2.3 and 2.4.
DTV Transition Delay and the Rochester Market
If you haven't heard lately, Congress passed a bill delaying the digital transition until June 12th, 2009. But some stations are still shutting off the analog on February 17th as originally planned.
Here are the plans for the Rochester/Austin/Mason City market:
KIMT 3 (3.1 CBS/3.2 MyNet - Mason City, IA): The station in broadcasting on analog channel 3 and digital channel 42. After transition, they will still be using digital channel 42. Their current plans are to keep analog on the air until June 12th. At some undefined point in the future, the station will increase ch. 42's power from 200KW to 800KW. As it stands right now, KIMT is pretty easy to lock in Rochester.
KAAL 6 (6.1 ABC - Austin, MN): Their currently broadcasting on analog channel 6 and digital channel 33. As has always been the problem with KAAL, their tower is southwest of Rochester, while all the other stations are south of the city. This creates an issue with antenna aiming. KAAL's digital station is also rather weak in the valley. To remedy this situation, KAAL is acquiring KTTC's ch. 36 facility when they vacate it on February 17th. For the time being, KAAL will simulcast the digital channel on both ch. 33 and 36 until they eventually increase the output power of the ch. 36 facility, when they will presumably end broadcasting on ch. 33. As far as the author knows, the termination date for analog ch. 6 has yet to be announced (we'll know in a few days).
KTTC 10 (10.1 NBC, 10.2 CW - Rochester, MN): The station is currently broadcasting on analog channel 10 and digital ch. 36. At approximately 1:35PM on Tuesday the 17th, both analog and digital will go off the air and then resume broadcasting at around 3:30, using digital channel 10 (at 20kw). This should give better coverage than ch. 36.
KSMQ 15 (15.1 PBS, 15.2 Mhz Worldview, 15.3 (PBS) Create, 15.4 (PBS) tpt-MN - Austin, MN): KSMQ broadcasts analog on 15 and digital on ch. 20. The analog 15 tower is located near Austin, while digital 20 is located on the FOX47/KTTC-DT 36(soon to be KAAL-DT 36) tower, which is almost directly south of the city. Their digital channel stay unchanged throughout the transition and they have announced plans to cut analog on June 12th.
KYIN 24 (24.1 IPTV Digital, 24.2 IPTV Plus, 24.3 IPTV - Mason City, Iowa): The station's analog ch. 24 will remain online until June 12th, as with all other Iowa Public Television (IPTV) stations. Their digital station is located on the KIMT-DT tower, but is probably the hardest in-market station to receive in Rochester (due to lower elevation and output power).
KXLT 47 (47.1 FOX - Rochester, MN): FOX 47's analog channel is 47 and their digital is 46, both are on the same antenna and presumably broadcast from the same antenna. They will be cutting analog 47 on the afternoon of Feb. 17th and their digital signal will remain unchanged.
K56HW 56 (TBN - Rochester, MN): This TBN low power translator is located on an FM radio tower a few miles east of the city. They've filed paperwork with the FCC for a digital channel 39 allocation. Since the station is a low power channel, it does not yet have to comply with a transition deadline. Presumably, the station will cut analog and move to digital sometime in the 2009-2010 timeframe. The station also has to go online after WEAU moves their digital channel from 39 back down to ch. 13. TBN also has to upgrade a number of translator stations all throughout the US.
K58GC 58 (3ABN - Rochester, MN): This 3ABN low power translator is located on the same FM radio tower as TBN 56 is. They have also filed paperwork with the FCC for a ch. 51 allocation. Again, this should happen this year or possibly even next year, as the little network has a number of other translators in need of upgrades.
What this means for you: Re-scan your channels on February 17th/18th, as KTTC will move from 36 to 10 and KAAL will begin simulcasting on ch. 36 and ch. 33. Until the power increases on KIMT and KAAL-DT 36 come, it's about as good as it's gonna get. This means most likely that Rochester viewers will be able to get all market stations (with the possible exception of KYIN-DT) with an indoor antenna or small attic antenna.
