WAPT's plans upon shutdown

[richllewis]

I have been checking in with the AVS forum and I discovered that as WAPT continues with Digital programs on Channel 20(16-1) that WAPT is going to keep the analog signal on what the FCC calls nightlight service. This means that this is a reminder service for all who did not get a new digital TV or didn't get a converter box by the digital conversion date. This will happen from June 12th and the next 2 weeks after all the stations convert to digital. The chief engineer at WAPT mentioned that the FCC requested that since WAPT is going to not move back to their old frequency but do digital on the same channel as they have before the transition, the analog channel was available for this service.Thus the original analog channel 16 WAPT has been using for years will be used for the friendly reminder.

By the way, is everyone ready for the digital transition? If not you have a week to get ready.

 

[jo-nathan]

The only acceptable excuses for not being ready by now is to have either been living under a rock for the last three years or been in a coma for that amount of time. I think Obama requested the delay in the transition simply to throw his weight around. It was unnecessary.

Jonathan

 

[tomservo]

The only acceptable excuses for not being ready by now is to have either been living under a rock for the last three years or been in a coma for that amount of time. I think Obama requested the delay in the transition simply to throw his weight around. It was unnecessary.

Jonathan

Yeah but you know there's still gonna be some hand-wringing in the media over the 'millions' who will be left without TV service. Sad fact is there's a lot of people who won't change until they are forced to, and they are probably expecting the transition to be delayed again since it was delayed once before.

 

[bobrall]

You cannot received digital TV from a moving vehicle of anykind. (Boat, Car, MotorHome, Aircraft, etc)
Coverage area of most stations is reduced, at least somewhat. And, if you are not reasonably close,
best get a very good antenna.

 

[Doctor_Technical]

You cannot received digital TV from a moving vehicle of anykind.

Just FYI there is a new protocol that allows live broadcast DTV to be sent to a moving vehicle (or person). Basically uses one of the subchannels, with a ton of error correction. Slick technology; I've seen it work, but then again I'm an engineer* so I geek out on that stuff. Google Mobile DTV, or read about the first user here www.wral.com/news/local/story/4948031/

*a radio engineer, one who wonders how come TV gets all the cool new stuff. Then again, when WJDX-FM was downtown in the TV-3 bldg, using those groovy big turntables, y'all probably wondered the same thing

 

[flytrap]

This is off topic, but why is it that I've seen little FRS walkie Talkies that advertise that you can transmit and recieve up to 10 15 and sometimes over 20 miles with some AAA batteries on a UHF frequency, but at the same time I can't get a decent picture or sound on a UHF television station 20 miles away with over 1 Million watts and over 1000 feet of tower. Hmmmm??

 

[tomservo]

*a radio engineer, one who wonders how come TV gets all the cool new stuff. Then again, when WJDX-FM was downtown in the TV-3 bldg, using those groovy big turntables, y'all probably wondered the same thing

You can already get radio in a moving car. Unless it's HD.

 

[tomservo]

This is off topic, but why is it that I've seen little FRS walkie Talkies that advertise that you can transmit and recieve up to 10 15 and sometimes over 20 miles with some AAA batteries on a UHF frequency, but at the same time I can't get a decent picture or sound on a UHF television station 20 miles away with over 1 Million watts and over 1000 feet of tower. Hmmmm??

Bandwidth. I think you can fit something like 480 FRS channels side-by-side within one analog UHF channel allocation. I'm sure one of the engineer types can better explain the bandwidth/power relationship. It's sort of like using SSB instead of AM to transmit in the HF/CB bands. The same wattage gets out further when you drop down to SSB.

 

[DeadElvis]

This is off topic, but why is it that I've seen little FRS walkie Talkies that advertise that you can transmit and recieve up to 10 15 and sometimes over 20 miles with some AAA batteries on a UHF frequency, but at the same time I can't get a decent picture or sound on a UHF television station 20 miles away with over 1 Million watts and over 1000 feet of tower. Hmmmm??

The bandwidth issue is an important one...

But, to say one can make it it better than 10 miles with a 5-watt HT utilizing the attached antenna (which likely has negative gain) is just silly. Sure, if you're standing atop the Empire State Building, maybe it would work. But, on the ground, you're lucky to get a few miles without a repeater.

DE

 

[w9wi]

This is off topic, but why is it that I've seen little FRS walkie Talkies that advertise that you can transmit and recieve up to 10 15 and sometimes over 20 miles with some AAA batteries on a UHF frequency, but at the same time I can't get a decent picture or sound on a UHF television station 20 miles away with over 1 Million watts and over 1000 feet of tower. Hmmmm??

Bandwidth. I think you can fit something like 480 FRS channels side-by-side within one analog UHF channel allocation. I'm sure one of the engineer types can better explain the bandwidth/power relationship. It's sort of like using SSB instead of AM to transmit in the HF/CB bands. The same wattage gets out further when you drop down to SSB.

The 480 figure is certainly in the ballpark.

Basically, the amount of noise in a channel increases with the width of the channel. A TV channel is 200 times as wide as a 30KHz two-way radio channel, or 30 times as wide as a FM broadcast channel.

That, and as DE says, 10 miles is a VERY optimistic estimate of the coverage of a FRS radio.

 

[tomservo]

This is off topic, but why is it that I've seen little FRS walkie Talkies that advertise that you can transmit and recieve up to 10 15 and sometimes over 20 miles with some AAA batteries on a UHF frequency, but at the same time I can't get a decent picture or sound on a UHF television station 20 miles away with over 1 Million watts and over 1000 feet of tower. Hmmmm??

Bandwidth. I think you can fit something like 480 FRS channels side-by-side within one analog UHF channel allocation. I'm sure one of the engineer types can better explain the bandwidth/power relationship. It's sort of like using SSB instead of AM to transmit in the HF/CB bands. The same wattage gets out further when you drop down to SSB.

The 480 figure is certainly in the ballpark.

Basically, the amount of noise in a channel increases with the width of the channel. A TV channel is 200 times as wide as a 30KHz two-way radio channel, or 30 times as wide as a FM broadcast channel.

That, and as DE says, 10 miles is a VERY optimistic estimate of the coverage of a FRS radio.

Something I learned while snooping a while back - FRS channels are just 12.5 kHz wide! I have to wonder how many people buy those radios and don't bother to read the 'fine print' about the coverage being optimistic.

 

[danfling]

Was this just decided upon since our great President Obama was sworn in? I thought that it was initiated when the Republicans were in the White House. (Thankfully, they are not anymore!)

The only acceptable excuses for not being ready by now is to have either been living under a rock for the last three years or been in a coma for that amount of time. I think Obama requested the delay in the transition simply to throw his weight around. It was unnecessary.

Jonathan

 

[dj1217]

something the fcc did'nt think of......if you lose power at your home and have no generator, you can't use the small battery powered tv's can't even hook up a converter box.