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Technology Stocks : Acrodyne (ACRO) is one of two pure plays in the TV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr.G who wrote (1189)	10/27/1998 12:26:00 PM
From: Robert Florin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1319

Okay, here's an uninformed guess- revs $3.5 mm Earnings $.01

To: Mr.G who wrote (1189)	10/28/1998 7:13:00 PM
From: Mr.G	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1319

ATTC Successfully Demos On-Channel Repeater By Ron Merrell Washington,DC-It was just a few weeks ago that the Advanced Television Technology Center (ATTC) announced it had been testing an on-channel repeater, a development that comes just in time to settle a nagging DTV problem: holes in the pattern, the cliff effect and so on. To say the least, engineers at the ATTC were thrilled that their repeater design not only worked, but exceeded their expectations. "Many told us it couldn't be done," muses ATTC Technical Director Walt Husak. "We were told it not only couldn't be done, but that if it could be done it would be too expensive. Well, it has been done, and it isn't going to be too expensive either." <<snip "So, you can imagine our excitement here at ATTC when we found in on-air tests that it actually exceeded our expectations by as much as 20 dB." <<snip >>The received signal was downconverted to an intermediate frequency, filtered, then upconverted to the original frequency for retransmission. So technically, it's a kind of hybrid translator. <<snip According to the ATTC, the implications are more than just solving the cliff effect. For example, they hold that an on-channel repeater could allow reduced operating power at the main transmitter. Why? Because the main transmitter wouldn't have to broadcast to a large region that includes unpopulated areas. Remote repeaters, it contends, can redirect signals to specific areas in the outer fringe coverage. What's more, conserving channels will be increasingly important as we enter the DTV transition period, where NTSC and DTV signals will simultaneously share the spectrum. As Husak puts it, "This is very clearly a viable alternative for the translator market. But we have tests to run in selected areas in pattern nulls, while using low power." Clearly, the ATTC's timing is significant, and they should be congratulated for their achievement. Not only could this solve the cliff effect, but it also would, if the next round of tests are successful, negate the need to bombard the Grade A and B contours with excessive power. -Oct, 1998 issue Television Broadcast Magazine