Greetings:
Someone recently wrote to me
with the following story regarding his experience
with DTV. Have you had a chance to evaluate analog
vs. digital?
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As both a ham and an RF Engineer, I am naturally
curious about other peoples experience with the
transition to Digital TV. I think perhaps a new
Blog site on RF Café would be an appropriate forum
for this topic.
As for my own experiences
with DTV, it took a lot of research and experimentation
to get where I am now. I currently live in Port
Saint Lucie Florida which is about 65 miles from
most of the TV stations. Getting reliable TV coverage
without resorting to cable was quite a challenge
at this distance, but the ham in me just made me
all the more determined. After a few failed attempts
with the usual garden variety outdoor antenna, I
settled on a Winegard HD-9032 Yagi which is providing
very good results at only 20 feet above the ground.
For a second house in Cape May NJ, I used
the same type antenna at 20 foot off the ground
and was able to pull in 31 stations from Philadelphia
which is over 71 miles away using a Zenith DTT901
Digital Converter Box. Once again the results were
amazingly good and rock solid, probably because
much of the path is over water.
I must admit
that, when Digital TV was first proposed, I was
convinced it would be a complete disaster. In the
past, I was always able to pull in less than ideal
stations and put up with a snowy picture. With DTV,
I was convinced it would be all or nothing, with
the emphasis on nothing.
But my experiences
prove otherwise. The Zenith DTT901 tuner is hot
and really does a great job pulling in weak stations
in fringe areas. I have to conclude the FCC did
quite a good job when they set up the technical
specifications for these boxes.
I would
be interested in reading about other peoples experiences
(preferably technical) with the transition to DTV.
It would be useful knowing not only what works,
but what was tried and didn't work. This could be
of great help to others looking to set up a DTV
setup.
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