Digital tv conversion in February 2009

[NoDakKid]

We have an analog batwing antenna that came with our 2004 Itasca motorhome. We understand that we will have to install the conversion box in order for our tv's to work after February 2009. If we get the conversion box, will we still have to upgrade the present antenna to a digital batwing antenna? This is so confusing!

[NoDakKid]

We have an analog batwing antenna that came with our 2004 Itasca motorhome. We understand that we will have to install the conversion box in order for our tv's to work after February 2009. If we get the conversion box, will we still have to upgrade the present antenna to a digital batwing antenna? This is so confusing!

[FrontRangeRVer]

Nope, your regular batwing antenna will work just fine.

[NoDakKid]

That makes sense to me since we can receive some digital channels right now. An employee at Camping World told us we would have to upgrade our antenna to a digital. I guess we'll all find out come February!

[ruppr]

NoDakKid,
Someone was trying to make some more money. The antenna receives a signal, it doesn't care what kind.

Best,

[Frankie]

Your present antenna will work.I just installed mine today and it works great.Camping world hires a lot of good people with bad info.Thier job is to sell products.You can buy a better antenna with a boosted signal,but what you have will suffice.After I used my $40.00 coupon I shelled out an extra $20.00 at Radio Shack.Hooked it up inline from tv to antenna out on distrabution box .Most tv station have been broadcasting digital for awhile.

[FLYTYER]

The comments provided here are accurate and good advice.

Click HEREfor very useful information.

[NoDakKid]

Thank you. I read the article and there is a paragraph that addresses the antenna. We had the WIT magazine that included that article but have misplaced it. Thanks for the link!

[Wayne M]

You can put a coat hanger into the back of a TV RF connector input and get a signal. Possibly a tolerable one, and then maybe not. It depends on many things, line of sight and range for Uhf, range for VHF, power of broadcasting station, etc.

There is going to be a transition period where frequencies are going to be juggled. Those local stations that are broadcasting over the airwaves are temporarily broadcasting on higher UHF frequencies, while their analog signals are still VHF. As the transition becomes complete, they will all switch to digital, and their original frequency (channel number) will be retained but in some cases may change, depending on geographical locations and the possibility of stations interfering with each other.

Presently, your antenna configuration (batwing) will receive the digital signals. Some may not be as good a quality, but in most cases they should be better. The antenna is designed to receive a certain spectrum of frequencies. The higher the frequency, the shorter the antenna. This is designed into the batwing on the MH so you may not see any difference in outside appearance, but the inside "guts" will be tuned to receive a broad spectrum of VHF and UHF frequencies.

If you were to take the number 1 through 10 and optimize an antenna to receive all numbers, it would be most likely designed for the middle of the spectrum, in this case #5. As you move out to 1 and 10, the signal quality diminishes depending on the frequency. But, to compensate for that, the throw in a booster that will increase the signal strength of the 1 through 10 spectrum.

The present VHF broadcasts are 6 Khz spread (I think) and only containe 1 signal, whereas the same spread can contain several digital signals.

You can google search digital tv frequencies and get a lot of information to read. To much for my feeble mind, at my age.

This is just a very basic layman's terms post.

Edited: If you woul like some more in-depth information on Antenna's,

CLLICK HERE

KE5QG

[SCVJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wayne M:
The present VHF broadcasts are 6 Khz spread (I think) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You're close, it's 6MHz

Points: There is no such thing as an analog or digital antenna. It's just RF and RF don't care what kind of metal it sticks to or how it's bent.

The batwing is just fine, although I just learned that it apparently is directional on UHF according to Winegards charts. Personally I haven't seen different performance between VHF & UHF, and Winegard isn't talking for some reason.

For pointing your antenna (because this will require some finesse in the new order) start
HERE. There is a ton of really helpful information on this site (some pretty technical) and most folks don't know about this site.

[FLYTYER]

Wayne M and SCVJeff...many thanks for the 2 great links. I found them quite useful and was able to decide on an antenna for our MH site in Florida this winter.

Thanks.

[Wayne M]

Darn! I need to go back to the basic school, I really meant Mhz! But, I was probably thinking in the old way Megacycles and typed Kilohertz. Senior moment!!!!

Thanks.

[Don (W5IT)]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wayne M:
Darn! I need to go back to the basic school, I really meant Mhz! But, I was probably thinking in the old way Megacycles and typed Kilohertz. Senior moment!!!!

Thanks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Naaaa, you just showed your age with the Megacycles instead of Hz........

[SCVJeff]

They started that when I was in high school I think. About the same time they tried to push the metric system down our throats. It's a CYCLE, not a Hurts..