WGBH-TV coverage after August 2

[Gary's Ice Cream]

Can we please go back to analog tv and undo all this crap of the past 10+ years.    In my estimation the picture quality and coverage area is so much worse with digital unless you are practically under the transmitting antenna.    I have a very high end HDTV antenna 80 feet up on my ham tower (in addition to being 282 feet above sea level).   But according to the maps Bear Hill in Waltham blocks me from the Needham antenna farm.   I cannot get WSKB, WLVI, WGBX.       Since my antenna is aimed right at Needham (that took hours) I get nothing from NH (WNDS, NHPTV, etc).     I could get everything (Boston, Manchester, Durham NH, Providence, etc) with analog.     Of course the picture quality is better with digital HDTV but the number of signals I can get is sharply reduced.

Gary F.
Gary’s Ice Cream – Chelmsford Creamery, Inc.  Chelmsford, MA    garysicecream.com
Ice Cream College – classes in Massachusetts and Florida        icecreamcollege.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Boston-Radio-Interest <boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> On Behalf Of Bob DeMattia
Sent: Thursday, August 1, 2019 10:04 AM
To: Boston Radio Interest Mailing List <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
Subject: Re: WGBH-TV coverage after August 2

All of that may be true, but what they will definitely lose is people who are viewing off-air with receiving equipment
that cannot pick up the VHF-LO signal.   Maybe some of those people will
switch to live streaming, but people
viewing off-air already have that option and thus far haven't felt inclined to avail themselves of that option.

BTW, I'm live streaming now in NH where off-air is not an option.  The picture quality does not compare to off-air.

-Bob

On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 9:48 AM Ken VanTassell <kenwvt@gmail.com> wrote:

> I am going to disagree. Cord cutting is becoming rampant, people are 
> really sick of paying huge cable bills. There is a non-profit called 
> locast.org that has a roku app with the local Boston stations for free 
> (5 per month suggested donation). I know several people using this. I 
> think we have resurgent times for OTA TV ahead.
>
> -Ken
>
> On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 9:46 AM Bob DeMattia <bob.bosra@demattia.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Not to mention many off-air viewers are probably using UHF-only antennas.
>> Even if they have VHF antennas, the only DTV in this area on VHF up 
>> until now was on VHF-HI.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 9:39 AM Norm Pierce 
>> <npierce.aq3h@dappermapper.com
>> >
>> wrote:
>>
>> > After a lifetime of watching Channel 2, I'm wondering if those days 
>> > are numbered.
>> >
>> > Looking at the application for their construction permit for the 
>> > new RF channel 5 assignment [1], it appears that the WGBH engineers 
>> > have done their best to give the strongest signal that the FCC 
>> > rules allow them to do on that channel.
>> >
>> > According to the "Post Auction Baseline" spreadsheet [2], the 
>> > baseline population served by WGBH-TV, as limited by terrain, is 
>> > given as 7,633,586.  In WGBH's application for a construction 
>> > permit for the new RF channel 5 assignment, they give a slightly 
>> > higher number of 7,669,250 because of the change of tower, and the 
>> > fact that they were able to increase the ERP from 5.3 kW to 6.7 kW 
>> > without exceeding the geographic coverage area of the largest 
>> > station within the same market (see
>> > §73.622(f)(5)) -- something they are apparently allowed to do 
>> > because the proposed coverage contour may extend beyond that of the 
>> > CCRPN parameters for a station that changes bands (see §73.3700(b)(1)(iii)).
>> >
>> > But even with the higher ERP, does anyone think that the population 
>> > served won't actually be much smaller than it currently is, given 
>> > the problems with DTV on VHF?  Will it really reach an over-the-air 
>> > audience slightly larger than it currently does on RF channel 19, 
>> > and comparable to channels 4, 5, and 7, or do the above coverage 
>> > numbers suffer from gross optimism?
>> >
>> > Norm Pierce
>> >
>> >
>> > [1]
>> WGBH-TV_reassignment_initial_minor_mod_application_ENG_06-18-2017.pdf
>> >
>> >
>> https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/2
>> 5076f915c78b6bf015cbcb83aa224c3
>> >
>> > [2] "Post Auction Baseline" spreadsheet"
>> >
>> >
>> https://data.fcc.gov/download/incentive-auctions/Transition_Files/Pos
>> t_Auction_Baseline.xlsx
>> >
>> > "Incentive Auction Closing and Channel Reassignment Public Notice"
>> > (CCRPN) (DA 17-314)
>> > https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-17-314A1.pdf
>> >
>> >
>>
>