Digital Television Transition, Analog, Over The Air, And FTA Discussion (Part III)
By nighthawk • Sep 19th, 2008 • Category: ArticlesThis thread is a continuation from the original Digital Television Discussion.
A lot of people, including myself, still have questions about this whole Digital Television Transition.
Hopefully this thread will continue to help us make it through the transition from analog to digital without too much pain.
The archive of these discussions can be found by following the links below:
Digital Television (archive 1)
Digital Television (archive 2)
September 19th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I am just responding to your “what ifs”
That stuff can be done in is not impossible
but there are just a lot of hurdles and
perceptions of the economie
leaves investors and advertisers reining
in their spending.
Seek out some news of the last 5 to 8 yrs
on how all the media is in turmoil as
audiences get fractionated, staff cuts,
buyouts, consolidations et cetera ad nausium.
Look at radio ,just in our region, we are to believe
that to survive you have to simulcast or retransmitt
on what 3-4or 5 FM(and AM) statons to have enough
audience to sell in your media “group”
Look up the vines for the -IVY? (hint hint)
September 19th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Automation is what killed the radio guy, man.
Now we have watered down generic radio running 18 or more hours of satellite feed
or loading computerized CD carousels full of prerecorded stuff.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I’m not even for sure that we aren’t somewhat in agreement…
It’s just finding ways to make things happen AND keep expenses down.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Well, Good time to splice this thread as there is a TEST
going on in Wilmington NC a market of ~150,000 “Tv Homes”
which means about 15,000 watch antenna exclusively
and 15000 have secondary set only hooked to antenna
(at a cabin, garage, barn office, back yard/patio or what
ever not hooked to their subscription service for whatever reason)
TOTAL antenna viewers of 15% or should be 22,500)
In just the 1st week they have fielded a estimated 2500
troubleshooter calls which statistically will translate into
over 3to 5 MILLION folks that will have
serious reception problems due to:
**equipment hooked up incorrectly(set top boxes mainly)
** signal foot prints being changed
(freq/channel different/different xmit locations and beams)
** marginal home antennas suitable for analog but
do not have enough directional gain for digital, bent or old.
** too low (30ft receive height for outside fringe areas)
** reflected signal problems, trees, buildings, rock walls ,metal roof
** older preamps with high noise and distortion, cross/adjacent channel
bleed
** noise like interference that allowed analog to be viewed but
interferes with digital, engines, electrial arcing, CB or strong
two way radio, getting into tuners or amps
the biggie, drum roll please…
** received a fringe analog signal considered out of market
for digital signals (sounds like a good excuse for a lot of these
folks out over ~40 air miles, or a excuse for power increase
justified by viewer complaints to the FCC and stations hint, hint)
By the way policy at FCC states that anything that affects
less than 15% of a market or audience is not significant
this, I think is why they insist that 15% still watch antenna?
The WKYT and WOWK example locally makes a good example
as Huntington 13 lost to WKYT DT since the co-channel would
affect less than 15% of the viewers according to FCC opinion on
limiting WKYT’s DTv power to lessen interference.
I think WOWK is now not going to go back to 13;
WYMT is on 12 and so will WKRC 12 in Cincinatti OH
so there will be a few that will find that is the culpret when
their “cliff effect” occurs due to skip/location.
29ION from HUNT. is on 39DT and so is WLEX so
I personally have seen those two cause me problems.
Home viewers are not the only ones affected
any mom and pop cable systems (TRUE CATV)
will or are reconfiguring to keep up with these
channel shell games.
BIG cable and sat companies have and will
backhaul signals around from “headends”
where reception is better.
Smaller companies likely cannot afford that.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
“statistically [on a national scale]
will translate into over
3to 5 MILLION folks that will have
serious reception problems”
(if you could not infer what I meant from those market numbers)
September 20th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Maybe if enough people complain they will start to issue antenna coupons.
And then when they find that antennas just aren’t going to help some people who
would otherwise have a good analog reception, they will ditch the shutdown date.
