As we plod toward the delayed end-date for analog television -- June 12th, unless it gets delayed yet again -- the FCC is ramping up new requirements for stations to educate the public about digital television.  One of their concerns is that viewers be able to predict whether they will be able to receive digital signals, so that they can make an informed decision about spending money on over-the-air equipment.

To that end, the FCC has come out with studies and maps for every station.  They estimate where coverage will change: both in gains from people who could not see the station in analog but who will now get the digital signal; and in losses from analog viewers who will have difficulty pulling in the digital signal.  These maps are only estimates, and have limitations that need to be understood:

• They illustrate changes in projected ability to receive the station.

• They are not comprehensive maps of areas where you are can or cannot receive a digital signal.  They are merely a comparison of digital versus analog coverage.

• The FCC's maps show very little detail, which makes it difficult to tell exactly where their markers equate to real-world locations.

• The estimates are based on unstated assumptions about the antenna system, which makes them less than ideal for making a buy / no-buy decision.

Let's work through these issues and take a look at the resources we have:

First, here are the FCC's maps for the Syracuse market.  You can tell some interesting things just by giving them a glance:

• WCNY-TV, WNYS-TV and WSYT-TV gain a substantial number of viewers because of the greater efficiency of the digital signal, and in WSYT's case because of dropping from channel 68 down to channel 19.  None of these stations have major numbers of analog viewers who cannot receive their digital signal.

• WSPX-TV loses some analog viewers, but gains a similar number of new digital viewers.  Mostly, this seems to be the result of a slightly different antenna pattern.

• WSYR-TV loses about 2.6% of its analog viewers, but gains digital coverage for a net gain of about 62,605 viewers overall.

• WSTM-TV loses about 4.8% of its analog viewers, but gains digital coverage for a net gain of about 103,779 viewers overall.

• WTVH-TV loses about 12.1% of its analog viewers and gains very few digital viewers, for a net loss of 158,621 viewers overall.  Ouch.  Giving up a low VHF analog channel for a fairly high digital UHF, combined with the lower transmit antenna height, contribute to this.

Interesting as all this might be, how does this apply to you?  I don't particularly like the FCC's base map:  it doesn't have enough features for me to tell where their markers really are.  Here's a more detailed version I worked up that puts their data on top of a terrain map.  Remember, the markers only show projected changes in coverage -- if you're in a deep valley and don't see a yellow diamond or red triange, most likely the FCC is assuming that you can't see the analog signal anyway.

So how do you predict whether you will be able to receive digital TV at your location?  The FCC has a lookup tool that can give you a simplified idea of the signal conditions at your address.  Personally, I prefer the modeling at TVFool.com: it provides projected data that you can use to figure what kind of antenna system performance you will need, and it lets you experiment with changing your antenna height.  The FCC site is simple, but it makes too many unstated assumptions about antenna performance and height to be fully useful.

Take a few minutes and check out these resources... in the next few installments we'll get into how you can use all of this information to make an informed choice about how to approach your television reception.

-- Jeff

Folks at the FCC are moving faster than a speeding bullet today:  less than 24 hours after the House passed the DTV Delay Act, the FCC issued a public notice specifying exactly how this would affect stations that plan to shut down their analog service before the new June 12th end date.

At first reading, several points become apparent:  first, it will be very much simpler and less expensive for most stations to shut off their analog transmitters on the original February 17th date, rather than delay.  Second, the FCC may not allow some stations to do so.  So, what's likely to happen?

• A number of analog stations will shut down on February 17th as planned, unless the FCC intervenes.
• No stations will be allowed to go dark between February 18th and March 13th, because that window is more than 90 days from the new transition date, and is therefore not eligible for the early termination provisions of the FCC's original rules.
• Some stations might apply for permission to end analog service between March 14th and June 11th -- "sorta early".  This will require going through the full filing and approval process, and appears to be fairly cumbersome.
• The remaining stations will continue to spin the electric meter with two transmitters until June 12th.

