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December 20, 2008

Antenna appears to be key to reception

By Andy Ostmeyer

aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com

The converter box may not be the issue for some viewers come February.

So discovered Ed Browning, of Carthage, a natural resource engineering specialist with the University of Missouri extension.

Browning said his experiment with getting the most channels for the least investment is still a work in progress. But the whole thing, he noted recently in a newsletter for the University of Missouri extension, “is about to drive me bonkers.”

He realized immediately he didn’t watch enough television to justify spending hundreds of dollars on either a new digital-compatible television or on a satellite dish and monthly bill, so he opted for the converter box.

He bought a name-brand box for $60 with the $40 credit available to all consumers. Total cost so far out of pocket: about $20. Hooking it up wasn’t difficult, Browning said. Initially, he received the five channels he was getting before hooking up the box, plus two additional public broadcast stations he had never received before.

So far, so good.

“All of a sudden all I could get was three PBS stations,” he said.

He isn’t sure what happened. It just stopped.

“I turned the rabbit ears every which way but upside down, but I couldn’t improve it,” he said.

So it was back to the store, this time for a “smart antenna,” which hit him for another $33. Total so far: about $53.

“It improved it some.”

Still, he wasn’t back to where he was before. If it was just right, he might get NBC, along with PBS stations, but none of the other channels — ABC, CBS and FOX — that he had been receiving before the box was hooked up.

“By this time, I am just about through investing money,” he said.

There was a point, he noted, when he thought about foregoing the television signals for DVDs after work.

But, he came up with another plan. With help from the Internet, $4 of copper wire, a piece of plywood, some wallboard screws and 45 minutes of his time, he concocted his first antenna, laying the wire in a back-and-forth pattern and hooking into the UNH/VHF transformer that connected to the television.

No improvement.

He tried a more complicated design using copper wire shaped in “V” patterns connected to one-by-fours.

“It worked fairly well,” he said.

Still, it wasn’t what he hoped, so it was back to the Internet. This time, he found a design that used three loops of wire — 6-inches, 12-inches and 18-inches. It worked the best, but since then, he has lost two channels.

He tried both of the latter two creations at the same time, but said it there was “not really an improvement.”

It helps if someone stands nearby with their hands on the copper wire, but that kind of help is hard to come by, and his wife wasn’t willing to do that. Besides, the wire configurations strung out through the room, while inexpensive, are not, as he noted, “aesthetically” pleasing.

“I’m not sure my wife is going to let me leave my concoction in the house,” Browning said.

He said he spoke to some television station staffers who told him they are not yet broadcasting at full power in digital, so he’ll wait until their signal strength is up to see if there is an improvement. Many area stations, if broadcasting digitally, are doing so at low power right now.

“I’ve calmed down some,” Browning joked.

But if his reception doesn’t improve in the next few weeks as the television stations power up, he may have to go another route.

“If it doesn’t help, I may look at an outdoor antenna,” he added.

For Browning, the lesson is clear: “The issue isn’t so much the converter box. I don’t think it makes any difference what brand you buy,” he said. “The issue to me is the antenna.”

Danny Thomas, president and general manager for KOAM-TV — which is at full digital power right now — said viewers also will need to make sure they have the right antenna.

“Make sure you get a UHF/VHF combination antenna,” Thomas said. “The antenna you need might be a simple pair of rabbit ears, or a full outside antenna, depending on how far away you are from the tower.”

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