Here's a screenshot showing ARCS right off the satellite receiver in the upper right hand corner. (upper left is KTUU's DTV signal off air in Anchorage)
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Results of the test...
are in. The test of the Amber Alert System/Emergency Alert System (constituting this month’s RMT for Alaska) was successfully received, relayed and rebroadcast by the ARCS Television Network at 10:47 A.M., Thursday, September 11, 2008.
Here's a screenshot showing ARCS right off the satellite receiver in the upper right hand corner. (upper left is KTUU's DTV signal off air in Anchorage)
Here's a screenshot showing ARCS right off the satellite receiver in the upper right hand corner. (upper left is KTUU's DTV signal off air in Anchorage)
Standing by for a test...
of the Emergency Alert System utilizing the Child Abduction Emergency (CAE) event code. That is, the Amber Alert. This test will be carried on ARCS Television. We'd love to hear from you if you see it and care to comment.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
ARCS Television: Digital or Analog?
Everybody wants to know if ARCS will be going Digital in time for the Februrary deadline. There are lots of PSA's on TV telling of the deadline and how your TV will not work after the digital conversion. But, that will NOT BE THE CASE for ARCS viewers!
Nationwide, there are around 1,800 television stations that must turn off their analog transmitters and go digital. However, the ARCS transmitter in your community is one of some 7,000 low power television transmitters nationwide that are not subject to the digital conversion deadline in February.
Confidence is high that ARCS will eventually go digital, probably in three to five years. That is why you may want to participate in the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. That program is set to expire in March 2009.
You can find out more about all these issues and get all the links here.
Meanwhile, relax and enjoy your ARCS television service with your regular TV's, even after the February deadline.
Nationwide, there are around 1,800 television stations that must turn off their analog transmitters and go digital. However, the ARCS transmitter in your community is one of some 7,000 low power television transmitters nationwide that are not subject to the digital conversion deadline in February.
Confidence is high that ARCS will eventually go digital, probably in three to five years. That is why you may want to participate in the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. That program is set to expire in March 2009.
You can find out more about all these issues and get all the links here.
Meanwhile, relax and enjoy your ARCS television service with your regular TV's, even after the February deadline.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Carrier Modifications Succesfully Completed
This morning the planned modifications to our multiplex satellite carrier were successfully completed without incident. The new carrier is up and operating at its new frequency of 4056.5 MHz with a symbol rate of 13.250 Ms. Thanks to all the folks from Scientific Atlanta, KUAC, AT&T and APBI for helping make such a smooth transition.
If your receiver needs to be manually tuned, check out the links on this page or at www.arcstv.org.
If your receiver needs to be manually tuned, check out the links on this page or at www.arcstv.org.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Details of Mux-Mod now available
Modification to the multiplex will take place on Wednesday, July 9, 2008, at 9:00 A.M., Alaska Daylight Time. Mods will result in a smaller, though no less effectual, carrier. The changes are being made to accommodate the departure of “360 North” (formerly Gavel to Gavel) from the bundle.
The changes to the carrier will cause a brief outage that will affect all satellite based audio and video services inside the AMC8, transponder 18, SIP Multiplex including Alaska One, UATV, and ARCS Television, and the audio feeds for KSKA, KUAC, KCAW and APRN. Please note that these actions will not affect and are not pertaining to the SCPC radio channels on transponder 24.
Scientific Atlanta PowerVu receivers that are operational at the time will receive new parameters automatically and should not need to be manually programmed.
Should a receiver need to be manually programmed, there are links to instructions for the SA PowerVu D9223 and the non-SA DMT 1050 on the right side of this page. We are developing end-user instruction set for the D9850 PowerVu receiver and will post a link here as well.
The new parameters for the carrier are as follows:
Center Frequency: 1093.50 MHz L-Band, or 4056.50 MHz C-Band.
Symbol Rate: 13.250 Ms.
The FEC rate will remain at ¾.
All Non-PowerVu receivers will need to be reprogrammed manually; if you are affected by this please refer to the parameters listed above and consult your owner’s manual for further instructions.
The duration of the outage is expected to be brief; on the order of a few minutes, especially for the majority of receivers which are PowerVu. For non-PowerVu receivers, there will be no obvious way of knowing exactly when the procedure has been completed, other than to enter the new parameters manually and wait until they lock on the signal.
If your receiver fails to absorb the changes and you are unable to tune it manually, contact ARCS Television Technical Support, toll free, at 888-840-0013 and leave a detailed message.
The changes to the carrier will cause a brief outage that will affect all satellite based audio and video services inside the AMC8, transponder 18, SIP Multiplex including Alaska One, UATV, and ARCS Television, and the audio feeds for KSKA, KUAC, KCAW and APRN. Please note that these actions will not affect and are not pertaining to the SCPC radio channels on transponder 24.
Scientific Atlanta PowerVu receivers that are operational at the time will receive new parameters automatically and should not need to be manually programmed.
Should a receiver need to be manually programmed, there are links to instructions for the SA PowerVu D9223 and the non-SA DMT 1050 on the right side of this page. We are developing end-user instruction set for the D9850 PowerVu receiver and will post a link here as well.
The new parameters for the carrier are as follows:
Center Frequency: 1093.50 MHz L-Band, or 4056.50 MHz C-Band.
Symbol Rate: 13.250 Ms.
The FEC rate will remain at ¾.
All Non-PowerVu receivers will need to be reprogrammed manually; if you are affected by this please refer to the parameters listed above and consult your owner’s manual for further instructions.
The duration of the outage is expected to be brief; on the order of a few minutes, especially for the majority of receivers which are PowerVu. For non-PowerVu receivers, there will be no obvious way of knowing exactly when the procedure has been completed, other than to enter the new parameters manually and wait until they lock on the signal.
If your receiver fails to absorb the changes and you are unable to tune it manually, contact ARCS Television Technical Support, toll free, at 888-840-0013 and leave a detailed message.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Satellite Multiplex set to change in July
We'll be changing the characteristics of our satellite multiplex in July to accommodate the departure of 360North (formerly Gavel to Gavel) from the bundle. When we have a firm date we'll distribute the details. For most SA D9223 and D9850 receivers, the switch will be uneventful; the rocket scientists will deliver the instruction set directly to the receiver's brains and end users will not notice any difference. (except those users who were watching 360North)
There will almost certainly be a small percentage of the SA receivers, plus all non-SA receivers, that will need to be reprogrammed manually. We'll be posting instructions at http://www.arcstv.org/, and here of course, as soon as we get those details worked out.
Beginning July 1, 2008, 360North will be distributed by GCI; for more information on how to acquire their signal, contact Bill Legere at KTOO FM & TV in Juneau at 907-486-1670.
There will almost certainly be a small percentage of the SA receivers, plus all non-SA receivers, that will need to be reprogrammed manually. We'll be posting instructions at http://www.arcstv.org/, and here of course, as soon as we get those details worked out.
Beginning July 1, 2008, 360North will be distributed by GCI; for more information on how to acquire their signal, contact Bill Legere at KTOO FM & TV in Juneau at 907-486-1670.
Friday, March 14, 2008
False Pass satellite dish takes a tumble
From 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.
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.
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.
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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