OMW NOTE: We are basically no longer updating the Ohio Digital TV blog, which was designed to "carry the heavy load" during the period around the digital TV transition on June 12.
From now on, we will continue to post digital TV-related items on the regular Ohio Media Watch blog, like the item below...which we've copied over here for convenience.
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Long-time OMW reader Trip Ericson (RabbitEars) gives us his take on the local digital TV situation, including potential channel availability should one of the Cleveland market stations wish to make a channel move...particularly the alleged CBS affiliate currently stuck on RF digital channel 10...
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Hello, all!
I'm Trip Ericson, the lunatic behind the website RabbitEars.Info, and I've penned this special guest feature on Ohio Media Watch to try to address some of the questions about WOIO and where they could move assuming they wanted to jump ship from channel 10.
This entire article will be written with the assumption that channel 31 is reserved for WJW, even though in reality, it's not. If WOIO was to take channel 31, then this article would apply to WJW just as well. Channel 31 is an open channel by all standards, and would solve the problem for one, but not both, of the VHF broadcasters in the market.
The big problem with all of this is that the FCC's interference rules are rather vicious. In the analog world, there were hard distance limits. If you were x miles away, your station fit. If you were x-1 miles away, your station did not fit. Very simple to understand and very logical.
In digital, the FCC requires a Longley-Rice interference study. The FCC rule is that your allotment cannot create more than 0.5% new interference to any one station. That is to say, you can cause 0.49% interference to station A, and 0.49% interference to station B, and still be within the rules.
The software to run these studies is made available on the FCC website but only runs on a specific computer system. Any other software to perform these studies costs many thousands of dollars, putting it out of the reach of many. I have a friend with access to some software to run these analyses, and had hoped to have him run some studies on WOIO for me, but as press time approaches, he has not been online since I decided to write this article.
Cleveland being where it is, so close to the Canadians, also makes this complicated. To start with, let's look at the Cleveland-area vacant allotments according to Canada:
Cleveland:
03 1024' 9 kW ND
05 1027' 9 kW ND
25 994' 67 kW ND
31 (Ignored)
Akron:
N/A
Canton:
39 958' 200 kW ND
Shaker Heights:
19 1151' 151 kW ND
Lorain:
43 1105' 170 kW ND
A few of these can be tossed out right away. 3 and 5, obviously, would be worse than 10 is now, and thus are removed from the list. 43 is useless due to proximity to WGGN-42, which would almost certainly be way, WAY above 0.5% interference. A signal on 25 would be crippled by KDKA in Pittsburgh and thus unable to adequately cover the area. So this leaves us with channels 19 and 39.
Now, these are just channels that the Canadians have already negotiated with the United States; there's nothing preventing more channels from being negotiated. Let's pull in some other channels to run through that might look good at first glance:
14, 18, 21, 27, 44, 51
Most of these can be tossed out right away:
14 and 18: These two look very clean, until you read through FCC regulations and learn they are reserved for "land mobile." That is, they're used for two-way communication in Pittsburgh among public safety and other licensees. There's a hard spacing rule of 155 miles that Cleveland simply does not meet.
21 and 44: Adjacent channel issues to WFMJ and WNEO aside, which would probably toss these two out right away, spacing to WMYD and WWJ in Detroit probably would do it too. I would not expect either of these allotments to work out.
19 and 51: These frequencies, though promising, have adjacent channel problems. 19 would likely fail with regard to WFMJ-20, and 51 would certainly fail with respect to WEAO-50. Thus, these channels are not under consideration.
At this point, we now see that what started out as a pretty interesting list of channels under consideration, is now narrowed down to two possibilities: Channels 27 or 39. Let's analyze them.
Channel 27: On the adjacent channels, we find WVIZ-26 and WUAB-28, both of which are co-located and thus would not cause any issues. This leaves us with co-channel concerns. WBGU on 27 is probably far enough away that a minor directional null would safely protect it, though this should be checked with an interference study. The big problem is CKCO-DT-3 in Sarnia, which is allotted 994' 810 kW. Even with a WKYC-style directional pattern, I'm not sure that the Canadians would be willing to accept a channel 27 in Cleveland.
Channel 39: This one is more promising than channel 27. The adjacent channels are more than 100 miles away, which means that interference to them should be minimal. There's a Class A at 92 miles that could be an issue, but an interference study would be needed to determine how much of a problem it would be. WADL is both directional away from Cleveland, and on a short tower, and I suspect would not be a problem. Plus, channel 39 already existed as an allotment for WDLI, so the chances of it working are good. My question would be just how much power they could run on 39. It's possible that it wouldn't be enough to satisfy them.
Now, I was staring at it for a while, and I came up with another possibility that might actually be superior to either channel 27 or 39, but I'm not sure how much of a problem it will cause.
Channel 33 caught my eye because it was clean except for a single Canadian station at 76 miles. CICO-TV-59 (analog 59/digital 33) is only allotted 492' 4 kW ND (that's not a typo) on channel 33. I don't know a lot about Canadian allotments, but unless I missed something, it looks like the currently unbuilt CICO-TV-59 digital signal could be moved from channel 33 to channel 20. This would actually reduce interference that it would receive from adjacent channels.
Relocating CICO-TV-59 would then open up channel 33 for use in Cleveland. The only concern would be to CICO-TV-32 in Windsor, allotted 703' 350 kW ND. A slight directional pattern might protect it if it's even an issue. I wonder what the Canadians would say to this proposal, given that the vacant but agreed upon channel 31 allotment is also adjacent to it. Perhaps WOIO could trade the current channel 19 analog antenna to CICO-TV-59 to use on channel 20 digital, assuming it's usable for that.
It seems perfectly logical. I suppose that's why it would never happen.
Ultimately, after all that study and analysis, the most certain answer I can give is "I don't know."
Without the ability to run an interference study, channel 39 looks the best, but that's no guarantee that it works in a satisfactory manner. I would suspect that if WOIO wanted to get off of channel 10 bad enough and they were not in the Canadian border zone, they could make it work regardless, but the Canadians are an unknown.
