Hmmm.... They planned to switch off analog TV by 1 June 2018.

But Astro is Ku-band right? anyone tried with C-band dish?

digital tv channel will effect by rain or wind? im using build in antenna port from building. and it seem affected by raining.

Is it can stand rainy weather?

Digital TV, when planned well on SFN mode, won't cause any interference between transmitters. In fact, it increases the overall coverage of particular frequency and uses less frequencies. This allows mobile broadband to take over some spectrums formerly used by TV, when analogue switchover is done. For example, in Singapore, only 4 frequencies is used for all DTT services and all runs on SFN mode, which many small transmitters is build to allow easy reception using indoor antenna.
Analogue TV uses one frequency for one TV programme, and different masts uses entirety different frequencies (In Klang Valley's case, each channel transmits at least 2 frequencies (Gn Ulu Kali, Menara KL/ Bt Sg Besi) due to local terrain issues, which results to huge overlap between 2 transmitters. You have to take care of other main transmitters too (like Gn Telapak Burok, Gn Kledang, Bt Fraser) to avoid causing unwatchable picture.
In Malaysia, the TV frequency planning is so poorly planned (usage of horizontal antennas only + too much services allocated on analogue TV) that interference between analogue transmitters happens in many parts of Peninsular Malaysia. This is the same in Johor, when you could receive analogue TV channels from 3 countries, causing very little suitable frequencies left until causing co channel interference between MYTV Gn Pulai and SCTV analogue Batam and also TV1 analogue Gn Ledang and the former Channel U analogue exists.

Analogue TV uses one frequency for one TV programme, and different masts uses entirety different frequencies (In Klang Valley's case, each channel transmits at least 2 frequencies (Gn Ulu Kali, Menara KL/ Bt Sg Besi) due to local terrain issues, which results to huge overlap between 2 transmitters.

In Malaysia, the TV frequency planning is so poorly planned (usage of horizontal antennas only + too much services allocated on analogue TV) that interference between analogue transmitters happens in many parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

"2 Frequencies" here mean 1 TV frequency for 1 TV programme for 1 transmitter. At least 13 analogue TV frequencies can be received and in many areas within Klang Valley, both sets of frequencies are being received.

Gn Ulu Kali :
VHF 10 - TV2 (low power)
UHF 27 - 8TV
UHF 29 - TV3
UHF 37 - NTV7
UHF 42 - TV9
UHF 48 - TV1
UHF 55 - TV Alhijrah

Menara KL
VHF 5 - TV1
VHF 8 - TV2

Bt Sungai Besi
VHF 7 - NTV7 (low power)
VHF 12 - TV3
UHF 33 - TV9
UHF 58 - 8TV

myFreeview DTT on all 3 transmitters - UHF 45/666Mhz.

“Too much services” here mean co channel interference between TV transmitters in areas with terrain/too many relay transmitters. Sometimes, the transmitters which are using the same frequency are located too close, hence causing interference. The service is the same usual analogue channels however. Vertical polarisation is exploited, especially in UK for its relay transmitters to provide maximum coverage. This is similar to Digital TV in Netherlands, when vertical is fully used to reduce interference levels from France, Belgium, Germany, and UK, which mainly uses horizontal antennas.

Ch U (SD) is also carried on Ch 33 alongside its HD availability on Ch 35.
Ch 40 is transmitted from Bt Tinggi, Johor, which principally target Mersing area. Could be still receivable by viewers located in Kluang using outdoor antenna alongside the 2 RTM services. (TV1 - Ch 6, TV2 - Ch 9) Refer to : https://youtu.be/PIvDiPtefNs
DTT from Gunung Ledang uses Ch30 and not Ch47, the former analogue frequency of okto. The allocated frequency for Bt Tinggi is also the same as Gunung Ledang.

Sometimes, the transmitters which are using the same frequency are located too close, hence causing interference.

Vertical polarisation is exploited, especially in UK for its relay transmitters to provide maximum coverage

Ch U (SD) is also carried on Ch 33 alongside its HD availability on Ch 35.

DTT from Gunung Ledang uses Ch30 and not Ch47, the former analogue frequency of okto.

