Lafayette, LA / Beaumont, TX / Lake Charles, LA - HDTV - Page 269

From today's Daily Digest:

LA BDISDTL-20090824AFG K63HF 130408 WINDSONG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Minor change of callsign K63HF.
E CHAN-44 LAKE CHARLES, LA Engineering Amendment filed 08/28/2009

I saw that yesterday too, but it also said that the displacement app was dismissed, or did I read that wrong???

I was confused when I saw it.

Indeed the app has been dismissed for failure to send an ammended app correcting the coordinates to match the ASRN, but according to the applicant, the tower in the ASR database was destroyed by Hurricane Ike and the coordinates have now changed to the new tower, and the app is technically correct, but does not match the ASR... So I guess we will see how it all plays out.

HOOray! The FCC has added a feature replacing the old coverage maps with a new contour map overlayed onto a Google map. Nice.

Sweet! I get an error though when trying to look at KFDM on channel 21. It works on channel 25 though.

It gave me an error when I tried to look at KUMY-LP channel 22 too.

What is the link?

Off the search results:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=26953

However, the licensed listing is wrong...the tower is NOT centered on the USGS map choice and the tower (formerly 1380, KRCM) was dismantled some times ago (actually cut down..it was sooo rusty, no tower crew would climb it anymore!)...KUMY has been operating from downtown BMT for 5 years supposively under a STA; which is not shown OR they never filed for it (they were supposed to file an app for the downtown site according to their 07 request to silent STA)....they had a CP to move to a FM tower (KYKR/KCOL-FM) but it expired...The FCC evidently dont have a KML file extension for KUMY.....

Just go to the TV Query on the FCC web site and put in KUMY in the call sign box. Then click on the coverage contour link...

OMG!!! I dont know if anyone else is watching it but 4.1's feed of Lamar's football game tonight is horrible....the wide shot of the field looks worse than a grainy version of a 50s B&W show on DVD and the sideline cameras are all over the place...showing more of the field grass than anything else...If departed 4 Chief Engineer Charlie Ravel was still alive, he would NEVER allow that on the air...I have NEVER seen anything that bad...even Alexandria's KALB's .2 channel being 720p with their .1 being 1080i looks better!! EGADS!

I cant stand it...I'm going to 6.2 to watch House!

Ditto. Pretty Ratty. All the fidelity of AM radio.

Problem with AM Radio is the RECEIVERS ..the transmitters can pass up to 50kHz but they are limited to 10kHz under FCC Rules these days...even so, I have several AM Stereo (yes there IS stereo on AM; longer than FM stereo has been around!) with selectable WIDE filters that make it sound as good as FM (In fact, AMs USED to broadcast wider bandwidth than FM Stereo...FM is limited to 15 kHz max to keep the 19kHz pilot from getting trashed....AM Stereo uses a 25HZ pilot instead and in the 80s, AM stereo systems were pushing 20+ kHz to the air...but AM rcvrs are filtered to maybe 5kHz to keep splatter from adjacent chanenls and to keep the hi end noise (hiss, ignition noise, etc) to a minimum...when 92.9 and 790AM in Houston were simulcasting the Q-ZOO in the 80s, I preferred listening to it on the AM! It sounded fuller and richer with the AM Stereo rcvr I have in the wideband mode...with the normal/narrow filter kicked in, you dont see much above 4 kHz audio out! IF the AMAX standards had been REQUIRED by the FCC (and with today's DSP horsepower), AM would sound as good or better than FM...

digital IBOC?? Forget it!! besides IBOC is dying a slow death on AM...FMs are still running it but I wonder for how long with the licensing fees hey have to pay to Ibiquity who holds the patents, etc!

BTW I have a rare SONY FM/AM stereo home tuner(along with my Sony XRA-33 car rcvr with cassette and a MetroSound AM Stereo tuner that has a built in FM modulator as well as line outputs)...This Sony home tuner was only sold in Canada and Australia...defaults to 9kHz steps but with a power on button sequence it tunes in 10kHz steps...doesnt cover Expanded Band (1610-1700) but on the 530-1600 range, and on wide band, you would be amazed how great AMs playing music sound (well if you can find them )

If I can find a site big enough to handle an upload, I will post the WLS BIG89 Rewind from 2007..it was recorded off the over the air logger...which is an AM Stereo receiver! Yep, WLS still does CQUAM Stereo...and the digital MP3s sound fantastic with the processing, etc!

