i hate digital tv

[landtuna]

FM bays start having problems with power getting reflected back to the transmitter if too much ice builds up on them.  If the station runs an older transmitter, reflected power not only ramps up the plate current but can burn the filaments.  If that happens, you'll need major repairs to get back on the air.  So, the solution is to frequently check your transmitter readings and cut power if you notice a substantial jump in plate current.  Some transmitters also give you the ability to check for reflected power, and you cut power if the reflected power gets too high.

Wouldn't the engineer have an SWR meter in-line as a matter of course?

[flashback]

Seriously makes me either want cable, which is too expensive, or just turn off the tv. 

You don't have to pay those outrageous prices for CNN and ESPN and all that stuff. Or do you? Surely you have a basic package available with just broadcast channels and a few extras like public access.

i for one have no desire to pay for cable tv at all any more.

i prefer over the air broadcasting.

the way over the air signals ate not dependable with dtv if i was a conspiracy person i would think it was a plan to get more people to pay  for tv.

[Kent]

Wouldn't the engineer have an SWR meter in-line as a matter of course?

Many of them do, but many don't.  Within the last 10 years, I worked at a cluster of 7 stations, and you could check the VSWR on two of them.  The engineers were the backup if VSWR got too high, but they relied on the airstaff first because the stations were still attended 24/7.  Also, the FM's that weren't running solid state transmitters would either shut down or automatically lower power if plate current or VSWR got too high.

Of course, many stations also have antenna deicers, though I seem to remember they're not a cure all for ice buildup on the transmitter.  I'm assuming that would be true for TV stations, too.

[vchimpanzee]

I have a love seat, not a sofa. The room's too small for a real sofa. At least with the furniture my parents were putting there.

But I was getting ready to sit down on the nice comfortable love seat to watch the Super Bowl, with plenty of reading material for the breaks, when I turned the TV on and had no sound, and stripes across the picture.

So I went in the other room and turned on the TV hooked up to cable, where I had planned to record "America's Funniest Home Videos" in case I hadn't seen all or part of the episode. TiVo, which can record two shows at once,  was otherwise committed (though Andy Rooney wasn't on anyway; I could have cancelled 7-8 where I never know what Fox is going to do, but seeing as how I might miss some detail on one of the commercials it was a good idea to keep that planned recording).

The chair in there isn't even comfortable, though I could use the chair someone gave my father, I guess. It's just so hard top move and piled high with boxes.

And the overhead light isn't good for reading. I had a lamp beside me in the other room. I chose to have DTV in there because it's the ideal place, though apparently not ideal enough. I could have made adjustments but didn't want to mess up the perfect signals on My Network or CBS, or what I assume I get on ABC.

The other converter box has the same channel, but there's no place to sit and that channel messes up sometimes.

[bpatrick]

I've talked to people in my town about this quite a bit.  Granted,
most of these people aren't experts on the proper antenna or converter
box; all I know is that, before digital, we had WFMY/2, WUNC/4, WRAL/5,
WGHP/8, WTVD/11, WNCN/17, WLFL/22/ WRDC/28, WUVC/40, WRPX/47, and WRAZ/50.
For the town as a whole, we had two CBS stations (2 and 5), one PBS (4),
two Fox (8 and 50), one ABC (11), one NBC (17), one CW (22), one MyNetwork
(28), one Univision (40), and one ION (47).  All of that was OTA, and many people
here are on fixed incomes and cannot afford cable or satellite.  Most people tell
me all they can get now are WRAL and WGHP.

And I miss the ability to, as they said in the days of old-time radio, DX: I could
pull in WXII/12 (NBC), WGPX/16 (ION), and WCWG/20 (CW) from the Triad; WDBJ/7 (CBS),
WSLS/10 (NBC), and WSET/13 (ABC) from Roanoke/Lynchburg; WECT/6 (NBC) from Wilmington,
NC; WNCT/9 (CBS) from Greenville, NC; and WBTW/13 (CBS) from Florence, SC--even pulled
in WTVR/6 (CBS) from Richmond once.

[vchimpanzee]

Last night during the first and third hours of the Grammys, as well as the fourth hour:

Three, maybe four times the picture got messed up. A few other times I just saw a stripe or two--though one of those times was during Barbra Streisand's performance!

A couple of the times the signal got messed up I actually heard a car go by, but some cars went by with no effects.

Occasionally the sound would go out briefly as if there was profanity.

No, I'm not counting Eminem or Aracade Fire's acceptance speech.

Overall, good results. I've had better.

[quadraphonic]

I have heard a lot about this Jeopardy/IBM Watson show this week, but I can't watch it tonight because I can't get WTVD or WBTW since the switch.
Oh well. Their loss.

[vchimpanzee]

I have heard a lot about this Jeopardy/IBM Watson show this week, but I can't watch it tonight because I can't get WTVD or WBTW since the switch.
Oh well. Their loss.

Well, it was quite entertaining. I watched on cable.

[quadraphonic]

I have heard a lot about this Jeopardy/IBM Watson show this week, but I can't watch it tonight because I can't get WTVD or WBTW since the switch.
Oh well. Their loss.

Well, it was quite entertaining. I watched on cable.

Stop rubbin' it in! 

[vchimpanzee]

I have heard a lot about this Jeopardy/IBM Watson show this week, but I can't watch it tonight because I can't get WTVD or WBTW since the switch.
Oh well. Their loss.

Well, it was quite entertaining. I watched on cable.

Stop rubbin' it in! 

Well, now you know how your comments make me feel.