FOUR LEAKS THIS TIME! Cha-cha real smooth.

TO THE LEFT!

Take it back now y’all.

With the assistance of Jack Davis (Jackpot Engineering), we got in there and changed out the tube body cooler ring, and the whole thing lived to tell about it…

I didn’t get pictures of the process because my hands were two of the six hoisting parts on and off of the thing, but here was the process:
Remove tube cart, place under chain hoist.
Pluck out tube.
Unbolt input cavity/socket assembly from below, drop it down and remove.
Remove bolts holding secondary cavity to cart legs and remove screws from underneath that hold those four round black vertical standoffs to the top plate of the cart. Hoist the top of the cart up a few inches.
Unbolt and remove grid ring cooler.
Admire the corroded mess.

Korrosion Krispies.

This looks as if water may have been slowly getting out INSIDE the ring in addition to the externally visible leaks down on the lines feeding it, it was DONE. Please note the heavy coating of black silver oxide. This continued to make itself known throughout the procedure.

This was leak #1 down…….

“Does anyone know the last time the ceramics of the tube were cleaned?”
*dead silence*

“Ew.”

WELLLLLLLTHEN

So, good cleaning of the tube is vital as there’s a BIG voltage gradient across the large white ceramic cylinder, as well as between the filament (innermost two rings) and the next ring up, assuming that’s the ion pump (3.5 KV!)….

Before:

I didn’t even realize the very bottom there had a ridged porcelain bushing around it – it looked to me like some kind of dull finish aluminum alloy piece from all the mess stuck on it.

Note the spot where I wiped it with my finger which came away black. I guess this also illustrates where all the air gets sucked out at time of manufacturing – it’s got a center exhaust like a light bulb!

After scrubdown:

Well mostly.

The unglazed part of the bushing appears to just be permanently stained. I even tried Scotch-Brite pads on it. The glazed outside cleaned up perfectly.

And now, time for some massive, ugly cleaning.

Ever had a faux leather case on something or a piece of clothing where the outermost texturized layer of the material started shedding, forming an evil sticky glitter-like flaky substance that sticks to everything and spreads everywhere like the DISEASE of craft supplies itself?! Yeah— imagine that, but made of silver oxide, CONDUCTIVE, and coating most surfaces of the output cavities. Gee, no wonder I was getting cavity arcs in the log every day or so. YAAACK.

Brush, vacuum, brush, vacuum, bleeech.

Finally it was time to put it all back together, at which time I experienced leak number 2 — one of the Hansen couplers blew its o-ring and started spraying water down the back of the tube cart. These things work just like pneumatic line couplers you may be familiar with from air tools, just, big and angry and stuff. You can’t see it well at this angle but there’s a hard nylon ring up inside there followed by a rubber gasket. The rubber gasket had ceased to be, just like any of the Barnstead filter gaskets every time you look at them wrong.

So I left the amplifier running into the combiner load overnight, came back the next day and found a nice puddle of red splooey on the floor below the external glycol piping behind the cabinets. LEAK #3!!!

The source was the mid-body seal of a ball valve that literally would never have been touched since the day the transmitter cooling system was filled up and made ready for the rig to go on air. It’s a valve that’d let you bypass the outdoor heat exchangers and just circulate the Dowtherm glycol solution through the pump/tank unit and the amplifier cabinets. I’ve never seen a ball valve fail this way before. have you? Probably not. IT’S JUST POWERFULLY CURSED OK


COVER WITH J-B WELD, FULL SEND, BYE

Finally, Leak #4 happened on some of the blue hoses at the Barnstead filters, I was so done with this thing I didn’t take a picture, just cut the hose a little shorter and smashed it back onto the fittings, BYESIES

So that’s the tale of FOUR LEAKS on the Harris PisserCD.

Stay tuned for when I attempt a grid scrub / outgassing procedure on this stupid thing which has been last performed probably about when the tube ceramics were last cleaned, which is to say, oh, half a decade ago. -29mA grid current? Ok yeah sure thanks for that. What else is even left on this thing to leak??

I wonder what this sounded like

So, reportedly there is good CCTV footage of this, and it’ll get posted online once the insurance company is done with it. The user at the time kept repeatedly slamming their car back and forth under the machine until they caught it with the top brush down and backed into it hard, tipping the whole wash gantry over and crushing the roof of the car as it came to rest. Amazingly, the Istobal machine looks pretty much unscathed other than the wire/hose guide getting torn off the wall.

Istobal car wash taking a nap
Stick your brushes in the air like you just don’t care
Judging from the top brush position when this went down, it was caught by what was formerly a fairly tall SUV.

Wanna bet this was a GMC Yukon or a Land Rover? Those seem to be the peak derpcastle vehicles around here.

Barnstorm! Or, No Good Deed….

Ever had water start gushing out of something that’s fundamentally made of eldritch terror and high voltage? Why I’ve never…..

And it gave me a nice shower the moment I got the door open. And I accidentally did the Wrong Button Thing again in the confusion.

h. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

H
Cursed

So the fitting that became a showerhead is the one on the left. I didn’t get a picture of it but basically it’s the same as half of that coupler I found in a parts box that’s sitting on top… However it didn’t have the O-ring. The snapped trapezoidal profile ring sitting on the right sits in the bottom of the socket. The fitting plugs in there, held against the trapezoidal ring by two locking pins, you can see the head of one of them on top here. I can’t identify the type of connector or even find any evidence that it ever existed. Anywhere. Needless to say I didn’t have a spare for that ring, but luckily taking one of the round o rings off that close nipple and putting it in the seat in the socket and reinstalling the thing worked! No more warm shower of DI water.

Oh, and now I know how the funky bascule bridges work. A rather buzzy motor cranks up in there and rotates pinion gears that engage with rack gears on these two long braces on each side of the bascule, which protrude outward from the waterway to lift the well balanced assembly. You would be well advised to stay clear of that counterweight as it comes awkwardly close to the road surface as it nears fully open!

