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KSDX-LP vs. XHTIT-DT (May 11, 2007)Recently, XHTIT channel 21 from Tijuana turned on its digital channel on channel 29, a channel that is also the home of analog channel KSDX-LP.XHTIT is a 2 hour delay retransmission of XHIMT (Channel 7 analog and Channel 24 digital) TV Azteca from Mexico City. It's analog counterpart on channel 21 XHTIT, like other Mexican-owned analog stations, won't be signing off after the February 17, 2009 cutoff date when American-owned analog broadcasts will cease to broadcast. The preliminary analog TV shutdown in Mexico will occur in 2021. To get XHTIT-DT, you must live far away enough from KSDX-LP to get the digital signal or else you'll have to either get a directional antenna to select a desired station or settle for KSDX-LP. Fortunately, KSDX-LP is an analog channel and there's no news about whether the low-power analog television broadcsats will be switching to digital after the Feb 17, 2009 deadline or fall silent. K35DG, UCSD's low power channel, plans to go digital in Feb 2009. When the deadline is reached, its analog signal will be replaced with its digital signal on channel 35. If you live almost behind KSDX-LP on Mount San Miguel to the north and can't negotiate its signal to get XHTIT-DT, you're out of luck. KSDX-LP originates from Los Angeles where it broadcasts on a digital channel of KRCA-DT2 (62.2) Right next to XHTIT/KSDX is XHJK-DT channel 28, whose analog counterpart is XHJK-TV channel 27. XHJK is a 2 hour delay retransmission of XHDF (Channel 13 analog and Channel 25 digital) TV Azteca from Mexico City. Since channel slots are short, the FCC helped the SCT of Mexico select several temporary channels for the Tijuana border stations to broadcast their digital signals on. Several Tijuana digital channels are short-spaced from the Los Angeles-based analog stations with about 150 miles distance between the stations. The digital Tijuana stations have to keep their power low enough so as to not cause co-channel interference or else children in Los Angeles will get digital interference while watching Sesame Street. If you've been used to watching KCET 28 out of Los Angeles in the coastal San Diego area and you live within a sight of the transmitter and far enough from XHJK-DT, you might still get it, else you could get the Tijuana station instead. Last year, XHUAA-DT channel 22 signed on. It's analog channel is on channel 57. It causes co-channel interference with analog KWHY 22 from Los Angeles. XEWT-DT 32 is XEWT-12 analog. XETV-DT channel 23 looks far better than its longtime analog channel on 6. I never could get a clear reception of XETV. XHUPN-TV 49 has a new digital channel on 53. I can barely get 49 but I can't get 53 at all. To get the Mexican digital TV channels, you need an antenna and hope you live close enough to get them since Cox in my area doesn't carry any of the Tijuana digital channels (except XETV) and many of the Tijuana analog channels. Currently, there are no digital counterparts for Tijuana analog channels XHTJB 3, XHAS 33, and XHBJ 45. XETV-DT is the only digital channel from Tijuana carried on Cox. As the screen size of the HDTV sets (with built-in digital tuners for air and cable) finally get smaller, and there are some 15 inch HDTV sets just coming into the market, more people will be chucking their old analog TV sets in favor of the newer sets, especially if their old set has nothing but an antenna input on the back of the set. Several postings on the http://hdtv.forsandiego.com/ board noted that Cox is broadcasting the local digital broadcast signals unscrambled. The weird part is that the channel designations Cox gives are not the same as those you may get on your HDTV set with built-in digital tuning circuitry that decodes QAM digital channels on cable, which is why cable companies use something called mapping to assign a generic channel number like 707, 709, and others to the physical channel (75.1, 75.2, etc.) so that you can dial the channel more easily. A way to get the mapping is to use a digital or CableCard tuner to tune in the digital cable channels. For the HD cable channels like ESPN-HD and 4SD-HD, you need an HDTV cable converter (a high def version of their converter box). One poster sent a lost of Cox QAM channels that he can get on his HDTV set without the need of a converter box. Most of the HDTV sets should be able to decode QAM cable and ATSC broadcast channels.
6.1 Fox I found these in another posting. They must be the actual digital channels without the mapping. They don't seem to agree. Anyone have an update?
75.1 NBC KNSD
75-1 Mi TV 43
75-1 Mi TV 43
91.3 CBS HD I didn't get a chance to note the QAM channel slots before I had to return my HDTV set to its manufacturer due to a problem with a glowing white bar at the top of the screen. Very annoying defect. I got about a dozen digital FM stations on the HDTV set. Now this gets more technical: I found this in a post: "Actually the QAM frequencies didn't change...it's just that Cox is finally passing the PSIP data that's included in the broadcast feed (as they are required to do). This PSIP data contains the over-the-air channel number (6.1, 8.1, etc) for each broadcast channel, so they can be mapped by your tuner to the OTA channel number. For some reason, KSWB's channel number is corrupted or missing...it should be at 5.1 I believe, but one of my tuners shows it at 0.0 and the another is unable to use the PSIP data at all and leaves it at its QAM frequency of 91.2. Anyone have insight into KSWB's PSIP malfunction?" I noticed that when I scan the digital channels, I get 69.1, then 69.1 for KSWB-DT, then 69.2, then 69.3, then 69.3 for The Tube. Why I'm getting two of each 69.1 and 69.3 channel data I don't know. I know that the first 69.1 and 69.3 are the QAM cable channel designations, and the second 69.1 and 69.3 are the over-the-air channel numbers instead of the QAM channel number. Confusing, isn't it? Then again, who can tell the difference between the two channel 29s if you're between their transmitters?
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