KAKM Digital Signal Interrupted Overnight

Wed, July 23, 2008
Posted in Technical Updates

KAKM’s digital signal will be interrupted overnight tonight in order for crews to make final installation of equipment that will correct pixilation problems that have been affecting the station intermittently for several weeks. The signal will be restored as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Comments

4 Responses to “KAKM Digital Signal Interrupted Overnight”

Louise on July 30, 2008 at 4:31 pm

Please please please hurry and repair your equipment. I can no longer watch KAKM without getting actually nauseous with the stop action picture and huge gaps in sound. Oh, Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, and everyone elese, where are you? This has been off-putting for weeks now and does not seem to be getting better. Can you run a message across the bottom of the screen telling viewers that you know there is a problem and that you are working on it? That would be extremely reassuring. By the way, when can I expect the pixilating to cease and desist? Thx.
Ronnie Dent on July 31, 2008 at 10:05 am

Digital technology brings us to a complex new world in television. The good news is that our engineers continue to systematically track down and resolve each problem that has bedeviled the station of late and viewers should begin to notice significant improvement as of yesterday. I will continue to post notices online as to KAKM’s technical difficulties and our progress to resolve them, but rest assured that our small but dedicated staff are continuously monitoring and working to resolve problems as they arise in this new technological environment. Thanks for your patience. We share your frustration!
Sincerely,
Veronica Dent
Director of Programming, KAKM
Jeff Schmitz on August 18, 2008 at 9:49 pm

It would be really, truly helpful to have a really, truly complete, comprehensive picture of what KAKM’s DTV status and future plans are. For the novice dipping the toes into the converter box arena it is a real turn off in the case of two of the more significant stations in the area - KAKM and KTVA. They don’t work, at least at my house in Anchorage near Arctic. KTUU, KYES, KIMO do however. After a lot of digging in the FCC data base I got far more info than from KAKM’s Web site. This should not be and left me with almost as many questions as answers. Minimal info on the KAKM site should include the fact that the DTV signal is on Channel 8, not 7 for example. Given the Goose bay location of the Transmitter site, will the power remain at the licensed (indicated) 50 kw or will it go up on the Feb ‘09 cutover date?
I am a loyal, longtime Ch 7 member and fan but this has left me pretty frustrated to say the least.
John Proffitt on September 1, 2008 at 7:43 pm

Mr. Schmitz — I totally agree. We plan on revamping our DTV info online as part of an overall campaign to get the word out both about DTV in general and our specific situation with KAKM.

Though not an excuse, the reason for our delayed reaction here is a major changing of the guard internally, as KAKM is now under a new manager (me) and I’m just getting a handle on the day-to-day stuff. Once that’s under control, then I’ll be moving to make a major overhaul on the site that will include detailed DTV information specific to KAKM.

For the moment, allow me to address some of your comments and questions here, so you’ve got some additional insights right off the bat.

First, you are correct that KAKM broadcasts on “Channel 8″ in the DTV world. However our signal is tagged as “Channel 7″ if you pull it up with a digital receiver. This is common practice for all broadcasters moving to DTV, and virtually all broadcasters are keeping their original numbers, as is allowed by FCC regulation. I believe Channel 2, for example, is moving to channel 10, but will still be called Channel 2 (I may be wrong about that, as I haven’t looked up their DTV info yet). We won’t be talking about Channel 8 much, as it won’t really matter to viewers and would only confuse people.

As for the power levels at our Goose Bay-based transmitter, we’re already at 100% of our licensed power for DTV (and analog, for that matter). There will be no changes in February. Other stations at Goose Bay are actually operating at 50% power for now and will increase later (though I’m not sure of the reason for the reduced power operations today).

As for overall reception issues, you and many others will find that DTV signals are quite different from analog in the following general ways…

1. They tend to be “weaker,” in that they won’t penetrate thick vegetation or buildings very well

2. They tend to be more directional, meaning you’re better off pointing at the source directly rather than just sticking up an antenna in any old direction

3. There is no forgiveness in a DTV signal — you either have a picture, or you don’t. There is no gradual fall-off into “snow.” It’s crystal clear or it’s gone.

Given these factors, folks that want to view DTV stations over the air will likely have to do more work to get the signal than they ever had to do with the old analog format. That’s just the nature of DTV and has nothing to do specifically with KAKM’s signal.

I would recommend using the largest outdoor antenna you can reasonably install, and if possible, make it steerable or turnable if you want to get all the stations in town, as they aren’t all transmitted from the same location, and only one is transmitted from within the city itself (KTVA).

Hopefully this gets you started. Feel free to call the station (550-8400) for more information or standby for more details on the web site, probably in October. We also plan to do a live call-in program in December to answer questions and explain the transition.