Will the digital TV converter pull in more stations from a greater distance?

Question

We are located near 3 TV markets. Madison WI is our primary market where the stations are the clearest. We also receive Rockford IL and Milwaukee WI stations. These stations are not always clear, in fact sometimes they don't come in at all. Will this digital TV converter pull these stations from more distant markets in better?

Answer 1

It is the antenna that will determine which stations you can pull in.

A high gain antenna will deliver more signal to the converter box.

The converter box wants so much signal from the antenna for the station you want to watch. If it gets enough it will display the station if it does not the station will not be there.

So get a good outdoor high gain antenna in the frequency range (Channels)  of the stations you are trying to get.

NOTE: There is NO such thing as a digital antenna (marketing hype)

get a good VHF/UHF model and point it at the direction of the stations.

A TV station broadcasting in digital can (if they want to) broadcast up to 4 channels in the space allocated. They can only do one in analog.  Digital signals are either there or not. Unlike analog where the picture is fuzzy if the TV does not get enough signal.

Answer 2

Not necessarily.  Digital signal does require a strong boost to broadcast the signal, but I believe it doesn't travel as far (the reason why they have to boost it more) .  

You might pick up a couple of the far away channels but don't expect miracles.

you well get More channels because each station can broadcast more channels.  

Answer 3

Not if they are coded for the local area. I would imagine that by coding areas, they can control the viewership. I don't know if they will or will not code the boxes to accept signals only from a certain district or something such as that.