[chadharter]

I live in a rural area in Southern Indiana. However, Evansville IN and some other nearby surrounding TV stations are broadcasting in High Definition. I live about 50-60 miles from the stations. How do I know if the signal is strong enough at my home to get digital reception? My house is on top of a hill so I think I would have better reception than most. I don't want to buy an antenna and OTA receiver if it's not going to work. Any help is appreciated.

 

[AcuraCL]

If you get good clean strong UHF (NTSC) without hideous ghosting it is a fair indication that you may get a good enough signal for HD. Do you know if any of the desired stations are VHF? (see antennaweb.org)

 

[chadharter]

There are two stations that are vhf according to antennaweb.org

 

[AcuraCL]

The "is regular UHF good" test won't help you know if you will get those ok, but it will help you determine which antenna type(s) to get assuming you can get reception.


50-60 miles isn't impossible, especially if the terrain is fairly flat (s. Indiana is pretty flat, right?).


Try having a look at regular UHF. Do any friends have OTA receivers you could borrow for a day or two, in case you want to move up to the next level of testing?


You could also just go to a big chain store and buy the STB, they usually have decent return policies.