Analog NTSC still On-Air
 

Thanks to loophole in law "low power" NTSC still being broadcast
That's if you would call 25KW from 650' tower "low power"
Actually twice the power of the digital version!

I watch it every day to get my NTSC Fix :thmbsp:

There's one here in DFW on Ch 22. They were way behind getting up and running, had to put something on air or they would lose the license. So they put on the "HOT" TV channel.

Here in Champaign IL we have a low power (really low power) analog shopping
channel on Ch. 39. We used to have an analog LP Ch. 7, which would have
been nice for old TVs, but its gone.

Doug McDonald

The only thing is with everything being digital now, who will be searching the dial to even find these stations? Viewership must be minimal so I don't see how these low power stations can stay in business. I bet most of the public do not even know these stations exist.

Wouldn't they also be available somewhere in the digital spectrum and the LP is just an analog simulcast?

As I understand it, the final date for analog broadcasts on these translator or LPTV stations is 9/01/2015. Most have filed for construction permits from the FCC to change to digital before that date.
jr

Not the Ch. 39 around here. I though most were either shopping channels
or one of the multitudes of religious channels.

Doug McDonald

Can't they invoke the "must carry" rule for local cable companies?

No receivable NTSC out here.

HDTV - biggest con job since the Pet Rock. At least older Pet Rocks didn't suddenly become obsolete overnight, forcing you to buy a new one!

Our only LP NTSC station was a religious station (TBN) and went off the air within a few months of the DTV transition. From what I heard, the cost to keep the station on the air was too great and there were not enough people watching to justify keeping it going.

:D l LOL :D

Direct OTA to UHF input
This Pgm letterboxed

My flat screen TV still picks up plenty of analog channels on Time Warner cable. The local broadcast channels in Cleveland, however, are all digital. I did pick up one NTSC low-power religious station on an antenna about three years ago; that station was probably one of the last analog OTA NTSC stations in this area. Haven't seen it since the DTV transition.

I don't know about that. DTV does have its advantages, such as more programs on subchannels and overall better picture quality (due to higher image resolution) than we ever had with NTSC. The reception issues are a problem, but unfortunately they are the nature of the beast, as ATSC (digital) signals are weaker, by and large, than analog signals (for example, the FOX station in Cleveland used to have a 312-kW ERP analog signal, but its DTV signal is probably quite a bit weaker). One other problem with DTV is that the receiver and its antenna, even portables with short whips (like the little Haier 7" DTV battery/AC sets), must be stationary in order to receive any kind of signal at all, due to DTV's highly directional and all-or-nothing nature. This has effectively killed the concept of portable TV, :no: even though the Haier set runs on a rechargeable battery and, in theory, should operate anywhere.

I doubt this situation will change any time soon. Some stations (Philadelphia's ABC affiliate, for one) have increased their ERP power output since the transition in an effort to improve OTA reception in far-suburban and fringe areas, but many others are still running at their original DTV power levels, which means most people still must use outdoor antennas, mast-mounted preamplifiers, and rotors (shades of the early days of b&w and color TV in the late '40s, '50s and, for color, the '60s and '70s) in order to get decent reception. That's the way it is, unless you go to cable or satellite. Don't get me started on those little gutless-wonder indoor DTV antennas such as the ClearCast and Clear TV. I have one of each type of antenna and, while they do work after a fashion in my area (a near-fringe area, at least it used to be for analog NTSC, 35+ miles from the stations), they do not receive two channels (Fox channel 8 and CBS channel 19) due, perhaps, to terrain features of this area.

However, I would not recommend these antennas for reliable DTV reception unless all your area's TV stations are on UHF DTV channels; in this area 35 miles east of Cleveland, for instance, channels eight and 19 are still on VHF channels for which, so I have read here in this forum, an outdoor antenna is required to get any kind of reception of those stations' DTV signals.

Again, that's the way it is and will be indefinitely, unless every TV station in the US is granted permission to increase ERP power outputs to levels approaching or exceeding their present analog powers. I don't see that happening any time soon. :no:

Most upper VHF and UHF DTV station allocations are for about the same PEAK
power for DTV as for NTSC, if they are on the same channel. The ratings
systems are different: NTSC is for sync peak, ATSC is for average envelope power.

Not so for lower VHF ... these were allocated lower power, and that was too low.
If they were the same power as high VHF they would work much better.
In fact, channels 4 and 5 might give excellent results. 2 and 3 suffer much worse
from impulse noise than even 4. 6 has the adjacent FM problem.