Finally, I'd like to direct readers to a project I've been working on. I have been teaching myself PHP through coding a project for RabbitEars. I put it in public beta last week and it's currently called the "DX Tool." I plan to change that name, as it's misleading in that it's not just for DXers.
I would like to ask readers of Ohio Media Watch who use over the air to consider trying out the DX Tool. By doing this, the DX Tool allows for the inversion of the reception reports to form a coverage map based on real world reports.
Sign up and submit reception reports for your local stations and maybe we can fill in this map with data showing just how bad reception is for WOIO, plus reception issues for WJW or maybe other stations as well can be shown on their own respective maps.
Thank you to Ohio Media Watch for giving me the opportunity to write this essay. Continue the great work!
Showing posts with label cleveland.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleveland.. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
The VHF DTV Struggle
Here we are, now over a week out from the June 12th digital TV transition, and stations which "transitioned" to a VHF frequency for their permanent digital channels are still getting a lot of flack.
Broadcasting & Cable has a pretty decent summary of the problems in an article on the trade website today:
Some of the problems with VHF reception are simply due to consumers not having the correct antenna; many antennas marketed as “HDTV-ready” are UHF-only. And the double-rescan procedure recommended last week by the FCC has solved the issue for some viewers in New York and Chicago.
But in many cases, the reception problems are more severe in close proximity to the transmitter than farther away. That suggests the problem is less one of signal coverage than of signal penetration into urban dwellings such as apartment buildings, where many viewers rely on simple indoor antennas.
That would mirror what we've heard here in Northeast Ohio.
Some of the loudest complaints about reception on WJW's new digital channel 8 facility are coming from inner ring Cleveland and Akron suburbs, like Shaker Heights and University Heights, or like our own location somewhere in northern or western Summit County.
In all three locations, WJW's UHF 31 pre-transition facility pegged the signal meter on digital tuners or converter boxes.
Here at OMW World Headquarters, a tiny wire hooked to our Zenith converter box could pick up WJW before the transition...now, we've had to assume the "Fox Viewing Position" made famous on the network's early iconic sitcom "Married...with Children". (And at that time, WJW wasn't a Fox affiliate!)
Again, like most viewers within 15-20 miles of the Parma antenna farm, we do not have a rooftop or attic antenna.
For the record, we THINK we've found an indoor antenna placement here that has brought us the strongest possible WJW signal, with few or no dropouts. But we're not altogether sure that'll hold up under different atmospheric conditions.
On the other hand, this article by Cleveland Plain Dealer business writer Shaheen Samavati last week - which talks about the difficulties receiving WJW and Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 digitally - had an interesting note:
Ben Rzepka of University Heights uses a high-powered rooftop antenna that pulls in all Cleveland market stations perfectly - except WOIO. He says he watches programs on the Toledo CBS affiliate, WTOL Channel 11, instead.
"It can't be my system or my antenna," he said. "If I'm getting Toledo stations, it's got to be WOIO that has some kind of problem."
Two oddities in that section of the article.
First, WTOL itself is a VHF digital allocation on its former analog channel, 11. Different band and atmospheric conditions have been bringing in stations as far away as Detroit for Northeast Ohio digital TV viewers.
We know one OMW reader in northern Summit County who says his digital tuner gets at least a brief scan of Detroit CBS O&O WWJ/62 (if not a watchable picture), but that the same tuner can't get WOIO's signal - even though he can actually see tower lights from the Parma antenna farm across the Cuyahoga Valley.
But the University Heights man (with a rooftop antenna!) quoted above stumbles on the other side of the VHF DTV phenomenon...while people relatively close to the transmitter in urban areas are struggling with those stations, the "carrying power" of VHF can the stations' signals far beyond the market, in the right conditions.
It reminds us of the problem Akron market Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 had when it first camped out on that frequency in the "Great Frequency Swap of 2001"...98.1 was touted as a powerful signal, but it couldn't penetrate buildings in the core of downtown Akron.
Our friends in the TV engineering community will rail against indoor antennas.
But in core urban areas, putting up a rooftop antenna is just not a viable option...for viewers who don't have such problems with higher-powered UHF installations like, oh, say, the new RF 17 allocation for WKYC/3. Or WJW's own pre-transition RF 31.
Why should someone in a core suburb have to put up an outdoor antenna (and pay for it, to boot) when only two stations are a problem without one? If you're going to pay for something to watch TV, why not a cable or satellite subscription?
And as such, we are cautious about over-stating this.
If these figures from the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) are correct, the Cleveland/Akron (Canton) TV market enjoys 90% cable and satellite penetration as of this past February. ("ADS" in the chart would basically be satellite, or other non-cable distribution methods.)
That means all but 10% of this TV market's viewers are blissfully unaware of the difficulty picking up the market's two VHF DTV outlets, WJW and WOIO. And of that 10%, there are thousands who do NOT have problems with the local Fox and CBS affiliates' new digital signals.
For those with problems with the VHF side of digital TV, what's next?
Let's bring in our long-time friend, colleague and World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush, from this week's edition of NorthEast Radio Watch:
In the long run, though, it appears the FCC may be right back where it was in, say, 1950: coming to terms with the reality that the state of the art in receiver and antenna design probably requires significantly more power than was originally thought necessary.
That, too, may be an expensive solution for some stations that had already built what were to be their "permanent" VHF digital facilities - though the good news is that most of the stations moving back to their VHF analog allocations have plenty of headroom in their antennas and transmission systems for more power, and often have extra transmitter power to spare, too, if they've converted recent analog transmitters to digital use.
That would certainly appear to apply to WJW, locally.
In fact, if the FCC filings the local Fox affiliate have made are to be believed (or are being read properly), the station is in the process of doing just that: converting its former analog transmitter to digital.
WJW's analog allocation had the station putting out an ERP of 236 kW. We haven't heard any progress on the supposed conversion, if it's taking place, but we'll guess that WJW will build it out at 30 kW and see what happens from there.
