Rooftop TV antennas make comeback in digital age
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.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]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.
