Eyewitness News 5 has received a new digital antenna to help improve its over-the-air signal.

The state-of-the-art antenna stands nearly 1,500 feet high and uses an omni-directional, multi-polar signal that should help viewers tune in KOCO-TV better.

Construction crews will take the old analog antenna down from the tower and replace it with the new one over the next few weeks.

One thing that confuses me. I didnt think DT could have adjacent channel interference. FCC tells me the power increase for ch 11 was denied because of interference to 12 and 10.

12 and 10 are owned by Gray Broadcasting.

Waco has ch 9 (25,000 watts) and ch 10 (39,000 watts). Transmitters are about 9 km apart.

I’m confused.

Now I’m finding requests by tons of VHF stations for power increases. KCAU ch 9 in Souix City, IA tells me the FCC did not delagate enough power for VHF stations. KCAU, along with many other stations do not want a move to UHF. Some VHF (including low VHF) stations are seeking up to quadruple power increases.

CH 10 in Waco broadcasts 25,000 watts. Old analog 10 used 316,000 watts, reduced to 204,000 watts after DT 53 turned on. Ch 10 tells me all is well, so far. However, I believe they too would welcome a power increase.

Now I learn that the FCC has rejected KTVT’s use of ch 11 due to interference to Gray owned stations ch 12 in Ardmore-Sherman-Denison and Ch 10 in Waco. It appears the FCC is mandating ch 19.

Details on interference patterns are available at the FCC website.

I’ll study this further. I hope I’m understanding all of this.

KUSA 9 Denver, and KCEN 9 Waco tell me all is well. KCEN is irked because a Fort Worth station is broadcasting on 9 at the Cedar Hill tower farm. I’m surprised the FCC permitted this. WFAA (8) did use DT 9 until the transition.

Fox 44 in Waco may request a new frequency, so they tell me. No number given.

KCEN 9 now has HD local news, weather, sports. Not bad for a Lawton/WF sized market.

On June 12, 2009, KTVT moved its digital broadcasts from channel 19 to channel 11. Due to widespread reception problems and a resulting loss of 57 percent of KTVT viewers, the station was granted permission via special temporary authorization by the FCC to move back to channel 19 on July 23, 2009. On the same day, sister station KTXA was given permission via an STA to move back to channel 18, its transition period channel. The channel change went into effect on August 4, 2009. Prior to the channel change, KTXA was simulcasting KTVT’s programming on 21.2. KTVT broadcasts on channel 11 and on channel 19 and both stations use the virtual channel “11.1″ causing many digital TV receivers to show channel 11.1 twice when tuning sequentially.

On September 10, 2009, the FCC issued a Report & Order, approving KTVT’s move from channel 11 to channel 19. On October 21, 2009, they filed a minor change application for their new allotment, which the FCC granted them a construction permit on November 19, 2009. Once construction of KTVT’s maximized facilities ends, and file a License to Cover afterwards, then KTVT can terminate operations on channel 11 and operate solely on channel 19 permanently.

Which brings up another problem, since KSBI has no translators in northwest Oklahoma, we can’t receive their DT-51 signal because of a KOCB translator signal on channel 51 on the Seiling tower. There isn’t much worth watching on KSBI but an occasional Thunder game would be nice.

I wonder if their advertisers understand that KOCO’s signal doesn’t cover a fraction of their audience.