Digital Converter Box and Antenna??

[Emme]

We just got the $40 government coupon for the digital converter box and I ordered a converter box with a free antenna online. The whole purchase cost me nothing not even shipping .We presently have BASIC cable and it costs us $65 a month.

I really would love to ditch cable completely and that is what we hoping to be able to do once the box comes. The $65 a month could be put away nicely for something more important like DISNEY!! My question is how many of you use the converter box and do you get many channels? Does the reception go out in bad weather? For those who live in the mountains do you use a roof antenna as well?

We are NOT avid TV watchers but I do enjoy having some shows in the winter time. Even 4 or 5 channels would be fine. Winters are long here in NY...lol. So what is your experience with antenna only TV ? Thanks!

 

[FireDancer]

What you receive will depend on which station's footprints you are in. Most areas will have the local affiliates of the networks. Some areas will have some public stations also. If you have a neighbor using a box ask them what channels they get.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Most all high power stations switched to all digital broadcasts exclusively, eliminating their analog counterpart. You should find similar reception to analog stations, with the exception that almost all broadcast in HD now. Another difference is that an analog signal turns to snow or fuzzy when it gets a weak signal. A digital signal with low reception loses packets and becomes unwatchable.

The digital antennas are directional, just like their VHF analog cousin. You may need to move it around a bit to find reception on a majority of channels.

 

[bicker]

It definitely depends on precisely where your antenna is located, down to the latitude and longitude, and the altitude! There are whole websites devoted to helping folks get better reception. (I'm a significant contributor on one of them. PM me if you want a link or otherwise need assistance along those lines.)

It should be noted that antennas, themselves, haven't changed in 50 years. There have always been VHF antennas, and UHF antennas, and combo VHF/UHF antennas since UHF was introduced in 1949. Antennas can be directional or omni-directional. What may have changed is the precise frequencies that the stations you're trying to receive are broadcasting on. In many cases, digital channels were on UHF (which is better at passing through buildings), but in some cases digital channels that were operating on UHF moved back to VHF (which is better as passing over long distances with substantailly less power required) over the last few months. So all these changes might necessitate you changing or adjusting your antenna. Directional antennas are great, when all your channels are broadcast from transmitters that are locaed pretty-much in the same direction. If you're in between cities, though, you'll probably have stations that are coming at your from different directions, meaning you'll either have to continually adjust your antenna (which is not practical, generally, if you're using a DVR, eh?) or use an omni-directional antenna. However, note that with an omni-directional antenna, you sometimes have to deal with co-channel interference.

As you can see, it gets pretty complicated really quick, and so it is generally better to deal with each situation on a case-by-case basis. Again, PM me if you'd like more details about how to get specific help.

 

[FireDancer]

Most all high power stations switched to all digital broadcasts exclusively, eliminating their analog counterpart.

There is a date, which I can't remember, where all analog transmission must end. That spectrum will be private meaning if you want to broadcast on it you will have to pay the spectrum owner which will depend on where you are and what frequency you want to use.

 

[bicker]

To be clear, only "the vast majority" of analog television transmissions in the United States were to end (and the date was June 12). LP (low-power) television stations, including repeaters for regular stations (very common out west) and some border television stations are permitted to continue broadcasting in analog.

The upper end of UHF has been repurposed, and much of it auctioned by the government for use by other services. Some of the bandwidth will be repurposed for supporting better inter-agency communications in case of disaster. (It should be noted that this is not the first time we've "taken a bit off the top"... a similar amount of spectrum above the recently repurposed portion of UHF had been recovered from broadcast television use and repurposed twenty years ago.)

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

There is a date, which I can't remember, where all analog transmission must end. That spectrum will be private meaning if you want to broadcast on it you will have to pay the spectrum owner which will depend on where you are and what frequency you want to use.

Yeah, if I remember right, that spectrum is going to become part of the 4G wireless network. They already auctioned off that whole spectrum.

 

[bicker]

Some of the spectrum was auctioned off to Qualcomm for their MediaFLO service.