WOIO? We've given up on them. The 10.3 kW that the local CBS affiliate is trying to rangle out of its FCC application - reportedly tied up with Canadian coordination with London ON co-channel analog CFPL/10 - is probably not going to help the station very much. And as WOIO's Jim Stunek has told the Plain Dealer's Shaheen Samavati, it's a "time-consuming process".
If you want to watch "19 Action News", and can't see it on your digital OTA tuner, call Time Warner Cable, WOW Cable, Cox Cable or your local cable company, or DirecTV or Dish Network.
Meanwhile, in Toledo, we hear that ABC O&O WTVG/13 is openly talking about the station's own problems with its 11.2 kW allocation on RF 13.
An OMW reader tells us that "13abc" discussed the problem, with the help of several engineers, on the Sunday public affairs program "Conklin and Company". That's no surprise, since ABC itself has been the loudest voice reacting to this whole mess.
We're told that it was learned that WTVG is waiting for an FCC engineer to study the new signal, before trying to get a power increase.
And we hear that WTVG's chief engineer said what Scott Fybush also said in his NorthEast Radio Watch, which we quoted above: that "they took us back to the 1950's power levels where people HAD to have an outdoor antenna"...
Broadcasting & Cable has a pretty decent summary of the problems in an article on the trade website today:
Some of the problems with VHF reception are simply due to consumers not having the correct antenna; many antennas marketed as “HDTV-ready” are UHF-only. And the double-rescan procedure recommended last week by the FCC has solved the issue for some viewers in New York and Chicago.
But in many cases, the reception problems are more severe in close proximity to the transmitter than farther away. That suggests the problem is less one of signal coverage than of signal penetration into urban dwellings such as apartment buildings, where many viewers rely on simple indoor antennas.
That would mirror what we've heard here in Northeast Ohio.
Some of the loudest complaints about reception on WJW's new digital channel 8 facility are coming from inner ring Cleveland and Akron suburbs, like Shaker Heights and University Heights, or like our own location somewhere in northern or western Summit County.
In all three locations, WJW's UHF 31 pre-transition facility pegged the signal meter on digital tuners or converter boxes.
Here at OMW World Headquarters, a tiny wire hooked to our Zenith converter box could pick up WJW before the transition...now, we've had to assume the "Fox Viewing Position" made famous on the network's early iconic sitcom "Married...with Children". (And at that time, WJW wasn't a Fox affiliate!)
Again, like most viewers within 15-20 miles of the Parma antenna farm, we do not have a rooftop or attic antenna.
For the record, we THINK we've found an indoor antenna placement here that has brought us the strongest possible WJW signal, with few or no dropouts. But we're not altogether sure that'll hold up under different atmospheric conditions.
On the other hand, this article by Cleveland Plain Dealer business writer Shaheen Samavati last week - which talks about the difficulties receiving WJW and Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 digitally - had an interesting note:
Ben Rzepka of University Heights uses a high-powered rooftop antenna that pulls in all Cleveland market stations perfectly - except WOIO. He says he watches programs on the Toledo CBS affiliate, WTOL Channel 11, instead.
"It can't be my system or my antenna," he said. "If I'm getting Toledo stations, it's got to be WOIO that has some kind of problem."
Two oddities in that section of the article.
First, WTOL itself is a VHF digital allocation on its former analog channel, 11. Different band and atmospheric conditions have been bringing in stations as far away as Detroit for Northeast Ohio digital TV viewers.
We know one OMW reader in northern Summit County who says his digital tuner gets at least a brief scan of Detroit CBS O&O WWJ/62 (if not a watchable picture), but that the same tuner can't get WOIO's signal - even though he can actually see tower lights from the Parma antenna farm across the Cuyahoga Valley.
But the University Heights man (with a rooftop antenna!) quoted above stumbles on the other side of the VHF DTV phenomenon...while people relatively close to the transmitter in urban areas are struggling with those stations, the "carrying power" of VHF can the stations' signals far beyond the market, in the right conditions.
It reminds us of the problem Akron market Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 had when it first camped out on that frequency in the "Great Frequency Swap of 2001"...98.1 was touted as a powerful signal, but it couldn't penetrate buildings in the core of downtown Akron.
Our friends in the TV engineering community will rail against indoor antennas.
But in core urban areas, putting up a rooftop antenna is just not a viable option...for viewers who don't have such problems with higher-powered UHF installations like, oh, say, the new RF 17 allocation for WKYC/3. Or WJW's own pre-transition RF 31.
Why should someone in a core suburb have to put up an outdoor antenna (and pay for it, to boot) when only two stations are a problem without one? If you're going to pay for something to watch TV, why not a cable or satellite subscription?
And as such, we are cautious about over-stating this.
If these figures from the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) are correct, the Cleveland/Akron (Canton) TV market enjoys 90% cable and satellite penetration as of this past February. ("ADS" in the chart would basically be satellite, or other non-cable distribution methods.)
That means all but 10% of this TV market's viewers are blissfully unaware of the difficulty picking up the market's two VHF DTV outlets, WJW and WOIO. And of that 10%, there are thousands who do NOT have problems with the local Fox and CBS affiliates' new digital signals.
For those with problems with the VHF side of digital TV, what's next?
Let's bring in our long-time friend, colleague and World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush, from this week's edition of NorthEast Radio Watch:
In the long run, though, it appears the FCC may be right back where it was in, say, 1950: coming to terms with the reality that the state of the art in receiver and antenna design probably requires significantly more power than was originally thought necessary.
That, too, may be an expensive solution for some stations that had already built what were to be their "permanent" VHF digital facilities - though the good news is that most of the stations moving back to their VHF analog allocations have plenty of headroom in their antennas and transmission systems for more power, and often have extra transmitter power to spare, too, if they've converted recent analog transmitters to digital use.
That would certainly appear to apply to WJW, locally.
In fact, if the FCC filings the local Fox affiliate have made are to be believed (or are being read properly), the station is in the process of doing just that: converting its former analog transmitter to digital.