So what does all this have to do with crawls?  Stations that shut down early -- and that includes stations that are planning to pull the plug on February 17 as originally scheduled -- must air special crawls and/or messages announcing their intentions prior to shutdown.  Check out the FCC's requirements:

"...stations terminating on February 17 are required, as a condition of the waiver and if technically feasible, to broadcast a crawl on their analog channel regarding the station’s termination of analog service, for the seven day period from February 10 (11:59 p.m. EST) through the termination of the station’s analog signal on February 17 (11:59 p.m. EST).  For the first five days, i.e., February 10 (11:59 p.m. EST) through February 14 (11:59 p.m. EST), the crawl must be aired for 5 minutes of every hour of the station’s analog broadcast day, including during primetime.  For the final two days, i.e., February 16 (11:59 p.m. EST) through February 17 (11:59 p.m. EST), the crawl must be aired for 10 minutes of every hour of the station’s analog broadcast day, including during primetime."

Stations that want to hold to the original February 17 shutdown date must decide and notify the FCC by next Monday, the 9th -- with TurboCrawl starting on Tuesday.

Buckle up and hold on tight... the ride's about to start!

-- Jeff

The Senate Commerce Committee was busy last week, resurrecting a bill that would delay the shutdown of analog over-the-air television from February 17 to June 12.  Committee Chair John Rockefeller (D-WV) and ranking minority member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) appear to have settled disagreements that stalled the original delay efforts several weeks ago, announcing a new plan last Friday evening.  Among other things, the compromise version would allow (but not require) stations to delay their analog shutdown, and give a kick-start to get the coupon box program running again, this time allowing consumers to reapply if their unused coupons had expired.

If this bill is adopted by the House and signed by President Obama, what will the real-world effects be?

For broadcasters who are operating on temporary digital transmitters until the transition date, the delay means that these stations will wind up underserving the majority of viewers who have taken the necessary steps to prepare for digital.  Our Elmira station, for instance, only puts out 270 watts digital on temporary channel 2; until they shut down their channel 18 analog transmitter, they can't fire up their permanent digital channel 18 signal at 45,000 watts and reach their entire digital coverage area.  If this only affected the roughly fifteen percent of viewers who watch the station with an over-the-air antenna, it would still be a problem... but the temporary digital signal does not deliver a reliable signal to many of the cable head-ends in the area.  Bottom line: many cable viewers, who have been assured that they won't be affected by this transition, may not get reliable reception of local stations until this delay period ends.

For wireless broadband providers that have paid the federal government nearly twenty billion dollars to use the channels being taken away from broadcasters, and have spent considerable sums of money on new equipment that should have been turned on next month, this means a substantial financial hit during already tough economic times.  There is talk that the largest players -- Verizon and AT&T -- might receive some form of government financial assistance; Qualcomm's chief operating officer Len Lauer commented that the proposed delay should be dubbed the "economic de-stimulus act."

For viewers in general, the result will be more and prolonged confusion: instead of having the majority of stations change their facilities on one well coordinated date, it is likely that the analog shutdown and any remaining digital buildout will happen piecemeal, leaving viewers with a constantly changing channel lineup that forces them to keep rescanning their digital sets and converter boxes.  Rather than providing a comfortable cushion for the unprepared, this variable delay actually adds a dangerous element of unpredictability, as viewers now have no way of knowing exactly when their analog signals will go away.

For taxpayers, it's yet another hit as we wind up paying to extend the coupon bureaucracy and paying still more bailouts to companies that can't do business effectively because of our government's institutional inability to foresee the results of its own legislation.

So now what?  What should you -- an over-the-air viewer -- do about all of this?  Mainly, keep plugging along.  If you're already set up and watching DTV, congratulations!  If you have the equipment but haven't set it up, do it now!  Make sure it works so that if you do need to upgrade your antenna, you will be able to pursue that before analog stations go away.  In the Syracuse area, every station is already broadcasting in digital... so you have nothing to lose by setting up now -- actually, you will pick up more channels.  And if you haven't even started...  well, I'd get moving.  If you haven't applied for a coupon, do it now so that you'll be earlier in the list once the logjam clears.  Buy your converter boxes while they're available, and get them hooked up while you still have whatever time remains.

Regardless of what the politicians decide, one thing we do know: eventually the analog signals are going away.  Whether it happens in three weeks or five months, you still need to be ready.

The starting gun is sounding  -- again.  Sure hope it's loaded with blanks...

-- Jeff

If you have been watching the political side of the DTV transition, the last several weeks have been interesting: a number of folks -- most prominently President-elect Obama -- have called for the February 17th analog shut-off date to be postponed, out of concern that folks won't have their TV sets ready in time.  Our own Senator Schumer has been sending out press releases warning of imminent catastrophe as viewers fall off the digital cliff... a rather graphic turn of phrase.

