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Mankato is one of those weird arrangements. It's considered it's own market, but only has one full power TV station and not much else, mainly relying on signals from Twin Cities or Rochester/Mason City market to fill the gap....If you can find LPTV CPs for your area, you could start a system similar to Selective TV in Alexandria.

RF is RF....As long as you have an antenna appropriate for the frequency being used, it doesn't matter what is carried on it. Keep in mind the advertised channel numbers are virtual, you have to look at the RF channel number to determine what antenna is needed. In the 2009 conversion, many VHF broadcasters moved to UHF and some UHF went to VHF (most had to transmit two signals for awhile, so it had to do with what spectrum was available - most stations just kept their digital signal where it was when they turned off the analog transmitter) and some changed sites during the process, so your antenna system from 1955 might no longer be appropriate. We are also in the middle of a TV repack where many stations are moving RF channels again. Everything above channel 36 is being given to the telcos. Check out sites like rabbitears.info and antennaweb.org to see what is appropriate.

With these channels moving around, it is also feasable that the broadcasting power is not as high, to keep from bleeding over onto channels aired from other areas. This was especially true before the transition, when you had both analogue and digital channels. After the switch over, only a couple of channels do I get stronger signals on - some are still giving me less than 60% of the signal (although most are now at 98% or better). What is sad is I live less than 15 miles from "broadcast hill" with a clear line-of-sight. I can see the antennas from my balcony. You would think that all I would have to do is point my antenna at the towers and I would have perfect signal.

Before the transition, a lot of my local stations were actually broadcasting the digital signal from their backup transmitters at the station, not from the transmitter on "broadcast hill". I know this because I called up the engineers of a couple of stations as I was having issues receiving their signal. So, they were broadcasting from a different location, at a lower power, on a different frequency, with a smaller tower, plus, before the transition, they might take the signal down completely for a while to do maintanance.

An example of channels moving is shown at this chart:
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_market&mktid=5

Before, DFW had 6 channels in the VHF range, now there are only 2 (BTW, I have no clue what that KSFW is, I don't get it, I have one channel "2.1" and it is Daystar).

What was worse is, after the transition, a couple of channels moved again to their new broadcast home, meaning that you had to rescan.

So you really cannot say that digital transmisison is worse than analogue, because there are many other variables that are in place.

I will say, however, that if you are living in the US and haven't rescanned in a couple of years, try that, and see if it helps. But as the parent said, you may have to end up putting up multiple antennas and repositioning them. It is not because digital doesn't go as far, it is because different frequencies and broadcast powers are being used now. About the only thing you can really do is to call up the station engineer at the station and ask if they have plans to increase their broadcast power.

You've just agreed with the AC. I looked at the FCC data for WPMT - they are transmitting with 933 kW ERP, with ERP being the important difference - that stands for Effective Radiated Power, which takes antenna gain into account. The AC stated that using lower transmitter power coupled with large antennas on the tower are sufficient. I submit that WPMT is using a relatively high gain antenna to obtain the 933 kW ERP. This site says they have a transmitter putting out 20.2 kW with an 18.22 dB gain antenna.

Philly and Baltimore 2 ->38 3 ->26 6 stays 10->34 11 stays 12 stays 13 stays 17 stays 35 stays 45 ->46 57 ->32 60 ->9 (yes 9) 61 ->31 62 ->49 http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php

The DTV switch moves the signal to the UHF bands

This is not precisely true. While some major network VHF will move to UHF, many will not. In Las Vegas, for example the final post-transition DTV channel for all major networks will remain VHF. In Washington, DC, NBC and FOX are moving form analog VHF to UHF, but ABC and CBS will remain on VHF for DTV post-transition.

What is definitely happening with regards to frequencies is that all UHF channels above 51 will be vacated for spectrum auction winners.

So clearly if you have been a VHF-only receive antenna, you will probably also need a UHF capability to continue to receive the same stations.

More info final DTV channels here.

See here: http://www.betanews.com/article/House_votes_to_delay_DTV_transition_President_likely_to_sign/1233764370

http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php and http://www.rabbitears.info/termlist.php for analog termination and digital switch.

And I need to get a new antenna since KABC did its test this morning after 2 AM PST for 15 minutes. I could not get KABC's digital 7 with two rescan attempts. I was told my DB2 bowtie antenna cannot do low channels at all. :(

See here: http://www.betanews.com/article/House_votes_to_delay_DTV_transition_President_likely_to_sign/1233764370

http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php and http://www.rabbitears.info/termlist.php for analog termination and digital switch.

And I need to get a new antenna since KABC did its test this morning after 2 AM PST for 15 minutes. I could not get KABC's digital 7 with two rescan attempts. I was told my DB2 bowtie antenna cannot do low channels at all. :(

I prefer XLS file and possible terminate date list.

I prefer XLS file and possible terminate date list.

I might lose any stations that move back into VHF.

This is unlikely.

Very few stations are choosing to move their digital signal to any of the VHF-Low (2-6) channels, and only a very few UHF antennas won't get good enough reception on VHF-Hi (7-13).

Austin has only Fox choosing a VHF-Hi channel (7) as their final digital frequency. See here for more information on the final channel assignments and when and how they expect to make the change.

Because this is wrong. The only channels being "evacuated" are the "out-of-core" UHF channels 52 and higher.

Maybe not wrong, but I'll give you incomplete. It is a complex situation No VHF spectrum is being freed up. 51 and higher have been auctioned off.

DTV is, by and large, not on the channel, transmitter, or antenna that it will be using after the transition. In many cases the final digital channel is currently occupied by an analog transmitter.

My impression was that the normal case would be the "even more bizarre" situation you describe, but that seems not to be the case, and often the post-transition digital allocation is currently occupied by another station's analog signal. Looking here: http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php it appears to be common, but not the norm.

This is why there had to be a single cutoff date, and why the 'nightlight' proposal was so brain-damaged.

It could possibly turn your site http://www.rabbitears.info/ into a web2.0 application with fancy ajax and sociable, tag-gable rabbit ears.

Well, the rule is NORMALLY this:

1080i:
Everyone except ABC and Fox stations and other properties, such as ESPN.

720p:
ABC, Fox, ESPN. Dunno for sure about DirecTV, but it would make sense as they're owned by Fox.

Now there are exceptions, such as WVEC-13 (ABC) in Norfolk and WFAA-8 (ABC) in Dallas doing 1080i instead of 720p. All Belo stations are doing 1080i, even if they're ABC (they're upconverting it).

On the other hand, WHRO-15 (PBS) in Norfolk and WCBI-4 (CBS) in Tupelo, MS doing 720p instead of 1080i.

Most stations maximize the HD at the expense of the SD, so if you realize that an SD stream will survive with about 3MBPS, you should be able to figure the bitrates.

Now if you want to know what subchannels you have, if you're lucky enough to be near myself or a fellow in Minnesota I have helping me, I've set up a site ( http://www.rabbitears.info/ ) that I've been working on in my spare time. Otherwise, check http://www.avsforum.com/ and look for your market in the Local HDTV forum. Also, you could webmaster email at me rabbitears and dot I info could try to help you out, if you'll give me the city the stations you watch come from.

I honestly can't say I've seen a big difference between 720p and 1080i, though 720p is less likely to "pixelate" in high motion. I have a front-projector that has been well-calibrated and it does 720p, and that's the only thing I've noticed different about the two.

If you have any more questions, feel free.