Comment Re:The TV broadcasters argument is null (Score 2, Informative) 250
There are a lot more UHF-TV frequencies in use in LA than your quick scan of the dial reveals.
You can't use channels 14-20, because they're shared with public safety two-way communications.
There are digital TV signals on channels 23, 31, 32, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 59, 60, 61, 65, 66 and 68, so those frequencies are unavailable.
There are additional analog full-power signals on 24, 44, 52, 57, 63 and 64 that aren't on your list.
There are low-power analog stations on 25, 26, 33, 45, 55 and 66 that make those channels unavailable. (Even if you can't see them in some parts of the market, they still have to be protected from interference.)
There are full-power analog signals in Palm Springs (36 and 42) and San Diego (39, 51 and 69) that would have to be protected from interference.
Channel 37 (608-614 MHz) is reserved internationally for radioastronomy and can't be used by anything else.
Mexico has been increasingly belligerent about interference from the United States on its border signals, so the use of the channels reserved for Tijuana (21, 27, 33, 49 and 57) would probably be impossible.
And the UHF TV spectrum has ended at channel 69 for more than two decades now; the space above there (806-890 MHz) has long since been filled by cellphones and various trunked two-way radio systems.
Some of the spectrum will be freed up when analog TV service is phased out, possibly as soon as 2006 but more likely beginning around the end of the decade. Until then, though, the spectrum the FCC wants to share right now is largely full in most big cities.
(A few additional notes: the "channel 83" that you may have on your cable system is a completely different band of frequencies from the old UHF channel 83. As noted above, UHF TV has ended at channel 69 for quite a few years now. And MW radio services outside the Western Hemisphere aren't spaced "on any old frequency"; they're at 9 kHz intervals [531, 540, 549, 558 and so on.])
You can't use channels 14-20, because they're shared with public safety two-way communications.
There are digital TV signals on channels 23, 31, 32, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 59, 60, 61, 65, 66 and 68, so those frequencies are unavailable.
There are additional analog full-power signals on 24, 44, 52, 57, 63 and 64 that aren't on your list.
There are low-power analog stations on 25, 26, 33, 45, 55 and 66 that make those channels unavailable. (Even if you can't see them in some parts of the market, they still have to be protected from interference.)
There are full-power analog signals in Palm Springs (36 and 42) and San Diego (39, 51 and 69) that would have to be protected from interference.
Channel 37 (608-614 MHz) is reserved internationally for radioastronomy and can't be used by anything else.
Mexico has been increasingly belligerent about interference from the United States on its border signals, so the use of the channels reserved for Tijuana (21, 27, 33, 49 and 57) would probably be impossible.
And the UHF TV spectrum has ended at channel 69 for more than two decades now; the space above there (806-890 MHz) has long since been filled by cellphones and various trunked two-way radio systems.
Some of the spectrum will be freed up when analog TV service is phased out, possibly as soon as 2006 but more likely beginning around the end of the decade. Until then, though, the spectrum the FCC wants to share right now is largely full in most big cities.
(A few additional notes: the "channel 83" that you may have on your cable system is a completely different band of frequencies from the old UHF channel 83. As noted above, UHF TV has ended at channel 69 for quite a few years now. And MW radio services outside the Western Hemisphere aren't spaced "on any old frequency"; they're at 9 kHz intervals [531, 540, 549, 558 and so on.])
