Why can't Portland have at least two PBS station? Portland only has 1 (statewide coverage execpt Southern ORegon). Seattle has at least 2, Spokane has at least 3, San Francisco has at least 5. WHy not Portland? There is non-commerical allocation in the Portland area that is avaliable CH14 & CH30.

Other than Spokane, the population in each area seems to make sense in regards to how many stations it has (why does Spokane need two?). How could Portland's population support two stations? They don't run themselves...

Andrew

Here in Tacoma I have access to KCTS9 and KBTC I watch a lot on both. Red Green is on KBTC only. There maybe a few others that one has and the other doesn't. 9 carries The Newshour KBTC doesn't KBTC has a translator in Centralia some of you might get it in Vancouver? My guess anyway.Which station your chan 10, or ch9, do you think has the most coverage? 9 is on cable in BC plus Eastern Washington on ch 41.I think it is odd Portland doesn't have a 2 tiered PBS station like KBTC. Portland is a big city. I would have thought a voc tech school there like Bates in Tacoma would have thought of it.

This is getting to be kind of a moot point in the era of digital television. I currently get 3 KOPB channels.

Daveyboy1: Actually KBTC's Centralia translator is really a satellite station. KCKA channel 15 has an ERP of 661 KW.

At one time the Portland area did have two PBS stations. KVDO channel 3 Salem broadcast its own schedule before moving to Bend and becoming part of the OEPBS Network as KOAB-TV in 1983.

If there were multiple PBS affiliates, all would end up running the same major network programs. I don't understand how this would be beneficial in any way.

I think that the perceived need to create additional programming for the digital multicast streams is going to end up hurting everybody in the long run, including PBS.

period blood stain?

I mentioned before, my home (not my apartment) is near Evergreen HS, up on a hill. With an external TV antenna (a 1990 Channel Master that Dad bought at Silo!) mounted on a first-storey chimney, occasionally when the conditions are decent I can sort of see KBTC on channel 15, using a JVC model AV-27D304 television set. Not going through the VCR or anything, but just using the TV's built-in tuner which itself isn't too incredibly sensitive to begin with!

The picture's kind-of crummy (but what should I expect? I am trying to watch it from a translator about 50-60 miles away from home!!) but occasionally I can make out something looking like a station ID card on the 1/2 hour or so. Audio comes in pretty good, actually. I can pull it in on my Uniden police radio around 481 MHz or so, same location but using a *way* smaller antenna. (Been a while since I have tuned it in, so my numbers might be a bit inaccurate.)

Still you know, watching a Centralia translator in Vancouver, not bad coverage for being a 661,000 watt translator located as far away from here as it is!

(Incidentally, this is the same setup I have DXed KVAL on channel 13 with in the recent past..............)

Oh, and E-Dawg--

You mentioned channel 14 is allocated as non-commercial. That's the Vancouver KPDX translator I watch when 49 doesn't want to come in!! (Last I checked KPDX is *far from* being non-commercial! ;o)

What's up with that?

Motozak: Translators have to move to other frequencies when primary stations are built.

Vancouver has TWO. . .we get Ch 10 OPB and Ch 26,
KCTS from Seattle. Even though lots of their programming is the same, the Seattle station is better in our opinion. They seem to have programs on at better times and they have very good weekend programming.

If you have Hi-Def package from Comcast, you can get a second OPB station on Ch 310--it is called Create and is a nice compliment to Ch 10.

Ch 14 is for Comcast programming --get some local stuff, like Winterhawks.

Why cant Portland have 2 oldies stations on AM with 24hr live DJ's?

Oldduck--

Thanks for clarification......looks like E-Dawg must have been referring to cable. I had forgotten about KCNW on cable 14. I actually get my TV/Muzak over the air and via a BUD (although not so much with the "B"...)

Sorry, my bad................


You know what's odd? If you get the Columbian, in the "TV Times" section that comes out in Sunday's paper, it lists KCTS on 26 (Cable) but also on channel 9 (over the air.) I have *never* been able to get KCTS over channel 9 on our sets!!

Ch 9 listed in Columbian is for WGN--ChiTown.

KCTS is only available to Comcast subscribers in Clark County. It is a long-standing (we hope) agreement (started out with Columbia Cable, then ATT, now Comcast) to help Clark County residents get some programs that give content about the state of Washington--since most of the over the air stuff in this market is Portland and Oregon driven.

Comcast has been very good to continue this service for Clark County. They do a lot in all our communities that go beyond what they 'must' do--and all of those agreements are in danger with the new national franchising bills currently in congress.

No No No, Channel 14 Allotment in the Portland area (Vancouver) is reserved for non-commercial/education use, so is Channel 30 for the Portland area. And no, I'm not talking about CNW Cable 14. I'm talking about OTA Ch. 14.

Ch 30 in the Portland area is used for KPTV (ch 12) digital:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=50633

I think channel 9 used to come in better in Vancouver before channel 10 raised power. Channel 14, 30 and 40 allotments predate those for HDTV. I'm not sure if they're still in effect but both 30 & 40 seem to be out of the question! Incidentally, plans call for KPTV to move back to 12 with KPDX taking over 30.

"No No No, Channel 14 Allotment in the Portland area (Vancouver) is reserved for non-commercial/education use, so is Channel 30 for the Portland area. And no, I'm not talking about CNW Cable 14. I'm talking about OTA Ch. 14."

So then, if it's non-commercial allotment, why is a commercial network broadcasting its Vancouver translator on that channel?

Seems kinda weird to me, like, say, a Clear Channel broadcasting on 90.1 for example!!

THe current chanel 14 is a LPTV which if someone applies for Channel 14 and sign on, then the (LPTV) channel 14 has to move to another channel to vacate if there's a construction permit for channel 14.

I find it hard to believe there are still any analog allotments at all! By the time, you got a construction permit and built the station, if not before, you'd have to switch to digital!

There are no more vacant analog allotments. The FCC cancelled them a couple of years ago as part of the DTV transition. So *14 and *30 as vacant allotments in Vancouver and Portland are history now, just like my vacant *61 here in Rochester NY.

The FCC's still struggling to make the last of the new analog stations fit into the DTV table, since new analogs granted after a certain date (1998?) didn't get a paired DTV channel for the transition. So the new 51 in Bend, for instance, had a choice of signing on in analog and flash-cutting to digital on 51 in 2009, or just coming on as a DTV-only signal in the first place, which is what they did.

I think - but am not certain - that there's a freeze on petitions to amend the DTV table of allotments until after the transition's over, at which time there will no doubt be a rush to reuse some of the channels that will be newly vacant.

On Comcast Digital Cable we get OPB 2 on ch 75 and OPB "Create" on ch 310. Are those OPB or PBS?

I believe Create is on KOPB-DT's secondary channel. I get it on direct cable at 10.2.