[Jeffhs]

That "Fog Over Portland" movie could have been about the problems TV viewers have today getting digital TV stations using OTA antennas.

Further, most people did not understand why they were having problems receiving UHF stations when they were new; all they did know was they either received the station behind a hail of snow, or they did not see the station at all. I remember when Cleveland's first UHF station went on the air in 1965. It was an educational channel on UHF "educational" channel 25 (that's what the announcer said when the station signed on and off), intended mainly for use by the schools of northeastern Ohio. I lived in an eastern suburb of Cleveland at the time and, using a loop of wire on the antenna terminals of a 17-inch Silvertone all-channel portable, all I could get was a very faint picture from that station. I suppose if the TV were hooked up to a much better antenna than that loop, the station would come in slightly better, but I didn't hold out much hope for home viewers trying to receive it. The elementary school on the next street over from my home at the time eventually erected a high-power VHF and UHF antenna on the roof of the building. I don't remember anymore if the reception was that much better; however, shortly thereafter, an amplified CATV antenna distribution system was installed, which downconverted UHF channel 25 to VHF channel 4. The TVs in the classrooms, all RCA metal-cased sets, had a notice written in large letters taped to the sides of the cabinets: "To get channel 25 tune to channel 4." I guess this was to improve reception of the UHF station in our far-suburban reception area. Where I live today, any TV would need a very high-powered amplified antenna to get this channel and Cleveland's other three UHF stations, as I live in a near-fringe area--well, at least it was near-fringe for NTSC analog; now, with ATSC digital, I can get all but two Cleveland TV stations "just like downtown", with a beautiful picture, using just a small ClearTV digital antenna on my flat screen TV. The two stations I do not receive with the antenna are, wouldn't you know it, the two stations whose DTV subchannels I watch the most; this is why I still have cable. I understand the problem is that these two stations broadcast on VHF DTV channels, which my ClearTV antenna does not receive very well, or more accurately at all.

Three years later, in 1968, Cleveland's second UHF station signed on, amid much fanfare. I'll never forget it. I was downstairs in my basement working on an old radio or TV (don't remember which anymore), with a radio tuned to a local station. Suddenly, an announcer broke in: "Turn on your TVs at once! Channel 43 is on the air!" Well, I dropped what I was doing, ran upstairs, and tuned the old Silvertone portable to channel 43. The station was on the air, all right--broadcasting a test pattern.

BTW, one of Portland's problems with their first UHF station, that the channel could not be seen in many if not most parts of the metropolitan area, could have been traced to the mountainous topography of that region. UHF signals are easily blocked or attenuated by obstructions such as mountains, so the use of a good UHF antenna mounted higher than the nearest mountain was a necessity if the channel were to be received well enough to watch or, in some areas, at all.

This is one thing a lot of non-technical people did not understand about UHF television reception; they wondered why they could not get their area's UHF station(s) simply using a loop on the UHF terminals on the back covers of their televisions. In many prime signal areas it may have been possible to receive the local UHF station(s) using just a loop or the UHF loops on all-channel rabbit ears, but for the best results, TV repairmen always recommended the use of a good outdoor antenna.

The same advice rings true today for DTV. In some areas it is entirely possible to get literally dozens of DTV channels, using a simple UHF indoor antenna such as the Clear TV or Clear Cast digital antenna. However, again, for the very best results the advice almost always is to use an outdoor antenna on a rotor, mounted as high and in the clear as possible. The rotor is not absolutely necessary unless you are in an area, such as greater Washington, DC, in which TV stations can be received from several directions. I mentioned Washington because it is a rather unique reception area; with a good antenna on a rotor, one can receive stations from both Washington and Baltimore, although the ability to receive network stations from both cities doesn't mean much since you would be getting the same programs from two different stations at the same time--for example, the NBC Nightly News on channel 4 in Washington and channel 11 in Baltimore. Both cities are in the same time zone (Eastern Standard), so there is no real value in being able to get the news or other network programming on two different stations in two different cities. The only way this could be useful would be if you lived between two time zones and, for example, one station broadcast ABC news and another station, in another time zone, broadcast the same ABC newscast an hour earlier or later than the first one.