If you are getting strong signals with your rabbit ears now, you should still get strong signals from the same stations. (Assuming your local TV stations are not changing transmitter sites in the process. And some are.) One thing about digital TV though. You either get a picture or you don't. So if some station is weak, and you are getting a poor analog picture, you may not get anything with DTV. A better antenna would help. Along these lines, in most areas the low-band VHF channels (2 through 6) will not be used anymore. The broadcasters who currently use those channels will be moving up to high-band VHF (7 though 13) and UHF (14 through 69.) So this can make antenna location/positioning a bit more important as well. : Sounds like once again, the American public has been sold out. Our TV's were working fine. Now we have to spend piles and piles of money if we want to keep receiving TV signals. The feds are giving out $40 coupons - up to two per household. And most 'coupon eligible' converter boxes cost about $40. So it should be a wash.

Alisande - they do broadcast them differently before and after the switch. This is straight from an engineer at my CBS affiliate - this was sent to me last August - and that was when the official switchover date was still February -but it does have some interesting info. I was asking if the signal would get better after the switch over..... It's actually not an issue with signal strength, but rather many stations are using *different* channels at this time for broadcasting digital, than they will be after 2/17/09. For instance, we are presently broadcasting our digital signal on UHF channel 31, because our VHF channel 8 is still tied up being an analog transmitter until next February. A digital receiver will already call our digital channels by their "virtual" names of "8-1" and "8-2", once the receiver initially discovers the signal on channel 31. But, our signal won't be on "real" channel 8 until next February. Channels 5, 11, and 13 in Des Moines are doing similarly with temporary UHF channels, and plans to move their digital signals down onto their traditional VHF channels next February. Other stations are going to stay on their present digital UHF channels, and are effectively already done with the digital transistion, except they still haven't shut off their analog transmitters. But even though our UHF channel is temporary, we are still broadcasting it at full strength. It's legally maxed-out at a level that is intended to replicate the coverage area of analog channel 8. BUT, receiving our digital signal just as well as analog depends on having home UHF reception that's just as good as VHF reception. Admittedly, for many homes, this is not the case. Some people have VHF-only TV antennas. Sometimes, the little "UHF loop" on their indoor rabbit ears don't pick up as well as the longer VHF aerials. In my opinion, the best kind of antenna is still the good-old-fashioned rooftop-style VHF/UHF antenna. But, even if you have one of those, old antenna wire or old signal splitters may be preventing the higher-frequency UHF channels from carrying down to the TV set as well as the VHF signals do. And, finally, UHF sometimes doesn't do as good of a job of holding up over long distances and penetrating natural or man-made obstructions as VHF signals do. Therefore, even though we are transmitting digital at "full power", there are a number of reasons that some viewers may not receive the digital as well as analog, most of them related to poor UHF reception. Some people may experience improved digital reception after 2/17/09, if they haven't already taken steps to improve UHF reception by that time.

Well, I just really resent being blackmailed into spending more money like this. I have cable at one house, guess I'll keep it till we sell, but I'm totally disgusted that right now, on my old (very old--my sets are about 15 years old) TV's I can pick up about 12 channels. With the converter box attached, I can get exactly TWO channels. First they told us all we needed was a converter box. Then, once most folks bought them, oops--you might need an antenna, too. And now, that's not even working. You know what I think? (Just call me a conspiracist)--I think the pay tv companies had a lot to do with this switch. That's really the only way most of us are going to be able to get TV reception after next week. No, sorry. I'm not spending any more money on this fiasco. After next week, I'll be turning most of my TV's off, and leaving them off. I hear a lot of others who feel the same way. With any luck, this scam will take money from the pockets of the cable/dish companies, rather than making more for them. Just one more example, though, of the smash and grab that's being perpetrated on the middle class as we gasp our last breaths.

If you already have cable or satellite, you do not need a converter box. If you cancel cable or satellite TV service, you will need one - but only if you have an old, non-digital TV. So there you go. Cable providers may raise rates, but don't they do that every year or so anyway? I got my coupons, and bought two converter boxes. The third TV is already digital-ready, and doesn't need a converter. The boxes are for my elderly TV out in my garage studio, and for the TV in the guest bedroom. Cable and satellite are available here, but I don't want them. It's not like the boxes are going to be taken off the market. You may have to pay full price if you lose or don't use your coupons, but they will still be available. Also, new TVs do not need the boxes at all.