On Thu, 2008-04-10 at 00:23 +0930, Tim wrote: > Tim: > >> If you're talking rabbit ears, I'm not surprised you see a difference. > >> They're a rotten antenna system. But I'd be very surprised if you don't > >> see some other nasty problems with your digital reception (freezes, > >> blocky picture breakups, etc.). A bit of snow, even ghosting, is still > >> bearable on analogue TV, but digital TV that breaks up and loses sound > >> and picture once every 20 seconds (i.e. repeatedly) due to poor > >> reception issues is unbearable. > > Aaron Konstam: > > You have been right too often lately. Well here again you are right. > > You make it sound like I'm tempting fate, and the grim reaper is lurking > around the corner just waiting to tell me it's his turn now... ;-) > > > On one channel I get this kind of interference. On another channel I > > get no signal at all. > > It's really messy with digital television, as the channel assignments > are all over the place. We're used to tuning into television stations > by real channel numbers (e.g channel two, seven, nine, and ten are > actually VHF channels 2, 7, 9 & 10), so one antenna generally serves > well enough for all of them. Later on we got SBS on UHF 28 (usually, > for major cities), etc., and that sometimes works on the same antenna, > more by brute force than good design (more about ch 28 below). > > Now, with digital broadcasting, the frequencies are spread about all > over the place; and to watch all the channels, you may need an antenna > that covers much of both the VHF and UHF bands. Even good antennas > don't always do that well, rabbit ears (an untuned dipole) are really a > poor way to go about it. > > > But in further investigation I found out that the problem is that > > nearly a year before the big switch not all stations are operating at > > full power. But since after Feb. 20o9 that is all we will have we will > > have to live with it or get cable (the expensive alternative). > > The changeover's been pushed back, yet again, to 2013. There's > experiments all over the place. Here, in Adelaide, the VHF stations > have been broadcasting for years beyond their license range, using > masses of power (they can be received across the gulf, but they're not > meant to, they're licensed for Adelaide and suburbs). All of us have > been taking advantage of that, and getting away with mediocre antenna > systems because there's such a high level of RF in the air to pick up. > SBS on UHF 28 put out the most power of the lot, ostensibly because when > they started many had sets with bad UHF tuners and inadequate antennas, > so they tried to make it easy. > > Now, with extra channels in use, they've got to play around, again, > trying to work out a balance between not interfering with each other, > yet giving the public the best signal that they can manage. They > certainly haven't got that right, yet, as far as I can see. Even with a > strong signal, it still needs to be stronger than unwanted signals > (reflections, other carriers, interference) to be usable. > > And we'll be dealing with a plethora of set top boxes for a long time to > come... One for the lounge, another for the recorder (if you want to > record something different from what you're watching), another for the > portable set out the back, and others for the portable set in the > bedrooms. Yes, they're still selling TVs and recorders that ONLY have > analogue tuners, or only have standard definition tuners (which doesn't > help much - the push is to try and move us up onto high-def, and to do > so by broadcasting something different that can only be received on a > high-def tuner). > > I ain't buying a $1,000+ set, and another tuner, just to watch a movie > with adverts. Nor will masses of others. Considering that those masses > are more than pleased with their low-res set, the approach is just all > wrong. > Just get a less than $100 HD tuner for the computer if you want to watch those events. Save yourself 90% :) > > By the way the quality of rabbit ears depends on where you are in > > relation to the station. In a Big City they have always been adequate > > for me, > > The quality of the rabbit ears really depends on the bunny... ;-) > > > -- > (This computer runs FC7, my others run FC4, FC5 & FC6, in case that's > important to the thread.) > > Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. > I read messages from the public lists. >
