Ch.7 w/Reduced Power (In DTV Transition?)

[Matthew Osborne]

Based on personal research and several conversations
with Fred Lass, CE at WRGB(TV), WHDH will be returning
to channel 7 after the DTV transition is complete.  As
part of this transition they, along with all other TV
stations, will have to reduce their OTA transmitter
power output to conform to new and significantly lower
power authorization rules.  These new rules are based
on the finding that DTV signals are more receivable at
lower power levels than analog [Side note: as I
understand, there are some doubts being expressed that
these new, lower power levels will not cover the same
amount of territory that the analog signals now
cover].  Another tidbit I found was that several
High-VHF stations will be reducing their analog signal
power to the level that will be used post-transition
on their DTV signals in the near future.  I know WPIX
New York will be doing this over the summer, and I
would bet WHDH is doing the same thing now.  If this
is the case, get used to this kind of reception until
the dighital transition is complete.

    Another side note - after the DTV transition is
complete, RF channel 7 is gonna be a very crowded
frequency in Eastern NY/Western New England.  Current
occupants WABC-TV (New York), WWNY-TV (Watertown NY),
and WHDH are all returning to channel 7.  In addition,
WXXA (Albany) and WBNG (Binghamton NY) are both moving
permanently to channel 7 as well.  SHould be
interesting to see what kind of DXing will be possible
post-transition.

                            Matt Osborne
                            Schenectady, NY


--- "Kaimbridge M. GoldChild" <Kaimbridge@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I noticed last night at 9:15pm that WHDH-7 was
> rather snowy up here on 
> the North Shore (related to yesterday afternoon's
> electrical 
> storm——more accurate description than
> "thunderstorm" P=)——?).  Then 
> this morning around 5:45am WSBK-38 also seemed
> snowy, though now they 
> are back to normal/full strength.
> While I think they ('HDH) are at reduced power, are
> they one of the 
> channels that are going to revert their DTV channel
> to their analog, 
> and maybe they are doing some xmtr work or testing
> DTV on Ch.7?  I 
> strongly doubt that is the case, but since a DTV
> signal does overlay 
> an analog co-channel as "snow", that is a
> conceivable possibility 
> (though at a co-existent or closely adjacent xmtr
> site, highly 
> unlikely in this case).
> 
>       ~Kaimbridge~
> 
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