Although the official switchover from analog to digital television isn't happening until February 2009, some stations will be doing the switch earlier than that.

Case in point: my local PBS outlet is announcing that they'll be switching over on November 5, 2008. Absolutely nothing on their website, only on-air announcements, and one small story in the local paper; reason is that they're taking advantage of a rule that says they can do this because it has something to do with their present analog transmitter dying, and it wouldn't be worth it to fix it for just three more months of operation.

I heard that Greensboro, North Carolina has switched today (September 8th), it is a test case to see what would happen.

No, Greensboro is still running both analog / digital.

The Wilmington, NC market made the switch to digital only yesterday (9/8/08)

No, Greensboro is still running both analog / digital.

The Wilmington, NC market made the switch to digital only yesterday (9/8/08)

Oops, sorry about that, must have been a brain fart. ;) I knew it was in North Carolina though. :)

the station "CW" is both digital and analog in my area currently. i have a bad feeling that this is all a big mistake...am i the only one?

it comes in pretty well with analog, but with digital it turns all blocky and the audio cuts out every 10 seconds or so. annoying to the max. is the digital reception pretty much all or nothing? if so, a LOT of people are going to be really upset. if this is something they can tweak, that's fine, but i really don't know.

chris

digital is pretty much all or nothing.

Likely not something with the transmission, but with the reception.

A slight different antenna position, or perhaps a better antenna, etc.

digital is pretty much all or nothing.

Likely not something with the transmission, but with the reception.

A slight different antenna position, or perhaps a better antenna, etc.

that's what i figured. shee-yat... looks like we're gonna have to spring for the $15/month basic cable. iowa city is a black hole for TV signals. i really thought that "digital makes everything better..." (those commercials are such BS - did they ever hear a good TT?)

cdfac, there is a cool DIY hd antenna that is pretty easy to make somewhere on this site. I am going to build one at some point and stick it in the attic.

For the 25 dollar investment, it can't hurt. It is not something you would pole mount etc..

Follow the link to an important PSA on the subject:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/36608/talkshow-with-spike-feresten-cable-psa#s

cdfac, there is a cool DIY hd antenna that is pretty easy to make somewhere on this site. I am going to build one at some point and stick it in the attic.

For the 25 dollar investment, it can't hurt. It is not something you would pole mount etc..

sweet, i'm going to have to look into that.

PS - sorry about kicking the crap out of the badgers this year. well, not really.

Follow the link to an important PSA on the subject:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/36608/talkshow-with-spike-feresten-cable-psa#s

that was delightful AND informing. if only i hadn't already tried to plug my coax cable into the wall power socket to utilize the statewide power grid as a rather large antenna, i might be able to make the proper connections. i did manage to keep from microwaving my remote, though.

Just so you know, it gets all blocky with cable too. Digital quality is an oxymoron.

Just so you know, it gets all blocky with cable too. Digital quality is an oxymoron.

yes, it's the same thing as when digital cable/satellite has problems. but this is constant. and if i went with the basic cable, it would still be analog.

Last week I bought a DTV converter and set-top UHF/VHF antenna. I could not get ONE channel! We have several stations online in my area, but I am unsure of how many are online full power. Even so, I connected the antenna directly to my TV, set my TV to Over The Air, and I could only barely see one channel with lots of manipulation of the antenna. This sucks! When I lived in Arizona, we had excellent over the air TV. Here where I live now it is so hilly, TV and FM radio is piss poor. So, now I am stuck paying a cable bill. I found out that many DTV users are also using nice attic antenna systems along with positioners, because supposedly an antenna won't pick up all channels in any one direction, you need to constantly adjust them. I dunno what to do because we are trying to "get off the grid" as much as possible, but we're stuck paying a cable bill just to watch local TV!

one of our locals went digital a few week ago; every time I go to the dump i see 3-4 tvs pitched.

I am almost certain, that once the switchover happens, digital power will be increased to a level about half the analog power, though I am not certain of this.

Another local is turning off their analog signal earlier than February 17, 2009: on December 1, the local ABC outlet goes DTV-only! Again, only an occasional on-air announcement sandwiched between the endless stream of new-car ads :gigglemad and not one single word about it on their website.

Jonathan, I sure hope you're right about that power increase. I use an amplified outdoor antenna with a rotator with my Maggotbox converter, and I have a hard time picking up anything further away than about 25 miles, especially with trees in full leaf. Now that it's autumn and the trees are bare, I'm getting about eight more channels!

Tom

our local was 1/2 power and couldn't get it most of the time first week/two.