[BC] HDTV rollout wrinkle

[Dana Puopolo]

This isn't 'growing pains', Scott. It's well known that low band VHF is no
good for DTV..particularly in urban areas. There might actually be a valid
reason for using it in rural areas-providing that stations were prepared to be
off the air most cool summer evenings thanks to skip. The bottom line is this:
the FCC didn't have the *balls* to stick to their guns and keep DTV off low
band! They bent over for the lobbiests and lawyers (just like they always do!)
and once again the public suffers for their piss poor stewardship of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Now thay want to apply this 'band aid' that will
work about as well as increasing the night powers of the class IVs to 1 kW did
back in the '80s. Good luck suckers!

The FCC suffers from what I call 'political physics'.  That's the physics that
says that 50 kW FMs in Arizona don't go as far as their cousins licensed in
California that operate off the same tower. That's the physics that says a 250
watt translator interferes LESS then a 100 watt LPFM. That's the physics that
claiums a 5 MEGAwatt UHF with a 2000 foot tower interferes LESS then a 100
WATT LPTV on a 100 foot tower! There are examples of this all over the
FCC...and it's not limited to broadcasting. Why the FCC considers TCP/IP
packets delivered over a twisted copper pair something completely different
then the SAME PACKETS deleivered over a coaxial cable or fiber! I have news
for them: The end user considers BOTH the INTERNET!
It's really time to disband the FCC and replace it with a regulatory board
that's run by engineers instead of lawyers. Why? Simple. The fish is rotten
from it's head down!

-D

From: Scott Fybush <scott at fybush.com>

Analog TV went through these growing pains in the late forties and early 
fifties, with even greater problems to resolve: not only were power 
levels incredibly low by today's standards, but co-channel spacings were 
far shorter than they should have been. (Channel 4 was used not only in 
Boston, NYC and Washington but also in Schenectady and Lancaster, PA; 
channel 7 was used in Wilmington, Delaware as well as in Washington and 
NYC; channel 11 was used in Providence as well as in NYC; etc.)