We’ve been talking for some time now about digital TV converters and high definition sets but have you wondered why this is all happening?

These days the RF spectrum is getting pretty crowded and more and more valuable as 2-way communications, cell phone use and other wireless applications are on the rise. There is a lot of what some consider wasted space in the UHF television band. (In most markets there are a lot of open UHF channels that have never been used.) By converting to a digital method of transmission, we can fit its narrower band usage into a smaller group of channels and still maintain space for all the terrestrial broadcasters in the US.

The plan is to eliminate television broadcast from channels 52 through 69, and reserve a large portion of the space primarily for public safety use such as fire, police and rescue communications. The remainder of the spectrum will be auctioned off to private companies for other wireless use.

A side benefit of this is that with the new digital broadcast method, the opportunity for enhanced picture quality and more features, as well as additional sub channels, came to fruition. It’s truly a win-win situation.