- •If you think designing compact low-band VHF TV (54-88 MHz) antennas is tough, imagine how difficult it is to build antennas that work at frequencies as low as 40 kHz for picking up standard time broadcasts and which must fit inside consumer "atomic time" clocks. This week Premo launched a tank circuit LF antenna for applications using "atomic clock" signals. The RCA-THT antenna can be set and tuned to frequencies from 40 kHz to 139 kHz.
The long latency makes it difficult to use time-critical applications such as virtual private networks (VPN), gaming and voice-over-IP through geostationary satellites. Microsat Systems in Canada is solving this problem with its lower orbit COMMstellation network. The network will consist of a constellation of 78 microsatellites, each with a data transfer capability of 12 Gbps, and located 1,000 km above the Earth in a polar orbit. - •John Eggerton's article in Broadcasting and Cable, CEA'S Shapiro: Broadcasters Have Terrified Hill With Power To Demonize Legislators is must reading for anyone interested in the push to reallocate TV broadcast spectrum for wireless broadband. Shapiro said that there was nothing in the U.S. Constitution about granting viewers any right to receive television off-air.