September 21st, 2008 at 12:25 am
As you hinted at the broadcasters have abandoned certain viewers in favor of
the promise of digital broadcasting capturing more antenna viewers in the concentraited population centers. The broadcasters receive some protection
from the government as cable(and sat) have must carry regulations on
over the air broadcasters, not to mention that it is a smart thing to
offer in the CATV-community ANTENNA Television service, to offer
MOST or ALL of the potenially recievable signals in the area of the
“COMMUNITY” they serve. The FCC, states and cities began regulation
of and carrot and stick LEASE of CATV systems so they did not have to
run them and could tax them as a source of re-venue.
Cities and communities ran thes community ANTENNA tv systems as
a service to their taxpayers then the FCC stepped in and allowed mega
corpos to broker these systems if they aggreed to certain rules.
Late 80-’s early 1990’s the sat. companies gained enough pollitcal
clout*(bribes and campain contributions, favorite charity contributions et c.)
to allow the Rupert Murdoc DBS -direct broadcast sat. dishes to
“compete” with cable. Well there are lots of Antenna stations that are
left in limbo and CATV companies that have enought “grey” area that
they feel justified in what every they have to do to “compete”;
The most surprising thing I have seen lately is the
flaiming liberaal ED BEGLEY jr. appearing on Sat commercials
when he is such a radical, he wont eat meat and has spent so
much on solar cells his grand chillin might see the break even point.
EVERY sat launch does real damage to the ozone layer, not to mention
all the exotic material that will eventually burn up in the atmosphere even
if 10,ooo yrs from now when all the space junk returns.
Ed gotta eat I supose but it seems hypocrital to the max given his
stated watermellon environut perspectives?
Get this I am for being able to go off the grid with wind and solar and such.
I do not support the astronomical increase in satellite launches, most of
which have less than a 15 yr lifespan, that includes all radio, on star,
irridium, spy, NRO, USAF, CIA, NASA, ESA, AREIAN(french)
PRC, Japan, USSR… et cetera ad nausium
There is never as many planes in the air as there is space junk
objects to track these daze.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:56 am
I can see radio making a comeback in those deep fringe areas.
look at this (claimed) efficient AM transmitting antenna design:
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/cfa/
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
just like rock and roll help save radio in the late 50s from the onslaught of TV
this antenna could help fill the am dial with Hi-definition AM digital signals being
rebroadcast from every cell phone tower at low power to cover a market area
with dozens of digital channels of talk and music in full HD audio?
Who will pay for it? Some could be subscription based.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Since I mentioned all the satellite launches above, we do pay a price…
EPA against limiting rocket fuel ingredient in water
AP
Sept. 23, 2008
…perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists.
The EPA document says that mandating a clean-up level for perchlorate would not result in a “meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems.”
September 28th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
“Commissioner Copps deserves credit for urging the commission to engage in a “real-world test” that would help ready the broadcasters, viewers and us for the upcoming transition,” he said in prepared remarks
Yep a real FLAT world test, we shall see what happens in
Pittsburgh, Charleston, and various other hilly and reflected
signal situations. This “real world’ test was a farse.
A small market in flat topography not much of a test.
They could have found some other “volunteer” market it
seems.
http://
broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/one-percent-wilmington-househoulds-help-transition-0923/
October 5th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Does anyone think it would help any to play around with co-phasing antennas?
I used to have some luck with this back in the old CB days, but admit to never
trying it with UHF/VHF… let alone television.
May not be worth the effort as it might cause “ghosting” and tuner rejection?
October 5th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
This whole Digital Television deal is just too unreliable.
I’m about to give up on the whole thing… Don’t need it anyway.
Too much of a headache to get a near perfect analog signal and
a “no-signal” display coming from the same station’s digital signal.
At least we will have channel 10 and can get a few KET.D stations.
