The Return of the TV Antenna
By: Russ Seale

In this era of $100+ satellite and cable bills, is there any way to get your TV fix and not pay a bundle? The answer many bring a flashback to many of us old timers - it’s called over-the-air TV. You remember, rabbit ears and funny looking twisted metal contraptions on the roof? Well antenna’s are back, many with a new high tech look, but still doing the same thing, pulling in TV signals over the air waves and for free. Only this time it’s digital TV, including High Definition. No more ghosts and snow on the screen like “the good old days”. When you get a picture (more on that later), it’s a clear, crisp, and detailed one.

Most major network TV is now transmitted over the air both in analog (the old style TV) and digital (which includes High Definition). The good news is you can receive both with the same antenna. There is nothing magical about digital TV reception - it is transmitted and received the same way as the old analog signals. The difference is the way the signals are interpreted by the digital TV tuner once they are in your home. If you go antenna shopping, and see “HDTV antenna” or something similar on the box, be assured its essentially the same as those old rabbit ears Dad twisted & turned to get that snowy picture years ago.

How do you find out which digital stations you can receive over the air? One way is to go to www.antennaweb.org select “Choose an antenna”, then enter your zip code, and you’ll get a list of the over the air stations in your area. The digital channels have the “.1” after the channel number. The channels coded yellow can usually be received with an indoor antenna. The further down the color chart you go, the weaker the signal, hence the more powerful antenna required.

Note: Environmental obstacles such as hills, dense trees, and tall buildings around your home can adversely affect over the air reception.

Congress recently passed a law that all over the air TV broadcasts must be switched to digital by February, 2009. Even if you don’t have many digital stations now, it won’t be long before all your local stations convert. Supposedly after that date, analog TV broadcasts will cease. The FCC current plans include using the freed analog frequencies for emergency systems and/or to sell them to private industry.

So, if you are looking for ways to save a buck, think about the rabbit (ears that is).

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Russ Seale is the author of a Guide to Economical HDTV at www.hdtvtunerinfo.com

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