Q: What is the station match policy?
A: A licensee may apply for a grant of up to $75,000 per transmitter converted, but the total grant can not exceed 70 percent of the total eligible digital conversion cost (see eligible cost categories below). Minority and Level 5 rural stations may apply for a grant of up to $85,000 per transmitter converted, but the total grant cannot exceed 80 percent of the total eligible digital conversion cost.
Licensees must provide the balance of funding ("station match") and certify that they will have sufficient funding available to complete the project from non-federal sources prior to the end of the project.
Q: How should I begin putting an equipment list together?
A: There are three major vendors of HD equipment, Broadcast Electronics, Harris and Nautel. There are several other equipment resellers that will work with you to put together an equipment package. If your existing equipment is manufactured by one of the main vendors of HD equipment start by contacting your local sales person. The sales rep can put together a list of equipment based on your needs.
Q: Has CPB arranged a discount?
A: Yes, each of the major vendors has agreed to discount their equipment on a package basis to CPB grant recipients. Discounts can range from 10 to 22% or more. Contact your vendor for a specific discount quote. All conversion budgets must be submitted with the vendor discount applied to each item.
Q: Is it okay to charge for the time of my staff engineer to install the equipment?
A: No, you may not claim the salaries of your own staff engineer. However, if your engineer is a qualified independent contract engineer that cost may be included in the budget.
Technical Issues
Q: I am new to this HD stuff. How does the HD signal get transmitted?
A: It can be combined with the analog signal in a process called "combining", where a common antenna is used or it can be transmitted using a separate antenna.
Q: I've heard talk about low-level and high level combining. What's the difference?
A: In low level combining the HD signal is combined with the analog signal at the output of your transmitter's exciter and then fed to a common amplifier for transmission. There is no need for additional equipment. Although there are exceptions for custom designs, in general, low-level transmitters can have an output power not to exceed 7.5 kW. If your station requires more output power than 7.5 kW you will likely have to employ a high-level combining technique. Using this technique, the R.F. from the analog transmitter and from the digital transmitter are combined in a "combiner". Standard high-level combining is a lossy procedure and a considerable amount of heat is produced requiring increased attention to air-conditioning. A new procedure for combining is called the mid-level or split-level technique. This technique is more efficient than standard high-level combining, and it keeps down both the loss to heat and cost to operate.
Q. What about using a second antenna for the HD?
A: If you have the space and the capacity at your tower for a second antenna you could use it for HD transmissions. This requires using a low power digital transmitter with its own transmission line to feed a 2nd antenna. No combining is required using this method, therefore the loss to heat can be avoided and operation costs can be reduced. Second antennas must be located within three geographic seconds of the primary antenna and within 70% of the primary station's antenna height. A 2nd antennas used for HD transmission must be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission as an "Auxiliary" transmission system. 2nd antennas can be built into new, and some existing antenna systems, by interlacing the HD antenna bays between the analog bays.
Q: How much power does the HD antenna radiate?
A: 1/100 of the station's licensed analog radiated power. So if you have an ERP of 100 kW you will need an HD transmitter/antenna system with an ERP of 1 kW. If your antenna has a power gain of 5 then your HD transmitter needs to have only about 200 watts. (200 watts multiplied by 5 equals 1000 watts which is 1 kilowatt.) However, in a high-level combining system, 90% of the digital power is lost to heat so that means you would need 2 kW at the HD transmitter. You should also be aware that the high-level combining process steals approximately 10% of the power from your analog transmitter, so if you use high-level combining you need to have the additional analog transmitter power to make up for the loss. Split-level combining solves much of this problem.
Q: Our studio to transmitter link is analog, is that going to be a problem?
A: Transmission of high-quality HD radio requires digital delivery to the transmitter from the studio. If your current system is analog, you should replace it with a digital system that does not use audio compression.
Q: Can we use our present audio processor, it's digital?
A: You should have a separate audio processor for your digital transmissions, since the analog processors are built around requirements that are not issues for processing digital audio. There are some existing processors that can be upgraded to digital.
Administrative Issues
Q: How do I fill out an application?
A: The application is a 35KB Excel spreadsheet with formulas. All other CPB-qualified stations may receive up to $75,000, but the total grant cannot exceed 70 percent of the total eligible digital conversion cost. For CPB-qualified minority and rural stations, the grant amount is up to $85,000, but the total grant cannot exceed 80 percent of the total eligible digital conversion cost. The balance of the project costs comes from station matching funds from non-federal sources.
Q: What should my project timeline be?
Projects should cover a 12-month period commencing with the execution of an award contract. Stations wishing to extend the project duration beyond one year must provide additional justification.
Q: When and how will I know if I have been approved?
A: CPB expects to make a funding decision by early fall 2005. You will be notified as soon as the grant award is approved at CPB.