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Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Amber Alert Test ran across Alaska today. Here is a video shot live of the monitor in APBI's offices as the alert was received over the ARCS satellite channel. There are 6 video displays shown on the monitor; ARCS is the upper left hand display, where you can see the crawl across the top, and the audio present on the leftmost audio meters.



The ARCS display is fed with a DVB MPEG2 PowerVu satellite receiver connected to a 3.0 meter Cband satellite dish on our roof. The receiver is tuned to the multiplex on AMC8, transponder 18. The audio is mono, available on both left and right channels. We have a Sage EnDec in the office for monitoring purposes, which we keep it connected to a dedicated receiver locked to the ARCS channel. The L-1 audio is connected to the Sage audio input #1.
Below is an image of the tape generated from the test. You can see that it received and then sent out the complete message (note that this unit does is not connected to a broadcast station, it is only used for testing and observation). As you can see, ARCS carried the complete test from start to finish with no drop outs.
If your station experienced a problem, please check your connections, your EnDec filters and programming, the clock on your EnDec, and if all else fails, contact me and we can try to help resolve the issue.




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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.