Observations 10 FEB 2009

This is classic tornado weather. Today was the anniversary of the infamous tornado of my birth year.

Last night, we played "Cash, Guns, And Money", with the Yakuza expansion module. A good time was had by all. A horror game followed, which had two unexpected turnings- M. De Poisson was delighted by turning into the traitorous member early in the game, and met an early demise as the rest of the group actually co-operated!

Of our group, The Man Who Must Die First is moving. A collective moving party helped him this weekend. I'll miss the old house; it was nearly the perfect structure for our semi-annual gaming cons.

An unpleasant reminder of the war- my boss' formal announcement of his deployment dates. His tour will last until at least May 2010.

The doggie got a trim this weekend. Snarl. He was a tornado for some time. Now, he is adjusted to his slick look, and is ready for his close-up.

At work, the fear and gloom continue. No one knows when more hammers and axes will fall.

On the plus side, my mom's basement is still open. :) And with an increasing need for home health care, a Fourth Turning need to take care of my family may prevail over my ego.

Especially should a certain 194X cohort supervisor *really* go mad.

WSIU-8, PBS Carbondale has completed it's transition to VHF-High operation. It had spent the pre-transition dates on UHF-40 for it's DTV operations. The new RF 8 operation has been disappointing. At 112 km/ 70 statute miles, UHF performance had been good, even in poor propogation conditions. Now, on RF-8, reception time is about 10% of what the UHF signal was. This bodes ill for VHF-High OTA viewing, much less DX'ing. The current ERP for WSIU is 30 KW, increasing to 53 KW 18 FEB. Twice nothing is still nothing. It's less than a 3DB gain. Most of us lose that through the structure, or, in my case, cable runs.

KETC may have been lucky to lose their fight with WSIU, when they lost VHF-9.

I suspect after even the 12 JUN 09 dithering, many who depend on a VHF-High DTV signal will find it to be problematic. STL is a UHF only market for DTV. Several markets have mixed VHF-High and UHF populations. Station owners who had looked to massive power savings from using VHF may find themselves in a bind, as noise factors and weak signals make OTA-only viewers quite upset indeed. Co-channel, and adjacent channel interference may also be major factors, as there are only 7 VHF-High slots. Columbia MO, Quincy IL, Cape Girardeau, Springfield IL, and Carbondale IL are all hashing away at each other over STL. Our cheesiest UHF's suffer little from atmospheric noise, even at ERP's below 150 K (obviating the need for expensive transmitter maintenance, and high total power-in's).

Prediction: VHF HIGH (7-13), and LOW (2-6) are going to turn into Low Power Hell, in the fullness of time, except for extreme rural markets. Watch translators/repeaters, and sub channels on other stations start replacing VHF in outer/rugged areas.

Barrington may opt for an LD UHF ABC in Quincy...humiliating when a 15 KW ERP UHF is more useful than a less than 50 KW ERP VHF. KTVO's miserable signal will compel this.

Many small markets are defying the FCC, and going to DTV 17 FEB. That power bill is their margin of survival. I can see many small markets going to 60 meter/200 foot tall unlighted towers, and shared facilities, with several 15 KW LD's on UHF. They will be robots. Rolla, MO, might be an example, as well as Quincy/Hannibal, with translators in Macomb IL, etc. Money will dictate the loss of air talent, and the power bill will be the next blow to local TV. Hello, internet, for everything but The Big Events.