I think that very little frequency is left for Malaysian DTT for Southern Johor, unless using exclusive DTT allocation currently allocated to Indonesia (even numbers on Ch 39-54 (48) and Ch 21-26 shared with Malaysia) or Singapore (between Ch 27-38) as an interim, which negotiations has to be done. In some cases frequencies higher than Ch 54 must be used, which Malaysia is not interested with. All exclusive frequencies allocated to Malaysia (odd numbers between Ch 39-54 (48)) are currently used by Indonesian analogue TV. Only Ch 21, Ch 22 and Ch 24 (soon to be vacated by Vasantham which has cease analogue transmission) can be used without any major problems. Ch 40 will cause interference to TV Alhijrah transmitted on Bt Tinggi, especially in Kluang, so not suitable.

In some cases frequencies higher than Ch 54 must be used, which Malaysia is not interested with.

Only Ch 21, Ch 22 and Ch 24 (soon to be vacated by Vasantham which has cease analogue transmission) can be used without any major problems.

Interference could happen if those transmitters using SFN is not planned well. It could significantly shrink the reception range of the transmitter due to co channel interference. Even with a well planned SFN network, some high power/gap filler transmitters may be needed to added into the network to improve overall reception to avoid some areas losing reception completely.

Those connecting their analogue TV to Starhub's cable point infrastructure are seeing just blank screens (dead air) transmitted by Starhub themselves (all but 2 channels on the system doesn't switch to blank screen, which was the 743.25Mhz Starhub Testcard and also the sport channel which has ended transmission on 28 December 2018, showing information screen regarding closure.) Starhub also plan to discontinue their digital cable TV services on 30 June 2019 as they move their customers off IPTV platforms and to retire their cable network.
Maybe, but back then when Channel U (analogue) was interfered by TV1 Gunung Ledang back on 2010, causing large scale interference to Channel U to many parts in Johor (including areas as far as Pontian and Pekan Nanas), causing viewer complaints to Channel U's Facebook page at that time. Channel U responded as they are a Singapore channel, they will not care about reception issues in Malaysia as it is out of their control. So any reception of Singaporean channels will be an bonus for Johor viewers. However, there were reports at the past describing man installing TV antennas in Muar as Singapore TV channels are quite popular there and some Johor Bahru based businesses (particularly theme parks like Legoland) do advertise on Mediacorp TV channels. Vasantham even organise events on Johor Bahru.

They may continue using 16 QAM modulation for an considerable future, unless they are going to start 4K/UHD transmission in the future. Even if UHD reception is available in the future, it will be niche for considerable time as it was hard to even switch over. This is the same for HD5 channel via DVB-T. Many who doesn't subscribe to pay TV remained using analouge TV, as the analogue channels can be received without any ghosting and snows via the cable point and DVB-T only carried 3 simulcast channels (Ch5 and HD5, Ch8, CNA). This resulted very few viewers are receiving the channels in DVB-T as there were no promotion on digital TV at that time.

Before the activation of these masts, the DTT transmission were only available from the Gunung Pulai mast only. Although I live in a location when the TV mast could be clearly seen, constant freezing of TV signal was frequently encountered. It wasn't until they activated those 2 masts who partly solve my problems, as those 2 are intended for indoor reception and is strategicly placed so that viewers live in these areas using outdoor antenna (whenever pointed to Gunung Pulai/Bukit Batok SG) could still receive better signal for Malaysia TV. There will be additional interference caused by Indosiar from Batam, as those transmitters has activated Channel 49/698MHz (MYTV MUX 2). Some in JB still can't receive local DTT via antenna (a big issue that must be resolved fast or it would cause negative perception to MYTV when analogue TV switches off), and the problem was caused by co channel issue caused by SCTV, as someone from Batam received stable signals from Malaysia DTT if SCTV happened to have problem on the transmitter.

They may continue using 16 QAM modulation for an considerable future,

Malaysia's is 256QAM GI 19/256 COFDM (FFT) 32k FEC 2/3.

Mediacorp can choose to use lesser multiplexes with higher QAM (reduction from 4 multiplexes to 2 multiplexes with more channels per multiplex while maintaining same quality) however the required transmitter power will be much higher.

If Singapore needed to do frequency retune exercise in the future, they may not allocate those multiplexes that close (538mhz,546mhz,554mhz .etc) as it may cause adjencent channel interference.