This recent activity has me scratching my head just a bit: you see, these are largely the same people who set the date in the first place.  At the time, I wondered at Congress imposing a deadline for equipment not yet in existence, to be purchased with coupons administered by an infrastructure still to be established.  Finally addressing the problem with little more than a month remaining speaks poorly for their foresight; pushing for a delay now suggests that they still do not understand the consequences of their decisions.  But that's my own personal take, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the station, staff, management, etcetera.  It's just the wonderment of a lonely engineer tasked with making stuff actually work.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is making the case that changing the analog shutdown date will create unnecessary confusion, and that the best solution is to fix the coupon program: get it funded and resolve the problem of coupons that expired before there were boxes available on the store shelves.  And as far as it goes, this makes sense.

Realistically, there are other consequences to delay:  for one thing, a number of stations are holding their analog transmitters together with spit and bailing wire, and replacement parts for some of these antiques are no longer available.  On top of that, the combination of a miserable advertising climate right now and the cost of powering both analog and digital transmitters is squeezing television stations very hard... particularly stations in small markets.

A more direct consequence to viewers is that in many areas -- Binghamton and Elmira, for example -- stations are either running temporary digital transmitters at low power, or are waiting to start their digital service because their permanent full-power DTV assignment is on the same channel as their existing analog signal.  Until these stations are allowed to decommission their analog transmitters, they will be unable to provide their full digital coverage -- which means that the majority of people who have taken steps to become digital-ready won't be served.

The third effect of postponing the transition date is that a number of new wireless and emergency services have already paid the government to use the channels that TV stations are getting booted out of.  A delay means they won't be able to begin the services they have contracted to provide, and their huge investments in equipment won't generate revenue.  There are lots of ripple effects possible here, and it isn't going to be pretty.

How does all this affect you?

It's too soon to tell what will come out of Washington... but we do know that whether analog stations shut down on February 17 as scheduled, or whether our politicians slam on the brakes, the analog shutoff will eventually happen.  For now, the best advice is to keep getting ready: get your coupons, buy your converters, see how well you receive digital stations, and upgrade your antennas if necessary.

Someday this long nightmare will finally be over... better to be ready than not.

-- Jeff

One of the more vexing problems with DTV is that you can't always predict how good your new digital reception will be, based on how your old analog set performs.  At my house in the Onondaga Valley, I get terrible analog reception but I get 16 Syracuse digital stations really well.  (Of course, I am also using a really hot antenna -- the Gray Hoverman I built last spring.)  On the other hand, some people who got apparently good analog reception will have serious problems receiving digital.

Which brings us to a question Mike S posted last night, concerning his grandmother's house in the general vicinity of West Martinsburg (okay, think near Lowville and you're in the right part of the state).  She is getting marginal reception, which isn't terribly surprising when you look at the exact location and the signal path to her house.

I've blogged before about TVFool's predicted coverage maps, and they have proven to be quite a good predictor of actual reception results... so I gave it a spin.  Here's the wide view:

The colors represent signal strength at ground level, ranging from white and red, which are strongest, going down through blue and purple, where you need a high gain outdoor antenna and a good amplifier to pull in a useable signal.  In this picture, you see WWTI's transmitter in the upper left, and Mike's grandmother's house in the crosshars at lower right.  It's a bit hard to make out detail, so let's take a closer look by the house:

As we said, blue to purple is going to take some work.  I used a path mapping tool we generally use for microwave planning to get an idea of what was obstructing the signal:

At the left is WWTI's tower, and the dark blue line coming from the top is the signal coming from the transmit antenna, across to Grandma's receive antenna on the right.  The jagged brown line is the earth's contour -- so what you are seeing is that the signal is trying to go through the hills about 15-20 kilometers (okay, 10-12 miles) from the transmitter.  That lighter blue curve at the bottom, incidentally, would be the ground curvature if there were no hills.  See the hilltop closest to the house, almost all the way to the right?  Here's what it looks like on a terrain map:

Here's the thing:  if you can get your receive antenna high enough to clear the nearest obstruction, oftentimes you will also solve obstructions along the middle of the path.  Remember, the TVFool plots assume the antenna to be at ground level, but knowing the area, I assumed that there's a rooftop antenna on the house, about 25-30 feet above ground.  But let's say that Mike gets some friends together and erects a 100-foot tower of the sort that amateur radio operators use.  Look what happens to the path:

Shazam!  We clear all of the obstructions, and Longley-Rice path loss (that's a measure of how much strength the signal loses as it makes its way from the transmit antenna to the receive antenna) goes from 127.54dB to 111.29dB.  Is that cool, or what?  Another thing to consider is that the path from WWTI's tower to Grandma's notional tower follows NY route 12, then county route 29, almost exactly along the hillside.  The farther west you put the antenna, the more the hills will obstruct it; so in this case, the tower should go as far east as it can be.  Also, given the length of the cable run, you really should use RG-11 to hold line loss to a minimum.

