And now, a little kitsch

I'll pause briefly from my writings about broadcasting (television in particular) to mention this next subject.  

Geogal brought to my attention a few days ago that the house used in the exterior shots of "The Brady Bunch" is on the market.  

I'm well aware the establishing shots were done sometime in 1969, no doubt after the pilot was accepted and the series green-lit.  I also know the "second story" window was fake, nailed on to portray the house as a two-story (although true BB fans will quickly tell you the exterior view in no way matches the layout of the house as done on the soundstage).  

I finally got a chance to see the domicile for myself in either 1996 or 97.  Geogal even snapped a photo of me out front, now I've got to shuffle through our bin of prints to find it.  

Yet I've always wondered what the true house actually looked like on the inside.  Thanks to Zillow one can see how the house overall, while well-kept, is rather dated.  However I'm particularly impressed with the backyard and overall this dwelling looks oodles better than many family structures approaching 60 years.  

And it can be mine for just a little short of two million!  Zillow estimates my mortgage would set me back about 7,600 each month....

Nebraska TV oddities

Today I'll be turning focus to the state of Nebraska. You may notice with this blog that I am interested in broadcasting but only for certain geographical regions. Certainly Texas plus states where I lived or visited often such as Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico and to lesser extent California and Colorado.

And then there’s Nebraska.  Even though I never lived there it's a rather interesting state TV wise and I’ve traveled through much of it, often with my DTV stick and antenna helping me see what’s available over the air.  

Going from east to west the television landscape changes dramatically given most of the population is in the southeast corner.  First you have the Omaha television market which is very straightforward. Then heading west you have Lincoln, which begins the DMA known as Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney.  This market covers a huge chunk of the central and western part of the state. After that you have one of the smallest markets in the country, North Platte. Continuing west the communities are served by either the Denver or Cheyenne Wyoming markets.

Back to Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney, an interesting thing to point out here is this market has a rather high number a full power TV stations that broadcast on the low VHF band. Starting in Hastings you have KNHL which now broadcasts religious programming but for a long, long time was the NBC affiliate for the western part market under the call letters KHAS, RF and virtual channel 5.  This area also has a newer full power station broadcasting on channel 4. This is the old KSNB, licensed to Superior Nebraska but in reality serves the area immediately surrounding York.  This station replaced the NBC coverage formerly provided by KHAS.  KSNB, however, is not limited to the VHF channel 4, as it also is carried on the .2 subchannels for KOLN (Lincoln) and KGIN (Grand Island).  Both of these stations have robust coverage on channels 10 and 11 respectively. In North Platte long time NBC affiliate KNOP broadcasts on RF channel 2.  South of North Platte is KWNB, a full-power satellite of Kearney’s KHGI with ABC affiliation.  KWNB operates on RF channel 6 and its COL is Hayes Center.  I haven’t researched this too deeply but I suspect this community of only a few hundred souls might be the smallest COL for a full-power, network-affiliated television station anywhere in the States.  

To sum it up— in a certain geographical region you have several stations that are using low band VHF.  

For those that are not TV historians, some explanation: In the old days of analog broadcasting the VHF band was very coveted. It wasn't until the mid-1960s that TV’s were required to have a built-in UHF tuner. Even with that, VHF stations still had superior coverage area. In the switch to digital engineers quickly learned that broadcasting on the low VHF band (channels 2 through 6) was not desirable due to the potential for interference. High band VHF (channels 7 through 13) was still acceptable provided the power output was good and the transmitter antennas had sufficient height over average terrain.  But ironically the ATSC digital TV standard performed much better on UHF.  So in most communities if their local channel was previously 2 through 6, this channel simply stayed on their UHF digital companion channels. 

At least for the majority of stations. One of the unfortunates was Philadelphia’s WPVI, which used channel 6 for its analog broadcast.  However, the companion digital signal was on the channel that would be out of core once the digital switchover was complete.  Since there was no other available UHF channel in the area WPVI had no choice but to use their digital signal on channel 6. Almost immediately viewers in Philadelphia complained about not being able to receive the signal.  

So in a complete 180-degree turn, channels operating on UHF were no longer considered inferior and in fact became highly desirable.  

Why then, are several of the stations in this one area using low band VHF?  Central and western Nebraska is not exactly heavy with population or have numerous TV stations so one thinks there will be enough space on UHF dial.  After giving this a lot of thought I can only come up with two answers.

