[Hidden-tech] Verizon vs. Comcast

ussailis at shaysnet.com ussailis at shaysnet.com
Sat Jan 26 16:09:13 EST 2008


Antennas:

Antennas are NOT HDTV specific any more than they are color specific. Rad
Shack made lots of $$ many years ago by selling "color TV antennas."

Yes, and outdoor antenna will do better comapred to an indoor antenna. And
al siding will do a number on reception. Finally nothing beats height, and
that is for several reasons:

   1. Higher antennas have a better chance of seeing the transmitter
antenna,
   2. The 'directional beam' of any antenna (transmission AND reception)
has an elevation pattern as well as an azimuthal pattern. The elevation
pattern is never pointing to the horizon, but is slightly elevated. The
amount of elevation is related to the height above ground of the antenna.
Higher antennas have a lower elevation beam, which is better.

So, have the antenna high up, don't worry about HDTV (regular TV ends 19
Feb, 2009), and be able to point that beam. That means you might need a
rotor.

Rotor? Yes, antennas with nore gain are more directional. That's how they
get gain, by focusing their reception pattern. Yes, you can get gain, but
you will have to point it.

Beware of outdoor antennas with strange bits & pieces poking in many
directions. A lot of this rubbish is put there to impress the customer. It
does no good for reception, just makes the antenna not work as well.

Incidently, Ch 40, 57 are on Mt Tom, 22 is on Provin Mtn, along with a low
power spanish channel. Most of the TV from Boston is from the towers in
Needham at Rt 128 and Rt 9. Ch 38 might be an exception. They were in
Arlington years ago (I climbed a bit of the tower), but I am sure they have
moved. They might be in Needham also.

You can look up TV station info, including antenna siting on the FCCs web
site. Caution, this info is old, and may contain licenses for which no
transmitter exists yet.

Amplifier:

This can be very beneficial, or can screw-up your TV reception. What you
want to look for is a very low "noise figure," or "noise temperature." If
your amplifier choice just says "low noise" look elsewhere. The Noise
Figure must be about 3 dB or less, which corresponds to a noise temperature
of 270K (about -3deg C, or 29deg F).

Second the amplifier should have almost no more gain than the cable loss
between the antenna and TV. More gain than that reduces the effectiveness
of the TV to properly handle the signal...assuming a "properly designed TV
receiver."

So equally look at the cable loss from the antenna to the TV, and the gain
of the amplifier. Cable loss is usually rated in dB/100 ft. Easy to figure
what the loss is in your situation. Amplifier gain is given in dB. Subtract
the two, the difference ought to be a positive value around 2 or 3. 

Follow this and you can't improve reception any more.


Jim Ussailis
jim at nationalwireless.com

PS So called amplified antennas and whole house wiring antennas are just
marketing hype. Woirse even, some are complete BS. Save time, give the $$
to charity.



Original Message:
-----------------
From: Robert Heller heller at deepsoft.com
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:15:35 -0500
To: david at farkas.com, hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Verizon vs. Comcast


   ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
   ** You too can help the group
   ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
   ** If you did, we all thank you.


At Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:50:41 -0500 "DAVID F. FARKAS" <david at farkas.com>
wrote:

> 
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> 
>    ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
>    ** You too can help the group
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all...
> 
> Finally getting ready to switch away from Comcast and ditch cable TV. 
> It seems EarthLink no longer offers phone service so that only 
> alternative is Verizon.
> 
> What they offer at my location is their 3Mbps DSL. I'm close to a 
> switching station so the speed should be as advertised. My question 
> is... will I experience a noticeable difference in performance 
> compared to Comcast cable?
> 
> A related question about TV... is anyone using an indoor antenna to 
> pick up the local TV channels successfully in Amherst? If so, any 

'Local' TV channels -- I don't think there is anything like 'local',
unless you consider Springfield local.  You'll *probably* need a rooftop
antenna to get broadcast TV.  Note: in like a couple of years, NTSC
broadcast
TV will be gone.  I don't know if there will be 'broadcast HDTV' or not.

> words of wisdom? I was thinking of using an amplified antenna and 
> putting it as high as I can get it... second floor room, top of bookcase?

Roof...

> 
> Thanx as always for sharing your knowledge and wisdom.
> 
> Blessings,
> David
> 
>
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