I noticed that there is an analog low-power station broadcasting on channel 7 (VHF) in Baton Rouge, La. Now I thought the VHF band was going to cellular telephone use, but I read there was a radio station on 87.7 FM (in Chicago?) and now this LP on 7. So what did I miss - are there any more VHF channels that can be licensed for LP or will the FCC force them over to UHF?

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VHF highband (channels 7-13 - and note that there are 14 1/3 "channels" between channel 6 and channel 7) is -full of- full power digital channels (many VHF highband stations elected to "come home" to VHF, most often to save on electricity).

VHF lowband is another story - almost nobody wanted to be digital on channels 2-6 (reception virtually requires an outdoor antenna at some height above ground), only a handful of DTV stations are on each lowband channel, thus the band has been opened for DX, from low power US stations, and full-power analogs from Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Central America.

BTW - I have not heard anything about VHF cell phones. I don't think anybody wants to carry a telephone with a 15" whip antenna sticking out of their shirt pocket :-)

There may be 14 1/3 channels between 6 and 7, but this is occupied, among
other things, by the FM band, the aviation VHF band and the 2-meter amateur
band, and I don't think those will soon change allocation. Regards.

Merci, Electroking

Absolutely correct.

I was actually demonstrating that, as most (but perhaps not all) of the readers know, there are really two distinct "VHF" bands, with very different propagation characteristics and antenna needs.

Other users between TV6 and TV7 include Marine radio and military communication (and public service, still in a few small towns, though a lot of that has gone UHF digital).

A friend of mine has a couple NOS outdoor antennas which are specially made for lowband VHF. A hard sell! He special ordered them many years ago for an institution running a closed circuit system, but they never took them. I wonder how they'd be for DX?