Yes. The television antenna industry uses many technical terms related to antennas, RF signals, coaxial cable, amplification, digital television, and broadcast standards. Channel Master has used many of these terms throughout its history, and while some terminology from the analog television era is now obsolete, many of the fundamental RF and antenna terms remain just as relevant today.
Below is a modernized glossary focused on terminology consumers, installers, and professionals are likely to encounter when working with today's Over the Air television systems.
Antenna and RF Terms
Antenna Element
A conductive part of an antenna that receives radio frequency energy. The dimensions and spacing of antenna elements are important parts of the antenna's RF design.
Array
Two or more antenna elements or antenna sections arranged and electrically combined to achieve desired characteristics such as increased gain or a particular reception pattern.
Attenuation
A reduction in RF signal level as the signal travels through coaxial cable, splitters, connectors, filters, or other components. Attenuation is commonly expressed in decibels, or dB.
Balun (Matching Transformer)
A device used to match a balanced antenna connection to an unbalanced transmission line such as 75 ohm coaxial cable. Many traditional TV antennas use a balun between the antenna elements and the coaxial cable.
Beamwidth
The angular width of an antenna's primary reception pattern. A narrower beamwidth generally indicates a more directional antenna.
dB (Decibel)
A logarithmic unit used to express differences or ratios in signal level, antenna gain, cable loss, and other RF measurements.
dBm
A measurement of absolute RF power referenced to one milliwatt. Signal meters and professional RF equipment may display signal level in dBm.
Dipole
A basic antenna configuration consisting of two conductive sections. Dipoles are also fundamental building blocks in many more complex TV antenna designs.
Directivity
The ability of an antenna to favor signals arriving from certain directions while receiving less energy from other directions.
Front to Back Ratio
A measurement, usually expressed in dB, comparing an antenna's reception toward its primary forward direction with reception from directly behind it.
Gain
A measurement of how effectively an antenna concentrates received RF energy compared with a reference antenna. Antenna gain is passive and should not be confused with electronic amplifier gain.
Impedance
An electrical characteristic of an RF system. Modern television antenna distribution systems typically use 75 ohm coaxial cable and components.
Multipath
A condition where the same broadcast signal reaches an antenna by multiple paths, often because signals reflect from buildings, terrain, or other objects. These delayed versions of the same signal can make digital reception more difficult.
Omnidirectional Antenna
An antenna designed to receive signals over a broad 360 degree horizontal area. Actual reception patterns are not perfectly equal in every direction.
Phased Array Antenna
An antenna consisting of multiple elements whose signals are combined with controlled electrical relationships to produce a desired reception pattern and gain.
Polar Plot
A graphical representation of an antenna's reception pattern showing how its sensitivity or gain changes with direction.
Yagi Antenna
A directional antenna design typically consisting of a driven element, reflector, and one or more directors arranged along a boom. Yagi style designs are commonly used where additional gain and directionality are desired.
Log Periodic Antenna
An antenna using multiple elements of progressively different lengths and spacing to provide useful performance across a relatively broad frequency range.
Television Frequency Terms
Low VHF
The portion of the current US television spectrum containing RF channels 2 through 6, covering 54 to 88 MHz with a gap between channels 4 and 5.
High VHF
The television frequency range containing RF channels 7 through 13, covering 174 to 216 MHz.
UHF
The portion of the current US television broadcast spectrum containing RF channels 14 through 36, covering 470 to 608 MHz.
RF Channel
The actual radio frequency channel on which a television station transmits. Each US television RF channel occupies 6 MHz of spectrum.
Virtual Channel
The channel number displayed to the viewer, such as 5.1 or 12.1. A station's virtual channel can be different from its actual RF channel.
MHz (Megahertz)
A unit of frequency equal to one million cycles per second. Television broadcast frequencies are commonly specified in MHz.
RF (Radio Frequency)
Electromagnetic energy used to transmit information wirelessly. A TV antenna receives RF signals transmitted by television broadcast stations.
Signal and Reception Terms
Signal Strength
The level or power of an RF signal received at a particular location. Signal strength is only one component of reliable digital television reception.
Signal Quality
A general description of how clean and decodable a received digital signal is. A strong signal can still have poor quality because of interference, multipath, overload, or other impairments.
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
The relationship between the desired signal and unwanted noise. A higher SNR generally provides more margin for reliable digital decoding.
Noise
Unwanted electrical or RF energy that can interfere with reception of the desired television signal.
Noise Figure
A measurement describing how much noise an electronic component, such as a preamplifier, adds to a signal. Lower noise figure is generally desirable in a TV antenna preamplifier.
Interference
Unwanted RF energy or electrical noise that interferes with reception of the desired broadcast signal.
Overload
A condition where the signal level entering a tuner or amplifier is greater than the equipment can properly handle. Too much amplification or extremely strong nearby signals can contribute to overload.
Digital Cliff
The rapid transition between reliable digital reception and loss of reception as signal quality falls below the tuner's decoding threshold. Unlike analog television, digital reception generally does not gradually become snowy as the signal becomes weaker.
