Capturing Broadcast TV Signals

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chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
I have a rabbit ears guy that is looking for an antenna for reception of digital signals come February. Any recommendations?

Thank you.
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
The signal will still come at the same "frequency", so to speak, but the information transmitted will just be different. Sorta like your radio programming at 95.1FM used to be english, and now it's in spanish. Same idea with this digital TV stuff. I understand that some stations are changing their "frequency" slightly, but they'll still be either in the VHF or UHF band.
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
It greatly depends on how close they are to the stations, and the terrain, in south Florida, you don't have any mountains in the way, so it's mostly distance that dictates reception. Try www.highdefforum.com for suggestions, You can also go to antennafool.com to see what channels you can get, though it's not real accurate, it will give you a good idea at whats available. According to it I should not be able to get any channels here in the mountains, But I get about 10 channels out of Atlanta 80 miles away and across two mountains. I can get 3 channels out of Chattanooga,TN at about the same distance. The picture you get is better than satellite or cable Hi Def because the signal has not been compressed, then decompressed.
 

cadpoint

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
I don't know what brand to tell you to buy, but our local TV stataion is Big on it here, Digtal TV.
It covers just about evey aspect of what one can expect.

The other town's newspaper just had a AP article about a 2% drop in TV's recpection for the people in the hilly's like Billy.

But your $40 coupon is waiting right here to get "FREE" and purchase the required equipment to maintain you viewing pleasure.
Government to Give money away...

Hope that helps :cool:
 
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egnlsn

Senior Member
Location
Herriman, UT
Occupation
A/V/Security Technician
I have a rabbit ears guy that is looking for an antenna for reception of digital signals come February. Any recommendations?

Thank you.
Totally depends on a variety of factors. Some people do just fine with rabbit ears while others need deep fringe rooftop antennas. Just don't fall into the "HDTV" antenna hype. R.F. is r.f. You don't need a special antenna for digital TV (including HDTV).

Antennaweb can help you select the right antenna for your location.
 

cadpoint

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Well shoot, I was going to get my sudo free antenna and recieve all the broadcasting waves that aren't on my wire now!
That's where I wanted to Go... My Cable doesn't have the 5 channels of my PBS... !

Radio Signal Vs Radio Type. Come on Get with the 50's... :grin:
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
Hey! How about the 10 Spanish channels that you can pick up real easy! Of course in Miami that would probably be useful, but in the mountains it's not worth a whole lot except to the illegals!
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
Unless the channels are considered low power they will have to vacate the VHF band- chs 2-13, so your reception will be UHF and that's always been a crap shoot. Likely the transmitters will be scattered in all directions so a directional antenna, which you want for the gain will have to be on a rotator- or several antennas. If you are lucky you will be able to get a few channels. Welcome back to the 50's.

My opinion is that the whole off-air HD antenna and converter box thing is just a way to placate people who don't have cable or satellite so the government could auction off the frequencies for $$$$$. They could have just as well left everything alone and just switched to digital.

If you want to experiment go ahead, but my feeling is sooner or later unfortunately you will be a cable or sat subscriber.

-Hal
 
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realolman

Senior Member
I have a rabbit ears guy that is looking for an antenna for reception of digital signals come February. Any recommendations?

Thank you.

Get one about 40 foot square on a 100' mast. I don't know anyone around here can pick them up, even though they could pick up 6 vhf stations over the air in from a 90 mile radius before.

The only station anyone and everyone in my area can pick up are three channels of public television... one in spanish. Since when does public television broadcast with more power than commercial?!?

I e-mailed the local station and asked if they planned on increasing the power after analog goes down... and didn't even get a reply.

Apparently this is how it works: you buy a converter, maybe an antenna, find out you can't get anything, and then go pay somebody... cable or satellite... for a subscription for fewer local stations than you had free over the air.

I'd say it's a big money suck. Why am I not surprised? I'm gonna have a cardiac from not surprise. :mad:
 
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TwinCitySparky

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Get one about 40 foot square on a 100' mast. I don't know anyone around here can pick them up, even though they could pick up 6 vhf stations over the air in from a 90 mile radius before.

The only station anyone and everyone in my area can pick up are three channels of public television... one in spanish. Since when does public television broadcast with more power than commercial?!?

I e-mailed the local station and asked if they planned on increasing the power after analog goes down... and didn't even get a reply.

Apparently this is how it works: you buy a converter, maybe an antenna, find out you can't get anything, and then go pay somebody... cable or satellite... for a subscription for fewer local stations than you had free over the air.