Say... I wonder if that will be enough for her to see Syracuse stations like WSYR... ?  Let's find out.

Hmmm... looks like Mike's going to need more help to build that tower: it's going to take about 750 feet to make it over the hills to Syracuse.  Hope the neighbors don't mind the flashing tower lights...

Seriously, since it appears most unlikely that she will see anything but Watertown stations from that location, and since they are all in roughly the same direction from her house, plus or minus a few degrees, there is probably no benefit to installing a rotator... so that simplifies things, and also means that you don't have to worry so much about the coax flexing and cracking in the bitter cold.  A small gain, anyway.

Have a wonderful holiday!

-- Jeff

Yesterday's New York Times featured an article by Eric A. Taub:  In Move to Digital TV, Confusion Is in the Air... and a dubious piece of journalism it is.  In an ironic twist, the article is flawed by the same fundamental problem that besets the DTV transition in general:  an ignorance of the physical realities of the subject, and an unwillingness to seek out and listen to genuine experts with real-world experience.

Mr. Taub has crafted an article purporting to discuss technology, largely on the basis of quotes from a policy analyst at Consumers Union, with brief text bites from an engineering consultant and a  bureaucrat.  Apparently at the Times, it is no longer in fashion to find the most directly involved or knowledgeable sources -- for instance, policy makers at the FCC, system architects with the ATSC, or engineers at local television stations who are fielding a rising tide of calls from confused and worried viewers.  For just over 100 years the Times' masthead has read, "All the news that's fit to print" -- but this article is far closer to George Carlin's quip, "I call 'em as I see 'em... and if I don't see 'em, I make 'em up."

It should be no surprise, then, that this piece is studded with fanciful assertions and misleading or downright wrong details.  Let's take out the red pencil and do some fact checking.  Oops -- can't do that, red pencils are no longer politically correct... too aggressive.  Grab a more tranquil color like cerulean blue, and follow along with me:

"The Federal Communications Commissions sponsored a Nascar race car as part of its effort to inform Americans that on Feb. 18, television signals transmitted over the air will be transmitted solely in digital format. Old TV sets will no longer work."

The lead paragraph, and already we're in trouble.  First of all, the February 17 shutdown of analog transmitters does not apply to low power or class-A stations, nor does it apply to analog translators.  Second, old TV sets can work just fine in a digital future: that's why converter boxes exist. 

Taub goes on to draw a parallel between the FCC's ill-fated NASCAR sponsorship and the troubled DTV transition -- but never stops to consider the prudence of spending over a third of a million dollars of public money on the stuff of male hobbies, when the people to reach seem to be elderly shut-ins.  And we will pass over that question too.

We then launch into the meat of the article, which is now principally driven by Consumer Reports' policy analyst, and come to this:

" 'We need boots on the ground,' said Joel Kelsey, a Consumers Union policy analyst. Mr. Kelsey advocated armies of people, from firefighters to television industry personnel, going into homes and setting up converter boxes for consumers."

Boots on the ground?  That's a nice power-vocabulary focus group euphemism.  But firefighters?  Why on earth would we divert a segment of government workers who actually produce a useful and tangible service, when there are so many others who have nothing better to do, for example, than to dream up things like NASCAR sponsorships?  Let's get some of these dreamers into Mrs. Brown's living room to explain why they can't make her converter box work with rabbit ears... and why they forced a workable system to shut down before its replacement could be proven and implemented.

"A number of people involved in the switch to digital think the Feb. 17 deadline will leave millions of Americans bewildered when their TVs stop working."

