The FCC has now released the channel assignments for the repack. The RabbitEars website has a full set of tools to help us figure out where our stations are moving. Based on that now official public information, the guide to do that is here:
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Thanks for sharing!
Good to have the color coding info:
- Light blue = repacked within its current band
- Green = UHF to high-VHF
- Yellow = high-VHF to low-VHF
- Red = UHF to low-VHF
- Uncolored rows are unchanged
- Grey = stations going off the air
Make sure to run a channel scan on your Tablo (Settings > Edit channel lineup > Rescan> Add to guide) occasionally to catch any changes from the repack and/or to see if there are new channels in your area.
If a city isn’t on the list (Seattle) does that mean it hasn’t been added yet or won’t be?
Found the answer by sorting the list differently.
Any info about timing of repack?
It all happens within a 39 month period. For stations going off the air, they will have 3 months to do so once the wireless company pays for what it bought. The first phase of frequency transitions is slated to begin end of 2018.
“The channel changes that result from the FCC repack will occur in 10 phases, staggering the rescan dates for different markets. This page will allow you to see, in several different ways, what those phases look like and which stations/regions are in each, as well as color-coding them for ease of interpreting and allowing you to look at the phases channel-by-channel.”
See the Phase Map for Channel Changes here:
In my area, thank goodness, no channels were lost and all transitions stayed within the UHF band (no antenna changes for me). There however appear to be conflicts between some border Canadian and US stations (will see how that plays out). Interesting stats on the overall process here:
https://www.rabbitears.info/blog/index.php?post/2017/04/13/RabbitEars-Repacking-Tools
2200 stations were protected in the repack process. Of those:
5 either lost their licenses or turned in their licenses during the process.
145 opted to relinquish their spectrum completely, either to go off the air or channel share.
30 opted to change band, moving from UHF to VHF or high-VHF to low-VHF.
This means that there will be 2050 protected stations going forward.
To break down the 145 relinquishers:
52 filed pre-auction channel sharing agreements.
81 opted to seek a post-auction channel sharing agreement.
This leaves only 12 stations who had no channel sharing option and will definitely be going off the air entirely.
To break down the 30 band-changers:
16 stations accepted UHF to low-VHF bids.
1 station (WQED) accepted a high-VHF to low-VHF bid.
13 stations accepted UHF to high-VHF bids.
And a few statistics on the remaining 2050 stations:
1063 stations are staying put in this process, meaning 987 stations have to move.
No low-VHF stations are moved; all 17 of the low-VHF bidders can be accommodated without changing the channels of any existing low-VHF stations.
67 stations are repacked in high-VHF to accommodate the 13 high-VHF bidders.
That leaves 890 stations that are repacked within the UHF band.
Thank you Mark.
Appreciate the detailed response.
Interestingly enough RabbitEars also has the Canadian reassignments if the view is changed by country to “Canada.”
I will clarify the timing of all this in Phase 112. We’re currently in Phase A moving in Phase II which will be followed by Phase II.8 and the obvious successors, finishing with Phase #1. This all begins 3 weeks from yesterday plus two days from when you first read this.
Now I’m quite sad…
I only have UHF antennas but the channel I watch / DVR the most is moving to low VHF…
Honestly I don’t know much about VHF… Other than having to retrofit my antennas with VHF add ons, will it be that big a deal?
I mean I am sad that I have to mess with it at all and spend more money on it since it has been working so well for 2 years, but I can deal with that…
What I am REALLY worried about is that since this channel was the furthest and hardest to get already. is that going to get worse? I read VHF actually carries further? Is that true?
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By lo-VHF do you mean between channels 2-6? If so then retrofitting a UHF antenna may not work that well since most VHF retrofits are for hi-VHF (channels 7-13).
The wavelength (and hence antenna size) for hi-VHF is about 64 inches. Lo-VHF is four times that size. One can easily and inexpensively build a lo-VHF antenna of that size for the attic using a simple dipole (inexpensive, simple wiring). In another forum thread here a Tablo user from Philly built one of that type (I can’t recall that thread off-hand).
Hi-VHF stations in my case are easily accessed and come in with good signal strength using a hi-VHF antenna. Here are the specs for a lo-VHF build:
http://users.wfu.edu/matthews/misc/dipole.html
Then one can join the UHF and VHF antennas with a UHF-VHF combiner for a couple of bucks. I would say the whole exercise would cost you in the neighborhood of ten to twenty dollars.
Thanks, and yes, extremely low, all the way down to channel 2!!!
Here’s a nice summary of the auction results and potential pitfalls. I live in NC, and looking at the Phase 5 map on rabbitears.info it’s ridiculous…
The FCC’s chart reports the 10 phases of transition - starting in September 2018 and ending on July 3rd, 2020. The day before July 4th? Fireworks! 
Canadian version (plan and assignments):
At least you have several years to plan and effect this as it isn’t overnight! 
Phase 1 starts 4/13/17 and ends 10/30/18. These are max times. I don’t think anything stops an early completion date.
https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/fcc-initiatives/incentive-auctions/transition-schedule
The ten conversion phases and their dates (start date–>end date):
Transition Phase 1: Starts 9/14/2018 Ends 11/30/2018
Transition Phase 2: Starts 12/1/2018 Ends 4/12/2019
Transition Phase 3: Starts 4/13/2019 Ends 6/21/2019
Transition Phase 4: Starts 6/22/2019 Ends 8/2/2019
Transition Phase 5: Starts 8/3/2019 Ends 9/6/2019
Transition Phase 6: Starts 9/7/2019 Ends 10/18/2019
Transition Phase 7: Starts 10/19/2019 Ends 1/17/2020
Transition Phase 8: Starts 1/18/2020 Ends 3/13/2020
Transition Phase 9: Starts 3/14/2020 Ends 5/1/2020
Transition Phase 10: Starts 5/2/2020 Ends 7/3/2020
Transitions 2018-2020 - one can locate their station changes within those periods and time frames.
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