TV Stations IFB

[anthonyramos01]

Hi all,

I am looking to see if is at all possible to listen to the IFB frequencies at the local TV stations in Boise. I have a Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP

 

[dave3825]

I am not familiar with your area but if those are being broadcasted in your area, you should be able to. If they are listed in the database and you made a fav list, make sure you have the proper service types enabled.

 

[ecps92]

Hi all,

I am looking to see if is at all possible to listen to the IFB frequencies at the local TV stations in Boise. I have a Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP

I would begin searching 450-451/455-456 to begin with, just prior to and during the Noon and Evening News Broadcasts

 

[tvengr]

I would begin searching 450-451/455-456

Those frequency ranges are often used for news vehicles, engineering, and IFB.

 

[RaleighGuy]

In my area they will sometimes use a 450 MHz frequency, especially for larger events or events with multiple news people (like parades), but more times than not now the IFB is sent through the person's cellphone.

 

[Randyk4661]

There's a couple of stations here in the Los Angeles area that use 160.00 range just below the railroads. Try 160.0 to the start of the rail frequencies. (Sorry, I don't have those in front of me)

 

[dlwtrunked]

Hi all,

I am looking to see if is at all possible to listen to the IFB frequencies at the local TV stations in Boise. I have a Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP

Not that it is likely to be a problem, and certainly it makes no sense (no need to start a long thread about this), but listening to IFB frequencies was/is? actually against the law (Communications Act of 1984--the same act that applied to cell phone monitoring). I would say be cautious but it is unlikely you would have an issue if you were not. This was to prevent competitors for using information from such monitoring. However, part of that law were revoked and amended in the Communications Act of 1996 and I, myself, am not interested in the current legality. But the document below has frequencies of interest and you could then check them at at FCC website for your area.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-14-145A1.pdf

 

[gmclam]

While I pick up several stations' IFB channels on VHF high, I believe there are some using cell phones (including VoIP).

 

[tampabaynews]

Every TV station I've worked it or encountered on-the-job uses cell phones for IFB. My station hasn't pumped out IFB over our UHF frequency in well over a decade. We have a fleet of about 30 vehicles and not a single one of them have any kind of receiver for IFB or two-way radio.

Chances are, the only active IFB frequencies you'll hear are from stations that still have helicopters.

 

[nd5y]

Broadcast auxiliary frequencies are listed at

Federal Register :: Request Access

and

Federal Register :: Request Access

Read Chapter 119 Sections 2510 and 2511 to determine if it's legal to receive Part 74 broadcast auxiliary services.

https://uscode.house.gov/browse/prelim@title18/part1/chapter119

 

[es93546]

Every TV station I've worked it or encountered on-the-job uses cell phones for IFB. My station hasn't pumped out IFB over our UHF frequency in well over a decade. We have a fleet of about 30 vehicles and not a single one of them have any kind of receiver for IFB or two-way radio.

Chances are, the only active IFB frequencies you'll hear are from stations that still have helicopters.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "IFB?"

 

[nd5y]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "IFB?"

Interruptible foldback - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mikegilbert]

Here in LA, all stations maintain a backup UHF IFB system which transmits our off-air audio 24/7.

IFB comes to the talent in the field several different ways:

• NTSC PRO channel - legacy analog audio channel that regular viewers don't hear on their home set. Audio received by special receiver in the live truck, then retransmitted to an IFB belt pack. Usually VHF lowband channels 3/4 (64-68MHz)

• IFB via bonded cellular - our Dejero / LiveU bonded cellular units offer a return audio path for IFB. The audio is then sent via the aforementioned VHF lowband transmitter to the beltpack. This is only used when using the truck-mounted bonded cellular. If the photog is using a backpack bonded system, the talent calls in with their phone.

• Cellular IFB - talent dials in with their cell phone.

• BAS (broadcast auxiliary service) radio IFB (160MHz or 450MHz - both 25KHz) - received by a 2-way radio in the truck, then sent out via VHF lowband to the aforementioned belt pack receiver. We use this for our helicopter's IFB.

Here's a couple high res photos of one of our combination ENG (microwave) and bonded cellular vehicles. You can see the microwave antenna on the mast, and a bunch of low profile LTE antennas scattered around the perimeter of the roof rack.

2-way radio antennas are for our UHF NXDN trunking system for dispatch / engineering, UHF IFB radio and the lowband IFB transmitter.

