[SBE] We should all say something...

[Mike Armatta]

So, radio is not a viable option?  I remember listening to a battery 
radio during hurricane Carla.  Why?  because my dad took down the 40' 
mast the TV antenna was on in preparation for the storm.  FEMA says 
to have a battery operated radio.

Personally, I can't wait to turn off the analog transmitter.

And BTW, most of the campers I see have a sat dish set up outside.

At 04:05 PM 4/8/2008, Gary wrote:


>Carl hits the nail on the head and?I appreciate his thoughtful note. 

>BTW, ditto for analog radio. What we have here with this television 

>technology evolution is different than when we went?from BW to 

>color. The systems were compatible back then. Yes, visual artifacts 

>in resolution and?color fidelity to name a few but it was compatible.?

>

>Think about?the circumstances if Katrina had hit after?analog 

>sunset. Or 911 with most of the TV transmitting infrastructure for 

>NYC on the north tower...

>

>It would have been nice if the mandate for digital TV (and analog 

>sunset) also ?included? ubiquitous availability of?portable TV 

>receivers with exceptional tuners.. I think that?is important 

>because these receivers will be operated in a disadvantaged 

>situation (i.e. no antenna gain or height).... From the test 

>evaluations I have read, many of the DTV tuner designs are built on 

>the cheap with poor performance; single conversion types. One can't 

>demodulate the bit stream if the front end is lousy. So someone in 

>the tent or camper ?better be able to climb a tree to point the UHF 

>Yagi!? For us HAMS ?it's another Field Day but for Joe Average and 

>Family it's a nightmare.

>

>I believe?the next disaster, be it national or local, that 

>someone?is going to be out of luck if all we have is digital as we 

>know it. It might just cost them their lives. I think it needs to be 

>brought into the discussion before we find analog gone forever.

>

>Gary Brefini

>SBE Member

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: Carl Sundberg <carlesundberg at yahoo.com>

>To: sbe member discussion mail list <sbe at sbe.org>

>Sent: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 12:05 am

>Subject: [SBE] We should all say something...

>

>

>

>As all of us engineers know, many of our viewers have been mired in 

>deep snow on

>many channels for years. Included with the snow storms viewers put 

>up with, they

>also are visited by ghosts and other viewable electronic goblins. Yahoo for

>analog. This window to the electronic world has at least brought millions the

>pleasure of drama, entertainment and news for decades. When the monsters from

>our electronic past become the fodder every scrap dealer dreams 

>about... There

>will be many, many people wondering where we went. I have viewers 

>calling from

>all over that put up with the snow and ghosts for years who now have the new

>coupon converter boxes and call up and ask, "When are you going 

>digital?" We're

>on the air. We're there, but their poorly aimed and 

>corroded  antenna lead ins

>can't win the multipath battle that is going to finally be the best 

>thing that

>ever happened for Satellite, Cable and IP TV in the future.

>

>Being a kid from Florida who watched hurricane coverage again and again by a

>battery powered TV, I don't want to believe we are going to be 

>turning off the

>most important storm warning mass communication system ever made. In the

>process, we're asking people to throw away millions of battery 

>powered TV's that

>a converter box can't rescue. No. None of us are happy keeping 

>double the gear

>going with no more money to keep it working, but all of this seems 

>like a train

>wreck. I can't wait for the day when we cover the Senate Hearing in 

>HD after the

>storm where Congress investigates how we made such a giant mistake. 

>This change

>is going to cost some lives and make a ton of people mad as heck in 

>the process.

>As engineers, we all should stand up and say something regarding 

>this being too

>big of a change and too soon.

>

>Is our government going to have a digital portable exchange for the analog

>portables in time for the next power robbing storm? I think not. We 

>should all

>say something...

>

>Carl Sundberg

>3318 Coraly Ave.

>Eugene, OR 97402-6544

>

>Cell: 541 520-2867

>Landline: 541 461-2324

>

>----- Original Message ----

>From: Bob Reite <br at telcen.com>

>To: sbe member discussion mail list <sbe at sbe.org>

>Sent: Monday, April 7, 2008 8:24:56 PM

>Subject: Re: [SBE] Ready to turn analog back on?

>

>I just got my converter box coupon so I went to Circuit City and picked

>up a Zenith DTT-900 CECB.  Although in theory I'm line of sight to the

>   TV transmitting antennas, I'm in a notch with hills on either side, so

>there is a fair amount of multipath. Analog signals are watchable, but

>not good.  In our market (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre), all of the analog TV

>stations are on UHF, except for a low power Catholic station on channel 7.

>

>The box worked well, except for the two digital stations (the NBC and

>CBS affiliates) that are on VHF channels 11 and 13 and the ABC affiliate

>on channel 49. I made a VHF dipole cut for channel 12, which worked well

>enough to get the converter to operate on these two stations. This may

>turn out to be a major issue in our market, since most people that are

>receiving their TV over the air only have UHF antennas.

>

>I aimed the UHF antenna for the best results on the ABC affiliate

>(WNEP), and it's usable now, but still with some audio dropout.  Until

>the tower collapsed, WNEP had the best analog signal in the market,

>their digital signal seems to be the worst.

>

>

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