September 7, 2006, EUREKA, MO — Terrestrial Digital has announced plans to unveil a new line of HDTV antennas at the 2006 CEDIA EXPO September 14-17 in Denver. The Lacrosse Micron line is the result of extensive research conducted by Terrestrial Digital that has allowed the company to produce compact antennas with far more power than traditional models.
The Micron Technology will come in 3 versions:
1. Clearstream Digital Tuner/ Antenna combination
2. Lacrosse Micron All Weather
3. Lacrosse Micron Indoor
The Clearstream will be the first practical antenna/set top box combo on the market. The Micron All Weather version is an outdoor model that, at 10″x12″x4″, is 40% smaller than the original Lacrosse. The indoor version will be a 9″x9″x4″ antenna that’s less intrusive and more powerful than any other indoor antennas on the market. All 3 antennas will feature approximately 10dBi of max gain and will include a low noise amplifier.
“Until now, the basic design of most small HD antennas was about the same,” Terrestrial Digital President Richard Schneider said. “Some were built better and there were marginal differences in performance, but the accepted idea was that the technology behind antenna design had reached a peak. We’ve discovered that isn’t the case.”
According to Schneider, television antennas in the past have been built to cover a very broad spectrum, and were mostly based on accepted principals of radio reception laid out over 70 years ago. But with the new digital signals, broadcasts are grouped within a narrower range of frequencies. Using recently developed antenna simulation technologies, the company ran thousands of ‘what-if’ scenarios. Through this process, Terrestrial Digital’s R&D team has developed a process to hone antenna geometries in on the narrower bandwidth with more strength.
The Lacrosse, at 14″ x 20″, has received critical acclaim for being the first aesthetically pleasing antenna that could compete with and in most instances beat the performance of traditional antennas. When made commercially available in 2007, the Lacrosse Micron antennas will be a fraction of the size and have the same signal strength as the original Lacrosse, with the ability to pick up signals from 35-40 miles away in many areas.
“As HDTV continues to become more popular we need to develop products to serve a more mainstream customer base,” Schneider said. “In our experience, performance and aesthetics are the highest priorities to consumers. So we’re out to provide both.”
Terrestrial Digital is a St. Louis based manufacturer and distributor of off air HDTV antennas. The company was founded in 2003 by Richard Schneider, and continues its pledge to the development of new antenna technology for HDTV. For additional information on Terrestrial Digital, visit www.terrestrial-digital.com.
