What is Being Glossed over about the Coming Digital Television Conversion

Tweet

All the stations are talking about getting the converter box or cable or what not if you are in an affected area. But what few are mentioning or if they mention it, it is just briefly in passing, is that you may also need a new antenna if you don't have cable or dish or something like that. If you use rabbit ears, a converter box may not be enough for all of your stations. If you are in an area where some of your analog stations come in a little snowy with your present antenna, then because digital is all or nothing, you will get nothing on those stations. Even an amplified antenna may not be good enough. I live in the foothills of the local mountain that has all the broadcast antennas on its top and one of the stations I watch on a small TV in the room where I have my workout equipment comes in snowy and I'm not even really in the "shadow" of the mountain. My set there has both analog and digital tuning and when that station has done tests, I get the message "digital channel strength too low" and no picture or sound even with an amplified indoor antenna. I have cable for my main TV but I don't want to pay extra to get it in another room where I use it so much less. So you should be aware that just getting a converter box or having a TV with a digital tuner may not be enough if you are in a poor reception area.