I generally watch channel 10 most of the time anyway…
Figure in that the wife likes to watch her “shows” a few hours a day
is the only reason that the networks will be missed at all.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
You are far from alone Nighthawk, aleast you are
not so defeated that you speak up about it even if
only on a blog. How many are so self-defeated they
have given up hope enought to even call D.C. or
email the FCC? “It’s no use”
A remote control rotator will aleviate a lot
of problems but your antennas are below par
just going by the pictures and descriptions.
any amp has to be low gain and
looowwwww noise/distortion.
to get the signals down to the set from
~30+ feet up. Just those basics will
help most folks get local and signals
out to ~60miles much more reliably.
SO plan on plunking down $200 if
you shop frugally to get SOME of the
wife’s shows OTA. in February.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
The newer tuners have chipset based equalizers and
filters to deal with some of the ghosting and time base
co-ruption in the clock ticks of the signal.
SO perhaps the next chipsets (7th generation?) will
be even better?
October 5th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Personally, I was planning on calling the TV stations first and hoping they would tell me
to call or write the FCC so that information could be included in the letter or phone calls.
“When speaking with a representative from station _____ in _____, I was advised to
contact the FCC with this problem.”
Is the magic line I was hoping for by calling the TV stations first.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
The truth is that I’m not going to drop another $200 into antenna/amp etc…
Local media is good enough for me. Especially on nights like tonight when
I can just turn off the tube and listen to the TV band on the radio.
That is one of the things I look forward to on some weekend nights.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
yeah well, you are weird and the government
has to watch out for types like you.
What Radio with TV sound? or vice versa?
The $200 figgure was a estimate retail amount, I
have heard some folks sell their amps with antennas
for a $60-75 as they sell out and get cable or sat.
even when they get several
Lexington digital channels;
October 6th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Sarcasm I suspect? lol
Emerson model# PM3900A 120VAC or 6VDC via 4 C sized batteries (D cells would be better).
October 6th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Oh yeah… It has AM, FM, VHF High, VHF Lo, and weather.
Nice little radio that comes in real handy.
Trouble is tuning between the roar of the video carrier and the FM stations bleed over.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Ask me about my old GE Model P-1990A AM/SW/FM that I’ve had since the early 1970’s
the same radio that I started listening to shortwave stations over.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:03 am
If you think I’m weird from what I wrote, then you should meet me in person
October 7th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Wait a minute, I might have had that GE since the 1960’s since I can remember not being able
to get any FM stations on it.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:18 am
My favorite is my GE model 400 in the bakelite cabinet.
AM band only but has 5 tubes and really pulls in those DX stations.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I don’t know about you, but if the FCC is going to hand out converter box coupons, then they
should be handing out antenna upgrade coupons to go along with them.
Since they are going out of their way to promote unreliable reception to us in deep the fringes,
then they should give us an $80 dollar coupon to help us to be able to use those converters.
Otherwise those $80 worth of converter coupons is just a waste of tax money for many people
who just can’t afford to upgrade antennas.
Sure, those extra channels are cool if you can get them, and digital makes for a good bonus
if you want to invest in it… but why do away with good old reliable analog?
At least ION comes in plain over analog, but the digital converter rejects it from where I’m at.
Same for a few other network channels, good analog picture and sound, but no digital, or
I have to wait in the skip to roll in to watch digital a few hours a day and a few hours a night.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Gee-Whiz! The skip is good tonight… I have some digital network channels.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
HecK I would like to have a coupon for some tower sections since
where I am at to get above the trees towards Lexington it is over 70feet.
Anybody got some “z-bar” tower 10ft Rohn 20g? Guy wire and brackets?
October 9th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Well we could start negotiations for Tower Coupons and maybe end up having to settel
for antenna coupons instead.
I’ve discovered that my sections of tower aren’t going to get the antenna up high enough
to get above the tree-line (safely)… It’s commercial “square” tower rather then the triangle
type, so additional sections are going to be hard to come by… UNLESS:
I could maybe get someone to weld me some kind of adapter out of 1/4″ steel square with
4 fittings on the bottom to fit atop the square tower, and 3 fittings on the top to stand the
triangular tower (additions) onto…
Of course the concrete to pour into the 6×6x4 footer is going to be expensive enough
for me… So maybe I can top a tree and bolt and strap some kind of tripod like deal up
to fit a small section of pipe and use a rotor (hope that lightning doesn’t find it appealing) :O
Maybe I had something there shooting under the trees with that little homemade antenna?
