Update on Washington DC Television Transition: OTA channel assignments

The information below is what the FCC has for the Washington DMA. If you ask most television stations what their frequency is, they don't have a clue. The FCC also says I should receive all of these stations at my house. These stations are VHF and UHF, so your standard TV antenna should work fine (see study). I contend there is no such thing as a "high-def" antenna. Radio waves are radio waves. The frequency is the same. If you're experiencing multi-path errors, then try using a directional antenna. (How do you determine if you're reception problems are multi-path errors? Well in the analog days, multi-path was ghosting. Generally, you should be getting good reception because you're close, but you can't lock on.)

If you're wondering why you can't receive a station, here's a study by the FCC on DTV reception in Washington, DC. If you have a hundred thousand dollars in equipment you'll be able to replicate their results: You're less likely to receive DTV signals than you were analog signals. You can improve your chances with a thirty-foot mast.

For the tripod-mounted, indoor-type antennas, SPI was 86% for WUSA and 84% for WRC when the better of either the bowtie antenna or the Silver Sensor directional antenna was used. These SPIs for the combined indoor antenna types exceed the above values for mast-mounted antenna reception computed in the 1998 study.

Station	Network	Analog Channel	Digital Channel Pre Transition	Digital Channel Post Transition	Virtual Channel	Transition Date
WRC	NBC	4	48	48	4-1	6/12/2009
WTTG	FOX	5	36	36	5-1	6/12/2009
WJLA	ABC	7	39	7	7-1	6/12/2009
WUSA	CBS	9	34	9	9-1	6/12/2009
WFDC	UNIVISION	14	15	15	14-1	6/12/2009
WDCA		20	35	35	20-1	6/12/2009
WHAG	NBC	25	55	26	25-1	6/12/2009
WETA	PBS	26	27	27	26-1	6/12/2009
WWPB	PBS	31	44	44	31-1	6/12/2009
WHUT	PBS	32	33	33	32-1	6/12/2009
WVPY	PBS	42	21	21	42-1	6/12/2009
WDCW	CW	50	51	50	50-1	6/12/2009
WWPX	ION	60	12	12	60-1	6/12/2009
WFPT	PBS	62	28	28	62-1	4/16/2009
WPXW	ION	66	43	34	66-1	6/12/2009