Pixelation
Visible blocks, freezing, or other picture errors that can occur when a digital television receiver cannot reliably decode the incoming broadcast signal.
Deep Fringe
An industry term generally used to describe difficult reception locations with weak or distant television signals where higher antenna gain, greater antenna height, and careful system design may be required.
Coaxial Cable and Distribution Terms
Coaxial Cable (Coax)
A shielded transmission line consisting of a center conductor, dielectric insulation, metallic shielding, and an outer jacket. Modern television antenna systems typically use 75 ohm coaxial cable.
RG6
A common 75 ohm coaxial cable type used for modern TV antenna, cable, and satellite installations.
F Connector
The threaded coaxial connector commonly used on televisions, antennas, splitters, amplifiers, and other 75 ohm RF equipment.
Splitter
A passive device that divides one RF signal path into two or more outputs. Splitting a signal introduces insertion loss.
Distribution Amplifier
An amplifier designed to compensate for signal losses associated with distributing an antenna signal to multiple televisions or through a larger coaxial network.
Preamplifier (Preamp)
An RF amplifier normally installed close to the antenna so that signals can be amplified before experiencing losses from long coaxial cable runs, splitters, and other downstream components.
Passive Device
An RF component that does not require electrical power and does not electronically amplify a signal. Antennas, passive splitters, filters, and coaxial cable are examples.
Drip Loop
A downward loop formed in an outdoor cable before it enters a building or connection point. It helps prevent rainwater from following the cable into the structure or connection.
Weather Boot
A protective covering used around an outdoor coaxial connection to help protect it from moisture and weather.
Digital Television and Broadcast Terms
ATSC
The Advanced Television Systems Committee, the standards organization responsible for developing terrestrial digital television standards used in the United States.
ATSC 1.0
The digital television broadcast system adopted in the United States for the transition from analog television. ATSC 1.0 continues to be widely used for Over the Air broadcasting and traditionally uses 8 VSB modulation.
ATSC 3.0
A newer generation of digital terrestrial television standards. ATSC 3.0 was designed to provide greater flexibility, efficiency, improved reception capabilities, IP based transport, advanced emergency information, and support for more advanced video and audio services. ATSC notes that ATSC 3.0 is fundamentally different from its predecessor and is not directly backward compatible with ATSC 1.0 receivers.
NextGen TV
The consumer facing name commonly used in the United States for television services based on the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.
8 VSB
Eight level Vestigial Sideband modulation, the RF modulation system associated with ATSC 1.0 terrestrial digital television broadcasting.
OTA (Over the Air)
Television programming transmitted terrestrially by local broadcast stations and received directly with a TV antenna.
DTV (Digital Television)
Television broadcasting in which video, audio, and other information are transmitted digitally rather than using the former analog television system.
Subchannel
An additional digital programming service transmitted within a television station's RF channel. Examples might appear to viewers as 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4.
Channel Scan
The process by which a television or tuner searches available RF channels, identifies receivable digital broadcasts, and stores their virtual channels for viewing.
Video and Picture Terms
SD (Standard Definition)
A general term for television video with lower resolution than high definition television. ATSC terminology uses SD and SDTV for standard definition and standard definition television.
HD (High Definition)
Television video with greater image resolution than standard definition. Common HD broadcast formats include 720p and 1080i. ATSC defines HD as high definition and HDTV as high definition television.
720p
A high definition video format with 1280 by 720 pixels using progressive scanning.
1080i
A high definition video format with 1920 by 1080 pixels using interlaced scanning.
1080p
A video format with 1920 by 1080 pixels using progressive scanning. Whether a particular broadcast service delivers 1080p depends on the broadcast system and service configuration.
4K / UHD (Ultra High Definition)
A higher resolution video format commonly associated with approximately 3840 by 2160 pixels for consumer television. ATSC 3.0 has greater capacity to support Ultra High Definition services than previous terrestrial broadcast systems.
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
Video technology designed to provide a wider range between dark and bright portions of an image and potentially a wider range of colors when supported by the content, broadcast system, and display. HDR is also recognized in current ATSC terminology.
SDR (Standard Dynamic Range)
Traditional video dynamic range, as distinguished from HDR.
Progressive Scan
A video scanning method in which all lines of each video frame are presented sequentially. The "p" in 720p and 1080p indicates progressive scanning.
Interlaced Scan
A video scanning method in which alternating sets of image lines are transmitted as separate fields. The "i" in 1080i indicates interlaced scanning.
Installation Terms
Antenna Mast
A vertical pipe or support structure used to mount and elevate an antenna.
Guy Wire
Wire or cable used to stabilize a tall antenna mast against wind and other mechanical forces.
Guy Ring
A fitting installed on an antenna mast that provides attachment points for guy wires.
Grounding Block
A device installed in the coaxial cable path that provides a connection point for bonding the coaxial shield to the building grounding system.
Antenna Discharge Unit
A device used as part of an antenna grounding system to provide a path for static charges and certain electrical surges.
Grounding and Bonding
Electrical safety practices used to connect portions of an outdoor antenna system to the building grounding electrode system in accordance with applicable electrical codes.
