Signal Availability On ETG HDTV Stations
Eureka Television Group (ETV), the broadcasting conglomerate that currently owns five television stations in the Eureka, California, market, recently posted information on the accessibility of their signal via broadcast, cable and satellite television.
ETG currently owns the vast majority of television stations in the Eureka, California market. These include KVIQ Channel 6 - a CBS affiliate, KBVU FOX-29 - a FOX Television Network affiliate, KUVU - the local CW affiliate and KEMY - a low-power station broadcasting material from the “MYTV” network.
In a nutshell, there are no TV stations in the Eureka, CA, market that are uplinked to, or available from, DirecTV or DISH Network. These are the only two companies legally allowed to offer network satellite television services to consumers in the United States. ETV will NOT grant satellite viewers waivers in order to receive network programming from other stations. So, if you live just about anywhere in Humboldt County where cable television or a broadcast signal is not available, you will likely not be able to view any type of broadcast network programming (legally).
For those of you who happen to live in “wired” areas of Humboldt County, SuddenLink Communications offers all local Over The Air TV channels (albeit in analog, with no plans for HDTV on their basic tier) for approximately $15 per month. SuddenLink is the only major cable television provider in Humboldt County, and covers most areas in and around the cities of Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, Rio Dell, McKinleyville and a number of smaller, unincorporated areas. The majority of residents in Humboldt County have access to cable, since the majority live in and around the county’s major population centers. However, this is not to say that cable TV is available in most of the area of Humboldt County in a geographic sense. Travel more than 500 feet from any major road or street, and there is a 99% chance that cable television will be completely unavailable to you.
Broadcast availability is another matter altogether. This is largely dependent upon how far you are from the TV station’s broadcast transmitter, terrain and what type of equipment you are using for reception. The vast majority of Humboldt County falls into what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) describes as a “Grade B Contour Area”. Generally speaking, this is defined as an area where a “watchable” signal should be available using an outdoor TV antenna placed at a height of 30′ above the ground.
Like most TV and FM stations in Humboldt County, ETG’s stations broadcast their signals from a transmitter facility atop Kneeland Mountain, which overlooks Eureka, Arcata and the more populated areas of Northern Humboldt County. The further away you are from Kneeland, the weaker your signal will be, generally speaking. When it comes to UHF and HDTV or digital television signals, you will most likely need line-of-sight in order to actually get a watchable signal. This is even more important when talking about low-power television (LPTV) stations, which 3 of ETG’s stations happen to be.
Having installed antennas in many parts of Humboldt County, I can say from experience that the FCC’s entire “Grade B Contour” requirement is entirely inadequate when it comes to checking for signal availability. These charts are generated by engineers using computers to determine where a signal should be available, but fails to take into account quite a number of variables that are detrimental to receiving a signal. Having a line-of-sight view of the transmitter tower on Kneeland, along with an adequate antenna system, is the only way to assure that you will have a watchable picture.
ETG’s signal coverage maps give at least a rough estimate of whether a TV signal will even be possible to receive in your area, so I highly recommend taking a look at them before spending any money on an antenna system.
