Charles W. Rhodes

So what should the FCC do about Channel 30?

We found that the maximum undesired signal at which these units could perform was between –22.2 dBm for the best box, to –28.7 dBm for the worst.

In addition to DTV sideband splatter into adjacent spectrum, there is another source of noise jamming built into receiving devices that have poor RF selectivity.

If my antenna is on my rooftop, everything is probably OK, but if my antenna is indoors, it may pick up enough signal power from a nearby cellphone to block DTV reception.

I have serious concerns about the viability of such a broadcast service.

FMI now has three aspects.

Our friend reminded us that the day we came was warm and sunny, and when it rains, that channel simply vanishes.

The simplest scheme is to employ a much higher gain antenna.

I expect the FCC to soon grant permission for LightSquared to proceed with its build-out.

The FCC has a spectrum utilization committee, which is now studying all the test data. When they will finish these studies is not yet known.

What a DTV signal can do that an analog signal such as NTSC could not do is to awaken sleeping persons believed by the local authorities to be threatened.

What is needed is an EAS which can alert the threatened populace while not scaring the entire nation. Our present EAS cannot do this, but a well designed Digital EAS could over our DTV channels.

This is the first allotment table having no analog TV channel allotments; it is our future broadcasting universe.

They found that signals of this form produce what amounts to co-channel interference into channel N. Take my word for it, they would also have found the same in channel N+3K.

Two more reports of laboratory testing of DTV receivers have recently been made public and the news does not portend well.

Last month, this column covered DTV-DTV interference from one and two undesired signals. In this issue, we will address the matter of triplets of undesired DTV signals.

Had the FCC been able to anticipate this problem of receiver-generated IM3 (noise) in ���vacant channels,” perhaps it could have established minimum performance standards for consumer DTV receivers.

While many broadcasters may wish that DTV was not about to replace analog terrestrial broadcasting, that is unrealistic. Broadcast spectrum is going to be reduced dramatically and soon.