Converting to HDTV: A viewer's tale of woe (part 2 of 3)

January 6, 12:04 AMMedia Industry ExaminerJudah Freed

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Zenith Digital TV Tuner converter box  (Model DTT901).

After connecting my converter box and basic RCA antenna, I commenced my first scan of available digital signals.

To my disappointment, I was only able to receive channels 2, 4, 9, 20, and 31 reliably. Channels 6, 7 and 12 were intermittent with lots of image freezing or on-screen pixilated artifacts. I could not pick up channel 59 at all. A "no signal" icon flashed on the screen.

So, I rummaged around in the basement and found my parent's original 1950s JFD antenna, a collector's item. I went back to the Radio Shack where I bought the converter box and purchased a two-into-one adapter, so both antenna wires could plug into the converter box though one standard cable-type connector.

My reception with this odd setup did not improve until I turned the JFD antenna on its side with the rabbit ears poles fully extended and pointing toward the DTV transmission towers on the foothills west of Denver.

This quirky setup added channels 6 and 12, but 7 remained intermittent. The only way top get 59 was to stand next to the antennas and touch the old-fashioned rabbit ears with a finger.

Plainly, this "solution" was not viable.

Now began the hunt for a better antenna, as if I had nothing else to do with my time.

Radio Shack VHF/UHF/FM indoor
antenna (Model 15-1868)

I first went back to Radio Shack and purchased a house brand $20 UHF/VHF/FM indoor antenna With 12-Position Fine-Tuning (Model 15-1868). I liked the triangular design. I took this antenna home, and plugged it in. This antenna may work great in other locations, but for me in central Denver, the Radio Shack antenna worked no better than my old RCA antenna by itself and worse than my two old antennas linked together.

I returned to Radio Shack and traded up to an amplified VHF/UHF/FM indoor antenna (Model 15-1878). priced at $35. No improvement. I returned the amplified antenna the next day. 

I then made the rounds of several local retailers that carry electronics. I went to K-Mart, Target, Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics, and Best Buy.

When I went into these stores, I acted like an average consumer who knows nothing about physics and technology behind television signal reception.

The Gen Y youth in K-Mart's home electronic's department was honest enough to admit he did not know squat about TV antennas, and no one else in the store knew any more than he did. Beyond that, he was was pretty useless. He just pointed to a couple of shelves with boxes and said, "This is what we carry." All i saw were the standard UHF/VHF antennas with rabbit ears and a loop.

The Gen Xer at Target was a little more knowledgeable, but their stock of antennas was so meager that I saw no point in buying anything there.

The guy at Circuit City knew a lot about computers and flat HDTV screen, but i soon saw past his bluster to discern that he knew nothing about broadcast antennas. He actually questioned whether the analog stations were really being shut off on February 17.

The supposed store expert at Ultimate Electronics was taking a day off. I sighed and kept looking.

(Continue to Part 3)

For antenna advice: www.antennaweb.org
 

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