And this is uhh, Stuffing Shit In Tower Elevators, Medium Difficulty Level. I rode down squatted inside the cabinet and it wasn’t the best. The elevator is kinda both bigger and smaller than it looks as it’s a weird shape and the control cabinets stick out. If there isn’t a large object rammed in the, there’s enough space to comfortably sit down on the floor as it slowly creeps its way up or down at 85 feet per minute.

Out of sight, out of mind

This is certainly a thing. I don’t know how half this crap even got up here.

This is mostly just a picture dump that begins beyond the read more tag. This is weirdness like 1600 feet up a tower inside a weird triangular room wrapped around it.

But first, one of the more unique elevator controllers I’ve seen.. the red cylinders are crystal filters of some sort used to detect control tones that are inductively coupled by a plate on the cab that rides next to a wire stretched along its path up the tower. It works pretty well as long as everyone remembers to keep the cab panel batteries charged.

From here on just remember “treat your fiberoptics with more respect than this please”

Read more “Out of sight, out of mind”

Noooooooo springs!

Up on the bench today: A Lectrosonics wireless microphone cube.
This unit snaps right into the XLR connector at the bottom of a ‘stick’ microphone for handheld use. You’ve probably seen these in use on the news before (though often the bottom of the mic will be out of the shot and you won’t see it hanging there).

This is the upper end of the cube, as seen with the mic in a position of normal use.
The black plastic coated cone serves two purposes. One, you twist it to press the locking tab on the XLR to eject the assembly from the microphone. Two, it’s always being forced towards the tip by a strong spring, so the mic is gripped firmly and prevented from rattling around.

NOOOOOOO SPRINGS! Heeheeheeheehee

See how the XLR is all chewed up on this one? The spring failed over time (and LOTS of hard use) and allowed it to rattle around, causing eventual failure of the connector.

Looks easy enough to replace, right? It’s just screwed to one end plate of the ‘cube’ housing, into which there are five screw holes – two on the flatted side that’s down on the static mat in this picture, three of which face the rest of the pack body.

OH AND NO REDEMPTION EITHER.

Anyway….

Step one… get the pack open by removing all the tiny screws surrounding the display and controls then lift that out. Good luck. That part is fecking DIFFICULT, I have always just firmly stuck gaff tape to it and used it as a handle to lift it out. Be careful as you will be disconnecting a small pitch set of header pins above the top of the display towards the XLR end. Don’t bend them. The whole thing will come free when lifted only about a millimeter out of the recess though so the risk of this should be small. The two screws right next to the XLR are longer than the others as they land in the XLR endcap.

Step two, proceed to gut the whole damn thing like a fish. Photo captions inspired by the short film above.

I OWN YOUR ASS, FAT BOY!

You’ll get your way…. IN HELL!!!

Off comes the battery door – 4 pieces – first to come out are the four long larger black cone head Phillips screws, followed by the outer plate and the battery flap, then three more short small cone head screws to get that thin inner plate and spring off.
Now you can see the three screws on the back of the XLR plate down holes drilled through the cube body… but you can only actually reach one of them! This is gonna get sillier. Trust me. You’ve gotta get the radio board out of there.

On a side note, see that little black biscuit on the radio board? That’s topped with a strong magnet. Is that…. a whole-ass miniature RF CIRCULATOR?

The short black wire is the antenna lead. This must be desoldered along with the red and green power wires. Oh, also, to get to this point, you have to take out four tiny pan head Phillips screws and three larger short pan head screws that hold the control/audio board to the back of the front panel. Disconnect the one flat flex connector to the front panel membrane switches. The audio wires are Kynar and are looped through a hole in the board next to where they’re actually soldered down. There are fine pitch SMT components RIGHT NEXT TO the through holes they are soldered into. Be careful. This precluded the use of a vacuum desoldering pump and made me swear even more.

And finally, here’s the small mountain of screws that you’ll find yourself facing midway through the process. Don’t ask me to explain the “Line ‘Em Up” thing because I don’t understand it either. It just spontaneously came to be one day and that’s all I know. Oh, also, there IS a little bit of extra room in there to where you can leave the battery leads slightly long-ish, but you’ll have to carefully roll them up into that void between the flat flex connector on the control panel and where they land on the power / radio board. There isn’t enough clearance between that shield can and the chips on the back of the control panel.

Oh, one more thing: those hex screws are English size – I think 3/32 inch. The tiny set screws on some of their connectors are 0.9 millimeter. Yes, an unholy blend of English and Metric. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

But hey, I can think of worse ways I could have spent the late morning hours. Well I still don’t have to fix the couch, so bite me.

this should be used as a copypasta somewhere

ATSC 1.0 has at least two very dumb things about it. #1: The 8VSB modulation. 8VSB is basically amplitude modulation with, spectrally, everything below the carrier attenuated off. In theory, that sounds ok, except that it’s extremely vulnerable to multipath. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS ON EVERY TV SIGNAL IN AN URBAN AREA. The margin’s not that big for multipath, and once you hit it, the whole signal’s useless, leaving your viewers to dance around with the antenna and wonder why they just can’t get picture….
8VSB was only, from documentation I’ve found on it, lab tested for performance in terms of signal to noise ratio in a proof for the FCC… no attempt was made to simulate or measure receiver performance in the face of multipath. I’m not sure if this was because nobody ever had the “aha!” moment and realized it’d be a problem or if some vendor already heavily invested in it swept it under the rug. Just about every other country used DVB-T which allows for more spectrally efficient and robust modulation standards including QPSK (very robust but not as efficient as QAM), 16QAM, and 64QAM.
This raises another issue that was dumber on the broadcaster’s side: 8VSB was in part chosen because it would, in theory, work through existing analog transmitters, requiring only slight modifications to things like the combiners and an exciter swap. In practice, no transmitter manufacturers really opened this up as an option, and everyone had to buy all new shit. In fact… the klystron based UHF television transmitters proved not to have the linearity (or SOMETHING) to deal with 8VSB and the Inductive Output Tube had to be brought out of mothballs to deal with it. The IOT has great linearity but no damn efficiency – it was originally used by General Electric for an early World’s Fair demo of UHF television broadcasting, but commercially never took off… anyway, later on, EEV’s esciot series tubes improved on that somewhat… but… they’re still a pain in the arse
Stupid Thing #2 (or is it about #8 by now?): MPEG2. Do I look like I know what an mpeg is?*
So here not only do we have this shitty 8VSB modulation sapping the available amount of information that can be broadcast in a certain width of channel but then…. MPEG2 video coding was specified. I suspect that’s evidence of the standard’s development either being dragged out forever OR someone just wanted to be able to use up a bunch of DVD player decoder ASICs they had sitting in a Chinese warehouse. As a result of the MPEG2 encoding being used, the picture looks like DOUBLE BUTT when there’s a lot of motion, especially when you’re running a lot of subchannels squeezed into that 18.3 megabits/sec…
And then you have the whole godawful thing where the CECB program led to the cost of converter boxes which probably actually cost about $25 including hardware, manufacturing, and patent licensing royalties being fixed right up to $40…. but that’s a far dumber story
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5nZhf8SjXw

