[HoustonHam] Digital TV - too technical for public??

[Chris Boone]

To correct some points posted, these are my thoughts (and I am in the
Broadcast biz...have been for 35+ yrs)

As to hams experimenting with DTV, that HAS taken place in Europe but they
use a different scheme of digital there compared to ours. I have not heard
about anything taking place in the US...(yet)

Now back to DTV:
DTV does NOT work well on lowband channels 2-6 because of impulse noise and
other static issues (the same ones that force US to use a Noise Blanker on
six meters or see the S meter pegged a lot of times just on noise :(

KPRC chose to go UHF since that was the only place to go. 8, 11 and 13 ARE
returning to their analog channels with digital signals (11 and 13 currently
are on UHF with their digital; 8 is on RF9)....KPRC will have better overall
coverage than they did on 2 analog...but the FRINGE area is where they will
suffer....as with digital sat, etc its either there or its not!

I've been on DISH network for 10 yrs now....NO complaints...when it starts
to rain HEAVY, yes, I may loose the bird for a short while....a bigger (30in
or so) dish will take care of that! Clouds and moderate rain does NOT affect
a sat install...be it DISH or DIRECTv....Yep, tropical downpour will and we
those from time to time in the summer along the TX Gulf Coast....usually
during the day when Im not home watching TV (Im at work watching the network
:)
Copper wires cannot handle TV...the attenuation at the high freqs is what
kills it (along with DSL, etc)....FIBER is the answer but most Telcos wont
go and retrofit current subdivisions with fiber....(I understand ATT plans
to later on but only to the entrance of the subdiv...then try to force it
down copper if possible; new areas will get it to the house...where you can
get GB speeds and tons of HD TV cable channels.....but that wont be for
everyone)
ATT calls it UVerse.....Verizon calls it FIOS....yes it exists..(friend of
mine in Dallas got FIOS....45MB Internet speed and VoIP telephone over the
fiber...for $40/month total.....)

Anyway, the DTV thing will straighten itself out in a couple of
months.....stations will be maximizing their digital operations or changing
back to analog channels. YET you likely will need an outside antenna (MAYBE
depending on how far you are from the tower) and a PREAMP at the
antenna...do NOT get one of those horrible RS jobs.....Use GOOD equipment
like a Channel Master CM7777 or similar....they work and have a LOW noise
figure...whereas the RS sucks!!

Chris
WB5ITT
Society of Broadcast Engineers member and frequency coordinator for SE TX
and SW La

-----Original Message-----
From: houstonham-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:houstonham-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of chas
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 12:21 PM
To: vaclav_sal at yahoo.com; Amateur Radio in Houston TX area
Subject: Re: [HoustonHam] Digital TV - too technical for public??
> 
> Back to ham radio - anybody experimenting with digital TV ?? Or is it 
> too early??
> 
> 73 Vaclav AA7EJ


FYI and fwiw, there has been discussion on Channel 2 going away (being 
abandoned to our 160m? and lower...??  with the point being that it 
(in Houston... KPRC)  has been on UHF Channel 35 for quite a long time 
and will continue to be there.  UHF really sucks with an external 
antenna with analog.. it is going to be incredible to get a decent 
signal with the same antenna with digital under normal Texas 
weather... I certainly agree with your statement.

during the 30 days that Comcast was unable to provide me service for 
TV during and following IKE, I was enjoying both Ham, MARS and 
streaming download (dsl, I am NOT stupid enough to have cable 
internet!!!)  live from several of the major local stations as very 
few of them were knocked out by the storm.
I hate Satellite TV because it does not work whenever there are clouds 
in the sky.  I hate Comcast because their service sucks... of the 4 
boxes in my house, only two are working at this time... problem is the 
lines outside the house.  When they are working.. all of them are 
pixilating at any one time on virtually all but the local channels.

Has anyone every tried to end run thru the telephone lines for TV?

Not sure how we would get the Encore and other channels but we would 
certainly be able to get the local channels I should think?  I mean, 
there are I don't know how many companies selling telephone service 
via the internet... why not TV service???  it is only a question of 
bandwidth and download speed.

well this is off topic to ham radio but it still makes me wonder WHY 
we have to tolerate the poor service of Satellite and Cable. I really 
cannot believe that Internet TV does not exist to some degree now.


back to waiting for the Comcast repair guy...
chas, houston
k5dam