Here's the interior of one of our helicopters. One of the Kenwood radios is for our private UHF NXDN trunking system for dispatch. The second Kenwood is for the UHF IFB channel. Finally, a digital scanner for public safety monitoring.

The chopper connects to one of several steerable microwave receivesites around LA, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernadino counties. That signal comes back to the station via microwave hops or fiber.

Our microwave tower / helipad. The black Suburban is a digital satellite uplink truck used by the network.

 

[gmclam]

Interruptible foldback - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It should have been called feedback, but that name is already taken, and it's not a good thing. Foldback is what the (on-air) talent is listening to in their earpiece. The most common audio is for them to hear "program audio" or what's being broadcast. It enables them to have a conversation with someone live on the air. The interruptible part has to do with the ability for someone to interrupt the sound and talk to them directly. This is typically a producer or director. Note that this can also be used when recording a program, not just when live.

 

[tvengr]

The ability to communicate with a reporter is very important. The director or producer can let a reporter know how long to their live shot or if a planned package is suddenly not available. The reporter is also cued when on air to begin speaking. IFB used to be very simple to implement until the advent of digital microwave and digital TV. When microwave and TV were analog, the audio was instantaneous. I had our news and engineering radios wired up so that we could feed master control or the studio control rooms to the IFB input. The reporter could plug an earpiece into a handheld radio. The reporter would hear himself or herself on the IFB earpiece with no delays. With digital microwave and TV, encoding and decoding delays were introduced into the video and audio. If the reporter heard his or her audio while speaking, there was an echo of the reporter in the earpiece which is very distracting. We had to feed what is known as a mix-minus, where the reporter would hear all of the program audio, but not himself or herself. The audio console had pushbuttons for 8 IFB lines on each audio module. We had to turn off the IFB feed on the module where the microwave or satellite feed with the reporter was taken to avoid the echo in the earpiece. It got even more interesting when 2 reporters in the field had to talk to each other from different locations. Each reporter had to hear program audio and the other reporter, but not himself or herself.

 

[mikegilbert]

With bonded cellular, it's even worse now. 3, up to 10 second delays now!

It's always a treat for me as a director when the reporter is on microwave.

 

[tvengr]

It's always a treat for me as a director when the reporter is on microwave.

You can easily tell the mix-minus is not working when the reporter rips off the earpiece.

 

[Randyk4661]

Here in LA, all stations maintain a backup UHF IFB system which transmits our off-air audio 24/7.

IFB comes to the talent in the field several different ways:

• NTSC PRO channel - legacy analog audio channel that regular viewers don't hear on their home set. Audio received by special receiver in the live truck, then retransmitted to an IFB belt pack. Usually VHF lowband channels 3/4 (64-68MHz)

• IFB via bonded cellular - our Dejero / LiveU bonded cellular units offer a return audio path for IFB. The audio is then sent via the aforementioned VHF lowband transmitter to the beltpack. This is only used when using the truck-mounted bonded cellular. If the photog is using a backpack bonded system, the talent calls in with their phone.

• Cellular IFB - talent dials in with their cell phone.

• BAS (broadcast auxiliary service) radio IFB (160MHz or 450MHz - both 25KHz) - received by a 2-way radio in the truck, then sent out via VHF lowband to the aforementioned belt pack receiver. We use this for our helicopter's IFB.

Here's a couple high res photos of one of our combination ENG (microwave) and bonded cellular vehicles. You can see the microwave antenna on the mast, and a bunch of low profile LTE antennas scattered around the perimeter of the roof rack.

2-way radio antennas are for our UHF NXDN trunking system for dispatch / engineering, UHF IFB radio and the lowband IFB transmitter.

Here's the interior of one of our helicopters. One of the Kenwood radios is for our private UHF NXDN trunking system for dispatch. The second Kenwood is for the UHF IFB channel. Finally, a digital scanner for public safety monitoring.

The chopper connects to one of several steerable microwave receivesites around LA, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernadino counties. That signal comes back to the station via microwave hops or fiber.

Our microwave tower / helipad. The black Suburban is a digital satellite uplink truck used by the network.

Now if we could get the scanners to properly trunk track your NXDN system....

 

[WB5UOM]

And to add to tvengr. the two way radios were VERY wide band , I think 30khz for very good audio

 

[mass-man]

Due to the repack, the station I work at in DFW went all VHF for IFB! That's in the studio and the 2 sat/microwave trucks still working. If it is a reporter and shooter it's cellphone IFB!