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Wireless Network or Weird Al?
coronaride writes "This article over on Wired discusses the current topic of the FCC's regulation of UHF's (ultra-high frequencies). Apparently, UHF channels 52 through 69 are in danger of being taken over by wireless networking!" Insert your Conan the Librarian or Wheel of Fish
joke here.
It's not a precursor, it's the second step, UHF AIR 69-88 or so were already taken for use with cell phones.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
The problem with this is that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of very low power UHF stations that are run by non-profit organizations and service a small demographic...
Such as non-english channels, alternative media, community info, etc.
These tiny channels, with signals reaching only maybe 20 square miles, could NEVER afford the upgrade to digital - they get by on a shoestring budget. Some are run out of people's homes.
As a result, only the larger, corporate broadcasters will be able to have a voice.
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Al is definitely still around - he got married in February 2001 and on June 4th of this year, he and the band headed back into the studio to start working on his 11th studio album.
Sadly, Frankie Yankovic is no longer with us as he passed away not too long ago - but contrary to popular belief, he and Al are in no way related. The polka/accordion thing is a mix of coincidence and Al's parents belief that there should be another accordion-playing Yankovic in the world when they signed him up for accordion lessons when he was 6 years old.
Ok,
-Each television channel currently gets 6Mhz of bandwidth
-The UHF band (Channels 14-69) approximately covers the range 300Mhz to 3000Mhz
-TV stations on adjacent channels need to be at least 75 miles apart to avoid interference with each other
-Stations on the same frequency channel need to be at least 150 miles apart to avoid interference with each other
In a large state with low population centers, there is maybe a group of tv stations in the big city that uses UHF translators all over the state to rebroadcast the transmissions.
But a place like LA not only has tons of stations, but they are close enough to other large cities like San Diego, that have their own stations, and could interfere if the same frequencies were used.
UHF is now on DVD.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Yeah, but that simply will never happen. The FCC would never pay for it.
I'm not sure how this would work, either - I don't know if the smaller stations would have the space and expertise to operate digitally even if the FCC gave them the equipment.
I'm not referring to the channels that run Gilligan's Island reruns - I'm referring to the micro-broadcasters that have been around about 10 years. The ones with the funny call signs like WU59 or KL62.
Some transmit only to a few neighborhoods or even just a few blocks, almost all are in cities, and few are carried by suburban cable systems, as they are not required to be.
Because of all of this, they tend to represent a segment of the population that has no access otherwise - the urban poor, immigrants, whatever.
Most people who aren't poor are not even aware that these stations exist, since they aren't on their cable system.
Many are in people's basements or whatever. I know of one that is run by a housewife in her own home.
The FCC created the rules allowing such stations only about ten years ago in order to give minorities, small communities, etc., a voice. Now they are probably going to lose that voice.
Then it will be back to the status quo, where television shows are just the bait to get you to see ads for beer and doritos.
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On a side note, UHF finally came out on DVD two weeks ago. It is only 10 bucks at best buy, and it comes with tons of deleted content and other goodies.
"You get to drink from the FIRE HOSE!!!"
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