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50 years ago the government decided our part of the San Joaquin Valley would be all UHF channels for TV (channels 14-83). Most of us in the valley who watch off-air TV put up UHF-only antennas and they have worked well for us.
A few years ago when television stations began building new digital transmitter facilities, each station was assigned a 2nd channel - and ABC30 was assigned channel 9 in the VHF band. Most of the other Fresno stations got a 2nd channel in the UHF band (KAIL, channel 53 would an exception - they're on channel 7 - VHF like ABC30). Where this is a challenge today is that VHF signals do not pick up well with a UHF-only antenna. For technical reasons, ABC30's digital broadcasts are at fairly low power due to the Channel 9 VHF assignment. Because of both the low power and the VHF channel 9 frequency, relatively few of our viewers find an indoor-type antenna satisfactory for reliable reception of our digital signal. A roof-top antenna designed for VHF & UHF reception seems to work very reliably.
On June 12, 2009 ABC30 will move our digital signal back onto channel 30 - this is our long term fix for the challenges of VHF reception in the Central Valley. While this entails additional effort on the part of viewers, ABC30 is the valley leader in HD content - no other station offers as much HD programming including ABC30 Action News in HD.
I would be happy to answer additional question via email as time allows.
I hope this proves helpful, we appreciate your interest in ABC30 HD.
Dave Hudson
Assistant Director of Engineering
Dave.hudson@abc.com
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