I could ask why these anonymous involved people insist on plowing ahead despite the predictable disruption (a question Taub should have asked), but the phrase that makes me cringe is "the switch to digital".  The vast majority of television stations have been transmitting digital signals for quite some time - in our case, the better part of five years - so February 17 is not a switch... it's an end to analog.  Splitting hairs?  Not at all, there's a very important difference: people can and should be setting up their digital converter boxes now, not waiting until their TVs show nothing but snow.

" 'This transition is possibly one of the worst understood consumer education programs in modern times,' said Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group."

Probably true... but here is an interesting source.  Envisioneering was started some 20 years ago by Mr. Doherty, who has an impressive background in engineering... but who now apparently specializes in consulting and media punditry after a stint as a writer for an engineering trade magazine.  It's a shame, really, that Doherty wasn't the prime source for the article's technical background -- his broad experience and credentials could have been useful.  Anyone could have supplied the generic and obvious quote that there is finger pointing to come; but Doherty could have given Taub a solid grasp on the topic he was assigned to write about.

"There were problems from the start.  Consumers complained on the Consumer Reports Web site that boxes were not available locally before their coupons expired. 'Why can't you reapply for a voucher?' said Mr. Kelsey of Consumers Union. 'This is a transition mismanaged from the get-go.'"

One wonders why frustrated consumers would not take their complaints directly to the NTIA or to their elected representatives -- who actually have the power to do something about the problem -- rather than complain uselessly on CU's web site.  But one also wonders about Mr. Kelsey's comment: does the fact that the coupons have a finite life span before they expire constitute some form of mismanagement?  Or is it through mismanagement that the NTIA actually got their bureaucracy running in time to make coupons available when the first eligible converters hit store shelves?  Not being able to renew lapsed coupons might be debatable policy -- but implementing that policy fairly efficiently isn't mismanagement.

"...[R]abbit ears intended to receive only VHF broadcast channels may need to be replaced with new digital units."

Apples and oranges, folks.  Yes, rabbit ears are primarily used for VHF channels -- whether the signal is analog or digital makes no difference.  There is no magic that makes an antenna suitable for digital, and many antennas billed as having special digital properties are 21st century swamp water.  Most DTV stations are in the UHF band, with the remainder in the upper VHF channels.  If you want to receive a reliable DTV signal, the fundamentals are no different than they ever were:  you need an antenna that covers the channels you want to watch, one that rejects interference and distorting reflections, so that the receiver can stay locked to the desired signal.

"And on the day of the conversion..."

It isn't a day of conversion, Eric, it's the day the analog shuts off... the last day of a transition that has been running for several years.  February 17th isn't the beginning of the digital highway... it's the last foot of the on-ramp from analog.  Goodness, what a terrible metaphor!

"...consumers will also need to direct their converter box to scan for channels."

Consumers should already be using their converter boxes; most stations are already operating on their final DTV channels.  Yes, a rescan will be needed every time a station changes their DTV channel or when a new DTV station lights up... but that will be an ongoing phenomenon lasting days, weeks, or months as straggling stations decommission out old analog transmitters and install new digital transmitters in their place.

"If they want an up-to-date electronic program guide, they will need to have the box rescan the channels regularly."

Nonsense.  Scanning for channels merely tells your receiver which stations are available so that you can channel surf without stepping through vacant channels.  Each station transmits its program guide data continuously, and your receiver reads it automatically while you are watching that station.  Rescanning has nothing at all to do with the program guide.

"To make matters worse, the transition date occurs when the weather in most of the country is at its coldest and iciest."

Astute analysis, this.

" 'We're asking the elderly to go out in the snow to buy a converter box?' Mr. Kelsey said.  'All we need on Feb. 18 is to have someone slip off their roof and get injured as they try to set up a new digital antenna.'"

Hmmm... we seem to be ignoring the fact that the coupon program was launched last winter, so people have had all spring, summer, and autumn to get their equipment in order.  Nobody with any real grasp on what's going on is asking people to wait until February 18th; indeed, we have been pushing people to prepare as early as possible.  The implication that converter or antenna installation should begin on February 18th is not only flat out wrong -- it's an irresponsible and dangerous impression to create.

So what can we learn from this article?  Certainly, there is considerable confusion about DTV -- and the Times has, with considerable prestige, added to it.  Had their reporter considered the qualifications of his sources, he might have written a useful article - but instead he took each source outside of his area of expertise and wound up with a tangled mess of disconnected factoids, misinterpretation and baseless assertions that leaves the reader with the illusion of having learned something of substance.  I suppose the lesson is this:  just as one would not buy tires from a beauty salon or seek advice about over-the-counter medicine at a furniture store, one should not look for authoritative information about DTV technology from a general assignment newspaper - not even the renowned New York Times.

