KATH.TV & KSCT.TV - NBC for Southeast Alaska

Make sure you are ready for KATH-TV's digital signal
Published: 10/07/2011 15:25:00
Updated: 11/15/2011 12:03:23

VIDEO: Southeast Spotlight Report: Make sure you are ready for KATH-TV's digital signal (Image: Mikko Wilson / KATH-TV)

Viewers on GCI Cable won't need to do anything to continue receiving KATH-TV (Mikko Wilson / KATH-TV)

Digital TV viewers shoud run an Auto Scan to add KATH-HD on channel 5.1 to their lineup (Mikko Wilson / KATH-TV)

Engineer Mikko Wilson works to install an antenna array for KATH-TV's digital TV transmitter in August 2011 (Jake Carpenter)

Related:
KATH-TV launches Digital TV service, expands HD coverage

Last week, we moved KATH-TV to a new facility in downtown Juneau; and as part of the move we turned on a new digital TV transmitter. The new digital transmitter serves downtown Juneau and Douglas, with a High Definition signal that is stronger and much higher quality than the analog transmitter we've been using to serve the same area since we went on the air in 1998.

Depending on how you watch KATH-TV, this may have a huge effect, or it may not change anything for you.

If you watch us on GCI cable; then nothing changes. Though we have recently added a number of new HD and programs for those watching on cable channel 652.

If you watch us on DishNet or DirecTV Satellite; then you may have noticed a pretty major improvement in picture quality, but you don't need to do anything. The satellite providers have recently started carrying our digital signal; and will hopefully make the HD channel available to viewers soon.

If you watch us over the air in Juneau or Douglas using an antenna; then you're going to see the biggest change, and you might have to make a few changes yourself.

The new digital signal is HD - that means sharper and wider -; but to see the HD picture at full quality, you'll need a HDTV. If you have one you probably just need to run a simple auto-scan in the setup menu for your TV to find the new channel 5.1 and add it to your lineup; you will probably also still see the analog channel 5 for now.

If your TV isn't HD, but was purchased new in the past couple of years, it probably has a digital tuner built in. If you can receive any other over-the-air channels in Juneau, then your TV has a digital tuner and you just need to run that auto-scan to find 5.1; and your TV will show it in standard definition.

If you have an older analog TV, then you are going to need an external digital receiver, commonly called a "Digital Converter Box" to receive the digital signal from your antenna and convert it to an analog signal for you older TV. The boxes are available from electronics retailers around town for around $50 and are designed to be easy to install. You simply move the antenna cable from your TV to the input on the back of the converter, and then use either a RCA cable or another antenna cable included with the converter to connect it to your TV.

If you've just bought a converter box, or have had one for some time; be sure to run that auto scan to find our digital channel 5.1.

We will be turning off our analog transmitter on November 28th; so if you are still watching analog channel 5, you'll need to make sure you can get our digital signal before then so you don't lose our picture.

If you are having trouble getting our digital signal, you can either e-mail our engineer at mikko@kath.tv or call the station at (907) 586-8384 for help. We also have some more DTV information in our FAQ linked below.

http://kath.tv/?page=faq

By: Mikko Wilson - mikko@kath.tv

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