New Feature - Repacking Analysis
By Trip Ericson on Thursday, November 7 2013, 12:08 - Site Updates - Permalink
On July 22, the FCC put out a public notice containing two large data files that could be used for repacking calculations during and after the incentive auction. The first file, called the "domain" file, shows what channels could potentially be used for repacking for each station, taking into account things like land mobile reservations in large markets and allotments in Canada and Mexico that may need protection. The second, called the "interference_paired" file, shows what pairs of stations cannot exist together.
Unfortunately, in their raw form, computers are much better at reading them than people are. I've now written a page which will allow you to look at any station and see what is in both the domain file and the interference_paired file from the July 22 public notice for that station. To access it, just click on the following icon in the Web Listings:
Let me know if you have any questions.
Comments
Here's hoping this incentive auction scam blows up in the FCC's face.
For the few stations that l looked at, the column headings were listed as:
Ch. 3
Ch. 10
Ch. 20
Why those particular channels?
Are those just specific examples?
Is there a way to change the channel numbers?
Thanks.
Tripelo,
This article by Doug Lung tells the tale: http://www.tvtechnology.com/article...
"Because it would take too long to calculate coverage individually for each station on each possible channel, the FCC proposes using 'proxy' channels to determine interference and coverage. The FCC staff used Ch. 3 for low VHF, Ch. 10 for high VHF, and Ch. 20 for UHF."
To change them, new pair study runs would have to be done in TVStudy and then they would have to go through the same process of generating the domain and interference_paired files.
Thanks.
Seems as if the three channels are representative of each band; Lo VHF, Hi VHF and UHF. If a given station were to move to that particular channel, then the co-channel and adjacent channels for the other potential move candidates (within that domain) would, or would not, be within acceptable interference as noted by the X or the check mark in each box.
That assumes none of the stations transmitters move to a different physical location during the transition.
Other channels (other than 3, 10, and 20) in a given band might not yield the exact results but would probably be close.
If the above is incorrect please elaborate.
Thanks again.
You're basically spot on. The one note I would make is that the repacking process will use a transmission facility that is on record (the NPRM proposed the licensed or pending license facility as of 2/22/12, though it could be any recent facility in theory), and not a theoretical/preferred location.