Incoming President Requests DTV Cutover Delay

[Bob Bruninga]

> That's astounding.  
> Do you get so many stations
> because of your location?  
> Baltimore + DC? Do you
> use a beam antenna? 
> If so do you rotate it? 

I scrounged around in the garage and found an old TV antenna that had about 6 elements on UHF (a log periodic).  I cut off all the VHF stuff and so what remains is only about a 1 foot long UHF array.  I pointed it at DC (I am maybe 35 miles away).  I put this on the side of the chimney which is only about 30 feet above ground and ground is only about 30 feet above sea level.

I get all of the baltimore channels "off the back" and I get all of the DC channels off the front.  No rotator.  Of course, I have a line amp right at the antenna, and then 50 feet of coax to the set where the DC for the amp is injected.

There are only two low-power DC only UHF channels that I do not get.  Oh, of course, the "50+ stations" is reallyl HYPE, since each DTV station really is sending as many as 3 sub channels.

If I went to the top of my tree (80 feet) and used a good higher gain UHF beam, I bet I could get even those low power DC only stations too.

>   and WETA both transmit in HD?  Do HD signals carry
>   as well over distance as standard definition DTV?

I am impressed.  on some stations, the analog is so marginal that my wifew wont watch it at all, but the DTV on that same channel is perfect (maybe an occasional hit).. but then that is comparing a VHF analog signal begin received on a UHF only antenna to a UHF DTV signal.

>   fuzzy.  She thinks in terms or across the room
>   viewing. 

The thumb rule is a foot away for each 3 inches of screen width.  So, for my 42" TV ($799 from walmart), the couch is about 13 feet away.

>   Bob Bruninga wrote:
>
> If a TV station switches over to DTV
> and nobody gets a free converter
> box will anybody watch?
>
> Well, I held off for 20 years.  Till last week we had only rabbit ears on a 13" TV in the closet that we only brought out once every 4 years to watch the olympics.  With kids, we just decided to raise them with no TV in the house except the 13" hooked to a VCR for the occasional movie.
>
> But on sale last week, I went and got a big TV. and wow am I impressed with off-air DTV.  WIth just a 6 dBi gain UHF antenna, I am getting 50+ stations in unbelievable DTV quality, and not paying a cent.
>
> But I agree, its 48 channls of worthless garbage, thank heavens for PBS.  Kids are gone, now, so I'mm ready for some relaxing TV.  But not quite yet...
>
> Wife insists that the big TV disappear when not in use.  THis is beacuse the only place to put it is in the middle of our big bay window!  So I am cutting a hole in the bottom of the bay, where the TV can disappear down into the lean-to roof attic of the first floor below the window.  This and 60 lbs worth of springs and mechanism to make it easy to pull up and down.
>
> Nothing is ever easy..
>
> Bob, WB4aPR
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