Digital Antennae (program, dish, stream, reception)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There is a difference between an old analog and a new digital antenna. If you buy a vhf/uhf antenna TODAY, it will not have the very long prongs for channel 2 to 6 because TV stations are no longer broadcasting in those frequencies. The prongs are half the size to receive channels 7-13 The uhf portion of the antenna is still what it use to be. Yes, you can use an old antenna but the very long prongs serve no purpose. There is a channel 3 in my area. It has been reassigned RF 13 but to not get people confused, it still is shown as channel 3 on the TV and since only RF channels 7 to 51 is being used, the local channel 66 is now 42 but the TV still shows 6btw- just because a retail store has a web page with a bunch of words, it doesn't make it true facts. 'I read it on the internet, it has to be true'
If you want to split hairs, "very long prongs" is incorrect. They are called elements. The antenna type is Yagi-Uda, commonly shortened to Yagi. The important fact is that the propagation and reception of RF waves is the same, whether digital or analog. A "digital" antenna does not chop a signal into discrete bits, nor does it have any special wiring, balun, or magic smoke that differentiates it from an analog antenna. Antennae are tuned to various wavelengths to improve reception on those wavelengths and attenuate other interference. The tuning only relates to frequency, not whether a signal is or is not digital.
Yep, if you can sell rocks as pets, you can sell *new* antennas to anybody ....
I have an old style antenna, bought about 25 years ago.
The long elements for the VHF section have been *duct-taped* back to the main beam, umpteen times due to high winds.
The darn thing still works !!
I have *all* the OTA stations I want to look at !
Now ...
If you do not have an antenna, and often no way to mount one on the roof,
then I would say get one, where you can get your money back, when it does not quite work well.
If the channels 2 to 13 in your area elected to receive a new RF channel between 14 to 51, you no longer need an antenna with the long 'elements' and all channels will be received with any uhf antenna.
If you have a channel 2 to 6, they have been reassigned RF channel from 7 to 51 and you may have channels 7 to 13 that elected to stay with RF #'s 7 to 13, in these cases you would need a H-VHF/UHF antenna. You can check the antenna you need on the charts at tvfool.com or antennaweb.org
So true what others have posted: your location defines how many, and which OTA channels you'll receive.
In my area I receive 34 channels, of those there are 20 that I really care about watching and they are sufficient for my needs. And I don't need more than that anyway.
I chose the Winegard Flatwave Non-Amped antenna; bought it at Home Depot for $28 and worth every penny, especially not having to pay the monthly cable bill that increases every year.
Cable is not available in my area.
I don't want anything to do with satellite tv.
there is a nearly antique fringe area yagi antenna hanging in the attic of my house that has probably been there since 1991 when the house was built.
I get about 20 OTA channels, digital and analog, on that antenna, including PBS.
I get about the same on the old batwing (installed in 2002) antenna on the motorhome.
Those old pre-digital antennas work just fine.
shouldnt the plural be digital antennas since they are not really animals ?
Probably so. However, I am enamored with the British language conventions, like using "et" as a past tense for "eat" and "whinge" for "whining" and the singular "us" and so on.
Elimination of the longer elements on a Yagi has a primary effect of limiting reception of the longer waves, however the spacing of the elements and lengths are calculated to maximize signal at the driven element, so removing the long ones might reduce overall performance.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
