The Antenna

Preamble:
KFDM-DT (our digital transmitter) is on channel 21, our transmitter is in Vidor, and we put out 170, 000-Watts power. Our digital transmitter is on 24 hours a day.

There is a federal law (OTARD: Over-The-Air Reception Devices [47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000]) which prevents homeowner associations and apartment complexes from prohibiting the installation of reasonable TV antennas.  A copy of the rule is available at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html. This law also applies to small satellite dishes (DirecTV, DishNetwork).

Buying the right antenna
Antennas can be purchased from Radio Shack, Ralph's Electronics (1293 Broadway, Beaumont), and various retail outlets as well as over the Internet. This discussion will refer to Radio Shack (RS) antennas because "everyone knows Radio Shack".  I am not recommending RS antennas over any other brand of antenna; but they are a convenient reference. Go to http://www.radioshack.com to see the specifications on the antennas mentioned in this discussion.

A "VHF only" antenna is designed to pick up only channels 2 through 13.  A "UHF only" antenna is designed to pick up TV channels 14 and above.  A "VHF/UHF combo" antenna will pick up every television channel.

All local stations are on channels in the UHF band for their digital broadcast except for KBMT, which has moved back to their VHF channel 12.  Therefore, a "VHF/UHF combo" antenna will be needed if you are interested in receiving all the local digital stations.

All antennas mentioned in this discussion are general recommendations only.  I can not guarantee that any one specific antenna will work for you. Check the return policy of the store before you buy the antenna and keep your receipts.

At www.antennaweb.org, you will find an antenna selector program. This site lists all the television channels you can receive from your location along with the antenna type and size antenna you will need.  If they recommend a different antenna than I suggest in this discussion, go with their selection.

Many retail outlets (Sears, Best Buy, etc) as well as Radio Shack sell indoor antennas.  There are many different indoor antenna designs available. 

"Rabbit ear" antennas are two telescoping rods (RS# 15-236). A "loop antenna" is the circle portion of RS#15-1874.  A "Bow Tie" antenna is a bent piece of wire or sheet metal shaped like a bow tie (RS#15-282).

Looking at the various antennas shown on the Radio Shack website, you will see that most of the antennas shown are a combination of, and variations on the basic rabbit ear and loop antenna design.

In general, "Rabbit ear" antennas do not work well for UHF.  If you are very close (5 miles) to my transmitter in Vidor you might get a picture with rabbit ears.

A "loop antenna" is designed for UHF and is more likely to work.  Rabbit ear and loop antennas tend to lose signal when people walk close to them, however.  A very good UHF only antenna is the "Silver Sensor" by Zenith, which I have purchased and tested.  It picked up my HDTV signal just fine at our studio location (about 10 miles from Vidor). Radio Shack sells a "Silver Sensor" look-alike made by Terk (catalog #55016814).  I have seen variations of this antenna at Best Buy and Sears as well.

Rabbit ear, loop, and other indoor antennas do not work well in mobile homes or homes with metal siding or a metal roof. It may be worth trying an indoor antenna if you live within 10 miles of my transmitter in Vidor.

There is nothing keeping you from putting an indoor antenna in the attic (or in a window, or mounted on a wall behind a curtain, etc.) if you want to "hide" it out of sight. One person living in the west end of Beaumont has placed his Silver Sensor antenna in the attic and gets good reception.

Outdoor antennas

If you have tried indoor antennas and can't get a picture, you probably need an outdoor antenna.  If you live within 30 miles of Vidor, a small antenna will probably work (such as the antennacraft HBU22. RS#15-278). If you live in Jasper or other areas equally far away, you will need a much larger antenna (such as the Winegard model HD8200U sold at Ralph's Industrial Electronics (409-833-9443). You may also need an antenna amplifier such as the Channel Master CM7777 from Ralph's Electronics.  Radio Shack also sells antenna amplifiers.  If you live somewhere between these two extremes, an "in-between" antenna is in order. You may or may not need an amplifier. If you have tall trees close to your home, you will probably need a larger antenna than I recommend here.

All outdoor antennas I mention here are of the "standard type" (directional).  I know these antennas will work for HDTV.

Mounting the antenna
If you live within 30 miles of Vidor, you can probably mount the antenna in your attic unless you live in a mobile home or have metal siding or a metal roof.  The "UHF only" antenna is shorter than a VHF/UHF combo antenna and will be easier to mount in the attic. However, it may not pick up KBMT as well as a UHF/VHF antenna.  The antenna must have a clear "line of sight" to our transmitter. Central air conditioning ducts and other metal objects will block the signal, and may rule out the "antenna in the attic" idea. Mounting an outdoor antenna in the attic reduces the signal level available to the antenna.  In general, if the antenna is rated for 60 miles, putting it in the attic will reduce the range to about 30 miles.  This is due to the shingles, felt, wood, and the nails that make up the roof reducing the signal strength.

If your home has metal siding or a metal roof, you will probably have to mount the antenna on the outside of your home.  Chimney, wall, tripod and eaves mounts are available from Radio Shack if you do not want to put in a pole.

If you live more than 30 miles from Vidor, you will probably need to put the antenna on a pole. In general, the higher you get the antenna, the better.  In some cases, getting the antenna higher will keep you from having to purchase an amplifier.  Alternately, an amplifier can make up for short antenna heights.  The choice is up to you.

If you have tall trees close to your home, you may experience problems picking us up.  About the only solution is to get the antenna higher.  An amplifier does not help much when trees are in the way since it can not amplify a signal that is not there.

One of our HDTV viewers in Jasper put a large antenna on a pole 20 foot in the air.  He is also using an antenna amplifier.