ATSC 1.0 has ๐Ÿ’น๐Ÿ‘ฉ at ๐Ÿ˜‚โ˜บ least two very โ—๐Ÿ˜” dumb ๐Ÿ‘…๐Ÿคค things about ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘ it. ๐Ÿ’ก๐Ÿ˜ #1: โฐ๐Ÿคœ The 8VSB modulation. 8VSB is basically amplitude modulation with, spectrally, everything below โฌ‡๐Ÿ˜ซ the carrier attenuated off. ๐Ÿ“ด In ๐Ÿ‘ theory, ๐Ÿ† that ๐Ÿ˜ฆ sounds ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ‘Œ ok, ๐Ÿ†— except ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฎ that ๐Ÿ‘ˆ it’s ๐Ÿ’ฏโ— extremely ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ’ฏ vulnerable to ๐Ÿ˜„ multipath. GUESS ๐Ÿ˜ฆ WHAT HAPPENS ON ๐Ÿ˜ข๐Ÿ”› EVERY ๐Ÿพ TV ๐Ÿ“บ๐Ÿ“บ SIGNAL IN ๐Ÿ‘ AN ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ‘ URBAN AREA. The margin’s not ๐Ÿšซ that ๐Ÿ‘ถโžก big for multipath, and โ˜ข๐Ÿ† once โ‰๐Ÿ† you โ˜ hit it, ๐Ÿ˜ต the ๐Ÿ™† whole signal’s useless, โณ leaving ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿƒ your ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ’ฆ viewers to ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐ŸŽฏ dance ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ’ƒ around ๐Ÿ˜‡๐Ÿ’ฆ with ๐Ÿ‘ the antenna and ๐Ÿ‘ wonder why they just can’t ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ”ซ get picture…. ๐Ÿ“ท๐Ÿ’ญ 8VSB was only, ๐Ÿ”‘ from ๐Ÿ˜‚ documentation I’ve ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ‘ˆ found on ๐Ÿ”› it, lab tested for ๐ŸŽ performance in terms of signal to ๐Ÿ’ฆ noise ratio in a proof ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ’ฏ for ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ† the ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ‘ FCC… ๐Ÿšซ no ๐Ÿšซ๐Ÿ™… attempt was ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘ made to ๐Ÿ’จ simulate or ๐Ÿ’ measure ๐ŸŽ›๐ŸŽ› receiver performance in the ๐Ÿณ๐Ÿ‘ face of multipath. I’m not ๐Ÿ™… sure if ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿ‘ this ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ‘ˆ was because ๐Ÿ“โ™‚ nobody ๐Ÿ™… ever had ๐Ÿ’ฆ the “aha!” moment ๐Ÿ•ž๐Ÿ•‘ and ๐Ÿ‘ realized it’d โ“๐Ÿ be ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ˜ a problem or ๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿ‘ฑ if ๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿ…ฑ some ๐Ÿ’› vendor already heavily ๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ˜ƒ invested in ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ™Œ it swept ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ it under โฌ the ๐Ÿ…ฐ rug. Just ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ถ about ๐Ÿ˜ฏ every ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘– other country ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿƒ used DVB-T which ๐Ÿ‘ allows for ๐Ÿ˜ more spectrally efficient and ๐Ÿ’ฆ robust modulation standards including ๐Ÿ’จ QPSK (very โ˜ฃ๐Ÿ‘ฟ robust but not ๐Ÿ‘ฎ as efficient as ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿ‘ QAM), 16QAM, and ๐Ÿ’ฉ 64QAM. This ๐Ÿ‘ˆโฌ† raises another ๐Ÿป issue that ๐Ÿ˜ ๐Ÿ‘Œ was dumber on ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿ”› the ๐Ÿ‘จ broadcaster’s side: 8VSB was in โค part chosen because it ๐Ÿ’ฏ would, in theory, ๐Ÿ˜‚ work ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿ˜  through ๐Ÿšช existing analog transmitters, requiring only ๐Ÿปโ˜ slight modifications to ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฆ things ๐Ÿ•‘ like ๐Ÿ™… the ๐Ÿš‘๐Ÿšช combiners and ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿ‘… an exciter swap. In ๐ŸŒค๐Ÿ˜ฉ practice, ๐Ÿ† no transmitter manufacturers really ๐Ÿณ๐Ÿ‘„ opened ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜… this