Friday is final curtain for analog TV signals

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The last major TV stations that are still broadcasting in analog will turn those signals off Friday and go all digital. And this time, they really mean it.

The original Feb. 17 deadline for the shutdown was delayed by the Obama administration after funding ran out for $40 coupons the government offered to help people buy converter boxes for old TVs.

Now officials say the country is much better prepared than in February, though they still expect some viewers to be confused.

About 3.1 million U.S. homes were unprepared to receive digital signals as of late last month, according to the Nielsen Co. That's half the number that were unprepared in February, and the number will probably decline further by Friday, as procrastinators get around to replacing old TVs or hooking them up to converter boxes or cable or satellite service.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4Aw5-Oq5nP5BrNdeQ3RKwvIbyPQD98ND3380

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This item is provided as a courtesy to those who have been living in caves for the past 2 years.

living in a cave for more than 2 years. We've known about this conversion for a lot longer. Some people in this country are stuck on stupid.

I hate TV.

... paying those monthly bills, or who can't afford them.

Welcome to DU.

Everyone I know who has cable are too worried aout what crap is going on with their reality stars or on their stupid shows. I use the television for weather information and a handful of network television shows. I don't need to fill my home and my life with all the superfluous garbage.

I use it to watch Rachel and John Stewart along with my late-night Cartoon Network programs. Oh, and soccer. Hard to see much soccer on over-the-air TV.

Having cable or dish leaves you in the stoned age.
Had it, it sucked 25 hrs a day.
I stopped watching and the less I watched the better I feel.
Try it, you'll like it.

you're living paycheck to paycheck.

Nothing wrong with making that choice because you enjoy cable or satellite and have the money to spend on it - but mistaking it for a necessity (and berating others for not being enlightened enough to realize that it is a necessity) sounds to me like someone without much money sense (either that, or someone with a lot of money to throw around who hasn't ever had to worry about having enough money to be able to put food on the table)

is different from the way other people choose to spend theirs. Try being a little less judgmental.

;)

I go without cable sometimes because I simply don't watch enough TV ('cause I'm superior to all you TV watchers) :P

Your Renaissance is damnably expensive...

The ones who are not ready now (other than the ones who simply don't care) mostly
have their converter boxes and are trying to get enough of an antenna system to make it work.

That cost me several hundred dollars for a new antenna, pre-amplifier and coax,
along with many hours moving it all about to find a spot where I could actually receive anything.
Even now, reception is not reliable by any means.

My neighbors down the hill from me most likely won't pick up anything no matter what they do.

Low-band VHF (channels 2-6) gets through trees and over hills better than higher frequencies.
In many rural areas, these are the only channels that can be received.

DTV is mostly on UHF and a little high VHF. These are much harder to receive when there is terrain in the way.
DTV is also more sensitive to multipath. Instead of ghosts, you get "No signal".

Welcome to my world - except that I haven't bought a new rooftop antenna yet. They announced today that they are actually going to boost power from some of the stations - guess I'll find out Friday and spend Saturday on the roof if I need to.

Don't you love being called neanderthal by folks who don't have a clue that this transition will actually take over the air TV away from many folks who get perfectly adequate analog broadcasts?

For information about DTV reception, including recommendations
for antennas, pre-amps, converter boxes, etc:

http://www.dtvusaforum.com/
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/
http://www.highdefforum.com/index.php

These sites are useful for finding out what stations you might pick up
which way to point your antenna for them, and estimates of signal strength:

http://www.tvfool.com
http://www.antennaweb.com

There is just no way to know before Friday what the situation will be - and I'm not about to invest in a new antenna and crawl up on the roof until I know it is necessary.

They finally admitted what I have suspected all along - that some stations will be boosting their power come Friday. Too bad they couldn't have substituted a real test for all their fake "tests" they have been running off and on since February: broadcasting on their June 12 locations, at their June 12 powers. Since they didn't, I'm waiting to see what reality is before I spend the money.

Friday is the actual launch date of DTV, everything up until now has been just marking time until all the analog transmitters are shut down.

Some transmitters will have to be re-tuned for their new frequencies, antenna locations may be changed from temporary to permanent locations, power will be boosted on some stations once restrictions are lifted, repeater/translator stations switched over....there's still a lot of work left to do, much of it that couldn't be done until the analog transmitters are shut off.

Some DTV transmitter buildouts will be finished after the conversion, with tube cabinets being added to bring power levels up. Many stations could not afford to do the buildouts and also pay the crippling costs of running analog and DTV transmitters alongside each other, so improvements will be made as funds are freed up.

