Homemade low power TV transmitter?

[colorfixer]

Unless the amp was made for ATV, a typical ham radio linear amplifier's bandwidth is usually woefully too narrow to carry a 5MHz television signal, and most won't work outside the ham bands (6m, 2m, 70cm).

Theoretically you could try this setup instead (legal FCC/IC/PTT disclaimer intended and you've been warned, and if you're bright/dumb enough to try this you probably know the consequences ):

Cable head-end Modulator--->commercial cable distribution amp-->cable trunk amplifier--->single channel MATV antenna.

-the trunk amplifier is optional unless you need greater range.
-a real head end modulator is best since you can control output levels and it's true VSB, not a pro-sumer one.
-you'll need to use good quality coax cables like RG6 and RG-11.
-the antenna must be located in a manner that eliminates its feeding back into the amps, meaning away from the antenna. No rabbit ears here...
-older "~450MHz" cable amps that were used back in the day work better than the newer ones.
-stay away from ch4, as there are aeronautical users at 72+/- MHz and it would really suck if a 747 tried to land in your living room.

There's going to be a number of analog low power UHF translators going up for replacement (read: disposal) when the "event horizon" comes up. Most of these are solid state, have a proper "channel converter" to take channel "x" and make it into channel "Y", are reasonably compact and don't take up a room, and make some power (=range). If your head-end modulator can generate channel "x" the translator won't know the difference.

Enjoy...

[RetroHacker]

Originally Posted by thisOne

Here is what Northlan Cable says about it on their website:

• How many television sets can I connect to digital cable?
You can connect to digital cable to any number of TVs in your home for a low fee per month for each additional TV. Alternatively, you can receive the Deluxe Basic lineup on each additional TV for no charge and without any additional equipment.
• Do I need a separate digital cable box for every TV?
No. You only need a digital cable box if you wish to view the channels above 99 or would like to use the digital guide.

Here is what Optimum says about a Theft of Service

Ah, see - you're talking about digital cable. That's proprietary and each cable company rents out the boxes. I don't get digital cable. I don't intend to. I tried it for a month but the picture was abysmal. But no. I'm not going to be stealing service. I pay for it. I'm not going to be circumventing anything, because with analog cable, I'm not renting a box - only using tuners in consumer equipment. In my computer room, I have an early 80's Mitsubishi 15" television. It's connected to a Sanyo Betamax VCR. The VCR does the tuning of the analog cable. No cable company equipment in my house at all.

With analog cable, it doesn't matter to the cable company if I have one set or a hundred, I don't get charged extra per set. Analog cable must be called "Deluxe Basic" by your provider.

-Ian

[andy]

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