[opendtv] Re: NCTA, NAB Battle EchoStar HDTV Legislation
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 20:15:01 -0700
I'm all in favor of accuracy, and I see zero evidence that EchoStar -- in
any context -- is interested in accuracy.
I can't say what the maps say in whole, because I've only examined the area
of interest to me. Do you think that's part of their plan? (BTW, a badly
designed site, and while the form email messages the it enables users to
send MIGHT be counted, not a single one will ever be read. (The soft
underbelly of "greenroots" emails is that they only make the victims think
they're connected.
I had a conversation with someone in the business today. Do you know that
there is no such thing as a professional EchoStar satellite receiver? The
reason is simple to discern: unless millions of units are possible, nobody
wants to deal with the 'tudes.
I took more than a few minutes today to look at the chart for So Cal.
It took quite a long time to download the map for California. Something
like a 5 mb PDF. What the idiots should have done is have a search engine,
and permit you to specify the search area. Just that information would have
been helpful for them. I'm sure the problem has to do with Charlie not
thinking of it first, and the "folks" behind IwantMyHDTV just taking orders
from him.
I note that I could not find (the "well designed" maps have print too small
for the combination of my eyesight, monitor and display settings) was any
reference or criteria. The types I asked for when the maps were prepared.
If anybody is claiming to have produced them (you know, the names of
individuals) I could find no reference.
What I saw was inaccuracy. The map shows that there is no Fox digital TV
service in San Diego. Sort of funny, when one considers that digital Fox
has been available hereabouts for more than 5 years. But then, the station
transmits from Mexico. Somehow that fact -- the station has been a Fox
affiliate for close to 20 years -- escaped and was not reflected on the map.
Then, I looked at the maps for stations I was familiar with. (At one time,
I had copies of the signal contours for EVERY California Full Service TV
station). I noticed in some cases that the signal contours overstated
coverage in the sparsely-settled portions of Eastern San Diego County, and
seems to understate (at least the analog coverage) of stations in Yuma/El
Centro to the East. (These stations are all at a very high elevation, and
stations need only a minimal amount of amplification from their exciter to
get to max power.
I also noticed that the coverage of San Diego metro seemed to be very balky.
The maps appear to understate the digital coverage areas of KFMB(CBS) and
KGTV (ABC). I cannot figure out a clues as to why: these stations are at
the same power digital as analog.
When trying to account for the innaccuracies, I could not account for them.
As an aside, I have in the past been paid much money for writing computer
programs that produced accurate maps like the ones EchoStar is offering.
It's almost -- no criteria or references supplied -- as if they had used one
criteria in urban areas (terrain shielding seems to be at least partially in
play here) and a different one (Longley-Rice/R6602) in rural areas. Maybe
the idiots behind this call that "fairness." Whatever it is, it ain't
engineering.
A more useful exercise would show the add/lost area with DTV (at current
power levels) versus analog. Oh yeah, that wouldn't have suited EchoStar's
"death" wish. But, it would have gone far to settle whether "IwantMyHdtv"
is really interested in helping the adoption of DTV in the US, or whether
they are merely Charlie Ergen's latest (badly paid, if at all) whore.
John Willkie
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Doug McDonald
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 12:48 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: NCTA, NAB Battle EchoStar HDTV Legislation
John Willkie wrote:
> You are confusing your anecdote with the major impact of the maps as
applies
> to other markets. Are you now complaining that the level terrain in your
> state puts Illinois at a disadvantage?
>
So how do you see the accuracy of the maps in other markets?
Here where I live the maps are inaccurate because of either
a) the station is broadcasting at 1 kW and the maps are for full power
or
b) the station is not yet on the air yet the map says it is
Are you saying that in most of the country the maps
UNDERestimate the coverage areas?
Doug McDonald
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