527.25MHz (523.25-531.25MHz) - Channel U Analogue (ceased)
538.00MHz (534.00-542.00MHz) - Channel 5 (HD), Suria (HD)
543.25MHz (539.25-547.25MHz) - okto Analogue (ceased)
546.00MHz (542.00-550.00MHz) - EMPTY for Southern Johor, but it is myFreeview frequency for Northern Johor
554.00MHz (550.00-558.00MHz) - Channel 8 (HD), Vasantham (HD)
559.25MHz (555.25-563.25MHz) - Channel NewsAsia Analogue (ceased)
570.00MHz (566.00-574.00MHz) - Channel NewsAsia (HD), Channel U (SD), okto (HD)
578.00MHz (574.00-582.00MHz) - EMPTY for Digital?
586.00MHz (582.00-590.00MHz) - Channel U (HD)

631.25MHz 41 - MNC TV
639.25MHz 42 - NTV7
647.25MHz 43 - RCTI
655.25MHz 44 - TV9
663.25MHz 45 - Trans TV
671.25MHz 46 - 8TV

Also all wireless frequency plans has to be discussed and done between 3 countries, so that each country will get its own exclusive frequency (like those used for DTT,DAB,FM) and to avoid interference (Mobile phone services, Public services like Police, Fire and DTT,DAB,FM).

I gave up with MYTV as signal reception here in Sibu Sarawak is too weak and unsteady. I use satellite and TVbox(but government is going to ban it 🙄)

After 1 month of notification regarding analogue closure, all analogue TV terrestial transmissions from Singapore had been stopped. Only snow can be seen on these frequencies. (this also means all co channel interference issues on analogue TV1, TV3 and MYTV MUX 1 from Gunung Ledang has ceased too)

SCTV was reappeared on TV screens in Johor Bahru, as Gunung Pulai DTT (and the whole of Southern Region too) is currently down.

Update : Both multiplexes (CH47/682MHz and CH49/698MHz) had since been recovered. SCTV from Batam (679.25MHz) is no longer receiveable.

Just a guy who are quite interested on technical parameters, I do not work on the industry.

Power calculation is based on the calculations done on http://www.saschateichmann.de/dvb-t-hf.html

I think the usage of 256QAM may be okay for MYTV, especially if they wish/need to carry more services within one multiplex. As MYTV is currently carrying 4 HDTV + 8 SDTV + 6 Radio channels on their one and only multiplex, it is still much more efficient than analogue TV and Mediacorp's DTT despite the usage of 256QAM. It may be not so praticial for MYTV to use 16QAM or 64QAM instead, especially if they need to broadcast more services at reasonable quality, since they currently only have 3 frequencies allocated by MCMC for now. It is wise for Mediacorp to use 4 multiplexes on 16QAM rather than 2 multiplexes on 256QAM as Mediacorp dosen't have plans to provide additional TV services, or even extend broadcast hours for/make them fully 24/7 for their 4 remaining TV services which doesn't have 24/7 schedule.

Adjacent frequency interference can be an issue, especially if the used power is too high. I think that Mediacorp had done some protection between both analogue and digital TV terrestial transmissions when they plan DTT (which is now no longer required, the analogue transmitters had been all shut down).  Interference (from adjacent NTV7) could be sometimes seen on RCTI channel, sometimes as far at Batam as the transmitter power for NTV7 is much higher. Indonesian TV is usually transmitted in lower power than Malaysian TV, so Indonesian channels are unlikely be receivable in Malaysia side other than RCTI and SCTV (which the reception for both are no longer possible as RCTI is transmitting in lower power due to transmitter issues, while SCTV is "blocked" by interference by MYTV DTT.)

Very likely not, as Singapore has 12 exclusive channels to use. Malaysia (JB) and Indonesia (Batam) would only have 5 exclusive (after considering 700MHz clearance) and 6 shared channels. Those "skipped" channels would be likely vacant for other DTT services in the future (like UHDTV).

I would blame both Kominfo Indonesia and SKMM for the interference of TV1 vs RTV, and also myFreeview (Malaysia DTT) vs SCTV.

since they currently only have 3 frequencies allocated by MCMC for now......especially if they need to broadcast more services at reasonable quality,

I think that Mediacorp had done some protection between both analogue and digital TV terrestial transmissions when they plan DTT (which is now no longer required, the analogue transmitters had been all shut down).

Singapore has 12 exclusive channels to use. Malaysia (JB) and Indonesia (Batam) would only have 5 exclusive (after considering 700MHz clearance) and 6 shared channels. Those "skipped" channels would be likely vacant for other DTT services in the future (like UHDTV).