KATV Tower Aftermath and Updates

[KC5KBV]

As of Feburary 5, the analog signal of KETS (channel 2) has not been restored. KATV (analog ch 7) has been broadcasting a low power analog signal since January 21 (2008) from the KTHV auxillary tower at Shinall Mountain (western Little Rock AR) using a small transmitter brought by KATV. KATV had no backup tower at the Redfield AR site.

Also no decision by KATV at this time of rebuilding the tower at Redfield (20mi S-SE of Little Rock) or relocating its transmissions to Shinall Mountain. The only news has been that of KATV stating that the need for the large 2000ft towers has passed (I strongly disagree, especially since the rise of OTA HDTV).

There is no HDTV signal from KATV except for a direct feed to Comcast cable (Little Rock metro), although a SD digital signal is still being relayed by KWBF-DT channel 44 (on the 42-3 subchannel), and Equity also relaying via translator KWBK-LP on analog 45 (directional, beaming toward Pine Bluff/White Hall area in Northern Jefferson County). There is talk of increasing the analog signal's coverage and adding OTA digital on ch 22 (low power) to the temporary facilities until the permenant tower is constructed.

KETS-DT channel 5 (2-n) has not been effected since it broadcasts from the Clear Channel tower (KASN-TV/DT) also at Redfield AR.

[Danny]

The only news has been that of KATV stating that the need for the large 2000ft towers has passed (I strongly disagree, especially since the rise of OTA HDTV).



I suppose this is because of the dwindling audience for OTA terrestrial TV? KATV's assumption must be that most HDTV viewing will be done through cable systems and direct broadcast satellite services.

[Russ-PA]

I think that's the way the industry HAS to think, because even with a power boost from where they are now, OTA coverage still won't be close to what analog coverage was, and even that may create intolerable self-interference and/or even greater adjacent interference at greater distances.

The box they've created is not easily expandable in a world of hybrid analog/digital, and any move toward all-digital, which would address those issues, would inevitably create such a backlash that it could undermine it all.

[cd637299]

So....KETS-2 (analog) will never return? If that's the case, good thing I caught it last year for the first time.

You guys in Little Rock....Canada & Mexico will be wide open for Es on 2 for a couple of years, anyway.

Now....if only *my* PBS channel 2 will follow suit. Sigggghhhhh

cd

[cd637299]

I wanna sincerely apologize if I offended anyone about the KETS & KATV thing. I did not know that the tower was down.....I thought that KETS was taken off analog at the choice of KETS. Apparently I was so wrong.

cd

[Robert Grant]

Cable/satellite TV is not the only reason fewer areas will have a need for tall towers. The way advertising is sold and coverage is determined has changed. Coverage used to be mapped by an individual station's signal contour. Today, coverage is determined by market areas along county lines. For example, WTVG in Toledo has a TL about 4 miles from Lost Peninsula, MI, and well over 100dB/microvolt signal, but WTVG does not have "coverage" of it (it's in the Detroit market, the default ABC is WXYZ, whose TL is about 50 miles North. In reality, most households get both).

In the mid 1960's, the birth of supertowers, it was all important to serve 100,000 households. With 100,000 homes, advertisers across the country bought time on your station via agents. 99,999 homes meant you had to sell every 10 seconds out of your own office. The only place in North Dakota where a mamimum power/height service contour covered 100,000 households was 63' below the average terrain. Hence, KTHI built that legendary 2063' stick.

Today, you need to be in a top ten market. Little Rock is in the same "not top ten" category as Detroit, Fargo, and Miles City. Signal coverage can no longer affect market status, only ratings within a station's market.
In the case of KATV, it would be EXTREMELY inadvisable to rebuild their 2,000' tower near Redfield (SSE of Little Rock). Their site is actually a legacy of their former Pine Bluff city of license and allocation table assignment. In the 1960's, they were under pressure to convince the FCC that their purpose was to serve Pine Bluff. Of course, KATV needed to serve Little Rock to be viable (Little Rock is not only larger but had a better economy).

Nearly every other station in the Little Rock market transmits from the Shinall Mountain area, just NW of Little Rock. If outdoor terrestrial TV antennas are less popular than they were in the past, antennas WITH ROTATORS are even more unpopular. Even before cable, the remote control made rotators a tough sell. People like to "surf" channels at the rate of one channel a second or even faster, but, to the average Little Rock resident, it would take about 20 seconds to spin the beam from Shinall Mountain to Redfield.

Now, with digital TV, and it's lack of tolerance for multipath, the situation for KATV is far worse. A directional antenna pointed the wrong way is worse for DTV than a coathanger. Even worse, most digital sets are essentially incompatible with antennas on rotators (send me an e-mail, and I'll elaborate). Using an outdoor antenna aimed West (or, using an indoor antenna in a West-facing room), one in Little Rock will get CBS, MNTV, Fox, and NBC. An outdoor antenna pointed SSE (or, an indoor antenna in a South-facing room) will get only ABC from KATV, PBS, CW, and religious station KVTN (the latter two actually licensed to Pine Bluff).

KATV should, by all means, relocate their permanent TL to one as close to Shinall mountain as possible. I would hope the FCC would do nothing to discourage them from such a move.

I must say at this point, that transmitter co-location is an important issue for DTV nationwide. Incorrect antenna aiming has always been a reception problem, especially at UHF (where most DTV is, and still will be after 2009), and is a more urgent problem with DTV (since the visual indication of multipath in the form of ghosting is gone). UHF succeeded in Europe (and Freeview DTT is thriving in the UK) in large part because UHF transmitters were co-located onto common broadcast masts. A great opportunity was squandered when no effort was made to coordinate transmitter sites for the transition to digital TV.

Robert Grant, N8NU
rg3d@yahoo.com

[cd637299]

I admit, I am still new on the whole DTV scene (in fact at this time my only DTV is my PC card).

That being said.....I plan to savor the summers of 2009 & 2010 at least, inasmuch as no I do not have to travel to get my foreign E-skip; that is, until the other countries convert. And Cuba & Haiti should be the last to do so.

No more local channels 2, 4, 5 & 6. And because of that, ch 6 Havana might show on the audio of my nice old JVC FM rx.

BTW....as in the doctor's office this afternoon....they had DTV the waiting room....ION Life----the 2005 World Volleyball Championships. This is what I am missing out on?!?!? Um, no. :laughing:

cd