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View Full Version : DTV Conversion: Any Stories, Surprises or Glitches?



EPCOT84
06-13-2009, 10:49 PM
Here in LA, one of the most heartwarming conversions was KTLA Channel 5. Stan Chambers was with the station when it went on the air in 1947. The station had a retrospective leading up to their 10:45 PM conversion. Stan reminisced about the analog era, being there when it started and being there when it comes to an end. It showed KTLA news events from over the years. Stan stood by a large retro looking switch with wires to make it look old, with Analog and Digital written on it. Then they had a countdown and Stan Chambers pushed the switch, shutting down the old signal. Cheers in the newsroom went up and a camera scans over to show a monitor of snow....

Who knew the DTV switch could make me cry.

JPL
06-13-2009, 11:41 PM
It seemed pretty seamless since I have cable to be quite honest I forgot it happened :blush:

bicker
06-14-2009, 01:38 AM
Things were fine, once I remembered to extend the rabbit ears. :blush:

(The antenna worked fine before, when all the digital channels were still on UHF, since they come in through the loop, but VHF uses the rabbit ears and one of our channels moved back to VHF from where it was on UHF.)

Goofy4TheWorld
06-14-2009, 09:39 AM
I was able to pick up one of my local stations only after they went back to their VHF channel Friday. That station went from no detectable signal at all (on UHF) to being the second-strongest signal out of 6 stations once they went back to VHF.

bicker
06-14-2009, 02:03 PM
I followed up with our local NBC affiliate, which switched from ATSC 42 to ATSC 7, about the trouble folks are having now that they're trying to push their digital signal on VHF with less than 30 kW ERP of power. They passed it off completely, blaming the FCC and making it clear that they were operating at the highest power that they are allowed to. (In other words, they didn't want to reply to the inquiry about what they were going to do about the situation. They basically are advocating an outdoor antenna, which here in the condo might present a little bit of conflict that most folks wouldn't want to deal with (though OTARD does allow us to have antennas, I believe).