It took over 60 years to bring the NTSC analog infrastructure to where it was, so it may be a little while before DTV hits its stride, so hang in there, I think it's going to be good once we get it all in place. :hi:

It varies considerably from one market area to another.

Most of our stations are already at full power and are staying on UHF.
The need for a new UHF antenna was very clear in my case.

I'm waiting on the VHF side, my old busted-up Rat Shack antenna can
pick up the lone VHF station that is on now. There is only one more
coming June 12.

I did a lot of testing with an antenna up in a tree hanging from a rope.
That saved me a lot of climbing on the roof while trying out different
antennas, heights, and angles.

In the tree has actually provided me my best reception so far
unless it gets windy.

Friday they will re-route the power currently being used for analog to digital. So a station is currently only broadcasting at full power if they already dropped analog.

They complain bitterly about the expense of doing so.
One of our stations has applied for more power,
but the FCC has not yet acted upon their request.

It is likely that many stations will be requesting more power
after they discover they have lost a significant number of viewers.

The station with the most powerful digital broadcast (the only one that is more than a few miles away that I can get - if I sit directly in front of the TV, turn the VHF amp way down, stuff the VHF rabbit ears all the way shut and hold on to the rabbit ears) is also still broadcasting in analog. Employees of that station designated to handle conversion calls told me directly it was not changing its power after the transition.

The problem apparently comes from two sources:

First, their full strength digital broadcasts appear to interfere with nearby (frequency) analog broadcasts (the one broadcasting digitally on VHF 2 was apparently interfering with the analog reception for channel 3 - it will be boosting its power once it switches to UHF 17 and has no nearby analog to interrupt),

Second their digital broadcast equipment is not yet ready to go (there are several stations in our area that have announced a further 2 month delay before full strength broadcasts in order to finish installing all their towers and other equipment).

Edited to correct typo.

It depends on whether they are running two completely independent antennas or whether they are using a shared antenna and antenna line for both transmitters. The stations using a common line have to be very careful about how much power they send up the line while both transmitters are running. A friend of mine who is an engineer at another station in our market told me about how they tried to bump up the power and wound up frying the line to crisp.

The reasons for not turning up the power yet on digital stations are wide and varied, from shared lines to competing frequencies from analog transmitters that are still operating. We should know soon how good DTV is actually going to be once all the analogs are of the way, antennas relocated, repeaters switched over etc etc.

A clear view of the southern sky is all you need, as their adverts proclaim.

... once they stop broadcasting in analog on that frequency.

Here in the Bay Area, we have one digital VHF station. Post-transition we will have 2. Everything else will stay on UHF. Most of the VHF TV spectrum here will be empty.

To receive UHF here requires a top-of-the-line dedicated UHF antenna (Antennas Direct 91XG) and pre-amp (Channelmaster 7777) placed at just the right angle and height.

The whole point of making this exercise mandatory was to free up frequency ranges for other uses.

Most VHF stations will be broadcasting on UHF post transition - and some of the "biggies" are bumping UHF stations that have been broadcasting at their UHF frequencies for years.

Apparently there is a problem with broadcasting digital signals in "low-band" VHF (channels 2 - 6), which has lead channels with those frequencies to keep their digital broadcasts in UHF.
It's stupidly difficult to find out just what frequencies will be used.

when you scan, but you will need to rescan after the switch on Friday, since they are playing musical frequencies on that day. I know, for example, that Channel 3 will be bumping the all-jesus-all-the-time stations from their (forever) perch on 17. Don't know where they are going, but I'm sure my scanner will find them in all their glorious 5-simulcast versions.

... it's still handy to know where to look. I found a list for my area, but it did take some hunting around.

Just make sure the list you found is post 6/12 stations - they will change on that day.

Locally, the TV guide is apparently still going to list them under their pre-digital conversion numbers - just to add to the confusion. Channel 3 will be found on UHF 17, but will still be called Channel 3 (at least as of Monday's article on the matter)

aren't strong enough to produce an image, even though the produce analog images just fine.

The local channels did acknowledge, today what I have suspected all along, and was told point blank wasn't going to happen, that some local stations are going to increase their broadcast power on Friday.

It would have been nice if they had done a real test BEFORE Friday, on their post musical-station shuffle, using post musical-station shuffle broadcast strengths so I could know whether my current amplifier and rooftop antenna combination will be sufficient to pick up the boosted broadcasts or not.

Don't feel like spending money and crawling on the roof if I don't need to - and there is no way for me to know before Friday since I might actually be able to pick up a strong enough signal once they boost their power, even though I get nothing now (except multiple versions of all-jesus-all-the-time.

Have you checked this out?

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/

It should give you a pretty good idea of where you stand in terms of reception. My elderly parents live on the fringes of the signals in their area, so I was dealing with this back in February. This map was actually quite accurate in their situation.

