FCC To Repack Channels

[jr_tech]

Jeffhs said:

"Channel 19 has 3.720 megawatts of power, so there is (or should be) no excuse for it not reaching my area, even today "

No! The transmitter that you are talking about was SHUTDOWN a few years ago when most analog TV stations were turned off. As indicated in the above post, WOIO now transmitts on channel 10 at much lower power, although it kept its channel 19 "branding" as its virtual channel.

73,
jr

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Jeffhs said:

"Channel 19 has 3.720 megawatts of power, so there is (or should be) no excuse for it not reaching my area, even today "

No! The transmitter that you are talking about was SHUTDOWN a few years ago when most analog TV stations were turned off. As indicated in the above post, WOIO now transmitts on channel 10 at much lower power, although it kept its channel 19 "branding" as its virtual channel.

73,
jr

I don't know what you are talking about. I remember when channel 19 went on the air in Cleveland, in 1985; at that time the station had 3.720 megawatts ERP and came in just fine at my former residence in suburban Cleveland. I do not remember reading or hearing anything to the effect that the signal was being reduced to 9.5 kW ERP, but then again, I wouldn't notice it anyway if it had dropped by such a huge amount since I watch that station, and all other Cleveland TV stations, via streaming video on my Roku player. The only reason I can come up with for channel 19 having such a tremendous drop in ERP output is that the station's transmitter was hit by lightning six months after its initial sign on; the station's signal has not been the same since.

Channel 19's move to DTV channel 10 was a huge mistake, and the station is paying a high price for it since its OTA signal now does not reach anywhere east of the city of Cleveland; in fact, the further east of Cleveland you go, the worse the reception becomes until you get to my area (38 miles from all Cleveland TV transmitters) and beyond, at which point the signal simply disappears or is so weak as to be unwatchable. This means the station is losing fully half of its viewing audience; however, I do not believe the station's licensee or owner even cares. If they did, they would have put their DTV signal on a UHF station, not channel 10. They could have done the same thing channel 23 in Akron did when that station went digital--they simply put their digital signal on channel 23 and did not look back.

Why channel 19 did not do the same thing is beyond me. If they had, there would be no reception problems east of Cleveland. They put up a translator for the Akron area; why on earth didn't they do the same for the area east of the city of Cleveland? The station is operated by Raycom Media, which I am sure could have afforded to put up a translator for 19 to cover the dead zone east of the city.

Oh well. This just means more business (and money) for the cable and satellite providers, not to mention TV antenna manufacturers. The ones in the area east of Cleveland and the Akron area are probably getting more business these days than they can shake a stick at.

BTW, the PDF files showing channel 3's and 19's technical information are well over my head. Please remember, I am not a television engineer or television expert; in fact, my TV "repair" skills were limited to changing tubes, back when televisions were built using them. The beginning of the solid-state TV era, and later the flat-screen era, brought my limited TV "repairs" to an absolute, screeching halt. What is the use of knowing anything about how a flat screen television works, anyway? These things are designed to be throwaways when they develop the least little bit of trouble after the warranty expires.

[jr_tech]

Repack plan on Rabbitears:

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackchannels.php

jr

FCC tally of the $$$$ involved:

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Rele...C-344398A1.pdf

More from the FCC:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-ann...tive-auction-0

.

[Jeffhs]

The repack auction is over, according to TV Technology. I found that the CBS channel in my area on channel 19 (VHF 10) is staying on that channel (which surprised me, as I thought they would have requested a move to a UHF channel), but the station's licensee, Raycom Media, has instead requested an immediate increase in ERP transmitter power. Whether this will improve reception of the station to the east of Cleveland (especially in the "dead zone" east of the Cleveland suburb of Euclid, where the station is received poorly or not at all), however, remains to be seen.

BTW, Cleveland is not the only city to have a TV station on a VHF DTV channel. There are several other cities in other parts of the US as well that have at least one station still on a VHF DTV channel after the transition, and which probably have the same reception problems Cleveland's channel 19 (DTV 10) has had since the digital transition.

Why these areas' TV stations have been assigned VHF DTV channels is far beyond me. It makes no sense, especially in Cleveland, where the CBS station is now on a VHF DTV channel that doesn't reach half the station's coverage area. CBS is America's most-watched TV network, after all (they announce this every chance they get (!)), so it makes no sense for any of its local affiliates not to reach all, as in every square mile, of their cities/areas of license; in fact, the Cleveland station is probably losing advertising revenue left and right because of the huge dead zone east of town.

Channel 19 in Cleveland has lost fully half its viewing audience due to its owner's wrong-headed decision to put its DTV signal on VHF channel 10, instead of moving to another UHF channel, as they should have done in the first place. Other cities may have been able to get away with putting their stations on VHF DTV channels without losing viewers, but this does not work well in northeastern Ohio due to the area's geography and the fact that most of the station's signal on channel 10 goes over Lake Erie, rather than being beamed to the east; another problem is co-channel interference six months of the year with channel 10 in Ontario, Canada, sixty miles directly across Lake Erie.

I thought (in fact, I was sure) Raycom Media would have seen this problem immediately, and moved its Cleveland station to a UHF channel right from the beginning; if they had, this co-channel and reception problems monkey business would never have become an issue. The reason they did not do this may be because Raycom's technical staff did not take Cleveland's proximity to Ontario, Canada into account when they were trying to find a suitable DTV channel. They could have left 19's DTV signal on channel 19 instead of moving it (a technique known as "flash-cutting"), as a TV station in Akron, Ohio did shortly after the DTV transition.

I don't know. Maybe Raycom figures the area east of Cleveland, for whatever reason they may have, is not worth the trouble to put a decent signal into. I would remind these people, if I could, that their station happens to be affiliated with a television network (CBS) which is presently America's most-watched television network, and that they absolutely cannot afford to lose viewers; no commercial TV station can.

Sheeesh. If they (Raycom Media) do not seem to care that their Cleveland station does not reach all of northeastern Ohio since the digital transition, perhaps, IMHO, they should sell it to a media group that does.

While there are ways available to viewers east of town to get around this problem, such as cable, satellite or streaming video, to name but three, the licensee and/or owners of channel 19 absolutely cannot ignore the over-the-air reception difficulties in Cleveland's suburbs and outlying areas east of the city. There are many people who cannot afford cable or satellite, some people cannot, for whatever reason, put up outdoor TV antennas, and the popular Roku player's cable app (in my area the Spectrum app) will not receive an area's local TV channels without the account holder having at least a cable account (the cable need not be physically connected to the TV); this is a function of their billing system, and is necessary so the cable operator can pay for the privilege of having local TV channels available via the application.