[BC] HDTV rollout wrinkle

[John Lyles]

Yes, information has been scarce on individual stations. Since KRQE moved back to 13 and KOAT to 7 in Albuquerque, (and 11 stayed at 11) I have been contacted by several friends asking for reception advice. We are ~ 60 air miles from the towers and depending on hills and peaks in between, makes a difference whether you get a 10 dB gain antenna or a 6. (or use a preamp on the line). I looked on the FCC database yesterday and found that both 7 and 13 are ~20-25kW TPO. But I didn't see the ERP - and they are co-located stations on Sandia Crest. Assuming they have the same style antenna, I would want similar gain for 7 and 13. Cheaper (smaller) antennas from Channel Master and Winegard fall off on the low end, due to element length and # elements. That pushed me to recommend a slightly more expensive and longer antenna. It sure would be helpful for stations to maintain some technical information on their websites, but they have been degraded to mostly having late breaking news a!
 nd
streaming video. 
John 

> Message: 16
> From: Art Reed <areed21774 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> I have never seen what the actual maximum ERP's are for the various 
> bands. I see lots of 1000KW ERP on UHF channels, but the VHF operations 
> seem to be all different power levels. Presumably, there is a maximum 
> power level for low and high band VHF, just as there was for analog. I'm 
> sure someone has this information.