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Atlanta Analog Stations - What is going to happen?

B

BarryATL

Will the stations shut the analog signals at midnight Thursday night or midnigh Friday night?

Is any of the stations going to do anything special or all of them just going to flip the switch?
 
12:30 PM on the 12th for WSB-TV, WAGA, and WXIA. 11:59 PM for WGCL (unless it has changed). The last station to sign off nightly, WPBA, probably be at 1:30 AM on the 12th (WPBA will commence 24/7 OTA programming on its digital signal starting on the 12th).

I am assuming WATL, WPCH, and WUPA will be 12:30 PM as well. Don't know about WPXA.
 
Just read recently that anyone who purchased a portable weather radio/small tv for weather events will be hosed due to switchover. So if your power goes out, you can't watch tv to get the latest radar on your old b/w tv. You have to listen to the radio.

I asked my wife the other day when we would all have to switch to digital radio. Will we have to replace all our old cars?
 
What I want to know is this: is this the break
WXIA has needed to become number one? I've
seen postings that talk about their monster signal
on digital 10, while WSB's on digital 39 leaves
something to be desired (I remember one poster
from Athens who said he watched ABC on WLOS's
digital channel...and that's Asheville, NC!).

What do you think?
 
bpatrick said:
What I want to know is this: is this the break WXIA has needed to become number one? I've seen postings that talk about their monster signal on digital 10, while WSB's on digital 39 leaves something to be desired (I remember one poster from Athens who said he watched ABC on WLOS's digital channel...and that's Asheville, NC!).

What do you think?
Click to expand...

No. NBC primetime is horrible, and WSB-TV viewers are set in their ways. I would suspect a senior citizen loyal to WSB-TV news would rather do without TV then try another source for news. Plus, Atlanta has a high rate of cable/satellite subscribers. WSB-TV plans on installing translators in Athens and Gainesville.

WSB-TV needs to move to another tower site where they can go taller. I believe WAGA, on 27, is also maxed out at 1000 kW. I haven't heard of any problems with their signal.
 
WXIA is going to have to improve their product dramatically if they even want to consider dethroning WSB ... weak signal and all.
 
Will the physical DTV channels revert back to their actual channel number? Example: WSB DT is on channel 39 now...will it go to DTV channel 2 after Friday or will it stay on 39 and for how long?
 
RadioDoogie said:
Will the physical DTV channels revert back to their actual channel number? Example: WSB DT is on channel 39 now...will it go to DTV channel 2 after Friday or will it stay on 39 and for how long?
Click to expand...

Some of the others here know more about the channel scheme for Atlanta, but here are the ditbits that I know. Channel 2 will not be used for DTV anywhere in the USA. There are problems because the frequency is so low. Here is a good link to the FCC website that shows all of the plans for the Atlanta stations... and it includes coverage maps:

http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report_0609/Atlanta_GA.pdf
 
BarryATL said:
RadioDoogie said:
Will the physical DTV channels revert back to their actual channel number? Example: WSB DT is on channel 39 now...will it go to DTV channel 2 after Friday or will it stay on 39 and for how long?
Click to expand...

Some of the others here know more about the channel scheme for Atlanta, but here are the ditbits that I know. Channel 2 will not be used for DTV anywhere in the USA. There are problems because the frequency is so low. Here is a good link to the FCC website that shows all of the plans for the Atlanta stations... and it includes coverage maps:

http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report_0609/Atlanta_GA.pdf
Click to expand...

Looks like the only Atlanta station reverting to their old analog channel is WGTV. Other channels:

Code: 
Analog  Station   DTV
================
2       WSB     39
5       WAGA    27
8       WGTV    8
11      WXIA     10
14      WPXA    51
17      WPCH   20
30      WPBA   21
34      WUVG   48
36      WATL    25
46      WGCL    19
57      WATC    41
63      WHSG   44
69      WUPA    43

_________________________________________________

There will be DTV stations on channel 2 post-Transition. Not many though:
Code: 
AZ Flagstaff        KNAZ   NBC (or staying on ch. 22?)
CO Grand Junction   KREX   CBS 
ME Bangor         WLBZ   NBC
NE North Platte     KNOP   NBC
NV Las Vegas      KVBC   NBC
SD Rapid City      KOTA    ABC
WY Jackson        KJWY    NBC

There will only be one full-power DTV station on channel 4 post-transition. (Rock Island, Illinois) (however, a Lexington, Kentucky station probably won't be ready to move to channel 31 right away and may remain on channel 4 for a few months)

There will likely be new low-power digital stations on channels 2-6. A new one in Chicago signed on today on channel 4.
 
Ok, I am going to play stupid. Usually you brand your station based on the channel number. If you are no longer going to be on channel 2, should you not change your brand to channel 39? It will confuse the fool out of the older generation.
 
tlyle said:
Ok, I am going to play stupid. Usually you brand your station based on the channel number. If you are no longer going to be on channel 2, should you not change your brand to channel 39? It will confuse the fool out of the older generation.
Click to expand...

OK, it's Atlanta's turn :) (I've posted something similar on many of the other TV boards when the same question has come up)

The readers of this board and the WSB-TV Engineering Department are the only people who even *know* WSB-DT is on channel 39.

Actually, there is no such physical concept as "channel 2". Does it mean TV channel 2? CB channel 2? The second channel the Atlanta Police Department Radio Shop programs into officers' radios?

When you punch "02" in on the remote for your analog TV, it looks up "02" in a lookup table and tunes to 55.25MHz. On that frequency, it finds WSB-TV's analog signal and displays it.

When you punch "02" in on the remote for your digital TV, it looks up "02" in a lookup table and tunes to 620.31MHz. On that frequency, it finds WSB-TV's digital signal and displays it.

The only difference is that the analog lookup table was loaded into your TV at the factory. (it appears in the FCC regulations) The digital lookup table was created by your TV when you scanned for channels.

For years, analog TVs have insisted you scan for channels when first installed. So as far as the viewer is concerned, nothing has changed. You still punch "02" to watch WSB-TV; your TV handles figuring out exactly what frequency "channel 2" actually is.
 
How you will "confuse" the older generation when the TV and/or DTV converter box automatically remaps the Channel and displays it as though it is on "Channel 2". My mother-in-law is nearly 100 and lots of things confuse her but she has no trouble tuning her TV.
 
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