DTV Stations Seek FCC Changes to Overcome VHF Problems

Many of the reception problems, particularly on channels 2-6, aren’t new (CD July 2 p2). They affect an unknown proportion of viewers that may not be large. Some viewers need to buy new combination UHF/VHF antennas, install a “trap” in their home to block out FM signals causing interference or move antennas outdoors, industry executives said. Problems vary by market and channel, and in some cases UHF stations can’t be received by viewers with indoor antennas in one- and two-story homes in the shadows of taller buildings, they said. In relation to the almost 1,800 full- power TV stations, the number of problems is “very limited,” an FCC spokeswoman said.

The FCC has gotten about a dozen petitions to change channels since June 12, when the last full-power stations stopped broadcasting analog programming, said another commission official. Since the FCC let stations make channel change requests in June 2008, the regulator has received about 90 and approved many, the official said. Other stations have sought different ways to improve reception, and they're not all on VHF stations, said a third FCC official.

The commission has received 71 applications to run DTV translators, all filed this year and many since June, including multiple requests by a single station to run several of the replacement translators, an official said. The FCC has approved 29 of the requests. Broadcasters have filed 11 applications for distributed transmission systems this year, and four have been approved, the official said. “We're continuing to do whatever we can to resolve the limited reception issues that remain,” said the FCC spokeswoman. “We're working very closely with the broadcasters … to determine a solution, and that may be going from a V to a U or increasing power.”

Industry engineers are running field tests with stations and the FCC in Baltimore and elsewhere to try to resolve the remaining reception problems, said President David Donovan of the Association for Maximum Service Television. “We have not reached any firm conclusions. We are looking at a number of factors that are affecting reception in the high Vs. This first phase was sort of issue spotting. What we're doing now is sort of in-depth analyses.” Signal strength usually isn’t the problem, and outdoor antennas usually can pick up nearby stations, Donovan said. Indoor reception in homes with “noise” from appliances and interference from FM stations sometimes is to blame, he said. “If you can fix this -- and I think you can, by the way, and that fix may vary from market to market -- we think ultimately we can resolve most of these problems.”

KKTV Colorado Springs got the FCC’s permission to switch from channel 10 to 49 so it wouldn’t be the only station in the market on VHF and because of viewer complaints, said James Ocon, the vice president of technology of owner Gray. “We have some stations that are having second thoughts about staying on V,” he said. “We know UHF works, especially for digital. If the argument was it would take less power to stay on a V, now we're talking about the thing we were trying to avoid” by potentially increasing power, he said. That gives him pause about making such changes.

“Everybody wants to say more power is the answer,” but increasing the levels isn’t “a slam dunk,"said Leonard Charles, the director of engineering for Morgan Murphy Media’s two Wisconsin stations. “You have to be cognizant of the interference you may cause if you do that, and the FCC will be heavily involved. The VHF issues are more confined to indoor reception. The UHF issues, on the other hand, are more related to at the edges of the contour at the perimeters. … Low-band VHF is just a bad place to be for digital television for a variety of reasons, many just having to do with man-made interference.”