4 ms·

Twenty-first Century Rabbit Ears

9 points by grellas 17y ago

rbranson 17y ago
"There are always risks involved with going over the air or using an antenna to receive a digital picture, mainly because digital airwaves are not as forgiving as analog airwaves and are always subject to interference," said Darryl Ryan, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable. This kind of stuff makes me think that the people who run the cable companies REALLY ARE like the DirecTV commercials. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SglXWd_fY3E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SglXWd_fY3E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0XXS7eswC0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0XXS7eswC0
- ars 17y ago
  And for the record there is no such thing as a digital antenna. It's exactly the same antenna for analog and digital.
- henrikschroder 17y ago
  Yeah, that quote jumped out at me as well. Last summer I helped my dad tune the TV at our summer house, and it's so much easier with a digital receiver since they all can display a nice little diagnostic screen where they show the exact signal strength and quality. Makes it a lot easier to figure out where you should place the antenna and in which direction you should point it. And as long as the signal quality is over a certain threshold, you get a perfect picture. ...as compared to the old analog times when you did the same by trying to decide which picture looked better, and when every tiny drop in signal quality made the picture deteriorate. Yeah, them digital airwaves sure aren't as forgiving.
  - joeyo 17y ago
    The problem is if the signal you are receiving is near that threshold. Many people would probably prefer some periodic mild fuzz to artifacts and stuttering video every few minutes.
    - misterbwong 17y ago
      Exactly. My parents live in a borderline neighborhood and they'd take static-y channels over nothing/stuttering any day of the week. I'm going to side with Darryl from Time Warner on this one.
      - whatusername 17y ago
        Another vote for people on the borderline. When the digital signal works - it's great. When it doesn't - it's not there at all. When Analogue works -- I can still kinda see there's a football game going on behind the blizzard.
ars 17y ago
If you need an antenna build this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw - original video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jsDxNgHn4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jsDxNgHn4 - improved model http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798265 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798265 - main discussion site http://www.frontiernet.net/~mclapp/Antennas/diagrams.html http://www.frontiernet.net/~mclapp/Antennas/diagrams.html - plans with exact measurements It's absolutely amazing how much better this antenna is compared to regular commercial models.
- misterbwong 17y ago
  Also keep in mind that these "coathanger" antennas are UHF only-you will not be able to catch any stations still broadcasting on the VHF spectrum (there are some).
  - ars 17y ago
    It's not zero. You get decent reception in VHF. Possibly better even than what you had before. If you know that your stations are lower in frequency, you can make the elements larger, say 10, 10.5 inches, and adjust your antenna to get even better VHF reception. You can tune it based on which frequencies have a strong signal, which weak. And size it for best reception for the weak signals.
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  Will these antennae work for UK broadcast stations - are there other dimensions that will improve the signal.
  - ars 17y ago
    It will work, but probably not very well for the very low VHF frequencies (E2, E3, E4). The higher channels will be fine, not great for E5-E12. E21-E69 should be great. You can (and probably should) adjust the size of the antenna elements for the stations in your area. If you make it bigger you can tune the lower stations. You should register on the forum I linked, they will do a much better job of helping you. Get a list of which stations are in your area (and their frequencies, and relative strength if you know it). PS. I got the frequency numbers of Europe from http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/tv/tv.html#tvchan http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/tv/tv.html#tvchan - I hope they're right, and they seem quite similar to the US ones.

9 points by grellas 17y ago

"There are always risks involved with going over the air or using an antenna to receive a digital picture, mainly because digital airwaves are not as forgiving as analog airwaves and are always subject to interference," said Darryl Ryan, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable. This kind of stuff makes me think that the people who run the cable companies REALLY ARE like the DirecTV commercials. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SglXWd_fY3E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SglXWd_fY3E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0XXS7eswC0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0XXS7eswC0

ars 17y ago
And for the record there is no such thing as a digital antenna. It's exactly the same antenna for analog and digital.
henrikschroder 17y ago
Yeah, that quote jumped out at me as well. Last summer I helped my dad tune the TV at our summer house, and it's so much easier with a digital receiver since they all can display a nice little diagnostic screen where they show the exact signal strength and quality. Makes it a lot easier to figure out where you should place the antenna and in which direction you should point it. And as long as the signal quality is over a certain threshold, you get a perfect picture. ...as compared to the old analog times when you did the same by trying to decide which picture looked better, and when every tiny drop in signal quality made the picture deteriorate. Yeah, them digital airwaves sure aren't as forgiving.
- joeyo 17y ago
  The problem is if the signal you are receiving is near that threshold. Many people would probably prefer some periodic mild fuzz to artifacts and stuttering video every few minutes.
  - misterbwong 17y ago
    Exactly. My parents live in a borderline neighborhood and they'd take static-y channels over nothing/stuttering any day of the week. I'm going to side with Darryl from Time Warner on this one.
    - whatusername 17y ago
      Another vote for people on the borderline. When the digital signal works - it's great. When it doesn't - it's not there at all. When Analogue works -- I can still kinda see there's a football game going on behind the blizzard.

ars 17y ago

If you need an antenna build this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw - original video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jsDxNgHn4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jsDxNgHn4 - improved model http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798265 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798265 - main discussion site http://www.frontiernet.net/~mclapp/Antennas/diagrams.html http://www.frontiernet.net/~mclapp/Antennas/diagrams.html - plans with exact measurements It's absolutely amazing how much better this antenna is compared to regular commercial models.

misterbwong 17y ago
Also keep in mind that these "coathanger" antennas are UHF only-you will not be able to catch any stations still broadcasting on the VHF spectrum (there are some).
- ars 17y ago
  It's not zero. You get decent reception in VHF. Possibly better even than what you had before. If you know that your stations are lower in frequency, you can make the elements larger, say 10, 10.5 inches, and adjust your antenna to get even better VHF reception. You can tune it based on which frequencies have a strong signal, which weak. And size it for best reception for the weak signals.
pbhjpbhj 17y ago
Will these antennae work for UK broadcast stations - are there other dimensions that will improve the signal.
- ars 17y ago
  It will work, but probably not very well for the very low VHF frequencies (E2, E3, E4). The higher channels will be fine, not great for E5-E12. E21-E69 should be great. You can (and probably should) adjust the size of the antenna elements for the stations in your area. If you make it bigger you can tune the lower stations. You should register on the forum I linked, they will do a much better job of helping you. Get a list of which stations are in your area (and their frequencies, and relative strength if you know it). PS. I got the frequency numbers of Europe from http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/tv/tv.html#tvchan http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/tv/tv.html#tvchan - I hope they're right, and they seem quite similar to the US ones.