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I learned late last night that Philly area WPVI (aka 6ABC) in fact received permission from the FCC and "significantly" boosted their digital broadcast power over VHF channel 6 as of this past weekend. I have no idea exactly what time the boost was implemented as the notice on the WPVI website just says...
June 21, 2009 (WPVI)—WPVI-TV was given special authority by the FCC to significantly increase its broadcasting power this weekend.
We would like to hear from over the air antenna users via this email feedback form.
Please follow all of the connection and rescanning instructions listed here and let us know if you can receive 6abc's digital channel.
It is the station's ongoing effort to provide the 6abc signal to all viewers receiving it prior to the Digital TV transition.
Thank you for your correspondence and patience.
Then they go on to describe the mundane and tedious gyrations antenna-based viewers can try in their own homes in an effort (probably futile at that point imo) to receive the WPVI digital signal.
I'm very hopeful that the WPVI signal boost might well resolve my reception issues when there's local interference with the VHF 6 signal. The converse of that, though, is that if the boost doesn't resolve the issue, then it seems all but 100% certain to me that I will just have to live with haphazard reception issues depending solely on the whims of the local interference.
The thing is... I just can't answer the question yet as to which way it's going to go for me. Since the VHF 3 broadcast of the DTV public service program finally cleared up late Saturday morning, there has been no more evidence of local interference. Now, it could stay interference-free for only the next 10 minutes, for a few days, or even a week or more (though that would be rare), no way to know.
So long as the VHF 3 broadcast remains clear then I know VHF 6 is also clear and that I would have been receiving WPVI digitally just fine anyway. Only when I see evidence of the same old local interference on VHF 3 will I then be able to check if my WPVI digital reception on VHF 6 has in fact truly been fixed—i.e. by overpowering the local interference—with the now boosted VHF 6 digital signal for WPVI as of this past weekend. (And honestly, it's not as if I'm going to leave my TV on the boring VHF 3 public service program 24/7 just waiting for the interference to creep in so I can go check my digital reception of channel 6. I just check VHF 3 periodically when I feel like it.)
So for the first time ever I'm now actually hoping to see analog interference on my TV! At this point I just want a definitive answer one way or the other so I'll have an answer. Now I know how Schrödinger's cat must feel!
When I find out, I will report back with a short (I swear!) post answering the question that hangs in the balance. Talk about suspense!... Don't miss the next thrilling, spine-tingling episode of As the DTV World Turns.
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2 comments:
Lovin' it, lovin' it LOVIN'IT!!!!!
THIS is what the DTV transition is all about. Working through the problems and (for once) the FCC doing things in a timely fashion.
I hope it does clear up for you.
Good luck.
Thanks, Angel. Barring cramping, my fingers remain crossed for the duration...
I still think it would have been much preferred for all concerned if 'PVI had somehow found a UHF channel to broadcast on (and the VHF 2-6 channels had been left clear of digital signals in all markets), but I think I understand more and more how complicated an issue it really is.
Hey, if this boost works, then that's great and I can easily live with it. I see no reason to care about the implementation details so long as the end result is good consistent reception under all reasonable conditions for 99.9% of folks who received the channel fine before the transition.
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