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One more TV e-skip season for the rest of your life

Nick said:
The DTV transition has been delayed till June. Channel 2 will still come alive this year.
Click to expand...

that was a short season: the transition is now back to February 17
 
Request: DENIED :D

Actually, what you've said isn't entirely true because digital signals can also skip and - with enough signal strength - decode. Granted, it won't be as good as we all enjoy....but I have read reports of digital e-skip.
 
Whenever the switch is thrown, Feb or June, Canada and Mexico will still be on analog, so signals from those countries might be easier to see during E-skip.
It is also true that skip can impact digital signals but only a few U-S stations will remain on the VHF band. Digital UHF could get interesting during tropo openings.
 
fussbudget said:
It is also true that skip can impact digital signals but only a few U-S stations will remain on the VHF band.
Click to expand...

Only a few U-S stations will remain on the low-VHF band.

Quite a few will be on high-band channels 7-13.

Not that that helps skip DX much.
 
VHF is practically worthless when it comes to digital.
For whatever reason Digital is harder to receive if
the signal is on VHF
 
LibertyNT said:
VHF is practically worthless when it comes to digital.
For whatever reason Digital is harder to receive if
the signal is on VHF
Click to expand...

That's not the experience we've been having. Indeed, at work I've received two emails from viewers who can get our (VHF) digital station but can't get any of the UHF stations!

Low-band VHF channels 2-6 have been a problem in some markets. I have no experience with that. (no experience yet, one of our competitors is moving to DTV channel 5 next month)
 
w9wi said:
I've received two emails from viewers who can get our (VHF) digital station but can't get any of the UHF stations!
Click to expand...

I've had more difficulty pulling in WSMV-DT off-air than any of the UHF's...just west of
Percy Priest Lake near Elm Hill Marina. It can be done, but I have to work at it.
For the "U's"...just throw up the loop and watch 'em come in...even the Gallatin WPGD signal(s).
I've just been watching 'off air' for grins...Comcast is the normal route.
 
romer979fm said:
w9wi said:
I've received two emails from viewers who can get our (VHF) digital station but can't get any of the UHF stations!
Click to expand...

I've had more difficulty pulling in WSMV-DT off-air than any of the UHF's...just west of
Percy Priest Lake near Elm Hill Marina. It can be done, but I have to work at it.
For the "U's"...just throw up the loop and watch 'em come in...even the Gallatin WPGD signal(s).
I've just been watching 'off air' for grins...Comcast is the normal route.
Click to expand...

It took a fairly strong opening for me to get WSMV-DT and WKRN-DT down here on the AL/TN line, I can usually always get a signal to register on my Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick tuner on my mac, but only once has it been strong enough to even decode
 
Delayed until June 17th...I can hear it now...early June..."only 92% of the workforce is employed...the other 8% can't afford converter boxes even with the coupons, therefore we must have another delay"...change we can believe in...indeed.
 
This would be interesting, just too bad I don't have the setup required. Most of the domestics off the air, a few on nightlight status, e skip from Mexico, Canada, the Carribean, plus whatever digital DX may be available, this could be really interesting. Almost like DXing in the beginning of radio and TV. The closest comparable experience in my lifetime is when the expanded AM band started.

As far as the converters go, now we'll have a lot of folks who figure the 2/17 date was a bluff, and of course after 6/12 it'lll be extended again, and by the next deadline Aunt Mabel will just KNOW it was all a bluff.
 
gr8oldies said:
This would be interesting, just too bad I don't have the setup required. Most of the domestics off the air, a few on nightlight status, e skip from Mexico, Canada, the Carribean, plus whatever digital DX may be available, this could be really interesting. Almost like DXing in the beginning of radio and TV. The closest comparable experience in my lifetime is when the expanded AM band started.
Click to expand...

And what a time that was! I wish I'd spent more time on the X-band then. I remember logging California (1630/1640 Vallejo) from Boston when it first signed on. Wow.

As far as the converters go, now we'll have a lot of folks who figure the 2/17 date was a bluff, and of course after 6/12 it'lll be extended again, and by the next deadline Aunt Mabel will just KNOW it was all a bluff.
Click to expand...

Then she'll be surprised when she turns on the TV June 13 and sees nothing but static. There's no way Jay Rockefeller gets another delay through the Senate when every TV station (save one) in his home state stuck to the original 2/17 schedule - and no way that even the most patient stations (like the one I work for, where management has decided to stick it out until June, if the transmitter lasts that long) will hang in there for yet another delay.
 
I now wish I had done TV late spring and early summer DX like I used to but after all the years of having only cable, I lost the habit and haven't done it for so long.

