They did:
Their excuse is that they're specifying the maximum possible diameter, not radius. But even picking up a signal from 160 miles away at VHF/UHF frequencies is unlikely under normal atmospheric conditions, unless you have a very powerful transmitter with a very tall transmitting antenna, and a very tall receiving antenna, with perfectly flat terrain between the two.
Production costs aren't exorbitant; after all, look at the production to confirm that.
And the unfortunate byproduct of this sort of snake oil tech which, in reality, doesn't defy the laws of physics; Grandma Frisbee blames her local TV station(s) for not being able to receive free OTA TV. I've personally received many of those calls, or angry E-mails over the years.
They do deserve some of the blame for downgrading their OTA signals in exchange for a payout:
Anyone who chose VHF, and especially low VHF, is to blame.
Even considering only on average 19% of the total U.S. audience watches OTA?
WMC NBC 5 and WHBQ Fox 13 in Memphis aren't receivable in my area because of their going back to their original channels, even though I can get most of the full power stations that are on UHF. It was definitely a dumb move for them.
I thought it was closer to 25% now. And even if it isn't, 19% is still more than it was even 5 years ago -- 10-15% depending on the market, IIRC, with New York being one notable exception.
WMC has a constriction permit to move to RF30 but its only 515,000 watts it may not still get to Jackson full time
Is the translatoro n channel 32 for Dyersburg on now? it looks like it might be according to Rabbit Ears.
Yes it is. Tower is NW of town
Here is the map of what WMC has for the 2 translators in TN + their CP for RF30. The RF5 map shows it close to Jackson
Thanks for the info. I live in Alamo, which is between the red and blue lines for 32, so I might be able to get it with an outdoor antenna, but I would have to face it where I lose signals from Memphis and Jackson. I'll probably try it soon.
Because if they put some kind of guady display in those stores as you suggest, 1) It costs them $$$ money to have their displays featured in those stores and 2) They'll only market/sell to people physically visiting those stores. Marketing via late night TV doesn't cost much and gets their product in front of potentially millions of eyes. Most of the gullible folks who buy the products won't bother returning them when they don't work, and if they can sell enough of them, they make scads of $$.
