This page is a continuation of my HDTV adventures.  To read "part one" go to this link.

12/5/2008 -- To re-cap, about two years ago I installed an amplified VHF/UHF antenna in my attic.  The antenna looks something like a fat satellite dish, and is advertised to pick up signals from all directions, but should be aimed toward the direction of the most signals.  Since I am in the Tampa Bay region (Bradenton), I aimed my antenna toward Riverview (I-75 just south of SR-60), which is where most of the TV stations have their towers.  T2his has worked very well; I get solid digital (and analog) reception on all the popular Tampa Bay TV stations.  I estimate that I am 32.8 miles from the towers, and the terrain is flat.  I estimate that my attic-mounted antenna is about 28 feet above sea level, and about 17 feet above average terrain.

With the upcoming switch to digital-only broadcasting in February, 2009, I have been exploring all available channels.  My understanding is that digital reception and the number of digital signals may increase as we approach the big day, and in the period that follows.  Some stations are not able to broadcast at full power or with full digital capabilities until after they power down their analog transmission. So I decided to inventory my reception, and see how it changes over the coming months.  These are the stations I could receive on 12/5/2008:

	DIGITAL		ANALOG
3.1	PBS / Tampa	3	PBS / Tampa
3.2	V-me (Spanish)	8	NBC / Tampa
3.3	Florida Channel	10	CBS / Tampa
3.4	PBS-2	13	FOX / Tampa
8.1	NBC / Tampa	14	Pinellas County Schools / Largo
8.2	Weather	16	PBS / Tampa
10.1	CBS / Tampa	18	DayStar / Tampa
10.2	Weather	22	CTN / Clearwater
13.1	FOX / Tampa	28	ABC / Tampa
16.1	PBS / Tampa	30	PBS / Ft. Myers
16.2	PBS Kids	32	Independent / Tampa
16.3	Create	33	HSN / St. Petersburg
16.4	Florida Knowledge Network	35	Government / St. Petersburg
22.1	Empty (dark)	36	FOX / Ft. Myers
22.2	Empty (dark)	38	myTV / Tampa
28.1	ABC / Tampa	40	ABC / Sarasota-Bradenton
28.2	Weather	43	HSN / Lealman
32.1	Independent / Tampa	44	CW / Tampa
38.1	myTV / Tampa	46	JTV / Tampa
38.2	Simulcast of 38.1	49	Telemundo / Tampa (Spanish)
40.1	ABC / Sarasota-Bradenton	50	Telefutura / Tampa (Spanish)
40.2	Simulcast of 40.1	62	Univision / Tampa (Spanish)
44.1	CW / Tampa	66	ION / Tampa
50.1	Telefutura / Tampa (Spanish)
62.1	Univision / Tampa (Spanish)
62.2	Univision-2 / Tampa (Spanish)
66.1	ION / Tampa
66.2	Qubo
66.3	ION Life
66.4	Worship

It will be interesting to see how this inventory changes over the next few months!  To be continued...

1/18/2009 --  Today I put my TV through the channel-finder set-up routine.  Here are the changes since 12/5/08:

• New - Digital channels 22.1 and 22.2 are now on the air.  22.1 is CTN / Clearwater and 22.2 is CTNi
• New - Digital channel 8.2 changed from weather to something called "8 Prime RTN", which appear to be old re-runs.
• Gone - Analog channels 18, 33, 36, and 46.
• Gone - Digital channel 50.1 appears to be gone.  Maybe that is temporary.

2/9/2009 -- OK, more changes are being observed:

• New - Digital channel 13.2 is now on the air.  It appears to be a low-res version of 13.1 (Fox).
• Back - Analog channels 18, 36 and 46 are back.
• Gone - Analog channel 40 (ABC) is gone.  They have notified viewers that they have made the switch to all digital earlier than required.
• New - Analog channel 48, which appears to be a religious broadcaster.
• Still Gone - Digital channel 50.1.

3/8/2009 -- There have been a few more changes:

• New - Digital channel 32.2 is now on the air and is called "this Tampa Bay".
• Edge - I am having trouble with 22.1 and 22.2,  The TV set-up found them, but sometimes all I get is a black screen.
• Back - Digital channel 50.1 is back on the air.
• Gone - Analog channels 3, 22, 38, and 62.
• New - I received some analog channels not received before: 20, 26, and 48.  Could just be a temporary atmospheric condition.

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds over the next four months, now that the February deadline has been extended.

6/13/2009 -- Well, yesterday was the end of analog TV broadcasting.  Today I ran my analog/digital TV through its channel finding set-up routine.  Here are some observations:

• Channels 3.1, 3.2 etc. did not work (as they had in weeks prior) until I rescanned.  I suspect they changed frequencies.
• Analog Channel 6 from Orlando is broadcasting a reminder to people about the digital transition.
• Channels 9.1 and 9.2 from Orlando are coming in, with drop-outs.  This is the first time I have received this channel (analog or digital).
• Channel 18.1 and 18.2 from Orlando are coming in, with drop-outs.  First time for this channel also.
• Channels 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, and 24.4 from Orlando are coming in, with drop-outs.  First time.
• Analog Channel 30 is coming in strong, and running an exercise infomercial right now.
• Analog Channel 32 is broadcasting a reminder about the new digital TV.
• Channel 35.1 from Orlando is coming in, with drop-outs.  All these Orlando stations might be a weather oddity right now.
• Analog Channel 46 is JTV shopping channel.  Probably a low-power TV not required to move to digital.
• Analog Channel 48 is running a children's program, but there is so much snow it is unwatchable.
• Analog Channel 49 is running a religion program, but too much snow to watch.

From the FCC database it was also clear that some stations are constructing higher power facilities while they stay on the same channel, or when they move to their new channel.  Channel 7 can't move to 24 until Channel 10 moves to 10.  Since Channel 7's local news is still in low-def, I don't think they are in any hurry anyway.