Doug McDonald

There is an NTSC station on channel 22 or 23 in the San Jose, California area. A friend of mine found it after we both put up UHF antennas pointed that way to receive an NTSC amateur television station on 427.25 MHz.

That would be KAXT channel 22.

Well pet rocks were never forced on anyone..... But that expiring pet rock thing might just fly now.....

"Upgrade your Pet Rock today $99. Click Here!"

And not to be a bummer on the "DTV sucks train" but over the last 4 months we got 2 new movie channels on DTV Subs here.... Movies a 20th century fox movie channel. And also a new one on NBC I think its called Cozi I can't recall what movie company they are with. Plus AntennaTV and ThisTV I would happily trade all regular network channels for AntennaTV and ThisTV! We also have all news channels added, and I mean real global news like Aljazeera, Arriang, from S korea, NHK world from Japan. and a few new city cultural channels.... And the Nature Shows on PBS now look A M A Z I N G ! ! ! We didn't get pbs analog that well.... And the stations on the upper VHF band come in best, although they are slightly reduced in power.

As for analog, my parents live rabbit ears distance from the transmitters, and analog always looked great there, CBS up here analog use to be clear as digital is now, so when you get it the quality is the same, except now any light switch, motor, anything causes a bunch-a-blocks on the screen, or a more common guaranteed sound drop out.

Now everyone that owns a portable TV from the pre digital age is now worthless... You can't depend on a digital signal when a hurricane comes and knocks out the power.. Digital signal comes in all choppy and blocky when the conditions are either windy or cloudy.. I thought technology gets better...

I am NOT worthless!

I'm talking about the portable TV being worthless..

Oh. You did not phrase it that way initially....It is things like this which give me the motivation to proof read all my posts.

More Beautiful Analog NTSC:

15mi pickup no problem for Yagi

Cuba was still using NTSC as of two weeks ago. Channels 2-5 were making it into the D.C. area via Es...

I did a quick check yesterday with my outdoor antenna. Not a thing, unless you count the slightly different kind of snow on good old channel 37.

I did discover that the filters on my cable connection are kind of cheap, and one channel is almost watchable. :banana:

204MHz - 210MHz analog NTSC is active here (VHF 12). I beam movies and experimentation through its small coverage area.
ATSC is good when it is capturable

I thought I'd revive this thread since I just discovered that there is a OTA analog station operating on Ch. 8 in or near Madison, WI. There had been a LPTV station operating on channel 8 a few years ago which then abruptly went off the air. Back then, it played still images of nature scenes, set to "new age" music. I was surprised to see it back, now playing old westerns. It looks like they're playing bad VHS tapes, complete with break up and tracking errors. Here are a couple of screen shots from my DuMont RA-113. The lousy resolution is the transmitted signal, not my DuMont :smoke:
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0125d6af.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...psc9da38c6.jpg

Gotta wonder what their business model is. I've never seen any advertising...

-Clark

Oops! I didn't realize that this thread was originally started in the "vintage color tv" forum!

Perhaps it is an illegal LP broadcast.

Perhaps this?
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tv...=0&facid=26603
Looks as if they have a construction permit to go digital on ch 36.
jr

Yes, I think that's the one. I also found it listed on "TVfool.com" as W08CK analog ch. 8 running .025 kW. According to that site, the transmitter is located just over a mile from my house.

I hope they stay on analog for a while longer :yes:

-Clark

We in NYC have an analog channel 6, but it really exists to sneak into FM radios with their sound carrier. WNYZ-LP (Analog) at 3KW. I could barely receive it as a TV station.

Of course, they could switch to digital at any time, but the final deadline (unless it has been changed) is 9/01/2015.

jr

That looks like a nice DuMont with Magic eye your watching.

To the other comments:

Old analogue portable televisions are NOT obsolete.
a. They have collector value (to some)
b. They can be connected to a digital converter box.
c. Better yet, hook up a modulator to you favorite video source, then one can walk around the house or go in the yard and see and hear the a/v wirelessly on the portable TV.

I can still receive two analogue stations in the Phoenix Valley. I'm about 22 miles from the transmitters and can pull them in with the monopole antennas on those "old obsolete portable televisions ".

That is only 25 watts. I have run higher power than that with my own TV transmitters (on UHF ham radio)! :D