State of the Art

[robmx]

Originally posted by SteveK2 on AVSFORUM
Yes, arxaw is correct. The 'hotspots' and 'banding' of UHF signals (the spectrum in which most digital broadcasts occur currently) is very common, even over very short distances.

You probably did what lots of people do when mounting an antenna...."i'll mount it over there on the chimney (or sidewall, or roof surface itself)"....or wherever......but the choice is usually done out of convenience for mounting, access, or cable snaking.

What needs to be done for digital reception is to test the antenna in multiple locations/heights on the roof and look at the stb's signal strength meter so that you can select an optimized location (at least for the stations you are most interested in viewing). Having 2 people using FRS radios works best for this....one on the roof with the antenna (and good balance;) )and one person inside watching the signal strength.

Hopefully your mount was very elaborate so that you can disassemble and re-mount in a better spot.

Good Luck.

Gear wrote:
Welcome to the retrograde world of 8-VSB. It still is hard for me to believe that this is the state of the art in the US of A.

Does anyone still think that we can have a OTA DTV transition with post like this being read by the general public?

When will it become obvious to the majority that we have made a technical mistake in choice of modulation? Maybe this is a blessing in disguise and we will abort 8-VSB soon in favor of a real modulation system like that being introduced in China, DMB-T. In that case we will actually be ahead of the curve again.

[robmx]

Originally posted by PerryH on AVSFORUM:

Gear: I've thought the same thing over the last week ... if I can't make this work how can the average consumer get it to work.

I have an amateur radio license and an Electrical Engineering degree - though I have to admit I got really tired of going up and down that ladder last weekend, and I quit out of frustration. Doing this without another set of eyes makes it far more difficult.


Gear wrote:
Read quickly these thoughts are not politically correct on AVSFORUM and will be deleted in moments. That will probably include your post PerryH since you are tainted by mine.

You understand that in most parts of the world the antenna is much smaller. In Japan where they begin broadcasting HDTV via DTV OTA in December they have receivers that work with cell phones. That is the antenna is 1.2 inches and it works while you are moving in a car or walking down the street.

Ín Japan they will offer both HDTV and a version of same for cell phones, PDA's and in car reception. They are using a modulation called ISDB-T. In China they have an even better one called DMB-T.

There is not reason except politics that you have to be on your roof at all.

In NYC now COFDM DVB-T allows reception of 12 channels SD while you drive all over Manhattan at up to 75mph (FDR) with a 4 inch antenna. And yes you could receive two channels of HDTV on one 6 MHz Channel with these modulations in Japan (6MHz) or the US.