โฌ† up โค๐Ÿฟ as ๐Ÿ‘ an option, and โž• everyone had ๐Ÿ‘ž to ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ˜› buy all ๐Ÿ˜Ž new ๐ŸŽ†๐Ÿฝ shit. ๐Ÿ‘Œ In fact… ๐Ÿ›ก๐Ÿ” the ๐Ÿ’ฆ klystron based UHF television transmitters proved not โŒ๐Ÿšซ to ๐Ÿ†’๐Ÿ˜ค have ๐Ÿ˜Ž the โ™€๐Ÿ‘ linearity (or ๐Ÿ…ฑ๐Ÿ…ฑ SOMETHING) ๐Ÿค”โ“ to deal with ๐Ÿ‘ซ 8VSB and the ๐Ÿ“บ Inductive Output Tube ๐Ÿ™ˆ๐Ÿฑ had โ˜๐Ÿˆถ to be brought out ๐Ÿ‘ฟ of mothballs to ๐Ÿ”ฃ deal with it. โœ” The IOT has ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’น great linearity but ๐Ÿ‘ no damn ๐Ÿ˜ฉ efficiency – it was originally ๐Ÿ”™ used ๐ŸšŸ by General โ™‚ Electric โšกโšก for ๐Ÿ’•โ“ an ๐Ÿ’ถ early ๐Ÿ• World’s Fair demo of UHF television broadcasting, but ๐Ÿ‘ commercially never โŒ๐Ÿ˜ค took ๐Ÿ˜ฑ off… anyway, later โฐ๐Ÿ’ฏ on, ๐Ÿ† EEV’s esciot series tubes improved on that somewhat… but… โœ‹๐Ÿ‘ they’re ๐Ÿ˜„ still ๐Ÿ‘‰ a ๐Ÿ“–๐ŸŽฏ pain in ๐Ÿ›Œ the ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ“– arse Stupid Thing #2 ๐Ÿ’ (or ๐Ÿ’€ is it ๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ฉ about #8 ๐Ÿ‘Š by ๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐Ÿ‘Š now?): MPEG2. Do ๐Ÿ‘Œ I ๐Ÿ‘ look like I know what an ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ‘น mpeg is?* So here ๐Ÿ‘โคต not only do ๐Ÿ‘Œ we have ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿˆถ this โ‰ shitty 8VSB modulation sapping the ๐Ÿ‘‘ available amount ๐Ÿ“‰ of information that can ๐Ÿ’ฆโ™€ be broadcast in a ๐Ÿ‘ certain width of channel ๐Ÿ‘€ but then…. ๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿ…ฑ MPEG2 video coding was ๐Ÿ˜ฐ๐Ÿ™‚ specified. I ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ”ฅ suspect that’s ๐Ÿ˜ evidence ๐Ÿ“ฐ๐Ÿ“ฐ of ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ’ฆ the ๐Ÿ‘ standard’s development ๐Ÿ”ฌ๐Ÿ”ฌ either being ๐Ÿ˜‘ dragged out forever OR ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ’ฆ someone just ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿค” wanted ๐Ÿ…ฐ to be ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’ฐ able to ๐Ÿ’ฆ use ๐Ÿ‘ up ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ˜ a bunch of โ— DVD player ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿคบ decoder ASICs they ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ‘ฅ had ๐Ÿ† sitting ๐Ÿ™‡ in a Chinese ๐Ÿ˜•๐Ÿ˜• warehouse. As ๐Ÿ‘ a ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’ฐ result of ๐Ÿ˜ด๐Ÿ’ฆ the MPEG2 encoding being used, ๐ŸšŸ the ๐Ÿ˜ฌ picture ๐Ÿ’ฉ looks like DOUBLE BUTT ๐Ÿ˜ when ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ˜ฉ there’s a ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ‘Œ lot โ€ผ of ๐Ÿ’ฟ๐Ÿ˜ motion, ๐Ÿ˜ especially when ๐Ÿ‘ you’re ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿƒ running ๐Ÿƒ a ๐Ÿ‘ฆ lot ๐Ÿ‘ of subchannels squeezed into that ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™‡ 18.3 ๐Ÿ’‹ megabits/sec… And ๐Ÿ˜ค๐Ÿš„ then you ๐Ÿ‘ˆ๐Ÿ‘ง have the ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ‘ whole ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ‘ฉ godawful thing where ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜  the ๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐Ÿป CECB program led to the ๐Ÿ— cost of ๐Ÿš‹๐Ÿ’ฆ converter boxes which ๐Ÿฅ™ probably actually cost ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’ฐ about ๐Ÿ’ฆ $25 ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘ including hardware, manufacturing, and โž•โ˜ patent licensing royalties being fixed right โœ”โœ… up to ๐Ÿ” $40…. but that’s ๐Ÿ˜ป a ๐Ÿ‘Œ far ๐Ÿ†˜๐Ÿ’ฆ dumber story ๐Ÿ“œ๐Ÿ“–

