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:
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:
2/9/2009 -- OK, more changes are being observed:
3/8/2009 -- There have been a few more changes:
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:
I will need to scan again later today. In the heat of the day the Orlando channels will almost certainly be gone from my scan.
9/7/2009 -- This entry will probably conclude this web page, as nothing much has changed over the past three months. Here is a table of my reception in the age of digital over-the-air TV:
In summary I am receiving 31 digital TV channels with solid reception, and 2 digital TV channels with reception that comes and goes. I am still receiving 4 analog TV stations, but all have at least some "snow" in the picture. At least ten of the digital channels regularly broadcast programming in true high definition (1080i). The picture quality of the HDTV programming is incredible, both in terms of resolution and also color depth. This is a remarkable advance when compared to television in the 1960's when we received 4 TV stations (growing up in the Philadelphia area), and they went off the air late at night. UHF brought more TV in the 1970's, and cable TV brought dozens more in the 1980's. Then consumer satellite TV brought dozens more in the 1990's. And now in the new century we have fiber optic cable all the way to the home, along with TV over the internet. It now takes about as long to find something good to watch, as it does to actually watch it! :-)
9/28/09 -- I decided to review the construction permits and licenses on the FCC web site to find out more about the channel numbers for the Tampa Bay TV stations. Here is a summary of that investigation:
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.