List of ATSC 3.0 stations?

[AzJazz]

KFPH-CD is broadcasting ATSC 3. KASW is supposed to switch over Any Day Now after major COVID-related delays, though they've apparently run out of money and cancelled 2 of their DTS sites (serving Gila Bend and Queen Creek).

LOL @ 4K/HDR on broadcast TV. Networks and stations don't have the infrastructure for that, and they sure as hell don't have the money to upgrade things now. Local advertising revenue is just completely gone at this point, and Arizona in particular is likely to see a long-term downturn as more businesses fail due to the botched handling of COVID. Local broadcast stations derive most of their revenue from car dealerships, restaurants, lawyers, and other local businesses like that, none of which are likely to have the opportunity to return to normal operations for at least 6-9 months, and many simply won't last that long.

Thanks, sir! When replaying one of Nick's demo videos, I also see that KPHO (CBS Channel 5) and KAET (PBS Kids 8.4) were also broadcasting in HEVC, so I do have a few channels to test with when our ATSC 3.0 Quatro arrives.

Not surprised about HDR content availability ... I was expecting that.

AzJazz

[NatHillIV]

Jasonl

Thanks for letting us know how its going in your area.. I cannot find anyone around here that will update me.. I think they are so unsure... its not wanting to be discussed just yet..
Regardless.. there is 1 Station I know of in Indy doing ATS3.0 so at least I can test.
The other + is the new HDHomeRun 4k will, (soon) doubles the number of tuners I have now so I can at least advance my number of AT1.0 Stations I can watch or record at once.. Trying to stay positive..

Jerry

I'm in Bloomington and would like to know the frequency of the ATSC 3.0 channel. Is it broadcasting anything at all? If so, I'm hoping a signal strength meter can show me if I'm "receiving" it, even if I can't do anything with it yet.
Thanks!

[jasonl]

HEVC is in use in most or all of the markets, but you can expect that most of the services will still be 480i, 720p, or 1080i, and maybe some higher res tests, or perhaps some stations that upscale the 1080i feed from the network to 1080p or something like that. I'd like to see some stations start doing local newscasts and such in native 1080p since most of the newer equipment already supports it and they just drop it back to 1080i for broadcast. No great trick to feed 1080p to the ATSC3 system then convert the same video to 1080i for the legacy broadcast.

Indy does not have an ATSC 3 broadcast on the air at this time, nor does any station in the entire Midwest have an application on file with the FCC to convert to ATSC 3 operation. The closest would be Nashville. Just looking at the stations in Indianapolis, I'd expect that WTTK would eventually be the first station to get converted since it's a Nexstar station and they also control WXIN and can put the HD broadcast there. Figure on some of the subchannels getting redistributed to WRTV and maybe WTHR. WISH is already carrying more services than it ought to since it is the host for WNDY, so it's not likely to take on any more.

[NatHillIV]

Thanks so much Jasoni for the Indy update, as discouraging as it is.
There must be something wrong with the WTTK transmitter, I only sporadically can watch it, and it used to be rock solid here in Bloomington before it went to RF15.
You're right, WRTV has 3 subs, while WTHR has 5, and WISH has 2 hd and 4 subs! Not much room there, is there?
Crowded frequencies, which is why I just can't see ATSC 3.0 ever doing more than just squeeze extra channels into a given frequency.
4K my butt.
Sorry to hear that the SiliconDust 3.0 tuner has been delayed, but sounds like there's no point in me getting one right away anyway.

[jasonl]

Most antennas aren't good below about channel 20. The UHF portions are designed to operate either to channel 51 or 69 depending on the age, and the higher the frequency where the peak gain is located, the worse off the lower frequencies will be since the elements aren't the right size. This wasn't usually an issue for most people pre-repack because in most major markets one or more of the channels below 20 were reserved for land mobile use and those channels plus the adjacent channels could not be used anywhere that might potentially interfere, so there just weren't a ton of people receiving important stations transmitting on 14-19. Land mobile never really saw any kind of use and was abandoned to make the repack possible, so a lot of stations moved down to those frequencies.

In the old days, most stations tried to max out their power wherever possible, with many in isolated areas going up to the maximum 1000kW on UHF. Lower frequencies provide better coverage at the same power level, so everything else being equal, a station on 14 at 500kW was better than a station on 36 or 51 at 500kW. The FCC recognized this disparity, and when stations were repacked to different frequencies, their power outputs were adjusted to give them the same effective coverage as what they had previously, though still subject to the 1000kW limit. So, in theory, WTTK's 450kW on 15 should be the same as the 550 they had on 29. In practice, this doesn't account for the dropoff in antenna performance on lower frequencies, so reception will be somewhat worse for most people in fringe areas. It's a small enough difference that it doesn't matter in Indy and the suburbs, but down in Bloomington where you're pretty far away and on the wrong side of some hills it's enough to cause issues on a lot of antennas. There's no chance of WTTK increasing power either because they're already right up against the coverage area of WXIX in Cincinnati, which is also on 15.

