Robert Hovland wrote:
Does anyone know the latest info about what is going to happen to the FM
band when the FCC forces all of the VHF television stations to give up
their broadcast band and switch to the new freqency allocations for
digital TV?

Best bet right now is that that's not going to happen. "Core spectrum",
into which all DTV will be placed, is channels 2-51.

The FCC changed their minds twice about which spectrum to allocate.
First, they said all DTV would be UHF. Then, they amended "core" to
read channels 7-51. Finally, they seemed to conclude not all stations
could be accomodated in 7-51, and added 2-6 to the list.

My employer, whose analog signal is on channel 4, drew digital channel
10. Our biggest competitor has an analog signal on channel 5 and a
digital on channel 56. They'll be forced to move their digital signal
to channel 5 after the analog signs off. Channel 6 in Philadelphia drew
digital channel 64, and will also be forced to move back to VHF after
analog closes. There are many other examples.

My guess is that the VHF stations didn't want to surrender the coverage
(and power efficiency) advantages of the lower channels; and the
land-mobile interests didn't want the large antennas and susceptibility
to sporadic-E interference inherent in VHF.

channels 6 and 7, I believe, and I would be surprised if the FCC would
leave the FM band alone when the TV stations get out. They want to
auction these soon-to-be-obsolete TV channel frequencies off to the
highest bidder.

FM indeed lies between channels 6 and 7 - just above channel 6. (you
can receive channel 6 audio on most FM radios)

The FCC has recently authorized "in band on channel" digital radio
broadcasts in the current 88-108 band.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com