Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

4 to 516 kw (25 db), uhf to 1000 kw (30 db). Antenna heights are due for rejuggling, too, but just how much isn't indicated. Question of how to handle applications & hearings after freeze hasn't yet been considered by Commission, but principle of considering applications on channelby-channel basis — rather than lumping all together in each city — continues to stand fairly good chance of adoption. Comr. Jones has been for such handling all along; Chairman Coy, perhaps others, are believed leaning that way. Lifting of "5-stations-to-a-customer11 rule, requested by NBC as method of hastening uhf (Vol. 8:1,4) was endorsed by ABC and Fort Industry (George Storer). ABC petitioned that 2 uhf be added to the 5 vhf, while Fort Industry wrote letter urging that limit be raised to 7 — but with no distinction between vhf and uhf. ABC also urged that Commission act on proposal same time it lifts freeze. % 5{c :Je jj: But what do all the technicalities mean in terms of stations on air after the freeze? Chairman Coy gave realistic response when queried after Jan. 28 talk to Sigma Delta Chi journalism fraternity in Cleveland. Allan Austin, of Austin Co., big TV-radio station builders, buttonholed Coy, asked him how many CPs would be granted this year. Coy held up both hands, fingers outstretched, said number could be counted on both hands. Then he hesitated, said: "Oh, there might be 20." Which cities come first? There's no telling. Commission will definitely go to work on such cities as Denver and Portland, right off the bat. But that means merely that it will rush hearings for those highly competitive cities. Once hearings start, it's many months before CPs are finally awarded, months more before signals are actually being emitted. As rule of thumb, you can say that speed with which stations will get on air is inversely proportional to the size of the city. In other words, the smaller the city, the fewer the probable competitors, the quicker the grant. COMPARISON OF VHF & UHF— A PRIMER: "Just how do vhf and uhf differ?" Q.uestion may appear elementary to those who deal regularly with allocations and facilities questions. But time seems ripe for recapitulation of situation in terms anyone can understand. As an ad executive wrote us recently: "I would appre ciate very much... a layman's explanation of the technical and practical differences between uhf and vhf. I have had no small number of questions about this." Answers break down into 3 basic parts, as we see it: (1) Propagation. The higher you go in frequency, the more TV signals behave like light rays. Since uhf runs 470-890 me, compared with vhf ' s 54-216 me , net effect is that you have more areas of "shadows" in uhf — weak or non-existent signals. These areas occur behind obstructions - be they hills, buildings or the curvature of the earth itself. (2) Equipment development. Much early leeriness of uhf stemmed from lack of proper transmitters and receivers. Until last year, in fact, no one had built a uhf TV transmitter good for more than 1 kw. Today, manufacturers are testing units of 10-12 kw. With today's high-gain antennas, such transmitters can produce 200 kw — something that would have seemed incredible year or 2 ago. Receivers were big question mark short time ago, too. They were unstable, costly — and only of fair performance at best. Now, virtually every manufacturer has a decent set ready. (3) Economics of the "bird in hand." With 16,000,000 vhf sets in existence, supporting the whole of TV as we know it, it's easy to appreciate the difficulty of starting uhf. In all present TV markets, new uhf operation will face the unenviable chore of getting people to add uhf converters to vhf sets (at cost of $25-$75) or to buy new combination vhf-uhf sets. For new TV markets, however, it may be presumed combination vhf-uhf sets will be available from scratch. What's more, FCC's proposed new allocation plan enhances desirability of combination sets. In top 50 markets, all save 3 cities would have vhf & uhf. Exceptions are Akron and Worcester, allocated uhf only, and Miami, with vhf only.