Will you have TV after February?

Two channel so far, but we have Blockbuster and order all the old family friendly series and enjoy those most of the time anyways. I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, Brady Bunch.

If they don't stop running all the stoopid negative political ads, we may not have a TV after November, much less February! When we move out to our rural property, we probably won't have cable, and we'll have so much to do getting the house and land in shape, we probably won't miss it.

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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley

Thanks Russ. We get a pretty clear signal now from two stations that are about 80 miles away and a very clear signal from the one about 30 miles away. So maybe we will still have TV with the converter box. If not - oh well no TV for me. My DH would be thrilled but it will be an adjustment for me.

Thanks,
Angela

Antenna Web - Maximize Your Television Reception "The AntennaWeb.org mapping program, provided by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), locates the proper outdoor* antenna to receive your local television broadcast channels.

Based on geographical maps and signal strengths, AntennaWeb locates the best antenna for you — whether the antenna is for use with a home satellite system, high-definition television (HDTV) or a traditional analog set. "

This is the very helpful site I found for digital antenna information.
deb
in wi

We currently have satellite, but I occasionally tune in to one of the local stations if something is going on. I haven't applied for one of the coupons yet, but plan too as I've noticed several retailers having sales on the converter boxes that will mean very little out-of-pocket cost.

Maggie

Right now we only get one station with our antenna. We have the coupons for $40 off the converter box, but are seriously thinking of just not getting it. The coupon expires soonish and it's still sitting here. We like watching the news SOMETIMES, but for the most part when we do sit down and are tired and the few times we turn it on, somethign stupid is on and we turn it right back off. The $40 doesn't cover the converter box and it's not that we couldn't come up with the rest of the money, it's just not worth it to us.

we can watch the news online and have a hand crank weather radio so we probably will not have TV after Feb.

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Our website promoting the use of Missouri Herbs. www.MissouriHerbs.com

Where are you at in WI?

We are already getting HD signals (our tv has the built-in converter) using only our 1950s era antenna on top of the house. Wisconsin Public TV currently has 5 HD channels you can currently watch. Not sure where you are in the state but at the very least WPT has some good stuff. We have at least as many channels as we had prior to this, plus the "extra" channels they are broadcasting with HD, and much better reception.

I don't think you will have less stations than you did before... and, you might just get more...

We unhooked the satellite about 6 months ago. Best thing I ever did. TV is half entertainment, half social conditioning. Having the first is not worth succumbing to the second.

Digital TV is either very clear, or not at all. It is kinda like FM radio, compared to AM radio.

Many of us are on the fringe, & are ok with watching a fuzzy picture. With Digital, likely there will be no signal at all unless you can improve the wire, antennea, or a booster. We are the people that will suffer from this 'upgrade'.

Digital stations can broadcast multiple subchannels. For example, 11 'here' is NBC - they are broadcasting NBC as well as Weather plus on channels 11.1 and 11.2. The ABC station is broadcasting ABC on 5.1, as well as rebroadcasting news & weather on 5.2. There an unknown station I didn't know exsisted - it broadcasts 4 channels under the same number - can't think of it, but 2 outdoors/cooking type channels, one kids cartoons, and one religion. This one come in rarely.

So, we are getting more channels - I'm pulling in stations from 80-100 miles away. But, not always. Rain will knock about all of them off the air.

If you are trying real hard to get digital TV, try on a cold clear day. High pressure, calm wind day. Those seem to be the best for pulling things in. Avoid certain sun angles too - for me 9-11 and 3-6 are poorer, other times are clearer. One winter morning when it was 15 below at 6:00 am I was getting 26 channels.... With old analog I only get 10 at the most.

But then it rains, and none of the digital come in - so do I get more or less?

Low-power repeater stations out in rural areas will be allowed to continue rebroadcasting on analog. So if you are picking up UHF channels from a repeater station, find out if they are going to invest in switching or not.

The converter boxes seem to be much the same. There are some called 'pass through' which allow you to get both digital & analog channels - these cost a tad more, are harder to find, but are nice if you will be in an area that has an analog repeater station. Without this pass-through feature, you get only digital channels from the box. There are ways around that, but takes more wires, more fuss.

To test digital TV, I picked up a $60 computer digital tuner from Best Buy. It plugs into USB, has an antennea jack, a remote even, and a small antennea. It takes a fairly fast computer. You can watch digital TV on your computer. My model even allows you to record an hour or so to hard drive. If you are into computers more than TV - this might be a nice addition to a laptop, to see how digital TV works in your location.

I took this little unit to the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area, and wow - got like 65 channels. Why do all those town folk pay for cable, when all that is available from the little cheap 12 inch atennea that came with the unit? Wonder what they would get with a real antennea? Sheez.

--->Paul

Because those people with cable aren't getting just those 65 channels that you were. They are getting those and others. Also they have that nice big fat copper pipe which they can use for broadband internet and voice transmission.

In any event the digital broadcast switch has saved broadcast TV. The only problem is that it wasn't mandated years ago.

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Respect The Cactus!

what rambler said! i have to work on my writing skills

I bought a new digital tv 2 years ago and love it. I took on a part time job this summer to pay for a new 42 inch lcd tv and new leather couch/chair. wow. I mostly watch pbs and dvds but still WOW. I'm thrilled.

I think digital signals are supposed to ahve a range of about 50 miles. I'm on the fringe with cbs and it will go out when it rains.

I' ve read that a lot of stations are broadcasting their digital signal at a lower strength right now (I think because of also having to transmit analog). it was said they would be going to full strength come feb so maybe some of you having problems will get a better signal then.

I love having great free tv including 3 weather channels and pbs has 3 channels so I can almost always find something at night to watch on it I like.