(Keep in mind I am not a broadcast engineer. I'm a hobbyist. Plus I don't know anybody at any of the stations so I have no inside knowledge.)

Answer number one: Economics.

I suspected, but didn't know for sure until recently that the same transmitter antenna could be used for analog or digital broadcasting. However after reading about WIBW's transmitter and antenna replacement I concluded it it it is cheaper to use your existing antenna at the transmitter rather than purchase an entire new one. Given none of these operations are owned by corporations flush with cash it makes sense to use as much as you can from that which you already have.

Answer number two: Poor engineering advice.

Maybe the stations all use the same engineering firm but it seems the opinion at the time was to keep your digital signal on VHF if possible. With the information then available perhaps the engineers predicted the VHF signal would provide better coverage than the UHF signal. While this was true in the days of analog broadcasting it appeared to not be the case for digital. There also is the well-known “digital cliff” so a somewhat watchable picture on analog turned into no picture at all for digital. Also the low band VHF full-power stations, in the analog days, transmitted using 100,000 watts of power. With digital the maximum you can go is 45,000 watts.  Again, no signal for many viewers.

I can attest to this last part. In the spring of 2009 I took my laptop and DTV stick and ventured into central Nebraska to see which signals I could receive. In North Platte I had no luck with channel 2 even though I could easily get the local low power stations and KPNE on channel 9. Then I drove south but could not receive KWNB at several points even within 20-30 miles of the transmitter.  I could not get any signal for that station until I was literally at the tower.

I also took a couple of pictures while I was there. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the base but there wasn't much to see. Just a small shack surrounded by fencing.

A bit to the east I always had difficulty receiving the erstwhile KHAS.  Even in locations as close as Grand Island nothing would show on channel 5.  Last summer I camped at Fort Kearny State Park, well within the putative range of KNHL.  Yet even with my camper’s outside amplified antenna I could not pull in KNHL while the other area stations (KGIN, KHGI and KLNE) were clear as could be.  And yes, I tried rotating the antenna and every other trick in the book.  Nothing.  

I noticed KWNB’s owners applied to the FCC to change their RF channel from 6 back to 18 (together with co-owned KHGI in Kearney moving from channel 13 to 21).  I haven’t looked deeper into the FCC’s database to see if these still under consideration.  

Maybe there’s hope for OTA viewers in the Cornhusker State.  

Closer To Home

This entry also is devoted to television broadcasting changes/updates but this time I’ll focus on my home DMA (Topeka).  

Since installing my antenna there’s been little change in the channel lineup or offerings.  49.4, which used to be a dedicated weather channel is now Justice (which I don’t ever watch).  KSNT added a 27.4 subchannel for Bounce, of which I watch very little.  

However a few weeks ago I noticed that WIBW’s UHF fill-in channel was no longer on the air.  Not surprising, since it was on RF channel 44 which will soon be out-of-core (see the previous post about the repack).  A check of the FCC database shows WIBW applied for a digital replacement translator on channel 33.  For kicks and giggles I also went to WIBW’s website to see if they had any information about a timeline.  To my surprise they had quite a bit of information from the station engineers and as it turns out they are not just moving the translator channel, they’re upgrading the main signal’s antenna and installing a new transmitter to match that antenna.    

I learned a few things.  First, antennas back in the day were apparently very well-built, as I’m amazed anything continues to function well after being exposed to the elements for 55 years.  (And Kansas weather being what it is, this antenna has survived numerous brutal cold spells/griddle hot temps/wind speeds that would even challenge the best turbines.)  Second, I applaud WIBW for being proactive with ATSC 3.0 technology. Third, the differences between VHF and UHF transmitter antennas might explain why Nebraska has more than an average amount of low-VHF full-power stations.  (More on that in my next post.)  

I’ll leave it to WIBW’s engineers to give the details.  And for those who are interested, they also have some really awesome photos of the antenna replacement (still in progress, by the way).  

Some of you who have only a passing interest in this stuff might be wondering: What is ATSC 3.0 anyway?  This page explains it fairly well.  As a hobbyist I’m looking forward to being able to again watch over-the-air TV while in a moving vehicle.  Haven’t been able to do that since the analog shutoff back in 2009.  😀😀😀