UHF 37 - The Last Empty Channel

[One-23 Profile]

This little nugget has come to light from a post on a previous thread (the-dtv-number-line-from-one-to-a-million-t84825-50.html)



The band of frequencies from 608 to 614 MHz is commonly known as TV Channel 37, but it has never been occupied by any over-the-air television station in North America.

It is a quiet channel reserved for radioastronomy, and since July 2000 has also been allocated for medical telemetry equipment on a co-primary basis. The pristine condition of Channel 37 has gone unnoticed by almost everyone — including many broadcast professionals. But upon close examination, it is a conspicuous gap in an otherwise crowded, lucrative, and gradually shrinking broadcast band.

On an internet page about the old DuMont network


Illustration: UHF-TV Activity in the United States

Channel 37 is listed as once having been used by WGOV-TV, Valdosta, Georgia; however, FCC records do not indicate that "WGOV" has ever been assigned to a television station.

Channel 37 is an unused television channel in countries using the M and N broadcast television system standards. Channel 37 occupies a band of UHF frequencies from 608 to 614 MHz, frequencies that are particularly important to radio astronomy because they allow observations at a frequency between the dedicated frequency allocations near 410 MHz and 1.4 GHz. One radio astronomy application in this band is for Very-long-baseline interferometry.

In 1963, when there were very few stations in the UHF band, the US Federal Communications Commission (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, Channel 37 has never been used by any over-the-air television station in Canada or the United States.



Channel 37 is sometimes seen in fiction, the same way telephone numbers with the "555" telephone exchange prefix are used.

Channel 37 has been used as a hypothetical example in instruction manuals, where it serves a role analogous to the fictitious example.org and example.net Internet domains and the 2001:db8 IP address. The "Channel 37" newsroom also occasionally has made a fictional appearance on sites such as YouTube and MySpace.


Sources
http://www.dtvusaforum.com/content/692- ... erved.html
http://www.ae5d.com/37/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_37


Can't seem to find much relating to channel 37, most info just refer to same links

[Clearized1 Profile]

According to R. Allendy, it is "the individual evolution in the cosmic organization".

According to Fathers of the Church, thirty seven is a symbol of the Christ. It is the symbol of the alive word of God. To this number is thus allotted a certain dignity.

According to the antique science of Chaldeans, the number 37 symbolizes the Force, the Capacity and the Power.

Perhaps it's just too powerful for any mere mortal to occupy