CATV industry challenges RF designers

COMMUNITY-antenna television (CATV), now known as cable TV, was founded in the late 1940s when certain geographical areas of the US discovered that they could not receive TV signals due to mountain ranges or other physical obstructions, CATV was originally shared by only a handful of households which were directly linked to a common antenna site, In the early 1970s, the CATV industry was touted as one of the ''new'' markets for RF designers. At that time, CATV signals operated in the 54-to-216-MHz band, which comprised TV channels 2 to 13, the commercial FM radio service allocations, and the FM broadcast band, These signals were sent out over microwave relay links and coaxial cable.