The ideal way to receive our digital TV signals is to use a good quality "4-bay Bowtie" antenna pointed at Laurel Mountain. Use of a pre-amplifier is discouraged since many introduce undesirable noise into the digital signal.
If you have an "HD-integrated" television set, you'll connect the antenna directly to the digital tuner connector on your TV. Follow the instruction for your TV to scan for digital channels and it should find them easily.
If you have an "HD-ready" television set, you'll need to purchase an HDTV set-top tuner with component or HDMI outputs (as appropriate for the inputs on your television set) and connect the antenna directly to the set-top tuner. Follow the HDTV set-top tuner instructions to connect the tuner to your TV and scan for digital channels.
If you have an old analog television set, you'll need to purchase an HDTV set-top tuner with S-Video, composite, or RF outputs (as appropriate for the inputs on your television set) and connect the antenna directly to the set-top tuner. Follow the HDTV set-top tuner instructions to connect the tuner to your TV and scan for digital channels.
As we add new digital channels, it will probably be necessary to perform a re-scan to be able to receive them.
An excellent HDTV Primer is available on-line.
The ideal way to receive our analog TV signals is to use a good quality VHF/UHF combination antenna pointed toward "B" Mountain. You will connect this antenna directly to your old analog TV.
Also recommended to receive the low power signals is a Pre-Amplifier. The pre-amplifier is a two-part unit. One part attaches to the antenna and the other part needs to be plugged into a standard electrical outlet. The coaxial cable runs from the part on the antenna, through the part plugged in, to the antenna connector on your television set. There must not be any splitters in the line between the two parts of the pre-amplifier because a splitter will block the power from getting to the pre-amp.
If you are planning to have two or more televisions running off the same antenna, you will need a splitter. A splitter should be placed in the line between the TV and the pre-amplifier. It will divide the signal two, three, or four ways -- one for each television.