October 9th, 2008 at 2:03 am
That little homemade antenna, as crude looking as it looks, did a decent job when I was
using it to aim under/around the tree-line with other trees in the distance far enough away
that I could keep the antenna low and aim above the distant tree-line yet below/around the
trees within 50′ foot of me… But that’s just the specific conditions in my area.
One of those commercial cat-whisker/Lexington antennas with like you wrote about over on
the prior page might be a way out of installing the tower (at least in my area).
I wouldn’t have put all of those trees out ~30 years ago IF I had any reason to expect such
a cut in the power of broadcast television (or a digital transition).
Does anyone realize how fast trees can reach 70 foot when you live in a damp valley/hollow?
I literally intended for them to grow that fast and have my own little “park” at home, and this
goal has been realized for the most part.
Now it’s time to start adding cedar trees so that my great grandchildren might have some
kind of money by selling off from a cedar grove that will take ~60 years to reach harvest.
I can move my antenna into a clearing, but then I get all kinds of electrical interference…
unless I move it to a location where a 100′ run of coax would be necessary just to the
outer wall of the house/cabin… but by then I might have lost the gain…
Still might be worth a good try though.
If the taxman didn’t get every dollar that I manage to save up during the year for Christmas
then I might be able to afford a few more options.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Yeah, well that last post strayed around on and off topic, but there is a simple point…
Existing Broadcasters should be “grandfathered” and have a choice to remain analog.
Or resume analog broadcasting after the shutoff date after receiving a number of calls
from people who can’t receive their signals anymore.
I mean, if you have been on channel X, Y, or Z for the last 45 or 50 years broadcasting
in analog, then you should have the option to remain on that channel and keep your
analog signal in addition to any digital crap that the FCC is pushing to make China rich.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I’m thinking about adding an AC line filter first, as I’m starting to think that my lack of reception
has more to do with AC line noise or Electrical Interference then it does my antenna or skip.
Funny I can be watching TV 10 on one set and the converter on the other set and get great
reception until I start seeing tracer bullets coming across the set that is tuned to TV 10 and
the converter blinks out…
I don’t hear any power tools running anywhere nearby, and it isn’t an on and off thing…
just steady electrical interference for hours upon hours.
I had theorized that KET might be knocking the signals out, but they are on air 24/7…
Then I thought that the Radio Stations might be causing RFI as they will bleed other stations,
but that would be occuring 24/7 as well…
Now I am at the conclusion that it’s coming from the AC Main and into the house, continuing
into my converter and disrupting my reception — the same way that it’s entering my into my
analog tuner and causing the tracer bullets to shoot across the screen.
I’ve been paying attention, and when those tracer bullets go away I have digital reception.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Bryan says the FCC told the power companies to have the power line problem fixed by February 2009, which is the date the feds want high definition signals to all televisions.
“People who are in the area with the ‘noise,’ instead of receiving a picture like they normally do from the TV, they’re simply going to get a blue screen like Windows gone bad,” Bryan described.
I have to wonder if we have a similar problem somewhere nearby me.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
IF you have tracer bullets horizontal or diagonal
or bothe it can be from AC arcing.
You will notice these in the channels 2-13 and
much more for say channel 3 WSAZ or 8 10 11 13
but I have seen my computer put lots of strange
diagonal tracer bullet like lines and dashes
in those channels too. I have even seen a
digital answering machine cause interference in
ch-7to 13 ALL ANALOG of course.
In digital it is much harder to figgerout what is
causing such stuff. especially in multiple interference situation
as I am describing.
Making sure all your fittings are exactly done with insulation butting
up to the seat of the fitting and properly crimpted and tightened to
shield out the most possible outside RF.