-- Jeff

There's no contest: if you want consistent and stable reception, your best choice is a good outdoor antenna -- they are better able to focus on the signal you want, and their location gets away from the typical obstructions and sources of interference that you find inside.  But maybe you live someplace where an outside antenna just isn't an option... what then?  How can you tell the difference between a decent indoor antenna and a useless piece of plastic-fantastic?  Here are some things to keep in mind:

1.  Directionality is your friend.  If you are trying to find your way in the dark, you want a flashlight that concentrates the light where you point it, not one that wastes its energy lighting up your leg and shining in your eyes, right?  Same idea with an antenna: you want it to gather the signal coming from the transmitter, and avoid interfering ghosts reflected from random objects in other directions.  This is especially true for digital TV.

2.  You want as much antenna gain as possible.  Gain is simply how much more signal your antenna is capturing from the direction you are pointing it, compared to a completely non-directional antenna.  A single rod antenna will give you about 2 decibels of gain; some of the better antennas can approach 11 or 12 decibels.

3.  An amplifier will not improve a bad antenna.  Be especially wary of inexpensive amplified antennas: often as not, the combination of low antenna gain and high amplifier noise will make the signal worse, not better.

4.  Beware of glorified rabbit ears and loop antennas.  Rabbit ears (also known as dipoles) and loops are bi-directional: that is, they just as sensitive to signals coming from where you think they are aimed, as they are to signals coming from the opposite direction.  This makes them really good at picking up ghosts, which is exactly what you don't want for DTV.

5.  Style and function don't necessarily mix.  Just because an antenna looks like something from the Jetsons doesn't make it good... and antennas that try to camoflage themselves as something else generally do so at the cost of performance.

So... if you're in the market for a workable indoor antenna, what are you likely to find?  Here are some examples.

The Antennas Driect DB2 is actually an outdoor antenna that has become somewhat popular for indoor use where other antennas don't work terribly well.  Granted, most folks will find that it doesn't exactly match their living room decor... but it provides about 12 decibels of gain in the UHF band (which, in Syracuse, is where all of the DTV stations are found).  You can expect to pay about $50-60 for this antenna.  It doesn't have an amplifier, and most people won't need one.

Winegard's SS-3000 is one of the better amplfied indoor antennas available.  It's quite directional, and with a high quality built-in amplifier, shows an overall gain similar to the DB2 above.  Notice the metal grid screen... this is largely responsible for its ability to ignore interfering signals from the backside of the antenna.  The SS-3000 covers both the UHF and VHF channels, so if you live where there are (or will be) DTV stations in the lower channels -- Rochester, for instance -- this is a good choice.  Expect to pay around $60 for this model.

The Zenith ZHDTV1 "Silver Sensor" is a UHF-only example of a "log periodic" antenna, which has less gain than the shielded bowties above, but more gain than a loop... typically about 6 or 7 decibels.  This antenna doesn't have an amplifier, but in many locations that is okay -- and remember, no amplifier is better than a bad amplifier.  The Silver Sensor should run somewhere around $40.

This is an example of a UHF log-periodic antenna with a set of rabbit ears built in to extend coverage down into VHF channels (they aren't visible in the photo).  This one is a Terk HDTVa, and includes a built-in amplifier.  Reviews are mixed on this antenna, and one of the more frequent comments is that it tends to fall over too easily.  The amplifier is also somewhat noisy, as amplifiers go.  The Terk sells for about $45.

Here's what you generally want to avoid: an combination of rabbit ears, loop antenna, and a noisy amplifier.  We will omit the manufacturer's name... but you can find examples of this with most name brands stamped on the box.  From a technical point of view, it combines all of the things most likely to mess up your digital signal, together in one convenient package.  You can pay about $25 for this... or more, if you go for an especially futuristic design with lots of "special" features. 

Okay, how about an antenna that looks like something else... in this case, an 8x10 picture frame?  This is an Antennas Direct PF7, and is basically a UHF loop in disguise.  At about $50, it seems like a rather expensive way to get mediocre reception... and, Murphy's Law being what it is, your best signal will probably come from aiming the thing in a direction you wouldn't set a picture frame.  If your main purpose is to get a good television signal, you will probably do best to stick with an antenna that's designed to be an antenna first.

