Installing an HDTV Antenna System
By Max Adams
The salesperson may not tell you this, but you cannot just bring home your HDTV and use your old antenna system. You will need to install an HDTV antenna to get a clear reception. The antenna you use for your HDTV is quite critical. A highly directional antenna with fringe area reception makes the best HDTV antenna.
Most people buy an HDTV and are completely flummoxed there after. A common query asked is, - How do I install an HDTV antenna?
Here are some things to remember when installing your antenna:
The objective with HDTV antennas is to pick up the signal directly from the transmitting tower without picking up signals that are bouncing off buildings, electrical towers and wires. This is where fringe area antennas come handy. They are designed to reject signals coming from any direction other than straight ahead.
An important thing to keep in mind is to avoid using an antenna mounted amplifier in urban areas. These antennas will amplify everything and make good and clear reception really difficult. With High definition televisions it is best to mount your antenna away from all reflective things and any other antennas in the area. Also try to mount the antenna as high as possible to avoid second hand signals.
If you want to pick signals from multiple stations check the location of the stations. If the stations are more than 30 degrees apart you may need to invest in an antenna rotator for your antenna. Also, it is important to check the distance of your home from the radio station. If you live less than 5 miles from the station, you might want to invest in a 10 or 20 db attenuator to reduce the signal. This will prevent your HDTV set from being overloaded and give you a clear signal.
Another important thing to look out for is strong signals from FM and TV stations. This is one of the most common causes of poor reception on HDTV. An FM trap or FM filter then becomes necessary. The thing to keep in mind is that the antenna will catch signals from all kinds of stations and bring in the whole broadcast spectrum. This can overload the receiver of the HDTV. Too many signals or too high a signal is just as bad as too low a signal.
In the case that you live in the back of the beyond, are at least 30 miles away from any kind of radio station and are using the antenna to feed only one HDTV station, then you need to use an antenna mounted amplifier with a deep fringe antenna. Also to increase the life of your antennas seal all outdoor connections with coax seal or RTV. Humidity in the atmosphere can cause your connections to corrode and kill your reception.
Thus there are several things to keep in mind when installing the antenna on your HDTV set. It is best to go in for the best antenna available on the market so that you can enjoy all the benefits of having the best in digital technology and home theatre systems.
Max Adams is the publisher of http://www.infospotters.com - An ever growing collection of articles, tips, hints and ideas from all over the World. Here you can find facts on hundreds of subjects including sports, entertainment, technology and relationships.
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1 comments:
August 20, 2008 at 12:02 PM
When people say, "There's no such thing as an HD antenna", they're right.
But when people say, "All Antennas Are The Same", they are wrong.
Viewers should certainly try their old antenna first. It is true that any of these older antennas will pick up some signals, maybe all the broadcast signals a viewer wants to receive, depending on their location. If they are getting all the OTA channels they want and almost completely uncompressed DTV and HDTV, unlike cable or satellite, than they are good to go.
Here’s the dilemma antenna manufacturers and the Off-Air public face. Antenna manufacturers are now experiencing the full force of the lack of antenna knowledge, as OTA antennas sales begin to explode. Scores of complaints are coming in from irate people that request an "HDTV" antenna not a UHF antenna. Some customers insist that the channels the want to receive are VHF, when designated 5.1 or 2.1. Customers actually refuse delivery of a digital antenna designed, tuned and optimized to receive the digital bands (470 -700 MHz). Does the general population even know what that frequency represents? No.
So antenna manufacturers have to walk a thin line here. If all customers were educated, all manufacturers would need to do is post the specs on the box and let the market and word of mouth do the rest.
After losing thousands of dollars, manufacturers finally got tired of arguing with people and changed the box on a “new” digital antenna to read HDTV antenna, but kept "UHF antenna" but in smaller type. Was that deceptive? I don't think so; the customer got a reliable antenna, return rates dropped drastically and both manufacturers and customers avoided confusion and aggravation.
Many of the station engineers are planning on keeping their current VHF channel identifiers (2.1, 4.1 5.1 etc...) after the 2009 shut off. This will create even more confusion in the marketplace when people (mistakenly) seek antennas which are suited for low VHF. Can you understand why manufacturers are keeping "HDTV" antenna on the boxes?
The efficiency of an antenna tells us how much of the power makes it to the cable. In all antennas, a portion of the energy is wasted. For most antennas, mismatch loss is the single largest factor in determining the efficiency of the antenna. Older antennas are less efficient.
While it’s correct that antennas can’t tell the difference between analog and digital signals, there are definitely certain models which have higher DTV batting averages than others. Not all antennas are equally suited for DTV. A percentage of viewers will require something a little more tailored for DTV reception, and that’s the purpose of digital antenna marketing efforts.
With one of the newer and smaller OTA antennas, with greatly improved performance, power and aesthetics, viewers may also be able to receive out-of-town channels, carrying blacked out sports programs, several additional sub-channels or network broadcasts not originally available with analogue. And for those with an HDTV, almost completely uncompressed HD broadcasts.
OTA viewers can go to antennapoint.com to see quickly what stations are available to them, the distance, UHF or VHF and compose heading to help in choosing and aiming their antenna.
And if they decide to buy a newer antenna, they should buy it from a source that will completely refund their purchase price, no questions asked, if it does not do the job for them.
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