I purchased a digital Sony TV 6 months ago that I hooked to cable dock-side and to a '70's vintage "flying saucer" rotary antennae mounted under the flybridge helm for broadcast analog reception (poorly) while underway. Prior to the changeover to digital I contacted the manufacturer, AntennaCraft, to see about getting an up-dated unit. I was told, by a very pleasant lady, that all their units, from the mid '70's on, had UHF antennae and amplifier capability, thus being "digital ready". Their new unit, HDMS 9100, uses virtually the same anntenae as mine but has solid-state rotary controls. She further told me that "day 1" reception would not be as good as it would take several weeks for the stations to get up to full power once analog was off the air. True enough, now I get 6-12 channels wherever I go that are HD clear. Now it seems that antennae direction does not seem to make as much difference as it did before. Either you get it perfectly or not at all. Particularly nice is the full-time local weather and radar channel. We leave that on all the time while underway. I was going to spring for a satellite system, but I do not think I will bother with the trouble or expense now.
