Field strength meters

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Sometimes readers ask where they can get a portable signal strength meter, thinking this will allow them to make objective studies of the signal. A signal strength meter is not as useful as you might think. The standard meter works well for analog stations. But for DTV, a strong meter reading is no guarantee that you have found a good reception spot if certain types of multi-path are present.

An additional complication is that there are two generations of DTV demodulators. The newer generation identifies the contributions of the weaker paths in a multi-path situation and subtracts them out. A portable signal meter based on one generation will not find the correct antenna aiming/positioning when the TV