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With the to be shut down PAL system in my current location I can get a couple of UHF channels on my more sensitive sets without any antenna connected, not even a piece of wire in the socket. Most sets get a perfect picture with rabbit ears. Even the crappiest sets get a perfect picture with a modest rooftop antenna.
I've had a couple of set top boxes (repair jobs, I wouldn't buy one yet). I could barely get them to even ackownledge any channels existed on rabbit ears. On the roof top antenna I got reception, but it regularly dropped out and broke up. A friend in the same area got a new antenna professionaly installed "for digital". Their reception is better, but it drops out intermittantly and regulary flickers, or stutters.
So when the analog system is eventually shut down I won't have a signal that's worth watching. Even with a better antenna I'd have to put up with glitches that I find far more distracting than any ghosts or snow. So much for a better system. Either that or sign up for basic cable at $40 a month with a 24 month contract, which comes with it's own problems (the last time I had cable here I actually had to take screenshots to prove to their tech the kind of interference I was getting).
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