To receive or not to receive...

That is the $64,000 question in the digital transition.  In my last posting I mentioned being able to receive the digital signal versus receiving the analog signal.  I will try to explain this as plainly as possible...again this will not matter if you are connected to a cable or satellite system.

Back in the 50s and 60s when television and radio put up their transmission facilities, it was much easier.  There was a lot of land...not many buildings and homes.  Now, due to the amount of buildings and homes, land use ordinances, RF exposure concerns, ex cetera...putting up a new tower/antenna is next to impossible.  The best sites for towers and antennas are usually places that are environmentally protected, culturally significant, zoned against or fully populated.

Thus many of the broadcasters, are being forced to move their facilities to newer sites, further away from the public and more difficult to access in cases of technical problems.

Theoretically, as calculated by computers, the digital signal we provided is supposed to match that of our current analog broadcast signal.  The difference between theory and reality is ginormous.  Whereas you are able to receive a weak analog signal and view it on your TV with some "snow" throughout the picture, a digital signal needs to be completely received or you will not have a picture to view on your TV...no degraded picture...but absolutely no picture and no sound.  Thus moving our transmitters to a new site will not provide you with a receivable signal equivalent to what you may be receiving now.

On the other side of the ledger, some household will get better reception from the new site, so there is some give and take in this transition.  For those of you that can receive our over-the-air digital signal, our transmitted signal has the overall best quality even over cable and satellite providers.  Unfortunately we do not broadcast 24 hours a day, so at sign-off (around midnight), we continue to supply cable with additional HD programming to fill the puka until we begin broadcasting again at 5AM.  The satellite companies only use the digital broadcasts to put on their systems.

Over-the-air signal reception is not as easy as it used to be.  Back when the buildings were lower and our transmitters were in prime sites within Honolulu, rabbit ear antennas would work fine..now it will take a bit more..an outdoor antenna with amplification and a clear line of sight to the transmission sites will be required...but it is the best quality and its FREE!