Confused about Antennaweb Info

[varaonaid]

Hello,

Finally getting into the OTA HD thing and it's pretty cool to be able to grab some of those channels for free! I tried my first antenna and decided to exchange it for a DB2 (or clone) which I'm planning to order this week.

This brings me to my confusion. I thought that the lower channels (up to ch 13 or so) was VHF and 14-69 were UHF. However, on the info on the antennaweb.com site, it says that I should be able to get channels 3 and 5 from my location with a UHF antenna (though they recommend VHF for channel 13). Could this be correct?? If so, I'd love to learn why that is the case. Is it because those channels are digital? I'd much prefer if I could pull in those channels with UHF because then there wouldn't be any issue with the DB2 antenna but I'd love to hear your thoughts and hopefully learn a little more about this whole thing.

Thanks so much in advance!
Rae

 

[oljim]

I find antennaweb has some bad info, look at tvfool. they have better info.

 

[Tower Guy]

However, on the info on the antennaweb.com site, it says that I should be able to get channels 3 and 5 from my location with a UHF antenna (though they recommend VHF for channel 13). Could this be correct??

It could be that the digital versions of 3 and 5 are on UHF.

Before selecting an antenna you should decide if you still want to watch the analogs on 3 and 5 prior to February 2009. Next figure out if any of the existing digital UHF stations are switching back to VHF. Finally, determine if any of the digital stations will revert to low VHF (2-6). With that information you can decide which antenna is right for you.

 

[boba]

VHF Lo is CH2-6 and VHF Hi is 7-13 with FM radio stations broadcasting between CH 6 & 7. UHF is channels 14-69 currently. The FCC has assigned existing broadcast channel another channel for their digital signals. Our Channel 4 VHF is broadcasting on UHF 35 for it's digital signal but is identified as 4.1 and 4.2. Channel 8 is broadcasting on ch 9 VHF and designated 8.1/8.2 and 8.3 but after Feb 17th 2009 will move back to broadcasting on ch 8. Hope that is helpful.

 

[varaonaid]

Thanks for the info. Based on your suggestions, I looked again at TV Fool and found some additional information when I looked at analog and digital channels. I guess that channels can have a "real" channel number and an alias somehow. So it seems that the two channels in question are, in fact, in the mid UHF range but because they are known locally as "channel 3" and "channel 5" they are using the alias 3.1 and 5.1. So, it's really confusing! But I think I'm getting it now.

So, it seems the only channel that's in VHF is channel 13 (and really *is* channel 13, LOL). Since it's such a high VHF channel, do you think that I could pick up that channel with a DB2 type UHF antenna? Probably a dumb question but I'd rather know before I buy an antenna than after!

Thanks again for your replies!

 

[rglore]

I'm using the Radio Shack UHF only antenna for digital OTA and it picks up all the VHF channels just fine. The stations are just a few miles away however.

 

[Tower Guy]

So, it seems the only channel that's in VHF is channel 13 (and really *is* channel 13, LOL). Since it's such a high VHF channel, do you think that I could pick up that channel with a DB2 type UHF antenna?

It depends. If channel 13 is strong and your tuner can handle multipath, it might work with a UHF antenna.