Can i still use my big out door antenna next year????

Question

i am confused as h**l. I have a huge antenna dish out side in the yard... it is about 10 feet tall and about 10 feet wide. i can control the antenna in the house to to face an any 360 degree position. I currently only have analog TV's. So my question is do I have to discard my antenna? Or can i still use it? do I have to get new TV's or can I just get a converter box? It seams that every where i look i cannot find the answer?

Answer 1

Keep the antenna it will come in handy when you buy the converter boxes or try to get over the air channels.

Answer 2

If you have satellite you need to do nothing. If you are using an antenna you need a box to convert the the signal to analog as it will be broadcast in digital starting February 2008.

Answer 3

The chances are that your big old antenna will keep working just fine.

In North America, analog & digital broadcasts use the same antennas. Your only problem might be if you are only receiving VHF (analog channels 2-13). A lot of TV stations are playing musical chairs with their actual broadcast frequncies and a bunch of them are going to stay in the UHF band after 2/09.  

UHF TV (analog channels 14-69) signals have a shorter maximum range than VHF ones.

You can either get a converter box or a new TV; the tuners in the better model converters seem to be just as good as the best ones in  HDTVs.

Since most areas already have digital broadcasts, I'd suggest you request a coupon now and buy a Zenith/Insignia converter when it comes in (~$20 after using the coupon).

Hook it up between your antenna & TV and see what you get.

Many TV stations are switching frequencies & power levels after 2/17/09, so some things will improve after the full power analog stations shut down.