Location of antenna(s) as far as possible from the areas of the house
or neighbors where such interfering devices are used and as high up
as possible. Replace Spark plugs and wires with RF supression types
even on the weed eater and lawnmowers and all engines or else
when the wife pulls in and out the driveway or is doing the
weedeating or leafblowing or rototilling you’re game or
Nascar race could be interupted.
OF course during her “shows” you could do the same thing
and she might not figger out why?
October 9th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
TV tuners can interfer with each other as well
for instance channel 10 has as a first harmonic
of 192mhz = 364mhz and that is around channel 22
so that could be the source as well for some interference;
I remember when cable came in to our neighborhood the
old rotory dial tuner on the neighbors TV set would re-radiate
what they were watching so when they were on channel 11
we could rotate the antenna at their den and see Ted Tuner’s
SuperStation or CNN when they watched ch12 I think, back then
were the channels. I have a TV with duel tuner PIP
and can put the DTV tuner in the Picture in picture box.
As I flip up through the current analog channels I pick up
I can see the DTV channel I am watching PIP lock up and
unlock as the other tuner creates spirrius harmonics back thru
the jumper wires. THis is a high tech $400(300 on special)
27″ ZENITH tv that is about 7yrs old with all the input jacks for
s-video and such. I have tried both the Magnavox and Zentith
DTV tuners and RCA and Magnavox DVD VCR COMBOS with
DTV tuners and it can be a problem for some channels with all of them
granted I am in a high reflection and fringe signal area.
Still looking for tower sections…LOL?
October 9th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Well those tracer bullets was heavy all day and are now diminishing and Lex-D is coming in now
just in over the last 5 minutes… so it seems like something has been turned off…
I was watching both television sets well into daylight with digital and analog coming in fine…
But as soon as the dual lines of tracer bullets started rolling on the analog stations, the digital
started blacking out a station or two at a time with analog being worsened too.
Well I spoke too soon and both are acting up again.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Tracers just about non-existent now over analog, and getting a couple of network digital
channels on the other set, and of course when those bullets completely fade away, I will
get some more channels over the converter.
Surely people aren’t running the old window box AC this time of year?
I’ve had the windows open with a fan running for (at least) a couple of weeks now.
Yeah it gets cool and damp feeling of a late-night/early-morning but I breathe better.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I am getting Beattyville 65(DTV7) just wondering if anyone else is ?
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
When I say I am getting 65DTV I mean it comes in the evenings and late night when the weather/conditions are right.
IF you are getting it or not even after aiming the antenna
post a approximate location and brief description of the
antenna/amp/height you are using. I have talked with
others who would like to get it after the analog shutdown
takes out their fringe Ch. 65 signal that sounds like they wont
be getting the DTV channel to me in these iron deposit
electrical zapping “tracer bullet” rittled hills.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I have noticed just about all antennas have connection problems
due to skimpy construction designs.
I think if one were to use flux and solder and a torch
IF CARFUL you could solder all the wire truss connectors
to where they wrap accros rivets or accross brackets to tie
the elements together and this would give a longer corrosion
free, predictable-signal strength life for the antenna.
Now if you are not carefull you could drip solder into the
tuned elements and de-tune them slightly or melt a rivet or
something, I haven tried this so perhaps some old
HAM operator has experimented with improving purchased
antennas for Two-Way in this way?
October 25th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Figures released Oct. 15 by The Nielsen Company reveal that more than 9 million households in the United States remain unprepared for the February 2009 DTV transition.
Additionally, 12.6 million other households have at least one TV set that will not work after analog transmitters go dark Feb. 17, 2009. Taken together, the findings equate to nearly one in five U.S. households being partially or completely unready for the transition, according to Nielsen.
Between May 1 and Sept. 1, the number of fully unprepared households decreased 1.4 percentage points to 8.4 percent of all U.S. TV households, Nielsen said.
The research organization found that households headed by less educated, lower income and blue collar workers are the least prepared. Additionally, it found older white households are better prepared than younger African-American, Asian or Hispanic households.
