Channel 37
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Channel 37 is an intentionally unused ultra-high frequency (UHF) television broadcasting channel by countries in most of ITU region 2 such as the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. The frequency range allocated to this channel is important for
radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...
, so all broadcasting is prohibited within a window of frequencies centred typically on . Similar reservations exist in portions of the Eurasian and Asian regions, although the channel numbering varies.


History

Channel 37 in System M and N countries occupied a
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
of UHF frequencies from . This band is particularly important to
radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...
because it allows observation in a region of the spectrum in between the dedicated frequency allocations near 410 MHz and 1.4 GHz. The area reserved or unused differs from nation to nation and region to region (as for example the EU and British Isles have slightly different reserved frequency areas). One radio astronomy application in this band is for
very-long-baseline interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometer, astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telesco ...
. When UHF channels were being allocated in the United States in 1952, channel 37 was assigned to 18 communities across the country. One of them,
Valdosta, Georgia Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of 2019, Valdosta had an estimated population of 56,457. Valdosta is the principal city of the Valdosta Metr ...
, featured the only
construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
ever issued for channel 37: WGOV-TV, owned by Eurith Dickenson "Dee" Rivers Jr., son of the former governor of Georgia (hence the call letters). Rivers received the CP on February 26, 1953, but WGOV-TV never made it to the air; on October 28, 1955 they requested an allocation on channel 8, but the petition was denied. In 1963, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) adopted a 10-year moratorium on any allocation of stations to Channel 37. A new ban on such stations took effect at the beginning of 1974, and was made permanent by a number of later FCC actions. As a result of this, and similar actions by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
, Channel 37 has never been used by any over-the-air
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in Canada or the United States. The 2016-2021 repack left no North American stations above UHF 36. The low-power
WNWT-LD WNWT-LD (channel 37) is a television station in New York City, airing programming from Story Television. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside Middletown Township, New Jersey-licensed MeTV station WJLP (channel 33) and Bridgeport, Conne ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
was given
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
37 in August 2019, thus becoming the first American station to be so assigned via the digital television
PSIP The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
standard. While the channel is displayed as "37.1" or "37-1" on a digital television set, WNWT-LD's physical signal remains on VHF channel 3, causing no interference.


Allocation issues

Reservations and use outside the US have a non-exclusive legal status * The
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) enacted such a ban on Channel 37, but radio astronomy has no exclusive status on this channel. *
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
observes a similar ban on the use of this TV channel, but the allocation, like Canada's, is not exclusive. *
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
has a ban on Channel 37. *
The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
has a similar ban to Canada's on Channel 37. *
Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
has an absolute ban on Channel 37. * Most
NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
System-M countries have an informal ban on Channel 37 as well but give radio astronomy no exclusive use of the channel. The 2016-2021 repack left no US, Canadian, and Mexican OTA TV broadcasters above UHF 36. Many small-market
rebroadcaster A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
s were taken
dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...
by their corporate owners. This left former UHF 38-83 in the hands of cellular telephone and land-mobile operators, with UHF 14-36 as the main OTA TV broadcast band and UHF 37 as a vacant guardband. Since July 2000, Channel 37 may be used in the US for medical
telemetry Telemetry is the in situ data collection, collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic data transmission, transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Gr ...
equipment on a co-primary basis. The equipment must emit no more than one
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
of
effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...
and is for use in hospitals and other such facilities. * The power level permitted by the FCC is many times more than the amount allowed for
Part 15 Code of Federal Regulations, 'Title 47, Part 15(47 CFR 15) is an oft-quoted part of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations regarding unlicensed transmissions. It is a part of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations ( ...
unlicensed broadcasting Unlicensed broadcasting, also called pirate broadcasting is a term used for any type of broadcasting without a broadcast license. Some unlicensed broadcasting, such as certain low-power broadcasting, may be legal. For example, in the United St ...
. * In US areas set aside for radio-frequency silence, the equipment is banned by statute and regulation. * The seemingly-low power level can be troublesome for radio astronomy equipment, which depends on detecting extraordinarily low
signal strength In telecommunications, particularly in radio frequency engineering, signal strength refers to the transmitter power output as received by a reference antenna at a distance from the transmitting antenna. High-powered transmissions, such as those us ...
s. Any use of the same frequencies raises the
noise floor In signal theory, the noise floor is the measure of the signal created from the sum of all the noise sources and unwanted signals within a measurement system, where noise is defined as any signal other than the one being monitored. In radio com ...
, thereby decreasing the
signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power, often expressed in deci ...
and making the work more difficult. Channel 1 was also removed from the TV
bandplan A frequency plan, bandplan, band plan or wavelength plan is a plan for using a particular band of radio frequencies, that are a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each frequency plan defines the frequency range to be included, how channels ...
in the late 1940s, channels 70 to 83 (800 MHz band) by the 1980s mainly for cellular telephone and trunked two-way land mobile radio systems and, in June 2009, channels 52 to 69 (700 MHz band) for
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s,
emergency service Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...
s and
mobile TV Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes service delivered via mobile phone networks, received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations, or via satellite broadcast. Regular broadcast stand ...
services such as
Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...
's now-defunct MediaFLO (channel 55). Additional channels from 38 to 51 (600 MHz band) were auctioned in early 2017, leaving channel 37 as a
guard band In radio, a guard band is an unused part of the radio spectrum between radio bands, for the purpose of preventing interference. It is a narrow frequency range used to separate two wider frequency ranges to ensure that both can transmit simultane ...
between repacked TV stations and more mobile networks, for which
T-Mobile US T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which , holds 48.4 perc ...
won most of the licenses. Certain channels, 14 through 20, are used for land mobile communications in some large metropolitan areas in the U.S. However, facilities using this decades-old co-allocation are treated as just another station to avoid interference to in their local area. The channels displayed by
cable converter box A cable converter box or television converter box is an electronic tuning device that transposes/converts channels from a cable television service to an analog RF signal on a single channel, usually VHF or 4, or to a different output for digi ...
es under these numbers are not on the same frequencies as their over-the-air counterparts; there are also
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
numbering schemes in use in
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...
which do not map directly to fixed frequency channel assignments. As such, a "cable 37" channel may (and most often does) exist, but on a much lower frequency.