Here are the plans for the Rochester/Austin/Mason City market:
KIMT 3 (3.1 CBS/3.2 MyNet - Mason City, IA): The station in broadcasting on analog channel 3 and digital channel 42. After transition, they will still be using digital channel 42. Their current plans are to keep analog on the air until June 12th. At some undefined point in the future, the station will increase ch. 42's power from 200KW to 800KW. As it stands right now, KIMT is pretty easy to lock in Rochester.
KAAL 6 (6.1 ABC - Austin, MN): Their currently broadcasting on analog channel 6 and digital channel 33. As has always been the problem with KAAL, their tower is southwest of Rochester, while all the other stations are south of the city. This creates an issue with antenna aiming. KAAL's digital station is also rather weak in the valley. To remedy this situation, KAAL is acquiring KTTC's ch. 36 facility when they vacate it on February 17th. For the time being, KAAL will simulcast the digital channel on both ch. 33 and 36 until they eventually increase the output power of the ch. 36 facility, when they will presumably end broadcasting on ch. 33. As far as the author knows, the termination date for analog ch. 6 has yet to be announced (we'll know in a few days).
KTTC 10 (10.1 NBC, 10.2 CW - Rochester, MN): The station is currently broadcasting on analog channel 10 and digital ch. 36. At approximately 1:35PM on Tuesday the 17th, both analog and digital will go off the air and then resume broadcasting at around 3:30, using digital channel 10 (at 20kw). This should give better coverage than ch. 36.
KSMQ 15 (15.1 PBS, 15.2 Mhz Worldview, 15.3 (PBS) Create, 15.4 (PBS) tpt-MN - Austin, MN): KSMQ broadcasts analog on 15 and digital on ch. 20. The analog 15 tower is located near Austin, while digital 20 is located on the FOX47/KTTC-DT 36(soon to be KAAL-DT 36) tower, which is almost directly south of the city. Their digital channel stay unchanged throughout the transition and they have announced plans to cut analog on June 12th.
KYIN 24 (24.1 IPTV Digital, 24.2 IPTV Plus, 24.3 IPTV - Mason City, Iowa): The station's analog ch. 24 will remain online until June 12th, as with all other Iowa Public Television (IPTV) stations. Their digital station is located on the KIMT-DT tower, but is probably the hardest in-market station to receive in Rochester (due to lower elevation and output power).
KXLT 47 (47.1 FOX - Rochester, MN): FOX 47's analog channel is 47 and their digital is 46, both are on the same antenna and presumably broadcast from the same antenna. They will be cutting analog 47 on the afternoon of Feb. 17th and their digital signal will remain unchanged.
K56HW 56 (TBN - Rochester, MN): This TBN low power translator is located on an FM radio tower a few miles east of the city. They've filed paperwork with the FCC for a digital channel 39 allocation. Since the station is a low power channel, it does not yet have to comply with a transition deadline. Presumably, the station will cut analog and move to digital sometime in the 2009-2010 timeframe. The station also has to go online after WEAU moves their digital channel from 39 back down to ch. 13. TBN also has to upgrade a number of translator stations all throughout the US.
K58GC 58 (3ABN - Rochester, MN): This 3ABN low power translator is located on the same FM radio tower as TBN 56 is. They have also filed paperwork with the FCC for a ch. 51 allocation. Again, this should happen this year or possibly even next year, as the little network has a number of other translators in need of upgrades.
What this means for you: Re-scan your channels on February 17th/18th, as KTTC will move from 36 to 10 and KAAL will begin simulcasting on ch. 36 and ch. 33. Until the power increases on KIMT and KAAL-DT 36 come, it's about as good as it's gonna get. This means most likely that Rochester viewers will be able to get all market stations (with the possible exception of KYIN-DT) with an indoor antenna or small attic antenna.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)