Rooftop TV antennas make comeback in digital age
By BILL HUSTED
Cox Newspapers
July 27,2009
ATLANTA -- It was just a short drive to a friend's house in another
neighborhood, but it felt as if I was driving back in time.
I spotted first one, then another and finally about four shiny aluminum
rooftop antennas. It was like being back in the "Leave it to Beaver" days
when almost every home had a sizable TV antenna on the roof.
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Based on what I'm seeing and e-mail from readers, it seems the move to digital
TV has sparked a minor resurgence of using an antenna to get free
over-the-air TV. Some of you have cut the ties that bind to cable or
satellite providers.
The fact that money is tight in many families probably gives this revival a
bit of a boost.
There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, over-the-air HDTV can actually
provide a better picture. All HDTV signals are compressed to some degree,
but there's generally less compression used for over-the-air broadcasts.
Today we'll talk about antennas for the digital age. The first thing to know
is that, despite what you frequently see in ads, there's no such thing as a
digital antenna. No special antenna design or feature is needed to receive
digital signals.
However, many people find they need a better antenna to pull in reliable
over-the-air digital signals than they did before the switchover.
The best antennas for the digital era are large, designed for the frequencies
you want to receive and put up as high as possible. Let's start by looking
at each of those three criteria.
Bigger is better: While small rabbit ears may work, the bigger the antenna is
(up to a point), the more signal it can grab.
Finding the frequencies: Broadcasters send out their signals on UHF and VHF
(ultra high frequency and very high frequency). Some stations that used VHF
in the analog days have moved to UHF with the digital switch. So an antenna
made purely for VHF reception -- and one that may have done just fine before
-- is not a good antenna for UHF signals.
Here in Atlanta, seven channels in my reception area use UHF and three use
VHF. You can check what broadcasters are doing in your area -- and get a lot
more information, including recommendations for the antenna you should use
-- at www.antennaweb.org.
Bottom line, whether you use rabbit ears or some giant eye in the sky, make
sure your antenna is designed for both VHF and UHF signals.
High and mighty: At the frequencies TV broadcasters use, the signal basically
follows line of sight. It doesn't bend very effectively around the curve of
the earth, nor does it do a good job at penetrating huge masses such as
hills or mountains. Putting the antenna as high as you can increases the
number of stations it can receive.
While some antennas are designed to work in all directions, most large rooftop
models are directional. In other words, they do best when turned toward the
transmitting antenna. If your antenna is working well now, no need to mess
with anything.
But if some stations seem weak, adding an antenna rotor can make a big
difference. At the end of this column I'll list sources for both antennas
and rotors.
I realize that, in many homes, the idea of a huge mess of aluminum tubing will
not be a welcome sight. In that case, consider installing an antenna in an
attic, or use a smaller antenna that can mounted under an eave. It will not
be as efficient as a full-sized antenna up high, but it will beat the pants
off the world's best rabbit ears.
Some of you will be lucky enough to get by with rabbit ears. Since my primary
source of TV is cable, I only use my rabbit ears as a back-up to make sure
that the Braves and other sports teams can continue to break my heart in
case of a cable outage. I'm close enough to the transmitting antennas for
the stations I watch to make that possible. The antenna Web site I mentioned
earlier will tell you what you can expect based on your zip code or street
address.
OK. I promised you some other Web sites:
-- www.rabbitears.info/market.php: A quirky Web site with lots of detailed
station information.
-- www.channelmaster.com/category.php: My favorite source for antennas (both
indoor and out), signal amplifiers and rotors.
-- www.techhome.com/: A source for finding professional antenna installers.
-- http://tinyurl.com/nl92v8: Antenna tips along with information on mounting
an antenna in the attic.
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