Chicago Digital TV
Breaking News...
WLS-DT Channel 7, has filed with the FCC to move their Digital transmission permanently from VHF Channel 7 to UHF Channel 44, with an Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of 473.3kW at an Antenna Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) of 515 Meters.
The PDF of the Petition can be found here.
To discuss what's going on with OTA TV in the Chicagoland area, join our Forum Discussion.
Where we were:
The Trouble with VHF-Low...
Chicago is one of the only major markets in the country that has a Major Network Affiliate (WBBM, CBS Analog Channel 2) broadcasting their DTV signal on VHF-Low (Channel 3).
This creates some significant challenges to consistent and reliable reception of CBS with an antenna in the majority of the Chicagoland market.
VHF-Low is susceptible to electrical impulse noise (Noise lines that you see on an analog channel when someone uses an appliance with an electric motor nearby, like a hairdryer or vacuum cleaner) and multipath interference (Ghosting on an analog channel). An aircraft on approach to O'Hare for instance, may create enough multipath interference on VHF-Low to disrupt the digital TV signal to the point of breakups and/or a complete dropout of the picture. Electrical impulse noise can also cause breakups and/or a complete dropout of a DTV signal broadcast on VHF-Low.
Reports from Chicagoland viewers posting in the Chicago, IL OTA thread on avsforum.com indicate that a large outdoor antenna, mounted high enough to avoid trees and other obstructions, is needed to reliably receive WBBM-DT outside of approximately a 20 mile radius of the WBBM broadcast antenna. An indoor "Rabbit Ears" style antenna needs to be approximately 83" in length for Channel 3, if you're close enough to even consider an indoor antenna.
Where we are.
WBBM was the only major Chicago TV station broadcasting their DTV signal on VHF-Low and they moved their DTV broadcast to Channel 12 on June 12th, 2009. They had also applied to the FCC to raise their transmit power to 8 kW at that time.
All of the other major broadcasters in the Chicago DMA currently broadcast their DTV signals on the UHF band which does not suffer from the same signal issues as VHF-Low.
Current Channel Assignments & Transmission Power Levels:
| CALLSIGN | ANALOG CHANNEL | DIGITAL CHANNEL | ANALOG XMIT (kW) | DIGITAL XMIT (kW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
WBBM |
2 |
12 |
26.4 |
4.4 |
WMAQ |
5 |
29 |
20 |
350 |
WLS** |
7 |
7 |
55 |
153.6 |
WGN |
9 |
19 |
110 |
645 |
WTTW |
11 |
47 |
60.3 |
300 |
WYCC |
20 |
21 |
2,340 |
98.9 |
WCIU |
26 |
27 |
5,000 |
160 |
WFLD |
32 |
31 |
5,000 |
1,000 |
WCPX |
38 |
43 |
3,630 |
200 |
WWME-LD |
NA |
39 MeTV |
NA |
4.4 |
WSNS |
44 |
45 |
5,000 |
467 |
WMEU-LD* |
NA |
46 MeToo |
NA |
15 |
WPWR |
50 |
51 |
5,000 |
1,000 |
WXFT |
60 |
59 |
5,000 |
200 |
WJYS |
62 |
36 |
5,000 |
50 |
WGBO |
66 |
53 |
5,000 |
180 |
* Construction Permit
** WLS has applied for a permanent move of their digital broadcast channel to UHF channel 44, with an Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of 473.3kW at an Antenna Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) of 515 Meters.
What happened, post-transition:
As noted earlier, WBBM-DT moved to Channel 12 and is broadcasting at 8 kW. They also took over WTTW's old analog antenna on the Sears Tower as part of their channel transition.
WLS-DT was broadcasting on Channel 52, moved their digital signal back to Channel 7 and is currently broadcasting at 4.75 kW. This has resulted in many complaints from viewers all over Chicagoland that can no longer reliably receive WLS. However, as noted above, WLS has applied for a permanent move of their digital broadcast channel to UHF channel 44, with an Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of 473.3kW at an Antenna Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) of 515 Meters.
WGN-DT will be raising their antenna height roughly 150 feet, with a corresponding decrease in their broadcast power to 600kW.
WMEU-CA moved to Channel 46 and became WMEU-LD broadcasting at 15 kW, prior to the required transition date for full-powered stations. A reliable source has indicated that WMEU will continue to be available as a sub-channel (26.3) of WCIU-DT.
WCIU-DT will be raising their transmission power to 500kW, hopefully by Q4, 2009.
Updated: July 30, 2009