Sic Transit VII

[mrschuyler@aol.com]

Turned on the tube at about 3:30 Friday afternoon to find RF 7 completely gone, not just in black with the carrier on.  I'm the rare viewer for whom the "real" Channel 7 had a better signal for OTA DTV reception than did 42.  From my hilltop location in Lunenburg, MA, using amplified rabbit ears, the "real" Channels 9 and 11 come in very well.

RF 7 always registered higher on the Zenith/Insignia converter's signal strength meter than Virtual 7 (42).  After months of experimentation, I had found the "perfect" position and settings on the antenna to receive 25 channels without jumping up every few minutes to make adjustments, but that ended when 42 immediately began breaking up a couple days ago.  Bringing it back meant temporarily losing "25" and "56."

A couple years back I read somewhere that stations with coverage problems like WHDH's would be setting up booster XMTRs in those shadows, such as in urban "concrete canyons."  What happened with that idea?  Is that another concept that on works on paper but not in reality, like much of digital broadcasting?


---Jim Schuyler
   loose cannon