BTW, what will happen with those little hand held LCD TVs that have been around since the 80s? Mine has a tuner that scans for channels instead of settings for the specific channels. I take it that won't even get anything either?
 
gar fla said:
I take it that won't even get anything either?
Click to expand...

nope...analog only:
unless you're close to a LPTV, it'll make a nice paperweight
 
Ive got cable,, and more of an Am FM dxer,,, but I really thought it was cool the time I picked up Ch 2 from Denver in indiana, and CH 10 from Knoxville TN and a ton of UHF stations from Saint Louis here in Indiana... UHF Dx even at a few hundred miles is a big deal ya know... I dont understand how one guy that had cable in London Kentucky, near the Tennessee Border was able to DX CH 18 CBS from Lafayette Indiana,, I have never seen a flicker of it here, and its only 80 miles away, versus the guy in London KY, getting it on Cable at night when the locals went off air,,, that is about 300 miles... I know this guy lurks on this board so I would very much love to hear from him and hear his experiences... I didnt even know TV DX was possible until the big opening in 1993... of course these 1000 mile plus channels were seen only briefly on a 60 foot rotar antenna,, but ive had alot of 100 to 150 plus logs on plain old 7 dollar rabbit ears, even though some of my locals 15 miles away are generally snowy, sometimes really bad, but yet, sometimes Louisville KY ch 3, and Cicinatti CH 5 and 12, and Evansville Indiana CH 7 have been watchable in Color some nights... TV Propagation works in odd ways, and yes DTV DX is quite possible, but extremely hard to lock in, and you might just get a few seconds of a channel with no audio, and unless the TV Logo is displayed and you have a quick eye, you will never know what it is.... I admit, I love the picture and audio quality of DTV on cable and satelite, but hate the limited coverage and drops outs that OTA DTV gives you,,,,, OYA should stay analog,,, and not just for skip reasons, but because not everyone can afford a HDTV right now, and not everyone lives within 15 to 20 miles of the transmitters.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
Delayed until June 17th...I can hear it now...early June..."only 92% of the workforce is employed...the other 8% can't afford converter boxes even with the coupons, therefore we must have another delay"...change we can believe in...indeed.
Click to expand...
Why does everyone say it's the converter boxes?

People won't be able to afford the antennas. I haven't set mine up yet because I'm afraid to. I just went ahead and asked for cable and I'm still waiting for them to give me an appointment. They have to do a survey first so I can get cable in the first place. If I had known I had to do that, I would have done it when the first delay was voted down. Now, I have found out some stations in my area will go ahead with the original date. I hope I get my cable by Feb. 18. If not, I'm not optimistic about a signal.

I could get an outdoor antenna, but I want something cheaper than what I found so far.

There's nothing wrong with a delay if you're in an area that gets bad weather this time of year. Imagine putting up an antenna now. That's what one of the supporters said.

Personally I think digital TV should never have happened, except for people willing to pay premium prices just to get HD or those extra channels (and the premium prices would pay each station for the extra signal and equipment). All the problems it causes are ridiculous. It isn't worthwhile at all and provides no advantages. They SAY I'll get a better signal. I suppose on the cable stations that will be true. I'd just better not ever lose cable.
 
I never understood why the mandatory switch to digital in the first place. What ever happened to choice? If people want digital tv, they already have the means to see it. And what about those people who are 50 or more miles from the nearest channels and don't want cable or can't afford it? With the digital signals being an "all or nothing" deal, it seems many folks will be left with blank screens because they happen to live too far from a station. A picture with snow is better than no picture at all.
 
I agree with the last post; didn't the same Govt that sold/auctioned off the analog frequencies suddenly doesn't have the $$ to continue to fund the converter program?
To the majority of us on this board the cost of basic cable is no big deal but there are many people on very low fixed incomes whose voices cannot be heard in this forum. And many of them live 50+ miles away from the transmitters and "live" with snowy pictures, And in a short time, nada.
 
You are both correct that the sane course of action would have been to start a DTV service alongside of the existing Analog service. That way, either the analog would slowly put itself out of business as more and more people switched to digital over time, or the two would continue to coexist a la AM and FM radio. And you would not have all of those nice little portables suddenly turning into expensive paperweights.

This did not happen because the politicians in Washington simply could not wait to vacate the analog frequencies and auction off the spectrum, reaping billions of dollars by selling something that rightly belongs to all of us.(In fact, projected revenues from the sale of spectrum were posted against Federal Deficit figures beginning in the mid 90's, so as to make the Federal Deficit appear smaller than it actually is!)

John McCain, a major recipient of campaign cash from the broadcast and telecom industries, was a major agitator in pushing for the analog shut-down and spectrum auction.
 
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