Other findings include:
Nine million U.S. households completely unready for DTV transition
Oct 21, 2008 11:26 AM
* About 13 percent of Hispanic households are completely unready for the transition; a quarter of households that speak only or mostly Spanish are completely unprepared.
* Almost 13 percent of African-American households are completely unready.
* Households with annual incomes lower than $25,000 per year are five times more likely to be unprepared than those earning more than $75,000.
* Households whose head of the house possess lower than a high school diploma are twice as unlikely to be ready compared to those with college degrees.
* Households headed by those with blue collar occupations are about 75 percent more likely to be unready than those headed by white collar workers.
broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/nine-million-unready-dtv-transition-1021/
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 am
(on the 9million unprepared number)
I consider myself unprepared and I am supposed to
know something? My location requires a rotator and
about a 80foot tower to get above the trees.
I will be losing about 5 or more reliable Lexington
and Huntington stations in favor of maybe
12 unreliable DTV stations unless I get a tower rotator
antenna up higher and away from the metal roofs and
trees swaying.
November 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I am among the (DTV) unprepared too, and have basically decided to wait until after
February to start serious antenna and tower upgrades.
I am way too close to WKMR analog for an antenna booster to work properly and the
38 UHF notch filter is rather expensive for what it consists of, but the FM trap will be
a must have in my location.
The analog stations that I do get have an almost (analog) cable clear reception, but
digital signals from the same stations have many issues, mostly skip conditions I think.
So you can count on me to be among the tower owners who will no doubt have to install
a flashing beacon at the top (due to the height).
I’d Imagine that 30′ up could mean 30′ above a tree thats 50-60 foot away?
November 14th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Going by the picture you posted, your issues are all
antenna that beat up old antenna was too small when
it was new, sorry but it is and was. The rating on
it probably was 35miles over clear unobstructed terrain.
Lexington by airmiles is 53miles from your location I think
Fox WDKY is like 62 as is the WVA stations;
The rotator and a bigger antenna will do you the most
good even without a “booster”. The local 38 issue
can be dealt with by slight rotation of the antenna to change
the reflection/overdrive problem. The varible gain preamps with
FM trap can be tweeked up and down to find a optimum level on
each station or group of stations. It is a hassel I know.
I would hate to be out in the winter up north as hundreds of thousands of folks will be monkey-ing around with antennas in february-march 2009.
November 14th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
WTVQ .2 is showing MYTV some primetime hours
instead of their weather channel, they are not taking
local avails spots so the logo rotates for 2min. which is
pretty dull.
I saw a Wesley Snipes movie last night (part of it)
The “HD” men in black 2 is on next week I think.
I have been getting in WYMT57 (12DTV) more reliably lately perhaps
WKRC 12 in Ohio has run down to 80% power or something?
November 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
The single horizontal dipole for UHF is admittedly minimal to be receiving any digital in this area,
but it works out well for analog. Rabbit ears and a little UHF loop does about as well from inside
though, save for some snowy pictures or ghosting patterns.
So yeah, an antenna upgrade is going to have and come first.
It is tax time however, so that school tax is going to put me behind a few months as I scrape
to get by on what food I put back over the last 10 months or so.
I say it’s the school tax because they seem to be get more than twice as much as the county.
So I if I sound a little squirrelly it’s because I have to live like a squirrel, packing away groceries
to do me until after I get caught up from paying my property tax (rent on my own land).
A man ought to just quit renting his own land and start squatting on the National Forest.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Yeah I heard some one talking about land ownership the other day and I could not get a word in edgewise to tell them that it is an illusion since all you own is the “ad valorem” deed or warrant deed and that is what you pay “ad valorem” tax on since it supposedly ads value to the property to have a deed filed with the county. Deeds used to contain the phrase of
“in fee simple and absolute” when it was possible to actually hold “Allodial title” and there
was no “property” tax.
Back to the topic, notice now that cold weather has set in they are really
pushing the “antennas are more important than ever” PSAs for mainly
the broadcast networks and channels.
