How to watch HD television programming without monthly payments.

This is not HD TV but, this is what many folks think of
when they think of over the air antenna television

Many people today are under the impression that in order to watch local television programming they must pay a monthly fee.  The monthly fees are generally paid to a cable provider or a satellite TV provider.

Since the advent of television, programming has continued to be available over the air at no cost. In the days before High Definition digital television and before cable television, it was common to receive all of your programming over the air at no cost.

The programming was received using an antenna. Some antennas were internal to the television. Some antennas were set top antennas. Some antennas were outside the house or in the attic. The point is that all programming was relieved using an antenna.

This is a 1950s era outdoor (VHF only) Television Antenna

Before the advent of digital television signal, all of the signals were analog. Analog used a much wider bandwidth and was prone to snowy and fuzzy images if your television was not near enough to the transmitter. Because the bandwidth was so wide there were not many channels from which to choose. The wide bandwidth, the power required to transmit the signal, and the expense of the transmitting equipment limited the choices of channels. This was especially true in areas of the country with smaller populations.

Because of this, when most folks think of antenna television, they remember the small choice of channels (when I was growing up in Fayette County Georgia, we had 4 channels).

However, over the years, this changed. In the beginning, we only had VHF channels. These were numbered 2-13. Later on we added UHF which gave us channels 14-69. Even with the advent of UHF, in Fayette County, I could only get about 2 or maybe 3 additional channels when I was growing up.

To get decent reception, many people had to erect large outdoor antennas with rotators that allowed you to move the antenna to get better reception on certain channels. Each channel usually required that the antenna be oriented in a slightly different direction for optimum reception.

This is how over the air television remained for decades.

The resolution and screen size of television sets improved drastically over those decades. But, for many years, the tuners remained essentially the same. Which meant that we had the same fuzzy pictures and limited channel selection on over the air television.

This is a very old, low power analog broadcast
transmitter

Eventually digital television transmission began. Because the signal was now digital it required much less bandwidth. A digital signal is basically (simplified) a series of ones and zeros. Therefore, there is no more snowy image. The image is fundamentally either present or absent. This is actually a gross over simplification of the technology but, it is essentially accurate in the context of this discussion.

The broadcasters had a lot of money tied up in analog equipment. There were also a very large number of televisions installed in people's homes that were not capable of receiving a digital signal. For those reasons (and probably others of which I am unaware), broadcasters were not quick about implementing digital transmitters.


It happened that the FCC needed to free up some of the bandwidth that was allocated to television transmission. The old analog equipment was not making very efficient use of the bandwidth by modern standards.

This is a low power high definition broadcast transmitter.
Modern broadcasters use something similar to
this with the appropriate power amplifier

Therefore, the FCC forced the broadcasters to convert to digital transmission. The digital transmission has a  variety of advantages. The transmitting equipment makes much more efficient use of bandwidth. This allows broadcasters to offer many additional channels in a cost efficient manner.

At the moment, at my home in Fayette County, Georgia I receive over 30 digital channels and pay no monthly fee at all.

There are some drawbacks. I do have to use an antenna. I built my own antenna from components that I had in my shop. I have an extensive background in electronics and will be happy to build an antenna for you as well!

I mentioned that there are not snowy images any longer. However, if you are on the fringe of the broadcaster's coverage area, you may experience pixelization. In other words the signal will sometimes go in and out. But the picture is many orders of magnitude better than the old analog signal. I get images that are usually better than that of the local cable television providers.

This is the top view of the prototype that I built for my parents.
It is sitting outside on top of my smoker for testing. It was
eventually installed in the attic.

I am working on prototypes of an antenna that I am planning to begin offering to customers. I have one of these mounted outside my house. The antenna in the pictures here is one that I built for my parents who live next door to me. This antenna is only about a foot long. I mounted it in their attic. I also installed a small amplifier between the antenna and the television. My parents get about 30 channels with this small attic mounted antenna.

This is the front view of the prototype. The finished product will
look prettier and will probably not have all the electrical tape

You may have noticed that televisions today no longer have the built in antennas. They all require external antennas. The antenna will have to be attached outside the television. Because of the way modern houses are designed, it is sometimes difficult to determine the proper placement of the antenna. There are also a wide variety of antenna choices.

If you have more than one television, as most homes do today, you will likely want a central antenna for all the televisions. These do not have to be outdoor antennas. Many times they can be installed in the attic or elsewhere in the home.

One of our antennas may be right for you. Alternatively a combination of our antenna and an inexpensive amplifier may be the correct solution. Whatever works best at your home we are happy to help.

We at Moore Services for Your Money are happy to work with you on designing an appropriate antenna system for your location so that you do not have to pay the monthly cable television fees simply to get local television.

Please contact us to arrange a consultation and estimate. You may click here and use this form to request an estimate or consultation. You may also call 678-702-4791.

Till next time

-William

William Moore
Moore Services for Your Money
678-702-4791
mooresvs.com