The Difference between Analogue and Digital Antennas

With the advent of digital television, much has been hyped about the multiple new services being offered, as well as the increase in picture quality and audio quality as well as interactive services and multiple channels. But whilst many people can enjoy all of these services, some people still have an old analogue style antenna that they need to upgrade. This article will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of both analogue and digital antennas.

Analogue antennas have been around for a very long time, with the popular type of Yagi antenna being around for well over 60 years. This type of antenna was made to pick up analogue signals to their best ability, as well as minimising on ghosting of the image and repeating of the image from various different sources.

Tuned To Receive Set Frequency Bands

Many of these antennas are tuned to receive a particular frequency band for receiving television signals, as well as some antennas which are capable of receiving radio signals. Analogue antennas were built without the future of digital television in mind, therefore much of the technology that goes into the broadcast of digital terrestrial television signals can cause issues.

Many analogue antennas are just simply too old to function properly as a high gain antenna, ready for receiving digital signals. In many cases, the type of cable coming from the antenna into the home is also too old and will need to be upgrading to fix reception issues coming from the installed system.

Say Goodbye to Poor Reception Issues

If you are suffering from poor reception and connection issues, instead of replacing your old copper cable and analogue antenna system with a new one, why not upgrade to the state of the art digital antenna and cabling system that will get you ready for the digital signals now being broadcast.

Not only are digital antennas tuned for the correct frequencies that digital terrestrial television is broadcast on, but they also offer a number of newer advantages over their analogue counterparts. High band antennas have been specially constructed to offer the best possible signal to noise ratio compared with analogue antennas, and help reduce signal interference, multiplex doubling and other digital signal issues.

Overcome Signal Issues and Poor Reception

The latest wide band antennas are for use in areas where the digital signal is split into two overlapping zones. This is where two broadcast tower signals overlap and are broadcasting the same channel multiplexes but at different frequencies. What you will see in your channel list is a doubling of channels, as well as some channels possibly not appearing at all.

In these instances you will need a wide band antenna that is specially designed to cope with multiple signals and getting different channel multiplexes from other sources. In most cases you can block out a certain broadcast tower and focus on the closer one to give you a great signal level.

Check Your Signal Noise Level and Signal Quality Simply

The ability of digital set top boxes to help you see the noise level and signal quality on each box is a great feature that was simply missing from analogue systems. With a new digital antenna you can enjoy the latest television in high definition and stereo sound, unlike the previous set of analogue broadcasts.

Because a digital channel can be compressed into a smaller size, more television channels and radio stations can be fit into a single analogue channel. This is what is known as a multiplex.

The digital terrestrial television service is made up of many different multiplexes that contain several television stations, radio stations and interactive services and other information such as MHEG data.

Digital Television Is Here To Stay

In this sense, analogue television is well and truly dead, and the future of digital television looks bright. With the addition of interactive services to the digital television platform, the need for upgrading your analogue antenna for a brand new, high gain high signal quality digital antenna is great.

Consult your local antenna specialist for more information about how the installation process is carried out, and how you can benefit from a new digital antenna in your area.