[BC] For the TV guys for Cowboy

[James Potter]

Dear Ricky (Lucy reference): 

The probable explanations for the dropout phenomenon you are experiencing owes to digital: (1) digital is an inherently inferior form of modulation, because it is subject to mid-air cancellation when inverted bits collide. Happens in digital two-radio all the time.  Whereas AM and FM just fade into noise, digital is there or not there -- just like it's underlying binary basis; (2) it is likely that there is some kind of multipath reflection that is causing the dropout, far enough away from your reception point to have a period of 2 seconds or so.  Crappy reception is the steep price of 'progress' in broadcasting. 
(Bah, humbug!)

Regards/J