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Friday, March 14, 2008

False Pass satellite dish takes a tumble

From this...


To this...







During a storm this week the satellite dish in False Pass was lifted up off its mount and thrown to the ground. Local community volunteers got the dish put back up on its mount, but the damage is severe and possibly fatal. Check out more photos here.


The dish is reportedly picking up singal strength from a satellite, but it will probably not be able to acheive the necessary 2-degree beam width with this amount of damage. It's "out of round" for one thing, so it cannot generate a focussed beam. Also, the feed arms are bent and mangled and the feed collar is cracked, so the feed will not hang at the prime focus point.


Some engineer colleagues are taking a look at the photos and we're waiting for them to weigh in before making a final judgement on the dish's fate. Meanwhile, False Pass viewers are without ARCS until repairs or replacement can be made.
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ARCS Television

Greetings, from the ARCS Television office in Anchorage, Alaska.

You can find out more about ARCS by visiting www.arcstv.org. That's where you'll find information from program schedules to troubleshooting help.

This blog will feature more immediate information on community level TV operations including pictures and descriptions of the equipment on the ground where our viewers live.

You can submit posts and pictures of your village's ARCS equipment here, or share stories about ARCS TV in your community.

Thanks for visiting ARCS TV's blog.
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ARCS, Digital Television, and The Future


You have probably heard a lot about Digital Television and the upcoming February deadline when “all TV must be digital”. Well, not exactly. Even after February 2009, ARCS will still be “Analog” and your current TV will work just the same way it does now. You won’t need to make any changes to keep watching because ARCS is a “low-power” television system that is not required by the FCC to convert to digital at this time.

The FCC has required some 1,700 full-power stations nationwide to meet this conversion deadline. However there are nearly 7,000 low-power transmitters across the USA, just like ARCS, which are not yet required to convert. Most of these transmitters serve viewers in rural communities.

ARCS probably will convert to digital in the next three to five years, so eventually you will need to do something. One thing you can do right now is check out the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. Created by Congress, this program allows households to get up to two coupons, each worth $40, for use in obtaining a box that will convert over-the-air digital television signals for viewing on an analog television set. Even though you won’t need a converter to watch ARCS in the near term, you can still get your coupons, use them to purchase converters at the reduced cost, and then keep them for future use. You can find out more at http://www.dtv2009.gov/ or by calling toll free, 888-388-2009.

Meanwhile we continue to work with volunteers across the state, in more than 230 communities, to repair and maintain the ARCS system.

Would you like to help keep ARCS going in your community? Send an email to arcstv@gmail.com.