On Saturday, November 19, 2016 at 2:52:21 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Michael Terrell wrote: - hide quoted text -
wrote:
Clifford, Michael:

So you're saying modern ATSC transmitters
actually use less power then the old NTs?


"The heaters in Klystons used a lot of power, that had to be removed as
heat, in a water chiller. One 25 KW UHF transmitter that I rebuilt used
a pair of 1.5V, 1000A heaters per tube. That was 3 KW, then the fan on
the water chiller was a 480V, three phase, 5 hp motor. The circulating
pump was anther two HP. None of this ended up at the output port. "
- show quoted text -


That doesn't answer my question of whether
or not AT transmitters use less power than
NT. Just a simple Yes or No would suffice.

there is not a simple answer..

if the station stayed on the same frequency, then it can use lower power digital compared to analog. Digital fundamentally requires less power to close the link.

HOWEVER.

many stations also switched from a VHF frequency to a UHF frequency.
The FCC allows more power to be used on UHF.

So in each case the answer is ...it depends.

I think it would be a gross exaggeration to say that digital TV is environmentally more friendly compared to analog because of power consumption.

m