HDTV Thoughts

February will be here before you know it

Come February you might be surprised if expect your over the air TV reception to still work with that little converter box you got with your $40 certificate. Receiving HDTV signal is not as easy as receiving the old analog kind. If you pick up a signal with you old rabbit ears then you will be lucky. Unless you live close the the transmitter and your signal has no ghosting then it will work. If not here are some ideas to help.

1. Go to http:\\TVFOOL.COM or http:\\ANTENNAWEB.ORG its will tell you which stations you will be able to receive and what kind of antenna you will need.
2. Get a good HD converter box, $40 is not going to get your a great box. Go with a established brand or dish networks HDPAL.
3. Get a better antenna than you need. A good UHF antenna will be needed for a lot of the coming channels since the a lot of the VHF frequencies are being migrated UHF. Google Channel Master CM4228 Off-Air HDTV Antenna if you are not local to the station. Get it installed and aligned by a professional or somebody who knows where the stations are. A good internal antenna if you live close by is hard to find so get several and try them out and return those that don't work I've tried RCA, Zenith and Trek and settled on the TREK but it's no longer sold.
4. Get a preamp,Motorola 484095-001-00 Signal Booster is a nice one. Unless you live on top of the station it going to make a world of difference. But by the time you got a good antenna and a preamp it going to cost you at least $200 on top of the Free $40 dollar box.

Good luck getting your signal it may take a lot of experimenting but it can work

posted by Unknown @ 9:51 AM