OTA and Digital Adjacent Channels

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Don, I agree that each market won't get 50 channels. Direct overlap of
channels and geometry work together to dramatically limit the number of
OTA broadcasters. Not even Valley City ND could broadcast 50 channels
without interfering with stations in Fargo. If Valley City and Fargo
were the only potential overlaps, then each could have 25. Considering
that Grand Forks overlaps with Fargo and Valley City reduces the number
to about 16 each for Valley City, Fargo and Grand Forks.

If markets were closely packed in an optimal hexagonal close packing
configuration, each at a distance (maximum range) "a" with respect to
each other, the city in the center of the hexagon could have 7 stations,
with each of the 6 neighbors (and each of their neighbors?) having 7
different channels. (Assuming equal powers and antenna heights.) So, it
seems that the maximum number of full-power non-overlapping stations
would vary between 7 for densely populated regions and 51 for
geographically isolated (mountainous?) regions.

In any event, with the full conversion to DTV, the number of potential
OTA stations could go up dramatically, because adjacent channel
assignments would no longer be an issue.

Howard in South Bend

Sun, 2006-01-15 at 18:44 -0500, [email protected] wrote:
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> Richard, your remarks are on point. There are some OTA sources of merit,
> PBS and ????. Even PBS is some localities has changed to broadcasting
> sub-channels. Allowing sub-channels is (in my view) one of the worst
> decisions ever reached by the FCC. I can only hope that with complete
> digital conversion, additional full-bandwidth channels will be allocated
> with the elimination of sub-channels; the digital channels can be
> allocated next to each other because the system has been designed to
> eliminate the need for unused "guard channels".
>
> Maybe the ultimate hope is for fiber to the home, providing so much
> bandwidth that everything can be in full HD. If such a delivery system
> were widely installed, it seems that DISH and Direct could be seriously
> impacted, and would have to change their business plans.
>
> Howard in South Bend, where Fox and PBS are alone in not broadcasting
> sub-channels!
>
>
>
> Howard...
>
> A digital adjacent channel is not automatically available in any market.
>
> If that adjacent channel is already in use within a certain distance from
> the proposed channel transmitter site, then the application would be
> rejected. The idea of 50 digital channels (2 - 51) in each market will
> not happen.
>
> This does not mean that there will not be a rush of applications to pick up
> any of the old analog channels that have not been moved into by those
> out-of-core stations (presently above channel 51) that have first priority!!
>
> A digital transmission plant is a bit more $$$ than an analog plant,
> especially
> one that is going to do 720P or 1080i and not just upconverted 480i...
>
> Good Luck on getting fiber to your door way (FTTH, Fiber To The Home)!!
>
>
> Don, W4WJ
>
>
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By the way, the 51 people in Clifford City ND, with a rotor system on
their antennas, could receive all the Valley City, Fargo, and Grand
Forks stations, just as they do now.

Howard in South Bend


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