Dropbox is nice for 2GB free...and you can post public links from the public folder on the box. If not, let me know and I can make a folder on my website and give you an FTP account to upload.

I'll check out Dropbox and let ya know...thanks for the info..

Well, well, well... Now we know why KEHO-LD never built out on the Devers tower but applied for a LTC anyway. They have now filed a Minor Mod app to move to Houston showing "contour coverage overlap" as reason enough to grant the new CP. HOWEVER... the app now claims City Of License as Houston. Doesn't that require a Major Modification application??? And also, didn't the FCC change the rules for moving a station from the original site and eliminate the wider "overlap" rule? I think it now has a limit of a certain distance of a few kilometers, not about 50 miles like this app proposes...

Amusingly enough, a city of license change doesn't require a major mod as long as it qualifies for a minor mod overlap move or is a displacement.

- Trip

Lafayette DishNetwork folks should get a nice surprise tomorrow...they have been missing it in their market for a bit. This includes the HD and SD version of it

It's here!

5262(33) - WVLA [MPEG4 HD] - Ciel-2 129W TP 09 Spotbeam 42 changed to Available (H) (Mkt:Lafayette, LA-Baton Rouge, LA-NBC)
8486(33) - WVLA [MPEG2 SD] - EchoStar10 110W TP 25 Spotbeam 12 changed to Available (H) (Mkt:Lafayette, LA-Baton Rouge, LA-NBC)

and this might be of interest to some people:

6395(8) - KUHT [MPEG4 HD] - EchoStar10 110W TP 04 Spotbeam 16 changed to Available (H) (Mkt:Houston, TX-Houston, TX-PBS)
6395(8) - KUHT [MPEG4 HD] - Echostar12 61.5W TP 13 Spotbeam 17 changed to Available (H) (Mkt:Houston, TX-Houston, TX-PBS)

I'm just very surprised KATC or KLFY hasn't gone HiDef locally yet.

What do you mean? They are HD on OTA and in HD on DishNetwork. I don't think they are in HD on DirecTV though.

Correct, KATC, KLFY, KADN, are still SD with directv. If you want em in HD and to show in your guide you have to buy the am21 and an antenna to catch them over the air.

Speaking of KATC, I autoscanned the ota channels on my tv and caught two 3-2 channels (first is SD CW Network as usual, second is an image of a speaker slowly going up and down the screen). Also 3-3 and 3-4 show up as well with the same thing. Could KATC be testing their subchannels to later have a 24 hr news/weather loop???

Sounds more like a malfunctioning encoder at another station. I know I've heard of extraneous 3-x stations popping up in a few places where an LPTV station had their encoder get reset and the default was to pop up all four subchannels mapped to 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, and 3-4.

- Trip

You are actually supposed to build a station before you claim contour change... if the rule is decided to be enforced.

KUHT is "16x9" via DISH but the screen is cut at 4x3...not sure if its HD or not (I think they take the HD and send it SD via the birds) EVERYTIME I watch Nova or something on 8 via DISH, the screen is always showing something cut off at the sides...wish they would fix that...havent seen any HD 16x9 YET....
Dont know anything about the LFT stations (except I have 3.1 and 10.1 in my OTA tuner channel list

The FCC seems to be more concerned about broadband to the masses (yeah right!!) than anything else these days......
Yep, I can see Vinton, LA or Buna, TX getting fiber any day now

Via OTA?? Not for news, true..but then both had to pay for the 1800ft towers, etc....and KLFY just came out of bankruptcy (Young Broadcasting is the owner)..they'll eventually get around to it...but cash flow is the main stoppage...

Well, if they want to avoid paying out in spectrum auctions, just start enforcing rules like this one to cancel licenses...

- Trip

Local newscasts are in HD?

Yeah I was talking about broadcasting in HD locally...at the station. Like local news and weather in HD. Not sure what your question about via OTA meant. I'm assuming that whenever the time comes we will see it in HD, wether on OTA, Directv or Dishnetwork. Is that correct?

KUHT is now in HD on DishNetwork as of yesterday.


DirecTV, no, they do not have the Lafayette LA locals. On DishNetwork, yes, they simply take the OTA signal and fiber it back to the uplink center and back down to your receiver.