Latest articles by Charles W. Rhodes
This column has used the term “D/U ratio” (desired/ undesired) in describing how the FCC might repack the UHF TV spectrum.
You'd be amazed at what stands in the way between the viewer and the broadcast signal
The January 1954 issue of "Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers" was a special issue devoted entirely to the NTSC compatible color television system adopted by the FCC.
In the past, I have written about out-of-band (OOB) interference between ATSC signals in different bands: the low VHF band into a high VHF channel and a high VHF band ATSC into a UHF channel.
With the end of the FCC’s spectrum auction in January, it’s time to measure its damaging effects on broadcasters.
In 2014 the FCC published details on how it will configure the 600 MHz Band.
The FCC recently released details of how it will repack remaining TV spectrum in the UHF band.
Last month we discussed the restrictions that the FCC must work under in repacking UHF broadcast spectrum.
Last month, this column introduced a scheme for allocating UHF band channels by analyzing a set of contiguous channels for a given community.
It’s a given that there is going to be considerable “channel shuffling” after the upcoming television broadcast spectrum auctions.
His trouble started suddenly one evening when he discovered interference across the high VHF band that he had never had before.
The most amazing finding from the FCC tests of converter boxes is the number of such toxic channel pairs there are.
All third-order intermodulation products, (IM3 and Triple Beats), occupy three contiguous channels, so there can be interference to reception on Chs. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35.
The FCC regulates co-channel and adjacent channel interference by its channel allotment plan. It does not regulate “taboo channel interference,” a term left over from analog television.
Our tests showed that the double-conversion tuners tested were more vulnerable to interference than the converter boxes with a single-conversion tuner.
Tests demonstrated that DTV-DTV interference will happen.
Charles Rhodes reports on an unusual DTV reception problem he experienced.
With repacking now in the future for many UHF broadcasters, the problems of interference between DTV signals crammed into Channels 14–29 for example, need to be reconsidered.
