How Antennas Work With DTV

All this month we've been helping you prepare for the digital TV transition that's coming on February 17th, 2009.

If you subscribe to cable, you're fine. But if you use rabbit ears now, chances are you need a converter box.

Depending on where you live in relation to the TV stations in your area you should be able to use your existing antenna. But if you find that you're not picking up all the stations, you may need something stronger...especially if you live further away, like Page Chandler.

Chandler says, "we got them but we're going to have to get an amplifier for ours because the signal's not strong enough."

But Page says he's looking forward to a better digital picture.

Hopefully it will be that way once I get my signal amped up because I can see that when it does come in strong it looks a lot clearer than my analog.

A good thing to check is to find out exactly how far away you live from your local TV station's broadcast towers. That will help you determine what kind of antenna you might need to pick up the signals. The same goes for those who have a new HD digital TV but don't want to pay for programming.

It's what Ken Gondek wanted to know.  Looking to get his local stations in high-def for free, he checked a great website showing exactly what he needed to do.

It tells you about what sort of range of antenna you need and so then I found the type of antenna that would work for me according to information I had and just put in the attic.

The consumer electronics association's website is simple to use. You enter your address then select digital signal stations. You'll see street level mapping of your home and directions for setting up your antenna.

Ken lives about 25 miles from the local station's broadcast towers, so he has the big antenna in his attic. But just for kicks he also has a smaller back-up on the TV.

Says Ken, "that a cost of about 25-30 dollars at Target or Wal-mart and I can pull then in off that and that's just plug it in like good old rabbit ears."

You may be surprised to find out what works to receive that perfect picture.  And in some cases something old may even work better than something new.

If you have questions about all this, send an email to feedback@wsav.com. There's also a form to submit a question at wsav.com keyword "dtv" or you can text message us...just text wsav to 82672.