Lafayette, LA / Beaumont, TX / Lake Charles, LA - HDTV - Page 235

I haven't seen the paperwork yet, but I suspect that 1000 kW omni on 25 would work as well. That's better than 1000 kW DA.

Hey, if it works for KITU...

- Trip

But then I couldn't watch us from home.

R

They are still only at 500KW and cover well......guess 350KW omni on 25 wont be a bad thing

I feel an antenna party coming on...

Found out today from someone at channel 12 KBMT, that HD cameras and equipment have been ordered to do the news in HD.
This is great news. Soon I will not have to wonder which news channel to watch.
If I hear anything on target dates, I will let you know.

Awesome news about channel 6 possibly moving to digital 25.
Certainly good news for viewers in the North and East.

Very nice. With that said, can Lafayette be far behind? I wouldnt think so.

I hope they add at the same time the ability to run syndicated programming in HD as well. Not so much that I watch syndie programming on KBMT that much, but just hoping it will light a fire under the other locals to do so as well, along with the news...

Studio HD cameras are one thing (remember KFDM already has them), a HD switcher and server is another thing....To play HD Syndicated shows, they need the server and switcher.....probably the switcher will be 1st for the cameras and then eventually a "BuFF" HD-server (using a nickname aviators know ...HD needs a LOT of disk space..and one w/redundant power supplies and drives with the proper video and embedded audio outputs (for TWO or THREE stations) is not cheap.

Really I couldnt see the need for a null anyway on 18; 490MHz LMR systems in Houston are slowly dying...I helped strip One Houston downtown of 20+ antennas and 7/8in Heliax on the roof top; systems were all moved to 800MHz trunking....

Of course, get LPB a 18 mask filter, have them move back to 18 and you are free to go full tilt on 21....did someone mention that to your consultant?? I would think you would get the better results cheaper that way!

Lafayette is a bigger market than BPT....but the leader, KLFY 10, has its owners in hock/bankruptcy court..doubt they will buy HD gear...

KATC--- Maybe?? I dont know their situation....

Yep, we thought about it. And we talked to the CE at KLTL about it.

But returning KLTL to Ch. 18 would cost more money than us moving to Ch. 25. The Ch. 18 mask filter is a very small part ($) of the new equipment ($$$$$$) KLTL would need.


R

OK, just for the record, what are some of the things that would have been needed by KLTL besides the mask filter and a Xmitter re-tune??? Do they still have the channel 18 antenna?

You've got a point there. Forgot about KLFYs financial woes. What a feather in KATC's hat if they could pull that off before KLFY. Local news and weather in HD is awesome.

Anyone in the L.C. area having trouble wiht KATC since last night?.. Not getting it on outside or indoor antenna as usual.

Yep same here. Its even missing on the CableTV side.

Yep, not getting it on my D* receivers.

KATC is having transmitter problems. They are very low power, im getting them in the 30's when they usually peg at 95 or more. Also no psip data.

I get PSIP but nothing else.

I was catching KATC this morning in Sulphur, but it is out again. I had to turn off my alarm system for the channel because my phone was getting flooded with texts over the weekend. I think they may have had some lightning damage on Friday.

Mask Filter ($), new transmission line ($$$$), removal of old and installation of new line ($$$$), and a retune of the transmitter ($$$), are the big things.

The channel 18 antenna is on a different tower and it would have to be moved ($$$$). And how would they stay on the air during the line and antenna removal/install procedure (which would take days)?

Bottom line, it would cost more to move them back to 18 than it will to move us to 25. I would rather spend that kind of money on equipment for me.

If it had been just a mask filter, it would have been a no-brainer. I would have preferred to stay on 21, but it did not make economic sense.

R

I could KLUDGE something together to get local HD on the air (it would be sloppy at best) for less than $100,000. To do it right would cost about 2 - 3 times that.

R

Thanks for painting the picture for us, Richard. That puts things into perspective as far as KLTL is concerned..

But since you were good and "saved" all that $$$$$, Uncle Larry should step forward and provide you with a whole chest of new toys of your own to play with, right???

And Richard, the question begs to be asked... how are Y'ALL gonna stay on the air while you get the Xmitter re-tuned and change antennas etc???

We will be off the air for a few hours as we move the current antenna back to side mount. We seperate the transmission line somewhere close to this new location and run it over to the side mounted antenna location. We are back on air on channel 21.

Then we do all the work to mount the new 25 antenna on the tower top. We will have to lower power as the worker pass by, but we should remain on the air during most of the modifications.

We install a different transmitter and modify it for channel 25 while all the tower mods are done (we will not modify our current channel 21 transmitter. It doesn't have enough power). Once finished with that, we connect it into the transmission line and put the transmission line back together at the tower side mount location to feed the new antenna (after testing it, of course). So we will be off the air for a few hours again.

Now we own a nice channel 21 transmitter and antenna which are useless. Anyone want to buy a 7,000 Watt channel 21 digital transmitter? It's solid state!

The new transmitter uses an IOT (tube).


R

How about seeing if the KUHT folks can use the gear?

- Trip

Yeah! The app from KUHT called for a side mounted antenna of the same manufacturer (ERI)...should be ok for them to go 15KW ERP on 21 since KFDM is doing much more right now (177kw iirc)....Time to drop a hint to Marty at KUHT

Richard,
will the old mast for the former 6 batwing be removed when the 25 antenna is installed?

As I recall, it was removed when the channel 21 antenna was top-mounted.

- Trip

Nope...the mast is still there....wings were removed (but not all)

Changing the subject...

The Hispanic Christian Community Network Inc. displacement application for a LD station on channel 49 has been granted by the FCC. It was granted on 1-27-10 and has an expiration date of 8-7-10.

It will be located on the Cumulus tower about halfway between Beaumont and Houston. It will have an ERP of 15 KW and the antenna will mounted on the tower 540 meters above ground.

The coverage map shows the signal to cover all of Beaumont and Port Arthur, all of Baytown, and part of Pasadena. We shall see I guess...