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Rabbit Ears To Stage a Comeback Thanks To DTV
Jeffrey Breen writes "Like Monty Python's Killer Rabbit, cheap indoor antennas seem harmless to satellite and cable providers. But with the digital TV transition in the US, rabbit ears can suddenly provide digital-perfect pictures, many more channels, and even on-screen program guides. Already feeling pressure as suddenly budget-conscious consumers shed premium channels, providers must now get creative to protect their low-end as well."
Not all DTV is broadcast on UHF and rabbit ears DO pickup UHF on the lower end of the spectrum. There ARE far better designs though and rabbit ears will not make a return.
The Olympics last year were what motivated me to attempt to do the TV thing . . . so I found a very small set and got some rabbit ears. It was pleasantly surprising to discover the dual nature of the channel settings available . . . the old analog signal is still full of snow and noise while the digital airwaves really are better than cable. Channels are a little bit longer (e.g. KQED is 09-003, needs to be manually entered with the dash and all. Best of all, no monthly cable bill!
It's likely that the cable / satellite television industry is going to take a hard hit once people figure out that the can get clarity without paying for ridiculous "service contracts" and "package deals" and "bundles".
Why don't you guys just install a proper rooftop / loft aerial and get a decent signal without all the fiddling? In the UK all most buildings where people live have an aerial and tv points in the rooms, in the same way each room has power sockets.
You're absolutely WRONG.
Rabbit ears are back (at least in my house)! I am one who has realized that me and my family mostly watched "network shows". I am one who canceled my cable service and traded it for rabbit ears.
At this time DTV looks better than cable services. Digital Cable Services look worse then analog TV and tons worse than DTV, the compression is too high.
Rabbit ears are back baby..
"It's really not that tough to make. You could make one yourself just as easily in an hour or two. Construction is as follows:
Make eight Vs from 16" lengths of coat hanger, with stripped insulation at the point(EDIT: Guess he means the plastic coated coathangers). The mouths should open about 3.25".
On a 33" or longer stick, about 2" wide and ½" thick, measure off 8" increments on both sides of the ruler. At each of these marks use a wood screw and washer to hold down a V. It should look like four cats stacked head on head when the stick is upright. These V's, now lying flat, should be pulled forward about 20-35. Just pull on one wire at a time to reduce strain on the screw.
Next the Vs need connected with two more coat hangers. Each of these hangers is bowed, connecting to the two center Vs on one side, and the two end Vs of the opposite side. Insulation needs removed at all eight woodscrew junctions, but must be intact where the wires cross over each other between the end and center bows.
Finally, at the center of these two bows (which should be the width of a ruler apart), also strip insulation, insert two additional screws, and attach a UHF-VHF transformer. This is $2 radio shack item which allows one to hook a 300 ohm spade-lug antenna to 75ohm threaded-tube coax cable. The ideal one should be small tube with male threads at one end, and the two spades at the other end which you will screw to the antenna.
Installation. Hook a 75ohm coax cable between the antenna and the 75ohm air-antenna connector of your tuner. A brass hook in one end of the stick, and another in the ceiling is a convenient method of installation. Mounting it to a pole on the roof would provide even better reception, but then would be difficult to aim if not all your TV stations come from the same direction. Here they all come from Mount Wilson which is 41 East of North from me. Directions of your stations from your zip code and signal strengths can be found at tvfool.com. The cat faces aim at the stations. I pick up all stations with a signal strength of 41 Db or more (the ones shaded in green)."
I guess he used a cool piece of driftwood for structure.
Hope this helps.
The only television service that offers full ATSC bitrates (around 15 Mbps) is Verizon FiOS because they have so much raw capacity down that fiber. Everyone else is between 8 to 12 Mbps.
Unfortunately with digitally modulated signals, the receive gear can either see the synchronisation pattern, or it can not. There is no room to fit 'degrade gracefully' into this particular binary problem. The advantage here is that you can encode forward error correction on the data stream, meaning that when you do have a picture, it is actually going to look so close to being identical to the original transmission that it wont matter. Perfection here is measured in bit error rates. The lower that number the better.
Your problem, or rather your parents problem, is antenna type and positioning. We can safely skip all the slick marketing crap once we have a grasp of the problem.
Driving a 30 metre satellite dish, you can successfully and reliably pluck good data from a transmission more or less on the noise floor, one or two dB. It's like looking at something through a long narrow tube, you don't see anything other than whatever you are pointing it at. Rabbit ears are more or less the opposite of a nice big sat dish, in this case you have to contend with multipath signals and a very long list of other interference, so your odds of success are far more marginal.
What can your parents, or anyone else do to get perfect reception? Invest in a slightly more expensive antenna system, pay the extra few bucks to get system that is directional - buy an antenna rotator to make life a little easier as well.
Some people hit the sweet spot and only need a bent up coat hanger for perfect reception, others have to put a little extra effort in.
HDTV antenna on the cheap. Coaxial cable adapter, coat hanger, screws & a board.
The coat hanger antenna out-performed a $40.00 'HDTV' antenna from Philips and another from Radio Shack.
Here is one made with a coffee can...