Community Forums

Deafanimator · 07-25-2007, 04:06 PM

As we know that we all have anlog tv antenna that came with all travel trailer, 5th wheelers, RV, and so on. I know in 2009 there will be no more anlog antenna because all TV stations will be using HDTV or digital TV.. My question is how can we convert from analog antenna to digital antenna or get converter box. Or do you know any one sell ditigtal tv antenna that will work for LCD tv with HDTV build in? I will appreciate to know more if anyone knows.

Deafanimator · 07-25-2007, 04:06 PM

As we know that we all have anlog tv antenna that came with all travel trailer, 5th wheelers, RV, and so on. I know in 2009 there will be no more anlog antenna because all TV stations will be using HDTV or digital TV.. My question is how can we convert from analog antenna to digital antenna or get converter box. Or do you know any one sell ditigtal tv antenna that will work for LCD tv with HDTV build in? I will appreciate to know more if anyone knows.

rivercat · 07-25-2007, 05:36 PM

Good news and bad news.

Yes, you can get a digital picture with an analog antenna. I bought the Winegard HD Receiver and it's hooked up to my analog antenna at home and it delivers crisp HD pix to some channels on my LCD TV. The rest look like analog.

HOWEVER, This is my second Winegard unit -- I returned the first one. This one's going back, too. Neither has received all available channels. The last unit wouldn't bring in the ABC affiliate. This one won't bring in the PBS affiliate that the first unit received perfectly.

Anyway, that's what I've found, for what it's worth. I don't know about what will happen with analog TVs. janice

WA4SLC · 07-26-2007, 04:32 AM

Yes your old antenna will still work. There is nothing special about an HDTV antenna. The only difference is the way the information is encoded on the TV signal and most of the TV stations will be on the current UHF band. The curent VHF band will eventialy be used for other comunications services.

Bill

RobCN · 08-25-2007, 02:03 PM

This is something I was just looking at today. The standard RV "batwing" antennas I saw at Camping World are labeled as VHF / UHF combination. The new digital HDTV off-the-air broadcasts are transmitted on the same old UHF frequencies, so the same antennas work.

We just got a new HDTV for the RV, which has the new digital ATSC tuner in it. I tested it with an old UHF antenna rescued from the attic after about 20 years. I was able to get a clean, sharp HD picture, even though the old, small antenna was lying across a chair, and we are a good 25 miles from the transmitter.

I'm thinking the RV antenna, being up at a height of 15 feet or so, is likely to work about as well as the old one inside the house.

Will be testing in the RV in the next day or two. I'll post the results.

RobCN · 08-26-2007, 05:36 PM

Today I did the testing of the new HDTV with the old, standard "batwing" RV antenna. It works great! No problem at all tuning in digital HD signals from several transmitters over 30 miles away.

There is absolutely no need to replace your antenna with anything special for HDTV. Just plug in the coax cable and tune right in.

There is a requirement to use the TV set function to "detect" the active, available channels. This is found in the setup menu, along with brightness, contrast, etc. Took about 5 minutes on my TV. Same thing I did with the old TV when connecting to RV park cable systems.

I'm now thoroughly sold on HDTV. The direct off-the-air broadcast picture is fabulous. Very noticably better than satellite TV or standard DVD. Sharpness and color so good it jumps off the screen at you.

BTW, the new HDTV is a Vizio brand 26" LCD model from Walmart. Not a bad deal at $448.00

Highly recommended.

K1VVT · 08-27-2007, 04:05 PM

I contacted the antenna company, and ask the same question, they said the new HD antennas
have a built in amplifier, and they are painted
The old antennas are not painted.

AlCo · 08-28-2007, 02:12 PM

K1VVT

I use the old antenna also with no problems with my HDTV.

However if they told u it was painted could u tell us what color and if they used a spray can?

AC

j2detoit · 08-29-2007, 07:14 PM

I bought a refurbished HDTV ota receiver and have it hooked up to my factory installed batwing antena While it does have an amplifyer on it I think that to is pretty much standard anymore But anyway I hooked the receiver up to my sd flat tube tv and not only do I get more tv channels but man oh man I get them in HD and they look and sound GREAT so explore your options and find them out before the last minute

Roam America · 09-16-2007, 03:00 PM

I replaced my TV in my trailer with a new SONY HDTV. On my last trip, I went thru channel programming. I received NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX as well as a few other stations in HD off of my ROOF ANTENNA. The analog station was received on station (example) 8 and the HD broadcast was received on channel 8.1. The stations that had their own weather broadcast was received on channel 8.2.

RobCN · 09-23-2007, 01:04 PM

Just got back from trip to northern Indiana and Michigan. The new HDTV worked well with the standard old batwing antenna, although some channels began to pixelate and drop out if far away. We were able to receive digital channels in most areas we camped in. Several of the broadcasters are transmitting multiple channels, one of which is usually continuous weather. That came in handy several times.

I'm now fully sold on HDTV. Picture is fantastic, and there are already lots of HD broadcasts in many different markets.

At this point, I'm thinking that once analog broadcasting ends in early 2009, I'm going to want a higher gain UHF antenna for the RV to allow me to pick up digital broadcast from longer distances. The batwing seems to work well out to about 30 miles (depending on height of the transmitter tower). With a better, higher gain antenna I'm expecting to get out to 50+ miles somewhere down the road.

RobCN