WHYY DIGITAL TELEVISION FACT SHEET

• WHYY officially went on the air with its digital signal Tuesday, May 16th, 2000 - the 18th PBS member station to go digital since late 1998.
• WHYY is transmitting a digital signal on Channel 55 (716-722 MHz) as assigned by the FCC.
• The transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia. The coordinates are: - 40-2-30 North and 75-14-23 West.
• The DTV antenna is manufactured by Dielectric Communications and mounted 323m (1060 feet) above sea level.
• The transmitter is manufactured by Harris Communications. The average ERP (Effective Radiated Power at the antenna) is 89,000 watts. The coverage area is predicted to be similar to that of the NTSC channel. The DTV signal is transmitted as an 8-VSB modulated signal, providing a data stream at a constant 19.39 Mb/s. Currently this allows WHYY to transmit one HDTV signal, simulcast our TV12 signal and additional data, or up to four SDTV signals and additional data.
• A DTV television receiver is required to receive WHYY's digital signal. In addition to DTV television receivers and widescreen monitors with external DTV tuners, low cost PC cards are available that allow reception on standard PC monitors (but with reduced HDTV quality).
• DTV allows up to six channels of digital sound to be transmitted. Some programs will offer this type of audio, with the majority of programs in stereo or surround sound as they are transmitted now in NTSC.
• Reception of DTV is currently more difficult than with NTSC. An outdoor antenna is recommended, but new generation hardware is expected to improve indoor and outdoor reception.
• DTV is currently available over the air, and to Urban Cable Works & Comcast Cable customers. Additional cable systems may choose to carry some of the DTV programs, and may be able to carry the entire DTV signal in the future.
• Since May 2000, WHYY has been broadcasting a digital signal on its assigned UHF channel, DT55. On most digital receivers, you can still tune to DT55, but you may see 12.1 displayed on your screen.
• Our DTV 12.1 schedule is a mixture of WHYY local programming and the PBS National feed. Local programming is aired Monday thru Friday between the hours of 6:00am until 7:00pm. The PBS national feed airs Monday thru Friday from 7:00pm until 6:00am. Saturday and Sunday is a full day of the PBS National Feed. Our second digital channel 12.2 is a 24/7 simulcast of our TV 12 Analog Channel.
• These digital program services are transitional as WHYY builds a multicast service that will offer up to four simultaneous digital channels. During this transition, changes will occur in the program mix on the digital transmitter to facilitate technical tests or broadcast other programs.