Ditching the Antenna

It's been a long haul of trying to figure out what to do with my personal transition to digital television. After a false start with a new HDTV with a digital tuner, I've been stuck on the process of actually acquiring the new digital signal. Apparently, this is not an uncommon phenomena, and many folks return their shiny new TV when the analog picture sucks in hi def detail and blame the television. Unfortunately, at least in this case, I'm too savvy for that, but this has turned into an on and off quest for the last year.

I should mention that I'm roughly 25 miles from the NYC transmitters, and my rooftop antenna is VHF only, hence my problem. I should also mention that my analog picture is generally pretty good with only a small amount of interference and I consistently tune in all the VHF networks fine over many years.

After too much research, first I tried a Philips antenna which failed to impress me. Next, I tried the DB4 from Amazon. I'd like to be able to tell you a final verdict, but in the spirit of journalistic integrity that we hold here at TN, I can only say that this was returned without a final conclusion (hence why this is not in TNL-Reviews). I'll detail how I ended up doing this in the hope that it may assist someone else sort through this complicated issue.

I will tell you that when the DB4 arrived from Amazon, I was disappointed. For the $50 I parted with, it seemed like a piece of junk, and rather flimsy. It also didn't include any coax cable which seemed like a cheap package for the price (the less expensive Philips was a better total package including a run of coax and a powered booster). I ended up assembling it, and heading onto the roof only to figure out that my coax wasn't long enough to reach the splitter. Did I mention that I'm not a big fan of being on the roof, especially in the windy month of March? In the interim, with the DB4 hooked directly up to the TV on the ground in the house, it didn't pick up any digital stations which was not exactly reassuring.

I headed back to terra firma, and acquired a more reasonable length of coax, 12 feet to be exact, and the connector doodads to be able to hook this into my Samsung TV, while leaving my old analog TV on the VHF antenna for the next several months. In the meantime, I did some more research, while being bombarded with silly DTV Transition ads that just tell you to send away for your coupon, and pick up a new box and all will be digitally awesome. Oh, did I mention that my disability policy lapsed?

In the meantime, waiting for the wind to die down, I did more research on the internet. While antennaweb.org presented an optimisitc picture, I'm not sure it was accurate. Another site, tvfool.com gave me the following image:

You can probably make out that all the stations I could receive are in the red portion, and those can be difficult to tune to. Several are in the weaker portion of the red, so I didn't give it much hope. Did I mention that my house is at the bottom of a hill, and there is a larger hill between me and the transmitters?

I also had been seeing posts on the AVS Forum that even folks that are closer to the transmitter are having plenty of issues. Their forums are specific to the various markets, and I figure if others are having issues, and are not in the red zone, what hope is there for my location, given the junky DB4? Did I mention that I was concerned that mounting a second antenna with the wind storms we had last month gave me that sinking feeling that all will fall down?

On top of that, it's not entirely clear to me where all the stations are going to end up after the digital transition. A few of them are going to end up back in the upper VHF spectrum, which my existing antenna should bring in anyway. Here's a site with far more substance than flash worth checking out. According to it, at least in the NYC area, ABC, PBS, and CW11 will end up back in the upper VHF range. It seems that the DB4 is purely UHF so it may not get those stations, so what do I do if half my channels are VHF and the other half in UHF? Did I mention that both Fios and Optimum have their cables running past my house?

When I put it all together, and looked at things objectively, I made the decision to return the DB4 to Amazon. Of note, they took it back and didn't charge a restocking fee AFAIK, and even paid for the shipping back (hence why I buy lots of stuff from there). While I'll never know if it would have definitively worked, I significantly doubt it given all the data I was able to look at. While it did save me a trip up on the roof, it just didn't produce a satisfying conclusion that I had hoped to come to. While I did toy with the idea of an attic installation, I doubt this would work as well, and ditto for any set top antenna. Did I mention that I think after all these years, I decided to join the pay per TV club?

Now the challenge is just to figure out who to send the check to! At this rate, this will take me another six months so stay tuned...

Jonas