Audio Systems: T.V. Antennae, indoor tv antennas, vhf antennas

Question
Hi;  I'd like to ask you a question about t.v. signals.  My sattelte dish company says i need a seperate dish to receive local t.v. channels, but my homeowner's association will only allow me to have one dish installed and will not allow me to install an outdoor antennae.    Is there anything on the market besides rabbit ears to use inside the house to receive local channels.  Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

Answer
Dear Richard,

Yes and no. Yes, set-top "rabbit ear" type VHF antennas are still pretty much the standard. However, you can get a powered "diamond figure 8" model, which will do a bit better job of picking up broadcast signals. You can get these at Radio Shack or any of the big boxes (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.). For an example of what to look for, go to www.audiovox.com, click on the "Terk Technologies" logo, and click on "Indoor TV antennas".

If you have a TV that also has an High Definition (HD) receiver, you should get a powered HD antenna, which can also serve as a standard VHF antenna. If your local channels are broadcasting also in HD, all in the UHF band (above channel 13), that's another way of getting the local channels. However, beware that HD over-the-air broadcasting is still in its infancy, signals are *very* directional, and signal strength can vary widely across the broadcast spectrum.

Good luck. And thanks for choosing allexperts.com!

Kindest regards,

Kevin