Outside North America


In NTSC-M countries

Outside North America, channel 37 is actively used in these countries where NTSC-M is used: * In the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, GMA TV-5 in Davao uses UHF 37 as
GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...
's digital channel (ISDB-T) with analogue broadcasts on Channel 5. Channel 37 was also used by UNTV-37 in Metro Manila as
Progressive Broadcasting Corporation Progressive Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) is a Philippine radio and television network owned by businessman Alfredo L. Henares with 70% equity share together with Joselito N. Pedero (15.3%) and Dennis T. Villareal (14.5%). The company was re ...
's analogue channel, with digital broadcasts assigned to Channel 38 (ISDB-T). * In
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
, WIN-TV is broadcast on Channels 37 and 39, using
NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
* In the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
channel 37 is also used for the ''CDN'' news channel * In
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
KBS 2TV The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...
's analog channel on gwanak-san Transmission station.


In other countries

In these other countries, the
frequency allocation Frequency allocation (or spectrum allocation or spectrum management) is the allocation and regulation of the electromagnetic spectrum into radio frequency bands, normally done by governments in most countries. Because radio propagation does no ...
for these TV channels is different: * in the UK (many
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
s used by the
Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...
network actually broadcast in the past on PAL channel 37; as mentioned below, it was previously used as a local device output channel before Five's launch, and the network had to provide service regarding re-tunes of those devices to a new channel at no cost to the viewer). * in Western Europe, Channel 37 is used fairly widely as a relay transmitter frequency. * In Malaysia, NTV7 broadcasts in PAL on CCIR Channel 37 (599.25 MHz) * In Indonesia, PAL Channel 37 UHF (599.25 MHz) is used by many terrestrial networks depending on its location, such as MNCTV for the
Jakarta metropolitan area The Jakarta metropolitan area or Greater Jakarta, known locally as Jabodetabek (an acronym of Jakarta–Bogor–Depok–Tangerang–Bekasi), and sometimes extended to Jabodetabekjur (with the acronym extended to include part of Cianjur Regency) ...
, tvOne for
Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...
,
TVRI TVRI (, Television of the Republic of Indonesia), legally ( Public Broadcasting Institution Television of the Republic of Indonesia) is a public television network and the oldest television network in Indonesia. Its national headquarters is i ...
for
Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...
, and Metro TV for
Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese script, Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ) is the capital of Bali and the main gateway to the island. The city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands. With the rapid growth of the tourism industry in Bali ...
. Channel 37 is not the same frequency as it is in the countries using the System-M/N standard. At least in the UK, 606–614 MHz is reserved for radio astronomy. The UK's namesake "Channel 37", while different in frequency, was formerly part of a small group of channels reserved for non-broadcast purposes such as
RF modulator An RF modulator (or radio frequency modulator) is an electronic device whose input is a baseband signal which is used to modulate a radio frequency source. RF modulators are used to convert signals from devices such as media players, VCRs a ...
s for output devices such as
game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...
s and
videocassette recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape ...
s. The UK-named 34-37 channel range is no longer reserved in this manner. In Japan, UHF television channel frequencies are offset by one channel compared to North American channel naming convention. Japan's channel 36 is in use by
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...
in some regions.


Global UHF TV allocation table (605–615 MHz)

This Radio Astronomy Allocation is between the following wavelengths: * 605 MHz = 0.49552 m = 49.55 cm * 615 MHz = 0.48747 m = 48.75 cm * Assume either a 100 kHz or a 250 kHz guardband with respect to this allocation. DVB-T adoption note : The tables above are not accurate for nations that have adopted
DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...
. The frequencies for audio and video are merged with DVB terrestrial television. The new DVB frequencies are rounded off to an even number in MHz as a general rule.


National arrangements for radio astronomy different from ITU-R

National arrangements for radio astronomy different from ITU-R Radio Regulations Central & Western Europe * Austria: no allocation - only mention of No. 5.149 * Bulgaria: no allocation * Belgium: assignment to radio astronomy (shared with active services) * Finland: no allocation * Estonia: no allocation * Iceland: no allocation * Liechtenstein: no allocation * Luxembourg: no allocation * Netherlands: primary status * Portugal: no allocation * Spain: no allocation * Sweden: no allocation * United Kingdom: no reference to No. 5.149 Rest of World * Armenia: no allocation * Russian Federation: no allocation * Turkey: no allocationBoth channel 37 and channel 38, which covers the relevant frequency range in Turkey, are being used by TV stations. * New Zealand, Maori TV and others (not allocated to Radio Astronomy at all)


References


External links

North America
FCC database for Channel 37
had shown possible usage conflict with Mexico but now has the channel entirely clear in Canada, the U.S.A. & Mexico.
US FCC's attack on Channel 37

AE5D.com
Channel 37 - The last Empty Channel

An article about channel 37 and channels above 69

Astrophysical importance of the band 608 - 614 MHz

''Time'', 10 May 1963
FREQUENCIES ALLOCATED TO RADIO ASTRONOMY USED BY THE DSN

McAdams On: Channel 37
Rest of World
NZ Long Term Digital TV Plan
{dead link, date=November 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Broadcast engineering 37 History of television Fictional television stations