[Tig] antenna work may be good business

[DCFWTX at aol.com]

Adjusting roof top antennas in Texas, as a young teenager, taught me a log of 
fundamentals regarding RF (and video), especially UHF. Fort Worth/Dallas was 
all VHF till 1967, but when UHF arrived in the summer, it was a new ball game 
with the shorter wavelengths involved. Being able to optimize the home master 
antenna system for VHF and UHF wasn't that big of a deal, but quirks had to be 
dealt with.

It has been about 40 years since that time, and my surviving father, now 82, 
has gone through the implementation and removal of C band satellite, now 
enjoying Dish Network, in addition to VHF (they don't have much interest in UHF 
services of multiple Spanish channels and PTL programs). The MATV system has 
deteriorated a but since I moved away, so UHF is down in performance. Except for 
WFAA, the ABC affiliate on channel 9 with DTV (another story with interference 
to medical devises 
http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/n_the_last_empty_channel.shtml), the entire delivery of DTV is on UHF. When I'm back home in 
several weeks, I plan on re-optimizing the UHF delivery, as there is interest in 
getting a DTV receiver for over the air use. 

So, UHF reception is not rocket science. A simple and effective test is to 
see if one is receiving UHF analog clear and ghost free. If so, chances are the 
UHF delivered DTV channels will have little to no problem. Here in Los 
Angeles, all DTV is basically coming from either Mt. Wilson, or another adjacent 
peak. Except for shaded areas, such as the foothills, signal strength is excellent 
for about 15 million viewers. 

The link below is a good source for channel assignments for DTV. 

http://www.transmitter.com/FCC97115/chanplan.html

There have been modifications to the original plan, for example, quoting 
(over a hamburger and a malt?):

> Houston's KUHT persuaded the FCC to give it DTV Channel 9, as proposed in 
> the first channel plan in July 1996, instead of Channel 53, which it got in 
> the second plan in April 1997. The station pledged to hold down its power and 
> prevent interference to another Channel 9, KTRE in Lufkin, Tex. General 
> Manager Jeff Clarke recalls meeting with Lufkin emissaries last spring at a 
> hamburger joint half way between Houston and Lufkin. By holding onto Channel 9, 
> which is adjacent to KUHT's present Channel 8, the station expects to be able to 
> multiplex the signals and broadcast them through the same transmission line 
> and antenna, saving big money for equipment and avoiding the much higher power 
> bills of a UHF channel. 

http://www.current.org/tech/tech804c.html



David Crosthwait
DC Video 
Archive Videotape Re-mastering
177 West Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA. 91502
818-563-1073
818-563-1177 (fax)
818-285-9942 (cell)
DCFWTX at AOL.COM     
DAVID at DCVIDEO.COM
WWW.DCVIDEO.COM






In a message dated 2/11/2008 9:35:01 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
rob at colorist.org writes:

> TIGNABFS08 - NAB for 2008
> http://colorist.org/wiki3/index.php/TIGNABFS08
> Thanks to Cintel for support in 2008
> ====
> 
> 
> an article in today's NY Times talks about people who use
> rabbit ears may not be able to receive digital TV signals
> next year (when it's mandated) due to digital's "cliff effect"
> (where analog degrades gracefully, digital signals at the
> threshold of S/N disappear almost completely).
> 
> So rooftop antennas may make a comeback.
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11analog.html? 
> _r=1&oref=slogin
> 
> if that wraps badly try this URL:
> http://tinyurl.com/ypy83l
> 
> 



David Crosthwait
DC Video 
Archive Videotape Re-mastering
177 West Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA. 91502
818-563-1073
818-563-1177 (fax)
818-285-9942 (cell)
DCFWTX at AOL.COM     
DAVID at DCVIDEO.COM
WWW.DCVIDEO.COM



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