KYES - Anchorage DTV FAQ!

Frequently Asked Questions on DTV!

Questions to date are....:

Q. Do I need a new TV for digital television?
A. No. You can buy a Set Top Box (STB) or a computer card for your PC. STBs sell as of this writing for under $45. Fancy STBs have hard drives and can record programs setting automatically from the over the air program guide.
Q. Can I know if I can pick up your temporary low power channel 22 UHF signal?
A. If you can see upper O'Malley from your home, chances are nearly 100% that you will be able to receive the signal.

B. Lacking line of sight, some signal still gets through trees, walls, and even around hills. One way to check for signal.... Some analog TV sets respond to digital TV signals by showing snow, just as on an empty channel but the snow gets brighter. If snow is brighter on channel 22 than on 50 or 24, then probably you are receiving the KYES DTV signal on your analog set. If snow is not brighter, try channel 32, which is the KDMD-DT signal. If your set responds by brightening, but it does not brighten on channel 22, then your have demonstrated your analog set DOES respond to DTV, but on channel 22 you don't get much signal. In my opinion, reception of DTV SHOULD be via an outdoor antenna with rotator. Many viewers have reported reception of KYES on rabbit ears, or old outdoor antennas. Generally I tell people to not expect indoor antennas to work, but then I have been surprised!

Q. Is there an internet program that will check for signal strength?
A. Yes. But it is not very accurate. For example, it says I need a very large receiving antenna right next to the transmitting antenna. Still, it is worth checking. Look at AntennaWeb.
Q. What About Cable?
A. Yup. But it is not free, and you won't get all the KYES-DT channels on cable.
Q. What Kind of Antenna Should I Get?
A. Try rabbit ears first. Look at our rabbit ear instructions for. Check for any signal. If you get some signal, then probably a roof top antenna will work. Look at the antenna links on the previous page for more info.
Q. What Are Anchorage Station DTV Plans?
 Q. Where Has KYES-DT Been Received?
A. I put an electrical inverter, a TV and the Samsung Set Top Box in the car and drove to various places. It worked at every location I tested (except on the entry to the dump at the Eagle River Hiland turn off).
It worked Downtown on 4th Avenue, on Muldoon Road, On 5th across from Merrill Field in spite of lots of traffic trying to interrupt reception. I also tried a couple of Upper Hillside locations such as at the corner of Stroganof and Shebanof behind a signal obstructing hill. It still worked. Hillside signals were very strong as expected. One difficult spot was the parking lot at Shimik's. The lot is surrounded by walls and buildings. I got lock there with the out door type antenna. The weakest location in Anchorage tested was at a not line of sight location in the church parking lot on Elmore between Huffman and O'Malley, where I had to stand on the auto tire to get a bit of antenna elevation before the receiver locked. There are lots of trees and some terrain obstruction at Elmore. NOTE: With rabbit ears some locations had unstable lock, while with the outdoor antenna I got solid lock. Also remember, these tests were with the aerial only a few feet off the ground. On a roof results should be much better. I did not do testing outside of the Anchorage Bowl.

I got stable indoor reception with the Silver Sensor antenna on our conference table inside the KYES studio on the 2nd floor at 3700 Woodland Drive. I got no reception on the first floor inside. Our studio is about 8 miles from the transmitter.

I'd love to post your reception report. Send it if you have something to say.

Q. Why Can't I See High Def KYES-DT?
A. High def would not allow transmission of 3 SD and 2 audio programs.
Q. What about Kenai?
A. Channel 6 and 9 will remain analog for the time being.
Q. Should I try an antenna amplifier?
A. Amplifiers tend to corrupt signals. Unless you get one designed to operate outside right on the antenna, and you are rural and far from any TV, FM or two way radio station, do not use an amplifier.
Q. Where Are the Transmitters?
A. For KYES: Ch 22 is near O'malley and Hillside, soon to come Ch 18 on Mt. Susitna and Channel 5 Digital at Eagle River. We have asked the FCC to also locate Ch 5 transmitters north of Wasilla and between Kenai and Soldotna. The FCC thus far has avoided processing our applications.
KAKM, KIMO and KTUU are at Goose Bay, KTBY on the Hilton, KTVA in Spenard, and KDMD at their studio on the Seward Hwy. frontage road.

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Last revised 2/23/2004 & 8/4/2008