Perhaps, to be fair, I should acknowledge that the FCC, the Commerce Department and all other government agencies involved have their hands full making sure America’s full powered broadcast stations are ready to do digital only on February 17 , 2009, and consumers know what to do so they can continue watching television. But the government certainly seems to have dropped the ball for people who watch the nearly 2,000 “repeater” or “translator” stations, mostly in rural areas with poor reception on the primary channels. There is no timetable for the conversion of those stations.
I’ve received e-mails from NBR viewers asking for more info but the best I can do is recommend affected viewers check their local government and media sources, and call the stations involved. That’s because the info will vary from community to community. Check also the government web site and www.dtv2009.gov, and if you buy a converter box, make sure it has the “Analog pass-through” feature, which will enable you to watch both digital and analog channels. We don’t want you to miss a single broadcast of Nightly Business Report!
Comments
Marianne -
The DTV Answers website might help answer some of your questions: http://www.dtvanswers.com/dtv_antenna.html. As the site explains, once you switch to the digital antenna, you will need to "rescan" the channels. If you don't rescan, you may not receive all the channels in your area.
I was told to go to antennaweb.org - which I did today and it was a farce. I'm just trying to find out just what kind of antenna I need to get to see digital TV. I have a converter box and my son said I had to wait until a switch was pulled to install an antenna to go with the box. I called channel 5 and they said all I had to do was type in my address at that antennaweb.org - well, it was no where to be found! I have lost channel 51 already and as a 68 year old they have some of the best reruns, like Boston Legal and now I have lost that ability and I refuse to pay Cox or anyone else to watch TV. I just need help finding the proper antenna. Can you help me???
Lost,
Marianne
can you sent me 2 coupons for the dtv boxs thank you cheryl
I frequently travel through rural areas in the midwest and southwest. I think most of the areas do receive a signal from a PBS repeater/translator transmission, but I'm forever frustrated in trying to find what over-the-air channel I need to tune to. Right now I'm in Yuma, AZ, and by trial and error I've discovered I can receive the PBS station from Tempe, AZ on channel 19. The "locals" do not know this, the Yuma visitor center does not know this, the KAET website does not mention this, and the wholely inadequate PBS station finder lists KAET - channel 8 as the PBS station for Yuma.
So, where can I find a list of all these 2,000 repeater stations, especially the ones that air NBR or the News Hour?
Digital television signals need to be just as strong as the existing analog signals are now. Let me tell you why.
I live in a very rural area and have watched over-the-air television for all of my life. My location is about sixty miles from most television broadcast towers. I have a decent antenna, rotator, and preamp setup that has provided me with moderately good television service for many years.
I understand that digital television tuners only need a minimum of 15.2 db.(decibels) of signal to noise ration in order to produce a perfect picture. Analog sets need instead 40+ db. to produce a very good picture. At first it seems reasonable that you can reduce the 40 db. down to 25 db. for digital tuners and still have a few db.'s to spare. This would save power, but what other benefit's it might have, I don't know. At any rate, the FCC has decided to ratchet down the digital signal strength.
Now let's consider what happened to me when I got my first digital-to-analog converter box the other day with my $40 government issued coupon. I only receive signal to noise ratios of 25 to 35 db. on most analog channels (this gives a very watchable picture). The FCC has set my digital signal levels at 15 db. below my represent analog signal levels (this is my best guess as I do not know the actual reduction amount the FCC has targeted). My digital signals now provide me with 10 to 20 db signal to noise ratio. Like I said, most of the new converter boxes need about 15.2 db of signal to noise ratio to lock onto a station and display an image. It is evident that I receive some signals that are now too weak to watch (i.e.. 25 db. minus 15 db. equals 10 db. This is below the 15.2 db. that the converter box needs to produce a picture.) The channels that I can still watch are very marginal and will pixilate or drop out altogether in poor weather conditions.
I have read that the broadcast coverage areas were supposed to remain unchanged, but as I have shown, that is not the case. Fringe areas will lose channels.
The FCC failed to consider that many of us in rural areas were happy watching less-than-perfect analog pictures because that is what we could afford or wanted to afford. How did the FCC (our government) decide that if would be alright to exclude those of us living in outlying areas from the benefit of receiving over-the-air television programming? I am a US citizen and I matter just as much as the next guy! Who wants to watch a screen that only reports "NO SIGNAL"? I generally get bored and turn it off after a couple of hours.
Even if I upgrade my antenna system to the best available consumer equipment, my reception will not be as reliable as it has been up to now; and, the upgrades will cost me several hundreds of dollars. I may even be forced to purchase satellite television service. Perhaps the FCC will send me a $40 coupon every month to help me pay for satellite service. As I said before, I watch free over-the-air television, because that is what I can afford.
The FCC is stealing television service from fringe area viewers unless and until it allows or even requires broadcasters to boost digital signal strengths to historical analog levels.
I hope that the FCC can quickly amend its digital conversion plan that is giving rural television viewers a raw deal it. In the meanwhile, I will be buying a new pair of reading glasses....
The rural areas have been left behind, we have been trying to use the converter box since may of 2008. The night of the storms that killed Boy Scouts in the mid-west was proof enough for me that the system will not work. The tv with the box doesn't work in wind or overcase, and we had no reception that night with the new box, the old tv was our informant on where the tornados were.
We have purchased several new anntenas and have returned several each at $100.00 or more. The coupon program for the boxes has been a farce too. They left out nursing homes and truckdrivers completely, one or two coupons per address. The government may need to issue coupons for weather radio's, but no-one seems to be listening. The representative for cable and satalite got their job done, buy buy buy their products. I live 20 minutes from Omaha, NE and I still can only get dial-up internet, and now the tv is a problem. The frequency waves have become packed, but didgital may not be the solution.
Thank you for letting me vent, I have sent e-mails to the FCC, and the consumer reports. org, and the NAB,and NARUC. The local channels in our area say they are at full power, but the converter box still has issues at my location.