OVER-THE-AIR TELEVISION 1 Web location for this presentation: http://aztcs.org Click on “Meeting Notes” 2 SUMMARY You can ditch your cable, satellite, or phone company's expensive television service by receiving high definition television stations over-the- air for free (= "cord cutting"). 3 TOPICS • Television Systems Around the World • ATSC Basics • Implementing Over-The-Air Television At Your Home • Internet-based Site Survey 4 TOPICS (continued) • Antenna Basics • Antenna Placement Complexities • "Do It Yourself" Stick Antennas • "Do It Yourself" Array Antennas 5 TOPICS (continued) • Antennas Direct's "Clearstream Eclipse" Amplified Antenna • Mohu's "Sky 60" Amplified Antenna • Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR- 950Q USB TV Tuner 6 TV STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD • Most of the world does not use the "ATSC" television standard that we use in the United States, Canada, and Mexico as shown in the colored map at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB- T#Countries_and_territories_using_D VB-T 7 8 TV STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD (continued) • "DTMB" = "Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast" (Mainland China and Cuba) • "ISDB-T" = "Brazilian Digital Television System" (South America and Central America) 9 TV STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD • "DVB-T" (continued) = "Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial" (Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia) • "DVB-T" is also called "DTT" in Germany (= "Digital Terrestrial Television") • "DVB-T" is also called "Freeview" in the United Kingdom 10 TV STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD (continued) • When buying television equipment online or downloading television software for a computer, tablet, or cell phone, it is easy to accidently end up with equipment or software that is not compatible with the ATSC television systems here in the United States 11 TV STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD (continued) • If a television device or software does not have "ATSC" in it's specifications, it will not work here in the United States 12 13 14 ATSC • "ATSC" stands for "Advanced Television Systems Committee" and it is sometimes called "digital television" • The former "NTSC" standard stood for "National Television Systems Committee" and it was often called "analog television" 15 ATSC (continued) • According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT SC_standards ATSC replaced much of the analog NTSC television system in the United States on June 12, 2009.. 16 ATSC (continued) • On September 1, 2015, all remaining low-powered NTSC television stations in the United States were either turned off or converted to low- powered ATSC television stations. 17 ATSC (continued) • ATSC uses 8VSB (8-level vestigial sideband modulation) In some software, "8VSB" is used as a configuration selection instead of "ATSC" so be sure to select "8VSB", if you are given a choice when configuring a TV or software 18 ATSC (continued) • Dash nomenclature in FCC assigned call signs -TV means "television station" -LP means "low power station" -CA means "Class A low power" -DT means "digital television" -HD means "high definition" -SD means "standard definition" 19 ATSC (continued) • RF channel number and RF channel frequency and FCC assigned call sign (K* or W*) and FCC assigned virtual channel number (= PSIP channel number) are the same for all sub-channels 20 ATSC (continued) • "PSIP" means "Program and System Information Protocol" This information consists of a set of tables that is constantly transmitted by every ATSC television transmitter. 21 ATSC (continued) • The "PSIP virtual channel" and the "PSIP virtual subchannel" is displayed by set top boxes, TVs, and software in one of four formats: 12.1, 12-1, 12-001, or 12001 • When television viewers say "channel", they usually mean the "PSIP virtual channel" and the "PSIP virtual subchannel" 22 ATSC (continued) • The "PSIP Short Name" is usually also displayed by set top boxes, TVs, and software: Can be up to 7 characters. Some software and some of the cheaper set top boxes display the "PSIP short name" in the channel field or instead of the "PSIP channel and PSIP subchannel" 23 IMPLEMENTING OVER-THE-AIR TELEVISION AT YOUR HOME • Step 1: Internet-based site survey • Step 2: Pilot test of actual television reception • Step 3: Procure equipment and software • Step 4: Install and configure equipment and software 24 STEP 1 DETAILS : INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY • Start off by getting a "short list" of viable television channels at http://antennaweb.org/Address 25 26 27 28 29 30 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY • At http://antennaweb.org/Address the color code for each of the listed stations represents the type of outdoor antenna that is required as described at http://antennaweb.org/Info/AntennaIn fo: 31 32 33 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY (continued) • Then, get more details for your specific location by running the more-elaborate site surveys at http://copradar.com/dtv/index.html or http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti on=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 34 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY (continued) • http://copradar.com/dtv/index.html only shows the "PSIP virtual channel" for each television station that you can receive. They call the "PSIP virtual channel" the "TV Channel": 35 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY (continued) • http://copradar.com/dtv/index.html only shows the true heading for each television transmitter. After they show you a list of television stations, click twice on heading of the "Signal" column to sort from strongest to weakest. 