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Saturday, February 17, 2007
Most probably don’t realize, but there is a lot of HDTV programming in the air for free. Instead of paying your cable or dish company over a hundred dollars a month, you can just set up a butterfly antenna for your HDTV and get those public channels for free. Well, free after paying about $30 for the antenna.
With all the major networks and major “secondary” channels now bathing the air waves with an HDTV signal, there really is no need to pay Comcast or DirecTV all those funds.
Now CEA, the people behind the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) now make it easy for you to find that very antenna for your sweet plasma or LCD HDTV. By going to AntennaWeb and entering in your address, you’ll immediately see just how close and it what direction your favorite stations are. The direction won’t matter too much if have a multi-directional antenna, but the distance is important. This will help you find the proper antenna for your needs. The further out that station is, the stronger of an antenna you’ll need. Nothing like buying the cheap one and finding out you won’t be watching Sweet 16 in HDTV this March ’cause the majors are too far out.
February 17th, 2007 at 20:52
Very true. You can watch free HDTV with a simple off-air tv antenna. when picking antenna don’t look at the “HDTV” label. You need just a plain tv antenna, directional yagi or log-periodic antenna type is the best in my opinion.
May 27th, 2007 at 3:57
Consumer interest in free over the air digital- HD TV is definitely on the increase. The number of visitors to our web site http://www.dennysantennaservice.com has skyrocketed over the past year, mainly do to the introduction of free over the air digital – HDTV.
Choosing the proper TV antenna for a particular location is the main issue for most. Many consumer’s have a tendency to purchase antennas that are to small to do the job, digital reception is an all or nothing proposition, you’re going to want a strong signal. Also, there is a misconception that all digital – HDTV broadcast signals are on the UHF band (14-69) Currently it’s true, many broadcaster’s are transmitting their digital signals on UHF, because much of the VHF band (2-13) is currently being used to broadcast analog TV signals. However, when the digital transition is complete on February 17th of 2009, the date set when broadcasters will turn off their analog signals, things will change. There are only a handful of broadcast locations across the U.S. that have plans to remain 100% on the UHF band, most areas will have both VHF and UHF digital stations. This means if you purchase a UHF TV antenna now, chances are you may loose the ability to receive a portion of your digital channels in the future. Some areas already have VHF digital stations.
My best advice is to purchase a TV antenna that is large enough to be certain it can easily receive all of the digital broadcast signals in your area, even during poor reception conditions. The antenna should be VHF/UHF capable, unless you are absolutely certain all of your stations are currently UHF, and will remain UHF after the digital transition is complete. To determine the channel number your area digital stations currently broadcast on now, and the channel number they plan to broadcast on after the 2009 analog shutdown date, visit http://hraunfoss.fccgov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf. When you visit this site, start by finding your state and then the city where your area stations are located. The channel number that appears in the first column is the current digital channel number of that station, the second column is the current analog channel number, and the third column is the tentative final channel number destination. The third column is the channel number where the station plans to permanently broadcast their digital signal. VHF channels are 2 – 13 and UHF are 14 – 69. If your not sure where or what stations are available in your area, visit http://www.antennaweb.org. This is a great site to visit, it will provide the city location of the stations in your area and much more.
May 27th, 2007 at 3:58
Consumer interest in free over the air digital- HD TV is definitely on the increase. The number of visitors to our web site http://www.dennysantennaservice.com has skyrocketed over the past year, mainly do to the introduction of free over the air digital – HDTV.
Choosing the proper TV antenna for a particul
June 8th, 2007 at 17:15
Gentleman, thank you for the information. Would being on the first floor of a 3 story apartment hinder the signal at all? I have trouble getting reception now for my tube t.v.
January 29th, 2010 at 9:57
solved properly asap.
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