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I just purchased one of the RjTECH RJ 1000ATSC tuners mentioned by ChrisW6ATV and below has been my experience so far. (I already have a modulator.)
I had two small 1960s vintage B&W analog TVs in the same general location., one connected to the ATSC tuner and one tuned to the same station's analog signal(UHF channel 36). The ATSC was connected to new amplified rabbit ears (claiming to be HDTV compliant). The other TV just has a loop antenna across the UHF terminals. I am about 30 miles from the transmitter.
The picture on the analog TV is somewhat snowy, but watchable. The snow level varies somewhat. I can vary it somewhat by walking between the TV and the transmitter. The ATSC picture is perfect when it works. However, the reception seems to be on the edge. The picture frequently pixelates and the sound stops, then it comes back. Walking between the rabbit ears and the transmitter direction also seems to make this worse. To me this is more irritating than the snow(for one thing, none of the dialog is missed on the analog connected TV). I am sure that if I had a taller antennal on the ATSC tuner, this could be reduced or elminated since I am only 30 miles from the transmitter. This re-inforces my concern about people in rural areas. If HDTV does not work better than this, a lot of these people will be screaming.
Another unknown in my situation is the relative strength of the UHF vs HDTV transmitted signals from the station. As this station has been advertising their HDTV transmissions, I would think that they would use a fairly strong transmitter.
One more note-If you buy one of these, be sure and follow the directions in the manual and not sit anything on top of it. It runs quite warm.
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