I also had a good experience dealing directly with the TV station engineer in one instance. I emailed and he answered my questions and provided some tips that were very helpful. Good luck!

as I said, it has nothing to do with ignorance or living in a cave. I've been dealing with this since November.

The map is not even close to accurate for my area for the current broadcast stations and powers - theoretically, I should have strong reception for all my current stations with a set-top antenna alone. I can actually receive three of the stations (two geographically close PBS stations, and one all-jesus-all-the-time 5-plex). With maximum set top amplification and a rooftop antenna hooked up through the amplifier, AND if I shorten the rabbit ears and hold on to them with both hands and don't breathe, I can get ABC. Other than that, I get a very blocky image flash every once in a while.

There is no way to know what I will be able to pick up come Friday - and BTW it was the TV station engineer who insisted to me that all stations were already broadcasting at full strength. They finally admitted today was false; several will not be at full strength until Friday (and according to the map - some will not even join the party until August 18 - so even on Friday I won't necessarily know)...wonder if Best Buy would take back a 2 month old used antenna if it turns out after I install it that come August I don't need it.

You're right about that.

I only receive about 2/3rds of the listed stations for my area. (using amplified set-top rabbit ears)

After Friday I will evaluate my reception and consider the benefit to hassle ratio of putting an antenna on my roof.

No improvement at all. I'd hoped maybe someone had boosted their power, but no luck. Guess I'll see on Friday - maybe I'll just stop on the way home from work and get videos.

I have rabbit ears on my old television and will simply give up watching television when the analog signal stops. I haven't turned on my television in a month and just see no reason to spend money on another time waster in my life. I wonder if anyone else is like me.

I watch cable at some of my customer's houses once in a while. There isn't anything on cable either. Just one station after another trying to sell stuff.

It is just too boring.

There are a few things I will miss but I can't afford to upgrade. I just get so tired of people asking me if I heard what Keith or Rachel said last night. I can't afford a television set much less cable.

:hide:

1. If you have cable tv, you are probably ok.
2. If you have satellite tv, you are probably ok.
3. If 1 and 2 are no, then you can buy a converter box to convert digital signals for your analog tv. You may need an external antenna, however, to receive the digital signals.

There was a lot of drama on the site the last time this was a hot topic.

With cable and satellite tv, definitely no problem.

Only older sets using antennae to pick up broadcast need a converter.

So, nobody needs a new TV, but plenty of people are really confused by the whole thing. :hi:

that everyone who can get analog now will be able to get digital later, and that those of us who can't are living in a cave.

I am at least grateful that if I have to make an excursion to the rooftop it will be in June, rather than February.

Many people in those area may have to get cable or satellite. We already know about lifeline cable but what about lifeline satellite?

The lowest price for direcTV and Dish Network respectively is $12 (DirecTV Basic) and DishFAMILY $19.99. Unless I'm wrong they are the closest thing to lifeline satellite service.

All you need is a large Ku band dish and a FTA satellite receiver and you can get various affiliates representing all the networks on a variety of satellites. This isn't piracy - their wide open for the viewing.

But it would not matter because local television news sucks, no matter where you go in America. How much does the equipment cost anyway?

Any little electronics store in an immigrant area will be able to get you setup, the hardware is most popular for ethnic programming.

Any little electronics store in an immigrant area will be able to get you setup, the hardware is most popular for ethnic programming.

I totally rely on my internet.. for everything dealing with news and entertainment.. I haven't had a TV for years.

But I wonder about those who will wake up on Friday and will be beating on their TV sets wondering why they suddenly don't work. I would imagine Friday might be a good day to stay indoors and not venture out into the world. ^^

what with summer reruns and all.

Our Windsor channel 9 (near Detroit) will not change.

My converter box is connected to my Windows 95 TV computer. There seems to be no HDTV card that runs on W95. Go figure.

XP has been thoroughly field tested. You may want to give it a try.

It gets rebooted after power outages. Handles phone and TV just fine. Well, it used to handle TV just fine. Oh, well, it does take input from the box, so it continues. Plus it will get channel 9.

My lappie is on xp. But, I miss DOS.

You're probably one of the last 10 people using that. :P

DOS... I recently was trying to run some old software that required MSDOS. I put it on this old system of mine and I like forgot all the details in regards to configuration and stuff because it's been so long.

but always able to do less and less and less each upgrade until now, I can hardly automate at thing.

For the mean time, the silly old 95 works. And, the old DOS underlying XP cannot rename the files as easily as old DOS could.

Oh well.

Have fun. If you really need to get an old DOS back, I'd be glad to dust off my memory circuits.