Paul writes:
I would like to replace my old TV antenna with newer technology that’s ready for digital TV, but I just don’t know what is “good.” Do you have a recommendation?
Also, is it true that all VHF signals will go away in February, 2009 and only UHF will be transmitting?
Hi Paul…
The website AntennaWeb.org is a good place to find out what kind of antenna you’ll need where you live. You just punch in your address and it uses a topographic database to determine what style of antenna you’ll need to receive the channels you want.
About those VHF/UHF channels… it’s kind of a long story and I often ponder how much of this to get into on the air for fear of further muddying the waters. I’ll give it a try here, though…
Here at WBAL-TV, we continue to broadcast our old analog signal on VHF channel 11. Several years ago we added our digital broadcast on UHF channel 59. But people viewing our digital signal never know it’s on UHF 59 because it’s encoded so that your TV set interprets it as channel 11-1 or, in the case of our digital weather channel, 11-2.
Now just to make it even more complicated… on February 17, 2009 something interesting happens. We’ll shut down our UHF 59 channel and move our digital broadcast to VHF 11. At that point we’ll be permanently on VHF 11 with a digital signal and we’ll no longer be licensed for use of UHF 59. Again, this should be largely transparent to viewers as their digital TV’s should find the new digital signal at VHF 11 and continue to interpret it as 11-1 or 11-2.
And just in case that’s not confusing enough… not every station will return to the VHF spectrum with its digital broadcast. WBAL and WJZ will return to 11 and 13 respectively. But WMAR will not be able to return to its VHF 2 channel and will permanently broadcast its digital signal in the UHF spectrum. (Though as I mentioned before, this is largely unimportant as digital TV’s will interpret WMAR’s broadcast as 2-1, 2-2, etc)
So bottom line, when you make an antenna purchase, you’ll need to consider the channel location of your local broadcasters both before and after February 17, 2009. Some antennas are made specifically for VHF or UHF signals, while more expensive models are attenuated for both. Where you’re located in Dundalk, it shouldn’t make much of a difference since you can practically see our TV Hill transmission tower from your roof. But in more fringe areas, it will become important. The AntennaWeb.org website has information on which antennas (or antennae?) you’ll need both before and after the digital TV deadline next year.
