The FCC will be presenting a tutorial on Monday, March 22, that should interest anyone considering using DTV translators. The tutorial will be presented by R. Kent Parsons, vice president of the National Translator Association (NTA) and will cover topics including:
1) Coverage achieved with very low power TV translators. Such low power operation will provide cost savings to translator operators and open the door for potential conversion of existing analog TV translators to digital TV operation;
2) Transport of 8-VSB signals using fixed microwave stations, UHF translator relays, and on-channel boosters;
3) Retransmission of 8-VSB translator signals on a small local cable distribution system;
4) Adjacent channel operation using a combination of digital-to-digital and digital-to-analog channels. Such adjacent channel operations are likely to be a key factor in facilitating the availability of the additional channels needed for digital translators.
Dr. Byron W. St. Clair, president of the NTA and Gary Sgrignoli, principal engineer for research and development at Zenith Corp., will also be presenting.
Reservations are not required for the tutorial, which will be held in the Commission Meeting Room at 445 12th St., S.W., in Washington, D.C. The tutorial will also be broadcast live on the Internet. Visit www.fcc.gov/realaudio for links to the RealAudio web cast. More information can be found in the FCC Notice DA 04-586 - Tutorial on Field Studies of Digital Television Translators.
