In article ,
"Ralph Mowery" wrote:

"Rich Grise" wrote in message
news
My current UHF antenna is a 14" Radio Shack clip lead clipped from the
center of my coax to the venetian blind. I have to hand-adjust it
for the channel, weather conditions, phase of the moon, etc. I can
do this because I can _see_ an indication of signal strength.

Well, with this new Fascist "No More Free TV" crap, I'm gonna need
a real UHF antenna. My budget is exceedingly limited, but I have
a supply of materials (GTAW filler rod, with some coppery-colored
coating, so it solders like a dream, and is as stiff as piano wire)
to build an antenna with.

It may not take too much antenna. I picked up one of the converter boxes
and hooked it to a 432 mhz beam at 70 feet and got 21 stations on the auto
tune. Then to a 9 element M2 2 meter bem and it picked up 29 stations.
This was at the end of about 130 feet of low loss rg-8 size coax and then 25
feet of rg-6.
Several of the stations were the same transmitter,but differant chanels on
the TV.

no more free tv?? where do you live?

here in the usa over the air tv is , was and shall remain free

in feb it will switch to digital however shall still be free

ml wrote:
In article ,
"Ralph Mowery" wrote:

"Rich Grise" wrote in message
news
My current UHF antenna is a 14" Radio Shack clip lead clipped from the
center of my coax to the venetian blind. I have to hand-adjust it
for the channel, weather conditions, phase of the moon, etc. I can
do this because I can _see_ an indication of signal strength.

Well, with this new Fascist "No More Free TV" crap, I'm gonna need
a real UHF antenna. My budget is exceedingly limited, but I have
a supply of materials (GTAW filler rod, with some coppery-colored
coating, so it solders like a dream, and is as stiff as piano wire)
to build an antenna with.

It may not take too much antenna. I picked up one of the converter boxes
and hooked it to a 432 mhz beam at 70 feet and got 21 stations on the auto
tune. Then to a 9 element M2 2 meter bem and it picked up 29 stations.
This was at the end of about 130 feet of low loss rg-8 size coax and then 25
feet of rg-6.
Several of the stations were the same transmitter,but differant chanels on
the TV.

no more free tv?? where do you live?

here in the usa over the air tv is , was and shall remain free

in feb it will switch to digital however shall still be free

Digital is a major step toward "conditional access".

"Dave" wrote in message
...

Digital is a major step toward "conditional access".

So is analog. If you don't have the proper reciever, you can't pick it up.
Just a different format.

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:51:24 +0000, Dave wrote:


Digital is a major step toward "conditional access".

And the 80 year old method of modulation, a combination of pulse, FM,
and analog was just as much a restriction to specialized equipment. If
you tried to get TV on your XTAL radio, it would be like listening to
an encrypted secure network.

If you stood out in a field and tried to listen to AM radio waves
(without even the boon of that XTAL radio), you would still suffer
"conditional access."

So, what is the big deal?

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:23:33 -0500, ml wrote:

in feb it will switch to digital however shall still be free

Until you get to the requirement to line the pockets of the converter
hawkers.

Thanks,
Rich

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:26:28 -0800, CW wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message

Digital is a major step toward "conditional access".

So is analog. If you don't have the proper reciever, you can't pick it up.
Just a different format.

Even they used to be free, if you knew where to dumpster-dive. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:17:44 -0800, Richard Clark wrote:

So, what is the big deal?

Being required to turn over my hard-earned cash to further enrich the
rich fat white executives.

Thanks,
Rich

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:07:35 -0800, Chuck Olson wrote:
"Rich Grise" wrote in message

Or, does anyone have a UHF-TV log-periodic design that they'd share? :-)

Lo and behold, here is one http://tinyurl.com/665r5a but it's a throw-back
to a simpler time when the HP42S calculator was an engineer's prized tool.
If you have a 42S, punch it in and use it. Otherwise, this is mainly a
learning tool to show how simple the calculations are. I think this design
could be put onto a Lotus123 calculating spread sheet where all the output
data windows would suddenly by filled up upon entering the needed input
data.

Too late! I've already built the 4-bay bowtie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

But I used ER70S-2 1/16 weld filler rod (stiffer than a coathanger, and
copper-plated; solders like a dream):
http://mysite.verizon.net/richgrise/...QuadBowTie.jpg

And it works just spiffy! I had to go to Whittier Electronics to get
the balun, since RS seems to have dropped them from their line-up:
http://www.whittierelectronics.com/

It was $2.99; the rest of the antenna was free. :-)
(yes, I'm really that broke. )-; )

Thanks,
Rich

In article , ml wrote:

no more free tv?? where do you live?

here in the usa over the air tv is , was and shall remain free

in feb it will switch to digital however shall still be free

The current situation is somewhat analogous to what happened, decades
ago, when television in the U.S. moved from VHF-only to VHF-plus-UHF.

Everybody who wanted to receive the full set of channels, had to
either buy a new TV, or buy a UHF block converter so that they could
downshift the UHF frequencies to a VHF frequency that their existing
TV set could receive.

The television signal is, and will remain, free to receive (or,
rather, its transmission is funded by advertising). There is no fee
on the user to receive the TV signal.

The equipment needed to receive TV signals in the U.S. is not, and
never has been free.

This is a somewhat bigger switch-over, technology-wise, than the
expansion to UHF some years ago. Whether it's a Good Thing or a Bad
Thing is, I think, much more of a personal conclusion than anything
that can be decided objectively.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

In rec.radio.amateur.antenna Richard The Dreaded Libertarian wrote:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:17:44 -0800, Richard Clark wrote:

So, what is the big deal?

Being required to turn over my hard-earned cash to further enrich the
rich fat white executives.


A converter box can be had for about the same amount of cash as a cup
of coffee after using the coupon, so that arguement is moot.

What "rich fat white executives" do you think are getting enriched by
the switch since almost all the converter boxes are made in China?


--
Jim Pennino

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