WJW's analog allocation had the station putting out an ERP of 236 kW. We haven't heard any progress on the supposed conversion, if it's taking place, but we'll guess that WJW will build it out at 30 kW and see what happens from there.
WOIO? We've given up on them. The 10.3 kW that the local CBS affiliate is trying to rangle out of its FCC application - reportedly tied up with Canadian coordination with London ON co-channel analog CFPL/10 - is probably not going to help the station very much. And as WOIO's Jim Stunek has told the Plain Dealer's Shaheen Samavati, it's a "time-consuming process".
If you want to watch "19 Action News", and can't see it on your digital OTA tuner, call Time Warner Cable, WOW Cable, Cox Cable or your local cable company, or DirecTV or Dish Network.
Meanwhile, in Toledo, we hear that ABC O&O WTVG/13 is openly talking about the station's own problems with its 11.2 kW allocation on RF 13.
An OMW reader tells us that "13abc" discussed the problem, with the help of several engineers, on the Sunday public affairs program "Conklin and Company". That's no surprise, since ABC itself has been the loudest voice reacting to this whole mess.
We're told that it was learned that WTVG is waiting for an FCC engineer to study the new signal, before trying to get a power increase.
And we hear that WTVG's chief engineer said what Scott Fybush also said in his NorthEast Radio Watch, which we quoted above: that "they took us back to the 1950's power levels where people HAD to have an outdoor antenna"...
A View From The Inside
(This is a reprint of part of an item which appears on our main site, Ohio Media Watch, this morning:)
OMW, and our sister site in the OMW Blog Network, Ohio Digital TV, chronicled the building of the new WKYC/WVIZ tower and digital TV facility on Broadview Road in Parma quite frequently.
Since we were basically taking pictures from the outside, we were left to a lot of speculation about what was going on inside, and when the facility would be completed.
We have all the answers...after the fact, of course.
Dave Kushman, one of WKYC's engineers on the project, brings us the pictures we all imagined before the June 12th transition...with his site hosting an in-depth look at the work inside and outside the site that now houses WKYC's digital channel 17 and WVIZ's digital channel 26.
We'll have to go back and see if some of our speculation was on target, or, well, off target.
The hat tip here is to our blogging colleague over at WKYC, senior director Frank Macek and his "Director's Cut" blog.
And we're wondering if Dave put up the site, in part, because of all the interest in the new WKYC/WVIZ site among our readers...
OMW, and our sister site in the OMW Blog Network, Ohio Digital TV, chronicled the building of the new WKYC/WVIZ tower and digital TV facility on Broadview Road in Parma quite frequently.
Since we were basically taking pictures from the outside, we were left to a lot of speculation about what was going on inside, and when the facility would be completed.
We have all the answers...after the fact, of course.
Dave Kushman, one of WKYC's engineers on the project, brings us the pictures we all imagined before the June 12th transition...with his site hosting an in-depth look at the work inside and outside the site that now houses WKYC's digital channel 17 and WVIZ's digital channel 26.
We'll have to go back and see if some of our speculation was on target, or, well, off target.
The hat tip here is to our blogging colleague over at WKYC, senior director Frank Macek and his "Director's Cut" blog.
And we're wondering if Dave put up the site, in part, because of all the interest in the new WKYC/WVIZ site among our readers...
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sorting Through The WJW Mess
Yes, we were a bit harsh in yesterday's item, explaining the "lack of power" out of Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8's new digital transmitter...which was believed to be running at 30 kW, but is actually only putting out 11 kW, based on our research of FCC filings.
Here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we're not technical experts in such things as TV transmission systems...so, we got some help - both solicited and otherwise - by Those Who Know What They're Doing.
One of those people is long-time friend, colleague and World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush of NorthEast Radio Watch.
For one, no matter which setup WJW ends up putting on the air, Scott tells us that it's important to note that VHF DTV has caused many more problems than expected...and not just in Cleveland:
High-band VHF DTV appears to be having reception issues all over the country - certainly at WCPO (in Cincinnati), and at WHDH in Boston, and WTNH in New Haven, and to some extent at WHEC and WHAM here (at NERW home base in Rochester, NY).
And, of course, right here in OMW-land at WTOL and WTVG in Toledo.
Scott tells us that one of those stations has already implemented a temporary solution, which might be advisable for WJW to emulate here:
WHDH has reactivated its DTV 42 transmitter under Special Temporary Authority.
WHDH explains that move here.
Could that give WJW an idea - to reactivate its own RF 31 digital transmitter to temporarily "fill in the gaps"? We understand WHDH/7 has both transmitters going now, which apparently puts two "7-1"'s (and -2s) on digital tuners that have rescanned. Two is better than one, we presume, if your tuner or converter box can handle the confusion...and it'll be obvious which one is the resurrected former signal.
(Plus, and this is a bonus WJW may want to consider, it would put "8-1" on tuners twice for those who get a scan on the digital 8 signal!)
It's either that, or WJW could continue to send reporters to digital TV homes with trouble picking up digital channel 8, and task those reporters with carrying indoor antennas around the room to find the best signal, and quickly going back to the studio while the reporter swaps out to a new antenna. Not like that would ever happen...with the viewer puzzled about why he has to walk around a room with an antenna in his hand while watching TV.
Just how much improvement would a 30 kW digital channel 8 upgrade bring to local viewers?
Trip Ericson is a very bright, young Virginia-based college student who created the RabbitEars website - chock full of technical information about every TV market and station in America.
Trip writes in the comments to our last item:
The 30 kW permit calls for a directional pattern. Most of the power goes out over the Lake, and thus the future power boost is negligible to most viewers on dry land.
What I'm trying to say is don't count on it to do you any favors, unless the current antenna has uneven gain across the channel 8 spectrum...
Trip, by the way, is also an engineering intern at Roanoke VA CBS affiliate WDBJ/7, and at some point, will be running the broadcast world. We're sure of it. And he's not even 21 years old now.
