Quote:
Originally Posted by cvoptimus
Why might this be? Why would stations be sending out weaker signals after the official transition rather than before?
|
It is a bit more complex than this, but essentially, some stations made choices that resulted in weaker signals because it will save them money.
Now for the more detailed answer:
The vast majority of channels were broadcasting on UHF prior to June 12. UHF channels require a couple of orders of magnitude more power to transmit over the same distance as VHF channels require. A UHF channel broadcasting at 1000
kW ERP reaches just about as far as a VHF channel broadcasting at 30
kW ERP. So many channels elected to move back to their old VHF channel, once they turned off their analog signals, to reduce their electricity bill by 97%.
The problem with that is that digital signals are subject to a lot more interference on VHF, and are generally less reliable. Furthermore, the
FCC was very conservative in authorizing higher power allocations on VHF, to try to keep co-channel interference to a minimum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cvoptimus
Is there any hope that this might change in the near future or are the channels broadcast and their strength set as of June 13th?
|
There is hope. The
FCC is already working with some of the channels that made this bone-headed decision to go back to VHF, to see if they grant them a little bit more power or otherwise authorize some other construction that will alleviate the problem a bit.
However, personally, I think those channels should admit they were wrong, and file for a permit to move back to UHF, before all the slots available are issued to other broadcasters.
