TV Converter Box

Factual Questions
1

My wife tried out our converter box, and she was unable to get anything. Now, we live between cities where TV signals are weak to begin with. I WAG the resistance of the converter box just wipes out whatever little signal we did get with conventional rabbit ears. Maybe the SD can confirm if this is the case, or at least if it is within the realm of reason?

My WAG is based on this: I install some small RF systems, and we don’t like the antenna run to exceed 100-ft for this reason. Thus, I wager it is the added resistance to the signal’s path that is killing our already weak reception.

2

I believe you glossed over the true cause of your lack of reception. Have you checked antennaweb.org yet?

3

The “resistance” of the converter box has nothing to do with it. The converter box is your new receiver. The problem is that with a weak analog signal, the TV can usually display at least something, even if it’s snowy and full of static. With a weak digital signal, you either get enough correct data, or you don’t. If you don’t, the converter box can’t output anything. Check antennaweb as instructed above.

4

My understanding is that this is true of digital TV reception, in essence. (Nitpick: it’s not the actual “rabbit ears,” but the loop antenna that picks up the digital signal.) With analog TV, recepetion as seen on the set is proportional to the signal strength. With digital TV, it’s an all-or-nothing proposition - signals that meet a threshhold level are converted to a beautifully clear picture, while signals below that level produce no picture.

5

The short answer is that your old analog rabbit ears are now useless. You need a new digital antenna. A set-top set may work, or you may need to get an outdoor antenna (which some people mount in their attic or even in a closet) as well.

6

This is incorrect. “Analog” antennas work just fine for the majority of converter box users. Stop believing that kid at Best Buy who convinced you to spend an extra $40 for the word “digital”.

7

There is NO such thing as a digital antenna. The stations use the same frequencies to broadcast digital as they do analog. They just broadcast differently.

The most problematic part is MOST, but certainly not all, TV channels are now UHF. Thanks to PSIP, we don’t see the “real” channel but rather the “virutal” channel. TV broadcasters demanded this, because they didn’t want to rebrand their channel numbers.

While there is no such thing as a digital antenna, there IS a HUGE difference between a VHF antenna and UHF antenna. And even then antennas are optomized for parts of the spectrum.

VHF has two parts low VHF (Channels 2 -6) and High VHF (Channels 7 -13). Then there are UHF antennas (channels 14 - 51) (Note: channels 52 - 69 were taken away from TV and are to be given to other services like wireless and cell phones.)

Rabbit ears are VHF, the little loop that usually goes with them, or the “bow” type that attaches on the rabbit ears are UHF.

A “silver sensor” antenna you see advertised is nothing more than a small indoor antenna optimized for UHF reception.

Antennaweb.org is pretty useless because they don’t account for any terrain. In addition many digital stations are now forced to use directional antennas to broadcast, due to protection issues.

First of all go to a site like Rabbit Ears (dot) Info and look up your city or in the OP case the cities he’s looking to get.

Find out what are the REAL channels. Then get the correct type of antenna, UHF, VHF or combo. And contrary to popular theory there are digital stations on low VHF too, such as in Philadelphia.

Aslo remember not all converter boxes are equal. Some lock better. I’ve heard many people say they can get reception fine with a Magnovox conveter but nothing with and RCA. And also just the opposite.

Lastly remember not all TV stations can broadcast the same area for analog and digital. Here’s an example, the FCC said all stations that choose to stay on their digital channel are protected. That means they have the right to that channel allocation and the right to expect no interference from other broadcasters.

Now let’s look at WLS-TV channel 7 in Chicago. They broadcast digitally on Channel 52. As I stated prior, channel 52 was taken away from TV and is to be given to other services. So WLS-TV had no choice but to return to channel 7.

Now do you see what happened? Because channel 7 wasn’t WLS-TV’s digital channel they have no right to protection. That means all the other stations that were ASSIGNED to channel 7 by the FCC for their digital signal, in distant cities, have protection. WLS must limit its power or use a directional antenna to avoid interference with those other channel 7 stations.

So WLS-TV digital is less effective than analog.

Finally remember some will lose out. I live in Chicago 3 miles NW of Sears Tower, I can’t get any digital channels. But I did get 16 analog channels. Buildings in such dense cities like NYC and Chicago, need an outdoor antenna

For really detailed info go to AVS Forums and look around for the OTA (over the air) thread for your location, to see what others are saying. It may be you’re just out of luck. And if not, it’s a very useful site to get real information about OTA TV in your TV market