A TV station on Maryland's eastern shore insisted that a new interference
study proved that a Virginia digital station on the mainland side of the
Chesapeake Bay is creating illegal interference.
WBOC-TV Salisbury, operating in analog on channel 16, dismissed WHRO-DT
Hampton Roads' earlier interpretation of a Wallace & Associates report
suggesting that misdirected antennas among eastern shore viewers are largely to
blame for interference.
WHRO's suggestion to educate viewers about proper antenna orientation 'not
only is infeasible, but also is a wholly ineffective cure to the real problems
-- new interference from WHRO,' attorneys for the Maryland station wrote.
On Sept. 13, WHRO told the Federal Communications Commission the Wallace study,
funded by both stations, showed that WHRO is not the
source of interference.
Instead, many viewers in the market point antennas -- both at cable headends
and oceanfront high-rise buildings -- toward Baltimore, the closest major
market.
In the past, this anomaly caused no problem for WBOC
because there has been no signal competition.
WHRO has temporarily cut its power levels, but the stations have not reached
a longterm solution.
