You don't have to respond in person - I'll happily quote “a well-placed source.”
I have no idea really what kind of egghead to approach with this question, or where to go, but ever since the latest radio spectrum auction in the United States, something has been nagging me.
Long story short, the government repartitioned some of the UHF band previously reserved for television, giving it to cellular phones. Now, because I'm ignorant about transmitting, I see cell towers transmitting right next to the UHF TV band, and I'm wondering about the feasibility of those cell towers also transmitting a TV signal in that band.
Let me put it another way; is it a simple thing to get an existing cell tower to act as a UHF television repeater? I'm curious, because if it's simple to do, and the Federal Communications Commission sanctions it, the guy to adapt those towers would have a national over-the-air television network set up immediately. And that would be a groovy thing to do.
I don't suppose anybody knows anybody that would tell me if this is utter nonsense or not?
Me, I would tell him that if he makes the proper sacrifices to propitiate Aiolos and invokes the aid of Hēphaistos, the whole thing is a snap. This might not be a helpful answer.
Cell tower antennas are relatively specific to cell service, and fairly narrowband. That's important more on receive than on transmit, but existing cell antennas would work poorly in UHF TV service.
I have a hunch that the FCC wouldn't license such an application, but I could be wrong about that. More to the point, I'm not sure how many TVs still in service can pick up the full range of former UHF frequencies. Channels 70-83 have been gone since 1983, and channels 52-69 went away in 2009.
A national, low-power UHF TV broadcast network is an interesting idea, but I don't know whether it would be economically viable even if it went on the air. UHF has serious line-of-sight transmission issues (i.e., "big stuff in the way") and I doubt the picture quality would match the HDTV that everybody is getting used to at a gallop these days.
So whereas it's a neat idea, I'm guessing it would be an immense amount of work to perfect at those frequencies, for a service that isn't really in demand, given the preponderance of cable and satellite delivery of very high quality video programming.
Y' know, though, if the godless commies from outer space - or the Federal Emergency Management Authority - ever took over the good ol' USA, such a system might become the Voice of the Resistance, piggybacked onto the nationalized Federal Telephone and Television Administration equipment.
You don't have to respond in person - I'll happily quote “a well-placed source.”
I have no idea really what kind of egghead to approach with this question, or where to go, but ever since the latest radio spectrum auction in the United States, something has been nagging me.
Long story short, the government repartitioned some of the UHF band previously reserved for television, giving it to cellular phones. Now, because I'm ignorant about transmitting, I see cell towers transmitting right next to the UHF TV band, and I'm wondering about the feasibility of those cell towers also transmitting a TV signal in that band.
Let me put it another way; is it a simple thing to get an existing cell tower to act as a UHF television repeater? I'm curious, because if it's simple to do, and the Federal Communications Commission sanctions it, the guy to adapt those towers would have a national over-the-air television network set up immediately. And that would be a groovy thing to do.
I don't suppose anybody knows anybody that would tell me if this is utter nonsense or not?
http://typewriterking.livejournal.com/243102.html
Me, I would tell him that if he makes the proper sacrifices to propitiate Aiolos and invokes the aid of Hēphaistos, the whole thing is a snap. This might not be a helpful answer.
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I have a hunch that the FCC wouldn't license such an application, but I could be wrong about that. More to the point, I'm not sure how many TVs still in service can pick up the full range of former UHF frequencies. Channels 70-83 have been gone since 1983, and channels 52-69 went away in 2009.
A national, low-power UHF TV broadcast network is an interesting idea, but I don't know whether it would be economically viable even if it went on the air. UHF has serious line-of-sight transmission issues (i.e., "big stuff in the way") and I doubt the picture quality would match the HDTV that everybody is getting used to at a gallop these days.
So whereas it's a neat idea, I'm guessing it would be an immense amount of work to perfect at those frequencies, for a service that isn't really in demand, given the preponderance of cable and satellite delivery of very high quality video programming.
Reply
Thank 'ee. You're “a highly qualified source.”
Y' know, though, if the godless commies from outer space - or the Federal Emergency Management Authority - ever took over the good ol' USA, such a system might become the Voice of the Resistance, piggybacked onto the nationalized Federal Telephone and Television Administration equipment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGU-20
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