An OMW reader named "Pat" tries to do some further reading of the WJW construction permits:
From the FCC records, it appear that their temporary transmitter puts out 1.07KW so they are using a high gain antenna to get to 11KW. Their regular transmitter puts out 32KW so a much lower gain antenna will be used. The lower gain antenna will put more signal in close to their transmitter site. It is possible those out closer to the horizon aren't seeing the same level of issue you see. 30KW ERP will make a different, but the higher power transmitter will a lower gain antenna may help even more. (By the way, I have no broadcast experience, so I may be wrong).
So be it, Pat...we have no TV engineering experience, as well.
We don't presume for a moment that the 30 kW upgrade will solve all problems for WJW, and the station's current situation at very least is not as bad as a certain CBS affiliate at downtown Cleveland's Reserve Square.
But maybe even a "negligible" increase can smooth out some of the reception issues in areas not that far away from Parma. At the OMW World Headquarters, some 20 air miles from the WJW transmitter site, we have been able to get a regular lock on the digital channel 8 signal, but...it's on the edge, and we get occasional audio dropouts. The same antenna setups get us WOIO/19's digital channel 10 only when the atmosphere cooperates.
WJW, meanwhile, is not battling a massive on-channel analog signal across Lake Erie like WOIO is. But that directional pattern Trip mentions may be in place for WJW because of two adjacent signals to the south - WTRF/7 Wheeling and WTOV/9 Steubenville, which have both flash cut to digital.
When it comes to WJW, we expected problems on the fringes of the market...but we didn't expect weak reception within 20 miles of Parma. We have to believe the 30 kW facility will help at least a little in the core of the market, even with the directional issues.
But the current situation may mean that 30 kW won't be the top power level for VHF DTV stations in the future.
Oddly enough, the current VHF DTV reception situation is nothing new, as Scott Fybush tells us:
It also bears noting that this is EXACTLY the same situation as happened with the early years of analog TV, both VHF and UHF - the FCC initially thought stations could get by with much lower power levels than were eventually authorized.
Stations like ABC O&O's WLS/7 Chicago and WPVI/6 Philadelphia are feeling the pain, and are pressing the FCC for greater power allocations on their own VHF DTV channels.
Though it now appears that a 3-million viewer drop for the network's "World News Tonight" on Friday may not be attributed to a loss of digital viewers, but rather, a loss of counting them (per this Associated Press article), the network does appear very sensitive to the issues.
Local stations like WJW and WOIO do not appear to have the same sense of urgency as ABC, or as Sunbeam Television's WHDH in Boston...or if they do, we'd at least like to know about it...
Here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we're not technical experts in such things as TV transmission systems...so, we got some help - both solicited and otherwise - by Those Who Know What They're Doing.
One of those people is long-time friend, colleague and World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush of NorthEast Radio Watch.
For one, no matter which setup WJW ends up putting on the air, Scott tells us that it's important to note that VHF DTV has caused many more problems than expected...and not just in Cleveland:
High-band VHF DTV appears to be having reception issues all over the country - certainly at WCPO (in Cincinnati), and at WHDH in Boston, and WTNH in New Haven, and to some extent at WHEC and WHAM here (at NERW home base in Rochester, NY).
And, of course, right here in OMW-land at WTOL and WTVG in Toledo.
Scott tells us that one of those stations has already implemented a temporary solution, which might be advisable for WJW to emulate here:
WHDH has reactivated its DTV 42 transmitter under Special Temporary Authority.
WHDH explains that move here.
Could that give WJW an idea - to reactivate its own RF 31 digital transmitter to temporarily "fill in the gaps"? We understand WHDH/7 has both transmitters going now, which apparently puts two "7-1"'s (and -2s) on digital tuners that have rescanned. Two is better than one, we presume, if your tuner or converter box can handle the confusion...and it'll be obvious which one is the resurrected former signal.
(Plus, and this is a bonus WJW may want to consider, it would put "8-1" on tuners twice for those who get a scan on the digital 8 signal!)
It's either that, or WJW could continue to send reporters to digital TV homes with trouble picking up digital channel 8, and task those reporters with carrying indoor antennas around the room to find the best signal, and quickly going back to the studio while the reporter swaps out to a new antenna. Not like that would ever happen...with the viewer puzzled about why he has to walk around a room with an antenna in his hand while watching TV.
Just how much improvement would a 30 kW digital channel 8 upgrade bring to local viewers?
Trip Ericson is a very bright, young Virginia-based college student who created the RabbitEars website - chock full of technical information about every TV market and station in America.
Trip writes in the comments to our last item:
The 30 kW permit calls for a directional pattern. Most of the power goes out over the Lake, and thus the future power boost is negligible to most viewers on dry land.
What I'm trying to say is don't count on it to do you any favors, unless the current antenna has uneven gain across the channel 8 spectrum...
Trip, by the way, is also an engineering intern at Roanoke VA CBS affiliate WDBJ/7, and at some point, will be running the broadcast world. We're sure of it. And he's not even 21 years old now.
An OMW reader named "Pat" tries to do some further reading of the WJW construction permits:
From the FCC records, it appear that their temporary transmitter puts out 1.07KW so they are using a high gain antenna to get to 11KW. Their regular transmitter puts out 32KW so a much lower gain antenna will be used. The lower gain antenna will put more signal in close to their transmitter site. It is possible those out closer to the horizon aren't seeing the same level of issue you see. 30KW ERP will make a different, but the higher power transmitter will a lower gain antenna may help even more. (By the way, I have no broadcast experience, so I may be wrong).
So be it, Pat...we have no TV engineering experience, as well.
We don't presume for a moment that the 30 kW upgrade will solve all problems for WJW, and the station's current situation at very least is not as bad as a certain CBS affiliate at downtown Cleveland's Reserve Square.
But maybe even a "negligible" increase can smooth out some of the reception issues in areas not that far away from Parma. At the OMW World Headquarters, some 20 air miles from the WJW transmitter site, we have been able to get a regular lock on the digital channel 8 signal, but...it's on the edge, and we get occasional audio dropouts. The same antenna setups get us WOIO/19's digital channel 10 only when the atmosphere cooperates.
