Almost a year since analog TV died

[sampson159]

here in central ohio we get 5.3 religious,1 spanish,i home shopping network.i do watch gomer pyle and perry mason on channel 23.other than that,i watch direct tv.my sony lcd has just an antenna,(not paying 300 dollars for another box).digital tv is the worst.cant breath heavy.the picture freezes and goes out.sitting here remembering how great analog was.at it may drift but was still watchable and entertaining.the best system in the world and they had to do away with it.

[bandersen]

I'm about 2 miles west of downtown and get those 7 stations too. There's one on channel 6 that's very handy when working on pre-UHF sets It's fun to use those old UHF -> VHF converters too.

[radiotvnut]

I remember the days of bringing home a TV and sticking a piece of wire in the center of the coax connector for a quick test. Can't do that anymore. Now, a "quick test" involves either dragging the TV to where there's a cable outlet or connecting one of my DTV converters to the TV.

[drh4683]

Ah yes, the good old days of testing a TV by just touching your finger on the antenna screws and there you had a quick check to see if the TV was working OK or not.

Yes, channel 6 is very handy. I made mention of it in my video too. Its WLFM, 87.7 mhz and they play basically slide show images of Chicago while the radio station plays its smooth jazz format. I should be able to pull that one in nice and clear once I upgrade my antenna at the new place. I can pick it up fairly well in Batavia with the outdoor amplified antenna. Being much closer in now, I should hopefully get those stations with little to no snow. Then again, I'll take a snowy picture over the pixelated and sound drop out crap anyday.

[Telecolor 3007]

What is general opionion in the U.S.A. about the closing of analogical televison?

[AUdubon5425]

I supposedly have four LP stations in my area, but can only pick up two lately. One is a shopping channel and the other (WBXN-CA) simulcasts the UPN affiliate (WUPL).

[kx250rider]

I don't really notice anymore, as I have converter boxes on my vintage sets and satellite on the daily sets. I was all worried about how I would still have fun with my collection of Sony mini-color TVs, but then I realized I never turn them on... They just sit in the display case. I do power them up now & then to work out the electrolytics, but I can do that with no signal.

Charles

[zenithfan1]

Hey Charles, just get yourself an agile modulator and hook it up to some rabbit ears or whatever you want really. Then your little Sony's will be back in action. I have a small collection of Sony portables too and couldn't stand not being able to use them. I can take a walk around the block with one and have great reception, ok signal at two blocks
If only my neighbors knew they had free pay channels on analog, I'm not telling them. I wonder if anyone around me has discovered my signals?

[Jeffhs]

Analog OTA television has all but disappeared here in northeastern Ohio, with the exception of a few low-power stations. The switch has also rendered the auto-clock-set function of my Panasonic PV4022 VCR inoperative, though I can't see why it wouldn't work with either type of signal as long as the extended data signal is still there. I get two PBS stations on my cable, but only one of them had the XDS signal; now, with everything digital, that signal is apparently gone. Is there any reason why a DTV signal could not carry the XDS signal as well? Closed captioning still works although, with my cable service, the DTV signal is converted to analog NTSC; therefore I do not use or need a cable box. I have two analog CRT televisions here and do not want to spend upwards of $50 per month for digital cable.

BTW, I don't know where sampson159 in Columbus (in a post I read this morning) got his information regarding converter boxes selling for $300. I have yet to see any DTV boxes priced anywhere near that much; in fact, most boxes can be had (if they are still being sold) for well under $100--and I mean well under. Just after the DTV transition I was seeing, in newspaper ad flyers, ATSC->NTSC converter boxes selling for dirt-cheap prices in pharmacies, department stores, etc., and even in analog's last days the boxes had very affordable price tags as well. After all, if DTV converter boxes sold for anywhere near $300 at any time before or after the transition, a lot of people with older analog sets would be without TV today.

[Whirled One]

There are supposed to be 5 or so low-power analog stations within pretty close distance, but I can only pick up one of them at my house, and it's fairly weak. I've found it to be a good "fringe-reception" test for TVs though.

One thing-- it's a "home shopping channel"-type station. Seems like half the time I tune it in, they're selling a TV of some sort. While it's obviously coincidental, it's almost as if they're saying, "Hey! You there! You with the rabbit ears on your old analog TV! Don't you think it's about time you bought a new digital TV, for crying out loud?"

