Motley Blog

I've just finished my conversion to Digital TV, and it was quite the journey. The picture I'm receiving is fantastic, but it took more than the spectrum auction covered converter coupon to cover the cost.

Here in Tacoma we're 30 odd miles from the Seattle broadcast towers and this makes a difference - traditional rabbit ears don't work, at least on my ground floor. I researched this a bit, including checking each of our local stations websites. Digital TV is all UHF and rabbit ears work poorly for this band, somethin I was not aware of till ust ow. Local affiliate websites explain this with varying usefulness. I emailed each station, and only KIRO and KCPQ (13) responded - both quite helpful.

The crucial website is antennaweb, which does a great job at showing exactly what you need at your specific address. It is a bit conservative, but very useful at explaining and ranking the various antenna options - costs range from $10 to well over $100 - without installation.

I chose a medium sized directional antenna from Radio Shack, at $30.00 (they stock them, but they aren't on display, you have to ask). I played around with it on my downstairs antenna with poor results. I was also quite surprised at how sensitive the 'directional' is - probably around 10 degrees. My location is relatively good - on the ridge above the Tacoma Dome, but I've also got aluminum siding and new e-glass windows, possibly negatives.

I researched amplifiers and tried the one they sold me at Radio Shack rather than having something shipped to me. That one did nothing - what you need is a pre-amplifier, not a typical cable booster - go figure. Cost for quality pre-amps runs $50-$70, and I decided it wasn't worth it.

What I did do was set up the antenna in the attic - at the correct angle, set up by mounting closet dowel between the rafters and joists - this allows precise rotation for best reception. I set it up inline with one of my cable runs with a splitter combiner so it will still work with cable - although only for about 2/3 of the house. At about ten feet of coaxial run from the antenna the reception is great. I haven't tested drop off down the cable installation, but for now, good enough.

Confidential to Comcast - I'm not particularly interested in paying $40+ a month to get advertising supported TV AND for you to pay for broadcast commercials urging cable as the DTV solution. Broadcast News and Netflix does me fine.