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TIA - Digital TV Information
What you need to know about digital TV in Ukiah and Redwood valleys.
June 2010 Update
We are working on digital conversions for many of our channels. The result will be a better picture on all channels, and even high definition picture on a few channels. More soon.
What's going on...
After more than 50 years, on June 12, 2009 full power TV stations switched off their analog signals. Their new signals are digital, which generally provide better quality and more features than the analog signals, as long as you receive them well enough.
However, Ukiah valley is too far away to receive any TV stations directly. The signals must be received on top of Cow Mountain (to the east of Ukiah), processed, and retransmitted down to the valley. This is what TIA is all about.
For more, visit the DTV Transition web site.
What should you do?
Right now, here's what you should do:
- Obtain one or two DTV coupons from the government.
- Buy a DTV converter box (the coupons will save you $40 on each box)
- Be sure to get one with analog pass-through. That's needed for TIA signals.
- And, you don't connect the box yet. Just hang on to it.
That's it. If you keep your TV exactly as it is, it will work for TIA.
Why not connect the DTV converter?
You don't need it yet. TIA will remain in analog, not digital.
The FCC (governmental agency controlling the airwaves) allows low power operations like TIA to continue to transmit in analog. This is a good thing, because DTV can be complicated and expensive for everyone.
If you do connect your DTV converter, it must be one that allows analog to pass-through, otherwise you will not receive any of the TIA channels.
So, just keep your TV as it is. It will work fine.
Will TIA transmit the same channels?
It's too early to know.
Some channels may go off for a few weeks or longer. We will only know after the TV stations have made the switch to DTV.
For the TIA staff, the switch to DTV is very disruptive and will take a lot of time and effort to deal with. We've purchased the new equipment and will need to install it on Cow Mountain to receive the new signals and convert them back to analog. To make matters worse for TIA engineers, the DTV channels will be moving frequencies throughout the year.
Will TIA ever transmit digital?
For signals that are reliable, we would like to retransmit them in both analog and digital. That's a goal; however, it won't happen until later in the year (we hope).
FCC's official notice:
Here's the official notice from the FCC regarding this topic: The DTV Transition and LPTV/Class A/Translator Stations