By the way, I was at a hamfest a few weeks ago, and happened to get in a brief conversation with someone who turned out to be an enginneer one of the local regular TV stations. I don't recall how the topic came up, but I asked if anyone still actually calls the station to complain about not being able to pick up their station on their analog sets. He replied that the station actually *does* still get calls like that from time to time! Apparently, even after a year, there are still people out there who are confused by or uninformed about the changeover...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by drh4683

Yes, channel 6 is very handy. I made mention of it in my video too. Its WLFM, 87.7 mhz and they play basically slide show images of Chicago while the radio station plays its smooth jazz format. I should be able to pull that one in nice and clear once I upgrade my antenna at the new place. I can pick it up fairly well in Batavia with the outdoor amplified antenna. Being much closer in now, I should hopefully get those stations with little to no snow. Then again, I'll take a snowy picture over the pixelated and sound drop out crap anyday.

Three questions, Doug. Can you get WLFM using a standard NTSC analog TV on channel 6 without an ATSC->NTSC converter box (i. e. with an antenna connected directly to the set), and is the audio signal receivable on standard FM sets? I would think it would be, since all FM radios can tune slightly above and below the FM band. Third, how much closer are you to the city's TV transmitters now than you were when you were in Batavia? Is your new location within a few miles of downtown, and how good is your DTV reception? Just curious.

BTW, I went the other way (from a strong-signal area to a much weaker television reception area) 10.5 years ago when I moved from an eastern Cleveland suburb to my present location. My apartment is located in a village which is some 35 miles northeast of Cleveland and about ten miles further southwest, give or take, of the city's television transmitters, which are located in the southwestern Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio. My OTA TV reception here in analog was very poor on most VHF stations (one, the NBC affiliate on channel 3, didn't get here at all on an antenna) and all but one UHF station, that station being the CBS affiliate on channel 19. I have had cable since I've been here for that reason, as does almost everyone else in the village; those who do not have cable have either Dish Network or DirecTV satellite service. The few outdoor TV antennas remaining on rooftops of homes here are, for the most part, falling apart, having been replaced by cable; those that are still standing and in good shape have very likely been abandoned in favor of cable or satellite since the DTV transition.

The one place in the village that still uses an outdoor antenna for TV, as far as I know at this time, is the local bowling alley, just down the street from my apartment. They have a rather large, high-power fringe-area TV antenna on a rotor, mounted on a short mast (I don't know how short) on one of the building's chimneys. I've never been inside the building, so I don't know if they still have an analog TV or if they upgraded to HDTV. I'm almost sure the reason their TV antenna is so large and on a rotor is so that they can receive sports events from out of town; my area is not far from Erie and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Youngstown and Toledo, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan, so with a high-power antenna in the clear on a rotor it is indeed possible to get locally blacked-out sports from other markets. I regularly receive FM stations from those cities in the spring through early fall every year using just the internal antennas on all my radios, including my vintage sets.

[sampson159]

the converter box in question,jeff,is for direct tv.not a d tv box.they sell for 29.99 here in columbus ohio.direct tv charges for equipment if you want to add another set.i have 5 sets with them already.you would think that they would give someone a break if you want to add another.never been late,always on time and sometimes a little early and yet no break.at least in 3 years it has never broke down....yet!

[zenithfan1]

Hey Ron, watch out if a box does break. They will then renew your contract if you get a replacement box. I had to fight like hell with those idiots after that happened. Cell phone companies do the same thing

[radiotvnut]

If direct tv was the only means I had to receive TV programming, I'd do without. I've already "been there and done that" with those morons. First off, that $49.99/mo. bill ended up being $70/mo. Of course, they don't tell you about all the little add on fees and taxes before you sign that contract. Found all that out after I was locked in for a year. I kept the service for eight months before making them turn it off. Of course, they gave me the "you're still under contract" speech. I ended up having to pay $48 in early termination fees; but, that was still cheaper than keeping the crappy service for four more months. Then, it took them forever to send the boxes in order for me to return the receivers. Even still, there wasn't enough packing material in the box and I had to dip into my packing material stash, which didn't make me happy. Finally, months later, I got a call from them claiming that I owed them money and they were going to turn me over to collection. I ended up telling them that they weren't getting another dime out of me and for them to do what they needed to do and that they'd better not call my house again. I never heard another word out of them, except for the almost daily letters from them wanting me to come back. IMHO, locking someone into a contract, rather it be for satellite TV or cell phones, should be illegal. If I want to cancel the service in one month, that should be my business. I should not be forced into keeping something just so I won't get ripped in new butthole in cancellation fees. And, I know several people who have switched from direct tv to dish network because of their bad service. I think if we ever get rid of cable, we'll just watch whatever we can get off of free OTA TV.

[freakaftr8]

No VHF here at all. I pick up 2 UHF stations very faint both in spanish and one preaching station in english. Sometimes I am picking up channel 7 VHF whickh seems to be someones DirecTV. Think someone has a analog singal generator for use so they can watch the box OTA on an analog set. I see the DirecTV screensaver bounce around the screen.