[NatHillIV]

Thanks for the WTTK explanation.
I am amazed RF 15 performs so poorly here on Bloomington. I get strong reception of every other station in the Indy "antenna farm."
North of town, clear line of sight, best antenna Winegard makes, it should do better.
I used to get RF15 out of Martinsville as a dinky little public school low power station.
I'm not disputing your word, just amazed.
I do appreciate the answers you've given me, although they're both discouraging!

[n9lya1]

Hello..
I will try an do some better research and see if I can find out...
Thanks Jerry

Jasonl

Thanks for letting us know how its going in your area.. I cannot find anyone around here that will update me.. I think they are so unsure... its not wanting to be discussed just yet..
Regardless.. there is 1 Station I know of in Indy doing ATS3.0 so at least I can test.
The other + is the new HDHomeRun 4k will, (soon) doubles the number of tuners I have now so I can at least advance my number of AT1.0 Stations I can watch or record at once.. Trying to stay positive..

Jerry

I'm in Bloomington and would like to know the frequency of the ATSC 3.0 channel. Is it broadcasting anything at all? If so, I'm hoping a signal strength meter can show me if I'm "receiving" it, even if I can't do anything with it yet.
Thanks!

[n9lya1]

Hi.. That's a shame.. I been told one does.. I do not have the email any longer. I am guessing the engineer who emailed me did not know what he was talking about.. lol

HEVC is in use in most or all of the markets, but you can expect that most of the services will still be 480i, 720p, or 1080i, and maybe some higher res tests, or perhaps some stations that upscale the 1080i feed from the network to 1080p or something like that. I'd like to see some stations start doing local newscasts and such in native 1080p since most of the newer equipment already supports it and they just drop it back to 1080i for broadcast. No great trick to feed 1080p to the ATSC3 system then convert the same video to 1080i for the legacy broadcast.

Indy does not have an ATSC 3 broadcast on the air at this time, nor does any station in the entire Midwest have an application on file with the FCC to convert to ATSC 3 operation. The closest would be Nashville. Just looking at the stations in Indianapolis, I'd expect that WTTK would eventually be the first station to get converted since it's a Nexstar station and they also control WXIN and can put the HD broadcast there. Figure on some of the subchannels getting redistributed to WRTV and maybe WTHR. WISH is already carrying more services than it ought to since it is the host for WNDY, so it's not likely to take on any more.

[Trip]

Now available: https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=atsc3

There's limited data because there's a dearth of receivers, but the page now exists and should be generally functional.

- Trip
www.rabbitears.info

[jasonl]

Great to see that up and running, Trip.

KSTR has been silent for a month with no firm date of restoration of service. Might as well flip it to pink.

[Trip]

Done.

- Trip

[tmm1]

FYI I listed some details about what KSBB is transmitting: https://community.getchannels.com/t/hdh ... /22513/105

[Trip]

Thanks! I've updated accordingly.

- Trip

[duster101]

Sorry if this is a noob question, but i've been following the ASTC 3.0 news for a while and never found the exact answer....

When the stations upgrade to the ATSC3.0 standard is the tower location going to change?

Im in Dallas.....so we have 1 station using ATSC3.0 but its nothing I want to watch...additionally, my antenna is pointed directly at the current tower farm for the major networks and I have limited options to rotate it to other areas (surrounded by large trees and houses)....Im hoping the new stations use the existing towers to transmit the upgraded signal (when they finally get there).

[plnota]

Sorry if this is a noob question, but i've been following the ASTC 3.0 news for a while and never found the exact answer....

When the stations upgrade to the ATSC3.0 standard is the tower location going to change?

Im in Dallas.....so we have 1 station using ATSC3.0 but its nothing I want to watch...additionally, my antenna is pointed directly at the current tower farm for the major networks and I have limited options to rotate it to other areas (surrounded by large trees and houses)....Im hoping the new stations use the existing towers to transmit the upgraded signal (when they finally get there).

KSTR is transmitting from the same location as pretty much all of the other stations - Cedar Hill. If you get CBS, PBS, CW, and all the other major stations, you'll get KSTR. If any of the other major stations switch to ATSC 3.0, they'll either reuse their existing transmitter, or possibly another transmitter but in the same location, as it's the best place to cover both sides of the metroplex (Dallas and Ft Worth).