They waited until it is cold weather to push the ideas that you might need a new antenna
or a new type of antennas, like for 57WYMT I started seeing the two couch potatoes saying they will have to call “momn-dad” to tell them to get a VHF antenna just about in the last 6weeks.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Oh and do you or have you heard the cable and sat networks talk about
antennas, no? Gee I wonder why; they want to maintain the perception and
sentiment that I have heard out of folks mouth repeatedly :
” I thought they did away with antenna TV years ago”
Some folks have no clue how stuff works, they just want
what they want when they want it and that is what they want
and do not care how they get it as long as it works.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 am
antenna coupon, great idea!
It started with a visteon HD radio computer add on, impressed.
Then I finally replaced a pair of SG 16:10 22″ tubes with a pair of 26.5″ Samsungs, one with a HD tuner. I’ve had cable for 15 years since the stucco walls have a nice steel mesh radio shield. I went a month or so before I tried genuine rabbit ears. I didn’t expect much. I let the fancy TV scan and holy crap - 21 digital and 5+ there and blank, 7+ additional analog. Never knew…bye cable. 1080i on many, 720p on 1? that just scales funny, lots of 480i.
Me happy.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Hey that_guy what is your approximate location and
height above average terrain, just using rabbit ears around
here will not get 21digital unless you might be on
Mount Olyimpia or around norther Bath Co. where
you get some of Cincinnati’s Digitals as well as LEX.?
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Denver area, on a hill, so I think a large metro area doesn’t count in your concern. I was surprised about the channels I didn’t know about, ION, MTV3, etc. I didn’t know there were 5 digital PBS’s - I watch DW, etc. The really amazing, and annoying find are the 3 digital spanish movie channels, unlike any english equivalent. Not even english sub-titles -no - that ain’t right. I doubt I’m pulling anything past 25-30 miles. I can easily see the viability of DTV in a metro area successfully competing with basic cable - if everyone knows about it. We are flooded with info on the changeover and word is no digital transmission is currently full power until analog goes dark - so it is expected to get better in the foothills.
Main point: Digital version is beyond compare to its analog counterpart in this area. So maybe no middle ground on this issue, way worse or way better…
Also, I’m at 9600′ on cable now, will be back in Denver in a few hours and won’t be back to this site until Sunday.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Well you STILL should get the DTV box with analog pass thru
(Radio Shack works) as I suspect in the Denver area there
will be a few LPTV Analog signals for some time.
The Tuners in most sets will still scan in the analog signals BUT
YOU MUST CONSIDER that these flat panel AND DTV
TVs make anything but the exact display resolution look worse.
The old glass tube TVs WITHOUT the digital tuner give the best overall fast
display of picture without “DIGITAL BLUR” or
up conversion-down conversion artifacts and tile affects.
The flat panel technology is bound to get better and cheeper very soon
unless the global economy implodes LOL?
There was some Price fixing Deal &FINE payed by the LCD makers
in the news in Novermber08
December 5th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
ZZtop had a album cut called “I HEARD IT ON THE X”
about a Mexican High power FM south of the border that
was blasting its signal way out at some ridiculous wattage
back when all the domestics could get was 20-50thousand watts.
There are some really cheep low power ANALOG TV wireless
devices out there and some Higher power analog Transmitters/exciters
that some folks could go on the air with in a Denver Urban Area setting
as a ~pirate or non-licensed TV station BUT there are, last count,
2500-4000 LPTV and “Class A” stations around the country that are not
under the “Full Power” Mandate to go DTV on 2/17/09, several of these
have not applied for “Flash Cut” or DTV channels as yet.
The Mexican TV stations do not have to go Digital either, in Denver you
likely will never catch a skip on those unless you have some Monster
15foot All band antenna with a honkin pre-amp and transmission line like
RG11 down to a really low noise distribution amp. with a nice rotator and
some Ionospheric skip during solar flares. HA?
IF you spend 500on a antenna set up it would eventually pay for itself if
you do not get a major lighting hit or ICE or Tornado or ?
All that said I am very pro-antenna it is fun to catch these DX signals when the
conditions are ripe.