ATSC๐ŸŒ‹๐Ÿ”Ž๐Ÿ‡ 1.0๐ŸŒˆ has๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ”ข at๐Ÿ†Ž๐ŸƒโœŠ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ’๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿคด๐Ÿ’ฐ least๐ŸŽŒ๐Ÿ”Ÿ two๐Ÿƒ ๐Ÿ‘ฌ veryโ™๏ธ dumb thingsใ€ฐโœ‹๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ‹๐Ÿ”ฑ about๐Ÿ“• ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ’ฆ it.๐Ÿ“› #1:ใ€ฐโšก๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘‚ The๐ŸŽ ๐Ÿ  8VSB๐Ÿ˜‘๐Ÿ”ณ modulation.๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿฝ 8VSB๐Ÿ•ฆ๐Ÿผ is๐ŸŒƒ basicallyโ†—๏ธ ๐Ÿ’… amplitude๐Ÿ’Ž modulationโœŒ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ˜•๐Ÿ‘ท๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘ฐ๐Ÿพ with,๐Ÿ”• ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ˜ถ spectrally, everything ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿ‘ below๐Ÿƒ ๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿ˜ซ the๐Ÿš๐Ÿ๐Ÿšฒ๐Ÿ‹๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿฝ carrier7โƒฃ๐ŸŽฎ attenuated๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿฝ off. In๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿž ๐Ÿ‘ theory,โ†—๏ธ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿฝ that๐Ÿ•‘๐Ÿ‘ฟ๐Ÿ’• sounds๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ†’๐Ÿ˜ฆ ok,๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿฝ except๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ“ฅ thatยฎ๐Ÿšš it’s๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿข ๐Ÿˆ extremelyโ›Ž๐Ÿ•—๐ŸŠ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ˜น ๐Ÿ’› vulnerable๐Ÿ’ ๐Ÿ˜ฃ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ›๐Ÿก to๐ŸŒ˜โœŠ๐Ÿš‚ ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ’ฆ multipath.๐Ÿบ๐Ÿ‘ณ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘™ GUESS ๐Ÿค”๐Ÿค” WHAT๐ŸŒ๐Ÿข๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿผ HAPPENS๐Ÿ˜ป๐Ÿ™†๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿญ ON๐ŸŒ– EVERYโ™๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿค™ TV๐Ÿ”ผโ†–๏ธ ๐Ÿ“บ๐Ÿ“บ SIGNAL๐Ÿ‘ฒ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿผ INโ›ณ๏ธ๐ŸŒ…๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐ŸฝโœŠ๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ‘ AN๐Ÿ”Œ๐ŸŸ ๐Ÿ’ถ๐ŸŒ‘ URBAN๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพโ™“๏ธ AREA.๐Ÿšฃ The๐Ÿ„๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ”ก๐Ÿ”‚๐Ÿง ๐Ÿ‘ฆ margin’s๐Ÿˆš๏ธ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ’– not๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’ฃ that ๐Ÿ˜ big๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿšป ๐Ÿ‘บ๐Ÿ† for๐Ÿ‘จโ€โค๏ธโ€๐Ÿ’‹โ€๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ multipath,โฉ๐Ÿ’› and๐Ÿ†™ onceโŒ›๏ธ๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿป๐Ÿก you๐Ÿ’Š๐Ÿ˜ฒ๐ŸŒ‡โ„ข๐Ÿ•˜ ๐Ÿ‘ hit๐Ÿ‘„ ๐Ÿ˜ต๐Ÿ‘ it,๐Ÿ’ด๐Ÿ‘ท๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ’Š๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿ˜ the๐Ÿ›€๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘Œ whole๐Ÿ‘ด ๐Ÿ˜ signal’s๐Ÿ ๐ŸšŠ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆโ†™๏ธ๐Ÿ’• useless,๐Ÿ‘น๐ŸŽฒ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป leaving๐ŸŽ‚๐Ÿšต๐Ÿพ๐ŸŽด ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿƒ your๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ‘ผ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ‘ฒ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ“ญ viewers๐Ÿ‘ถ๐Ÿพ to๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿฎ dance๐Ÿ•ž๐Ÿ around ๐Ÿ‘ฅ๐Ÿ˜‡ with๐Ÿ’Š๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿฝ the โฒ antenna๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿผ๐Ÿš„ andโ™‰๏ธ๐Ÿˆ ๐Ÿ”™ wonder๐Ÿ•ฃ๐ŸŽŽ๐Ÿ’’๐Ÿš ๐Ÿค”๐Ÿ˜ฎ why๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ‘ป they๐Ÿšด๐Ÿป just๐Ÿ‚ ๐Ÿ˜ง๐Ÿคท can’t โ™€ getโ›ฝ๏ธ ๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ‰ picture….โ˜๏ธ 8VSBโšฝ๏ธ๐Ÿ•™ was๐Ÿจ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿ„ ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿ’ฆ only,๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ•“ from ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜ฒ documentation๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ“‘ I’ve๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ‘ˆ๐Ÿ˜  found๐Ÿ†Ž โŒ on๐ŸŒ’ ๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ’ฆ it,๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿˆฏ๏ธ๐Ÿ“ช๐Ÿ™๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿ‘ lab๐Ÿ˜ฐ๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ tested๐Ÿ“ฐโŒ๐Ÿ”ต๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿค“ for๐Ÿฉ๐Ÿ˜๐ŸŒน ๐Ÿ˜Ž performance๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ”™โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ“’ in๐Ÿ‘ต๐ŸŒ”๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฟ terms๐Ÿ”€๐Ÿˆธ๐ŸŽฅโค๏ธ of๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ”Œ๐Ÿ˜ฟ signal๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿ˜ฐโค๏ธ toโœŠ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿฟ noise ratioโœ‚๏ธ in๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐ŸŒบ ๐ŸŒ a๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ”ซ proof๐Ÿ‘ถ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ™‹ ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ“Š for๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿฝ the๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿš‘๐ŸŸ๐Ÿ’œ ๐ŸŒŒ FCC…๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿผ๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿด๐Ÿด noโ™ ๏ธ๐Ÿ˜ฟ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ…ฑ attempt๐Ÿโ™Š๏ธโ›ณ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘Š๐ŸŽŽ๐Ÿ•˜ was๐Ÿšˆ madeโช ๐Ÿ‘‘ to๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿฟ โœ‚ simulate๐Ÿ™€๐Ÿšฑ๐Ÿ“ฉ or๐Ÿ’ฒ ๐Ÿ’ฐ measure๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“ป ๐ŸŽ›๐ŸŽ› receiver๐ŸŠ๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿป performance๐Ÿš‹ in๐ŸŠ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿ•๐Ÿผ the๐Ÿ“—๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ™๐Ÿฝ face๐Ÿ˜ฝ๐Ÿ‘ต๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿผ of๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ”‹ ๐Ÿ˜ฑ multipath.๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿฝ I’m๐Ÿถ๐Ÿฉ not๐Ÿ™… ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿšซ sure๐Ÿš›๐Ÿฌโ†™๏ธ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿช๐Ÿ‘ผ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ฎ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ˜ท if๐Ÿ•‘ this๐Ÿ„๐Ÿปโฐ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘งโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆ wasโญ•๏ธ ๐Ÿ…ฟ because๐ŸŒ nobody๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ˆโœ…๐Ÿ‘Ÿ๐Ÿ›€๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿก โ™‚โ™‚ ever๐Ÿ“บ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ†‘ โ‰ had ๐Ÿ’” theโ–ถ๏ธ โ›“๐Ÿ‘ “aha!”๐Ÿ– moment ๐Ÿ˜ณ and๐Ÿ”š ๐Ÿ‘ realized๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐ŸšŽ it’d๐ŸšŽโ†–๏ธ be๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฉ๐ŸŽฟ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘ a๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿฝ๐ŸŽฒ problem๐Ÿ“Š๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ“ก๐Ÿ“ˆ or๐Ÿ‘บ if๐Ÿš‰๐ŸŽ โ“ some๐Ÿšˆ โ˜ƒโœ vendor๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ already๐ŸŽฑ ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿ˜ƒ heavily๐Ÿ‹ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ’ฆ investedโœŒ๐Ÿฝ in๐Ÿ˜ฑ๐Ÿšฝ it๐Ÿ”„๐Ÿ”ฉ๐ŸŠ๐Ÿพ swept๐Ÿ•‘๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿคฃ it๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ•”๐Ÿ˜ง๐Ÿ’— ๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿคก under๐Ÿ• ๐Ÿ”ฌ๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ‚๐ŸŒ“ the๐Ÿ˜ฃ๐Ÿ—ผ๐ŸŒŒ๐Ÿ˜˜ rug. Just๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ—ผ about๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿˆโ†™๏ธ ๐Ÿ’ฉ๐Ÿ’ญ every๐Ÿ™‡ other๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ‘ช country๐Ÿ”˜ ๐Ÿ˜ฃ๐Ÿƒ used ๐Ÿ™„๐ŸšŸ DVB-T๐Ÿ”‚โ™ป๏ธ๐Ÿšต๐Ÿป๐Ÿ“ฅ which๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘งโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿ•๐Ÿˆ‚ allows๐Ÿš•๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿผ for๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿพ moreโ™ฃ๏ธ ๐Ÿ˜กโ™€ spectrally๐Ÿ”ฒ๐Ÿ”„๐Ÿ’ efficient๐Ÿ’‡๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ”› and๐ŸšŽ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿผ robust๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿพ modulation๐Ÿ’ฝ๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿ โ™Š๏ธ standards๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿป๐Ÿ˜Š including ๐Ÿ’จ QPSKโœ‹๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™†๐Ÿป (very๐Ÿšน๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿซ ๐Ÿ‘ฟโœ… robust๐Ÿ“ซ butโ˜‘๏ธ not๐Ÿ“’๐Ÿ”ž as๐Ÿ‘ณ๐Ÿฝ efficient๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿ˜ฃ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ‘ฎ๐Ÿพ as๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿ‘ QAM), 16QAM, and๐Ÿ“’๐Ÿœ๐Ÿ‘ฆ โž• 64QAM.๐Ÿ‘ต๐Ÿผ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ‘ฎ This๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ•ฅ๐ŸŒ โ—ฝ๏ธ ๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿค– raises๐ŸŒ‡ another๐Ÿ› โ™‚๐Ÿ— issueโœ…๐Ÿ•ž๐ŸŽญ๐Ÿ‘ญ โ™‚๐Ÿ˜ญ that๐Ÿ˜›โœŠ๐Ÿป๐Ÿˆ๐Ÿš๐ŸŒป โ™ฅโšช was๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿป๐ŸŽช โœจ๐Ÿ‘ dumber๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ“ฉ on๐Ÿšธ ๐Ÿ‘‹ the broadcaster’s๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผ side: 8VSB๐Ÿ‘‰ was๐Ÿ™๐Ÿพ in๐Ÿ”ซ๐Ÿ‘ž๐Ÿซ๐Ÿšพ part๐Ÿธ ๐Ÿค chosen๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿพ because๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ“ช๐Ÿ”ƒ ๐Ÿค“ it๐Ÿ”ด would,๐Ÿฎ in๐Ÿ‘โ™ป๏ธ ๐Ÿ“ฅ theory,๐Ÿ‘˜๐Ÿ™†๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚ work๐Ÿ‘ญ through existing๐Ÿšค๐Ÿ’ฉ๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ•™๐Ÿ“™ analog๐ŸŽป๐Ÿ’ท transmitters,๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿ“ง๐Ÿฃ requiring๐Ÿšช๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฟ only๐Ÿ“ฉ slight๐Ÿ”† modifications toโœ‹ things๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿšฒ like๐Ÿš›๐Ÿ‘ˆ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿš‡๐Ÿ—ผ ๐Ÿ—ฃ theโฐ๐Ÿ•ฃ ๐ŸŽต combiners๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿผ and๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿฟ โ™€ an ๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ† exciter๐Ÿ‚ swap.๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ”‡๐Ÿบ๐ŸŒดโž— In๐Ÿ—พโฌ›๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘ practice,๐Ÿ„๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ†๐ŸŽฏ no๐ŸŽ‹๐Ÿšด๐Ÿพ ๐ŸŒˆ transmitter๐ŸŽฆ manufacturers really๐Ÿ€๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ ๐Ÿ˜ฑ opened๐Ÿš‰ this up๐Ÿ˜ธ๐Ÿ”—โ—€๏ธ๐Ÿ‘” ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ•บ as๐Ÿ…ฟ๏ธ๐Ÿ‹๐Ÿ›‚ ๐Ÿ‘ฆ an๐Ÿ“™๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผโ˜€๏ธ๐Ÿ‘„ option,๐Ÿšท๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿป and๐ŸŒ everyone๐Ÿ‘ซ ๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ‘จ had๐Ÿ—ฝโ›ฝ๏ธ ๐Ÿ’‹โœŠ toโœŠ๐Ÿป๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿšถ buy๐Ÿ’› ๐Ÿ’ฒ all๐ŸŠ๐Ÿฝ new ๐Ÿ—ž๐Ÿฝ shit.๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€โค๏ธโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉ In๐Ÿ™๐Ÿปโ‡๏ธ๐Ÿ„ fact…โŒš๏ธ ๐Ÿซ the๐Ÿ•• klystron๐Ÿšƒ๐Ÿ’ญใ€ฝ๏ธ๐ŸŽฝ basedโš“๏ธ UHF television๐Ÿ‘ฌ transmitters๐Ÿ‘‹ proved๐Ÿ“‰ not๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ“ญ to ๐Ÿ‘Š have๐Ÿ“ต๐ŸŽฐ๐Ÿšต๐Ÿป๐Ÿ’ฐ the๐Ÿ“‘๐Ÿ•Ÿ linearity๐Ÿšƒ๐Ÿ‡ (or๐Ÿบ ๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿšป SOMETHING)๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿผ to๐Ÿ€โ›ช๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘ deal with๐Ÿ‘ป๐Ÿ”„ ๐Ÿ‘ 8VSB and๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘ต๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ˜‰๐Ÿ๐Ÿ…ฟ๏ธ๐Ÿ’‡๐Ÿพโณ ๐ŸŒž the๐Ÿ’ฅ Inductive๐ŸŽ€ Output๐ŸŒ‰๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿฟ Tube๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿป had๐Ÿ‘• โ— toโ†–๏ธ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ‘ be๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿดโœจโ” ๐Ÿ˜ค brought๐Ÿ“จ out๐ŸŽฏ๐Ÿ˜ธ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ’ฏ ofโœด๏ธ mothballs๐Ÿ”œ to๐Ÿท deal๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ˜‰๐Ÿ•ฅ๐Ÿš”๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ›€ withโ”๐Ÿ’ฎ ๐Ÿ†• it.๐Ÿ‘ฒ๐Ÿพโœ๏ธ ๐Ÿ’ฏ The๐Ÿ“‚ IOTโ˜๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™Ž has๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ™ great๐ŸŽŽโ–ถ๏ธ๐Ÿ”š๐Ÿข๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿบ๐Ÿ‘š๐Ÿช ๐Ÿ’ช๐ŸŽ‰ linearity๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ† but๐Ÿ’Š ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ™… no๐Ÿ‚๐ŸŒ‘ ๐Ÿ™…โ›” damn๐Ÿ‘ค๐Ÿ”ƒ ๐Ÿ˜ณ efficiency๐ŸŽผ -๐Ÿ‘ฎ๐Ÿพ it๐Ÿ‘ถ๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘ต ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ was๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ originally๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿป๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฟ๐ŸŒ”๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”™ used๐Ÿ”ฝ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿ†’ by๐Ÿ‘Ž๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘ˆ ๐Ÿ‘‹ General ๐Ÿ‘ฎ๐Ÿ‘ฎ Electricโญ๏ธโž— for๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿซ๐ŸŽฝ๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ† an๐Ÿ’ ๐Ÿ’ธ early๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ•ข๐Ÿ’‡๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿฅ‚ World’s๐Ÿณ๐Ÿšช๐Ÿฅ ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒŽ Fair ๐Ÿ˜† demo๐Ÿ‘ต๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ›€๐Ÿฝ of๐Ÿ”€๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿพ๐ŸŽ  UHF๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ™†๐Ÿผ television broadcasting,๐Ÿ‘› but๐ŸŒ€๐Ÿ‘ถ๐Ÿผ๐ŸŒ† ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ‘ commerciallyโœ… never๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿป โ€ผ took๐Ÿšค ๐Ÿคš off…๐Ÿ anyway,โซ later ๐Ÿ•‘ on,โฉโ„ข ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ”› EEV’s esciot๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿฝ series๐Ÿ“ด๐Ÿ’พ๐Ÿ‘ƒ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ’“ tubes improved๐ŸŒŽ on ๐Ÿฝ that๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿป ๐ŸŒˆ somewhat…๐Ÿ’‡๐Ÿป๐Ÿป but…๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ‘ they’re๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ’๐Ÿพ๐ŸŒ˜๐Ÿ•ง๐Ÿ’’ ๐Ÿผ still ๐Ÿ™„ a๐ŸŽฒ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿพ pain๐Ÿ‘ฏ๐ŸŽข๐Ÿ“ก๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป inโค๏ธ the arse Stupid๐Ÿ”’โ›„๏ธ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿพ Thingโฌ†๏ธ #2โŒ›๏ธ (or ๐Ÿ† is๐ŸŽฑ it๐Ÿ’ง๐Ÿˆš๏ธ ๐Ÿ’‹ about๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿ’ฆ #8 ๐Ÿค” byโค๏ธ now?):๐Ÿ†๐ŸŽ ๐Ÿ‘‹โ˜ MPEG2.๐Ÿ†‘๐Ÿ”‰๐Ÿ‘ Do๐Ÿšด๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ I๐Ÿš˜๐Ÿ– look๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ”ฑ ๐Ÿ”Ž๐Ÿ‘ like๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ›‚โ†˜๏ธ ๐Ÿ…ฐ I๐ŸŽช๐Ÿ‘ˆ๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ’• know๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ™ what๐Ÿซ๐Ÿ‚ ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜… an๐ŸŽฉโ˜๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ‘น๐Ÿฟ mpeg๐Ÿ˜ฒ is?*๐Ÿ‘“ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ‘ถ So๐Ÿน ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ’ฆ here not๐Ÿš‹๐Ÿ’พ๐Ÿ‘ฒ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘ฎ ๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿ™… only๐Ÿ‘ด๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ‘Œ do๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ”ก we๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿป๐Ÿ†‘๐Ÿ‘ƒ ๐Ÿ‘จ have๐ŸŒ˜๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ˜โ˜๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ…ฐ this๐Ÿ๐Ÿโ˜๐Ÿพโ˜•๏ธ shitty๐Ÿ’‰ ๐Ÿ˜  8VSB๐Ÿ‘ƒ๐Ÿ”ฑ modulation๐Ÿข sapping๐Ÿ“ญโœŒ๐Ÿฝ the ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿ‘Š available๐Ÿšฆ๐Ÿ‘ก amount๐Ÿ”†โ–ซ๏ธ๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”“๐Ÿ„๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ“‰๐Ÿ“‰ of๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ”ซ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ’ฆ information that can beโœˆ๏ธโ•๐Ÿšฉ#โƒฃ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘ผ broadcastโ†–๏ธ๐Ÿ‘ท๐Ÿพ in๐Ÿ™๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿˆด ๐Ÿšญ๐Ÿก aโ˜๐Ÿฟ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿš๐Ÿšฅ๐Ÿ™† certain๐Ÿ‘ฐ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿ“„ ๐Ÿค” width๐Ÿ  ofโ›”๏ธ๐Ÿ˜ก ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿ‘จ channelโœ‹๐Ÿฟโš“๏ธ but๐Ÿ‘•๐ŸŒŽ ๐Ÿ˜ ๐Ÿ‘ then….๐Ÿ” MPEG2๐Ÿด video๐ŸŽฆ๐ŸŒ˜๐Ÿ’น ๐Ÿ“ฝ๐Ÿ“ฝ coding๐Ÿ”ฉโ›ฝ๏ธ was๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ’Š๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿต ๐Ÿ‘โœจ specified.