Tony Calguire wrote:
It sure is a shame they didn't go through with their original plan. I
would have liked to have seen channels 2-6, or at least channels 5 and
6, given over to the FM broadcast band. Just think of how IBOC and LPFM
might have worked out if the FM band had a little room to expand!

That's an interesting question: could two TV channels worth of spectrum
(12MHz) provide enough room to give each analog FM BC station a digital
counterpart without using IBOC?

Since IBOC-AM seems to (more-or-less?!) work within 15KHz or so of
bandwidth, it would seem a functional system with adequate quality to
replace FM could be made to work with 120KHz available to each station.

But the FCC had a hard enough time fitting the DTV assignments into the
channels they have. Even dropping one or two might prove a serious
problem...
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

In article ,
Doug Smith W9WI wrote:

But the FCC had a hard enough time fitting the DTV assignments into the
channels they have. Even dropping one or two might prove a serious
problem...

There would be enough bandwidth in a couple of 6-MHz TV channels to
make Eureka 147 work for every station in most markets....

On a more politically-correct note, there are interference constraints
between 8VSB transmissions on channel 6 and NCE-FM assignments which
resulted in very few TV stations being allocated DTV 6. (I think I
only found two when I looked. One of the original assignments was for
WCTX New Haven (moving from 59); they found that the constraints on
their power as a channel 6 were so confining that they arranged an
allocation swap with very-low-power WEDY New Haven, which didn't need
the coverage.) So it's conceivable that, after the transitional
period is through, channel 6 could still be cleared for other
purposes.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every
| generation can invoke its principles in their own
Opinions not those of| search for greater freedom.
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA| - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003)

Garrett Wollman wrote:
the coverage.) So it's conceivable that, after the transitional
period is through, channel 6 could still be cleared for other
purposes.

There are nine stations whose analog assignment is channel 6 and whose
digital is above 51. Those stations would have to be accomodated
elsewhere to clear channel 6 after transition. (I suppose that might be
possible by using one of the channels freed by other stations in the
same market.)

FWIW those nine stations a

KVIE Sacramento (DTV-53)
WABG Greenwood, Miss. (DTV-54)
KOTV Tulsa (DTV-55)
WIPR San Juan (DTV-55)
KWQC Davenport, Ia. (DTV-56)
WCML Alpena, Mich. (DTV-57)
WKMG Orlando (DTV-58)
WLNS Lansing (DTV-59)
WPVI Philadelphia (DTV-64)

Also FWIW, there are eight stations whose analog assignment is channel 5
and whose digitals are outside core.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com