Knowledge Base

OTA (Over-the-air) signals refer to high-definition digital television signals that are transmitted over the air from TV stations.Over-the-air TV is a free to view service (no contract whatsoever) where the end user only needs an antenna and a TV to receive and watch their favorite programs. Off-air TV programs are edited per FCC guidelines to insure content is appropriate for all viewers. You can also use an OTA DVR to record live broadcast TV. Overall, OTA TV is an inexpensive way to watch local news, nationally televised sports, and prime-time TV on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and more.
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Broadcast signals are electromagnetic waves that propagate freely in space. The antenna works as an interface or media converter from these electromagnetic waves to conducted waves. Simply put, the antenna collects the airwaves, either very weak or very strong. In addition, depending on the distance to the television transmitter and other factors such as altitude, trees, hills/mountains and buildings, the signal strength may be reduced. Signals can be amplified at the antenna, as we do, downstream of the coaxial cable antenna, or even, in the case of very strong signals, the antenna may not need an amplifier.
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Two frequency bands are in use in the USA for broadcasting: VHF, separated in low and high, and UHF. Low VHF encompasses channels 2 to 6 (frequencies 54-88 MHz), High VHF uses channels 7 to 13 (frequencies 174-216 MHz) and UHF uses channels 14 to 36 (frequencies 470-608 MHz).
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No other signals are broadcasted in exactly the same frequency bands, but some are very close. After the FCC mandated realignment or repack of the US broadcast TV spectrum portions of the UHF band (above 600 MHz and 700 MHz) were assigned to MNO's (Mobile Network Operators), for the deployment of 4G and 5G services. This deployment allocated to these mobile service frequencies is directly adjacent to off-air broadcasts signals, which could complicate the reception of only the desired signals. It's possible for signals from neighboring frequency channels to interfere with each other if there is insufficient separation, which is attempted to reduce through a proper spectrum management.
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There aren’t other signals broadcasted in the same frequency bands than television signals, but indeed they could indeed impair TV reception. Depending on the reception scenario (the power of off-air and Mobile services, direction of the Broadcast Tower, alignment, etc.), interference can occur that could potentially impair TV reception. Our recommendation is to use always an antenna which is certified "Repack Ready", which means that it operates exclusively in the current frequency bands after the repack, where only off-air signals are licensed by the FCC to broadcasters. In conjunction with a 5G filter, repack ready antenna rejects unwanted signals that could interfere or block normal OTA reception.
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Line of sight propagation means that the broadcasting tower is visible to the receiving antenna, this does not mean you can necessarily see the towers, but the antenna is not blocked. It is also referred to as free space receiving conditions. The theory of Electromagnetic propagation states that free space receiving conditions are achieved if the first Fresnel ellipsoid is free of obstacles. As an example, that means that for receiving TV signal at a distance of 60 miles in free space conditions, the height of the path between transmitter and receiver should be around 330 feet above ground. In the practice, the broadcasting antenna is normally placed at a height such to overcome the curvature of the earth, but this does not usually happen with the receiving antenna. Also, obstacles the receiving path may encounter beyond the horizon are not seen by the naked eye and may mistakenly lead to the idea that we have free space receiving conditions. Should this happen, some additional loss has to be added, further reducing the received power. Therefore, the antenna that receives in non line of sight conditions must have height, directivity and gain, plus low noise like the DAT BOSS LR, where LR stands for Long Range.
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The selection of the right antenna depends on the frequency and strength of the available stations received in the user location. With these two factors in mind, you can consult our webpage to help you in making the right decision. Depending on your location (ZIP code), the webpage provides the signals available at your address: Frequency band, name of the station, virtual channel and direction are provided as well.
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TV tuners typically can receive signals between values of -30 dBm (+18.8 dBmV) down to -65 dBm (-16.2 dBmV) as a general rule. Our webpage sorts the TV signals available in your area and gives an indication of the received signal strength of each of them.
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Electromagnetic waves suffer from rain fade and heavy cloud cover. Therefore, if you live in an area with frequent rain, and heavy cloud cover including fog it is recommended to use high gain antennas to increase the signal reception margin. Televes exclusive BOSSTech technology adjusts for changes between clear and rain or cloudy weather, but creating more gain in the antenna choice helps insure better signal strength.
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Cord Cutting is a term used to describe consumers disconnecting from wired subscription TV services such as Cable TV or Satellite TV in favor of free over the air broadcast TV or streaming TV which requires a wired or wireless subscription data service, so OTA is the only true cord cutting non-subscription free TV option currently available. However, most cord cutters choose to combine OTA with one or more streaming services.
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Large bodies of water, especially when calm conditions are present, act as large mirrors, where electromagnetic waves are reflected and added to the desired receiving signals. In the old analog world, the reflections provoked what were called "ghost" images, in which there seemed to be a delayed replica of the image in the screen. In digital reception, this effect produces fading and, in some cases, severe impairments (pixilation) and, due to the "all or nothing" nature of the digital signals, finally a black screen comes up. To overcome this, our recommendation for this kind of reception path is to use an antenna with high directivity, that rejects mirroring or reflected signals outside the main lobe to avoid fading.
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When the US switched from analog to digital OTA delivery in 2009 many broadcasters also switched the channel which they broadcast on over the air. Because broadcasters still wanted to be recognized by their original broadcast channel number referred to as their branded channel, a system was designed to allow broadcasters to alias the programs received by viewers to appear as their original branded channel number on TV's regardless of the channel they may be actually broadcasting their signals on. These aliased channels appearing on the TV using the broadcaster's original channel number are called virtual channels, and the actual channel they are broadcasting on is called the original or RF channel. In addition, by transitioning to digital, broadcasters gained the ability to broadcast several channels in the same bandwidth previously used for one analog channel. This is why virtual channels contain two numbers separated by a dot or period. The first number is the major channel number which is the same as the broadcaster original branded channel and the second number after the dot is the sub channel. Without virtual channels, viewers would not be able to find their favorite programs.
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ATSC 3.0 also called NexGen TV, is the latest US TV standard that most broadcasters plan to migrate to and holds the promise of revolutionizing OTA TV due to its technical superiority over the legacy ATSC 1.0 standard in use in the US since 2009. Due to ATSC 3.0's use of advanced HEVC encoding and the way content is processed, ATSC 3.0 can deliver legacy SD, HD content plus it can also deliver UHD, 4K or 8K content due to HEVC encoding being much more bandwidth efficient. Even if it was possible to broadcast UHD or 4K in the limited bandwidth of ATSC 1.0 it does not make sense financially to do so.
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Electronic interferences (produced by Appliances, tools, etc.) affect mainly indoor antennas with poor shielding that are close to the source of interference. All our outdoor antennas are not affected by these interferences because, apart from the fact that outdoor antennas are usually installed on the rooftop, the element that receives the electromagnetic energy, the antenna dipole, is completely shielded. Some exceptions may occur with poorly insulated LED outdoor lighting. If you experience signal loss or pixilazation when the outdoor LED lights come on, you can confirm by turning them off and then check your TV reception. If your LED lights are causing the issue, contact the manufacture for their input and assistance.
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