Digital Television Transition Expo

[Philip Miller Tate]

Aaah, I remember the bad old days of analogue TV. When a badly-wired  
car drove past the house, we got spots all over the screen. During a  
really hot spell of weather, the picture went all funny, and a nerd  
like me would run up to my room, detune the old VHF TV up there, re- 
position my home-made aerial, switch the modulation switch that I  
installed, and watch European TV coming over the horizon.

Not any more. Now, we in the UK only have perfect digital pictures.  
Of course, if the station skimps on data rate, the resolution is a  
bit rough. Oh, and when it rains heavily, we get no picture or sound  
whatsoever. At other times, the perfect picture freezes for no good  
reason. Oh yes, sometimes we got interference - but we still got a  
picture.

It's the same with radio. I built my first crystal set at age nine,  
my first transistor set at ten, and my first superregen VHF set at  
thirteen. Of course, the next generation won't be able to throw a DAB  
set together from discrete components, but then again, they might be  
able to get damn good SW reception from the distant countries less  
enamoured of digital technology - until hash from digital systems  
makes them inaudible.

This is called "progress".

Phil M1GWZ