If you live in San Francisco, you know that there is a big ass tower on Twin Peaks that must have some kind of television channel transmissions coming from it. Well, you are correct. I have an OTA (Over the Air) HDTV tuner coming for my new Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005 box that I am building and I wanted to see what HDTV channels I could expect to receive over the air for free.  I did notice last night that there are about 5 or 6 local channels that Comcast cable throws you for free with your basic cable package. That is kinda cool, but I want more.

According to this Digital Television list for the bay area, I can expect to receive the following channels VERY clearly with just about any UHF antenna:

19.1    KBWB    - -    HDTV
19.2    KBWB    - -
24.1    KGO    ABC    HDTV
24.2    KGO    ABC-r
24.3    KGO    ABC-AccuWx
29.1    KPIX    CBS    HDTV
30.1    KQED    PBS-HD    HDTV
30.2    KQED    PBS-r
30.3    KQED    World
30.4    KQED    Life
30.5    KQED    Kids
33.1    KMTP    OneLife
33.2    KMTP    KBS-World
33.3    KMTP    5-DayNews
33.4    KMTP    WTV
33.5    KMTP    NTDTV
33.6    KMTP    Education
34.1    KFSF    TeleFutura
34.2    KDTV    Univision
39.1    KCNS    Shop@Home
43.1    KCSM    PBS
43.2    KCSM    MHzWorldview
43.3    KCSM    KCSM-FM
45.1    KBCW    CW    HDTV
56.1    KTVU    FOX    HDTV
56.2    KTVU    FOX
57.1    KRON    MyNetTV
57.2    KRON    MyNetTV

That is pretty sweet. Now I am going to have to figure out how to get all of these channels supported in MCE because I am not sure it is going to want to add it to my list of channels off-the-bat.

tags: bay area, channels, hdtv, list, san francisco, uhf