WJW, meanwhile, is not battling a massive on-channel analog signal across Lake Erie like WOIO is. But that directional pattern Trip mentions may be in place for WJW because of two adjacent signals to the south - WTRF/7 Wheeling and WTOV/9 Steubenville, which have both flash cut to digital.
When it comes to WJW, we expected problems on the fringes of the market...but we didn't expect weak reception within 20 miles of Parma. We have to believe the 30 kW facility will help at least a little in the core of the market, even with the directional issues.
But the current situation may mean that 30 kW won't be the top power level for VHF DTV stations in the future.
Oddly enough, the current VHF DTV reception situation is nothing new, as Scott Fybush tells us:
It also bears noting that this is EXACTLY the same situation as happened with the early years of analog TV, both VHF and UHF - the FCC initially thought stations could get by with much lower power levels than were eventually authorized.
Stations like ABC O&O's WLS/7 Chicago and WPVI/6 Philadelphia are feeling the pain, and are pressing the FCC for greater power allocations on their own VHF DTV channels.
Though it now appears that a 3-million viewer drop for the network's "World News Tonight" on Friday may not be attributed to a loss of digital viewers, but rather, a loss of counting them (per this Associated Press article), the network does appear very sensitive to the issues.
Local stations like WJW and WOIO do not appear to have the same sense of urgency as ABC, or as Sunbeam Television's WHDH in Boston...or if they do, we'd at least like to know about it...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Almost Done
At this writing, the end of full-power analog TV in Northeast Ohio is nearly complete.
Only the analog signals of WKYC/3 (NBC), WVIZ/25 (PBS), WNEO/49 (PBS) and WQHS/61 (Univision) remain, and the last three will be gone before midnight tonight. WKYC's "nightlight" DTV information loop will continue through June 26th...the station having taken all entertainment and news programming off of analog 3 at 10 AM.
Over in the Mahoning Valley, only the analog signal of WFMJ/21 (NBC) is still on the air late this Friday night. It plans to pull the analog plug at just before midnight tonight, and will have to do so even if the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings take over four hours to finish Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
By the way, OMW hears from our friends at Western Reserve PBS that though Youngstown low-power analog fill-in translator W58AM (Channel 58) is indeed still off the air, the Kent-based PBS operation is planning to return the Youngstown fill-in service via digital channel 44 (58's replacement, W44CR) in the fall of this year.
We'll have a post-mortem and commentary over the weekend, and more information about other Ohio markets (particularly Toledo and Columbus) as it becomes available to us...
Only the analog signals of WKYC/3 (NBC), WVIZ/25 (PBS), WNEO/49 (PBS) and WQHS/61 (Univision) remain, and the last three will be gone before midnight tonight. WKYC's "nightlight" DTV information loop will continue through June 26th...the station having taken all entertainment and news programming off of analog 3 at 10 AM.
Over in the Mahoning Valley, only the analog signal of WFMJ/21 (NBC) is still on the air late this Friday night. It plans to pull the analog plug at just before midnight tonight, and will have to do so even if the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings take over four hours to finish Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
By the way, OMW hears from our friends at Western Reserve PBS that though Youngstown low-power analog fill-in translator W58AM (Channel 58) is indeed still off the air, the Kent-based PBS operation is planning to return the Youngstown fill-in service via digital channel 44 (58's replacement, W44CR) in the fall of this year.
We'll have a post-mortem and commentary over the weekend, and more information about other Ohio markets (particularly Toledo and Columbus) as it becomes available to us...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
It's About The Timing
Here we are, just two weeks and one day away from the now-set-in-stone (we presume) digital TV transition date of June 12th.
And as we get closer, the timing gets clearer.
OMW hears that the major local network affiliate stations in the Cleveland market are coordinating a time to shut off their analog signals on the transition date - that time being 10 AM on the 12th. Some other stations may not join that parade...for example, we're hearing that Univision O&O WQHS/61 may wait for 11 PM.
One thing we haven't noted here...at 10 AM on June 12th, Cleveland Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 will not actually turn off its long-time home of analog channel 3. WKYC is one of the stations participating in the FCC's "nightlight" program, so analog 3 will be on for another few weeks.
Instead of carrying Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, "Chuck" and other NBC programming (and "Channel 3 News"), under "nightlight", the analog WKYC signal will run a loop of information about the digital TV transition, including contact information for those who need help making the switch.
We don't know when WKYC will finally hit the "OFF" button on the analog transmitter, but it'll be anywhere from two weeks to a month after June 12th.
Now, how about that much-watched WKYC/WVIZ tower?
OMW has reason to believe it's on schedule, and that both stations will be transmitting their new, full-power digital signals from there at the June 12th transition. (And much rejoicing was heard throughout Digital TV Land!)
And in fact, ideastream PBS affiliate WVIZ-DT is so eager to abandon its 10 kW temporary facility for a full-power signal...it's asking the FCC to allow it to turn on the new post-transition signal early.
That's one week early, as in June 5th. (Here's the PDF of the engineering statement supporting the STA request.)
It is a similar filing to one made by Western Reserve PBS' WNEO/45 Alliance, which started airing its then-licensed new 44 kW digital signal on RF 45...then quickly found that it really needed to light up a construction permit for 500 kW that its post-transition license condition said couldn't be turned on until February 17th. (Remember THAT date? It almost seems quaint!)
As far as we know, WKYC-DT will make the RF 2 to RF 17 switch in time for the June 12th transition. WKYC has not filed for any pre-transition STA for its digital RF 17 operation.
We've traipsed through the FCC filings to find out - for example - that Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 tells the FCC it is indeed ready to light up its 30 kW digital facility on RF 8 at the transition on the 12th:
-----
WJW PLANS TO USE ITS CURRENT CHANNEL 8 ANALOG ANTENNA FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION AFTER IT CEASES ANALOG TRANSMISSION AS OF JUNE 12, 2009.
