ATSC Broadcast

ATSC Broadcast

Frequencies	54 MHz,700 MHz
Frequency Range	54 MHz - 700 MHz
Mode	RAW
Modulation	8VSB
ACF	—
Emission Designator	—
Bandwidth	6 MHz
Location	United States
Short Description	Advanced Television Systems Committee Television. 8VSB Modulation
I/Q Raw Recording	—
Audio Sample	—

Description

Advanced Television Systems Committee Television. 8VSB Modulation. 8VSB Modulation is a special kind of PAMPulse Amplitude Modulation Modulation.

Each channel has a single carrier signal on the left of the signal.

8VSB

Vestigal Side Band

8-Amplitude Keying

8VSB uses digital amplitude modulation with 8 distinct amplitude levels representing 3 digital bits. If this were ordinary double-sideband AMAmplitude Modulation, these levels would appear as 8 dots along the I (real) axis. However, a Q channel component is created by the vestigial sideband (VSBVestigial Sideband Modulation) filtering that removes most of the lower sideband. The lower sideband is reconstructed in the receiver just as it was in analog TV, and this cancels the Q channel component leaving only the 8 dots on the real axis.

In contrast, 64-QAMQuadrature Amplitude Modulation uses eight distinct I and eight distinct Q amplitudes to encode one of 64 combinations representing 6 bits, i.e., twice as many per symbol as 8VSB. To do this it must transmit two complete sidebands (which are not mirror images of each other).

Frequencies

Please update this data the repack has moved most UHFUltra High Frequency (300-3000 MHz) DTV stations to Ch 36 and below. CH 37 remains unused for Radio Astronomy. I've been trying to find out what UHFUltra High Frequency (300-3000 MHz) DTV stations have not been moved but the FCC data base is "sub optimal."

Table is taken from Wikipedia ATSC article.

In 2009, all US TV stations transitioned to the ATSC 8VSB (digital) signal described above. Although FCC rules only require 1 kHzKiloHertz (kHz) 10^3 Hz accuracy, the ATSC pilot (carrier) signal is nominally 309 440.559 HzHertz (Hz), unit of frequency, defined as one cycle per second (1 Hz). above the lower edge of the channel. In ATSC the audio and video are multiplexed onto a single digital signal and the video and audio carrier frequencies found in earlier NTSC (analog) TV channel tables are no longer applicable.

VHFVery High Frequency (30-300 MHz) low-band
(frequencies in MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz)

Channel	Lower edge	ATSC pilot	Upper edge
2	54	54.31	60
3	60	60.31	66
4	66	66.31	72
(72-76 MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz assigned to other services)
5	76	76.31	82
6	82	82.31	88

VHFVery High Frequency (30-300 MHz) high-band

(frequencies in MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz)

Channel	Lower edge	ATSC pilot	Upper edge
7	174	174.31	180
8	180	180.31	186
9	186	186.31	192
10	192	192.31	198
11	198	198.31	204
12	204	204.31	210
13	210	210.31	216

UHFUltra High Frequency (300-3000 MHz) band

(frequencies in MHzMegaHertz (MHz) 10^6 Hz)

Channel	Lower edge	ATSC pilot	Upper edge
14	470	470.31	476
15	476	476.31	482
16	482	482.31	488
17	488	488.31	494
18	494	494.31	500
19	500	500.31	506
20	506	506.31	512
21	512	512.31	518
22	518	518.31	524
23	524	524.31	530
24	530	530.31	536
25	536	536.31	542
26	542	542.31	548
27	548	548.31	554
28	554	554.31	560
29	560	560.31	566
30	566	566.31	572
31	572	572.31	578
32	578	578.31	584
33	584	584.31	590
34	590	590.31	596
35	596	596.31	602
36	602	602.31	608
37	608	608.31	614
38	614	614.31	620
39	620	620.31	626
40	626	626.31	632
41	632	632.31	638
42	638	638.31	644
43	644	644.31	650
44	650	650.31	656
45	656	656.31	662
46	662	662.31	668
47	668	668.31	674
48	674	674.31	680
49	680	680.31	686
50	686	686.31	692
51	692	692.31	698

Channel 37 is reserved for the radio astronomy service and no new broadcast stations are assigned to channel 51 to minimize interference to new digital services operating in former UHFUltra High Frequency (300-3000 MHz) TV channel 52.

Decoding Tutorials

• Using GNU Radio to decode ATSC from SDRPlay or Airspy

Video Examples

• 8-VSB in Broadcasting
• ATSC RF spectrum waterfall (one channel)
• ATSC RF spectrum waterfall (three channels)

Additional Links

• Wikipedia ATSC
• ARRL 8-VSB Modulation Info

Additional Images

Take note of the carrier on the left side of the signal. ATSC channels all have this carrier at this spot. NTSC vs ATSC