DTV: Get the Picture

In today's segment of DTV: Get the Picture, we'll take a look at how Government of Guam Emergency Responders will be affected with the transition of broadcasting feeds from analog to digital come February 2009.

Guam Police Department's Bradley Hokanson has been tasked by GovGuam to handle the transition of broadcasts from analog to digital come February of next year. Interestingly enough, Hokanson says Guam's emergency responders will not be affected by the transition.

"What the transition in the television broadcast from analog to digital does is free up spectrum (space) cramming more information in existing spectrum (space)," he explained.

Hokanson says on Guam there isn't really a problem with information being crammed into these spectrums or spaces. This means there isn't really any competition for space on the airways. Take the city of Los Angeles for example, in LA there's so many competing resources for bandwidth or space on the information highway, like multiple radio stations and TV stations. Although GovGuam emergency responders aren't going digital with the rest of the United States, Hokanson did say that they are slowly making their own transition from analog to digital capability.

"All the equipment that we buy now is P-25 or digital compliant and eventually we'll have all of our equipment transitioned to digital," Hokanson said. Should a natural disaster occur, Hokanson says residents on Guam will be safe and communication lines between first responders will be open and ready for action.

Tune in to Friday's edition of DTV: Get the Picture as we go over some frequently asked questions regarding the analog to digital transition and the TV Converter box program.