THE STATION HAS PURCHASED AND TESTED A NEW INTERIM DIGITAL CHANNEL 8 TRANSMITTER AND PLANS TO USE THAT TRANSMITTER AT FULLY-AUTHORIZED POWER AS OF JUNE 12, 2009, WHILE ITS ANALOG TRANSMITTER IS BEING CONVERTED TO DIGITAL, AFTER WHICH WJW-DT WILL SWITCH TO THE CONVERTED ANALOG TRANSMITTER FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION.
-----
WJW's 30 kW post-transition power level on RF 8 was approved back in March, but like WVIZ-DT, the approval hinges on the digital transition date.
We haven't yet been able to find out when the three Youngstown market commercial stations will make the switch on that day...
And as we get closer, the timing gets clearer.
OMW hears that the major local network affiliate stations in the Cleveland market are coordinating a time to shut off their analog signals on the transition date - that time being 10 AM on the 12th. Some other stations may not join that parade...for example, we're hearing that Univision O&O WQHS/61 may wait for 11 PM.
One thing we haven't noted here...at 10 AM on June 12th, Cleveland Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 will not actually turn off its long-time home of analog channel 3. WKYC is one of the stations participating in the FCC's "nightlight" program, so analog 3 will be on for another few weeks.
Instead of carrying Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, "Chuck" and other NBC programming (and "Channel 3 News"), under "nightlight", the analog WKYC signal will run a loop of information about the digital TV transition, including contact information for those who need help making the switch.
We don't know when WKYC will finally hit the "OFF" button on the analog transmitter, but it'll be anywhere from two weeks to a month after June 12th.
Now, how about that much-watched WKYC/WVIZ tower?
OMW has reason to believe it's on schedule, and that both stations will be transmitting their new, full-power digital signals from there at the June 12th transition. (And much rejoicing was heard throughout Digital TV Land!)
And in fact, ideastream PBS affiliate WVIZ-DT is so eager to abandon its 10 kW temporary facility for a full-power signal...it's asking the FCC to allow it to turn on the new post-transition signal early.
That's one week early, as in June 5th. (Here's the PDF of the engineering statement supporting the STA request.)
It is a similar filing to one made by Western Reserve PBS' WNEO/45 Alliance, which started airing its then-licensed new 44 kW digital signal on RF 45...then quickly found that it really needed to light up a construction permit for 500 kW that its post-transition license condition said couldn't be turned on until February 17th. (Remember THAT date? It almost seems quaint!)
As far as we know, WKYC-DT will make the RF 2 to RF 17 switch in time for the June 12th transition. WKYC has not filed for any pre-transition STA for its digital RF 17 operation.
We've traipsed through the FCC filings to find out - for example - that Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 tells the FCC it is indeed ready to light up its 30 kW digital facility on RF 8 at the transition on the 12th:
-----
WJW PLANS TO USE ITS CURRENT CHANNEL 8 ANALOG ANTENNA FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION AFTER IT CEASES ANALOG TRANSMISSION AS OF JUNE 12, 2009.
THE STATION HAS PURCHASED AND TESTED A NEW INTERIM DIGITAL CHANNEL 8 TRANSMITTER AND PLANS TO USE THAT TRANSMITTER AT FULLY-AUTHORIZED POWER AS OF JUNE 12, 2009, WHILE ITS ANALOG TRANSMITTER IS BEING CONVERTED TO DIGITAL, AFTER WHICH WJW-DT WILL SWITCH TO THE CONVERTED ANALOG TRANSMITTER FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION.
-----
WJW's 30 kW post-transition power level on RF 8 was approved back in March, but like WVIZ-DT, the approval hinges on the digital transition date.
We haven't yet been able to find out when the three Youngstown market commercial stations will make the switch on that day...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
DTV Season Into High Gear
Like the upcoming Memorial Day weekend usually signals the start of the mythical Summer Driving Season, today apparently signals the start of the Official DTV Transition - We're Serious About This, We're Really Going To Do This Now - Season...with the June 12th transition date just weeks away.
Local TV stations in Northeast Ohio are indeed joining along with a nationwide DTV "soft test", interrupting their analog signals three times today to urge viewers to, well, make their own transition.
Cleveland Plain Dealer business writer/DTV transition watcher Shaheen Samavati reports that most of the Cleveland market's full-power stations will interrupt analog programming at three times today to air the messages:
------
People still receiving over-the-air analog television signals through an antenna will have their programs interrupted at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. with an alert telling them how to prepare for the end of analog broadcasting on June 12.
Those already watching digital TV, as well as those connected to cable or other pay-TV services, should not see the alert.
In the Cleveland-Akron area, stations participating in the test are WBNX Channel 55, WEWS Channel 5, WJW Channel 8, WKYC Channel 3, WQHS Channel 61, WOIO Channel 19, WUAB Channel 43, and WVIZ Channel 25.
-----
Not on the list for various reasons:
* ION O&O WVPX/23. The station won't even have a digital signal until analog channel 23 signs off at the transition, replaced with digital channel 23. Perhaps the ION folks decided to hold off on the "soft test" for that reason, since viewers would have no ability to check out the new signal.
* Western Reserve PBS' WEAO/49. The Kent-based PBS outlet has not participated in past tests, and has already transitioned its Youngstown-market WNEO/45 Alliance to all-digital status.
(And note: your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) was not near an analog-only TV at 7:30 this morning, so we don't know if first "soft test" went off as planned. Since cable and satellite providers aren't carrying the analog-only signals anymore for the most part, we presumably can't set up our TiVo to catch this.)
The tests aren't the only sign that the June 12th digital transition date is coming soon.
Samavati's article in the PD notes that federally-sponsored DTV "mobile assistance centers" will set up at a number of Cleveland-area locations in the next few days:
-----
• Thursday 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Richmond Town Square Mall, 691 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights
• Friday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Cleveland Goodwill, 2295 E. 55th St., Cleveland
• Friday 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Cleveland Goodwill - Fairwood, 13719 Lorain Ave., Cleveland
• Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Great American Rib Cook-off, Time Warner Cable Amphitheater, 351 Canal Road, Cleveland
-----
The "mobile assistance centers" will show people how to hook up digital converter boxes, and give help with getting those $40 government coupons to defray the cost of the boxes.
