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Old 12-07-2016, 09:08 AM
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DavGoodlin DavGoodlin is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: near Strasburg PA
Posts: 3,400
Thanks for the lesson on how BBC covered the UK, Colly. Those transmitter locations sound so challenging to receive , considering the terrain is so similar to the northeastern US. A British website "antennahacks" is very interesting and details their adventures. They discuss trees and foliage, especially evergreens, and how they affect UHF reception.

Having visited there a few times since the mid-70s, I saw mostly UHF yagi antennas.
I recall a hotel room in London with a Philips monochrome set having a loop antenna and pushbuttons set like a car radio. They were variable and numbered and I seem to recall channel 21 and 27 as BBC 1&2.
I saw the occasional VHF antenna, vertical polarised and just figured that was for FM broadcast. The X antennas I was told were omni-directional FM, probably a radio 4 listener who wanted their classical music crystal clear.

Low band VHF DTV is alive and expanding in the Philadelphia-South Jersey area. Channels 2 and 4 have been built. A channel 5 now in Middletown Delaware.

WPVI 6 (85 mhz center band) has upped their power a few times since 2009 because most people buy a set-top UHF antenna which pulls in all the other transmitters and usually the one and only hi-band channel 12. I mean, who wants a 64 inch dipole hanging off their set

About 12 years ago, some analog stations were simulcasting in ATSC on a different channel, UHF mostly. I began experimenting with DT reception and collecting classic UHF designs to test. A long-time TV repair acquaintance predicted the channel assignments would change but the lo/hi VHF and UHF bands would remain. He was telling everyone to keep or upgrade their broadband antennas even suggesting the big combination antenna monsters like the Channel Master CM3671 and Winegard 8200, both about 4 meteres from front to back.
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Last edited by DavGoodlin; 12-07-2016 at 09:15 AM.
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