[KTrout]

Quick summary and news from Channel 2............


Channel 2 (DTV 50) - Heard from engineer this afternoon. Structural problems with their tower have prevented them from meeting expected digital transmission date of December 1. Indicated the Harris Corporation was scheduled for the middle of February to come and install transmitter. At that point they would probably go ahead and come online with HD broadcasting and forego the standard def. digital signal they had planned to do for a while. They requested equipment from NBC to pass HD source material provided from the network. The rest would be upconverted. Engineer indicated they have not plugged in transmitter at all, so I'm not sure why my DST3k STB found digital channel 2-1. Anyone have any ideas on this?


Channel 4 (DTV 34) - Mama says if you don't have anything nice to say.......


Channel 5 (DTV 47) - Expecting an update soon from Eldon who spent the week of Thanksgiving in Maine observing the testing on their transmitter.


Channel 7 (DTV 49) - They're piggy backing on Channel 5's transmitter and right now list an on air date of 5/1/03.


Channel 24 (DTV 40) - Currently broadcasting low power from tower adjacent to their station. Not receivable in all areas of the Lowcountry.


Channel 36 (DTV 35) - See Channel 24 above.


Welcome any additional news or comments. Looks like Santa won't bring any OTA HD to the Lowcountry this year.

 

[KTrout]

Here's the latest from WCSC. Thanks to Eldon.



We have made one more step towards getting our digital signal on the air.

Yesterday, we received and installed the equipment that will combine the

signals from the three stations (WCSC, WCIV, SCETV) into our antenna. We

still have about two days worth of work to do near the top of the tower,

which we hope to get done within the next two weeks. We don't have an exact

timetable for that yet as we are waiting on parts.


The transmitter cabinets are supposed to arrive next Monday. The

manufacturer will be here to install them, and we expect this to take about

six weeks. The holidays may slow us down a bit, but we hope to be up and

running in late January or early February.


That's it for now.

 

[HDSC]

Well thanks for the we still have nothing update.

I will stop trying to find a remapped channel for 2's dtv station now and wait till next year to see what happens. It sounds like it will probably be during the ratings sweep in February before we are watching HD-OTA.

Thanks for keeping us informed Ktrout.

HDSC

 

[KTrout]

I'm in the process of organizing a "tour" of WCSC's Facility at the tower in Awendaw. If you are interested in seeing the equipment that's going to deliver this HD stuff to us, please PM me and provide an e-mail address so that I can keep you informed etc....


The "tour" will take place after they are up and running, so we are probably talking about mid to late February.

Don't have any other details at this point, but if you're the least bit interested let me know.

 

[KTrout]

Minor update on WCIV - ABC


Got a quick response from the owners today.... seems the lease agreement has been worked out between them and Channel 5. Now all that's left before they go on air is the build-out of facilities and equipment delivery. I continue to ask if they will be on air before January 26th, Superbowl, but have not heard a definitive answer. My guess is no.


With the locals getting ready to go OTA, we need to start working Comcast, Time Warner, and Knology about gearing up for HD.