A historic day…
Today is a historic day for the Netherlands –– no not because the timetables of all the trains have changed (first time since 1970 they say). Since today the Dutch public television does not broadcast an analogue signal.
I guess nobody has noticed.
I mean, who has a television with an old-fashioned antenna? Do they actually still produce tevees with antenna’s in the West?
Well, I have such a tevee. About 10 years old now. And I was very happy with it this year. In Kanne I can receive ARD, La Deux, België 1, Canvas on antenna, I even get a scrambled pay-channel (!) — and well, I could receive Nederland 1, 2 and 3 till yesterday.
I wonder what will happen with those frequencies. Are they free to use? Could you set-up an illegal station… no public channel that can be bothered? Well, in the Netherlands pirate television has not been around since the early eighties. (And well, who has a tevee with an antenna? You could start a pirate channel, but no-one will be watching).
Progression of technology leaves many unused possibilities behind. There’s only snow now…
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Hi Arie, I just picket up on your blog again, you’re in my Personalized Home of Google now, so I get a daily update now :-)
Anyway: regarding the freed frequencies: they’re bound to be used for our hi-end networks. So digital television and the like, but they cannot be used by anyone which is the case with the WiFi frequency range. But the actual reason the ethernet transmitions are cut are the costs of and room on the antennas.
“ethernet” that’s a good one :-)
I was trying to not use the word ‘aether’ — I’m not sure if other languages have something like out nice Dutch expression “vrije ether”…
I think ‘ether’ can be used just the same (at least in the American branch of the English Language).
Entry of “ether” from American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:
5. Physics An all-pervading, infinitely elastic, massless medium formerly postulated as the medium of propagation of electromagnetic waves.