The mobile centers have already visited Canton, and we don't believe they have been in Akron yet, with no Akron visits on the current schedule (PDF file). (Maybe Akron doesn't need help?)
Samavati's article also notes that Northeast Ohio is one of a number of areas where the FCC is sponsoring free in-home installations of the boxes, and gives a number (800-582-4250) people can call to contact the Buffalo NY-based firm doing the installs...
Local TV stations in Northeast Ohio are indeed joining along with a nationwide DTV "soft test", interrupting their analog signals three times today to urge viewers to, well, make their own transition.
Cleveland Plain Dealer business writer/DTV transition watcher Shaheen Samavati reports that most of the Cleveland market's full-power stations will interrupt analog programming at three times today to air the messages:
------
People still receiving over-the-air analog television signals through an antenna will have their programs interrupted at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. with an alert telling them how to prepare for the end of analog broadcasting on June 12.
Those already watching digital TV, as well as those connected to cable or other pay-TV services, should not see the alert.
In the Cleveland-Akron area, stations participating in the test are WBNX Channel 55, WEWS Channel 5, WJW Channel 8, WKYC Channel 3, WQHS Channel 61, WOIO Channel 19, WUAB Channel 43, and WVIZ Channel 25.
-----
Not on the list for various reasons:
* ION O&O WVPX/23. The station won't even have a digital signal until analog channel 23 signs off at the transition, replaced with digital channel 23. Perhaps the ION folks decided to hold off on the "soft test" for that reason, since viewers would have no ability to check out the new signal.
* Western Reserve PBS' WEAO/49. The Kent-based PBS outlet has not participated in past tests, and has already transitioned its Youngstown-market WNEO/45 Alliance to all-digital status.
(And note: your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) was not near an analog-only TV at 7:30 this morning, so we don't know if first "soft test" went off as planned. Since cable and satellite providers aren't carrying the analog-only signals anymore for the most part, we presumably can't set up our TiVo to catch this.)
The tests aren't the only sign that the June 12th digital transition date is coming soon.
Samavati's article in the PD notes that federally-sponsored DTV "mobile assistance centers" will set up at a number of Cleveland-area locations in the next few days:
-----
• Thursday 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Richmond Town Square Mall, 691 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights
• Friday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Cleveland Goodwill, 2295 E. 55th St., Cleveland
• Friday 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Cleveland Goodwill - Fairwood, 13719 Lorain Ave., Cleveland
• Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Great American Rib Cook-off, Time Warner Cable Amphitheater, 351 Canal Road, Cleveland
-----
The "mobile assistance centers" will show people how to hook up digital converter boxes, and give help with getting those $40 government coupons to defray the cost of the boxes.
The mobile centers have already visited Canton, and we don't believe they have been in Akron yet, with no Akron visits on the current schedule (PDF file). (Maybe Akron doesn't need help?)
Samavati's article also notes that Northeast Ohio is one of a number of areas where the FCC is sponsoring free in-home installations of the boxes, and gives a number (800-582-4250) people can call to contact the Buffalo NY-based firm doing the installs...
Monday, May 11, 2009
Looking Up
(The following also appears on our main blog, Ohio Media Watch, this morning:)
We couldn't resist the temptation to look again, so we drove the OMW Mobile to the Parma/Seven Hills border once again late Sunday...and checked out the progress of the under construction WKYC/WVIZ tower just over a month before the planned national digital TV transition date of June 12.
We were told by readers a couple of weeks ago that the tower appeared "about half finished".
We're not very good at doing "on the fly" estimates, but here are some pictures.
In our estimation, the new tower is now about two-thirds the way up the existing tower next to it.
While we're no experts at how towers are constructed (paging long-time friend, colleague and World Championship Tower Hunter Scott Fybush!), it would appear to us that the tower pictured could be done well before that June 12th deadline, which is the only date that really matters in this whole thing.
FCC-wise, NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has their backup plan...they can stay on digital RF channel 2 for a number of months, thanks to a Special Temporary Authority granted by the FCC, even after analog channel 3 signs off.
Similarly, PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 can camp out on its own temporary facility mounted to a nearby secondary tower at the WKYC site, as it signs off analog channel 25 in June.
But you can bet that both stations don't want to have to use those options.
Barring any unforeseen problems, our semi-educated guess is that the new facilities for both WKYC and WVIZ will be up and running at the transition.
Though WVIZ could well power up the new digital facility before June 12th, we believe WKYC is going to wait to make the RF 2 to RF 17 switch on that date...
We couldn't resist the temptation to look again, so we drove the OMW Mobile to the Parma/Seven Hills border once again late Sunday...and checked out the progress of the under construction WKYC/WVIZ tower just over a month before the planned national digital TV transition date of June 12.
We were told by readers a couple of weeks ago that the tower appeared "about half finished".
We're not very good at doing "on the fly" estimates, but here are some pictures.
In our estimation, the new tower is now about two-thirds the way up the existing tower next to it.While we're no experts at how towers are constructed (paging long-time friend, colleague and World Championship Tower Hunter Scott Fybush!), it would appear to us that the tower pictured could be done well before that June 12th deadline, which is the only date that really matters in this whole thing.
FCC-wise, NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has their backup plan...they can stay on digital RF channel 2 for a number of months, thanks to a Special Temporary Authority granted by the FCC, even after analog channel 3 signs off.
Similarly, PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 can camp out on its own temporary facility mounted to a nearby secondary tower at the WKYC site, as it signs off analog channel 25 in June.
But you can bet that both stations don't want to have to use those options.Barring any unforeseen problems, our semi-educated guess is that the new facilities for both WKYC and WVIZ will be up and running at the transition.
Though WVIZ could well power up the new digital facility before June 12th, we believe WKYC is going to wait to make the RF 2 to RF 17 switch on that date...
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