I'd say it's a big money suck. Why am I not surprised? I'm gonna have a cardiac from not surprise. :mad:


I agree!!. And you need a box for each and every TV you own. Funny how every manufacturer of those boxes managed to set their price at least 20 bucks over the government converter coupon worth. Then you find out you need an antenna. At least we know that when the govenrment sells that soon to be freed up frequency band, we will all prosper from the billions they will bring in from it. (Sarcastic...) I am so sick of the corporate scammers. All of them!! :mad::mad::mad:
 
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egnlsn

Senior Member
Location
Herriman, UT
Occupation
A/V/Security Technician
Unless the channels are considered low power they will have to vacate the VHF band- chs 2-13...-Hal
There are many full power stations that, on 2/17, will be moving from their current UHF channel space to a VHF channel space. Some of them will move to where their analog broadcast currently is and others to a different VHF channel.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
There are many full power stations that, on 2/17, will be moving from their current UHF channel space to a VHF channel space. Some of them will move to where their analog broadcast currently is and others to a different VHF channel.

Not that I don't believe you but do you have a source for that information? This is why this whole thing is so confusing- you talk to 5 different people (or read 5 different articles) and you get 5 different stories.

I understood that all VHF channels between 54 and 216Mhz will be abandoned with the exception of the FM radio band- 88-108Mhz. Also some low power VHF stations will be allowed to remain for a period of time as long as they go digital. Possibly that is what you saw- the UHF's will change to low power VHF.

The displaced VHF stations, changed to digital can relocate to the UHF band between 470 and 700Mhz if they aren't there already.

-Hal
 

egnlsn

Senior Member
Location
Herriman, UT
Occupation
A/V/Security Technician
There are many full power stations that, on 2/17, will be moving from their current UHF channel space to a VHF channel space. Some of them will move to where their analog broadcast currently is and others to a different VHF channel.

Not that I don't believe you but do you have a source for that information? This is why this whole thing is so confusing- you talk to 5 different people (or read 5 different articles) and you get 5 different stories.

I understood that all VHF channels between 54 and 216Mhz will be abandoned with the exception of the FM radio band- 88-108Mhz. Also some low power VHF stations will be allowed to remain for a period of time as long as they go digital. Possibly that is what you saw- the UHF's will change to low power VHF.

The displaced VHF stations, changed to digital can relocate to the UHF band between 470 and 700Mhz if they aren't there already.

-Hal
I used to think that as well.

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php

A few of those stations are WABC & WPIX in New York, KABC in Los Angeles, and WBBM & WLS in Chicago. Not exactly LPTV stations. Originally, our Fox affiliate was scheduled to go back to channel 13 (current analog location), but then they applied to remain at their DTV channel space (28)(approved).

I just did a scan over the weekend and found an LPTV station that just fired up their digital transmission on channel 10. I guess they could move to their analog location post 2/17, though.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Get one about 40 foot square on a 100' mast. I don't know anyone around here can pick them up, even though they could pick up 6 vhf stations over the air in from a 90 mile radius before


I am not promising this will help you but I found it worth wile.

If you follow the instructions it will determine what size and type of antenna you need and if they recommend a booster and or rotator.



Start at this site, and enter your full address; the site calculates your precise latitude and longitude. Jot down the decimal values and be sure to note direction (North or South for latitude, East or West for longitude). Then, go to this page and enter your latitude and longitude values to determine your magnetic declination. Now comes the fun part: Point your browser to the payoff page and enter your latitude, longitude, and declination values. Then, just plug in an appropriate distance range (no more than 80 miles), and view your results. You can choose to have the stations organized by their distance or direction in relation to your address, or by channel.

The above quote came from Crutchfield



In my area I can get both Boston MA and Providence RI stations but I will likely need a rotator to get the best reception. I have cable and plan to keep it but I already watch HDTV on this PC with a set of Rabbit ears, the picture and sound blows away my analog cable.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
Thanks englsn.

I see here in the NYC area three stations are eliminating their (I guess experimental) UHF digital counterparts and moving them down to their traditional VHF analog slot. (So I guess the FCC has changed it's policy once again.) So for people who have reception of those stations now all they need do is get one of those converters or better yet a new HD set.

-Hal
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
I have this antenna. I live in a relatively flat area, and pick up stations within a 60 mile radius. I get 18 digital channels and 20 after feb. 17th.

It has a built-in amplifier and rotator.


HDMS9100_.gif
 

realolman

Senior Member
In my area I can get both Boston MA and Providence RI stations but I will likely need a rotator to get the best reception. I have cable and plan to keep it but I already watch HDTV on this PC with a set of Rabbit ears, the picture and sound blows away my analog cable.

Thanks for the advice... I followed those instructions and found that there are 20 stations within 80 mile of where I live.

There seems to me to be a bit of an elephant in the room. The problem is not the number of stations, or antennas, or converters, but the broadcast power. They don't seem have any power. On the site Iwire linked , they have patterns of their coverage area in analog... I'd be real interested in seeing the digital coverage area posted right beside it.... real interested.

No question the picture is great... the public television station is beautiful. but if you got the broadcast power of a garage door opener remote, it ain't gonna cover much area. I asked before... since when does public television have more power than commercial? Since commercial pretty much turned it off... I think to collect subscription fees. And satellite providers aren't even allowed to provide stations that are available now, in analog over the air, since they are out of your "viewing area" :mad:
 
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