Consumer Video Education Blog

Now that the DVT transition has finally occured in the Providence, RI market, there are still some people who are not able to receive their free, over-the-air DTV stations. Why, because many were never told that they needed an antenna.

In our area, there are several stations that are close enough and powerful enough that a set top antenna (Rabbit ears) will provide you your free DTV. But, since most of the new digital channels are in the UHF frequency range, if you have a VHF only (the antennas that have just two metal rods) antenna, you may not be able to receive your favorite station.

What can you do? There has been a local run on these inexpensive antennas because of the missing information that was advertised about the need for an antenna, but the word is that shipments are on their way. Check some of the out-of-the-way places like Benny’s or even some department stores, as they are usually not the first place that people look for antennas.

You may have seen stories about people installing roof-top antennas with sophisticated rotating motors costing hundreds of dollars (the one I saw cost $387 including the installation). This is OK if you want to receive signals from Conneticuit and New Hampshire, but that is not worth the price (most of those stations are duplicates from the major networks). My own personal installation is a circular pre-amplified antenna that is designed for motorhomes. It is about 18 inches in diameter and on a 8-foot pole on the roof of my house (left over from the old analog TV days) and plugged right into my converter box and the first scan netted 33 channels! Stations as far away as Boston and Woorster Massachusetts come in crystal clear. I purchased this antenna from Radio Shack many years ago for $99 (they did have a smaller one for $69). Unfortunately, they are not sold (not at Radio Shack anyway) any more. But RCA makes a square version (model: ANT1550) that I’ve seen on the internet selling for between $35-$45.

WARNING: Don’t be fooled or mislead by advertisements or claims that you need a multi-hundred dollar antenna for DVT. There is NO SUCH THING as a digial antenna. The antennas that were made 20 years ago, before digital TV was even though of, will work perfectly OK with the latest Digital TV equipment.

More Facts:
Notices stating that if you receive your signal via satillite, you will not loose your local stations.
FALSE - you can get local channel via satillite but it will cost you $5-6 per month (for free TV).

Many cable operators are bundling the new DTV stations with their ‘digital bundles’ and charging you more for the privledge of receiving free TV. Check your cable plan to see if that is the case.

Good News: DTV is a good thing in that the digital signals allow to have more channels and add other cool features into the broadcast signal like an on-screen program guide and program descriptions. Some local stations have already added addition channels and additional programming. For example, our local NBC affiliate (WJAR 10) has started broadcasting a new station called RTN (Retro Television Network) which broadcasts vintage programming (mostly from the 80’s) 24 hours a day and offers their 11:00pm news (on the regular channel) at 10pm. All this on local channel 10-2. This is the designation that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has created for additional or sub-channels for a giving local channel. I have seen some that have a total of 4 sub channels, although most are the same content, but in a different format (HD, regular definition (SD), spanish language, etc).

Another tip is to re-scan your channels every once in a while as new channels are being added and unless you rescan your converter box or built-in tuner, you will never know that they exist or be able to receive them.

DTV is EZ … and pretty cool too!