In June 2005, with good weather, I decided to build an antenna for a digital television receiver. I had heard that DTV offered crystal clear, ghost-free reception. The TV transmitters here were in different directions, so I built a wide angle antenna (stacked cardioid) since I couldn’t buy one. The “art object” without planned camoflage looked like this:
To check the reception with the antenna, I used a splitter to feed both the digital receiver and an old TV that I used to measure the signal strength (AGC). I found the antenna was haunted (multipath). The picture on the old TV was good, but had a noticeable ghost. The digital receiver indicated receiving a strong signal, but the picture was the pit of blackness. The haunting had produced a different symptom on the DTV than the old TV. Ghost free reception for digital wasn’t really true. After I gained some experience with the quirks of DTV, I began collecting for a bibliography on DTV. If the Library did a program on DTV, the bibliography could help people (and librarians) find accurate information. As the years went by with no chance of a program, I finally gave up on the bibliography. Sadly, accurate information is still unavailable to the average viewer. KQED, the San Francisco PBS Station has on their web site the following:
Are You Ready for More Channels?
Clearer Picture?
Better Sound Quality?
No More Ghosting?
Here comes the Digital TV Transition.
On February 17, 2009, Television will be Changed Forever.
Are you Ready?
In spite of what they say about “no more ghosting?”, nowadays, there is some awareness of the DTV haunting problem. The 6th generation chip in the Zenith DTT901 resists haunting with a much better demodulator. With most granny boxes, haunting results in the usual black screen instead of pixel pus.
I winced when I read in the San Francisco Chronicle August 17, 2008 Page D6, the following: “Some history: Congress allocated more spectrum to broadcasters in 1996 so they could create digital broadcast channels.” Actually, TV viewers are losing over 200 Megahertz of prime radio spectrum. Before the big spectrum grab, there were TV channels 2 through 83. What now? Channels 2,3,4,5, and 6 are “unsuitable”. Channels 37, and 70 through 83 are gone. AT&T gets channels 54 and 59. Qual Comm gets channels 55 and 56. Verizon gets channels 60, 61, 65, and 66. Public Safety gets channels 63, 64, 68, and 69. Various Cell phone companies get channels 52, 53, 57, and 58. For Sale are channels 62 and 67. Regional Emergency Services share channels 14 through 20 with DTV stations. People must realize the $40 for each coupon came from somewhere.
A post script to the Library turning down my request to put a message about the $40 coupons on the Widescreen: they are now requesting Staff ideas for messages. For background, see:
https://thedonofpages.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/why-libraries-failed-with-granny-box-coupons/
***Edit September 14, 2008: The San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, Page C1, “FCC steps up … digital TV” repeats the error of “Congress allocated more spectrum”. I had sent an Email to them nearly 2 weeks ago telling them of their mistake. Even if they didn’t believe me, there are several TV Broadcast stations in San Francisco with studios and Chief Engineers. Then again, the PBS Broadcast station here is still running the announcement with the “This Old House” stars saying every household is entitled to a pair of $40 coupons. The FCC is mandating the Broadcasters air an increasing number of spots about the DTV Transition, but apparently there is no requirement that the spots be factually correct. Well no, I haven’t sent PBS an Email, and I suppose I should. Maybe they can get David Brancaccio to do the spot correctly instead of Norm Abram.***
***September 18, 2008
Another error source. ME!! Coupons are still available to everyone. See my next post titled: “DTV Coupon Misinformation from ME!!” ***
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