Installing digital antenna a snap

By Jay Warren
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: July 25, 2008

There was a time when big antennas topped everyone’s home. It was the crown to your roof, helping ensure the best picture at that time.

Boy how things have changed both in picture quality, we’re not in high definition, and in antennas. The new ones are no bigger than a serving tray and they are as light as a Frisbee. And, installing it is a snap… almost.

“It’s pretty easy,” says WSLS engineer Bob Johnson.

Johnson works with this stuff for a living and just put one of these antennas on his house in Montgomery County. Bob went through the same steps to put it up as you and I would, starting with the website antennaweb.org. It’s designed to tell you everything you need to know to set up one of these.

To use it, you’ll start off by typing in where you live and if anything big is blocking your house. From that, the website will figure out what kind of antenna you need. And there are a lot of options. They range from the lower power, top of the TV kind to the high powered, big dish type. And they go from cheap to pricey.

Bob’s take: “There are a lot of good antennas out there for under $100.”

He ended up needing a medium directional antenna with pre-amp. Again, the website lists this for you so don’t be intimidated by the technical sounding name. The website will also plot out exactly where you need to install yours. It gives a fair specific reading, but Bob says you don’t have to have a compass or plot it out on a map to figure out where yours goes.

Once you have the general direction in place and antenna screwed in, the goal is to get the best picture and number possible. That number is a part of your television’s set-up.

“Once you get into the 70’s you’ve got a good signal,” Bob said.

The higher the better he says.

“When you’re on the edge of a good signal on a sunny day, a rainy or snowy day could affect your picture.”

So, you’ll want to fiddle with it, fine tune, get it just right because when you do your picture will be crystal clear.

There are a couple more steps involved in this process including running the cable from the antenna into your house and through an amplifier. It comes with your digital antenna.

This process may require a handyman, especially if you’re drilling through brick.

“You have to be very aware of where you’re drilling and what’s on the other side of the wall,” Bob said.

But all of that is worth it when you can sit back and get a picture in high definition.