Mobile DTV on the cheap

[Bob Bruhns]

I am still playing with a small VHF-UHF rotatable on an old lamp stand 
in a back room in Herndon.  Before the switch I could get WBAL, but 
since the switch, no.  I read that stations were running huge power on 
digital before the switch, and they dropped way back afterward - like 
300 KW to 7 KW???   If so, that was bait and switch.

I was surprised that people were sold UHF-only antennas for digital.  I 
guess it was a matter of the blind (and the crooked) leading the blind.  
I am not sure which stations are on what RF bands and channels these 
days.  I am not sure what would happen if two stations claimed to be on 
virtual channel 15, maybe the box would ignore one of them, because it 
tells me the virtual channel number.

I do get many more channels with digital than I used to get with analog, 
and the quality is fine as far as I am concerned - better than NTSC was, 
although I'm using an old NTSC TV in composite mode with a set-top box. 
(RF wasn't as good, and I think they forgot to add pre-emphasis on the 
RF sound channel generator, too.)  I get some breakup now and then, 
probably from aircraft landing at Dulles, but I'll see how bad it really 
is when I put the antenna outside!  I have never had cable, it costs too 
much.

   Bob, WA3WDR