Digital TV and Indoor Antennas
May 13th, 2008 at 4:44 pm by Dave DeJonge under Inside WOOD TV8
As we continue to move toward the end of analog broadcast TV, Mike Laemers, our Director of Engineering, wrote the following article to address problems some people have had getting WOOD TV in digital …
“We have received many emails and telephone calls from our viewers who have indicated they watch WOOD TV analog signal but cannot pickup the digital signal when they purchase a converter box or a new TV.
“WOOD TV does not recommend indoor antennas for digital reception. We do understand that many people have used indoor antennas with varying results for analog reception. The reason was that a certain amount of degradation of the signal still produced acceptable results. Viewers were able to accept some pictures that were slightly snowy or had a limited amount of ghosts. With digital those kinds of imperfections may cause the receiver to unlock, resulting in no signal at all.
“Rabbit ears may work if the viewer is within 15 miles of the tower. In this area, WOOD TV, WXMI TV, WOTV, WLLA-TV, and WWMT are all located in the geographic center of the intended coverage area. WOOD TV and WXMI TV are just Southwest of Middleville, MI. WWMT TV is located east of Shelbyville and WOTV and WLLA-TV are located East of Orangeville. All of these are about 20 miles from the population centers of Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Holland and Battle Creek. Muskegon is about 50 miles.
“In areas like Detroit, most viewers are within 15 miles of the tower, because the population center is a metro area, many times indoor antennas work in this type of area. Grand Rapids is considered a hyphenated market because it serves multiple cities and their transmitters must be located in the center of the area intended to be served.
“What makes the indoor antenna problem worse is that many retailers are selling amplified indoor antennas that supposedly are designed for digital television. There is no difference in antennas sold for digital and the old tried-and-true antennas used for the past sixty years for analog.
“These amplified antennas are usually designed for UHF signals even though the box may say UHF/VHF. Testing has proved these antennas as having worse performance than plain $8.00 rabbit ears antennas at VHF channels. This area is mostly VHF. WWMT-TV (CBS), WOOD-TV (NBC), WZZM-TV (ABC) and WGVU-TV (PBS) will all be on VHF channels eventually. If the viewer has no other choice than to use an indoor antenna, we recommend a simple set of rabbit ears antenna located near a window that has a view to the Gun Lake area between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. WOOD-TV will come in best with the elements collapsed to half of their length.
“WOOD-TV highly recommends that you buy your converter box early. This will give you the time and weather to acquire our signal by having an outdoor antenna installed. Make sure the antenna is a VHF/UHF model. They may be purchased from places like Radio Shack, T&W Electronics in Grand Rapids, Bursma Electronics, Menards or any antenna dealer that also may do installations. A listing of antenna dealers that do installations can be found at Techhome.com or http://www.homeblue.com/electrical-1-antenna.htm
Michael Laemers
Director of Engineering
WOOD TV / WOTV / WXSP
Internet Director for WOODTV.com
[...] clewis wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt”We have received many emails and telephone calls from our viewers who have indicated they watch WOOD TV analog signal but cannot pickup the digital signal when they purchase a converter box or a new TV. … [...]
Do you guys know when dishnetwork is going to add our local channels in HD?
I had heard that it takes quite a bit of juice to run both analog and digital signals at the same time so that once the switch over to digital only occurs stations will then be able to use all their power for their digital programming. If that is true then it stands to reason that some viewers might see an improvement in signal quality once the analog signals are terminated.
The last date I heard was prior to Memorial Day. Therefore, if it doesn’t happen this week, its date was probably changed to sometime in June.
Over half the stations in the country are already at their final frequency and power. WOOD DT has been at their maximum power since 2002. The only reason a station may not be at its maximum power today is that they will be undergoing a frequency change on or after the transition date which will mean a newly assigned power level also. It really has nothing to do with saving energy costs.
still no local hd on dish network
When we change over to digital tv and lose our power we will have no way to watch a broadcast on our battery operated television. We lose our power and I rely on my battery operated televison for emergency information, it will no longer be available. I called the FCC to get more information and was told yes you are right there is no converter box that will work when there is power outages. What are we suppose to do if our power infra-structure is damaged. How will you keep us safe when we will only have radio’s that does not broadcast the information all the time. I am very upset that this was not better thought out. They said they were talking with several manufactures to design a coverter box to work with batteries, but none has been found but they are sure it will happen sometime after 2009. They are also working to get digital battery operated televisions and that we will need to throw our current battery operated televisons away. This sounds very expensive and wasteful to me. The FCC said that it’s not their fault and I needed to write my congressman.
Channel 41 (WOTV) used to have a strong digital signal, and we’ve been watching it digitally for almost 3 years. In the last few months, their digital signal has completely disappeared. It doesn’t come in at all, even late at night when we can pick up digital South Bend channels with ease! What’s up with this? We live on the west side of Kalamazoo – there’s no excuse for not being able to pick up WOTV, and WWMT has always been spotty. We’ll be forced to get DirectTv or Dish Network just to watch TV! Just one more way to suck money out of the consumer. We don’t even have cable available in this area – and we’ve gotten by on over-the-air channels just fine so far. *sigh*
why is the ellen degeneres show not been on air
I have a Samsung LN32A450CID HD LCD TV.
I have searched by the scanner built in the TV software, for you Channel 8 DTV. I found 3 of them two days ago, with some 3 different Channels – Woodtv, another one ???, and weather. None of them came in well. Now these are gone.
My problem is this. Your analog signal is very weak. I am unable to tune it in. Also wood analog with my older TV set was responsive to antenna direction, which it now is not. No matter where I point my antenna it does not come in. I live in Jenison, PC 48428.
Channel 17 is beautiful, though not a full TV picture, Channel 35 is PERFECT, absolutely PERFECT. This leads me to believe these problems with Wood is probably not my setup. I know – they are right on my doorstep.
Is there going to be a resolution of these problems so I can get DTV over my antenna.
I wouldn’t totally give up on an indoor antenna. There are several new antenna models out there now that are very impressive in receiving digital stations. It would be worth your wild. Do some research on them and see many reviews out there on them…you may be surprised!
What about everbody in Muskegon, Whitehall, and to the north?! Within GR/KZOO DMA and yet absolutely no signal within means? TESTED with rooftop UHF/VHF 7′ span antenna with preamp in 2 muskegon county locations without success. WZZM has no problem reaching these areas, why does WOOD? Sure, maybe 52 miles would be acceptable, but not without spending $2500+ on a tower, expensive antenna, etc on the tab of the consumer.