Engineering Notices
January 26, 2012: We've received notice that Utah Power has restored service to the Soda Springs translator. Because that translator also feeds translators at Georgetown, Montpelier, Lava Hot Springs, and Preston, service to those communities should all now be restored as well.
January 23, 2012: A power outage at the Soda Springs translator has knocked it off the air. Because that translator also feeds translators at Georgetown, Montpelier, Lava Hot Springs, and Preston, service to those communities is affected as well. An engineer will attempt to get to the Soda Springs site as soon as possible. Update (1:00 p.m.): The power company hopes to have power restored to the site by the end of today.
January 19, 2012: At about 5:34 p.m. PST we lost power at the Moscow transmitter causing IdahoPTV to be off the air in north-central Idaho from the Silver Valley through Grangeville. Avista (as of 8:30 a.m. Friday) estimates restoration time will be around 12:30 p.m. PST.
January 4, 2012: We have received confirmation from a local viewer and the cable company that power has been restored and the St. Maries translator is back on the air.
January 4, 2012: Because of a heavy windstorm, the St. Maries translator is temporarily down. Technicians are working to remedy the situation as soon as possible.
December 5, 2011: The Sandpoint translator is back on the air. Translators and cable systems serving Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, Priest Lake, and Priest River should once again have the IdahoPTV signal.
Our north Idaho field engineer finally got a helicopter ride to the top of Sandpoint Baldy and got the translator back on the air. It had shut itself down due to high icing on the antenna. The resets designed into the translator didn't address that particular fault, so the engineer added a power reset to whole transmitter to address that fault in the future.
November 23, 2011: The Sandpoint translator is down. This means that translators and cable systems serving Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, Priest Lake, and Priest River will be without service until the Sandpoint translator is fixed. We won't have an estimate on repair time until an engineer is able to get to the site.
September 23, 2011: Idaho Public Television engineers have successfully installed equipment at the Sandpoint, Priest Lake, and Bonners Ferry translators to provide digital signals to those respective areas.
The upgraded equipment will allow these north Idaho translators to send over-the-air digital signals that provide four digital channels in the place of the traditional single-analog channel.
The new Sandpoint digital signal, which covers parts of the Priest River area, appears on most digital television sets and digital set-top boxes as channel 30, which is a change from the analog channel 16. The new digital signal for Priest Lake, which covers Coolin and lower Priest Lake, appears as channel 42, which is the same channel previously used by the analog signal. And the new digital signal for Bonners Ferry will appear on most digital television sets and digital set-top boxes as channel 44, which is a change from the analog channel 23.
"Viewers who receive an over-the-air signal in the Sandpoint, Priest Lake, and Bonners Ferry areas will need to complete the conversion to digital television. They need either a television with a digital tuner or a set-top box for an analog TV," says IdahoPTV Director of Technology Rich Van Genderen. "And they need to scan for the new signal in each area, which is now divided into four subchannels that offer more and different programming than previously available. People who are prepared for the conversion in the translators's reception area should experience sharp, clear TV images from the new signals."
An antenna with UHF capability will still be required to capture the signal. "This is just like what people in these areas have been using for years. So anyone who has been receiving us before, should have no problem after the conversion," Van Genderen says.
August 12, 2011: Idaho Public Television engineers have successfully installed equipment at the McCall/New Meadows translator on Brundage Mountain to provide a digital television signal to the area.
The upgraded Brundage Mountain translator will now send an over-the-air digital signal that provides four digital channels in place of the single traditional analog channel.
The new digital signal will appear on most digital television sets and digital set-top boxes as channel 11, which is a change from the current channel 5.
A translator on No Business Peak already reaches some parts of McCall and will continue to do so on channel 41. The Brundage Mountain installation will provide a digital signal to much of the northern end of McCall and to New Meadows.
"Viewers who receive an over-the-air signal in the McCall area will need to complete their conversion to digital television. They need either a television with a digital tuner or a set-top box for an analog TV," says IdahoPTV Director of Technology Rich Van Genderen. "And they need to scan for the new signal, which is usually seen as channel 11, but is divided into four sub-channels, each offering different programming, instead of just one channel. People who are prepared for the conversion in the translator's reception area should experience sharp, clear TV images from the new signal."
An antenna with UHF capability will still be required to capture the signal. "This is just like what people in the area have been using for years. So anyone who has been receiving us before, should have no problem after the conversion," Van Genderen says.
Viewers with questions or in need of assistance can call Idaho Public Television's Boise office at 373-7220 or 1-800-543-6868 during business hours 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
July 2011: Idaho Public Television engineers successfully converted translators for the north Idaho communities of St. Maries and Kellogg from analog to digital service. The conversion will make it possible for viewers to receive all four IdahoPTV digital channels — Idaho, HD, Learn/Create, and World.
The digital service will show up on sets and guides as channels 23-1 through 23-4 (St. Maries), 49-1 through 49-4 (Kellogg), or 12-1 through 12-4 (both areas).
Viewers with newer television sets will likely only have to do a channel re-scan in order to find us after the conversion, since their TVs have a digital tuner built in. Viewers with older analog sets can simply get a converter box that will pick up the new digital signal and convert it to a form their analog sets can understand. Viewers who already have a converter box will only need to do a channel re-scan.
Viewers with questions or in need of assistance can call Idaho Public Television's Moscow office at 208-885-1226 or 1-800-424-1226 during business hours 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
June 2011: Sometime next week, June 20 – June 23, Idaho Public Television engineers will convert the translators serving the north-central Idaho communities of Juliaetta and Cottonwood/Grangeville from analog to digital service. The conversion will make it possible for viewers to receive all four IdahoPTV digital channels — Idaho, HD, Learn/Create, and World.
