Can I Use My Amplified Antenna for HDTV? (1 Viewer)

[WilliamG]

I have one of those Magnavox amplified antennas and it does a better than average job of pulling in signals from most OTA stations. Can't I just use this when I get ready to get a high definition receiver, i.e. Samsung SIR-T151 or -T160?
I have a Toshiba 50H81 thats 2 yrs. old and I'm gettin' the itch!
I really didn't want to have to buy an external antenna if I could help it.

 

[SeanA]

Yep... if it works well with analog, it should work well with digital signals as well. Most digital broadcasts are UHF, but some are VHF. So you should figure out what frequency the digital broadcasters in your area are using. You may only need a UHF antenna. In my case, two local stations are broadcasting their digital signals as VHF, so I needed an antenna that could do both.

But don't be too surpised if you have a problem picking up a station that comes in strong with their analog signal. One local station in Milwaukee (Fox) puts out a decent analog signal, but a very weak digital signal. I guess the transmitters for digital and analog broadcasts are not the same, and it is fairly expensive to set up a powerful digital transmitter.

 

[Rocky F]

Hey, William,

I didn't have anything to do with this new urge to get a STB, did I?

Anyway, Ch. 11's digital station is 12, so it is VHF, but they are broadcasting at pretty high power, so if you can get them with your antenna now, you should be able to get the digital signal just as well. I'm not sure about Ch. 7, but 16 and 38 are at full power as well. Ch. 4 is at low power and doesn't do HD anyway, so I doubt you'll be able to get them.

Later

 

[WilliamG]

Rocky,

No, actually it happened when I found out last week in the paper that CBS is broadcasting the Arkansas/Alabama game Saturday. And my reception with said antenna is crystal clear- almost uncompressed cable quality!

Go HOGS!

Oh, yeah- check your inbox- you've got mail!

 

[Robert_J]

I'm not sure about Ch. 7

They have been on the air since January. There are a lot of details in this thread. Also, most of the towers are on Shinall Mt. while KATV (ch. 7) is down in Redfield off of I-530.

-Robert

 

[WilliamG]

Thanks, Robert