Digital reception in Ocean County, NJ

[murcuryvapor]

I don't have an HDTV, yet, nor do I have a converter box (when will they be marketed?). But antennaweb predicts NO digital reception at my location. I have a pretty decent antenna/rotor installation, with antenna mounted Channel Master preamp and a good distribution amp indoors, so I'm hoping they are wrong. Still, I have to go and buy 5 converter boxes. And, while I'm no tree hugger, the environmental impact of all those analog sets that will be hitting the landfills can't be ignored.

Don't trust Antennaweb, it's extremely conservative with digitals (where I live in Virginia, I get every digital station in my market, AntennaWeb lists just one of them) while it lists analogs up to 100 miles away that I have no chance of ever receiving (300w LP stations BEHIND MOUNTAINS). Try tvfool.com instead, it has a much more reliable method of calculation.

- Trip

Seconded.

 

[murcuryvapor]

WHYY shouldn't concern you. (yet) My understanding is it's highly directional to protect a NJN station in north-central New Jersey, and it's limited in power. That will go away Transition Day when they move back to channel 12, using their existing analog antenna. They'll be running a fair amount of power and should do fairly well.

Current WHYY DT power is 13.36 kW, post changeover is 10.44. I hope that's wrong. I can't see them in DT in South Philly.

 

[dhett]

WHYY shouldn't concern you. (yet) My understanding is it's highly directional to protect a NJN station in north-central New Jersey, and it's limited in power. That will go away Transition Day when they move back to channel 12, using their existing analog antenna. They'll be running a fair amount of power and should do fairly well.

Current WHYY DT power is 13.36 kW, post changeover is 10.44. I hope that's wrong. I can't see them in DT in South Philly.

You're forgetting that post-transition, they'll be back on VHF, where that 10.44 kW will pack a heckuva lot more wallop.

 

[murcuryvapor]

WHYY shouldn't concern you. (yet) My understanding is it's highly directional to protect a NJN station in north-central New Jersey, and it's limited in power. That will go away Transition Day when they move back to channel 12, using their existing analog antenna. They'll be running a fair amount of power and should do fairly well.

Current WHYY DT power is 13.36 kW, post changeover is 10.44. I hope that's wrong. I can't see them in DT in South Philly.

You're forgetting that post-transition, they'll be back on VHF, where that 10.44 kW will pack a heckuva lot more wallop.

If they discard the null, possibly. Current power is 233 kW on channel 12 analogue. I suggest they need that much wattage to cover the current service area.

 

[dhett]

Here is WHYY-DT's current CP details. The last two pages plot the predicted coverage.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=615931

 

[w9wi]

WHYY shouldn't concern you. (yet) My understanding is it's highly directional to protect a NJN station in north-central New Jersey, and it's limited in power. That will go away Transition Day when they move back to channel 12, using their existing analog antenna. They'll be running a fair amount of power and should do fairly well.

Current WHYY DT power is 13.36 kW, post changeover is 10.44. I hope that's wrong. I can't see them in DT in South Philly.

You're forgetting that post-transition, they'll be back on VHF, where that 10.44 kW will pack a heckuva lot more wallop.

If they discard the null, possibly. Current power is 233 kW on channel 12 analogue. I suggest they need that much wattage to cover the current service area.

The null will be unnecessary as the station they're protecting will be on channel 51 post-transition. WHYY's channel 12 operation won't be able to interfere with it. In fact, WHYY will be using the same antenna for their post-transition digital facility as they're using right now for their analog operation. (that antenna *is* directional but all the nulls/peaks will be in the same place for digital as they are right now for analog)

Their permit calls for 10kw *average* DTV power. That's roughly equivalent to 30kw peak analog power. It's a bit lower than existing analog power but since these things are logarithmic it's not as big of a deal as one might think.

 

[in3media_be1]

Some of the posts from this thread have been moved to Take It Outside


http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,100238.msg780316.html#msg780316

 

[vibe]

Re: the TV's that people will render as useless after the DTV transition-- the HH TV's can be sold for a few dollars (declining as they may be) on E Bay to people from Canada and Mexico who apparently won't be affected. How they work elsewhere I don't know since I've never been there.
Hey it might buy ya 3-4 gallons of gas since these sets probably haven't been produced for a few years. There's probably a market (albeit limited) for folks who might want to try one of these beauts. I'm gonna keep my HH in case we go camping in Canada or down to Key West for some sex and dx.
Sorry to deviate, just trying to help.

 

[cawasinnj]

Keep in mind that LPTV's and translators will still be able to be analog for the foreseeable future also. Class A's might also. You can also use them for DVD/VCR/game monitors too.

 

[neo11]

Keep in mind that LPTV's and translators will still be able to be analog for the foreseeable future also. Class A's might also. You can also use them for DVD/VCR/game monitors too.

Or you could just keep them and use a DTV converter, like I'm doing

 

[dhett]

Keep in mind that LPTV's and translators will still be able to be analog for the foreseeable future also. Class A's might also. You can also use them for DVD/VCR/game monitors too.

Correct. Class A stations and translators also fall into the LPTV category, and none have a mandate to switch to digital yet — "yet" being the key word here. Some have already been proactive: some have already flash cut to digital and, others have applied for DTV companion channels, similar to what the full-service stations did. Many LPDTV companion channels are already operating.

After buying DTVs, I donated my old analog sets to my church so that they could use them for videos for the children's ministries, and I know one was put to use immediately. Trust me, any charity would be most grateful for an analog TV.

 

[vibe]

VG Point; never thought of that