The digital service will show up on sets and guides as channels 43-1 through 43-4 (Juliaetta), 46-1 through 46-4 (Cottonwood/Grangeville), or 12-1 through 12-4 (both areas).
Viewers with newer television sets will likely only have to do a channel re-scan in order to find us after the conversion, since their TVs have a digital tuner built in. Viewers with older analog sets can simply get a converter box that will pick up the new digital signal and convert it to a form their analog sets can understand. Viewers who already have a converter box will only need to do a channel re-scan.
Viewers with questions or in need of assistance can call Idaho Public Television's Moscow office at 208-885-1226 or 1-800-424-1226 during business hours 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
August 2010: This summer, Idaho Public Television engineers will convert the translators serving the eastern Idaho communities of Driggs, Burley, and Malta from analog to digital service. The conversion will make it possible for viewers to receive all four IdahoPTV digital channels — Idaho, HD, Learn/Create, and World.
Work on the translator near Grand Targhee Ski Resort east of Driggs, completed August 19, means IdahoPTV is now sending a digital signal to an area that includes Driggs, Victor and Tetonia. The new signal appears on digital television sets and digital set-top boxes as channel 13, the same channel used by the former analog service.
Work on the translator on Old Beacon Hill southeast of Burley will result in a digital signal covering an area that includes Burley, Heyburn, Rupert and Paul. The new digital signal will appear on digital television sets and digital set-top boxes as channel 13, in place of the former analog channel 14.
Engineers also are changing the equipment on Cotterell Mountain, northwest of Malta, for a signal to cover Malta and Albion. This signal will also appear on digital television sets and digital set-top boxes as channel 13.
"Viewers who receive an over-the-air signal in the Driggs, Victor and Tetonia areas need to complete the conversion to digital television. They need either a television with a digital tuner or a set-top box for an analog TV," says IdahoPTV Director of Technology Rich Van Genderan. "After the conversion, they will need to scan for the new signal, which will be seen as channel 13, but will be divided into four sub-channels, each offering different programming, instead of just one channel. People who are prepared for the conversion in the translator's reception area should experience sharp clear TV images when the digital signal begins."
May 11, 2010: Idaho Public Television engineers have repaired and reinstalled the translator on Mount Baldy outside Salmon, and the translator is back in operation.
The translator, which was out of commission for approximately five weeks, first became inoperative after a spring storm swept through the area. The resulting snow barred access to the mountain until late last month, leaving the Salmon area without an IdahoPTV signal until this week.
May 4, 2010: Our St. Maries translator is down. There was a power outage on St. Joe Baldy last night due to the heavy winds and the building generator failed to come on. The power is now back, but not our translator. There is an outside chance it may come back on with a DTV receiver power reset at approximately 4:00 p.m. PT. If not, I have further issues. This is not a winter-friendly site, so I will have to do some planning if a trip to the site is needed. [Mike Cramblit]
May 4, 2010: Idaho Public Television engineers are working to repair and reinstall needed parts to put the translator on Mt. Baldy outside Salmon back into operation.
Rich Van Genderen, director of technology for IdahoPTV, says the translator, which has been out of commission for approximately four weeks, first became inoperative after a spring storm swept the area. The resulting snow barred access to the mountain until April 27, leaving the Salmon area without an IdahoPTV signal.
"Because the microwave receiver was not working, the part was brought back to Boise for parts and repair," Van Genderen says. "But the problem has turned out to be at the microwave transmitter site on Grouse Peak outside of Challis."
Engineers anticipate returning to reinstall the newly serviced receiver to Baldy and then travel to Grouse Peak to repair the microwave transmitter by May 15.
"IdahoPTV certainly appreciates the patience of the great viewers in the Salmon area, and we apologize that this has been such a long outage," Van Genderen says. "Travel into high mountain sites without 'application specific' vehicles, such as Snow Cats, has always been somewhat of a gamble. Sometimes it can take a while for site conditions to stabilize enough to allow safe access.
"The need for safety, coupled with limited financial resources force us at times to take much longer to get mountain access than we would prefer. We don't like this situation any more than the viewers do."
April 27, 2010: Our field engineer, John "JD" Davis, phoned in from Salmon this morning and said that while they were able to get to the mountain, it was extremely tough and hazardous. The guys who took him in suggested they get the heck out of there ASAP or risk being stuck for a long couple of days.
That being said, the microwave that feeds into the site is kaput. We do not know which end has died at this point, and of course, the other end is at Challis, which will also be a bear to get into. JD will try to bring the microwave receiver down with him for testing, and then we will evaluate how we get back up there. It may very well be that when the weather breaks, we will hire a helicopter to drop off one technician at Challis and one at Salmon Baldy. Or, we may wait until we can drive in, possibly around late May, early June.
The Salmon translator has already been down about a month now. This site is just a very nasty one to get to in this time of transition from deep snow to slush to mud. The gents who took JD in said they won't be able to get in again via snow machine — the slush is just too bad and the mud will only get worse for a while. The description was, Picture yourself trying to drive a snow machine across a lake that is full of crushed ice. One slip up and you are in deep!!!
We'll let you know more as we get it. This digital microwave transition can't happen soon enough!!!
February 3, 2010: For viewers of our over-the-air digital signal: We have had some data errors in our broadcast stream in the last few days. Some receivers ignore these errors; others do not. If you have recently lost the IdahoPTV digital signal for all four channels (Idaho, HD, Learn, and World), please perform a re-scan of your available channels, and that should re-train your tuner's brain to see us again.