Last edited Fri Dec 19, 2025, 06:51 AM - Edit history (1)
I live in northern Virginia, a few miles south of the White House. I made the change to digital broadcasting in June 2008. At the time, the FCC had sent out a pair of $40-off coupons to all households that asked for them to be used for the purchase of "coupon-eligible converter boxes" -- CECBs. I used rabbit ears to bring in ATSC signals from as far as way as Baltimore. Among the CECB tuners I have used are the Zenith DT901, the DigitalStream, sold at Radio Shack, and the Apex.
I now have flat screen TVs with built-in ATSC tuners. It has been my experience that the ATSC tuners built into TVs are no match for the external tuners from fifteen years back. They are in the TV only because they have to be there, and they offer only bare minimum performance.
If you have an old CECB, plug it in. You might be surprised at how many more signals it can find than your TV's built-in tuner. The downside us that it feeds a 480i signal to you TV. I also have an ematic AT103B outboard tuner. It provides an HDMI-level signal to a TV or monitor.
Back to antennas. I have only indoor antennas. I use rabbit ears and a Mohu Leaf. I have my Mohu Leaf aimed at Baltimore. For some reason, signa!s from Baltimore have always come in better than signals from DC. I have no idea why. After the recent repacking, my lowest TV frequency is channel 7, a VHF High frequency. Moving the antenna around has a huge effect.
You might want to look around here:
https://www.avsforum.com/forums/#hdtv.6
HTH
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