Is there a place to compare different antennas?  You bet... HDTVAntennaLabs.com has a pretty good chart, ranked by user reviews.

Have fun!

-- Jeff

We're getting ever closer to the shutdown date for analog transmitters -- and goodness knows that we need all the time we can get.  Not only are we installing new processing and transmission equipment in our stations (remember, I serve the entire region even though my office is at channel 9), many of our program suppliers are upgrading their gear.  In a matter of weeks, for example, ABC and NBC will change how they transmit their HD signals to affililiates to improve the signal quality and increase the number of feeds they can provide.  To say that we're busy is an understatement!

How about at your end:  have you added a converter box or replaced your old analog set with one that receives DTV?  What about your antenna?

You can tell that the politicians who set the timetable to make the switch in February don't live around here: a lot of folks will need to install new antennas, and the middle of winter is about the worst time to do it.  If you haven't thought about it, you might want to look into replacing your outdoor antenna and lead-in cable now, before the weather gets terribly nasty.  I have the tee shirt for installing antennas in sub-freezing weather, and believe me: it's something you don't want to do if you can avoid it!  Your fingers just don't work as well when they're stiff and turning blue, and dropping that piece of hardware after you climbed 53 feet is, well, annoying.  There are more descriptive ways to say it, but I'll leave that to your imagination!

Tonight we're going to spend part of the newscast answering questions about the digital changeover... and if the calls we get are typical, most will come down to selecting an antenna that delivers a clean signal to your receiver.  Notice I said clean and not strong -- most of the current crop of DTV receivers are fairly sensitive and are happy with a weaker signal, so long as it isn't noisy or distorted.  A good antenna can focus on the signal you want, and reject the ghosts and interference coming from other directions.  The best antennas are designed to mount outdoors, though you can sometimes put them in an attic.  Indoor antennas are generally the last choice -- they are the least able to focus in one direction, and because they are indoors, they are also closest to potential sources of interference like computers and aquarium heaters.

Looking for a good outdoor antenna?  Here are nine (seemed like an appropriate number), listed roughly in order of how directional they are, and how much gain they provide:

• AntennaCraft dual Super G 1483 (roughly $120-160)
• Terrestrial Digital DB8 ($70-90)
• Modified Grey-Hoverman ($50-75)
• Channel Master CM4228 ($50-60 -- being discontinued)
• Channel Master CM4228HD ($80-100 -- new version)
• Winegard HD8800 ($50-70)
• AntennaCraft single Super G 1483 ($55-70)
• Terrestrial Digital DB4 ($55-70)
• Blonder-Tongue BTY-UHF-BB ($190-200)

Except for the Blonder-Tongue, all of these are panel antennas, and require a sturdy mount because they present more wind loading than a traditional style.  The Blonder-Tongue has somewhat lower gain, but is extremely rugged; it's the sort of antenna a cable head-end might install on a tower.  Any of them should work well in the immediate Syracuse area, but if you are in a tough location (in a valley, more than 30-40 miles away from our Pompey transmitter site), you should give preference to the top half of the list.  If you're quite a ways out, you will also need a good pre-amplifier.  Important note:  these are all UHF antennas, except for the Channel Master CM4228HD, which extends down to channel 7.  In Syracuse, all of the DTV stations are UHF... but some cities like Rochester and Binghamton will have one or more DTV stations in VHF-high band.

The modified Grey-Hoverman is a build-it-yourself model; last May we developed a version you can make from plastic pipe and fittings; the plans and instructions are here for you to download.

See you tonight!

-- Jeff

It's been a hectic week:  we're getting part of the station's roof replaced, which should be a good thing.  The problem is, there are a number of satellite dishes sitting on that part of the roof -- so we've been hustling to relocate the dishes to better permanent locations on the ground.  It's involved digging a number of holes, hauling ten-foot sections of mast pipe around, mixing thirty-six bags of concrete (80 pounds apiece), and horsing the dishes down off the roof and setting them on the new masts.  One of the dishes is moved, three to go.  It would have been done by now, but we've been delayed by everything from unusually hard ground to having to repair several cables from our ABC network system.  Suffice it to say that Heliax transmission line is no match for a roofing screw.

Sigh.

I've gotten some interesting questions and comments relating to how DTV works in general, and about PSIP in particular... so for those who are curious, we'll take a look at the basics from a non-technical perspective.  Today, let's start by talking about packets.