The bottom of an outdoor antenna should be at least 3 foot above the top of the roof in most cases.

Safety First!
All outdoor antennas must be grounded to protect your home as well as your TV set.  Use of a "grounding block" (such as RS#15-923 connected to a RS #15-530 grounding rod) will satisfy this requirement.

Connecting the antenna

Use coax cable between the antenna and the TV set.  The flat stuff (twinlead) is likely to pick up interference while coax is immune to most types of interference when properly installed.  Coax cable is available at many retail outlets including Radio Shack, Sears, Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc.

You should connect the antenna directly to your TV set or Digital tuner when first setting up the antenna.  If you subscribe to cable or "regular satellite" (non-HDTV satellite), disconnect it for now.  Once you get HDTV pictures you can reconnect your cable or satellite service.  You most likely would be able to get your HDTV antenna working without disconnecting your cable or satellite service, but if you run into problems you wouldn't know for sure if it's the antenna or the cable/satellite equipment which is causing the problem.

If your TV set or digital tuner has a second antenna input for a digital antenna, this temporary removal will not be necessary. Connect the antenna cable directly into this second antenna input.
If you are using a satellite HDTV receiver, connect your antenna to the "antenna" input connector on the back of the satellite receiver if it has one. You should leave all satellite cables connected when using a satellite HDTV receiver.

Aiming the antenna
The antenna must be pointed towards Vidor.  In general, the end of a "normal" antenna with the longest rods is the back end of the antenna.  Point the other end towards Vidor.

The easiest way to aim the antenna is to use the signal strength meter on the HDTV set or digital tuner.  If your set or tuner does not have a signal strength meter, the www.antennaweb.org web site lists the direction to point the antenna for each station.  If you have a compass, this information might be useful.
Since KFDM currently has the lowest power signal, you need to aim your antenna at my tower in Vidor.  The higher power that the other stations use should allow your antenna to pick them up although it is not pointing directly at them.

Antenna rotor
KITU and KBMT have their digital transmitters located in Mauriceville.  Both KBTV and KFDM's transmitters are located in Vidor.

In most locations, you will be able to aim the antenna at Vidor and receive all 4 stations at once.  This may be true even if you live somewhere between Vidor and Mauriceville, since you are so close to the transmitters.  Do not invest in an antenna rotor until you prove to yourself that you really need it. 

Will your current outdoor antenna work?

A common problem we have seen since the digital transition is that a lot of people with outdoor antennas have "VHF only" models.  Since everyone was watching analog channels 4, 6, and 12, this worked just fine for analog television. You would think that you could continue to watch the digital stations using this antenna, but that is not the case if you have a VHF antenna.

My digital signal is actually on channel 21 and KBTV has their digital signal on channel 40.  Both are UHF channels, but you would never know it because we keep calling ourselves six dot one (6.1) and four dot 1 (4.1).  The Federal Communications Commission passed a rule stating that every digital TV station's primary channel would be known by their analog channel number with a "dot 1" after it.
Although your TV set tells you that you are watching channel 6.1, the TV set is actually tuned to TV channel 21. This is called "virtual channels".

How to know if your current antenna will work:

Does your current antenna consist of a horizontal "main boom" with 2 long elements (rods) on one end, sticking out of both sides?  If so, then there are more rods that get shorter as they approach the other end of the "main boom". If this is all your antenna consists of, then you have a "VHF only" antenna.  You will need to purchase a new UHF/VHF antenna.

In addition to the long rods that get progressively shorter, the other end of a UHF/VHF antenna will have two smaller "booms" sticking up and down at a 45-degree angle, and these booms will have a few short rods.  In front of these two small booms will be some more of the main boom with a bunch of small pieces of bent metal attached.  This is the UHF portion of the antenna.  It is also the front of the antenna.  Point this end towards Vidor where my transmitter is located. 

Let us assume that you do have a UHF/VHF antenna.  But is it large enough?  Since antennas are rated in "mileage", I believe you will need one that is rated for at least half again as far as you are from Vidor (20 miles from Vidor requires a 40 mile range UHF antenna).  This is due to the fact that the FCC limits my power to protect KLTL in Lake Charles.  The FCC also requires that my antenna transmit less power towards the East.

If your current antenna is rated for a shorter distance, you may need a new antenna.  If you do not already have an antenna amplifier, install one.The amplifier may have enough gain to make up for the small antenna, and save you the expense of a new antenna. 
 
If you live to the East of Vidor (Orange, Orangefield, Vinton, Sulphur, DeQuincy, etc.) you will need a really good antenna in order to pick us up.  However, there are parts of the area to the East of Vidor where there is no signal.  This is partly caused by our relatively low power.  The major factor is that our transmitting antenna has a "null" towards the East.  This null is a design feature of the antenna, and it was aimed at the Gulf where it had little effect on our viewers when first installed.  A "Null" is a section of the antenna that transmits a much weaker signal than in all other directions.

The FCC required that we rotate our antenna to put this null towards the East to protect TV station KLTL, the PBS station in Lake Charles.  We are also limited in how much power we can broadcast in order to protect KLTL (they are also restricted to protect us).

In checking as to where my signal is missing, we found that the area between 30 degrees North of due East, and 30 degrees South of due East are likely to have a very low signal, or none at all.  The area of "no signal" is spotty, and seems to depend more upon luck and the number of trees than anything else.  If you live to the East, the further you are from Vidor the more likely it is that you are in the null area.

We are working on alternative methods to restore our signal to the East of Vidor.  But every method requires action by the FCC which is time consuming.  We could have a working solution in as little as 6 weeks, but I doubt it.  My realistic guess would be near January, 2010.

Last update: September, 2009

Part Four

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