RF Performance of DTV Converter Boxes—An Overview of FCC Measurements

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Laboratory conducted radio-frequency (RF) performance measurements and functionality tests on manufacturer-supplied samples of 136 digital television (DTV) converter box models on behalf of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The tests served as one step in the NTIA´s approval process for converter boxes to be eligible for dollar40 government coupons provided by the U.S. Congress in support of the DTV transition. We present statistics of RF performance measurements for 116 converter box models that were approved by the NTIA. Results are presented as 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile values across the set of converter boxes that were tested and approved. The RF performance measurements include: sensitivity; susceptibility to phase noise and burst noise; susceptibility to interference from single DTV signals on adjacent and taboo channels and from pairs of DTV signals on channels spaced to place third-order intermodulation products in the tuned channel; single-static-echo performance; ability to demodulate the ATSC field ensembles; and RF pass-through gain and noise.