โžฐโ›”๏ธ๐Ÿด๐Ÿ›€๐ŸฝโœŒ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ˜ง I ๐Ÿ‘‰ suspect๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿ€ that’s๐ŸššโœŠ๐Ÿ‘ด๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ˜ evidence๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ด๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ“ƒโ“ of๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿˆ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿป๐Ÿ’ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ’ฆ the๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿ‘ standard’s๐Ÿ“นโ™จ๏ธ development ๐Ÿ”ฌ either๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿ•™๐Ÿ‘ฅ being๐Ÿ“’โ™ฆ๏ธ ๐Ÿ˜ฏ draggedโ›ฒ๏ธ๐Ÿ†™ out8โƒฃ๐Ÿ‘ถ๐Ÿฟโœ… forever๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿผโ“ ๐Ÿ’— OR๐Ÿ™Šโ™จ๏ธ ๐Ÿ’ someone๐ŸŒฟ ๐Ÿ‘ค just๐Ÿญ ๐Ÿ…โ˜ wanted to๐Ÿ‘ฒ๐Ÿผโ™Ž๏ธ be๐Ÿ›€ ๐Ÿ able๐ŸŽ ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿ’ช to๐Ÿ‚ use๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿ˜ถ โš’๐Ÿ˜‚ up aโ™๏ธ๐Ÿ—ผ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ• bunch#โƒฃ๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ’“โœŒ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿพ of ๐Ÿ‘ DVD๐Ÿ‘ผ๐Ÿป๐ŸŠ๐Ÿ’ก player๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿผ๐Ÿˆ ๐Ÿ’ฐ decoder ASICs๐ŸŒ”๐Ÿ†•๐Ÿˆธ they๐Ÿ†๐Ÿš‚ ๐Ÿ‘จ had๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿฟโœ‹๐Ÿป โœŠ sitting๐Ÿ•š๐Ÿ’‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ  in๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ’‚๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ…ฐ๐Ÿ˜ฉ a๐Ÿ”บ๐Ÿ’“ Chinese๐Ÿฎ ๐Ÿ˜• warehouse.๐ŸŽ As ๐Ÿ™Œ a๐Ÿ’‚๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿฟ result๐Ÿ‘ผ๐ŸŒ‰๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘˜ of๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ‘ฑ๐Ÿ’ฆ the MPEG2 encoding๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿง๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘ง being๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿพโฌ…๏ธ๐Ÿฉ ๐Ÿ™ used,๐Ÿ™Š๐Ÿฅ๐Ÿš‘ the๐ŸŒต ๐Ÿ’ฏ picture ๐Ÿ“ท๐ŸฆŠ looksโœ‹๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿ‘‰ like ๐Ÿ‘ DOUBLE BUTT๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ด๐ŸปใŠ™๏ธ ๐Ÿ˜ฅ whenโœŒ๐Ÿผ ๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ’• there’s๐ŸŒš๐Ÿ‘ฃ๐Ÿ’‰ ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ a๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿฉ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ…ฑ๐Ÿ‘Œ lot๐Ÿ” ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿ”ธ๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿฝโ™๏ธ๐Ÿ“ข of๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿฅ—๐Ÿ˜ฐ motion,๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ’„ ๐Ÿ˜ especially๐Ÿš• when๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ˜ฃ ๐Ÿ’ฆ you’re ๐Ÿ—ฃ running๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿฝโ™ฅ๏ธ โ™€ a๐Ÿ’— lot๐Ÿ„ of๐Ÿ‘ฉ subchannels๐ŸŒœ๐Ÿ”œ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿพ squeezed๐Ÿ’ฆ into๐Ÿšฆ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ ๐Ÿผ๐ŸšŸ that๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ”˜๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘ผ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ˜ป 18.3๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿป๐Ÿจ๐Ÿค๐Ÿ’‰ ๐Ÿ‘…๐Ÿ‘ธ megabits/sec…โ™‹๏ธ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿฟ And๐ŸŽฏ ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿฝ then๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ†”๐Ÿƒ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ“Š ๐Ÿ˜ฏ youโช ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ‘‰ have๐Ÿ›…๐Ÿš๐Ÿก ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿ’ฏ theโ›”๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฉ whole๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘งโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿ† godawfulใŠ™๏ธ thing๐Ÿƒ where๐ŸปโœŒ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’‚๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ‰ the ๐Ÿ™Œ CECB๐Ÿšช program๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿป led๐ŸŒณ to๐Ÿšˆโ˜บ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘ถ๐Ÿ™€ the โ™จ๐Ÿ‘ cost๐Ÿ˜ฃ ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ“ฒ ofโ“๐Ÿฎ ๐Ÿค” converterใŠ™๏ธ boxes๐Ÿ‘ผ๐Ÿป ๐Ÿค’๐Ÿค’ which โœŒโ“ probably๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿป๐Ÿต๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ™Ž๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿ˜ป actually๐Ÿ”Ž๐Ÿ„๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ˜ฝ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿพ cost๐Ÿ’†๐Ÿพโœ‹๐Ÿป about๐Ÿ‘ž ๐Ÿฝ $25๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿป๐ŸŒ‹ including๐Ÿšฃ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿšต๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ˜ผ ๐Ÿ’จ hardware,๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿฃ๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ manufacturing,โณ๐Ÿ and ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ’† patent๐Ÿ“Žใ€ฐ๐Ÿซ licensing๐Ÿ‘ฎ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ“ข๐Ÿ” royalties being๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆ fixed๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป๐Ÿก right up0โƒฃโŽ to๐Ÿ•ฃ ๐ŸŒ’ $40….โ—ฝ๏ธ๐Ÿ˜Š but๐ŸŒ‹๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ˜ฉโ™‰๏ธ๐Ÿˆน ๐Ÿ‘ that’s โžก aโ†™๏ธ๐Ÿ˜ฝ๐Ÿซ๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿฟ ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ‡ far๐Ÿ“ŸโœŠ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ ๐Ÿ’ถ๐ŸŒŒ dumber๐Ÿ™๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ“†๐Ÿ•“ story ๐Ÿ“—

(this is beginning to make the WordPress editor cough up hairballs)