TV repack and WWB

FMEng

Well-Known Member
Fight Leukemia
I know we've been talking about the TV repack for years, but I just learned a few new things that I thought might be helpful. I've been working on wireless mic frequency coordination for my church. We have a complicated situation due to a university campus with 60 wireless mics across the street. In our area, the TV repack is coming up, so new TV transmitters go on the air this fall, clobbering channels previously used by wireless mics.

One of my discoveries is that Wireless Workbench only shows currently used TV channels in its database. It does not include channels that are occupied after the repack. It isn't hard to to take the stock database and edit your own in WWB. I did that to include the post repack channels.

Here is one resource that shows the before and after picture of the TV channels for each TV market.
http://radioactiverf.com/home/troubleshooting/us-rf-map/
Both VHF and UHF channels are involved. Most wireless mics and intercom systems are UHF, but there are some in VHF channels 7-13.

Here's a handy table to convert TV channels to frequencies.
https://otadtv.com/frequency/index.html

I took the information from the two websites above, and built a spreadsheet showing the frequencies that will have potential interference, and the ones that should be quiet. That made the road map very clear.

And here's the schedule of the TV repack, which varies by market.
https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/fcc-initiatives/incentive-auctions/transition-schedule

For each market, there's a date when new TV transmitters begin going on the air, and a date for when channels 38-51 go off the air permanently. For example, Seattle is in repack phase 7. Here, new TV transmitters can turn on 10/19/19 and old ones sign off 1/17/20. One channel moves out of town after the repack, but seven new TV channels land within channels 14-36.

The entire repack will be finished across the United States on July 13, 2020. After that date, any mic capable of transmitting on 617-652 or 663-698 MHz illegal to use in the US. TV stations in parts of Canada are also repacking, according to international treaty.
 
Once more, with feeling!

The resources at Radio Active Designs are great (thanks, Henry!) and worth exploring for those who've never been to the site. Plus they make/do some cool stuff, too. :clap:
 

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