Digital TV works by sending a constant flow of data -- over 19 million data bits every second.  This flow is organized into packets, each of which consists of 188 bits; each packet might contain a piece of picture, a piece of audio, a piece of a program guide, or some other service.  The first important point to catch is that these packets show up at your receiver at a regular rate.  It's rather like an escalator: it moves at a constant rate of so many steps per minute, no matter how many people happen to be riding it at the time.  You might have someone on most every step, or maybe some of the steps will be empty.

Just as the escalator has an upper limit to the number of passengers it can move during a given time, digital TV also has an upper limit to how much data it can transmit.

The second key idea about packets is that each one has an identifying number that tells your receiver where to send the data: to the video decoder, to the audio decoder, and so forth.  These packet ID numbers are called PIDs (original, huh?), and range from 0 through 8,191.  It's rather like your phone number:  it tells the phone company switching equipment where to route your calls.  Some PIDs are reserved for special purposes, and there are standards for how others should be organized.  We'll take a closer look at this at some other time, but right now I want you to meet PID 8,191:  it's called a "null" packet.  As you might guess, a null packet contains -- trumpet fanfare -- nothing.  It's just a space filler when there isn't something else to transmit.

Let's ride with this escalator notion a bit more... imagine that you have a bunch of buckets, and you stick one on every step as it goes up.  (You guessed it:  each bucket is a packet, and it has a marking on the outside that says what's in the bucket -- that's the PID number.)  Someone is grabbing buckets full of video data, or audio data, or electronic program guide data, and putting them on the next available step as it appears.  And if a step comes along but no filled bucket is ready to go, he sticks an empty bucket (yes, a null packet) onto the step.  As the escalator makes its way up, every step has a bucket on it:

That's about as far as I want to take this for now... for one thing, I've got satellite dishes to move today.  Also, someone is going to bring up what happens to the buckets when they get to the top:  do they pile up like impatient commuters behind a gawking tourist until they finally burst forth in an agitated blast of humanity, or do they fall off the end like candies at the end of Lucy's conveyor belt?  (Nothing like citing a TV show from the days of black-and-white as an illustration of DTV more than 50 years later!)

I've avoided real work long enough.  Have a good weekend!

-- Jeff

You would think that this DTV stuff is so new, it would be a good long time before we would be replacing equipment, right?  Nope.  Unfortunately, a penalty of being what trendy folks call an early adopter of technology is that when you jump at the newest and shiniest stuff, chances are you're going to pay, one way or another.

Right now I'm replacing a piece of equipment called a PSIP generator, plus a second device that combines this PSIP with the audio and video data for channels 9-1 and 9-2.  It's a somewhat disruptive process, and if you've been trying to watch our DTV for the last 24 hours, you have probably noticed weird things like our program guide coming and going.  The new equipment is on line now and the kinks seem to be worked out... if your receiver is having hissy fits, you might try re-scanning the channels.  For the vast majority of viewers, the change should be invisible.

I will spare you, gentle reader, a heated tirade against manufacturers of very specialized and very expensive equipment who cannot be bothered to write a manual that accurately and completely explains what the equipment does and how to make it work to accomplish its intended task.  Oh, and while you're at it, in English, please.  (If you happened to attend Nottingham High School in the 1970s and studied Latin with Mrs. Metosh, you are already smiling and thinking, aha -- praeteritio!)

What on earth is PSIP, you ask?  In a nutshell, it's a collection of data that tells your receiver all about our signal:  stuff like how many program streams it contains, what video formats they use, what flavors of audio they contain, the time of day, program ratings, program guides, show details, and the like.  Our original PSIP generators are about five years old, and while they were amazing then (so far as I know, we were the first station in town putting actual show data into the electronic program guide), they are no longer the best or most reliable equipment for the task.  And reliability is pretty important here:  without valid PSIP, your set won't know what to do with our signal, and we just disappear.  Not good.

The bottom line is, starting today you will see more information in the program guide about the shows we are carrying, and the guide will stop disappearing from time to time.  For most of you, this is mildly ordinary and about as exciting as opening a new roll of toilet paper... but it has me cranked:  I really don't like getting 3am wake up calls because the PSIP has died.

That's enough of a break... time for me to start building up the replacement PSIP gear for another station (we have five to do here).  Later!

-- Jeff