I am more concerned about what happens to the old analog iron and the antenna. There is a limited market for something considered obsolete by the entire nation.
On 1/7/08, Hap Griffin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Not really. With the huge power in NTSC analog signals around the visual > and aural carriers, as well as the color subcarrier, stations had to be > geographically far apart to be able to share channels. Even odd channel > pairings such as the "taboo" relationships whereby stations could not > operate close together if they were on pairs differing by 8 channels (8 x 6 > MHz = 48 MHz which falls in the receivers' IF passbands) could not be used. > The high powers concentrated at the visual carriers even required adjacent > stations to shift their frequencies by 10 KHz. Digital transmitters operate > with generally lower power and that power is noise-like, spead evenly across > each 6 MHz channel. With the inherent error checking and correction power > built into the ATSC digital television system, digital-into-digital > interference is much less of a problem than analog-into-analog > interference was. Therefore, it is possible to cram all 1600 broadcast > stations into less spectrum with digital. It could not have been done with > analog. > > Digital reception is amazing. At WRLK in Columbia, SC, we are running 650 > kilowatts ERP on analog on channel 35, and simultaneously from the same > antenna, 65 kilowatts of digital on channel 32. The digital station can be > received perfectly at locations where the analog station is unwatchable in > the snow. Once the analog transmitters can be turned off, broadcasters' > electric bills will be MUCH less than they are today. My eleven station > network pays over a half million $$$ in electrical costs per year. We > expect it to be cut to about one third of that after next year. > > Hap Griffin > WZ4O > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* MCH <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Monday, January 07, 2008 6:04 PM > *Subject:* Re: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Off Topic (but with on topic > questions): NTIA propaganda > > But, how is that related to the transition to digital? The same could > have happened with simple channel reassignment. > > Joe M. > > Hap Griffin wrote: > > > > Actually, there will be a huge amount of spectrum freed up. Currently, > the > > television allocation is from channel 2 through channel 69. After > February > > 2009, all analog operation will cease and all of the digital stations > will > > be occulying only the channels 2 through 51. Thus, eighteen 6-MHz > channels > > will be freed up, or a total of 108 MHz. > > > > Hap Griffin > > WZ4O > > >
