FREE OVER THE AIR SDTV & HDTV DIGITAL TELEVISION IN EMERY COUNTY
Emery County is now TESTING, Free over the air Digital Television Channels at the Horn Mountain Communication site, these channels are the Salt Lake area channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, and 30. This gives people in the Huntington, Castle Dale, Orangeville, Ferron, and surrounding areas the chance to test their systems and to watch these Digital and High Definition channels, Emery City now has four of the above channels and Green River will soon have four Channels to watch and test their systems, the other channels will be installed as soon as possible.
Disclaimer: These Channels are in the TESTING PHASE ONLY and may be changed or turned off at times and are NOT meant to be in full service YET.
When this project in finished, sometime before February 2009, most of Emery County homes will have the capability of receiving Free over the air DIGITAL Television Channels which have several SUB channels for a total of as many as 22 Channels.
WHAT WILL YOU NEED TO RECEIVE THE NEW OVER THE AIR DIGITAL TELEVISION SIGNALS IN YOUR HOME??
1: You will need a reasonably good UHF Television antenna and Feed line (COAX), if you have a splitter inline to feed more then one Television you may need a good low noise UHF Pre-Amp or distribution Amp.
The UHF Flat Panel Antenna’s sold by ACE Hardware and others work very well for Over the Air Digital TV.
Position the Antenna’s orientation so it faces our transmitting sites, for the North West part of Emery County you want to point at Horn Mountain west of Orangeville.
One thing to remember while you are testing your Antenna, if you have a reasonable good picture on your TV now with the regular OLD Analog channels using your Antenna you will have a PERFECT picture with the Digital Television signals.
2: YOU will have to have a Digital Television Receiver labeled as (ATSC) built in or Stand alone set top box.
Most Larger screen TV’s on the market today have the ATSC (Digital Receiver) built in, If your looking to buy a new Television be sure to look for the ATSC or Digital receiver listed on the box or display.
If you buy a TV that says “HDTV Monitor” then it most likely DOES NOT have a Digital receiver built in.
Be sure to ask your sales person to make sure it has the Digital Television receiver built in.
For the Televisions that do not have a “ATSC” Digital Tuner built in then there is a “SET TOP” box that plugs into your existing TV just like a DVD Player does.
The SET TOP BOX’s are a bit expensive still at $189 at Wal-Mart, Circuit City, and others. If you buy a NEW TV with a Digital tuner built in it only raises the price of the set about $40 dollars.
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS ??
The old Analog (NTSC) Television technology we currently use is over 50 years old and with the Government selling off the Television channels between Channel 51 and 69 to make room for more Cell Phones and the like, we have had Channels taken away which leaves us with a lot less room for the same amount of Television channels.
The new Digital Television Technology is not affected like Analog TV by other Television transmitters outside a given distance which lets us re-use TV Channels more often.
The Federal Communication Commission has given us a dead line which is by Febuary of 2009, we MUST TURN OFF the Analog Channels that we have now.
So in a nut shell we are being forced to make these changes but the changes in the long run is a great improvement in our local FREE over the Air television.
On another note the Federal Government is talking very seriously about giving the elderly and those on fixed income a Digital Television channel converter so they can continue to have free over the air TV for a small cost.
Emery County will NOT be turning off our Analog Channels until we fill that they are no longer being used or we are ordered to by the Federal Communication Commission so you can continue to use the Channels until then.
The “Over the Air” Analog channels have gotten much better lately as well because we have started to use the Digital Signals to rebroadcast instead of receiving them direct from Salt Lake City.
WHO IS PAYING FOR THE NEW TRANSMITTING EQUIPMENT??
Emery County has led the way and joined together with 6 other Counties to form the “Eastern Utah Television and Technologies Association” . This group went to the Community impact board “CIB” and requested a grant from the Mineral lease moneys in the amount of $2.8+ Million Dollars to build the system that would bring ALL of Eastern Utah the best Free over the air Television possible, We received the Grant at 100% and instead of getting the money in trimesters they gave the Association the Money as they needed it to build the Television system with out coming back in to the CIB, So in a nut shell Emery County citizens are getting this Television upgrade for free using NO tax dollars except for paying for wages for Employees to help build the system.
90% of the Mineral Lease Money comes from the Counties in Eastern Utah’s Mining, Gas, and Oil production so we basically got back the money which was sent out of our Counties.
Channel 26 change to Digital is not included in the CIB Grant funding because no other County uses it and will have to be paid for by Emery County, this upgrade will take affect by the time that the F.C.C. makes us turn off the Analog Channels so CH 26 will continue to be part of the local Channel line up.
QUESTIONS: Contact Jeff @ Emery County Communications Dept. at 381-3591 or Email me at jeffg@emery.utah.gov
WHAT CHANNELS ARE ON THE NEW FREE OVER THE AIR DIGITAL TELEVISION IN EMERY COUNTY??
| Channel | Network | Channel Name | Local Channel | Format |
| CH 2-1 | CBS | KSL SD / HD | DIG 36-1 | 480i / 1080i |
| CH 4-1 | ABC | KTVX SD / HD | DIG 38-1 | 480i / 1080i |
| CH 4-2 | KZHT | KZHT RADIO | DIG 38-2 | 480i |
| CH 5-1 | NBC | KSL SD | DIG 40-1 | 480i |
| CH 5-2 | NBC | KSL HD | DIG 40-2 | 1080i |
| CH 5-3 | KSL | KSL WEATHER | DIG 40-3 | 480i |
| CH 7-1 | PBS | KUED SD | DIG 45-1 | 480i |
| CH 7-2 | PBS HD | KUED HD | DIG 45-2 | 1080i |
| CH 7-3 | PBS KIDS | 7 KIDS | DIG 45-3 | 480i |
| CH 9-1 | UEN | KULC SD 1 | DIG 46-1 | 480i |
| CH 9-2 | UEN | KULC SD 2 | DIG 46-2 | 480i |
| CH 9-90 | NPR FM | KUER FM | DIG 46-90 | 480i |
| CH 11-1 | KBYU HD | KBYU HD | DIG 47-1 | 1080i |
| CH 11-2 | KBYU SD | KBYU SD | DIG 47-2 | 480i |
| CH 11-3 | KBYU | KBYU TV | DIG 47-3 | 480i |
| CH 11-4 | KBYU | KBYU KIDS | DIG 47-4 | 480i |
| CH 11-5 | KBYU | KBYU YOU | DIG 47-5 | 480i |
| CH 13-1 | FOX | KSTU SD | DIG 48-1 | 480i |
| CH 13-2 | FOX | KSTU HD | DIG 48-2 | 1080i |
| CH 14-1 | INDEPENDENT | KJZZ SD / HD | DIG 49-1 | 480i / 1080i |
| CH 16-1 | PAX | KUPX i | DIG 35-1 | 480i |
| CH 16-2 | PAX | KUPX PAX | DIG 35-2 | 480i |
| CH 16-3 | PAX | KUPX WORSHIP | DIG 35-3 | 480i |
| CH 26-1 | LOCAL | K26EM | FUTURE | FUTURE |
| CH 30-1 | WB | KUWB SD / HD | DIG 50-1 | 480i / 1080i |
ALL of the Television and Radio Channels above will be available to most Emery County Citizens by using a STANDARD OUTSIDE UHF Television Antenna and a Digital Receiver in the near future.
| Note 1: ALL above Channels are available NOW in the Horn Mtn. Coverage area, 4 channels in the Emery area and very soon 4 channels in the Green River area. These channels are for testing purposes and may change without notice. |