I’m currently working on a Smart Antenna for HDTV, since prior to the digital changeover, things worked well, and afterwords, I lost a bunch of channels. The design/build or buy decision is automatic, being there is nothing on the market. Yet, this is a non-rev project, not so much that there isnt demand, but beyond [...]

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Click the image for a larger version. I also have a pdf version available here.

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Minnesota H.F. No. 907,  as introduced – 86th Legislative Session (2009-2010) An interesting approach…. it will never pass, but its a cool idea to foster innovation, by either A the employer, or B the employee, if IP is not acted upon. Considering way less than 2% of all patents generate any revenue, the bill does [...]

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The CEA-909 standard calls out two different communications modes, A and B. Mode A is unidirectional, namely tv/convertor box to antenna only. Mode B is bidirectional, where in the smart antenna and tv/convertor box talk to one another. By far mode B is the best way to go… but nothing is ever simple. The problem [...]

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CEA-909 appears to have chosen a legacy connector for the smart antenna interface. Its the old DEC MMJ, and while it was a common part years back (even Digikey stocked the Amp 5-555237-2) the offset modular plug has long since seen its days come and go. Fortunately Cxtec still has some, and they are clearanced [...]

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Well, Feb 17th has come and gone, but not without some issues for me here in southeast MN. Some of it is due to partial transitions, much of it is due to multipath problems as stations changed their real channel frequencies.For folks close to the tower, no problem, for folks like me in fringe areas, [...]

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