36 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY (continued) • http://copradar.com/dtv/index.html gives you a more accurate and more up-to-date listing of "PSIP virtual channels" relative to http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti on=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 37 38 39 40 41 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY (continued) • http://www.tvfool.com/index.php? option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 only shows the "PSIP virtual channel" and the first "PSIP virtual sub-channel" of each television station that you can receive. 42 STEP 1 DETAILS: INTERNET-BASED SITE SURVEY (continued) • http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti on=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 shows both the true heading and the magnetic compass heading for each television transmitter. The list of television stations is automatically sorted by their estimate of signal strength: 43 44 45 46 47 STEP 2 DETAILS: PILOT TEST • Borrow or rent a television set (or a computer with a television tuner) and perform an on-site pilot test to check television reception at your location. • Build a simple "stick antenna" if you do not already have an existing television antenna. 48 ANTENNA BASICS • Place the antenna on the side of your house that is nearest the transmitters of the television stations that you wish to receive. 49 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • With the exception of the simple stick antenna (which you can build), most antennas are directional (even if the manufacturer claims that it is omnidirectional) 50 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Use the RF channel of a television station instead of the (displayed) virtual channel to determine if you need an antenna that emphasizes VHF or UHF reception: 51 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • If your antenna comes with an amplifier or you add an amplifier to an existing antenna, the amplifier needs to be placed as close as possible to the antenna (with as short a run of coaxial cable between the antenna and the amplifier as possible) 52 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Use RG 6 coaxial cable instead of RG 59 coaxial cable, since RG 6 has much lower signal loss 53 54 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • When your power adapter or your cable going to your power adapter or your amplifier (if there is one) fails, you will be unable to receive any television channels. However, you can use the antenna without the amplifier as follows (while waiting for replacement parts to arrive): 55 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Using your amplified antenna without the amplifier will usually reduce the number of television channels that you can receive: 56 57 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • For each "channel", your television set needs to receive a signal from -5 dBm to -65 dBm ("dBm" = "decibels relative to a milliwatt") The following chart can be found at http://copradar.com/dtv/index.html# install: 58 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • The channel listing tool at http://www.tvfool.com/index.php? option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 will show you an estimate of the dBm value for each television station that you can receive at your location. 60 61 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • The size and design complexity of an antenna is more important than whether on not it has an amplifier: • To illustrate this, look at Antenna Direct's line of antennas: 62 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Antenna Direct's 25-mile antenna is not amplified: 63 64 65 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Antenna Direct's 50-mile antenna is amplified: 66 67 68 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Antenna Direct's 60-mile antenna is not amplified: 69 70 71 ANTENNA BASICS (continued) • Antenna Direct's 70-mile antenna is not amplified: 72 73 74 ANTENNA PLACEMENT COMPLEXITIES • According to http://www.hdtvprimer.com/antenna s/siting.html: 75 ANTENNA PLACEMENT COMPLEXITIES (continued) • <start of quote>: Diffraction is the ability of a wave to bend around into the shadow formed by an obstruction. It doesn’t matter whether it is an absorbing or reflecting obstruction. Most OTA viewers depend on diffraction for their reception: <end of quote> 76 ANTENNA PLACEMENT COMPLEXITIES (continued) • Tangent (opposite over adjacent) of 0.025 for 40 mile distance and a 1 mile high antenna site: Result =1.43 degrees