PSA - Digital Conversion

[Garrett Wollman]

Speaking of the DTV conversion, I saw an announcement on NHPTV last
night that they would be reducing power on WENH-TV for the conversion.
Presumably this is one of those deals where they split a combined
analog transmitter, and convert one half to digital.

Hmmm... their form 387 says it's a bit more complicated than that:

	AT THE END OF THE TRANSITION WE WILL MOVE FROM OUR TEMPORARY
	OUT-OF-CORE UHF CHANNEL TO OUR ANALOG CHANNEL 11 FOR PERMANENT
	DTV OPERATIONS. WE HOLD A MAXIMIZED CONSTRUCTION PERMIT,
	GRANTED ON JULY 16, 2008, FOR DIGITAL CHANNEL 11. THAT PERMIT
	MODIFIED OUR ORIGINAL PERMIT TO INCREASE POWER FROM 15.8 KW
	ERP TO 30 KW ERP AND CHANGE FROM A NONDIRECTIONAL TO A
	DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA. WE WILL NEED TO FILE FOR EXTENSION OF
	THAT PERMIT. WE TOOK DELIVERY OF THE NEW TRANSMITTER ON
	SEPTEMBER 22, 2008. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH UNIVERSITY
	PROCUREMENT OFFICIALS THROUGH THE COMPLEX BIDDING PROCESS
	REQUIRED FOR ACQUISITION OF THE NEW DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA. WE
	PLAN TO COMPLETE THAT PROCESS AND PLACE AN ORDER BY FEBRUARY
	1, 2009 AND, BASED ON CURRENT MANUFACTURERS ESTIMATES, TO TAKE
	DELIVERY BY APPROXIMATELY JULY 6, 2009. THE ANTENNA SITE IS ON
	A MOUNTAINTOP WHERE HIGH WINDS DO NOT NORMALLY SUBSIDE UNTIL
	THE SUMMER, SO JULY WOULD BE A FAVORABLE TIME FOR THE
	INSTALLATION PROJECT. EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 18, 2008 WE WILL
	REDUCE ANALOG POWER TO 50% IN ORDER TO BEGIN THE INSTALLATION
	OF THE NEW DTV TRANSMITTER AND WILL REMAIN AT 50% POWER UNTIL
	THE TRANSITION DEADLINE. THE ANALOG POWER REDUCTION IS
	NECESSARY BECAUSE WE WILL BE REMOVING ONE ANALOG AMPLIFIER
	CABINET FROM THE TRANSMITTER IN ORDER TO INSTALL A DTV
	AMPLIFIER CABINET. WE HAVE THEREFORE REQUESTED SPECIAL
	TEMPORARY AUTHORITY TO OPERATE AT 50% OF AUTHORIZED ERP AS OF
	THE TRANSITION DATE. NOVEMBER 18 IS THE LATEST DATE FOR
	INSTALLATION THAT COULD BE SCHEDULED BY THE TRANSMITTER
	MANUFACTURER. ON FEBRUARY 17, 2009 WE WILL SHUT DOWN THE
	ANALOG TRANSMITTER, CONNECT THE DTV TRANSMITTER OUTPUT TO THE
	ANTENNA FEEDLINE, AND PUT THE CHANNEL 11 DTV FACILITIES ON
	LINE. WE WILL CONCURRENTLY SHUT DOWN THE OUT-OF-CORE CHANNEL
	57 TRANSMITTER. THE INITIAL ACTIVATION OF DTV CHANNEL 11 WILL
	BE AT THE POWER LEVEL SPECIFIED IN OUR PREVIOUS CONSTRUCTION
	PERMIT, 15.8 KW, BECAUSE THE DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA IS NEEDED TO
	BROADCAST AT THE POWER SPECIFIED IN THE MAXIMIZED CONSTRUCTION
	PERMIT. A REQUEST FOR STA TO SUPPORT OPERATION AT 15.8KW WILL
	BE FILED.

They have filed to maximize the other two stations (WLED-TV and
WEKW-TV) but will not do so prior to the transition.

-GAWollman