NTSC's Peak-to-Average Ratio (PAR) fluctuates as much as 5.32 dB, depending on whether broadcasting all white (PAR = 7.55) or all black (PAR = 2.23) or in-between. A "standard" test pattern is used when measuring average power (actually there are several). Since NTSC peak power is very constant due to repeating Sync Pulses, all FCC allocations are stipulated as PEAK power: http://www.broadcastpapers.com/whitepapers/HarrisAnalogDigitalTransmitters.pdf?CFID=35361629&CFTOKEN=bf05eb97e3b664ab-732981B3-C644-F0C4-A7C30554EDFCE82C ATSC allocations are stipulated as AVERAGE power, since PAR is a statistical curve that approaches 8 dB for 100% of peaks and is "typically" about 7 dB for 99.99% of peaks: See pg75: http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_54a_with_corr_1.pdf Hence an ATSC transmitter allocation of 1 MW (average) has the same peak voltage as an NTSC transmitter allocation of 5 MW (peak). ================================================= Many ATSC Lab/Field tests were conducted using both visual observations and a Bit Error Rate tester--using a 3x10-6 BER Pass/Fail criteria. That works out to several bit errors per second, but since errors occur in bursts, is observed as perhaps several dozen seconds between glitches....although "Error Hiding" can extend this period. Although you probably wouldn't want to watch with glitches this frequent, it's handy when conducting tests--no sittting around for minutes--hours--days(???) at a time for each datapoint. But with such a sharp BER curve, only another 1-2 dB of SNR will push the interval from seconds to many minutes. User Satisfaction is probably the ultimate acceptance criteria....rather than trying to compare grainy, fuzzy, EMI ridden NTSC fringe reception to glitchy ATSC. But FWIW, my wife is still cursing digital TV every time it glitches---and she mostly watches HGTV on CABLE!!!!!!! holl_ands ================================================== --- On Sat, 5/23/09, Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [opendtv] Re: VHF vs UHF coverage To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Saturday, May 23, 2009, 3:01 PM Richard Hollandsworth wrote: > NTSC power has always been measured and specified > as PEAK power, whereas DTV power is always > measured and specified as AVERAGE power. Peak > power for DTV is about 7 dB higher than average > power. I think you mean NTSC peak is 7 dB higher than NTSC average, yes? With scrambling, DTV average and peak power should be virtually identical, I think. > DTV also has a performance advantage of about 5 > dB for a total of 12 dB. I guess some people are skeptical about this extra 5 dB. Also, because analog viewers can put up with a lot of visual "abuse," where digital viewers have to contend with a cliff, I would err on the side of being more forgiving with DTV signal margin. I do totally agree with your point about UHF receive antenna gain vs VHF antenna gain, however. It's just that propagation models do show a lot more UHF falloff at the fringes, with low altitude receive antennas, etc. Just 3 weeks and we'll know just how accurate those FCC predictions were for VHF. My fingers are crossed. Bert