Re: Could this be a chance to tell the NAB to GO TO HELL?

To me, the thing NAB wanted was more channels to get a leg up on cable TV and offer competition. That was always a problem with analog, not as much space, especially on VHF, and high startup costs for any full power station.

I didn't think about rural areas being shut out of signals because of digital, but it has to be true. I've visited people in the mountains who had no clear analog signals, and they could watch a fringe signal with a vague picture, but at least they had something.

In Pittsburgh I get dozens of digital signals well, but I'm cut off from distant cities, it's true. I used to get signals from Steubenville, Youngstown, Wheeling and Johnstown, up to 50-60 miles away. Johnstown should have been the hardest, over a few mountain ridges, but WFAT TV-19, I think might have been up to 5 million watts in later times.

Now I can get nothing from anywhere else but Pittsburgh, that's with a UHF bowtie antenna by the TV, I haven't tried a rooftop antenna on the roof or a tower.

Could rural areas try a high gain antenna and preamp like they used to do, and pull in digital?

Boomer