On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:21:22 -0800, Don Bruder
wrote:

In article ,
Robert Neville wrote:

Jimw wrote:

By the way, are there any decent antenna amplifiers for DTV, or does a
person just use the standard UHF VHF amps they always sold?

There is no difference between the analog and digital signal for antenna or
amplification. Anyone selling "digital" is selling snakeoil.

Correct so far.

The only difference would be for those who are using a VHF only antenna today
and have digital transmitters that are going to stay in the UHF band.

Partly correct, but for exactly the opposite reason you think. VHF
antennas will indeed become essentially useless. However, this is
because *ALL* digital transmitters are already on UHF (though some are
operating at lower-than-licensed power levels) and will stay there. When
the VHF signal is turned off in February, the VHF antennas will still
function as (lousy) antennas, but performance is likely to be so poor
that they won't be useful except in cases where there are very strong
signals.

So, in reality, I could saw off the LARGE end of my VHF-UHF antenna
and just use the end with the small beams..... Right?
(Not that I intend to do this, just asking).

Or to put it another way, I could buy a UHF (only) antenna, and would
have a much smaller antenna on the roof. Right?

I could see having a smaller antenna as a benefit, because I could
make my mast a few feet higher without having so much worry about high
winds ripping it down. Of course I am not sure if another 6 or 8 feet
of mast would make much difference.

And no, it doesn't matter that a station is now on a VHF channel, yet
transmitting digital - What's happening is that they're transmitting on
two separate frequencies - The standard analog signal on their "old" VHF
frequency, the digital signal on their "new" digital frequency. Which,
in *ALL* cases, is in the UHF band.