Los Angeles broadcast area DTV test

[yuandrew]

In a little less than an hour from now at 5:28-5:30 pm Pacific time; the Los Angeles over the air broadcast viewing area will be conducting a DTV transition soft test.

Stations
KCET (Ch-28), KCBS-TV (Ch-2), KPXN (Ch-30), KTLA (Ch-5), KOCE (Ch-50), KLCS (Ch-58), KABC (Ch-7), KSCI (Ch-18), and KNBC (Ch-4)will be participating in this test

During the 2 minute test, all analog programs on those channels will be cut off and a message broadcasted on analog channels displayed stating that analog broadcasting will be phased out as of Feb 17, 2009 and that the TV will need a digital converter box. TVs tuned to the stations' digital channels and cable/satellite broadcast will continue to display the currently aired program.

I have two TVs set up (one with a built in ATSC tuner so it's already ready) on the same antenna for comparison. We'll see how things go at my place.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Interesting. The FCC is considering allowing stations to keep their analog transmitters on the air in "nightlight mode" for one month after the transition, where their analog carriers would carry this DTV message 24x7.

 

[yuandrew]

What happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG3k9Mkly_A

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Thanks, yuandrew. Looks like what I expected. I wonder how many phone calls it generated at the stations?

 

[Timothybil]

I love it. You've been seeing the announcements on PBS, displays in stores, and now this test, and no one his said anything about the SECOND-most important part of the whole show. If you live more than 20 miles from the transmitter and you are only using rabbit years, forgetaboutit. Unlike analog, which will take whatever wanders in on the antenna wire and try to make a picture out of it, DTV (aka ATSC) has a rather steep signal to noise ratio that has to be met or the tuner just quits until the signal exceeds the baseline again. Hence the dreaded 'pixel freeze'.

There are a whole lot of people out there who have gotten their converters, tried them, found they get a few of the digital stations, and figured that everything will get better when the transition occurs. Not so. If you have your box in place, what you are seeing now is what you are going to see in Feb. If you are not receiving all of the stations in your area, you need to look into an amplified rooftop/tower antenna farm [either one antenna with a rotor or one antenna for each transmitter direction]

The cable and satellite people are drooling - current industry estimates are that they may gain as many as six to eight million new subscribers when people get fed up with poor/no reception after the switch over. Ought to be interesting, to say the least.

 

[LED_astray]

... If you are not receiving all of the stations in your area, you probably need to look into an amplified rooftop/tower antenna farm....

Fixed it for you. Most people need a better antenna, perhaps amplified, when they can't get signal, but...:

I've talked to people who needed less antenna. Many (most?) TV's signal strength is based on the quality of the decoded digital stream, not on the strength of the predecoded analog signal, and will report poor signal strength when it sees a high bit-error rate. Too strong of a signal can overwhelm the receiver and produce a corrupted digital stream and be reported as a poor signal. (One guy fixed his problem by replacing his aimed high-gain passive antenna with an unfolded paper clip.)

If you have trouble, paying a professional with proper test equipment to do the install might be worth it.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

The single biggest enemy of DTV reception is multipath reflections. In dense urban areas where reflections are a problem, a highly directional antenna is more important than a strong signal. For some people this might mean an antenna rotor (remember those?) on the roof.

 

[LowBat]

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat, there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... Digital Television".

 

[jtr1962]

Thanks, yuandrew. Looks like what I expected. I wonder how many phone calls it generated at the stations?

Funny thing is they've been telling people for the last few years this was going to happen. They even postponed it (it was originally supposed to have happened in 2007 IIRC). Yet on February 17 the stations will probably be swamped by phone calls from idiots who think their TVs are bad.

 

[jrmcferren]

The original date was supposed to be in 2006. The telecommunications act of 1996 specified this date and a few things that would allow it to be pushed back, but after 9/11 congress changed it to February 17, 2009 to free up the frequencies used by channels 52-69 so some of them could be used for public safety.